Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 226

Well, at least I remembered that it's Friday and have got the words ready on time this week. Alas, I am short of energy. Had a friend in crisis today, Angel in kitty torment because she wants to play and then doesn't want to play and I myself am just tired in that yucky way that is part physical part depression. Anyway... unless I get a burst of energy later on, I'll just post the words and Mr. Linky and so my exercises tomorrow.


6:25 PM Saturday:  I struggled with these words. Not very happy with the results, but so it goes. The Lone Wordzzler soldiers on and does her best.


Words for this week's 10 word challenge: festive, bright red, hugs to all, macaroni and cheese, grief, obstreperous, fortune, mistake, zebra stripes, alphabetical   And for the mini: your choice, drastic, hood, sparkling, smelly


My mega:

Sabrina Smelly loved her extravagant home. Although she reduced to living on macaroni and cheese  and almost everyone she knew gave her grief over what they termed the "mistake" of spending a fortune on decorating, she didn't care. Fred, her husband, would not have minded the expense so much if her taste had not been what he decreed in one particularly obsterperous pre divorce debate - "beyond hideous... Your choice of bright red walls and zebra stripe accessories for our bedroom, for example," he had gone on, "is the so comically bad it could be featured in a bad design magazine, especially when you put the purple and pink wallpaper in the en suite bathroom adjacent to it. It's like moving from one nightmare into another. Then there's the sparkling alphabetical letters theme in the den and the chartreuse hood on the stove and the drastic contrast of the pumpkin colored walls. Some onlookers had been somewhat puzzled by the almost festive "hugs to all" attitude with which she had embraced her husband's departure from their marriage. "The house is yours," he had said in the divorce settlement, "I never want to see it again."  Six weeks later, when her "decorating consultant" moved in and what turned out to be rented decor was quickly removed, she was overheard telling him, "We need a new plan, Jason, darling.  I'm not sure how much longer I could have stood the ugliness. But he house is ours now... I'm quite fond of this one. Maybe it's time to retire."  Unfortunately, for Sabrina and Jason, the person who overheard their conversation happened to be a cop on the vice squad, who did some checking into Sabrina's past, which turned out to be quite a checkered one. Fred, it turned out, was not the first victim of this particular pair. Fred got his house and most of his money back and Jason and Sabrina got jail cells to decorate for a significant period of time.


My mini:

Food critic, Joseph Hood, called the young chef to his table and greeted him warmly. "Your choice of sparkling wine and this odd, smelly cheese initially struck me as a drastic miscalculation, but I am pleased to tell you that I was mistaken. You have created a culinary masterpiece and taught and old critic some new tricks. My review will be a rave. Congratulations.


And my 10-word:

Although early on, many of her friends had thought that Jane's marriage to her obstreperous and eccentric artist husband was a  mistake, over the years, they had come to love him and his odd blend of contentiousness and "hugs to all" behavior. Thirty years later, when he died too young after a short illness, she had decided that the best way to honor his memory would be to swallow her grief and throw the festive "going away" party he had always told her he wanted. Mourners were asked to wear bright red and something with a zebra stripe - to match the decor of the deceased's coffin, which he had custom created for himself many years earlier. They drank wine, feasted on macaroni and cheese (his favorite meal), and shared memories of their late host. Much to the surprise of all, each guest - in alphabetical order. as per her late husband's instructions - was given with a signed painting or other work of art. "I want you to know," Jane told them, "that he himself chose who would receive which painting and he put great thought into it. Some of you have received lesser works because he thought you would love them and for a few he chose items that are potentially worth a fortune, because he knew you were struggling financially. He hid the bigness of his heart from strangers, but you who are gathered here knew it well. Before he died, he managed to create one final work - an homage to each and all of us here. I don't know if I am seeing it through the eyes of my grief, but I think it is his greatest work. It was his final gift to me and I wish all of you to be the first to see it." So saying, she uncovered a painting which was indeed a masterpiece - not just of art - but of love so moving that not one of them could refrain from weeping. It was a remarkable evening and each person present left feeling enriched in spirit and with a renewed commitment to watch over Jane for the rest of their lives, which they did, although her husband's final masterpiece left her quite well provided for all by itself.

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Words for next week's 10-word challenge:  whisper, rest, carrot cake, pregnant, robot, pressure, play, sloth, category, needy 

And for the mini: challenge, cramped, particles, spice, pastoral

Thanks you for playing.  Newcomers can check here for some guidelines to make the game more fun. There are no rules, just some general guidelines and tricks.