it's almost...done?

final projects are over, papers are all done, two exams are down. all that remains is to study for my last (and by far most terrifying) exam, find that take-home exam in the disaster that passes for my room and finish it, fill in any gaps in my practicum journal and whip up my final report, write my valedictorian speech by saturday, have robyn's shower planned by sunday, nail down my two practicums for may, buy a plane ticket to thailand, and pluck my rampantly over-grown eyebrows.
and do laundry, which may prove challenging, since our 'new' dryer is broken. the old one tumbled, but generated no heat, and it took 11 hours to dry a load by sheer force of movement. grace came to 'take a look at it' (what she thinks she is going to do by looking at it, i have no idea. grace is no mechanic), and said in her most disapproving tone, 'oh, you should never put anything on top of the dryer!' as if to imply that that was why it was not working. at any rate, she said she'd send sheldon by in the next day or two to fix it up. six days later, sheldon comes by with a new dryer (which suspiciously resembles the old dryer in every way, right down to the dent in the door) and the boys help him install it (thanks, boys). the new dryer, needless to say, does not work.
count yourselves blessed, all ye with functioning appliances and rat-free garages! oh yeah, there's one more quick story i have to tell. so i went to get the mail from the garage the other day, and to get to the mail slot you have to squeeze between the pool table and the pile (smaller now than it's been) of garbage bags. so i open the door and yell and stomp until the rat makes his whereabouts known, and then i slide over and grab the mail. no sooner do i turn around than a rustling is heard in the garbage bags. we've known all along that there is probably more than one rat, but we call them 'the rat' because it depletes their power. anyway, there is suddenly very obviously more than one rat, because i can still see the one peering down from his perch, and now something else has trapped me behind the garbage. i can't get out through the garage door, because that was stuck open until we stuck it shut, and i can't get it open again. so i stood in the garage and raged, and chelsea stood in the doorway and screamed, until i summoned the courage to dart between the garbage and the pool table and into the house. from now on, i get the mail armed with a broom.