Maximizing Library Benefits

Caitlin K 0:26

We're so glad you're here today . Welcome to how to Be a Grown-Up . This is the show that is the adultier adult that you need in your life , that I'm constantly asking for in mine . You might notice that this episode sounds a little different . There's no scream of it's Tuesday .

Ariella Monti 0:42

It's Tuesday .

Caitlin K 0:47

Okay , just kidding . Yes , there is With me today is dear friend of the pod and published author , I might add , Ariella Monti , my radiant , grumpy badger , oh you're welcome I like it . Yeah , she's here with me today , while Jenny takes some time to rest and make her knee not bad , good-ish or whatever . This is such a treat for me because you and I literally talk a thousand times a week .

Ariella Monti 1:17

Yeah , pretty much . Roughly approximately .

Caitlin K 1:20

Constantly all day long , but I never get to see your face ever , so I'm so glad to see you . Thank you so much for being here , and Jenny and I both really appreciate having you here with us today .

Ariella Monti 1:32

Yeah , I'm excited . Any like excuse I can find to like hang out with you guys and do a podcast and just ramble .

Caitlin K 1:41

Well , I mean it's just me , it's just me , so it's still great , but we are continuing our finance February episodes and Ariella is an expert in free stuff . I don't want to say the swear word , but I did say ish and the mind . My notes do say free ish at the library , and she's gonna tell us about all the free ish you can get at your local library , which I'm so excited about , because I feel like this is something I don't know enough about . There is a library four and a half minutes from my house and I don't use it enough , and this is a great way to save some money for yourself .

Ariella Monti 2:17

So let's go ahead and get to it so there might be stuff here that your listeners will know , but sometimes you just need that little reminder that like , oh , I can do that at the library . So if you know this stuff , listen anyway , because maybe you've got tips and stuff Right .

Ariella Monti 2:41

And then , additionally , remember that library services are going to vary across systems . Libraries that have more funding and community involvement will generally have more services and options . So what I'm saying here isn't going to apply to all libraries across the US . So , like , as I tell my yoga students , take what you need , leave what you don't Love it . Little disclaimer , folks , little disclaimer that your mileage will vary with this advice . So mileage will vary . Perfect , all right . So the first thing you need to do is get a library card to your local branch . That's like I don't know , wild , like this is . This is what you come to me for . These are the hot tips .

Caitlin K 3:34

Okay , so just for those of us who don't , I had to go . When I went to the library , I had to show them proof of residency in that area . So I brought like a utility bill , right .

Ariella Monti 3:45

Yeah , is that common ? Do you hear that a lot yeah definitely You're going to need some kind of or even your , your license will be enough . I um , I don't remember having to show anything except for my license , um , but that is going to be different again across library systems . So check on your library's website , your library system's website . It will tell you exactly what you need . Some you have to go in person , some you can do online . So , again , you just have to kind of be prepared , for you know everything .

Caitlin K 4:20

It does take two seconds once you're in there Even if you're like I don't want to go inside . When I went inside to do mine , I think it took me all of a minute and a half , yeah , and that included the time that I was just like standing there getting stuff out of my purse .

Ariella Monti 4:33

Oh , yeah , definitely .

Caitlin K 4:34

It was totally my fault that it took that long .

Ariella Monti 4:36

So , so , quick , so quick .

Caitlin K 4:38

Okay , so we talked about getting a local library card . What next ?

Ariella Monti 4:42

Next is get more library cards . What , yes , so ? Get more library cards so you can check neighboring systems for either free or affordable non-resident cards .

Caitlin K 4:57

Oh yeah , so I actually have three library cards , which is I have friends who have like five or six . That's some spy stuff . I know that's spy stuff . Yeah , I have friends who have like five or six . That's some spy stuff . I know that's spy stuff . Yeah , like this is some born identity going into the safe deposit box and finding multiple passwords Right , exactly what I have three library cards so . Okay .

Ariella Monti 5:19

Depending on your system , you may be able to get a non-resident card to a neighboring library system . So here's an example I live in Johnson County , North Carolina , and I live 30 minutes from the nearest Johnson County library . We've got like five library branches in the entire county but I also live 25 minutes away from the nearest Wake County branch . Wake County is the county seat for the city of Raleigh , which is our capital , and they have lots and lots and lots of libraries . And I also yeah , I also used to work in Raleigh so I was typically closer to a Wake County library than I was a Johnson County library . So I pay $25 a year to access Wake County's library system .

Caitlin K 6:17

That's it Just $25 a year . Yep , just $25 a year for Wake . County .

Ariella Monti 6:22

When I was doing a bit of research on this , it of ranged from 25 to 75 , depending on the system , um . So , for example , some systems will offer free cards to state residents . So the dover public library system will offer free cards to any Delaware state resident . The Los Angeles system it has a free card for California residents and it's $50 for non-residents .

Caitlin K 6:59

Okay , still , if that's the yearly fee , that's pretty manageable for all the free stuff .

Ariella Monti 7:05

You are probably going to get out of it Exactly so having more cards gives you access to a larger catalog of books , programs , services . It increases access when your local systems offerings are limited or the branch in one system is more accessible than your resident branch . So that's why I have a Wake County card , because for a long time the nearest branch was kind of inaccessible after like five o'clock in the afternoon . Like the branches in the libraries in Johnson County are not open as long as the ones in Wake County . I am usually in the , or I'm more often closer at like running errands or going to Target and all of that stuff is usually closer to the Wake County library . So those libraries are closer to me and so it's more accessible .

Ariella Monti 8:03

Sure , makes sense when it comes to like digital services , depending on how your library system works . So I have a library card to the Johnson County system , the Wake County system and the town of Clayton . Town of Clayton is located within Johnson County but it is its own library system and because I'm a resident of Johnson County I get a free card to the Clayton library . And it wasn't always like that . It used to be $25 and I did not pay that , but once they opened it up I was like sure I'll get another card ?

Caitlin K 8:39

Yeah sure , why not ? Exactly , okay , so that makes a lot of sense . You get to . You have more access to more stuff if you have an additional card .

Ariella Monti 8:47

Exactly I gotcha , yeah , and if you want to put numbers to it , since introducing my kid to libby where I have all three cards , he has read at least 65 dollars worth of owl diary books , and so two cards are free and then one is only 25 a year , and the vast majority of those books came from the non-resident system because they have a bigger collection , and so , even paying that $25 a year , I've already saved 40 amazing , that's pretty awesome , right , okay , all right , you got me , I'm hooked , so get , get more cards , Just get more cards .

Library Benefits

Caitlin K 9:29

Okay , what else do I need to know about this ?

Ariella Monti 9:32

Check your library for free and discounted admissions or tickets . So a lot of times libraries will partner with museums and zoos and you can get in free or at discounted rates . Get in free or at discounted rates .

Caitlin K 9:47

I did not know that . Oh , my goodness . Okay , well , that right there is going to be a big help because the zoo . Let me tell you , I love the zoo .

Ariella Monti 10:04

That mess is outrageous , outrageous , yes . So yes , yeah , and I'm into it . I did not see the first cause . I was trying not to just do like libraries near me , so , but the one that I know gets used really , really often is my hometown library on Long Island , so the Sajan Public Library and one of my besties uses the free passes all the time . They have free passes to 27 museums and discounted passes to the zoos and shows .

Caitlin K 10:32

That is amazing . Oh my goodness , OK yeah .

Ariella Monti 10:35

So you can do like and again you got to check and see you know what the rules are and stuff . I think with those free passes you have to plan ahead because you have to find out if the passes are available for that weekend and blah , blah , blah . But I mean , if you're , if you have a big family , like , just with a little bit of planning like that , that could be a lot of money that you're saving . There's a bundle for sure , Exactly , and then you can spend it , you know , on an $85 cheeseburger and $100 soda For one kid , For one kid exactly . And then you go through the gift shop and spend another paycheck there .

Caitlin K 11:25

Oh gosh , oh , that's so true , and I don't know about yours , but mine has to stop at the gift shop every time , and now we have 8,000 stuffies in the house , oh yeah , oh totally there .

Ariella Monti 11:31

we go Totally every time . But my thing is so , when we go now , like this is not the topic of this show , but we take advantage of having , like zoo memberships and all of that stuff , yeah , so what I will do is I will give him a budget , like I will say all right , I'm going to give you $25 . Anything beyond that you need to spend your own money .

Caitlin K 11:51

He's coming out of yours . Yeah , exactly .

Ariella Monti 11:53

Yeah , so he'll . He's gotten pretty good about you know .

Caitlin K 11:57

Mom , this is $23.99 . Right , look it , I did it . Mom , yeah , yeah , I'm charging you tax . Okay , so , that's , that's awesome . So we've got get the library card , get multiple library cards , because you have more access to more things , and it also gives you discounts to , or could potentially give you discounts to , places around town to go take your kids and do things . Right , okay , yeah , exactly what else ? How ?

Ariella Monti 12:22

else . Can this help us ? So you can also , again , depending on the library system , you can borrow more than just books . And I'm not talking about , like you know , when we were kids they were like DVDs and CDs and stuff . I'm talking about like actual stuff , stuff . Now , I had heard this but I have never actually seen it like in the real world until I was doing research for this and I was poking around again at the Seacham Public Public Library's website and they have a library of things . They have birthday lawn signs , tool sets , a bubble machine , what Right ? All kinds of things to digitize film . You know , for your younger listeners , film is the stuff that we used to record pictures and moments on and it's a physical thing and like that really cool polaroid that you have .

Caitlin K 13:18

that your mom got you and she was like why am I buying you this and the ? And one like thing to stick in your polaroid camera cost 45 . That was life before your phone . Oh , and we used to have to carry them . When we stopped carrying those , we had our phones , our digital cameras , our wallet , and we didn't wear a jacket when we went out in the cold . Everything had to fit into our pockets or our fingers .

Ariella Monti 13:41

Right , yes , or those little anybody clutches that literally held nothing , held nothing , held none of that .

Caitlin K 13:48

Like stuff it to the gills and you're supposed to put it on your wrist and it'd be so full of stuff that you would smack people with it . Yes , yeah . Okay , okay . So I feel like that could save a lot of money on just rental costs in general . Exactly , you're going and like renting things . That that I mean . If you even go to Home Depot and rent a carpet cleaner , that costs .

Ariella Monti 14:09

So much money , so this is a great tip . Right , okay , that was . And the first thing I saw , like I've never gotten one of those lawn signs , because I've seen that renting them is like ridiculously expensive it's the cost of the kid's party , you know , and like sure you ? Sure you could potentially like , if you're gonna rent something constantly , like you could buy it but then you gotta store it like , do you have space for an extra bubble machine ? I don't have space for an extra bubble machine .

Caitlin K 14:38

My child's bike is in my living room , if that helps you . His bike is in my living room , so I have no storage , right ? So , yeah , I'm not buying any more stuff if I can help it Right ? Or it better be able to fold up and stick into a pocket somewhere , exactly , exactly .

Ariella Monti 14:51

So this you can check your library Again . You know it's going to depend on your actual library . The next time I go to the library in the Wake County system that I go to , I want to see if they have a Cricut machine . Yes , because you can borrow those too , at least in sachem .

Caitlin K 15:12

You can , I , but I have to see if those , the library and garner has one amazing , oh my gosh , that's killer . Yeah , all right , oh , cool , okay , what else ? What else can the library do to help us ?

Ariella Monti 15:20

so you can take classes , workshops , seminars that are typically free or extremely low cost . You know , libraries do try to make sure that everything is free , but sometimes you know you got to pay for something , but they tend to be cheaper than if you were to take them someplace else . In this way , you can learn stuff before you do a thing , and so you're spending less money fixing all the mistakes you made because you were trying to do it . You know , by the seat of your pants , Not that .

Caitlin K 15:52

I have any Right . I was going to say I feel personally attacked by this , Like I think you might , Right .

Ariella Monti 15:59

I'm not talking about myself at all If we're going to continue to attack ourselves and each other . You can also test drive a new hobby before you buy all this stuff .

Caitlin K 16:11

I was just going to say . This is this . Is Caitlin not needing to buy all the embroidery things , right , and then picking up embroidery for half a day and then deciding she was done Exactly so when I was at the library .

Ariella Monti 16:25

I was at the Wake County library just this past week . I was doing some writing with my , with some writer friends , and I always walk by the display that it's got the classes and everything listed and they had . They had a bird ID class , they had a gardening class and the gardening classes held , held with the NC State Extension Office , with the NC State Extension Office . So you're getting like master gardeners teaching you how to garden .

Ariella Monti 16:56

Like that's , that's pretty cool . That's it's you know , an all for free . There's a crochet class , you know , stuff like that , and it was all . Yeah , all like all free .

Caitlin K 17:04

I love it .

Ariella Monti 17:05

Those are . Those are key . I need to try to pay attention to that stuff a lot more and they often have like I know that same library for a little while was doing like senior bingo or something every like coffee and bingo and stuff . So I like it . Yeah , it can be a place where , if you are new to the area and they have something going on , you can go and you can take the class and you can make friends and be lots of seniors and all that , exactly , exactly , okay , I like it .

Caitlin K 17:35

What else Is there more , cause I feel like this is already a pretty good list .

Ariella Monti 17:38

Yeah , so we've got all that stuff , and then on top of that potentially streaming services and other technology access . Nice , yeah , so the Clayton Library has access to Canopy , which is a streaming service specifically for libraries . There are movies , documentaries , tv shows . I was told that there were also like tutorials and stuff . Like a friend of mine was watching videos on , like sewing videos . Oh cool , yeah , so like stuff that you would kind of use youtube for , but is on canopy . I have flipped through it and I don't know if the offerings kind of depend on the library system itself . So I can I can't say that for sure . The adult section is okay , but the kids section is pretty good .

Caitlin K 18:35

Okay .

Ariella Monti 18:36

It has like a lot of PBS shows . It has some popular YouTube shows that kids can watch , like without ads or without having to access the YouTube app .

Caitlin K 18:48

That's the . That's the place . So okay , do you know , is this something that you can access from home or just have to be at the library ? You ?

Ariella Monti 18:54

can access it from home . I put it on our TV and I think you just have to put in your library card number .

Caitlin K 19:01

Yeah , Okay , very cool , I can get down with that . Yeah , that's . I prefer that over the YouTube app , which is on my TV , exactly .

Ariella Monti 19:09

I just took hours off .

Caitlin K 19:11

Yeah , okay , yeah , great , yes , all right .

Ariella Monti 19:14

So , depending on you know what you use Canopy for , um , you could potentially cancel a streaming service . I don't want to . It's not going to replace , like it's not going to replace Disney plus or Netflix . Or you know , if you are a heavy user and heavy user for those services , it's not gonna replace Disney Plus or Netflix . Or you know , if you are a heavy user and heavy user for those services , it's not gonna . You know it's not gonna replace it . But kind of depending on how you use it , maybe you could , or you could maybe go down to another plan , but at the very least it's free .

Caitlin K 19:45

So adding it to your yeah and add free , right exactly . So that alone is kind of a big deal to me , right , okay , yeah , so those are the highlights and the highlights . Yeah , so my bonus tips here .

Ariella Monti 20:01

oh yeah , my bonus tips for supporting your library . Because here's the thing if you want those things in your library , you got to support your library . So library services require funding and community support . So use your library and then tell the people in charge of library budgets that you are using the library and what you love about the library , the library and what you love about the library . So , if you're like I loved , I took a class with the master gardeners and they were amazing . I want more of that , please .

Caitlin K 20:38

Yes , Not just we love the books .

Ariella Monti 20:39

Right , exactly .

Caitlin K 20:40

Like all the things that are being provided . It's like a Yelp review , but I think that the important thing here is that they won't get the funding if higher ups don't know that those services are being utilized Exactly .

Ariella Monti 20:51

Like , and there's only so much you can get you know from data points . You know like , every time somebody signs up for a thing , like , it's a data point , every time somebody takes out a book , it's a data point , and so you have the data points . But having like um email , you know your branch's library director and be like , you know , I really love what you did with the children's section . I love that display that you did . I love the class that I took . You know I'd like to see more of this class , or I'd like to see more of this Like . So how libraries are funded , it's are funded , it's through public funds , but how those public funds are decided is gonna vary . Like I said , like my hometown library , the CHM Public Library , they have library budgets that are I think I probably shouldn't say this , but at least when I was living there , library budgets were voted on by voters , whereas here in North Carolina it's completely different and it's politicians elected officials , are the ones who are determining that stuff .

Ariella Monti 21:57

So yeah , so you have to figure out , like , who's in charge of the money , and bug them about your library .

Caitlin K 22:07

It's like what you need to do for all things .

Ariella Monti 22:09

Yeah , pretty much .

Caitlin K 22:10

Right , yeah , okay . So , with that said , then what else can we do to support ? If we , if we know we need to , like , tell the library and tell the powers that be that we love the library , then what else can we do to support the library ? Is there anything else we can do or no ?

Ariella Monti 22:25

Definitely vote . Well , vote for politicians that support the library . Yes , yes . If there is a candidate who is really talking about the library and increasing library services , vote

Library Benefits and Everyday Life

Ariella Monti 22:37

for them . If they're not talking about library services , ask them what they plan on doing . Do you plan on opening ? You know , like I don't't have , like a county library , you know the nearest county library for me is 25 minutes away .

Ariella Monti 22:52

Like I would love one my area , you know I live in a semi-rural area and it's been growing like it's the houses that they're putting in , like they're putting in a new , two new schools , like we could use a library branch . You know yeah , so yeah that if you want to start growing your library's book catalog , you can request that the libraries carry the book . They usually have some kind of materials request form or something like that , where you can ask a library like , hey , I really wish you would carry you know this specific author or this specific book and how would I request that this book gets put on you know the next list when they're deciding what books to get ? That's a good way to support authors as well , because authors do get paid . When libraries buy their books or license their books , authors do get paid for it . I think that's it .

Caitlin K 23:58

And Bray just shut off . It's like we're done . That's dopamine hits over right . Like I got my dopamine . I'm out Bye . No , don't hang up , guys . Okay , so here's what I'm hearing you need a library card . You need more than one library card , because then you get more access to more things . Those more things could be everything from books , programs and services to discounts at events to take your kids to , and cheaper rentals and classes .

Caitlin K 24:28

So all of these are ways that you can save money for yourself , because you paid at most like $75 a year for a non-local library card , but you could also get the same things , perhaps depending on your branches , if you just go to the library and sign up and show them proof of ID or proof of residency .

Ariella Monti 24:52

Yeah , exactly .

Caitlin K 24:53

Sounds easy enough .

Ariella Monti 24:55

And then between all of it . You've got access to so much stuff and sometimes you don't even remember that like you can get this stuff there until you're .

Caitlin K 25:04

I forget all the time . Yeah , I'm so glad you reminded me of all of this . Yeah , this is amazing . Okay , let's take a quick break . We'll be right back .

Caitlin K 25:14

This is amazing , okay , we'll be , back For links to resources mentioned in this episode . Head on over to ckandgkpodcastcom slash blog to find everything you need , and be sure to follow us on social media . Head over to your favorite social media network and find us at CK and GK podcast . And now back to the show . And now back to the show . Okay , are we back ? We're back . Yes , we're back now . So this is since Ariella taught me things , I'm going to make her do my things now and my things we know . We know our obsessions . We have to talk about what we're obsessed with right now , and we have to talk about something random that happened to us , that's funny or sweet or just . You just have to tell someone with our gym . So I would like you to tell me first what your obsession is , your current obsession at the moment .

Ariella Monti 26:03

So my current obsession are chocolate , hazelnut , uncrustables .

Caitlin K 26:08

I did not know that these existed . Are we talking about , like a Nutella style Uncrustable ? Yeah , is that ?

Ariella Monti 26:15

what we're saying . Yeah , I didn't know they existed until fairly recently either . So my son has avoidant restrictive food intake disorder , which is very , very . It's a diagnosis for extremely picky eating .

Caitlin K 26:35

So it's like take the chicken nuggets and the macaroni and cheese that your kid eats every day and then remove those two things from their diet .

Ariella Monti 26:42

Pretty much , pretty much , or or those are the literally only two things , the only two things . And I would so fresh I would cry if my son ate either one of those things . Right , he's always in feeding therapy with a um , um , an SLP , and with a speech therapist . Oh wow , the word like couldn't make it out of my mouth .

Caitlin K 27:03

It's only a podcast , we only talk . No , exactly , you don't have to have words .

Ariella Monti 27:06

Words don't mean anything Um . This is why I'm a writer . This is , this is this is why , yeah , no , I I got you this , you .

Caitlin K 27:15

this is why , um , my rambling tendencies really don't work and I need jen to come back in here and edit anyway , so tell us about these on crusts because I want to eat them in my face , so they are just like the peanut butter and jelly ones , except they are filled with .

Ariella Monti 27:31

I don't think it's , it's something like nutella , yeah , not , not Nutella yeah not , oh man , and they come frozen and you just take them out . So they have been like I've been trying to add more you know protein into my diet and sneak protein in places and it's got like four grams of protein , which is not bad for something that is basically a dessert .

Caitlin K 27:56

Yeah , yeah . No , that sounds like a yeah . I would heat that up after dinner . You don't even need .

Ariella Monti 28:00

That's the thing . You don't even need to heat it up , you just take it out of the refrigerator and just let it defrost , and it defrosts how long , though ?

Caitlin K 28:07

because I'll forget , and I need like an hour . See no , I got it , I'm gonna . I'm gonna put it in the microwave , like I can't wait that long , and I'll forget to take it out . This is the person who , like impulse , says I'm going to bake cookies , has half the ingredients and has to run out to the store in the middle of the thing and forgets to put the butter . So I have no , this is I have to heat it up . See what ?

Ariella Monti 28:29

the good thing , what I've been using it for is , before I run out of the house in the morning , I will take one and throw it into my yoga bag and then teach my class and then , as I'm on the way home , it'll be defrosted . Yeah , because once it's defrosted , I think you've got like eight hours to eat it before I guess it gets questionable . I mean , I don't know , that's not .

Ariella Monti 28:54

I mean you know Well it is in the last eight hours I'll tell you that't know , that's not . I mean you know . Well , if you do , forget it .

Caitlin K 28:58

It is going to last eight hours , right ? I'll tell you that right now , right , yeah .

Ariella Monti 29:02

So those have been my . I guess my gripe is that there's at least from what like my husband does , the grocery shopping and the ones he's been getting there's only like four in a box , Whereas you could go to like Costco and get like the peanut butter and jelly ones , like 87 of them . Yeah , you know , so annoying . So that's my gripe currently .

Caitlin K 29:28

And , to be clear , the reason that you got them is because you wanted your son to eat them . Is that what's going on here ?

Ariella Monti 29:34

Yes , and he didn't want to try it . And now I eat them .

Caitlin K 29:40

Perfect . No , I think that that's motherhood in a nutshell . I think it's exactly what we yeah , okay , well , mine is my new washer and dryer , so this is exciting , this is a very exciting thing .

Caitlin K 29:54

Well , what happened was I went to London for work and while I was there I was , I was at a . I was working at a trade show , which means I was behind the booth , but it was also our trade show , like our . We were the hosts of the event , so anything that needed to happen I kind of ended up doing right . So that means that , like at one point we hosted a happy hour and I was basically a bar back nice for hour , like lugging boxes of cases of Bud Light Right , right , not Bud Light , budweiser Everywhere .

Ariella Monti 30:23

In London Budweiser Really . Well it's an American beer . Oh , so it's an imported .

Caitlin K 30:29

So it was an American beer and , for whatever reason , people over there like it . I don't . Budweiser is not as terrible as Bud Light . I'm just going to put that out there . However , however , I don't like Budweiser , so I was having the wine that was there , but neither here nor there . What the point of that ?

Caitlin K 30:48

part is my clothes ? No , it's fine . My clothes got sweaty and stinky and while I was over there and my clothes were getting sweaty and stinky , my washer cracked down . So I came home to a washer that would not spin and it was a top loader .

Ariella Monti 31:09

So without the spinning it just didn't drain .

Caitlin K 31:10

It was just a tub of water so , and it would drain , but it would not agitate , it would not spin nothing . And when it did try to , you would hear it like cranking and I thought maybe it just kind of like fell off of the the drum , like fell out of it . It doesn't matter , I can't fix it . So I was like , forget it , we're , we're overdue . When we got that washer and dryer we had just moved to Austin . Um , I had $0 and I had a seven and a half week old and so we bought a refurbished set . So they were old when we got them . So there we go . Anyway , we got a new washer and dryer and I'm obsessed , can't stop , won't stop talking about them . Love doing laundry . It . The drum is huge . I can fit like an entire thing of like my whole hamper can go in there . It's kind of amazing because my whole hamper could not before , and before I would be like , okay , here's all the socks , they're like I'm going to put them on the bottom and then I , the heavy stuff goes in the top , cause I so like it was just a pain in the butt to do laundry , and now I'm so excited Cause I get to do laundry in a big washer and dryer . It makes me so happy and it fits my entire comforter . Oh , that's key . That is key , so good . So this leads me to my gem of the week . So that happened . I got home on Saturday evening . Sunday , I was like no , I have to do laundry . These clothes smell so bad , like I cannot . They smell so bad . My whole suitcase I have . It's still sitting on the floor . I got back two weeks ago . It's sitting on the floor airing out because it stinks Like . I Febreze the inside of it twice , still waiting for it to not be stinky . Okay , so that's a problem that I will have to deal with another time . And washer and dryer can't fix it . So , uh , then on Monday I was like they were getting delivered on Monday , that's how fast . I was like no , we're on this , you can't do this .

Caitlin K 33:06

And I was telling my son about how they were going to be here when he got back , like , and so he was like stoked for me because I was super excited and he comes home and he walks in the door and when you walk into our front door , the laundry room is like just on the other side of the entry hall so you could go straight into the laundry room if you wanted to . And all of a sudden , I just hear we're in the future , we're in the future , we're in the future . And I was like what , what's going on ? He was like mom , we're in the future with this washer and dryer . This , we're in the future with this washer and dryer . This is the future .

Caitlin K 33:37

Yeah , he's like they look really good , mom . I'm like no , I know , they're beautiful , aren't they ? I love them . And he's like that's a Wi-Fi symbol on it . Now do I have my washer and dryer hooked up to Wi-Fi ? No , because why do I need that ? I'm not from home , I don't need phone to tell me to do things , and I dismiss the reminder and forget . So it's no , who cares , right ? But he was so excited for me . He's like future , this , right here . This , this , this future . We're in the future , we're in the future . And I was like yeah , bud , we are man , I'm stoked that I can fit a whole load of laundry in there and you're stoked that we're in the future . Right , this is a good this is a good purchase .

Caitlin K 34:28

Pretty happy with this Amazing Like I love kids . Okay , do you ?

Ariella Monti 34:33

have any gems , so my gem is book related . A friend of mine in one of my in my mom's group . She got a , an alert from Kindle like a , like a notification , and it said an author you follow has a book coming out soon and I was the author . So she took a screenshot and shared it in the group and I don't control that Like I . I have nothing to do with that . So it was amazing .

Caitlin K 35:09

Okay , wait question Did I also receive that picture ? If you didn't send it to me , I'll put it up on our Instagram , cause I know I did not . Yeah , okay , send it to me , I'll put it up on our Instagram .

Ariella Monti 35:17

Cause I would know I did not yeah .

Caitlin K 35:19

I sent it to me and I'll put it on our Instagram .

Ariella Monti 35:21

I have to yeah , I have to edit it a little bit , because it's a screenshot of my friend's lock screen , so like .

Caitlin K 35:28

Oh yeah , no , we'll . No , I'll take , yeah , we'll take care of all that . No , no , no , no , I just that's so exciting , oh , I would have lost my mind .

Ariella Monti 35:35

Yeah , it was , it was pretty , it was pretty cool , especially cause I can't like it's not like I put a little note in there like okay , this day , like send an alert . You know that was on , probably that's so exciting .

Caitlin K 35:48

So it was . It was very cool . Oh my gosh , very , very cool Dude , that's so cool . We are in the future because your book is coming . I know , oh my gosh , you guys , I um , I have two of the copies and I have the pre-order , I thought , but this episode is coming out pre , so we can still pre-order if we want to . Right , okay , great .

Ariella Monti 36:13

Yeah , so you can pre-order . You can pre-order the ebook . You can pre-order the ebook on Amazon , barnes and Noble , kobo , apple Books , all those places . Yeah , so you can pre-order the ebook . You can't pre-order the paperback because Amazon won't let me , or it won't let , they just don't . So if you want the paperback , you just have to order it on march 1st okay .

Caitlin K 36:37

Well , that's why I've been holding out then , because I want to , I want to keep it , yeah , personally , yeah , I like those ,

Promoting Authors and Libraries

Caitlin K 36:42

okay . So , in case you don't know , ariela is an author . She writes um spicy books , so if you like those ?

Caitlin K 36:49

you ? Um , we'll put links to her the pre-order in the blog post for this episode so you can go check that out , um , and we'll also make sure you can find her author profile on Amazon or Goodreads , whichever whatever you prefer . Um , we'll put that all in the blog post for this episode as well . But , um , I'm so happy for you . Again , I want to thank you so much for being here . Uh , we're gonna . We're gonna wrap this episode real quick . So libraries are amazing . Go to the library , and Jenny would tell y'all to make good choices . So do that and support your local library . Okay , bye .