So you might be thinking, “How DOES one get into $50,000 worth of debt?” So glad you asked…it’s quite simple actually. Here’s the recipe:

1) One part fleet of junker cars that need constant repairs
2) One small part school loans
3) One part twins (does anything more need to be said here?)
4) One small part medical expenses from a c-section
5) One heaping scoop of used minivan to haul twins around ($25,000—note, half the debt)
6) One part credit cards

So no, no flat panel TVs, no Manolo Blahniks, no Carribean cruises. It’s sad; the biggest amounts are probably car-related. Shall I explain? In the 90s—before we had kids—Bruce was absolutely convinced that having a couple of old cars was cheaper than a new (or even new-er) one. After we inherited my grandfather’s stationwagon, we had a total of three cars, all pretty old: a 1980, 1986, and 1985. Between the three of them, we were on a first-name basis with our mechanic and basically rotated driving whichever ones weren’t in the shop.* It was a complete merry-go-round, seriously. I’m pretty sure we helped send the mechanic’s kid to Stanford.

About the royal change of mind: I wish I had a better explanation for why I changed my mind about the real estate deal so suddenly after that long list of qualms, but the truth is I began to have doubts about my own viewpoint as I was typing that list. Lots of sane friends seemed to think it was an okay thing, and it occurred to me maybe my pessimism had gotten the better of me. More importantly, two other developments happened in the meantime: Bruce found a renter, and his mother promised to help us avoid foreclosure if the worst happened.

Oh, and I have a fresh bottle of Xanax in the house. That doesn’t hurt.

We take title for the place right after Christmas. Though I am no longer freaked about the idea, there were twinges as we signed about 10,000 papers for the buying process today. For the most part it was pretty boring, and really the only papers I found even slightly interesting were the ones that take it out of DMV’s realm and into the Housing Department’s (since we added a foundation). The lady helping us remove blood for our signatures explained that the DMV no longer deals with mobile homes, and most of the mobile homes in the park we bought in are now on foundations.

Oh, and sleep! We must have a sleep update, no? Except for a bad night a few days ago that involved screaming for juice at the top of one’s lungs at 2am, the girls have been sleeping relatively well…a lot better than they were two months ago anyway. They are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa, of course. If this lovely let-mommy-sleep trend keeps up, Santa will have to take back those crummy jars of Play-doh and get them Xboxes.

* Indeed, readers of the old Wishbone site may remember the steady stream of car-related complaints

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