Saturday Spotlight: Life behind the blogger

Debbie from Mountain Mamma

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Happy Week End following Turkey Day!!!! Hope you are enjoying all the friends and family that have gathered this week to share in Thanksgiving.

Now that we are all recovering still from all that rich and yummy food.  I invite you to meet a fairly new blogger to me.  I found Debbie not too long ago and adore her blog.  You will love getting to know this special blogger.

First of all, a huge thank you to Kris for inviting me to her fabulous feature - I was so excited and honored that she thought of me!!  

Thanks so much, Kris - big hugs to you!! xo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

H, All!

I'm Debbie! Nice to meet you!!

I recently bought my very own house in the mountains of Upstate NY and I write about my life at MountainMama  - if you haven't been over for a visit perhaps you'll make time soon to come over and introduce yourself! I'm always so happy to meet new blogland friends!

I was inspired to start writing about my life as a 40+ single woman buying her own house for the very first time - and I'm loving it! Both the house and the blogging!!

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Where do I begin?

Why, at the beginning, of course, where else?

I still can't play the piano. Sigh.

I was born in Queens, NY back in....oh, wait, you don't need to know that. Never mind....

I have two sisters - one older and one younger. We are each two years apart. You know what they say about the middle child, right? Yup, much of it's true.

I'm the bratty looking one on the left

I am first-generation American - both of my parents are from Ireland. They both left home when they were very young to pursue a better life in the USA.

We were raised on Irish music and dance. My sisters and I all attended Irish music lessons as well as Irish Step-dancing from a very young age. It was very much a part of our lives and we made many good friends through not only the classes but the various competitions and concerts.

My parents were strict - we weren't those kids that were permitted to "hang out" after school. We had to come straight home....an hour of practicing music, then time to practice our dance steps, and then do all our homework. Dinner, clean up after dinner, and then a little TV. Brush teeth and into bed. Repeat. 

Sundays were different - up early, out to mass, and then stop at our favorite bakery on the way home for a Sunday treat. Fresh rye bread with butter. Maybe a jelly or custard donut. And we didn't have to practice music or dance - Sunday was our day to do what we wanted.

As long as Mom said it was ok.

We weren't those kids that hung out in the park getting into trouble. Mom kept a close rein on us.

And I thank her for it now. A lot of those kids ended up in very bad places in their lives. Queens wasn't the easiest place to grow up.

We went to catholic school - in Queens the public schools back then were not the best place to send your kids if you wanted to keep them out of trouble.

My parents struggled. Things were tough. Dad had a bunch of jobs and they were still struggling to make ends meet. We refer to that portion of our life as the "Campbell's Soup Days." 

Eventually Dad made the tough decision to head off to Alaska to work on the Alaskan Pipeline. He was gone for what seemed like an eternity to Daddy's Little Girl (aka ME!)

Via

He would come home around Christmas time for a short while and then head off again. I missed him terribly.

But that made a big difference in our lives. Dad was able to send home enough money to get ahead of the bills and to make a good life for his family.

Life was good. We had a good childhood. The highlight of my childhood was the summer Dad returned from Alaska....we bought a travel trailer and took the whole summer traveling around the United States. 

Via

We saw 26 states that summer in our little Shasta trailer.

I have dreams of doing that again someday.....

When I was 17 I met my first husband. I married him at 21. Had my first daughter at 22. Second at 23. Divorced by 26. Single mom with two beautiful baby girls.

When I was 27 I met my second husband. Married again at 30, I thought it would be forever. It wasn't. 

I wrote about the struggles I went through in that marriage over  At The Women's Room. 

Me - AKA Morticia Addams - with the Violin

I had a nice little music career going when I was in NYC - lead singer with a Celtic Rock band. I also played violin, guitar, and whistle with that group. It was a fun time and I enjoyed my time on stage very much. Unfortunately I had to give it up when I dropped everything to care for my then-husband for a solid year after one of his terrible accidents. 

Life wasn't always easy. I guess it never is. But I am so blessed to have my two beautiful daughters. There are so many people who have kids who struggle with addictions these days and my heart truly goes out to them - I'm incredibly fortunate that my daughters never went down that road. They easily could have, I'm sure they had lots of friends who dabbled....but thankfully they listened to some of my lectures while they were growing up and chose to stay on the straight and narrow. 

Although you'd wonder what they were smoking in this photo, wouldn't you?

My older daughter currently lives in Burlington, Vermont. She attended Champlain College in Burlington and loved it so much she never came back to NY. She's been a blogger since 2013 - she writes at Kind of Mind and has always been a wonderful writer and incredibly creative person. She's got energy to burn and has never stopped talking since the day she said her first word. She's got the travel bug and has been all over the world already - Africa, South Africa, South America, The Middle East, Europe - not to mention all over the US as well. She's seen more in her short life than I have in mine. But that's ok - that's what makes her happy.

I'm happy right here.

My younger daughter lives at home with me. She went to school locally and is much more a homebody than her big sister. She's also a blogger - she writes at The Good Things Comin and she's a bit of a new blogger, just like her mom. She's always had a knack for photography and her own unique style when it comes to fashion and she incorporates that and so much more in her blog.

I'm so lucky to have two such wonderful daughters and I thank my lucky stars every day.

Even when they drive me nuts.

I have two little furbabies who also drive me nuts at times. But they also light up my life. They are mother and daughter and my old girl is getting up there - she was 13 in September. Her baby is 6 now and sometimes she's as bratty as can be....but when she's good, she's really, really good!!

Baby Daisy & Her Mommy, Lily

My old girl, Lily. She's got a tough life, as you can tell.

The bratty baby, Daisy (AKA The Monkey) - also a rough life, as you can tell by the worried look on her face.

I'm very fortunate to have a good man in my life now also. We have been in a relationship for 5 years now and yet we have our own homes and choose to live separately. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that....what about twice bitten? How does that go?

This is the first "grown up" relationship I've been in, where both partners are responsible adults. We look out for each other - neither of us needs to "babysit" the other. It's refreshing after all I've been through!

And it's peaceful. We have a good life.

I am so blessed.

Thank you Debbie for sharing your life behind your blog with all of us.  Don't miss out on hoping over to introduce yourself to Debbie.  Her blog is fabulous.  Have a great week end.

Kris

:)