But the book overall makes me think. I’ve been thinking about the past and what has made me happy or unhappy. It also makes me wish. And I think having a dream is good. It’s good to know what you want instead of just what you don’t want. Also I’m hoping to make some improvements to my life now, using some of the tips.

The first chapter in the book is about energy. Thinking about it, energy is my main down-point. Because I feel tired, I don’t do a lot of housework, I can’t stay up to read or study, And also because I’m always scared of getting a headache, I can’t go on a diet. So I keep gaining weight. Her first resolution to gain more energy in this chapter is to sleep early. My son sleeps around 8 and I usually sleep at 12 and wake up at 7. So this gives me just 4 hours, to cook, eat dinner, clean up and maybe a little time for myself.  I know if I sleep earlier I would be more rested but then I lose me-time. But if I cook between 5-7 then I could sleep at 11 and wake up at 6. This way I have time to take a shower and make breakfast before my son wakes up, which is something that would definitely make me happy.

• make a meal plan for the week
• cook dinner between 5-7
• sleep at 11
• wake up at 6
• don’t waste time half-sleep in the bed

In 6th grade I was accepted in a school for gifted students. I was so excited about the whole school and the cool teachers. I liked it that the courses were not boring anymore but then at the same time I had lost my place being always on the top. This was hard for me and I remember crying over so many little things. But I found out that no matter how much catching up I had to do in other courses I was good in math. This gave me a source of pride, so I wasn’t totally unhappy.

In 11th grade for some reason it got into my head that I didn’t like living in our city. I wanted to go to the capital city. I was seriously negotiating it with my mom and dad. Now that I think about it part of it was because my best friend of the past 3 years had left the school so maybe that had sth to do with it.

If I want to analyze it now I think I was happy in school because I had something to do and I was good at it (at least there were subjects that I was good at). I also had close friends. Almost all through high school I had one very close friend and I was good friends with 3-4 more people. And now these are the exact things that I don’t have now.

But reading The Happiness Project book tempted me to write more about happiness. I will write more about each chapter soon.

As a first step, I cleaned our bedroom last night. Since my son is born we spend most of our time in our bedroom. I hate it but since our living room is next to his room, we don’t want to wake him up. Hopefully that changes when we go to a new house, but for now our bedroom was a mess. So I tided up a little bit to make it more livable.

I also set the alarm on my phone to wake up at 7:20 to take a shower before my son wakes up. I hope I can do this everyday. Ok now he is up and I have to go but I’ll write more of the things I want to do and what I have done.

So for tomorrow, we are going out to look at some houses. So I should prepare my son’s bag and clothes. Since we may be out until noon I should take his lunch too. But fortunately his food is already made. I should think about what I want to wear also.

We don’t have any plans for the afternoon. I should think about that too.

- I made another alphabet letter (C).

- I also ordered some yarn to make this hat for my son.

Today:

- Did 3 loads of laundry!

- Went through the pile of bills and letters and almost took care of them all.

- Bought some plastic storage bins to organize my son’s old clothes. I should probably get rid of most of them. But I don’t know how. I wish there was a yard sale I could sell them for 2$ each! Somehow giving all these clothes to goodwill seems hard. What would make me most content was if I could give them to somebody I knew. But I didn’t want to use secondhand clothes for my son, why would anybody else?

But to my bad luck my right hand ring finger hurts so bad. I know it’s probably because of scrolling with my trackpad but now typing and sewing and knitting all hurt. I hope it doesn’t get worse.

These past days I’ve been very depressed which I don’t want to go into but I realize now that I shouldn’t base my happiness on external circumstances. I should only think about myself and what I can do to make myself happier and not dream about events or people to change things for me.

So I’ve decided to make this my 30 day project. To do things that make me happy and fulfilled and satisfied no matter what happens around me.

I’ll report more.

1. Make pants for my son
2. Make felt alphabets
3. Finish his first year photo book
4. Finish his memory book
5. Make a playlist of baby music on my iPhone
6. Knit a hat for him
7. Knit a scarf for myself
8. Finish up the afghan I made
9. Learn Spanish
10. Learn how to write iPhone apps
11. Read more books
12. Find a way to organize and manage the fridge
13. Find a system to keep the house clean
14. Have a herb garden
15. Lose weight
16. Keep a diary one for my son and one for myself

That’s it for now. I think the next step is to think how I want to prioritize and then start doing them.

Of course I was very tired and slept sooner than usual. Since we hadn’t invited anyone for my son’s birthday we though we could go to a brunch near La Jolla beach with a couple of friends we know here. It was a nice brunch. We sat outside and the weather was great. The food was also good. Of course I had to eat fast and take care of my son. But for some reason I felt going out again. So after my son took his nap we went to downtown La Jolla again and had Thai food. Thai food is my absolute favorite food and this one was really good. I ordered a curry which was good. My husband ordered a halibut which was really really good. I didn’t know they use Tamarind in Thai food too. The food almost tasted similar to a food we make with Tamarind and fish in Iran. But of course a lot more fancier.

Ok so this is the end of the 30 day challenge. I haven’t thought about the next challenge and I feel bad that I didn’t do this one perfectly. But I think it was a big accomplishment anyway. We’ll see if I can continue writing more often even if it’s not everyday.

In the weekly emails I get from baby center the subject had changed from “your baby” to “your toddler”. Yes I have a toddler now. I can’t believe he is growing so fast. I’m sure I will miss these days but on the other hand I cant wait to talk to him about his day and discuss politics and love and life. I know that’s cliche but maybe motherhood is cliche.