PLEASE STOP TAPING ENVELOPES SO MUCH THAT THEY CAN'T BE OPENED! The last two I got were so taped up I couldn't find even a tiny space to slide in a letter opener. I had to cut the edge off, and I don't want to ruin your swap! SO PLEASE DON'T TAPE! If you feel you must, please use Washi tape, not Scotch tape. End of rant.

If you want a heart, you will read or at least scan my profile to see what I like and don't like! Hint: Don't send me stickers!

Word for 2023 "P" words--I did that thing on FB where you have friends leave a positive (hey, there's another!) word that starts with their first name, and Pat left Purpose. I loved that! I'm volunteering a LOT more this year, so I decided "Purposeful" would be my word. Later, I couldn't remember what the word was except that it started with P and came up with Productive and Playful, which I also love! So, PURPOSEFUL, PRODUCTIVE, PLAYFUL! And also Powerful, Peaceful and Profitable! Guess the Letter P is the letter for my year! lol!

Word of the Year 2021 Okay, so, I couldn't decide between two, so I'm taking both! Mindful and Legendary. The second is after a fitness/weight loss group I've joined (first one that's actually working anymore!) called "Legendary Ladies." I am loving the program and wanted to honor all the legendary ladies I know! If yyou want to use one or both to make something for me, that would be AWESOME! Thanks!

7/8/20 Update I hope everyone is safe and well during these strange times. Grateful that I'm near a park and in a neighborhood where it's easy and safe to walk. It's getting hot here now, so that's done either early or after the sun goes down. Please stay safe, everyone! And remember that we're doing this for each other!

NOTE It gets hot here, and my mail goes to a metal box down the street. If I don't pick it up right when it's delivered, you can bet it's gonna "cook" in there a while, so please don't send anything that might melt!

I am a retired high school English teacher, now an actor and writer. I have always loved crafting and am trying to learn to draw and paint, although I am not sure I have the patience for that. I keep trying though! I love to play around with watercolors and acrylics.

I like to write, but need some external motivators, so I like prompts to spark an idea. I mostly write scripts--for stage or screenplays. I love dialogue, and get impatient with description, so that suits me best. I can do it, but I have to force myself to paint the scene. I admire authors who can do that, and develop a character with just a few brilliant descriptive sentences. I do NOT love Dickins for obvious reasons, if you've read him, you know why! I love his plots and he's developed some great characters but... well, he WAS paid by the word!

I used to do silversmithing and still do some macrame once in a while. I also knit and crochet sometimes. More lately! I like to sew and enjoy making up my own patterns for purses and stuff. I've got a bag full of old men's ties that are just waiting for inspiration and time available to get started.

Recently, I've started experimenting with block printing and paper making. I love bookbinding too.

Purple and turquoise are my favorite colors, but I love blue and green too.

Please don't send anything with fragrances as my son is allergic. Candles are out as well. They'd melt before I could get to them!

I love plants & flowers, but travel too much to keep any alive. I even managed to kill a snake plant somehow. I think it got hit in a hard freeze we had last winter.

I was born in the year of the Tiger, and they are my favorite animal: so beautiful and strong.

My sons tell me I am obsessed with boxes and containers of any kind. It's really hard for me to throw away the box something came in, especially if it's unique!

I love learning new things, so I really want to hear about your area, learn about YOU! I love surprises, that's one of the best things about swap-bot! I know what I like and I will generally just go get it if I want it enough. Surprise me with something different! I love it when swappers add personal notes about what they sent. Share a little of YOU! Thanks!

Any music that is well done is appealing, but I listen most often to rock, blues and jazz. I love making mixes and seeing what other people mix up. I'm open to hearing new groups and singers, but generally don't like rap music. Opera is okay when I'm there watching the performance, but I don't listen to it otherwise. I appreciate country music, but don't listen to it much either.

Big Fish, LA Confidential, Chinatown, Princess Bride, Neverending Story, Bringing Up Baby, Some Like it Hot, Monkey Business, Animal House, Harry Potter movies, LOTR, Amelie, The Thin Man series, Memento, The Gods Must be Crazy, The Road to Singapore, Conspiracy Theory. Pretty eclectic mix, I know!

Orange is the New Black, Walking Dead, Arrow, Extant--1st season, Daredevil, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bones, Ugly Betty, Monk, Psych, Veronica Mars, Scrubs, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Project Runway, Top Chef. Lots of old ones in here. I haven't been watching much TV lately.

Well, that's no longer true, is it? Not for me anyway, although it's slowed some. I've been watching Ozark, Bull, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (LOVE IT!), Bosch, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Avenue 5 to name a few.

Photography, bookbinding, block printing, watercolor, art journals, crocheting, some knitting, used to do embroidery & crewel, but not so much anymore. I love to make collages, mixed media, colored pencil, sewing, silver-smithing, decoupage, stenciling, I'll try anything! I love to learn new crafts! I do like to scrapbook, but don't really do it much, so I can't really use materials for that.

Since I'm a former English teacher, I love to read most anything (I've been known to resort to the backs of cereal boxes and shampoo bottles!), but I adore mysteries, especially "cozy" ones (like coffeehouse, cooking, bookstore, dog lovers, handyman, they go on and on!). Sue Grafton's alphabet series is a must read, but so is Harry Potter!

I don't like overly religious books or really gory stuff, although I adore most of Dean Koontz's stuff, and some Stephen King.

I'm also not a fan a typical "women's fiction." Just not into that. I need some action, not just talk (especially the 'poor me' variety!).

I go in phases of reading. Right now, I'm enjoying cooking books, like Ruth Reichl and Peter Mayle. Past binges have included fantasy and SF, police procedurals, true adventures like Endurance (a great book and an amazing true story), Into Thin Air and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

Biographies and autobiographies are another favorite. Maya Angelou's are wonderful. Gilda Radner's book, It's Always Something, Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, I could go on and on!

I loved Counting by Sevens (my brother declared that it's the best book he's read all year!), The Memory Keeper's Daughter, The Time Traveler's Wife, Hairstyles of the Damned, A Confederacy of Dunces, and The Historian among many others. Reading is a passion, can you tell? Check out my Goodreads site above if you want to see more!

I love getting PCs, especially vintage ones, but i don't need any more blank ones. If it's a PC swap, I prefer them to be sent NAKED and written on. I love hearing about your area, or how you got the PC, anything! I found a list of ideas on what to write at the Postcrossing blog. Click here. If the swap requirements don't allow for naked PCs, then in an envie is okay.

If your city has a baseball stadium, I would LOVE a PC of it! Please write on the back if you've seen a game there, and anything else about the team or stadium you want to share. That will give you a heart for sure!

What won't earn a heart is just STUFF. I prefer to scavenge and find what I need in a magazine or just around the house than use something purchased. If you have something you've created to share, that's great! But please don't send card making supplies or random stuff like that. My house is way too cramped with stuff I've accumulated to use "someday" already! Lastly, I really DO NOT LIKE STICKERS! Please don't send or use those in a craft for me.

Long story short, a great "surprise" for me is a suggestion for a great book to read or anything HANDMADE by you. I also like hearing about where you live and places you've been.

Thanks for whatever you send. If I can't use it, I'll regift it in another swap.

I really like most things, but I'm not into cutesy stuff or overtly religious materials.

I really don't like stickers, so those will just be re-gifted if sent. If you're creating something for me, please don't use stickers. If you're looking for a heart, don't send me stickers! I'd rather get a nice note about you and your area. Plus, I immediately know that you didn't even scan my profile!

As I mentioned above, I don't need any more craft supplies. I'd really rather get a note from you! See above for ideas of what to write.

It's becoming a pet peeve of mine--overly taped envelopes. I literally have received many that were pretty much impossible to open without grabbing some scissors, and then I'm always afraid I'll also cut the contents. If you must tape, please leave an opening somewhere for my letter opener to get in!Thanks!

Remember I live in a desert! So if it's summer and you're thinking of sending chocolate or candles, think again! Anything perishable (or that can melt) is probably not a good idea during those months (that'd be late May-September here)!

I'm adding this saguaro blossom image hoping it will show up this time. I seldom have any luck with this.

Please leave some kind of comment. It doesn't really take much time, and part of the reason I love SB is "meeting" all of you out there. Let me know if you liked what I sent, and maybe what/why. If you didn't like it, please let me know that, and I will try to make or find something to please you. I read your profile and try to send something based off that, usually even if that's not part of the swap. I don't know. It just seems polite to say something. Thanks!