Shredding My Life

As Spring approaches I’m starting to think about what needs to be done outside in the next  couple of weeks. Cleaning up the asparagus patch is on the top of my list.

One of the things we do around here is shred. It makes a great mulch for some of our beds. Last year after the asparagus season I put it under the straw in that bed.

But besides shredding junk mail, I’ve also been shredding my life.

When we moved here in 2007 I went through a lot of old boxes that I had stored in my attic. In one of those boxes I found canceled checks from years gone by. I decided in this shredding session it was time to get rid of the contents in that box.

At first I started stuffing the old checks into the shredder and then stopped to look at a few. OMG! I’m shredding my life – all of this interesting information (well, to me at least) from my past.

Here are some of the checks I pulled out and a few with the current costs:

January 1986 – Annual Dues for AVA  (Association for Volunteer Administration)  – $60

February 1987 – Dr office visit – $19

February 1987 – American Quilters Society membership – $15 (Now $25)

April 1987 – Hair cut – $10 (Now $21 – $28)

April 1988 – Telephone Company bill – $26.81

December 1988 – Indiana Society of Directors of Volunteer Services – $25

July 1987 – Water Company – $10.82 (Now $70+)

July 1987 – first payment on my used Elna $209.66 – I’ve been trying to remember when I bought that. It was used and the top of the line at the time. The owner had traded it in for an electronic one. That was just the first payment – a lot of money back then.

July 1989 – Cable TV – $21.14

February 1991 – Gas and Electric – $116.64

December 1994 – check to the company that built my garage after my divorce – $3,045

January 1998 – passport – $65 (Now $110)

Looking at this list tells a little about my story, but also tells about the cost of living back then.

I ended up shredding all of those, but I have yet to shred those checks mom and dad wrote on their account back in the 40’s. I need to spend some time with these pieces of history before they become mulch.

Meanwhile, I’ve been busy creating for an article I’m writing. Here’s a sneak peak. More later.

And here’s an update on the fur kids. Dusty is still scared of Puddin and all she wants to do is play. We’re hoping that will come soon. But they do get close to each other now and even eat together.

Now to get Dusty to quit yelling at 4:30 in the morning.

Thanks for dropping by.