Mothercourage

I have three kids, three cats and two birds. I love DIY projects for the house. I'm a Sunday School teacher, and a beginning quilter. I'm going to be 48, and I love to knit, spin my own yarn out of wool, Alpaca and silk. I'm an amateur sewer, but would like to be better at it. I'm a skilled basket weaver, but I have set that aside to do other things. I am also a screen printer, but currently don't have room to explore. I love books, but have more than I can read in the next 30 years. I'm mercurial about my musical tastes. I don't like candles of any kind.

I've browsed the site a bit, and I don't know what a lot of the popular swaps are, like Kawaii, and I don't entirely know what ATC encompasses. It appears to be collage, am I right?

I like pretty papers, floral scents, herbs, plants, antique photos, personal histories, tales of the arctic, handmade things, and I've been told I have a weird obsession with soaps. I don't know about that, but I seem to have a need for fruity smelling soaps.

I try to keep a garden, but I hate weeding, so it looks very rustic. I'm not at home enough to grow a decent vegetable garden. I belong to a CSA instead.

I like almost everything except hip hop. I'm particularly fond of Tony Bennett, The Dixie Chicks, The Holmes Brothers, Dave Brubeck, Ella Fitzgerald, John Mayer, Plain White Tees. This list changes depending on the day of the week, whether it's cloudy or sunny out, and how thin I feel.

Cookbooks! Also, books about early American history, gardening, anything EB White, New Yorker cartoons, Bill Bryson. I like self-published personal histories. I have a geography education, and have always enjoyed stories of the arctic. I have a collection of Mark Twain, and I've read all of Louise Erdrich's books. I like gardening books with recipes, and cookbooks with stories.

Babette's Feast, Love Actually, Bridget Jones' Diary, Jerry Maguire, old movies on AMC, anything with Cary Grant or Burt Lancaster. High Fidelity, Almost Famous, Daughters of the Dust.

The Closer, Boston Legal, Mad Men, Monk, Trading Spaces, Junk Brothers, Everybody Loves Raymond, Northern Exposure, Sex and the City, Barefoot Contessa, Jacques Pepin.

As above - knitting, spinning, elementary quilting, also screen printing, photography, furniture refinishing. I have done isolated beading projects, but refuse to collect beads after watching friends get into trouble that way.

Vintage lacy hankies, buttons, old furniture, birdhouses, folk and outsider art, photos, mirrors, antique frames, luxury fibers, yarn, tortoise-shell knitting needles, vintage sewing patterns, soaps, lip balms, bath salts, flavored teas.