Aumonae

12/2022

I send all my swaps on time and am willing to resend if it isn't received in a timely manner. Life happens and mail gets lost from time to time. Just communicate with me. I rate my partners as soon as received and look forward to leaving friendly feedback. That's half the fun!

I am a huge Journaling and mail art fan. I used to craft all the time and use this site as a therapeutic outlet. Then my life didn't allow for it and I went dormant for a long time. I'm dipping my feet back in the habit of crafting and swapping again.

I gave away thousands of dollars of crafting supplies, papers and ephemera when I thought I was done with crafting for good, I am slowly trying to build up my supplies again. If you wish to RAK stuff, I would be ever so grateful! Or we could do a private swap and trade items. I'm always open to inexpensive ideas.

I'm married to the love of my life and ever so grateful he is alive! Paul has been fighting for his life and a normal existence since May 2nd of this year (2022). I am his "nurse" and all around caretaker. The hope is that by February of 2023 he will be able to be healed completely and put the last several months behind him. It will also give me a chance to go back to a normal schedule and free time.

I volunteer for a local palliative and hospice care network doing administrative duties. Because I care for Paul, I just don't have the time or energy to care for clients or their families. Doing the administrative stuff, however, still allows me to give in a meaningful way.

I am disabled and dealing with my own health issues keeps me busy. I struggle with PTSD in addition to my physical difficulties. I am active in therapy and work closely with my Psychiatrist. She's been with me for many, many years and knows me well so I trust her.

During the spring and summer months I love to garden and grow container plants as well. I used to have a black thumb, but this last year I did pretty well at keeping everything alive and even thriving. I'm a huge lover of nature and try to partake of her beauty as often as I'm able.

I'm not very religious in the sense of church politics and such, but I am profoundly spiritual. I refer to myself as having a higher power and leave it at that. I don't force my views or beliefs on others and appreciate the same courtesy extended to me. I do love relevant Bible verses, Buddhist teachings, knowledge of nature, and such. I don't subscribe to messages of hate or discrimination. There's just not enough time given to us, as a species, to waste any of it on anything but unity, peace, and goodwill.

However, I am a hard fast Libertarian. I love my country and appreciate our Military. I am a staunch supporter of the Constitution and am always grateful for the rights afforded me.

I'm fairly laid back and enjoy most anything done with love and care- very easy to please.

Halloween/ Samhain is my absolute favorite holiday and I love to do crafts themed in that vein all year round. I am especially fond of Nightmare Before Christmas. Tim Burton ROCKS! But he is second to my hero, Guillermo del Toro. I have seen everything he's done! I don't appreciate the finer points of gore and his presentations, while at times super gory, are done in spectacularly good taste.

I enjoy EVERY type of music except rap/jazz. I'm more into mood and feeling when it comes to what I listen to. I am fond of discovering new music so welcome input.

Different artists I'm fond of includes: Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Taylor Swift, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Il Volo, Sarah Brightman, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Pink, Ennio Morricone, Enya, The Eagles, Ray Stevens, Weird Al Yankovic, The Fray, Andrea Bocelli, Imagine Dragons, Tori Amos, Meatloaf, Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Dido, and many, many more. I'm more about the melody and lyrics than I am the actual group or singer. I may only like one single song by an artist for this reason. I'm the farthest thing from a fan girl you can get!

I have always been a voracious reader of fiction. Lately I have discovered non-fiction and am eager to discover what's out there. I like narrative stories of things that actually happened. My all-time favorite author is still Dean Koontz and I have recently gained a great fondness for Ryan Holiday.

I took a long break from reading around 2020 and am finally feeling a pull to start again.

Once upon a time I was a prolific writer of poetry, song lyrics, prose, letters to penpals, and short stories. I stopped writing in 2008 when my brother died tragically. We were very close and it was a major blow to me and I basically had no desire to be creative. I've since come to the conclusion that I dishonor him by letting his death steal my joy and creative expression. I am slowly writing again. Not like I used to, but writing all the same. It is my goal to write a book for my son to have when I die. It will be like a memoir in nature.

I love it all, but ATCs, washi tapes, handmade journals (think junk journals), journal pages, mail art, cloth "stuffies" (dolls and stuffed creations), letters, tea swaps, handmade envelopes/pockets, and ephemera swaps are most relevant to me. Additionally, both I and my husband collect used postage stamps. International ones are a treat, but we collect them all. Hubby is an actual collector and I use them for crafting (duplicates).

I stick mostly to Regional USA swaps because money is tight and rates on everything have gone up. Gotta mind the pennies these days. I love private swaps where both parties more readily get what they want.

Themes I adore are:

Halloween- my all-time favorite is Nightmare Before Christmas, nothing overly gory or bloody, monsters, demons, ghosts, general spookiness, Phantom of the Opera, graveyards, Day of the Dead, skulls, cute pumpkins, Ichabod Crane, vampires, mummies

Egyptian- anything and everything

Aliens- cute and mildly scary

vintage- 1950's and before, nature, people, animals, Smokey the Bear, medical instruments, architecture, law enforcement, photos of people and groups, vehicles and aircraft, letters and invoices

abstract art- especially background papers

animals- dogs, cats, babies, birds, exotic, geckos/lizards, bears (anything from grizzly to koala), tropical fish, cute, imaginary, mice, ferrets, most insects, spiders, squirrels, skunks, deer/elk

music- everything but rap/jazz, individual notes, scales, sheet music, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Nine Inch Nails, 80's, 90's, 70's, (see above likes)

movies/ TV shows- Criminal Minds, true crime shows on the True Crime network, Big Bang Theory, Chicago Fire, NCIS (all of them), Ghost Whisperer, Medium, Bonanza, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, Wagontrain, Have Gun Will Travel, The Arrow, The Flash, (almost every Marvel show made), The White Queen, The Spanish Princess, Ghost, The Nutty Professor, Princess Bride, Monsters Inc, Driving Miss Daisy, Phenomenon, Disney and DreamWorks movies, The Witcher, The Last Witcher, docudramas, documentaries

Holidays- non-religious, absolutely anything and everything Halloween (except gratuitous violence or gory)

dark- brooding and moody, gothic

steam punk- really enjoy this genre

futuristic- Sci-fi and anything tech related

garden- Mary Engelbrite, English gardens, forest, fairies, whimsical, tropical, wild, individual flowers

monochromatic- this can be difficult which is why I like it

Patriotic- anything and everything that relates my pride and gratitude to be an American

medical- nursing, surgical, general

My favorite colors are pinks, blues, black, greens, yellows, and purples.

My dislikes include overly cutsie, babies, political, violent, gory, and activism to name a few.

I do not want cheap stickers, adverts, googly eyes, candy, coffee, magazine pages/images, or blank playing cards (unsolicited).