Going through the Checklists

We lived through the ice storm last week. It finally cleared out enough that we could drive into Oklahoma City (OKC) and get our fingerprints done for certification. Of course had we known all the hassle it was going to be.... first, you have to supply your own cards. Now Alaska's Department of Educationa and Early Childhood (DEED) will gladly send these to you. But no, I didn't need to get their cards. Oh, no, I just thought one could walk into the police station and THEY would have the cards that we needed. Was I ever wrong! We had to go to the OSBI's main office and pick up the cards and then drive downtown to the jail. The Boy and The Girl's eyes sure did get big when we went inside. The Mister had his pocket knife and sent the metal detector off first thing. Then we had to get someone to unlock the elevator and send us to the basement. Fill out the cards that we had brought with us and then go through two more locked doors. Oh, and pay $5 a card -- the state of Alaska requires 2 per person --- and finally got fingerprinted. The lady who did it was nice. She said her brother used to live in Alaska. Where? Oh, Juneau maybe... or somewhere close to that.... maybe Fairbanks? I was nice and didn't share with her that Alaska is twice the size of Texas and those two cities are not close to each other.

The Mister got his Oklahoma certificate on Saturday. He has more endorsements than I can count nearly. Anyway, that's another step in this process.

We still need two sets of transcripts for him. Isn't it funny how no one in college ever tells you that if you take a class here or there from different universities, it will haunt you forever? The Mister needed 5 and I had to have 4. Everybody wants original, official transcripts. Bummer.

We have to take papers to the OK Dept. of Ed. , too. There's a paper in the application to show that you are "highly qualified" by the state in which you already have a teaching certificate. Then there's the notary thing and finally, but definitely not least is the check. One hundred and ninety-one dollars --- per application. When you count the cost of the PRAXIS tests, we will have spent nearly $700 just to be able to apply! And that doesn't count travel expenses, food or time.

I think that will cover the checklists in the applications. Then we can focus our attention on the other lists.... house projects that have to be completed in order to sell the house, recipes for cooking from "scratch" (and not cheating by combining already prepared soups and such), clothing for 4 people to make it through an arctic winter, the lists just keep coming.