Friday, May 4, 2018

Movin' On: Secret Subject Swap

Welcome a Secret Subject Swap. This month 10 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.

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My subject is: When you move, what is your biggest challenge and what do you enjoy the most? 
It was submitted by: Carol of Never Ever Give Up Hope.

I know that you recently moved, Carol, and into your dream house. I've seen a few of the pictures you posted and it is beautiful. Congratulations, I wish you many glorious years of health and happiness in your new home.

I have moved many times, but only once with kids. For that move, my biggest challenge was the boys. We were moving to a bigger house, only a few miles from the house we were leaving, but it would be a new school and new neighbors for them. My younger son was really not affected, but my older son did not like change. 

On top of that, keeping them out of the way, occupied and supervised, mostly on moving day, was a challenge. And it's difficult to pack up kids' belongings. Seems anything you pack, be it a piece of clothing or a toy they haven't touched in years, suddenly they needed it. Of course. 

That move was an extended one. Our best friends were moving just a few weeks before us. My friend and I came up with a strategy and we used it to move her and then me. It was August, broiling hot and doing 2 moves in such a short time was exhausting, but the strategy worked out so well. We used our cars and did all of the pre-move work while our kids were at the day camps we'd signed them up for. 

We started with the bathrooms one week before moving, we packed up towels, toiletries, etc, anything we didn't immediately need, went to the new house and completely set up the bathrooms. We did the same with the kitchen the next day. The next day we placed sheets in each bedroom, and took all the coats out of the coat closets, put them in the cars still on their hangers, then hung them up in the new house. The following days we picked a family member and did the same with the clothes in their closet. The day before moving, we did the contents of our refrigerators and freezers. We then had movers who would pack and move all of the belongs that were left and the furniture and appliances, but on moving day there were sheets in all the rooms, bathrooms and kitchen set up. By the first day in the house, I was able to bake.


Lemon Filled Poppy Shortbread Cookies, a melt in your mouth sandwich cookie bursting with flavor | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #lemon #cookies

 Lemon Filled Poppy Shortbread Cookies
Lemon Filled Poppy Shortbread Cookies, a melt in your mouth sandwich cookie bursting with flavor | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #lemon #cookies



What I enjoyed most about the move was the purge. My friend and I approached the move with the attitude that whatever we got rid of, we didn't have to move. It felt great to pile up clothing and belongings for charities to pick up. And the husbands made a trip or two to the dump as well. It's funny, I didn't think we had a lot of clutter until I got rid of it. It was freeing to walk into the new house and start fresh, to look at all that storage and know it wasn't full of unnecessary junk.

I anticipate that my next move will be a downsize. The boys are moving on with their own lives, there's really no need for 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a 3 car garage at this point. I see all those shows about tiny houses and I think "oh, how cute, I could totally do that". Then I wake up. I love my furniture. I'm kinda attached to my belongings too, pretty much all of them. And I always want to have rooms for the boys, I assume they'll come to visit often. Even if I have to guilt them into doing it. But that may be another story.

The hardest, though, will be the pieces of our lives. The kids' art work, memory books, school papers and reports, trophies and accomplishments . . . how will I make decisions about all of those things that hold a place in my heart? Even thinking about sorting through it all gives me shpilkes.

Ironic, but it seems I've come full circle in what appears to be symbolic metaphor for life, moving. From small to medium to large, looks like the next step will be back to small, well smaller anyway. And what I had originally liked the most, the purge, has become what I now dread the most.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:


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Lemon Filled Poppy Shortbread Cookies
                                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com


Printable Recipe


Ingredients (makes 20 - 25 sandwich cookies):
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
2 cups flour
2 TBSP poppy seeds

1/2 stick butter, softened
1 TBSP light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP lemon juice
3 drops yellow food coloring

Directions:
*Cream 2 sticks of butter until smooth. Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar just until incorporated, then beat in the lemon extract. Mix in the flour and poppy seeds. Form into a dough with your hands, roll into a log, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and about 14 inches long. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.
*Remove cookie dough from fridge and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Bake for about 12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely.
*Cream the remaining butter and the corn syrup. Carefully beat in the remaining powdered sugar then 1 TBSP of the lemon juice and food coloring. Add the 2nd TBSP of lemon juice if it's still too thick and you can then, if necessary, add a tsp of water at a time until the frosting is of piping consistency.
*Turn half of the cookies upside down. Pipe the lemon frosting onto these cookies, then top with the rest of the cookies to form sandwiches.

18 comments:

  1. Definitely not a fan of moving. And definitely not ready to do it again for a while. We were considering downsizing, but I need the room for the kids and grandkids. You're right, they do come home! Talked so someone who had one of those tiny houses that, like you, I thought were so cute. She said the one drawback is the noise and smell when someone uses the bathroom. There's simply no getting away from it. (Looks like we'd be going back to using an outhouse . . . ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, yikes, that bathroom thing, good point. Nope, no tiny houses for me!

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  2. I teared up reading this. With this last move I went through the boxes of kids' memories. I decided to keep only what held a special place in my heart, instead of just keeping those crayon drawings for the sake of keeping them. The plaster hand molds of both my kids were smashed during the move and I cried. I had forgotten about them until I found them broken. I agree that purging was the most fun and it also makes for more organized drawers, etc and everything feels clean and new. The circle of life. Soon you have memory boxes from the grand kids!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess moving on is bittersweet. You had to make some tough choices but you have a beautiful new dream home. Hope it works out well for me too when the time comes.

      Delete
  3. Wow, you and your friend did a great job! Of course you were able to bake, you have your priorities in order!
    I can imagine the kids showing interest in items they haven't seen in a while. Same here!
    Purging meaningless stuff is one thing, but items that stand for cherished memories is another story, and I am with you, it's hard to let go of them.
    Well, you're not downsizing just yet, right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, not quite yet. Still plenty of time to stress . . . I mean plan.

      Delete
  4. Purging is the hard part....but so necessary. I am in the midst of decluttering and looking to move because I need a new beginning, too many memories overwhelming me where I am at now. I find myself illogically ignoring the whole "Do I need this? Do I Love this? Do I use this?" and wanting to keep everything...slowly by slowly I am getting there.

    <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry, Jenn, I know it must be very difficult. I'm glad that you're open to moving and starting fresh. I am always amazed at your strength.

      Delete
  5. I like the way you did your move----very organized. I've already decided though that I will never move again. I've been in this house for 31 years. They'll have to bury me here, lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've put so much work into the gardens I can see why you wouldn't want to move.

      Delete
  6. I really wish I had someone to help me move each time, it would be so much more fun. I purge often as you know due to all the moves. This last one was my 51st move. Yes you read that correctly. I have 1 very large tub of crayon drawings, hand prints, report cards and such from the boys. Now with them all married I'm considering giving it to them, for their kids. "see what daddy made" kind of a deal. But I can't seem to part with all the stuff. I also have 10's of thousands, yes you read that right too, of photos. sigh...I love the tiny homes and sort of am in one. The apartment is 1/3 the size our house was. Clutter is to a minimum and creative storage is a must.
    When you decide to down size, find that friend again, sounds like you made a great moving team.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When my mom had her surgery and I went home to help her, she and I went through all of her pictures making piles for different people. It was very painful for me, like she was saying "good-bye". I hate that I'll be doing that with my kids, but it's the circle of life.

      Delete
  7. Just starting the purge, I want to be ready when the next chapter is ready. I'm looking forward to it. Shan already has most of her stuff I kept, so I don't have to deal with that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know you're looking forward to it and I'm so excited for you that you'll be starting fresh.

      Delete
  8. What do I enjoy about moving? lol...All jokes aside I do like being able to get rid of some of my junk before I move.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't mind getting rid of the junk, as long as there's room for the things I still want to keep. Easier if you're going bigger than if you're going smaller.

      Delete
  9. Ugh! I hate moving, as you probably know! I am still trying to be in purge mode to keep down the clutter and get rid of things we don't need. I"m not very good at it though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, you had more kids and more stress around your move. Hope your next one goes easier.

      Delete

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