Ghosts of Weekends Past - Learning new things and working it

I can safely say I am very content with arriving at my desk on this Monday morning.  The last 5 days have been exhausting.  Last Wednesday, the steppie and I started our hunter's safety class and finished it Saturday morning.   To be quite honest, I really had no intent on hunting in my life.  The steppie has been wanting to hunt or take the class for a few years now. We will just put it like this..I stepped up after waiting for someone else to and just took her. And really why not?  I have never taken it. 

 

Let's talk about the class since this is where I spent quite a bit of time at.  The instructors were fantastic.  We were in the older population of the class.  Basically everyone was about 12-13 years old and had someone who will be taking them hunting.  With that being said, our main instructor, Nancy was really awesome about answering our questions about guns and what would be the best all around gun for someone starting out in hunting. 

 

While I really have no intent of hunting deer, I may be interested in pheasant or turkey hunting.  My little bro brought us pheasant once and it was tasty. Plus there is an opportunity to attend a course to learn more about pheasant hunting plus go on a pheasant hunt.   Now the turkey hunting thought, just comes from one of the instructors talking about how stupid a turkey could possibly be.  He basically stated if you call them correctly they will get pretty darn close to you.  That though is where I think I would run into problems.   How could you shoot something that is kind of that dumb?  And then if they look at you all cute like...argh, I am not sure if I could do it.  Maybe I should find out if they are tasty and I could possible get past that or just say screw it and go hunt me a butterball.

 

Aside from learning how to be safe and about shotguns and rifles, I had another major accomplishment in this class....I got over my fear of shotguns. I am rather comfortable with handguns.  Shotguns/rifles scared the heck out of me.  One time when I was in high school, my boyfriend of the time had me shoot a shotgun.  The shotgun kicked back so bad I hurt my shoulder.  Since they were giving us the chance to shot at the range with a rifle and trap with a shotgun, I figured I would put my nerves aside and give it a try again.  Of course, I told the instructors of my fear.  They were absolutely great and made sure I knew exactly what I was doing before I pulled the trigger.  That made a huge difference.  I felt nothing in my shoulder plus I even hit one clay pigeon in the trap shot. Oh and I will say I got super excited and did a little happy dance, which made everyone laugh. It was a great experience and we learned so much I am grateful I took the class.

 

After all of that tension, no better thing to do but go shopping.  Meet our new friend Chewy.

 

 

Chewy located at the entrance of Target makes random sounds.  We will just not explain how long it took us to figure out that it made random sounds and no matter what we did it would not just make a sound on que.   There was even a point were a 4 year old was trying to help us.  I am sure we provided a ton of amusement for the people coming in the store.

 

Two hours of power shopping at Target then led to checking out something called Fondue Fest.  Three stages, lots of vendors, and of course there was fondue.

 

Since the hubbie was not along (remember there was a shopping trip and shopping makes him want to stab his eye out), I informed him we will be adding Fondue Fest to the must do's next year.

 

Of course since we were so close, I could not resist making a stop at Lakeside Park.

The day did not end there though.  We still had a trip to the mall to accomplish.  I have also came to the conclusion that I cannot find a pair of basic brown flats to save my life.  Is brown not trending anymore?  Prior to becoming completely hangry, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Panda Express.  Fast food Chinese was a first for us.  I can say that some of it was delicious.

 

Just another Sunday....kind of.  Sunday was our three year anniversary.  We will just say that I am extremely good at sticking my foot in my mouth.  Oh well we will just say that is one of the reasons he loves me.

 

The day was spent getting major things done: house cleaning, changing things out to fall decorations, grocery shopping...and we actually managed to take out anniversary picture on our anniversary.



 

And the traditional gift for 3 years is leather and both of our gifts to each other had to do with travel.

I gave the hubbie a passport holder for all our future world adventures.  He gave me a compass in a leather pouch, so when I am out exploring the great wilderness I will always be able to find my way.

 

And that folks is why I am grateful to be back to work...this girl needs a rest.