There are some real crazies on TV

I watch way too much television. I try not to turn it on until evening, because it is very easy for me to be sucked in to HGTV early in the morning, which I will watch until American Chopper comes on at 2, and then go to 5 with the Tuetel family. It really is ridiculous, and it interferes with my reading. I am watching several of the Housewives shows (Bev Hills, Miami, NY, NJ but not Atlanta.) Right now I'm watching the show to end all shows when it comes to crazies. A show that focuses on the worst of human behavior. Of course, I'm talking about Hoarders. That is one slice of humanity at the bottom of the barrel.

I feel sorry for the hoarders and I can certainly understand what being overwhelmed is all about. I get not being able to deal with the piles of crap, believe me. My house looks like Hoarders live here because we have piles and piles of Gemma's clothing all over the floor. She tends to use the floor as one big dresser. Always has. There are 4 separate piles in the living room alone.

What bothers me about Hoarders is how they keep animals. They all seem to have way too many animals living in their houses. Goats, chickens, rabbits, cats... the type of animal seems unimportant. But nobody cleans up after the animals and the feces and urine piles up, the animals aren't fed properly or given water, or ever see a vet, so they die and are just left there because the hoarders don't seem able to acknowledge that they have sick animals.

This show affects me a lot. I definitely have some issues with throwing things out. It is very difficult for me to not pile things up. When we got ready to move last summer we threw out almost two full dumpsters of crap, most of it belonging to the kids. But plenty of it was mine. I'm very attached to my stuff. That's why I've been so upset about the movers losing so much of my stuff. Everything I own came to me from hard work. I didn't inherit stuff from my deceased relatives, nor did I get fancy gifts for birthdays or Hanukah. Quite the opposite, in fact. Everything I own I chose because I wanted and loved it. I keep my things forever. Most of my things are well over 20 years old.

But I can see myself collecting stuff if I had the budget to do so. Thankfully, I don't have a lot of extra cash, so I won't be featured on the Hoarders show.

 However, I really worry about Graham. He could easily be a hoarder. Right now he has been keeping his room remarkably tidy, something I never thought I could say. He has a very large bedroom, a walk-in closet and a small alcove where he keeps his desk and dirty clothes. He is even keeping most of his dishes in the kitchen instead of hoarding them in his room. Because I can keep a sharp eye on his movements, he is unable to sneak in friends and large batches of junk food. All of this is good news.

However, his habits in the kitchen remain disgusting. I can;e get him to take all of the empty cardboard boxes down to the curb for the garbage men, so half of the large kitchen is covered in empty boxes. And worse, he WILL NOT do the dishes or wipe a counter unless I punish him first. The sink is always half filled with some toxic soup of god-knows-what and often there are pieces of silverware swimming in the noxious swill. /It is disgusting but to get him to clean it up is almost impossible. This is why I worry about his hoarding. On his own, it would never occur to him to clean up after himself. He never throws anything away. Every night, just before I turn in for the night, I go into the kitchen and toss every tea bag and wrapper, every box and packaging that he has left astray on the counter. Pizza boxes pile up and yet they do not make it out with the garbage. I don't understand it, but the propensity for serious hoarding is lurking inside of him.

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