I work with a couple writers who do that. "And when the children are old enough for School, be sure to take them to the Doctor for a checkup first." NO.

Sounds like Winnie the Pooh capitalization is like what Piglet's agent would say during movie negotiations: it's too much to bear.

My rising 5th grader Poor Speller reads a ton of books. But she was slow to learn to read, and probably would not be such a happy reader if I wasn't, you know, a librarian. I would bet a lot of poor spellers have brains wired in such a way that makes them not-great readers as well, so their lack of reading books a lot may be a symptom of their problems rather than a cause.

I read a ton of books as a kid and was a horrible speller. (Or, at least, I was a horrible speller when I was writing. I won a bunch of spelling bees. No one ever figured out how that worked.)

Speaking of my rising 5th grader, Hil, she got measured recently and is now as tall as you.

Sara is a great reader and an awful speller. In her case, I think it's mostly that she can't be bothered to worry about it.

Franny is another creative speller. I've noticed that she does well on spelling tests, but as soon as she's writing a story or an essay her spelling goes awry. I'm working on a theory that the brain stores the spelling of the word in one slot and the meaning in the other, and her brain hasn't quite laid down the wiring to access both at once.

E is like that too. She does well on spelling tests, but otherwise is horrible at spelling, much like I was/is. I think it's because she simply memorizes the spelling test words rather than using phonics.

My sister lives with my folks, in the attic. She started when she was getting her 2nd Master's (MLS) and has stayed. She pays rent and towards utilities, and has paid off her credit card debt.

She's been there 5 years. Worked for her. Some frustrations, but pretty minor.

I am on hold. They denied my co-pay on a script and I was asked to pay the full generic price. Of COURSE it's a "discrepancy" and they will take care of it -- in FOUR BUSINESS DAYS. Sigh.

Yeah, Sara does fine on spelling tests, too. I think when she's writing she's simply more focused on getting the thought out than spelling each word, whereas during a spelling test, spelling is all she has to focus on.

Can I rant? My half-sister is getting married Saturday, and we are going. She emailed Sunday night to tell family that our father is choosing not to attend the wedding (he has already left town, it seems), and she doesn't want anyone to mention this fact this weekend. I don't know what it's about. I'm finding myself really angry with BOTH of them, and then I feel bad and selfish, but seriously, could we please have a wedding without this ridiculous level of drama? (I mean, my mother was insane before my wedding - ask me about The Fight About The Silver Chafing Dishes - but we never got anywhere near "I will leave town for a week while your wedding takes place at my house.") And I feel like asking everyone not to talk about the elephant in the room is sort of like asking us all to lie and pretend everything is okay, which is not how I like to live my emotional life, thanks.