Twelve Days of Birthday

When Joey showed up at my office with flowers on Friday, the card read, "And thus begin the twelve days of birthday!" He's been planning this for a month, apparently. (I probably have the best husband in the entire world.)

On Saturday I was to expect 11 somethings.

"Is it going to be 11 hours of sleep?" I mumbled to Joey as I drifted off last night.

"No..." he mumbled back. I don't think he remembers this conversation either.

All morning long I was trying to think of what 11 somethings it could be.

"Am I getting 11 strawberries?" I asked, as we passed the strawberries in the grocery.

"You're going to ruin it for yourself if you keep this up," was Joey's reply.

I'd forgotten about my 11 somethings by 4:00. Just before we left to go to dinner, I noticed a pink jelly bean sitting on the counter in the bathroom. (I had to put my hair in a ponytail, the curls didn't work out at all.) I LOVE jelly beans. Especially Jelly Belly Sours; I could eat them all day for a week and love every second of it.

I looked at the jelly bean and glanced around. No one was in the bathroom but me, and Joey doesn't like jelly beans. I was really confused as to how the jelly bean got on the counter, because I remembered eating all the jelly beans I'd bought at the grocery earlier that morning. (Sometimes I buy a few to munch on during the drive home for sustenance. Makes Joey crazy.)

It might have germs, I thought. It was, after all, in the bathroom. But I guess I've eaten stranger, worser things. And I popped it in my mouth.

It was taaaaaaasty. I spent a long time trying to determine if it was cotton candy or bubblegum but, alas, it was to no avail.

I went in the bedroom to get a bobby pin and, to my astonishment, I found another pink jelly bean. I ate it, too, and with a lot less hesitation than the previous one.

Suddenly, I noticed there were jelly beans all over the bedroom! Well, four at least. I ate them all and then realized that I was getting 11 pink and tasty jelly beans for my 11th day until my birthday.

"Did you notice the jelly beans?" asked Joey from his position on the couch.

"Yes, I'm eating them." I said around my mouthful of jelly bean #5.

"How many did you found?"

"Five." I said. "No, I mean six." I spotted another one on the bookshelf and ate it too.

Before we left for the restaurant I managed to find 10 of the jelly beans. The one that was on the bookshelves in the study was AWOL and Joey thinks it rolled off and Henry ate it. (At least he heard him crunching on something in the study, and Henry really likes eat candy he's not supposed to have.)

So...10 more days until my birthday! I wonder what I'll get tomorrow.