~profile updated 05/2023~

Who: she/her Where: MOzarks

Im a Midwest transplant from SoCal, and am most content with small town living. I’m a band mom and a football mom to one helluva kid. He’s a super smarty pants and has the most favorable sense of empathy I’ve ever encountered from another human being. I’m a wife to my high school sweetie, and we still love taking long drives down back roads to places unknown but always remembered. I’m newly unemployed, after being in the optometry/ophthalmology field for about 16 years. Most recently worked 10 years for an amazing retina specialist in a private practice, and I loved every minute of it. I am convinced I will never have another boss that could compare to Dr. B. He retired last fall, and truth be told, my standards are way too high now to be content working for anyone else. He was a class act doc that genuinely cared for his patients and staff. I’m a big fan of the Kansas City Chiefs, common courtesy, candy and Coca-Cola. If I could spend everyday with my family splitting time between being at the river, crafting, exploring new places, and collecting arrowheads, I absolutely would. Other things I collect include vintage swizzle sticks, vintage wrapping paper, round pin-on buttons, and piggy banks.

My #1 current project that I am actively working is a kitchen journal. I’m filling it with cheat sheets like ingredient substitutions, measurements, and basic how-to’s, hints, and hacks. I’m including silly pics and drawings, quotes, and other various ephemeral elements, as well. Oh, and of course the most important part: notes and instructions and hand-me-down recipes for our family’s favorite dishes! This will be a gift for my son who will start his senior year of HS in August. As of June ‘23, he has already committed to serving our country immediately following his high school graduation. Having signed on through the DEP (Delayed Entry Program), he has already completed MEPS and nearly all the motions as a recruit. He was told that his ASVAB score was the highest of all the recruits in our Midwest region. Signed on with the Nuclear program, he is only a swear-in and a bus ride away from Navy Basic Training in Grand Lakes, Michigan. Considering that, it seems I may have longer to work on this project than I’m anticipating. All in all, it will be a 6 year commitment. As of this very moment, I have at least a year before I gift it, but it was planned to be my special gift to him when he moves into his first home away from home. Navy life may throw a cog in this particular wheel, but it’s a small price to pay for his sacrifice. He’ll get it at some point, one way or another. ⚓️ I’m also working on my first junk journal. It brings me so much mental serenity and truly helps to preserve my sanity. I’ve already incorporated most all of the SB goodies I’ve received into my journal, and it reminds me of how glad I am to have found this platform! So far, everyone here has been wonderful, so thank you!!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

by Ken Kesey

Donnie Brasco - My Undercover Life in the Mafia

by Joseph Pistone

A Light in the Attic & Where the Sidewalk Ends

both by Shel Silverstein

I do love d.i.y. and crafts! I’d create all day, everyday, if I could get away with it. Unfortunately, these people I live with want other things like tacos and clean socks, and my jam is NOT in the kitchen. I mean - I have jam in the fridge for things like toast and biscuits, but…

My glue gun gets used just as much as my car keys. I will try almost anything. My exceptions are things that involve using a needle & thread and knitting or crochet hooks/needles. For those, just count me out. We’ve never been compatible, and I have done all I could do to make it work. Some things you’ve just got to walk away from, though. However, if the task at hand involves tie-dyeing or iron-on patches, hold my beer ‘cause I’m comin’ in hot! Paper crafts are my go-to. And painting, despite my lack at actually being good at it. I’ve learned that by merely tossing in the word “abstract,” I’m suddenly a self-proclaimed painting prodigy. My favorite style is the mid-century/atomic/kitschy aesthetic, but I also love the simplistic vibes of the modern farmhouse style. I do find it difficult to combine the two, so I’m always seeking inspiration and ideas for that.

My most favorite music is anything the kid plays on his trumpet or guitar. Live music is the best music! As a kid, I would wake on Saturday mornings to my dad’s stereo at the opposite end of the house blasting William Tell Overture like it was a Pantera album. Dancing with my parents in the living room anytime Dad put The Andrews Sisters on is a favorite memory.
My favorite genre is rock & roll and all variations of it. From the 50’s to the 90’s, it all seems so relatable, but the 80’s are my absolute favorite eras of rock music. The aughts were ok, but by the teenies they started losing me. I try to keep up on the top 40, but I usually find myself drifting back to tunes from the good ol’ days. Duran Duran is always on some kind of playlist. Prince, MJ, I could list for days. And don’t get me started on those power ballads from the 80’s! I mean - come on, now… Meatloaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Lights is always the first song I put on whenever I see an available jukebox . All I’m sayin’ is that I am not the only one who passionately sings into their fork when those song waves pass through the greasy speakers at Waffle House.

In love with old school rap - say Snoop D-O-Double G, a little bit o’ Warren G, some Eazy-E, & even them Bone, Thuggs, & Harmony. Salt n Pepa, TLC, Mary J, & Sheila E. (see what I did there?) I’m a big fan of the original Seattle grunge rock, probably because that was my high school scene (2000 miles away), but the scene, nonetheless. Then, of course, there’s POTUSA, No Doubt, Foo Fighters, RHCP, Green Day, and as Todd Snider says, “Now that’s alternative.” Rage Against the Machine is favorite. Union Underground is favorite. If I don’t stop listing now, we’ll be here for days; weeks, maybe.

To end this broad categorical nightmare, here are my 10 most recent musical searches:

1. Powerman 5000
2. Mudvayne - King of Pain
3. Filter
4. Dookie
5. Jelly Roll
6. Trent Prewitt
7. Rodney Carrington - Good Directions
8. Chop Suey
9. NOFX - Anarchy Camp
10. Cheap Trick

THINGS I’D BE HUMBLED TO RECEIVE:

• vintage gift wrap/tags
• eyeball/vision ephemera
• kitchen/food ephemera (for that cookbook I’m creating for the boy)
• hand lettering full alphabet examples
• stickers
• junk journal anything
• mid-century inspired prints/graphics/adverts
• Peanuts/Garfield book pages
• music CD album art/inserts
• California referenced ephemera
• cupcake liners

THINGS I’D LIKELY RE-SWAP (but still be thankful for) IF RECEIVED:

• Kawaii
• baby referenced items
• teacher items/ reward stickers
• coffee/tea
• Marvel/DC
• sci-fi/Star Wars

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION!!

Also, if the opportunity ever presents, I would love handwritten notes of song lyrics or Shel Silverstein poetry.