MamaDiscovered

My daughter has penpals all over the world and all her fun mail tucked in with my bills makes me jealous! Her rule is that she has to keep up with it and not delay - I figure if I can wrangle a 7 year old with 7 penpals, I can have my own!!!

My collection of fun pens is only used for shopping lists and work notes and it is high time they got to have a little fun! Who says the only fun I get to have is decorating my planner?

I really love to make art with my child. We do paint nights together in our dining room, play around with different mediums, and we make and send art and fun packages to her friends. We do all our holiday gifts by hand - 2020 is cocoa mixes, stovetop potpourri, calendula salve, lip balm, bath bombs, and hand carved stamp printed notecards...and whatever else we get inspired to make! We also letterbox and carving stamps is one of our favorite hobbies.

As for food, I am not super picky. I like trying out:

• Nut butters
• Salty snacks
• Chocolate
• Maple things
• Just about anything...surprise me!

We have a pet hedgehog and we're obsessed. The cat is a bit of an afterthought but she is an antique who purrs loudly and sleeps except at dinner time! Outside of the 'hog and the cat, I am a fan of bees. I have a bee tattoo and find myself drawn to honeycomb patterns, yellow & gray combinations, and bee motifs. Since childhood bees and I have had a special connection. I used to sit in the garden with orange juice on my hands for the bees to enjoy!

My favorite smell is geranium but I also make some pink grapefruit bath bombs that are to die for. I like geranium because it is sweet and cheerful but a little bit dark and mysterious. I like to think that is what makes it the right smell for me - I'm complex and I am many things. Something that is simple simply doesn't describe me!

For most of my adult life, I've struggled with body image. The only time I was ever a "healthy" weight I was so sick I almost died. Not a good weight loss plan! I love inspirational and motivational sayings. My house has at least one affirmation on the wall but most rooms have many more.

I currently live in Massachusetts (North Central) and I work in Connecticut (outside Norwich). I am pretty sure I was made to live in the frigid North. I grew up overseas in some really hot places and winter from October to May suits me well! Where did I live? I was born in South Africa, lived in Australia, Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Peru (very briefly), and now the States. I've live in 6 states (Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Nevada). I love travel themed items and art from all over the world. International foods make me very happy!

I am sure I will have more to say as I read profiles of people I am mailing to and I get more swaps under my belt! I am so very excited to be starting this!

I love growing things and preserving them to use. I can, freeze, and dry almost everything that comes out of the garden. This is handy because I cook like crazy! We are vegan but not crazy people. We just like veggies a lot.

I love teas and trying out different teas. My collection currently resides in three drawers and two boxes. I am a firm believer that there is a tea for every physical and emotional ailment. I drink all sorts of flavors so surprise me! However, when tea just won't do some good strong coffee or a beautiful chunk of dark chocolate fill in the gaps perfectly.

The only teas I don't really care for are things like "Strawberries and Cream" and things that are all berry without anything else. I don't mind black tea but if possible I would rather not receive it as I have a lot of it and prefer it loose leaf.

I like a mix of the stuff my parents listened to, early 2000s indie/folk, and some hip hop. Enough to make anyone's ears bleed! It boils down to mood. Sometimes I want something rowdy and dark - like Social Distortion. Sometimes I want a wordless classical piece that makes me want to dance in the street! Not so much on dancing in the street - we do like to make up our own words to instrumentals, though!

Standout artists: Felix Fables, Cat Stevens, Arlo Guthrie, Melanie...more to be added!

I am currently rereading books from middle and high school...it has me upended. I loved Ayn Rand and still do. The Redwall series by Brian Jacques. Harry Potter. Daniel Pinkwater absolutely cracks me up. My daughter and I are reading "The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death" at the moment and even after reading it thirty or so times in my life, it still cracks me up. I think that is what I like in a book - I love it when I weep, when I laugh out loud, or when I am so engaged I have a physical response. Those books are worlds of their own.

Stanley Kubrick films. Quentin Tarantino for the most part. LOTR. Fantastic Mr. Fox. These days I don't get to watch much for myself. We watch so little TV in general that most of our movie time is used up with the sorts of movies a 7 year old will enjoy. Her favorite is Monty Python and the Holy Grail so I suppose I should be relieved and consider myself a lucky parent!

If we're talking movies, I feel like we're talking snacks, too! I love oil free popcorn. My favorite is whole dried corn on the cob that I pop and top with lime zest and chili powder. I eat it with a spray bottle of coconut aminos that I spritz on. Yummy. Nori, kale, and rice chips are crunchy and salty and delicious. I love trying out unique dried fruits and leathers. Cream soda (and cherry cream soda) and root beer are my sweet non-fruit treats.

Ozark. Breaking Bad. The Crown. 24. The Great British Baking Show. Chef's Table. Anne with an E.

Much like my taste in music, books, and movies, I am absolutely all over the place on the TV front. I like historical drama, I like characters who are the bad guy but you like them anyway, and I like food!

• Knitting
• Crosstitch
• Painting
• Calligraphy
• Bleeding tissue art
• Card making
• Drawing (pencil, pen, ink, etc.)
• Zine making
• Dying yarn
• Bath goodies
• Making clay figurines
• Origami (although my 1000 Paper Cranes project stalled)

Violet is 7, soon to be 8. I received a kawaii cat washi covered envelope and she completely lost her mind. She stole every single piece off the envelope.

She loves lego, cats, hedgehogs, fluffy chunky puppies, Harry Potter, Redwall, crafting (painting, drawing, collage), glitter gel pens, stickers, surprises, knitting (she is learning and loves sort of chunky yarn), coloring pages, chamomile tea, nutella, hot chocolate, pink and purple (but she tells me she is a dark rock child who only likes black).

Wish List

• Peony themes
• Bee themes
• Hedgehog theme
• Pens for hand lettering

• Papers

  Likes (Things I've received that made me happy!)

• washi samples
• sticker flakes
• blank postcards

Dislikes

• Religious and political themes
• Horror anything
• crumpled, used, or damaged things (this is in reference to things tucked in and not envelopes or postcards!)