Hello Moody!

I wake up every morning hoping to have a good day with a positive attitude and smiles all around...who doesn't. I highly doubt anyone out there really hops out of bed and says "Hey I think I will be a grouch today." But it happens, life happens. And most likely, the things in life that seem to push us over the edge are not expected or planned. Whether it be a rough day at work, a day where you get some bad news, or simply a day where things are NOT going as planned, your day can go from good to bad to worse in a matter of minutes. For me, a day that does not fit into my perfectly formed schedule is a serious 'stress starter'. And of course if there is something out of place, a chair is not pushed in at the table, a drop of water on the counter, a shoe off of the shoe rack.....ok ok I am a bit OCD, but everyone has issues. Micah will tell you that I can wake up smiling and once my OCD mind takes over it is all down hill and my mood goes along for the ride. For someone else it may be a speeding ticket on the way to work...that would put me in a foul mood as well. Or possibly hitting every red light in a 10 mile stretch would put a damper on your day. But it could be worse...somewhere in this state, this country, somewhere in this world, someone is having a worse day than you. We just have to face the fact that people have bad days...some more than others...but bad day or not, we control our moods. And our moods affect those around us. I often forget this part....because once I am in my OCD world it is my world and no one else matters. Selfishness. (We are all sinners and I am working on this!)

I often try to blame my mood on those around me. But in reality it is all me. Someone else may hurt my feelings, their actions may inconvenience me, or they may really piss me off, but that doesn't give me the right to be a grouch...even if I have all the justifications in the world. (and I promise I will try to justify)

So, my goal is to improve my mood and to prevent myself from going to that nasty hateful grouchy place. I am much more enjoyable to be around when I am a happy girl and right now, i am not a happy girl, well not all the time anyhow. I try and my plastic smile can usually cut it for a while and then it fails....fails miserably and I am a grouch. So I apologize to all my sweet friends, co-workers, and husband for my extreme moodiness and excessive complaining the last few weeks (correction: Months). Things have not really "gone my way", for those of you who deal with me every day you can attest that this is a serious understatement. I have found myself crawling out of bed grouchy and the majority of my conversations are negative. I annoy myself with my complaining so I can only imagine how my friends feel at this point. And while really has been a horrible few weeks it is not worth my time or energy to go through each day grumpy. Which brings me to the point of this blog...

Thanksgiving...I am normally not a holiday kind of person. I get stressed...imagine that. But I believe that we control our thoughts and attitudes and gratefulness is a great way to drown out the hatefulness. SOOOO Welcome to Whitney's (however many days I allow myself time to blog) Days of Thanksgiving, where I will bore you with the many things in life I am actually grateful for in hopes of reminding myself that life really isn't all that bad and I am quite blessed....

(and for those who are with me daily, friendly reminders not to complain would be awesome....if I start to go on a rant about something stupid, just walk away and tell me to be grateful!)