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My new ebook, Declutter for Good: Share Your Stuff and Reclaim Your Life, is now available for $7.99 on Amazon and other digital platforms.

Your Brain on Clutter--Any Questions?

I'm participating in this purge in October, thanks to the bloggers over at A Bowl Full of Lemons. Their blog is a fun resource for people like me who need help getting organized sometimes. I'm a true creative - lots of ideas, not a natural love of order, though I'm learning. The more order I introduce into my life, the more creative freedom I feel, and less stress, too.

I don't know about you, but I am constantly amazed by the amount of things I no longer need. Maybe it's a function of age or wisdom, but every week I seem to find possessions I can willingly part with. And then there are the things I've kept for years that I could never give away--a shabby jean jacket older than my youngest child (who is fourteen), for instance. There's no rhyme or reason to the things that touch our hearts.

In preparation for a class I'm teaching next week on decluttering (in conjunction with my book launch--more on that later), I've been reading about brain research and our relationship to our stuff. Turns out that when we give away something that belongs to us--even if we no longer need it--our brain reacts in a way similar to a paper cut. It hurts. That explains why a trip to Goodwill leaves me feeling so ambivalent--relieved, but sad.

How do you feel about getting or staying organized? How much clutter can you handle in your everyday surroundings? What tools do you use to stay on top of your responsibilities? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The Terrors of Authorship

Writing a book seems like such an audacious thing, and self-publishing it even more audacious, though people have been self-publishing since papyrus was the medium of choice. Or maybe even cuneiform. However, I have always known that I would write a book. It's been in my blood like some sort of chronic condition. Having done it feels surreal and supremely satisfying.

Authorship, though, is terrifying. Hiding behind someone's copy is one thing. Claiming the product of my creativity is like parading naked through the marketplace, as many writers have already shared. (Edna St. Vincent Millay said, “A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down. If it is a good book nothing can hurt him. If it is a bad book nothing can help him.”)

Making the transition from writer to author happened between the third and fourth draft of my book, after the copy editor had her way with the manuscript. I wasn't scared by her constructive criticism; as an editor myself, I treasured her comments. What really scared me was that she was taking me seriously, that I was really writing this book, that it really was going to be published and PEOPLE WERE GOING TO READ IT, including my relatives (who, by the way, are lovely people who have done nothing but encourage me).

So here it is, on the cusp of its release: a little guidebook about living a less cluttered life. I started writing it over a year ago, and I am more convinced than ever that I would not live any other way. If writing the book helped me realize this, then it was worth all the trouble to write it. And if it proves helpful to its readers, then I'm twice as happy I wrote it. Godspeed, little book.

My ebook, Declutter for Good: Share Your Stuff and Reclaim Your Life will be released September 15, 2014 on digital platforms, including Amazon.

Garden Like a Mother

This Mother's Day, forget about breakfast in bed. 

A big bouquet? Meh. 

Here's what a gardening mother really wants on her special day:

P. Allen Smith, garden guru and Nice Guy.

1. This guy. 

Okay, okay. I know kidnapping garden lifestyle guru P. Allen Smith is frowned upon. What if you asked him nicely to come and live with you? I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

Hori hori. Scary scary.

2. A hori-hori. Find one here. 

I cannot tell you how much I love my hori hori. This baby does it all -- dig hard soil, slice through stems, rip open bagged potting soil, plant bulbs to a precise 6 inches, insert tender seedlings into a window box. Every gardening mother needs at least two of these babies. Just remember not to make Mom angry when she's wielding it.

3. Awesome garden boots. These are perfect!

Forget last year's running shoes or your husband's battered Crocs. Slip into a pair of these boots for watering, mucking out the compost bin (or horse stall or whatever), or spring garden planting. They are so comfy!

4. A handy garden cart, like this one. 

I don't have a big yard, so I got rid of my old wobbly wheelbarrow and bought this little workhorse at Lowe's. Notice that it has two wheels, so no tipping! It also has a handy slot to toss my tools in as I'm pulling it around in the yard. No more squatting with my hori hori in my back pocket (ouchy ouchy!). It's not large, but hey, am I hauling full-sized trees around? Not on your life. That's Dad's job.

5. Garden gloves that rock!

These gloves by Womans Work are the best! "Made by women for women." Need I say more? And they come in bright colors, so they are easily spotted in the grass where I dropped them yesterday ...

6. A jaunty hat. 

Let's face it. Moms are so over this tanning business. It's all about preservation now. But no seed caps for us--why not wear something more flattering, like a wide-brimmed straw hat? Keep off the rays, look fab. 

7. This book. 

One of the best all-purpose reference books on my shelf. This book answers questions you didn't know you had, and most (if not all) of the ones you do have!

So there you have it -- some suggestions for your shopping pleasure. There's still time to order. Get cracking, family--and I don't mean eggs for a Mother's Day omelet, either. 

Rainy Night Curry

The first time I ate curry, I thought it was weird. 

It was at camp, where we were encouraged to scoop stew onto our plate and then heap it with such incongruous ingredients such as bananas, peanuts, and tomatoes. Um, excuse me? I'm from the Midwest here, people ... 

The next time I ate curry, I was a newlywed, temporarily living in the Western Highlands of Kenya with husband Tim, who was serving at Tenwek Mission Hospital as part of his Indiana University Medical School training. The whole community came together regularly for parties (send-offs, welcomes, any excuse), complete with big pots of curry, heaps of rice, and lots of sweet and savory condiments. During our two months in Kenya, I cooked exclusively from the More With Less Cookbook, which has lots of great recipes for curries (which is a spice as well as a dish). Slate has an interesting article about curry, by the way.

Thai chicken curry. Yum! You have to include fresh
cilantro. Seriously.

Curry became a staple in our apartment during residency. Still using More with Less (now tattered, food-stained, and missing its cover), I cooked up curry stews for dinner--perfect fare when your spouse is coming off a 36-hour shift and will be home ... sometime. The stew would simmer away, and I'd keep reading Keats, Milton, and Zora Neale Hurston and writing papers until I saw the red-rimmed whites of his eyes. Once, Tim nodded off to sleep while eating curry.

I don't make it as often, but I still hanker for a big pot of curry now and then, particularly on cold rainy nights when I want something rich and spicy. I made the this recipe on a recent rainy night, a Thai curry that my kids gobbled up with enthusiasm. Curries are handy when you have kids coming and going at all hours, too.

Many of you know that I've been following the DASH diet (learn more about it here) because of high blood pressure and some other chronic issues. This curry does contain some carbs, but to make it DASH-friendly, I used chicken breasts, lots of high-fiber veggies, and low-fat coconut milk (and I skipped the basmati rice, which sucked, because I love basmati rice). And instead of using canned curry sauce, I improvised with three tablespoons of ground curry and half a can of low-sodium chicken broth. 

About carbs: they aren't banned on the diet, except for the first two weeks, but now I only eat them in small quantities, only a few times a week, and I only eat high-quality carbs (handmade whole-grain breads, whole veggies like potatoes with their skin). I'm eating lots of veggies, fruit, and legumes, as well as lean meat. This diet is very doable, and I'm feeling so much better than I have in ages. 

Try curry some rainy night -- it really hits the spot. And don't blame me if you become an addict.