Bad things

1. Getting the tips of my sleeves wet while I'm washing my hands

2. Stepping barefoot on a tiny Lego

3. Walking from my car to my office in cold, drizzling rain

4. Getting on the elevator with someone who's coming back from a smoke-break

5. Stepping in an unknown wet substance on my kitchen floor while wearing knee-high pantyhose


NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION: Avoiding all of these things, plus all the other Bad Things.

Bad things: HGTV edition

1. When you get excited about a new episode of House Hunters and then the hunters' budget is $150,000. In Chicago.
   
2. When you love the HGTV Design Star winner's designs but can't stand his personality. (Hello, Antonio.)
3. When the Design on a Dime crew designs a room that looks worse than a room that comes out of Trading Spaces -- and their budget is twice the size.
4. When the homeowners on Designer's Challenge choose a designer whose design I really DON'T want to see come to fruition, instead of the one I'm DYING to see.
   
5. When you get all the way to the end of House Hunters and you hate the way the homeowners decorated their new home.

Bad things

1. Running over a curb as you're making a right turn

2. Falling off a swing and having the wind knocked out of you (3rd grade, holla!)

3. SPLINTERS

4. A shopping cart with one bum wheel

5. When your favorite contestant doesn't win on a reality show

6. Accidentally seeing something really gory on a movie preview that you can't forget later

7. "Losing" your car keys for 30 minutes while in a hurry to leave the house, only to eventually find them exactly where they should be ... in your purse (also applies to cell phones)

8. Hitting the first plateau when you're dieting

9. Fire ants

10. Seeing a roach crawl across your den floor ... and get away

Bad things: Fast-food edition

1. Ordering two kids' meals with fries and receiving one with fries and one with applesauce.
2. The one that came with applesauce came with no spoon.
3. Ordering a warm roast beef sandwich with Swiss and getting a roast beef sandwich with no cheese of any kind, cold.
4. Receiving two Capri-Suns with the kids' meals, BUT ONLY ONE STRAW.
5. Using my pocketknife to open up a hole in the lame Capri-Sun big enough for a regular straw to fit in (sacrificing my own straw -- and I LOVE straws), and spilling a quarter of the fruit punch down my shirt because those blasted tin-foil Capri-Sun containers are so flimsy.

I MIGHT have wanted to utter a few words that definitely shouldn't be uttered on a Sunday.

All of this happened yesterday when I drove through Arby's, by the way. So even though I could have gone inside and remedied most of it, I was with the kids by myself and didn't feel like dragging everyone in to deal with it. So we just coped.

I admire Truett Cathy and all that, but sometimes I just want to kick him for keeping my beloved Chick-fil-A closed on Sundays.

Bad things

1. Potholes

2. Shows that run four minutes over, causing you to miss THREE PIVOTAL ONES because TiVo cut off after 61 minutes (American Idol, I'm talking to YOU)

3. Overhearing someone saying something ugly about you (memories of middle school linger)

4. Forgetting to take your umbrella

5. Cool Ranch Dorito breath

Bad things

1. The third day of a protein diet, when you REALIZE
2. Stubbing a toe
3. Winter + socks = unintentional shocks
4. Stale Whoppers
5. Getting a paper cut FROM A MANILA FOLDER
6. Buying a pack of peanut M&Ms at the gas station between Birmingham and Chattanooga and noticing 10 miles down the road that the packaging is torn, and being scared to eat them because THERE ARE CRAZY PEOPLE OUT THERE, PEOPLE
7. Having a need for suppositories
8. Whiners
9. Biting your tongue
10. Being totally dependent on the cable company for your phone, TV and high-speed Internet. And they know it.