The Day I Saved the Shredder

Up until this year, we had this paper shredder that jammed constantly. You might remember my hilarious post from 2014, "The Day I Killed the Shredder." 

 

How the tides have turned. This year, I saved the shredder. I bought a new and improved (and much more expensive) shredder for my husband, Dan, this Christmas.

I couldn't lift the box when it arrived at our door. I had to slide it from the porch all the way to the gift-hiding room. Consequently, I couldn't wrap it either because it was too heavy for me. I couldn't find a good place for it, so I scooted it behind a chair in the gift-hiding room. (Dan totally knows where I hide stuff now . . .)

 

 

I left it in the box and put a bow on it. That was the extent of my Christmas wrapping efforts this season. 

On Christmas morning, I told Dan to wait by the tree as I disappeared into my gift-hiding room to scoot the box into the living room.

"Do you need help in there?" Dan called to me. 

 

Apparently, my struggle was audible.

It was worth it. He was so excited about his gift. I guess I'm not the only one who loves office supplies around here.

 

 

"It really shreds!" he exclaimed after trying it out for the first time.

 

A few seconds later, he returned to tell me, "And you don't have to lift the heavy part to empty it."

 

Then a couple of minutes later, he announced, "Also, you can oil it with vegetable oil. You're supposed to do that once a month."

 

"Weird," I replied.

 

 

A few days after Christmas, I had a document to shred, and Dan suggested I trying shredding it all by myself.

 

"It's a better shredder than the last one, so even you won't jam it."

 

"Do I need to unfold the paper?" I asked Dan.

 

"It can shred up to 8 pages. It's okay to shred folded paper now."

 

"That's how I jammed the old one," I muttered under my breath, as I fed the paper through.

 

The shredder stayed on longer than we both expected.

 

"Did you jam it already?" Dan said in a brief moment of panic.

 

 

Then it stopped whirring. The paper was successfully shredded. 

 

These days, Dan plays with the shredder for fun. We don't really have that many documents to shred.

 

Occasionally, he will hand me a piece of paper and say, "You want to give it a try?"

 

"Oh, you trust me nowadays?" is my response. 

And then I shred the paper without any operator error.

 

 For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Reading Challenge: Becky's Twenty-Two in 2022

 

The end of a year means one thing. Time to check in on my reading challenge! I continued my recent trend (began in 2020) of matching the number of books I read to the year.

 

I am proud to announce that I did, in fact, read twenty-two books in 2022. 

 

This year, however, you will notice that I ended with reading some shorter stories. That was because life happened.

But I did it. It totally counts, audiobooks, short stories or not. I make up my own rules!

 

 

Here are a few stats from my reading journey in 2022:

 

And guess what? I am challenging myself to reading twenty-three books in 2023. (As the number in my challenge increases, be prepared for more children's books and short stories. #sorrynotsorry)

Becky's Twenty-Two in 2022 

JANUARY

1. Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: I’m starting this year continuing my Beverly Cleary Reread. This particular story is a little more dated than some of her others but still charming.

 

2. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

Notes and Favorites: "This is the middle of my life. I think of it as a place, like the middle of the river, the middle of a bridge, halfway across, halfway over. I'm supposed to have accumulated things by now: possessions, responsibilities, achievements, experience and wisdom. I'm supposed to be a person of substance."

 

FEBRUARY

3. Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: I remember really enjoying this story when I was a kid. I think I related to Ellen's experiences in ballet class.

 

MARCH

4. Otis Spofford by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: Just like his teacher predicts, Otis does get his “comeuppance” in the end . . . kind of . . . 

 

APRIL

I finished nothing this month. I have no excuse. It just didn't happen.

 

MAY

5. Mitch and Amy by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: I always loved stories where the narrator describes the character (especially female characters) as having a freckled face . . . for obvious reasons.

 

6. Socks by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: This is such a cute story, written through the eyes of Socks, a cat.

 

JUNE

7. Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: Child Becky related to this story (about a little girl who is mostly well-behaved but "contrary" when forced into certain tasks) with every fiber of her being.

 

8. Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Notes and Favorites: “If a song plants an idea or a feeling in a mind, it has already changed the world."

 

9. Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris

Notes and Favorites: You can’t beat Sedaris’ advice to college graduates. For example, “Be yourself . . . unless you are an asshole.” Even with heavier topics such as the death of his abusive father and the COVID pandemic, his essays are still laugh-out-loud funny.

 

10. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Notes and Favorites: As much as I loved the TV show, I never read the Little House books as a kid. I added this book to my queue after watching the PBS American Masters on Wilder. 

 

 

JULY

11. Don't Forget Me by Shirley Bahlmann

Notes and Favorites: I may or may not have gotten hired as an Audiobook narrator this summer, meaning I unexpectedly was able to add one more book to my challenge.

 

12. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Notes and Favorites: I have read a lot of Margaret Atwood. She is one of my favorite authors. But this one wrecked me, such a poignant and heart-wrenching story about family and war and growing old. It's got an air of mystery to boot, a definite plus for me, raised on Murder She Wrote and Columbo.

 

13. Lonely Boy: Tales From a Sex Pistol by Steve Jones

Notes and Favorites: So I had to read this after watching Pistol. Oi!

 

AUGUST

14. The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

Notes and Favorites: "Never trust a candy house." I loved this one as much as A Visit From the Goon Squad. "Time is a goon."

 

15. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: The chapter on the school Christmas program is priceless.

 

SEPTEMBER

16. Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: It was so fun to revisit the characters Beezus and Ramona.

 

 

OCTOBER

17. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Notes and Favorites: Even though I have read this one a few times, I just had to revisit it one more time before Halloween this year.

 

18. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving

Notes and Favorites: It's not quite as creepy as Sleepy Hollow, but it's still a fun, strange tale, perfect reread for Halloween.

 

NOVEMBER

19. Henry and Ribsy by Beverly Cleary

Notes and Favorites: Living in the Northwest, I enjoyed the salmon fishing chapters at the end of the book.

 

20. Circe by Madeline Miller

Notes and Favorites: This was a beautiful mythological retelling from Circe's perspective. I especially loved her relationship with Penelope, a female connection in a patriarchal society.

 

DECEMBER

21. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Notes and Favorites: This was from a series of classic Christmas stories read by Dateline's Keith Morrison. (Yes, it's as awesome as it sounds.) It also included the original Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Twas the Night Before Christmas. I love how music is the catalyst for the Grinch's change of heart.

 

22. I Knew It Would Be You by Shirley Bahlmann

Notes and Favorites: I may or may not have gotten hired as an Audiobook narrator this summer, as I said earlier. It just so happens there was a sequel.

 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Holiday Greetings 2022 Edition

I didn't send out Christmas cards again this year. Sorry, friends. You have probably noticed I haven't even updated my blog much recently. The end of the year and the holiday season got away from me for various reasons. 

The following are just a few highlights from the holidays before we say goodbye forever to 2022.

 

MUSIC PROGRAMS ARE BACK BABY!

 

After a hiatus due to COVID restrictions, we were finally able to bring school music programs back in full force. We had Veterans Day programs, choir concerts, and holiday programs, and, boy, were they a hit! 

 

 

 

ON STAGE

 

Back when I was doing a better job of updating my blog, I wrote about being on stage again.

 

I was also in a theater production this December. I know, a music teacher who also performs in a musical during the Christmas season. Pretty crazy of me, huh? Still fun though. I couldn't pass up a chance to share the stage with some of my favorite humans.

 

 

Stay tuned! I'm slated to be in some pretty cool productions in 2023. 

THE HOLIDAYS

 

We did suffer a loss in my family this season. As a result, I spent some extra time out of town over the Thanksgiving holiday. Even though it was a difficult time, being with the family, especially playing with the nephews, brought moments of joy. 

I sang in one of our church Christmas Eve services, and then my husband, Dan, and I headed to Sun Valley the day after Christmas to do some cross-country skiing.

 

 

We also ate our final dinner at Asiago's, the night before it closed its location in downtown Boise. Dan took me to Asiago's the night he proposed, and we've been celebrating our anniversary there almost every year since. 

 

Even though it's the end of an era for our favorite restaurant, we're still going strong after these nineteen years. Here's to nineteen (hopefully, nineteen-plus) more!

 

 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.