SFT: Complaints

A big part of our purpose in this blog is to improve ourselves.  We like to work to improve our minds, bodies, and spirits and then share our trials and tribulations with you all.  We try to be uplifting and inspiring.  We often hear back that our comments are helpful to people.  But today, I want to ask you all for help.  Today, I need to complain.  Today, the SFT turns into the WTF.

I want to ask you all a question today.  What do you HATE?  What is it that makes you complain no matter how often you're exposed to it, no matter how much you've accepted it as a part of your life?  What is the one thing you deal with in your life that you would trade for something even slightly better in a heart beat?  Think about it...I bet you've got one or two things on your mind!

I have a couple things that drive me nuts, but the one thing that makes me a Crabby Christine above all else is...THE HUMIDITY!!!!  Summers in Wisconsin can get pretty hot and humid at times, but this year seems to be one of the worst I can recall experiencing.  We live near the lakeshore (Lake Michigan, that is) and it's typically pretty cool here in the summer.  As a kid, I can remember driving "to town" and as we'd cross the city and drive toward the lake, you could stick your arm out the window and feel the temperature dropping, 5, 10, 15, 20 degrees.  The first year we moved back to the area, I wore jeans all but maybe a week of the entire summer--seriously!  But this year...YUCK!  We have a little window AC unit that does little to nothing to keep us cool.  Okay, so it helps take the edge off, but when all is said and done, even with the AC on, it's still 82 degrees in here and I stick to the couch.  We also have only one car, which typically goes with my husband to work unless I need it for the day, thus getaways to the AC'd Wal-Mart for the kids and me are scarce.  To make matters worse, I'm nursing our 7-month-old, so I've got a little space-heater strapped to me all day long.

The heat, coupled with the humidity, just makes my mood sour.  I don't feel like eating, I don't feel like cleaning, and I don't feel like taking care of our three kids (who are also crabby because of the weather).  Even when it's a little cooler outside, if it's humid, I'm just not myself.  By the way, as I type this, my two-year-old is crying and yelling at me for NO APPARENT REASON.

I love winter.  I love fall.  Especially fall.  Fall is just so refreshing.  It's crisp and dry outside, the sun is often shining, the leaves are gorgeous, the bored children go back to school, everyone gets pumped up for football and the like, you can wear pretty much whatever you'd like because the weather allows for so much versatility...but hot, humid summers?  Pass.

So what drives you bananas?  And further more, how do you deal with it?  Are there things that make it easier to cope?  Do you imagine you're somewhere else?  Do you physically remove yourself from the situation?  Help!  Please!  Right now my best defense has been to be "lazy" (i.e. conserve energy) and to pray.  I pray for sanity a lot.  The one good thing to come out of this summer?  I have REALLY been keeping on top of our photo albums and our Shutterfly account :)

This has been this Sunday's WTF.

~Molly