Happiness...the finish line, but just beginning...

So today's the day...last day of my happiness challenge. I guess over the last week or so I've been reflecting on this challenge and what it meant to me, what I hoped to achieve and everything that has happened in between.

I remember the first day I decided to do this challenge, the thought of changing my lens on how I view the world was really appealing. I didn't know if it was going to work but nothing ventured, nothing gained right? It's really interesting to read my first post and how hopeful I was and am so gratified that I decided to do it, and pushed through the hard days.

Today has been a little difficult as we are home sick again today - E woke up worse if anything, so I really have my fingers crossed that these antibiotics kick in sooner rather than later. He alternates between warm and sweaty and cold and clammy and the tummy pains have been coming rather than going...not good. I've been dosing him up with lots of vitamins so here's hoping his immune system decides to give a roundhouse kick to all these yukky germs he's got going on.

So it's been pretty non-eventful which isn't exactly the way I wanted to end the challenge - I kind of wanted to go out with a bang. So I might take a different tack today and look overall at my challenge and what I'm grateful for.

Gratitudes:

• Overall, for the past 21 days life has been a roller coaster. When looking back, I can hardly believe that we are now in the situation that we are in, with an imminent move and a complete change to our whole lives. Three weeks ago my Toowoomba Project was in the pipeline, but definitely more in the 'I wish we could' category. Now just a few short weeks later, I now have a fabulous new job, resigned my existing one and gotten a wonderful (I hope) new place to live. Wow. If you'd told me this on Day 1 of the challenge, I probably wouldn't have believed you!
• I am really grateful for the meditation part of the challenge. I have slept better and been calmer than I thought possible during all of this change. It definitely helps keep any anxiety at bay. In fact, before my job interview I was so ridiculously nervous! You have to understand it's been such a long time since I had an interview and I was so rusty, so much was riding on it, I sat in the carpark there in Toowoomba absolutely freaking out. But I took a few deep breaths and spent five minutes clearing my mind and convincing myself that 'you got this'. And I did!
• One thing about being at home again today is that I actually made some real headway into my list. Removalists? Done! Electricity disconnect/reconnect? Done! Phone and internet? Done! I've also advised E's school of his imminent departure, paid the deposit on my new place and of course spent some time fart-assing about transcribing my list onto my Ipad. As you do. I even cracked a few boxes and quickly filled three or four before the momentum stalled. I've also taken some paint off a wall that I need to have repaired and thankfully my extremely handy builder friend has volunteered to fix this over the weekend. Handy friends are good to have and I'm pleased that my singular friend in Toowoomba has a very handy husband who I might have to borrow from time to time. Hey, remember I come from a family of women, who were generally in property management who had handy friends in high places on speed dial. And the less we say about my father's so-called 'handyman' skills, the better. Don't get me started on the time he cleaned the fish tank filter - let's just say it took 5 minutes to dismantle and 2 weeks to re-mantle (if that's a word). Enough said

Journal:
What a crazy couple of weeks, huh? I'm really looking forward to settling into our new place and letting life return to some sense of normalcy. I do feel so much better knowing that most of the important things are now under control - the only critical things left are to organise carpet cleaning and enrol E in his new school. Did I mention we google earth-ed our place and completely accidentally have managed to get a house 2 blocks from the nearest primary school? So awesome - E is used to having to get up so early to bus it to school and now he'll be able to roll out of bed and rock up in 5 minutes. So good.

Dad just rang and they are in Toowoomba tonight and he drove past our new place and has given the thumbs up. Apparently it's a beautiful street full of trees and lovely homes although he did say that the basketball hoop is missing (sadface). Will need to remedy that stat.

So now I look forward to all of the things I want to do in Tooowoomba, there's so many I'll have to make another list! First item on the agenda is to organise regular walking excursions with Willow and E and we're also going to take up yoga. I've been hearing so much lately about the benefits of hot yoga and really want to check it out - this sad old body could definitely make good use of sweating out some toxins. And as promised to my future self I need to start taking better care of me.

Other items high on the agenda is of course setting up our new place and maybe I'll even get an outdoor setting! I have an enormous balcony here but due to my champagne tastes/beer budget I have spent the last three years with this huge space filled with a BBQ and three plastic chairs. I have a covered outdoor area at my new place, according to the ad, however as it's at the back of the house and there's people still living there, dad wasn't able to report back on what it was like (no photos available on the ad unfortunately). With winter coming up I guess we'll be huddled inside for a few months so it will give me time to look around and save up for what I really want.

It's exciting to be moving somewhere I've never lived into a house I've never actually seen - the ad showed pics of a lounge room, great kitchen (with dishwasher - total necessity) and garage only. So the bedrooms, bathroom and outside are all going to be a surprise - hopefully a nice one. I'd like to think that with such a fantastic kitchen the rest of the house will match up too - however if not we can always move again although obviously this is something I'd like to avoid.

So happiness challenge - done. I really do think it has been so incredibly beneficial and I would highly recommend it to anyone in need of a bit of happiness in their lives. There were a few tough days thrown in the mix but ultimately I managed to find three gratitudes every single day, even if some of them were fairly lame! Every day got easier though, so I guess this tiny mind has programmed itself to look for the upside, which is what I wanted to achieve out of this all along. I have also learned to enjoy the now instead of 'being happy when'. Even despite sickness, anxiety and some major changes, life has been pretty damned good.

Random act of kindness:
Due to our housebound status, this is again really lame and consists of E getting a treat today consisting of his first taste of the new type of Rice Bubble bars - strawberry flavoured. Apparently it was delicious. I feel a bit let down as I kind of wanted to do something spectacular but I guess it's the consistency of taking the time to do something nice for someone every day that is the point.

Meditation:
Overall I may have fallen asleep in the middle of my poor attempts more times than I can count, but as I mentioned before, I've slept better and managed stress better than I have in ages so I really think this is something I'll try to incorporate into daily life from here-on out.

I hope this finds you at the end of your own challenge, if you did do it (or something similar) I'd love to hear how you went with it. Is there anything you do on a daily or regular basis that makes you happy? I feel like my future is wide-open and I'm really keen to try some new things so any suggestions would be welcome!

I leave you now with some photos that always make me smile...of course they're all of E!

xx

Happiness. Seeing the end of the tunnel. Day 20

So it's now just one more sleep before the end of my happiness challenge and there's a part of me that's quite relieved as this challenge really does have a habit of ruling your life and sucking your creativity - let's face it, it seems a little hypocritical to write a snarky post when you're striving to be happy and good!

However, there is a big part that will be quite sad to see it end.

I have promised myself to somehow incorporate the happiness challenge in my day to day existence - I mean, the whole point of doing it was to reprogramme the grey matter to think positively, right? If I feel myself backsliding I may have to publicly air my gratitudes and kindnesses from time to time on my blog, as it's better than a public lashing, yeah? At least for me.

So for the second-to-last time, here's my challenge for today:

Gratitudes:

• We went down to the carpark today to get the car and take E to the doctor only for the lift doors to open to the most horrific smell! Turns out there's a HUGE problem with our sewerage system and there was a plumber with his big truck trying to remedy it. Before the words registered, I said to E 'it could be worse, you could have a crap job like his' - and then realised this poor bugger literally DOES have a crap job...Bet his day was worse than mine
• Whilst getting up early, getting ready for work and then finding out that I have to stay home with a sick boy is not a fun experience, I did manage to get some mid-week cuddles that are such a rarety these days. I hate E being sick but he gets very cuddly when he's not feeling well and is so very cute. So I am happy for that, if not for the circumstances
• Thirdly I am grateful my new discovery and boredom killer...Scramble With Friends. Although apparently I'm a natural at this and already two friends have declined to play again as I've kicked their butt which I think is just bad form ha

Journal:
So an unexpected day at home today, with Elijah being unwell. The doc confirmed potential tonsilitis so he's been prescribed antibiotics to relieve it which is great - hopefully these will kick in soon. The main issue is the stomach migraines which have reared again, I guess in place of the raging headaches I've been experiencing (but which thankfully seem to be easing this afternoon).

So we've not done a whole lot today except the doctor and a quick shopping run and a bit of work and surprise surprise...more list making. Maybe I'll actually sit down and ACTION these lists soon, but not today.

Random act of kindness:
I bought E a cheesymite scroll after the doctors. We had to wait for almost an hour for our appointment and he was so good, although about to fall asleep and bored witless! Once again E delights me by his excitement over the simplest of things. Love him to bits.

Meditation:
Another success - made it through and then slept soundly, yea for me!

So tomorrow being another day, is also the last day of my challenge. Let's make it a good one!

Hope you're having a fantastic day, let me know if you have any happy news to share! Make sure you subscribe by hitting on the buttons below! I'd love to hear from you.

xx

Sick kids. Advertising. And Ninjago...what else?

I'm at home with a sick child today, E has been suffering recurring tummy pains for years that have been investigated up the wazoo, with the only theory being that he suffers from 'stomach migraines'. I'd never even heard of such a thing, but after suffering alongside E when they attack, I can assure you it is real and awful with his pain being about a '9' on the scale and has him hugging a wheat pack and hanging over a bucket for the duration. The only small mercies are that he doesn't usually vomit, just feels extreme nausea, and doctors have assured me they generally grow out of these in their teens, something to do with their systems being immature when they're younger and sending pain messages the wrong way. Here's hoping.

So he's been in pain since Sunday and also complaining of a sore throat. As I have been headachy and sore throat-y myself, I'm wondering if we've picked up the same bug and his has just manifested in his stomach instead of his head, like mine.

Anyway so I've been catching up on work emails and doing bits and pieces whilst waiting for our doctors appointment just after lunch. I hate having time off so close to my finish date but when you have a sick child, what do you do? I think this is a lament famous among pretty much every working mother in the world, yeah?

The guilt can really eat you up, you feel guilty if you stay home, you feel guilty if you go to work and send your unwell child to school, it's an awful feeling. You always want to put your kids first but we've been on this tummy merry-go-round for a while now and it does become draining.

Hopefully the doctor will be able to figure things out and I can have my gorgeous, ridiculously energetic guy back soon.

Moving on...

So anyway, in the last week or two you may have noticed an ad or two popping up on my blog.

I write this blog because I enjoy writing and hope that occasionally something I say or something dumb I do that I relate to you resonates, makes you laugh or think or makes you want to slap me. I don't mind, unless you actually do slap me, in which case I probably WOULD mind. Or cry. Or something.

You could say I write for the love of it. Most days.

However, I am human, and a broke human at that, so I thought if I could actually get something tangible (read: cold hard cash or at least a free sample or two) out of something I love, then is that a bad thing? Don't they say that if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life?

Well I won't be giving up the day job in any great hurry but I have made the decision to put a few ads on my site.

Never fear, there won't suddenly be some carnival-esque flashing banner across the top with a 'brought to you by' flash video popping up on your screens, but I have made contact with a few businesses that I regularly use myself and that perhaps might be of interest to you as well.

If like me you're into reading and makeup and playing more with your kids toys than they do, then maybe you'll find something that piques your interest. And if not, you can scroll on by, that's all good too.

You can be sure that I would never advertise anything that I don't use myself, and I'm proud to say that I am a loyal customer of all of the businesses I have chosen to advertise and would recommend them highly. In fact, I've just spent the morning on the Lego website picking out presents for E's birthday in July. Love the fact that I can access products that I can't find in stores! And the website is so damned cool. At E's age he is really into creating his own pieces, so I am absolutely loving the bricks section where you can choose windows, doors, ladders, fences, pretty much whatever you like. I remember these from when I was a kid, but these days you can't just buy the pieces in the stores. And of course, there's Ninjago...a whole section just for this. I don't think I'll show it to E just yet as there's still a few months to his birthday and I'd prefer to contain the pestering and heavy hint dropping until a later date.

xx