to the airport today...

I like the days when we stay home and go in and out of the pool all day. But today is not going to be one of them. Aaron is going to Norway for a few weeks, so I shall drive him to the airport today. The airport is a few miles from the neighborhood I grew up in, and no matter how many years go by since my parents' deaths, I feel such longing for them and visiting them when I go to the airport.

And I cannot go to that suburban store-filled jungle without going to stores, so I shall not just be dropping Aaron off and heading home.

I have to remember to give him some cash to bring me home a Norwegian chocolate bar. One of the things worth the calories, so yummy.

My all-time favorite bakery is near the airport, too. It is like heaven in there. The aroma, the things in the cases are like works of art. When my dad was so sick, one of the things he could manage to eat was a donut or the chocolate cream pies from that bakery. My brother Billy used to get him things from there all the time after my mom died, so it reminds me of Billy, too. wah.

I shall not go there today.

Mirielle and Mali Rose are being good citizens today and donating blood. I was going to join them, but then the airport thing came up...Anyway, Joseph is going to be their chauffeur, since Mirielle tends to do that almost-fainting thing. She pretty much turns gray and has to lie down...then she can barely walk, much less drive. Yet, she gives blood.

Our beach trip is now slated for tomorrow. Now Aaron can't go, but the rest of us will. Emily has the night off, but she needs to sleep...or does she? That is the question she is asking herself. She might just go with us.

My brother Tom, my sis-in-law Kim, and some of their twelve kids will be going too. That makes it extra fun. And since Tom and I practically grew up on that Eastern shore of Lake Ontario, it is so nostalgic go be there with him.

Blah, Jonathan and Charlotte Claire are building something on the clean living room floor, they have foam squares and are getting blankets out. I clean floor means a clean slate for these kids.

Last evening was difficult. 8 or 9 of the kids were up watching a movie, eating cheese popcorn, multigrain crackers (I did have a few of those, the sesame seeds make them taste so good(Aldi)), lime tortilla chips. I had already resisted the ice cream and brownies with pudding. Yes, the night before, Joseph got out the cookbooks and decided on making brownies with pudding. He made homemade pudding, put it in the bottom of the pan, then mixed up homemade brownies, spread it on top, then when it baked, it reversed so the pudding was on top. Quite interesting, and the smell in here was NO FAIR-tantalizingly yummy. blah. I need to just move out for a year or so. But no, I just smelled the smell. I did have one little crumb, just to taste, and yes, they were as good as they smelled.

Anyway, I amused myself by reading weight-loss success stories, and rejoiced when they finished off the bag of cheese popcorn. I love that stuff, my mouth was actually watering. (if this makes the kids sound like a bunch of pigs, they really aren't. they also watch what they eat, and are generally pretty healthy. but they are young and active, and they can snack at night and still be fine)

Oh, I see what they are doing, Jon has his toy tent out. The whole living room is going to turn into a cozy little campsite....

Anyway, the good thing is that I still have my vision, my goal, my determination to lose this weight. Since I started out wanting to lose a hundred pounds, and am almost a third of the way there, it really seems possible.

If you want to see something funny, you should see Charlotte Claire and Jonathan trying to assemble this tent. It is hilarious.

There. I helped them get the pole through the top.

And, I shall go get ready to leave now. There are dishes to do, and perhaps the Nice Mom should throw in a load of towels....