joanieponytail57

I am married and have two children. Our daughter is finishing college and our son is in grade school.

I work full-time while my husband is retired. He is a good cook and it is a real pleasure to not have to worry about fixing dinner when I come home.

We owned a BBQ restaurant for 13 years, but decided it was just too much work after our son was born.

I am a Christian and have attended the same church since my daughter was 3 years old. It has been such a wonderful experience. I laugh, I cry, I am stretched and I grow there.

I try to walk 10,000 steps every day and have recently taken up belly dancing with the fitTV show Shimmy. I took a community education class in belly dancing years ago during my college days.

I have lived in California since I was a few months old and have no desire to live anywhere else, though I would like to visit. My daughter would want me to say that most of you probably wouldn't like it here, what with all the earthquakes and wildfires and mudslides and all. I think she is just hoping to be able to afford to buy a home here herself someday.

In general, I like joyful, whimsical, colorful, funny, romantic things.

I enjoy fiber crafts (especially crochet) and paper crafts. I will do almost anything craft-wise, but those are my favorite types. So I would love to get anything connected with fiber: yarn, fabric, embroidery floss, trims, etc. or interesting papers, scraps, ephemera, stickers.

Since joining Swap-bot I have discovered Dotee dolls and have started doing inchies and zentangles. Still a newbie at these but what fun!

Colors: If I have to choose, I would say pinks, blues, purples, but it would be hard for me to name a color I did not like.

Music: I mostly like country and worship music, but I do like rock, classical, swing, show-tunes and even barbershop quartet.

TV: Ugly Betty, Amazing Race, Big Bang Theory, Good Eats and Shimmy.

Movies: Signs, Galaxy Quest, Sense and Sensibility, Stranger than Fiction, Crash, National Treasure, and romantic comedies in general.

Books: The Mark of the Lion Trilogy and The Last Sin-Eater by Francine Rivers, The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge, The Endearment by LaVyrle Spencer, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Refiner's Fire by Sylvia Bambola, and Persuasion by Jane Austen.

I also enjoy historical and contemporary romances especially if they are humorous.

My favorite book growing up was Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.

I don't like scary things or things that fall under the category I call "life sucks and then you die."

No skulls (unless they are on jolly halloween skeletons), no Stephen King-type things, no blood and gore, if you please.

Also, I don't like the smell of eucalyptus.

Whenever possible I try to put a little something extra into the swaps I send out, because that's just fun. Some of you just put me to shame. I cannot believe how lovely some of the swaps I receive are. Please know that your thoughtfulness is so appreciated and that I am trying to learn from your wonderful examples. Thank You.