My dad called me yesterday to ask how to spell a word,

What was the word?!?!

"Congratulations." (Spelling is not his strong suit.)

But a monthly service that comes in to dust and do windows might help me stop with the piles....

Strongly recommend. Knowing that my cleaning person is coming gets us into frantic prep mode, which is half the battle.

Congratulations

My co-workers once made a big banner for our boss saying "Congraduations". I never noticed. Boss was the office spell checker dude and just could not believe it. None of the rest of us noticed the error. We never heard the end of it. I am grateful every day for the red squiggly line.

eta: This was before computer in the office. He taught us the trick of reading things backwards to catch spelling errors, but that method assumed we knew how to spell.

OK, plan for the day. Finish my coffee. Get dressed. Morning yoga and tai chi. Mow lawn. Whatever else the front yard requires in its transitional state. However much of the backyard I have time for before noon. Lunch, shower, head over to SF for this ghostly cow reading I heard about. Grocery shopping, home, Game of Thrones.

I can totally do this.

You can totally do it!

"Congradulations" still works on a graduation card, I think.

Like a pun. Sort of.

"Congradulations" still works on a graduation card, I think.

When my dad started spelling it out to me, everything went off the rails after the "G". He was surprised there was an "R" after the "G" and even more surprised that it was an "A" (instead of an "E" after the "R").

I am filled with shame that I'm deeply embarrassed that my dad has difficulty with spelling (and pronouncing some words -- he ended up in the hospital bleeding from his stomach because he pronounced a drug wrong when he told the doctor what he was allergic to, and so the doctor gave him the drug he was allergic to, since the doctor thought Dad said a different drug. [Dad is allergic to Bactrim; he told the doctor he was allergic to "Bextrim," which is not a drug at all, though there is a drug called "Bextra." Best guess is that the doctor thought dad meant Bextra, so he gave Dad Bactrim.]).

Oh, wow, that's alarming!

The lawn, she is mowed. Next up, the perilous task of blackberry pruning, which I will pursue as long as I can stand it or until the yard waste bin is full, whichever comes first.

Oh, wow, that's alarming!

Yeah, the doctor is hugely at fault for not questioning my dad further, since "Bextrim" isn't a thing. But then my dad didn't question why he was being given a drug he was allergic to. Passively accepting doctors' mistakes leads to a bleeding stomach or worse. Geez.

Tep, is your dad dyslexic? That sounds like a lot of the problems my niece has.

An hour of blackberry pruning appears to be my limit. I can live with that.