Washing Away Winter (April 2011)

"Spring makes everything look filthy." 
- Katherine Whitehorn

Well, look there. That’s where my second cookie sheet disappeared to. And how’d my earring get back there? Amazing what we find when we move the stove…

I had a few requests to write about Spring Cleaning, which I agreed to address this month. To get in the spirit, I decided to begin the process for myself, starting with cleaning behind my stove. Not too bad back there; the expected dirt and dustballs, and only one tiny, dessicated shrew.

Why start with my stove? Well, partly because it’s easy to move, which makes it a simple success. But cleaning baseboards is also a quick, easy success, and I didn’t choose to start with them. I began in the kitchen because I associate Spring Cleaning with Passover, when we remove all the chametz (anything that has or can leaven) from the home. I am by no means thorough or orthodox in my approach to cleaning for Passover (technically, I’m not supposed to start until the new moon), but it’s as good an excuse as any to get behind the stove and wipe down the cupboards.

I have a friend who used to give me a hard time because I sweep my floors (almost) every day. But I can feel the difference energetically when I sweep; it lifts and removes not only dirt, but the energy that has drifted to the floor and begun to stagnate. Spring Cleaning removes a winter’s worth of stagnation from our home. It’s when we open the doors and windows, shake out the rugs, and wash everything we can think of – when we sweep and rinse months of cooped-up energy back outdoors.

Spring Cleaning is also one of several opportunities throughout the year to get a fresh start, to begin with a clean slate, if you will. Some people consider our inflated (risen) egos as another form of chametz. Which means that this time of year can also be a good opportunity to take a thorough inventory of ourselves and to remove the stagnations and impurities, the inflations, from within. Who knows? Maybe when we look inside – like when I looked behind my stove – it won’t be too bad, and we’ll even find something valuable that we’d thought we’d lost.

Tip of the Month

Remember: being clean is NOT the same as being organized. I’m organized. But living in the (muddy) country with four cats and heating with a wood stove makes it near impossible to keep my house clean. Tidy, yes. Immaculate? Hah! I don’t even try.

Still, being organized makes cleaning easier. Less clutter means less obstacles and less work. And applying a couple basic principles can help. Specifically, Keep It Simple Sweetie encourages us to:

Make a list of the projects we want to accomplish (so that we don’t have to hold it in our head, which can be stressful and ineffective).

Then do them one at a time spread out over time, rather than exhaust yourself trying to do them all in one day.

Principle #12, Ask for Help, is another life-saver. This can be anything from sweet-talking a strong friend into moving the fridge to coercing the kids into wiping down the baseboards. Or getting your good buddy to come over and keep you laughing while you work. If you can afford to do so, you could also hire someone to Spring Clean for you.

Quotes of the Month

All Nature seems at work.
Slugs leave their lair

The bees are stirring, birds are on the wing,

And Winter slumbering in the open air,

Wears on his smiling face a dream of spring. -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

This outward spring and garden are a reflection of the inward garden. -- Rumi

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. -- Carl Jung

Strive each day to make your life purer, richer, and more luminous. You will subtly and imperceptibly lead all of creation heavenward. -- Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Recipe of the Month
Southeast Asian Shrimp/Rice Noodle Salad

Chop and lay out on a large platter:
One small head of lettuce (I use red butter)
A healthy handful of fresh cilantro
Several sprigs of fresh mint

You can also add a grated carrot and/or sliced green onions.

Top the vegetables with approximately 4 ounces of cooked rice noodles (Maifun).

Cook shelled shrimp in a dry skillet. (I am generous with the shrimp, usually allotting 9 or 10 for each person. Wood’s Wild American White Shrimp is especially delicious, and wild caught.) Place the shrimp on top of the cooked noodles.

Drizzle dressing over the salad, and sprinkle with toasted peanuts.

Dressing: (adjust to taste)
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
6 Tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 teaspoons sugar
grated ginger

Light, Life, and Love

Dang, the holidays come faster every year! It’s hard enough seeing Christmas decorations in the stores before Halloween is even over. But this year even Hannukah comes early. It starts tonight: December first. Have you noticed how everything feels speeded up?

Thank goodness we don’t have to fall lock-step into holiday madness. One of the biggest secrets to a happy holiday season is staying conscious – making choices based on our values instead of automatically doing what we think is expected of us.

Of course, this sounds easier than it is. Even though I don’t celebrate Christmas and haven’t done so for 25 years, I feel myself drawn – nay, sucked in – to the consumerist vortex. I drive past the Christmas tree lots and think “Oh, I’d like to buy a tree!” Never mind that I have nowhere to put it and nothing to decorate it with; never mind what the cats would do to it if I did have decorations; never mind that I’m Jewish – I see the trees and start wanting one. The same dynamic occurs with shopping for presents. It’s a challenge to avoid being consumed by consumerism!

And yet, if I am to remain true to my values, I must resist spending money I don’t readily have on things that my loved ones don’t really need. For me, this time of year is about the solstice, about feasting our way through the dark nights and celebrating the return of light and life (which, some propose, is also what Hannukah and Christmas are about). It is about illuminating the love we share.

I realize that many of my readers do celebrate Christmas, though, that checking out of the holiday altogether isn’t a desired option. For those of you who love Christmas, I encourage you to ask yourself what’s most important to you and then focus on that.

May this be your most joyous holiday yet!

Blessings,

Claire Josefine


Tip of the Month

Think about past years – what went well during the holidays, what didn't, and what you'd change if you could. Then make a list of what you most want to do this season. Sit down with your calendar and write it in. Be realistic, and don’t overextend yourself. The consequences are rarely worth it!

Also, start a holiday binder. Put a calendar in it and note what you did, when. Include lists for holiday card recipients, gifts given (and to whom), invitations sent, and menus. You may want to keep your holiday recipes here, too, as well as any notes for next year.

Quotes of the Month

There is no use pretending that the sun is always bright; there is no use pretending that the moon is always full. It is only by recognizing the season of darkness that we know it is time to light the candles, to sow a seed of light that can sprout and spring forth, later in the year.
– Arthur Waskow Seasons of Our Joy

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
– Wendell Berry

The universe is a constant explosion of Light. Every moment of kindness, compassion and forgiveness is a new star that's being born.
– Marianne Williamson


Recipe of the Month
Latkes

Grandma said, with a thick Yiddish accent, “You grate some potatoes and onion, add egg and flour and salt – try not to grate your knuckles – and fry it up in oil.” That’s pretty much it, although some folks prefer to use matzo meal to flour and, of course, Grandma’s recipe is a bit shy on measurements. So here’s the recipe from Sara Kasdan’s Love and Knishes (parenthetical comments are mine):

2 cups grated potatoes, drained (I use Russets)
1 yellow onion, grated
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 rounded Tablespoon flour or matzo meal
pinch of baking powder (I never used this, but it would give a nice bit of leavening)

Combine all ingredients. Mix well. Drop pancake mixture by the Tablespoonful onto a hot skillet generously greased with butter or shortening. (I use canola oil.) If you like thin, crisp pancakes, flatten with the back of a spoon. Fry on both sides until brown. Serve piping hot with sour cream, or with applesauce.

And then she adds a note: “This recipe should serve 4 to 6 people, but when some people see potato latkes they act like they haven’t eaten for a week. They will want to make from latkes alone a meal. When you have people who enjoy so much, so you won’t mind grating potatoes all day long.”

An Interview with Claire and Kim

If you're interested, here is a new online interview with me, conducted by Kim Caldwell (who wrote a book about how green smoothies saved her life). The sound quality is a bit uneven, but the content is good. Enjoy!

Can Organizing Be Spiritual?

September 2010 Newsletter

September 9th is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. A time for renewal, Rosh Hashanah is also a time for reflection, for making amends, paying our debts, and changing our behavior in an on-going effort to become a better human being. The holiday is celebrated with apples and honey – with wishes for a sweet year ahead. Its observation also includes Tashlich – the casting of one’s sins upon the waters. (Usually this is done by emptying the lint or bread crumbs from one’s pockets into a body of running water.)

While the obvious theme for September would be “back to school,” I just couldn’t bring myself to write about anything quite so predictable. I admit to being tempted when I saw “chickens” listed as a September theme on a themes-by-the-month web site, but not everyone loves chickens as much as I do. Besides, how would I tie chickens into organizing advice? But renewal, that’s an easy fit.

Anyone who knows me knows that I encourage clients to live a conscious, examined life, and that I believe the greatest advantage to being organized is that it allows us to share our gifts toward making the world a bit more lovely and whole. Rosh Hashanah is an opportunity to look at ourselves – our behavior, beliefs, and belongings – and to make changes. If a behavior, belief, or belonging is bringing you down – if it does not support your highest good – let it go like bread crumbs cast upon the water.

And then make amends to yourself. The saying goes that “amends is changed behavior.” Take a look at what you’ve chosen to release. How did it come into your life in the first place? What was your part in bringing it in? What can you do differently the next time you’re in a similar situation? And how will acting differently improve you and/or your life?

I was reflecting the other day on the cycle of life. Walking along, seeing the bushes lining the trail laden with blackberries, I started thinking about the sequence of the seasons, how the blackberries will be gone soon, followed by barren trees and winter rains, and then the plum blossoms will arrive, then asparagus, then… And the plants and foods cycle through each year, but why? Why do they, and we, continue on year after year after year? To live. Perhaps there’s more to it than that – I’d like to think so – but from a purely biological perspective, life perpetuates for the sake of living.

And so, our lives come full circle. Here’s my favorite honey-and-apples recipe, with wishes to all of you for a sweet new year!


Lukshen Kugel

Boil 8 ounces of wide egg noodles until just tender. Drain, butter, and set aside.

Combine
2 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup honey
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (fresh)
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Add in
1/2 cup raisins
2 to 3 peeled, cored, and chopped apples

Mix noodles in with the cheese/fruit.

Add the whole kit and caboodle to a well-buttered 9 x 13 pyrex.

Crumble about 1 cup’s worth of (organic!) Corn Flakes over the top.

Bake at 375 for 35 to 45 minutes.


Tip of the Month:
Designate one day of the week as a money-free day, a day when you don’t spend any money. Not only can this help reduce your expenses, it can minimize the stuff you bring into your life. Also, having one day each week on which you spend no money encourages you to be more aware (and creative) about how you are spending your time. (Thanks to my sister Jessica for this idea!)


Quotes of the Month
"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go out and do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
– Howard Thurman

"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the "atomic age" -- as in being able to remake ourselves."
– Mahatma Gandhi

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
– Dakota proverb

"May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being."
– Apache Blessing

A Few Passover Recipes

Feels like I've been cooking all week!

I hosted a seder for nine people last Wednesday for the first night of Pesach, and attended a friend's very abbreviated seder last night.(Mostly it was a dinner party that used Passover as an excuse to gather, although we did tell the Exodus story and eat all the ceremonial foods, so I guess it counts as a seder.)

My charoset (which is chunky, not paste-like) is delicious, and at least one friend says it's the best she's ever had. Also, both the desserts I made were a big hit. So here, in my inimitable style, are the recipes for those three dishes. There's still two more nights of Passover, if you want to give them a try. Or heck, eat them any old time of the year!

Charoset
Finely chop and combine:
2 apples
approx. 1/2 cup raisins
approx. 1/2 cup dates
approx. 1/4 cup dried cherries
1 orange
approx. 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon and cloves
moisten with kosher blackberry wine or grape juice. If using grape juice, squeeze in the juice from half a Meyer's lemon, too.
Mix well and let sit, covered and refrigerated, for several hours so the flavors mingle nicely.

Serve as a fruit salad, or as a Hillel sandwich (matzah with horseradish and charoset).


Claire's Passover Sachertorte

Preheat oven to 325

Butter the bottom -- but not the sides -- of a 9 inch spring form pan

Melt 5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Guittard)

Beat 5 egg whites until stiff

Cream
3/4 cup sugar (although I used about 1/2 cup of agave nectar)
3/4 cup butter
either 1 teaspoon orange rind, or a splash of orange liqueur (I used Triple Sec)
3/4 cup finely ground almond meal
5 egg yolks

Beat in the melted chocolate

Gradually fold in the stiff egg whites

Pour into spring form pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour.

Top with a chocolate glaze:
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
another splash of orange liqueur (or 1 Tablespoon orange rind)

Once cooled, add cherries or raspberries, or a raspberry coulee


Almond/Chocolate Lace Cookies
Preheat oven to 350.
Melt:
1/2 cup (one cube) butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons 1/2 'n 1/2
1 Tablespoon flour

When melted, stir in
3/4 cup finely ground almond meal

Place 5 or 6 teaspoons of batter on a well-greased and floured baking sheet. Give them lots of space, because they'll spread out wide and thin.

Bake for about 8 minutes. Remove, allow to cool for a minute or so, then place face down on a paper towel to finish cooling. Repeat with the rest of the batter. You should wind up with 24 to 30 cookies in all.

Once all the cookies are baked and cooled, drizzle them with chocolate made by melting about 1 ounce of cocoa butter and 4 to 5 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips together.

Place the chocolate-drizzled cookies in the fridge so the chocolate can harden.

Devour.

Bow Down? And Save the (Birth)Day

I’ve been reading Alan Morinis’ Everyday Holiness, a book about the ancient Jewish spiritual path of Mussar. In the appendix is a soul-trait inventory to “help you identify the soul-traits that are part of your own spiritual curriculum.” It’s an interesting list, ranging through awareness and humility to honesty, kindness, fear, and strength.

Mussar recommends identifying 13 soul-traits on which to focus, one at a time, rotating through them four times over the course of one year. So I went through the list, seeking to name the traits on which I needed most focus. Some of them, I discovered, were traits I’m actually strong in: gratitude, simplicity, order. Others jumped out at me as obvious weaknesses: patience, equanimity, trust… Coming up with 13 wasn’t that difficult.

Except for one trait, to which I responded vehemently: Obedience. What? Hell no, I will not work on being obedient. I don’t believe in obedience, for me or for anyone else. Freedom is one of my highest values. Obedience sounds like patriarchal domination crap, nothing I want any part of. (I have issues with the patriarchal construct of the Judeo-Christian-Muslim religions. But that’s another discussion.)

I know I’m not alone in my reaction to Obedience. My colleague Barbara says she would toss the Obedience angel card back in to the pot anytime she drew it. But if I have such a strong negative reaction to it, I thought, does that mean I must add the trait to my list of 13?

No. If I’ve learned nothing else so far, I’ve learned to honor and trust myself. If I feel this strongly about the rightness of humans not being obedient to each other, then I shall honor my belief. I will not work on being obedient to others.

Oh, but wait! Maybe Obedience doesn’t mean between humans. Obedience can also speak of our relationship to our Higher Power. It can mean listening to and taking direction from our intuition, or God, or the Goddess, or Universe, or whatever we call he/she/it/them. And this I’m not only okay with, I’m actually pretty good at. I take orders from HP on a regular basis, usually delivered in the form of Inspiration. (Okay, sometimes I kick and fuss first, but not too much and not for long.)

I guess my initial reaction to Obedience was a case of kicking and fussing. But once I looked at the concept from a different perspective, I shifted from feeling pressured to include Obedience among the 13 soul-traits of my soul’s curriculum to recognizing it as already being among my strengths.
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Anthony’s mom’s birthday is tomorrow, and she’s driving up today for her birthday dinner with us. Anthony’s making spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread and salad. I’m in charge of the chocolate cake. So this morning I made the cake. Followed the directions on the box of Dr. Oetker’s organic chocolate cake, but jazzed it up by mixing in about a cup of little Sunspire chocolate chips. Can’t have too much chocolate, right? Wrong. Once the cake cooled, it collapsed in the center. Too much gooey warm chocolate chips! What to do?

Talk about inspiration… I cut out the middle so that the cake looked like a ring, then spread the goo over the top and sides instead of frosting it with a chocolate glaze. Then I cooked up a package of Trader Joe’s organic raspberries, some Triple Sec, and a couple of (very) heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar (adjust quantities to taste) until the sauce had thickened some. Once it had cooled, I spooned the raspberry sauce over the cake. It looks lovely, and I’m sure it will be delicious. The only problem is where to put her birthday candle (a question-mark candle that has become a tradition with Anthony and me). Anthony suggested filling the hole inside the cake ring with Satsuma orange segments. I like the idea, and the image, so we may do this and balance the candle in among them.

Jubilee?

And on the seventh day, God rested.

The seventh day. Shabbat. A day of rest.

In the seventh year, fields are left fallow.

And seven sevens? The 49th year? This is the year of Jubilee.

My psychic counselor said it would be my year of rest.

Ha!

Here I am, just two months into being 49, and my life is one long ripple of activity and growth. In addition to my numerous writing projects, I’ve committed to two new, huge projects.

Project #1 – I’ve bit the bullet and signed on for NSGCD’s Level III certification program. NSGCD stands for the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, and is the organization through which I’ve earned numerous certificates of study as well as my Specialist Certificates in Chronic Disorganization and in ADD. At the end of the Level III training, which takes about 18 months of studying and working with a coach, and culminates in a peer review, I will be a Certified Professional Organizer, or CPO® – CD. To the best of my knowledge, there are less than 50 CPO® – CDs in the world at this time.

Project #2 – I’ve joined the gym. More importantly, I’ve written the exercise classes and workout times into my calendar as actual appointments. Five mornings a week, Monday through Friday, I will be challenging my body, inviting it to remember the strength and flexibility of its youth. Aqua aerobics (which Anthony promises to take with me), Pilates, and machines will fill my mornings. God willing, I may actually get my body back.

Of course, devoting my mornings to my body means I need to restructure my consulting hours. I’ve decided to experiment with increasing my hourly minimum from two hours to three. Most organizers have a three-hour minimum, usually four hours (or more). We’ll see how I adjust to working longer sessions. The up side is that I will only work with one client a day (instead of two), which will keep me fresh for my clients.

And I’m still working away at my third book, what I call the Tzedakah book. It is requiring a great deal of research. Bit by bit, I continue to gather information and write pages.

And I am marketing Following Raven. And I’m writing two articles for organizing newsletters. And two lectures. And three press releases for Get Organized month. (The local professional organizers have formed an informal NAPO group that we are calling H.O.P.E. – Humboldt Organizing Professionals Exchange. We are doing two projects for Get Organized month [January]. One is a radio contest; the other is a lecture series at the public library. I’m in charge of writing press releases for both activities as well as a general one on H.O.P.E.)

Did someone say something about rest?