We have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

It appears that our time in the Land of Oz will soon be over. My husband had orders dropped last month and as soon as he's finished school for his new MOS, we're moving. You heard that right. We're moving and the Army is sending us to...

Fort Drum, New York

We have about 5 months left in Kansas before we make the 1350 mile trek to upstate New York. We're excited about planning weekend trips to Canada, NYC and discovering all that New York has to offer. It's also bittersweet for us, since Kansas was our first duty station and we only have a few months to enjoy it with some great friends we've made while being stationed here. But as they say, it's never goodbye, because our paths with eventually cross again.

I'm not sure what we'll miss the most about Kansas, but this family is ready for their next adventure!

Leaving NC….

Well, we’ve said our goodbyes and we’re packed up and ready to go on this new adventure together as a family. The movers have come and packed up all of our stuff, which is the equivalent of being robbed while watching and not able to do anything except offer them water to drink.

We’ve got a few days of travel ahead of us, getting keys to the new house, enrolling Chris in school and then the fun task of unpacking and settling in to our new home. I’m doubtful that I’ll post a new piece on the blog until February. I know I promised mobile blogging, but I’ll be taking note of all the crazy adventures we’ll have on the way. So, until then….

Count Down to Kansas.....

Yep. It's January 2011, the year the Army sends our family to Kansas. I can't pack, I can't prepare, I can only wait. I took my husband to the airport on Sunday for a flight to his new duty station and here it is Wednesday and we have a house waiting for us later this month. The "Hurry Up & Wait" hasn't happened with this somewhat fast paced PCS and I'm unsure of how I feel about that. Normally I have time to prepare myself for things, but this is happening whether I like it or not. We have a time frame for moving and everything, even an address for the new house, I know which school my son will be attending and things to do within a 4 mile radius of our new home. (A bowling alley & a rollerskating rink-enough said.) <- check out that link! Oh & I about forgot to update you all on my 12 weeks of Wal-Mart cold turkey. Well....I made it 5 weeks before my youngest son had a vomit-fest in the back of our Jeep while visiting my husband in Va. I did get a really great deal on a long sleeve shirt & pair of pants for him. Anyway...I tried to stay away, but vomit overrides any "goal" that I've set for myself. So, I'll be mobile blogging in the next 2 weeks while traveling & settling into our new home. The next time you hear from me, I might be on my way to Kansas in our Wagon Queen Family Truckster.

(It's not metallic pea green, but it'll do.)

Toto...We're not going to be in NC anymore?!?!

Fear not loyal blog readers-I have not abandoned you, I just found out a few weeks ago that we will be relocating to............................KANSAS.

Yep, the "Hurry Up & Wait" is FINALLY over and we're moving to America's heartland of ruby red slippers & tornado drills. My blog posts might be few and far between in the next few months until we're all settled in. But, none the less, you will enjoy the tales of my cross country journey, the good, bad & hilarious from the east coast to the middle of America.

My feelings on the whole issue are well....how do I put this?

To put it frankly, I feel like I'm being banished to a third world country.

(You're thinking-"Seriously, she's feeling banished?!?! What the ham sandwich?") Oh, but I am! I've done my research on the area of Kansas that we will be moving to and there's NOTHING there. It's true! The closest Sam's Club is 55 miles away, 2.5 hours to the closest Whole Foods or Trader Joe's or anywhere else I do my shopping. I'm leaving behind Cheerwine (God's gift to the Carolina's, however they do ship to our new zip code), a 4 hour drive to the beaches of North or South Carolina, Southern hospitality and our family & friends.

My Mom is having a difficult time with her "baby girl" leaving (yep, I'm the youngest child), she was secretly hoping for my husband to be stationed in NC or along the east coast, but sadly we're not. We're moving 1100 miles away.

However, as in the name of the blog itself

How to Turn an Average Day Into an Adventure

that's what we are planning to do.

So, hang on and be patient, because you're going to hear tales of my family's crazy and amazing cross country adventure. But, first I'll leave you with a bit of fun from Wal-Mart.

Merry Christmas!

Here's to Going Cold Turkey on Wal*Mart Again....

My name isn't Suzanne, but it'll be awhile before I hear:

"You come back and see us, you hear!"

Last year, before I started this blog, while my husband was in BCT (basic combat training) for the Army for 10 weeks, I decided to do something very hard. I gave up Wal*Mart for 10+ weeks, from September until November of 2009. I didn't step foot into a Wally World and the one time I did with my friend Jen, her son overturned the buggy (shopping cart) and got a nasty bruise. We both left without buying anything. My life was stress-free from all the idiots you typically see there and have to deal with while waiting behind them in line.

So here I am again, avoiding Wal*Mart like the black plague. Why again, you may be asking? Well, I recently read a book called "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping" by Judith Levine. Let me tell you, I'm so glad I checked this book out from the public library instead of purchasing it. I assumed that this was a book similar in structure to Powell's book "Julie & Julia" where she cooked all the recipes out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, this book was not a guide, a story of overcoming shopping or even a how-to for the typical American family living off a combined income of less than $50,000 a year. Yes, I'd love to have two homes, have 3 vehicles, remodel my winter home and give up my caviar while living a simpler lifestyle of "not buying it", like Levine. This book was a sad disappointment for me to read all the way through and I did finish it, somehow hoping it would get better, but it didn't. Ugh. I thought to myself, that this lady has no idea about really having to "do without" or living paycheck to paycheck like most of us in the real world. Now, I admit that my family does live "comfortably" on our annual income. There are times when it's tight and times when I have extra money in my pocket. But, I am aware of necessity over want or need.

So, I decided to venture out on a limb and eliminate shopping at Wal*Mart again. Note: This has nothing to do with the Wal*Mart corporation, I'm still going to Sam's to buy Pull-ups for my son and to get my favorite bottle of wine for special occasions. This is another experiment to curve unnecessary spending.
Last year, during my 10 week sabbatical from the American superstore, I noticed that I bought only what I needed and didn't overstock on toilet paper or anything else that "seemed" like a good buy at the time. I only shopped at my local grocery store or at Target (a 45 minute trip to the closest one in my area, which limited me to shopping there every 2 weeks) for basic items and groceries. It was refreshing and my life felt less chaotic. So, I'm not trying to "not buy anything" for a year, I'm trying to stop depending on Wal*Mart so much. Think about it, you've ran out of soap or a tube of toothpaste, instead of going down the street to the drug store or grocery store, you venture across town to the dreaded supercenter. That $3.50 purchase has just turned into a $54.26 shopping blunder. A 10 pack of tube socks have recently been reduced from $7.50 to $6.95 and you needed to renew your fishing license while you were there after picking up a clearance item for a birthday gift next month, if you remember where you put it and a few other random items. All the while, you forget to get the toothpaste or soap and come home without it.

I know this has happened to me, has it happened to you?

I'm still slowly adjusting to the "less is more" theory of life and try to remember that things only fill up your living space, not your heart. Yes, I can love the orange cotton sheets that I just bought this morning at Target, but like would be a more appropriate word to use. Did I need the orange sheets? Yes and no. I've wanted orange bed sheets since last January when I started redecorating my bedroom and it's nice to have an extra set of sheets clean to put on the bed in case your 3 year old throws up in bed with you. I didn't have to buy them, but I did.

I'm really going to have to cut back my spending in the next few months and this will be the first of many steps. My family will soon be back together again after a long year of being apart (which is a long story of dealing with the "Hurry Up and Wait" challenges within the Army) and we will be doing our first PCS with the Army. It's going to be a challenge, but I'm up for it and part one is doing with out Wal*Mart until the first of the year. Then on January 1, I will be reevaluating my decision and deciding whether or not to forgo shopping there for the entire year of 2011. My only promise during this time, will be to give you (the reader) an alternative outlook on an adventure from the shoes of an average American trying to do the unimaginable.

Today is the end of week 1 of 12 weeks, wish me luck. :D

It's Going to be Like a Fat Guy in a Little Coat......

So, I just finished another wonderful book. I've been curled up on the couch the past few days reading this book I picked up at the library last week. I've read so many wonderful books lately, but this one just took me back about 50+ years to a time when things were a whole lot more simple and no day to day distractions (like Facebook or e-mail.) It was set during the pre-war era 1960's, when you called your friends and neighbors on their home phone and played bridge on Mondays at noon. Sounds like fun, but I've never played bridge, however I might want to learn. I began thinking about how our lives are cluttered with unnecessary things and appointments that we dread. I'm hoping that one day, I can live by the words:

Less is More.

I'm not sure how to exactly go about this, but I've started de-cluttering my life and have begun thinking of all the things we hang on to for memories. Simple things like decorations, art made by our little ones, things I made as a child or something that a family member made before they passed away. I'm all for keeping their memory alive, but if I accumulate much more, I'm going to need another house.

So, I'm trying to get to a place where I don't need the object for the memory. Or latch on to it, because it once belonged to a great-third-cousin twice removed who found it at a local flea market and thought it would look perfect on their mantel and willed it to me or my husband. Because in fact, we don't have a mantel to place it on. Our family is also to the point where we know it's not going to be much longer before we PCS with the Army to our duty station. Now, I know how "roomy" the base housing can be. Let's just say I'll be lucky to fit a queen bed, dresser and two nightstands in the master bedroom. It's going be like the fat guy in a little coat getting all of our stuff in there.

Where does this leave me?

With a house full of stuff that I CAN'T get rid of, because it's perfectly good and someone would throw a fit to know that I passed it along to someone else. It's just like that crystal serving dish Clay & I received 7 1/2 years ago as a wedding present that I've yet to serve from. (Well, maybe I should hang on to it, you know for the my bridge club on Mondays at noon. So, I can serve tea sandwiches and deviled eggs off of it with my silver service.) Thank God that we didn't register for fine china when we got married. I'm partial to my clear dishes and Smurf glasses for entertaining.

However, I have an idea to solve my problem. I'll just go through one room at a time and just think to myself "If this ________ was really important or useful to me, it wouldn't be in a box, under the cabinet, stuffed in the closet in the office, etc." I'm spring cleaning and it's all going. I'm going to follow my own advice.....

If I haven’t enjoyed it, seen it, touched it or worn it in the last 6 months or going to in the next 6 months, it’s gone. However, there are two exceptions to this rule: my skinny clothes in the closet and my Husband! (deployments are 12 to 15 months long) Goodbye Clutter!

~excerpt from previous blog entry: Trying to Go from Semi-Hoarder to Semi-Simple.

Just stopping by to make a purchase....

It's been an incredibly LONG week....and it's only Monday. I've had a lot going on the last few weeks...... planning Ayden's 3rd birthday, planning for my first airplane ride with the boys (solo), planning our trip to San Antonio, worrying that my husband's Fit for Duty will be scheduled before we get to Texas (that's a whole other can of worms), getting Ayden transferred to the school system for his therapy to continue after his 3rd birthday, Chris being asked to be in a friend's wedding this summer as the ring bearer and then dealing with the daily duties of a housewife. It's been crazy around here. Sometimes, I feel like I've bit off more than I can chew at times, but I'm still sane and I've been keeping up with what's going on.

Then to top this feeling of being slightly overwhelmed, Chris brought home papers in his backpack today for Kindergarten Registration. I broke down...just because he's my first child (he's gotten so big, so fast) and then I realize,

"Are we even going to be living in NC come August?"

I don't even know where to begin, other than just planning like we will be here come August. Military Installations are used to dealing with kids transferring during the school year, but will I?

So, I'm just going to stop by the paddle store before I head upstream and pray for the best. :)