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*This review was not paid for or incentivized in any way. This item was purchased by me and no coupons, gifts, money, etc was given for the review. This is my honest opinion of my dog’s experience with this item.*

A few months ago, I had purchased smoked rawhide donuts for my little Shih Tzu. He loves to chew on things, but most of the rawhides are hard for him to chew on. The donuts were great, but now I can’t find them anywhere, so I needed a new option. I’ve tried other rawhide bones but he doesn’t seem to care for them because they’re hard to chew on, and the flips come in bags so big it would take over a year for him to chew them all up and I’d lose the bag somewhere (yes, I’ve done it before LOL). So while we were at Wal-Mart the other day, we checked the pet department for something that might help, as that is where I found the donuts.

What we found were Dingo Wag’n Wraps dog chews. These chews are beef or chicken flavored (I got chicken) rawhides with a meaty middle to them. I wasn’t prepared for the reaction I received from Panda! He took the first chew offered to him, and promptly sat down and chewed and chewed and chewed. He was so happy with it! It was easy for him to get into his mouth to chew on, easy for him to put between his paws and hold, and he loved the flavor (obviously because he’d have dropped it and left it if he didn’t. Been there done that too.).

I am extremely happy to find him a chew that he likes and that appears will be around for a while – Dingo is a brand that I’ve been seeing for years although this is the first time I’ve tried any of their products. I will definitely be trying more of their chews for my Panda!

*This review was not paid for or incentivized in any way. The food was purchased with my own money, no coupons given, no free food, and no money was given to me for this review. This review is an honest opinion of my experiences with Natural Balance Pet Food.*

We have three pets in our house. Two cats and a dog. Unfortunately, my dog has allergies (oats of all things) and so we were looking for a dog food that was guaranteed not to have oats in it. We happened to be at Petco and were looking through the various dog foods looking for a better option when we spied what we thought would be a good option. Our option was Natural Balance Limited Ingredients Diet pet food. Natural Balance L.I.D. dog food comes in several flavors – Sweet Potato & Chicken, Potato & Duck, Sweet Potato & Fish, Sweet Potato & Venison, and Lamb & Brown Rice. Of those five, only ONE (Lamb & Brown Rice obviously) has grain products in it. The rest are grain free, which is what we chose for Panda.

We have tried both the Sweet Potato & Chicken and the Sweet Potato & Venison and Panda LOVES it! I can’t say he eats or poops less because no matter what I’ve fed him he’s never eaten or pooped all that much, but I have to say that he loves it, I know he won’t be getting oats with it, and he hasn’t been quite as itchy since he went on it even though his fur is getting longer. Usually once his fur gets longer he starts to itch constantly – and I haven’t seen that happening since we switched him to the Natural Balance food. So for Panda, this has been a great option.

The ingredients list is amazing as well! There are very few, if any, preservatives in this food. It has sweet potatoes, venison, vitamin supplements, etc. But it doesn’t contain a lot of the preservatives found in a lot of the other brands of dog food.

Their cat food is amazing as well. While our cats did not like the grain-free formulas, they DID like the Original Ultra food! They eat it up just as well as the Purina One they used to get, but seem to be more playful and happier than they were with the Purina One. Again, the ingredients list includes few, if any, preservatives and the cats just eat it up.

While it is a bit pricey – the small bags cost about $14.99 for the cat food and $15.99 for the dog food (4-7lb bag) and so far I’ve only found it at Petco, it is an amazing food and well worth the price for the benefits it gives our animals. I definitely recommend this food for anyone – especially those who deal with animals with food allergies.

**This review is a result of a feedback campaign by DenTek Oral Care Inc. The recipients were asked to give their honest opinion about the product they received. Good reviews were not incentivized and poor reviews will not be censored for their opinion of the product.**

Recently I was given the opportunity to give an honest opinion about a complete clean floss product from DenTek. In case you are curious, DenTek’s Complete Clean Floss is two strands of PTFE floss twisted together to make a thin, easy sliding floss. This floss is meant for those of us who have either crooked teeth or those of us who have our teeth more or less tightly packed into our mouths.

I received the Fresh Mint flavor floss, and did a video review for it which you can see below:

I will say that the floss DID work better for my roommate than it did for me – but her teeth are NOT as crooked/tightly packed in together as mine are. So I do believe that had a lot to do with it. Also, the lack of mint flavor that was able to be tasted was not so much an issue as a disappointment – I had expected a strong mint flavor as had been found with other dental flosses that had flavors that I have tried/used.

All in all, while the floss is not for me, it does not stop me from recommending that others try it as it may very well be the right floss for them!

If there is one thing I absolutely can’t stand, it is bugs. Any kind of bugs. Especially bed bugs. *shudder* Bed bugs are a big issue with hotels, motels, and even when purchasing things like mattresses, sofas, etc that are used. They are very difficult to get rid of and require a lot of hard work and patience if you are going to get rid of them. Not a very fun thing at all!

Hotels and motels, usually seedy ones, are the most common places you’ll find bed bugs, although it is possible to have an infestation of them in your home or building – so anyone can have bed bugs. The key to not having them: prevention! You have to prevent yourself from getting the bed bugs in the first place. How do you do that?

Well, you could use bed bug products such as the ones provided by BugZip. They have a wide range of products ranging from BugZip luggage encasements to mattress encasements to bed bug monitors. They even have dissolving laundry bags so you can wash your clothes to prevent bringing bed bugs home with you on them and small “PackTite” heaters that allow you to put non-washables into and heat them up to kill bed bugs but not ruin the items. Very smart.

Please don’t think that just looking over your hotel or motel rooms will be good enough. These bugs are sneaky – they hide inside of mattresses, sofas, stuffed chairs, etc, and cannot be seen. A room may look spotless, but can still have bed bugs!

Recently the fine folks at BugZip sent me four of their luggage encasements to try. I received a garment bag, large suitcase bag, medium suitcase bag, and drawer liner. I have to admit, I am not a traveler. I usually get ill when I travel, so I don’t do it often. However, after my recent eviction from my apartment (not even getting into that) I am finding that I have a lot of stuff to go into a storage unit. Some of these items are items bugs would love to get into. Bed bugs, roaches, whatever, these bugs are looking to get into my stuff. I’m talking about yarn, afghans I’ve crocheted, things like that. So I’m using the BugZip bags to keep the bugs out of my stuff in the storage unit. Let me tell you – they work! I’ve found bugs in boxes of stuff that are in the unit, but there’s nothing in those BugZip bags. It is a huge relief to know that my stuff is safe from bugs inside those bags. I highly recommend these bags for anyone who needs to protect something from bugs – whether it be bed bugs at hotels or bugs in a storage unit – these bags have you covered!

Being that with me not working and three of us living on the retirement income from BFL’s mom, we have to make sure our grocery dollars stretch as far as possible. So that meant taking a look through one of the local Dollar Tree stores to see what non-perishable grocery items we could pick up there. So we took the trip and we found a few items we could use. We got our paper towels and toilet paper, plus we got a few groceries. Tonight we had the opportunity to try out one of the items. It was a Gourmet Select Pasta Salad kit. Of course, this is a knock-off of the Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad kits, but hey, they were $1 per box and right now, that’s what we need… cheap stuff.

We picked up the Bacon Ranch and Creamy Parmesan varieties and tonight I fixed the Creamy Parmesan one. I have to say, a lot of times those cheap off brands aren’t very good. This one, we all agreed, could well be better than the Suddenly Salad kit! We all know that at times things like the quality of the mayonnaise can affect the taste, which is very true. However we were using a brand of mayo that I use frequently (store brand that is absolutely wonderful and a great rival to both Hellman’s and Kraft) so I knew the mayo would not affect the taste.

The pasta package had the same carrots, red pepper bits, and peas that the Suddenly Salad kits have in them, and the seasoning packet was wonderfully seasoned with just the right seasonings! We made 2 boxes and each of us got a bowl of the salad, but we weren’t eating it with anything else, so if you have other items you’ll be eating, you may well need only one box unless you have a great amount of people.

Definitely recommend trying this as the parmesan flavor was perfect – not too soft and not overpowering. Again, I found this at Dollar Tree where everything is $1, but you may find it somewhere else and it may be a bit more expensive.