Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

pumpkin pie

Harvest Or Hibernate?

By 1 Comment

Sky view of Spec Ops Cat new favorite spot; empty paper box in the sun. Nap ahoy!

Huge Harvest Moon last night. Which partly explains my urges to nap or eat. Or eat and nap. With the golden light of Fall turning the leaves red, orange and dead, time to conserve energy.

We are having glorious eighty degree weather right now here in Oregon, so no need to hibernate. But I want to. Is it the pumpkins in the store? The Halloween candy stocked in all the aisles? The sun setting at seven p.m.? Yes.

Then that true sign of winter appeared on tv; Hallmark Christmas movies start on Oct. 26! My intent is to read, write and craft this winter. Seems I went down the rabbit hole this year and started collecting card crafting items. Swore I would not go there, but I did. (Gemini Junior! Diamond Press! Anna Griffin! Stop me now….. )

However, I will not be making my Christmas cards. Really. I send fun cards and I have a ton of those from last year’s clearance sales. I try to be cheap, er thrifty. But notice I did not say never. I’ve eaten that word so many times it’s not funny. So now I avoid it. 

The harvest festivals are starting and the farmer’s markets are closing. Can snow be far behind? Let’s get ahold of ourselves. Stop that. Time to go fondle my craft supplies. Paper therapy.

Spring will come again. Right after I eat myself into a stupor this holiday season. Time to go fire up the treadmill; for Spec Ops Cat.

Might be time to start hoarding cans of Libby’s pumpkin pie mix. Just to be safe…….    

Got A Turkey Launch List?

By 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook

With everything going on right now, I think the best thing to do is to prepare for Thanksgiving. Focus on food. With less light, more rain and cold temperatures, it’s the perfect time to plot the menu for next week. Once again we must answer the age-old question – jellied or whole cranberries?

Pumpkin pies and/or cake? Both. Whip cream? Always. Turkey. Yes or homemade ravioli as one former co-worker’s family. Whatever food will grace your table, it’s time to prep.

I spent two Thanksgivings in mess halls and our Army cooks put on quite a feast. And it didn’t really count if that crab leg got away from me and flew across the dining hall. I acted cool. It might still be there.

So seafood or Italian or turkey or whatever you wish for your celebration, let’s be thankful for what we have. Let us also remember our military troops serving around the world who will be eating in mess halls and aboard ships.

For those of us who might need some help in the kitchen skills arena, Snoopy is happy to show off his sous chef skills.

Happy Quirky Friday and make your Thanksgiving launch list!

https://youtu.be/t0SAmBX-7oM

 

Pumpkin Pie For Hamsters Too?

By Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                   (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

The only thing better than Thanksgiving is turkey and pie leftovers. Obviously this well-loved hamster has the same weakness I do for pumpkin pie. Watch this expert chow down on an entire pie; hamster size that is.

Have a great weekend and Happy After Thanksgiving Quirky Friday!

Unleash The Pie Baking!

By 6 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook                              (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

My favorite time of year arrives again, Pumpkin Pie baking time. One of the great things about Thanksgiving is being grateful for all the people, family and friends in our lives; sharing pumpkin pie seems the perfect way to celebrate.

Pie logistics! Moving troops or pastry, you've got to have your supplies. Unleash the bakers!
Pie logistics! Moving troops or pastry, you’ve got to have your supplies. Bunny cookie jar and Match Dandy are on sentry duty. Unleash the bakers!

I’ve gathered my ingredients and will be in a baking frenzy tomorrow night. So while I am mixing pumpkin and pouring in evaporated milk, eggs, spices and sugar, it’s a good time to thank everyone who reads my little blog here. At last count there are 69 twitter folks and 161 WordPress folks following my activities.

Thank you for your kind attention to my work. Thought I should have a name for us. When I was volunteering for the USS Ranger Foundation I decided to use Team Ranger to describe our volunteers, board and staff. At the time the whole vampire “Twilight” thing was going on, so it wasn’t a far stretch.

I thought perhaps we should be Team Quirky. Then I realized that might lead  to all kinds of trouble I didn’t want to deal with online, down a slippery rabbit hole so to speak. So in the interest of keeping this relatively clean and fun, I’d decided on Team Cookie. My nickname in the Army was Cookie and so was my Dad’s when he served, so I feel it’s a family tradition. But I tried Team Cookie and Google told me someone else has the name. Figures.

Perplexing problem. Will have to think on it some more. But thank you all for being a part of Team to be named later with a high draft pick choice, I hope.

Since I can’t send crumbs through the digital media, how about pie? For those of you who live by a Shari’s Restaurant, they have this new program the Shari’s Café Club. I was so excited to find out about this since I’m not yet eligible for an Honored Citizen card for several more years. They’ve merged the two programs and now anyone can get a Shari’s Café Club card at Shari’s.

When you register you get a piece of free pie in that month and then another free piece of pie for your birthday. I’m already up two pieces of pie! So if you want free pie, trot over to Shari’s and get one of those cards. You earn points for every dollar you spend at Shari’s. I’m thinking earning future pie dollars….

No matter what is happening in your life right now, know I appreciate your support and did my best to get you free pie as a thank you. Hugs all around. Have a great Thanksgiving everybody!

www.mysharis.com for info.

(I am not getting pie kickbacks for this either. Rats!)

 

How About A Thanksgiving Writing Retreat?

By 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook       (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Here comes turkey day and then the slippery slope to holiday festivities. In amongst all the carting, preparing, eating and clean-up, perhaps we can all steal some time to write. At some point we may try to lock ourselves in the coat closet anyway, given too much people time, but just in case make a back-up plan to steal some sacred writing time away from the chaos of the season.

The classic Libby's recipe pumpkin pies from my very own kitchen. Can you smell the joy?
The classic Libby’s recipe pumpkin pies from my very own kitchen. Can you smell the joy?

To get us started in the right direction, read these Thoughts on Writing from Elizabeth Gilbert at http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/thoughts-on-writing/  Yes, we know I am a huge fan of hers, but with good reason. She seems so sane. And funny!

An article about her in the Nov/Dec 2013 “Poets & Writers” magazine said she didn’t write for three years while she researched her newly released fiction book. Three years! Fabulous. Here I was worried about sticking my non-fiction book in a box for a couple of months. (http://www.pw.org/content/novemberdecember_2013)

Every one of us has to find our own writer’s path. It’s like cleaning the cat’s litter box – we have to do it because the cat sure isn’t about to scoop poop, he’s got staff. Writers are our own staff and everything else – logistics! (And no, UPS will not write our books. Deliver them? Yes.)

With the changes I am making with knitting, combining my craft and writing spaces, plus focusing on what makes me happy and ignoring the rest, my muse is waking up from slumber. The creative power is eeking back into my veins and I might actually be a tad more pleasant to be around these days, Frustrated creatives are cranky people to be sure, I know this because my family has told me so.

So whether you are participating in the holidays at a DefCon 5 level or ignoring them completely, both are allowed, give yourself the gift of writing time. Plus pumpkin pie of course!

P.S. Turkey Bonus: For the three of you on the planet who don’t know about www.blackfriday.com, you can do shopping recon of the after turkey day ads right now. Happy Thanksgiving!