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Closet Cleaning Reflections?

April 11, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

The closet purge is finished. The bedroom clothes closet to be specific. It took more than a week and a half of dogged determination, but it’s done. The Mission Op also included the dresser, vanity and coat closet. Sweet crackers how did I get so many clothes?

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Spec Ops Cat helping out with the dresser purge. Yes, his butt is to the camera. What a great little furry assistant. Can’t show you what he did to my sock drawer; brutal. Hard to put things in a drawer when a cat is in it. I tried.

 

Truly a trip down memory lane when I finally tossed the dark green gauze dress from the Mazatlan, Mexico trip. Or purged the blazer jackets from the late 1990s. Most of them.

There are a few rules when starting on this type of operation:

What is the goal? Mine was to get the new clothes in the closet and the old ones out. There was not enough room for both. The tangible reward of my upstairs hallway not looking like a dry cleaners back room was also a major perk.

Go in with a plan. I started with a small group to ensure purge victory – cashmere sweaters. With stupid hot flashes I can’t wear most of them anyway. Sort by category.

Boxes and staging area at the ready. Made sure I had enough cardboard boxes and my plastic totes at hand to put the purged items away and stack until the garage sale. This also required cleaning up the exercise room so I could put all the boxes in there for temporary storage.  Lids on boxes also thwarted Spec Ops Cat plans to cuddle on all items and spread his fur.

Music required. I used my disco music favorite hits CD and cranked it up. Since I tried on every single piece of clothing, it really helps to keep the energy up. No video cameras were allowed in the vicinity.

Have an extraction plan. Garage sale at my friend’s house is set for May 12. Hope to sell some of it. Leftovers will go to the Women’s Shelter. Set free the items and get them gone. I’ve been known to load boxes of purged items into Subie and drive them around until I passed by Goodwill. They were out of the house!

Reward yourself in the process. I got new purple orchid hangers to help with the purge. Whatever it takes to accomplish the task. There was Dove dark chocolate involved too. Sure I danced off the calories. Kinda.

Next on the agenda? After the garage sale I need to tackle purging the exercise room, garage and kitchen. The office is on that list but I’m in complete denial about it.

By the time I get that list done it will be Fall. Or time to go play in the Fairy Rock Garden first. Sounds like more fun.

Got a purge plan for this Spring? Dance on!

 

 

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Filed Under: home Tagged With: cleaning plan, closet clean out rules, clothes, donate, garage sale, Kimberly A Cook, recycle, Spring cleaning, wardrobe, Warrior Tales

Butterfly Slow Motion Games?

April 7, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook 2 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook                (Twitter@   WarriorTales)

Since I’m on a butterfly theme this week, what better way to relax while some folks are sweating their taxes? Slow motion butterflies with lilting music.

I had no idea there was a Butterfly Museum in Houston. Must visit!

Happy Quirky Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

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Filed Under: Quirky Fridays Tagged With: butterflies, butterfly, butterfly gardens, butterfly museum, insects, Kimberly A Cook, slow motion butterflies, slow motion flight, Warrior Tales

Have Butterfly Garden Dreams?

April 4, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

The birds are singing, tulips are blooming and I’m back on allergy meds; it must be Spring! Walked into my bedroom Sunday and heard a noise like a cross between a mini-jackhammer and a tiny steel drum band. Yup, the woodpecker is back and still in love with my gutter. The sounds of the season.

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Plant arrangement outside my sister’s house to celebrate Spring. Finally!

 

Last Tuesday when I was playing wood nymph outside instead of writing a blog post, I made a momentous decision about my backyard garden. Okay, garden is a bit overrated, it’s an assortment of garden pots. But it is my garden. Since I water it and don’t eat the limited produce and herbs, I’m giving serious thought to replacing it with a butterfly garden.

Not only can I help out the butterflies, but I can extend the Fairy Rock Garden closer to the patio. Given the amount of Fairy Rock Garden booty I’ve picked up over the long, damp, wet, gray winter, I’m need to annex some lots anyway.

The idea occurred to me surfing the web when I came upon a native plants nursery in West Linn, Oregon when looking for huckleberry plants. Not that I’m going to plant those, but I LOVE huckleberries. The nursery had a web page about butterfly garden plants. It looks like an amazing place to take my camera. Road trip!

What better neighbor for a Fairy Rock Garden than a butterfly garden? When I took Mom over to my favorite trail in Camp Sherman last May, a butterfly even landed on me. Think that is a big hint.

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Butterflies chowing down on plants by the river in June 2012 at Camp Sherman.

 

I’ve always loved butterflies, so this will be an adventure.  Everyone knows fairies ride butterflies for transportation, so I need to set up their transit hub. Stay tuned for updates on the butterfly garden transformation.

Got garden plans?  Got room for plants to feed butterflies? Dig in!

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Filed Under: Garden Tagged With: butterfly garden, butterfly plants to eat, Fairy Rock Garden, garden, Kimberly A Cook, making a butterfly garden, native plants, Oregon, save the butterflies, Warrior Tales

Time For Cat Tricks?

March 31, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                          (Twitter@  Warrior Tales)

Behind schedule. Again. The sun came out Tuesday and I threw caution to the wind. And stayed away from the computer the rest of the week. But now I am back to share a very late almost still Quirky Friday post.

I love these two cats, but I don’t really think you can shame cats; they’re too cool for that. Plus they know they’re better than us. Really. We scoop their poop. Nuf said!

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

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Filed Under: Quirky Fridays Tagged With: animals, cat, cats, feline, humor, Kimberly A Cook, kitten, pet tricks, pets, Warrior Tales

Got Meow Madness?

March 24, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                     (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

It had to happen. Bracket frenzy is upon us with college basketball, but now everyone is getting in on the game. Including the Hallmark Channel felines. How cute are these athletes?

I didn’t even know what brackets were until a few years ago. If you said football playoffs, then I’d get it. Not a huge basketball fan. But these fabulous felines might change my mind. Watch on April 3 at 8 p.m. on the Hallmark Channel.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

For the extended preview, check out the link below.

http://bcove.me/3ll5feun

 

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Filed Under: Quirky Fridays Tagged With: adopt cats, animal shelters, basketball, brackets, cat, cats, felines, Hallmark Channel, Kimberly A Cook, kittens, Meow Madness, NCAA, Warrior Tales

Got Closet Cleaning Chaos?

March 21, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@    WarriorTales)

It seemed such a simple goal. Clean out my clothes closet. I’m deep in the fleece on this project. Started by choosing a small group to purge; cashmere sweaters. Made the commitment to try each one on. OMG. Body parts have moved and fashion has changed.

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Closet clutter chaos. The refuse from the purge so far.  

 

Next on the list were workout clothes – tops and bottoms. Cut them in half by the time I figured out which ones were comfortable, besides the favorites I wear to death. Then onto the lounge pants and sweatshirts. Purged more for the garage sale.

Then last Friday I went for the gusto and spent six hours in my closet trying on every dress, dress pant, winter and summer sweater and blazer. I’m reorganizing and switching out hangers too, so it takes time. Is it possible to poop yourself out trying on clothes? Yes.

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Spec Ops Cat helping with my bead sorting. Kinda.

 

Gave myself the weekend off to visit with friends and family. Then Monday instead of going back to the closet, I deviated to the office to sort beads. Somehow I just couldn’t make myself do it. Think I’m building up steam for the final push to try on and sort jeans and tops. So many zippers, so little fit.

Those two groups are really hard to purge except for the last category which I may never get to – shoes.  I want to live the life my shoes expect me to have, so I don’t want to disappoint any of them right now. Maybe later.

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Spec Ops Cat still committed to help with my bead sorting. Sitting in the middle of my work area. Excuse me, HIS work area. Cat’s rule! Too bad he won’t clean the closet.  

 

Project creep crawled out of the bedroom since I need to replace hangers and purge the coat closet too. Sigh. Onward brave closet purgers! Ye olde garage sale date advances.

The master goal is to easily find the clothes I wear and love. What a concept. It’s day two of Spring, I better get moving.

Got Spring closet projects?

 

 

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Filed Under: home Tagged With: beads, closet cleaning, garage sale, hangers, home, jewelry, Kimberly A Cook, organization, Spring cleaning, tidy up, used clothes, Warrior Tales

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