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KansasKate

KansasKate
Date Joined: June 30, 2007
Last Online: September 25, 2010

Country: United States
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If this won't get you to move, nothing will!

SWAP-BOT FINE PRINT

ICE STORM UPDATE

We are fine. However, my hometown - just 30 miles south of here - was on the edge of the storm and part of the town was hit hard.

The south half of town (where my mother lives) looks like a disaster area. Every single house lost at least 1 tree -- the ice builds up & gets too heavy, the trees split and limbs fall. Mother lost 3 trees in the back yard; at least they missed the roof & windows. The neighbor's oak (which is a huge, strong tree!) dropped a big limb in mother's drive, blocking her garage door. (Which is ok - she doesn't need to be out driving on the ice anyway!) Some streets are closed because the city is still working on getting fallen trees out of the streets.

Most of that southern part of town is without power -- 4300 houses in a town of 20,000 people, which is about 1/3 of the town. That's a lot of trees to cut & lines to restore. The power company says it could be 7 to 10 days before all power is restored.

We moved mother into a hotel & boarded her cat w/ a vet, both places in a suburb on the north side of town where there is power.

As bad as all this sounds, it could be worse. The temps are between 20º-35ºF which is a lot better than 0º or -10ºF! (Still, it's too cold to be without heat.)

There are several small towns nearby with NO power. None! Whole towns without any electricity -- little rural towns with no university or hospital or other place that has their own "power plant" and can serve as a shelter.

So, on top of working 10-12 hours/day, every day, now I'm having to make daily trips (60 miles RT) to check on mother and the situation w/ the electricity & trees at her house, my grandmother in the nursing home, etc.

And as much as I would like to have a big pitty party right about now, I know so many other people have it worse -- the poor, the elderly, people without hotel rooms and family and resources. Please keep those people in your thoughts & prayers.

SENDING: I usually send swaps within the first 2-3 days after partners are assigned. However, work, family and health matters always come before hobbies and all things virtual. I do not flake, but due to current demands on my time, I cannot dedicate as much time to swaps as I would like. When I can't meet a deadline, I will let you know via email, the swap page, or by posting a comment. So if the mailing deadline has passed and you haven't received anything yet, please email/convo me and let me know it never arrived.

RATING: I try to leave a rating as soon as I receive an item or shortly thereafter. If it has been a while since you sent me something, and I haven't rated it yet, please email me to make sure it arrived.

HEARTS: I give hearts to partners if they include something extra, or use info from my profile to custom-tailor an item just for me, or go the extra mile in some other way.

STARS: I give stars to coordinators if they have clear instructions, email send-date reminders, offer to angel a no-send, or do something else above-n-beyond in some other way.

SPOILER: I post photos of the swap items I send & receive on Flickr.

SELF-PORTRAIT

I'm in my mid-40's. My birthday is in March. My favorite gemstone is my birthstone, the aquamarine. Though I'm not "into" astrology, I like my zodiac sign - two fish - pretty well too.

I have been happily married for over 20 years. He's a Gemini; I'm a Pisces. He's an only child; I'm a first-born. Theoretically, it shouldn't work. But it does.

For my birthday this year (2007), my husband gave me a gorgeous blue cat. She's the best cat I've ever had, and I love her. For that matter, he's the best husband I've ever had, and I love him too.

I'm bilingual (English-Spanish) and know a little bit of a few other languages. Y de yapa chamuyo lunfardo.

I'm a former academic who misses teaching & students but not departmental politics & administrators. I'm a philologist & geographer who has worked as an importer, tour guide, translator & interpreter, copy writer, proofreader, journalist, and historic preservation activist. Currently I'm a - gulp! - corporate wife who does a lot of volunteering for charities & community projects.

Labeling my beliefs isn't something I usually do, but for those who like or need labels, my personal philosophy is closest to Secular Humanism and my politics are liberal. I hold an elected position in the Democratic party at the county level. (Yes, there really are "blue" voters in the "red" state of Kansas!)

I believe in the power of both saints and iconoclasts to inspire us, focus us, and help us to help ourselves. My favorite saints are St Jerome (patron of translators & bibliophiles), St Gertrude (patron of cats) and especially St Anthony (patron of lost things), who has come to my rescue on many occasions. I think Frank Lloyd Wright and Picasso were brilliant.

My favorite color is blue, in almost any of its many varieties: indigo, cobalt, teal, turquoise, aqua, periwinkle. My favorite color combo is bright pink + lime green.

People who know me well say "Hotel California" and "Cumbiera Intelectual" are the songs that most remind them of me. (¿¿¿??? Well, maybe in my younger days…)

Making beaded jewelry and doing paper crafts & altered art are part hobby, part therapy. Mostly I use my creations myself or give them as gifts; I also enjoy trading craft projects here on Swap-Bot and in private 1:1 swaps; once in a while I offer something for sale on Etsy.

When I have time and remember to, I blog on Blogspot, read friends’ blogs on My Space, check out FaceBook and Classmates.com, and upload photos on Flickr.

LIFE, DESCONSTRUCTED

FOR WORK: Philology . Linguistics . Second Language Acquisition . Teaching . Translating . Interpreting . Lunfardo . Geography . Maps . Nautical Charts . Tour Guide . Historic Preservation & Restoration . Architecture

FOR FUN: Literature . Reading . Cinema . Art . Art History . Travel . Sailing . Wine & Oenology . Genealogy

CRITTERS: Cats . Rabbits . Llamas

DESTINATIONS: Latin America . Mexico . Argentina . Uruguay . Caribbean . Jost van Dyke . BVI . Spain . Toledo . Italy . Tuscany . France . Paris . Provence

EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY: Pusser's Painkillers . Malbec . Meditrina . Three Gardens . Opus One (when I can get El Marido to crack open a bottle) . Penfolds bin 389 . Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva . Evolution #9 . Conundrum . Sangria . Margaritas . Mojitos . Caipirinhas . Tanqueray & Tonic (in the summer) . Cape Cod (rest of the the year) . Tapas . Empanadas . Gnocchi con Quattro Formaggi . Pizza a la piedra . Pasta a la puttanesca (my husband's recipe is the best!) . Pan au chocolat . Dulce de Leche La Pataia

FAVORITE THINGS FROM KANSAS & FROM KANSAS CITY: Magic Focus mirrors . Chicken Poop lip balm . wheat weavings . Sunny Seed Drops . Bogdon's Reception Sticks . Zum by Indigo Wild

CREATIVITY

I love to create - and would be thrilled to receive - anything inspired by Latin American art & culture, especially milagros, Mexican loteria, Gaturro or Mafalda (cartoon characters from Argentina) . Shrines & nichos . Bead jewelry, especially bracelets . Collage, decoupage & other paper crafts / paper arts . Cards & tags . Fibers . Altered things (Moleskine journals, Altoids tin, match boxes, Mexican market bags, etc) . Almost anything with blue cats (either gray or literally blue).

OBSESSIVE COLLECTING

Cats & Rabbits (figurines) . Coin Purses . Día de los Muertos (figures, sugar skulls, etc) . Dictionaries & Style Manuals . Fiestaware . Hèrmes Scarves . Latin American Art & Folkart . Letterpress Cards & Labels . Lithographs . Latin American Masks . Moleskines & other little notebooks & journals . Molinillos . Old Postcards . Sun Faces . Talavera & Majolica . Tiny Boxes . Vintage hotel luggage labels

ECCLECTIC STYLE

ART: �lvar Suñol Múñoz-Ramos . Marc Chagall . Diego Rivera . Fernando Botero . Frida Kahlo . Graciela Rodo Boulanger . Mauricio Lasansky . Pablo Picasso . Rufino Tamayo . Zoma Baitler

PHOTOGRAPHY: Gianni López . Gordon Parks

ARCHITECTURE: the Arquitectonica firm . the Bauhaus school . Buckminster Fuller . Frank Lloyd Wright . Paolo Soleri . Mies van der Rohe . Prairie + Mission + Arts & Crafts styles . Spanish Colonial style

INTERIORS: Elsie de Wolfe . William Morris

FASHION: Anglepie . Eskandar . Flax by Jeanne Engleheart . Hèrmes . Mary Frances . Meant To Be Big . Pineda Covalín . Lilly Pulitzer

HOOKED ON BOOKS

AUTHORS: Gabriel García Márquez . Ilan Stavans . John Grisham . Oscar Wilde

BOOKS IN ENGLISH: The Alchemist (by Paulo Coelho) . The Book on the Bookshelf (by Henry Petroski) . The Botanist and the Vintner (by Christy Campbell) . Death Comes for the Archbishop (by Willa Cather) . Don't Stop the Carnival (by Herman Wouk) . The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million (by Daniel Mendelsohn) . The Mapmaker's Wife (by Robert Whitaker) . The Old Patagonian Express + The Mosquito Coast (both by Paul Theroux) . MexiColor + MexiCasa (by Melba Levick) . The Red Tent (by Anita Diamant) . The Sophisticated Cat (ed. by Joyce Carol Oates) . Waiting for Gertrude (by Bill Richardson) . What's the Matter with Kansas (by Thomas Frank)

LIBROS EN CASTELLANO: La casa de los espíritus (por Isabel Allende) . Desvidas (por Guillermo MacLean) . El espejo enterrado (por Carlos Fuentes) . El laberinto de la soledad (por Octavio Paz) . El país de las maravillas (por Mempo Ghiardinelli)

BIG SCREEN, LITTLE SCREEN

MOVIES: The Birdcage . Breakfast at Tiffany's . Casablanca . Chocolat . Cinema Paradiso . Como agua para chocolate . Esperando al mesías . Everything Is Illuminated . Frida . Il Postino . La historia oficial . Man on Fire (remake) . El Mariachi + Desperado + Once Upon a Time in Mexico . The Mexican . Motorcycle Diaries . Night of the Iguanas . Nueve Reinas . Plata quemada . Return to Me . Roma . To Catch a Thief . Under the Volcano

TELEVISION: The Book of Daniel . Epitafios . If These Walls Could Talk . The Naked Archaeologist . Real Time with Bill Maher . The Sopranos . Sex in the City . This Old House . Ugly Betty

MUSIC TO MY EARS

ENGLISH: Beatles . Diana Krall . Eric Clapton . Frank Sinatra . Jimmy Buffett . Michael Bublé . Nora Jones . Renne Olstead

CASTELLANO: Charly Garcia y Sui Generis . Fito Paez . Joan Manuel Serrat . Joaquín Sabina . Mercedes Sosa . Pablo Milanés . Silvio Rodríguez ...

SPANGLISH: Kevin Johansen . Joan Baez

FAVORITE SONGS: California Dreamin’ . Canción para mi muerte . Cumbiera intelectual . Fly Me to the Moon . Gracias a la vida . Las casitas del barrio alto . Midnight at the Oasis . Necesito . Sur or No Sur . What a Wonderful World

FAVORITE TANGOS: Adios Muchachos . Cambalache . Caminito . El Choclo . La Cumparsita . Volver

WISH I HAD SAID THAT...

Las artesanías pertenecen a un mundo anterior a la separación entre lo útil y lo hermoso (Octavio Paz)

Translation: Handicrafts belong to a world existing before the separation of the useful and the beautiful

Ratings

1
rating
Comment: Will change if you decide to send your ornament. Thanks.
LMM rated for Frida ATC *edited* ~international~ on Dec 25, 2007
1
rating
Comment: I'm confused because this swap is still showing as unsent (mail date was 12/1) but someone else has rated you for it. Anyway I haven't received any communication about it from you.
5
rating
Comment: thanks for the great ATC and extras.
5
rating
Comment: Thank You for the totally awesome ornament! YOU ROCK!
Response: Glad you like it. Thanks for the heart!
5
rating
Comment: Thank you.
Response: You are most welcome!
5
rating
Comment: I loved both notebooks!!! thank you.
Response: I'm so glad you like them. Thanks for the heart!
1
rating
 
5
rating
Comment: Hi Kate: I received your very pretty star ornament today and immediately hung it on my chandelier (which is full of fun things). Thanks for the note about how you constructed the ornament - very informative.
Response: Thanks! I'm glad you like La Estrella.
5
rating
Comment: Thank you for the adorable cahier--I am going to use it as my new knitting notebook~ lovely work! I love the altered mini comp book, too--that will be my next purse book. Wonderful package!
Response: I'm so happy you like it! And thanks for the heart!
msindy2206 rated for Architecture (Photo) ATCs on Nov 18, 2007
5
rating
 
Response: Thanks!
ladydy5 rated for Architecture (Photo) ATCs on Nov 11, 2007
5
rating
 
Response: Thanks!
WeBees rated for Architecture (Photo) ATCs on Nov 5, 2007
5
rating
 
Response: Thanks!
5
rating
Comment: I love the cards you made and I can't wait to use them, especially the little stickers, they're adorable!
Response: I'm glad they arrived and that you like them so much. Thanks for the heart!
5
rating
Comment: Beautiful thank you !
Response: Thanks for the heart. I'm so glad you like them!
5
rating
Comment: I forgot to rate you the other day. Heart! heart!heart! Thank you for the beautiful cards. I LOVE THEM!!! To bad I can't use them, cause they are all mine and I don't want to share them. I guess I could always write notes to myself. D:)
Response: What a nice compliment! I'm so glad you like them. Thanks for the heart.
Suzanne rated for ALMA MATER Postcard Swap on Sep 23, 2007
5
rating
Comment: It's funny that you sent me a card from a school in Pittsburg...Kansas. I live in PA with tons of friends from Pittsburg, PA!
Response: Can you believe that TWO of my send-to partners were in PA?!?
Manifest rated for ~* Day of the Dead Notecards *~ on Sep 22, 2007
5
rating
Comment: Excellent selection of cards and even one for me. My favorite was the tin one. Thanks for the goodies too. My boys are growing that skeleton right now.
Response: Glad you liked them. Thanks for the heart! PS: Let me know how big the skeleton gets.
daffyd1963 rated for ~* Day of the Dead Notecards *~ on Sep 20, 2007
5
rating
Comment: thanks for the great cards and the extras. you did a wonderful job on the cards. carolyn h
Response: I'm glad you like the cards & little extras. Thanks for the heart!
mandibeads rated for Anti-War/Liberal/Peace ATCs on Sep 16, 2007
5
rating
Comment: I love them both, and you did a wonderful job with the presentation. Thank you so much!
Response: You are most welcome! And thanks for the heart!
hoosiergirl rated for ALMA MATER Postcard Swap on Sep 12, 2007
5
rating
Comment: Nice card - and thanks for the website. I'll check it out!
Response: You're welcome!

Rating Overview

Overall Hearts Stars Hosted
4.7551 22 5 6
Completed Fives Threes Ones
14 46 0 3
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Uncategorized
0 1 0 13
View all

Currently Hosting

  • the user is not hosting any current swaps

Groups

    the user is not currently in any groups

Comments

SacredYoli on Dec 27, 2007:

I see that you sent out your Loteria ornaments on Nov. 25th, and as of today, Dec. 27th, I still haven't rec'd anthing. ;-(

eonsmomma on Dec 12, 2007:

When you get time can you rate me for the loteria ornament I sent you. Thanks.

TíaBel on Dec 11, 2007:

I hope you're staying warm - and safe!

KansasKate on Nov 25, 2007:

Status Update:

Mexican Loteria Ornaments: They're done and on their way.

Altered Moleskine Cahier Journals: They're done and on their way.

My Loteria Ornaments: I cannot find one of the major components anywhere, so I have ordered more. As soon as the VIP (very important part) arrives, I'll get them done and send them out.

Feliz Navidad Cards & Tags: Got them all done and found typos! #*&^%!!! Will re-do them and get them out soon.

Besides my horrible schedule, I've had to go out of town on short notice the past two weeks. I feel horrible about how late everything is -- especially since they're my swaps -- but at the same time, real life always comes first. Thanks to everyone who has been understanding!!

PoMoGolightly on Nov 24, 2007:

I JUST noticed the comment you posted on my page--I'm so spacey sometimes!

There was no Ricky puppy for us...someone else got him first...but I guess it's better to wait on a new pup!

TíaBel on Nov 22, 2007:

Happy Thanksgiving!

GemMedia on Nov 21, 2007:

Hi,

Did you receive your 'La Dama' loteria ornament? I haven't received a rating for it...thanks!

StarGazerCrys on Nov 12, 2007:

Hey, the site you suggested for me to check out isn't working. :(

Alisa on Nov 1, 2007:

Hola Kate! I'm hosting a Frida ATC swap that I think you might be interested in joining: http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/8804

I LOVE your profile! I like many of the same things you do.

aloha, Alisa

KansasKate on Oct 31, 2007:

Is there anything more lame than being late on a swap I am hosting? I doubt it.

The project I'm working on is taking 60-80 hours/week, making Swap-Bot, Flickr, shopping and hobbies a thing of the past. (Laundry and housework are also on hold, though I don't miss them!)

I will not flake on anyone, but I'm going to be really late on my swaps, and for that I am truly sorry.

abrazo, Kate

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