Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Pony Wall

 So much distraction... where were we... Foundation, Power, and now all the underfloor work.

Welcome to Homeschool Shop Class, boys! First lesson: Hauling Lumber.


No pictures of the pony wall. I'll just say we had never built one before, and we know better now!


Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Qizojix

We interrupt this silence to bring you a new word. 

My resident Scrabble expert and I have been spending the evenings sitting still and playing the game to distract ourselves from our situation of being trapped in the house for days and days because of the smoke (#535 on the AQI anyone? We might be sending it your way...). 

Anyone who plays Scrabble enough knows how frustrating it is to need a word to exist, and it just doesn't. So today my chief competitor and I are introducing a word into the English language. 

Qizojix

(KEE-zoh-jix)

The proper definition of this noun is this:

Related to the quesadilla, it is any filling between any kind of flat bread that has gobs of melted cheese all over it, and spiced with Middle Eastern or other exotic spices. It is either microwaved or grilled.

However, it can be used as a verb to indicate cooking the dish, or to refer to anything hot or melting:

Sharlene qizojixed the leftovers.

I don't know if this ingredient is qizojixable

This hot sun is qizojixing me. 

Today is a qizojixish day.

In popular slang, it is used to mean confusion:

 "Man, you're qizojixing me!'


The convenience of the Q without the U can quickly be ascertained, and a number of suffixes can be added to gain a substantial handful of points with a subsequent turn.

We calculate that this word could gain you enough points to stay ahead of your competition for the entirety of the game. 

By itself it is worth 39 points. 

A clever player can get several of the big scoring letters on double or triple letter score spots, plus double or triple word spots as well. So this word can start at a minimum of 78 points and increase mightily depending on positioning.

In the photo above, the Q and the X are placed on double word score spots, so that the score is quadrupled. Add to that the fact that it is a bingo (extra 50 points) and the total score for this word in this place is 206 points. 


Help get this word in the dictionary! Start using it! Let's see how fast we can get it circulated. Cook up some qizojixes! They might make a great snack for game night.

(Yes, I know! we need to get after the person who laid down dotcom.)