Trying To Be Positive.

I'm a pessimist.

There. I said it. I got it out there in the open. Now I typically like to wrap it up in a different package and call myself a "realist", but I'm pretty sure that's not a fair representation on the facts. Yesterday, our pastor gave a powerful sermon about how important attitude is in our spiritual lives. Ouch. Thank you to my husband for choosing seats in the front row so that everyone could clearly see me squirming in my seat during the conviction I was obviously wrestling with.

I'm sitting here this morning, feeling like my head is in a cold metal bucket, sinuses stuffed full as to make mouth breathing a necessity, watery eyes, scratchy voice, the whole shebang. The cold took a turn for the worse last night and this morning I am doing my best to keep my dirty Kleenex pile from engulfing the whole house. Trash can? Oh yeah, good idea. The arctic temperatures are not helping the situation and I'm trying not to let my glass half empty tendencies take over my day. So here is my meager attempt at optimism. Baby steps.

My first instinct when I woke up was to grumble to myself that if it was a little bit warmer, the kids could go outside to play. But we as moms all know that ends up being a whole lot more work than we bargain for. The endless trips in and out of the house. The wet puddles inside the front door. The pile of wet snow clothes in the middle of the living room. No. Maybe warmer weather isn't what I really need right now. And then I remembered a day in early December.........

On that morning I was busy moaning to myself that "Why can't we have snow." and "It's not going to feel like Christmas without snow" and " Is the temperature really in the forties in December? Where is our winter?" Again with the pessimism. So I got my attitude together and gave it a talking to and decided to send the little boys outside to play. After all, it was warm enough, they would be fine. They had a great time and I kept checking my posts, peeking out the windows in the front and back of the house to make sure everything was ok and that they weren't getting into any trouble and that trouble wasn't getting into them. And then I didn't see them for awhile. And then my mother's instinct kicked in. And then I knew that this was one of those pivotal moments. I needed to check on them RIGHT NOW. So I did. And once I found them, I wished that I wouldn't have.





It seems that the ground wasn't completely frozen yet. And that means that the garden wasn't frozen. And there was mud. Yes, Jack was putting the mud in his mouth. A healthy snack perhaps?

So see? I'm thankful that it's cold outside. I'm looking on the bright side. The ground is frozen solid and the garden is covered in snow. It's face shatteringly cold out there and the little buggers have to stay in where it's warm, and not muddy. I'm optimistic.

I told you. Baby steps.