Hi! I'm Prairie Kittin. (Yes, that is my real name. I was named after my aunt Prairie and my grandmother Katherine "Kitty").

Not my circus. Not my monkeys. ... Oh, wait. The flying ones? Yeah, those are mine.

Did you know that in Finland and Sweden, witches come out on Easter?

If you want to make me happy, send me witches, trolls and creepy stuff. (Old school creepy... I don't do zombies, murderous clowns or chuckie dolls. No excessive blood, either. I like skulls, witches, trolls, skeletons, spiders, tombstones, ravens, foggy graveyard pictures, things like that.) Tim Burton is my idol.

I adore the Steampunk genre. Not so much the dressing-up in "costume" part, although I do have the prerequisite hat and goggles. LOL!! I enjoy Steamy ATCs, postcards, pictures. Things like that.

I have several grandchildren, most of whom are teenagers, except for 5 year old Zaiyah. She just started kindergarten. 3 of the grandkids are in high school and 1 is in college at Western Washington University.

I am a letterboxer. My trail name on Atlasquest.com is "Witch Kittin".

I ride my own motorcycle, but there are times I ride behind my boyfriend on his Harley. There's nothing like wrapping your arms around the man you adore and flying into the wind!

We have 3 rescued cats (all black, as it happened). Mousy, Britomartis and Prince. Mousy was "rehomed" to us because her former parents got divorced and her mom moved in with friends who didn't want cats. Britomartis was surviving in a junkyard, but had no water or food. She was almost dead when I found her. Prince's owners simply moved away and abandoned him!
UPDATE: We have another kitten and he's a tabby!! I didn't know cats came in other colors besides black! LOL!! ;-)

We have also adopted 3 dogs. Sadie is a Golden Pei. She's probably 4 or 5 years old, but she acts like a puppy. The other two are pit bulls, Sookie and Alcide. Sookie is about 60 pounds. Alcide has probably about 10 pounds on her, so we're talking 60 and 70 pound lap dogs! (They take up the whole bed, too, leaving me a little 12 inch space on the edge to sleep in!)

I live with 2 ring-necked doves, who laugh and coo. I had to separate them because when they turned a year old, they started to fight and Luna almost killed Belle.

So, I have 4 cats, 3 dogs, and 2 birds. And some fish. :-)

Oh, and I also live with a large hairy biker dude named Steve. He is my rock.

I do mail art and postcards, mostly. I used to do art journals, but got burned by a swapper who didn't pass my journal on, so I don't do those anymore. I also used to do ATCs, but not so much anymore.

I enjoy doing Zentangle and zentangle inspired artwork. (Doodles that look like zentangle).

I've also carved my share of rubber stamps and made a few logbooks to go with them. ;-)
I'm Witch Kittin on atlasquest

I am a collector. I admit it. Is there a 12-step program for that? I collect:

Witches with human-colored faces (NO green faces! Shudder!);

Trolls (the cutesy little dolls with the wild hair, as well as the Scandinavian kind);

Keys (old fashioned skeleton keys. I don't know why, but I am totally fascinated by them);

Rocks, stones, fossils (I was a geology major in college);

Cast iron anything;

Fawns (especially antique ones).

So... a cast iron troll dressed as a witch, carrying a skeleton key in one hand and a trilobite in the other, with a fawn curled up at her feet would be absolutely perfect. ;-)

LIKES:

Outlander is finally back on! I've read all the books and am hooked on the TV show. You had me at "Sassenach"!!

I don't have a favorite color, but I prefer earth tones and muted colors, although occasionally a deep rose color takes my breath away!

Looking at my colored pencils, there are some colors that are almost worn away to nothing. Dark green, dark purple and dark brown, in particular. So, I guess maybe those might be considered my favorites!

Animals of all kinds. I could no more harm an animal than cut off my own arm.

Tarot-related anything.

Anything nature-oriented, especially rocks.

Old herbals; geology or paleontology texts.

Anything Pagan or witchy.

Rubber stamping stuff.

DISLIKES:

I do NOT support Susan G. Komen. I am a breast cancer survivor, and I support other charities, just not that one.

No Christian stuff. Please do NOT send me anything christian. I have been physically, mentally and emotionally hurt by members of that religion, and I would prefer not to have any reminders.

I would appreciate it if you didn't send anything religious, political or gory.

That's about it. I like just about anything else I enjoy all kinds of crafts, especially mail art. I like to make postcards and decorate envelopes. I like to think my art puts a smile on someone's face in it's journey to your mailbox.

1. Why were you given your particular name?
   I was named after my grandmother, Kit, and my Aunt Prairie. My dad named me after his mother and his sister. I don't think my mother had any say in the matter.

2. How many brothers and sisters do you have?
   I have 1 sister, Rosemary. I used to have 2 sisters, but Glennda died of cancer.

3. If your spouse described you as an animal, which animal would it be?
   Oh, that one's easy. Everyone calls me Kittin, so I'd have to say I'd be a kitten.. a TIGER kitten. Or maybe a lioness! RAWR!!!

4. What place would you like to visit?
   Australia!!! I want to touch the sacred rock, Uluru. That is my fondest wish and is Number 1 on my bucket list! I've never been out of the US, but I do my best to see as much of this country as I can!

5. What are three adjectives which describe you?
   Creative; eccentric; adventurous.

6. What is your favorite thing to do?
   I like so many things, it's hard to decide on a "favorite"! I like to go letterboxing. I like riding into the wind on my motorcycle. I like playing with my grandkids. I like mother-daughter time. I like cuddling with my man and my dog. I like swapping. I like to do mail art. I like Zentangling. I like to do Photoshop and digital art. I like celebrating the turning of the seasons. I like road trips. There is SO much more! I enjoy just about everything, and I'll try anything once!

7. What is your favorite food?
   Chocolate, duh! LOL!!

8. What is your favorite book?
   So very many!! Anything by Andre Norton or Kim Antieau. I like to read. My Kindle is full of every kind of book from mysteries to herbals, and everything in between. My guilty pleasure are the Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene!

9. What is your favorite candy bar?
   Reese's peanut butter cups.

10. What is your favorite cookie?
    Uncooked chocolate chip cookie dough!

11. What's your sign?
    Taurus sun; Gemini rising; Moon in Virgo; Mercury in Gemini. I was born under two Grand Crosses and a retrograde Mercury.

Questions from here:

http://www.perfect-partygames.com/get-to-know-you-questions.html

Steve and I are both diabetic and he has congestive heart failure. I'm always looking for good nutritious meals that are 1) Low in sugar; 2)Low in carbs; 3) Low in sodium (salt); 4)Contains no mammal meat (no beef, pork, lamb, etc. Chicken and turkey are okay); 5)Little to no soy, so no tofu. (I'm allergic). I have no bottom teeth, so I can't eat nuts, crackers, or anything that isn't soft. I eat fish, seafood and poultry for the protein.

Yeah.... dinner is a real challenge around here! If you have any recipes that maybe we can eat, please include them in any swaps. They will be more than welcome!!

DISLIKES:

I recently was tested and have discovered that I am a supertaster. Not as "super" as it sounds. It has made me a picky eater because I am oversensitive to tastes. One of the things that doesn't taste as good to me as to other people is tea. I don't drink tea. I've tried it, and I just don't like it. I have boxes and boxes of herbal teas that I've drank 1 cup of, and the rest of the box languishes in my pantry. Please don't send me any more tea. I'm swimming in the stuff and I just don't like it! Thanks! I have a K-Cup coffee maker. I love flavored coffees, and I'll gladly try any of those. Just no more tea, Please!

EDIT: Occasionally I'll enter a "Tea and ...... " swap. Usually because I like the "And....." part. If you are my swap partner in one of these, I'll accept the tea and give it to my neighbor. ... Unless it's a really special kind, then I might drink it myself.

Recently, I have received a couple of packages that the post office have messed up. They are always so polite about it... LOL!! ... and put the mail inside a plastic bag with a most sincere apology. Here is an example:

I have no idea what they spilled on it. There was nothing in the package that was liquid.

I'm not all that happy with the post office lately! If this continues, I may end up switching to UPS or FedEx.

The first 6 pictures here illustrate the "care" my post office has been showing my mail lately:
https://www.pinterest.com/Prairiekittin/ernie-the-envelope/

I mark a swap as "sent" when I put it in the outgoing box. If it's later in the day, after the mail has run, it won't be postmarked until the mailman picks it up the next day.
If it's on a weekend day, it may not get postmarked until the following Monday.
Ditto the holidays. If I put it in the outgoing box, and the mailman doesn't come get it until after the holiday, then it won't be postmarked until after the holiday.
Please keep this in mind if you see a postmark that is a day or two after the date I marked it as 'sent'.

An A-Z list of some of the things I like:

Animals of all kinds
Books
Cats
Dogs
Etching glass
Firefly... Shiny!
Goddess
Harley Davidson
Idols (Tiki or Mayan especially)
Johnny Depp
Keys. Old fashioned skeleton keys
Letterboxing
Mail art
Nancy Drew (my guilty pleasure)
Outlander (You had me at Sassenach!)
Pit bulls
Quirky little things in boxes
Rocks and fossils
Steampunk
Trolls
Uluru
Vampires
WITCHES!
X-Ray pictures of skulls
Yule
Zentangle