move

by Kimberly A. Cook

How is it December? The past five months I’ve been involved in packing and moving my mother to her new house, three major home repair projects and the holidays. According to my personal internal calendar, it should be September.

Big pink teddy bear with baby bear! Demonstrating exactly what I want to do for the holidays. Relax and recline.

Still working on the glamour of cleaning out the family home and moving items from here to there. And there to here. And back again. More about all that move stuff next week.

So to say I’ve become even more attached to Lowe’s and The Home Depot is an understatement. Imagine my glee on a recent trip to the orange box store when this giant pink teddy bear appeared next to the light bulbs. In the lounge chair and ottoman. So cute.

On another trip, you can’t make just one trip a week to Home Depot, there were more big pink teddy bears. One sat on a bar-be-cue, kids don’t do that at home, and one in a lawn chair. No idea why the big pink bears have invaded The Home Depot, but I approve.

So with Christmas fast approaching, I’m trying to get organized. The wreaths went up outside on Monday; right after the contractors finished the eave vent holes for the roof and the new gutters were put up.

Plus tomorrow is the big day I can drive Subie back into the garage. She’s been on the street for ten days while my driveway was ripped out and poured due to tree root damage. Which means now I need to heft the other move boxes out of the garage to Goodwill so I can get her back inside.

Maybe if all the boxes I’ve lifted in the past three months were gift-wrapped I’d feel more festive. On the good side, my biceps are finally back in shape. And I got to fill up a dumpster last week too. Woo Hoo!

Just heard footsteps on the roof. Not reindeer. Must be the roofers getting ready to replace my skylight; which happens to be over Spec Ops Cat litter box in the office bathroom. Spec Ops Cat is not a fan of the roofers, or the gutter guys or the concrete jack hammer dudes. I can relate. Will need to pry him out of the pantry or from under the bed. Again.

In all this continuing chaos, I did manage to do some fiction writing. Flipping miracle! My kingdom for a yurt in the woods or “not a creature was stirring, not even a roofer.” Not sure that’s exactly how it goes. (They’ve been on and off our row homes for five months. Don’t even ask.)

Besides making my holiday to do list, maybe I need to go buy a big pink bear. To match my big pink rabbit. Tis the Season!

Got Christmas confessions?

by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Between fighting the creeping crud the last three weeks, dark nights, wind, rain, holiday craziness, news nightmares, and a neighborhood zoning fiasco that would break Ghandi’s patience, it’s Holiday Time Out Time.

What do I do when the Grinch grumpies hit this time of year? I have a plan of attack. First I bake. Food therapy. Sunday’s treat of choice was a box mix of poppy seed muffins. Perfect. I used up some leftover milk and all I had to do was stir.

After tons of time watching the Barefoot Contessa on HGTV, I use the big scoop to transfer the batter from the bowl to the muffin tins. Works like a charm. Much faster too. I do the same for cookie batter except I use the smaller scoop. Tip: you have to push the round dough balls down for cookies. Took me awhile to figure that out, had cookie globes for a bit.

Next on the agenda is to move. While I may need to have the LaZBoy surgically removed from my butt after this siege and replenish my tissue stockpile, moving is the key to getting energy and endorphins.

I always like to start with what’s bugging me the most in the house. Sunday it turned out to be the toilet bowls. Yucky. After a quick cleaning I felt much better and happier. Sometimes it’s the dishes, or vacuuming or piles of mail, but this time it was the toilet bowls.

Then I get on the treadmill for at least ten minutes. When you’re trying to get energy back you have to expend energy. It’s some stupid physics law, but it’s true. Always add my workout tunes – disco to movie themes – and that helps too. Grinchy moods don’t like music.

Then I work up to walking twenty to thirty minutes a day. It really helps having a treadmill in the Oregon monsoon season, since we have flood warnings this week I prefer to walk inside instead of using a scuba suit and rubber raft.

Third action on the Grinch grumpies be gone list is to create. Anything. It can range from my holiday shopping list to printing out photos or gluing on the top bead to the mini Christmas tree that fell off. Wrapping a present works too.

Any hands on activity helps the left brain relax and the right brain engage. Another reason I’m taking my knitting back to the day job. Knitting also keeps me from eating since it’s hard to snack and eat at the same time as it mucks up the yarn. A good way to prevent too much holiday grazing.

Last but not least I review my gratitude list. Since I write down five things every night I’m grateful for, it’s always a good time to sit and ponder any time of day and reflect on my blessings. Some days it’s clean toilet bowls, kitty hugs, friends, family and sleeping in on a day off.

And today it’s knowing there are some fine folks out there willing to read my little blog and make comments or likes and communicate with me. Those are Big Magic Moments Thank you. And before I know it the Grinch grumpies are gone!

So my Grinch grumpies be gone action plan is bake, move, create, and gratitude. What’s yours? Got clean toilet bowls? Poppy seed muffins?

Christmas Confessions?

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