i passed!!

i totally winged a certification test this afternoon. i was attempting to gain certification in another subject area -- which will open doors to teach a few more subjects.

a little back story --
at one point, during my 5 year career at sam, my degree was food science and nutrition. well, that was short lived because i soon realized that i would need a masters to be able to do anything worthwhile (i.e. a registered dietitian). i was not interested in more school at that point. enter my marketing major. immediately after graduating, i started looking into getting my alternative teaching certificate through region iv (in texas, regions are what districts are to individual schools). little did i know (i didn't realize this until about 3 years after i graduated -- big thanks to my advisor, not), i was six hours -- yes, that's right, two measly classes short of a minor in family and consumer science (the big umbrella under which food science and nutrition is housed). i still have a strong interest in nutrition and about a year ago decided that it would be fun to teach a nutrition type class. i'm not talking about home ec (though the fcs certification does cover that subject), but a real nutrition/food science/food prep class. i even signed up for the test, but never went through with it -- pretty much just chickened out.

which brings me to today's exam --
i finally signed up for the exam about 2 weeks ago. i scheduled it for today because it was the last day of spring break. i went into this exam with no preparation. there was a study guide on the website, but it really talked about the structure of the test. there was very little about the material i should study -- oh, except for the list of about 3 dozen different textbooks. riiiiight. i just decided to go on common sense. i totally don't recommend this for, say, a math certification test... however, family and consumer science deals with consumer behavior, nutrition and food science, food preparation, hotel/restaurant management, child development, elderly care, sewing and textiles, interior design, etc. well -- i had a nutrition/food science/consumer behavior schooling background. i have quite a bit of restaurant and food prep experience. child development was covered a bit in my education classes. i've done a bit of sewing. so all of those mini experiences mixed with common sense -- i figured i could do a pretty decent job winging it.

still... during the exam there would be some tough questions where i thought -- crap. i just wasted an afternoon, gas, and money taking this stupid test!! then, there would be the easy ones -- yes! i am so going to pass!

so, you're given 3 hours to test. i finish in a little over an hour. i walk out and the proctor says, need a break? um... no... i'm finished. so he goes to his computer and drones on about how i'm lucky to get my results so quickly, the testers down the hall (taking a different exam, i'm sure) had to wait all morning for their results... blah, blah, blah. so, finally he prints, hands me a paper, and says congratulations! i was slightly surprised and even said "really?!" haha.

so... needless to say... i'm quite excited! and a little proud of my accomplishment. :)

i've been MIA...

yep... i've definitely been missing. seeing as how i do not have a computer to call my own right now, i bum computer time when i can. klein isd blocks my regular haunts (myspace, blogs), so work is not an option. my dad's laptop is not too healthy -- it heats up way past what is probably safe for me and the hard drive; and last night i swear i saw a puff of smoke come out of the side vent. the desktop is just slow. in fact, as i type this my fingers are a good 3 to 4 letters ahead of what is appearing on the screen. very strange. i try to keep up on my blog friends that i like to stalk. in fact, i've even taken to printing posts from my shrapnel so that i can read them later and really absorb what i'm reading. gila has an amazing writing talent, and i'm hooked on her aftermath story of being an unwilling witness (and thus seriously injured) of a roadside bomb in jerusalem. of course, i'm still hooked on cf husband and a little closer to my own life is clay and megan's trip to eastern and western europe as they prepare to be missionaries there.

anywho -- another reason i have been MIA -- not much exciting going on. yet, i am SUPER busy. well, actually, i guess there are a few things to share.

chris, his dad, a couple other guys have started a company (yes, my husband is embarking on yet another job). i won't go into all the details, but it is an oilfield company (of course, what else is there? ha). they've got quite a few irons in the fire as far as the company is concerned, but things are looking good.

i wrapped up my part of the committee for western days a couple weeks ago. western days is an event that our church started doing for the first time one year ago. it coincides with -- the rodeo of course. it's a fun filled day of food, games for the kiddos, petting zoos, pony rides, and a snake exhibit. i worked on the craft vendor area (much like like i did for fall festival -- lining up crafters and getting them settled that day). it was a busy weekend and the weeks before were busy preparing, but i love it. :) my friend lisa from sunshine farms was a big hit. she was at fall festival, too, and i know she had some repeat customers. if you ever are wanting some fabulous homemade/handmade soaps, lotions, sugar scrubs, body talc, etc -- check out her website. chris loves her caribbean bay bar soap and i love, love, love her patchouli line. i've been out to her farm too, great fun for a pretty, sunny afternoon!

next week is spring break!! thank goodness. it's a rough week at school. it was all i could do not to call in a "mental health" day for tomorrow. the kids are just nuts. i tried to do something a little different with them today and give them a break from our long-winded typing tutorial. well, i was met with whines and grumbles and total disregard for the directions. so, after a disastrous first period, the rest of my classes went right back to typing in the tutorial. sigh.

well, i'm off to scour my closet for something to wear tomorrow. if i don't torture myself with that tonight, i'll be staring at my clothes in the morning -- which means i will be running very late! :)

psstt...

i just put up a handful of posts that had been on my myspace blog. they are from 2006, but i just thought they deserved to be in one place with the rest of my posts. click on 2006 under blog archive to find them.