Major awesome buy!

I honestly went to bed last night planning out pictures I was going to take and post today. I was going to post my stalled progress on my t-shirt throw, a skein of hemp that I am very unsatisfied with, and the cover of a book that captivated my interest so thoroughly that yesterday I did practically nothing except for reading.
Things don't always go as planned in life however, and I woke up early this morning not feeling well and inexplicably thinking about needle felting. I got up and perused etsy for needle felted wall hangings for a while and then I was driven back to bed by my unhappy body.
My DH has been home from Afghanistan for around nine months now, and on his way back he had a layover of sorts in Kyrgyzstan. He went to a restaurant, and in the foyer of the restaurant, there were some stalls for tourists to buy little pieces of Kyrgyzstan. My DH bought a few of those pieces, which made a few things clear to me. The first was, there's probably a lot of sheep in Kyrgyzstan, because everything he brought back was made of wool. The second thing that was clear to me was that Kyrgyzstan had rapidly joined Mongolia on near the top of places I wish to visit someday. There was an organic beauty to the crafts and pictures of this place that I can't even pronounce.
This finally brings me back to the beginning. I had never heard of etsy when my DH handed me the piece pictured above, but I had heard of needle felting, thanks to Martha Stewart, so I knew what this piece was, even though my DH didn't. He had chosen it because he could roll it up and put it in his backpack for the ride home!
Since this picture was taken, we have gotten this piece framed, and we spent $350 on the framing. My DH was a little baffled at the cost of the framing, while I am still a bit baffled at how much he spent buying this piece originally. A similar sized piece of needle felted artwork on etsy costs around $200 and is worth every penny. The DH claims he doesn't know exactly how much he spent buying this piece, but it was around $40. I call that a great buy!
And honestly, it's probably the most beautiful piece of art I have ever touched. I am honored to have it in my home.