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cleaning

Time For A Spring Whittle?

March 13, 2019 By Kimberly A. Cook 3 Comments

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?   

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Filed Under: home Tagged With: cleaning, decluttering, Kimberly A. Cook, reboot, romance readers, romance writer, Spring, Spring cleaning, stuff, Tidying Up, writer

Trying To Get Organized?

January 9, 2018 By Kimberly A. Cook 3 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook

At the end of each year my friend Carol and I say, “Next year we’re getting organized.” We’ve been saying that for more than thirty years now. I don’t think it’s taken. Not for lack of trying mind you. It comes down to stuff and paper. No matter how I try, eventually one day I’m overwhelmed. Today could be that day.

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Spec Ops Cat got a new kitty cave bed last weekend. He loves it. Temporarily put it on the chair. Now it’s permanent. I could use a Kim cave myself.

 

It’s a constant battle. Stuff I can rotate and control to some degree; I purge clothes and books on a regular basis. Kitchen items and towels are a little harder. But paper really takes the cake.

One of the hazards of being a writer is clipping newspaper articles, hoarding books, keeping travel handouts and collecting office supplies. When you have a Scrat brain, every handout, business card and coupon can spark an idea.

Going digital hasn’t helped. The number of bookmark folders on my Samsung tablet alone are mind boggling. So I keep trying.

Add to the mix my Mom’s recent move and all kinds of interesting stuff ended up in my house to process. Of course, that has forced me to get rid of the leftover garage sale items to Goodwill so Subie can actually open her doors inside the garage.

Now, truth be told, if I hadn’t dragged home the wooden park bench from my Mom’s backyard that needs refinishing, the garage would have been okay. Kinda. But once I sand it, scrub it and paint it pink, it will make a fabulous addition to the fairy rock garden this summer. My name is Kim and I’m a project-aholic.

But paper. Yuck. Almost finished sorting the receipts for taxes. Now that is a land speed record for me to have that done in January. Go me.

But, it’s raining and dark outside. A new box of jewelry goodies I ordered has been open for two weeks and I haven’t been able to play with it yet. Its siren song is calling me across the office. Then I have a bunch of Hallmark holiday movies still clogging my DVR.

Plus those Christmas cookies never got baked and the ingredients are still waiting on the kitchen counter. Playing with jewelry parts, watching a movie and eating fresh baked cookies. Forget the paperwork for today.

I’m sure I’ll need to follow Spec Ops Cat’s lead and take a nap too.

Tomorrow I’m going to get organized! How about you?

 

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Filed Under: Crafting Tagged With: author, books, cleaning, clutter, Kimberly A Cook, nap time, organization, paper clutter, play time, taxes, timeout, Warrior Tales, winter blahs, writer

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