My favorite Holiday movie is hands down Elf. It is such a funny, lighthearted cheery and fun movie I cannot help but smile and quote Buddy a time or two! How do you keep up that cheer and holiday spirit if you are Moving or if all of your decorations are in boxes? Check out my article over at USAA’s Military Spouse Community for tips and tricks to staying as excited about Christmas as Buddy even during a PCS!
The red cross warns..
“According to the National Fire Protection Association, cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home fire injuries. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is prime time for these accidents, since many people break out the pots and pans for the holiday.”
I have to admit I proved them right. Thanksgiving is a fabulous holiday centered around eating celebrating what we are thankful for. It can also be a time of high stress, making sure all of the food is perfect, all of the family is present, the napkins are pressed (ya right) then throw in a PCS or Move? CHAOS
Read more about my fire indecent and share your own holiday cooking fiasco over at USAA’s Military Spouse Community!
I would like to pretend I a ridiculously organized.,to the point I know where everything is at all times. Those of you who know me know this is exactly the opposite of who I really am…
Dear keys,
Seriously you win this game of hide and seek. I give up and I miss your sparkly pink purse key chain… the spare keys are plain and boring. Come back to me.
Love,
Briana
Ok, back to pretending I am super organized. Head on over to USAA’s Military Spouse Community and learn how you should be keeping an inventory of your belongings whether you are moving or not! (and seriously let me know if you have seen my car keys…. 
)
I tend to think of my life as a personal musical production, definitely something off Broadway, maybe not even street corner quality (unless you have seen me pas de bourreé or the MC Hammer dance) I digress, soon ( you know how the military is, soon is really a relative term for “I have no idea when”) we will be finding out his assignment for the NEXT THREE YEARS.
I am super excited and anxious to know!! Head on over to USAA’s Military Spouse Blog and share how you deal with the anticipation of a PCS. I am currently dealing with it by spontaneously bursting into the Carly Simon song, anticipation.
While I cannot promise that I don’t make a HUGE mess in the kitchen quite frequently… organizing the kitchen before moving really is a must! Is it easier to put it off to the last-minute? Initially yes, and I can say this with the conviction of an experienced procrastinator. However, it really makes it a hot mess when you are scrambling 30 minutes before the movers arrive (this is when you begin to curse yourself for waiting this long). Don’t do this.
Don't do this either.
Here are some tips and tricks from my personal kitchen moving experiences! Head on over to USAA’s Military Spouse Community to get the full scoop, and while you are over there I encourage you to start a discussion, or comment or say hey, anything! 
Happy Tuesday everyone!
Back in the day, I had Lisa Frank diary complete with a tiny lock and key. I cannot imagine what I wrote in there… ok, I definitely know what I wrote in there because it was all about making encouraging the girls who lived on my street (there were six of us around the same age) do dances, put on plays, explore the bayou behind our house (yes bayou, that’s Houston for ya), school crushes, my ambition to be a “professional researcher” (still unsure what that would entail). Not much that anyone would probably want to read! However, as a military spouse, or cook, or party planner, wife and employee, it is more and more useful to have a place to write down your thoughts and experiences! I learn more about cooking, moving, recent events etc through other people’s experiences than anything else! I find this to be true especially during a PCS: instead of sitting down with our old diary and writing every detail of the day for no one else to see, we sit down at the keypad on our laptops/computers and smart phone and share it with the world!
Check out some crazy/funny/stressful PCS stories here and share your own!!
I have never been described as tidy. Growing up I would pay my sister to clean my room. Unfortunately she realized my loathing for cleaning and started charging more than I could afford to pay her…
My affinity to cleaning has not grown over the years and that is a shame since I married a neat freak. However, he has not complained about my method of dusting (it includes shuffling things around and blowing the dust off, maybe even using the long arm of the vacuum to do a quick dust grab). Enough about my lack of cleaning skills. Being organized and tidy makes moving MUCH easier. I try to remind myself about how much nicer our PCS would be if I didn’t just throw things in my desk drawers, or use the space under our bed to “store” stuff. Here are some more tips and tricks to organizing and purging some of your belongings before you move!
Dear NFL football peeps,
I think you should come to agreement already. You all make A LOT of money and everyone is semi worried that the season of chip and dip eating and beer drinking might be delayed!
Love,
Briana
This post really has nothing to do with football, or the hunger games. However, it does have to do with your most valuable possessions! Here are some tips to moving your most precious belongings.
I was lucky enough to interview Sandee Payne fellow military spouse and author of the helpful book, That Military House: Move it, Organize it & Decorate it, to get decorating tips for you move! This woman is seriously talented! She has moved seven times in a ten year period (including to Germany!) and owns her own interior decorating firm. Head on over to USAA’s Military Spouse Community to check it out!
I believe as a military spouse we earn the right to add “professional moving skills” to our resumes along side of extremely patient and easily makes new friends! Have you recently done a DITY (Do It Yourself) move? We have done one, and I can safely say we will not be doing it again ( I have WAY to much stuff, the thought of just packing the kitchen makes me want to eat four tons of toffee), however there are some major benefits! Check out my post on USAA’s military spouse community to see some of the advantages!
Amelia
Amanda
Briana
