Then she got this crazy-expensive doll, then another, and then this insane flood of accessories. Her personal trove of Hong Kong postage stamps was growing at an alarming rate, as were the heaps of doll stuff around the common areas of the house.
She desperately wanted to share the joy of each new goodie (the ones that don't suck, at least), pouncing on me the minute I get home from work, but I just looked on in puzzlement, and tried to nod and smile and back away slowly.
Then the day came when I tried to buy groceries with the ATM card, and it was declined. A bit of research and it became evident that the PayPal rollover had cleaned us out.
I tried to get tough, and the spending slowed. She even went through and found hundreds of dollars of doll stuff to sell on eBay. And sell it did -- right away. To people who were clearly as insane as she was.
Did the money return to our checking account? Of course not. She used to buy more dolls.
The rate has slowed, but she still bought another doll. She tried to hide it from me but she's a godawful liar and had to come clean.
Even though the incoming parcels from far-off lands are known in our family as "packages of shame", they're still coming in. It makes her so happy that I don't wnat to deny her this, but it infuriates me when she complains that she doesn't have enough time to check the answering machine when she knows I know how many hours a day she spends cruising the Blythe boards.
My favorite part is when she shows me posts on these boards by other Blythe addicts with $1200/month habits. There are a surprising number of these, the "Shh, don't tell Hubby" crowd, plus the many gay men with what is apparently a lot of discretionary spending power. (guppies?) But that doesn't change the fact that she cleaned us out, and can't seem to stop.
I cannot be alone in this. I'm sure there's some self-help book I should be reading.
on Photo 49