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Military Romance Author

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winter blues

A Fresh Start For Kindness

January 18, 2023 By Kimberly A. Cook 1 Comment

Happy New Year, my fellow earthlings. Think I was kind of waiting to see if we actually made it. So far, so good. Bumpy, but we’re coping.

My goals this year are kindness, play, writing, and decluttering.

While I have been doing the last two, I need serious retraining for play, plus I’m working on kindness by trying to do a good deed each day. If I make you smile, this post counts for today’s good deed.

One article I read a long time ago said if you changed three things in your morning routine, it would turn your world upside down. Can’t even imagine what a multiple-year worldwide tri-demic does, but we’re beginning to find out. Think we are upside down, turned inside out, and floating in space.

While the entire planet is in various stages of flux and upheaval, we can recognize we are all in recovery. And that will take as long as it takes and is individual for each person and animal. Basically, this event screwed everybody, mammals, insects, all organisms.

Kindness to ourselves and others is a powerful way to move forward.

On Dec. 8, 2013, I was standing in the customer service line at Kohl’s to pay my almost overdue credit card bill. My dad had died early that morning, and my family were on our way home from saying goodbye to him at the foster home.

Sleep-deprived, grieving, in shock, and pretty exhausted, I felt like an empty vessel. Standing in line was taking way too much energy. After I paid my bill, the clerk gave me a business card. On it said #SHOWKINDNESS. I held onto that little card as if it was a surprise daisy in winter. I still have it.

You never know how you will touch someone’s life in a positive way. And sweet sea biscuits, we need as much kindness and love as we can produce right now.

Take positive baby steps. Whatever you can handle.

Elizabeth Lyon, a favorite writing instructor, talked about one percent improvement a week at a long-ago writing conference. She said we have to “chop wood and carry water” every day to be better writers.       

That goes for kindness and love too.

In that vein, I’m adding some of my new favorite videos to enjoy. I need more play and nature in my life, and given our winter weather, these videos help a lot.

The Movie Squirrels are from Norway and their humans are working to save the forest for the animals. Let’s do this!

(It’s eight hours, so pace yourselves. I watch it on my TV. You have to see The Nut Bar!)

https://youtu.be/cIvEGjm0qGM

And let’s finish up with some positive news from the Oregon Zoo!

https://youtu.be/gwBkeiHfFds

Gear up people.

Let’s get kindness trending!

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Filed Under: Motivation Tagged With: A Fresh Start For Kindness, animals, goals, good deeds, Happy New Year, Kimberly A. Cook, kindness, later in life romance novels, later in life romance readers, military romance author, Norway, Oregon Zoo, recovery, romance readers, squirrels, winter blues

Time For A Surfing Pig?

January 19, 2018 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook

Busy week. With that in mind, I decided we all needed a sun and swim break. What better way to warm up in the winter than surfing in Hawaii. With a pig. Who has his own board and two GoPro cameras. Because why not?

If you need to schedule some playtime in your life, take pointers from Kama, the hanging ten porker. Hang loose.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

 

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Filed Under: Quirky Fridays Tagged With: beach, hang ten, Hawaii, humor, Kimberly A Cook, pets, pig, sun, surf, surfing, surfing pig, warm, Warrior Tales, winter blues

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

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