an empty space is a vacuum which of course has to be filled!

I LOVE that expression. Especially since I have a bad case of "the creep"!

Now I know what I have. J J

My dad had close to a dozen tool boxes--he was a former construction superintendent--and he knew what was in every one of them. One year we got a baby gosling that he intended to train as a "watch goose", as in a "watch dog". It grew very rapidly but learned its duties not at all. When he was on some kind of building project, he would place the tool boxes he would be using out on the driveway. One day he came in the house and acccused my mom of borrowing one of his tools and not returning it. She protested she had done no such thing. The same thing occurred on several following days. Then Mom looked out the kitchen window and saw the thief, none other than our goose which would go over to a tool box, pick up a tool and transport it over to a grassy area and hide it in the grass. Lucy Goosie's days with us were numbered from then on. But that's a whole different story!

I'm glad someone finally came up with a word for this condition. I've been complaining about an "ooze" in my basement. The "stuff" just seems to ooze out from the walls. Whenever anyone takes something else down there - ie. college stuff not being used anymore, but should disappear once the owner finishes the next degree and finds a job, or the stuff not wearable, but not ready for the Salvation Army shipment-- it oozes into the open area - which encroaches on my sewing table and space. Right now there isn't an open carpeted area to lay a queen size quilt. Of course, my "stuff" has oozed in appropriate areas and nobody better touch it!!!

When I complain about my creeping hobbies, my DH tells me that it is just the two of us and we LIVE here so it is supposed to happen. Love him dearly. :) :) :)

It really can be a problem. Once it creeps in, it's hard to get it to creep back. lol.