Done (with more to do)

So today is the deadline for my preliminary exam (which around here isn't actually your typical exam - but rather a collection of papers I've written that will be assessed by the department). I finished last night, printed the last piece of paper this morning, and submitted the sucker at 11:00. One whole hour early.

I don't know whether it'll pass, but it is done. I'm am grateful for that. And for my lovely family who listened to me blabber incessantly during those times when I JUST NEEDED TO TALK! And my husband who made lots of dinners (and kick ass waffles for dinner last night YUM). And to my academic friends who actually understood what I was doing and talked me through it all.

This was my desk this morning:
The massive stack of books. The funny (or some other adjective here, I'm too tired of writing to come up with something more appropriate) thing is that I used very few books in my actual writing. The stack of pdf journal articles would be 3 or 4 times more. Sis and I did the math last night and the total set of papers I wrote is about 60 pages.
Here are the final documents, all neatly bundled. Not super impressive looking. And Miles is there in the corner, keeping my chair warm. He contributed a great deal to the writing process.