marinda

Hello, friends! Welcome to my profile.

Overview:

I work part-time online as a genealogist.

I am married to my best friend (26 years). We have five children and one awesome son-in-law. We also have a beautiful granddaughter!! 👶

We have a menagerie of pets: two adorable goldendoodles, 🐕 two noisy cockatiels, 🦜 one large sulcata tortoise (40 lbs. and counting), 🐢 and a silly bearded dragon.🦎

I live in Arizona. Way Too Hot!! ☀️ 😓 (Caution: some things will melt when mailed here in the summer months!) 🫠

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 it and cope.

I love to send and receive snail mail. I have been here in the swap community for many years now (18!!), and I have enjoyed swapping with and meeting people from all over the world. I LOVE SNAIL MAIL!

SOME OF MY FAVORITES:

Colors: Any shade of green, but especially dark/forest green. Deep purple is a close second favorite. I especially like the combination of greens and purples. That being said, I have never met a color I didn't like!

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

Other animals I love: hedgehogs, Basset hounds, goldendoodles, cockatiels, mallard ducks, walruses, tortoises, sea horses, bearded dragons, and kittens (and other soft/fluffy animals)

Hobbies: Playing the piano, reading, diamond painting, crocheting, knitting, adult-style 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 things I enjoy are below. (Feel free to read what you like and skip what isn't relevant.)

I like 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 love to make little things from yarn leftovers.

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. Coloring Is even more relaxing that way.

I love to do diamond painting, also.

Things I like to collect:

Nativity Christmas tree ornaments. (Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus, shepherds, wise men)

Anything with a platypus on it

Leftover yarn balls

Acrylic worsted-weight yarn

Cotton yarn

ATCs (especially profile-based ones)

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

Christmas postcards, store-bought, blank/unused

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

Advent calendars

My wish list (and things that make me happy):

-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

-Color-by-number books, pages, photocopies, etc.

-Washi tape/washi stickers

-Perfume samples

-Colorful pens/gel pens/colorful fine-point permanent markers

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

-Cultural diversity (all diversity, really)

-Images of sunsets on the beach

-Baymax from "Big Hero 6"

-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

-Handmade dishcloths or washcloths

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

-Potholders/hot pads, handmade or store-bought

-Soccer/Fútbol (FC Barcelona fan!)

-Piano or flute sheet music 🎶

-Seahorses

-Holiday cards with envies (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 snowy 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 about your encounter(s) or experience(s) if you are willing to share!

-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 all postcards, but for anyone who wants or needs ideas, here is a list of the postcards I particularly enjoy:

Platypuses

Soft, fluffy animals, domestic or wild (photographs)

Sea creatures

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. Montage? Crosss-fade? Not exactly sure what they're called.)

Fantasy

Dogs, especially Bassett hounds

Cats

Airplanes in flight

Rainbows (photographs)

Waterfalls

Greenery

Autumn leaves or other Fall photographs

Nativity scenes

Native/cultural dress

Person (or animal?) reading/reading related

Walruses

Stained glass windows

America's founding fathers

Holidays (any)

Black and white photographs

Mailboxes/mail themed

Anything related to my likes or collections above

A note about postcard preferences: If a swap asks for a choice, I like postcards sent blank in an envelope. However, I enjoy almost as much receiving stamped and written postcards, 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/cool postage stamps on the back. 🤩 Feel free to send postcards any way you wish.

Please Kindly only send storebought/professionally printed postcards, unless the swap indicates otherwise.

I'm not too picky, but after years of swapping experience, I decided to include a list of dislikes and items I would prefer not to receive:

-Apes and monkeys

-Tea (including herbal tea)

-Stickers that don't stick well!

-Scrapbooking or card-making supplies (except stickers)

-Notebooks/journals unless they are related to my likes/collections listed above

-Skulls (I love Halloween, but skulls really creep me out. I like skeletons that have full bodies, though.)

-Blood/gore/violence

-Politics (But I love patriotism!)

-Zazzle postcards and similar, print-your-own postcards, and especially postcards with NOTHING at all printed on the back

-Handmade postcards (especially in “store-bought only” postcard swaps)

-Unhappy endings

-Seafood

-Flakers (Grrr)

-Swaps that don't meet the swap requirements (Honest mistakes aside! We all make them sometimes.) PLEASE, please, please read the swap's description carefully. Make sure you have the required item(s) on hand BEFORE you sign up for a swap!