I love my mum but there are things about her that have throughout my life have really annoyed baffled me. Now that I am older they may not stop me from getting embarrassed about some of them but certainly the humour in them has definitely increased proportionately to my insanity.
My dear old mum’s first annoying life-long habit: telephone call coaching
What is telephone call coaching? Well I actually think my mother perhaps invented this. Since we live in Australia and pretty much all our family are spread out around the world I grew up with international calls in my life on a constant basis coming in and out of the house. For example she would get all enthused about me talking to my abuelita (grandma) this is how the conversations would go:
Mum: Susi Susi come say hello to your abuelita, talk to her for a few minutes she really wants to talk to you.
Lil Susi Spice: ok mum (as obedient as I was)… hi abuelita…
Mum in the background: ok now ask her how she is
Lil Susi Spice: mum shh I cant hear abuelita… sorry abuelita what?
Mum in the background: not “what”, you say pardon, “what” is so rude abuelita will think im not teaching you good manners
Lil Susi Spice: what mum? What abuelita? Mum shhhh I cant hear what abuelita is saying! And tell me later whatever you want to tell me.
Mum in the background: ok sorry sorry, now ask her how she is…
Lil Susi Spice: *to mum*huh?… Sorry abuelita what did you say? Oh… ok yeah Im good…
Mum in the background: ask her if she is good, tell her you miss her
Lil Susi Spice (a little mad): mum would you please shhhh I cant hear abuelita
Mum in the background: oh just give me the phone, your wasting the call credit
Lil Susi Spice (a little more mad): Well if you just let me talk instead of…
Mum would by this stage be on the phone and chatting with grandma or whatever relative it was….
Lil Susi Spice (madder): you didn’t let finish you interrupted me!
Mum while on the phone (calmly says): Susi spice don’t be ill mannered im talking to your grandma on the phone, stop interrupting.
ARRRGHHHH!!! The conversations to relatives while little pretty much always went in this fashion, I could never really even get past the “hi how are you?” bit without having to restrain myself from telling my mum to just bloody shut up and let me talk!

This habit has been tamed, with my years of trial and error handling this condition. For some years I would get told off for being rude to my mum as I reached teen years I would blantantly blurt out “mum would you be quite please im trying to talk!” until I grew up a little more and realized that addressing this misbehaviour by my mum was more effective BEFORE the phone call even commenced. I began to ask her nicely to just please let me talk and not butt-in interrupt while I was talking because it really pissed me off didn’t allow me to hear the other person on the phone. This worked in curbing this bad habit. Now it has evolved to a look… she starts to interrupt me and I just either say nicely “mum….” And she understands or sometimes even just a look works… hehe.

Motherly Annoying Habit Numero 2: The all-knowing-asker-of-questions
My mum is so enthusiastic when she has conversations with me that sometimes she asks the question and as I am answering she will finish off my answer for me… usually with the wrong ending and that is annoying shit! You might think that she does this because she
asks rhetorical questions or because she figures out the answer for herself… noooo no no no noooo…. I am yet to figure out why on earth she does this but I have a theory that it is because she usually thinks she knows things and wants to be reassured that she is right. However, a lot of the time, she doesn’t actually know the answer. This usually happens when we are discussion politics and other subjects that I am more versed in than she is.
Un, Deux, Trois annoying motherly habit : Commertary from To the Idiot Box
My mum likes to watch the news from home in Spanish and sometimes I will want to watch something else so she will watch the news from home via the internet on my laptop. If she doesn’t want to take the laptop to another room she will often stay in the same room as me and is happy to use earphones. This is how the scene usually plays out:
Susi Spice: relaxing watching Law and Order SVU, really getting into the story suddenly I hear..
Mum from the day bed: “oh no! knuckleheads”
Susi Spice: I turn my head because I got distracted by comment made seemingly out of nowhere. Roll my eyes and ignore it. Then again
Mum: *giant gasp* ohhhh no!
Susi Spice: Mum I am just trying to watch my show….. *hint hint*
Mum: *takes off earphones* Did you know they are trying to bring in a ridiculous policy and now this professor from the National University is speaking and he is making much more sense on the issue *returns to earphones and no acknowledgement of my request*
Mum: *another big gasp and vocal nods* Yes! You tell them! It is nonsense policy, very good well said!
Susi Spice: ok mum, im going to watch tv in my room
Mum: oh ok, good ill take off the earphones…. *gleefully taking off earphones and watching her news program aloud.

What I would be thinking all the time...
I could swear she does it on purpose to get me to leave the room. But yes, these are the pet peeves I have with my mother… Bless her cotton socks…