Slug Bug vs Punch Buggy

Welcome to Free For All Friday! Cheryl here.

Growing up, we called the game Slug Bug. But, in doing some research on the topic some people call it Punch Buggy. Do you know what I'm talking about? The game where when you see a Volkswagen Beetle you scream Slug Bug and punch your sister, brother or friend? Two punches on red. And don't forget to scream, "NO RETURNS!" How many versions of the game exist? I'm sure you all have your own twist on the game.

I don't know why the game is so much fun for me. Maybe it has to do with the fact that my first car was the hand-me-down aqua blue bug with the latch hook rug doors that said "Baja" in red. What a POS! But it got me around and at 16 I didn't care much that the breaker wouldn't hold and I had no tail lights or that when it rained something electrical cut out and it would have to be push-started. Good car memories. Back to the game.

I don't remember getting into any fights over hitting or being hit by someone over the game but when it came the time for my two boys to learn the game I didn't really see the fun in them hitting each other over every Slug Bug we saw driving down the street. And living in the DFW area you see quite a few. So being the diplomatic mom that I am, I turned Slug Bug into a team sport. We're The Ragtop O'Pry Team. When we first started counting, I would pick the boys up from school and the first question would be, "How many bugs did you see?"

They put pressure on me to see more than the day before. And now... I think I may have developed Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I can't drive past a bug without saying the number that it represents. The first one is always easy. It's number 14 that I screw up on. Is that the 14th one or the 15th? Then I have to replay them in my head. There was the green one driving through the airport, then 6 at the dealership- I am always guaranteed to see at least 2 at the Volkswagen dealership (imagine my happiness when they had 10 of them lined up right out in front so that I could easily count them as I sped by on Highway 183), the blue one, that's 8 and there were the 5 at the mechanics shop on Oak Lawn that's 13 so yes this white ragtop is 14! Whew. I can keep going now. While talking on my cell phone, in mid-sentence I'll say out loud the number of the slug bug that just passed by... So, we were at the soccer game- 18- and the boys played really well. Does that make me crazy?

The Ragtop O'Pry Team has a record for the week days and a record for the weekend. On average during the week, I will see about 20. Yesterday before I got to work I saw 22 and had 32 under my belt by the end of the night. Driving home from our South Texas Thanksgiving holiday we hit our all time high. So in honor of our Derby Give-away, whoever guesses closest to our all time record will win some great travel games for entertaining the troops.

Want to earn a patch? Come back on Monday and tell us how many Slug Bugs your team saw over the weekend. So, starting tomorrow morning through Sunday, count the number of slug bugs you see. You'll earn a patch for participating. If you need some denim to get your patchwork started, we'll include a bag.

How about you? What fun games do you like to play? Or, what is something that makes you crazy? In honor of Free for All Friday, if you have another topic that you need help with from our all-powerful-collective brains give it to us!

Announcements: We've had a fun week of Derby Give-aways. Thanks to everyone who has participated. Claudia is taking a plethora of goodies to the post office tomorrow. So, be on the lookout if you won something.

Yesterday's winner for the book: The Five Love Languages came down to Peggy and Tera. The two were entered into a drawing and Tera was the lucky winner. So of course you want to know the answers right.... Katie and I are both words of affirmation, Claudia is quality time and Heather is acts of service. Great job everyone.

I think we're still waiting on how much money was in Matthew's college fund AND if you haven't mailed us a post card with your address for the RAK box, you should do that! Right now! We were scrambling for some addresses tonight and you could win a RAK in the future.

In closing, maybe counting Volkswagen's doesn't make me crazy but starting to count how many times the toilet seat is up in the ladies room at the office because it's the cleanest place I've ever worked surely does! First stall, seat up, water blue- 3.

Signing off until tomorrow....