Anywho...while talking about my lack of blogging with my lovely friend from high school, Juli, she came up with a great idea. She said I could do an entry on my New Year's resolution. I told her I didn't have one except maybe to eat a bit more (I've also received a lot of grief about being too thin while home), but after I thought about it some more, I decided my resolution could be to blog more --- nice how that all worked out! This will be my last blog of the year (just so I can see the nice pattern), but I will try to resume in full force at the beginning of January.
January will probably be more fruitful than a good portion of the year because I have most of the month off from school, but I will try to keep it to at least once a week like I initially set out to do. I also didn't think people were reading it anymore (except for Ami because she used by glass bottle tutorial for her x-mas presents -- yay!), which is another reason I didn't make it a priority to update, but now that I know you all are, I will get on it a bit more :)
Alright, moving on to some updates... The end of the semester was a horribly busy time. I had 48 hours to grade 50 exams with 4 short answer/essay questions. Luckily the multiple choice is all graded on the computer, but ugh! the short answers were enough to keep me busy for about 10 hours straight. My friend Linda, a fellow TA, moved into an apartment kiddy-corner from me and we spent the evening (and early hours of the morning) grading the exam with Burt, another TA, over a round or two of Tequila Sunrise. I decided to be pretty nice to my students because I graded them pretty harshly most of the semester. I was very thankful to get their grades in and to be done with this semester of teaching!
Also during that evening I had a visitor come into my apartment. I was grading at Linda's, but would go back to my place periodically to check on Mea. I went back about 11 PM and Mea was fixated in a corner of my kitchen looking at the radiator. I figured there was a mouse or something because the wall and the floor do not connect there and one could easily come up through the wall and sneak in. I check under it and didn't see anything and checked as best I could in the radiator too, but saw nothing. I left and came back around 1 AM to discover all of my kitchen rugs bunched up against the walls and place-mats shoved off the table. I was wondering what the hell Mea had been up to when I finally turned the light on in the kitchen and the answer was hanging from the ceiling. Thats right, I had a bat in my apartment.
After letting out the customary girly shriek, I hurried back to get Burt and Linda to see what they thought. They were quite interested in the bat (I stood behind a wall and stuck my head in the room, haha). We left the light on so that the bat would not get startled later and just left him there. I barricaded Mea in the bedroom and bathroom. When I got back at 3 AM for the night, the bat what just where we left him, so I went to sleep in my bat-proof room.
Called animal control in the morning and they said they don't do bats, so I called my apartment and they had someone come over and collect him. We had some up and down temperatures in Minneapolis that week and it was likely that when it got warm, he woke up, but then when it got cold again, he kept climbing until he got somewhere warm to go back to sleep again. I think Mea was sad to see him go --- looks like she had quite the time with him! There were dusty polka-dots all over my kitchen from where it flew into the walls, floor, and table trying to escape the cat (he was covered in dust from climbing the wall and hiding in the radiator).I love my apartment, but between the bat and the mold problems I had a few weeks ago, it makes me wonder if I should stay there another year... haha!
Other than that, the semester finished with little pain or grief. I don't have my grades back yet, but it looks promising. The drive home to Michigan was easy and I was lucky enough to make it here between storms. It has been wonderful to be home. I needed a break from the city and from my apartment. I'm quite happy I've been able to spend so much time with my friends and family. Christmas was good too! I received new kitchen stuff, several good vintage finds, and some books and DVDs --- plenty of things to keep me busy for a while!
I am heading back to Minneapolis January 7th. I will be sure to start updating regularly again. Until then, I wish everyone a very Happy New Year and good luck with your resolutions!
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