“Now that school’s back in, I’m not a crazy lady anymore…for now… at least…”

We hear you, Sister A! Thanks for sharing.

Okay, the countdown is on. Turkey? Check. Dressing? Check. All those yummy veggies? Check. Even a homemade pie or three. But don’t just crank open that can of cranberry sauce to go with all this great home cooking.

Get thee to a grocery store and with a few simple items, you’ll be cranberry queen when you serve this amazing Cranberry Chutney from multi-tasking woman Cyndi Sterne of Hal’s Kitchen… Atlanta’s Hottest Cooking School!

• 12 oz bag of cranberries
• 3 apples cored and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar or more to taste
• mustard seeds
• ginger
• hot pepper flakes

Cook the berries, apples, and onions. Add the vinegar and remaining ingredients. Cook together for 30 minutes or so. adjust the seasonings to your liking. Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow! As they say, that was easy.  Just the way we at MTW like it.

MTW EXTRA! Here’s a special hint from Chef Cindy. Make your Cranberry Chutney multi-task as an easy pre-dinner appetizer, lightly toast slices of French baguette, Spread with some fresh goat cheese (we love Caly Creamery!) and then top with the Cranberry Chutney. YUMMY!

Visit Cyndi at Hal’s Kitchen in Atlanta and register for one of Hal’s fabulous cooking experiences online!

I just dropped my teenager off at school. Another Monday morning. Another week (this, the week before Thanksgiving) looming large and coming in fast. My head dove right in to what I needed to do the minute I hit home. Shower, then email, then run to my 9:30 breakfast meeting – no, wait! She has a sick child, so that’s been cancelled. Right. Email first, then shower.

Sitting at the red light, I looked down and realized my hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly I could feel the tension all the way up to my shoulders. Breathe. Let go. Now gently take the wheel back. Light but firm control on the wheel. Consciously holding the wheel with a lighter touch. Breathe. Breathe.

How many times, I wonder, do we grip the wheel of our lives so tightly without realizing what a chokehold we have? What would happen if we stopped. Let go. And then consciously re-engaged with a lighter hold. A gentle but firm awareness. What would we be making room for if we gave up our death grip? I imagine more life would flow in.

Why don’t we try it and see?

It’s just a few days till the turkey makes its grand appearance on our Thanksgiving tables, and you know what that means. Candy canes, stockings and Christmas ornaments can’t be far behind. It’s time to go into Holiday Chill mode once again, so be sure to bookmark and visit our seasonal site 12WaysOfChristmas for ideas, tips and tricks to insure that YOU have a holiday you can really enjoy!

Let’s get off to a doing-good start with a recent FB post from my friend social media guru and multi-tasking woman Barb Giamanco of TalentBuilders, Inc. It’s a simple and easy idea that’s really a GREAT way to share the love, and the food, with those who need it this holiday season:

“I want to pass on an idea that was suggested by a colleague. Have a “Canned Sales Meeting” sometime this month where you ask all the participants to bring a few canned or non perishable items to donate to the local food bank. It will be an easy way to help out those in need. Tell your friends!”

Well, ladies, this doesn’t just apply to those of us in sales. Make any gathering multi-task by doing good at the same time you gather. Anytime this month and next, any time you meet/greet, lunch/learn, or network/play, invite your friends, colleagues and co-workers to ‘can hunger’ and stock your local food bank. It’s never been more needed, and it’s so easy to do!

MTW secret: if your local grocery offers BOGOs (buy one, get one free)  like my Publix does, take advantage of it and donate the second or BOTH to your food bank. (Just check their Weekly Ad page for current BOGOs – you can add them to your grocery list at the same time!) Double the love at half the price! We love it! Thanks, Publix, for helping us help others.

Face it. We’ve all become attached to our check-in, update, on the go mobility devices as though they’re our life support system. And, I guess, in some ways they are. But what happens when you unplug – go off the grid completely? Our guest post comes directly from the front lines via multi-tasking woman Alisa Adams, founding principal of A³ Research*, who (believe me!) makes her living with technology. What happened when she unplugged? Let’s listen in:

“I’ve always been driven, but these days as the family’s primary wage earner and founder of a new business, detaching is tougher than ever. I don’t even recall the last time I spent a single day away from the computer – that is, until now.

My family recently went to Florida for a few days and had spotty Internet coverage at the beach rental. The connection was adequate to do my work, but nothing extra — no surfing, no FaceBooking, no games. It was pretty frustrating, but passable. It made it easier to truly separate work and play — no temptation to check FB after sending that report — just go on out to the beach! (or down to the Lobster Pit, yum.)

Friday evening, we changed locations but still had lackluster coverage, so I did the essentials (both Friday night and Saturday morning), then turned the computer off.  And left it off for 48 hours straight.

Saturday, we went to the grand opening of Legoland Florida, then drove back to the beach rental for the night. Upon arrival, I just wanted to listen to the waves.

Next morning, same thing. The waves and sunshine were all-encompassing. It was a beautiful Sunday morning — I didn’t need to know what awful things were happening in the world. I just needed to dig holes in the sand with my kid and keep an eye out for pretty shells. Around noon, we started the long drive home, finally arriving around 9 pm. I thought about checking in and catching up, but decided it could wait. A second blissful night — this time at home — then I was truly ready to face the day on Monday.

I didn’t even realize how dependent I had become to constant updates. And you know what? In 48 hours (granted, it was a weekend), I didn’t miss one important thing. Not one. The break made the next week much easier to tackle.

How do you re-charge?”

And that is, indeed, the question for all of us, isn’t it? How do YOU re-charge? Make some quiet time? Do you let your battery run absolutely dead before taking some time to catch up, reflect, renew? Multi-tasking women want to know. How DO you re-charge?

* Alisa Adamson is the founding principal of A³ Research, a boutique marketing research firm. The most important participants in her multi-tasking life include her husband and a spirited 8 year-old boy.

“Not everything that demands your

attention deserves your time.”

WOW! When I read this, I stopped in my tracks. These words were meant for me, and I hear them. And YOU? Find yourself responding out of habit to everything (and everyone) who calls your name. Stop. Think. And make conscious choices about how you spend your time.

Thanks for sharing, Tierra Destiny Reid.

Angee Robertson is a woman just like you: creative, intelligent and focused on success. She’s constantly taking notes during meetings, and in quiet, stolen moments reflecting on her life.  In 2006, Angee became really frustrated at the lack of options available in journals that really met HER needs.

Now you can design the journal that suits you!

“Why weren’t there any really pretty journals that would also lay flat when opened so you could actually write in them?”

“Why were the functional journals always just so plain?”

“Why, once you find a journal you love, can’t you ever find one like it again?”.

She knew there must be a better way. So Angee set out on what would be a four-year journey to develop a way to provide journals that each woman could customize to their own taste. For her concept to work, every journal would have to be made to order, including the cover and inside lining. And to write?  A spiral-bound notebook would be slipped inside so that you’d be able to write, fill and replenish as often as you needed.

It has been a labor of love and a practice in patience, but with Sheic Journals,  Angee’s dream journals are now finally available to women everywhere to create they way THEY want to create them.

But this is only the beginning! Angee’s goal is to start a journaling movement. To do that, along with customizable Sheic Journals, she’ll be offering journaling workshops and retreats. And she’ll be offering more in the Sheic online store: from books about journaling to complementary items like pens and ‘journal marks’.

Great idea? We knew you’d like it. Now you can de-clutter your mind, hold onto those precious thoughts and ideas,  and do it all in a beautiful journal that expresses your Sheic personality.

In my book, there’s nothing more peaceful than gazing out over the ocean and hearing the waves roll in … over and over and….  well, you get the rhythm. This summer may be coming to an end (sigh!) but a daily vacation is still right at your fingertips. Sound too good to be true? Well, let me share my secret destination:

Try it! Just relax and listen. And don’t touch that mouse! If you do, the timer will start over again.

You may be amazed at how long two minutes can actually be. And, if you continue the practice of ‘doing nothing’ for two minutes on a regular basis, you may learn that a tiny little break now and then will add up to a whole lot of rest and peace and relaxation.

So… don’t do something. Just sit there.

How do you spend your time? Running from thing to thing, place to place, barely getting by with getting things done? The list never-ending and growing longer and longer every day? Everything needed right now? Yeah, me, too!

But it struck me this week when I heard someone say (again!) “Time is money.” Hmmmm. Well, I have to say, when I stop and think about it like that, my time becomes more valuable by the minute. For you see, while I know I can make money, save money, make more money. I can’t make any more time.

Today my friend Sue posted:

“Self cloning equipment, needed immediately. Willing to pay top dollar. “

 Well, unless you know something I don’t, she’ll be waiting a while for that one! So what do we do in the meantime? Right now. Today. Well, I’ve decided to become an Investment Manager. And just as carefully as I’d consider investing in stocks, bonds or (heaven forbid) pork bellies, I’m going to pay VERY careful attention to how I’m investing my time.

In the coming week, I’ll be asking myself:

• Is what I’m doing right now really worth the time I’m spending?
• Is spending my time this way really a good match with my priorities?
• Is there a way I can do this in less time? Or maybe even not do it at all?
• What do I expect the ‘return’ to be on the time I’m investing?

Now, if you think I’m saying the goal of this exercise is to be ‘productive’ every moment… well, you’re right… and wrong. Wrong if you think this is about getting more done faster. But oh-so-right if you recognize that my goal is to live my life more aware of how I’m spending my time, and to make conscious choices in how I spend it, and with whom, doing whatever. Because, when it comes right down to it, I’m not a victim of the clock. How I choose to spend my time is largely up to me.

Life is lived in moments. And when we wander through, let them slip by, even rush past us in a blur without being intentional – or at least recognizing what we’re doing – we might as well be setting fire to a stack of cash.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me; it’s time for dinner and I’m going to really enjoy it!

Try this MTW secret:

For one week, keep track of how you spend your time. Just jot it down in your mobile, in a journal, or on a piece of paper you carry around in your purse. Don’t judge. Just jot. Everything. From work to working out. From FaceBooking to book reading. From visiting to volunteering. Cooking, cleaning, eating, shopping, overseeing homework. You name it. Just jot it down, day by day, starting today. Then we’ll check in next week to see what we do with this valuable research.

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”

So says the inimitable Abileen at the start of The Help’s movie version of Kathryn Stockett’s best selling novel. What a message Abileen is giving to the little Mae Mobley Leefolt. Repeated and repeated every day, she is giving the toddler ways to describe herself. Putting words in her mouth? Maybe. But definitely making a lasting, positive impression that can carry her through as her life progresses.

What if we had been raised to say those words every day to ourselves? Were you?

If those are the messages you got from your mother, grandmother, aunt, a beloved housekeeper, or anyone else in your young life, congratulations! You are among the luckiest. Do you still greet your day that way? Knowing you are kind? Smart? That YOU are important.

What do you say to yourself when you look in the mirror every morning? Think about it. If you don’t talk to yourself the way you’d speak to your best friend, you might want to change the conversation.