Day 27, May 27th, 2013

Happy Day in the Brad household!! NEW bathroom and the new front window arrived! YAY!!! After hmm 3 years!! of waiting for a new bathroom surround, Momma J finally!! FINALLY!! gets her new shower put in!! WoO wOo!!! We're very excited. I left before they were finished but can't wait to see the final outcome! It sure is going to be pretty!!

Its someone specials birthday today and its his champagne birthday too!!

Happy Birthday Blaine!! *BIG BEAR HUGS* <3 lovers you!!!

The weather I don't think can make up its mind today, so I'm going to enjoy the criminal minds marathon on A&E and do my chores or at least most of them and just hang out!! Have a great day everyone!!

This is a cow skull found at community pasture by Colin a few years back

Day 26, May 26th, 2013

Oh a Farmer's "wife" life.. waking up and having breakfast with your boy and than helping him with odds and ends before he heads off to the field.

This basically consisted of gathering jugs from the shop and filling them with water to fill up one of the grain trucks as they were thinking the water pump wasn't working. Than driving the father in law to the field to get the 4 wheel and driving back from the field to fill him up with seed as the one grain truck is out of order. Watching Jordan vacuum the bin for seed and watching the water we put in the grain truck, run out the bottom.

Jordan left with the harrows as I wandered the yard taking pictures until I got a text saying he was coming back because the harrows broke. So helped him with that, fuelled up the tractor, he was gone again and I caught up on my shows! Yay! It was a nice day! That night we staked out a certain amount of land thats going to be seeded to grass for hay. Watched the season finale of Chicago Fire and called it a night. It was a good day.

Here are two shots I did today :)

Day 25, May 25th, 2013

Have you ever fainted before? Have you ever felt the pain in your stomach like you're about to be sick and a wave of heat washing over your body and you know that if you don't sit down or get somewhere safe fast, that you're more than likely going to faint and hurt yourself?

I haven't had one of these in a very long time and I don't know what caused it today but I felt the pain in my stomach and granted I had eaten about 45 minutes prior to this, when I felt the wave of heat coming over me, it was an instant, I need to get away from my desk moment. Than came the swirling of my eyesight and I was able to get to the back room and keep my head down for a good 25 minutes. The backroom at work is a different temperature than by my computer, its colder, so perfect. I still feel odd and I don't know why, hopefully it just passes and doesn't mean I'm on bedrest for the rest of the night. That would not be good :(

Jordan and I watched previous episodes of Chicago Fire that we had missed :) That was our evening :)

Oh!!! I found this crazy site that tries to simulate what you see. Its in german so I have no idea what it actually says, but this is as closest to what I see, yup, this is how much my eyes suck!

Day 24, may 24th, 2013

Stayed home on a Friday night so the boy could go visit a friend. Decided to get my crafty on.

A little while ago I decided that I wanted to make a chalkboard using a frame. I went to the store and bought inexpensive chalkboard paint as I wasn't sure how it was going to work. I can tell you this, if you want to paint glass, get the multi-purpose paint or get chalkboard spray paint. The paint I bought, does not want to adhere to the glass. Last night, I was painting the second chalkboard that I was making and ended up painting the piece of paper that comes behind the frame. Genius! This was awesome!! The paint didn't have blotches or streaks and was like drawing on a real chalkboard! The only downside is is that the paper isn't stiff so it has a bit of a poof to it while in the frame but still really awesome!!

Than I made a banner, it was a really easy banner, no frills no nothing. At this point, I could feel I was getting more and more tired but I still continued. By the time I was done with the bits of the banner, it was 10:30 and I was done. Did a crappy clean up job and called it a night.

I'd have to say it was a productive night but still need a few more of those nights to get done what I set out to accomplish.

As you can tell, I didn't stage my picture props the best, oh well, you get the gist :)

Day 23, May 23rd, 2013

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

XOXOXOXO

<3<3<3

Yes, its my boys birthday today, Champagne birthday it is!! I hope he enjoys his birthday presents. If not, oh well! HAHA jk that's not how I roll. I know my parents really like it so hopefully he does!

Guess what?! I peeled my Grapple today and I have to say it was much better without the peel.. it was a pain in the butt to peel mind you because it came off in 1 cm chunks.

I don't really recommend this kind of grapple. Its more like  tasteless apple that smells like grape. And they're small. So thumbs down on this particular kind of grapple. Maybe there are better brands out there?? This kind is from Safeway. Can you tell I like the word grapple though? How many times have I said grapple so far? 5. Saves you from counting as I just did.

Today is a happy day, its wonderfully sunny out there, not quite as windy as yesterday :( and hopefully the gas companies heard my plea to turning the price down soon so I don't break my account just trying to get to work!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Day 22, May 22nd, 2013

So today, I woke up abruptly and that's just kind of how my day has been so far.
I woke up feeling like I was going to be ill because of my "GERD". Its been months and months since I've had anything like that so it wasn't overly pleasant but thankfully the burning feeling goes away within an hour and I was able to carry on my day as normal.

The day was a really slow progression which was incredibly frustrating. Felt a bit up and down in my mood today, so when I went to buy some groceries for my lunch (maybe find something that cheers me up,) I came across Grapples. I've heard people talk about these apples and have never them before, so I bought the very expensive apples.
At lunch time, I had my salad and was excited to try these grapples as they smelt just like grapes. I bit into one and was like eewwwww. The skin was disgusting. So needless to say, that was a bit disappointing.

Tomorrow, I'm going to peel the skin off to see if that improves the grapple, if not, I'll pawn them off on someone else and just suck up the loss of these expensive little things.

Day 21, May 21st, 2013

Oh what a brilliant day its been so far!
Had to get penicillin first thing this morning than off to Warren to pay for my tires and pick up a package from the post office. Than had to reorder part of the package because the place messed up so part of Jordan's birthday present is missing! But luckily I'll either have it by Thursday or Friday, yay!

Than I came home and proceeded to update my blog, than I filled a needle with the penicillin, went outside and filled a water pail, feed pail and got hay ready and grabbed the sick guy and had to run around the pen to get him!! Geez, he looks sicker than hell but has life to him so hopefully everything will be all good. He got his needle, than I played with my little girl who isn't so little anymore, Justice (if anyone remembers, Justice was born a twin (we lost her twin) she was sooo tiny but she can completely compete with her fellow foals that were born with her that year, in size now.) What a cuddle bug today. Can't complain ;)

Went for my walk, planted flower bulbs that were already growing in the package (oops!) brought Cowboy out, brushed him, fed him, let him eat some grass that he didn't want, now I'm updating my blog again! Just busy busy!! :)

When Justice was only a day or two old 

Day 20, May 20th, 2013

WOOO!!! What an exciting day!!!

It started off with waffles and Lisa bringing me blueberries to have with them because of how I said I'd love to have blueberry pancakes! I can't remember the last time I had blueberry pancakes, so that was really awesome!! Thanks Lisa!!

Than we headed to Jordan's place! That's right, Jordan's place.

I was told to get in the tractor and pull tree's, so that's exactly what I did. I got to watch Lisa sit on a tree sipping on a cup and watch the boys wrap chains around trees and I pulled them out, go me!!! It was exciting for me but your back pays for it a lot with sitting the way I was sitting.. oy. Oh well, we got a lot accomplished and than it was lunch time. mmm lunch.

That night, we headed over to my parents for a quick visit and than off to Aaron's for a party, which was nice and simple. Had a good time. 

Love spending time with friends, thank you for helping us!! :):)

Day 19, May 19th, 2013

What an interesting day... if this was a vent blog post, I'd do so but somethings I would be saying wouldn't be appropriate for this so *ZIIIIIPPPPPPPPPP*

Today, Jordan and I returned the quads to our friends and than the boys went and fuelled up Jordan's truck and went on a bit of an adventure which left Nikki and I to talk some wedding stuff. Than the boys came back and Jordan and I headed up to the Sund Farm to help with cattle. Yes, another lovely day spent with Trevor and Lisa, I don't get sick of them.

The entertainment that can be provided with working cattle amazes me sometimes, I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time, I had tears rolling down my face. Oh Trevor, you entertain me.. hehe :)

This picture had nothing to do with why I laughed so hard.... or maybe it does.. hehehehehe.

Day 18, May 18th, 2013

Ugh, what a gross 'day'. First I had to work all day and that felt like the longest day at work ever. Than I came home and went out for supper with my parents, Kevin, Nikki and Kathleen. Had an amazing Taco Salad at Mr. Perogie... Love that place, haha. Good food, inexpensive and just a basic atmosphere where you feel welcome and can visit. Much better than the other restaurants we have in the area...

Went over to Jordan's and had a quick visit with his grandparents, than Jordan got a call from Lisa about rescuing friends in Ashern. Headed over to Trevor and Lisa's (again, heehee <3) where Jordan and Trevor prepared to leave for Ashern when we got there, so Lisa, her mother in law and I watched "This is 40" while waiting for them to return. Than we had cake for Trevor's birthday and I guess Jordan's early birthday.

Glad they could help some friends, can't say I handled it the greatest because I wish we could've gone with them (hadn't talked to Jordan all day, and no I'm not whining) but too many people to bring home so at least I had Lisa to entertain me :):)


Here is the empty popcorn bowl... Miss Ivy ate 2 bowls... yes 2!!! :)

Day 17, May 17th, 2013

Typical May long, rain. That's all I heard at work all day... Its finally the weekend and it has to rain, whine whine whine. Are you guys new?! Don't you know that May long is always screwed up weatherwise? Yikes people... You should know this!!

Anyways, here is my picture of the day, the rain is going to bring PRETTYness... :)

Day 16, May 16th, 2013

First of all, I have to acknowledge someone very special, not only to me but my entire family.

Happy Birthday Sonny, you old handsome bugger you <3

Sonny is one of those horses that I will always hold dear to my heart. He taught me how to ride and kept me safe when I would be saying, Why Dad? And my dad would be going, Whoa Sonny!! As I'm slipping off of the saddle, haha.. Oh boy. Reflecting on old times just brings a smile to my face. I was such a difficult student as I needed to know WHY all the time! Sorry Dad.

He took me through some embarrassing times with High School Rodeo, such as riding his neck out of the arena because he stopped flat instead of turning like he always did. He used to make my eyes water so much that I had tears pouring down my face. Unfortunately, I never had the guts for Sonny's speed during those times so I used to annoy him.. if only Sonny was able to experience the more confident me later in my career when I started doing App nationals..

Sonny and I used to spend a lot of time together. When I was little, Sonny was basically a one rider type horse. My Dad, of course. He used to get Sonny to do the most amazing things. Dad never got to see how fascinating Sonny really was and therefore doesn't understand the same feelings we all had, everyone who watched them.

A few years ago, Sonny and I were on the Wish ride, we were having a ball playing and running around with the group when all of a sudden he was limping and someone was like, ASH!! Sonny is BLEEDING!

I hopped off his back and to my horror, Sonny was cut badly. I don't mean just a scratch or those who exaggerate, I mean BAD. I cried, a lot. I thought this was the end of him and it took me years to forgive myself. What happened, was we went down a hill and there was a broken beer bottle hidden and it cut him. He cut nerves and a tendon and it was not pretty at all. We had him vet checked and what we were told was, he wasn't going to be a riding horse but he could be a great babysitter to our little ones if we wanted.

Well to this day, Sonny is a babysitter to our little ones and he is still awesome as ever and still handsome, even being grey with age.

He's always going to be one of those horses that stay with you, he is a legend.. a hero.

Oh and here's a shot of Mister, our foal from last year...





Day 15, May 15th, 2013

Short and easy post today!! After a long day of work, I came home to find the most awesome Summer supper.

Homemade potato salad
corn
and bbq marinated pork chops

Can you say delish?! Thanks Mom.

Day 14, May 14th, 2013

Everyday, I've been trying to get a walk in. Everyone always says, exercise and boost your energy. Where is my boost?! lol!!

This was a particularly nice evening where I strapped on my walking runners and went for a nice well temperatured walk. I was able to wear a hoodie with the sleeves pushed up to my elbows and just enjoyed myself. I kept thinking to myself, this is the perfect time to walk, the sun is setting, the cars can still see you and its just the right mixture of warm/cool to be outside.

Two cons to walking outside. The gravel is uneven and sometimes difficult to walk on but you get over it. Con two, the cars that pass you and DON'T slow down. Oy. I think I'm going to start carrying rocks so when they spray me, I can throw back.

Please, if you see someone walking on the gravel, slow down and pull over, no one wants to eat dust nor get palstered with stones.

Here is my POTD (Photo of the day ;))

Day 13, May 13th, 2013

"I feel like I've won the lottery, I am so excited for you, this is a wonderful day" My dad.

Today, I went for my lasik eye consultation. If you know me, you know just how awful my eyes are. I have suffered with my eyes since I was a little girl and have never truly been able to see things properly. I've always been the buttend of jokes because I can't see and I've missed out on so many things because I haven't been able to see and that stinks. Can you imagine missing part of your life because you haven't seen well enough??

Well, it turns out that I'm a candidate but because of my prescription and how thin my corneas are, I have to get a special surgery but luckily enough, they've been doing it for a very long time and they're experienced with how it goes and what not.

The sad part is, is I found out that with my astigmatism, that my eyes are -12! OUCH! That makes me so sad!! Also, its a risk that my eyes will regress but he says no more than -2 type deal and it could take years for that or a mere 6 months! BUT fortunately, Lasik MD also has lifetime enhancements(for free!!), so if my eyes did regress, I would have to wait for my corneas to be thicker and healed before getting it done again. But being -2 sure beats the hell out of -12. He also informed me that I will only see as well as I see with a proper prescription, so when I get the surgery, I will see just as well with a proper prescription set of glasses, which isn't what I have right now.

I think my parents are more excited than I am, they're thrilled beyond belief that I'm able to do this. I think they're actually more excited than I am as I don't think its quite sunk in yet that I may not have to wear glasses and actually be able to see! I was also thrilled over the price. Thank you groupon, thank you Lisa and thank you Mom!

While I was waiting with majorly dilated eyes, I managed to sneak a picture of the view from the 20th floor of the building!!

After this, my mom and I went out for lunch as her and I were starving! I came across this pickle and had to take a picture! What a happy little pickle!!! :)

Day 12, May 12th, 2013

Happy Mother's Day!!!

When I woke up, I was not expecting to hear that Jordan had got the day off and we would be heading to Matlock. So off we went to city gramma and grampas place. When we got there, we visited for a little while before starting to build a gazebo. How hard could this be? Right? Pft! A gazillion pieces for the gazebo, several instructions/screws/bolts/washers to build this thing. Yowza! We had 7 people to build this and we didn't finish it. That's right, we didn't finish it. It took several hours for us to make it this far. Yikes! It sure looks like it will be nice when its over, but for now, it was a holy crap few hours trying to get as far as we did. Go Team!!

Day 11, May 11th, 2013

What an exciting day this was!! Unforunately, I had to work today but all day I had been thinking about what was going to happen after work. I was literally worried for a week when Nikki had text me to tell me that the bridesmaid dresses were in. My thoughts were, is it going to fit? I am losing weight right now and I just didn't want that, Oh my it doesn't fit, feeling.
After work, I rushed over to LA Collection, where we got the dresses from, and met up with Nikki and two other bridesmaids, Katie and Kathleen. Katie had already tried hers on and Kat was trying hers on. Than, came my turn. GULP! Well I'm happy to say that I had lost enough weight to fit the dress enough that it can actually spin from front to back. So here come the alterations... lol.

I wrapped a set of pearls around my wrist. I brought these to see if pearls would work with the dresses but the string was just ridiculously long and I hate my neck, so they looked better on my wrist :)

What an exciting day for me!

Day 10, May 10th, 2013

Somedays, I wonder just what is going to catch my interest to take a picture of that particular day.
When I get home, I usually go to the corral and grab Cowboy and sometimes Cowboy and Spider.
Today, I grabbed both and was brushing them while they had a snack. I love spending time with these boys, they're fun and their personalities are awesome.

Here is a picture of Cowboy but if you look closely, you can see the bottom of Spiders cheek. Oh and by the way, this is the first edited picture I've put on here, all others have been SOOTC (straight out of the camera). :)

Day 9, May 9th, 2013

I've been going for walks lately and it is difficult to walk the opposite sides of the road when you're faced with mounds of shoulder on the road. Insert a grumble grumble here. I'm never happy with the roads when they're like this, especially when I just put new tires on my vehicle. The mounds are actually so bad that they almost take up an entire lane on the gravel.

They even cut out part of the ditch where I was walking one day, like waaaay into the ditch. Maybe the driver was texting? Anyways, these mounds are over my knees and I can't even straddle how wide the mounds are... and yes, I know I'm short but that shouldn't matter!! Haha!!

Day 8, May 8th, 2013

Well, this was an interesting attempt at taking pictures. It was getting dark so my camera was definitely not picking up the light like it should and I was feeling kind of upset about it because I hate taking horrible pictures and to me these are HORRIBLE pictures. Oh well, I guess I'll try to get more when its lighter outside(not at dusk). It just stinks because Jordan can only get here after 8, so we're limited on time.

This is a horse that is for SALE by the way. She would make someone an AWESOME gymkhana horse. She's fast, agile, short bodied and just spunky as hell... so if anyone wants to inquire about her, message me!

Day 7, May 7th, 2013

Today, I was walking through wal-mart and happened to come across some of the popular drink cups with straws. I have a couple of these but I decided I needed one for work. I've been drinking water out of a 1.5 litre bottle and just figured the drinking glass was prettier than the bottle, so voila! I bought myself a $5.00 drinking glass for work, that should not leave my work so I don't forget it at home!

I bought the flowers behind the cup a few weeks ago, they're supposed to make my desk and me more cheery while we're indoors.

Day 6, May 6th, 2013 part 2

In light of today, I'm doing a part 2 and technically, I didn't take any new pictures with my last post.
I have two parts to my part two.

First part. My mom and I had a nice day together and I happened to find these band aids while we were shopping around. I've bought these type before but they were skull band aids. They come with a prize and in the tin was a duck with a patch on its eye, its cute and tiny. Well in the cowboy band aids that I found, it also had a prize. Had a good chuckle, so I'm posting it.

Part two of my day, I got new tires put on my vehicle. Yay for tread! My older tires weren't awful yet but it was getting time.. *sigh* for spending lots of money.



In celebration of Aurora's life today, I brought out Cowboy for some cuddles. Which he was gratefully accepting of my need for horse cuddles, so thank you Cowboy for making today a little bit better.



Day 6, May 6th, 2013 part 1

So, this is going to be a real tough one to write for me. I've already had a good cry putting this collage together as I'm missing my baby right now.

Today, marks the physical day of the passing of my Aurora. The actual date isn't until tomorrow but I feel as her one year anniversary of her passing, that I should probably write this today.

2012 was one of the hardest years for me and I would have to say, losing Aurora has crushed my heart that I'm still desperately searching for the one, as in the one that could be like her. Aurora filled my heart with so much love and joy that she's most definitely irreplaceable and I would never dream of trying to find another Aurora, as there will never be another Aurora but I do know that I will find a horse that fills my heart with as much love as she did.

I have my horses that I love and I would be devastated to lose them too but she was my best friend, she loved being with me and the feeling was definitely mutual. She was not perfect by any means but that allowed me to keep myself on my toes with her and to never just be satisfied. We both chose to better ourselves except with Aurora, she was sick and she was never going to get better.

Aurora, for those of you who don't know, had a condition called Anxiety disorder. What?? You might ask. Yes, she had an anxiety disorder from being mistreated as a young filly and it ruined her lungs. She was developing heaves faster than you could say your name and in 2010 when she abscessed in her left front hoof so bad that she couldn't walk for 3 months, that halted our reining training and she headed up to pasture. When her normal exercising stopped, her lungs closed up and she couldn't breathe very well so we decided that if her life was going to be short, we would breed her.
In late winter early spring of 2012, Aurora was expected to deliver her first foal. In precaution, we brought her up to monitor her and to my devastation, my young filly hurt Aurora and she lost the foal only a few weeks before she was due.

A year ago today, in a freak fluke accident, Aurora lost her life and to my horror, I found her. Thankfully Jordan had just arrived to look after a flat tire I had and was there for me. Nikki was in the house with my niece as I crumpled. I lost my everything that day and things with horses and I just haven't been quite the same since. Some would say, its just a horse. Those that know, know differently.

Aurora taught me so many different things. I've had my besties over the years, Ima being one of them, but Aurora was special. I miss her every single day. I miss her especially when I'm dealing with a difficult horse that doesn't want to be caught as she always wanted me to bring her out, she always wanted to be with me. I will eventually let it go but as for now, I'm just moving forward and remembering her as the sweetest, kindest, most loving horse I have ever had and she will forever fill my heart with love.

I miss you Aurora, I hope the green grass is keeping your lungs clear and that one day, we can meet again and slide and spin for eternity. I love you.

Day 5, May 5th, 2013

Busy busy bees we are, Jordan and I! We packed up the trailer and headed up to Fisher Branch on Sunday. Dad was having a clinic up there that had a few horses that needed to come to our place for some work, so off we went.
When we got there, we were able to watch some of dads clinic and than both Jordan and I were brought in to help. I helped a fantastic lady by the name of Ainslie that has a lot of potential if she could just relax. Her horse Katie, which is a percheron thoroughbred cross, is pretty easy going so hopefully we can get Ainslie to be pretty easy going as well ;). While I was helping Ainslie, Jordan and Ducky rekindled their relationship. I swear, they each love each other as much as the other, LOL. That went well... Colleen offered us some food before we had to leave, so we sat down and ate some terrific longhorn pepperoni and salami before heading home.
Dropped off the horses, went back to Jordans, after milking we came back and fed our munchkins some extras and played with them a bit since we didn't get to do anything with them over the weekend. Dad gave me something to think long and hard over, I tell you, Jordan and I had the most interesting conversation on the way back to his place and before we fell asleep. Ashleigh's brain is FULL.

Its amazing how this happens to me... haha.

Anyways, here is my photo from the day!

Day 4, May 4th, 2013

Happy May the 4th Day!! :)

Today, was probably one of the most exciting days for me. Jordan and I went on a house adventure and I have to say, I think we found a beauty! Technically we didn't just find it, we've been looking at it for awhile.
I think he will find his new home to be quite awesome, we just hope everything goes well next week when the RM decides his subdivision fate.
If all goes well, he could have this place within a couple months!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Day 3, May 3rd, 2013

Day 3... 362 more days to go.. haha jk ;)

Everyday, I drive by several geese that are swimming in the water or eating grass. I wanted to get some close up pictures of them since they're fairly used to vehicles. I saw these guys and was able to get some decent pictures EXCEPT I was too busy shooting towards the sun to even realize what white balance my camera was on, so I apologize for the blue tinged pictures. The bottom picture is of a baby duck swimming/flying away from me as I spooked him/her. Oops, my bad!

Day 2, May 2nd, 2013

An exciting moment for me, when it came to doing my makeup first thing in the morning, on May 2nd. I had purchased a limited edition eyeshadow off of a Livejournal site years ago, possibly 5 years ago? I had originally bought one from the MAC counter in Polo Park when the colour first came out. Quickly and sadly, I went through the colour a lot faster than any other eyeshadow I had ever bought through MAC. I finally decided to crack it open and I have to say, I was so happy I made this purchase. It was exactly how I remembered it and eventhough I'm writing this blog for yesterdays date, as I'm two days behind on this blog, that it did not disappoint and I can feel the love for this colour growing again that I used it again today!
This colour is vibrant and loud and makes my green eyes pop eventhough its green itself! I receive a lot of compliments on it and I can see myself wanting to use it all the time but now, since I may not find it again, have to limit how often I use it. *insert sad face here* lol.

day in the life of me, day 2.

The beginning of my 365 day journey... Day 1

Today marks the first day of my 365 day journey. Already I can feel the challenge of this project but I am looking forward to documenting my life for the next 365 days through photography. I've come up with rules for myself so that I can have some time to upload pictures and what not since I'm not around my home computer everyday, which are:

The rules are: I will upload up to a week at a time, sometime between Sunday-Sunday. They can be either off of camera or my phone. Must have something to do with my day!

I had been thinking of this project for awhile and since I decided to do this project on my way home from work, on May 1st, it was miserable so I didn't know what I was going to do for a picture, I'm sitting in my room looking around trying to think of a picture to take.. This is not the way I like to take pictures... so I found my inspiration....

Day 1, May 1st, 2013.