Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Scavenger Hunt For Food and A Game of Dirty Marbles

 By Sunday Evening the weather
in Lancaster County was stunning.
Hurricane Irene had moved on up the coast
and all that was left were downed trees,
flooding and power outages.

We had lost power a couple of times 
but other than some inconveniences we were
fine.  I pretty much stayed up all night Saturday
night....but then I stay up anytime there is a huge
news story....just so happened we,
along with the entire East Coast,
were a part 
of this news story. 
The storm raged outside and it was scary 
and fascinating all at the same time.

By Sunday evening I was interested in going
out to see what it looked like in other neighborhoods.

So...I suggested we do a Coupon Book Scavenger
hunt for food.  After all, the one from last year will 
expire in October and there were still many good coupons
remaining and we got the new one with many more 
fun buy one, get one free offers.

Only Chelsea and Warren were agreeable to 
go along....although the boys were willing to help
us eat anything we brought back.

Off we went.

We were impressed by how tame things
appeared as we drove north. 
It seemed that while there was a tree
down here or there and some roads were closed
near waterways the damage seemed pretty 
minimal the further north we went.
But there were a couple of corn fields laid
completely flat.  That was so hard to see.
We are praying that the corn can still be salvaged 
for feed.  Our neighbors depend on the profits
from the crops to live.

Finally we arrived at the first stop on our 
scavenger hunt....
We had NO coupon
but it seemed so necessary to 
our Chelsea....


Ahhh....now we could have fun.
So, across the street we went,
coupon in hand for buy one, get one free
foot long chili dogs at Sonic.
Into the back seat they went 
the first in the loot to head home.
Also...Warren felt the need for a slush.





Not too far away we got to use another 
coupon to score two giant roast beef sandwiches
for the price of one.


Then it was two Frosty's for the price of one.
I promptly ate one of those.
The other was pretty melted by the time
we got home....
but Mikey enjoyed it anyway.


Over to Willow Street to the McDonalds
where we picked up a couple of 
Quarter Pounders with Cheese.


The view from the drive through...
Willow Valley Grace Brethren Church.
I love the steeple!




Our final stop was for a pizza that had
been called in at half price.
I didn't add up everything we spent and
I am sure that with gas prices it wasn't the
most economical way to feed a family...
but it was fun!!
And it did provide for variety,
which we all know is the spice of life.


We came home to a fun game of Dirty Marbles
with Mom, Georgia and a neighbor couple.
This game is like a cross between Sorry and
Chinese Checkers. It lives up to its name....
such dirty marbles, always sending someone
back home or changing places with them at the
most inconvenient of times.

We decided that we will have to do game nights
more often. It is fun to get together with neighbors
and laugh. A wonderful stress reliever after a
nervewracking weekend, that is for sure.

We still have a pole down on our road.
The wires are hanging down.
No one can drive through....
those effected have to take a detour 
every time.
In the grand scheme of things,
it is a minor inconvenience.
I have no idea when they will get here to
fix it but so far our power is back on and
there are blockades to protect drivers on
this road. I just pray the neighbor children
don't get curious and get hurt.

I'm interested to read your storm stories
and hear from friends up North
to know that you are ok.

Hugs.

7 comments:

Ronda said...

I just loved this post! What a fun idea and fab way to have fun food for everyone...and coupons used as well. Smart cookie you are Becky.
I'm gonna have to try this some time.
Hope you and your family all are ok after the storms, and Im glad no one was hurt.

Have a great day my sweets.
Love & Prayers,
Ronda

Theresa said...

Oh what a wonderful idea! Girl, you are always up to some good times!

Enjoy your day dear Becky! HUGS!

Carol said...

What a fun way to feed the family! So glad you're okay after Irene came to visit.

Smiles,
Carol

Vickie said...

This sounds SO fun, Becky! Ya'll made the most of the situation and I'm sure your guys didn't let any of the food go to waste! I love games and getting together with friends like that. My husband really doesn't like playing games much so we don't get to do that often tho. Oh well, there's always "girls night"!

tea time and roses said...

Absolutely wonderful Becky, just wonderful!:o) Joy after the storm...now that's a good thing! Happy week to you and the family.:o)

Smiles♥

Beverly

Anonymous said...

What a fun idea! YOu took a scary experience, and lightened the mood! Good for you, lady! :)

Kelly said...

Things were pretty mild around our town. There were some branches and lots of leaves and twigs blown from the trees. We did not experience any flooding.

However, when I took Anthony to work on Monday morning, his place of employment was out of electricity and we saw a downed tree on the way to his work. Then driving from Anthony's work to my in-laws, we saw many flattened and leaning cornfields.

Other than that, all is well. We never lost power. My parents were out of electricity for 31 hours. We were not even inconvenienced at all.