December 2010: I've hit a rough patch of stress, anxiety, and really bad mail luck, and I'm both behind and having to do a LOT of resends, multiple in some cases. I'll accept any threes I earn for being late, and will fix anything that's missing. I'll also be tracking down missing ratings to make sure nothing got lost there. It's overwhelming, but I need to fix this.

Will the person who sent me the wonderful cave PC from Iraq please contact me? I was unable to figure out which swap it was for, and I'd like to rate you. Thank you!

I have had some swaps go out one to seven days late lately, and I've tried to contact everyone to let them know and apologize, but I'm tired of waiting for the messaging system to work for me! (It works, it's just sslloowww.) I will still try to contact everyone personally, but I'm acknowledging it here, just in case--I am a latey! I apologize for it, but I make no excuses; I stumbled and got behind. Everything is out now, though, save for items I owe to two people, who I have talked to and know they're coming.

I am the swapper formerly known as KayAnders.

If you are ever missing anything from me, or if I sent you something you feel is not up to swap standards, please message me! I'm here to send as much as (or more than) to receive, and I will make it right to the best of my abilities.

I pick up my mail from the PO in batches, and rate in batches as well. This means it can take a while for me to get all my ratings done. Please bear with me if you can--I may be a late rater, but I am NOT a non-rater. Rating my partners is important to me, and I do not want to let you down!

**I often get repeat partners in swaps. If I ever send you a card or ATC design I've sent you before, just let me know--it'll be a great excuse to send you something else. ;) **

Conniebobear

;**

Things that really rev me up

Firefly/Serenity, cowboys, outer space, The LXD, William Shatner, Ray Bradbury, autumn, libraries, library supplies color (any and all, I have never met one I did not like), crafting, animals (especially cats and any wildlife), Half-Life, cephalopods (squid, octopuses and cuttlefish), science fiction (especially Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and TOS and TNG, and Star Wars episodes III, IV and V), Trace Adkins, and last but in no way least, books!

TV

I love: Firefly, Las Vegas, Deadliest Catch, Battlestar Galactica (all three series), Stargate: Universe, Community, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, 20/20, South Park, Heroes (well, S1), Lost, Dollhouse, Glee, Dateline NBC, Warehouse 13, Haven, Happy Town (I'm in denial that it was cancelled), and Fox Sunday's animation domination block. I have an unhealthy affection for bad reality shows involving spoiled rich females, but we won't go into that. I'm also just getting into Stargate: SG-1 thanks to Hulu (and fifteen years of trying really hard to like it), Eureka (Hulu again) and True Blood.

Movies:

There is no way to list all the movies I love. The first ones that come to mind include: The Mummy (1999), Practical Magic, Outland, Serenity, Thirteen Ghosts (both versions), The House On Haunted Hill (both), The Rundown, Starship Troopers, Star Wars, District 9, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the South Park Movie, The Bad Seed, cheesy made-for-TV disaster flicks, and the Bourne movies, among many others that are too numerous to list.

Games

I tend to be a more casual gamer (Farm Frenzy, Plantasia, Pharoah/Caesar III/Zeus, Phlinx, etc.), but I also love Star Wars Galaxies, Portal and Half Life. I adore Half Life, all the chapters! I want a pet headcrab. ^_^ (Debeaked, please.) Not a big fan of match-3 or hidden object, just because they're so overdone, but once in a while I'll boot one up.

Books & Authors

I collect more than I read, and currently read mysteries more than anything. I'll read anything that catches my attention, but most of my books are mystery, crime fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, or horror.

My favorite authors include Sharyn McCrumb, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Nevada Barr, Bentley Little, Preston & Childs, and Charles deLint (mostly his 80's work). I'm also a big fan of Leslie Meiers and Lillian Jackson Braun, and I just discovered Rebecca M. Hale.

Favorite books that are not necessarily by favorite authors include The Big Ass Book Of Crafts (thank you, Secret Santa!!), Good Omens (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett), Lark & Wren (Mercedes Lackey--the kind of writer I aspire to be) and Faery Tale (Raymond Feist). I'm also nuts about The Dresden Files, though I've only read through Book Four. Can I be Harry when I grow up?

People I'm A Fan Of

Joss Whedon. I want to live in that man's brain. No, wait, I want to steal it and absorb his powers.

Neil Gaiman. The man is not just a writer, he's a storyteller to his very core. I don't follow his work closely, but I admire how many stories he's spun, and I wish I could be half as good.

Ray Bradbury. The consummate storyteller. My first writing muse, I put down his books for a very long time, and when I picked them back up recently I realized I could still see his influence on me. Also a very kind man, which always wins my heart.

William Shatner. He's been a star, been through hell, been a jerk and grew out of it, and best of all he's got a fantastic sense of humor about himself. He's got a charisma and pacing I just love. I adooooore this man. Denny Crane.

Carl Sagan. He was a flawed man, but just watch him on Cosmos, talking about the universe. It was a wonderful puzzle for him to solve, a mystery to unravel, a joy to share, and a sense of wonder. He brought that to so many people.

Tim Holtz. I love his style, I love his stuff, every time I see something new that I'm floored by there's a 50% or better chance he's involved. If I was rich, I'd buy four of everything as soon as it came out.

Tim Gunn. "Make it work!" is my latest motto and I've turned some disasters into good stuff thanks to it.

Rubber Stamps

If swapping stamped images, ANYTHING is fine!

If swapping actual stamps, I tend to avoid sentiments and things that are cutesy or too sentimental, in that Hummel figurine/Precious Moments sort of way. I can appreciate them, but they're not going to get the use they deserve out of me. But kawaii or cute robots, squid or dinosaurs, or cool cartoony of the same or animals, those are always welcome.

My favorites, though, are more dramatic stamps, the macabre, or realistic animals. Acey Deucey and the late Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers probably makes my favorite stamps. I love the macabre Edward Gorey stamps, poison or apothecary label stamps, animals and wildlife (esp. realistic), southwestern or cowboy designs, military, and anything that'll be fun to color in. Fantasy, scifi, faerie/fairy, Gibson Girl, Victorian style art, corsets, those all count in favorite things.

But really... If you have something you think is cool and you want to share it, send it! If you just don't know what else to send, send whatever YOU like and let me know what you enjoy about it--I can make it work! I'm open to having my horizons widened.

Anything that I can also use to ruin the carpet, I like. But I tend to turn to rubber stamps first, and I have hundreds of them. (Yet it's still not enough!) I prefer actual red rubber but the quality and variety of acrylic stamps have won me over. I also enjoy digitally designing (in part or whole) cards and crafts; I love Illustrator, I'm decent enough with Photoshop, and when I can't find the image I want in a stamp, sometimes I can come up with it digitally.

I am largely an ATC maker, but also make regular cards, bookmarks and work of various sizes. One day I want to try inchies, twinchies, rinchies and skinnies. (Those sound like girlie drinks.)

I also cycle through knitting, needlepunch, polymer clay, beading and all sorts of other things. Basically, if it's a craft, I wanna try it!

Work

I work for a small excursion company, where I refer to myself as a "portable Girl Friday." That means if it needs to be done and I can do, I do it, then I figure out how to explain it to everyone else. Did I mention I'm the only one there who really understand how the internet and web development work?

I was active in wildlife rehabilitation for over three years, but had to give it up over the summer. Instead, I'm volunteering at the local food bank in their IT department. I like it, but I really, really hope to return to animal rescue. It's where my heart is, and where I feel I have the most to offer.

Sadly, I currently have no pets of my own and won't for a while, but I still consider some of the permanent residents at the wildlife center as my charges, and when I do get to go there, I will dote on them if I have time. I love making 'salads' for the tortoises, hand feeding my favorite parrot Froot Loops, and I will miss combing our possum for fleas and telling our wolf how wonderful she is. (Olympia and Cody, RIP, darlin's.)

I also have a fixation on cephalopods. Have you seen how amazing cuttlefish are? I mean, seriously! Don't get me started on squid, they are just too cool. And octopuses... Did I mention cuttlefish?

Play

Reading, writing, stamping, crafting, pretending like I can draw, online forums, coordinating things when I have no idea what I'm doing, poorly coordinating things when I do, and computer games. I'm also level 80 armorsmith on Tatooine.

School

I came, I saw, I graduated with a BA I've never used, now I'm back and studying IT.

A cat, world peace, unlimited BPAL funds, and a 10-pack of that fancy self-clinging mounting foam from Sunday International.

I love BPAL! One day I will treat myself to a full bottle of Ile de la Tortue. Will trade ATCs (or spare imps) for BPAL! I also have a couple of empty 5ml bottles I'd trade for other empties, specifically Lovecraft-themed ones.

As for a real wishlist, I honestly don't have one that's suitable here. If anyone is really bent on gifting me for some strange, undecipherable reason, I can always use Fiskars TripleTrack blade refill carriages (my cutters take all the little square ones, these are cheapest), and I'm missing most of the more recent Distress Ink pads (The first twelve from this page, plus Brushed Corduroy and Pine Needle).

There's not much that would disappoint me, but I do have OCD that makes me recoil from certain things. Please, nothing with mesh, netting, burlap, gauze, ace bandages, any kind of chenille (pipe cleaners are fine), medical cloth/tape/bandages, or any fabric with a wide or "loose thread" sort of weave.

This applies ONLY to the actual item. Untextured paper with a burlap pattern is fine! And most ribbons, string and yarn are fine, too.

All other cloths are fine! I'm also fine with metal mesh or windowscreen mesh. (Don't ask me why it works that way, wish I knew.)

I'm not good with some second-hand items, and especially cloth goods (clothes, dish towels) or plushies, either. Anything with unidentifiable schmutz, that's dusty or has Mystery Hair is something I can't handle. (Literally, as in with my hands.)

I'm sorry to picky at all, but I'm working on making it better.

Also, no edibles, please, unless you know I'm OK with it. That's part OCD and part not needing to put on more weight! ;)

Hearts

I'm still working out how I feel about and use hearts. I started out giving them to everyone, then I got super stingy, now I think I'm striking a balance. If you do get a heart from me, know that you made me smile not just once, but twice, or even every time I see what you sent. If I give you a heart, I mean it. (I never remove hearts, but sometimes I'll go back and add one!)

Extras

Extras are never needed, or expected, with me. Never worry about not getting a 5 or a heart because of it. They're always accepted gracefully and with sincere gratitude, but you will never lose out on a heart because of extras. I rate based only on the swap item--so if you get a heart from me, you earned it by your wonderful work or because your PC really made me grin!

COLOS! All of them! Really! It changes day to day, moment to moment. I love all colors, all sorts of pallets, and black and white both. I tend to use a lot of earthy/vintage colors, but honestly, I just love it all.

I also love cowboys, cowgirls, art, museums, Tarot cards, animals (did I mention animals), clockwork, steampunkish things (I liked it when it was just "that Jules Verne type of thing"), natural history, science, science fiction, space, NASA, stars and constellations (astronomy and astrology both), NASCAR, learning about cultures, finding stories in every day specks of life and people you've never met before. I'm intrigued academically by both Wicca/paganism and Christianity and Catholicism.

I also loooooooove Halloween, especially creepy, scary or Victorian/retro Halloweenish stuff. But anything Halloween is awesome to me, ANY time of the year.

My favorite computer games are Star Wars Galaxies, Plants vs. Zombies, the Half Life series, Zombie Bowling, Zeus, Pharaoh, and the Farm Frenzy series. No World of Warcraft or consoles for me--it's a preventive move, I know I'd be addicted to either!

ANY type of postcard is fine with me. Viewcards, art cards, handmade or storebought, from books, sets or bought individually, even ad cards if they're cool or are for something arty. I have never been disappointed in a postcard I've gotten.

If you really want more detail, well, I love pulp book covers, vintage/funky advertising reproductions, comic covers, diagrams, characters, and anything weird and funky. Cheesy 50's, 60's or 70's ones, and bizarre roadside attractions. Strange is good.

And while I don't normally collect cat stuff, I find I really like cat postcards.

I prefer my postcards naked, but if it's wisest to send them in envelopes (handmade, fragile, antique, sending overseas, etc.), that's fine with me. I am fine with handmade postcards! Unless the swap specifies storebought, handmade is fine with me at any time--and even then I'll sometimes post a note saying handmade is fine with me. If in doubt, just ask. :)

Finally, if you're running a little late, no problem. Just let me know if you'll be more than a few days behind. I rarely look at postmarks and I'm pretty laid back, so it's all good. :)

Signed up for:

Art project (tentative)

WTA #3: Skeletons

WTA: Fall