hydro75

37-year-old (eek! When did that happen??) Activity Assistant at a nursing home, crafting addict, and wanna-be writer. Married for seven years. Non-mom, proud auntie. :) Thrift store junkie. Colorado native looking for a change of scenery... suggestions gladly accepted!

I've been told I have an odd/dark sense of humor... I don't know if this is true or not, but I often find myself laughing when others aren't.

I'm a left-leaning Christian, and though I won't preach to you (unless you ask me to), I ask that you respect my beliefs, and in return I will respect yours.

I love mail art and naked mail (the kookier, the better... my mail carrier is such a humorless dork, and anything that makes his eyebrows jump is great!) :P I love receiving post cards, but am more likely to save your card forever if it's handmade/beautiful/interesting, or you've added word balloons to the statues/animals/people on the front, or have written a personal note on the back. :)

This is my current "happy place":

(Click for Rick!)

STUFF I LOVE:

--Butterflies! They're kind of my "thing." (I know, I know, mine and about a million other people's.) :)

--Owls and woodland creatures

--70s and 80s retro styles

--Steampunk, but more the natural history side of it (preserved insects, animal skulls, etc.) than the clockwork stuff

--Dia de los Muertos, loteria imagery, Mexican folk art

--gothic-looking cherubs, cherubs holding things aloft, cherubs that aren't "cute." :)

--anthropomorphic fruits/veggies (with faces and other human characteristics)

--Rustic/primitive images of Jesus, saints, people praying, etc.

--things having to do with writing/printing/words, such as typewriter imagery, old letterpress type, vintage pens, random letters and words from old signs, etc.

--covers/dust jackets from old 60s/70s romance novels... particularly the really corny, handsome- doctor-pretty-nurse kind.

--Color in general, but particularly fond of reds, oranges, greens, gold/deep yellow, and brown. Colors that bring to mind the desert, autumn, or 70's kitchens. :) Oddly enough, I love a dash of bubblegum pink paired with any of those colors.

--chocolate, those flavored Kit-Kats they have in Canada and Japan, dried fruit, coffee, tea, trying unusual treats. Other than a dislike of blue raspberry flavor and gummy/gel candies, I'm not that picky, and I don't have any food allergies, so surprise me! :)

Arts and crafts I collect: ATCs, matchbox shrines/fills, art dolls and funky, handmade stuffies/creatures, upcycled/found object jewelry, collages, handmade postcards, altered anything!

Random things I collect: honeycomb decorations, tiny/miniature books, funky scarves and bags, costume jewelry.

Can always use: pens, vintage stationery, tiny bottles, scraps of interesting paper, any weird little objects I can collage/create with (game pieces, bits of wood and metal, broken jewelry, stuff from your junk drawer???), STURDY hair clips (my hair just "eats" the tiny/flimsy ones!), fun/unusual stickers.

My style in general: eclectic, colorful, retro, off-beat, folksy (not to be confused with country!), whimsical (not to be confused with cutesy!)

I don't mean to be ungrateful, but...

-Scented items are kinda iffy, not so much for me as for my husband... he has a hyper-developed werewolf sense of smell, and if he smells something in the house that he doesn't like, thinks is too strong, or doesn't smell like what it's "supposed to", I'll have to hear about it for days on end. Probably best to avoid this stuff altogether UNLESS it's Nag Champa incense, which for some reason he loves... go figure??

-I'm not fond of anything too cutesy, or licensed characters (Precious Moments, Disney, etc.), and puppy and kitty items. Store-bought stuffed animals and little ceramic tchotchkies (unless remarkably profile-specific) aren't really "me." On the bright side, anything I receive along these lines can be donated to the nursing home for bingo prizes! :)

We also have a "store" for the residents once a month where we sell little things like stationary, snacks, perfumes and colognes, etc. for dirt cheap (pretty much nothing over a dollar), with the proceeds going towards special events for the facility... so anything I receive in a swap that I can't personally use (cutesy, scented, etc.) will probably make an elderly person's day! :)

"The Poisonwood Bible"/Barbara Kingsolver, "Choke"/Chuck Palhanuik, "The Psycho Ex Game"/Merrill Markoe & Andy Prieboy, pretty much anything by Leslie Stella, Amy Tan, Wally Lamb, David Sedaris, Amy Sedaris, Nick Hornby, Anne Lamott and Flannery O'Connor. In fiction, I love quirky but realistic stories. Not big on fantasy or sci-fi unless it's really character-driven (like Ray Bradbury's stuff). If a current fantasy/vampire series has a huge following, and that following consists largely of adolescent girls, there's a good chance I WON'T like it. :P No offense to the fans, just not my thing. (One exception: LOVED the Hunger Games trilogy!)

As far as non-fiction goes, I enjoy personal essay collections, craft books (especially about re-purposing and upcycling), or funny coffee-table type books like Signspotting. Self-help books generally don't work for me... guess I'm beyond help. :)

Altered books, mini-shrines/assemblages (from Altoid tins, cigar boxes, etc.), ATCs, collage, polymer clay, papermaking, painting (not very well, but I have fun with it--- watercolors and acrylics), sewing, matchbox shrines/fills, upcycled/found object jewelry.

Mostly classic rock, and 70's-80's pop. A few faves: Fleetwood Mac, U2, Lyle Lovett, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Pretenders, Jonny Lang, Billy Idol, KT Tunstall, Tears for Fears, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Bowling for Soup, Johnny Cash, Jars of Clay, Tracy Chapman, Florence and the Machine. I'm kinda out of the loop with newer music, and love receiving mix CDs of stuff I might not have heard. I'll give anything a listen, but generally do not like mainstream country, metal, rap/hip-hop or "tweeny" pop. I also like a little classical or instrumental/ambient stuff now and then.

Fishing, bicycling, ice skating-- all in moderation! :) I'm definitely not the most adventurous/outdoorsy Coloradan you'll ever meet! :)

I'm mainly focused on writing at the moment, actually the more daunting task of marketing my writing... I've written a novel, and I'm testing the waters with querying a few agents... wish me luck!

Napoleon Dynamite, Goonies, Princess Bride, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Prince of Egypt, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Office Space, The Wedding Singer

The Simpsons, King of the Hill, The Office (US), Raising Hope, Glee. Shows I watch primarily for their hosts: Dirty Jobs, No Reservations and Tosh.0. My husband is fully aware that I have mad crushes on Mike Rowe, Anthony Bourdain and Daniel Tosh. ;)

For me, swapping is not just about amassing "stuff" (I do that quite well on my own, thank you very much!) but about getting to know people around the world, trying new techniques, and thinking creatively. I hope to meet others on here who feel the same way!

Aside from a big aversion to things that smell like smoke, and hubby's aforementioned smell issues, I think you'll find me to be more lenient than the average swapper when it comes to old/used things... so don't be afraid to send thrift store/garage sale/flea market finds my way, as long as they're in decent shape. I love old stuff! :)

ABOUT MY KITCHEN: (for Atomic Housewives swaps... or anyone who might find this information useful!) :) My kitchen walls are painted a bright, Granny Smith green color. I made my own curtains using a mix of 50's fruit fabric and modern sushi-print fabric (and they look very homemade, if you know what I mean). :P I have cookware, linens and decorative stuff from every decade from the 50's till now... I'm definitely not a decade snob, I just love bright colors and fun styles! A quick glance at my shelves (and the piles of dishes in the sink) reveals lots of red, orange, aqua, yellow and eggplant. I recently treated myself to a set of Bordallo-Pinheiro knockoff plates shaped like cabbage leaves, and have a small collection going of anthropomorphic fruit and veggie items (salt and pepper shakers, creamers, etc.) LOVE that style!

If you're concerned about my "three" rating, please read the following. This particular swap was Halloween-themed mail art swap that required the envies/postcards to have art on both sides. I had finished the fronts of my postcards when my life kind of imploded, and I contacted my partners to let them know I would be mailing late. Which they were okay with, but I was not. So I scrambled to finish the postcards, deciding some doodles on the address side would suffice as "art." One of my partners disagreed, hence the three, and goodbye, perfect SB rating. :( I hope this won't deter anyone from letting me join their swap. Please contact me if you need more info/groveling.