merlainne

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?” -Mary Oliver

A gigantic focus right now is the baby we are expecting in February!!! I may be the oldest pregnant woman on Swap-bot but I feel deeply blessed after a long struggle to have another child. Really, really need to get our home in order.

Food will always make me happy, unless it's on my dislikes list. (It's down near the bottom, please, please read it.) You can easily find natural foods at your regular markets and stores: just check the label. If it's unpronounceable, it's not natural. We especially avoid artificial color. Thank you!

I'm obsessed with joy, inspiration and creativity.

Me in one word: NATURAL. Natural ingredients, natural materials, natural lifestyle. Homemaker and mother of an 8-year-old son and a baby coming soon. We explore nature, do crafts, create and explore art and art museums. We have a nature table that changes through the seasons, like snowmen and crystals in the winter, and flowers in the spring. We make fairy houses inside and out. I am trying to get organized enough to try letterboxing and geocaching. Currently we are reading the Little House series and the Boxcar Children. I love the values in the books and am inspired to embrace simple joys like bread and picnics. Making my own strawberry cream cheese is on my list.

I really, really love songbirds. Though not a birder and never able to find my local bird guide, I could listen to birds all day. I like to think of my home as a bird house.

Interested in slow food, slow travel, slow parenting. Recyling. I am working on connecting-to-nature, peace, and recycling units for my Montessori teacher training.

Montessori is a form of education that teaches children through real practice, independence and careful step-by-step learning. The teacher creates experiences for the children, so I am always looking for enticing containers and intriguing objects (pairs or multiples can be used as well). Work is presented in bowls and on trays, utilizing fun, whimsical, child-sized spoons, tongs and cups. I am forever buying children's books for my son and my students and factoring a literary element of every unit of study. I love arts activities based on children's literature. I use interesting but sturdy minature objects (roughly under 2 inches) for story-telling.

Obsessive simplifying, writing essays and a children's book, and exercising daily (particularly if it involves being in nature or dancing) are a few of the areas to which I'm trying to devote energy. It doesn't come easily. Home-making skills elude me but I'm working on fun, bento-style lunches and family dinners. And did I say organizing? I need to focus on what is essential and let the rest go, In that spirit, my resolutions are:

•To write daily. This may be the hardest (other than exercise). I need to make writing an integral part of my life, even professionally. I've been writing a blog for over a year and haven't hit the publish button yet. Crazy!

•To declutter and organize and make a truly, beautiful and peaceful home for my family.

•To cultivate health physically and spiritually, especially by exercising. I need to meditate, journal, make friends, create and DANCE. Healthy baby, healthy mama, healthy family has been my mantra for this pregnancy and will, I think, continue for 2012.

I am desperately trying to declutter, but I still love swapping. I really, really appreciate careful packages that don't add to my clutter. One lovely item is more valuable to me than many plastic-y, easily broken, unusable items. More valuable still is your creativity, thoughtfulness and loving-kindness.

Local foods always make me happy.
Food-wise, I adore tasting new foods: snack foods, crackers, cookies, chocolate, mustards, honey, sauces (ideas only, not limits)...natural and local is YUMMY. Food is naturally uncluttering!

Anything from nature or made from natural materials for our nature table is fantabulous.

Small, intriguing, yet sturdy objects for story-telling with children are always fun. The kind of thing people with kids have in a junk drawer works beautifully.

I am always trying to make lunches more enticing and need cookie and vegetable cutters, small and large for shaping sandwiches, cheese and veggies. Bento supplies or other cute things help. I include a note most days, so cool paper, pens, stickers are helpful. Ideas are helpful, too!

Some low cost/no cost ideas: a note about your favorite places in your town or area, especially nature sites-maybe I'll visit there one day. Your favorite recipe. An article you found interesting. An idea for something fun to do. Loving prayers. Be creative. There are more ideas below. If you can find a way to send a non-material item in the mail, go for it!

I would love, love, love a mixed CD. My taste is eclectic but I haven't sought out much new music since my son was born. Folk, alternative rock and world are my favorite genres, but almost anything goes--the only Christian music I like are Christmas carols, traditionals and medieval chanting.

A note about who you are, what you love and why you chose to send what you did is always appreciated. It feels odd to me when stuff is just put in an envelope without explanation. Thank you!

I don't like artificial colors (or flavors) and vinyl and such. I try and be mindful about plastic. I love anything eco-conscious, fair trade, or organic. Reused, repurposed, recycled, or thrifted are all earth-loving. Reusable Bag-wise, sturdier is better, the plastic or, heavy fabric/canvas bags hold up best. I don't need any from the big chain stores we also have in California, thanks, but your local grocery store bags or a fun bag from your favorite hole-in-the-wall, would be fun.

Trust your intuition! If there is something you think I would enjoy, I'm open to new discoveries.

I'm a big fan of supporting local businesses, especially independent sellers and artists.

• address labels, aprons, aqua blue-greens

• bamboo, baking, beads, beeswax, beeswax candles, bellydance, bento anything, birds, blue-green, bowls (wooden, steel, bamboo-it's a Montessori thing), burlesque, buttons (novelty)

• candy tins (not the candy, just the tin!), charms, chocolate (I reach for dark first, but I love milk, too), cloth napkins, coin purses, crystals

• dance, definitions of words, dish towels (not waffle-weave)

• Earth Day

• fabric gift bags, fairy tales, fool-proof recipes, France/French

• gift tins, green-living

• hair sticks, handmade, heart-shaped rocks, hearts, hiking, home sweet home/home is where the heart is (my only sentimental weakness, well, except for seasoned with love-we do love spices and spicy), hot sauce, hula

• improvisation

• local foods, lunchbox ideas (healthy, fun)

• meditation, mermaids, mixed CDs

• nests, notecards, notepads

• orange, origami paper

• paper (cardstock or scrapbook, NOT punched pieces or small cut-outs), peace signs, playfulness, poetry, post-its, purple, Putumayo CDs

• quotes

• rainbows (especially ribbon), recipes (yup, we eat meat and always need to eat more veggies), reusable grocery bags, rocks

• shells, silver, simplicity, stationary, sticks and stones, swing dance

• tango, tea (bag or loose), tiny bowls and containers, translucence, travel (tell me what you love about your town), travel games-especially for kids, trays (again, a Montessori thing, small ones are used for the children to carry work), trees

• Waldorf (if you have a local Waldorf school/store-I would love anything they have. It can be pricey, look near the counter for tiny things), waltz, whimsy, wood, wool roving, world children/children of the world

• yarn (love variegated, rainbow-y colors, if it's wool (any color) I can needle felt with it), yoga

• zen and meditation

We love whimsy jars and treasure-surprise-wonder yarn balls (balls of yarn with little trinkets wrapped inside.) Strange little magical things like scatter hearts and miniature objects for dollhouses and fairy houses are fun.

Design-wise, think retro-whimsical-industrial-danish-modern. I love vintage graphics and clean lines. Bamboo and steel.

I do needle-felting (wool roving! wool roving!) and am learning to knit, make jewelry (beads!--not seed beads, can't see the hole), and embroidery. I can hand sew but would love a machine one day.
I wish I had more crafty skills, please share yours!

I love vintage, from the 1920-60s, especially brooches, buttons, hankies with hearts, holiday postcards, and unusual items. Vintage graphics are addictive. Looking at carnival glass makes me happy. I like tablecloths and dish towels and napkins and hankies with bright colorful prints, especially holiday prints. Holiday decorations, too, Valentine's Day, Halloween and EARTH DAY in particular. I adore vintage and classic children's books and beautifully illustrated fairy tales.

Carefully chosen and CLEAN previously loved items are welcomed (see recycling above). Just please, please, please, let me know if something is not new.

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Happier, Calmer and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life by Karen Maezen Miller

paranormal fiction (Laurell K. Hamilton/Charlaine Harris/Kim Harrison, Vicki Pettersen, etc.) I love the short story collections to discover new writers.

I enjoy reading about creativity and the artistic process, especially writing. I read to be inspired. Intriguing self-improvement or interfaith/Buddhist/Jewish texts are fun, as are travel writing or unique (not outdated) travel guides. I like unusual memoirs, too.

I would love to read the magazines Green Parent from the UK and Real Living from Australia. I'd happily do a trade for US magazines.

Watching the DVDs of Battlestar Galactica as Joss Whedon recommended it and he is brilliant (yes, big Buffy fan). Project Runway, 30 Rock, 9 by Design as I love their aesthetic. Top Chef, and Top Chef Masters (less youthful drama, but no Padma).

I'm obsessed with my childhood loves: Land of the Lost, Jetsons, Grizzly Adams, Gilligan's Island...I could go on. I'm working on a memoir and have become a historian of my own past. Does anyone remember Cherry Ames books? and the Anne of Green Gables series? Heidi? Our local art museum invited artists to make shacks for an exhibit and the curator discussed the MASH game (mansion, apartment, shack, house). I forget how to play.

I'm, um, embarrassed to say that I've never actually read Alice in Wonderland--how is that possible? But I loved the movie. It was one of the handful my hubby and I were able to see in the theater this year. Wanting to read Wizard of Oz as well.

I love anything organic and/or fair trade or LOCAL. My dislikes are below.

I love a strong black tea in the morning and drink mostly black, sometimes green, and occassionally enjoy herbal at night. Prefer caffeinated, never decaf. A strong black is always my favorite, especially chai. Brandwise, if this is helpful, I consistently enjoy Tazo, Mighty Leaf, Forte, Dilmah, and Twinings. Lavendar Earl Grey from Revolution and Mountain Chai from Two Leaves and A Bud are new favorites.

I adore chocolate, especially if it's all natural (no artificial colors or flavors, chocolate doesn't need them anyway). I love hot chocolate if you can find a natural packet. (If you're in Pennsylvania, we all love wilburs. If you are in Seattle--Fran's chocolate taught me to appreciate quality chocolate, sigh. Or Seattle Chocolates spring eggs. In the UK: Cadbury Snow Bites, oh my. And did you say Milky Way Crispy Rolls--I am firmly addicted. In Italy: Ciki alla quinoa. In France: I'd love to try Tendre Coeur cakes, and the Nutella there doesn't have artificial ingredients like it does in the US. In Italy/France?: Fattorie & Pandea Mini Flirtes with parmesan.
Divine, all. Ah, a girl can dream.)

Anything local or organic is especially wonderful.

I am a foodie, so if you love it, I'll try it.

Tea wise-I am just NOT a fan of Stash, Lipton, or Bigelow-they tend too be too weak for me as I prefer strong teas.

Although I drink mostly black and some green, an occassional herbal tea is fine. We never drink decaf. Please, no unwrapped bags without messaging me first.

I very much dislike licorice/fennel/anise.

Artificial ingredients: colors, flavors and scents. Chocolate does not need vanillin. Tootsie rolls are an example of something we would never eat. Please don't send them.

Dried fruit.

Coconut (to eat).

Carob. Give me chocolate any day, but please, hold the carob.

Bookmarks (I have plenty). Unless the swap calls for them, of course. I do not collect ATCs.

Cosmetics, perfumes, lotions, etc. If they are not all natural, I won't know what to do with them.

Sad to have to say this, but anything dirty.

At risk of sounding ungrateful--I REALLY do not want foam or vinyl stickers, flimsy plastic items, confetti, cut up pieces of paper, or cutesy/girly items. They make me sad.

Zev is 8. He loves mysteries, treasure hunts and playing spy ("No," he says. "I am a spy."). Pokemon is a new love, cars are an abiding love. Riding his scooter, building fairy houses and gardening are some outdoor pleasures. A cool thing to make, or, especially, a cool thing from nature would be great. He has just started sewing and using real tools, especially with wood. Zev joined the drama club and played the Madhatter. He's learning chess.

Zev adores cool bags, coin purses, and boxes. He loves cats. He collects key rings, marbles, rocks, crystals, and "rare" coins (this means rare to him: like the 1976 quarter in my wallet or a pre-EU coin from Europe, or anything not from here, especially if it's gold-colored). He is really into breaking geodes. He loves cars, especially VINTAGE cars. When we go yard saling, scoring a used Hot Wheel or Matchbox, especially from the 90s or earlier, makes his day. He loves rainbows, fairies, marbles, beads (not plastic-but one real one is plenty), tiny objects, hard mazes, dolphins and yarn balls. We love games. Random Lego pieces are always fun, especially in unusual shapes or colors (pink is fine!). Fun afterschool activities are always needed.

Local foods or your favorite snacks would be fun to try. Or a postcard of where you live and what your life is like there.

Like his mom, Zev prefers natural foods without artificial colors and flavors. Gently-loved used items are fine with us and good for the earth. We are a Waldorf-inspired family so we try and avoid media and Disney-type characters, but he does have a Nintendo DS if you have any unwanted games lying around. When he watches TV, his favorite shows are Phineas & Ferb, and Scooby-Doo.

His birthday fish are deeply beloved, but, um, we lose one or two a week. Our water tests as excellent. Any fish people out there with some ideas? Checking to see if any died has become a daily trauma.