Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 38

This is week 38 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works.

Thanks for your patience everyone. Finally posting this at noon. My nephew arrived later than expected to a very clean house (my friends are SO good) we had a WONDERFUL visit. His girlfriend is wonderful and so is he. I wrote my wordzzles very fast and I'm not rereading them so I hope they make sense.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: France, cold weather, backhoe, light and shadow, Humane society, ambivalent, “Happy Birthday, Sarah Jane,” Martians, Thanksgiving Day Parade, green eyes Mini Challenge: she’ll be comin' round the mountain when she comes, pumpkin pie, yellow jacket, short-changed, life after 50

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

Happy Birthday, Sarah Jane, Louisa whispered gazing at the beautiful baby girl in her arms. At this moment, holding her brand new daughter in her arms, she couldn’t believe that she had been so ambivalent about her unexpected pregnancy. She wondered if Sarah Jane would grow up to have George’s green eyes. You look like your father little one. So naughty of you to arrive so early while your father is still in France. He’s so excited about you and he wanted to be here when you arrived, but you have beat the cold weather, which is good and this way next year your father can dress you up as a Martian for Halloween. You’ll love your father. He’s a very funny man. He has actually been planning your first Halloween since you were conceived if you can believe it. He loves Halloween that much. He loves life. You chose such a wonderful father. You’re a lucky girl. Your Daddy works for the Humane Society, but he also sometimes does road work and he can drive a back hoe like nobody’s business. And he loves parades. You will have to learn to love them too and you will probably get dragged to New York at some point to see Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade even though you could watch it all snug and warm at home on TV. He’s that crazy. But he’s sensitive too and he has an artist’s eye. That’s how we met. Admiring light and shadow. Isn’t that strange? And now we have you, sweet girl. And you are so beautiful. I was really scared about being a mother, but I think you’re going to make it easy because now that you’re in my arms I feel more love than fear and you’re so beautiful that I just can’t stop smiling except that I’m kind of tired. Welcome home to life. I love you, Sarah Jane. Happy Birthday.

And here's my mini challenge:

Life after 50 was turning out to be pretty good. She looked at the gathering around the lavish Thanksgiving table and smiled with contentment. Even Francis in his hideous yellow jacket couldn’t take from the beauty of the scene. She might have been short-changed in the realm of blood relatives, but this family of friends was the best anyone could wish for. She smiled at them standing around the piano singing “she’ll be comin round the mountain.” Martha couldn’t carry a tune but she sang with such joy that it didn’t matter. This was as good as a life could get. Anyone want pumpkin pie, she called out and was greeted with a chorus of happy “yeses.”

And the mega challenge:

Sarah Jane thought she might as well be living with Martians for all she had in common with her family. She and her brothers and sisters were as different as light and shadow. She loved France, French cooking, designer clothing. Her brother lived to drive his backhoe and do construction work. Her sister, who God had granted the gift of gorgeous green eyes and a body to die for, had no style and insisted on wearing blue jeans and that hideous yellow jacket everywhere, no matter what the occasion, year round, cold weather or warm. And she worked for the Humane Society of all things. It was so pedestrian and new age of her. Sarah Jane had been short-changed by fate. There the family stood, circled around the piano singing stupid songs like “She’ll be comin round the mountain when she comes,” completely oblivious to her suffering. She had been ambivalent about coming this year, and was feeling unseen and unloved. She could not believe that she would have to endure the stupid Thanksgiving Day Parade tomorrow on top of everything else. But then, just as she was working herself into a full depressive snit, out came her mother, carrying a huge pumpkin pie with a huge birthday candle glowing in its center. Happy Birthday, Sarah Jane, they all called out in unison and as if by magic a huge pile of gifts appeared as if from nowhere. Tears welled up in Sarah Jane’s eyes and she felt her heart bursting with love. They hadn’t forgotten after all. Perhaps her life wasn’t over after all. Perhaps there was life after 50. I love you all so much, she wept, completely forgetting her recent pity party. They had even remembered that her favorite was Pumpkin pie. How blessed could a woman be. It was a happy birthday indeed.

This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: snowdrop, palate, boomerang, soft, mushroom, tongue, belt, oblique, fortuitous, lounge

Rich tastes of mushroom and spices and gravy and tender meat rolled across her tongue and boomeranged off her soft palate, caressing her taste buds, but more than that, touching something deeper in her being. This meal had not been casually prepared, nor was it just some fortuitous mix of fine ingredients well prepared. It was a work of art, a work of divine inspiration. She cast an oblique, sidelong glance at Antonio. He seemed such a puffed up buffoon as he lounged idly across the loveseat, his overly simple clothes adorned only by the huge and ornate belt buckle, the little white kitten which he called SnowDrop nestled in his arms. She wanted to detest him - the arrogant fool - yet each bite of this glorious meal dragged her deeper under his spell, and by the time she had sipped the last drop of her coffee, she knew that she would follow him anywhere.

Special thanks to Melli for next week’s 10 word challenge and to Chatty for the mini challenge words.

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: palace, hypocrite, canned air, telephone, biscuit, pinball, acorn, customary, fruit juice, waterfall

Mini Challenge: buyer's remorse, lava, haphazard, mildew, soup to nuts

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

Enjoy! See you next week.

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