Let's cook!

That's what Jennifer wanted to do when I got home at 6:30 pm tonight.

And she didn't mean dinner. She'd just flipped through a few of my Weight Watchers cook books and picked out about a dozen recipes she thought were cool. I told her after dinner, hoping she'd forget her HGTV dreams. She didn't. So to the store we drove, leaving $50 behind as we looked for scallions, rice noodles, garlic chili sauce and sesame seed oil ($7.99!) Ack.

But I figure she'll be leaving the house in a few years, so might as well encourage this cooking jag. If only she think about it at about 3 pm in the afternoon, so I could have dinner ready when we got home.

Scholarship chase

Why do I feel that I'm already behind in paying for my daughter's college education.

When she was born, 16 years ago, we did set up a bank acccount and started throwing $100 a month in a stock fund. And I'm now working at PLU, which means she'll get almost an 80 percent discount on tuition at this school and other affiliate colleges.

But after attending a 2-hour "How to get into college and find those scholarships" seminar at Auburn Senior High School last night, I already feel behind.

So, this weekend, we're checking out the websites, we're looking at a few books and the hunt begins. Oh, and that leadership conference we were considering -- nada. I was told it's just an expensive summer camp. Focus on community service (for which she needs wheels and those scholarships)