MCGalaxy

8/5/20: There seems to be some type of delay in shipping due to the COVID so it looks like it can take up to a month for a small letter or package to get delivered even within my own state. Bear with me since it seems that the Bushwick PO has gotten even worse.

6/20/20: If there is anything you haven't received from me or that I haven't rated you for please send me a swap-bot message. I'm finally caught up and I've cleaned out all of my bags so I know there is no mail hidden anywhere.

5/24/20: I unexpectedly had to spend another week in the hospital for an infection. I'm slowly catching up on my swaps but bare with me... it might take a couple of days

4/18/30: Good news is I've gotten all of my past swaps made up (though not as nicely as I would have liked) but the bad news is due to the corona I can't make it to the PO to send them. I've also found a to do folder including swaps that were never rated as well as other things I have to take care of. So if you suddenly get ratings from over a year ago that's why. Now if I owe you a rating from more than 6 months ago please let me know as well as if I owe you a swap from anytime please let me know

4/13/20: Here's an update on my situation. I had my second surgery in January as planned and after some complications I eventually made a decent recovery and was scheduled to return to work as of March 16th which was the day that the governor shut down NYC. At this point I don't know when I will be returning to work or when my daughter will return to school. Any swaps that I owe I'm sorry but all of the supplies I need to make up these swaps are in my desk at work so I'm having trouble making up the 2 swaps that were lost in the mail a few months ago. Bare with me as I try to figure out a solution without any supplies or access to the Dollar Tree, 99 cents store or even decent amazon delivery.

10/19/19: Just to give you a heads up I will be having another surgery in January. I'm limiting the number of swaps I'm in right now. If you haven't received any swaps or ratings I need you to let me know by the middle of December. I will be MIA for a few weeks at least after this next surgery.

10/8/19: I'm back and while I was hospitalized my mother "helped" to clean my living room and treat us to some new furniture and in the process some bags of assorted papers and mail were unearthed. So just when I thought I was finally caught up with swaps I'm not. So I'm taking advantage of my couch time to sort those bags. So if you're suddenly rated for an older swap that's why.

9/16/19: I will be offline for the next 1-2 weeks at least since I'm about to go have a growth removed from my stomach. Please keep me in your prayers. If I still owe any swaps or ratings just drop me a SB message and I will try to get to it as soon as I can.

9/1/19: AGAIN I ASK IF I HAVEN'T RATED YOU ON SOMETHING OR IF YOU HAVEN'T RECEIVED A SWAP FROM ME PLEASE LET ME KNOW VIA SB MESSAGE IN THE NEXT WEEK BECAUSE THIS TIME I WILL BE OFF SWAP-BOT FOR AWHILE

8/30: IF YOU HAVE REQUESTED A RESEND DURING THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS AND DON'T RECEIVE IT BY 9/4 PLEASE LET ME KNOW SO I CAN RESEND YOUR SWAP BEFORE I COMPLETELY LEAVE.

8/15: I just found out today that in about 2-3 weeks I have to go into the hospital for another surgery. So I'm not going to do anymore swaps at this time. If there's anything you still haven't received from me or I haven't rated you on please let me know during the next week so I can handle it.

8/1: I'm currently undergoing alot of medical issues. I will try to keep you informed if I'm going to miss a deadline but since that's not always possible in cases of sudden hospitalizations bare with me if I don't log on for a few days or miss a deadline by a few days. For this reason I'm severely limiting the number of swaps I'm in right now and I won't be hosting any new ones for the next few months.

If you don't get any swaps from me please message me before rating. I almost always send on time and I try to message if I'm going to be late. I don't mark sent until after a swap has left my hand, phone or computer. Though after that time I have little control with what happens to it.

I suffered a stroke a few years ago where I spent 12 weeks in the ICU and then 6 months in rehabilitation recovering. Though I'm 75% recovered I do still have issues walking, with my memory and continued seizures. Therefore though I was finally able to return to work 2 years ago on modified duty I still travel by paratransit. I do still occasionally wind up in bed or worst hospitalized due to ongoing migraines, balance issues or seizures and therefore without internet access for a few days. This has also affected my hand strength and whenever possible I try to type because my handwriting can be illegible.

I say all of this to say bare with me. I love swapping so I don't want to give it up but sometimes I may end up sick and unable to get online or to the mailbox for a couple of days. I have never or will ever flake on a swap but I may sometimes be a day or 2 sending or marking a swap as sent.

11/22/2018: My mother recently retired so I've been forced to learn how to mail my own packages. It's a learning curve. Everytime I think I have it down then something else happens. So bare with me if you get a package with incorrect postage or if your package is late.

6/1/18: Since I can't make it to the PO easily anymore my mother does almost all of my package mailing for me so the day that I mark something mailed is the day that I give it to her but she sometimes does not make it to the PO for 2 or 3 business days so please understand that the day I mark something mailed is not necessarily the day it is postmarked. Postcards and letters I generally mail myself from a mailbox near my job.

Also I live in a low income urban community. The mailboxes in the building are not secure so I get all of my mail sent to a PO BOX but I can only check it on Saturdays and if its a busy weekend then it might take me a few days to get thru my mail

Also the PO has the bad habit of putting mail into the wrong boxes. So sometimes I have mail especially postcards disappear. I've spoken to them about this but they deny it happening though I have gotten other people's mail in my box before too. So if I haven't rated something in 2 weeks after you've sent it please contact me to follow up

The same goes for outgoing mail. Sometimes it takes major detours so please contact me if you haven't received a swap within 2 weeks since it was sent. Please contact me before giving me a negative rating. I'm desperately trying to raise my score up but have had no success due to problems with my mail and e-mail.

Here are a couple of an articles I found explaining what's going on at the local PO so glad to know at least I'm not alone in the struggle.

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160630/bed-stuy/lost-mail-long-lines-make-bed-stuy-post-office-worst-america

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2014/06/13/we-may-have-found-the-worst-post-office-in-the-country-just-wait-until-you-read-the-reviews

My email account tends to sometimes trash things without me seeing them so please send all pinterest and email swaps (unless the swap says otherwise) to my swap-bot account. Also it will sometimes hold outgoing messages for awhile until I notice them and resend them.

2/1/18: I got a bag of mail postmarked from the last 3 months today. I'll get thru it by the end of the week

8/18/18: Yesterday I received a big bag of bills, junk mail and swaps postmarked from May-June with no explanation where it's been hiding all this time. I'm slowly rating swaps so bare with me and don't be surprised if you get rated for something from months ago.

6/16/18: Due to the end of school and some health issues I'm currently a couple of weeks behind on tackling my mail. So if you've sent something since Mid May and it hasn't been marked received yet please don't give up hope just yet.

3/27/18: For once I am caught up to date on my swaps. So if I haven't rated you that means that I haven't received it. I will start archiving swaps from the past year so I will contact you if I haven't received a swap. Type 3 swaps from 2017 or earlier I'm just going to archive without contacting you. If you haven't been rated for an older swap and would like to resend please let me know. I will not give out any 3's or 1's for a swap that old though.

12/2/17: Can someone please explain why whenever I attempt to follow the instructions from 3&1 group on how to adjust my ratings I get blocked. Are there just that many insensitive people on swap-bot? Especially ones who claim to be Christians. People get petty over items that are emailed or posted a couple of hours after the deadline and about items where the postmarked date doesn't match the exact mail by date. I swear people take swapping way too serious. Isn't it supposed to be fun? I can understand if I was a week or two late but an hour after the deadline is a little ridiculous. And since we did it become acceptable to complain to people on their boards. I thought you were supposed to voice your complaints and issues with late swaps via ratings or PMs where people actually see them not profile comments.

12/1/17: I'm currently without a computer so since I can't easily do profile comments from my phone I'm not going to do those for awhile rather than risk more negative ratings.

11/30/17: I'm sorry for the delay with any swaps during the last week. My stepfather passed away from cancer. It was somewhat expected but still difficult. My brain really hasn't been into swapping during the last few weeks.

11/28/17: I found out today that everything I dropped off in the mailroom at work to go out last week didn't actually go out until today so if you see a delayed postmark on your swap that's why. I'm so sorry about that. I didn't realize that the person the runs the mailroom was out on FMLA or I would have taken everything to the post office myself before going out on bereavement leave.

5/1/17: Also a couple of months ago something went wrong with my email and I was unaware of it but it began sending all my outgoing mail into an outgoing folder instead of sending it. A few weeks ago I discovered this problem and updated my password and my email then sent out all of the messages that were pending in my outgoing mailbox. So it made it look like some messages including some swaps were "sent late" when they were actually originally "sent" on time but they just didn't leave my mailbox on time. I have since updated my password and I think that that fixed the problem but if you still haven't received a email or pinterest swap from me on time please drop me a swap-bot message.

Also I know pinterest swaps are supposed to be done by computer but during the week the only computer I usually have access to is my work computer which allows me to access swap-bot but not pinterest. Though I can access pinterest from my phone but not swap-bot. I love doing pinterest swaps though so I'd love to continue doing them though I can only do them thru email but now that my email issue is fixed it should be running smoothly. I SN:I have an amazon fire now so that problem has basically been fixed now.

4/19/17:Also I recently found a bag of mail from when we moved last year so I have slowly been going thru that so if I suddenly rate you for something from 2015 or 2016 that's why. It was in a box that wound up in my storage room with my portable nebulizer, back ups of all of my medications and so important documents. I've been looking for that box for a year and thankfully finally found it. Yahoo !!!!!

4/10/17: I'm slowly getting thru my mail from the last 3 weeks so please have patience with me. Btwn illness and holiday preparation I've been a little behind.

3/6/17: I recently found a bag of swaps from the summer/fall 2016 so this weekend I've started updating the swaps. So if you see an old rating from me that's why. I deeply apologize for that. I hope by next weekend to have all past and current swaps updated. I'm so sorry for the delay in rating.

I love chick lit, Christian fiction, cozy mysteries, paranormal romances, dystopian fiction and memoirs especially parenting or medical ones. The best books I've read recently are The Real Life of a Pediatrician (Kaplan Voices: Doctors) and Coming Back To Me by Caroline Leavitt. Lately I've been reading alot of e-books based on real life medical dramas and Robyn Perterman's paranormal novels.

I love romantic comedies. My favorite movies are Just Wright, Love and Basketball, Crazy/ Beautiful, Grease, Dirty Dancing, You've Got Mail and Save the Last Dance

I love R&B and 80s/90s music. Back when the lyrics actually made sense.

I love reality shows, some comedies and medical based shows. My favorite shows are ER, NYMed, Friends, Facts of Life, Family Ties, Small Wonder, Doogie Howser, Mad About You, Blackish, Modern Family, SVU, L Word, Queer as Folk, 19 Kids and Counting, Kate Plus 8, Raising Hope, Guys with Kids, Baby Daddy, The Chew, Chopped, Guys Grocery Games, Food Network Star, Trauma: Life in the ER, Blackish, Grownish, Fresh of the Boat, Single Parents, I am Jazz, The Kids Are Alright, and Modern Family. And yes I know majority of those show are now off the air but that's because I loved the 80s and 90s TV, movies and music. And I've recently discovered and become addicted to Chicago Med. It's ER all over again. Also recently discovered Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Good Doctor.

I used to scrapbook and make cards and bookmarks all the time but lately I just haven't found the time to do it. Though I did make my own Christmas cards again a couple of years ago. Once I get my living room organized I want to start cardmaking again and possibly scrapbooking since I have nothing done past the first 3 months of my daugher's life because that's when I fell ill. I love stickers especially chipboard, cardstock 3D or dimensional ones. I've started to get into ATC's and pocket letters (thanks to swap-bot) and really enjoying them. So I can always use 2x3 papers for them and tiny alphas, washi tape and other small embellishments

80s vintage toys i.e. smurfs, PVC figurines, little people, etc.

Sarcastic, funny or retro t-shirts in a 3X

Address Labels (I'm not picky about the design as long as its not sexual or demonic).... these are always needed

fuzzy blankets and fuzzy socks

travel hand sanitizer

Post-it notes

Notecards & Greeting Cards

Writing paper

Bracelets

Silver Earrings

Mets

Gymnastics

Broadway Musicals

Reusable shopping bags especially the folding ones

Fun office supplies

Italian, Mexican and Thai food (though my diet is severely limited at the moment)

Tea (mostly fruity tea or Chai. I'm not too fond of apple or banana or licorice flavors or green tea.)

Crystal Light Drop-ins

Scrapbooking paper (any size from 2x3 on up)

Peppermint Flavored gum

Puppies

Raspberries and peppermint.... tea, candy, sprays, lotion, soap...anything

Bath and body works peppermint twist, watermelon lemonade

Cooking magazines and cookbooks

Craft Magazines

Handmade bookmarks

Shopping on Ebay

Food Network and TLC

Traveling

Bright or funny post-it notes or note pads

Funny magnets

Magnets from Different states/countries

Romantic Comedies

White Chocolate (especially Godiva)

Pot Holders and dishtowels

K-Cups -flavored coffees (nothing BOLD) or tea or hot chocolate (Again no green tea, licorice, banana or apple flavors)

Stickers especially 3D ones

Postcards from beautiful places (new and in an envie are preferred whenever the swap allows)

Coke Rewards and Pamper Points

B&BW Hand Gels and B&BW samples and travel sized products

Silver jewelry

Colored Pencils

Stress balls and other items for working the hands

The color turquoise and neutral colors like beige, black, brown, tan, khaki and white

Things with stripes or polka dots or animal or geometric prints

Neutral colors like brown, beige, cream and black

Ann Geddes type images of babies

Pocket Letters and items to make them

Atcs and thing to make them like 2x3 paper, washi tape, tiny alphas and tiny stamps

Those fat advertising pens. You know the thick ones. The free ones that you get from different companies. They're easier for my hand to hold with the nerve damage than regular pens

Adult coloring books

For calendar swaps: I like scenic or ocean or cute babies or puppies or cartoons or funny comics

For ornament swaps: I prefer novelty(such as the hallmark ones rather than traditional ones (like snowmen, Santa and reindeer). I also like well made homemade ones (just please no paper) and I prefer to not have delicate, fragile easy to break ones since I have a 3 year old. My colors are turquoise and hot pink but please don't stick to this color scheme. Basically if its cute and funny then I'm bound to love it

Coupons/Samples: We could use: Coke, Pampers Wipes, Lactaid, Protein Drinks and Bars, Depends, Poise, Poland Spring, Plum Organics, Earth's Best, Taco Shells, Mexican Foods, Other Ethnic Foods, Slimfast, chicken, any juices, pastas, sauces, rice, tofu, frozen dinners, Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Weight Watchers, Lunchables,. Tylenol, Advil, Day Quil, Other OTC medications, lunch box snacks

Also in terms of stores we can always use giftcards/coupons for:

Amazon, Seamless, Uber, Olive Garden, CVS, Duane Reade, Walgreens, Carters, Marshalls/TJ Maxx, Starbucks, Taco Bell, Applebees, Dunkin Donuts, Old Navy, Whole Foods, Chick Fil A, Burlington, Carters, Bath and Body Works, Burger King, McDonalds

My daughter Gabriella is 7 and her birthday is 12-2

she likes:

Fidget Toys (she's autistic so she needs something to work with her triggers)

Her favorite subject is science but she hates reading so we"re working on changing that

Anything with sight words or rhyming words or level 3 (J-M) reading books

Any types of science or art kits (ones that would be appropriate for a 4-5 year old)

Maps, globes, anything to do with travel. If you'd like to send a local free map she'd love that.

Hair accessories especially in pink, purple, green or blue (Her uniform colors are green and blue)

Anything purple and or sparkly

She loves those toys, shirts, pillows, bags, etc that you can change the color of the sequins on

Necklaces or bracelets or clip-on earrings (please just get cheap ones from the dollar store or Claire's because she just takes them off and loses them)

Cute pencils, erasers and sharpeners

She loves Shopkins, LOL Dolls and any of those little surprise toys

Puppy Dog Pals

Doc McStuffins

Paw Patrol

Little Einsteins

Teen Titans

Anything Marvel

Super Why

Sofia

Sunny Days

Thomas the Train

Sesame Street

Electric Company

Elena

PJ Masks

Shimmer and Shine

Top Wing

Fresh Beat Band (but not band of spies)

Basically anything on Nick, PBS Kids and Disney

Veggie Tales

Power Rangers

The Good Doctor (I can't figure this one out but she makes me DVR it so we can watch it on Saturdays... maybe because he has autism like her??)

She's also addicted to the old ER TV show (she would rather watch that than cartoons). It's only on reruns but maybe she'll become a doctor one day

She also loves all of the Chicago shows

Her toy kitchen and play food

She loves those little water growing creatures. (the ones that grow like 10x their original size or the little capsules that you put into water)

She also likes plants so if you want to get her some type of starter growing kit she'd love that. Remember we don't have a backyard though.

Bubble baths so anything fun for the tub... toddler/ preschool tub toys, children's bubble bath, magic washcloths, bath beads for kids

Fisher price little people (she can never have too many of those either current or vintage is fine)

Little figures either the 3"-4" kind we had in the 80s or the current tinier ones are fine. Basically any figure that's small enough to fit into her pocket

Surprise bags or eggs or kinder eggs

Computers and her electronic toys or games. The only device she has is an amazon fire.

Fruit Snacks, Animal Crackers and pretzels

Jammy Sammys (Really anything to do with peanut butter)

Zone Perfect Kidz bars

Mini Muffins

Puppies (but only figurines.. please NO MORE stuffed animals)

Dolls & Baby Doll Clothes (or used baby clothes/bibs up to size 3 months.. stains are fine)

Baby Alive Food (she has both kinds of baby alive dolls) and Baby Alive Diapers (or preemie size infant diapers)

Dollhouses

Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Teen Titans, Marvel superheroes and basically any boys action figures with no tiny pieces

Playing Doctor and tea party with her dolls

Dollie & Me Outfit sets in size 10 or larger

Barbie (she could definitely use more Ken dolls)

Anything to do with dress-up except for shoes, fake nails and actual kids make-up (definitely no lip balm or nail polish .... I can tell you horror stories about those).

Anything to do with princesses especially the Disney princesses

Also she wears a uniform for school and uniforms can be really expensive and get stained and torn way too easily. So if you have size 8 or larger navy blue bottoms that you can pass on they would be very appreciated.

For any mail for her you can address the package to her: Gabriella Meyers so that I know its for her and can let her open it

Please nothing to do with dairy products or apples due to allergies

Also at the moment we don't need any more puzzles, coloring books, stuffed animals, paint, crayons, lip balm, bubbles or PLAYDOUGH

My husband is 40 and his birthday is 11-26.

He's a bit of a geek and loves:

marvel comics

subway systems thru out the world

colors blue and black

low sodium snack foods that are not gummy

Green Tea

Unique pens in black ink

Axe body products

Politics

Sarcastic t-shirts in size 3X

Hooded Sweat shirts in size 3X

Knicks

Mets

Comic themed movies

Politics and the news

Computers

He's also lactose intolerant and allergic to cigarette smoke and bananas.

A couple of years ago he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, asthma, hypertension and sleep apnea so recipe and health tips/books would definitively be appreciated.

I wear a 22/2X (though I'm in the process of shrinking so anything in size 16 or larger would be appreciated) and size 12W shoe

My daughter wears a Girls 10/12 and size 3 kids shoe

My husband wears a size 2X/3X /48 and a size 15 shoe

We're more than willing to accept any clothing donations since money's always tight .

I love postcards. I prefer them blank and unwritten unless the swap calls for otherwise

My favorites are:

Oceans and beaches and the animals that live in or on them

Urban postcards (especially night time ones)

Multi-view

humorous ones

Disney characters

Sculptures and modern art

African American and Latino art and artists

Cute babies and puppies

Dislikes:(I won't rate you down if you send one of these) but:

Regency or historical postcards

Black and white or sepia tone

No Vintage, Free, Rack or Ad cards

Paintings and other artwork except see above

People including actors and other celebrities except see above

Farmland and other rural pictures