The One With The Treasure Hunt

In between all the packing craziness, Charming and I have been participating in a treasure hunt for the last two weeks. Because we certainly didn't have enough to do.

A local coin shop holds a yearly treasure hunt for a $10,000 gold medallion. Over two weeks you travel around to different points all over the valley to get clues from different merchants. The clues all lead to the exact location of the medallion. Last year it was so hard no one even came close to finding the prize so we were told they made it a bit easier this year. However, the clues were still incredibly obscure and could have lead to a half dozen different things.

Charming and I dutifully went to each clue spot and got our stamps. And after each clue we would sit and ponder the possibilities. One such clue said "Of about 300 in Nevada this one has over 600." See what I mean about obscure? That could be anything! We thought about casinos, stores, schools, banks. We knew it had to be some place that wouldn't mind participating in such a hunt and along the same lines of where we were getting the clues. But it was befuddling.

However, by clue four I had narrowed it down to three possibilities. The fourth clue mentioned "flouresense." The specific spelling of this word had to mean something. So I figured it referred to either a bakery (flour, of course), a flower shop (this was a reach but maybe it was relating to the French word for flower "fleur") or a jewelry store (the sparkle of a diamond is sometimes called the flouresense.) Nevada could certainly have about 300 of any of these things but I was thinking jewelry store was the best possibility since it was the most likely partner with a coin store.

At least I had convinced myself of that.

When we got the last clue on Friday it finally clued us in that I was on the right track all along. "The 2nd is Taylor. The 1st is Morgan. Both are jewels." A quick Google search and we discovered a Morgan Taylor Jewelers. We hot footed it over there and prepared to go in and poke around. A previous clue mentioned about asking DG if it is behind it and be careful because we only get to ask once. So we had to be exactly sure we knew what we were asking before we did.

Charming and I walked inside the store and immediately inside the door we saw a brochure for the coin store. We were in the right place! Now to figure out exactly where the medallion was hidden. All over the walls were paintings. "Ask DG if it is behind it." So it had to be behind a painting. Using hushed tones, Charming and I began to study the paintings to figure out which one would be the one to give up the prize. As we made our way around the room a man came from behind the curtain in the back of the store. He asked if he could help us and we told him no, too afraid of saying anything and giving up our one shot at winning. The man watched us for a minute and then cleared his throat as he realized we were scrutinizing the artwork on the walls.

"So, are you looking for the medallion?"

Charming and I looked at each other, unsure of what to say. "Uh, yes?" I stammered, still not wanting to say too much.

"Yeah, someone already found it about an hour ago."

An hour ago. We were an hour away from getting there first. And we happened to be right in front of the painting it had been hidden behind. Turns out the owner's initials are DG and he was the one to ask. But we never got that far. So close and yet so far.

All and all a bit disappointing, but a learning experience. We were pretty proud of ourselves for figuring it out all the way to the end. Unfortunately it was our tried asses who couldn't get up soon enough to be the first ones to get the final clue that failed. Next year will be different. We will be there ready to go before the places open. We got to turn our completed clue cards in for a chance to win $1,000 so we may still get something. But it was the idea of winning the gold medallion ourselves that gave the allure for the chase.

Probably the closest we would ever get to feeling like pirates.

The One With The Easter Wishes

Hoppy Easter everyone!!


Charming's mother made us Easter baskets which was a welcome surprise. We aren't ones to really celebrate Easter much, so the baskets full of goodies and chocolate were a great treat. However I did manage to go to church and create an Easter egg hunt for Charming when he got home from work last night. I used springly colored wrapped Reese Cups and hid them around our house. Half the work was trying to keep the cats from giving away all my careful hiding spots. Those furry girls are great seekers, especially for things they shouldn't be seeking. Charming had a great time finding them all and I only had to "help" him with the last few. The Easter egg hunt was done every year in my parents' house and I have done it every year since I left home, carrying on the tradition. We may be adults but we can still have fun like children.

Today we went to Charming's mother's house for Easter dinner. Ham, cheesy potatoes, steamed broccoli, strawberry shortcake and carrot cake (in honor of the Easter Bunny.) Charming managed to eat almost everything and felt fine afterward, which is huge progress. I am still planning on posting about the whole debacle regarding his condition soon. I just need a bit more time to process all the craziness.

So Happy Easter! My your hearts be filled with joy and your baskets filled with chocolate!

The One With The Vaction Woes

*ffttttt* *fffftttt*

Is this blog on?

I know, I know. Since I moved here I have not been blogging regularly. Part of it is because I seem to have lost a lot of people and I wonder what is the point. I'm vain, I admit it. I like it when people read my shit. But a larger part is that I just don't feel much like blogging. Which saddens me because I LOVED to blog. I would look for things to post about and compose stuff in my head. I kept a notebook handy for ideas and funny phrases that popped into my head. I don't do that any more. Things took a sad and intense turn in the past few months and blogging just didn't seem important any more. But I miss it. So I thought if I forced myself, maybe I would get back into the swing.

We just returned from what could be simultaneously titled the Vacation From Hell and the Best Vacation Ever. Allow me to list the things that went wrong over the course of 12 short days.

~BIL crashed the car we were going to borrow one week before we arrived leading to us renting a car and spending almost $300 more dollars we didn't have to spend.

~Airlines once again screwed up our seating arrangements which meant I had to attempt to be nice to bitchy airline counter customer "service" people while we tried to get seats together so Charming could sit between the two women in his life who hate to fly and freak out over turbulence.

~Three days into our trip my BIL, MIL, Charming and myself all got food poisoning from eating out at a local restaurant one night. It hit us all hard and fast but none got it as bad as Charming who had to miss the charity motorcycle ride his brother had signed them up for due to his head being in a bucket at the time of departure.

~My mother, who flew in just for that weekend, helped take care of us while we slept and threw up and visited the bathroom multiple times practically the entire time of her visit. then she had to leave early because her first plane had a mechanical failure so they drove her 2 hours to Cleveland where she waited for another delayed flight, got stuck in Philly until 1 AM and finally arrived in Boston at 3:30 AM, had to take a $120 cab ride home from the airport since my Dad had to work at 6 AM and then she got sick too! Not the way I thought her trip would go.

~The hotels we booked in Cleveland did not take cash even though I had asked before hand. And we missed the Continental breakfast since our in room helpful brochure stated it went until 10 Am but really it stopped at 9 AM.

~I booked an appointment at Cat's Meow (It's a collectible I collect) to make my very own personal piece three weeks before our trip. They had me on the calender and had circled my name and moved it up a week...a time we were still in Vegas. So the lady who did the process wasn't there that day. With my luck they will close before I ever get back again to make one.

~On the day before we left we got a call from ADT. Our upstairs motion sensor had gone off and did we want someone to go to the house to check it out? Uh, let me think a moment...YES!!! They asked is anyone had a key and I told her I would call the woman watching our cats. I sent J over as she was on her way to work. ADT told me someone would be there in 7 minutes, a service we pay extra for. An hour and half later, J is very late for work and ADT is not there. I call again, furious and they say they sent the email to the response company and it is out of their hands. We finally get a hold of our cousin who can go over to go in the house with J so she doesn't have to go in herself. ADT finally shows up when our cousin does, they check everything out and nothing is wrong. ADT informs J that the high wind caused a lot of false alarms that day and they were backed up. Had I known that I would not have sent her over there. Needless to say ADT received a nasty phone call on Monday.

~While we were on vacation we had to repeatedly call WF because OUR SHORT SALE HAS STILL NOT BEEN APPROVED!! So we were not able to relax the entire time.

Despite all of this it was so incredible to see all of our family and friends again. Plus we were introduced to the most amazing little being on the planet, our new niece, who turns one this month. She was enough to brighten all of the dark times we had. Seeing everyone was so great and it felt like we had never left. This trip further secured how Vegased out we are and ready to move back to be closer to family. It will take some time to get there but we hope to be back in the PA/OH area in about 2 years. It is something to look forward to.

I love having goals.