Lately, I am becoming more and more aware of my whinitude. If I am not complaining about something I am not comfortable. It can really become as habit forming as my first love--Diet Coke- and much tougher to give up. I need a patch. Or at least some type of medication to wean me from the energy I am taking from this. And the energy it is taking from my life.

An old favorite joke:

Wife to Husband: But honey, I told you I wanted to vacation in the wine country.

Husband to Wife: Honey, everywhere I go with you in whine country.

I found this article online and while I know it is intended for children, maybe my friends, who really love me, can pretend to parent me through this...

How to Stop Whining in 4 Easy Steps
Whining is a habit your child developed over time, and it will take a little time to break it. But, don't despair; you can stop your child's whining habit. Here's how.
Notice when she whines and choose your response. Changing the pattern of whining begins when you change how you respond to it.
When you notice her whining, call her attention to it. Whining has become an unconscious habit by the time she reaches elementary school. She needs to learn to recognize it first. Some strategies you can try are:
Purposeful ignoring. You can even say "I'm ignoring you when you use your whiny voice. Try again in your normal voice and I'll pay attention."
Whine back. Use a bit of humor to cue her to notice her whining by showing what a whiny voice sounds like.
Stop her immediately when she whines and say, "Do you hear that you are whining? Tell me the same thing in your normal voice."
Tone of voice is the hallmark of whining, but the child's reaction to being told 'no' is another component of whining.
She needs to learn a new habit to replace whining, so help her learn the right approach to asking for what she wants. Asking politely is an important social skill that you can teach directly. To teach a child to accept 'no' for an answer can be more of a challenge. I like the approach from Common-Sense Parenting. Teach your child to:
Stop and look at Mom or Dad
Say "OK"
Stay calm. Do not argue or whine.
If you disagree, discuss it later, calmly and in private.
Reinforce non-whining. Focus on the problem for 2-3 months, and thereafter if the habit creeps back. Notice when she asks politely and when she accepts 'no' for an answer without whining. Praise and reward her to reinforce the new learning. When she does whine, pause, look at her, and call attention to the whining if necessary. Help her think through what she should say and how to practice the new learning. Watch your own whining too, so that social learning doesn't overcome your efforts to break your child's whining habit.

Enough for now...love to all.

While looking at the Type Pad website, I was led to read Scott Adams blog. Scott is the creator of Dilbert. I was so charmed by this post, until the end, when he declares he is an agnostic rather than a believer. I still think the argument is worth considering for those of us who believe in God.

The Atheist Who Thought He Was God
Can we ever be sure about anything in life?
Is a feeling of 99% certainty enough to say you “know” something? Or do you need to feel 99.9999999999% certain before you’re willing to commit?
If you say you need to be 100% certain, you don’t understand how human brains work. It’s common for the human brain to be certain about things that later turn out to be completely false. It happens all the time, to everyone. If it has ever happened to you, then you know you can’t trust your own powers of certainty.
This brings me to atheists. In order to be certain that God doesn’t exist, you have to possess a godlike mental capacity – the ability to be 100% certain. A human can’t be 100% certain about anything. Our brains aren’t that reliable. Therefore, to be a true atheist, you have to believe you are the very thing that you argue doesn’t exist: God.
Perhaps you will argue that being 99.999999% certain God doesn’t exist is just as good as being 100% sure. That strikes me as bad math. As other philosotainers have famously noted, a small chance of spending eternity in Hell has to be taken seriously. Eternity is a long time.
Let me put this in perspective. You might be willing to accept a 10% risk of going skiing and getting hurt, but you wouldn’t accept a 10% risk of a nuclear war. The larger the potential problem, the less risk you are willing to tolerate.
An eternity in Hell is the largest penalty there could ever be. So while you might not worry about a .00000000001% chance of ending up in Hell, you can’t deny the math. .00000000001% of eternity is a lot longer than your entire mortal life. Infinitely longer.
I sometimes call myself an atheist because it’s too hard to explain Spinoza’s version of god. And it’s too hard to explain that agnosticism is the only intellectually defensible position.

After reading this I hope you will feel more grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost, which testifies and communicates truth in a way no mortal man can, regardless of their brilliant humanity.

Enough for now...love to all.

We went to the Orange County Fair this weekend. I was very impressed. I remember going to the Strawberry Festival as a kid growing up in Garden Grove. This year's theme was "Cowabunga", hence the surfing cow sand sculpture. The Peking Acrobat troupe photos are fodder for a number of posts on balance, of which I am in sore need. One thing I did note. The older I get, the less I know how to have fun. My expectation that I should be able to meet every family members desire for a good time robs me. I fully get that this is my problem and also that I have indulged my children to the point that they believe everything is always about them. My parenting leaves much to desire. When they aren't satisfied with the outcome of what we do or where we go, I try to nail them with the "ungrateful" spiel.

Yesterday, Spencer and I were doing our visiting teaching. I know it is a little weird but I take him as my companion because both sisters I visit have little boys that love Spencer. At the second visit, the kids decided to whack each other with toys swords. One of the kids leveled a pretty good swing at Spencer's face right on his glasses and he ended up with a nasty bruise. On the way home in the car, he was telling me that he was trying to protect the youngest child, a little girl named Natalie, but that her brothers weren't showing their younger sister any mercy so he stepped in front of the sword. Spence and I have talked many times about the challenges (and benefits) of being the youngest. He told me the youngests' need to stick together. I told him that one of the blessings of being the youngest is that you learn compassion for others. You know what it feels like to be picked on and you don't want others to experience that hurt. He shook his head and said, "yeah, if you don't get killed before you grow up." He is a tender hearted soul and I will always be grateful for him in my life.

Enough for now...love to all.