Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Environ{mentally} conscious...

(From Wikipedia)
"While there is no definition of compulsive hoarding in accepted diagnostic criteria (such as the current DSM), Frost and Hartl (1996) provide the following defining features:
*The acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value
*Living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designed
*Significant distress or impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding
*Reluctance or inability to return borrowed items"

Here is an example of the second feature described above...

This is the bathtub/shower in the downstairs bathroom at my parents house...

Needless to say it is unusable and has been for a couple of years now.

In the bathroom upstairs it's a whole different story.

This is a picture of the toilet. Mom says it doesn't flush very well (meaning "not at all"), since calling in a plumber is not an option (too expensive, but what she really means is too embarrassing) - my Mom came up with her own solution!

See the buckets of water in the pictures? There are more in the shower. My mom just uses the water in those to flush the toilet. Another excuse for this is "saving money by reusing the shower water".
Crazy or Genius?

You tell me...

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Your not alone. My dad dose this exact same thing with the buckets of water. I can't figure out if its crazy or smart. But its kinda comforting to know Im not the only one dealing with this.

LifePainter said...

My mom uses the downstairs bathroom as a walk-in closet. The shower curtain is buckling downward from all the weight of the clothing.

Anonymous said...

Yes I am familiar with this method of flushing too, as about half of my teenage years were spent flushing the toilet this way. I became a toilet expert by trying to fix it for my parents with dental floss inside the tank time after time. Eventually after leaving for college I stopped by and there was a new toilette! I take comfort knowing that my parents have a different last name than I do and the plumber will never connect me with them!