MOAN-OFF, Day 1

First of all let me apologize for the absurd amount of typos in yesterday's post. I felt, for some reason, the need to get that post up immediately so my experiment could officially begin. Even though that meant typing it with help from the Weekids. It wasn't until much later in the day that I realized what a mess the thing was. Even for me, no stranger to a typo. Sorry!

Yesterday began auspiciously. Trying very hard to watch the words and the tone of the words that I uttered left me uncharacteristically quiet. After all, what does constitute a complaint? Sharing with The Man that one of my children made a poor grade on an Algebra final, for example, was that a complaint? I was careful just to state the facts and refrain from expounding. Or what about when The Man asked me if I was feeling better. Was it complaining to admit that my head still hurt? So I tried, as best as possible to stick to the spirit of the experiment. A spirit of gratitude. Not dwelling on the negative. And overall, it wasn't difficult. Yesterday was a good day to give up grumbling.

For one, our family got a new cat. A 10 month orange tomcat named "Kelso". Yes, Kelso, from that terribly-funny-but-totally-not-appropriate-for-your-children, television show. We thought briefly of changing the name, but decided it just seemed to fit. None of the kids, other than Brandon, get the reference anyway.

And so, with our home imbued with a general spirit of celebration because of the new pet, it was easy, to maintain a grateful attitude. Although I do admit to a brief slip-up involving a stomach ailment and a certain toddler who wouldn't give her mama some alone time in the bathroom. There may have been some grumbling involved on my part that was quickly pointed out by my other, very helpful children. They really seem to be excited about helping me get into the spirit of this thing. "Was that a complaint?" is something I think I will be hearing often this week.