Big News... I passed the PLACE test! Yahoo! The PLACE test is the Program for Licensing Assessments for Colorado Educators. Whew, basically that long name just means that you have to pass the test before you can get a teaching credential. So a few weeks ago I took the Instructional Technology PLACE exam. I passed with a 96%. This says more about how challenging the test is than my actual skill level. The questions were very basic, but its still nice to know that I'm finished with it!

Now, I'm just waiting to hear if my transcript evaluation passed. I need 30 semester hours of college work in Computer Science, with at least 3 hours in a variety of specific areas such as programming, applications, and networks. If I pass the transcript review then I can enroll in online courses and get my teaching credential at the end of the school year.

I'll keep you updated!

I had a fantastic weekend with our good friend Peggy and Bre that were visiting from San Diego. Our moms have known each other since I was really young and we've stayed very close to them despite being a few states away!

Everyone drove up to Loveland on Thursday to visit my apartment and school. Bre is an elementary school teacher, so she assisted me in adding a lovely new bulletin board to my room. I had all the materials ready, but couldn't possibly hang it all straight without some assistance. She had some great suggestions! The bulletin board will highlight a different computing career each month.

On Friday, we drove around Denver doing a bit of this and that... Mom and Peggy are ready to go!

We got to stop and have lunch with our very good friend Alina. We went to Jason's deli and had big smiles after eating some soft-serve icecream!

Another cute pic of Mom and Peggy

We snapped this picture right before I had to head back to Loveland. What a fun weekend... it was wonderful to be with such good friends!

I had quite the surprise for my mom this weekend... I came home to visit! I decided to take Friday off and drive down Thursday night. We have family friends visiting next week and then she'll be in California at a friend's wedding so I was helping her get the house collected before all the craziness begins! Piggie posed for a quick picture:Of course... Mom and I couldn't just clean the house and do chores... we took a quick break to do a little shopping and tried on these Fantastic hats!We also found time to squeeze in a quick nail session...I babysat on Saturday afternoon though, so before we knew it, it was time for piggie and I to head back up to Loveland. Megabyte was all packed up in the car:And we grabbed a quick pic before I headed out.What a fun weekend!

This week my mom and I painted the computer lab at my school. You can see from the before picture that it was all very white.

We decided to go with a nice blue color that matches some cabinets in the back of the room. It was so nice of her to come and help me paint... it was a huge job! Just moving the computers away from the walls was a giant task, and you wouldn't believe the gross things we found behind the desks!


This is a bulletin board display that I made, and my mom helped me hang everything so it was straight!

I'm glad to say that we're all finished now, and I have a beautiful blue classroom!

Happy 4th Of July!

Thanks so much for everyone's comments! To clarify a bit, I'm starting work today because I have a summer contract to do Tech work at the school. We're getting all new computers for my lab, doing maintenance on teacher computers, doing some website work etc. So I'm starting this week working with the other Tech people. Teachers start on August 1 and students start August 14. We do have a unique schedule though. The school uses a modified block system. Mondays and Wednesdays are Red days, and Tuesdays and Thursdays are Blue days. Students take four classes on a Red day and four different classes on a Blue day. So what about Fridays? We don't have school! It's a four-day week, which is very exciting to me!

As promised, here are the pictures of my bedroom. It looks a bit plain without anything on the walls yet, but I'm getting there.

I'm finally here! This is my first post and I'm finally in Loveland. I'm just thrilled to be in my new apartment and starting work tomorrow. My mom stayed with me for a few days and helped me get everything all set up. I also got my new roommate, Megabyte. She's the sweetest guinea pig ever - such a love! Here is a picture of her:
I also wanted to post some pictures of my new place. I'm living in Loveland, Colorado but the high school where I will teach computer science is in Greeley, about 15 minutes away.

This is the view from my deck.

This is my living room...

Also in the living room, this is the dining area.

This is my lovley kitchen. You can see the laundry room in the back.

Pictures of my bedroom will have to wait until next time. Megabyte had a small accident on my bed this morning so my sheets are in the washer. I'll post more pictures soon though!