Thank you all!
Code, I will defnitely have LOTS of new shots - flower and garden festival starts the day we arrive, and I'll be breaking in all the new stuff. It killed me to spend so much on that one lens, but I didn't like what I was reading about the Sigma (and seeing) and didn't like the build and the AF speed of the Tamron. I had X-dollars set aside for the whole purchase, so even though the Sony lens put me just over my budget, I'm not nearly as afraid that I wil regret it in a year (or 2 weeks).
Congratulations, Polkadotminnie!