Living on a Military Installation is a lot like being....

Retired.

You heard me right. We've been in our new home for about a month and we're slowly adjusting to life on post. But to admit that it feels like we live in a retirement community is almost embarrassing, but so true.
I had posted a picture on FB of my son, Chris giving the D.A.R.E. mascot a high-five at a USO dinner we attended the first week we were here.My cousin Liz, said that "I think you live on a resort instead of an Army base!" Almost, but not really. We have a lot of similarities to a retirement community here at the Big Red One. Some "perks" include:

A Gated community with 24/7 Security
Golf course and Driving Range
Neighborhood pools
Shopping-PX, Mini Mall, Shoppettes or the Commissary
Fine Dining-Food Courts at the Mini Mall, Burger King,
Pizza Hut & a Starbucks
Speed Limit 30 mph and under enforced
Fitness centers and gyms
Social Clubs
Arts & Crafts
Sports Leagues
Bowling Alley
Theater
Houses of Worship
Dry Cleaning Services
Barber Shops on every corner
Hair Salon & Spa
Private Hospital and multiple Medical & Dental Clinics
Special Events at our conference center
and of course the BINGO Hall!

Yep, I'm not even 30 and I'm retired. I spend my days crafting, reading books, spending time with my family, knitting, cooking, bike riding, walking the neighborhood (which reminds me to get an awesome track suit to wear) and peering out my door wondering why the MP's are down the street at the neighbor's house. As shameful as I am to admit this, I'm enjoying retirement. :D

So I just saw another doppelgänger…

Have you ever seen How I Met Your Mother? You know that hilarious sitcom on CBS. They’ve all seen each others Doppelgänger, have you seen yours? What is a Doppelgänger, you might ask? Well……

Doppelgänger (from Wikipedia) -In fiction, folklore, and popular culture, a doppelgänger is a tangible double of a living person that typically represents evil. In the vernacular, the word doppelgänger has come to refer (as in German "doppelt(e)") to any double or look-alike of a person.
The word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a reflection. Doppelgängers are often perceived as a sinister form of bilocation and generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death.

So around this time last year, a craze began on Facebook with all of your friends asking: What celebrity do I look like? Hence everyone was changing their profile pic to their doppelgänger. I read a neat article on it the other day.

So far since Clay & I have been in Kansas, we’ve seen several doppelgangers in person, not just googling someone that looks like you. I find this funny because back home in NC, we never really saw anyone who looked like someone else.

Our list of “seen” Doppelgängers now includes:

Ghétto Bird & Thuggy D look-alikes... (my nephew, Jonathan and his friend, Dylon in NC) We were driving across post the other week and we see two teenagers carrying skateboards, who matched their description to a T.

The maintenance man who did some repairs at the house had to be Steve Buscemi's doppelgänger. Wow.

And Clay’s battle, Bus from Texas (but it was his female doppelgänger.) See our pictures for proof. So, if Bus were female, sporting a Mohawk and liked to dress in goth, this would be his exact Doppelgänger.

Bus (left) Clay (right)

I’ve asked before “Who do I look like?” and have never had a famous celebrity Doppelgänger of my own. But, when I worked in retail years ago, someone mistook me for this person who I looked exactly like. Weird, huh? My husband has 2 semi-famous Doppelgängers. Have you seen 8 mile? His is Cheddar Bob or the guy wearing a black beanie in the Papa Roach video “Last Resort”, but that’s the 13 years ago version.Crazy enough, I did a post last year that had a semi-famous Doppelgänger in it.

Check it out.

Hello Kansas....

Well, we've been in Kansas for almost a week.
We drove cross country and stopped in
Metropolis, Illinois to see Superman.
We saw the St. Louis Arch, too.
Living on post is different, but nice. Chris started his first day of Kindergarten. We moved in our new home.
The movers came & we unpacked.
Check out this recycling.
And we even met a few neighbors. lol Oh & some of the crazy stories from our
1100 mile road-trip are to come soon.

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….

Preparing for the move...

In preparation for the move, I really haven't been grocery shopping in a while. Other than picking up milk, bread and eggs, for the several "snowpocalypses" since Christmas, we've been living off what's in the pantry and freezers. Tonight was a realization that we had no food in our house, just random food items. This is what I had to work with:

Cabinets- A vat of butter flavored Crisco, AP flour, enough coffee to make one pot, cornstarch, baking powder,Nesquik (Chocolate or Strawberry), vinegar, S&P, cocoa. Pop-tarts, grits, popcorn, oatmeal, fake potatoes,
miscellaneous canned goods and pancake syrup.
Fridge- Almond milk, chocolate syrup, Cheerwine, cranberry juice, pickles, jalapeno pepper, salsa, *baking soda, eggs, 2 slices of cheese, leftover rice, Fettuccine Alfredo from lunch, organic beef broth,hot sauce, an assortment of condiments, honey butter, crushed pineapple and the brown bag has Clay's chocolate turtles from Christmas in it.
Little Freezer- ice cubes, fish sticks, cubed beef, shrimp,
half a bag of French fries, chicken nuggets, veggies, a jar of yeast
and Chris' itty-bitty Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Big Freezer-Ice pop, anyone?

*That said baking soda-not even five minutes after I took that picture, my youngest takes it out of the fridge, opens it and begins making "sandcastles" on his little table. Then he & his brother rake it off onto the floor and begin rolling in it. Good times. Hey, they did help me vacuum. :D

Chris & Ayden ate "Daddy pancakes" and pickles for dinner. (Clay makes a whole box of pancake mix at one time and then freezes them individually so the boys can have pancakes that their Daddy made anytime he's not with us. Sweet, huh?) And I had a 2 egg cheese omelet with salsa and jalapeno peppers. Yep, crazy dinner, but it was tasty. Look's like I'm going to get very creative with dinner the next few days.

Goodbye BBQ Capital of NC……

I’ve made a list of things (not people, so don’t get your panties in a wad) that I’ll miss in North Carolina, a TOP TEN if you will. Drum roll please……

10. Infinite numbers of BBQ restaurants within a 10 mile radius, all proclaiming theirs is better than the other 12 you passed on your way there. I’ll miss “The HoneyMonk” the most. Lexington is famous for its western NC-style BBQ (chopped pork with a vinegar- and tomato-based sauce, usually served on a bun).

9. Door to door salesmen or evangelistic groups knocking on my door on Saturday mornings.

8. Traffic on I-85. (Dang, I’m going to miss all the construction work at the Yadkin bridge.)

7. Mountains. From what I hear Kansas doesn’t have them.

6. The BBQ Festival-one whole day devoted to bbq pork cooked just the right way.

5. Food Lions. Yep, I’m going to miss my Food Lion shopping experiences.

4. Bojangles. Kansas doesn’t have them. :(

3. Cheerwine, available in any store: a single can, 6-pack of bottles, 2 liter, glass bottle, 12 pack, in Slushie form, and even when made into Cheerwine Cake. ($25 just to ship some to Kansas. *sigh*)

2. The shores of the North Carolina coast. The ability to drive 4-6 hours and reach the nearest beach of my choice…Carolina Beach or OBX (North or South).

1. Small towns and the people that live in them. (aka-Tyro, Reeds, & Churchland)

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.)