Friday, November 15, 2019

It's Time: Use Your Words

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. All of the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the recipient will take them. Until now.


Use Your Words, a multiblogger writing challenge | developed and run by www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics


At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
I'm using:  afghan ~ clock ~ forest ~ glassware ~ ring
They were submitted by Michele of Follow Me Home.

                          
The next step is looming large, making this such a bittersweet time. I sit and look around my home, the one where I mostly raised my boys (we moved here when they were in 2nd and 3rd grade), the one that I furnished completely on my own. I lived and loved in this home, but it has outgrown its use.

The boys are grown now, taking responsibility for themselves. There is no need for 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a 3 car garage. And other than this now scattered family, there has never been anything for me in this state.

I sit here, wrapped in my afghan, looking out the window at the forest. I have to laugh at that word, forest, because it's not. Yes, we back up to woods, I've always loved the peace of that and the privacy, but on the other side of the woods is the elementary school my boys attended, and more homes. The boys called it a forest, but it's not even close to that big an area.

I look at my kitchen and smile at the walk in pantry. What a luxury that has been. I'll have to give that up, I know and I'll miss it. I cooked and baked in that kitchen for my family, for my friends, for the boys' friends. So many memories. Kids piling in the door after school or, as the boys got older, at night and grabbing freshly baked sweets on their way down to the basement to play pool or video games or just to hang out. 


Hawaiian Rice, quick, versatile flavorful, throw this recipe together for lunch, dinner, or a side dish. | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe

Hawaiian Rice
Hawaiian Rice, quick, versatile flavorful, throw this recipe together for lunch, dinner, or a side dish. | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe



But the clock says it's now time. Time to let another young family laugh and smile and grow and thrive in this beautiful home. Not the clock on the wall, of course, a measurement not of hours in the day, but of the timeline of life.

I'll have to pare down. Way down. I want to live smaller, simpler. As much as I love my stuff, I have no need for it all. There will be a lot of culling through, donating, selling and throwing away in my future. I'm so stressed at the anticipation of it all that just thinking about it is overwhelming I know that some of it will make me cry and some will make me smile, but I fully believe that I will be relieved when it's done. 

Part of that very first step has already been taken. When PurDude moved out, he took some of my furniture with him. He also took towels, rugs, one set of my dishes, a set of glassware, and a set of silverware. I'm already back to using the tableware that had been on my registry when I got married.

I am planning to trade the forest for the beach, or at least that's my hope. I do know that I want to move to a warmer climate, someplace where I can be more comfortable year round, where I won't need my winter coat and snow boots. And I do hope to be close enough to walk a beach. Preferably daily. 

I'll be sad being so far from my boys, but I don't see them daily anymore anyway. And the truth is, my phone rings (text option works too), wherever I end up.


Here are links to all the other Use Your Words posts:





Hawaiian Rice
                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Ingredients:
3 TBSP butter
1/4 cup pignolis (can use chopped macadamia nuts)
1/4 cup dry vermicelli noodles, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp dried parsley
2 cups instant rice, uncooked
1/2 cup chopped cooked ham steak
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots (can use dried pineapple)

Directions:
*In a medium sized pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the pignolis (or macadamias) and vermicelli noodles. Cook and stir until the noodles and nuts start to brown. 
*Add the chicken broth, salt, pepper, ginger and parsley to the pot. Bring to a boil.
*Mix in the rice, ham and apricots (or pineapple). Cover, remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Mix and serve.




16 comments:

  1. Oh wow, is this real, are you thinking about major life changes? Will you be blogging from Florida soon-ish? Can your husband be transferred?
    Scary and exciting at the same time... Good thing we'll stay connected through the web where-ever you live.
    Happy Friday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My husband can work from anywhere, the big issue really is doing what has to be done to get rid of the clutter.

      Delete
  2. Karen, our lives are mirroring. We're trying to make repairs of our large home in order to sell. I've loved the house (not the state it's located in), and soon it will be time to move on. Simpler, warmer times. Call me when you find a beach house near yours for sale. We could cause a lot of trouble under the sun! <3 Great use of my words, friend!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This post makes me sad. The end of an era and happy family memories ending is always sad. However, there is so much to look forward to. Yes it will be work but the reward in the end will be great. A simpler life AND warmer. Beach you say??? Make sure you have a guest room. M and I might pop in :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I'll have to have a guest room for the boys, it'll be open whenever they're not visiting.

      Delete
  4. This post made me cry. What a bittersweet time you are facing. Off with the old and precious. On with the new and more precious. I was thinking maybe it's time for you to come closer to me in Canada. And was hopeful until you said you wanted warmer. Rats. No beaches here. Well, there are a few. For a couple of months in the summer. Much like what you're trying to leave. Sigh.
    I'll be with you during and after the transition, though! Messenger and the internet also work almost anywhere! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Although I definitely want warmer weather as my home base, there's no reason I can't visit Canada again some day. Well, some day in the summer, that is.

      Delete
  5. It's a bittersweet time for many of us "of a certain age" for sure. My mother-in-law didn't downsize and she clung to her house long after she should have moved. So guess who finally had to do it for her when she was ailing and needed to be near to us instead of 150 miles away. Now, my husband and I have to make the decision with our house. It's small, and cluttered, with a steep staircase and the washer and dryer in the basement - and, oh yes, it is now in a flood zone, where years ago it wasn't. Do we stay? Do we leave the area (our son lives 20 minutes away)for a place whose winters are less harsh? Good luck - it's a good thing you are thinking of this now. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's exactly what I was thinking, I don't want to leave this to the boys to have to deal with. And, of course, I just don't need anywhere near this much space.

      Delete
  6. As you know, I'm doing the same thing....although I'm much farther along in the process. Many people I talk to who are my age are mulling over what their next chapter in life is going to look like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, you're at the doing stage, I'm at the mulling over stage.

      Delete
  7. I love that your story involves you looking out into the forest. So atmospheric.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, not exactly a forest, but it sets the scene I suppose.

      Delete
  8. Holy Shit talk about major announcements! Are you doing it as a couple or... Thinking of you and will be here if you need me. (Rena)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, it isn't happening any time soon, but I'm ready to start working on cleaning up and clearing out.

      Delete

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