I have been so overdue with this post, but lots of terrific things have been happening. My amazing husband came home for Christmas and, that, as you know is always magical. The kids too were so thrilled to have daddy home to celebrate with us. We felt very blessed!  Even though Christmas was spent away from our loved ones and dear friends back East, we celebrated this season with many of our Coast Guard family members who filled our home with love and warmth.

Through early December I had been so extremely busy, and my husband consequently was once he came home. He had just returned home from deployment and still gave 110% to help me make these deliveries happen.

Happily, my husband and I both became Operation Homefront volunteers last year. As a result of that, I also got my nonprofit organization involved in helping them with the Toy Platoon Campaign and that kept us both really busy. My house and home office practically turned into the North Pole!

For the past three years, Operation Homefront has joined forces with Dollar Tree stores around the country to accept donations from local communities for holiday toys for military kids. I jumped right on board once I found out about it and involved my organization, Coast Guard Family Organization, Inc., in the mix collecting stockings and connecting with our area’s units to distribute the stockings. Because of this, I signed up to be the regional toy distributor with Operation Homefront and my darling husband tagged right along with me.

I was blown away by the amount of toys collected. At one point, I was counting each individual toy, but that just became insane as there were thousands. Sure, some might think that donating a dollar toy is not much, but it really says a lot. In this economy, when folks are hanging on to each and every dollar, it is inspiring when they opt to give it away for the sake of a military child. Toy donations were distributed to mostly children coming from junior military families. Because of that, I was in awe when many of the folks reaching out to me and my organization to support the effort where junior military families themselves. They just thought it was right to give back. That is the incredible thing about our Nation’s military families. As many of you know, so often they/we are the ones giving so much of our time, talents and donations because it is natural to us.

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Shawn Eggert

The Coast Guard did a PR write up on the effort and the local newspaper also published it. All of a sudden, people started calling me and coming out of the woodwork to help. The Coast Guard Exchange donated helicopter toys, and I even had one remarkably generous lady call me up to donate cash, clothing and toys for a military family. She thought I would know best where to share her donations. I can tell you the family that did receive her donations were over the moon and so moved by her generosity. Likewise, each and every military unit my husband and I delivered toys to was more than appreciative. The Coast Guard is often left out of things and it was nice to let them know that they too are not forgotten. Can you believe, we delivered enough toys for at least 400 military families?

I will say though, that one delivery in particular more than warmed heart, and I will never forget it.

It was a Friday afternoon and I connected with a Captain at the local National Guard base. We made arrangements for the delivery of toys and my three cute little elves and I loaded ourselves up in the van amidst seven large boxes filled to the brim with stocking stuffers. We were a wee bit crowded, but managed to drive safely to the base feeling much like Santa’s sleigh.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by about six camo-clad soldiers. They were super sweet to my kids, and they amazed us all with their swift work. It never ceases to astound me how our military super heroes get the job done in a split second with efficient expedience. Before I knew it all of the boxes, carrying over 1,000 toys, were in the auditorium. The Captain thanked me for the donations and to express appreciation to all those involved. The Captain asked a bit about my organization and took my business card. All the soldiers nodded in appreciation and said thanks in unison. It was a great feeling. They sacrifice so much and they deserved these gifts for their children and so much more.

Then, one soldier leaned forwarded with his hand extended. I reached out and he held my hand tightly for quite a spell. He had a glimmer of a tear in his eye and said to me, “Thank you. This means so much.” I almost lost it right there in the auditorium. I mustered something that I still cannot even remember. I managed to maintain my composure and bid them all a Merry Christmas before I left the building.

I scrambled into my van and the tears started flowing.

At that moment, I felt like I was I in a Lifetime movie.

My oldest daughter asked me, “Mommy, what’s wrong.” I smiled and explained that I was happy and that we just did an amazing thing. I glowed the whole way back home and knew that each effort to support our military, no matter how big or small it might be, is appreciated. I had already known that; but that day, my commitment to helping military members, spouses and families was reaffirmed in a big way.

This past Christmas was the most joyous season yet for me. It was filled with moments of true happiness because it truly is better to give than receive.

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My husband has been home from his third deployment for six months now. In the past this usually would mean that we were getting ready for our next deployment. He was home for 365 days between deployment one and two. And was home for 15 months between deployment two and three. However, his unit deployed earlier than that so I felt like we were already in the “getting ready for deployment mode” by this point as well. This time, the next deployment seems pretty far away. At least from my point of view. The unit is not in serious training mode, we aren’t having FRG meetings about what to expect, we aren’t being asked to work out the details that you need to work out before someone deploys. He has been home for six whole months and we are not in “pre-deployment” mode. And that is amazing to me.

It is a weird feeling, but I like it. I like that the next deployment is far enough away that we can enjoy this time together. I like that I am not forced to think about the next deployment so soon. I am glad that when I look at my little boys I don’t think that they will be having to say goodbye to Daddy so soon.

I also catch myself. It is different when they are home and you aren’t planning for a deployment. They go to work, they come home and for a short period of time life is almost like it was before he joined. There will be schools and trainings ahead. There will be nights apart. But in the near future I do not have to ready myself for a long deployment. I do worry that this time together will go by very quickly. That before we know it I will be going to FRG meetings about how to prepare for a deployment, that he will be packing his deployment bags again and that we will all have to get ready to say goodbye. For now I am going to enjoy this time together. I am going to cherish it because it feels amazing that we get to feel more like a normal family for a little bit longer than we have in the past.

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I posted about our plans to stay home during the holidays and start new traditions. We did just that and we really enjoyed our Christmas together! Needless to say there were many moments where we all missed the big family gathering that was taking place back home, but cousins with new cell phones helped my kids feel closer. There was lots of tween texting going on around here! Our “home” phone is a cell phone that the kids can use, so they loved being able to communicate to their cousins all day Christmas day and the following week as everyone was still together. It helped them feel a little closer to the fun that was happening back home. My husband had a 4 day weekend for Christmas, so we promised each other that our only outings the whole weekend were going to be to the Wawa that is around the corner. If you don’t know what Wawa is, then I’m sorry! They are my new favorite gas station. Not that we get much gas there, but the coffee bar is delightful as is the amazing deli area.

Oh and don’t get me started on their Pretzels!!

We enjoyed 4 days of home cooking as well as Wawa coffee, soft pretzels, donuts, and subs.

We didn’t just eat those 4 days, we played board games (Ticket to Ride among the games), and watched movies!

The kids loved playing on the playground with the other neighborhood kids who were around for Christmas. Since there weren’t a ton of kids around, my kids formed some neat friendships with the other kids who were around that weekend. Now that we’re a few weeks removed from Christmas I can say we did just fine! There were moments where my husband was my hero and reminded me that we would be just fine even though everyone was together somewhere else, and for that I’ll be forever grateful! We made one more milestone as a military family, our first holiday season away from home!

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The New Year’s Holiday has come and gone. Have your resolutions gone already too? Or, did you set any at all?

I am a big believer in setting achievable goals, and then breaking them down into manageable tasks. (I learned a lot about goal setting from Money Saving Mom.) By achievable, I don’t mean you should keep your goals small. Instead, I mean the goal should be concrete. It should be clear whether or not you’ve achieved it successfully. Instead of stating a general idea like, “I will work out this year,” say something more concrete and measurable like, “I will do a fat-burning workout for at least 30 minutes, three times a week.” That you can measure. That you can actually achieve.

Setting goals can be a daunting task though. I think we should all set goals to keep us progressing forward, always bettering ourselves, especially in regards to health and happiness. But where do you start?

Think first about what you want in life. What weighs you down? What worries you? What do you dream about? Spend some quiet time thinking along those lines, and just jotting down notes as you go. What, you have no quiet time? Well there you go – goal #1! Carve out 30 minutes of quiet time every week!

Once you’ve got some rough ideas, review them, and pick a few that resonate most with you. I like to have at least one big challenge, and a few easier to manage goals. Pick your top contenders, the ones that will have the most impact on your life, and then rewrite them in the way described above – a way that is specific and measurable.

You can work with your notes, or you can pretty things up with goal worksheets. I used this Free Master Goal List Printable to list my goals in each area I’m working on this year – health/happiness, financial, volunteer work, doggy parenting, etc. I like to have things look organized and appealing. It’s more motivating to me. A Google search will produce lots of goal worksheets, so you can find one you really like.

Once you have your goals listed out, it’s time to break them down into tasks or steps. Again, these should be clear and precise. They should be easy to check off at completion, because they are definitely done. I use another Free Goal Worksheet Printable for this step.

Using the fat burning workout example above, you could break that down into a few steps. It might look something like this:

In 2012, I will do a fat burning workout for at least 30 minutes, 3 times a week.

1. Join Gym. (Or get tour of gym and learn how to use the machines.)
2. Buy a pedometer.
3. Map out 2 mile walking routes in safe areas using an online map program.
4. Write the workouts into the calendar, and set up reminder alerts on phone.
5. Walk the 2 mile routes, working up to a 4 mph per hour pace, to be able to finish 2 miles in 30 minutes.
6. Start and maintain an online exercise journal to track progress.
7. Check in at the end of each month to tally workouts, and plan for the coming month’s workouts.

Now comes the fun part – the reward! Decide your end date for your goal, and a reward if you’ve met it. For this example, I would set the first end date for March 31st, knowing I intend to go all year, but giving myself a shorter measuring period to keep it from feeling overwhelming. If this was my personal goal, I would reward myself with new workout clothes for Spring, to keep me motivated towards the end goal of keeping up the workouts all year.

Since I track goals in multiple areas, I like to fill out one master sheet per area, and one worksheet per goal listed on the master sheet. I keep them all in a binder, for easy reference, accountability, and motivation. And then I blog about it! One of the biggest keys to success is sharing your goals. Once you speak them out loud, or write them to share, you breath life into them. You make them real, and because others know about them, you want to achieve them even more. If you tell the right people – supportive, positive people – they will help you achieve them. And with some goals, especially where health is concerned, you can really use all the help you can get.

Want to know about my personal health and happiness goals for 2012? I’ll share them with you, and make it more likely that I’ll achieve them:

1. Bring my A1C below 6. (I’m Diabetic, and this test measures my average blood sugar levels over a 3 month period.)
2. Complete three half marathons. (There are a lot of small tasks to achieve for this one! And some not so small tasks, too.)
3. Take at least 1 class per week from another yoga teacher, in the studio. (Lately, I’ve been teaching more than I’ve been learning.)
4. Meditate for at least five minutes a day, every day. No matter what.
5. Take swimming lessons from the hubster once a month (when he’s home). (I’m trying to learn to swim laps for exercise, and spend more time with him as well.)

My diabetic goal and my running goal are a little bit overwhelming. But by making them measurable, and by identifying several different tasks within each goal to break them down, they become much more feasible. I know I can do it!

If you’d like to read more about my personal goals, you can check out my post on my Volunteer Goals, or my post on my Financial Goals. Money Saving Mom has a wealth of posts about goal setting, and she also shares her goal progress every month, which always reminds me to check in with my own goals. In any area of life, a little bit of time spent on the web leads you to a wealth of resources and support. Look for motivation, not excuses. No matter what your goals, you are not alone in them. Identify them, write them down, say them out loud, share them, and work on them! And then come tell me about your success.

Happy (healthier and happier) New Year!

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U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher Warren, with Detachment 4, Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 37, drops his helmet and runs to greet his wife in Kaneohe, Hawaii, on Dec. 1, 2011.

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Welcome Home!!

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Ciao, amicos!

The last time I wrote I talked about the transition from career woman to milspouse and how it was anything but easy. However, I’ve always enjoyed a challenge (well, cried through it but appreciate the outcome) and am up for this one as well. By all means I feel like an awful, miserable person when I complain about anything seeing that I am married to my absolute best friend and we live in Italy. I always think to myself the advice I would give me if I were back home reading one sad blog post after another. The advice would be simple: Get it together, woman!

Something New: Visiting a castle about 20 minutes from home!

That piece of advice is basically what my girlfriend from college gave me last month when she suggested I try something new once a week. Take a class, make a craft, learn a trade – just as long as I was doing something. Every week since I last posted I have done exactly that… tried new recipes, new hair dos, even bought a diddy or two for the living room to make it fancy. I’ve dubbed it the Something New Challenge on my blog and I plan to stick to it for, well, the rest of my life. Trying ‘something new’ is anything but a ‘new’ concept and doing so only once a week is hardly a challenge. It’s a big world we live in and currently I live in Italy but my time here is limited, so I might as well try every cappuccino from here to Sicily. Right?

All of this being said there is still a very huge void in my life – even with all the new things I’m trying. As beautiful as Italy is and as happy as I am in my marriage, there is a part of me that I am not ready to lay down to rest just yet. I have been working with college students since I was one and have been lucky enough to find my passion early in life. I’ve spent the past few months trying to reinvent myself and find a new passion because working with college students isn’t so easy on an overseas military base. However, I feel like I’ve trimmed one too many sides off of my puzzle piece to make it fit… I am an educator. I am an aspiring counselor. Yes, I am a military wife as well but that is not all of me. I won’t deny the military side of my life, but I am exhausted trying to forget the career part of myself and won’t do it anymore. Sure, I’ll get burnt out calling the schools on base (again) and being turned down (again), but I figure if they know my name well enough and a position becomes available within the next 3 years – they’ll know who to call.

What about you? Have you struggled getting a job after becoming a military wife? Or rather, not just a “job” but something you loved doing? Did you have a career before getting married? How have you coped?

For more on my personal life and the Something New Challenge, visit my blog at: www.tessatauschek.blogspot.com

PS. Can you believe its December already? In 20 days I’ll have been a married woman for an entire YEAR! We will be celebrating in Verona and I’ll be sure to post some pictures for you shortly after.

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Military spouses often find themselves going to work for themselves for many reasons—mostly because it means having a steady job that’s portable and that can give you the time off when needed for homecomings, PCSing, and family events. But if you’re starting a business, you may find yourself asking, “What is a brand?” and “How can it help my business?”. This video does a great job explaining what is a brand, click to watch:

What is Brand Anyways? from Urban Influence on Vimeo.

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Meet the Dow’s, Gina and Phil, our selection for the Home Depot’s Foundation GiveGood Campaign.

It was so hard to pick just one family in need. Our wounded warriors and disabled veterans are quiet about their experiences and what they have seen. Although the Dow’s submission and story was short, we felt a strong connection to their story.

Part of their story:

Phil Dow is a disabled veteran who served two tours in Iraq with the US Army. During his combat service Phil, an Army tanker, earned a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal and other awards. Phil was injured from a vehicle bomb in Iraq and had multiple surgeries and recovered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Despite all that he has been through he considers it a great honor to serve our country.

Phil has since been discharged from active duty, but continues his commitment to our military by serving in the Massachusetts National Guard.

The Dow’s now have three small children and could use some help converting their expensive oil heating system to gas, or replacing old, drafty windows or vinyl siding that is in disrepair.

Our selected military family will now be entered for a chance to have Home Depot fulfill their “Wish List” of home improvements up to a retail value of $20,000.

“Items on the “wish list” are things that will make a real difference in the long term efficiency and comfort of the family’s home, including things like a new HVAC system, new carpet, a new roof and new windows. The winning family will be determined by votes on a Facebook application on The Home Depot page Nov. 29-Dec. 9 and announced on Dec. 14.“

From the Home Depot Foundation, “We hope that with everyone who votes for a family, reads a blog post, sees a tweet or even just hears about the program is inspired to Give the Gift of Good in their local communities and keep the chain going.”

We delivered $250 of Home Depot holiday decorations and a leaf blower last Saturday. We are in New England home to one of the most beautiful places for fall foliage. That is also code for A LOT of leaves fall here.

We then presented them with a $250 gift card to towards a snow thrower or other needed item(s).

To learn more about this inspiring military veteran family and to vote for them in the $20,000 Wish List of home improvements please visit the Home Depot Facebook page. http://thd.co/uJJuS5

From the Home Depot page:

“VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FAMILY AND HELP THEM WIN $20,000 WORTH OF HOME DEPOT HOME SERVICES! ONE VOTE PER PERSON PER 24 HOUR PERIOD; VOTING CONCLUDES DEC. 9 AT 11:59 PM EST.”

The Home Depot store in our neighborhood where we shopped for the Dow family.

Thank you Home Depot Foundation for all you do to support military families!

Another thank you to MilitaryAvenue.com our partner in finding a military family in the New England area.

Related post:

http://mymilitarylife.com/2011/11/14/giving-good-and-20000-to-help-a-military-family/

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GROTON, Conn. (Nov. 11, 2011) The Los Angeles attack submarine USS Springfield (SSN 761) makes her way through the fog to return to homeport at Submarine Base New London. Springfield returned from a scheduled six-month deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by John Narewski/Released)

Welcome Home to the Sailors of the USS Springfield (SSN 761)!

You can find more photos here and here.

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I’m so excited I can barely write this post!!

I’m usually not known for my curb appeal abilities. I can plant a flower in a pot and make it look pretty amazing, but when it comes to flower beds and using power tools I’m usually sipping lemonade by that point. All that changed this past Thursday when I was honored to be invited to participate in Home Depot’s Celebration of Service with Quest 35, who were building a section of housing exclusively for homeless veterans.  Celebration of Service is a major campaign by The Home Depot and The Home Depot Foundation to enhance the lives of U.S. military veterans and to highlight the needs and opportunities they face.  From September 11 through November 11, The Home Depot Foundation committed over 9 million dollars and over 200 projects dedicated to veterans’ housing issues, the Project on 11-11-11, being the grand finale!

We spent five hours improving the community outdoor spaces. This is the BEFORE of our landscaping project.

Next we gathered mums, plants, dirt, mulch and got to work!

After a couple of hours and many hands, this is our finished project!

Ready to get to work!

As part of this giving spirit, Home Depot Foundation has created the Give the Gift of Good campaign (#give good). It is their way of giving back to the local community, “paying forward” this philosophy by encouraging others to give the gift of helping others this holiday season.

The Home Depot Foundation surprised us nine bloggers, both milbloggers and DIY, with the opportunity to Give the Gift of Good in our own communities by giving us EACH a $500 Home Depot gift card to purchase holiday decorations for a local military family in need.

That’s not even the best part.

This is when tears started to flow!

These selected military families would also be entered for a chance to have Home Depot fulfill their “Wish List” of home improvements up to a retail value of $20,000.

“Items on the “wish list” are things that will make a real difference in the long term efficiency and comfort of the family’s home, including things like a new HVAC system, new carpet, a new roof and new windows. The winning family will be determined by votes on a Facebook application on The Home Depot page Nov. 29-Dec. 9 and announced on Dec. 14.“

From the Home Depot Foundation, “We hope that with everyone who votes for a family, reads a blog post, sees a tweet or even just hears about the program is inspired to Give the Gift of Good in their local communities and keep the chain going.”

So, beginning today all us bloggers are asking Americans in our local communities to help us find a deserving military family.

MyMilitaryLife.com will select a military family in the Northeast Connecticut area.

The contest is open to anyone currently serving (Active Duty, National Guard or Reserves) in any branch of the United States Military or anyone who is a Veteran, including Wounded Warriors. (You must have proof of service.) Also, the military family must own their own home.

How can you help?

Help spread the word and submit a military family, or nominate your military family!

You’ll want to include: A compelling story and a few photos: one of the family and few of the home areas needing improvement.

Send submissions and nominations to GiveGood@mymilitarylife.com Subject: HOME DEPOT GIVE GOOD. Submissions must be sent by Sunday, November 20th, at Midnight Eastern Time. MyMilitaryLife.com will choose one winner to submit as our nomination for the $20,000 Give Good Contest. The nominated family will be confirmed via email on November 28.

Thank you in advance for your help in getting the word out. Since we only have a week, PLEASE send your submissions or nominations asap!

It’s a great honor to partner with the Home Depot Foundation on this campaign.

Bloggers also participating:

Give Good Knoxville – Wife of a Wounded Soldier

Give Good Pensacola/Mobile – Being the Wife (Widow) of a Wounded Marine

Give Good Montgomery – Perfectly Imperfect

Give Good Northern California – Centsational Girl

Once I see the blog posts up on the other cities, I will update this post here.

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Thank you Home Depot and Home Depot Foundation for all you do to support military families!

Coming Soon – Give Good Part 2 – Benches!

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