Recently my husband received the following e-mail: "Please except this email as receipt for the Handbook update form for 2008-2009 . . ." After an initial gasp, I couldn't help but write back: "Never rely on spell check -- the word you meant to use is accept (not except)."

Spell check is a wonderful thing -- it does catch our silly spelling errors. But it doesn't know what you are actually trying to say and, as long as you spell the word correctly, it won't stop you. Even worse is Word's AutoCorrect -- it will automatically replace words that it thinks you have misspelled with what it thinks is the correct word. Make sure to re-read what you have written to ensure that it makes sense -- don't let a machine put words in your mouth.

I also have a stack of business books to read this summer, which you'll hear more about in upcoming newsletters: The Power of a Positive No by William Ury; The New PR Toolkit: Strategies for Successful Media Relations and PR2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge; Making Change: a woman's guide to designing her financial future by Neale S. Godrey; A Plentiful Harvest: Creating Balance and Harmony Through the Seven Living Virtues by Terrie Williams; Leaderspeak: 7 conversations that create sustainable success by Lucia Murphy, Ph.D.; The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much? by Leslie Bennetts; and Leading from the Front: No Excuse Leadership Tactics for Women by Captains of Marines Angie Morgan and Courtney Lynch (recommended by my daughter!)

I can't believe it's the 4th of July at the end of the week! June just disappeared. Of course April and May went by pretty fast, too. There was a lot going on.

Our house was built in 1926 and has been having some "aging" issues. After talking about it for several years, we finally installed siding, replaced all of our old windows, added shutters, and replaced the front door. (Our contractor was an absolute delight -- let me know if you need siding or windows and I'll give you his name and number.) I love the end result -- but the process was very stressful. Added to that were several major work projects. And then there was the 60-30 party -- my husband turned 60 the beginning of May, our daughter will turn 30 the beginning of August, so we held a party half way between the two. That involved some major decluttering (after undoing some of the packing done for the renovations) and cleaning. The party itself was fun -- we had a decadent dessert party featuring our daughter's chocolate fountain.

So -- now you know why this is the Summer issue of the newsletter rather than the June issue.