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Spring 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

Closet Cleaning Reflections?

April 11, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

The closet purge is finished. The bedroom clothes closet to be specific. It took more than a week and a half of dogged determination, but it’s done. The Mission Op also included the dresser, vanity and coat closet. Sweet crackers how did I get so many clothes?

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Spec Ops Cat helping out with the dresser purge. Yes, his butt is to the camera. What a great little furry assistant. Can’t show you what he did to my sock drawer; brutal. Hard to put things in a drawer when a cat is in it. I tried.

 

Truly a trip down memory lane when I finally tossed the dark green gauze dress from the Mazatlan, Mexico trip. Or purged the blazer jackets from the late 1990s. Most of them.

There are a few rules when starting on this type of operation:

What is the goal? Mine was to get the new clothes in the closet and the old ones out. There was not enough room for both. The tangible reward of my upstairs hallway not looking like a dry cleaners back room was also a major perk.

Go in with a plan. I started with a small group to ensure purge victory – cashmere sweaters. With stupid hot flashes I can’t wear most of them anyway. Sort by category.

Boxes and staging area at the ready. Made sure I had enough cardboard boxes and my plastic totes at hand to put the purged items away and stack until the garage sale. This also required cleaning up the exercise room so I could put all the boxes in there for temporary storage.  Lids on boxes also thwarted Spec Ops Cat plans to cuddle on all items and spread his fur.

Music required. I used my disco music favorite hits CD and cranked it up. Since I tried on every single piece of clothing, it really helps to keep the energy up. No video cameras were allowed in the vicinity.

Have an extraction plan. Garage sale at my friend’s house is set for May 12. Hope to sell some of it. Leftovers will go to the Women’s Shelter. Set free the items and get them gone. I’ve been known to load boxes of purged items into Subie and drive them around until I passed by Goodwill. They were out of the house!

Reward yourself in the process. I got new purple orchid hangers to help with the purge. Whatever it takes to accomplish the task. There was Dove dark chocolate involved too. Sure I danced off the calories. Kinda.

Next on the agenda? After the garage sale I need to tackle purging the exercise room, garage and kitchen. The office is on that list but I’m in complete denial about it.

By the time I get that list done it will be Fall. Or time to go play in the Fairy Rock Garden first. Sounds like more fun.

Got a purge plan for this Spring? Dance on!

 

 

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Filed Under: home Tagged With: cleaning plan, closet clean out rules, clothes, donate, garage sale, Kimberly A Cook, recycle, Spring cleaning, wardrobe, Warrior Tales

Got Closet Cleaning Chaos?

March 21, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@    WarriorTales)

It seemed such a simple goal. Clean out my clothes closet. I’m deep in the fleece on this project. Started by choosing a small group to purge; cashmere sweaters. Made the commitment to try each one on. OMG. Body parts have moved and fashion has changed.

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Closet clutter chaos. The refuse from the purge so far.  

 

Next on the list were workout clothes – tops and bottoms. Cut them in half by the time I figured out which ones were comfortable, besides the favorites I wear to death. Then onto the lounge pants and sweatshirts. Purged more for the garage sale.

Then last Friday I went for the gusto and spent six hours in my closet trying on every dress, dress pant, winter and summer sweater and blazer. I’m reorganizing and switching out hangers too, so it takes time. Is it possible to poop yourself out trying on clothes? Yes.

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Spec Ops Cat helping with my bead sorting. Kinda.

 

Gave myself the weekend off to visit with friends and family. Then Monday instead of going back to the closet, I deviated to the office to sort beads. Somehow I just couldn’t make myself do it. Think I’m building up steam for the final push to try on and sort jeans and tops. So many zippers, so little fit.

Those two groups are really hard to purge except for the last category which I may never get to – shoes.  I want to live the life my shoes expect me to have, so I don’t want to disappoint any of them right now. Maybe later.

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Spec Ops Cat still committed to help with my bead sorting. Sitting in the middle of my work area. Excuse me, HIS work area. Cat’s rule! Too bad he won’t clean the closet.  

 

Project creep crawled out of the bedroom since I need to replace hangers and purge the coat closet too. Sigh. Onward brave closet purgers! Ye olde garage sale date advances.

The master goal is to easily find the clothes I wear and love. What a concept. It’s day two of Spring, I better get moving.

Got Spring closet projects?

 

 

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Filed Under: home Tagged With: beads, closet cleaning, garage sale, hangers, home, jewelry, Kimberly A Cook, organization, Spring cleaning, tidy up, used clothes, Warrior Tales

Spring Cleaning Choices?

March 14, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                          (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

The sun came out last Friday and I played hooky from my blog. It was SO exciting. People were nice to each other in the stores, it got warm inside Subie with passive solar and folks were speeding like maniacs; until they hit a killer pothole. The rain poured again Saturday, but it popped out on Sunday and I played in my yard and garage.

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How fabulous does this display look at Monticello Antiques? The light coming in from the right was actual sun on Friday.

 

With apologies to the folks in the Northeast getting pounded by snow today, the rest of us are having Spring dreams while the rain settles in again in Oregon. Rumors of sun breaks on Thursday and Sunday have us all giddy with expectation.

My goal is to get all the inside chores done so when the good weather shows up, I can move outside to play. My new acronym is C.O.D. – clean, organized and decluttered. Noticed one of my declutter books in a pile of books on the floor of my bedroom the other day. Think that might be defeating its purpose.

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How cute is this sign at Monticello’s? Truer words were never spoken. Not the best shot due to low light, since I hate flash, but you get the idea! 

 

While I gear up to attack my closet for a brutal purge which requires empty garage sale boxes, chocolate and tissues to survive, I wanted to share one of my favorite shopping spots again. Some folks have such a knack for displaying items not only for sale, but in their homes too. My goal is to clear the floors.

Spec Ops Cat is always helping out with the housework by supervising. This photo was him working hard in the office yesterday while I was editing my fiction book. He strives for nap perfection. Pretty sure he had the ten thousand hours for mastery before he turned four. He’s always practicing, like right now in the exact same spot while I write this blog. So dedicated to his job.

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Words of wisdom from Spec Ops Cat for the folks back East in the snowstorm; nap hard, nap deep. He’s a Ninja Nap Master.   

Spring officially arrives Monday, so hope they can dig out of the snow in time to celebrate back East. We have flood warnings the end of this week. The ground refuses to take more water and even Idaho is dumping its rain water into our Columbia River.  Grab the sandbags, it must be Spring!

Are you Spring cleaning?  Or napping like Spec Ops Cat?

 

 

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Filed Under: home Tagged With: cat, Columbia River, Kimberly A Cook, Monticello Antiques, Oregon, play, snow, Spring, Spring cleaning, Stella, Warrior Tales, weather, winter blues

Time To Spring Into Action?

March 10, 2015 By Kimberly A. Cook 2 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook                (Twitter@    WarriorTales)

It’s official, Spring is here. The hyacinths have bloomed! These little bulbs pushing their way up into the sun and blooming always feels like Spring and Easter and bunny time to me. Granted, we are having an early Spring and the poor East Coast folks can’t even find the ground, little lone bulbs blooming, so we will celebrate for them.

This truly, absolutely means it is Spring!
This truly, absolutely means it is Spring!

I got all excited with the nice weather last weekend and went out and downsized my extra garden pots. Since we recycle, reuse and up cycle everything we get our hands on out here in Portlandia, I had to find a home for my used potting soil. Luckily, a co-worker at the day job volunteered to haul it home and till it into her garden.

This involved me using my fabulous 18 gallon Rubbermaid heavy totes I love and filling three to take to work Monday. We transferred the full totes in the parking lot and all is right with the world. I did ask her if we could do it as soon as possible in the morning because I didn’t want the worms to make a break for it and commandeer my Subaru. Or take up residency inside. Worms relocated. Excellent.

Now my sidewalk is clear and looking pretty spiffy. Also cleaned up the bird bath, refilled the feeders and cleaned the garage a little. Best reward? Able to bring out the table and chairs to sit in the warm rays of the sun with family in the afternoon. Perfect! Then took the table and chairs back inside since it will rain on Wednesday. Works for me.

Now, if I could just get as excited about cleaning inside the house and finishing my taxes. Somehow it doesn’t seem as much fun. Got Spring cleaning on your mind?

 

 

 

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Filed Under: Garden Tagged With: bulbs, garden, hyacinths, Kimberly A Cook, potting soil, recycle, Spring, Spring cleaning, Warrior Tales

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