Often it's called the calm before the storm, but go into just about any store and it's anything but calm.

People with carts, people with baskets, people muttering about why they decided to come out to the store trek up and down the aisles looking for everything they could possibly need in a snow storm.Two mothers waiting at the deli counter at Mallard Market in Lehighton Monday afternoon talked about the snow and their children. For one, it is her 11-month-old son's first big storm."I'm ready for it," said Kerry Yanchek. "I think we're due for a good snow."At presstime, the weather warning was upgraded to a blizzard status.Yanchek said she is excited to see his reaction to the snow. When the storm clears, Yanchek plans to take her son outside to play in it.The other mom is a veteran of snowday planning. She has two school-aged children.Bernadette Rodrigues said that when a snow storm comes, "They are up earlier than they are on a school day."She was at the store getting meat for sandwiches, snacks and activities to keep her children busy until they can go sled riding."Don't forget to go shopping," Rodrigues said her son told her before he headed out the door to school Monday morning. He gave her a list of some goodies he wanted, too.French toast is what she plans to make for them for breakfast.There's an excitement in the frenzy, almost like the days just before Christmas. Some people are excited about the pending storm; some just wish it was spring. All are wondering what gift Mother Nature has in store for us.Steffany Zimmerman, who also was at Mallard's, said, "I am looking forward to it. It wasn't a great winter."Tom Kobal, the meat manager at Mallard's, said he likes the challenge of predicting for a snow storm."I pre-game," he said.He checks the weather notifications in plenty of time to place orders for those items sought after when people plan to be huddled up in their homes."I always expect the worst, fill up and if Mother Nature fails, you have an in-store special," he said.Preparing the store for the storm of customers isn't the only thing Kobal does. A volunteer firefighter, he said, "I have to go put (tire) chains on firetrucks after here."Food isn't the only thing people were out buying.Devin Cruz, an employee at Game Stop in Lehighton, said the store was busy Sunday and Monday."It's all anyone's talking about," he said about the storm."I like it," said Keegan Brody, a young customer at the video store. "Hopefully we lose power and I don't have to do homework."Brody is not swayed by the loss of video games in a possible power outage."I've got football and Nerf guns," he said.He figures shoveling snow will be part of his Tuesday activities, but added, "Hopefully I can have my best friend down."Stacy Linberg, a customer at Dollar King, doesn't share Brody's youthful enthusiasm for snow storms."I'm just so ready for spring. I was ready for spring in September," she said, the whole thought of snow and winds blowing are not her scene."I get my neighbor's snow," said Esther Hollingsworth, a clerk at Dollar King.The winds drift snow into her yard.Despite all of that, the storm doesn't have her bummed."I'm actually looking forward to it," Hollingsworth said.And she's been busy with customers all morning, too. "Hats, gloves, flashlights, batteries, paper products and a lot of activities for the kids" were her biggest sellers.Down the road at the Tractor Supply store, several customers waited as the clerks brought out more bags of sunflower seeds for the birds and corn for the deer. One man said he was buying the food for the animals, because it will be hard for them to find food in the deep snow.It's a good thing they were looking for seed, because the snow supplies were greatly reduced."No generators," Derek Kuklentz, an employee at the store said. As for ice melt, "very little left" was all there was to say.