The tale of a fridge -- from the days of green cheddar cheese to now.

Lori Curley: Years ago, I shared an apartment and a refrigerator with my brother. The apartment was nothing special, but the fridge was something else.

There was nothing normal in it -- no milk, no juice, no bread. There wasn't even any beer. We absolutely never planned ahead; if we were hungry, we walked to Jerry's Home of the Belly Filler, and if we were very hungry, we drove. We were neither rich nor poor, just young and silly.

I remember our mother peered into it once and laughed. At the time, we had two items -- sprinkles for topping cookies, and Arm & Hammer Baking Soda for soaking up odors.

One month -- when Mom did not stop by -- a tuna hoagie took control of the second shelf. When Michael brought it home, it was the length of our couch. To move it into the kitchen and still have enough room to open the refrigerator door, we had to eat half of it, which we did -- thanks primarily to the cat. When it grew its own mushrooms, we used an ice scraper to move it into the freezer because we were not complete idiots. We realized it might sit for another month in our unlined garbage can. The hoagie, which was originally just $2.99, cost us the security deposit of $400, but we learned a great deal from the experience:

1. Avoid fast food wrapped in 30-gallon hefty bags.
2. Move leftovers to the freezer quickly.
3. Move frozen leftovers to neighbor's trash can before moving out.

Today, my brother and I boast refrigerators full of family food, food we actually planned ahead to buy -- fresh lettuce, apples, blueberries, and milk. We have come a long way from the days of yuck.

Lori Curley, champion mother of two middle-school teenagers, resides in South Orange, NJ. She holds a Masters in Education and has been teaching writing at the college level for 7 years. But can she find a job as a high school English teacher? Or will she pull her hair out first?