Unbirthday Surprises

Last Thursday I spent the night hoping and praying that hurricane Helene had a white belt in karate. I hoped that life hadn’t dealt her such hard blows that she’d become indignant and unaccommodating. I yearned for her to dissipate and simply burn herself out, before she and her troupe of merry “bands” reached land. Unfortunately, she had a black belt of the 10th dan. We got it bad here in St. Pete, in fact, it’s the worst storm we’ve seen since the mid 80s. The loss and destruction was intense. Everything is in disarray. Seven feet of storm surge was enough to cover most of the county in brackish water. If we had been pelted with more rain than we were, the flooding would have been insurmountable. Where we live, we’re 14 feet above sea level and we live ever so close to Tampa Bay. Our street was cut off by flood waters, though our property had limited flooding. Neighbors had alligators swimming up to their front doors and without a friendly knock, their living rooms became the gators’ new ponds. Most of the beachfront properties increased in land square footage. That bitter “woman” had itchy feet and couldn’t leave well enough alone; she headed up through the Appalachians and delivered a vicious kind of rage. Next storm, we won’t be sheltering in place. 

My birthday fell the day after that ugly tempest left Dodge. It’s been over a week since she hit and I’m still waiting to “officially” celebrate. I am, however, OK with the fact that I’m still waiting, because I am grateful that we and our home were spared. That, for me, is a gift. As I sat at home, stranded, I wondered how I might make the best of a bad situation and still celebrate my birthday. I had an open tub of Dolly Parton Creamy Buttercream “flavored” frosting in the fridge. It was leftover from a Nigella olive oil cake recipe that I had made for a recent date night. I pulled the tub of frosting out and with a plastic throwaway spoon, scooped out a blob of that tasty sweet goo. I held the spoon up with pride; I was pretty pleased with myself that I had come up with a tasty way to celebrate. I stood in place for a moment, when a mischievous thought came to my mind: “you should cover the frosting in sprinkles”. My happy little smile turned into something more villainous than sweet, as I grabbed the 22¢ clearanced Valentine’s sprinkles I bought last year. As I sat there and snacked on my “sprinkle spoon”, I thought: “huh, this tastes like Dunkaroos”.

Once I was able to get out of the house and go to town, I picked up a bag of Goldfish grahams and more frosting. Both items were on sale and cost $3.50 and there was enough in the packages to make the equivalent of 12 packs of Dunkaroos. The frosting tub however, has enough to make 64 packs of Dunkaroos. You’d need a total of 5 bags of Goldfish grahams to use up the frosting…unless you like extra frosting. The 5 bags of cookies and the single tub of frosting would be enough to make the equivalent of 64 packs of Dunkaroos. That’s around 75% off. I’ll take that. Whether you put Dunkaroos in your kid’s lunches or they’re your secret guilty pleasure (like mine), you can save some serious coin by putting them together yourself. Things have been nuts and crazy and it’s still a mess in town. One small moment on a day that could have been a complete letdown, paired with a plastic spoon, loaded with frosting and sprinkles, turned a postponed birthday, into a momentary respite that I’ll always remember.