Sunday, January 11, 2009

Pack Rat

It's been a good year so far. What are we, like 11 days into the new year? Well, that's 11 days that I haven't screwed up the year. My dog who had the tumor removed is healing up rather nicely. The vet didn't call me last week with the biopsy results, so I'm going to call him first thing tomorrow. Other than that, all is well in Whinerville!

I've decided to make a New Year's resolution for this blog. I vow to use my camera and post pics of stuff. There is this garage I pass on a daily basis on my way to work that, every time I see it, I think, "I have got to take a picture of that and blog about it!" Have I? No ... but I will! My phone doesn't take the absolute best pictures in the world, so I'm going to start carrying the camera around with me. Stay tuned to see if it gets exciting!

Yesterday we went "down the mountain" to visit a friend. Every time we go to this particular house, I have trouble focusing on the visit because I am distracted by the mess. This woman is a total pack rat. She has stuff piled everywhere. You have to literally walk between the stacks of horded stuff in order to get around in her house!

Her boyfriend's lease just expired and he's staying there temporarily. She's pissed and hurt because he won't move in, and they've been together 5 years or so. He has told her repeatedly that he can't permanently live in those conditions, that she has got to get rid of stuff. But she doesn't.

Now, I've heard that this is a mental illness. My mother used to have a friend just like this. I've read about it on the web. it's frickin' insane!! I mean, these types of people throw nothing away ... at all. Newspapers, boxes and boxes of stuff that will be used "some day." I don't even know what type of treatment is available for this disease, but she needs it! Her hoarding has filled every room, including the basement and the garage.

I mean, when my house starts to get messy, I get cranky and things just don't feel good. When the house is clean, it feels good to come home. It feels good to wake up and walk through a clean house. I imagine this friend of mine hasn't had that experience in about, oh ... 19 or 20 years! No exaggeration ... sigh. It kinda puts it all into perspective, when my house is messy, at least it doesn't require a dumpster be parked out front and 50 trips to the Goodwill!

3 comments:

MJ said...

I know someone like that like that. The good thing is that they have moved within the last year and we threw stuff out without her knowing. But she is steady piling it back up. Once it gets to a certain point I STOP going to her house. I dont keep anything that I dont need. I can not stand clutter. I probably have more trash than anyone in my neighborhood. As far as the guy he must love her but eventually if she does not change he may move on. Someone needs to have a mental health clutter meeting with her. Its also a fire trap.

The CDM said...

Pack rats, damn. My house doesn't get cleaned on a normal basis, but I do manage to not it get to the point where dumpsters are called. I'm not sure if I'd be able to keep my mouth shut going into a house like that, I might explode.

Anonymous said...

How did the "the dog's tumor" go? How was the Dr. appointment? You can't go and get the public all ingrossed in your up and coming dog's tumor and then not update us!! I'm dying to know how it's going ...

lmao