I thought she would too, Karen, normally she loves when we bring out "her" teapot and special yellow cups. However, I think the swing, digging in the dirt, and helping the dogs search the block wall for lizards won out this time! LOL We're in the 80's this week, so it's wonderful. I'm happy if it stays out of the three digits! I've been taking walks in the morning and evening and loving the cool breeze. Gotta enjoy it while I can, I know the heat will come before summer is over! Then I give thanks daily for the inventor of air conditioning! LOL Always love seeing all your wonderful items, and you really do have a knack for displaying things. Always love seeing your pictures. ;o) Luvs

i like the idea of three items or sets of items, but not one time did i or would i ever personally feel uncomfortable with any one person that sent or received more than the stated amount as it apparently has others. ann, this is the first i'm hearing about the quart equivalent. does this hold true for store purchased items as well? i have one item as of today. i already had a whole theme going, but i looked at the items as sets of things and i shared that with a friend who was kind enough to show me the error of my ways. like jessy, i personally would see the condiment compartment dish and condiments and think of it as a set and count it as one, but i can see how it doesn't cut it. i'm hoping a few other things come to mind in the next week so i can wrap this up and get it mailed. maryanne

I have to agree about the misguided info on raw diets, however the other stuff seems accurate. I think you have to look at what's species-appropriate and a most likely scenario in the wild - that's where dairy sounds questionable, but if it works for your pet, more power to you. You don't see many dogs and cats milking cows or goats. It 'works' for us (and many argue we shouldn't really have dairy either) because of a much longer history of genetic tolerance, I guess in dairy-heavy cultures, if you got IBS or other sorts of reactions from dairy, you weren't so likely to breed... I firmly believe one of the reasons vets are so opposed to raw diets is the level of funding the pet food industry puts into vet training and resources etc. It would appear to be something of a conflict of interest, and it's documented in the below link. I should also point out that outside of North America, eg Australia, the BARF diet for dogs (raw food) is looked upon very favourably by many vets. I think if you feed your pet garbage, then yes, it may make them sick. The commercial raw food I feed our dog, I would be (not gonna try it though) confident would be fit for humans (if you like ground up bone and organ meat with your chicken) because it's prepared hygienically. Remember also dogs have a much shorted gi tract than us and can eat stuff that really would make us sick, it passes through dogs much more quickly. I hate to admit we started our dog on kibble and didn't change til she developed some big gastric problems, I knew it wasn't the best thing for her, but it was cheap. I don't know if the Kirkland food was implicated in the melamine scandal, but I'm glad we changed - I don't think she would have survived on kibble anyway. If non-cooked food really wigs you out, then your own home-cooked pet food is almost certainly better than commercial dry or wet food, especially the larger scale stuff. Some of those ingredients are just not species appropriate, and some are blaming the increase in carbohydrates in dogs' diets for the higher incidence of diabetes.. Avocados, though, I didn't know about. We did give ours some the other day. A dog in the wild would definitely eat fallen fruit, which was my reasoning. I don't see any prohibition on bananas, which seem to be one of her favourite things.... http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/health/rawdogfood/index.html

Thanks Kay! GREAT advice!! I especially like your tip on not putting the tape all the way around the end of the envelope:) Yes, I too have worried that I'm cutting into the fabric,not just the envelope. May I add,that on another forum where I get a lot of blocks/fabrics mailed, it's been popular lately to use Press 'N Seal to wrap the block in. IMHO, BAD idea! It leaves a sticky residue on the fabric - yuck! Not to mention the time it takes to finally find the open end to be able to peel it off in the first place!:( Regular plastic wrap works great & is a whole lot cheaper! I really liked your comment also on the zip bags. The zip makes it slightly heavier & bulky, & it's harder to squeeze out all the air to make the envie as flat as possible. I've paid the extra postage for bulk more often than weight -- & it's mostly air! :( Again, thanks Kay for the great tips! ~Cindy