Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

holiday stress

Pumpkin Attack, Cinnamon Rolls Or Speedy Squirrel?

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Packer Farm Pumpkin Patch Hood River

Fall is officially here. I can’t deny it. During this time of year I have two distinct urges:

  1. Stay in my cozy warm bed in the morning and eat an entire pan of warm cinnamon rolls.
  2. Rush around like a squirrel on two double=espressos preparing for the winter zombie apocalypse.

The challenge is I’d look to do both at the exact same time. Does not work out. So far. And Spec Ops Cat refuses to deliver any type of warm food to my bed, so I must get up and feed him breakfast. And the time change is coming this weekend, so I have even greater incentive to linger in bed!

Last month I went on vacation for a week and had a hard time getting out of mosey mode. But I did since I was editing another book, Spec Ops Pig, which is now available on Amazon. Romantic comedy if you need a laugh. It’s the first book in the Matchmaker Cat series, starring our very own Spec Ops Cat, a spin-off from my earlier Vintage Veterans series, Mission: Purple Hearts.

Now I am editing the sequel to Mission: Purple Hearts. Whoever made up this schedule needs a firm talking to; that would be me. Dang it. So, I escape the computer when I can and head out into the wilds.

Earlier this month that included the Packer Orchards & Farm Place pumpkin patch in Hood River. There were rocking chairs in the orchards and the pumpkin patch! My kind of place. Photo above. It was a bit breezy. Bundle up time.

But now I need to get back to editing, so I leave you with this Happy Halloween video. This is one YouTube Channel I follow for research and enlightenment. Shawn Ryan’s Vigilance Elite Channel. He is a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor. Great guy. Pretty sure pumpkins were harmed in the making of this video. 

Happy Halloween!

 

 

How About Naughty And Nice?

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Seems to be a trend in my recent purchases…….watch out 2019.

About this time of the holiday season I am ready for a break. Not that I do that much holiday stuff, but the expectations seem to spill out of every tv, ad and social media post about all the fun everybody else is having. I think we’re all stressed. Whether we celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanza or the Winter Solstice too, it’s a busy time.

It has not slipped my mind that these big holidays in the old US of A also correspond with the least amount of light and what would be a slow down in shopping given the bad weather. Cagey advertisers back in the day.

Holiday decor items I have bought this season include a lot of naughty and nice references. I’m veering toward naughty. Think this means 2019 might be a pretty fun year for me. One can hope.

What I like to focus on is rediscovering the kid inside each of us. Monday I was weaving through crowds at Target in search of cat food and peanut butter. I spied an adorable ice cream truck toy in someone’s cart. Instant love. I wanted to take a picture after getting the peanut butter, but the cart had vanished.

Our Generation Sweet Stop Ice Cream Truck from Target web site. Be still my heart! (Photo by Our Generation)

I did a quick recon around the toy department, but seriously without full combat gear it was a dicey proposition. Finishing my shopping I came around the aisle into the shampoo area and there it was again. Now, the cart owners were right by it so I couldn’t easily take a picture. I would have if the store wasn’t so packed, but it confirmed I could find it online when I got home.

Looking on my tablet I discovered it is the Our Generation Sweet Stop Ice Cream Truck and a Good Housekeeping Toy of the Year in 2016. A total of 129 parts! How did I not know this? It is for an eighteen-inch tall doll. I just measured my vintage Chatty Cathy. She is nineteen-inches tall. I bet I could stuff her inside. On sale at eighty-two dollars, that is still pricey.

Do I need a Sweet Stop Ice Cream Truck? No. Do I have room for one? No. Do I want one? Yes! Welcome to the holidays. While I should be balancing my checkbook and finishing the Christmas cards, I am dreaming about an ice cream truck for my doll. It comes in light blue or pink. I can’t decide! Chatty Cathy’s dress is pink. But I like the blue. Curses. 

What was I thinking? Costco must have cookies by the ton, right?

In the meantime I have a stack of holiday tins to fill with cookies by the end of the week. I do believe I may have over-reached on this project. So operation cookie bake commences on Thursday afternoon. Wish me luck.

Pristine. Before I started cutting into it each morning.

To indulge my inner child, this year I bought a Crafters Companion Advent Calendar on HSN. I’ve been having so much fun opening each door every morning and getting a new metal paper cutting die. My inner kid is so excited when I take my fifty-plus vitamin.

So let’s all give ourselves a break right now and indulge our inner child. It can be as simple as hiding under the blankets for five more minutes, having hot cocoa instead of coffee, taking a jammie day or evening, or calling a good friend we haven’t laughed with recently.

 

Or dreaming about an ice cream truck for your doll.

Dear Santa,

Please bring me a Sweet Stop Ice Cream Truck.

Or Aquaman. Or both.

I’ve been mostly nice in 2018. I hope to be naughty next year.

Cookies galore at my house!

Love Kim

 

Holiday Parking Lot Demo Derbies?

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This is what it looks like in the produce aisle the Tuesday after Turkey Day with the romaine lettuce recall. Coleslaw, spinach and kale. Always kale.

My military training comes in handy since leaving the service. Valuable lessons learned can translate into great help when accomplishing one of my greatest joys, shopping. Now about this time of the year, I’d rather get three root canals than venture into a shopping mall.

But no matter how well I plan, there is always one item I need to pick up or purchase to complete my list of home needs, gifts or plain consumerism. Recently I got to thinking about which are the scariest parking lots I face on a regular basis. I’ve come up with my top four contenders.

4. Target. The mall in my area has both Target and Kohl’s with a very large parking lot joining them all together. Pure madness this time of year. Several years ago I adopted the back route maneuver. I go behind Target and park behind the store which does not link with the big parking lot. Problem solved. Quick exit and entry. No prowling the rows endlessly for parking spots. In and out.

3. Fred Meyer. (Kroger to the rest of you) Go mid-day, avoid weekends, or streak in at dinner time when most folks are eating. I park in the same area so I don’t lose Subie. There are a lot of silver SUVs around here. Have my list. Get in, get out. Occasionally I like to wander through the seasonal area for holiday entertainment. Especially when the biblical downpour from a thunderstorm made it so noisy on the metal roof a week ago Tuesday we couldn’t hear ourselves think. Best to wait that one out. I’m a native Oregonian, but I’m not stupid when it comes to rain where you need a scuba suit to stay dry.

2. Eye Clinic. This parking lot is pure peril. Not only am I driving with at least one eye dilated, but other folks flat-out can’t see. My remedy is to park outside the main parking lot. There are so many parking stalls back to back to each other, it’s a matter of time before there will be a complete gridlock crash zone. Of course, when I enter the doors and the sign says “No weapons allowed,” I can imagine that is because of the crazy drivers outside. Good to know.

1.  Home Depot. This is parking lot is the hands down craziest. That’s before the holiday season. One of the store’s I frequent is next to PetSmart, so now we’ve added a rash of crazy pet owners and excited dogs to the mix. (I rarely see cat’s shopping, they have staff.) When I am mission planning for an HD run, I am in full tactical mode. Head on a swivel. Rested. Full stomach. Water bottle in the car.

When going into this mission, I always plan for a two-fer; hit Home Depot and PetSmart. If you’re going to take your life in your hands, go for the gusto and reduce the odds with one combined operation and not two different trips. Lower your odds of chaos. Pre-planning includes finding out the items I want, if they are in stock and where in the vast warehouse of crazy they are located. Know your target and secure its coordinates.

When I want a helper at Home Depot, I can’t find one. When I go in armed with intell and know where I’m heading, they are everywhere. But first, you have to secure a parking spot. Be on the watch for pedestrians with a death wish wandering in every conceivable direction. They also are pushing carts and carrying loads of timber and metal sticks which they can swivel in an instant and knock you to the ground.

I’ve seen bushes walking with only legs visible, people moving into the traffic while texting on their phone and pushing a full shopping cart, and a family heading for the store entrance strung out for six blocks trying to muck up all traffic lanes. Manage your troop movements people! 

There are contractors and DIY’ers shooting out of the loading dock at any given time with varying velocities and no warning. You can be moving along at fifteen miles an hour and all of a sudden have a dual-wheeled one-ton pickup try to T-bone you with a load of patio bricks. Be very careful around the loading bays.

If the PetSmart doggie people wander over for home stuff after their visit to the treat store, now we’ve got an entirely new wrinkle to deal with at Home Depot. Thank goodness for cement floors.

When I arrive home safely from the HomeDepot/PetSmart mission, I am truly proud of myself. Until I realize I forgot the special cat food.

Curses!

Take it easy out there everybody and reward yourselves for a mission well done during these holiday parking lot horrors. Think outside the parking lot. The life you save may be the cat’s waitress.

Spec Ops Cat testing out the new holiday blankie from Kohl’s. I think it passes. Mission complete.

Friday Finds And Holiday Crazies

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Digging out of the trenches. Okay, I still have one foot in the mud from moving from my eleven-year-old computer to the new one. I’ve been dreading this, but almost done! So when one of the YouTube channels I follow had a quick video on feeling overwhelmed and anxious, what better gift to forward for everybody. It is the holiday crazies!

Then I wanted to wind up with a calming hour of holiday music and snow. You can watch for a few minutes or an hour. Relax. Get a cup of cocoa and breathe.

Have a great, safe, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

P.S. These new computer keyboard keys are really SHORT.

 

 

 

Lemurs, Bears, Beavers And Pumpkins?

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Do we all feel like we’re hurtling toward the holiday abyss at increasing velocity? I’ve been running around like a squirrel on Mt. Dew trying to get outside and inside chores done ahead of the rain. It arrived yesterday. Kind of got things finished. Almost.

Just managed to get the six Halloween decorations out Thursday. If I can stay six days ahead of each of the upcoming holidays, my life will be a success.  I’ve learned to lower my standards for the holidays; makes life so much easier.

But one pleasure I can’t refuse is checking out animals at the Oregon Zoo playing with their pumpkins. How cute are these beauties? Love the lemurs! I keep thinking of King Julian in the Madagascar movies.

Have a great, safe, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

 

We Work In Heels!

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by Kimberly A. Cook

This week is the final push for the holidays. We can do this. Between moving my Mom,  cleaning out her house and running Spec Ops Cat into the vet three times last week, I’m a little festively frazzled. Spec Ops Cat is doing well now. I could use a bucket of spiked eggnog myself. And one of his B12 shots. And a dump truck load of Christmas cookies.

So when times get challenging, I like videos. One of my favorite dance numbers is this one from “Top Hat.” Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, backwards, in heels, in a long dress with FEATHERS! Notice how she has to kick the dress up to keep from killing herself. Us women rock. The dance number really picks up about the two-minute mark, so hang in there.

For a holiday bonus, I’ve added the just released trailer for “Oceans 8.” All women. With and without heels. Can’t wait to see this. Happy Holiday rush week!