In more cheering news, here's an article about how the president gets ten letters a day from the public to read and respond to -- the sidebar has three of the letters, and his three responses. [link]

That handwiriting thing doesn't get better on its own. Yesterday a minion asked me to fill out a letter of recommendation that had to be hand written. I wrote very slowly and in all caps. I hope your supervisor's penmanship is not a factor in the application review process.

That's it-- I've come to the conclusion that the child was born in the wrong era-- he needed to be a wealthy Victorian child, educated by governesses or young, pale Divinity graduates from Oxford, looking to earn money until they secured a parish of their own.

Aw! It's so hard to know what to do. Do you think maybe he'll do better in high school, when he can do more of his work indpendently?

I go to physical therapy once a week. And every single time, they have to send me a paper acknowledging that I went. Then another one that says "Explanation of Benefits -- This is Not a Bill!" Then, finally, a bill. So, three separate mailings a week, just from physical therapy stuff.

I'm getting all of Dad's medical paperwork as I'm the executor. Lots of "This is not a bill," stuff, which is good as the numbers involved would make me faint if they had a "pay by" date next to them. I got one that asked if I'd talk to Medicare to see why they aren't paying things faster. Um, no, I don't believe I will.

he needed to be a wealthy Victorian child, educated by governesses or young, pale Divinity graduates from Oxford, looking to earn money until they secured a parish of their own.

As did I. Especially the wealthy part. Although I'd probably lose everything in the buggy whip futures crash of 1903.

Is there a band that hasn't recorded a version of "House of the Rising Sun"? Pandora has given me five different bands singing it today, none of them the Animals.

he needed to be a wealthy Victorian child, educated by governesses or young, pale Divinity graduates from Oxford, looking to earn money until they secured a parish of their own.

That's so me. I didn't really understand how to study until ADD diagnosis and college. (The ADD diagnosis gave me the meds to be able to concentrate on dumb stuff, and college gave me space to figure out how to study, with stuff that I actually wanted to study.)

Leif has really been improving in the second part of the year. Earlier he was having problems with reading comprehension, probably because of inattention, but that has improved. He seems to be doing well with comprehension reading the Harry Potter books (about 1/3 being read to and 2/3 reading himself). His handwriting is lagging, but that's probably partly just being 1-2 years younger than his classmates.

Emaryn is just a breeze when it comes to school. She just cruises along with no problems. Sometimes we take it a bit too for granted, just because there are no issues. She gets a bit jealous of the attention Leif gets since school is more complicated with his combining of 2nd and 3rd grade classes.

I love the Weavers version of "House of the Rising Sun," sung by Ronnie Gilbert. A great bluesy torch song.

That article about the President's letters is terrific. I especially appreciated this (and hope that previous presidents did the same thing):

Mr. Kelleher’s office has a red box for what he calls “life-and-death constituent case work.”

“So someone says, ‘I’m despondent and I want to commit suicide,’ or ‘I have a life-threatening illness and I need help here,’ ” Mr. Kelleher said. “We immediately respond to those.”

I love the Weavers version of "House of the Rising Sun," sung by Ronnie Gilbert.

I don't think I've gotten that one yet either.