Charmed Monday Minute- 11/19/07

Happy, Thanksgiving, everyone ---

And happy Monday. This is the last day Joya and I will be working together in person. She'll stay on as my virtual assistant after I move (at least until she takes off for a Masters program in directing) and the Minute will go out every other Monday as usual.

William and I went up to Woodstock this weekend to take care of preliminaries like getting a car. I must say, that was tough. I never thought I'd ever have to deal with owning a car again. Well, you know the old saw about never saying never. We got a Honda Civic hybrid---automatic for William, although I've always been fond of manual transmissions myself. This week, we finish packing and the movers come Friday. We'll go out with Adair and Nick (my daughter and son-in-law for those who don't know the names) on Thanksgiving and come back and keep packing.

We've moved a lot and don't have nearly the "stuff" most people do, but I was reminded how much stuff accumulates when William's daughter Siân moved back to Canada a few months ago. She'd only lived with us for a year, and all her Stateside possessions fit nicely into a mid-sized bedroom. But when she moved she had to pack so many boxes, letting me know there's lots more here than I want to think about. All this brings me to...

The book of the week!

This book was a gift from my friend Cynthia Fellowes. Cynthia is a fascinating woman in her own right - a gifted actress, a prosperity coach, and an animal psychic. She's the official animal psychic for Commerce Bank- no kidding! Take a look at her site.

Anyway, back to the book:
It's Scaling Down: Living Large in a Smaller Space, by Judi Culbertson and Marj Decker (Rodale Press, 2005). It is the most humane and practical organizing book I've ever read. I loved that they said "90% of what's put in a file is never looked at again." My sentiments exactly. Scaling Down is great if you're moving, downsizing, clearing out, moving your parent(s) to a smaller space, or if you just want to get closer to only having around you things you use and things you love. The closet section alone is worth the price of the book. While I can't say that I'm looking forward to packing up, the suggestions in this book are making it seem more adventure than agony, and I know that I'll get to Woodstock with clarity and open space and things around me that lift my spirits. I give this book five stars, two thumbs up, cheers and accolades...

Quotation of the week: In an email from a beautiful friend, I read this bit of deliciousness... Spirituality is the end of arguing with what is. -Adyashanti Heading for the Hills Coaching Special: Someone wrote to Joya asking if we knew of a life coach in her geographic area. Actually, 99% of life coaching is done by phone so geography is not an impediment. I do see some clients in person in Manhattan, but I'll be cutting that back with my move and as a result, I'd like to offer you a special rate on telephone coaching services. Anyone signing up between now and the end of January 2008 who asks for the "heading for the hills" coaching special will get a 20% discount on any one-month or three-month coaching package. (This is in addition to the discount already built in for 3-month packages.) To learn more about Charm Your Life Coaching, my spiritual life-coaching practice, and see the fee schedule, go to my coaching page. To take advantage of this discount offer (available to new clients only), email me directly at charmedlifelady@aol.com. Barbara: Would you like to look and feel younger? Okay, here's the deal: a lovely reader named Barbara ordered a copy of Younger by the Day as a gift for a friend. In my multi-tasking state, I signed it to Barbara herself instead of to the friend. I signed another book properly for her, but I have one now inscribed to Barbara. ...So, the first Barbara who writes to Joya requesting this book (put "Book for Barbara" in the subject line and your mailing address in the body of the email) will receive the inscribed copy for free! The first Barbara to email gets it. (If you don't hear back from us, somebody beat you to it.)

A little seasonal something: Adair and Nick are rehearsing A Christmas Carol with Personal Space Theatrics in New York City (here's the link for more info for any New Yorkers interested in the show - this is the fifth and final year for the production and it's not to be missed). During one of the first music rehearsals, they were going over "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." When it came to the line about "bring us some figgy pudding," one of the little boys in the chorus belted out in the perfect pitch of a New York City stage kid: "Come bring us some friggin' pudding!" The director stopped the song and said, "It's figgy pudding, made from figs, not 'friggin' ' pudding." The little boy said, "Oh, I thought it was friggin' because we were really mad that nobody had given us any pudding yet." ...Which brings to mind: figgy pudding! When William and I were in Glastonbury, England, in 2003---and a wonderful, magical place it is, with legends of the Isle of Avalon and King Arthur and the Holy Grail---I got a recipe for figgy pudding that is more than half-a-millennium old. There was a large monastery in Glastonbury at the time that Henry VIII outlawed the Roman Catholic Church in England. Those abbots and monks who would not convert to the new religion were killed, their buildings demolished, and their lands seized. The operation was done quickly and haphazardly, though, so in the case of the Glastonbury Abbey, many of the structures were destroyed but some survive to this day. One of those is the monks' kitchen, recreated to show what it might have looked like in 1500, complete with instructions from that era for figgy pudding. The measures were hard to translate so this is my guestimate. Play with the amounts if you try this. It's pretty hard to mess up. Figgy Pudding from the Long Ago Monks of Glastonbury Abbey 3 cups white wine 3 cups water 1 Tbls. honey (I use agave nectar, but the monks didn't have that.) 1 tsp. ginger 2 Tbls. raisins 1 Tbls. ground almonds 4 to 5 cups dried figs, cut in quarters with stems removed Simmer on gentle heat 10-15 minutes till figs and raisins are swollen and soft. Pour into cups. Let cool. Say grace. Enjoy.

WHERE I'LL BE... TOPEKA, KS: January 6, Sunday, 11 a.m., Sunday service, "The God-Shaped Hole," book signing to follow; Unity Church of Christianity, 9126 SW Tenth Ave., www.wingsunfolding.com KANSAS CITY, MO: January 13, Sunday, 9 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday services, "The God-Shaped Hole," book signing to follow; Center for Spiritual Living, 1306 W. 39th St., 816/931-2395, www.cslkc.org NEW YORK CITY: January 15, Tuesday, The Learning Annex , workshop entitled "How to Have a More Spiritual Life" I'm on BeliefNet! I am honored and privileged to have some work of mine featured on BeliefNet.com, the premier site on the net for spirituality and religions. Here is the link to my latest piece, "10 Ways to Be Your Own Life Coach." New Internet Radio Show: You can listen to my internet radio show on HealthyLife.net from noon to 1pm EST every 4th Wednesday of the month. The last show was wonderful, featuring my action partner and opera-singer-extraordinaire, Sherry Boone. Check it out in the archives here. (Trouble listening? Click here for the site's help page.)

Victoria, Virtual Life Coach! Victoria is now the official Life Coach of the blog "Elastic Waist" and will be featured a few times a month in exclusive interviews! To view the first post, click here. The second is here. Enjoy! OprahSelects.com: Fat, Broke & Lonely No More was picked for OprahSelects.com since Victoria was a guest on the Jean Chatzky Show on Oprah & Friends Radio. If you go to the page, you can write a reader review if you'd like.

VICTORIA'S NEW, 10th, and (we're hearing!) BEST BOOK EVER, Fat, Broke & Lonely No More: Your Personal Solution to Overeating, Overspending, and Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places from HarperOne Get your copy today! If you'd like to order online, here are links to the big guys: Amazon Barnes & Noble Or, visit your favorite independent bookstore to get your copy! (To find an independent bookstore in your area, you can search on booksense.com here.)

Take care, and all good things -

Victoria Moran