Joni's Amazing Pumpkin Pie

CRUST:

1/4 C Coconut Oil 

1 Date + soaking water to make 1/4 C

1 Egg

5 drops Vanilla (Medicine Flower Extract)

1/4 C Almond Flour

1/2 C + 2 T Coconut Flour

1/4 t Sea Salt

1 t Cinnamon

FILLING:

3-4 Dates + soaking water to make 1/3 - 1/2 C

3 Eggs 

2 C cooked Buttercup Squash (not Butternut) or other sweet winter squash

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t sea salt

1/4 t ground cloves

1/4 t ground nutmeg

Piece of Turmeric (about 1/4”)

Piece of Ginger (about 1/2”)

1 C coconut milk (full fat)

Soak all four dates in a small bowl of water 

Preheat oven to 350F, and place coconut oil in oven to melt

Make the crust:

Blend date, water, and egg until smooth

Transfer to a mixing bowl, add remaining crust ingredients and mix (don’t forget to add your melted coconut oil from the oven!)

Press into a pie plate 

Bake 5-7 minutes

Make the filling:

Blend dates, water, and eggs until smooth

Add all remaining ingredients and blend 

Pour into prepared crust

Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes (until the center doesn’t jiggle)

Tips:

Use only organic ingredients. 

Buttercup squash is a green squash with a disk on the bottom (or is that the top?) and is super sweet and wonderful.  They can be found at the farmers market and sometimes at the Co-op.  The easy way to cook it is to bake it whole for about at hour at 350.  You can then just scoop the meat out with a spoon.

I use Medicine Flower Vanilla (available at the Co-op) because it doesn’t contain sweetener or alcohol.  You could probably use your favorite vanilla extract instead - the Heart of Cooking recipe calls for 1 t.

A standard 9” pie plate is a bit too small for this, so either use a 9 1/2” pie plate or just make a small additional pie with the extra.

Recipe adapted from Heart of Cooking

Wrapping up 2014 and looking out toward 2015

This year I turned 50 and it's really true that time seems to speed up as you get older!

2014 started out with my youngest returning home from a year studying in Argentina and the adjustment of having someone living with me again.  Once home, she finished the second half of her Sr. year of high school.  Since we only live four houses away, many of her friends would come by often.

The first day of Jr. year we started off with a back to school breakfast and I hosted again this year without her with the promise of doing it again the first day of second semester.

February marked my 50th birthday.  I rented a big house on the Oregon Coast and invited some of my closest friends.  The plan was that Jodi and I would go a day early to get oriented and to have some alone time before the party.  Then weather happened!  We were supposed to go out to the coast on Thursday morning, but my intuition had me checking the weather on Wednesday evening.  Good thing!  A major snow storm was coming in that night.  If we waited until the morning, we would get stuck in the valley.  Luckily, the owner of the house was fine with us coming that night and Jodi agreed (because it was my birthday!).

That's Jodi on the frozen beach on Thursday.  I couldn't believe there was snow in Lincoln City!  We were completely snowed in!  AND my friends were completely snowed OUT. :-(

But, we were in a beautiful house a few blocks from the beach and had enough food for eight people.  There were movies, a big jetted soaking tub, games, and Soul Collage supplies.  And at least my worst case scenario of Jodi being stuck in Eugene and me being stuck in Corvallis didn't materialize!

The coast thawed out on the weekend and on Sunday, it was sunny and warm for my birthday.

Late morning of my birthday I knew it was time to go pick up my glass float.  Somehow I knew where it would be and we pretty much just walked right to it.  Yeah, we meandered a bit looking here and there, but I had seen its location every time I thought about finding it and there it was!  (See it above, just forward and to the right of the charred logs?)  And there it is on the right on the kitchen counter.

While it wasn't the 50th birthday celebration I had planned, it was pretty awesome.  I got to spend a wonderful long weekend on the coast with my sweetheart!  We adjusted our dinner reservations to two and still went to April's at Nye Beach.  We still went to the glass blowing studio - I'd wanted to do that for YEARS!  With the found float and the float I blew myself, I came home with two lovely keepsakes.

Mid-February we welcomed an exchange student from Egypt to our home.  Nardeen stayed with us for about a month and a half while her host parents traveled out of the country and then came back to finish her year in the states with us.

Toward the end of February I started working on the UUFC Fall Women's Retreat as the co-chair.  I was also co-chairing the Services Auction that happened at the end of April.

And in mid-April Jodi developed a tooth infection which has turned into an eight-month long ordeal with emergency room dates, stay in dates, meditation dates, and Dr. visit dates.

At the end of May Steffi turned 18 and had me plan a really fun scavenger hunt party:

Steffi’s Great 18th Birthday Scavenger Hunt

Each item is worth 10 points.  Bonuses are 5 points.  

Upload each item to facebook, tagging Stephanie - #steffiis18 and #

Be respectful, lawful, and safe.  And most of all have fun!  You must be at Cirello’s Pizza (9th and Circle) at 5:30.

• Start a Conga line in a grocery store.
• Your entire team’s reflection in something other than a mirror
• Learn to Swing Dance from a stranger.
• Ride a bus from one stop to the next.  Extra points if you get the other passengers to sing “The Wheels on the Bus” with you!
• Sing an elderly couple a love song
• Busk on a street corner, bonus to the team who scores the most bank
• Interact with a statue
• Each team member hugging a stranger
• Your entire team on a slide (one in front of the other)
• “I can’t believe we all fit in here!” - extra points for the most creative
• Help a stranger fold clothes in a laundromat
• Deliver a meal to a stranger in a restaurant
• Entire team photographed in mid-air jumping
• Find someone whose name starts with the letter “T” and have them sign your elbow
• Get a picture of someone on your team helping someone (mowing a lawn, carrying groceries, etc. - folding laundry doesn’t count!)
• Be the display mannequins in a store
• Take a Pedicab 5 blocks - be sure to pay your driver!
• Act out something on a sign (sign must be in the picture)
• Get a police officer to sing the Barney Song (I love you…)
• Ask a stranger to marry you.  Extra points if the stranger says “yes”
• Get a stranger to let you bowl for them during their game.  Extra points for a strike!
• An unknown couple telling the story of how they met
• Have three strangers tell you a funny joke.  Extra points if it’s a little kid telling a kid joke.
• Run a relay race through an intersection’s worth of crosswalks (obey all traffic and walk/don’t walk signs).  Extra points if you can get bystanders to cheer.
• Get a photo of all team members having a good night’s sleep. This can be in a store, in a park, on a train… Extra points for creativity.
• Find a stranger who can juggle 3+ objects and take their picture with all three items in mid air.  Extra points if your team has a go.
• Draw a funny picture and hang it on a public bulletin board
• Take a team selfie on five different benches
• Your entire team sitting with an unknown family at a restaurant - bonus points for each person with rabbit ears
• Pole dance on a street sign
• Teach an aerobics class at the riverfront for at least ten minutes.  Extra points for each person not on your team participating.
• Take your picture in a Porta-Potty
• Ask a stranger for a taste of their food
• Go green!  Entire team hugging a tree - bonus to the team hugging the biggest tree
• Write the names of everyone on your team in sidewalk chalk on the river walk.  Creativity bonus!
• Get a pizza tossing lesson at Cirellos at 5:30

June was high school graduation for Steffi and Nardeen. (Pictured are Nardeen, Norah, and Steffi on their way to the ceremony.)  Along with volunteering at the all-night party.









It was a busy summer for Steffi and in August I took her GS troop to NYC for their last trip.  What a GREAT city!  I found an Air BnB on the upper west side - halfway between Central Park and Riverside Park for only $1,000 for the whole week!

I got to do a little travel with doTERRA as well, once to a resort near Park City, UT for a leadership retreat and also to Salt Lake City for the best convention so far!  This company is so impressive.  The quality of the oils, the way they source, their compassion, their stewardship of their supply, their ethics, their integrity.  It's all just impressive.

At the end of September my committee and I put on the best women's retreat!  It really went well.  Our minister did the main program and it really came off great.  And even though Jodi was scheduled to work, she managed to be there for it!

The best moment of the year was just last week when I asked Jodi to marry me!  Imagine - two 50 year old women finding each other in this crazy world!  And in person no less.

And in looking forward to 2015 - It'll be all about The Galavan!  A 170' Sprinter that will be a home on wheels as soon as I can make it so!  There'll be lots on our new blog about that.

Loving Myself - Days 3 - 6

I am not cut out to be a daily blogger.  I just have to accept that fact!

The last three days, among lots of other things, I loved myself by:

Spending time with my girlfriend
Eating ice cream (not sure that even counts anymore, as I really need to no longer have sugar...)
Walking on the beach
Connecting with my daughter
Making great food (peanut sauce!)
Making my bed
Daily self care
Setting boundaries for myself with others
Learning something new
Planning a trip
...

Loving Myself Day 2

Today I loved myself by:

Making my bed
Staying in bed late
Hanging out with GUTS girls
Getting my Tarot read (that was AWESOME - you should do it too!)
Doing some cleaning
Writing

Just a few simple things...

What did you do to love yourself today?

Loving Myself

Do you know how you love yourself?

Loving yourself doesn't have to be monumental, it doesn't have to take a lot of time, although sometimes it can, if it serves you.

My fabulous life coach, Reggie Adams has us list 100 Ways to Love Myself in her GUTS course. And during our monthly call today, I had the inspiration to post how I love myself each day.  Now, I've never been much of a daily blogger, and blogs are certainly not as "the thing" as they were way back when I started this thing, but polishing it off this year, and this will be part of that journey.

Here is my list of 100 Ways to Love Myself:

1. Listen to my heart
2. Accept myself
3. Let others love me
4. Love others
5. Help someone
6. Clean my space
7. Cook my favorite food
8. Drum
9. Listen to music
10. Dress up
11. Take a shower
12. Brush my teeth
13. Give someone a hug
14. Send an uplifting email
15. Write a blog post
16. Read a favorite blog
17. Clean up a pile
18. Meet friends for a meal
19. Invite a friend for dinner
20. Follow through on something hard
21. Be an advocate
22. Remember who I am
23. Share my talents with others
24. Paint
25. Collage
26. Write
27. Decorate
28. Clean the kitchen
29. Be with GUTS girls
30. Learn something new
31. Find a new interest
32. Go to a new restaurant
33. Volunteer for an interesting cause
34. Go to a favorite restaurant
35. Listen to someone's story
36. Contact an old friend
37. Forgive
38. Send love to others
39. Support my kids
40. Meditate
41. Practice self care before bed
42. Make my bed
43. Cook a new dish
44. Go out for ice cream
45. Go on a retreat
46. Listen to the waves
47. Be quiet and listen for my heart
48. Read an inspirational book
49. Drink a green smoothie
50. Visit a waterfall
51. Light a candle with intention
52. Speak up with kindness
53. Take my time
54. Notice
55. Be grateful
56. Drink fresh juice
57. Ferment something
58. Eat something fermented
59. Get a massage
60. Have my Tarot read
61. Host a party
62. Shop for a loved one
63. Get flowers
64. Take a walk
65. Make my garden more beautiful
66. Laugh 'til I cry
67. Practice energy healing
68. Take a class
69. Have great sex
70. Take a detox bath
71. Go to a hot spring
72. Swim in a river
73... See - your list doesn't even have to be complete!  I've been working on mine since 2003, and I'm still not to 100!

New Year - New Word

This year started off with a bang.  Literally.  At midnight I awoke to fireworks, my girlfriend's dog, Tashi, scampering around my house and my girlfriend, Jodi, heading to the bathroom.  I pick up Tashi and put her on my bed to soothe her and as Jodi comes out of the bathroom I ask for a hug before she gets back in her bed and she steps on cat poo!

This is Tashi's third visit to my house and my cats are not amused.  One of them decided to let me know just how not amused he was by leaving a large pile of poo on the floor next to my bed.  With fireworks exploding all around, Jodi is washing the poo off her foot while I clean up the floor.

I'm finding the humor in this, especially as I hear Jodi tell it.  She's got the best sense of humor and makes me laugh 'til I cry almost every time we're together.

This is the year I turn 50.  Just a little over a month now.  I've decided to do my own happiness project for my birthday.  Seems fitting that my word would have something to do with this project.  My project, instead of being a "happiness project" will be my own Journey of Joy, documented right here.  I'll be focusing on finding ALL the little bits of JOY in my life this year.

The first day of this year included having Jodi make me breakfast (yum!), yoga, massages, great food with friends, a wonderful walk through an old cemetery, games, great chocolate, and writing.  Lots of joy to start off the year, for sure.

Do you have a word of the year?  If so, please share.

Loving Myself - Day 1

Spending time with friends
Enjoying good food
Loving on my girlfriend
Writing
Taking a walk

Expanding as Protection

In reading Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, I was struck by the following:

One reason that challenge brings happiness is that it allows you to expand your self-definition.  You become larger.  Suddenly you can do yoga or make homemade beer or speak a decent amount of Spanish.  Research shows that the more elements make up your identity, the less threatening it is when any one element is threatened.

As I read this, I thought about the relatively easy transition (at least emotionally) I've had with going from full-on unschooling mom to doing my own thing and how comfortable I've been as my kids have gone off on their own.

Because I've continually added elements to who I am, it's been easy for me to let go of the bits and pieces that have made me who I am in the past.  Of course, one of the biggest bits (or piece?) was unschooling mom.  That was my main gig for over 12 years - my top priority all those years.

But as I've (sometimes selfishly) engaged in new bits and pieces, I've been able to fill in the cracks and holes that come from big changes.

Ramblings On Transitions

Thoughts swirling around in my head.  They are connected to me, and may not be to whoever might read this.

December is here once again.  In the business coaching world, this means that just about everyone is thinking about making NEXT year the best year ever.  Lots of programs are being offered and lots of buzz around year end and new year.

For me, I'm thinking about my upcoming 50th birthday and what I want to do - how I want to mark this point and celebrate my life transitions.

I've been in a pretty intense transition phase for the last two years or so.  Going from being a married, stay-at-home, unschooling mom (no - you are never NOT an unschooling mom, it just looks a whole lot different after the kids are off doing their thing!) to whatever my next thing is.  I've been reconstructing my entire life and I love it.

I've been training.  A lot.  I've become an energy healer, an essential oil expert, a business coach (and an expert in Book Yourself Solid), as well as lots of other, less official trainings.  I'm an unschooler - what can I say? I've been playing with starting a business and haven't been able to fully commit to what exactly I do yet.  So this past summer I pressed pause on my business(es).  I used my luxurious gift of time to fully explore my sexuality, coming out, falling in love, being in a relationship.  What a gift!

I recently started reading The Happiness Project.  It is inspiring me to think about my 50th birthday year in a new way.  Why not do an intentional Journey of Joy?  Why not blog about this journey?  Spend a year examining what makes me joyful...

My birthday isn't until February, but it feel big and soon and like I need to be through many of the planning stages by now...

There's something about new beginnings that make us all think that we will be better this time.  We will follow through.  We will have the discipline to eat right, the exercise, to blog regularly, to spend time with friends.  It is with this optimism that I contemplate my NEW Journey of Joy.

I Got a New Mac or How I Transfered iTunes

I got a new Mac!  Yea!

So excited - everything is supposed to work so much better on a Mac.  Right?

It comes with this fabulous automatic utility, Migration Assistant, that will move everything over for you.  Yea!

Beautiful - all my files seem to be here - they don't look as organized as they were, but I think it's just showing me that they weren't as organized as I thought they were because the folders are now mixed in alphabetically with the loose files.  Another task for another day.

So, I go to open iTunes - the ONE thing I'm NOT worried about because, after all, it's an Apple product.  But oh, where are my playlists?

You know those lists that can take days to put together?  I call AppleCare because that's why I bought it.  They don't seem concerned that I don't have playlists and go find out how I can manually bring them over.  I bring over a couple while I'm on the phone and it seems to work okay so I hang up.

As soon as I actually go into one of them I find all these exclamation points next to my songs.  Turns out only about a quarter of my music actually made it to the Mac.

I won't won't bore you with the two days and five AppleCare calls worth of gory details on all the things that didn't work.  Let's cut to the chase of what did finally work.  These instructions assume that you have updated iTunes on your PC.  These instructions are valid as of March of 2013.

Keep in mind that I'm not a tech blogger - this is just my personal blog and if this can help you great.  If not, feel free to move on to someone more qualified.

1. In iTunes on your PC, click edit -> preferences then select "advanced" and make sure both the "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" are selected.
2. Next, still in iTunes on the PC, go to File -> Library -> Organize Library and check "Consolidate files" then click "OK".  This moves your files to the right places and makes sure iTunes knows where they all are.  If it allows you to also check "Reorganize files in the folder "iTunes Music"", do that as well.  This step could take a while depending on how jumbled up your library is (mine was a mess!).
3. Now you can close out of iTunes (and if you aren't going to be using it any more on this PC, make sure you go to Store -> Deauthorize This Computer first).
4. In your browser, go to http://www.copytrans.net/#copytrans-tuneswift to download TuneSwift for $15.  You will need this to back up your iTunes with playlists.  It is worth $15 to NOT spend two + days trying to get iTunes onto your new Mac, trust me!
5. When you have TuneSwift installed on your PC, select backup.  You'll need an external harddrive for this step.
6. Going to your shiny new Mac and, if you've already opened iTunes, go to Finder (just click anywhere on your desktop) ->Go -> Computer -> Music and then use two fingers to "right-click" on the iTunes folder and select "Move to trash".
7. Now open a browser window and go to http://www.copytrans.net/support/how-do-i-restore-my-itunes-library-backup-file-on-my-mac/.  You will have to download the Mac Restore App but once you do you can plug in your external harddrive and restore your iTunes library exactly as it was on your PC.
8. When you open iTunes, just hold down the "option" key (the icons will dance) as you click on iTunes and it will automatically install the library you just restored.

I hope this helps someone avoid the frustration I went through.  As I searched, I found some instructions, but none of them got me all the way there.  These steps did.  I'm sure there are little, common knowledge steps I didn't include here (like ejecting your external harddrive), so please do use your common sense!

Word for the Year

Instead of making resolutions, I prefer to set an intention for my year.  As I look back, I see that I failed to do that last year, but my word for 2011, "Develop" certainly continued to shine and deeply influence my year. 

And actually, if I set that word after the last day, I'd have to say that change was my word for 2012! I feel like I've changed just about everything in my life last year: becoming single after 25 years, buying my own house, learning to be an entrepreneur, changing my relationship with the people in my life, and more.  It was actually a pretty fantastic year!  I really don't think I've been happier.

With all the preparation I did in 2012, my intention for 2013 is to Be Bold - to be fully self-expressed and take what I know and what I continue to learn out into the world in a bigger, bolder way.  If you want to see what that looks like as it develops, I invite you to join the party at facebook.com/jonizander - it's my coaching page and is where I'll be sharing information that applies specifically to health coaches, but generally to any service professional.

Grateful for Amazing Weather

I live in Western Oregon.  It is usually getting fairly cool and rainy and staying that way by now.  But today it was sunny and in the mid-70s!  I was able to get a bunch of yard work done after church today.  The downside to this is that I realized that I really want to re-landscape my back yard THIS winter rather than waiting until next winter...  I better really focus and get to work so I can pay my landscaper!

I'm just so grateful for this gift of a beautiful day!

Grateful for Reconnecting

Today I had the wonderful surprise of a phone call from an old friend.  I've moved a LOT, and I'm not super great at keeping in touch with people, but recently I've tried to be much better about that.  It's been more of an intention than an action so far, but intentions are powerful and cause things to happen.

It was so wonderful to hear from my friend from Spokane - I hadn't talked to her in years!  The last time I saw her, my 20 year old was celebrating her 13th birthday.  She is someone I think about often as we share the same faith community, are both in healthcare, and she taught me to knit.  And she's just someone I really, truly enjoy - one of those people who just clicks.

Come to find out, she is studying in the same program another friend of mine in Virginia completed a year ago - working to become a health coach.  Being an energy healer myself, and training to become a business coach, we had a lot to talk about!

Is there anyone in your life you haven't talked to in a while?  Just pick up the phone - they will be thrilled to hear from you!

Grateful for Flexibility

Corvallis schools are so smart - they schedule conferences for the two days following Halloween, so the kids get to sleep in the two mornings after the big night!  I absolutely love it!

So with Stephanie off for the day, the two of us were free to drive up to Portland to help Bekka move into her new, super cute apartment.  Bekka's been living in an unschool house in the weird city since the spring and has been really ready for a change for a few months.  She and her friend, Laurel finally found replacements for their rooms in the unschool house and found the cutest apartment in a nice neighborhood.  They are so excited!

Time for Some Gratitude

Forgive me readers. It's been 11 months since my last post. But it is now November and I love the practice of posting my gratitude each day (even when I start late or get behind).

 Today I'm grateful for passionate people who care about others. Even people they don't know and will never meet. Tonight I went to a Single Payer Healthcare Info Night at a friend's house and met a wonderful woman who has been working to establish a single payer system in Oregon for over 30 years.

There are so many reasons I believe single payer healthcare is a good solution.  Currently we pay almost double any other industrialized country per capita, yet we have over 50 million people without health insurance, and WHO ranks us 37th in terms of health outcomes.  People are losing their homes because of out of control healthcare costs.  It's estimated that the amount we would save in paperwork alone would be enough to cover everyone who is currently uninsured without increasing current cost.  Most Americans get their health insurance from their employer, with premiums on the rise, employers are cutting back on the number of full-time employees.  In fact, our local community college has fewer instructors per student due to health insurance costs - which results in larger classes and a greater, more stressful workload for the remaining instructors, which decreases their health!

A friend of mine posted yesterday that when their oldest was little, her husband made $24K/year.  Now, 20 years later, they are paying $24K/year in health insurance premiums!

In addition to money, Single Payer makes sense for the health of our population (and this is also a money thing, too).  Uninsured people do not receive the preventative care they need.  They are forced to wait until they are terribly ill then go to the emergency room.  Not only does this not serve their health, but this type of "healthcare" is more expensive for everyone, because we all pay these costs.

There are so many more points to make, but that would be a book!  So I'll leave you with this Walter Cronkite quote, "American's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system."

Revisiting my Word of the Year

On today's GUTS call our coach asked us about our word of the year. Do we remember what it is? How has our word shaped our year?

Well, I have to admit I had to look it up to see what it was! My word this year is Develop. And as I read my post from January about my intentions for this word this year, I realize that I did pretty darn well! I have developed deeper friendships with some wonderful, truly amazing women in town, I've developed my writing (a little!), I've certainly developed my website and WOW, have I ever developed as a healer!

I started out the year somewhere in the middle of the Healing Touch training, and am finishing the year strong as a Certified SimplyHealed Practitioner - truly changing people lives by helping them clear out all the stuff they've been dragging along.

Some other things have certainly developed this year that I hadn't anticipated back in January. I didn't even know about doTERRA Essential Oils until late May and yet now that is a large part of my life - affecting just about everything I do! I love developing myself as a leader in this exciting company.

So, we have 31 days left of this year. Reggie has challenged us to make them count. How will you make the last 31 days count so you can go into 2012 with appreciation for yourself and a job well done?

Talented

I am grateful that I am talented in the art of clearing emotional garbage for my SimplyHealed clients! It is so rewarding to work with someone and help them clean up the crap they've been dragging around with them, to help them move on to a more positive life!

Compassionate

Today I got to spend a few hours with my Transitions client. I love that I am compassionate and have the freedom of time to spend two hours a week with a senior who lives alone.

I also am grateful that my client is interested in ideas and open to learning new things - our time together is so fulfilling!

Follow Through

I love that I now follow through with things and no longer procrastinate! It feels SO good to just get things done!

Connection

Our new interim minister started this fall and I've been attending just about as many services as I can since he came. I even joined the choir, which means that on the Sundays we sing, I sit through both (almost identical) services!

Well, this morning as I came in the building carrying the 15 tablecloths I washed from the Thanksgiving Fest Event, just about every other person I passed greeted me by name, before I was even able to put my name tag on! Now I know what it feels like to once again be connected to my church community. It has been a long six years without that connection and I'm so grateful to have it in my life again.

I don't know that this post is really within the assignment, but I am grateful for my ability to make these connections. There! I made it fit!