Farm Charm Favorites: E-I-E-I-Whoa

Happy Horses Charm Necklace

Dress: Modcloth

Shoes: B.A.I.T., Zulily

Bag: Sugar Thrillz, Dolls Kill

Sunglasses: Mudd, Kohl's

Belt: Candie's, Kohl's

Bangles: B Fabulous

Crazy Critters Charm Necklace

Tank: Express, Marshalls

Jeans: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Flip flops: Sea Star, Brigantine

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Boscov's

Sunglasses: The Tote Trove

Yellow bangles: B Fabulous

Green stretch bracelet: Cloud Nine, Ocean City

Other bracelets: So, Kohl's

Fabulous Felt Cheese Please Barrette

It's not every farm that can lay claim to seahorses, stegosauruses, and unicorns.  But then, The Tote Trove isn't any old farm.  It's a fantasy land rife with sweet, playful produce.  And these days it's producing charms.  With my supply of the Flash variety finally exhausted, I'm on to these equally adorable (albeit less nostalgic) fuzzy animal danglers, the likes of which you may remember from previous posts.

That said, one thing that you will find on most farms is cheese.  Which everyone loves.  Except maybe the lactose intolerant.  And the people who came up with "cheesy," "the Stinky Cheese Man," "cutting the cheese," and, of course, that old favorite, "the cheese stands alone."

I think I first became fascinated by cheese (or, as I sometimes like to call it, "the pasteurized one,") while watching Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  It was one of those let's-learn-something segments where they take you out of Mr. Rogers's house and the Land of Make Believe to a removed locale where people in bowl cuts and corduroys are doing something educational. This time they were making cheese in huge tubs, separating the chunky curds from the milky way, all to the sound of a good old disembodied voice-over.  (Five bucks says that guy had a bowl cut, or maybe a comb-over.  But then, they can't all be silver foxes like one Mr. Rogers.)  Anyway, this behind-the-scenes peek to find out how my Kraft singles came into being was pretty amazing.  (No cracks about Kraft being 75% polyurethane; that's more of a "20/20" thing, and this post is all about the wonder and purity that is PBS).

The Land of Make Believe notwithstanding, few people love cheese as much as those who hail from Wisconsin.  There in America's Dairyland, they worship this cow by-product so much that they wear cartoon caricatures of it in on their heads.  So, as an, ahem, nod to this proud Midwestern tradition, I fashioned this Fabulous Felt Cheese Please Barrette.  You know.  For the milkman or maid in your life who wants to divulge a devotion to dairy.  Or, for the ardent Packers fan.  Which means that, yes, it's also dude-friendly (in case my milkman reference went unnoticed).  I'm willing to bet that there are at least a few long-locked Y-chromosome-carrying football fans out there who wouldn't think twice about donning a "Go, team!" wedge of cheddar.  Sure, they may have more than a few Old Milwaukees in them while they're doing it.  But that doesn't make it any less real.

So, thanks, cheese, for being the star-slash-butt of this post.  And remember, you're never really alone.

Unless you're Limburger.  Because Limburger is just disgusting.