Halloween 2010

Hello Bloggers,

hope you all had a great Halloween Weekend. We had our annual Halloween Party. It was filled with so many of our good friends, and great memories were made.

Enjoy the picture overload!!!

1 Year Ago Today. . . . . .

Hello Bloggers,

Well 1 Year Ago today I was driving home from a business trip in Wisconsin and i had NO IDEA what was going to change my life that night. All week while I had been gone Joey had been giving me clues that he was going to have a dog at the house when I got home that night- I told him many times PLEASE DONT DO THIS. When I got into town around 2:30 that afternoon I called him and told him I was going to go on some errands because we were having our annual Halloween Party the next day. He said well stop home and I will go with you. When I got the the front steps I saw 2 dog dishes- I FROZE! When I got inside I saw a dog cage in the dining room- I GOT MAD! My thoughts at this moment were " HOW COULD HE DO THIS?" "WHAT IS HE THINKING" I walked across the room and tore off the blanket that was covering the crate and found A RING BOX! with NOTHING IN IT and there was Joey with a bouquet of flowers and he was on one knee with the ring, and he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him  as his wife!!! That moment brings tears back to my eyes as I write this. IT was a moment that I had dreamt about for so long and it was followed by so many more amazing moments. Immediately after we called our dear family members and shared our good news. I will never forget the wonderful words that we heard from them. Mikey teasing me for crying like a baby, crying with my mom, screaming at the top of my lungs s my grammie could hear while she was on the train, nana's loving support, Adam saying "THANK THE LORD" Our good friend Jay Kraber was coming into town for the party that tonight and we had a great time celebrating and an amazing weekend sharing the news with our friends.

Thank you Joe Haluska for making me a JOYFUL HAPPY WIFE!!!!!
I couldn't imagine my life with anyone else. You have such ambition and a great ability to love people. YOU ARE THE BEST!

GRATEFUL

Well today I write to the blogging world with a very happy heart- well that is if my heart could smile!!!!!!

Today as I woke up I was anxious and knew that the news I would receive today could change my world and my families world could change forever.

About 2 months ago my Grammie had her last chemo treatment. Approxialmely 10 months ago she was diagnosed with Stage 3 Colon Cancer and had the maximum about of her colon taken out. Her road with chemo wasn't easy she met with setbacks, lose of feeling in her hands and feet, nausea, tiredness and having to give up her "normalicity" Through this journey I have learned so much from her.

Today she was at Mayo's for her body scan. Since her cancer had spread to her lymph nodes which travel throughout the body they initially told us that the cancer may be in other areas of her body.

Well, at 2:00 today I received the news of the body scan and these were the words my mom told me: CLEAR, every organ looks CLEAR. UNBELIEVABLE.

Happiness filled both our hearts and we realized that prayers are answered. They aren't always answered in the ways we want them to be but they eventually all get an answer. Our entire family is grateful for this wonderful blessing. Throughout the night there have been moments where it just hasn't seemed real, but it is.

Thank you to all those dear friends and family who prayed for Grammie, brought meals, came for visits, let us cry and be mad and were are pillars of strength.

WAY TO GO GRAMMIE

Knowing When To Cut Your Loses

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

Well today I come with some thoughts, feelings, opinions. Take them for what they are worth and if you don't agree don't take them at all. Before you read the below portion let me say the following this is not in an angry or bitter tone rather this is a self-discovery and acceptance.

Recently I have been in some Mentor training at work and it has been extremely helpful in many techniques. The title of the post "Knowing When To Cut Your Loses" comes at a time that I have been faced with challenges. Challenges from work, co-workers, friendships, relationships with family members. All of these relationships are important and I value them dearly but with these--we will call them "hurdles" come stress and fractures in the relationships. I am a worrier. When something isn't right I worry. For awhile I have been trying to solve, these "hurdles" and I have come to no-avail with the situations. Through this training that I have been to I have come to the conclusion that we as individuals are the only ones in control of our feelings and reactions. Whatever someone says, does, doesn't do, doesn't say, can't determine my emotions. Knowing when to cut your loses is a fine line of putting forth your best effort, being honest, and coming to the realization that sometimes even though you may have tried your hardest there is nothing else you can do. With age and these recent hurdles I have come to realize that  Quality is better than Quantity. I have always been a person that has preferred a few quality friends, co-workers, and peers rather than MANY that aren't genuine. Overall I am to the point with these hurdles that I have put my best foot forward and I can only control my emotions and actions. Secondly I want to say that worrying only gets you one thing and that is stress. Worrying doesn't work. Period.  In the end for me now that I have these hurdles in my "rear view" mirror I know that I can truly start moving forward.

Have a great day bloggers!

Weekend ReCap

Hello Bloggers,

This past weekend we headed up to Chicago for a couple of different things.

We love the Naperville area and with my mom living in Naperville we have been able to create so many memories with her there. You spoil us MOM!

Friday night we met at the Naperville train station and headed on the Metra to the United Center to watch the Bulls play the Dallas Mavericks. You might be wondering why we decided to go to this game ?????

Well Joe's cousin Adam is currently playing for the Dallas Mavericks. We are so proud of Adam!!!!! I am very close with my cousins and when I met Joe I realized he had a special relationship with Adam.

After the game we were able to visit with him and catch up on things!!!


After that we headed back on the train to Naperville and ended up in bed around 1:45. Saturday morning we woke up and Joey had a full day of football watching ahead of him and my mom and I had SHOPPING on our minds. We had lunch at a new restaurant called Basil- it was a Greek place and we laughed throughout the entire time. Joe headed back to the house for football and mom and I headed to the mall.Guess who was at the mall?? Stacy London the co-host from "What Not To Wear" We got to see her up close and in person and let me tell you she is tiny!!!! After that we came back to pick up Joe, we then headed to Downtown Naperville. We tried a new Cupcake place, and tried a few new bars and a wine tasting venue!!!  At home that night we made an All-American meal of steaks, veggies, and risotto.

It was a great weekend and everytime we head to Naperville my mom spoils us and we make great memories. Mom thanks for all your time and attention. We love you.

A Fall Recipe

Hi Bloggers,

Hope you had a great weekend!! Wasnt it beautiful out. We spend the weekend in Chicago with my mom and had a great time, more to come later this week on that.

I love pumpkin recipes during Fall and  my mom had found a great one that I had to share!!!!!!!

Pumpkin Dip
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 7oz jars of marshmallow creme
1 15oz can of solid pack pumpkin
1 tsp ground cinnamon or pumpkin spice

Beat together cream cheese and marshallow creme until smooth. Fold in pumpkin and spices. Spoon into dish or halloweed out mini pumpkin. Serve with graham crackers and/or apples.

Enjoy

This past weekend

Hi Bloggers,

I just got back from a 3 mile walk with Wrigely and the Mr. and I have to say I will be a very sad girl when the weather really starts to become FALL WEATHER.

This past weekend was a long one for me. I have every other Friday off, so this past Friday I was off  and Monday was a holiday, so this left me with a very LOOOOOOONNNNGGGG weekend. Which meant it was time to get organized. Joey headed to Ames on Saturday morning to spend the night with his brother and to watch the ISU football game. It worked out great because a bunch of his friends from college were also at the game. Once he was the road this little wifey got busy  unpacking alot of our wedding gifts, re-organizing the kitchen, cleaning the house from top to bottom, treating our wood floors( which by the way if you have wood floors message me I have a cleaner that ROCKS) and did loads of laundry. The weather was beautiful and I squeezed in a quick walk with the puppy. We got a new piece of furniture for our house as well. In our dining room we have a noock(don't know if this is the right name ) we have been searching high and low for something to go there. What we really wanted was a buffet/ wine rack and guess what we found it.!!!!I am adding some last minute touches on it and will be posting it along with our new front door fallscape tomorrow.

Although I was exhausted when Monday hit- I felt great because it was a highly productive weekend and the boys had a great time even without a victory.

Tomorrow pictures of the new furniture and the front door also I will be announcing our Halloween costumes. Any last minute ideas of what we should be?????

NAME CHANGE

Hello Bloggers,

Hope you all had a great weekend and soaked up this wonderful weather!!! I will get to the long weekend festivities in a later post but first . . . . . . .

I need a minute with all the married women in my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why has no one told me about the ordeal it is going to be change my name! Goodness gracious I spent two hours working on it this morning and am still not done.

Now with this said, let me say I am extremely proud to take Joe's last name HALUSKA!
A while back during our engagement I got a smidge sad about not being a Turner anymore but truly I will always be a Turner and now I am a Haluska. I am getting to keep my history and create a new with a new family.

I need to keep plugging away with phone calls to get this switch made but I had to take a minute for a shout-out about this!!!!

Fall Favorites!!!

Happy Fall everyone,

Today I decided to post some of my fall favorites!!!!

So a few weeks ago I got this wreath at one of my favorite stores for Home Decor and that is HomeGoods, Have you heard of it??? It is kind of like a TJ MAXX or MARSHALLS instead only HOME DECOR!!!! and at fabulous prices!!!!!!!!! When I saw this wreath I initially debated on it but now that it is up I am so glad that I got it!! I love colors in it and I feel like I can I have it up all the way from September till November!

Well I tried taking a picture of a new rug/mat for the front door but my lovely dog WRIGLEY kept getting in the picture so I decided to make this one an action shot of my night!!! Ha!!! When I saw this mat the colors reminded me of fall and I had to have it- Thanks Target for making the "must haves" so reasonable!

This is a decoration that I get out every fall that my Poppy made for me!! I love the pumpkins and that the scarecrow is smiling!!! Even though fall signals that cold weather is on the way- the colors are so eye appealing to me.

This is another one of my favorites!!! I got these fall berry stalks from our trip last year to Decorah, Iowa. I am so happy that they lasted all year in the basement and I hope to get them out for years to come. What a nice way to make a memory of a trip with something that you can use as a decoration.

A childhood memory that came to life this past weekend. When I was a little girl every fall my mom would take me to Edwards Apple Orchard and the Pumpkin Patch. It was a day long excursion that included lots of pumpkin knocking and cinnamon sugar donuts. This past weekend my mom packed me a bag of donuts from the orchard!! ! smelling them brought back so many memories!! thanks for the effort. I couldn't go with you this year and having the donuts made it so much better!! Joe thanks you as well for the yummy donuts!! You have made so many lasting memories for me!!!!!!!!

What are some of your fall favorites-bloggers?????

Slumber Party With the She She's

Hello Bl oggers,

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!!!!! We sure did!!!!

My cousin's came into town this weekend with my mom and we were very excited to get spend time with them.

Saturday we headed to my other Cousin's football game in Monmouth, IL. It was a beautiful day out and great to see him play. After that we had dinner and Caroline and Madeline got to come back to our house for a sleep over. We got back from the football game and went to ColdStone Creamery. It was delicious- the girls ate every bite. After that we went home, switched into our pjs and started spa night. It has been a tradition to do nails and makeup whenever I am with the girls. Joey started today off with a real treat for us by having breakfast in bed or us girls and diet cokes!!!! We cant wait for our next sleep over with them and hope that their big sister Grace can come next time!!!!