denimblu14

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Hello, my name is Carol and I am married and have two grown up sons and three grandchildren.

I live in a seaside town and I enjoy strolling on the beach and in the sea, collecting shells, bits of interesting glass and pottery or just relaxing with a book near the harbour whenever I find the time to do so :)

Reading is my all time favourite pastime. Once I pick up a book, that's it, nothing else usually stands a chance!

I also enjoy all types of art/craft projects, gardening and visiting art galleries and museums.I enjoy live theatre shows, I have just recently seen 'West Side Story'. I saw Agatha Christies 'The Mouse Trap' on it's 60th year anniversary! Other stage performances I have seen include 'Priscilla Queen Of The Desert', Mama Mia, Les Miserables and Blood Brothers. I would thoroughly recommend them all :)

I like to collect used and unused stamps from any where in the world and I share this hobby with my Dad who also likes to collect UK First Day Covers. My liking of stamps combines the pleasure I get from sending and receiving postcards and letters.

I also participate on the Postcrossing site, sending and receiving postcards from all over the World. Snail mail rules ok!

Postboxes delight me. My Husband and my Dad also share my enthusiasm for them. We are interested in the history and location of them. Between us we have photo albums full of lovely red (UK) postboxes and we have a few photos of postboxes from further afield. And now since the 2012 Olympics, here in the UK, we have Gold postboxes in honour of each athlete that won a Gold medal.

So if you have a postage stamp/postcard showing a postbox (or any other mail related item) I would be very delighted to receive it and the same applies for any postcards or postage stamps that feature trains or railway stations, thankyou.

I also like postcards featuring a map of any type. I would welcome additions to my USA State map/flag/flower bird postcard collection.

Postcards showing lighthouses, interesting landmarks,Royalty,Presidents and other famous people are also of interest to me. In fact all postcards are welcome, if you like it, then please send it :)

Unless a swap asks for postcards in an envelope, I prefer my postcards to be written on and stamped. Ta.

Please, when ever possible, when you send mail to me I would appreciate it very much if you stick on postage stamps to cover the cost of postage, instead of those postage labels. It just doubles the pleasure I get whenever I receive my mail. Stamps always make me smile!! Thankyou.

On a Tuesday afternoon after I finish work, I join my Mum at a card crafting class which is held in a church hall. All participants either work on their own projects or make a card or two from the craft items provided, paying a small fee for the materials used. It is good to meet other like minded people and 'bounce ideas' off each other.

I am a hoarder I can never throw any thing away that I think may come in useful sometime or other. My family laugh at me for this but they always come to me before heading to the shops if they want something.

I prefer to make and mend an item rather than buy a new one. I like to recycle everything I possibly can.

In my garden I have a worm bin. The worms 'eat' veggie peelings and turn this into usable compost. Marvellous!

Just being in my garden relaxes me, I love to just potter about and can loose a good few hours without realising it.Sunflowers, poppies and daffodils are my favourite flowers. I like all fragrant herbs especially Thyme.I grow Lavender and I have a Chamomile lawn.

Enid Blyton was my favourite author as a child, I devoured every book. Then when my children were small I enjoyed re-reading them all again!

I have a few Ladybird books and do like to come across other titles to pick up while I am out and about.

I have enjoyed reading 'A Town Like Alice', Anne of Green Gables and 'The Little House on the Prairie' books. I have seen adaptations of these on tv and they have me blubbering every time. I was the same when I watched 'The Waltons' on tv.

My first Catherine Cookson novel had me hooked and I have long since read everyone of them.

Gervaise Phinn makes me laugh.

Linwood Barclay is my current favourite author. I also like to read books by Harlen Coben,James Patterson, John Grisham,Lee Child and Stephen King.

I belong to a book group and there I have read many a book I wouldn't necessarily have picked for myself. When you have read and really enjoyed a book its good to share that experience with others in the group.

My library ticket is used on a regular basis and is a wonderful access to free reading material.

I was born in March, so I am a Pisces. The symbol for this zodiac sign is two fish swimming in opposite directions. I find this quite apt as I am very undecisive and can never make up my mind straight away.

Likes: 'Free' pens. I like to collect pens that are 'given' away in banks, hotels etc. Especially the ones with the company name/brand on them.

Pencils; these I like to collect from my travels, from towns/cities/countries I've visited, usually bought from the gift shop in museums/art galleries/churches. They are usually inexpensive and of course like the pens are very useful, although I am somewhat reluctant to use any of them.

Other than letter writing or form filling, I always use a pencil.

I like keeping a diary and have done so for many years. I also like to keep a seperate journel in which to record my travels/days out, places of interest visited. I prefer journals that have pockets in which to keep all the trivia I collect along the way like admission tickets, bus/train tickets etc, etc, etc. I never knew that collecting used items such as these had a name - ephemera!

I would love to see some Post Office stationery from other countries, especially Air Mail labels.

I like making lists for shopping, things to do, books to read or look out for. Love to tick items off as I complete the list. So nice note books/pads would be put to good use.

I absolutely love Scooby-Doo!

I like scarecrows :)

I will never have enough bookmarks.

My favourite colour is Blue. Think jeans! But I also like the combination of red,white and blue.

My favourite fragrances are Sandal Wood and Patchouli. Also Lavendar which I have growing in my garden. I prefer the smell of aftershaves to perfume.

My favourite animals are the hippopotamus, orangutans,donkeys,sloths,aardvarks, armadillos and pangolins.

I have a few pressed pennies, mostly from the UK I would love some more for my collection, from anywhere in the world. I have a few USA State quarters and National Park quarters, I would like to add more of them to my collection. I would also like to start a collection of the Canadian equivalant to these. Here in the UK the coins in circulation are designed to represent something of interest so they are well sought after by everyone, including me!

I also collect foreign coins/bank notes. Remember holiday money before the Euro was introduced, what fun!

I can't resist re-usable shopping bags, any type, size or colour, shop bought or hand-made. Some I do use for shopping but others, if sturdy, make good storage containers for magazines etc. I'm even using a couple from the supermarket, the plastic coated ones, to grow vegetables in. These are very sturdy and I got the idea because they have pictures of vegetables on them and they are practically the same as the ones available from the garden centre but they are much cheaper to buy.

I would be very happy to receive anything that is hand-made.

Absolutely any type of crafting items would be most welcome.

Discovering swap bot has opened my eyes to other types of crafts/swaps I would like to join, so I am open to new ideas.

Since joining swap-bot I have discovered ATC's and Dotee Dolls and I have enjoyed the ones I have made and received.

My sons interests include football, music and computer technology. Between them they like Sponge bob, The Simpsons, Scooby-Doo, lego and anything pirate related.

Dislikes: Not that many really.

I don't like wastefulness, so am happy for you to re-cycle 'stuff' when making or packaging a swap to me.

I do not like the smell of vanilla or coconut.

Not keen on fruit flavoured tea's.

Please do not send me any sweeties, the last toffee I ate cost me a trip to the dentist!

My wish list. Peace On Earth And Good Will To All Mankind!