Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 22

(Please scroll down for Project Black)

Can you believe this is week 22 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge? Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. I'd love some volunteers to make up the words/phrases for up-coming weeks. Maybe each of our regulars could take a turn and send me two sets of words.... It's hard having only myself to blame when I struggle over these exercises... But enough whining, on to the challenges.

(Oh - one other thing... I write these off blog and then cut and paste them. Does anyone else have a problem where some words will take color and sentences in the middle don't? Drives me crazy every week and I can't figure out how to fix it, which is why there are letters and words here and there amid the color that are black. Any suggestions?)

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: cardboard box, liquor cabinet, ostrich feathers, longitudinal, hamburger helper, partnership, laundry detergent, magnificent, San Francisco, prognosis And for the Mini Challenge: worst case scenario, marginalia, water fountain, specialized, fortitude

Here's my ten-word offering for this week.

Teresa had not been willing to listen to her parents or her friends when they offered the prognosis that her marriage to Fernando would end in disaster, but it seemed they had been right when, as one of them had put it, “This isn’t a partnership… he’s more in love with your liquor cabinet than with you.” Alas, Fernando – now known as Fernando the Magnificent had fled with her money and her wardrobe and was now headlining at a club in San Francisco called Lavender’s Longitudinal Lounge, where he sported sequins and a lavish feather boa made completely of ostrich feathers. Pretty much all he had left her with was a broken heart and this cardboard box containing, some photos, a half full bottle of laundry detergent, two boxes of Hamburger Helper, some blue jeans and three rather worn t-shirts. “Well,” she sighed, trying to look for the positive, “at least there isn’t a lot of clean-up to do.” Her best friend Sam, who had loved her – unrecognized - for most of their lives, put his arm around her and let her sob quietly on his shoulder. “You’ll get through this, my love,” he whispered. “I’m here for you.”

And here's my mini challenge:

Barbra Jane didn’t know if she had the fortitude to make it through another game of Worst Case Scenario, a game of questions about specialized marginalia on subjects as diverse as snakes in sewers to the water pressure of water fountains. As far as she could tell, the questions were silly and half the answers were wrong. Besides, she wanted to play Clue. She always won Clue and winning was fun.

And the mega challenge:

Delvinia Dewhurst lifted the cardboard box of Hamburger Helper down from the shelf, making a quick side trip to the liquor cabinet before starting dinner preparations. The move to San Francisco was not supposed to have led to this. Dan’s partnership in the law firm should have freed her up from laundry detergent and budget dinners. She was supposed to have chefs and a maid. She was supposed to be living in a magnificent mansion with a circular drive and a glamorous water fountain in front, draped in furs and ostrich feathers, not living here in this dump. The prognosis for the future did not bode well, either. Even the worst case scenario had not included her dead-end job at Longitudinal Latitudes, dealing with specialized marginalia that stretched the limits of her sanity and mental fortitude. She was miserable. But then when Dan walked in the door, excited and happy about some case, eager for her input, she forgot how miserable she was. Mansion or not, she was rich where it counted.

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This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: Jelly beans, bowling ball, Dolly Parton's brassiere, Easter Bunny, mysticism, ice cream, apple pie, life, sequence of events

(Author’s note: Some of you may recognize these words from the vanity wordzzle for week 3. When I was working on my Howling Cat book I did different responses to the same words to show how vast the possiblities are with the same words.)

It was a truly strange sequence of events which led up to my coming into possession of Dolly Parton's brassiere. I was visiting California, staying with a friend who was, to put it mildly, a bit of an eccentric. John's taste was nothing if not eclectic and he approached everything with a zeal and love for life which made him completely endearing. An avid student of mysticism and meditation, you might find him fasting or living on rice and tofu at the local ashram one week, and the next see him joyfully rolling strikes with his custom made green and purple bowling ball, wolfing down a couple of cheeseburgers, and an apple pie and ice cream dessert. On this particular visit John was in a flea market phase. I think we went to every single flea market in southern California. Now, I'm not normally a flea market kind of person. I never know where to look or who to trust or what's junk and what's a bargain. But John,,, he just has a knack for zeroing in on whatever booth has something or someone unique. And as in all things, you never know quite where John's magic will take you. His flea market discoveries are amazing. He once found a rare Limoges Easter Bunny bowl for a dollar. Despite its value, since he only paid a dollar for it, he likes to keep it on the kitchen table filled with jellybeans. That's John. Another time he bought a ratty old chair. Ugliest thing I ever saw. Sold at auction for $5,000. But on this particular occasion, John met a friend of his who was in the movie business and he introduced us to Dolly Parton's stunt double, who happened to have a booth. I was a big Dolly Parton fan and got to talking to this woman who was built like Dolly, but twice as beautiful and about the sweetest girl I ever met. Of course John saw right off that I liked her, so he invited her and this movie guy to have dinner with us the next night. Six weeks later, Sue, that's her name, and I got married and one of her wedding gifts to me was Dolly's bra, which she wore just long enough for me to take it off her on our wedding night. My thanks to Dolly and to John for introducing me to the love of my life. I've never been happier. Oh, and I love flea markets now 'cause, as John would say, "you just never know what you'll find."

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Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: follow-up, buffalo wings, silversmith, furniture, as the crow flies, little red roadster, photograph, pencil pusher, argument, streaking

And for the Mini Challenge: Ireland, mashed potatoes, book worm, fog horn, T.S. Eliot

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Thanks for playing. Have a good week!