Some people wait a long time for their 15 minutes of fame. Maria Milz from Blankeneim in der Eifel -- a picturesque town of 8,000 in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia -- waited exactly 100 years.

These days, the lively centenarian is making headlines all over Germany for her rebellious pride and loud dignity.

Six weeks after moving into a retirement home, she decided to move out because: "it was full of old people with gray hair."

But I looked pretty!

Frau Milz, who strongly believes that an early bird always catches the worm, was horrified by the way she was treated by the retirement home staff.

"I got up at six a.m., took a shower and made myself pretty," Milz said. "Then I sat on the bed and waited."

When a caretaker -- whom Milz graciously described as "that peasant klutz" -- came into the room, she assumed that Frau Milz couldn't have gotten ready on her own.

"She looked at me in such a stupid way, she must have thought: 'The old bag is off her rocker.'"

Devil is in the detail

Frau Milz insisted she was ready to have her breakfast, but the heartless caretaker, who showed no appreciation of the fact that Frau Milz was a lady of quality who had already freshened up, told her she had sleep in her eyes.

"Sleep in my eyes!" Frau Milz said. "Who do you think you are?!"

That was the drop that made the cup of Frau Milz's discontent run over. In justified indignation, she called her daughter, packed her bags and moved out.

"I was not mature enough for the retirement home," she said.

Frau Milz is now back home, enjoying the company of her faithful wiener dog Inka.

"She understands every word," Frau Milz said.