mom lives just 3 houses up from me. So I went home to feed my cat and
 dog and do a few little things. the next thing I know is my doorbell is
 ringing. Mom was standing there telling me she accidentally locked
 herself out of the house. so I told her she has an extra key on the
 porch ---how is it she had enough sense to walk to my house? she has
 done this a few times before she is always able to find her way to my
 house and hers(that is only when she locks herself out). She does not
 wander or go outside ---she was just putting a wet dish towel to dry on
 the porch and locked herself out.
 sometimes I wonder if she really has alzheimers or is it just senility?

 Alzheimers *IS* senility.

 You are lucky.  What will you do if she forgets how to get to your house?   She will one day, you know.   Keep an eye on her the best you can.   She wouldn't be the first person with the illness who wandered off and had a real problem.   My mother in law got lost in her own neighborhood and walked for hours till someone sent her home.  She wouldn't go out at all anymore after that.  

 --
 Best Regards,

 Evelyn

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JJ, if she is living alone, even so close to you, its time to make
some plans. She IS going to wander off and get lost, or set the house
on fire, or cause a flood etc. She's getting to the point where she'll
need 24x7 supervision.

Its not like you'll get a warning either. She'll just go out the door
intending to walk over to your house, and if she gets there, she'll be
half naked from not being able to pick or put on appropriate clothing,
or she'll end up wandering 5 miles from home.

The brain damage impacts their ability to recognize things, so even
familiar surroundings will start to look strange.

The Mrs. Chick I told you about wandered off once - to visit a brother
(who had died in WWII). A  neighbour happened to be shopping miles
from our neighbourhood and chanced to see her on the sidewalk - and
fortunately he was smart enough to wonder what she was doing and stop
to talk to her - at which point, he realized she was totally lost. I
promise you, if you'd asked Mr. Chick at that point if she would do
something like that, he would have said no way. He turned his back for
a minute, and away she went, and it was lucky a friendly face found
her before anything bad happened.

She's not going to like it, but I wouldn't leave her alone in a house.

M

there no thing as "just senility".  senility is, like dementia,
one of those inclusive terms that covers a wide range of
symptoms, so vague that it's now useless as a descriptive term.

it's not "normal" to have significant loss of the ability to
remember, especially remember new things.  the symptoms of
dementias are a sign of brain damage.

for a quick education, and to help you anticipate what will
inevitably happen, i urge you to go buy yourself a copy of "the
36 hour day" by mace and rabin, available at any large bookstore
in the "health" section.]

if your mother is locking herself out and can't remember new
stuff like where her spare key is stored, it won't be long before
she also forgets where your house is, or even that you exist.
she's probably already perilously close to setting the house on
fire or wandering off somewhere instead of heading to your house.
REGARDLESS OF WHAT SHE "WANTS" you need to decide right now about
where she's going to go when she's no longer safe at home alone.

if she has no money, it's especially important that you get her
on waiting lists NOW for at least one place for her that will
accept medicaid just in case you are unable to care for her, or
in case she has a sudden decline and caring for her is more than
you can do.

regardless of what you or she may want, you may need to do this,
and it's far better to be on a waiting list for years than to try
to get on a long one when you need to place her immediately.