Daddy Dan

Terri, at Terri Terri Quite Contrary, is a married, 41-year old mother to three teenagers, an amateur photographer, a funny, talented writer, and one hot Momma!  Can you believe that she’s the mother to three teenagers?

Oh, and last month she donated one of her kidneys to her Dad!  You can read all of the details here.

And now for my interview with the amazing Terri:

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

Terri:

• Wife
• Mom to three teens: 19, 17, and 15 years old
• Works full time in the student loan business
• Very amateur photographer
• Voracious reader
• 41 years old but has yet to grow up

DD:  How long have you been blogging?

Terri: Just over a year and a half.

DD: What got you started?

Terri: A few years ago, I stumbled across a few blogs during a slow time at work. I had no idea what a blog was at the time, I just knew that I had discovered this sort of voyeuristic side of myself because I couldn’t resist going back to these blogs day after day to see what was new in the authors’ lives. At the time, I could picture myself writing a blog, but had no idea how to set one up. Then one day, while doing something online, I noticed an ad for Blogger and started playing around. Terri the blogger was born.

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

Terri: Blogging is something I just have to do. I have always enjoyed writing but had no idea how much of a release it was for me until I started writing about my own life online. At first it was a challenge for me. I felt embarrassed to be writing about myself, yet there was a huge pull inside to do it. It was validating when I started getting comments from other bloggers. It’s still a release and it’s still very validating but it is now also a means to communicate with the many online friends I have made. I plan to continue blogging as long as I am able. I feel like I am in one of the busiest stages of my life right now, so I can only see blogging becoming a more stable and permanent hobby as the years go by.

DD: Tell me a little about your blog.

Terri: It’s mainly an online diary. I write about everything from family to work to the crazy antics I sometimes get involved in (such as crawling through holes in doors in a bowling alley, or the time I let my daughter push me around in one of those cart/stroller things at Kohl’s.) I can’t refuse a tag and will almost always participate in memes as much as I hate tagging others. (I usually refuse to tag anyone else.) Sometimes I am silly and sometimes I am deep. I try to keep things on the positive side, but have been known to spill my guts and host a self-pity party for all to see now and then. I love to fill my posts with pictures and you’ll see a lot of my photography on my blog.

DD: Why should people read your blog?

Terri: In the words of Ricky Bobby, “Cuz I piss excellence. I’m the best. That’s all there is to it.”

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?

Terri: I love personal blogs of all kinds. I simply enjoy seeing what makes other people tick and what makes them happy. It would be absolutely impossible to narrow it down to five favorites. (You should see my reader. It’s getting impossible to keep up with!) But just for the sake of argument, here are five of the many I try not to miss each day:

• Chief Rock Chef – Rock Chef was one of my first contacts and he began blogging around the same time as I did. He lives in England and always seems to have a positive outlook on life. Chief Rock Chef defies convention by not owning a car. He loves to cook and rock out on any of his many guitars. I am on a quest to convince him that video proof of his musical talent MUST be posted in the form of a vlog SOON.
• I’m Always Mentally on Vacation and This Makes Some Folks Mad – Reggie is the author of this blog and he loves to make people laugh. He is a strong proponent of vacationing and is currently in the midst of a years-long love affair with the Island of St. Croix. He owns several dogs with very colorful personalities, some horses, and an RV bigger than my house. No matter where the vacation is happening, he always invites his readers along for the ride.
• Where One Day Runs Into Another is Judy’s blog. Judy is the insanely busy mom of two adorable boys and she squeezes more activity into her days than six people combined. She’s compulsively organized and crafty (in a creative way.) I don’t know how she does it, but she manages to do all that AND write about it on her blog.
• Café Leone is written by Dan Leone. Dan is deeply proud of his Italian roots and has a fictional book in progress which is based on his background. His writing has been sparse lately due to the fact that his father is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and as you can imagine, writing may not be on the top of Dan’s priority list. But whenever Dan finds the time and energy to write, his words are heartfelt. Dan’s words stir the deepest of emotions for his readers. Whether Dan is laughing or crying, being silly or content, his readers experience those emotions right along with him. He is one of the most talented writers I’ve come across in my blog travels.
• Our Little Piece of the World is authored by Irene, the mother of 3 beautiful little girls. Irene is allowing her readers to follow her journey as she explores her passion for photography. She is immensely talented and displays the proof on her blog daily. Her photos leave me in awe as I see the beauty she sees in the often most ordinary of things.

DD: What are your favorite “non-blogging” activities?

Terri: Reading, photography, fishing, spending time with good friends, watching stupid-humor movies (Adam Sandler, Will Farrell) with my kids.

DD: What is the secret to happiness?

Terri: It’s not having what you want, but wanting what you have. I’m working on it. If I could just bring myself to WANT a messy house, and never having enough hours in the day, I’d have it made!

DD: What is your favorite quote?

Terri: “Life’s tough. Get a helmet.” It’s nothing profound or famous. I heard this years ago on the t.v. show, “Boy Meets World” and it has been my motto ever since.

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

Terri: Has anyone been able to answer this question with one definitive answer? I don’t think I could narrow it down to just one. The births of each of my kids, of course, rank right up there at the top. More recently, it was when my dad underwent his kidney transplant. The new kidney was a little slow to function at first but soon took off on its own. (That kidney came from me, so of course I felt a sense of responsibility for how it decided to perform.) Then again, sometimes I think those monumentally happy moments are some of the simplest moments in life, like when I realize I am enjoying a particular moment for what it is. I’m not worrying, I’m not stressed out. I’m just happy to be where I am at that very moment. For me, that is rarely easy to accomplish.

DD: What has been your biggest regret?

Terri: I grew up in a strict Catholic household. Like most other Catholic kids I knew, I was kind of a rebel and didn’t take my faith seriously. I simply went through the motions. Once I was an adult and on my own, I quit even going through the motions, but took it up again when my kids were born. It took me years to realize I was still simply going through the motions. I am just now beginning to realize that a strong faith in God is not only something I want, but something I truly need. My biggest regret is that for too many years, I didn’t make room in my life to grow in my faith.

DD: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Terri: I’m pretty content with where I’m at in life right now. I don’t imagine much will change other than my kids will be older and out of the house. I hope by then, my hubby and I will have found time to do some traveling. I love my job, but if by chance I’m no longer there in ten years, I hope I will have found a way to earn a living doing something that I love.

DD: Do you monitor your blog stats?

Terri: Periodically. I use StatCounter, but it doesn’t fully work with Wordpress, so the results are somewhat vague. (I think there may be a work-around for this, but I’m too lazy to figure it out.) I often forget to check stats for weeks at a time, but I do like to check now and then to see that I’m at least staying consistent.

DD: What are your favorite places in the world?

Terri:

• Home
• Any beach
• My bed
• Bayfield, Wisconsin

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

Terri:

• Become skilled at my photography
• Learn to parallel park
• Write the book my sister and I have been contemplating writing about our family history
• Own a lake home
• Travel all over Europe

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

Terri: If there was anything I COULD divulge here, most people would already know it.

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

Tags: Interviews

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