Daddy Dan

Debbie, also known as Happy Working Mom, definitely lives up to her name. She is the happiest, sweetest, friendliest person I’ve run into in my year of blogging. She is famous for starting off her weekly “Weekend Update” post with something like “What a fantastic weekend!” (8/11/08, 7/15/08), “A great weekend in Michigan!” (8/4/08), “What a great 4th of July weekend!” (7/9/08), and “Wow, what a great weekend!” (6/16/08). At least in the year I’ve been reading, I don’t think she’s had a bad weekend, and that’s how all of our weekends should be.

I hope she doesn’t think I’m making fun of her, because I’m not. Her happiness and enthusiasm tends to rub off on those who read her blog, and it’s always a nice thing to read on a Monday morning. Debbie absolutely adores her husband (read her anniversary post to him for proof), and has two adorable kids (see the picture below) that she calls “perfect.” And they just might be, because they seem just as happy and fun-loving as their Mommy.

In a post on her one-year “Blogoversary,” Debbie explained why she blogs:

The main reason I started this is still the main reason I do this…to record my thoughts and feelings of being a working mom (a happy, working mom ). I want to be able to pull all of these entries out and show my kids when they’re older just how much I love them and have always loved being a mom. I want them to know how important they have always been to me, and to also be able to learn from my experiences over the years. I’m bad about keeping up baby books and recording all the “firsts,” but this blog makes it really easy to make sure I don’t forget important milestones in their lives.

Debbie is a fantastic person who writes a truly wonderful blog. You should definitely check her out.

Here’s my interview with Happy Working Mom:

Daddy Dan (DD): Tell me a little about yourself.

Happy Working Mom (HWM): My name is Debbie I’ve been married to my husband for 8 years and we have two kids (our daughter is five and our son is three) with a third on the way. Right now my life is extremely busy with me working full-time, my daughter starting Kindergarten and preparing for this new baby. Everyday my husband and I work super hard to make sure there’s a good balance between work and family because family (both immediate and extended) is extremely important to us.

DD: How long have you been blogging?

HWM: I have been blogging for a little over two years.

DD: What got you started?

HWM: I wanted a way to record my kids’ lives on a daily basis that was easy! I have a nice routine now where I get to work in the morning and quickly update the blog. I’m able to jot down what the kids are doing and saying on a daily basis and it hardly takes any time at all! Reading other people’s blogs is a different story…I could do that all day

DD:  Why do you continue blogging? What do you get out of it? How long do you think you’ll continue?

HWM: I continue because of the reason I started. I love looking back a year or two ago and seeing what the kids were up to and what they were doing and saying at the time. I think I’ll continue this forever, because I will have kids forever (and hopefully some grandkids some day too!).

DD:  Tell me a little about your blog.

HWM: My blog is definitely the typical mommy-blog. Most of my entries are somehow related to the kids. Occasionally I will talk about myself or hubby, but it is definitely mostly about what the kids are doing these days.

DD:  Why should people read your blog?

HWM: No one SHOULD read my blog…I didn’t start it intending for people to actually find it and read it. But if they want to, it’s always nice to read what other people are going through and to get ideas on raising kids. I know that my little network of blogs all work together when we encounter a problem with our kids and we all share in the joys of watching the kids grow up. I also love meeting new people, so if you comment on my blog, you can be sure I’ll head over to yours and try to get to know you a little better! Plus, I have adorable kids…so why wouldn’t you want to come and see pictures of them?

DD:  What types of blogs do you enjoy reading? Can you provide a list of your five favorite blogs? Why do you like these five?

HWM: I mostly enjoy reading other mommy/daddy-blogs. I love hearing about other kids from other parts of the country/world! I also like to occasionally read blogs by people that are in completely opposite life-stages than myself. For example, there are a couple blogs by single people that are in the middle of dating and trying to figure out what to do with their lives. I love to read these because I married my high school sweetheart and knew what I wanted to do as far as a career the minute I entered college. So sometimes I feel like I missed out on the adventure that these people get to experience. So I read their blogs to live vicariously through them for a moment.

And unfortunately, I can’t narrow the blogs I read down to a favorite five…I read too many that are equally important to me. If you come to my blog and look at my blogroll you’ll see my favorites

DD: (Is anyone EVER, just once, going to humor me and mention DaddyDan.net???)  What are your favorite “non-blogging” activities?

HWM: Hanging out with my family! I love to spend time with my husband and kids as much as I can.Another thing I love is scrapbooking! I’m such a junkie when it comes to that!  I also love to read and watch TV…both of which I never have any time for.  I love hanging out with my friends too, and thankfully a bunch of them like scrapbooking too, so I can do two of my favorite things at once!

DD:  If anyone should know the answer to this one, it’s you.  What is the secret to happiness?

HWM: Yikes! If I knew the universal answer to this I’d be a millionaire. For me, I believe it’s realizing that we’re all blessed. We may not have everything we want, but in some way, we are all blessed. With my husband and kids I have more than I could ever deserve and for that I’m truly thankful. I’ve noticed that some of the happiest people are those that don’t expect things and are thankful for what they have been given. If you spend your life upset because you feel you deserve things you don’t have then you’re missing out on the wonderful things you do have!

DD:  What is your favorite quote?

HWM:  It’s not really an “official” quote, but my husband and I try to live by the words of my dad and his brother (who’s my husband’s business partner): “Spend time with your family now. You can work when the kids are grown…but you can’t ever get back that time when they’re little.”

DD:  What, so far, has been the happiest moment of your life?

HWM: This is tough! I would have to say it’s a tie between the day I got married and the day each of my kids were born.

My husband has been my best friend for 11 ½ years now…we met our senior year in high school and have been inseparable ever since. We have the same views on religion, marriage, raising kids, and life in general. The day that we got married was so surreal to me because I just couldn’t (and still can’t) figure out why I was the one that was lucky enough to get this guy to spend the rest of his life with me.

My kids being born…what else is there to say? My husband and I have always LOVED kids. Before we had our own we would babysit whenever got the chance, worked in the church nursery and just truly enjoyed any time we had with little ones. So when we decided to have our own we were extremely impatient. I got pregnant right away but I lost it really early. We were so devastated. Thankfully, I got pregnant again fairly quickly and the day my daughter was born will be forever etched in my mind. We were meant to be parents! I had a little girl to do fun things with – dolls, Barbies, make-up, and go shopping

We also always knew that we wanted a bunch of kids, so after a year with my daughter we decided it was time for another one. The day my son was born was equally as precious as my daughter’s birth. He was the first boy on my side (I have two sisters and no brothers) so my dad was just as happy as my husband was to have a boy! And the fact that he’s gotten sweeter each day of his life has definitely helped make that day even more special.

DD:  What has been your biggest regret?

HWM: Thankfully, I really don’t have any huge regrets. I know one that I live with is not being a very grateful child/teenager. I do believe that you don’t experience true gratefulness until you get older, but it’s still hard for me to look back at the things my parents did for me and realize that I thought they had to because they were my parents and that I deserved everything they gave me (or wouldn’t give me).

DD:  Where do you see yourself in ten years?

HWM: Done having babies! That’s really the first thing that pops into my mind! Besides that though…I see a family of six, in the same house we’re in now because there’s no way I’m moving again, busy with life! My oldest will be 15 and my youngest would probably be around 8, so we would really be getting into some fun activities. I just see us as a happy family, and I really hope that’s how it plays out!

DD:  Do you monitor your blog stats?

HWM: Somewhat. I have a counter and I check to see how many people view my blog and I sometimes check to see where they’re coming from our where they’re located. I’m definitely not obsessed with it because I don’t write for other people, I write for me.

DD:  What are your favorite places in the world?

HWM:

St. Lucia!!! – That’s where our honeymoon was and it was fabulous!

Disney World – the magic of it and the awe on my kids’ faces is priceless!

Las Vegas – I was born here and going there with my family is so much fun. My parents showing us our old house, and where the hospital was where I was born, etc. are just some of the reasons that I feel connected to this city.

I only have three – while I’ve traveled a lot, I haven’t been anywhere else that I would claim as a favorite. So I’m leaving it open for future vacations with my family!

DD:  What are five things you want to do before you die?

HWM: Unlike most I don’t really have a “bucket list.” The obvious ones for me would be to see my kids get married and have their own children. Outside of that, I don’t really have anything that I’d have to do before I died.

DD: Tell us something most people don’t know about you.

HWM: I get very frustrated and angry very quickly. I’m the first one to jump into an argument because I love to argue and debate. I feel like it’s my job to make you see things my way, even though I really don’t care if your opinions are different, it’s just that I tend to take arguing kind of seriously

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ALSO: You can read the rest of the Daddy Dan Interviews HERE.

Tags: Interviews

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