mspandatrain

Hello, I am a celebrating my 25th year as a high school Spanish bilingual history teacher and joined Swapbot for a new adventure! Please do not send: anything scented or food items with gluten (sorry I have health issues). On a positive note, I have lots of favorites: pandas, Pepsi, good thoughts, my fave colors are royal blue and hot pink, generally I prefer happy and bright colors. Additional favorites, Harry Potter Gryffindoor (love Hermoine she’s brilliant) Disney (Goofy, Tinker Bell, Daisy Duck and Minnie) and most old time cartoons. I enjoy crafting, hanging out with family and friends, traveling, visiting our national parks and learning about new places. Due to my busy schedule I do not have pets, it's not fair for them be alone and I would forget to feed them :o), I can barely keep my plants alive. Tell me a bit about your part of the world. I think one of the best parts about swapbot, is a personal note with the swap, I enjoy hearing about your life too. I am also impressed with your talents as crafters! Wow! Thanks for reading, have a great day!

FAVORITE BOOKS; Hmm...that one is tough. Lately I began reading Young Adult books, they are fun! I love series books: Harry Potter, City Spies, Lord of the Rings, Stephanie Plum and Westerns. I generally don't sit and read books but I do enjoy audio books. I can turn up the story and work on other things at the same time. I like fiction stories and will listen to almost anything, science fiction, mystery, military action stories, westerns and the occasional love story. I am still re-reading the old Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Black Stallion series. Send me a book suggestion. This year a friend and I decided to tackle one of the lists of 1000 Books To Read Before You Die. There are several versions, but we opted for the "popular" books, the classics would have tasked my brain too much :o) Update: April 2025, I am up to 320 books read. If you're interested this is the link: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/1000-books-to-read-before-you-die

FAVORITE MOVIES: Spring 2025 I finally watched all the Marvel movies, in order, whew! Some of my other favorites are Lord of the Rings (extended versions), most Rogers and Hammerstein musicals and musicals in general. Most Disney movies (Peter Pan is my favorite movie, and Goofy my favorite character). I also like the old westerns: Tombstone, The Cowboys and John Wayne movies. Movie series can keep me entertained for hours: Back to the Future, The Hobbit, Star Wars, Transformers, Shrek, Jurassic World, Toy Story, Star Trek Original, The Next Generation and Voyager, and the Furious Franchise. Stand alone movies: Newsies, Wizard of Oz, It's a Wonderful Life, Meet Me in St. Louis, and The Sound of Music. My most favorite movies are inspiring true stories: Double Teamed, Remember the Titans, Miracle, A League of Their Own and McFarland USA.

FAVORITE TELEVISION: I enjoy criminal type shows: original NCIS, SVU Law and Order and the original Law and Order. Action shows are always welcome, 9-1-1, Fire Country, Chicago Fire and FBI. I am also hooked on most Hallmark Channel shows. Some of my other favorites are on PBS, Father Brown, Call the Midwife and Royal Flying Doctor Service. Last but not least, I can lose hours watching home improvement shows. Property Brothers, Love it or List it, Married to Real-estate, Hometown and recently Renovation Aloha.

OLD CLASSICS: I love the old cartoon shows, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Looney Tunes, the original Transformers cartoon and the Smurfs. Classic TV reruns, MAS*H, Love Boat, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Perry Mason, I Love Lucy, the Brady Bunch and Fraggle Rock.

FAVORITE CRAFTS: Now this is the section that will get me into trouble :o) I have a dream sewing room which keeps me quite busy...I am the queen of simple sewing projects: coin purses, grocery bags, composition book covers, bowl cozies and Kleenex pouches. In addition I have a separate craft room, with crochet, card making, painting supplies, and a cutting machine. I am improving my heat transfer vinyl skills and Gelli printing. My newest obsession is learning how to make watercolor postcards. Have you seen my "Easy Peasy Postcards" swap? I could spend hours in my sewing room or craft room listening to audio stories all day. Feel free to send me ideas or tricks of your crafts.

FAVORITE MUSIC: I love most types of music. My online radio has a lot of oldies anything from the 1950's to 1990's country, rock and roll, Spanish cumbias, rancheras, salsas and Latin Pop. Generally I enjoy music that tells a story.

THANKS SWAPBOT! My Swapbot partners shared so many of their great talents with me. You inspired to try new crafts and techniques, I absolutely love flip books, homemade and chunk of cardboard postcards and napkin decorated envelopes and cards. You brought a renewed sense of creativity into my world. It is so easy to get into a creative comfortable mode, that we don't try new things. I was sent an ATC kit, in a swap and it was fun and so tiny. Bless those who make them regularly!!

Summer 2022, East Coast summer road trip! Final tally, Albuquerque to Acadia National Park in Maine and home again, 30 days, 6595 miles, 22 states and countless adventures. Thanks to my Swapbot buddies for the inside track and hometown secrets to Newport, RI, Lancaster, PA, Upstate, NY, Niagara Falls and Columbus, OH. The trip was amazing! Thanks again, I am so pleased you shared information about your state with me. Muchas Gracias! :o)

Summer 2023, southern roadtrip! Atlanta, Chattanooga, Pigeon Forge, Columbia, Charleston, and Savannah, it was a whirlwind of activity. Our rental vehicle was a brand-new neon green Toyota Forerunner, who I named Kermit. Final stats: 1996 miles, 17 days, nine national parks, historic sites, or battlefields, and 128 postcards. Some of our most interesting locations: World of Coca Cola, Ruby Falls, Rock City, Mayfield Dairy Farms, Dollywood, Bush’s Baked Beans Museum, Charleston Tea Plantation, Angel Tree, Savannah Ghost Tour, Atlanta Braves game with fireworks, Atlanta Zoo and Delta Airline’s Museum. Great food: 423 Tacos, Aunt Granny’s Restaurant, Gilligan’s Seafood, Lady and Sons and Mary Macs Tearoom. Once again, thanks, swapbot for the local tips.

Summer 2024, in the car again and headed West! Searching for more National Parks: Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Minute Man National Historic Site, Little Bighorn Battlefield, Pompey's Pillar National Monument, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Golden Spike National Historical Site, Arches, Canyonlands, and Mesa Verde and several state parks and regional museums. Most memorable were Minute man, the geology and geography in Yellowstone, John Wesley Powell River History Museum and Benson Sculpture Garden. The animals were spectacular, bison, brown bears, wolves, elk, big horn sheep, pronghorn and an eaglette. Total miles 3591, 210 postcards, 8 states and too many mountain passes. Great food: Beau Jo's Pizza, Bar T 5, Chuck Wagon and Mi Mexico. Thanks Swapbot for recommendations.

POSTCARDS: Thanks to Swapbot, I am in love with postcards - again. I loved collecting and sending them as a child and am happy to find them again. I am not picky about which postcards I receive because I like all of them. I enjoy seeing different places across the world, whimsical, cartoons, children's style, Did you know?, interesting facts, touristy, off the beaten path, and recipe postcards. I am often astounded with the talents of crafters and their homemade projects and postcards are no exception. If it makes you smile, then it will most likely make me happy too. I do keep them and enjoy reading them from time to time. Thanks.

WISH LIST: Please do NOT feel you need to send anything in this section. I adding it because specific swaps needed suggestions. I love your creativity and interpretation of my profile and your ideas of things I would enjoy receiving.

• Coloring sheets, from a book or printed from internet. Once colored, I make envelopes or postcards.
• Coloring postcards
• Paper Napkins, I like to make notecards
• A kit of your favorite craft, so I may put it together
• Recipe from your kitchen
• Book recommendations
• Crochet patterns for small items (please, no amigurumi)
• Favorite link to a craft you enjoy
• Stickers, flakes or partial sheets (any style)
• Shoe socks, ankle or crew preferred
• Fuzzy socks to wear around the house
• Cotton Fat Quarters (Fabric) fun or pretty patterns
• Postcards
• Anything you're inspired to send from my profile
• Have a great day, thanks for reading!!!