Things have been going better with receiving mail, which is most excellent news. I have the occasional day when no mail happens though it is supposed to, but this is far less frequent than it has been!! Yay!

I was hoping to put a picture of my postcard wall, but I can't sort out how to do that. The tl;dr: I have a classroom with cinderblock walls and no windows. The goal is to cover the whole thing with postcards that I've received. (I don't post the ones with nudity, alcohol, or holidays--I keep those at home). So far, I've covered the 12 foot bulletin board, the rest of that wall, round the corner, and partway across the back wall.

Time for an update!!! So, I have been an English teacher at a high school about an hour away from where I currently live for a whole year! I learned a lot in my first year, and I'm looking forward to my second year. So, it's a change from being an English professor, working with college students, to being an English teacher, working with high school students, but I will also have 11th graders starting in the fall.

There are lots of changes now in my world--like that giant drive up and down the interstate each day. I would like to be moving closer, but that is a HUGE project. I learned that it's very very hard to even keep up with basic house chores during the school year, let alone get a house ready to sell. I'm supposed to be working on that this summer, but my heat pump died, and it won't get replaced until late July. So, it's very hot with no AC in VA. I have a lent out window unit, so I often end up camping out in front of it.

I've been putting my school address on things like coloring colab postcards, because I know it might take a while before those come back to me, and that way I'll be sure to get them, even if I have a new address (as I know postcards aren't forwardable mail). In my ideal world, I'd like to move before the snow comes, but we'll have to see if the universe allows this (the housing market is CRAZY right now!). I get to wait until I find the right house because I can drive if I must, and I will be for a while. I have been searching for the right house, but only finding places that advertise as "release your inner Bob Vila!" (that's the This Old House guy. Alas, I'm much better at revision than I am at renovation.) I guess everything happens in its own time?

I restarted my blog, Hungry Like the Wolfe. I'm setting a goal of doing 1 post a week! I get behind sometimes, but I'm trying to catch up. Please check it out and follow me.

Please be careful when mailing flat things that might move around in an envie. The mail supervisor for my region is VERY PICKY. If anything bunches up in the envie, and I mean stuff as small as a few teabags or one magnet with a circle or a paperclipped collection of items that could be 3/4" thick, then he will tag it and make me pay the package rate to collect my mail.

In exciting news, I haven't had any postage due mail in more than a month now! Thank you for taping/wrapping things carefully so they don't slide around and become thick. It seems to be working!

Yes, I received a 3 on 23 September 2019. I had an irresponsible streak. It is not a fixable 3, as in I can't go back into the past and send in a timely manner. I do take pictures of all of my swaps. I mark sent when the swap is ready to go to the post office. I do contact people when a swap is going to be late. I learned from my mistakes. Most people are accepting of that, but I also now have a 3 from someone who did not accept my explanation of why a swap is late. I contacted all of my partners as I had the swaps completed but had been carrying them around with me unable to get to the post office because of back to school meetings. I don't know how to fix that, as I was being as responsible as I could.

As for my other 3, I will in the future contact all swap partners if something will be EVEN 1 DAY LATE. I am currently trying to make sure to send swaps out before the swap date (and am on a streak where I am several days ahead!) If I am permitted to do any swaps in the future (I must recognize that at some point I will allowed to do nothing because I have failed to be timely 4 times in the past.), I will continue this streak. If not, I will contact my partner.

If a swap does not arrive, please contact me before rating me a 1. I will do all in my power to fix it.

I'm an English teacher. I also enjoy reading, cross stitch, cooking, board games, Magic the gathering.

I love cats. I have one cat, Aspect, who has been my best friend for 16 years. She is now older than most of my students!

I also like owls.

The website link will take you to my food blog Hungry Like the Wolfe

I'm a big fan of coffee and tea. I like a wide variety of both. I'm very interested in trying new kinds of tea and coffee! I can use loose leaf and bagged teas.

I also really love hats and fascinators. I don't really do ball caps, but I have the look that allows me to wear Derby type hats or English fascinators (basically tiny hats on a headband). I also enjoy tiaras and other fun headpieces. I find a lot of these sorts of things at Halloween at Michael's or at stores like Claire's at the mall.

I really like large mugs for all of my hot beverages. I think delicate little tea cups are cute, but I want to drink more than a tea sample :) Oversized mugs are my favorites.

I like stickers, and I've decided that I will once again join into some sticker swaps. I do get a lot of my stickers from Current which has HUGE sticker sheets, like 9x13, so those might be cut into smaller chunks and/or should count as more than one sheet. But they have gorgeous stickers!

I also have been finding myself drawn to things with the stars and galaxies and suns and moons lately.The sky and the universe are so beautiful!

Baking (especially at midnight)

cross stitch (I'm working on a huge dragon writer piece right now). I'm working on a second huge project of a piano being played in the woods.

I also enjoy making my own body products like bath bombs and shower cream and shampoo. I love to use my essential oils in all that I do.

If something arrives at my house made of thick enough paper, and that paper has a picture, it's probably going to be turned into an envelope. This includes catalogs, college alumni magazines, grocery magazines with coupons and recipes, calendars, the fronts of magazines, etc.

I'm a mystery shopper, which means I go into stores and ask questions and write about what happens in the encounters.

This results in people asking me weird questions sometimes like how to use a prison credit card at the gas pumps. I also get asked if I would like to join the army.

I have photographed bathroom graffiti so I have picture proof that something isn't supposed to be there.

They say that most people are nostalgic for the music of when they were young adults. I am no exception. I am a little stuck in the 90s and early 00s I love the Lilth Fair set (Tori Amos, Alanis Morrisette, Indigo Girls, etc)

I also listen to a community radio station that plays music you don't normally hear on other radio stations. Carbon Leaf, for example. Or blues or such a wide variety!

In tv, I really miss Firefly!

I'm an English teacher, so you might have guessed that I do love to read. I am usually reading 3 books at a time--one fiction or nonfiction, 1 romance or mystery, and 1 young adult, science fiction, or fantasy. I am also usually listening to an audiobook, which I download from the library app.

I also like to read and write about food. I'm a poet, so I also read and write poetry.

I love Harry Potter and think it's the sort of thing worth rereading.

Books are always a good choice. No Nicholas Sparks or other super sentimental (translates as I don't want to cry my eyes out when reading) or horror, but sending me books is otherwise a good idea!

I also ask that you don't send me classic literature. As an English teacher, I have access to copious copies of things like "Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc." If you read it in high school, please don't send it to me because chances are I already have a copy.

Fuzzy socks

This summer I started watching Avatar the Last Airbender, and I love it! Uncle Iroh is my favorite. Raise a cup in his honor with me!

Things that smell good. Love scented items. Favorite scents include lavender, fall scents, mint, floral, woodsy

purple and orange are favorite colors

olive drab is a color that looks really good on me

trees, though I prefer non-evergreen

I'm addicted to lip balm. I make my own and I also buy lip balm all the time

bath products. I think the best .way to end the day is with a bath and good book. Baths are best with something scented in them--bombs, salts, bubbles, oils

I geek out over stationary and pens and stickers

I LOVE puns and wordplay!

Glitter. I know it gets everywhere, but I still love it!

Recipes that require zucchini (I'm allergic). I am allergic to all kinds of squash, pumpkin, and zucchini. I have learned that pumpkin can usually be switched to sweet potato and turns out yum, but I don't know how to substitute for zucchini

Winnie the Pooh

Please no things that smell like smoke. This seems mostly to be an issue with thrift store swaps, but applies in all cases. I don't deal well with smoke smells, and I can't always wash it out/off. Then I have to throw away a gift, and that makes me sad.

I like a wide variety of postcards. I enjoy the touristy ones, but I really like the non-touristy ones, too. I like pictures of owls, dragons, fantasy, some of the art cards, B/W photography. Things with sparkle and glitter are fine. I enjoy nature, particularly trees. Cats are wonderful on postcards.

Not a big fan of postcards with just a couple of words on a background, like "sweater weather" for fall. Would rather have a scene. That said, I got a postcard that said "Your sparkle has not gone unnoticed" in bright glittery colors, and I loved it. I like bright colors. Sometimes I love the random postcards. I like vintage ones, too, and I can get these at a local store, which is fun.

My kitty, Aspect, is 16, but still has a lot of energy. Her favorite toys include those balls that look like soccer or golf balls and are made of Nerf/sponge material or ones that are like big pompoms. She got diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in January, and she now has to take medicine every day. She's doing ok, though. I give her treatos after she has her meds.

When she was a kitten, she had a bat toy. It was her favorite ever, though it quickly became 2 toys: bat head and bat body. She LOVES bats. And glitter. I tell her all the time that it's ok to love glitter and Bojuka Bog (a magic card--it's ok to have a girly side and a competitive side) She also likes a catnip mouse now and again, especially the grey ones. She loves pipe cleaners and string and her laser toy. She'll run down the hall and jump to get that red dot!

Specti loves treats of most kinds.

She does not like hard plastic balls with bells in them or toys shaped like springs. I try to keep her away from too much catnip as she gets angry instead of mellow when she's had too much. She had a cactus once, as she loved to rub against it and use it a comb....until she tried to take it to bed. Then I had to confiscate the cactus. I was also recently reminded that she wants to eat Mardi Gras beads, so please do not send them to either of us. They must remain closed in a box at all times because they are shiny and she wants to eat them.

Like most kitties, she'll love the box as much as if not more than the toy :)