tomorrow is 11/11/11

And Mirielle told me last night how when she was little, she figured out that her birthday when she is older will be 2/23/23...and Benjy was not impressed. He said when HE is 23, it will be 11/11/11! So tomorrow is finally the big day for Benjamin, I wonder if it will be as amazing as he thought it would be way back when he was like ten years old....

Today: the house is messy. Again. I swept and mopped yesterday..then someone spilled pretzels this morning, she said she thought she cleaned them all up. And Rosie doesn't like pretzels. One of the younger kids had a turn to sleep with me last night since Paul is away, they love my comfy bed...well, this child wet...blah, lots of bedding to wash. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to be calm when I discovered this, although inside I found some grumbling. Yes, I find plenty of grumbling inside, grumbling and complaining. But everyone has work to do, whether it is a job out in the big world, or just picking up at home, and I have no right to be resentful about the things I have to do. Yesterday I was telling the kids how much God hates complaining, about how those Israelites wanted their bread and their meat and weren't happy, so they did not get to enter the promised land. How much more God must hate when we complain, we who have everything we need and more! Of course we still have it in us, but there lies the battle!

And of course venting is different. ha.

We had a nice scare last night. The girls had gone to my sister's house, came home, eventually everyone went to bed except for me. When I brought Rosie in from the deck, I locked the door, then went around locking up. So...I go into my bathroom, start getting ready for bed, and Rosie starts barking and barking, that serious bark that means someone is here. (as opposed to the intermittent yipping that means Kitty Kitten is prancing around bugging her)...I knew I had to go see who was here, and my heart was pounding. As I tried to turn my bedroom door handle, there was someone turning it from the other side! I opened it and BLAH, it was Mirielle, terrified, saying someone was knocking at her bedroom window. I told her to call 911...then she mentioned that Mali was still with Emily, which I didn't know. So she called Mali first, and sure enough, it was her. Poor girl, the whole house was awake with the ruckus, and she was getting yelled at by some sisters who were terrified. Oops.

Weight loss: I am a quarter pound less than yesterday, which is at least moving in the right direction. When we booked our vacation, I had almost seven weeks, and thought I could lose 14 pounds. I have lost five. I would like to lose a few more before we go. And when we are there, I do not want to gain it all back!

I am so excited about going! I would like a few more things to wear there, but it is hard to find summer-y, tropical-y clothes super cheap in the Northeast in November.

I did buy another bathing suit on ebay, I hate to admit. I guess I am looking for one that makes me look sensational. It just ain't gonna happen, which my rational mind knows...but. I am thinking of selling one that I got...it is a nice suit, it just doesn't look so nice on me. I will, however, keep the one I got for 75 cents, it is great for the pool.

Mirielle and I are doing this thing where we text each other everything we eat. Helps keep us on track, knowing we will be accountable to each other.

Well...as nice as it is to sit here and write (most relaxing part of the day!), there are places to go and things to do...Big Van needs to go to the shop, ect...