Kat's here—she and Jeff are trying to work through some sticky differential equations. Ahhh, the fun that occurs when undergrad EEs meet up with my graduate-student EE husband! You'll note that I'm hanging out here in the computer room with Edmund and avoiding all the joyous calculus.

I'm trying to figure out where the weekend went. I slept longer than usual Saturday while recovering from that small bout of the yuks, and I think that's where part of the weekend vanished to. Today's been quiet—I bought groceries, cleaned up the kitchen a bit, and rested. Really rested. Brain rest is good, because tomorrow morning I need to wake up, go to work, and crank out a mind-boggling second-level navigation proposal for my company's website. Yeah, I can do this on a Monday morning.

I'm contemplating an ice cream bar. I've been craving sweets all day—rather unusual of me, since I usually don't crave sweet things.

It dawned on me this afternoon that I'm going on vacation in a month. I've been marveling lately at how the days and weeks seem to speed by, barely giving me a chance to grasp any of them before they're gone again. I think perhaps it's time for a week away.

Of course, if it's vacation week, that means my birthday's coming up (as I usually take my vacation during the week of my birthday). In retrospect it has been a momentous year. Jeff and I bought a house. Six words that don't carry a lot of weight until you've experienced the heartbreak and acid reflux and worry and exhaustion that come with buying your first home. Hard to believe we did that right after my twenty-third birthday. Then there's Jeff's first year of grad school, over and done with.

Thankfully, I might add. This year hasn't been an easy one on me. I'm hoping that Jeff's final year of grad school will be easier than the first year. It will be nice to have him back once he graduates, though. Twenty-three went by quickly; possibly more quickly than any year of my life so far. Here's to a quieter twenty-four.

I suppose I should check on how the diff eq. is going in the kitchen.

Tune back in tomorrow—the new & improved domesticat.cam kicks in at about 8:45 a.m. CST. I'll be curious to see if Monday's hits are anything like Friday's.