Hayley and I went to the library today. We were supposed to go yesterday for story time and to pick out some books, but on Friday she hadn’t been feeling well and then when we woke up (late-ish) on Saturday we discovered Winter was not done with us yet and the weather was just terrible. She was disappointed but I promised her that unless frogs were raining from the sky (pardon my Stephen King reference) we would go today.

Breanna woke up from her nap at 12:30 so at that point Hayley and I got ready and we left Breanna with George. It was much better out today. The sidewalks and streets had been cleared and the temperature wasn’t bad. The only real problem we faced was the wind while walking there; it was pretty strong and it was blasting right into our faces.

I actually had a flashback to my childhood, and an unpleasant flashback at that. I have very long eyelashes and when I was little sometimes – for no apparent reason, usually – my eyelashes would flip under and get stuck under my eyelid. All of my eyelashes. It would look like I had none at all because they were ALL in my eye, under the lid. Those were fun times, let me tell you. There was usually a great deal of screaming and crying as I begged my mother to pull them out while also insisting that she should NOT TOUCH MY EYE AT ALL. I’m sure it was as much fun for my mom as it was for me. Truly.

Anyway, with the angle and force of the wind, when we were about halfway there, it suddenly blasted my eye and all of a sudden there was blinding pain in my left eye. Luckily I knew exactly what it was so I didn’t rub at my eye, making it worse. Unluckily, we were in the middle of a sidewalk with no public bathrooms available since most of the buildings around us were either residential or office buildings. I didn’t even have a mirror in my purse. There was a bus shelter a few feet ahead though and Hayley was in need of a break anyway so we ducked in there and I willed myself to be calm as I carefully plucked my entire row of eyelashes up and out of my left eye. JOY.

We finally made it to the library with no further eyeball incidents and Hayley enjoyed herself, picking out books at random. We came home with a nice large collection for the next two weeks. I even managed to find two for myself. I’m in the process of re-reading The Poisonwood Bible, my favorite book ever, so I didn’t need any fiction. However, I’m in the middle of a serious Africa kick (hence my choice of re-reading that particular novel), so I took out a photo book of Africa and also a non-fiction book called A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa.

Walking home was much easier since the wind was behind us that way, and we got home quickly. Next time, though, I’m taking a backpack or a messenger bag to carry the books because 15 books in a doubled-up plastic bag gets heavy quickly.

We sat on the couch with Breanna and I read three of the books to Hayley, saving the rest for later. In fact, tonight after I put Breanna to bed, Hayley was still awake and she called to me and asked if I could please read her one more book. I don’t know how it is that I’ve never read Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (though I had at least heard of it) but it is my new favorite book for young kids. It’s so funny and it is also easy to relate to it. Hayley thought it was hilarious but I bet that it will come in handy the next time she has a less-than-stellar day and I can refer to the book.

And on that note, I think I’ll have a cup of green tea, a muffin, and take a look at one of my own books. It’s fun raising bookworms.