M had a great evening yesterday. Had a great time at his wing night and the cake was enjoyed by all. Yay! The bonus was that I got to enjoy an evening at home all by myself, watching “Downton Abbey” and relishing the peace and quiet.
But there’s always that one person who can tell when you’re having too much fun and is determined to stop it. That person is my mother.
She called and wanted to know if her modem had anything to do with her phone working.
I don’t know.
Then she told me that she had spoken to someone at Spectrum Cable and that person had told her he could “see” her modem, but her home phone isn’t working.
I don’t know, Mom.
I offered to come over and take a look at it (I know, I know) but she wanted time to clean up her house before I came over.
I love my mom to pieces, but the truth is – she’s a hoarder. Not the kind that you’ll see on that A&E show, but the kind that will rent a storage unit to hold all her dollar store finds Then, after about six months, she’ll be annoyed with herself for paying the rent on the storage unit, so she’ll get rid of some stuff and bring the rest home. It sounds like she’s just closed out a storage unit and she’s trying to find a home for all her things – and she doesn’t want me to see it. Evidently I get a “look” on my face when I see all her . . . stuff.
The funny thing is, when I was growing up, if the house was messy or there were a lot of papers and junk hanging around, my mom always blamed us – the five kids. Now that I’m an adult and I see how she lives, I think I know EXACTLY who was to blame for all the mess.
My first boyfriend’s mom was a seriously disgusting hoarder before it became a known thing. You couldn’t walk in her house without shoes (never in d tje gact that you could barely move around the piles of stuff) and the kitchen was like those on A&E. We were together from my 9th through 11th high school years. During that time, she bought a new home and left the old one as is…just sitting there with all it’s filth…and quickly started doing the same thing to the new one. I sometimes wonder how we ever spent time in that first house, confined to the sofa, not even able to use the bathroom or eat anything besides takeout.
Stupid fat fingers… should say “never mind the fact that.”
Wow! I can’t imagine that.
I hope you were able to recapture that sense of peace. You can’t be responsible for helping all people at all times and it’s good your mum felt able to manage for the evening.
She’s a mess – you gotta love her!
So glad you had some quiet time. I don’t understand how people can live in such clutter. Maybe she needs some intervention.
My biggest worry is that it will be my problem when she’s gone. Ugh – like I need that, too.
Trust me, it’ll be your problem.
My father left over 300 suits, 300 pairs of shoes, 600 gallons of paint, and nearly 3 TONS of out of date canned goods. Not to mention all the other gack. Totally get being over it.
Oh. My. Gosh!!! 300 Suits?!?! That is amazing. I can’t imagine any man I know standing still in a store long enough to buy 300 suits – much less any of the rest of it. Bless your heart – you had your work cut out for you!
I had to clean out my mom’s house, then my husband and I and his sister and her husband cleaned out their mom’s house. Both were borderline hoarders. We both still have a bunch of their stuff that we need to get rid of, and have had it for 10 years. We need to get rid of it, plus all our stuff, so that our kids won’t have to deal with it. It is a LOT of work.
You’re not kidding. I’m trying to get up in our attic and attack a box from up there every so often, just so my kids won’t cuss me from here to eternity. The things I have found (and questions WHY we have hung onto them) are amazing. I can see I am my mother’s daughter – and it frightens me!! 🙂