I have a neighbor (who has become a friend) who lives across the street from me. I had put my hair in a cap to frost it and because I have arthritis, I couldn't finish the job of pulling the rest of my hair through the cap.

I made a quick phone call to my neighbor begging for her to come over and finish pulling the rest of my hair through the frosting cap. She could not because she was cooking. She said 'come over here".

So across the street I go with my hair (still in the cap) wrapped in a towel. I had never been to her house before. There she was in the kitchen cooking 18 lambchops. I thought she was having company for dinner. No she was not. This was for her and her husband. I sat in the chair and she finished pulling my hair out. Then she went into another room and said "Melody come and see what I bought".

So I follow her into this room and there are shelves and shelves of food. I mean, I have never seen so much food (except for the supermarket). It looked like she had a mini supermarket in this room. I saw 18 packages of spaghetti, 5 gallons of Oil, 20 packages of cookies. 10 boxes of Cake mix. 42 bottles of soda (I counted). I just stood there. I had never seen this before in my life. Now I live with Alan and if we have 2 bottles of soda in the house, it's a lot. I buy when I need to buy, except of course when I go to Costco and then I buy 8 cans of PAM.

So I look at my neighbor and you will never guess what popped out of my mouth!!!! I said "Are you a mormon??" She said "Am I a What????" I said "Well, mormons have to keep 2 years worth of food in their house at all times, it's a part of the way they live". I know this because I read up on all various religions and I find the mormon faith very interesting and they have their own website and they explain why they have to keep 2 years of food (I think it's two years, it may be more).

So she bursts out laughing and says "I'm italian and I'm catholic". I said "then why on earth are their packages and packages of spaghetti, 42 bottles of soda and all this oil????" Want to know what she said?


"Oh, don't you shop this way"!!!!

I never laughed so hard in all my life. She then took me over to a cabinet and opened up the top door and there were all presents. I said 'Oh my god, what are these presents?". and she said "Oh these were from my engagement party over 37 years ago". I said "What?????" She laughed and said "I've never gotten around to opening them up. God knows what's in there, blenders and mixers, and whatever....from 37 years ago".. I said "My god, you could sell on ebay".

Two years ago she calls me up all excited because she bought a Seal a Meal on Home Shopping or QVC. She paid $50.00. I told her "OH, that's great, you can cook in quantity, then seal it up and freeze it". She said "yeah, that's what I thought".

It's two years later, and she has yet to open up the box. I call her on this all the time. She laughs her head off. I told her. "Want to know what you have"? "You have obsessive compulsive disorder". "You're a compulsive shopper, you buy and buy, and you accumulate, (It's called hoarding, I watched an Oprah Show on this very topic). Imagine being in an actual house of a hoarder. I was absolutely blown away by all the stuff she had accumulated. She is extremely neat, every morning, she strips her bed, vacuums the underside of her box spring and then the mattress, and the re-makes the bed. Every single morning. I told her she can come and do mine if she wants. She laughs her head off. She knows if her husband has been in the sock drawers because every sock is positioned a certain way. Every drawer has a purpose and nothing is out of position.

Alan is thrilled because he said "Melody, if we ever have a war, or a drought, or anything, we know where to go for food or water". You have no idea how many gallons of water are neatly stacked up in her food room.

She once asked me if I could take a pair of shoes off of her hands. I said "sure, but why don't you wear them?" She then brought me into her bedroom, opened up the closet and there, right in front of me were 100 pairs of Easy Spirit Shoes that she has bought over the years. She has never worn them. If she puts a pair on, and they pinch her toes, they go right back in the box. And she'll go out and buy some more. I went home with two pairs of Easy Spirit shoes, $100 a pair. One black and one white. Thank God we wear the same size.

I did tell her, if by next year, you don't use that Seal a Meal, you are giving it to me. Somebody has to use this stuff!!!!! I get more gadgets because she as no more room to keep anything.

So Alan and I know that if there is any catastophe, we know we won't starve!!!!

lol
Melody