where is happiness

One of the things they discussed on Oprah which is soooo true for so many people including me, in the past though , is that they think they will be happy when they get x. It can be more friends, more money, different job etc. If you are always looking for happiness that way like it will come in the future it wont. What you need to do is be happy with what you have in your life and the way your life is now ... even if you want change.
Guilty in the past... when I was in that daycare job I keep saying I will be happy when I leave this job. Yes it was true I was so much happier when I did leave but if you are always trying to catch or do something to get happiness but it is always in the future it will always be in the future.
If you do get what you think will make you happy once you get it wont. You will need the next fix to find happiness. They called it destination addiction.
I have discovered that I need to be happy where I am . Right now I have 12.5 permanent hours for awhile I was thinking I would be happy if I had 25 permanent hours. Yes I still want to achieve this and will apply for postings to get this but I decided lets sit back and look at where I am right now.
I took a close look at the school great school . I looked at the people and they are wonderful too and I am starting to make some close friendships too. I love what I am doing. The children are so sweet. I would love to stay here but we will see what 2009 has to hold for me. I just know whatever it is that I dont need to change to be happy I am happy the way I am right now.

Happiness with friends

Sorry for the delay this post but for 2 days I wasnt feeling very happy to write anything really. Tough days at my job but that has turned around. I work with an autistic child and she was having such a hard time when routines change so starting school again instead of sitting at home and doing whatever she wanted can be very tough. I was braced for it and ready. It turned around on Wed. and then I posted worked for me Wed so today is the continuation of the happiness post.
So on to friends where I was back years ago really the only friends I had I worked with. A few phone friends, yes the ones who you talk to on the phone but seldom see. I was really based on spending time with my daughter. I know that is not a bad thing but when that is the only thing and work not good.
Right before I made the change of jobs I saw an ad on a parenting website of a new womans group starting up. So that year I resolved to meet new people and get out on Sunday afternoons. I went to this group and didnt know one single sole. I made some connections with a few people. Then slowly I developed a strong bond with the wonderful woman who started the group. We both had children close to the same age so we could take out our children together or hang out together or just talk on the phone. That was the beginning of January 3 weeks later I quit my daycare job , lots of changes. I went to the group and did a lot of great activities and met a lot of new people . The big change for me was that I was doing something for myself . I told my hubbie that every Sunday afternoon was " me time". Over the time of this group people have come and gone but we are still accepting new members always and having so much fun. Last Sunday we went on a shopping trip!!!!! If you are in the Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario area and want to know more feel free to email me.
With this group having gone on for 3 years we had met a lot of people through Sunday afternoon presentations. Lisa and I decided to put on a woman's lifestyle /pampering show. We put the word out there and many were interested. Everyone we mentioned it to was so interested and wanted to join. Suffice to say it was a HUGE success we had over 400 people attend out first show without out many glitches. We are in the midst of planning a spring show too because our vendors asked us if we would. Wow !!!!!!! I made a lot of friends this way too !!!!!!! Oh and we have to find a bigger venue to hold it at because we already have grown !
I am on facebook and have connected with past friends which is awesome. I started this blog and if you are reading this you know who you are but I have made some awesome friends through this avenue too.
Friends may come and friends may go but I feel the ones we have in our lives are here for a reason. They may not last forever and that is okay too I enjoy them while they are there.
I am much happier having great friends and doing stuff for myself too. I find that the ones that arent making me happy or that are emotional drainers for me anyway go by the wayside. So the people in my life are suppose to be there . So surround yourself with people that are making you happy because life is too short!! We can pick our friends!!!!!!!!
As an aside I am off to pick up book 1 reccommended by Oprah on happiness. I will post a little about it once I have read it.

less paper

What works for me which I just found this week is the google calendar. I love this you can add events, details their times. I used to have a paper one but now all I do when I find something I want to attend or remember a date for I record it in the calendar. I can access it anywhere for me that is very useful because if I am at work and I find out about a meeting or something then I can record it then or access it to see what is going on for that date. I really love that it has the option of happens once, weekly, daily, monthly. It is so cool I am still playing around with it but I love that I am saving paper being green and it is free. Something small that you can do to decrease the paperwork we all have in our lives.
You can try this out at www.www.google.com/calendar

Happiness post

I was watching a repeat of Oprah this week and it was talking about how do you achieve true happiness in your life. There were only 5 questions they told you to answer . Answer each one on a scale of 1-7 then you would receive your score. If you want to try this you can take the test at
http://www.oprah.com/survey/oprahshow/20070411_tows_happy
So I listened to the show and got a lot of great quotes I am adding to my quote book.
The one thing that jumped out at me was the stories the guests told which can be viewed at http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/oprahshow1_ss_20070411/
I added two more books to my list of must read Happiness Now and Shift Happens. I have both on hold at the library and should be picking them up this week.
Okay so now on to my story and the happiness pursuit. Four years ago I was working in a daycare and loved it well I did before the big changes happened . My wonderful loving supervisor retired so we had someone new then the assistant supervisor on maternity leave decided not to come back.
It was a great place to work and everything was running smoothly so we thought. Well the new management didnt think so and changed everything !!!!
There was a lot more going on which I wont bother complaining about because it is in my past and I have dealt with it suffice to say the stress on my life and family just got to a boiling point and wasnt worth it. I was becoming someone I didnt want to be so I took charge. I sat hubbie down and told him can I quit I am just not happy. He thought I was off my rocker at first but then when I explained my plan he was onboard. Thanks James so much for being there loving and supporting me through my change. Okay so I explained to him that I would quit a very well paying job with benefits to have nothing really or nothing that was guaranteed. So the game plan was to supply for various daycares I had supplied for in the past. It worked I was so busy. Then after about a month I got a call from our school board to see if I was still interested in supplying as an educational assistant for them. Yes of course! Something I never thought I could do or reach in this lifetime. It seemed to be beyond anyones reach in daycare to work for the schools or the University daycare. Well guess what happened next.... the university daycare called too
Wow I started working there two days a week and supplying for the schools 3 days a week off and on when needed. I was proud of myself for achieving these accomplishments in 2 months of quitting my stressful job.
I supplied at a school for 2 1/2 days and they offered me a part-time position in their school for the following Sept. Wow I was thrilled so I gladly accepted and worked part-time that year.
I filled in for a sick leave there for 12 weeks working full time too. I loved working there !!!
Then I applied for another position within the school board and got it for the following year
more hours . Started out at 22.5 during the interview and by the time I started was 27.5.
Wow I was really lucky. Then at the end of last year I was transferred to another school and 12.5 of my hours because permanent so I had made it I was in !!!!!!!!!!!!!! This year I work at two schools both 12.5. I was lucky and one of my resourse staff reccommended me to another school where I was able to pick up 12.5 too.
So the happiness thing for me these days is pretty out of the sky. I was glad that when my happiness was comprimised I was able to see it and move on. I had space to fill and the jobs that once I had thought they were out of my reach werent they were right there waiting for the right time. See the trust factor in action again !!!!!!!!!!!!
So if you have read this far kudos this is the story of happiness with work... stay tuned tomorrow for happiness with friends and the changes I have made there too !!!!!!!!
If I had taken that quiz back 4 years ago I would have been at the bottom but thanks to listening to my heart I took the chance and leap. It turned out awesome. I think we are always afraid of change but we shouldnt be just jump and trust.

My word

Okay so I have noticed there are alot of bloggers not doing new years resolutions but picking a word. A few years ago at a womans show I attended they told us about doing this and then taking the word and framing it and to really concentrate that year on that word. I thought and thought and came up with the word trust. This has been my word for a long time and it means so much to me it doesnt change year to year for me.
Trust to me means to trust your friends, family, co-workers that they will be there for you. Trust they will support you in what you want to do. Trust also means to me that everything will work out the way it is suppose to. I really leaned on this word 4 years ago when I decided to change my life.
I left a good benefit paying job because of the stress and it was not worth it to me anymore . I loved my job and at one point thought I would do it for life but that was not to be. There were a lot of changes that happened and it became a place I dreaded going to. So I decided to leave having nothing to lean on. Hubbie supported me and I asked him to trust me for a year and see what would happen. Well big changes happened for me which I will blog tomorrow about happiness so stay tuned.
So the word trust I wanted around my house to remind me of it always but I couldnt find anything with the word trust just believe . Yes it was close but it was not my word!!!!!!
So two fabulous friends knew how important it was for me and they both helped me out. A great friend named Suzy made me some clay stones that said trust which I have added to the other word stones I have found. Thanks Suzy they are awesome!!!!!!
One of my other great friends Lisa she works for a sign shop and for my birthday this year she surprised me with a wooden trust sign. I love it and thanks so much Lisa!!!!!!!! I have it right by my computer and look at it daily.
So stay tuned tomorrow to read about happiness post and more details on how happiness is in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are the updated pics of Angel

Angel is growing and changing so much each day. I am afraid by summer if she keeps growing at this rate she will either be as tall as me or possibly taller. Wow times flies when you are having fun!!!!!!!!! I dont think this mommy is ready for her baby to grow up but I guess it will happen anyways.

Livingroom Clean Up

When I started cleaning the living room up I didnt remember that Laura at Orgjunkie was having a contest to clean the living room this month so I am sorry I dont have before pics just the after which I am thrilled with. I will explain what I did to each area.

5)My daughter had all her toys piled here now the ones that were left are on the bottom shelf of the wooden cupboard. Angel got rid of a whole garbage bag here of her stuff and junk.

4)) I cleaned up the cupboard and moved some stuff out and got rid of a lot of stuff another garbage bag. I wanted to contain Angel's things in the livingroom it worked. I found the snowman that I moved out to display which I know love ! I got rid of a lot of stuff and put some things in the places they belonged.

3) this was just full of junk it all got dumped to the garbage and started fresh with a purse drawer which she is thrilled with. She loves purses and now they have a home !!!!!!!!!

2I went through these two baskets and all the stuff piled high. This is the one area that changed drastically. I threw out another whole garbage bag of papers and junk. I want her to have one basket for books downstairs . I moved the dressup things to our dressup bag. Another just moving it their home.

1)This spot had a pot with earth in it growing nothing. I got rid of the dirt because I loved the pot Angel made. It also had things just thrown in so organized it and got rid of a lot of stuff. Now I love the feel of this area. I made this my snowman area since I had room. I can keep them up for a bit or put them away with the christmas stuff we will see. I am not sure what is going there when it is all put away.

I was really happy with this clean up because I accomplished what I wanted to do. So for me the livingroom is totally gone through and organized into home spots. It did take me awhile about 4 hours or so which I did in one stint because that was my plan.