marinda

Welcome to my profile!

**About me: **

I work part-time as a genealogist researcher.

I am married to my best friend. (25 years) We have five children and one awesome son-in-law. We also have one beautiful granddaughter!! 👶

We have a menagerie of pets: two adorable goldendoodles, 🐕 two cockatiels, 🦜 one large sulcata tortoise, 🐢 and a bearded dragon.🦎

I live in Arizona. Way Too Hot!! ☀️ 😓 (Be aware, things in the mail will melt 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 and cope.

I love to send and receive snail mail. I have been here in the swap community for many years now, (17!!) and I have enjoyed swapping 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 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.

My collections:

nativity Christmas tree ornaments. (Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus, shepherds, and/or wise men.)

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

Advent calendars

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

Platypuses

Fluffy, soft animals, domestic or wild (photographs)

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

Stained glass windows

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 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/neat postage stamps on the back. 🤩 Feel free to send postcards any way you wish.

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

I'm not too picky and I'm easy to please, but after years of swapping, I have decided to include here a list of things I would prefer not to receive/dislikes:

Apes and monkeys (with the exception of sock monkeys)

Coffee, tea (I prefer hot cocoa)

Scrapbooking or card-making supplies (I do love receiving other people's handmade folded cards. I just don't do these things myself.)

Notebooks or journals (I have an abundance) Unless they have anything to do with my likes/collections listed above

Skulls (I love Halloween, but skulls creep me out. I love full body skeletons, though. Don't know what the difference is.)

Demonic/bloody/gory

Politics

Zazzle postcards (It's a dimensions issue)

Unhappy endings

Seafood

Handmade postcards (unless the swap is specifically for handmade)