Paper goods

        My mom was the original recycler. She also had a slight case of what we now know is called hoarding. We still (and I mean up until I moved in with her) had shirt boxes from E.J. Korvettes, Gimbels, and Woolworths. She saved and reused aluminum foil (a drawer full of pieces folded neatly),  plastic bags (thousands of them stuffed under the sink), the little ties that come on a loaf of bread, and wrapping paper (enough to wrap up all the food we didn't eat - remember the boiled broccoli?) for the starving children of whatever country was in the news. My mom's favorite line at dinner was, "If you don't eat it, I'll have to give it to the dog". I am not sure she realized that this was not a threat.
         My mom had a room dedicated to storing all of the religious cards she received every month. She must have been on a hundred different religious order's lists. We are talking about 1000's of cards for every occasion where services would be said for the recipient. My mom kept those priests very busy saying masses. She probably single- handedly saved the souls of thousands of people. Bless her.
          That kind of behavior sort of gets a little turned inside itself when she began her decline. Paper towels became paramount. Now she has stacks of folded paper towels inside books and magazines she is reading; stacked on the coffee table; jammed into the couch cushions; inside her bathrobe pockets; inside her purse;  and last but not really, up her sleeves. She has collections of paper stuffed inside any piece of  mail we get with the occasional fig newton or fortune cookie wrapped inside, like a secret treasure.
           She also goes through combs by the case. They get wrapped inside those paper towels and get thrown out. Who would have thunk that I would be buying combs by the gross?
           Pretty much every couple of days, I go through the table tops, her side table, her pocketbook, and her dresser to make sure food has not been wrapped up and stored  "for later". She should have been a magician because I hardly ever catch her at this.
            They (the scientists that be, whoever they are) have purported that there might be a gene ( no doubt wrapped in tin foil) that might be responsible for hoarding. I know Tee's got it and I think I got a dose myself. I buy toilet paper and paper towels by the tractor trailer load because I have a fear of running out. "Be prepared" said the Boy Scout motto. If you need to buy one (of anything), buy two or three so there is a back up. Wow, do I have a back up plan. Anyone need peanut butter?
            I use newspapers to wrap gifts.  If I have plastic bags (I try to use my 'green' reusable bags), I use them instead of tissue paper. But some behavior dies hard. I have enough twist ties to go from here to California, just in case I need one...ya never know.