Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 52

This is week 52 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Well, I think I'm climbing out of my hole. My 10 word and mini were written while I was still in the cave and are incredibly incredibly BORING. I kind of overcompensated on the last one and I'm not really very happy with it, but so it goes.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: Netflix, mortgage, skunk, flagrant, the New York Times, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, perpendicular, geometry, crabby, shoveling snow Mini Challenge: pragmatic, crystal ball, laundry, safflower oil, Gregorian chants

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

There was a skunk stinking up the neighborhood the other night, but even with the occasional unwanted critter (I wish my skunk had come by day and let me photograph him or her), I love my little house with it’s affordable mortgage payments and it’s kind neighbors who help me out by taking care of shoveling snow in the winter months. I do miss The New York Times living here in the country, though I probably couldn’t have afforded it if I was still in the city. I loved those crossword puzzles, the Op-ed page, and the Sunday magazine. Such is life. I get my news on line these days and my entertainment from TV and by downloading free 1-hour game tryouts on the computer. I do a cyber crossword but they let you know if you’ve made a mistake which takes some of the challenge out of things. Today’s puzzle had a geometry theme with world like area, sine and perpendicular. It was kind of easy but at least it keeps my brain going. I’ve been so crabby lately that I really don’t like myself very much. I have a pile of books to read but have mostly wasted my time on the aforementioned computer games even though if I pushed myself a little, I have flagrantly absurd Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sitting right here on my desk just waiting to make me laugh out loud… and a Netflix movie called “Miracle at St. Anna,” which I believe promises to make me cry. Oh well, tomorrow is another day and hopefully I will make better choices.

And here's my mini challenge:

I hate laundry, house-keeping, budgeting and all things pragmatic. I should have been born some kind of princess so that others could handle the nasty details of life and I could meditate to the sound of Gregorian chants or spend my days gazing into a crystal ball, reading tarot cards and being wooed by handsome princes. Kindly, well-treated housekeepers and chefs would tend to my needs and prepare healthy but incredibly delicious meals with safflower oil and only the freshest vegetables and fruits. I would wear lovely dresses and write and read and sing and do kind deeds for my subjects (free citizens by my decree), who would all be so well treated, prosperous and happy that they would love me forever. Alas, only in my dreams… and maybe in my next life.

And for the mega challenge:

Gangalor Gringalorian of the planet Netflix was crabby at the best of times but today he was so apoplectic that he hurled the rare and precious bottle of safflower oil he had acquired on his intergalactic travels across the room hitting Skunk, his pet wunglefargon (similar to a dog), so named because he looked rather like his Earth namesake except for the fact that he was green and orange instead of black and white and walked perpendicular rather than on all fours. The source of Gangalor’s flagrantly dramatic behavior was not something mundane like a difficult geometry problem or pragmatic like an unyielding stain that doing the laundry had not solved. It was not even the annoying – to Netflixian ears – sound of his mate experimenting with Gregorian chants. In truth, he would rather be plucking narglefs (the Netflixian equivalent of shoveling snow) than listening to that particular sound. But I digress. The reason for this morning’s ill temper was that scanning the universe using his inter-galactic crystal ball he – the most renowned travel agent/guide in the entire galaxy – had happened on a disturbing article in the Earth zone’s New York Times alleging that some feeble backwards earthling named Douglas Adams had allegedly written something called A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Absurd. No human – a moronic if fascinating species – was going to horn in on his territory. He had not been planning another trip to Earth until 2015, but now he would have to nip this impostor in the bud. “Flarpinda, my burgeoning blogglewort,” he called. Pack your bags. We’re going to Earth to replace the Safflower oil and make sure Mr. Adams learns his place in the universe.” So saying, he felt better, especially since his words had quickly silenced his wife’s horrendous chanting. Picking up a small earth globe, the tossed it across the room and smiled contentedly as Skunk luched off in an energetic run to fetch it back to him.

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My friend Dan decided to play this week and did the mini. He has no blog, so I'm posting his contribution here:

Joann always lived a simple life and had a pragmatic way of looking at things. Her sister Rita however, would gaze into her crystal ball and try to predict the future. It was laundry day for the two of them and Rita always brought her wash over to Joann's house. They would hang their clothes out on the line and lay back in a lounge chair, while conditioning their legs with safflower oil (an old family beauty secret). The CD player would pipe out the relaxing sounds of the Gregorian chants. Summer was always best at the little cottage.

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Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: chopping block, reading list, bangles, oracle, plan, fandango, spelling bee, calendar, utilitarian, flower pot

Mini Challenge: Siberia, citrus fruit, roofer, shamrock, twinkle twinkle little star

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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