Christmas Cards

Are you the type of person who thinks that they have to send out Christmas cards to all you family and freinds? Well I am, and I can truely say that it is one of my favorite things about Christmas. I love to recieve cards that let me know how things are going for my family or what is new with my friends. One of the best things is when people send me those picture cards, I love to see how much everyone has changed or stayed the same. I think it is very important thing to do! Since we just had a new addition to our family here a a month or so ago, we decided to join him down in his house for our picture. It took us about a half hour and many trys but we finally got it right. It is quite a task to try and set a 10 second timer on your camera, hold a pony, and control a toddler. After all of that though, I think that they turned out very well.

Crazy time of year

This Thursday is Thanksgiving, I can't beleive that it's already that time of year. I don't know about anybody else, but this time of year is extremely busy for me. We have three Thanksgivings to go to. I have one at my parents, one at Dexter's Grandmas, and another at his uncle's, these all take place within this week. Then there is the day after Thanksgiving shopping, this is a very big deal for me. I get most of my holiday shopping done on this day, you can get some very great deals if you get up early and get in line. I get up at 2:00 A.M. just so I can get up to Lacrosse by about 4:00 A.M. Some people think that this is crazy but I think that it is totally worth it. Another thing that is stressing me out is that it is getting to be the end of the semester. Which means finals and preparing for next semester. Trying to decide what classes to take and then trying to make them fit in your schedule, that is the most frustrating.

Early Christmas Presents

This last Saturday I took my daughter to the horse sale in Waukon. I had no intentions on buying anything but this little dappled gray pony came through and I couldn't resist. I bought my daughter this little pony, he is a 6 year-old gelding with very wild hair. He isn't broke but I plan on doing that this winter so he will be ready for Dakota in the spring. He is very gentle, so I don't think that this will be to hard. I know what you nust be thinking, how can I ride a little pony, but he is big enough for me to ride and my feet not touch the ground. Then I went on E-bay and found a bridle, saddle, and all the riggings for $85.00, I thought that this was very reasonable, I am going to give it to Dakota for Christmas, but she already is attached to the pony "Bucky". That's what she named it because he jumps around.

Tough times

Today, I think that everyone is worried about the economy, and how much further in debit we are going! One of the most historical elections took place this last Tuesday, and I can say that I voted for the first time. Before, when I was 18, I didn't really care about the presidental elections, because I thought that it wouldn't effect the way I lived. I know now that I was wrong! Not saying that George Bush Jr. has done a bad job, he has also done a lot of good, he has just let a lot of things slide. That are important things to the American people, like their houses, the money in their bank accounts, and health care. He had some help in destroying a lot of people's lives, and now with that "Bail Out" plan, he thinks that it's going to help that "little" people, but it never will. Because the CEO's of these "bankrupt" companies are still going to get their christmas bonus's and their raises, that we are paying for. I heard on the news that one of the companies took their employee's for a spa day, within a week of them receiving money from the government. I think that they need to rethink that idea, maybe give the money directly to the American people. You get so much to help pay your morgage, or finance your house. We need to do something else, something better, or our whole country will be living in poverty. I only write about this because some friends of mine, got married about one year ago, bought a nice house with a few acres, to raise some cattle on and on Monday he lost his job, his wife doesn't work, she is a stay at home mom with their three kids. Now they are trying to figure out what to do. They still have a morgage to pay at the beginning of next month and no money to pay it with. Some people would say to get out and apply for jobs, but their aren't a lot of jobs available right now. So I hope that with our new president, Obama, he can help turn this country around. Not just for the people that are losing their houses,and their jobs, but for everyone, especially for our children.

Pre-entrance Tests

A couple weeks ago I had to take another pre-entrance test for the nursing program. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to take, that is the second test that I've had to take just to get into the program. Once I taken all the required classes then I have to take another test to get my LPN and then another for my RN. I understand that there has to be some requirements, but my god they expect you to know things that you haven't even had yet. To me that is unbelieveable, you can buy this book that is supposed to help you, but it's $30.00 that I don't have. I don't think that you should have to pay for a book that is for a test that you HAVE to take. I somehow came up with the money and bought the book, and it didn't even help me. The concepts are the same but the questions are completely different. Then after you take the test you have to wait for three weeks to find out how you did on it. Then two more weeks to get the letter from the college, to find out if you did well enough to "pass". To anyone that has to take this three hour test, good-luck your going to need it!

New Car or More Money

I have a 1997 Pontaic Grand Am GT, I have had it for alomost four years, it's now pushing 160,000 miles, and it has been a very good car, but I have put alot of money into it. I have had to redue my cyclinders, which cost me over $2,000, that was only 1 1/2 years ago and just the other day I was on my way home form school and my tentioning thing (that holds my belt on) broke into pieces. My battery light came on, which I had no idea what it was for, I called my machanic(I have him on spped dial)to see what was going on. He said that it was probably my alternater but thank god it wasn't, that would have cost me close to $400. This I think will cost about $200, by the time I get labor in. I have had so many problems with my car, but I just keep fixing them. I think that I have drove my loaner car just about as much as my car. Just before school started I got my tires rotated, and they didn't tighten my lug nuts all the way, so on my way home from Lacrosse my car started to shake really bad, I thought maybe I had a flat tire, but I didn't. Again I called my machanic and he told me to bring it up right away. By the time I get to Waukon my lug nuts are 1 turn away from being off!!! On both of my front tires!! My daughter and I could have been in a bad car accident! I called the people who rotated my tires and they tell me that I need to check my lug nuts every so many miles, and that it was on my invoice. Of course, I don't have that anymore, but I will never go back to Goodyear Tire in Waukon. As a result of that I had to put on new bolt things (that hold your tire on) because mine got stripped out. They wouldn't even pay for part of the repair. So now that it is getting to be winter time, and I drive from Lansing to Lacrosse, everyday, I have been thinking about getting a four-wheel drive vehicle, but am unsure what to get? Anyone got any suggestions, I need a good gas mileage, 4 wheel drive vehicle that doesn't cost me a arm and leg, because as we all know, college students don't have a lot of money.

Stressful Work

Have you ever tried to work woith your boyfriend or girlfriend on a project? Well I did today, and I have to say that it was a very stressful situation! Niether one of us has ever tried to hang a door before, and had no clue how to do it. I am very stubborn and like to follow the directions, to make sure that I do it right. Well my boyfriend is the opposite. He likes to try how to put things together without the directions but then gets pissed off when he can't find out where a certain part goes. We hung a screen door today and instead of an hour of work, we turned it into 3 1/2 hours! It took all afternoon, first we didn't have the right drill because I bought the wrong kind of drill 2 years ago for his birthday. Then we borrowed a drill and couldn't figure out where eveything goes. "I don't need directions!", he says to me. It was so frustrating! He got mad and went in the house, and left me to hang this door by myself. After a half-hour of me cursing a storm and loosing like 10 screws, he finally decided to come back and help me. We finally got the job accomplished but it took forever. I don't know how couples can work together. My parents have work together for over 30 some years, I don't know how they stay sane. They love it, they ride together, eat lunch together, and spend ALL day together. I would either choke him or we would have to break up, there's no way that we could be together all the time. I love him but I need a little "me" time. Sorry to carry on about it, but I needed to vent a little.

We had success

As I told you in my last blog, I'm trying to potty train my daughter and she is a very independent, stuborn little girl. Well on Saturday afternoon, she did it! I was almost ready to give up on the idea for a while, and let her take some more time. For we have been working on this for three months with no results, but then she did it. She was so proud of herself and I was very proud of her also. I think that it was just the right time for her, they say that you can't rush them and it turns out to be true. She wasn't going to go until she was ready, and I guess on Saturday she was ready. Now I know that we are on the right road, in the right direction.

Potty training

My daughter Dakota is 20 months old, she is very independent and stubborn as ever. It's come time to start potty training, I have bought the potty and she will sit on it for a minute or two, then thats it. She doesn't want anything to do with it after that! I don't want to push her into this but I don't want her to get to old and way to stubborn. They say that you shouldn't wait to long to start your child. Well its been 2 months of sitting on the potty, and no results! I don't know what to try next, I'm at a loss for words.I have tried to reward her for sitting on the potty, but its not working anymore. I hope that she is not going to fall behind with other kids her age. I want to her learn how to use the big girl potty. I have also tried to use regular underwear, so when she pees she become wet and uncomfortable, but it doesn't seem to bother her. I need some advise! Please!!!

"If you don't have nice things to say then don't say it"

There is a saying that we were taught when we were little, but I think it needs to be said again. In the last week in one of my classes I couldn’t help but overhear what two students were talking about behind me. They were talking about how a certain girl in one of their classes didn’t fit their “profile”. By profile I mean, she didn’t have on the “name brand” clothes. “If you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say it!”
I thought that these students would just say what they had to say and stop, but they kept right on going all through class. It was very annoying; to think they had nothing else better to talk about then this girl for 50 minutes. They were saying that she had on out-of-date clothes, and they were probably from Wal-Mart, they laughed good and hard about that. I hate to be a b***h, but not everyone has a lot of money; they make do with what they have or what they can afford. Yes, I have “name brand” clothes, but I have many things from Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and many other department stores that don’t carry “name brand” clothes. I think that everyone does! These are the kind of people that take things for granite, they are spoiled. It’s great that they have money to buy all the “name brand” clothes, but there is no need to make fun of people that can’t buy those things.
I just thought that this needed to be addressed, if I would’ve known who they were talking about I probably would have went and told her but I don’t know who “she” is. There is nothing worse than people that talk behind your back.

Excitement of fall

The first day of fall is September 22, fall is my favorite time of the year. The leaves start to turn and fall, the air gets a chill, so you know that huntin season is right around the corner. Some of you may think that it is weird for girls to like hunting but I love all kinds of hunting. I went squirrel huning with my boyfriend, Dexter and his brother Detrick last weekend, it was pretty fun, we got 22 squirrels. I refused to clean them but will shoot them out of the tree, the guys clean the squirrels. Soon bow season starts, I don't bow hunt but Dexter does, every morning and afternoon he sits in one of his multiple bow stands. I went with him once and got yelled at for being to loud so I don't go anymore, there isn't room in that tiny little tree stand for two anyway. I don't know how many of you coon hunt but I can't wait until November 1st in Iowa, that's opening night. We take pride in our dogs, they receive better care during season then we do. Normally on opening night we take our old black and tan, Cheif, and run him with my dog Duke. We start out about dusk so we are in the woods when it is dark. There is nothing more exciting then to see/hear our dogs howling on a coon track, well maybe after they get them treed. We hunt about half the night with those two dogs, then come back home and switch to two fresh dogs. We hunt the rest of the night until daybreak. We will then come home skin our coon and meet up with our friends to see how many they got opening night. Our record for opening night is 9 coon. Hopefully we'll beat that this year.

Who I am

Hi! My name is Andrea and I’m going to tell you a little bit about myself. I live in Iowa with my 19-month old daughter Dakota, and my boyfriend Dexter. My life consists of my family, my animals, and rodeo. I have one sister who lives in Montrose, CO, she is engaged to be married. They moved out there about 7 months ago, so its been something to get use to, not having her just a few hours away. My parents live not that far from here, so I have break every once in a while. I like having them close to me, their support means everything.

We raise coon hunting dogs, we currently have five coon dogs and two other dogs. We raised most of them from puppies and work with them all of the time. We also have quite a few kitty’s, that Dakota just adores. We don’t have any horses right now but I have a few that I‘ve “adopted”. I love horses and everything to do with them, especially, rodeo and showing. I have many awards and ribbon to go along with my passion. I love being in the barn, doing something with my animals.

I’m not the only one in my family that is passionate about rodeo, Dexter and Dakota love the sport also. Dexter is a bull riding addict, he has been riding since he was a little bitty boy in little britches rodeo. He used to ride bareback, and saddle bronc horses, along with his bull riding. Now he just rides bulls, he is gone every weekend to a rodeo somewhere. I go with him whenever I can, but with work and now school, I’ve had to cut back some. He has been to many bull riding finals : Little Britches, High School Rodeo, IRA, CPR, and NABA. We traveled to Memphis, TN last January for the NABA finals, that was quite a experience. On August 30, we attend the CPR finals and Dexter won first place. I couldn’t be prouder of him!

My daughter Dakota, also loves the sport of rodeo. She loves to watch her daddy ride, and probably screams louder then I do. She loves horses too. I take her riding with me all the time. We ride a horse named Dewitt, he is 20 some years old, but still has a lot of spunk left in him. Dewitt is a retired bareback horse, you can flank him and he’ll buck his heart out or saddle him up and ride right off.

I hope that you all enjoy the pictures!