PadawanOfHappiness

It is crazy I have never been quite so introspective as I have been since I started my weight loss journey.  In some ways weight loss is pure science, we know what calories are and what each food is in terms of calories, how much exercise burn in terms of calories, and we know which foods are better for us than others and even some that are really bad for us. That part is pretty straight forward and very much based in science. The art part comes in because we are human and as individuals and as such we are not going to react the same what to everything.  If you are doing your own journey you probably notice that there are some foods that seem to stick with you no matter what, and some it seems you can eat a ton of and that doesn't affect you (even if the reality is different than your perception).  And let's take into account that people can have food allergies, and some people can eat onions and they don't bother them and others cannot eat them without feeling mi...

Toy Story 4 and why I am practicing the concept of "spending out" The picture that started it all It all started with my youngest making a drawing and asking me to help him make it real.  He called it "trash" and was inspired by 'Forky' from Toy Story 4.  It was really cute and I did it without thinking, it was easy and I knew it would make him happy and create a happy memory.  This is my goal for the year to embrace and cultivate happiness, this is cool I can do this.  Then he wanted more of my craft supplies! 🤯 I took some deep breaths and thought "what would Gretchen do?"  The answer was to 'spend out'. Spending out is something that I think about often but it is really hard to do.  You may ask what "spending out" is and you can check out the information on Gretchen Rubin's site about the concept .  For me right now it means don't horde the craft supplies! Trash and the aliens I love craft supplies...

On my previous blog I had tracked some laundry hacks, honestly, laundry isn't that hard but for some reason, I just cannot stand doing it. Today's hack (really it started yesterday) is one that should work for people that work from home fairly easily.  If you work outside the home you might be able to tweak this one to work for you. When both Mr.Padawan and I worked outside the home laundry was a weekend thing and that took up a lot of time because it is not like we felt comfortable tossing a load in and then leaving for the day.  So when I went back to school full time and even now that I work from home it is much easier to deal with because I can do it during the workday. This is my morning set up: Sort the clothes Take them to the basement (where my laundry room is) and dump in a load and fill the detergent and softener bins.  But I don't actually start the machine because I am about to take the kids to school. Drop off kids Come home, and when I wal...

I can really relate to Liz's issue and I would have to say I would supplement her advice of "Go to the doctor" with "Tell the doctor the truth the whole truth". For me I told my doctor about the the pain in my shoulder, I kept thinking it would get better and then I just became used to it and well it was my new normal that I was in pain.  Crazy right?  Since I ignored and down played the pain my body got tired of it and went to its own version of Obliger Rebellion and said PAY ATTENTION TO ME.   Do you know what happens when when you get that bad?  For me it was an ambulance trip to the ER (now called 'the incident'). Don't worry I am fine but I could have avoided a lot of headache if I had not downplayed how much pain I was in, and I did it for a long time by the time I had hit the ER it was roughly 15 months of hoping it would get better.  It has been about 3 months since 'the incident' and I just graduated from physical therapy.  If o...