PadawanOfHappiness

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...

I have realized that I am really bad at posting to this personal blog on a regular basis, but I am pretty consistent with my business blog.  All things considered, since this is a personal nonmoney making blog I should be happy that I am consistent with the business blog. I also have to acknowledge that for the business blog I dedicate a day for that blog, I know that every Wednesday I have a blog to post and I have a list of ideas so I am not staring down a blank screen.  That list gives me direction to follow and that does make it a bit easier than this personal one. When I came up with the idea of 2019 being the year of Happiness the idea of the summer scared me the most and it still does to be quite frank.  When I was kid, and heck even when I was simply an adult even with kids but working in the corporate environment I really liked summer, so it is quite a change in me for me to be scared of it.   We are well into June at this point so I need to do someth...

Do you ever have things that need to be fixed but you never seem to get around to it, and you figure you get to it when you get to it?  Yeah me too and the vent on the shed was broken it did not make it through the winter, and while annoying because it was more thing to do and the weather was wet and crappy and didn't make it convenient to fix it.   Well, we got a clear and dry day so I headed out to inspect it in more detail because I didn't know when I would get my next chance.  I wanted this fixed because I could see it every time I looked out my kitchen window and even my bathroom window too.  The weather held for the weekend and I managed to take enough of the siding off to get to the vent to see what exactly I needed to replace and if these were two vents or one great big one.  Let me just say it was so gross with bits of broken plastic and debris from the trees and just pretty much nasty. With some help from Mr.Padawan we installed these ve...

We are just barely into the month of May which means 1/4 of the year is in the books and I figured it would be a good time to check in on my progress on my 9 for 2019 .  Let's just say that it is not good in terms of completing things off my list, however, in terms of feel good and happier, I think I am making progress.  Despite feeling happier not being on my 9 for 2019 I am ok with the progress I am making. My progress, if any, is noted in purple text next to the line item. 1 Shutterfly books for 2016. 2017, 2018 -  I have culled the photos for 2016 and uploaded them to Shutterfly but I have not yet made a book.  For me the hard part it selecting the photos, so I think I am going to try to collect the photos of all three years and then make books. 2 Finish Susan's afghan 3 Exercise at least 5 times a week -  I am getting closer to doing this 5 times a week but I am not yet there.  I have gone for stretches of time where I do hit my goal bu...

One of the frustrating things about committing to an exercise program is the fact that I feel I never lose weight, which has always been my goal. I never liked exercise and never got the endorphin high that many do, so if I am not losing weight I become discouraged easily. So what was I getting out of exercise if I wasn't losing weight, which was my purpose?  As you can see with that line of thought it was very easy to stop the exercise program.  However, even as I stopped and started I knew logically that I needed to continue it was important for me to do this, so I needed to come up with a new motivation. I sat and thought about some truths and accept my reality. I am never going to have those endorphins I have to accept that and I need to stop working for that. I know that when I exercise consistently my overall mood and happiness is elevated over the long term this is not a short term play for me. I know that for my emotional health, how I deal with stress from ...

 I finished Outer Order Inner Calm today in a fit of yes creating Outer Order!  I have had the book for a while (since I went to see her on March 6th and go the book) and finally told myself that yes I did in fact have time to read it so I did just that. One of these days I am going to manage to wrangle all my clutter and stuff to make a more peaceful home.  I do make progress and then I backslide but knock on wood I have never complete regressed it is more like three steps forward one back.  I am doing my best to not be too harsh on myself and keep myself focused on my wins rather than the regression. This morning I just could not get myself out of a mental and physical fog.  Last week the little Padawans were home for school vacation week, and of course, Easter was just this weekend.  There was a lot going on that is exhausting to me both physically and mentally so it should not have been a big surprise but it was.  I knew I had to get a lot ...

Schedules and lists I love them!  Yes, it really needs an exclamation point after that because I do love them, they make me happy, they allow me to be productive, they keep me focused.  I often feel that there is no downside to schedules, however, there really is a downside to them and I need to acknowledge that. What's fun for other people may not be fun for you--and vice versa.  ~ Secret of Adulthood from Gretchen Rubin This is very true and can also be changed slightly to "What works for me may not work for others."  Keeping that in mind is the first possible downside to schedules, lists, and plans; if someone is not a planner, then forcing planning on them maybe a negative thing, that person could see having a schedule a downside because they are not embracing who they are. Since I am by nature a scheduler and planner the biggest downside for me is that I can cling too tightly to that schedule/plan.  I have found that when I cling too tightly a sma...