No Stranger Sunday: #7

Welcome to No Stranger Sunday, where every Sunday I will try to post an interview of a different blogger from around the blogsphere. Take the time, get to know these people. Visit their blogs.

This week's interview is a little different. This week's featured blogger is actually FOUR bloggers working together with one blog, At The Park. I find this to be an extremely neat idea - they have to be talented, because I know I'd have a hard time blogging with 3 others. Each blogger will be represented by a different color, I hope you can keep up. :)

Be sure to stop by and say hello to the ladies!

Being that there are four of the interviewers, they each have a certain color and are always placed in the same order, to keep things less confusing.
Sunshine-black
Carolin-orange
Cathy-purple
Louise-blue



Tell us a bit about yourself:
Do you live in a city or a more rural area?
I live in the greatest city in the world.
I live in a city, I am happy where I live but the greatest I think that might be a stretch.
I live in a suburb of the GTA, west of Toronto, ON.
I live in a rural area, but it now feels like a city because there are too many people and too much traffic!!!!

Are you married? If so, how long?
Yes I am happily married and for 16 years.
Yes will be 25 years this summer (yes I was very, very, very young when I married) (how many verys? LOL!)
I have been married for 17 years, wow!
No comment.

Do you have children? If so, how many?
I have 2 children.
I have 2 girls 'the teenager' 18 and the 'little one' is 10 both are girls.
I am the proud mother of two tall teenage boys, ages 14 and 16 this year.
Somedays I feel like I have 10 children, and other days I feel like I have only one. However, I am blessed with 3 beautiful children, that are in three different stages.

Any extra family members? (i.e. pets)
We have a very small dog who is very sweet and loving.
Yes a stupid old cat and if he pukes on my couch one more time we will be less an extra family member.
Yes, we have a sweet little 3 year old puppy. (he will always be a puppy to me, :) ) He is part wire-haired fox terrier, part miniature eskimo and part poodle. His fur stands up in all directions. He is soooooo cute!
I have a fluffy white dog that we love.

What food makes your mouth water, just thinking about it?
Pizza, Pizza, Pizza.
Potatoes and of course Sunshine's bruschetta!
All food makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I love to cook. I guess I tend to lean toward anything asian. I love seafood!!! I would love to go to Halifax during lobster season and eat myself silly with lobster and mussels. Oh, wait, not all food makes my mouth water. Please do not feed me bananas or lima beans or liver, there, I think that covers it!
I love a great steak!

What is your favorite book?
I only read books if I have to. I enjoy reading magazine articles. Carolin has given me a subscription to Canadian Living Magazine for the past two years for my birthday. It is the gift that keeps on giving all year long. One of my very favourite magazines used to be Cosmopolitan Magazines.
I don't think I have a favourite book but I have many favourite authors, Carol Shields, Sue Grafton. Lately I have been reading a lot of autobiographies, the one I have just started reading is, "General Rick Hillier: A Soldier First."
I really enjoy, Nora Roberts. I like her fiction and I have just started reading her detective futuristic series under the name J.D. Robb.
I love, "Ghost Story," I love the, "Repairman Jack," series and I have discovered the author James Patterson's "Alex Cross" series.

Do you collect anything? If so, what?
I seem to collect other peoples discarded furniture as I have a house full of things that I need to get rid of.
I don't collect anything but pounds. Lots and lots of pounds! Hey Sunshine what are you wanting to get rid off? Maybe I might want it.
I am a pack rat. I still have the original games and dolls and barbies from when I was a little girl. I have them all in bins. I have no idea what to do with it all. I really should start to declutter. I still have teen beat and tiger-beat magazines from way back when! Maybe they're worth something now?
I used to collect photographs.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to relax in the hammock and go swimming. As long as I am with my family, I am having fun.
Pollyanna (opps I mean Sunshine) is killing me with all the warm fuzzy crap. What spare time? (I love the Pollyanna title, ha ha ha!)
I'm with Carolin, what spare time. I work part-time and when I'm home the time seems to fly by with chores. I do need to organize myself better and get even more done. I enjoy gardening, playing piano and learning to play the classical guitar. Oh and cooking.
What spare time??


Tell us a bit about your blog:
Is there any certain reason that you named your blog "At the Park"?
Yes, we named it, "At the park," because Cathy and Carolin told us that this should be the name. That's right and it is about time you listen to us! And of course it is where we all spent many hours chatting while the kids played.
It all started when we would take our kids to the park at about 10:30am every weekday morning. Actually, Carolin starting going to the park first and we all followed. Carolin with her diet Pepsi, Sunshine and Louise with their bottled water and me with my nice, hot, cup of tea, ahhh!
I mean, that's how we all met, so that's why we decided it would be a good name.
That's where we used to hang out. Carolin used to watch us from her window with envy because she wanted to join the cool group.... and we finally let her in, lol! -- "Louise, you're killing me!!!!!!!"

When did you start blogging?
Around March of 2009? That sounds right but somehow I think that it is wrong.
Of course it's wrong, it was April 2009.
I defer to Carolin on this one.
Sometime last spring, last year is all in a haze for me and I don't remember!

What is something that you love about your blog?
I love the interaction between the four of us and when we are being brutally honest, then I like it even better.
Ha, Ha, Ha, just wait till the next time the four of us are together, Sunshine has another Father Norm question.
Sunshine is getting worse than me! Poor Father Norm, or maybe he is having fun with her questions. I love it when we are together and blog our conversations. It's neat to sit down with a cup of tea afterwards and read it again.
I believe it's the only thing that now keeps us in touch.

What is something that you love about your blog?
I love the interaction between the four of us and when we are being brutally honest, then I like it even better.
Ha, Ha, Ha, just wait till the next time the four of us are together, Sunshine has another Father Norm question.
Sunshine is getting worse than me! Poor Father Norm, or maybe he is having fun with her questions. I love it when we are together and blog our conversations. It's neat to sit down with a cup of tea afterwards and read it again.
I believe it's the only thing that now keeps us in touch.

Did you design your own blog? If not, who did?
I defer to Cathy for the specifics of this question.
Me too, Cathy is techie blog queen. I never really know what she is talking about but I usually agree because I don't want to look stupid and between you and me it shuts her up! -- "Hey! I get no respect!!!!!"
Our blog design is courtesy of 'Goggle Blogger.' I find it fascinating. It's really already set to go, just fill in the blanks and you're online for everyone to see.
Cathy! Cathy! Cathy! You are doing a great job! If it wasn't for you, it wouldn't get done!

Are there any topics that you LOVE to blog about?
As long as it is real, then, I enjoy it all.
Sunshine loves when we talk about Sex!
I am sometimes confused as to whether or not we can get a little more risky because I don't know if we feel that it would take us out of the family context that I think that we are in.
But think about it, if we didn't talk about sex, we wouldn't need to be in the 'family' context.
What are you two talking about? Why all this chatter about 'you know what!!!' Ha, ha, ha. I can just hear Carolin's comments now!
I think as long as we talk about us and what we know and what is happening in our lives we love it. The tricky part is where to draw the line with our privacy?
I would love an interactive blog with the public, like a chat room, because my favourite part of the blog is reading all the outside comments.

Any topics that you really try not to blog about?
I think that I don't blog about things that are directly related to someone other then myself and my life because I really think that it would not be well received. So even though I believe that there are things that need to be discussed, I let sleeping dogs lie.
Me, I am an open book. I love to laugh and can laugh at myself.
They call me the vault. I agree with Sunshine, as long as it's about me o.k., I try to keep the rest of the family incognito. I can laugh at myself, too. I am not anywhere near perfect, would anyone like my hair????? Please?????
Depends on the mood I am in.

How many blogs do you currently use?
Just ours, howeve,r I did one day stumble onto 'EllaBellaMozzarella' and I really enjoyed it. I guess that I don't wander that much from our blog because I am busy and honestly it (blog hopping) really isn't my thing. Maybe, if I really knew the person behind the blog personally then I know that my interest level would certainly peak.
We just have one, I did have two other blogs that I followed daily but one just disappeared from the blog world and the second hasn't written anything in over 6 weeks. Hmmm, I wonder if it's me, maybe they thought I was stalking them?
We four just have this one blog. I do follow other blogs. I find the whole blog world fascinating. There are so many people out there...
Just this one.

Do you have any tips for other bloggers?
Just be yourself.
Always keep your mouth closed while looking up as the birds fly by.
I'm still laughing about the bird comment! I think when you are yourself when you blog, readers find it more interesting. It's nice to know that we are not alone and as crazy as we think we are!
Just be real. If it's not real make it absoulutly fascinating!

Is there anything you'd like to say to the readers?
I am still fascinated by the fact that someone who does not know us personally would actually read what we have to say.
Please leave comments, you have no idea what a boost it is to read a comment negative or positive I look forward to the comments.
I get excited by the comments, too. It's nice to know that there are people out there taking the time to read what we have to say. It's great to hear the feedback. Jerrica, thank-you so much for this chance to introduce ourselves to your readers! We were thrilled when you asked us for an interview! To all our readers, new and old, we are so grateful to you for taking time out of your day to pop in to our blog and visit. We hope to grow and keep you interested for a long time to come!
Thanks for checking in and please comment, good or bad because the feedback is very much appreciated.

Ladies, thank you all for participating! I thought it would be tough to keep up with you all in this, but it wasn't. I enjoyed doing this and I enjoyed learning more about you all!! Keep up the fantastic work!

And thanks to everyone for visiting this week's No Stranger Sunday! If you would like to be interviewed, feel free to visit the No Stranger Sunday link and sign up. :)