RATS!

I'm almost halfway through my NCC teaching! YAY! It's actually going quite smoothly. I've surprised myself this term by tackling the thing I tend to put off the longest--grading. That's not to say I like it, but I'm taking it on head first. Today in class, the students took a short quiz that I managed to get graded before the end of the second class! They had an in-class assignment and I graded them during that, so before I even left the room, I'd handed them back. That's never happened before. :)

I start teaching at WCC tonight. This class is only once a week (Monday nights) and it's probably the worst way to learn a language, but we muddled through one semester already, so I'll get through this one with them. Surprisingly, I have 16 students! Not bad for a class that hasn't been taught there in 8 years! The other guy who teaches French there (he's like 85 years old) had one student signed up for 102 this semester, so he dropped that class off the schedule. He's just going to teach another section of 101. I have to wonder how long they'll keep him around.

Packing is going slowwwwwwwwwwwly. Holy CRAP, we have a lot of CRAP. I like to think I'm doing a good job of organizing things that are being packed away. I have to constantly leave lists for Paul to do and practically stand over him to make sure they get done. He doesn't realize that some of what I need to do is contingent upon him finishing certain things. So I push and nag and eventually, it gets done. With any luck, we'll have the house ready to go on the market by the end of February. That's my goal right now anyway.

Work at the vet clinic is going well! I'm learning so much there and actually having fun! Last week, I held rats for the first time in my life. I try not to act squeemish around clients and their animals. I've heard that rats make good pets and I'll be damned if these weren't the 2 sweetest animals I've ever held! They were great! They cuddled! I cuddled rats! I could see having one as a pet at some point. Even Paul isn't opposed to the idea.

We've been in contact with the fertility clinic. I've been adament about not starting the next round until after I finish teaching, but I might go ahead and start next month (Feb), which would put our egg retrieval date in mid-March, right after I start teaching. I haven't totally made the decision to start then--I'm still more inclined to wait another month. At this point, what's another month, right? It would certainly make my life easier. Anyway, the protocol will be much different, which I'll detail later once we get started.

I have to run to school now but wanted to give a little update. More in while!