O-Dark-Thirty

If I could leave any single lesson with my children it would be that life is not about them. God comes first. If I could leave them with a second lesson it would be about MANAGING MONEY . Yahoo Finance has five good rules on handling finances. Even though the article is aimed at recent graduates, the lessons apply to everyone. Here's the summary. 1. Money doesn't grow on trees. Most people never learn to manage money. That's a critical skill. 2. Live within your means. If you can't afford it, skip it. 3. Pay off student loans. Debt is bad. 4. Stay away from retirement cash. At least put as much into retirement as your employer will match. If they don't do a matching funds, put some in an IRA and leave it alone. 5. Be wise with credit cards. Debt is bad. I think that's a bit complicated. Financial security can be summed up much simpler, as I did previously in my post Finances and You : Spend Less than you Make . The problem is...

Toss some seeds in the dirt. Add water. Wait a few weeks. Eat loads of fresh food. Gardening just isn't that simple. We didn't eat loads of fresh food last year from our garden, but we still have hope for this year. In that vein, here's how we're progressing… Darling was ambitious last year and planted asparagus, a vegetable I was pretty sure I detested. Apparently it takes three years until asparagus matures enough to pick it, which seems like a long time to me, but that is okay. It might die by then. In fact, over the last few months, I discovered I like asparagus. Who knew? Asparagus, scraggly tall plants to the left Our beans and peas are doing well, but I do worry the Houston sunshine will kill the plants before we get a harvest.  The squash plants are doing great! Surprisingly, the lettuce is doing very well, but it is early in the year. The Houston sun and heat tends to wilt lettuce as summer roars in. The cucum...