Heather Brooks: Way off Base

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Lovin' the List {and welcome from the Springpad blog!}

Welcome to those that came over from the Springpad Blog feature on how I use it to keep me on task! I do love how Springpad has allowed me to keep my information, to-do lists and important documents on hand on all of my electronic devices. If you are a regular Way off Base reader (and I invite you to be, if you are not!), check out the article!

I was asked in a comment on my last post what resources I use for my list making and I wanted to share my favorite resources on the web for all things moving or general task mastering. I typically don't use any source verbatim or exactly how they present it but these resources present good info that you can work out for yourself. And what better way to share those things but in a good ole' list?

Moving

Military PCS moving checklist (great for any government move!)
Real Simple Moving Checklist
Detailed blog post about moving overseas (from Life Lessons of a Military Wife)
Moving with a pet? Links and info via the USDA
Road Trip packing list (from Simple Mom*), with travel tips

** Can't recommend Tsh from Simple Mom enough...they are a family with young kids that have moved around the world (and the US) a couple of times so her website has TONS of great information on moving overseas, traveling with kids, etc.

Day-to-Day Organization

Plan of the Day/Week/Month via MoxiePear
2011 Planner printables via Creativity by Crystal
Printables, articles and other organization resources on Organizing Your Way
Menu planner/grocery list from The Project Girl

Hope those lists and resources help you plan an upcoming move (or just use the summer to get organized!) Use what format works best for you, or a combination: apps, online tools (Springpad!) or a paper notebook or journal!
What resources for moving or other big projects do you use? Any favorite websites or links you have to share? I would love to check them out!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Monday Morning

Common, a photo by June Vintage on Flickr.

When I worked, I dreaded Mondays.

(Although, in law enforcement, there was no actual "Monday" that began your week...just a technical day that began your strange rotation of days and hours that we called a "work week.")

Now, I rather look forward to the week beginning. It brings a organized schedule and a prospect of goals accomplished. The weekend and its cleaning, family chores and later bedtimes comes to an end and Monday is a reprieve. Monday is the cool down from the last game and the warm up for the next.

This week is our last in this place and the hard work of the pack out and clean up is done. The next weeks bring fun (Disney World! Road trips!) and family (we get to stay with both sets of grandparents during this time.) So, I feel like I am sitting on a bigger, theoretical Monday for our journey to Guyana. The not so fun stuff (traveling on a plane with a 3 year old and two Jack Russell Terriers top the list, closely followed by the having-to-live-in-a-hotel-when-we-get-there) is coming. But I have my calendar all written out, my to-do lists are in order, and I, like on every Monday, feel prepared.

I know that, by Wednesday or Thursday, I will be ready for the weekend. Goals and plans may have had to be altered. So, in this parallel/theoretical week, it will be right about the time that I am flying solo from one state to the other with the kid while the husband is eating out on the Navy's per diem in DC.

But that is how the week rolls sometimes, isn't it? And that is what makes me good for this "job" of "trailing spouse." I organize and plan. I write lists and take orders. But I am equally good at learning to be flexible when the time comes (although I recognize that it takes more effort to maintain that flexibility the older I become.) I can take command as easily as I understand how this (often rigid) process goes, moving via the government.

Just like I know when I write on my Monday morning meal plan that I intend on making a 3 course-dinner on Thursday, I most likely will be eating, exhausted, over a bowl of cereal. That may be how this next "week" goes before we get in Guyana. I have goals: I aim to exercise through each little move, to blog this transition, to take more pictures. Maybe it will happen, maybe I will just get an A for Effort.

But, the best things about Mondays? I will get another "beginning" at the start of next week.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Celebrating BFF's {and a giveaway!}

my morning routine!, a photo by June Vintage on Flickr.

I hated The Babysitter's Club when I was growing up....
More specifically, I liked reading the books but could not figure out for the life of me how people could be friends for so long and be that close! As a third-culture kid growing up overseas, friends came and went and the idea of life-long friends totally baffled my mind. But, as a grown up, knowing we will move in 2-3 years, I have matured in how I view the whole BFF thing...and I celebrate the friends that I have who I don't see often but still email each other when no one else "would quite understand." I celebrate the friends that I made here in such a short period of time but will forever be counted as some of my best friends. When you move often, friendship becomes something other than what it is often defined as in books and movies. But that makes it all the sweeter! Isn't friendship the best when you can be away from each other and when you are back together, it feels like no time has passed?? {and thank goodness for email, Facebook, and Skype!}

And to celebrate the best friends in our lives- a giveaway!

I fell in love with Amanda of Mrs McPorkChop Quilts a long time ago: her quilting skills, her photography, her lovely blog. And getting to "know" her online, I must say that she is one of the nicest people in the quilting/sewing world. She and her best friend, Ashleigh, started The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery to sell some of the cutest little {embroidery and quilting} patterns around.

They, so generously, have given me two patterns to {digitally} giveaway on my blog to my readers and I couldn't be more thrilled.

My favorite Frosted Pumpkin pattern is their Venti Mug Rug pattern...perfect for using up those scraps and makes great little gifts for the BFF's in your life that you love to gab with over a cuppa joe {even if it is via Skype!}. Seriously, the pattern is well written, the perfect size for someone who has never done any quilt piecing before.

The second pattern I love is this cute embroidery pattern: peanut butter and jelly BFF's! I think this would be perfect on a placemat for the kiddo! {Or as a crafty project for those older kids missing their BFF's from their last school...}

To enter, simply leave a comment with YOUR best friend comment/story. (Are you a military/foreign service spouse? Did you move away from your BFF when you were a kid? How do you stay in contact with your BFF's now? I want to know!)
Extra entry: follow this blog and leave a separate comment letting me know you are following Way off Base.
{Giveaway ends on Sunday at 9pm EST}

{And big thanks to Amanda and Ashleigh for the giveaway opportunity!}

Thursday, June 23, 2011

{Shoe} Minimalism

photo: June Vintage on Flickr.

What I am loving right now: my Kork-Ease Ava wedges..Natural color matches everything, dresses up or goes casual...perfect when living out of a suitcase and down to the bare minimum!

{PS...I just did this whole post with my new Ipad...total love fest!}
{PPS...I really need a pedicure.}

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Less is more...

{Skeldon Market, Guyana: Source}

Do you ever have a moment where you wish you were Julia Sugarbaker? You know, where you can come back with the perfect come-back, standing up for injustice or insult with eloquence and grace? I still soliloquize in my mind after these moments, knowing that I failed to respond in the correct amount of time to whatever set me off. I have had lots of these moments lately and the most have derived from comments relating to the assumed deprivation we will experience in our move to Guyana.

It is true: it is the 3^rd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. We will experience heat without the promise of constant air conditioning. Roads are supposedly few and in disrepair. Movies, malls and material things are lacking or nonexistent. There will no longer be trips to stadium-sized book stores for playtime at the train table for my son and a Grande Mocha Latte for me. No more impulse buys at Target or “Everything on Sale” sales. {And has anyone else noticed that everything is not on sale at these sales?}

But here is another truth: I am actually looking forward to these things (inconsistent air conditioning aside.) More specifically, I look forward to all the things and experiences that will fill the voids caused after removing the Targets and Starbucks from my daily routine. I hope to work in some capacity when we get there and I look forward to being a part of the humanitarian missions of the embassy, USAID or the Peace Corps going on around me. I look forward to learning how to pick out the best piece of fruit-I’ve-never-even-heard-of-yet at the farmer’s market. I can’t wait to smell the food being sold by the food carts on the street and from the open doorways of homes. Here, in America, our shopping experience is sterile and controlled. I want my senses to not be controlled by marketing but by the colors and sounds of the marketplace. What is in season? What is ripe this week? Will the lady selling her cassavas tell me her favorite recipe? Will a man at another booth sneak my son a bite of his mango? I hope so. And I venture to say that it will be these moments that will last longer in memories than the oh-so-cool-only-a-$1 junk we picked up at Target last week.

Yes, there will be many things that we will go without. In reality, thanks to the good ole’ internet, we will have access to almost anything. But when we make a purchase from Target or Amazon online, the choices and decisions will be more intentional. Yes, that means that there will be less stuff. But how much more will we be experiencing because of it?