Gadgets...gotta gettem!

I have a secret. I am a closet gadget freak. Well, it's not as big a secret as it used to be before I bought the Pasta Express and made the mistake of telling my so called who shall remain nameless FRIENDS Debi, Tom, John, Steven, Sid, Karl and Kim. They have razzed me for over a year about my Pasta Express. I like it, I use it and I think it's pretty darn handy especially for one person. Dave was by far a bigger gadget nut than I am and before he passed away it was easy for me to hide my few purchases among his numerous AS SEEN ON TV's. Now that it's just Ginglebelle, Morty and I living here (and neither one of them have a credit card, yet) it's a little more difficult to explain my gadgets to my friends and family. In 1992 Dave was in the hospital for four months with acute pancreatitis. One of the medications he was taking had the side effect of making him high as a kite and the doctor made a real point of telling me not to let Dave make any important financial decisions, gamble or shop. OK, I am not the brightest bulb in the box and I did appreciate the warning but come on....the man was in a hospital bed, over 100 miles from home and didn't have his wallet. Well, ha ha...the joke was on me. Apparently, when I wasn't there Dave enjoyed watching the Home Shopping Network and he would call in and order ANYTHING that happened to catch his attention. He had an account with them (duh...HSN is the mother ship for all gadgets) and as long as you gave them your preselected security code you could order merchandise and they would charge it to your credit card on file. The hospital was two hours from our home so I was staying in the hospital guest quarters and only going home once a week to check the mail and do laundry. WELL...imagine my surprise when I pulled into our driveway and the first thing I see are boxes upon boxes stacked from floor to ceiling on our front porch. We had a food dehydrater, towels, comforter, Bedazzler, portable stepper, pillows, Little Giant stepladder, vegetable AND clothes steamer, car wax, boots, winter coat, purses, pots & pans, 9 by 12 area rug, 2 juicers AND 3 (THREE!) Wonder Mops. There were other items but these are the only ones I can remember. After I finished crying I called the Home Shopping Network and had a freeze placed on the account and arranged to return everything. By the time I shared this story with a few friends and drove back to Indianapolis I found the humor in the situation and didn't yank Dave's phone out of the wall and strangle him with the cord. OH...have you seen the chopper advertised on TV that will dice a whole onion with one push? Ooooh, I would SOOO LOVE one of those!