e2java

✈ My husband is from England and I have relatives and friends both there and in Switzerland, Belgium and France. I love traveling but don't love the long flights. We did a long road trip in England in April starting in London, headed down to Devon, back up to Stratford-Upon Avon and finally Manchester where we did a couple day trips to Wales and the Lake District.

We both work in manufacturing in management (automotive for me and food for him) and I'm super busy at work right now. We are still renovating our house (which doesn't leave a lot of time for anything else I love to do) so my "crafting" has become installing hardwood flooring, tile, hammering tin ceiling tiles, rewiring the house and endless amounts of painting walls, trim and the exterior. In the process of renovating, I'm learning British. Yes...I now know the British words for tools as well as lots of colorful curse words thanks to my beloved! I learned French years ago due to my French-Canadian grandmother and took conversational Spanish for work reasons but now I no longer need the closed captioning on for British films and shows (the one exception is Trainspotting).

I have a small, backyard hobby farm with chickens - 5 of them. Both of us have an interest in beekeeping and we have two flow hives in the garden as well as a greenhouse with hydroponic system on one side and a potting bench on the other.

I have a small raised bed garden and am fairly successful with tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, kale, onions, garlic and herbs.

We have three dogs Chase, Charlie and Abby. We took over Abby when a friend's father was diagnosed with dementia and had to move into a nursing home.

I have love essential oils and use DoTerra. I've been making small roller bottles for my coworkers with Frankincense, lemon, oregano, OnGuard and Tea Tree Oil to stop passing around all the bugs and virus and yucky stuff at work. Lavender helps calm my dogs, too.

🎶 I listen to anything pop, the 70s channel and the 80s channel on the satellite radio in my car. I also like Vitas, Duffy, The Beautiful South, Prince, George Michael, Alison Moyet and Amy Winehouse. On Vinyl, anything 80s, Billy Joel, T-Rex, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Carly Simon and ABBA.

I'm a huge fan of vinyl records and search flea markets and old record stores to find them. I listen to vinyl more than anything else! We've collected so many albums over the years. I need to start cataloging our albums because we really have quite a collection.

I don't like polka, Zamphir the Pan Flutist and anything out of tune.

We use Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus and have been watching a few guilty pleasure shows. I'm currently watching the X-Files, Derry Girls, Game of Silence and Ozark.

📻 So this isn't really TV but I've been enjoying several Podcasts on my phone. I started with "Serial" and then discovered "Lore". I LOVE Crime Junkie. I also listen to Up and Vanished, Someone Knows Something and In the Dark. I was so very happy that Up and Vanished contributed toward the case being solved. I started listening to Business Wars and it's so thoroughly researched and well-produced. I also listen to Coffee Break French - quick little episodes talking about.....French of course!

🧵 I quilt. I am a machine quilter and I use a rotary cutter to cut my material. I typically make lap quilts or baby quilts. I have MANY unfinished projects. I haven't had a lot of time to quilt but find time to sew some small projects. I adore my serger machine and use it to make sheets for my dogs' beds. They might be a bit spoiled :) I need to find time to quilt more. I made one in June for my first grandchild.

🖍 I like to color my own doodles/drawings. I like creating envelope art and just starting using watercolor pencils. I think it is a fabulous way to de-stress.

🎨 I also like photography and to doodle. I love to write and try to keep up with a couple of blogs.

📚 Labyrinth and Sepulchre by Kate Mosse, Marley and Me by John Grogan, books by Jodi Picoult and Dorthea Benton Frank. I love Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian" and "The Swan Thieves". I also enjoy horror books but it seems so hard to find any good ones these days like old school Stephen King / Dean Koontz. I wanna be SCARED!

Because I commute an hour each way to work, I listen to a lot of audio books. Recent ones that had me laughing out loud (and looking like an idiot to other drivers) were The Devil in the Junior League and The Ex-Debutante. Being in a Junior League, myself, I could totally relate! I am currently listening to "I'd Know You Anywhere" by Laura Lippman which I found in a used bookstore in Atlanta a week ago.

I've also started collecting Nancy Drew books - the kind that I had in the 70s and early 80s. My husband and I look through antique stores and thrift shops trying to find the ones I am missing. I would like to read them all from the first book on.

I also listen to audiobooks on YouTube. I recently took a walk down memory lane and found a few Sweet Valley High books to listen to there. You could literally hear the cassette tape being turned over to side B!

I keep up with my books on GoodReads. My 2019 book challenge there is 65 books.

I read a few magazines when I'm looking for something different and shorter than a book. My favorites are Mary Jane's Farm, Garden & Gun and Daphne's Diary.

📌Recipes (I love to bake, cook and use the crock pot and my InstaPot). I'd be very interested in any dog food or dog treat recipes you may have found to be wonderful. I enjoy old family recipes, too and the ones from Church fundraising cookbooks. I'm currently translating my great-grandmother's handwritten French recipes.

📌Interesting articles from magazines or newspapers that you would like to share

📌Local lore articles from your area.

📌Interesting Stickers or Washi tape

📌Fun pens - especially for work

📌Jelly Babies or Walker's Eclairs from UK...so hard to find here :)

📌Real Cadbury candy from the UK

📌Herbal Teas / Green Teas or other teas (No loose, please and no Matcha)

📌Interesting post cards- not a fan of touristy ones

📌Unusual stamps, vintage or foreign (used is fine)

📌Sample Essential Oils (prefer YL or DoTerra) and would love to reciprocate.

📌All things Edward Gorey

📌Book recommendations

📌Website recommendations

📌A dog toy - I have three but one ends up with all the toys in the end

📌Coupons are great (I like the Lowe's project starter, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Macy's, Pottery Barn or really any non-expired coupon specifically for major stores)

Because I live in the South, be careful of sending things that could melt in the mail...hot months are end of April through end of September.