Getting Kicked Out of the Library . . .

Well, it has been insane around here for the last month. So fun hobbies like blogging have taken a back seat. I hope to get caught up soon. In the mean time, I thought I'd share a lovely outing to the library with the girls last week.

I "heart" the library.

I really do - maybe a little too much.

I am addicted to books. Seriously. One of my guilty pleasures in life is buying books. I love having books, reading books, looking at books. I LOVE looking at shelves and shelves of books. My favorite part of our house is our big living room bookshelf filled with books.

To control this book buying frenzy, I use the most wonderful place ever invented - the library. Oh how I love the library.

I especially love that you can put books on hold online and if our library doesn't have the book, they ship it from one of the other nearby libraries. When I have a subject that I want to learn about or a preschool lesson to teach, I do a search. All these wonderful books come up and I just can't decide, so I get at least 10. Really.

In one night I did a search for "running", "starting a business" and "healthy eating". I think I put about 20-30 books on hold that night. Then when I go in to pick up the books with the girls, I let them look around and we always get books for them. We check the audio books, DVDs, the magazines, the chapter books. Then we leave with arms full - all four of us.

We love it.

The only problem lately is that we go so much that I can't keep straight which books are due when. And when this last month hit and I didn't check e-mail regularly (they send friendly reminders when due dates are coming) - I got really messed up.

So I avoided the library for a few days because I was embarrassed about my huge fine - it was over $15! I didn't have cash, but really wanted to pick up a movie waiting in the hold section. Then the girls found a few things and when we went to the self check-out. (because I didn't want to face a human person who might see my embarrassing fines) I learned that you can't check out more books if you have a fine of over $10. I had to come clean.

On this particular library trip, I had more than my big fine to be embarrassed about. I was trying to lay low - I felt like I had a huge scarlet "F" for 'fines' on my shirt. I couldn't make eye contact with the librarians.

Just about the time I found my movie that was on hold, Natalie got scolded by a librarian for climbing in the window nearby. Whoops. So much for laying low.

Then, while attempting the self-checkout - Angela announced she had to go potty. I sent Sarah to the nearby kid's bathroom with Angela. A few second later she emerged saying Angela refused to go. I forgot. The library has self-flushing toilets. Angela hates self-flushing toilets. But her little dance told me that we didn't have much time for irrational fears. I took her in the bathroom and we had a little fight about whether or not she was going to get on. She was in pain. So I "helped" (forced) her on the potty and reassured her that it would not flush while she was on it. But I might as well have been saying absolutely nothing because she was screaming bloody murder. This bathroom is right next to the children's librarian's desk. She screamed for so long and so loud I was so afraid someone would come knock on the door to make sure there wasn't some kind of child abuse going on in there. Then finally Angela gave in and we walked out of the bathroom trying to 'act natural'. The librarian gave me a look. I looked apologetic at her and she either looked at me like, "I understand" or "holy cow, what the crap just happened in there". I couldn't quite tell which.

Now I had the matter of my fine to take care of.

I walked up to a very nice librarian and came clean. I confessed my sins of overdue-ness and got the amount of cash needed from their ATM. I didn't care there was an extra $1 fee (usually I do) it was worth the cost for a clean conscience. Ahhhh. I was so happy to get that taken care of, but ironically, as I paid off this huge fine, the librarian noticed I had two books still overdue. They were two other books that I thought were due the next week. I'm telling you, I have problems. Hopefully, I can eventually become completely clean from my embarrassing addiction and disorganization with books.

But our adventure wasn't quite over.

I felt a little spring in my step as we walked out with our books. On the way to the exit, Natalie asked to have a drink of water. "Sure! Anything you want." I was happy to have the scarlet "F" off my back. We walked back to the fountains. I waited nearby and suddenly heard Natalie screaming like a body part had been ripped off. It was one of those screams that gets a mom's adrenaline pumping. I was ready to put pressure on a bleeding wound or do CPR or something.

I found Natalie stuck to the drinking fountain. Stuck!

Her finger got caught somewhere under the fountain in the most random way. She continued screaming even when I freed her finger. It gave her a pretty good scare - along with those of us around her. There were no injuries - I think she just panicked that she was stuck.

After that, we beelined outside to the car.

You know on movies where there's a security room with lots of TVs showing all the surveillance video in a building? I pictured, if the library had such a thing (which I doubt with all the budget cuts these days (o: ) - the old guy watching the videos with his coffee to keep him awake at his boring job would have come running out right about 5 seconds after Natalie started screaming and escort us out of there. There's only so many offenses a family can make in one visit.

Lucky for us, the library can't afford to have surveillance and pay an old guy to watch out for people like us. Anyway, I hope they will forgive us or forget us. I'm headed back on Tuesday.