The Scavenger Hunt for Words

1. An angry exchange.
"No. NO! There's too many lights at the bottom already. Stop overloading the branches!"
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me... start hanging the lights further up the tree. Wait, no, maybe a bit lower now..."
"WHAT?! But you just said..."
"I know what I said. Now put the lower."
"How's that?"
"A bit too low..."
"WHAT?!"

2. An out-of-place object.
I was walking through the grass outside when my bare foot tapped against an object. I looked down and, to my great surprise, spied a pastel lying in the cool grass. I picked it up and rubbed my fingers across the artist's crayon. The oily pastel colored the tips of my fingers bright blue. What an odd place to find this, I thought, pocketing it. Whatever pictures it would create I could not wait to find out.
 
3. A well-loved object.
"Abby, don't you think it's time to throw this grubby bear awa...."
"Absolutely not!" I cried, rushing to grab my stuffed animal bear from my daddy's hands. "I call Bee well-loved, not grubby. And you've no place to talk about him that way! He's older than me and demands your respect!"
My dad rolled his eyes and walked away. I hugged Bee tightly and returned to my work.

4. Something well-used.
Sometimes it's not a pleasant word, but, well.... I believe something easily referred to as well-used would be the toilet. I'm trying to think of a lovelier word than toilet, but I cannot. The toilet is a necessity. Thank you, momma, for cleaning our toilet. Thank you, sir, for inventing the toilet. Thank you, last sentence, for being the last sentence in this blog post to contain the word toilet.

5. Something unpleasant.
Personally, I find tangled necklaces (or any type of tangled jewelry) to be very unpleasant. There I am, running about the house, late as usual, when I have the brilliant idea to quickly throw on a necklace before running out the door. I scurry to my room, heading towards my necklace pegs, when... OH NO!... all of my necklaces are tangled around one another. One chain is interwoven with the next. I huff and puff and leave the room, no necklace around my neck.

6. Something fresh, new, or unused.
Something new and unused that I love are freshly sharpened pencils that haven't touched paper. There is so much possibility in a brand new sharpened pencil. So many stories can yet be written with that stick of wood and graphite. (And yes... I'll admit it... I also love the smell of freshly sharpened pencils. They smell like learning and the scent of autumn.)

7. A lost or forgotten object.
"Momma?" I ask.
"Yeah?"
"Have you seen my pocket-sized book edition of Great Expectations?"
"Why no, honey, but I expect it's lost because it's pocket sized. I warned you against that purchase."
(That was an unfortunate afternoon, but luckily, I later found it in my sweat-shirt pocket!)

8. A home-made or hand-made object.
I've recently started making scarves by myself. Alright, I've only started one scarf, but I plan to keep knitting them for the rest of my life. Knitting is relaxing for me. I can think quietly when I knit, listen to music, and also pray while I knit. And scarves, hand-made in bright yarn, are perfect for the upcoming chilly months!

9. An act of kindness.
I consider an act of kindness, or many acts of kindness, to be when my friends carried my books for me. I was on crutches, unable to carry anything, and they helped me. Sometimes it meant that they were late to class, or had to take time out of their schedules, but they were still there for me. I am very grateful for those fabulous friends!

10. Something borrowed.
There is a sweater that I love that I do not own. My sister Emily doesn't know that I love it, but maybe she will when I plead with her to borrow it. I'll parade around the house, proudly flaunting the beautifully knitted, dark purple sweater, silently composing a thank you letter in my head. The sweater will be soft and snuggly, and I'll remeber to let Em borrow my clothes, too.