“Debt, n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slavedriver.” — Ambrose Bierce

I’m reading the book call Julie and Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes and 1 tiny kitchen. It follows Julie’s account of living by the Book for one year. The book being Julia Child’s classic: Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

It’s a wonderful story. Read it if you like to cook. I wanted to point out one section that has nothing to do with food… it’s about how she made money by selling some of her eggs (and not the chicken kind) to pay off her credit card debt. She made $7,500 and then did it again three years later. The same family wanted to make a pair.

It’s worth repeating here because it’s a funny excerpt. She writes, “Actually, that was the second time I’d ‘donated‘ — a funny way of putting it, since when you wake up from the anesthesia less a few dozen ova and get dressed, there’s a check for thousands of dollars with your name on it waiting at the receptionist’s desk.”

“The first time was five years ago, when I was twenty-four, impecunious and fancy-free. I hadn’t planned on doing it twice, but three years later I got a call from a doctor with an unidentifiable European accent who asked me if I’d be interested in flying down to Florida for a second go-around, because ‘our clients were very satisfied with the results of your initial donation.’ The upshot of this phone call, though, was that there was a little me running around Tampa or somewhere, and the little me’s parents were happy enough with him or her to want a matched set.”

“The honest part of me wanted to shout, ‘Wait, no — when they start hitting puberty you’ll regret this!’ But $7,500 is a lot of money.”

Well yes, $7,500 is a lot of money! Times two. This begs the question today… what is the craziest thing that you’ve ever done to make money? Or what was your ingenious way to pay off your credit card debt?