The coveted title of Stay at home MOM!!

It is finally my greatest privilege to say i am a stay at home mom. After months of Tony pounding the pavement looking for a job that he felt satisfied what he was looking for in a career paving job he was hired on with Borat Longyear as a driller helper. This called for lots of huge changes for our small three person, two dog family. Here is the brief story of California to Nevada.





On April 17th Tony packed up and went to Elko, Nevada for a week of training while Titan and Mommy stayed in California. After about the fourth day of training I got a phone call from my husband telling me to pack up and quit my job because as apposed to what we had planned he wanted me and the baby to join him asap. So we packed up and put our things in storage and took off to Elko. A 6 hour car ride with a small child is not my idea of fun but we made it to Elko safe and sound. We stayed in a hotel in Elko while I looked for a place to live and Tony went to work. After days of being shot down due to us having dogs, as well as the housing shortage I began to worry about where we would live. We headed back to California on Tony's days off so we did not have to pay to stay in a hotel. We came back to Elko after a few days off and then were hit with the news that we were going to Winnemucca because Tony was being transferred to a different rig and now working a totally different shift.

We drove the four hours to Winnemucca and then Tony finds out we are actually going to be in lovelock which is about an hour away. So we get back in the car and head to Lovelock. I was in charge of finding a hotel for us to stay at for a good deal. We ended up at the Sturgeon's Casino and Inn. We stayed there for two weeks and after much debate and continues denial for homes I really began to freak out. I spoke with family members we decided that Reno was going to be the best option for finding a place to call home. I found an apartment and we moved in on the few days off Tony had.

Here we are in Reno, Titan, I and the dogs stay here while Tony goes back and forth to Winnemucca and where ever else he has to travel too. Being apart so much is sad and hard we visit Tony a few times out of each hitch. This first one was 8 days long and we made the two hour drive to Winnemucca twice to have breakfast with Tony. He comes home hopefully tomorrow if they reach their drill mark tonight. He has four days off then he is off to Tonopah for fifteen days. Making the drive to visit daddy with be a four hour drive this time, not my favorite but so much better than 6 hours.

We are going to be staying in Reno for at least a year or so unless Tony gets transferred back to Elko. These big changes have served but some seriously harsh growing pains for me and even more so for Tony. He is on his own and taking care of himself something he has never done. However, he is providing a beautiful home from his family and the chance of a lifetime for a wife who is forever grateful for my hubby giving me the biggest gift. Letting me stay home with Titan and spending this wonderful time with him. I do miss my husband and wish we was home at night so we could have dinner as a family and spend the night in the same bed, until things are different we will make the best of all the time we have together and hope one day we will spend more time together and less time apart.

Decorate for less

Ok, I will admit it. Madison has become my blogging hero. I look forward to each and everyone of her posts. She has great ideas, funny stories. Not to mention some of the cutest baby pictures of little Easton. So after reading her last post I got an idea. She was talking about ways to shake up your home, wardrobe, etc. for cheap. I recently heard about a company called Uppercase Living. My cousin is a consultant for the company and as a wedding gift presented my husband and myself with the missing half to our phrase "All because two people fell in love . . ." ". . .And they lived happily ever after" (see below)


After hearing my cousin so enthusiastically tell me all about her newest passion, I just had to take a look for myself. Not to get too into detail but, after you view their catalog of great sayings and embellishes take a look at MyDesign Suite. You can customize your own creation. I have an uncommon last name and with their custom designer I was able to create a sign with our last name on it. Two of my cousins have decorated their children rooms with their names on the wall, again names that are rare or spelled just a little differently. Take the plunge and have a look. I inserted a link to the website below and you can make your own opinion. Should you chose to order plug my name for the referral, lol. Ladies as always thank you for your time and happy decorating.

http://joleen.uppercaseliving.net/Home.m

Easter and pictures

Grandma Conti on Easter/ Birthday 2009


Bubba getting into the pancake mix after I made blueberry and almond pancakes and me and the bubba do

Tony and Mikey the day, Mikey left for AZ. (Mikey is Tony's little brother)

Tony and I Easter 2009 at Grandma and Grandpa Conti's

Update on tax money

So we decided no puppy and we are going to try to get a matress instead. We took out our borken box spring last night so the matress is on the floor now. Tony's car needs some repair and another puppy though wanted is not needed. We needed to be pratical. And that money would go alot faster then we thought. I got my federal back already and when that was gone in a weekend I went whooooooaaaaaa we need to be careful because just as everyone tells me once you splurge life throws you a curve ball. One day we may be able to splurge more but for now tight belts and have faith that things will be great!

Us leaving the folsom outlets this saturday it was so pretty outside I just wanted to enjoy the day!

What to do with the tax money

So Since this is Tony's first year of filing he got a pretty big tax return. I got a pretty good one for me as well since I was only working for the law firm for 7 months and did not make much during the summer when I was doing massage full time. So we have been wanting to get a chihuahua for the longest time to add to our little doggie family. I want a girl since I live with all boys. And Tony's mother kept Tony's Chihuahua Lucky who has never been fixed, so his mom was asking that if we get a girl can we mate her with Lucky and then she would like a puppy. We can either keep the rest and have an little army of doggies or sell them. So I have been on the hunt for a girl that is not too expensive my max price I will pay would be $350, if you know anything about buying purebred small dogs that is really hard to find. So while no luck just yet in finding one yet I will not give up. Tony would rather have a boy, I said NO, so he came to me with the compromise. He changed up his supplements this month and is saving us about $180 and with the refunds we are getting we are going to be doing really well this month. I got another raise and he is looking at getting a second job. Sooooo he asked if we could get a girl for me and a boy form him. Since we have to larger and rather rough boys already when neither of us is home the new puppy would need to be crated for her own safety until she learns how to run and hid from the bigger boys. So get this Tony pulls the since she will be all alone if we get another boy they can keep each other company!!! HA! I could not believe it, but me loving doggies more than I should said hey if we can snag both for $350 then sure. I asked him what his max price was for them he said $500 before he would get upset about the costs.

Another thing we desperately need is a new bed, our box spring is broken and the mattress is a walmart bed in a box that I bought two years ago. Needless to say we need a new bed with the two boys already we need a king size because both dogs sleep in the bed with us. Bubba is a 75 lb Lab and Blaze is a 50 lbs Scottie mix. Tony is 5' 9" and 217 lbs I am 5' 3" and 178 lbs (cant believe I just admitted to that, lol) So you can imagine there is not a lot of room to sleep comfortably. Tony found a deal in the local adds for a kind size bed for $700 and change with zero % apr for 36 months. That is an amazing deal!!! As I am sure most of you know buying a new bed and a large one at that is expensive sometimes you can get a car for cheaper. lol.

So the debate is what do we do . . . we could afford to do all three or just two of the three or just one. First instinct is in this economy to take the money and bury it in the backyard, lol. But I will say if we do all three then we need to save something even if it is just a little bit. I am betting on the fact that not everything will fall into place as easily as finding all three for the prices we will pay, so I think fate will have a hand in how it works out. But we have been keeping things pretty tight we do not usually go out nor do we take trips to save a little here and there, so do we treat ourselves since we have not really done so in a while or do we get really practical???

new home

So all the boxes are unpacked and the house is clean. I have never been known for being very domesticated. Mainly in the cooking department however, I love the new challenge. Tony does not make it much of a challenge considering his diet consists of mostly chicken and salad. But it has been an adventure

I have a few pictures of the place and please excuse the laundry in a few we had a bit of a backlog to do when we moved in.


So we have been in our new place for a whole week. When I was driving into the complex last friday and saw a moving van and just laughed to myself. Thinking of the previous weekend with the boxes and the soar back from lifting stuff. I then drove up to our new apartment and looked around with a feeling of total satisfaction. We were home.





And the last photo is of the ring, Which has a very sentimental story to it. It was the ring my grandfather gave to my grandmother for their 35 wedding anniversary. Their marriage and their love is only one that Tony and I hope to share. I remember growing up and listening to my grandmother tell me the stories of this man, this amazing man who loved her more then anything in the world. After two weeks of meeting her he asked her to marry him then two months later they werer married, 9 months after they were married they welcomed this first baby. Tony and I were engaged rather quickly not as quickly as two weeks but quick none the less. My mother gave me this ring to use and with it her blessing. I am truly blessed and hope that my grandmother would be proud! I am making him buy the cow grandma!! lol

our new home

yes we finally found an apartment an we are moving this weekend. I will be taking pictures as we set up and enjoy the beginning of the rest of our lives. . .

New Beginnings

We are off to find our home. When you have wondered for years looking for that thing that was missing in your life. Having almost given up all hope you would ever find it, God finds a way to place love back in your life and gives you the courage to find your heart no matter how deep you burred it inside yourself. You find that you can open doors you once thought would never see the light of day. Smiling for no reason and ready to take on anything that comes your way cause you know that there will be someone by your side to help you carry the load and find your way through the darkness. Love is a beautiful thing and with faith and trust it can help you tackle any obstacles life lays in your path.