Observation or Complaint?

So while I was at my sister's home earlier this month, I was treated to a sleepover with her cat, Motor.  And I don't use the word treated lightly, because Motor typically won't give me the time of day, so when he crawled into bed with me, I considered it the cat's meow!

Click on Motor's portrait to read What Motor Knows.

After a steam and a shower, I was feeling like a queen in her castle that night, in my sister's loft, with Motor snuggled in next to me, a good night's sleep knocking on my door, until . . .  Motor started to snore.  

And not just soft, serene snoring, either.  He gurgled and gulped and sniffed and snorted.  At first, I figured he was just getting comfortable, then I thought maybe he'll stop once this bad dream he must be having passes, but, the way I remember it, Motor pretty much snored into the wee hours of the morning.  (Unfortunately, we won't have time to talk about 

how I feel about snoring in this particular post!)

Excited to find out if Motor had actually stayed up there with me, Debra's husband asked the next morning how it went.  I simply responded, "Motor Snores!"  I don't know if it was my tone or the bags under my eyes (or both) that prompted his inquiry, but it kind of took whatever wind I had left out of my sails:  

Is that an observation or a complaint?

You see, at this time last year, I was reading this book - A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen - and Rick and I had talked at length about complaining, how we felt about it, why people do it, how we've aspired to stop, and whether wearing a bracelet on your wrist to help you remember NOT to complain would really work. The idea behind the book's 21-day challenge is to put on the purple wristband, switch it to the other wrist every time you complain, and see if you can keep it on one wrist for 
a 21-day consecutive stretch.

The book made me SO much more aware of the toxicity of complaining. And, while I didn't mean to complain about Motor, necessarily, there were so many more uplifting things I could have chosen to focus on instead of making the observation that sounded an awful LOT like a complaint.  Ugh.  

I'm looking for that bracelet now. 

Anyone up for a book study?