Friday, March 13, 2020

Where's the Quilt?: 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: quilt ~ mirror ~ cookies ~ Ficus ~ mailbox
They were submitted by my friend Michele of Follow Me Home.

                          
I actually just wrote about Michele last week in my Remember When Secret Subject Swap post. She was the first blogger to befriend me and to this day I remember the first blog post of hers that I read, Random Thought of the Day and how I spit out my coffee laughing at the end.

So no pressure, I better do justice to her words. And apologize both for starting a sentence with "so" (and the next one with "and") I see the teacher in you cringing, Shellybean.

Before I start my story, let me just clear up what could become a misconception. This story may or may not loosely (or not so loosely) reflect a day in the life of a woman of a certain age. Named Karen. Who bakes. And writes a blog. But probably not. It could just as easily be a piece of fiction.

Kami was having one of those mornings. Not a bad morning, productive, but there was so much she wanted to get accomplished. It was just approaching noon and she'd already baked Toffee Turtle Cookies, stripped and remade the beds, cleaned out the linen closet, paid the bills . . .

It was time for a break and she headed to her den. Kami had already lit a fire in the fireplace and put a plate of her cookies on the coffee table.

Where's the Quilt? | Graphic created by and property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics #humor


This room was her favorite room in the house to just sit and relax in, especially on a cold winter day with the fire crackling (not to mention fresh baked cookies waiting). She was a bit preoccupied as she entered the room, there was a recipe rolling around in her head that needed to gel. Although it was still quite cold out today, spring is right around the corner and she wanted to make something with the flavors of warmer weather. She was thinking something light, fruity, and since she'd already baked today, something no-bake.
 
Whipped Berry Pie is a no bake dessert that comes together in minutes and can be made using the berries of your choice. | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado | #pie #dessert

Whipped Berry Pie
Whipped Berry Pie is a no bake dessert that comes together in minutes and can be made using the berries of your choice. | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado | #pie #dessert



For now, though, she was taking a break and she intended to thoroughly enjoy the down time after such a busy morning. As she sat, she looked around. Smiling, she admired the mirror above the fireplace. She'd found it in an antique store. She was a sucker for one-of-a-kinds and bought it on the spot.

There on the mantle were some favorite decorative candles and, of course, the obligatory family pictures. She never got tired of reliving the moments of her life that those pictures captured.

The fireplace was flanked by, to the left, a Ficus. She had not yet killed it, the sad fate of most of her past household plants. She knew she was getting old by the fact that she could never remember whether she'd just watered her plants, or hadn't watered them in quite a while {{sigh}}. But that ficus, it was either incredibly hearty, or was just good at fighting for its life. "Crap," thought Kami, "now that I think of it, I wonder when I last watered that poor thing."

Turning her gaze to the other side of the fireplace, it settled on an antique British mailbox. A fortuitous find, she'd never seen anything like it in all of her travels, and she'd even been to Antique Archaeology, that store owned by the guys featured on that American Pickers TV show. It was most likely a reproduction but she didn't care. When something brings you joy, you should have it.

Her favorite, by far most beloved item in the whole room, she'd found in a little store in Woodstock, VT. It was a quilt, a beautiful, warm comfortable and comforting quilt. Everyone knew they could find her wrapped up in it at some point pretty much every evening in the fall, winter, even early spring.

Wait. Where's the quilt? Panic hit Kami. The quilt stays on her couch, that's where it lives for 3 seasons of the year. She would fold it and put it carefully away only in the summer. Now, however, in the middle of winter, her couch was naked. NAKED.

Kami searched the room. She looked everywhere, even moving through all the rooms upstairs and down, not even skipping the bathrooms. Yeah, she was getting a bit forgetful so that wasn't impossible.

It was then, frustrated and on the verge of tears, that Kami heard the washing machine ding. She'd filled it last night and started it this morning. And guess what she'd put in there. Just guess.

PS: If you want to know the real story behind the story, this is it: I wasn't positive of what I was going to write about when I was making the graphic for this post, fully intending to have all of my words represented. But no matter what I tried, I couldn't make a quilt look like it was draped on the couch. So eventually I had to give up and leave the quilt out of the picture. "Damn", I thought "now I'm going to have to explain its absence . . . "




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Whipped Berry Pie
                                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com



Printable Recipe


Ingredients:
1 cup mixed berries
1 package (8 oz) Strawberry Creme Wafer Cookies
3 TBSP butter
1 cup heavy cream
3 TBSP powdered sugar
2 TBSP Chambord
1 box (approximately 3 oz) instant French vanilla pudding mix
1/4 cup Bailey's Strawberries and Cream liqueur
1 can evaporated milk
OPT: 2 - 3 drops red food coloring

Directions:
*Depending on the berries you choose, chop the larger ones (strawberries, blackberries an possibly some raspberries). Blueberries can remain whole.
*Process the cookies until they are crumbs. Mix with the melted butter and press into the bottom and partially up the sided of a lightly greased 9 inch pie plate.
*Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form, add the powdered sugar and Chambord and continue beating until stiff peaks hold. Set aside about 1/4 of the whipped cream.
*Whisk the pudding mix, Strawberries and Cream liqueur, evaporated milk and food coloring if using. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream, then the fruit and spread into the pie crust.
*Pipe or spoon the whipped cream that had been set aside onto the top.
*Freeze for 4 hours, then cover with plastic wrap. Move to the fridge about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before serving.
 

19 comments:

  1. Nice, very nice use of my words, dear friend. I remember the first post I read of yours, too. It was about watermelon ice cream. Or cookies? I was just excited that you used chocolate chips instead of watermelon seeds in your recipe. LOL. That has to be almost 10 years ago? Is that possible? Thank you for ALWAYS being supportive of my silly (and oft forgotten) blog. I adore you.

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  2. Personal I think it's a great story and very relate-able since...not that I've done such a thing recently, it makes perfect sense that a busy woman would forget or misplace a beloved item.
    Dawn aka Spatulas On Parade

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    1. I like that . . . forgot because of being busy not because of being forgetful.

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  3. https://donnad63.blogspot.com/2020/03/decisions.html

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    1. You used my words! And you did a great job with them.

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    2. I had a good time. It got me away from the Newsfeed.

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  4. Just in time for Pi Day, too! (tomorrow). Have to admit, I'm not feeling the pi love today, although I wish I could have a slice of a famous peanut butter pie from a wonderful roadside restaurant in Northern Pennsylvania. But strawberries are a close second. Sigh......Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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  5. Been there, done that (with my jacket) and don't want a repeat! It's inevitalble, however, as the memory just isn't what it used to be.

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    1. Well, at least we don't do it with our cell phones, like my husband does.

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  6. I love that your "character" has the same name. I started running out of ideas for characters names I wanted to resemble to real life ones.

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    1. Not sure what you mean by same name, but if you're ever at a loss, you can always check out baby name books.

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  7. That looks delicious! I have a much-loved quilt hanging right behind my head.

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    1. Since we're all stuck in our homes, it's great to look around and see the items we have that make us happy.

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  8. Hahahah, other people hide a body - you just got rid of your quilt because it was disturbing your cozy fireplace room image (which sounds heavenly, btw - may I come to your place and forget all about the virus sitting on your couch?)

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  9. A quilt definitely makes the couch not nakey! Lol. I have a few quilts I was gifted and can genuinely feel the love when I wrap myself in them. <3

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