Do Something About It Day

So why am I starting a blog? 

This morning I was reading the paper while waiting for my daughters to get on the bus, and I saw local columnist Ruth Wong's article "Pick a Day to Act Upon Life's Little Annoyances." (I would post a link to the article if I knew how--maybe later!) 

 So right away that title caught my eye, because my life is full of little annoyances! (And some of them are watching Elmo's World right now. Just kidding!) 

 Anyways, she starts out by saying that there are all sorts of stupid "days" out there, like National Sweatpants Day (Nov4) or whatever, and that this Friday is "Make Your Own Holiday." 

So Ruth proposes (and I hope I can call her Ruth; we've never met...) "National Do Something About It Day." She tells a little story about a woman she overheard complaining about how there were so many toothpaste spots on her mirror she couldn't even see her own face. And Ruth wonders...Why doesn't this lady just WIPE OFF THE DANG MIRROR!? 

And my first thought is, SERIOUSLY! Just get a towel, lady! DUH! 

But then I thought about how today I walked out the door and saw, under the tree in my front yard: two empty soda cans, three empty plastic bottles with their lids scattered separately about, some candy wrappers, several broken plastic fast-food toys, a notebook, and the spray-painted top from a can of spray-paint. 

Do the homeless often camp in my yard, you wonder? No! I have five children, who can be as messy as twice as many bums sometimes! 

Was my first act to pick up the debris and throw it away? No, my first thought was, I've got to make those kids pick this junk up as soon as they get home! 

So, back to the Toothpaste Mirror Lady: Maybe they weren't her toothpaste spots! (This is likely, as women rarely make as many toothpaste spots as men and kids do. It's a proven scientific fact; I dare you to look it up.) 

Maybe she was sick of wiping up other people's toothpaste spots every day, and she just decided to let the spots keep accumulating until SOMEBODY ELSE wiped them up! (She's probably in for a long wait.) 

And maybe she just wanted to vent to her friend about something that was bugging her, and she didn't want the obvious advice that would follow her complaint.

So I think I'll declare National Complain About It Day instead! And that's why I'm starting a blog! 

Oh, and by the way, I caved, and picked up the mess myself....