This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine. Are you a current teacher?  Are you looking to become a teacher?  You probably think you're too busy to get your Masters in Teaching.  But you can - online with USC Rossier School of Education. Of course, since this is a teaching degree, fieldwork is combined in with the online work.  With the accelerated program you can complete a degree in as little as 12 months. The first students will graduate this May.  There is a blog that displays their thoughts on this program so you'll get the real deal from the people who have been through the degree program. And this is no fly-by-night institution.  You'll become part of a School of Education that ranked #22 in the United States and #9 among all private universities by US News & World Report.  That's a big deal because I know I depended on that magazine when I was looking at colleges.  You'll get to become part of the USC Trojans … [Read more...]

As seen on Better Basket with Hershey's: Join Hershey’s Better Basket Blog Hop and help to raise $5,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network. Hershey has partnered with the Children’s Miracle Network for over 20 years. CMN is a non-profit alliance of children’s hospitals dedicated to providing state-of-the-art care, life-saving research and preventative education across North America. This Easter season, Hershey is celebrating it’s new Easter products sold exclusively at Walmart and their legacy of making a difference and Hershey’s will donate up to a total of $5,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network together with bloggers. How can we do this together? It’s simple: Participate to Hershey’s Better Basket Blog Hop of giving away virtual Easter Baskets by creating a blog post with specific rules described here. Hershey Company will donate $10 per each blog post to CMN, up to total of $5,000. One blog post per URL counts towards the donation, but you can … [Read more...]

Let me preface this by saying I never liked mysteries.  I thought they were boring and generally associated them with Agatha Christie. However, upon becoming active on Paperback Swap in 2006, I discovered cozy mysteries, also known as cozies.  What is a cozy, you ask?  Here is a definition that I found from Suite 101. In a nutshell, cozies are light mysteries, usually involving a murder in a small town.  Almost all that I've seen have female protagonists who are moms and/or small business owners.  They are almost always part of a series, which lends a problem - I must keep up on the series and also start at the beginning.  I can't stand starting a series partway in, even if most of the cozy series do summarize the relationships and circumstances from past books.   I love cozies because they are fast reads and generally tied up nice and neat at the end of each book.  The killer is caught and life gets back to normal. The problem with cozies is that they are … [Read more...]

Yes, one would think a book freak like me would know this, especially since I trade on Paperback Swap, where good condition is necessary to be able to swap the book. I went to return books to the library today and put them in the diaper bag along with T's (supposedly) leak-proof cup.  Well, that cup leaked all over the one book that I didn't read (A Dark Matter by Peter Straub, if you're wondering).  And I went to return it, not realizing it was soaked.  A "manager" came out (I guess that's what they are, even in public libraries) and checked it back out to me so I could try to dry it.  Of course the book was brand new and expensive. I'm hoping it dries fairly well.  Considering what I've seen on some of the books out of that library (water sure doesn't stay like what looked like a pot of coffee on one) I don't think the water-damaged pages are that bad.  And if it is...whatever.   Not much I can do about it.  At least the money will go to the library. So this is my … [Read more...]