six months today...

Happy Half Birthday to my Baby Love.



Has it really already been six months?
If you know the secret to make time go just a bit slower – please share.

I really need each day to have an extra hour or two in it... things have been so busy and crazy around here that I find I just can't seem to get everything that I need to do, done in one day.

So please, someone out there make it to where its now 26/7 instead of 24/7... it would really help me out over here, lol....

Oh and whoever gets this done will get a big ole batch of brownie cookies as a thank you ;)

getting out of dodge...

Tonight was fun. We, as in E, the kiddos and myself, went to my friend’s (M) house. Originally it was supposed to be just a ladies night out type of thing with some other Coastie Wives, but then it turned into a ladies-night-out-while-some-of-the-husbands-attempt-to-watch-the-children kind of night, lol. Some of the other women couldn’t make it so it was just M and her DH, L and her DH plus their 3 littles and us.

It was fun. M, L and I sat in the kitchen and played cards while the guys wrangled the kids, drank beer and watched TV. We are some yummy food, talked a lot, laughed even more and just had a generally peaceful and fun night away from the house. We seriously need to do that kind of thing more often. Having an adult conversation with someone else besides E is a wonderful thing and very refreshing, lol.

Plus, tonight made me really realize that Sawyer desperately needs more kiddo on kiddo action. E and I play with him a lot, but we are no substitute for the real deal. He loves other kids his age and just lights up around them. And for the most part he is great with them. We did have one little jealousy incident that left a little girl crying. But I was told in the end that he seemed genuinely sorry, and that she forgave him and that they went on their merry little way, so – I say success! Hahaha!

But tonight made me really think that I need to find Sawyer and I a local mommy and me group or some sort of center where he can be around other children on a regular basis. I think it will be good for him and I think that he will love it. Let’s just hope that I can find a reputable place or group that doesn’t freak me out. The people in this area tend to make me want to lock my car doors while I am still inside of it – so it will be a challenge to find a group that I trust my child to be a part of, but I am going to make a very serious attempt at it.

Wish me luck!

why?

A conversation I overheard tonight as E was changing Sawyer:

E - Your stinky!
Sawyer - Why?
E - Because your like Daddy.
Sawyer - Why?
E - Because Mommy and Daddy made you.
Sawyer - Why?
E - Because they wanted a baby… and it’s fun.
Sawyer - Why?
E - Because babies are cute.
Sawyer - Why?
E - Because they look like Mommy.
Sawyer - Why?
E - Because they do.
Sawyer - Why?
E - Because that’s the way things go.
Sawyer - Why?
E - Because I said so.
Sawyer - Why?
E - Go ask mommy.

lol, this conversation gave me a serious giggle fit. It was just so damn cute I had to share. <3

already time to think about it...

Everleigh is now just a few days past 5 months old. It was at this age with Sawyer that I started to think and plan his first birthday party. And so, of course, I am now thinking about her party. And I am having a dilemma…

I think that she is going to have 2 parties. One back home and one here with our friends. But with that said, my current dilemma is should I do 2 completely different themes for each party, do the same theme with all the same colors, decorations and ect. or do the same theme with different colors?

I can’t decide! So what do you think?

Oh and in case you’re wondering, here is a list of possible themes. I am still coming up with ideas though to add to this list, and I would love to get some other theme suggestions as well!

1.Beatrix Potter
2.Shabby Chic birds
3.Cupcakes
4.Sweet Shoppe
5.Polka dots and stripes with emphasis on 1st birthday.
6.Cute modern owls
7.Spring garden and flowers
8.Feminine vintage prints (damask, floral, ect) with emphasis on 1st birthday.

Alright so that’s all that I have for now – so let me know what you think! :)

Major Order's Update....

Somebody loves us … a lot!

I am so happy to announce that we are not going to St Louis! Instead E Is being transferred to the CGC Bertholf….. which is stationed out of Alameda on CG Island!!!!

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!***Happy Dance***

This is an amazing opportunity for E for the following reasons.

1.We don’t have to move!
2.He gets to keep his same rotation date.
3.He gets his cutterman pin back (anyone remember that debacle!?!)
4.We can still keep our savings plan the same.
5.We can actually save even more money!
6.He gets to have sea time points for when he tries to make Chief – which is a big deal!
7.He will actually get the leadership experience he wants and needs.
8.He will have a fantastic priority for the next transfer season.
9.He will be far happier with this job.
10.And did I mention that we don’t have to move?!?!

Of course there is one thing that really sucks about this. He will be gone 50-60% of the year. But that’s just the way it goes and we have done it before, and we will do it again! It will just be a little bit harder this time with the kids. But we aren’t going to dwell on that part right now. We are just going to focus on haw freaking AWESOME it is that he going to the Bertholf.

It’s practically a miracle. He was slated for St Louis, they are desperate for guys there and some other guy was already slated for the Bertholf. Plus, E has been underway before and in the IT world, generally once is enough. There are a lot of IT’s that haven’t gotten underway in their whole career’s and right now they are pretty adamant about making those guys get underway before they have other guys that have already been underway go again. So it’s just crazy how this has all turned out.

This was that littler thing that I mentioned in my previous blog post, just in case you were wondering. See, the Detailer called E yesterday and said that things had changed and he could now offer him Milwaukee, and then he casually mentioned he had a cutter opening available, but he doubted E would want it. And E was like – wait, Yes I do!!! What Cutter? And so the Detailer told him (and was in shock that E wanted it, lol) and E said, yeah that’s what I want out of everything, but let me talk to my wife first before I give you a definite yes. So he called me and I was just like – “are you kidding me!?! Call him back now and say Yes Yes Yes!!!” and so he called and had to leave a message and then he send of an email to the Detailer reiterating what he wanted. And then the next thing we know – E has official orders to the Bertolf in his inbox this morning!

Like I said, it’s practically a miracle and somebody out there must really love us. We are so thankful for this and are giddy with excitement. E told me today that he just wants to run over the Bertholf and spread his arms wide open and say “Here I am! Where do I sit?!?!” lol silly man.

Now it’s time to go have a few celebratory drinks, this news is just too good not to celebrate! ;)

sometimes you just need a do-over...

Today sucked – plain and simple. Let me list all the things that went wrong.

1.Sawyer is having an allergic reaction to orange juice, and as a result has the nastiest diapers ever and a horrible rash. Poor little guy…
2.Found out that we are going to have to report to St. Louisa lot sooner then expected, and there isn’t too much wiggle room with it.
3.Stubbed my toe 5 separate times on the same damn toy.
4.Lost 3 of Everleigh’s bottles.
5.The car (that we just paid off!!!!) blew something in the hood and had to be towed.
6.The parts stores were all closed by the time it got towed to it’s location so E and his friend couldn’t even try to fix it tonight.
7.My phone charger for the truck decided to die… when my phone was at 10% battery life – and with an iphone, that isn’t much life left!
8.Got hopelessly lost trying to get to E’s friends place.
9.Penny climbed the tree and got on the roof again.
10.Found out that DMV is being stupid… again… over our registration.
11.Got poked in the eye with a matchbox car.

You know, each one of these things separately or even one or two at a time would be okay. But serio0usly, all at once – it’s just too much! I cannot wait for today to be over with.

However, there were 3 happy things today.

1.I kinda got my voice back!
2.Everleigh turned 5 months old and rolled from one end of the room to the other, lol
3.It’s a secret I can’t tell, but just cross you fingers that it goes through for us. :)

Alright – I am out of here for the night! May tomorrow be better!!!

well now we know...

We have our answer – St. Louis, MO it is…. Ugh… Just Ugh.

We don’t know when, and technically E doesn’t have official orders yet. The Detailer didn’t even call or email him (nice, huh?) he just emailed the MC at the ESU and told him that he slated E for St Louis and E’s friend for Juneau, AK…. Hmpf, at least the last Detailer took some time out to really talk to E about his billet he was being assigned to. But we know the orders won’t change, especially with the Detailer being so desperate for people to go there. We also don’t know where E will even be working at, or what the schedule is going to be like or, well anything at all! It’s very frustrating and we are going to have to wait awhile for some answers, which sucks for us because it makes it to where we can’t plan all that much yet – which is torture for me!

On the upside of things since it’s a brand new unit, E will technically be considered a “Plank Owner” but he says it doesn’t really count, lol… I say it counts for now, because we need to try to find positive things about this. So while we hurry up and wait, I am going to busy myself with trying to plan our cross country trip and find out a little more about St Louis and the towns that surround it.

We thought it was going to be St Louis, but I think we were also holding onto the hope that maybe we would get a call and be told “oh never mind, you are staying put” but of course that can’t happen to us! Nope, we just aren’t lucky like that, lol. This whole short tour business wouldn’t be so bad if we could have just stayed on the West Coast, or if it would have been a job that would have been great for E’s career in the long run. But this job is neither of those things and it’s… well I don’t even have the words for it right now. There are a lot of emotions going through us right now and I can’t even begin to describe them all.

On another note – today really did suck. I am sick, very very sick. So sick I cannot even talk. I had to have E call and cancel Sawyer’s speech therapy because I literally have no voice. And of course today is the day that Penny has to climb the tree and get out of the yard again! When I have no voice to call her! Agh! At least I was able to whistle (weird how that works…) and she was still close enough she could hear me. Oh and there was the little matter of Sawyer having such a bad blowout that I tossed his clothes he was wearing and put him in a bath to clean him up. It was disgusting.

Yep, today sucked all right. At least I have Glee to look forward to after everyone goes to bed!

What Does Love Mean?

This was posted on a forum I belong to and I loved it so much that I had to share it.

Touching words from the mouth of babes..


A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds,

'What does love mean?'

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined

See what you think:

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'

Rebecca- age 8


'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'

Billy - age 4


'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'

Karl - age 5


'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'

Chrissy - age 6


'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'

Terri - age 4


'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'

Danny - age 7


'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that.
They look gross when they kiss'

Emily - age 8


'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmasif you stop opening presents
and listen.'

Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)


'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,'

Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)


'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.'

Noelle - age 7


'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'

Tommy - age 6


'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling..

He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'

Cindy - age 8


'My mommy loves me more than anybody
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'

Clare - age 6


'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'

Elaine-age 5


'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer thanRobert Redford.'

Chris - age 7


'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'

Mary Ann - age 4


'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'

Lauren - age 4


'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.'(what an image)

Karen - age 7


'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.'

Mark - age 6


'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'

Jessica - age 8

And the final one

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

sales + coupons = love!

Today’s Finds:

1 Personal Cricut Machine
1 Singer Sewing Machine
1 set of knitting needles
1 small loom
2 awesome balls of yarn

All of that awesomeness only cost me 203.58 … yep – major score for me!

I love sales!!! And coupons!!! And Joann Fabrics!!!

goodbye Wells Fargo...

We made out last payment on our car today. We paid it off a year and half early and we are so excited and happy over it – not to mention quite proud of ourselves. The plan now is to put a little bit of the extra money into savings and the rest will go towards our truck payment. If we do that all year long – then we will be able to pay our truck off in about 11 months, which would end up being 3 years early!

Having 2 car payments has definitely been a challenge at times, and we are really looking forward to the day when we don’t have any! And we are now officially half way there! It’s a great feeling of accomplishment. I can only imagine how we will feel this time next year! Our goal is to never have another car payment again, we would prefer to pay in cash from now on. Debt free – here we come!

Decisions, Decisions...

We finally heard from the detailer about our short tour. He told E to send him an e-resume with the places we would be willing to consider. Since most of the IT1 billets have already been filled, we really didn’t much of a list to choose from. There were very few pros and mostly cons to the list. But it’s pretty much going to be either Petaluma, St Louis or Milwaukee. We really don’t know what the best out of those are, lol, and we don’t know what the worst will be. It goes like this.

***Petaluma***
Pros: Closer to family and we have friends in the area.
Cons: Not a financially wise choice and the job would be horrible for E and do nothing for his career.

***St Louis***
Pros: the best financial situation out of the 3 with a low cost of living in the area, and could potentially give us an edge next transfer season – if the detailer remembers we sacrificed ourselves on the altar of billets, lol.
Cons: terrible job for E (24/7/356 help desk) and far away from our families.

***Milwaukee***
Pros: The best job for DH and the one he would like the most. Oh, and all the beer factories (this was an E pro, not mine, lol!)
Cons: not the best situation finically, far away from family, doesn’t really seem like there is a lot of good housing in the area.

So there you have. That is where we stand with where we are going to be going. E said it felt wrong to have so few places on his e-resume, normally he has at least 20! Hopefully we will know by the end of next week! Keep your fingers crossed for us that whatever happens turns out great for us.

fun times...

So over the weekend we went home to see E’s family. Most of them hadn’t met Everleigh yet and it was the only weekend we could go up. So we went up and had a good time, even had a little BBQ with some of his cousins and Aunt. I think it’s safe to say that everyone adored her, lol. Sawyer also got to go on his first real quad ride, and boy did he love that! We also got the kid’s x-mas presents from E’s sister and brother-in-law. They made amazing nightlights for their rooms. Everleigh’s is a hanging birdhouse with a bird cutout on the bottom that projects the shape of a bird onto the floor and Sawyer’s is box with Mickey Mouse carved onto the front and star cutout on the top that projects the shape onto the ceiling. They really did do a great job with them. I will have to try to post pictures sometime.

But since we went up there, we had my mom come down and housesit for us. There have been some break-ins lately and we didn’t want to leave the house empty. She was more than happy to oblige, lol. She stayed a few extra days after we got back and after we went to E’s pinning ceremony she and I headed into San Francisco to do some shopping. There is a CG Ball coming up in April and she is going to make me a dress for it. I haven’t found anything that I liked that was affordable, so she said she would make me one. Originally we were going to make this dress.



Gorgeous, right? Problem was that we couldn’t find the fabric that I wanted for it. We went to 3 different major fabric warehouses and nothing seemed right for it. And in-between the first and the second fabric place, we somehow managed to take a little jaunt into Betsy Johnson in Union Square, where I found these and fell in love.



Amazing, right? Well I bought them, lol. I had too! They are the most comfortable heel I have ever worn. They have this awesome little cushion on them that make you feel like you are walking on air. Perfect for a ball! So now that I have these shoes, I start thinking about different dresses as we are browsing the fabric aisles. And then I remember a dress that I saw Kelly Osborn wear last year that I loved.



Beautiful, right? So then mom and I start talking and it hits us – those shoes with that dress would be amazing. And we can add a vintage flair to it to make it unique, plus we both think it would be flattering to my body…. So it’s decided. We are now looking for fabric for that dress. We finally found the most perfect fabric at the last warehouse we went. The place was amazing and soooooo cheap. Puts Joann’s to shame. We were in love. Here is a little tiny peek at the fabric with a vintage appliqué that we found to go with it.



Perfection, right? I cannot wait until it all comes together. I think it’s hilarious how we went in with one thing in mind, and came out, at the end of the day, with something completely different but equally amazing. I guess that’s how it goes sometimes!

with the good, there always is a little bad, or should I say sad?

I am so proud of the hubs today! Today he was advanced to Petty Officer 1st Class, and I got to pin him. I don’t have any pictures right now of the ceremony, but will hopefully have some later. He has been waiting for awhile for this and it’s a really great thing for him, and for us as a family. But with all great things come some not so great things. Because of his advancement, he is now considered Senior Enlisted and is going to be short toured, so yes, even though we haven’t even been here a year yet, we will be moving again.

It’s so funny, no one, and I mean no one saw this coming. Even his superiors told him they didn’t think it would happen, we just got here, another IT1 in the shop is leaving and they have had an over abundance of IT1’s in the past. So it was thought that we would be staying here. But nope, we’re not. It sucks. It messes up a lot of plans. I can’t do any of the weddings I had planned on doing, and I also can’t enroll into school here, plus our savings plan just got shot down the drain (which is a huge finaical hit). So it just really sucks. We don’t know where we are going yet(there is one option, but we are praying that it’s not it!) and the uncertainty of it all is killing me. I am a planner, I need to plan and knowing that there is something that needs to be planned out, but not being able to do it is torture!

Of course, there is also the issue that we most likely will not be within driving distance to our family and that is devastating to us. I know that it comes with the territory of being a military family, but we never thought that we would have no choice but to go so far away. Normally during a regular PCS you get options, and generally there are a lot of them within a reasonable distance to our families…. But this time it’s not the case and I just can’t fathom it yet. I am going to hate those good byes. There is going to be so much that we are going to miss with our nieces and nephews and our parents and siblings. And there is going to be even more that they are going to miss with our children. It’s just heartbreaking to think about. Damnit, now I want to cry again.

*Sigh* maybe there will be a miracle and we will get to stay…. There I go again, being that eternal optimist.

finally!

We had Everleigh’s ears pierced last Friday, and OMG – too freakin cute! I have wanted to get her ears pierced since we have known she was a she! Yes, I have been looking forward to it for that long! We tried to do it when she was 6 weeks old, but she was just too tiny, they didn’t feel her earring placement would be right, and then we tried at 3 months and again, her ears were just too tiny!

So we went back in on Friday and the piercing guy finally said yes! Whoo hoo – happy dance! E held her, because he has bigger hands to hold down little wiggly babies and then the piercer did his thing (we went to a Tattoo and Piercing shop) and it was all over in about 2 minutes. She was definitely unhappy at first, but as soon as they were done and she was back in my arms she was just fine – and we haven’t had any trouble with them! She doesn’t even notice them, which I am so thankful for. I cannot wait until they heal and I can start changing them out to match her outfits, lol… yes I am that mother – so what? ;P

It was a little entertaining to see cute small little Baby Goo right next to the big, bad-ass tattooed guy, and it was even more entertaining to watch him look a little sad and upset at having made her cry! I thought he might almost cry, lol. Yep, I am one mean momma for finding that amusing, but ph well – what can you do?

Oh another note – that night was not all rainbows and sunshine. For the first time ever we had to leave a restaurant because Sawyer was misbehaving soooooo badly. It was mortifying and we didn’t want to ruin dinner for everyone else around us. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later now that he is in the full-blown terrible 2’s phase, but it was still embarrassing! I am sure they were all glad to see us go,lol. I think it was another rite of passage for us as parents of a toddler, but I sincerely hope it’s a one time thing… probably not, but I am an eternal optimist!

Here is the Baby Goo when her new bling in her ears!

a little introduction...

Hmmm, well I think that I should do a little post about moi, don’t you agree? Kind of a “get to know me” kind of thing that is slightly more elaborate then the blurb on the right side of this page… Let’s see now, I am Tasia, I am married to Edward, I have 2 little ones – Sawyer and Everleigh. Sawyer is 2 and Everleigh is just a little over 4 months. We have 3 furbabies. Penny, Bella and Diesel. I am a SAHM as well as a Florist that works from home. Edward is a Petty Office 2nd Class in the Coast Guard. I am a Sagittarius, he is a Pieces… and I really don’t know what those signs mean to each other, but I thought I would throw that in there!

I am originally from Northern California, since being married to Edward I have also lived in Key West FL, Portland OR, and now the Bay Area. I love animals, shoes, shopping, books, flowers, home decorating, crafting, camping, four-wheeling, riding horses, rollercoaster’s, theme parks, museums, mountains… the list could go on! I consider myself a fairly well rounded individual and am interested in a variety of things. I have a few funny little quirks though. I am a very picky eater, I prefer grey cloudy days to the sunshine, I would rather be cold then hot, I wear black more than any other color, I am obsessed with Harry Potter, I like nighttime better than daytime and I occasionally snort when laughing… shut UP! Don’t say a word about it ;)

I think that’s enough about me for now… stay tuned for more “meisms” in the future!

a new endeavor

Hmmm, well it’s four something in the morning and I had this bright idea that I should give blogging a try. I think that this blog is going to have a little of everything in it. Things about me, things about my family, things I love, things I find interesting, things that I do, ect… Hopefully it will prove somewhat entertaining for those that choose to read it, and if it doesn’t, well, I guess that’s too bad for you! Ha! Just kidding…well maybe just a little, anyways… I really am going to give this a sincere effort. I am going to set myself a goal of at least 1 blog post a week. I think it’s a good, and safe goal to start with as I ease myself into the wide and wonderful world of blogging.

That’s all for tonight (or should I say morning?) seeing as I have a little lady next to me that seems like she might be finally drifting off to her little dreamland. So have a wonderful night, day, whatever you prefer… au revoir!