Estrella Family Creamery

We had a wonderful day at the Estrella Family Creamery on Saturday. The Estrellas go to church with us and their farm was recently damaged by a wind storm. So, Saturday, we were blessed to help our brothers and sisters in need. We cut up downed trees, formed and burned brush piles, fixed a barn roof, fixed the electric fences, and got the truck starter working again. There may have been other things done, but that's just the stuff I knew about. I loved being on the farm - the smells of manure, livestock, and fresh farm air did me good! I absolutely loved it! I got to see goats and cows being milked, which was a new thing for me, and the baby calves and goats were SO cute!

The Estrellas are in the cheese business, so it was fun to see all of the cheeses they make (and taste them, too). Some of their cheese has received international awards and local fine dining restaurants come to the creamery regularly to pick up the Estrella cheese. One of the neatest things at the farm is a cheese cave. I think it's the only underground cheese cave in the United States. It was neat and nearly full of cheese.

My pictures can be seen by clicking on the photo below. Enjoy!

Nathan makes me happy

It seems I'm always making cards for others, but rarely ones for my hubby, my best friend. My friend Holly loaned me a couple of her stamp sets and I fell in love with Stem Silhouettes! I began this card for a Featured Stamper challenge (FS53) on Splitcoast. I cased this card of Sarah's and changed the colors, stamps, and corner tabs. After making this card, husby asked if it was for him and I quickly responded "YES!" I thought it was fitting, since he does make me so happy!

Accepted!

Yay! I was accepted to the local community college. I really don't think they turn down anybody because I got the acceptance email before submitting my transcripts. Anyway, I'm excited to be making this commitment to finish up school, and I look forward to the challenges and the reward at the end!

Will you be mine?

I made a few Valentines and some of them served dual-purpose as anniversary cards. :-) I am so blessed to be loved by friends, family, and my sweet husby. I hope I am returning the love to you! Hope your day is filled with lots of love, too.

Little Bits O' Love

Like I've said...I've been a little grumpy lately. So, to make up for it, I made a small token of love for my sweet husby. I was washing out a creamer bottle for recycling the other day, when it occurred to me that I could alter it and fill it with little somethings. So, I decorated it and filled it with N's favorite m-n-ms. I made it for his work, and even used coordinating papers to match his calendar, but he brought it home. Maybe it was too girly for him with the ribbon? The piece of paper from the scrap pile wasn't long enough to go all the way around, so I snapped some eyelets in there using my handy-dandy cropodile and laced some ribbon through. Maybe this was the part that was too girly...the corset tie? Oh well...hopefully he felt a little bit o' love.

Love Overflowing

My husby loves me dearly. He does so many wonderful things for me and showers me with love and affection. He is just wonderful. I got the sweetest *early* Valentine's gift from him Monday. He usually doesn't give gifts for holidays, much less ones that aren't useful many times over, so this was special. He was so cute, as he was just excited to give it to me as I was to receive it! He had gone out and found a unique gift that he knew I would just love, and now I have flower power! Oh my goodness, this is some of the yummiest smelling stuff!
The box itself is so bright and pretty...you can bet this will be inspiration for a card someday in the future. :) I also kept the pretty red and yellow ribbons so neatly tied into a big bow!

This beautiful box is filled with handmade, organic soaps, bubble bath, and perfume. The orange & yellow one is called "The Happy Pill." I haven't tried it yet, but the smell of it sure makes me happy. :) I usually take tubbies in the evenings, so I just don't want to waste "happiness" in the evening! I've been really grumpy lately, so this could be a good thing. Maybe husby got this just entire box just for the happy pill! I wouldn't doubt it. :) I'm telling you...I've been really grumpy! So far, the blue bubble bath "slice" is my favorite. The bubbles last FOREVER. I take really long tubbies...so long that the water gets too cold I need to get out. There were still bubbles when I got out. I love the color too, as it turns the water blue like the Caribbean. Definitely a PLUS!
One last amazing thing about this bucket o' greatness is that the tag is made with wildflower seeds. I can actually plant the entire tag and have a small patch of wildflowers!
Since I'm filled with flower power, I'm off to clean out the flower beds! It's actually nice out today...a balmy 42 degrees with some sunshine playing hide-n-seek with the clouds. :)

Will I ever learn?

Last Thursday while I had Bex with me and we were out and about, I stopped into this cute little dog shop in Redmond. While browsing, and really just using it as an excuse to get Bex out and walk him around a bit, I found this neat little toy. He used to love his soft toys, so I thought it was perfect for him. It was soft, washable, squeakable, and floatable. Wow! AND the best part, it's rated a "9" on the "tuff" scale of 1-10.

As you can see in the following picture, after 10 minutes of playing, he had already ripped off part of the edging.After 2 days, he has conquered the "Tuffie."
Needless to say, I was disappointed, but maybe I'll learn the lesson this time... Soft toys + Bexar = Destruction and quick loss of money