Originally Posted by CWMI
Hm...what do you think about asking her to write them down instead? You could tell her that you want to address her complaints but are having trouble remembering all of them, so you thought a solution would be for either her or you to keep a list so that you can cross them off once they're done.

And then there's the side effect of seeing them written down--perhaps she is unaware of the number.

And crossing them off would help her see your efforts.

And writing down complaints that you can do nothing about *should* appear silly to her after a time. It would also encourage her to consider whether this is a write-it-down type of complaint, and having to think about that could curb her tendency to give voice to every irritant.

You'd have to be wary of using the list to mock her--you are to take her complaints seriously.

Its not so much a list of things that can be solved, it is a verbalization of anything that irritates her or stresses her out. There is also a tremendous amount of sighing and other kind of doom and gloom over things that she gets overwhelmed by. I guess I feel like I need to respond to them all and if I don't she says, "Uh huh," as if I'm ignoring her.

Married 15 years
12 y/o DD
10 y/o DS
6 y/o DD