May - June - July~

I don't even know where to begin this post. Life has been so incredibly—um—fun/busy/stress-filled/sad/cool, etc. for the past three months. Just the idea of writing it all down has been overwhelming so I have simply ignored my blog. I know, I know ... that's not the way it's supposed to work. Oh well, sue me!

Where to begin. I guess I'll start with Carlsbad KOA. We came at the very end of April as Assistant Managers and that hasn't changed. What has changed is that I am also the Office Manager. That happened on May 15th when another woman was fired. I truly think she was relieved, at least I hope so for her sake. I sensed the first day I met her that she was in over her head and not at all comfortable. Since being promoted to that role, I am again doing bookkeeping, albeit a very light version of it. Nonetheless, anyone who knows me well understands how happy that makes me. What someone else might find totally boring or even terrifying, I absolutely love.

Anyway, we have both settled in to New Mexico and are enjoying this little corner of the world. It is a nice area ... high desert ... but not so high as to mess with baked goods. It is quite hot but not like the Phoenix area and it cools off at night. It was dry and will be again once we get through the monsoon season. I have to laugh at that. We got about three inches of rain last month and most of that happened during a 48 hour stretch. Rain is prayed for here.

Wayne gets to do mostly everything he likes—escorting, helping campers, mowing, etc. Although he definitely talks with the owner on site to make sure they are on the same page, for the most part he does whatever he sees that needs doing. How bad is that? Of course there are some frustrating things we both have to deal with, but that would be the case no matter where we were. Frustrating we can deal with; difficult owners like we have had in the past are much worse. We don't have that situation here, praise the Lord. We have a good group of workampers and that is another nice bonus.

My copyediting work is coming along nicely. I am still not as busy with that as I would like but that is getting better, slowly. When I am working on a book, I am ridiculously busy though since I put in at least nine hours a day on the campground. Most of the time I am too tired and sleepy to do much when we get home. I just try to get in as many hours as possible working on a manuscript on our days off.  I am learning something new about the craft of writing all the time and I love it. I am not a writer but to be a copyeditor, you have to know how to write well. It's still amazing to get paid to read—that's all I'm sayin'.

Let's see, what else besides work? Oh yeah, our awesome, and very loved and missed, family. Two of our daughter Julie's girls just had birthdays last month. Beth turned nine on the 8th and Emily turned 11 on the 31st. Kaitlyn turned thirteen on April 1st and Josh will be sixteen on October 27th. Where has the time gone? Our son Jon's youngest daughter will be two on the 25th of this month. And then his spunky little Anne will be five on the 29th of December. Of course we can't forget our son Joe's new little guy, Oliver, who will be a full six months old on the 7th. This may sound like all we care about are the grandchildren but that is far from the truth. This mama misses her own children very much. They, their spouses and children are all so special and we just can't wait to love on them next spring.

This fall we are planning a trip to Colorado to see several family members. My brother David and his sweet wife Judy are in Colorado Springs. We were able to see them briefly in 2011 while we were in Maine and they came to the East Coast on a vacation. However we only got to spend a couple of hours together. Definitely not enough. We also want to see my Uncle Gene as well as my Aunt Erma and I am hoping to see several cousins too. Family is very important to me.

Well, this is a pretty good update all things considered. Anyone planning a camping trip? How about New Mexico! We would love to see you.