Two weeks ago, my daughter ordered some traditional Jewish food I have been craving that you can’t buy in Oxford. She ordered from Walmart and the order was messed up and one of the jars of food was broken. They re-shipped the order and it was still missing several items.

I’ve had several arguments recently with people over silly things. We just weren’t listening to each other.

This weekend, the grand-children seemed especially out of sorts, including my 1-year-old grand-daughter who is generally the easiest baby I’ve dealt with — but not this weekend. She was like a completely different child — cranky, wouldn’t sleep and just plain stubborn.

I’ve even felt disconnected from work and each story I wrote took longer than usual as it was harder to put the words together.

Now, it could have just been bad luck with Walmart. Maybe the baby is teething or just being, ya know, a toddler. And maybe I’m just in need of a vacation.

Or it could be all because of something going on very, very far away.

This weekend I learned about Mercury Retrograde. Don’t laugh. This is serious business.

According to the several websites I read about the subject, the planet Mercury appears to be moving backward in the sky for a period of about three weeks and this happens a few times a year. Apparently, this recent event started April 9 and is expected to be over May 3. The planet isn’t actually moving backward; however, it’s an illusion that we view here on Earth.

According to an article in the Huffington Post, Mercury rules “intelligence, mind, memory and all types of communication ranging from talking and texting to writing. It also affects your self-expression and communication style. In a more public sense, it rules commerce, computers, telephones, transportation and air travel.”

It can apparently also affect the mail.

So you’re off the hook Walmart. This time.

Astrology “experts” agree there are many things one shouldn’t do during Mercury Retrograde: don’t make any agreements (no wonder people can’t communicate this month if no one agrees); don’t start a new job (sorry, those bills are gonna have to wait, but that’s OK. Just blame the mail); don’t try to close a sale (may want to arrange a rental unit for the month if you’re supposed to close on a house); don’t start new projects; don’t schedule meetings (wouldn’t that be nice?); don’t travel too far away (good thing schools close after May 3); don’t repair your vehicle (apparently it won’t get fixed right during this period); don’t buy big ticket items and don’t decide to move in with anyone.

So basically, stay home, don’t go to work or school and don’t spend money.

And this happens three to four times a year? I better save up my vacation days.

Obviously, I’m having some fun with this, but there are those who take this very seriously, and who knows, maybe what happens above our atmosphere does affect us somehow.

However, the world doesn’t stop turning, Mercury Retrograde or not, I suspect most of us will still work, travel, spend money and argue with people due to bad communication.

I’ll probably read this column in a few weeks and ask myself “what were you thinking?” But it’ll be OK because it’s not my fault, nor the readers who are tilting their heads right now wondering what the point of this column is.

We can just blame Mercury — at least until May 3.

Alyssa Schnugg is Senior Writer at the Oxford Eagle. Email her at alyssa.schnugg@oxfordeagle.com