Well, report cards came out last week and I’ve decided to look for Math help for my son.

His teacher suggested that an Online math tutor might be all that he needs to get back on track. She has seen good results from other students who got Online math tutoring.

Free online math tutoring would be the only way I can provide him with Online math help until after the first of the year and we get our raises at work. The budget is strained to the maximym right now, especially with the cost of gasoline and groceries climbing higher every week.

The Free online math help is on a demo basis, then afterward they charge a very reasonable fee for unlimited monthly help. So I might take advantage of the demo and see if my son responds to their program and improves in school.

When Susan Boyle appeared as a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent, singing “I Dreamed a Dream,” I was not watching the show but heard about it and found the link on YouTube. It was amazing! Her voice and her story really touched my heart.

Although she did not win that show’s formal contest, she has just now set a record for most album presales ever on Amazon and her album that came out last week is officially the fastest selling album so far this year, AND  the largest first-week sales for a debut album in U.K. chart history. How about that!?!

My internet homepage has been Yahoo for probably 15 years. Maybe longer. It has changed a lot over the years and it might not meet my needs any longer, but it is the kind of thing that once you set it, you tend to forget it.

Lately they have been scrolling a couple dozen short headlines on the Yahoo homepage and it just occurred to me that they present themselves as news links, but they are really just opinion, advice pieces and product endorsements. This is just misleading and I find myself getting very annoyed with the blatant bias and manipulation. This is the very thing that alarmists protested when Craig Moon originally introduced the concept of the USA Today newspapers. And here it is in real life on Yahoo:

• Big Cyber Monday Deals
• Hijacked Tanker Poses Big Risks
• Foods That Make You Happier
• Comediens Caring Side
• Career Boosting Tips
• Credit Report Scoring Revealed
• Worst Ever Idol Debut

These are not news!

The past year has had a lot of news and celebrity moments. There will be all kinds of lists for 2009 as the year winds down. “The Root” has gotten a jump on the lists with their Top 10 Epic Fails of 2009.

The list is a hoot and I agree with most of them – although I would not have put them in the same order.

You know what? I’m obviously getting older each year and not the young thing I used to be, but it seems to me that even the word, “fail” was a new thing this past year. Am I right?

We have new neighbors – they are just two houses down from my house. The moving truck pulled up Wednesday afternoon and they unloaded the truck all through the night. They didn’t come back to the house on Thursday at all, according to the Captain, my neighbor across the street. Then on Friday he saw a Comcast van parked in their driveway and got a look at the new neighbors. They are a middle aged couple with at least two grown children and at least two grandchildren who were helping them unpack and get settled.

I had a chance to chat with them tonight while I had the dogs out for our walk  – before I twisted my ankle. They moved to Tennessee from Jacksonville, Florida. I’ve been to Jacksonville several times and love that city. I’m sure they had a good reason to leave sunny florida and come here – I hope they like their new home.

Walking the dogs tonight I must have stepped into a mole tunnel hole, because I stumbled and twisted my ankle.We have a big problem with moles in my yard and my neighbors yard. The dogs kill one every once in a while, but the dogs are outnumbered.

I might have broken my foot, too. I can’t tell yet. All I know is my whole foot is aching and is swelling up. So I have put an ice bag on it and I’m sitting in bed with my foot propped up on pillows and typing on my laptop. I hope the swelling goes down tonight and that I don’t have a problem walking in the morning. That’s not the way i want to start my week.

The Titans game today was against the Arizona Cardinals, so I had a tough time deciding who to cheer for. I like the Cardinals, second to the Redskins. But because I live in Tennessee I feel a sense of duty to cheer for the Titans, too. So I watched the game with great interest and was surprised to see it be such a close game.

In the final minute of the game, the Titans persevered and slowly and deliberately advanced toward the end zone and with just a handful of seconds left on the clock, Vince Young throw a touchdown pass to win the game. Good game by both teams!

Just want to send out “get well” wishes to Kelly Lang. She has been very sick the past couple of weeks and I think the antibiotics plus surgery are finally making her feel better. Hope so, and I hope she starts eating the Activa yogurt that I took over to her house so that her digestive system stays healthy with all those awful antibiotics in her system. Sorry to nag you Kelly, but I care about you, girlfriend! Get well!

While growing up in New York, we would go down to Virginia from time to time to visit my mother’s sister and her family. They had a beautiful house on the beach with extra rooms that we used to camp out for the weekend visits. But the best part of the house is what they called, “The Florida Room.” Today we call them “sunrooms.”

This was a large room that ran along the back of the house, with windows that were floor to ceiling and two sets of glass sliding doors. All the windows had a view of the river and the beach, and I was happy to sit on their Florida room and gaze out over the water for hours.

Now that my Aunt Mary has retired and moved to Florida, she has a real Florida room, except she calls it her sunroom, and it looks out over the canal. Some of her neighbors have screen rooms. But everyone on the canal has some way to sit out in the evening and look out over the canal to the Gulf of Mexico and a gorgeous sunset. For me, that’s the best room in the house.

One of my favorite sites for toys and clothes for children and dogs is called LouLou’s Corner. The site has the line of stuffed toys from London. My favorites are the Jellycat Piper bunnies – they are these adorable stuffed bunnies with long floppy ears. These bunnies are going to be my standard baby shower gift from now on. I hope that the babies will love these bunnies and treasure them for years.