Amuzing Race 5

Before you all start to groan and say, "I thought she wasn't going to plan another one", read on.

When I got home from work yesterday, there was a yellow ribbon hanging out of my mail slot. I retrieved an envelope labeled "Nancy" from the inside of my house. I tore it open using the yellow ribbon (sound familiar?).

Inside was a drawing of a musical staff, complete with several notes drawn in.

I thought, "Who is this from? An old piano student?".

I wrote down all the notes on some lines that were below:
"_ _ D E _ _ _ E G A _ B A G E" and figured out it meant "UNDER THE GARBAGE"!

Okaaaaaaay......so I went outside and looked, well, under the garbage can and found another clue!

YAY! I clued in that is was a scavenger hunt just for me!!! But who did this? I decided to wait for Colin and Nathan to get home so we could all do it together. As I was waiting, I realized who had done this! I recognized her writing!

The next clue led me to a verse in Proverbs. I looked it up and it read, "Better to live on the corner of a roof than to live with a quarrelsome wife". (HAHA I love that verse!)

So I went back outside to look at the corners of my roof. Nothing in the front yard, so I went in the back, laughing that she was rooting through our backyard while we were at work! I found the clue under the corner of the shed roof!

That clue gave me coordinates using our fence posts. My treasure was at G-4.

She had made a pile of leaves near G-4, so that's where I went first. I found a beautiful brightly coloured leaf in the pile of otherwise dead brown leaves. I thought this leaf might be my treasure because I was telling this mystery organizer the day before how much beautiful fall leaves brighten my days.

So we looked some more, found nothing else, and went inside.

Curiosity got to me though, so I went back outside. After another 5 minutes or so of searching, I noticed a ziploc bag sticking out of the ground! She had actually dug into the lawn (like I care, it's not, um, manicured), buried it, and put some branches and leaves of top of that!

Inside was a thank-you card for planning the Amuzing Races signed by some of the racers, and a restaurant gift certificate from the church! You could have picked up my jaw from the floor. I was shocked (pleasantly)! Wow am I ever glad I went back out to look!

Who was the mystery girl? I'll give you a clue (he he). There was a baby toy left on my hot tub that does not belong to Nathan.

"THANKS CAPTAIN OBVIOUS. That really narrows it down" you are saying.

Ok, it was Marilee.

When I called her after I was done, she was denying it until I told her the reasons I knew it was her. She's such a great woman. ANYONE who knows her can't argue with me, because we all know it's true. Humble, helpful, selfless, a great friend...Instead of just handing me the card, she went to all that work because she knew I'd appreciate it.

And appreciate it, I did! It made my day...even my week! Actually, it made all the planning worth the effort! I've always longed to participate in the race myself, and now I feel like I have. Thanks, Marille. You rock!