Editing under a campfire

Got back from camping with my son's pack of cub scouts this past weekend. Man, nothing like spending a weekend with a bunch of testosterone-filled men. The dads, not the little boys. I actually had a dad tell me (when I refused a bag of Doritos in the food line because I don't eat some foods with certain chemicals) that I eat what I'm given. Excuse me!! When I repeated that I don't eat chips that are bad for me, he said, "hey, so is smog and we have to breathe it". Whaco. I took the stupid chips and went back to my tent. My husband had a good laugh at what the guy said. Later, I went back to the food area and gave back the chips to a more sane man.

But other than the drill sergeants, it was a good weekend. I hadn't been camping in probably twelve or so years. The kids had a blast. My daughter was stung by something out there and her face and right eye swelled pretty bad -- had me worried. And my son was tackled by another boy, fell and sliced his hand on something sharp. But even with their battle wounds, they were happy as can be. Didn't want to come home.

Of course, I spent every spare second going over my copy edits for BECOMING AMERICANA. I got the edited manuscript Thursday as I was packing to leave. Figures, doesn't it? They expected it back in NY tomorrow. So, let's see, if I had put it back in the mail Friday without even reading it, it might have made it back in time. Even though I sat in my tent with a flashlight Friday and Saturday night trying to read it over, there's just not way it was getting back in time. In fact, I need to go over it one more time tonight.

Today, I hurriedly unpacked and cleaned up as much as I could before a reporter for the Spanish paper La Prensa came for an interview. Her story has to do with how stay at home mothers manage both career and a business. Not really sure how we do it. By getting very little sleep, and having a home that is never entirely clean, and having a great partner. My husband and I are good about sharing responsibilities and working together. We also work in tents in the mountains, at kid's gymnastic and swimming classes, and appear very antisocial to other parents. The article will be in Spanish, but maybe I'll post it anyway when it comes out.

Now I'm off to finish reading through the copy edits.

Lara