Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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Happy Spring Moon!

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True sign of Spring? Wall of flip flops at the store Monday!

Spring! Finally! We’ve had a great couple days of nice weather and it gives me hope the sun will return again this year. For those of you still freezing your body parts off, my condolences. Mother Nature will share the sun again. I promise.

This is my favorite season, to see the daffodils peeking open, the pollen launching itself into the atmosphere and the plants showing up at the garden center. I did prevent myself from buying a five-foot tall metal flamingo the other weekend, but now there are three-foot ones in at my garden store. I might be tempted.

Carnations have arrived at the Garden Center. I did stop and take a whiff.

My yard art needs makeovers, the garage needs a major and continuing muck out, and all I want to do is nap in the sun spots like Spec Ops Cat. And read some good books. Which I have piled on the floor in my office and bedroom. I corral them in the rest of the house. Kinda.

Renewal. Hope. Bunny supplies! It’s time to buy the Easter candy and stock up before all the good stuff is gone. That includes accessories, basket booty and colored plastic eggs. With glitter. I have been in four bunny retail sections this past week. Two of them twice. Bunny bliss.  

Bunny candy! Bunny bags! Bunny cling stickers! Make me stop…..

My craft addiction continues apace and I ordered some Penny Black bunny stamps too. I know I can’t draw, but I can color inside the lines. Of course, I couldn’t stamp until I bagged a bottle of vegetable glycerin to help clean the stamps. Every endeavor requires equipment. I am a go for bunny stamps arriving soon. 

Now I get to plan the Bunny Brunch I am going to host for the family next month. Thought about bringing all my collected bunnies into the dining room for the event. But the living room may not be big enough. I’ve got BUNNIES! Will have to work on that idea. My own personal bunny rodeo.

Enjoy today’s first day of Spring and tonight’s full moon.

Spring is back!

Hug a bunny!

Time For A Spring Whittle?

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Wreath bells and decorations. The pine cones are in the garage. Somewhere.

I’m rebooting myself. If we can do it to computers, we can do it to ourselves. Between the crazy cold weather, my too long sick bay recovery and the state of my house, something needs to be rebooted. So I’ve decided to start with moi.

Mucking out the house seems a first priority. Since Spec Ops Cat refuses to do dishes and housework, I had to keep up with those necessities. But cleaning out closets when homebound has led to a plethora of boxes in the living room bound for Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity and recycling.

Normally I would move all this flotsam into the garage, but it’s a mess too. Seems when I’m not feeling well I order things from Home Shopping Network to cheer me up. Then I throw the empty boxes into the garage until I can break them down. That also includes my Christmas wreath.

Miracles of miracles Monday, the sun came out and it was pleasant outside. I toddled out to the garage and proceeded to breakdown cardboard boxes and fill the entire recycling cart to the brim. Then I actually unwound the wire off the wreath, salvaging the bells and pine cones, and put the very dead fir limbs into the yard debris. 

Now I also kept the round wire frame. I’ve been doing this for years, buying holiday wreaths and then saving the frames. Haven’t used one yet. But I might. I’ve watched too many YouTube craft videos this year and I own an unused glue gun. Chaos will certainly reign at some point when it comes to these two items. I can only imagine the things I can stick myself to with a small amount of effort.

Yesterday I almost took the electronic recycling in the back of Subie to the drop off place, but I couldn’t get my butt out the door. Today is another day! The old HP printer and monitor belonged to the ancient computer I finally switched to my new computer. It only took six months, two technicians and a ton of chocolate. I’ve kept the old desktop just in case. I might need a doorstop or a boat anchor.

But I like to think this is progress. I also dragged some boxes to sort from my parent’s house out of my exercise room, it holds equipment, not that I use it. I am happy to say Subie will be driving a vintage punch bowl set to a friend of mine to donate to her church. One more box out of the house.

I watched a lot of videos while cooped up and stumbled upon Mari Kondo’s Netflix series about Tidying Up. Basically it all comes down to one thing – you have to sort your crap, er stuff. But the series gave me hope that one day I will again park Subie in the middle of the garage and perhaps see the rug in the exercise room.

Don’t get me started on my office. Between papers and books, it’s easier to fight my way to the computer and ignore it. But I am whittling on it all. That’s my new word for sorting and cleaning. Whittling. Doesn’t seem that hard to whittle away a box at a time.

My goal is to have it done by this Fall. Or at least by the time I buy another holiday wreath.

It could happen! 

Got anything to whittle at your house?   

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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This is the mini chocolate cake heart I made for my Mom’s 94th birthday today. She is a Valentine’s Day baby! The leftover cake batter produces a dozen cupcakes. Cake AND cupcakes. Perfect!

Wishing you a very merry Happy Valentine’s Day! Sending everyone chocolate cake wishes and gifts you buy for yourself. I am always a hopeful romantic, but life doesn’t get to decide if I get Valentine’s today or not. Thanks to Amazon I bagged myself a bunch of Hayley Mills movies arriving tomorrow to add to my collection. Binge watch party this weekend!

The other day I was pondering where I got my sense of adventure and crazy from, besides my family. Who were my roll models growing up? Hayley Mills definitely sticks out. One favorite Disney movie of hers is “That Darn Cat,” but my all time favorite Hayley Mills movie is “The Truth About Spring.”

In the past only bootleg copies of the movie were available, but low and behold the other night on Amazon I discovered Universal released a new copy. It is winging it’s way to me as we chat. My military romance writing incorporates a dash of my real background, the fiction characters who inhabit my head and a healthy dose of Hayley Mills. 

No matter where we are in our life, romance and adventure spectrum, we need to keep a piece of Hayley Mills alive in our hearts.

Rock this Valentine’s Day! Buy yourself an oldie but goodie something and celebrate. (I got a pink light up rubber ducky at the store this week. Just saying.)

Hugs and pink hearts to all!

Thank you for being my Valentines! 

And a Veteran’s Honor red rose and pink The Fairy roses from my backyard last summer for you all too!

Snow, Puppies And Winter Storms?

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Since we had sunny skies and 50 degree weather last week while the rest of the nation froze their giblets off, Mother Nature decided to share. We got snow earlier this week and very brisk temperatures, for us, low 20s. Obviously pleased with herself, we now have another storm warning for snow this weekend which could be between three inches and a foot. Maybe.

Good thing the African Painted Dog pups up at the Oregon Zoo got out earlier this week to learn about snow. They get more practice. The pups are growing so fast.

Everybody stay safe, warm and bundle up your fur babies too!

Happy Quirky Friday and have a great snow weekend.

Happy Middle Of January?

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Double Delight rose, a top favorite.

So much for organization. Ended up in sick bay during the holidays and clawing out of it now. Many people I know did the same thing. Seems like the germs see you slowing down a bit and then jump onboard. Very bad actor germs.

But it does give one pause to take the time and reflect on the joys of good health, when you don’t have it. Then there are the people who seem to get hit with everything; including the kitchen sink, the garbage can and the dumpster down the road. Send comfort, support and hugs whenever you come across these people. They are disease warriors.

I filled my time by cleaning out my clothes closet, watching football, cleaning out Spec Ops Cat’s bathroom, watching playoff football, and spying on the construction workers across the street. One needs a hobby when recuperating.

I’ve also watched a complete ton of YouTube videos on everything from writing to marketing to cats, comedians and some things I’m still not sure why I watched. Then I played solitaire on my tablet. There are so many ways to kill time in this modern age.

But in the grand scheme of things I am doing great and so is my family. Last year was catastrophic for so many folks, that I am truly blessed with all I have. One of those lifelong dreams is indie publishing my military romance books this year. Still on track, but delayed a little. Life isn’t linear it seems.

Here’s hoping you all have made it into the New Year in good shape and are looking forward to Spring. My favorite season. To remind us all of the coming outside festivities, here are some of my backyard photo memories to perk us all up.

The bulbs will rise again!  

 

This is the Peace rose. Another of my backyard favorites. The color of the sun.

 

Happy New Year’s Eve!

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It’s amazing to me how the holidays can roll right over us. Sometimes like a steamroller. So to wind up the year I thought I’d offer a trifecta of Quirky End of the Year videos. Then I plan on getting organized for 2019. Wish me luck!

So first we will have a late Merry Catmas, then a walk through Christmas decorations at a Chateau being refurbished in France, and then wind up with a compilation of 2018 Oregon Zoo babies. All topics I can get behind for the New Year!

Have a great, safe, New Year’s Eve and let’s make 2019 stellar!