Profile Overhauled and Updated in March of 2017.

UPDATE 02/01/2018: Hello all. It appears that my slow-down, announced first a year ago and expanded in May 2017, may be more or less permanent. I do still collect postcards and stickers and notecards, etc., for sending in swaps, but I'm just not joining these swaps any longer. Something happened (I don't know what), and it feels all I can do to just participate in the electronic swaps I'm doing, and a few paper swaps that have to do with reading/books.

So I think I'm going to withdraw from all (or most) groups except those that offer reading or book-related swaps. Someday, I'll hope to be in a better head-space and rejoin you, but for now, I think this might be best. :-(

UPDATE 05/19/2017: I am trying to finish an 18-book series this month (I'm on book 14) and start another which I need to read at least two books of before May ends, so for the next two weeks, I will ONLY be joining reading/book-related swaps, electronic swaps, and a few especially-interesting-to-me naked postcard swaps. Sadly, doing scavenger hunt swaps and any other "send new/blank postcards" swaps proves too time-consuming for me. Electronic swaps also prove time-consuming, but I don't want to miss out on the upcoming ones, sooo...

UPDATE 01/11/2017: My slowdown is permanent for at least the foreseeable future. I will likely only participate in swaps relating to books and reading, as well as a few naked postcard swaps (if I remember to sign up for the ones that interest me).

UPDATE 10/28/2016: I am cutting down on swaps for the next month or so. I have two (or is it four?) book series that I really want to get caught up on and I'm finding that swaps take too much time to complete and I'm not making it through the books at a rate that makes me happy. :-( I'll still send what I have active, join a few that I really just don't want to miss, and rate as soon as I can after receiving. :-)

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I pledge to ALWAYS rate. I try to rate on the same day that I receive, but sometimes it will be a day or three later.

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I also pledge to always send on time, so if, for some reason, you have not received something from me, please check the swap to verify that I marked "sent" and see what date is there. If it's an e-swap, you should have a Swap-Bot Message (even if it's an e-mail Swap) from me on that date. And if it's a mail swap, and TEN days have passed and you have not yet received it, please let me know and I'll resend. (My Post Office always tells me that my international letters and packages will arrive in seven to ten days, and any U.S.-mailed items should certainly arrive within this time window.)

IF, and this is a big IF, I need for some reason to send late, I will communicate with you about the delay.

Also, PLEASE COMMUNICATE WITH ME! I am very anxious (part of my disabilities) that I not receive any bad ratings, especially as I really do send everything on time (I have a spreadsheet that I use to track my swaps and everything!). So please, write to me before giving me a bad mark. I will resend or change what I sent if that will help. :-)

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SOME SPECIFICS:

For electronic swaps, if given the choice to send via e-mail or Swap-Bot message, I always choose to send e-mails and would prefer to receive e-mails, as well. (But if my send-to partner prefers Swap-Bot messages, I can try to send via that method, IF you let me know that I should. I now send Swap-Bot messages even when I send an e-mail, just to let you know that you have an e-mail from me.) :-)

For marking "sent," I do this as soon as possible after my emails/mail/packages are in the mail and on the way. (Please note that I am now only going to the Post Office to mail and pick up mail on Thursdays or Fridays, rarely on other days. But, if needed, I will go on the other mail days. If I can, though, I prefer to get everything ready for a Thursday or Friday departure.)

For rating, I try to rate everyone as soon as I receive your Swap Stuff (on Thursdays/Fridays, for Types 2 and 3; on whatever day, for Type 1) and I'd be very appreciative if my partners would do the same. :-) Please note, though, that in recent months it sometimes takes me a day or three to go through my mail/e-mail and rate (my disabilities are interfering with my timeliness).

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TYPES 2 AND 3:

For Types 2 and 3, please also note that I ALWAYS mail them from my Post Office (I go inside to the counter), which verifies that I have the correct amount of postage on my postcard/letter/package. If, for whatever reason, there is still postage due when you receive, please communicate with me so that I can make amends.

For International Type 2 and 3 Swaps, please note that I am in the United States and, if you are in a country across an ocean from me, I've been told it will probably take my Flat Mail and/or Packages seven to ten days to reach you. If you are closer (i.e., Canada or Mexico), my mail should hopefully arrive to you sooner, but I was told it could still take up to a week to 10 days.

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ABOUT POSTCARDS:

For postcard swaps, I'd like it if they could be sent to me "naked." And I'm happy to send PCs however YOU want them, if you have a preference for written/naked or blank/in an envelope. (Though if a swap says to "send naked," that's how I'll send.) :-)

Images can be pretty much anything you'd like (no spiders, though, please). That said, I'd prefer landscapes; pictures of places where you live or where you've been; any animal/bird/ocean critter/freshwater critter/reptile (again, please no spiders), especially if it's one local to your area; or anything to do with books or rain or dogs or Disney.

I am not so fond of cards with people as the main focus, unless the people are you and/or it's some sort of homemade card. ;-) (Please note that by "people" I mean human people. Animated characters that happen to be "people" are perfectly fine.)

I enjoy multi-view cards and I love touristy cards! I'm happy to receive vintage, ad, and Zazzle cards and the like (though I do not have any of these latter three+ types to send out, except what I've received from past partners).

Also, please note that I love snakes, and am okay with scorpions and bugs, but I am absolutely terrified by spiders. So please, no spider postcards!

(And lastly, if anyone can think of anything postcard-related that I didn't mention, please let me know! Thank you!)

I am disabled by both physical and mental disabilities. (I am happy to share more, if you want to ask.)

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You can call me Jen. (My name is Jennifer.) :-)

Please Note: My last name is GreenleES. I have begun to receive mail addressed to me as Jennifer Greenless and it is making me crazy. So many people over the course of my life have misspelled my last name in exactly this way and I HATE IT! Please please PLEASE read my name and spell it correctly. Thank you!

[Regarding the spelling of my name, if an item is received after being sent on time and is something that I would otherwise give a heart for. . . Well, misspelling my last name is enough that I will only give a 5. :-( ]

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I was born and raised in California, spent most of my adult years in Washington (where I consider myself to be from), and am currently living in Arizona.

When I was in college (Washington State University; Go Cougs!) for a double-major, I studied abroad three times: twice in Russia and once in the Czech Republic. :-)

I am Mommy to one child - a puppy - who is my service dog. I love him very much. Here's a picture of the two of us from December 2013:

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***I decided to edit out some of the specifics in my "About Me" section. My hope is that anyone who writes to me, either in e-mail swaps or snail mail swaps, will feel free to ask me about what I've written. I love answering questions, so ask away! :-)

• UPDATE 06/30/2016: I am thrilled to have earned 50 hearts as of yesterday, June 29, 2016. Thank you, All! :-)
• UPDATE 08/05/2016: I have earned 100 hearts as of today! Thank you, All! :-)
• UPDATE 08/20/2016: 150 hearts! Woohoo! Thank you so much, All!
• UPDATE: I earned my 250th heart on September 13, I think. I'll start sharing in increments of 250 from here. :-)
• UPDATE 05/20/2017: I earned my 500th heart! 421 swaps, 500 hearts. Thank you, All! :-)
• UPDATE 04/06/2018: I earned my 750th heart! Thank you, All! :-)

I love 80's pop, it's the music that my childhood, from kindergarten through my first semester of high school, was built upon. As an adult, I grew to also love classic rock and classical music. :-)

I also enjoy, from time to time, opera, non-80's pop, later-than-classical rock, grunge, alternative (are these latter two different?), folk, a little (very litle) country, rap, and R&B music.

I love the Beach Boys because my father loved them. I love CCR because my mother loves them.

My own favorite bands/artists include the Rolling Stones, U2, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, the Eurythmics, P!nk, and Florence + the Machine. :-)

I love to read mostly Paranormal Romances and Urban Fantasies, but I'll also try books from other genres from time to time. My most favorite books, though, are these five:

• A Little Fate by Nora Roberts;
• A Little Magic, also by Nora Roberts;
• Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie;
• Manhunting, also by Jennifer Crusie; and
• Absolutely, Positively by Jayne Ann Krentz.

I read the aforementioned five when I'm experiencing a massive anxiety/panic attack. They never fail at helping me calm down and regain my equilibrium. And Jayne Ann Krentz is my most favorite author, no matter which of her three names she writes under. :-)

Perhaps oddly, though, the five books I would want with me were I to be stranded on a deserted island is a slightly different list. ;-)

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While I'm willing to read just about anything, I tend only to buy/collect Paranormal Romances, Urban Fantasies, Dystopians, and anything written by Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick/Jayne Castle, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, and Jennifer Crusie.

Also, please note that I prefer to collect and own and read and reread Mass Market Paperbacks whenever possible. (And if not possible, I'm willing to buy a Trade Paperback. The ONLY books I own in Hardcover are, I think, the Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.Oh! And nearly every book I own in Russian...those are hardcover, too.)

And lastly, please note that while most of the books on my Amazon-com Wishlist for books are Kindle editions, IF a book has an MMP (or even a trade paperback) edition, I'd much rather own the print edition. :-)

I adore Disney's animated classics and Disney-Pixar animated movies. My favorites are WALL-E, The Incredibles, A Bug's Life, and The Great Mouse Detective. :-)

Zootopia is a recently discovered favorite. :-)

I also really love all four of the Alien movies, The Princess Bride, Ladyhawke, and The Usual Suspects. :-)

In general, if a movie is not animated, I mostly enjoy action movies (Pacific Rim, Commando, Die Hard, and the like). If a movie IS animated, well. . .Then that's pretty much a guarantee that I WILL enjoy it. ;-)

I don't really have a current favorite, but I am known to wax nostalgic over Soap, a sitcom from the 80's. I also enjoy revisiting the cartoons of my childhood on Boomerang. Tom and Jerry is an especial favorite. :-)

I have also been known to enjoy watching some of the animated shows on one or more of the Disney channels (the Octonauts comes to mind as one of them). But I haven't watched any of these types of shows in a couple of years (not so coincidentally, since before my father died in September 2014).

I do sometimes watch TV with my mother, and I do enjoy that (sometimes). We mostly watch BBC reruns/shows on PBS (Are You Being Served?; Keeping Up Appearances; As Time Goes By; Doc Martin; Father Brown). And football. We both enjoy watching any and all football games we can get here during NFL season (Go 'Hawks!). :-)

My mother really loves Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and Castle, and I sometimes enjoy watching episodes of these shows with her, too.

But really, I try not to watch television. I'd much rather read. ;-)

About the only crafty thing I'm good at is cross-stitch, so that's my favorite. I also used to like to knit, but I'm sadly so far out of practice that I can't remember how nowadays. (I also have not cross-stitched anything in a few years, and a project I began in 1989ish - give or take three years - is still languishing unfinished.)

I recently did a crafty swap where I used oil pastels to draw Kandinsky-like circles on 110lb card stock. And while I'm fairly certain that an artistic and creative child could probably have done better, I really enjoyed this new-to-me craft project. :-)

My favorite stores are Barnes and Noble for me and Petco for my dog. . .So I love Barnes and Noble gift cards. And any treats or toys for my dog would also be appreciated. (He is especially fond of rope balls.) :-)

I edited my list to be alphabetical, with some notes at the end. I don't think it's any less to read, but hopefully it's organized better for you to be able to pick out what I like! :-)

A: Animated Movies (especially Disney and Disney-Pixar animated movies); the Anita Blake series (by Laurell K. Hamilton);

B: Bears; Birds; Books! (especially mass market paperbacks, and ESPECIALLY paranormal romance and/or urban fantasy books); Bookmarks with tassels! (my current favorite: a Disney-Pixar Inside Out tasseled bookmark that says, “Every Day Is Full of Emotions”); Bookstores (especially Barnes and Noble and Powell’s);

C: Classic Rock and Classical Music (favorite performers/composers listed in this list); Colors: Blue, Green, Purple; any primary or especially bold colors, but no pastels, and NO PINK! (please note that I am okay with pink accents, ink, and such on letters or postcards; it's only in swaps that include ephemera that I'd prefer not to get anything pink);

D: Dogs!; Disney!; Disney-Pixar!; Dmitri Shostakovich; Duran Duran; Depeche Mode; the Discworld series (by Terry Pratchett); Dragons and Dragon-Shifters;

E: 80’s Pop; Edvard Grieg; Eurythmics;

F: Fantasy;

G: Gum; The Great Mouse Detective (arguably my MOST favorite Disney film);

H: Hard Candies; the Harry Potter book series (by J.K. Rowling);

I: Ice Cream; Itzhak Perlman; Igor Stravinsky; Ilona Andrews (I love more than just the Kate Daniels series);

J: Jigsaw Puzzles; Jean Sibelius; Jayne Ann Krentz (my favorite Romantic Suspense author, no matter which name she uses); Jennifer Crusie (my favorite Romantic Comedy author);

K: Kakuro Puzzles (think crosswords but with numbers instead of letters/words); the Kate Daniels series (by Ilona Andrews);

L: Logic Puzzles; Lions; Libraries; Laurell K. Hamilton (I love more than just her Anita Blake series);

M: Magnets; Modest Mussorgsky; Mt. Rainier; multi-view postcards; Molly Harper (my second favorite author of Romantic Comedies); Music: 80’s and through today pop, Classic and through today rock; Classical music; Opera; Movies: In addition to animated movies, I enjoy, from time to time, action movies, sci-fi movies, and fantasy movies (examples: Commando, Pacific Rim, and The Hobbit Trilogy);

N: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; Nora Roberts (my second favorite author of Romantic Suspense books; also like/collect her work no matter which name she uses);

O: Opera (music and performances); the Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon series (by Yasmine Galenorn);

P: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; Puzzles!; Postcards (of any subject, only no people-focused and NO SPIDERS!); Paranormal Romance and Fantasy;

Q: Quick, Amanda (aka Jayne Ann Krentz writing Historical Romantic Suspense);

R: Russian stuff (books, “modern” music, classical music, opera, postcards, images…); the Rolling Stones; Rain; Reptiles; Reading; Romantic Suspense and Romantic Comedy (especially if paranormal in some way);

S: Snakes; Sergei Prokofiev; Sergei Rachmaninoff; Symphony (music and performances); Seattle (my favorite city; oh, how I miss it!); Sweet or Salty snacks; Science Fiction; Snow;

T: Tigers; Tears for Fears; "Touristy" postcards;

U: U2; Urban Fantasy books and series;

V: Vampires;

W: Wild Animals (especially wolves, the big cats, and bears); Washington state and Washington State University; Werewolves and were-shifters (wereleopards, werebears, weretigers. . .); WALL-E (this is arguably my MOST favorite Disney-Pixar film); Weather: I LOVE cold weather, and the colder it is outside, the happier I am! I love cloudy days and rain, too, but snow makes me especially happy;

X: Xenomorphs (I LOVE the Alien movies!);

Y: Yo-Yo Ma; Yasmine Galenorn (I enjoy more than her Otherworld books);

Z: Zoos.

Additional Notes on Animals:

I love all animals, especially dogs, wolves, bears, and the big/wild cats. (Sadly, I am allergic to domestic cats, though I love seeing them on postcards and things.)

I also love all birds, especially eagles, hawks, and vultures.

I love reptiles, especially snakes (including cobras), and am okay with scorpions and bugs (on postcards). I am TERRIFIED of spiders (so please, NO spider postcards or anything).

Fantasy fiction that includes spiders or -shudder- werespiders -shudder- is okay, because despite sometimes graphic descriptions, I can imagine them pink with purple polka dots, on roller-skates. But images of real spiders? NO, THANK YOU! (Oddly enough, I am fine with Rosie, the black widow in Disney-Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, so postcards of her would be okay, even though she is “rather realistic.”)

Additional Notes on Books:

As I said above, I LOVE Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy books. I mostly read (and collect) Urban Fantasy books that contain a smattering of Paranormal Romance (and I own LOTS so if you have one you want to send, please ask me about it first. I’d hate for you to send me a book I don’t need/already own).

I also enjoy Romantic Suspense books, but mostly only when written by Jayne Ann Krentz or Nora Roberts (I own pretty much ALL of their work, no matter the name they wrote under). But if the Romantic Suspense is paranormal or fantasy-like in some way? Sign me up!

And I enjoy Romantic Comedies, but again only those written by Jennifer Crusie (I own most all of her work, I think) and Molly Harper (I only own one of hers: And One Last Thing).

I do sometimes read (and enjoy) other books, including other Romantic Suspense and Romantic Comedy books, Sci-Fi books, Fantasy books, and YA (Young Adult) Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

What I tend not to read includes Westerns, Literary Fiction, and Chick Lit. I like my fiction to be “fluffy.” :-)

I also do not read much nonfiction. In recent years, I’ve been participating in the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (2015 was my Year One) and about the only nonfiction I read is for this challenge.

About bookmarks with tassels: I use the tassel as my actual bookmark, while the “true” bookmark hangs out in either the latter part of the book (if I’m in the beginning) or the first half of the book (if I’m toward the end). If a store-bought bookmark has beads or something on the tassel, I take them off.

Additional Notes on Food: I do not particularly like to cook because. . . I have no common sense when it comes to Kitchen Things. (I had to find a recipe to cook sunny-side-up eggs and baked potatoes. And I once followed a recipe word for word and almost set my kitchen on fire as a result. . .See? No Kitchen Common Sense.)

I do like to bake every once in a while, if I have a good recipe to follow. (Unfortunately, my oven exploded on October 7, 2016. No damage was done, and even the oven survived intact, but I'm now a little oven-shy, too.)

I do not have any food allergies.

If you send me a recipe, please, if you can, make sure it is safe to follow as written!

Fears

I am massively arachnophobic. SO PLEASE, NO SPIDERS! And unfortunately, I live in southern Arizona, where there are big T-Spiders. (I'm so afraid of them that I can't even say, write, or think their name without my anxiety spiking. But if you need help to understand what a T-Spider is, they're a large, hairy arachnid that begins with a T, is spelled with nine letters, and ends with LA.)

I also fear losing the people I love. My Dad passed away in September of 2014 and if it weren't for my son - also known as my puppy, my service dog - I really don't know what I'd have done. :-(

Allergies

I am not allergic to much, but what I am allergic to are things that I'm VERY allergic to:

1. Cats and Cat Fur/Hair (my eyes water and swell; it ain't pretty); AND
2. The adhesive part of ANY type/brand of Band-Aid-type bandage (the "glue" causes lesions in my skin). I use/need white medical tape instead.

I hate to do this but. . .

Flakers:

I gave my first "1" rating on May 24, 2017. :-(

1) Elsye B. - @Irzombiegirl - for the Literary Wisdom PC #7 swap. Swap Deadline was May 8, 2017. Elsye was last online May 2. Swap not marked Sent. I messaged her May 13. I gave 1 star May 24. :-(

1a) UPDATE May 31, 2017: The Literary Wisdom PC #7 swap was angeled! @nnyla, the swap host, generously sent me a postcard for this swap. Thank you for being my angel! :-)

I gave my second "1" rating on April 2, 2018. :-(

2) Liz H. - @LizH - for the Reading Challenge 2018-January swap. Swap Deadline was January 31, 2018. Liz was last online January 6. Swap not marked Sent. I messaged her March 5. I gave 1 star April 2. :-(

2a) UPDATE as of February 5, 2018: The Reading Challenge 2018-January swap was angeled! @yomousey, the swap host, generously sent me a Swap-Bot message of her swap for this swap. Thank you for being my angel! :-)

Non-Raters:

(I think I despise non-raters the most, because at least with any possible flakers, I can rate them and be able to archive the swap. But non-raters? Those swaps I'm just not comfortable archiving until all ratings are done.)

Please note that I have removed the names of the non-raters. My profile feels "too long," and so I took them out, especially because I am getting tired of adding to it. :-(