The Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 39

This is week 39 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Sorry for posting this so late. I have now figured out that Shannon likes to visit me on Friday after school, so I need to factor that into my scheduling. I think I had something else to say but I don't remember what it was, so.... happy wordzzling. Looking forward to what you have all wrought.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: palace, hypocrite, canned air, telephone, biscuit, pinball, acorn, customary, fruit juice, waterfall Mini Challenge: buyer's remorse, lava, haphazard, mildew, soup to nuts

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

Wondering vaguely what the radio personality meant when he referred to canned air, Ophelia Jones quickly forgot the question as she gazed around her beautiful new home. As was now her customary habit, she sat in her magnificent kitchen with its awesome view of the mountains, nibbling a fresh baked biscuit and drinking newly squeezed fruit juice. Her new house was a palace. Well not a real palace, but enough of a palace to make her happy. This kitchen had everything: an Acorn-shaped telephone, a computer desk/office corner… there was even a waterfall built into one wall… and one outside by the pool as well. The only room she liked better than the kitchen in her amazing mansion, was the game room right next to it which featured a theatre sized screen and seating, a state of the art Nintendo, a pinball machine and a host of other goodies. Ophelia felt like something of a hypocrite as she basked in all this glory, as she had made her money writing about the virtues of poverty versus great wealth. Oh well, she thought. Live and learn.

And here's my mini challenge:

Harold looked around at the house he had bought on the internet. From the mildew on the walls in several rooms to the lava mound just short of the back door, the house was a soup to nuts object of buyer’s remorse. Even the haphazard layout was a nightmare. It’s only virtue – and this was a big one – was that it was in Hawaii and the view (especially if he razed the house) would be worth every penny he had so impulsively spent.

And the mega challenge:

“Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets,” Mildred sang happily as she walked into the 2008 Gadgets, Inventions and New Stuff Exhibition at the Palace Hotel in Las Vegas. Her customary euphoria as she entered the hotel for her annual pilgrimage into the world of cool toys was a song in her heart. Anyone who pretended not to be awed by this magical world of foolish and useful inventions was nothing more than a hypocrite as far as she was concerned. This magical, haphazard, hall of wonders had something for everyone... “soup to nuts, Biscuit” (his nickname for her) Charlie had liked to say. She had met him right here 40 years ago looking at lava lamps which had been one of the big sellers at that year’s convention. It had been love at first sight and they had taken advantage of Vegas’ wedding chapels, married and lived in unmarred bliss for 40 years. No buyer’s remorse for either of them. And each year they celebrated their anniversary with a return to this shoppers wonderland. They had found their first canned air canister here and had bought a one of those tiny telephones – what were they called? – cell telephones – before anyone else had one. Friends had laughed at them but their antique cell was now a collector’s item. For their 25^th anniversary they had splurged on a gadget that circulated water in a kind of waterfall right in the wall of the house. That was one of her favorites, along with the machine that converted ordinary fruit juice into some very fine tasting alcohol. Their most pragmatic purchase was an incredible mildew remover made out of a blend of acorns and an assortment of other ingredients. It worked like magic. Besides the fact that they lived eternally mildew-free, they had bought stock in that one and it had paid off handsomely. Last year they had gotten a pinball machine that was computerized to convert to a variety of games and programs. Charlie had loved that game. She had thought about staying home this year, now that Charlie was gone, but she was glad she had changed her mind. There were so many happy memories attached to the exhibition and she could feel Charlie’s presence with her. “Let’s go shopping, honey bun,” she whispered to his unseen presence.

This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: Vortex, lily, ineluctable, pernicious, trout, May Pole

"Ineluctable modality of the visible," James Joyce had written in Ulysses. Sam never quite knew what that meant, but it sounded so beautiful and he felt that in this moment he was living it, wandering into this sweet country village, away from the pernicious smells and sounds of the big city. Here all was greens and browns and blue skies and gentle noises. The town center had a tall May Pole and as he had arrived the previous day, a dozen children garlanded in ribbons and lilies had chanted in a merry circle, their laughter floating like butterflies in the air. He had read of vortexes, where the energy was deep and spiritual. Maybe this was one of them. It was also a good fishing place and he smiled contentedly as he reeled in his third trout for the day.

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Special thanks to Melli and to Chatty for 10 of the challenge words... I added 5 too.

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: moisturizing, pickles, seat belt, flip-flop, Chicago, allergies, doctor, ready or not here I come, computer programmer, dog biscuits

Mini Challenge: gluttony, mercurial, tennis bracelet, anchor, molten

PLEASE NOTE: Akelamalu pointed out that she thinks these words (or some of them) are repeated from a few weeks back. I wasn't sure... they do seem kind of familiar but the making up words front seems like kind of a blur and I think I might have reused some of the donated words from melli and chatty, so..... I made a new list and posted them HERE. Feel free to use whichever set you want to. I'm fine with either one. Hope that's ok with everyone.

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!!!!!