For a Friend: 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.

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:  pretty ~ peaceful ~ perforated~ punctual ~ pip
They were submitted by Diane of On the Border.

                          
These words inspired a little bit of fiction today. Although, sadly, for many of us it will have a haunting ring of truth.

She was punctual for the appointment, all five of the women arrived within minutes of each other.

But it went downhill from there. 

Not that the expectation had been for a peaceful afternoon, not when you have 5 women shopping for the same thing at the same time. Agreement would be impossible, but if nothing else, the afternoon would be full of laughter and friendship. They were, after all, a happy, boisterous, fun-loving group, forever friends. With, really, the same individual goal, everyone wants to look pretty, after all. 

So in the next hour a decision would be made. It would have to be. And the hope was it would be a decision all could (at the very least) live with.

Because, in the end, although tastes and opinions, and perspectives would be voiced, it would not be a democracy. One voice would rise above the rest, that was a given.

As is the case with these things, expectations were not met.

She looked in the mirror at the dress she had on. It was aqua colored. With navy piping and a white collar. She looked like a life preserver someone might throw in the water. Hard pass.

But no matter how many objections she voiced, they fell on deaf ears. Penelope was just going to have to admit that it was Piper's wedding. And she, as the Maid of Honor, was going to have to walk down the aisle in front of 200 people, looking like a nautical accessory.

Unless she came down with a perforated appendix that day. It could happen . . . 

"Somebody buy me a drink, she thought.

Black Raspberry Martini

"On second thought, someone grab a life preserver, I may need a boatload."

 

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

On the Border 

Climaxed

Black Raspberry Martini

                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients (makes 2):

2 oz Blue Raspberry Vodka

4 oz Chambord

7 oz black raspberry sparkling juice, divided

red or blue sanding sugar

6 raspberries

Directions:

*Refrigerate the black raspberry sparkling juice. Mix together the vodka and Chambord. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

*Add 6 oz of the black raspberry sparkling juice to the liquor and set aside.

*Pour the remaining sparkling juice into a saucer, and he colored sugar onto a plate. Dip just the rim of each martini glass into the juice in the saucer, then into the sugar to rim the edge of the glasses. 

*Place 3 of the raspberries into the bottom of each glass. Stir the martinis, then pour into the glasses, avoiding the rim.

Homer Did It: Word Counters

 

 

 

Counting my words again. 

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month one group member picks  a number between 12 and 50. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we all share what we came up with. 

This month's number is 30. It was chosen by Me!

 

 

 

 

 

Most often with these Word Counters posts, I choose a theme and use my word count multiple times in keeping with the theme. This month I'm doing it a little differently, I'm telling a true story, it's a mystery. Don't worry, I'll let you know who-done-it.

~ One year ago, almost to the day, I wrote this Word Counters post: It's A Mystery. I talked, as I often do, about my love of mystery shows and novels.

 

~ I also lamented about how, as I age, there's little mystery to the homespun who-done-its around here. It's me. Today I'm sharing a story, about a recent mystery. 

 

~ I wake up earlier in the morning than I'd like to. There are things I do every morning, to open up the house and prepare for the day. First, coffee.

 

~ This day, I grabbed my coffee and started my daily routine. In the hallway, I opened the window, in the den, unplugged my laptop, in the office, opened the blinds.

~ Started a wash in the laundry room, then into the kitchen, to prep food for recipes I'd make later. Needed a sip of coffee, of course, but it was gone!

Martini Chicken

 

~ Gone? No way! I looked everywhere in that kitchen, but it was nowhere. Alright, retrace my steps. The hallway? No coffee. The laundry room? No coffee. The office? No coffee.

~ As I was leaving the office, I walked by Homer. Yes, Simpson. Although I can't claim him as a dependent on my taxes, he resides here, a squatter of sorts.

 

~When the boys were younger (a lot), they went through a Simpsons phase. But then don't we all? Somehow, at some point, they ended up with a blow-up Homer.

 

~ Was it maybe a freebee associated with a Simpsons movie? Anyway, the boys put him in the office on a counter stool, and there he's resided. For like fifteen years. 

~ Was Homer in a bad mood? Woke up on the wrong side of the chair, thought he'd enjoy watching my frantic search?

Or, like me, maybe Homer just needed coffee.

 

 

Here are links to the 

other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Martini Chicken        
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 box (12 oz) rigatoni

1 TBSP olive oil 

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, chopped

1/4 cup onion, chopped

3/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper 

3 TBSP gin

2 TBSP vermouth (can substitute dry white wine)

1/3 cup lemon lime soda

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk 

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1 cup pimento stuffed green olives, drained

 

Directions:

*In a large pot, cook the rigatoni to al dente. Drain and keep warm.

*Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and the onion, sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the chicken is cooked through.

*Once the chicken is cooked, add the gin, vermouth, and soda to the pan. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 2 minutes.

*Add the evaporated milk and lemon zest. Return to a boil, lower the heat slightly and simmer, stirring gently, for 5 minutes. Add the pasta and olives. Gently stir for 1 more minute.

Funny Friday: One Size Fits All?

Today’s post is this month’s Funny Friday, a regular feature published on the last Friday of every month. Funny Friday is a collaborative project. Each month one of the participants submits a picture, then we all write 5 captions or thoughts inspired by that month’s picture. Links to the other bloggers’ posts are below, click on them and see what they’ve come up with. I hope we bring a smile to your face as you start your weekend.

Here’s today’s picture. It was submitted by Candice of Measurements of Merriment. 

1. Little girl to her mom: This bathing suit must be from last year, it doesn't fit. And maybe we need to put the shoes away for next year.


2. Little girl to herself: Halloween? Got it covered.


3. Little girl to herself: I guess this is what they mean by the "off the shoulder" look.


4. Little girl to her mom: One size fits all? I don't think so.

5. Little girl to herself: Damn. I think I was supposed to put these on first . . .


And now a treat for those of us stuck at home giving out the candy: 
 

Pomegranate Martini

 

Click on the links below and let some other bloggers make you smile:

 Spatulas on Parade 
The Bergham Chronicles  
Measurements of Merriment 
 Dinosaur Superhero Mommy
Not That Sarah Michelle
 

Pomegranate Martini

                                                                        ©www.BakingInATornado.com

 

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients (per drink):

2 oz orange liqueur
2 oz raspberry liqueur
3 oz pomegranate juice
1 oz grenadine

Directions:
*Fill a martini shaker about 1/2 way with ice.
*Add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and shake well.
*Strain into a martini glass.