Yesterday, I was shopping with my two younger girls, when we came upon a rack of seeds. Oh, those packages are very seductive, thoroughly capturing my girls' fancy...

I tried to break it to them that it's not so easy- we have three curious kitties (the inside version of the rascally rabbits who wreak garden havoc outdoors.) We keep our house pretty cool, when those darn packages say to keep the sown seeds in a warm spot. We've even managed to swap over to CFLs, so not even an incandescent bulb to offer a little heat (and as if the cats wouldn't all be crowded underneath anyways - the indignities suffered at their expense to save a little expense,so we're regularly informed.) I mumbled a bit about the backyard bunnies and the slight lack of sun in our yard, but hey, what do moms know?

A few dollars later, they're setting out to prove me wrong. I say good for them, as the 'what I know' could use a little shake-up now and again. So, against all odds...Grow little seeds of tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, flowers and more flowers, grow like your life depends on it!

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Another way my garden grows, (or a cheesy segue) - my oldest is attending her first year at college. What a befuddler to the budget!

My daughter is at a campus that is part of the U of MN system a few hours away from home, and lives in a freshmen dorm. She is doing well there, and has made good use of her first year - learning about being away from home, about her school and all that it offers, and meeting new people. She had declared a major upon admittance last spring, questioned it a little in the fall, but after doing some testing and work with her guidance counselor, she has a renewed focus with that major.

The total college expense divides roughly in half - tuition/fees/books and room/board/meal plan. How college was paid for this year divides roughly into thirds - scholarships and grants (yay for daughter!), us writing some mighty hefty checks, and unfortunately, student loans.

We made it through year 1! Only 9 more to go through...and if all works out, only 6 of the years will have two girls attending college at the same time, and 3 years will have one. (Not even going to acknowledge the existence of potential grad studies - overload,overload!)

All I can say is, my, how things have changed since I was in college!

We never had the means in the past to put away much for college for the girls. We worked under the vague assumption that it would work out...The girls would work (they do!) There would be help (yes, but mostly in the form of loans for higher than I ever, ever imagined college costs.) I would be working (this is true after being home with the girls for 11 years.)

What I know now is that there is no such thing as too much money saved for college, and I can't even begin to think how we'd do this if we hadn't have paid everything off! Including our mortgage, as what we paid this year was like a making a bigger than imagined mortgage payment - one we may have barely qualified for in the past, but would have never in a million years believe we should take out sort of mortgage. (Kind of makes our old mortgage looks very small in comparison.) I'm thankful that we were as prudent as we were over the years, that's for sure.

Well, as I'm running out of time (dentist appointments are beckoning - oh joy)... I'll conclude by making parallels to my garden theory (I see the eyes rolling.) I think we're at the point where college is like newly sprouted seeds. What we do now will make or break the growing process...da, da,DA! Tune into tomorrow's riveting episode (ok, ok it's only riveting to me :-)

Enjoy your day!! Take care!