carolbee26

I'm married, and mom to three great kids (2 boys -- ages 13 and 10 and 1 girl -- age 6). My hobbies include snail mail, crochet, gardening (despite my black thumb -- I'm an optimist, I guess!), crafting, journalling, and reading. I also enjoy cooking and sharing recipes.

I love planners. I love being organized! I currently use an hourly Erin Condren Life Planner to keep my family's activities straight. I use all kinds of washi, stickers, and ephemera to decorate my planner.

"The Art Lover" by Carole Maso, anything (everything) by Richard Brautigan, "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder, "Up In The Old Hotel" by Joseph Mitchell, "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood, "Bad Behavior" by Mary Gaitskill, "Et Tu, Babe," by Mark Leyner.... and I could go on and on and on...

I read a lot of non-fiction as well. I am especially interested in true crime, forensics, sociology, and economics.

Morphine, Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, The Pixies, Moxy Fruvous, REM, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Nields, The Decemberists, Trip Shakespeare, Cordelia's Dad

If it's 90s indie rock, I probably like it.

I love, love, love teas of all sorts. I mostly drink black tea and enjoy both plain black tea and flavored black teas like vanilla, cinnamon, chai, etc. I also love green tea, especially fruit-flavored green tea.

Coffee is another favorite treat. I do not usually drink flavored coffees. I prefer dark or medium roasts. Sometimes I'll add syrup (caramel, vanilla, and chocolate are favorites) or use a flavored creamer, though. I admit to treating myself to Starbucks once in a while. It's just fun to get that cup with all the whipped cream :-)

I have always loved stickers for cards and envelopes, and I used them in my day planner as well. I do not really use teacher-type or "reward" stickers or anything with cartoon characters (Disney, Dora, Winnie-the-Pooh, etc.). I especially love seasonal and holiday stickers (Valentines, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, etc.) as well as icon and functional planning stickers.

I use a LOT of washi tape for various crafts, as well as in my planner. I have yet to meet washi tape I didn't like :-)

Notecards and stationery of all designs are wonderful! I especially appreciate anything hand-made because I know how much work goes into these beautiful creations.

I love making my own envelopes. I started doing this when I was in college. I'd choose funky magazine ads for my penpal letters. I also admit to having a bit of a label addiction, LOL!

I enjoy cooking for myself, for my family, for friends, and just in general. Over the years I have collected wonderful recipes through recipe swaps, and I am happy to continue doing that here on Swap-Bot! I will try pretty much anything once, though I try to keep processed stuff at a minimum.

I use the MAMBI Happy Planner recipe organizer to keep everything nice and neat.

Other than that, I have no food allergies or intolerances. My family enjoys a wide variety of foods, and we especially like Mexican, Indian, and Italian dishes.

I enjoy canning (water bath only), so please share your favorite jam or pickle recipes!

stickers, washi tape, pretty paper, snow, rain, fog, milk glass, vintage china, newspapers, books, coffee, tea, avocados, cheese, paisley, kindness, cats, my kitchen, antique fairs, shabby anything, comic books, yarn, green, purple, gray, dark chocolate, pansies, sweet william, roses, woodland animals (especially squirrels, chipmunks, and hedgehogs), elephants, typewriters, lace & twine

I would prefer not to receive anything overly-religious, violent or gory, or anything particularly "risque."