WiredSimon

I tend to collect scrapbooking supplies more than I get to use them:-) but I'm hoping to change that once summer comes. I have June and July off with my new job. Plus, we moved in 2008 & have denoted a part of the new house for scrapbooking, vintage Springbok jigsaw puzzle working and a craft area for the family. It's not large, but big enough for a work table and desk, bookcase (or supply-case) and a card table when needed in the middle to work puzzles.

I'm an older Mom (57) to four children: two bio daughters Anna 30 & Kate 28 and two adopted from China as 3 year olds, a daughter JianXia who is 12 and a son, Yusheng who is 11. He's had two open-heart surgeries, 1 in China and 1 in the US but is doing well.

I just celebrated my 34th anniversary with DH, Joe who is a veterinarian working in a feline only practice (I'm the dog person in the family) I've started a journey to better my overall health, starting with bariatric surgery (vertical sleeve procedure) that was done February 13, 2009.

I like to go to fun things with my kids (like science museums and sculpture gardens and planetariums, the library etc., read, garden (hopefully will be able to do so again by this summer:-) collect pre-Hallmark Springbok jigsaw puzzles and Lake Michigan's Sleeping Bear Dunes area where we have a cottage on the Platte River.

Oh, almost forgot, I/we have 2 Standard Wirehaird Dachshunds and 4 cats!

-boxes: wooden, decorative, exotic, tiny, just the right size for ?

-cooking foods from around the world ~ my Moosewood Cookbooks are some of my favorites

-hand-made papers, textured papers and sterling silver earrings

-music of almost any kind (see below for what just won’t ever cut it

-recipes using avocados, mangos and lamb, but not necessarily together

-unusual embellishments for scrapbooking, especially if they are more 3D than 2D

-lullabies from different cultures and in different languages

-foreign films with sub-titles, not dubbing -mica lampshades

-prairie furniture and classic bungalow front porches

-glass, sunshine and woods of all types

-purple, pink, turquoise and colors in all the jewel tones

-Asian antiquities, paper cuts and peasant paintings

-watching my 11 and 12 year olds learning to speak and write Chinese, their birth country, but not mine

-small, scrappy dogs that are well trained

-the sound of the wind in the leaves and pine boughs around our house

-a good book, a unique mug with a big handle and a cup of aromatic Chinese tea

-wool area rugs from tribal looms and gently heated wooden floors

-miss-matched hand thrown pottery made by friends or family

-letters from friends that come with photos for my refrigerator

-all sounds of nature, but a special place in my heart for the sound of water

-the smell of a wood fire

-favorite places to shop: Salvation Army and Goodwill

-snuggling under a goose down comforter with all my family, the cats and dogs and listening to a good book on tape, or someone in the bed reading aloud.

-having friends who will visit us and invite us to visit them

-time for myself

-orange, lime green, mustard yellow and olive

-most country music and all rap, hip hop etc. (but I love R & B, especially the classics)

-stewed tomatoes and okra

-dogs with no manners who’s owners don’t care

-tailgaters, speeders and people who won’t use their turn signals

-elementary school “art projects” that have nothing to do with art and everything to do with coloring or cutting on the lines and a glue stick or two

-country style home décor

-retro and all the colors usually associated with retro

-hard plastic dishes

-packaging materials that can’t be recycled

-plastic grocery bags

-olive green, lime green or orange clothing

-broken promises

-wall to wall carpet

Weeds, Dead Like Me, Gray's Anatomy, Lost, Heroes, 30Rock, The Office, Desperate Housewives (sort of), The Unit, American Experience, Masterpiece Classic, Nature, This Old House, Nova and Sesame Street.

Diary of a Good Neighbor, Love Letters, Goodnight Mr. Tom, Jane Eyre, The Samurai's Garden, Dreaming Water, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites, Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant: Ethnic and Regional Recipes, Still Life With Menu Cookbook and the Good Housekeeping Cookbook circa 1962.