Where to begin?

That's what I am asking myself right now. Where should I begin with the updates? I haven't really made a *real* update in quite awhile. So I think I'll just start off from last weekend (weekend of the 20th) and move on into this week.

So my cousin and I were making plans to go duck hunting for the entire weekend that weekend. Then on Wed. night (1/17) as we were talking about the last minute details my uncle broke in on the line to say that his M-I-L just passed a few minutes ago.

Now she was not family to me, but she did babysit me a few times as a kid and we stayed in touch through family events through the years. I had just eaten dinner with her 2 weekends prior when I hunted with my cousin last. she was not in good shape at all. She was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's.

So my parents drove me down for the funeral on Sat. I had decided to go to the funeral instead of going hunting for the day. While there I had a few awkward moments with my aunt that is the mother of my divorced cousin. She and I had a little squabble on Myspace that I never posted about. So that was weird but other than that it was a good service.

While there I also started talking to my parents and and a few other relatives about retirement. Yeah I know. I'm too young to retire. That's ok though. Something that I am a firm believer in is that a person can NEVER be to young to plan for retirement. anyways I had always planned on retiring at the age of 59 1/2 (The age to draw from my 401k with no penalties). Through talking with my parents I found out that I can actually retire at the age of 55! Is that awesome or what? I can retire 4 1/2 years early. Then get another job like driving truck or whatever for the next 5-8 years. Then be done for good with the payments from SS. If I even decide at that point I want to work after leaving the state. I really won't have a need to. Outside of keeping me occupied while not hunting, fishing, and traveling.

The day after the funeral Summer asked me to stay home from hunting to be with her and the kids for the day. So I stayed home. but the wind picked up late in the afternoon and I couldn't pass on the opportunity. I told the boys to meat me in the truck in 15 minutes if they wanted to go on a quick trip to a farmers field for the last 2 hours of shoot time. That's when Summer asked if she could go too. So the whole family went. We had a really good time. Didn't fire a shot, but got to see thousands of geese grinding in the adjacent field. Not owned by the farmer that gave me permission to hunt. My work is cut out for me for next year. :D

Then came Wed. That was to be the last day of my duck season. I just didn't know it at the time. It was an awesome hunt. I ended the season with a bang. Literally. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I shot 3 birds for over a box of shells. But I did get 2 nice drakes. 1 mallard, 1 teal. And my first and only goose for the season. After my cousin and I were done duck hunting his dad called us up and asked if we wanted to shoot some pheasants. Since I haven't shot a pheasant in years I said I'd love to. So he had 6 pheasants planted in a field for us by the time we got back to his club. We walked out there for the final hunt of the season and watched some amazing dog work by my uncles dog. We got 5 out of 6 birds.

It was the perfect way to end the season.

The next day is when I got sick and I was in bed for 3 straight days. I was out of bed long enough on Sat. to get my taxes done though. I just love e-file. If you don't use it I can just say this- Step into the 21st century people! This is not the 1940's anymore! It's the only way to go.

Last night Summer attended another one of my therapy appointments with me. We had a good time there. My therapist actually thinks that I am ready to see my psychiatrist to see about reducing my meds. Only problem is that she is out of the office indefinitely. My therapist, SR and I all think that the talk I had with my parents last month has a huge deal to do with why I am feeling so much better. I just got so much stuff off of my chest that night. It has truly been a life altering night.



And now the news everyone has been waiting for. Drum roll please.
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Summer had her breast reduction surgery this morning! She went under the knife at 8:00AM this morning. It took a little longer than anticipated, but the surgery went great. Of course they didn't let me come in to see her until after 2:00! Then I had to leave at 4:00 to get back home to pick youngest up from his after school program. So I only had 2 hours to spend with her. she was pretty groggy which is to be expected. But she is so happy to finally have it done. Now we just have to wait for the heeling process to finish so we can see how it looks. For the next 7 days she has to wear a bra 24/7. She is not allowed to take a shower until her post-op appointment next Mon. I don't go back to work until next Tue. So I will be here to help her around the house. Or rather make sure she stays in bed. She is staying tonight in the hospital and will return tomorrow. I am going to see her as soon as the boys are off to school. She should be home a little after lunch. Fingers crossed. Parents leave for Mexico in the morning and won't be here to get kids from school.

One last thing. While waiting to get to go and see Summer a coworker called me and "disguised" his voice to tell me that my temporary promotion and crew change got approved today. So as of Feb. 1 I will be getting a 5% out of class pay raise for up to a year and $0.50 an hour raise for working an evening shift. When I return to work on Tue. I will no longer have to work with annoying coworker! (If you haven't read about her I recommend clicking both links to get up to speed.)

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures from the last 2 hunting trips for the year.