Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

On a regular basis, I have interaction with an individual who is so negative. I have listened to complaints, offered suggestions, and tried to smooth things over. At first I thought I was helping, but have come to realize that I’m not changing perceptions at all. This individual is going to have a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day” – no matter what I say or do. I’ll spare you the details.

I do think we are pretty much hard-wired to always want something more. I recall someone saying that being dissatisfied is actually a good thing, as otherwise, after we achieved our first big goal, we would sit back and say, “I got what I wanted. I don’t need to do anything more.” We would be in a self-satisfied plateau where we never looked for any improvement.

I guess we need to find a middle ground – everything isn’t perfect nor horrible. Yet, it takes no talent to find the negative. Finding the good – now that takes talent, and one that needs practice.

Welcome to my practice session.

I am grateful for Primary Sacrament Meeting programs. Look in the dictionary and you’ll find ours listed under perfection. It was amazing. Song leaders don’t come any better than Wendy Worley. Those kids just belted out every song. There was lots of variety – a mother and five year old son cello accompaniment. At other times, the singing was accompanied by wood blocks (for “I am a builder”), a flute, and the bells. It was so sweet.

I am grateful for members of the church. They are just wonderful people. They are fun to be with, uplifting, educated, loving, and good workers.

I love credit cards. I listen to people who say, “Rip them up. Pay for everything with cash.” BUT, I still love credit cards. You can check charges online, pay them off every week (which is what I choose to do), pay for online purchases, get cash advances while you are in Holland (and didn’t realize they don’t accept credit cards), let them go to bat for you if the computer you paid for by credit card never arrived, and get $500 a year in rewards (while not paying one cent in interest). I realize credit card companies are increasing their interest rate to ridiculous amounts, but since I never pay any interest, my love affair with credit cards is not affected.

I love sales. Smiths Marketplace is really making the game fun to play. They usually have 60% off clearance, regularly have megadeals (where you get five dollars off for every ten items you buy in special categories), give you a turkey for as little as $12 (regularly $25), and have $10 off if you spend $50. They make shopping fun. I went in Saturday knowing I wanted to buy a turkey, but needed as many other non-food items as I could find (to get my extra discount). I found nightlights (about time, don’t you think), slippers, little sacks for Christmas favors (we’re in charge of empty nesters), and even some of our favorite moisturizers. There is little joy in shopping, but they’ve found a way to make it enjoyable.

I love my bed. I’m not a great sleeper, but my bed is awesome. It is warm and comfortable. I just read the book The Glass Castle. (I need to make a disclaimer. There is more swearing than necessary and even an F-bomb, so be warned.) However, the book was such a wake up call. It is a story of a woman whose family was dysfunctional – living on the street, harvesting dinner from dumpsters. Yet, she loves her family. For a while they live in a tumble down house where their mattresses are cardboard. It makes you realize how great you have it – and especially makes you appreciate your bed.

I love my cell phone. AT&T needs to take some clues from Smiths Marketplace, as paying my AT&T bill is not fun at all, but I do love my cell phone. You can call anyone you want without paying a cent extra (as we have more minutes that I could possible use) and can summon help from a snow bank. What confidence as cell phone gives you! I forgot my cellphone when I took Grandma back home today and felt naked without it. (But, I didn’t get stopped, so no one knew.)

I love family – kids, grandkids, husband, parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, in-laws.

I love email. I love email. I LOVE EMAIL!!!!