In the Spirit of Lent...

In the spirit of Lent, I've given up complaining.

Well, that's the intent at least. Actually, I've become more mindful about the triggering events that typically begin my complaining and I'm working on doing something more productive during those times.

Why? Because it is a drag to be around a person who bitches and moans all the time. Also, complaining keeps you stuck in a rut by giving you the satisfaction of letting off steam and this prevents you from taking action that would prevent such occurances in the future.

For example, when our babysitter was late for the third time, instead of immediately calling my mom or husband and complaining about her, I simply decided to call a differrent sitter next time and I went on with my life. A lot more pleasant for everyone involved, right?

It's not easy to give up a complaining habit, that's for sure. But it's a heck of a lot more fun than giving up chocolate or ice cream for 46 days.

St. Patty / Green Beer Day

I have two memories of St. Patty's Day.

What I mean is that when I think of St. Patty's Day, two very different thoughts come to mind.

First, I think about dive bars and green dye in Coors Lite and people guzzling that nasty stuff down. (I dated a microbrewery owner many moons ago and I have no problem admitting I'm a beer snob of the highest degree.)

Second, I think about being a kid and always wanting to wear a green shirt or a green dress on St. Patty's Day. No brainer, right? For some reason - and I bet my mother will deny this! - she always made us wear regular clothes and pinned a small square of green construction paper to our shirts.

"You're not wearing green!" Some 3rd grader would say, pinching my ribs.

I'd defensively point to my square of green over my heart and pinch them back.

You'd think I would make amends for this by dressing my kids in spectacular green outfits today, right? I am sad to say that I blew it. I totally forgot it was St. Patty's Day and we didn't even accidentally have a streak of green on anything we wore. But the worst part is that for a split second I actually considered finding some green construction paper at the CVS across from Arlo's school...

Happy St. Patty's Day, everyone.

Cheers!