worst.bus.ride.ever.

i've been on some pretty awful bus rides in my 27 years. but today took the cake. and involved tears.

we're about 20 minutes into our 45 minute bus ride back to school after our field trip. my student, T, asks if she can go to the bathroom as soon as we get back to school. of course i say she can.

5 minutes later she asks how close we are and says she has to go really bad. i tell her i'm sorry but we're in the middle of a neighborhood on unknown back roads & she doesn't have a choice but to hold it.

3 minutes later she's sobbing. tears are running down her face. it's pouring outside, we're on a bus with 40 kids, and i can hear her cries from three rows back. my heart is breaking and my mind is racing. peeing her pants would be the worst experience of her 9 year old life. but what else can we do? there's nowhere to stop. oh, there was a port-a-potty. oh, too late. gosh, what if she pees her pants? she's CRYING! that's pretty serious. what the heck can i do? is she still crying? yup, there are her sobs. what will the bus driver do if she pees her pants all over the seat? should i ask to stop? shouldn't fourth graders be able to hold it? oh gosh she's still balling. okay, i have to do something.

as soon as i told the bus driver that this was a real-life-about-to-be-wet-seats-situation, she said she would stop at the dunkin donuts up ahead. praise the Lord. T and i walked to the front of the bus and ran inside the second the bus door opened. she made it in to the bathroom on time but as i waited i noticed a sign on the door that said, "sink out of order. no water." gross, i thought. but not as gross as cleaning up pee off a bus seat. oh well. then the door opens.

"mrs. alberts... my nose is bleeding."

i open the door to see blood ALL over the floor, all over my student.

no toilet paper. no paper towels. no water in the faucets. i run out of the bathroom, grab napkins from the counter, hand her some and proceed to clean the numerous red puddles off the floor. pretty tough job with no water.

many napkins later, the floor has a few already-dried drops of blood left, but i know i can't get it off so we head back out to the bus. her bleeding stops. we finish the school day. i call her mom to explain the situation. i stop at the dunkin donuts to thank the incredibly kind staff & to offer to clean up the mess i'm sure is still in their water-less bathroom. they refuse my help and repeatedly say it's no problem. i smile with tears of exhaustion and gratitude in my eyes.

i get back in my car and cry.

DIY photo board with twine

 step 1: buy awesome fabric in the "as is" bin at IKEA (for half off, of course). then iron it a little.

 step 2: buy a hideous photo board at the thrift store (for 3 bucks!) & remove fake buttons

 step 3: use your regular old desk stapler to attach awesome fabric & twine your the gift-wrapping basket to once-horribly-ugly photo board

 step 4: add photos

 step 5: hang in room against gray walls

step 6: enjoy! (then print some photos that are more recent than wedding shots taken 18 months ago!)

i am a blessed daughter

... and i'm married to a blessed son. we have amazing mothers & tomorrow is a day to celebrate them.

my mom is beyond wonderful. she has taught me an unbelievable amount about being a wife, sister, daughter, and friend. she's a wonderful example: patient, kind, hard-working, and loving. i credit most of my good qualities to the way she and my dad taught me to grow up. 

anything good i am is because of God's love for me; giving me my parents is such obvious evidence of his love.

people ask me sometimes how it is to be a daughter now that i'm married. i think about the answer for a minute, then i usually decide to make it short & sweet. my mom, my dad, both parents, gave me wings. they kept me safe while i was theirs & let me fly from the nest so joel could care for me when the time was right. my mom bravely kept her caution to herself so i could learn to drive on busy roads, teach japanese children thousands of miles from home, move to a new city in a new state, and marry a mid-western man. she has encouraged me and lifted my spirits and listened to me laugh/cry/talk for hours and hours. i'm blessed.

now added to my list of blessings is a new mother-in-law. okay, she's not really new, but having a mother-in-law is a big deal and it still feels new. joel's mom is wonderful. she's kind, generous, welcoming, and brave. she raised three boys to men. she stayed at home to care for a son with severe disabilities. she accepted me into her family with open arms. she willingly gave joel to me so i could have the privilege of caring for him, encouraging him, and holding his heart. that's a precious gift.

see? blessed. beyond words. but apparently i had a few in my heart.

life around the alberts household

it's nut here, lately! 

joel has track meets at least twice a week, sometimes three times. we're both in the middle of the semester so the ungraded papers smother our office floor most evenings. 

 fortunately, we did get our 2012 garden started. last summer we had major rabbit issues so this year we started the season on the offense:

 below are a few things i hope our garden produces. in the meantime, i'll stock up at trader joe's & admire the colors on my kitchen counter.

 

also this past weekend, joel and i had a date @ home!!!

i used the fancy dishes and set out candles. we talked a lot over a leisurely dinner. we went on a walk and watched 2 episodes of "the good wife" online.

around the internet

i currently have nine tabs open in mozilla firefox. 

there are just so many fun things out there. i don't want to lose any of them!

here are a couple: 

1. instead of shutterfly, i'm making a book from blurb this time around. we'll see how the 2 companies compare.

2. someone blogged about the dirty dozen recently. i was curious & this is what i found.

3. a cup of jo had a post about this natural sunscreen today. it's SO hard for me to come to terms with my feelings about such things: eating organic, natural sunscreen, etc. etc. i struggle to balance it all.

4. look at these online invitations!!!! i'm definitely using one of them for a party this summer. 

5. this blog is just cute. check it out. such good stuff!

on my book wish list

tonight i stumbled upon this list: 40 books you won't be able to put down.

top 3 picks: confessions of a counterfeit farm girl; the man who planted trees; the book thief (actually read this on our honeymoon and it was good!)

the first two i plan to buy for our kindle. when we go to ireland. in just over 2 months. awesome!

caution: bucking the trend ahead!

i come from a long line of chocolate cookie bakers. 

my dad loves loves loves them. so my grammy made them for him & my mom took up the job about 33 years ago & i threw my hat in the ring as soon as i could use an oven safely. i'm pretty sure everyone has used the classic tollhouse cookie recipe and i have, too.

until now.

last week i read kristen's blog and saw this post.

i decided to buck the ol' tollhouse trend and see what the internet had to offer me.

i'm glad i did because my cookies turned out fluffy and smooth. the recipe is here. i used parchment paper on my un-greased cookie sheets as a further experiment.