Dancingtree

PLEASE READ! THANK YOU!

(12/14/13 update) My elderly mom has been critically ill again with pneumonia and I have been running back and forth between my home and hers, 2.5 hours away for some time now. If I am late in responding to a message or anything else, please forgive me and know that I will get back with you as soon as possible. Things always fall through the cracks during times like this and I apologize in advance if your card, message or package is one of those that I may be late in responding to! Please, forgive my slowness. It is NOT for lack of caring! Thanks!

(11/26/13 update) If you are expecting a package from me in any of the private or group tags and haven't heard from me, please send me a PM! I never flake! Thanks!

(Update) I want to stress that I am not a FLAKER. I will never flake on any swap that I participate in. If I sign up for a swap and you are my partner and you do not hear from me, there has been a snag someplace along the way. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know if you haven't heard from me! I take this very seriously. Thanks for your time in reading this! Have a blessed day! :-)

(Update): I am back to Swap Bot, after initially joining in Feb 2013, I had to step back when "life" took over and my mom became critically ill and I had to have emergency surgery. If you reached out to me during that time, I am sorry that I didn't respond. Hopefully, fingers crossed and prayers being said, I am back for a long, long time now! I love this wonderful place!!

(Primary Profile) Hello! I am a life long Kentuckian. I worked for 25 years and now, am enjoying life at home with my dear husband of thirty years; two older teen sons (19 yrs and 17 yrs); and our three cats and one (very large-95 pounds) dog. All of our pets came from rescue groups. I have so many interests that I guess it is just best to say that I love life and all its gifts. Those gifts to me can come in many forms - the gift of receiving a card or letter in the mail. The beauty of a plant growing in our garden, or, in a pot on my kitchen window sill. The colors purple and teal. The joy of conversation around a meal that I enjoyed fixing in our kitchen. And on and on it goes. I would love to get to know you!

I LOVE MUSIC! Let there be no mistake about that - and it doesn't matter if it's the Moody Blues or Garth Brooks or Michael Buble. Music can make any day better. Some of my favorite artists include the Moody Blues, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Adele, Garth Brooks, and many, many other talented artists.

Another hard one to narrow down. Did I mention that I worked in a library? LOL! I have a cookbook addiction, never having met one that I haven't at least been tempted to look through; I enjoy craft books - especially easy crafts, knitting (beginning), crocheting (beginning), jewelry making (beginning),and gardening. Also enjoy Christian non-fiction and fiction; medical related mysteries; general science fiction; general fiction.

I enjoy a good movie and it does not have to come from a specific genre. Examples of favorites include Jaws, Doc Hollywood, Avatar, The Star Trek series; Knowing; and many, many others. Just as with my taste in books and music, I am all over the place in what I enjoy and will watch.

Since being home and not working up to 10 hours a day, I can now enjoy TV and am catching up on many shows that I previously was not able to watch due to time restraints. Favorites now include: Justified; Suits; The Closer; The Voice; CSI; the entire Law and Order series of shows; Person of Interest; Grimm;The Following; Torchwood; Sanctuary; Project Runway.

I am a beginning knitter; beginning crocheter; beginning jewelry maker and now, a beginning sewer! I just finished my first beginning sewing class and loved it! I would love to dabble in many other crafts such as card making, scrapbooking, etc, but I have not yet "taken the leap!" Since I am a newbie with these crafts, my supplies are limited, so anything that you experienced folks in these areas think I might need, I would welcome! :-) (Actually, I would welcome anything you wanted to send my way!) Hopefully, as time goes on, I will get more materials as my skill increases.

As I previously mentioned, I like/love so many things in life: I love:

Cooking. I love cooking for my family and enjoy all kinds of kitchen gadgets! I also love cookbooks, especially Farm Journal (if anyone is clearing out their bookshelves and have a Farm Journal looking for a new home, PLEASE contact me! I love those books!), anything from the series, Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers (another favorite series and same as above - weeding and want to clear out your copies of these, PLEASE let me know!) I also love the America's Test Kitchen books and the Country Cooking booking, also from America's Test Kitchen! These are awesome!

Note cards, greeting cards, stationery, and the like. I love to send and receive mail, so having these available are a treat!

Pens. Just as some enjoy shopping for clothes and shoes, I get pleasure in shopping and receiving the gift of a new pen. I love all kinds - fountain; porous tip; ink pen; gel pens, etc. I also love different colored inks in the pens. Purple inks - teal inks - green inks - reds, etc! The more colorful, the better!

Filofax/Franklin/Personal sized Planner and supplies.It's my new "brain"! Yep, I have joined the planner crowd and now, not only am I amazingly organized, I have a fun new accessory that goes everyplace with me! I have a personal sized Filofax and would love to have any of the "fun" things that folks use with their planners - new pens, new paperclips, new papers, new inserts, new this and new that! I never knew how creative folks could be with a planner! I would love to become one of those folks! (A little confused, well, just do a search on Pinterest, or even Google it! Goodness are some folks talented - and organized, too!)

I love quotes - I am forever searching for the perfect quote to fit the day or the mood of the day.

Plants. I have plants all over our home but am always searching for more or new pots to place them in. Additionally, my love of greenery goes beyond the indoors and spreads outside to porch, deck and small gardening.

I love anything with birds. Anything! Although I love all birds, I especially love cardinals, doves, eagles, and bluebirds.

I absolutely adore wind chimes!

I love anything dealing with the four individual seasons of spring, summer, fall, winter that comes as a collection. For instance, I have a series of four plates, each represent a different season. I am trying to collect these sort of items, but it is extremely difficult to locate, so my collection is small.

I love animals! Cats. Dogs. Polar Bears. Cows. Penguins. Seahorses. Pandas. Tigers. Goats. Chickens. And on it goes...

I love purses (those with dual shoulder strap and straps that allow you to carry are the best!) and little bags to put items in while carrying my purse. Also, I love having accessories for my purses. Little bags to carry things like lip balm, nail clippers, etc. Purse sized accessories such as mirrors, hand lotions, etc. So purses and the things that go into purses bring a smile to my day.

I love jewelry, especially pierced earrings; necklaces and bracelets.

I love bright, bold colors such as purples, teals, greens, blues, reds, yellows, oranges, etc.

I love to journal. I think that it is good medicine for the soul!

I love stickers! I love to write letters and send cards to family and friends. I am also in a Greeting Card ministry where I send cards periodically to folks in nursing homes, folks recovering from illness, or just folks in need of a reminder that someone is thinking of them. I love to decorate these envelopes with stickers!

Snow people! I love snowmen, snowladies, and snowbabies! :-) In fact, I have one shelf that houses some of my very favorite snowmen and snowladies that stays out all year round. Each one found its way to me with a story and I treasure each one. As with all things we love, the more, the merrier!

A huge problem is scented items, since our son has asthma. If at all possible, I prefer items with no scent. IF that is not possible, then please, low scented items.

As such, another potential problem/dislike is perfumes, lotions and body sprays. Please, don't send these items unless they are unscented or mildly scented because of health issues.

Please, no opened products unless they are individually and factory sealed.

Enjoy drinking mild coffee, such as Starbucks Blonde roast.

Enjoy drinking white tea. Enjoy herbal teas.

Enjoy white chocolate. Enjoy milk chocolate. Enjoy anything with nuts and caramel! :-)

Favorite places to eat include Red Lobster; Olive Garden; Old Spaghetti Factory; Cracker Barrel

Although I find enjoyment in many things, there are a few things that I find so much joy in that I collect these items when possible. These include:

Four season items. I love living in an area that truly has four seasons of the year - Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. As such, I love collecting items that are four season themed. It is my smallest collection because there just aren't that many things out there, but whenever I run across something that represents the four seasons, I am thrilled!

Wind chimes. Yep, you read right. I have them all over the place - in our home, above our bed, above my kitchen sink, outside, etc. I simply love the music they make! And to me, the more, the better.

Pens. Any type but some are specialized. For instance, I have a collection of medical/pharmaceutical pens, believe it or not!

Snow globes. I don't know why I love these things as much as I do, but I do. I have loved these since I was a little girl. I wasn't into Barbies' as a child. I enjoyed my snow globes. I would get lost in the magical worlds they portrayed.

Believe. This has a very personal meaning to me so I won't go into details here, but I now collect items that have "Believe" on them. The items I currently have are placed around my home and each time I see one, it brings a sense of peace to me. I would love to have more and am constantly looking for this one simple word that means the world to me.