Warning:  If you are a Type A person, this post has the possibility of making your skin crawl.  May induce intolerable feelings, frustration, stress, anxiety.

Clarification:  Though the title makes you think I only have two problems in life, that would be a lie.  Here are just TWO of my problems… 

Yesterday the boys had school pictures.  I wrote about it on my Angela Banae Facebook page.  (Ahem…if you haven’t “liked” my Facebook page yet, please do so.  Thank you for your support.  And now, back to the rest of the story…)

Let me confide in you…I’m that mom who buys school picture packages and then forgets to pass them out to friends and fam.  (Though I did give the grandmothers pictures.  But those two ladies are the only ones who got them.)  I didn’t pass them out to anyone else.  Laziness?  Lack of organization?  Procrastination?  Just whatever.

I’m hoping to get this year’s pictures up in frames.  Before Christmas.

Yesterday, I was cleaning and this is what I pulled out from behind our bill organizer.  (I knew where they were for the past year.  No, they weren’t lost.)  (Though that would have been more honorable than just NOT PASSING THEM OUT.)  This is the picture I posted on my Angela Banae page:

Fresh out of the packages.  Last year’s school pictures.

I don’t know what to say people.  Other than INTERVENTION please.  When they get their school pictures back in about a month or so, would someone please come over and make. me. be. all. boss. about. this. issue???

But friends.  This is not the first time I’ve been unorganized or avoided situations for no good reason at all.

Did I tell you about our library experience this summer?

Fairfax Public Library

Oh, I thought I’d be the great mom and finally get our family a library card to the Fairfax Public Library.  In my defense (because I am a teacher and I know how critical reading is), we have TONS of books at home.  I’m always buying a book or two at Barnes and Nobo (that’s what Maxim calls it.  Love him.).  Or ordering books from the book orders.  We have a ginormous collection of books.  But I thought it’d be great for us to experience the public library.

So, a week before we went on our family vacation to St. Pete’s Beach, we hit up the library.  As in, we went in JUNE, dear readers.

We got a card and she let us check out twenty books for the family.  The boys went CRAZY.  They were getting books about Florida, the ocean, a few fictional books, deer books, more Florida books, and the list went on.  Plus, we checked out the movie The Blind Side.  We were living it up, I tell you.

We had two weeks to read the books, then return them so that we could check out twenty new books.  My only concern was that we were leaving in one week to go to Florida.  As in…we’d be about 22 hours away from Fairfax Public Library when the books were due to be returned.

Being the optimistic dreamer, I just KNEW we’d be back within a week (before we went to Florida) to renew a few books and choose some new books to read.

Welp.  That was all a pipe dream.

We came back from Florida and listen, friends.  WE WERE BUSY.  I mean, there were swimming pool dates, Vacation Bible School nights, more swimming pool days, and days of playing and well…we didn’t make it back to the library.  For quite awhile.

In all honesty, on occasion, I’d remember the library books and their need to be returned.  But a little fear and wanting to avoid that situation would overcome me.

Finally, August rolled around and we were heading to the State Fair.  And that’s when I said enough was enough.

We were going to meet my bestie and her kids at the Dairy Queen in Fairfax to celebrate their middle child’s birthday.  Before we went, I put the Thirty-One bag of library books into the car and told the boys “We ARE going to return these books.  And we may have to pay about $20 in fines for them being so late.”   They politely nodded and we were off.

After the happy celebrating at the DQ, we dreadfully headed over to the public library.  With heads hanging down.  (And before you say anything…I assume ALL responsibility for this lack of carelessness and avoidance behavior.  The boys are innocent.  They are only nine and five.  They aren’t capable of getting books back to the library on time.  It’s all my fault.)  (Clearly, I’m aware of my shortcomings.)

We walked sheepishly into the library with the twenty books and one dvd.  I humbly apologized for not getting back to the library earlier and I think I may have said, “I’m so sorry” four hundred and twenty-seven times.

“Oh, don’t worry about it.  I’ll take care of it for you.  Thank you for bringing the books and dvd back,” the SWEET librarian said to us.

“And, how much are the fines,” I said ready to get out my twenty dollar bill.

“Oh, I just erased them for you.  It’s taken care of,” the angelic librarian said to me.

“Really?  Oh, my goodness!  Thank you sooooo much!” I replied.

“But can you tell me…how much would the fines have been?” I continued…curiosity getting the best of me.

“Oh, honey.  $197.50 would have been the amount due,” she whispered to me.

$197.50 PEOPLE.  THAT WAS HOW MUCH OUR FINES WERE.

And she erased them.  All.  I was speechless.  I was shocked.

Bless her.  Dear Jesus, thank you for providing such kind, sweet-hearted librarians.

I thanked her (probably five more times) and then, I told her we’d be back and next time, we’d be very responsible.

Yes.  I have some serious faults.  Not getting school pictures passed out.  Overdue library books.  Late with paying bills if they aren’t automatically deducted from our bank account each month.

Oh, the list could go on.  But that’s okay.  Because I don’t pretend to have it all together.  Nope.  We all have faults.  But I’m not giving up.  Because I have hope.

I believe that I WILL get our boys’ school pictures passed out to family and friends AND hung up on our walls before by Christmas.  And we will go back to the public library to check out books AND return them BY their due date.  I believe I’ll do this.  I believe it can be done.  Journey said it best…Don’t stop believin’.