1,300 Pine Cones!

Photo by Elsie Park

Make sure when you tell your kids that you'll pay them a penny for each pine cone they pick up off the lawn that you have the correct change in your wallet. My three girls ended up gathering about 1,300 pine cones (yes, they counted every one of them in front of me), equating to $13. Well, I looked in my purse for their promised payment and found that I didn't have any one dollar bills, only fives. I ended up paying each of them $5 and it cleaned me out. They're now richer than I am! Oh well, it was worth a good lesson in working hard to earn their money, and it was a good reminder for me to take a better look at the amount of pine cones lying around before putting a price on them.