Please, hold the applause. . .

My husband and I both teach in public schools. We are "merely" teachers. . .no administrative dreams either. This is not a high-paying profession. It will be especially LOW paying next school year when we BOTH miss an entire month's salary due the state legislature's decision to not begin school until after Labor Day. I digress.

Even though I knew we would never be rollin' in the dough. . .I always knew I wanted to stay home with my kids--atleast as long as I could. That turned out to be five years. Two with Victoria. One year back while pregnant with Thad. Three more years after Thad was born.

Our wonderful plans and sacrifice did not, however, stop things like root canals, flat tires, broken air conditioners, lots and lots of strep, diapers, formula, transmissions, etc. So basically life. . .

This came to the tune of several thousand dollars. . .like 5 figures. . .like a very, very, *VERY* nice car or several trips to Disney World. Luckily we don't care about nice cars or Disney World either (well--maybe Disney World a little bit, and I hear from Joshilyn Jackson that they have the world's cleanest bathrooms.) It was more than worth the price tag to get those 5 years.

But I can now proudly announce, that in only15 months we have obliterated all 5 figures. We, tonight, paid off the very last amounts of credit card debt. Gone. Poof. Vanished. Done. At midnight, the bank will wire our last payments and we are free and clear. . .

. . .to now put all of that money in 403B retirement accounts and 529 education plans and that lovely house I told you about.

But before all of that, I am going to get a coke. At 9:58 p.m. A real Coke. Not a diet Coke (which I dearly love), but a real, live, sugar filled, caffeine drenched Coke.

I'm livin' la vida loco, y'all. . .and I'm doin' it debt free.