marinda

Welcome to my profile!

Quick overview about me:

I work part-time as a genealogist researcher.

I have Ankylosing Spondylitis, an autoimmune inflammatory arthritis. If any of you have an autoimmune disease and/or inflammatory arthritis, I would love to hear your story and how you treat and cope.

My family consists of my husband and our five children, ranging in age from 24 to 12, and also one son-in-law. I will soon be a grandma for the first time! Woohoo! We have two adorable goldendoodles, 🐕 two cockatiels, 🦜 one tortoise, 🐢 and a bearded dragon.🦎 We love our menagerie. I live in Arizona. Hot!!😓(Stuff in the mail can and will melt in the summer!) 🫠

I love to send and receive snail mail. I have been here in the swap community for many years now, and I have enjoyed swapping things with people from all over the world. I LOVE SNAIL MAIL!

SOME OF MY FAVORITES:

Colors: Any shade of green, my very favorite is dark/forest green. Purple is a close second. I especially enjoy green and purple in combination. That being said, I love all colors!

Animals: I love duck-billed platypuses, my all-time favorite animal. They are so fascinating! I love fascinating and unusual animals.

I also love: hedgehogs, Basset hounds, goldendoodles, cockatiels, mallard ducks, walruses, sea horses, bearded dragons, and tortoises

Hobbies: Playing the piano, reading, diamond "painting," crocheting, knitting, adult coloring (especially color-by-number), recycling, genealogy, jigsaw puzzles

Crafts: Crocheting and knitting. I also enjoy cross-stitching occasionally. I have tried ATCs in the past and enjoy those as well. I also love to color, especially adult color-by-number.

More detailed descriptions of what I like are below. (Feel free to read what you like and skip what isn't relevant.)

I love to knit and crochet.

Note: If you have no use for your leftover yarn balls and you don't know what to do with them, feel free to send them my way! I make little things from yarn leftovers all the time, and I love to have variety in colors.

I love to color. It is very relaxing to me. Color-by-number is by far my favorite because it takes the "stress" of choosing colors out of the process.

My collections: I love to collect nativity Christmas tree ornaments. (Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus, shepherds, and/or wise men.)

My other collections:

Anything with a platypus on it

Leftover yarn balls

Acrylic worsted-weight yarn

ATCs (especially profile-based ones)

Jewelry (necklaces, bracelets, earrings for pierced ears), handmade or store-bought

Christmas postcards, store-bought, blank/unused

Postcards (I prefer non-touristy, but I like all postcards.)

Advent calendars, Advent, the countdown to Christmas

My wish list:

Stories or anything relating to adoption (near and dear to my heart)

Anything from my collections section above! 😄

Nativity scenes

Pocket tissues with designs

Personal address labels

Adult color-by-number books, pages, photocopies, etc.

Washi tape (or any deco tape)

Perfume samples

Colorful pens

Gel pens

Colorful, fine-point permanent markers

Languages! Postcards, note cards, images, letters, etc. in a language foreign to English

Cultural diversity (all diversity, really)

Images of sunsets on the beach

Baymax from "Big Hero 6"

Sock monkeys

Handwritten letters and chatty notes (A letter from YOU would absolutely make my day!)

Decorative bandages (any and all designs or pictures)

Decorative/decorated envelopes, store-bought or handmade

Gift cards to any retailer

Christmas!

Autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving

Button up hanging kitchen towels, handmade or store-bought

Stickers (flat ones, not puffy, foam, or 3D)

Potholders/hot pads, handmade or store-bought

Piano or flute sheet music 🎶

Seahorses

Holiday cards (blank/unused) for any holiday: Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc., store-bought or handmade

Hair accessories: barrettes, clips, headbands, etc.

Sugar-free mints or gum

Snow! Snowflakes and/or snow scenes. We don't get any snow here, and I'm glad, but I really think it's beautiful and sometimes I feel like I am missing out.

Wrapping paper/gift wrap (Christmas, birthday, all occasion, wedding, baby, etc.)

I am a fan of the paranormal, especially ghosts! I love ghost stories and personal paranormal accounts. I would LOVE to hear yours if you are willing to share your experience! (But please no bloody, gory, or dark.)

Anything from (or similar to) my etsy favorites

An Advent calendar (I love Advent calendars of any kind. I love the anticipation and countdown to Christmas and I love Advent.)

Anything that has to do with platypuses or has a platypus on it

Postcard Preferences:

I love virtually all postcards, but here is a list of the postcards I particularly enjoy:

Platypuses

Fluffy, soft animals, domestic or wild (photographs that make you want to touch or pet them)

Sea creatures, especially sea horses

Hedgehogs

Tortoises

Mallard ducks

Birds

Cows

Lizards

Soccer

Castles and palaces

Hawaii or other tropical places

Beautiful sunsets

Norman Rockwell paintings

Frogs

Beach

Christmas

Vintage (true vintage, not copies)

Non-touristy

Multiview without borders (the pictures fade into each other and/or overlap)

Fantasy

Dogs, especially Bassett hounds

Cats

Airplanes in flight

Rainbows (photographs)

Waterfalls

Greenery

Autumn leaves or other Fall photographs

Nativity scenes

Native/cultural dress

Books/reading related

Walruses

America's founding fathers

Holidays (any)

Black and white photographs

Anything related to my likes or collections above

A note about postcard preferences: If a swap asks for a choice, I most often prefer postcards sent blank in an envelope. I love swapping postcards, and it is nice to have variety in my stash. However, I enjoy almost as much receiving stamped and written postcards, especially if the postcard is from my postcard preferences list above, has a nice, chatty handwritten note on it, is nicely decorated, and/or has unusual postage stamps on the back. 🤩 Please feel free to send postcards any way you wish.

Thank you for swapping with me! I am easy to please, but after years of swapping experience I am adding a small "please don't send me" section:

Coffee or tea (Herbal tea, apple cider, hot chocolate, or kool-aid-type packets are fine to replace these with in a swap.)

Macabre, bloody, gory, or demonic

Violence

Skulls (although I love Halloween, this is one thing I dislike, even cartoony ones. I do like full-body skeletons, though!)

Stickers that don't stick well! (A big pet peeve.)

Zazzle postcards (wrong dimensions)

I don't really do scrapbooking or card-making.

I have all the notebooks and journals I need right now. However, I would love for you to send any of these items in a swap if they feature any of my favorites listed above!

Not a fan of primates (with the exception of sock monkeys, lemurs and their relatives, and humans, of course 😜)