Manurnakey

I am a kind person and I love meeting other kind people!

During the day, I am a Career and Technical Education Teacher at a high school in a small rural school district. I teach Technology Education and Drone Technology.

In the evenings, I love Crafting. I like all types of crafting. My recent passion is making/sending postcards to friends and family.

I love the color Teal. I also like Blue and Green. I collect glass beads...and will one day use some of them.

I am a Cat person =^.^=! I have a precious Persian gray cat named Gandalf (a Mother's day present) who is my Empty Nest baby. I also have a Yorkie terrier doggie name Shostakovich who is a hot mess and keeps my life interesting.

I have two kids. I have a 26 yr old son and a 20 yr old daughter. They live in Kansas.

I play online MMORPGs (massive multi-player online role playing games) with my kids on the weekend. I love the more mundane parts of the games like - questing and cooking and fishing in-game. I'm also really into Stardew Valley :)

Postcards: I prefer to receive postcards, naked. So they have cancelled postage on them :)

I have very eclectic taste in music. My favorite songs, in no particular order, are: Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth, You Don't Love Me Anymore by Weird Al Yankovic, Inside Out by Eve 6, House of the Rising Sun by the Animals, Killing Me Softly by the Fugees, and several Mozart symphonies.

I've read every single Agatha Christie book I could find published. I'm sure I've missed a few obscure ones, but I just love Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. Recently I've been exploring her drama/romances under the name Mary Westmacott!

For personal growth I've started reading books on changing habits and improving how I feel about myself. I grew up in a toxic environment and it's an uphill battle sometimes treating myself like I would treat others. But every day is an opportunity to be better!

I like reading OLD Science Fiction. I love finding old dusty books that talk about how the world will change in the far distant future (1990, 2000, 2010, 2020 etc.). It's cool to find people that were close as well as to laugh at stuff that is way out there!

Raising Arizona - with Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter. BEST MOVIE EVER! I also can watch Shaun of the Dead over and over and over.

The Simpsons - makes me laugh every time; Doctor Who - Tom Baker and the newly revived series; Currently watching: Killing Eve, Stranger Things, Sens8, Murders in the Building, Wellington Paranormal (HILARIOUS), The British Baking Show, and Midsomer Mysteries (for a second time).

I realized that it might help a partner in a swap if they knew what kind of crafts I like and dislike.

Crafts I Like (alphabetically): Art Journaling, ATCs, Drawing, Origami, Random Acts of Kindness, Recycling/Repurposing Crafts, and Tatting.

I prefer to work in small scale. I love making itty bitty things. They can be quite a challenge!

Crafts I Can't Do: Knitting (drop too many stitches), Sewing clothes

Craft Items I Collect: Cat Fabric (1/4yd to 1yd pieces) - these will eventually be part of a huge cat quilt. Itty Bitty Stickers - the smaller the better

I am allergic to anything that contains an evergreen oil (like oil from a fir tree). I don't mind passing along things that contain it to friends or family - but please make sure it is clearly marked. I break out with a painful rash if I accidentally use it. I'm also allergic to wool but my kitties love it...so wool yarn is fine...if sent in a plastic bag and labelled.

I Recycle and Repurpose a lot. So the packaging for swaps I send will most likely be reused or creatively made from recycled materials. This is more about being good to Mother Earth than saving money...even though they frequently go hand in hand :)

My handwriting is awful! I'm very sorry for this. This comes from working in computer environments for 25+ years. I rarely write more than a post it note by hand...and I'll type that if I have the time - seriously :) I am working on creative lettering for mail art...but its a long process.

SWAP ETIQUETTE - I try to rate all received swaps within a few days of getting them. I am a very responsible swapper - I don't flake, so if you have not received a swap from me, please let me know. I promise that I do not mark anything sent until I've physically put it into the mail at my local post office. I'm also a crazy organizer, so I have a little book where I log when I sign up, send, receive, and get rated for swaps :)

I've cut back on the number of swaps I join for several reasons. First, because I enjoy International Swaps...but tend to go "heavy" on the content and thus incur expensive postage. Also, I like to take time to read a person's profile (more than once) and envision them as a friend when I'm preparing a swap package - and the ole brain cells can't juggle 10 friend's profiles at once :) I promise I will never send you anything I wouldn't like to receive myself (unless the swap specifically says otherwise). And lastly because I want to put ALL my focus on a swap until it's sent. I'm also trying to incorporate more RAKs into my swapping :)

If I'm in a swap that lends itself to "feeding me or quenching my thirst" then here are some things I like...or don't like.

Likes: Herbal Teas with Orange or Lime, Constant Comment by Bigelow, All kinds of hot chocolates :) I drink hot tea or iced tea at least once a day. I love milk chocolate but it doesn't ship well . I prefer fruity over savory. I am addicted to fruit flavored tic tacs!

Dislikes: I hate coffee...flavored, smell, etc. It's a serious disgust for me. I also don't like spicy things. I don't like minty teas or alcohol.