The Better Business Bureau office in St. Louis had a paper shredding event last Saturday at one of the local malls. I had a stack of papers that I have slowly been shredding over the last year or so with my underpowered paper shredder. But with an event this size, I decided to tackle the file cabinets to see what we could get rid of in one fell swoop. In addition to our personal taxes dating back more than seven years, I had old bank statements for the kids as well as all the check book registers dating back to nearly when we were first married. I also inherited all of my dad's paperwork, including his medical and financial reports. He died in 2004, so I could have safely disposed of these many years ago. Ahem...
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| boxes of paper |
By Saturday morning I had five cardboard boxes filled with papers of various shapes and sizes. The event ran from 9-12, so I decided to arrive around 9:30 to avoid the crowd. Ha! On my way there, a lady in a huge Lexus SUV decided she wanted my turn lane in addition to her own, and despite me laying on the horn she continued to come fully into my lane. It's a good thing I was paying attention since she obviously was not. That was the second time in a week that I nearly got creamed by someone. Come on people, vacation is right around the corner and I want to be in one piece for it!
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| waiting in line |
Arriving at the mall, I could see where the shredding was taken place, so I turned left into the parking lot where two volunteers were standing in their bright colored vests. One of them asked me if I was there for the event, and when I indicated that I was he directed me to pull behind a stopped SUV up ahead. It wasn't until that point that I realized the line of cars was snaked through the parking lot west of where I had entered. No problem, I figured we would have to wait our turn and then they would let our group move ahead at some point. Well, that didn't exactly happen. The other cars continued on uninterrupted, and I'm sure they thought that our lane had just arrived and was trying to butt in. One man was particularly vocal and yelled out at us that some people didn't want to wait their turn. He had no idea how long we had been waiting. In hindsight, they should have had all cars enter at the same place to avoid any misunderstanding, road rage being what it is and all. Any way, we finally were allowed to proceed, and once at the truck volunteers grabbed the boxes out of your car so I didn't have to lift a finger - just my tailgate. Easy, peasy...
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| paper shredder |
I returned home to finish cleaning for Easter Sunday. Normally my sister has everyone over for dinner, but she has had a rough start to the year health-wise. I knew she would not have the stamina to clean and shop, much less cook, for a dozen people. So I volunteered to host at our house. I wanted to get everything cleaned on Saturday so I could focus on cooking Sunday.
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| pineapple upside down cake |
Everyone brought something, so that helped a lot. I made my dad's pineapple upside down cake using his special pan, and it was like having him in the kitchen with me. Then I prepared the bone-in ham the way he used to, covering it in cloves and later pineapples and cherries along with a glaze. I was able to put the potatoes and the ham in the oven at the same time, which only left the rolls at the end. Everything worked out perfectly, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal together. After eating the cake and/or the peanut butter pies my sister brought, we broke out a game of Code Names. It is easy to play with a crowd as you divide into teams, and is so fun. Andy had brought it at Christmas, so we were familiar with the rules.
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| baked ham |
All in all, it was a nice day, and I am so grateful that we have some family in town so that we can celebrate the special events together. I just wish the kids lived closer so they could come as well.
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