Happy Birthday

Happy Friday to All,

Well Today I am celebrating two very special people in my life!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my Aunt Sue. My Uncle Don brought Sue to my grandparents when I was in third grade and I have been in awe of her ever since then. She has played with me, done my hair, gave me great advice, been a great example to me of a mother and a wife, and in recent years has become a dear friend to me. I love you Sue!!! I hope you have a great day and know that you are loved by all of us!!!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest girl ever- yes I know I am prejudice because she is my Godbaby. Madeline Jane Turner turned 4 this week and I really cant believe it. The past 4 years have zoomed by. Truly, it feels like just yesterday I was holding her and counting her toes and fingers with her big sister Caroline. Madeline, I love your personality, I love your spunk, I love how your blond hair gets white in the summer, I love how you love your puppy, I love how you hug and kiss- I just love all of you!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to two people that I love dearly!!!!!!!

Pickles and Pink

Are you wondering what this post is all about??????

Well I am doing a combination. One of my co-workers had an abundance of cucumbers and they were huge. I was lucky enough to receive some of them and I needed a way to use an abundance of them. So I decided to try my lucky at making homemade refrigerator pickles. Here is a tutorial of how I did it and the recipe. FYI- I am a pickle lover!!!!! I tried my hand at doing this blog like a tutorial style because I plan to be doing more of these types of posts come September!!! More on this at a later date.

First step- slice the cucumbers up and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of salt, stir and let sit for an hour. This will create a coating on the cucumbers. While this is happening dice up a green pepper and half an onion. In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar, pepper, 1 tablespoon dill, red onion, and green pepper. Stuff the cucumbers in the jars, pour liquid mixture into the jars, cap, shake and refrigerate.

This is the final product!!! These pickles are good for 2-3 weeks!!!!!! This fall I do plan to do more canning next up Strawberry Pineapple Jelly!

Now on to the Pink part of this blog, with the wedding fast approaching I decided to show you the wedding room. This is our room downstairs and it is FULL- PACKED FULL!!!!! It is going to be great!! it might not seem like alot when it is all boxed up but get ready! It is going to WOW you!!!!! Thanks Wedding Fairy!!!!Candi

A Very Blessed Day

Hello Bloggers,

Well this is a very joyous blog to write and I have debated on writing it for some time.

First of all I need to tell you something that has been going on in my life. My dear sweet Grammie has been battling Stage 3 Colon Cancer for the past 9 months. Once finding out that it was cancerous she immediately went to Mayo Center to have a large part of her colon removed and to receive a treatment plan for her chemo sessions back here in the Quad Cities.

Needless to say this whole ordeal has been terrifying, frustrating, and saddening but it has straightened my family's faith and how close we are. We went into this battle with a fighting and WINNING attitude.

This past Monday my grammie was scheduled for her last Chemo treatment. We were not expecting her to be able to receive her treatment since her last 4 treatments had to be delayed to her low platelet counts. Her appointment was at 9 and by 1030 my mom and I were on the phone debating as to what to do. We tried her cellphone but my grammie is known for forgetting her cellphone. We tried the home phone but no answer and this wasn't a big surprise as when she hasn't been able to receive treatment her and my poppy typically go out to lunch and shopping. So my mom and I decided that I would call the Chemo center. When I called the nurse put me on hold (during this time all I did was say Glory B's) when the nurse came back she asked if I was calling about Regina, this is my grammies legal first name but she has gone by Joann for years.. I said Yes it is. The nurse then said the following: YES SHE IS IN THE MIDDLE OF HER TREATMENT and SHE CANT USE THE PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHE GOT HER TREATMENT SHE FINISHED HER TREATMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I literally yelled out loud!!!! Even the nurse got excited! If you really know me this will not surprise you!!!

I got to call my mom with this good news!!! Which was awesome and then my aunt Sue. It was so joyous. Joey was so excited as well as he has been a big part of making trips to see her with me. He was so wonderful and when she was first diagnosed wrote her a letter on how she would beat this because of her faith and her family. After work we headed to Geneseo to celebrate. We had champagne and went out to dinner!!!

We are blessed!! I am so PROUD of REGINA JOANN TURNER! She has fought the good fight and has had faith through the whole thing! Below are some pics of our celebratory night!!!

Next Post: Pickles and Pink!!

Family Traditions

Greetings,

Well I have something to admit fellow bloggers, in the next 30 days because the wedding is in 30 days!!!!!!! it will be here before we know it and my blogging might have to take a backseat for a bit but don't worry I have BIG plans for when I return. Stay tuned.

Tonight I want to talk about Family Traditions.
During our Pre-Kana classes with our priest, Joe and I worked on developing family traditions that we had each experienced and now we are creating ones for our future family. Here are a few of them.
- Vacations: We want to take an annual vacation together and eventually when the kiddos come along. We have plans to explore many places!!!
-Christmas traditions: Watching its a Wonderful Life together while making Christmas cookies and decorating! Simple but important.
-Making time for family events, going to see our extended family.
-Participating in church activities with our family
-Birthdays!! Celebrate good times!!!
These are just a few but it was so much fun to write!! It was fun to talk about with Joe and even better to dream about all of these traditions. I encourage you to do the same with your families. What are some of your family traditions?

A Little Bit Of Everything

Hello Everyone,

The weekend has arrived and I am happy to see it!!!

Any big plans for the your weekend? Lets hear about it!

Well the first thing I would like to address is Mr. Wrigley. He is not with us tonight as I write this but staying the night at the vet because today he had a procedure that eliminates his ability to be a father! He will be coming home tomorrow and we will be very happy to see him. I have to admit something, it is weird not having him around. I know some of you will be surprised to hear me say this but I mean it. Get Well Soon Mr. Wrigley.

Next up: Does anyone have an opinion on appetizers for a wedding reception I am trying to decide on what to do? Is it important? What would be a neat thing to do?

This weekend: I plan to do lots of wedding prepping. It is crazy how close it is getting to the event!!! I feel like the train has arrived at the station, gassed up, and is now FULL STEAM AHEAD!!!!! If you feel like making a road trip to the Davenport area this weekend to work on wedding stuff please feel free I would love some extra hands!!!!

And now I leave you with a delicious summer recipe: Today I had to bring in a treat for snack day at work and at 5:00 this morning I didn't have anything so I searching high and low in the fridge and cupboards and this is what I came up with:

Banana Cream Trifle
1 box of vanilla wafers
2 boxes of banana cream pudding
1 container of light cool whip topping
4 bananas sliced.
Prepare the pudding with the directions on the box, and add the whip cream

Layer your trifle bowl starting with some vanilla wafers, then layer in the pudding, followed by the sliced bananas. Finish with some wafers on the top.

Very Easy**** Very Cost Effective**** Very Yummy

Enjoy your weekend with your friends and family.

19 Minute- Book Review

Happy July Everyone!!!!!

Well I forgot I had one more catch-up post to do before my recipe post!! Whoops!

I just recently finished this Novel by Jodi Picoult "19 Minutes" I am not an avid reader of Ms. Picoult's but when I was recently on travel I forgot my book at home so I stopped in an airport and grabbed this one. Isn't it a funny path how we stumble upon books to read?

This novel is a TRUE, REAL look into high school. It is the good and the bad. By no means is this a book for a high schoolers to read. I think it is more suited for someone who is older and has a mature attitude about those turbulent years. The story centers around 19 minutes in a high school and how it changes the lives of a town of people forever. Now before I continue I must ask "So what do you think this about so far?" Well I bet it isn't what you think it is.

-What can you do in 19 minutes?

-What would you do if you only had 19 minutes left in your life?

-If you could get 19 minutes back in your life what would you do differently?

Ms. Picoult does an excellent job in my opinion of developing the characters and pealing the layers of this story like an onion. There are moments in this book that will bring back memories of your high school days. There are other moments that will be so uncomfortable that you wont want to contuine, but you will because you will be connected to the characters that have become the page turners.I challenge any reader to this book. Who were you most like in high school, from the book? How would you parent these children in this book? Do you think this story rings true for the current high schools in America?

By the way, I promise a big recipe blog coming up soon. I am taking the weekend off from blogging, to work on wedding projects, and soak up the sun with my Mr.

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!