The best part? Apart from paying for the taxes, all this is free free free.

The what now? Please to explain how and why?

Oh. My. God. WHY have you not taken me to Ti Couz?!?!? All the times I'm schlepped my ass out to your fair city, and I've been denied crepes such as these?!?!?!?

Steph, I think we need to correct this, so obviously, you need to come visit.

{{Cashmere}} How awful. Trust me on this, they grow out of that. Then again, they become teens!

Honestly I find each year easier. Granted I am only at 14, but just being able to communicate makes parenting easier for me.

I have no financial planning advice since I have no plan.

ING is also where I put the money I was talking about. (I took the plunge from, of all things, a solicitation in the mail. They offered me a premium on the money I deposited -- equal to more than a year's interest from the bank where it had been.)

For a 401(k), be aggressive. You aren't going to touch that money for at least 30 or 40 years. So if the market goes down tomorrow -- or even for a year or a few years -- you have lots of time to make it up. Which means, for now, you want to put most of that money in high-risk, high-return places -- mostly international and small cap stocks.

Also, diversify. Good idea to put some money in other options (but learn one of the lessons of Enron and don't put a lot of your 401(k) in your employer's stock, even if you have that option). And even though the conventional wisdom says otherwise, put enough in safer investments (bonds, government securities, a money market fund) that you sleep comfortably at night instead of panicking and moving your money around because, say, your international fund had a bad month.

Does ING have a minimum deposit to start up? I don't have a lot right now, but when I get my Navy money next March, I'd like to put it in an account where I get more than 2% interest.

Nope. Info here: [link]

Laura, your son is huge and quite handsome! Even with orange and green hair!

Dill Pickle!

Oh, yum! Dill pickle potato chips are readily available in the South and somewhat available around here. I loves them, yes I do.

Money talk is good because I am fairly limited in my knowledge. I have a wee bit of savings (about 2 months worth of living expenses) and a 401K that's in good shape, but that's it. My biggest concern right now is quitting my job in Jan. to student teach. My mom is helping out significantly (yay, Mom!), but it is still nervous-making. I've been financially self-sufficient since I was 22 and graduated from college so it seems very strange to be needing money from Mom.

ING rocks.

I totally had the same Hobbesian picture of Olivia, and it was very cute. Sorry to hear about Owen being difficult, though.

Americans don't like butter on sandwich bread? I totally missed that.

I admit that I was startled the first time a British friend made me bread and honey with butter between the bread and the honey--but it tasted okay. To my friends, if you were putting anything on bread, you had to put butter on first. For me, you needed something between the bread and any solid filling, but not necessarily between bread and other spreads.

I've always liked butter on bread. I didn't know that it was UN-AMERICAN to do so!

Dill pickle potato chips are readily available in the South

I think I'd be willing to try this.

Fried dill pickles, OTOH, no so much. K-Bug and I discovered these on a menu when we were in Denver. We each dared eachother to try it, but we both whimped.

ION - still feeling human.