there's been anticipation building in this house for more than the hp books (although those arrived today as well). in fact, the other thing we've been waiting for is a lot more important since it has direct bearing on our future.

my praxis II scores.

and guess what arrived today with the hp books?

3 guesses and the first 2 don't count.

if you said "domy's praxis II scores." then give yourself a gold star. better yet, give yourself a sundae.

i needed a 151 to pass. next year that goes to a 156. want to know what i actually got? you sure you really want to know?

184!

not only did i pass, i blew the damn test away!

i've gussied up my resume and monday we'll be off to hand in my scores to the appropriate people at the county office, then off to the 7 schools we picked out as fairly local (and thus good choices for my employment). once i get a job offer - and that shouldn't be hard with the county already short on teachers and opening 3 new schools this year, i'll qualify for a 5 year, nonrenewable teacher certificate. i'll take this year to settle in and start program hunting for options in case i don't get into tapp next summer.

this means we're finally going to be able to get on even financial footing some time very soon. the first few checks are already gobbled by immediate needs like clothes, school supplies, making utility companies happy, and, of course, paying the rent; and there's a plan in the works to get saxy a truck which will start to eat a chunk of the paycheck too. but after that, it's all getting the vultures . . . erm, collectors off our backs.

and a new laptop for me is in the plans sometime this year. working at a desk on and off all day at school, and working with kids all day, really makes it hard to work at the desktop in the evenings. as relaible as my desktop has been (and it's 8 or 9 years old, never reformatted, a couple of hardware replacements, but still with 25% of the hard drive space left, works wonderfully!), i'll need a laptop to be able to keep up with my writing at all.

we went out tonight to celebrate, courtesy of my brother. when we got back, jewel went to spend the night at a friend's house. saxy will be off to mcat's place to play on the x-box in about an hour. little ones will be into bed in about 2.

which gives me the house to myself for a little ff8 and hp reading.

assuming i can get all this excess hyper energy under control! ;D