Say no to the mope

M is out of town on bidness for two days and so last night I got the kids to bed and was getting set to indulge in a What Not to Wear marathon (from my DVR'd collection that I keep in case of emergency or absent hubby) when I stumbled on a 9/11 documentary on the History Channel. It was a series of "man on the street" videos taken by real people and it was very moving. Afterward I vowed that from hereafter, I was going to say NO to the mope. Life is just too short. And although I'm aware that I'm very blessed in many aspects of my life, I am, by nature, fairly impatient and I know I be abrupt in my dealings with the kids, M, house, etc. I also tend to lose my shit pretty easily when people don't respond with as much alacrity as I'd like or when certain children start pushing my buttons. But I'd like to change all that. So. No more moping, pity parties, rolling of eyes, sighing, muttering under my breath, clenching of teeth, barking of orders (esp. for tasks like teeth brushing, but I'll reserve the right when it comes to homework), cynical epithets, clanging of utensils, and other myriad and sundry overt and subtle expressions of my inherent impatience. Instead, we're going to try for laid-back, sunny, cheerful, easy-going, kind and loving.

I do reserve the right to keep a secret stash of chocolate goodies hidden for my own private consumption during moments such as:

1) having to holler up the stairs for the nineteenth time that we're going to be late for school
2) the repeated punching or kicking of siblings
3) the ongoing battle over dividing the living room couch into "his side/her side" (for the kids, not M & I)
4) tuning out petty bickering
5) children who refuse to eat a meal, beg to be excused from the table and then request a snack five minutes later
6) kicking myself for procrastinating driving to Tampa to get necessary forms for upcoming Daisy registration meeting
7) crying jags that last longer than 5 minutes and that invariably end with someone throwing up
8) waking p at 5:30 after being woken up every half hour from 2:00 until 5:00 to: get water, find blankies, talk about bad dreams or fish fallen stuffed animals out from under beds/cribs

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.