Welcome!

Anyone else feel like the world is an increasingly scary place?  Things are expensive, nations are in conflict, society is rapidly changing, food can’t be taken for granted…

It’s overwhelming! 

Like a lot people, I find myself reveling in my own hum-drum life. I mean, it’s not that bad! I take pleasure in the everyday. Tuning out the big things around me is becoming more essential to my daily peace-of-mind. 

I decided to start this blog to share my life with you, dear readers. The ups. The downs. The weird. The wonderful. There is a lot of trepidation, anxiety, and questioning myself in starting on this journey.  My systemic low self-esteem makes me wonder why anyone would want to read about my life. So, you’re welcome. 

My name is Camille. I have two amazing kids (all parents think this right?). M is 14, at the time of this post, and T is 10.  My husband, is finishing up in the military and also works for a company (no, I will not be more specific!) He has a crazy schedule and is often out of town. When he was full time military, I was alone with our kids quite a bit. This has definitely formed my parenting, interests, and a good deal of my vibe. 

We have three dogs. Two are Australian Shepherds (Hank and Cash) and one is a Labrador mix (Cricket). We also have a parakeet (Buddy).  Pets are simultaneously the very best, but also the very worst.  (If you know, you know.)

We live in Tehachapi, California. It is the high desert and we sit at 4000 foot elevation. We live here for work. It was NOT, nor would it EVER be my first choice of places to live. Dust? Yes. No water? Yes. Brown and lacking vegetation? Yes. Windy? Oh, hell yes. 

That being said, it is a nice, small town. California is increasingly becoming a joke to the rest of the country, but we feel insulated a bit here. Honestly, I think it is because no one else wants to come here. 

We live a pretty simple, middle-class life. We do homeschool our kids (hold for applause or jeers), and I work from home as a teacher for an online school. This all used to be weirder (especially in California) than it is now and I don’t feel like such an outlier now. 

Why name my blog “Definitely Not Downton”? Oh… you’ll see.