Happy Valentine's Day

I have lots to share with you today, so get a cup of coffee and settle in. First, if you haven't checked out the new Gilli Blog challenges, the first one starts today. You can find it at: House of Gilli. Please say hello to my friend, the Duchess of Gilli while you are there; Anary is the creator of these cute little ladies.

Our big news here is my husband has elected to retire effective June 1. That's going to bring a big change to our lives. He's a travelin' dude, loves the wind in his hair, roads he's never traveled and far away places. I've been introduced to some really beautiful places since I met him, he's a joy to travel with. So, we'll be doing that a lot more and we'll be in places that don't have the internet (ah, the horror of it). I love this blog and cardmaking so I'm sure I'll find time to keep them both up, but maybe not as often as before. Let's see....make a card, go to Sanibel Island. Duh!

Another on the home front item: a sharp shinned hawk has been hanging around our house the last week. He/she probably noticed the influx of birds at our feeders due to the deep snow. I saw him/her attempt a strike on something in the crabapple tree earlier in the week but a hawk's kill success rate is a lot less than you'd think. They often go to bed hungry. Yesterday we left the house around 4:00pm for dinner in the city and a trip to Jeffrey Alans (for those of you with a JA store, did you know they quit selling crafts? I've got to get out more. They still have scrapbooking but they sell couches now.) and Michaels where I paid $3.99/each for six 99 cent items. So, it took forever to get that straightened out. We got home after seven and this morning I looked out the front door to a complete absence of birds and something weird in the front yard. Got on my boots and found a pile of feathers on the ground, it might have been a female cardinal. Birds are gone. So, I moved the feeders from the north side of the house where I can see them to the south side where I can't. It was time to do that anyway, my bluebirds will be looking for nesting sites soon and their box is right next to where the feeder used to be. The north feeders are a winter thing. Instead of all the birds, I will now watch just for the bluebirds.

Product review: People who know me know that we have a long haired cat with social issues. She's not friendly, she tolerates us, but won't let anyone else touch her. She has a hairball problem due to all that long fur and products that are supposed to move the hair through her system just cause problems at the other end. After half a dozen baths (which we ALL hate), we've decided to live with the hairballs. The next problem we had was whether to buy cat food for the nutritional value or the staining properties. We went with nutritional. She's addicted to Fancy Feast grilled seafood (is she spoiled or what?) which leaves lots of scrubbing on the carpet when it comes up. So, I treated myself to a Bissell SpotBot. Wow! Keep in mind I've only had it about a week. But already it's cleaned stains that I tried to clean weeks ago with no results. We're planning on replacing our aqua living room carpet soon anyway, so the stains were not a huge deal. The only problem with the SpotBot is it gets the carpet it cleans so clean that the rest of the carpet looks really bad - lol. I'll let you know in six months if I still love it; with a husband who attracts dirt like a magnet and a cat that makes big messes, I'll be using it a lot. It's seriously easy to fill and empty, too. It has a hose and mini hand held scrubber for furniture and spots the Bot itself can't reach. Love it! I'm giving it 4 bluebirds.

I should try to submit this card for publication somewhere, that's how proud I am of it, but I'm eager to let you see it. I've always crocheted so the pattern I discovered in the last issue of Magnolia magazine was easy for me. I will be making up my own as soon as I have some time, I will share those patterns with you. Also, my next post will include some more free digital images and another big project I will share with you which has nothing to do with paper crafting. I appreciate very much all the comments I receive, I wanted especially to thank those of you who left no address, your comments mean a lot to me. So, let me know what you think of this card. I'm counting the days until the new Sugar Nellie images come out March 1.

Paper: DCWV Cotton Bloom Stack; Stamp: Sugar Nellie; Crochet pattern by Monique from Magnolia Magazine; Magnolia Crystals, Prima Roses; Copics: [Skin R20, E11, E000, E13, E01][Hair Y000, Y02, Y08][Dress RV00, RV000, RV0000][Outline N0]