Pet Tax Breaks and Stiffy Ribbons

The headline today includes this:
BILL: Tax break of up to $3,500 for pet care expenses...
click link to read the story.
What a great thing that would be for people who have to pay for catastrophic care for a beloved pet.
I think pet insurance is a good thing too.
I would love to get a pup but I know I cannot afford vet care so it would not be fair to the animal.
There are some decent plans from what I have heard. But this tax break would be a good thing too.
Animals serve far more purpose in a home than just as "pets". They are friends, lower blood pressure, give the lonely a reason to go on but they also serve as watch dogs, rodent control , even bug control in some instances.
A house with a dog is far less likely to be broken into. Some pets are used to help the deaf who can't hear fire alarms or even wake up alarms. Our furry pals do so much it would be nice if they get a tax break for their family.

So many animals are coming down with odd diseases and rare forms of cancers lately.
I have wondered if the inclusion of melamine into the dog and cat food has had some effect on all this.
There have been poisons in many things imported from China. Toothpaste, powders, baby creams, shoes and pet food!.
One woman bought plastic flip flops from Walmart imported from China. Soon her feet were rotten with sores where the plastic touched the skin. It looked like a very ugly, deep bad burn.
It worked its way down into the flesh a good way too.
She posted a photo of her feet on the internet hoping someone else might know what was wrong since doctors were stumped. She got a number of replies from women who had bought the very same sandals.
So I wonder about the pet food. No one made a big enough deal out of it. Yes, there were web sites to go to and see if your food was "safe" but the manufacturers themselves should have pulled the foods from the markets and in many cases did not.
The fact that we had to search for where the melamine was is wrong. Plain wrong.
The information should have been available, made simple and plain and all those foods dumped.
Instead it was like pulling teeth at one point to find out what foods were okay and what were not.
Obfuscation abounded in the scandal.
Is it all gone now? Nothing has been said! The industry is silent on it to this day. This is not a good sign since we have no real clue whether they are using Chinese products or not anymore.
Each bag and can should bear a label telling you if imported ingredients are in it and giving you the option of whether to buy or not.
It's sad what some companies will do for money.
Becareful what you feed your pet !

This is Crafty Wednesday when you show a craft you have made.
This is a porcelain ribbon bow that I made using cotton gingham material cut into a thick ribbon, hemmed on sides and I also formed a separate bow.
Then I filled a large mixing bowl with "Stiffy" which you can buy at most craft stores and is just white craft glue that dries clear.
I dunked the big ribbon in the glue, squeezed out the excess carefully, being sure not to wrinkle it too much.
Now, using push pins I attached the ribbon to the wall forming it into a sweeping swag formation as I went. I stuffed the bow part with waxed paper and used push pins to hold them up . I used some balled up waxed paper to push out parts of the ribbon for a puffy effect too.
It takes several hours to dry but the results are lovely, though the awful photo does not do it justice at all.
You can make all sorts of things ...bows for the front door, flowers, anything!

You can click the mirror photo to see it enlarged but it just looks more doofey that way.

I promise its really pretty in person !