aallen66

what I pledged

I am the divorced mother of 3 grown sons that I am VERY proud of. They have turned into wonderful young men. They nicknamed me T-Rex once they got taller than me & I started having them get things down from high places for me (you know, when they were 12). Something about my arms not quite reaching anything. I have one sister 13 years younger than me and my mom called us Alpha & Omega. I have a dog & a cat, both rescued. I work in an environment (library) that allows me to feed one of my addictions for free (reading) and I love my job and (most of) my co-workers. I have found myself becoming a blog-junkie and can't seem to find enough time in the day to read all of the blogs I want to read. I am not, however, brave enough to start blogging myself. Yet.

I am a Sagittarius and have always loved having my birthday so close to Christmas.

I am pretty sure this profile will continue to change as I think of new things or edit the old. Much like me, you never know what you are going to get on any given day. :)

For colors I like blues, greens, & earthy colors. I like purple and aqua/teal combination. Love sapphire blue and cornflower blue. I like yellows, pinks, and "little girl" color schemes as accent colors more so than primary ones. I am not exactly a "girlie girl".

My favorite flowers are lily of the valley, carnations, and lilacs. I much prefer a bouquet of carnations and balloons than of roses -- my ex liked that about me.

I like balloons, unicorns, buttons, board games, card games, Far Side comics, faeries, magick, T-Rex dinosaurs, history, Renaissance Fairs, King Arthur & Merlin, marbles, wind chimes, candles, penguins, smiley faces and dragons, pretty paper, all kinds of ephemera, odd found objects, stickers, markers, and alphabets (including stamps, rub-ons, stickers), curly-cues & sparkly stuff. I also collect stress balls (those foam things you are supposed to squeeze when you are stressed) in unusual shapes. My friend/co-worker and I have been known to throw them at each other.

I don't care for pizza, coffee or tea (I know, I have been called unAmerican for it, but what can I say), dark chocolate, rodents of any kind (including hamsters), hateful people, bigotry, and close-minded people. I try to respect the beliefs and values of everyone else and expect others to afford me the same courtesy.

My only allergy is to earrings that are not silver, sterling silver, gold or silver plate or gold filled. I can only wear those 4 types of metals in my ears. All other metals are fine for any other jewelry.

Candy: I like pretty much all candy, except coffee flavored and cognac flavored. I prefer milk chocolate, but my son loves dark chocolate, the darker the better. I love black licorice, teaberry & blackjack gum. I would love to try snacks or candy from countries other than the US. Only food allergy is green peppers.

I love looking at graffiti, the really colorful kind, even if I can't always read it. I also love looking at old art books, even if I don't know the artists.

I am not easily offended, except by bigotry. Profanity, all religious symbology (as long as it is not meant to convert), nudity, different cultures or beliefs -- these are all fine by me and I always enjoy learning about things new to me.

I work in my town’s public library and I love my job and (most of) my coworkers. The best thing about it is that it allows me to nurture my one true love (or addiction) – books. The worst things about my job is that almost everyday I find another 5, 10, 20 books that I have to read. I love books. I love how they feel, I love how they smell, I love where they can take me. I have always got a book with me and will read 2-3 a week on average. Imajica by Clive Barker is my favorite all time book, but I also really like Watership Down by Richard Adams; the wonderful humor of Christopher Moore; Anything by J.R.R. Tolkein, Ray Bradbury, and Brian Jacques; The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton; the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. I also enjoy non-fiction & biographies. Although I really like the stories that Stephen King tells, I do not like reading his books - I no idea why. I don’t really care for the stereotypical “bodice-ripper” romance books. I have a librarything account (link at top) that I try to keep updated.

I have several crafts that I enjoy doing. I like to make beaded and wire jewelry, although I have been more drawn to paper crafts lately. I also enjoy sewing, macrame, cross stitch, embroidery, knitting, crocheting, and recently discovered the joys of paper and mixed media artwork. I started out making bookmarks and quickly fell head over heels in love with all the lovely paper, stickers and embellishments this new diversion plays with. I really enjoy making inchies & mini journals and I have a thousand ideas running around in my head, now if only I could find the time and catch one or two of them....

As for what I would like to receive, I think if it is handmade with love, I will probably like it. There are so many beautiful, artistic things out there that people make that it boggles my mind. I really like the personal feel you get from something that has not been mass-produced, the individuality of each item.

In addition to my full time job and my computer addictions, I also make jewelry to sell, recently learned how to knit (thanks mom!), crochet, macramé, embroider, sew, do paper-based stuff like making bookmarks, and shop -- window shop mostly -- for new supplies for my ever-growing addiction to finding creative outlets for myself. I have recently discovered the joys of inchies, and making mini-journals (I know what everyone is getting for Christmas this year). I like doing ATCs, but don't feel I'm very good at them yet.

The next thing I want to learn is drawing and painting. I don't know when I will find the time, or even if I will, but I like having another goal to work towards.

No such thing as "favorite" music...I can listen to almost anything. Some of the music I find myself listening to lately is Carol King, Helen Reddy, Evanescense, Alanis Morrisett, Audioslave (LOVE Chris Cornell's voice), Billie Holiday, Rob Zombie, The Carpenters, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Bob Marley, and of course, there is always Johnny Cash. Like I said, my musical taste is rather eclectic.

Some of my favorite movies are The Replacements; The Wizard of Oz; The Little Mermaid by Disney; The Sound of Music; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; Lords of Dogtown; The King & I; all of the movies with Jay & Silent Bob including Clerks, Chasing Amy, Mallrats, & Dogma; Sin City; and The 6th Sense. Again, an eclectic mix.

Don't really watch very much television. I can, and have, gone for a month or two and never turn on my TV. One show my son did get me hooked on, though, is House M.D. I have the first 3 seasons on DVD and love every episode. I also like to watch The Simpsons & Southpark if they happen to be on when I am passing through the room.

I will sit down and watch the occasional episode of The Simpsons, Southpark or Family Guy if someone else in the house is already watching it.

I do like watching the X-games on TV and video, especially the skateboarding. Both of my kids skate and it fascinates me to see what they can accomplish with determination and a 7-ply board.

Some of the things I would love to get to see in person are ATCs, a dotee doll, a matchbox shrine, a whimsey jar, a chunky book, an altered book or journal, or inchies.

EDIT: So far, I've gotten the ATCs, Inchies, a whimsey jar and a couple of matchboxes. Yeah Swap-Bot!

I would also love anything dragon or fairy themed, buttons, any kind of beads (except crow beads or pony beads), pretty paper, any kind of stickers except teacher stickers, ANY kind of mixed CD -- I love hearing new music (old music too), reusable bags - a girl can never have too many, drawings or paintings that you have done, or anything else that is handcrafted. I also love surprises.

Things I don't like: coffee, tea, baby or babyish items (my kids are grown), or anything religious that is "preachy". Celebrating your beliefs (whatever they may be) is fine as long as I am not required to share them.

Here are my thoughts on ratings:

I will rate for every swap I receive. 99% of the time, I will rate directly after I open my package, that evening at the latest. If I have not rated you and you think I should have, please PM me and ask about it. It's always possible that I missed one.

I think I am pretty reasonable when it comes to the ratings. If you send me something that fulfills the swap, I will rate a 5. I would only rate a 3 if the swap was sent significantly late with no explanation. I hope to never have to rate a 1.

In regards to the swaps I send out, I will always send by the due date if not before. If you have not received something from me and you think you should have, please PM me. I mail my things out first class with delivery confirmation whenever possible. Unfortunately I can't do that with international mail. And if you have not received your package in a reasonable time frame, I will always re-send.

If I have sent something out and have not been rated and have not heard from you, I will contact you to make sure you have received it. I would prefer if you rated me, but more importantly is that you don't think I flaked on you.

If you have any questions or comments for me, please feel free to PM me any time. I check on my SB account at least once a day and will respond to any communications received.

Thank you for reading this far!

Hopefully this list will stay small, it's no fun to be flaked on.

cmhatcstamper in the Shrinky Dink Charms

coinchantel in the First Timers for ATCs INTERNATIONAL

Karotype in the Your "Kind-of-Book" Mark

frankcheez in the 2008 Reading Log #3

wolfsbayne - no longer a SB member - in the 12 Months of Music CD Swap

LittleMissTrouble - no longer a SB member - for the A to Z Whimsey Jar