Just relaxing for a bit...

This is the only picture Carter would let Richard take before realizing that he was not running around the house. Do not worry. Carter immediately began running around the house after this was taken. :) (PBS can only hold his attention for so long.)

So you want to be a librarian...

To add an endorsement to my teaching license, I have to either take 18 hours in that specific subject or take a comprehensive Praxis exam. Earlier this year, I thought that it would be a good idea to take the Praxis II - Library Media Specialist. My goal was to pass, get a job as a librarian, and have a school district pay for my second Masters. :) As usual, I did not even think of studying for this test until two nights before. What was I thinking?! I looked over the study guide that ETS (the company that makes the Praxis) sent me. This book provided an OUTLINE of the topics I needed to look over my CLASSROOM WORK to study. I have never taken a library media class in my life! I began to search the internet for any help I could find. I found a website that listed a lot of information that I MIGHT need to know. These forums also informed me that most of the people who posted something did not pass the test the first time. I got scared! On the day of the test (March 15th - "Beware the Ides of March!"), I spoke with the 2 other women in the room that were taking the same test. The first woman was a current librarian taking the test for a 2nd time and the other was the manager of a Sylvan. WHAT?! The LIBRARIAN could not pass the test the first time! Long story short...the test took two hours to take and four weeks to get the results. As I opened the letter this morning, I knew that whatever I got was just fine and was what God wants to happen. (I thought the same thing when I failed the LSAT exam.) To pass the Praxis test in Library Media, I had to make a 590. I got a 680! WHAT?! That is crazy! I actually passed this test with a larger margin than my English test. That made me laugh. :) So, if I ever get the chance to surround myself with books all day, I have that option. It's nice to know I have options. :)

Emily is the ENTIRE English department?!?!

Yes, that is correct. I accepted the secondary English teacher position at Tri-County Academy for the upcoming school year. I will be teaching English I, II, III, and IV. I will have 2 English IV classes and 1 each of the rest. I think I will also be teaching a writing/speech class, but I'm not sure about that one. Since we are moving to Vaughan in June, it seemed only fair to the guys (and our gas budget) to work closer to home. I have added the link to my new school on the left. If you are not familiar with TCA, check it out! I am excited that I get to say "Go Rebs!" again.

Our trip to CVS

My mother loaned us her CVS card and a $10 off a $50 purchase coupon. I said to Richard, “I can spend $50 at CVS! Let’s go!” My goal was to only buy those items that would give me earned cash back (ECB’s). We were to keep making purchases until we ran out of ECB’s. Since today was the last day of the current CVS sale, my selection was limited. My plan did not go as well as I had hoped; however, for the amount of stuff we left with, I think we did ok. The total for everything in the picture was $137.68, and we paid $62.42 out-of-pocket. We saved around 55%. Not too shabby for going into CVS without any ECB’s to begin with.

Since I am such a nerd, I took a picture of our shopping trip. (The flash does not like the plastic wrapping. )




I am in awe of how well some people do at CVS. For more (better) tales of how to save money, go to one of my FAVORITE blogs: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

Vote for our Kroger bag!

http://www.designagreenbag.com/vote-for-designs/bag.aspx?BagId=657

You can vote once a day, so bookmark the site! I just put one of Richard's latest photo on the bag without a caption, but it says so much on its own, there is no need for words. :)