I had added a couple of items to my Amazon cart the other day - not really intending to get them yet (I spent way too much on vacation, and Ripley had an expensive car ride last week) but still, was pricing things out and weighing whether I "really" wanted them or not, and AJ added them to his order and gifted them to me!  What a nice kid!  They may not look like much, but the grey pad is 100% wool and is used for pressing seams and the wooden blocks are tailor clappers - used to further press blocks down after they've been pressed.  They work together very well to decrease the bulk of a quilt block.  I love them!

More about Ripley's expensive car ride....for the last 4-6 weeks, she's been declining to eat dinner occasionally. She's been more than ready to eat the next morning, but it was concerning that she wasn't eating. She seemed fine otherwise, but then....one morning she didn't eat her breakfast either.  Time for a trip to the vet...was it her teeth? A GI issue? What???  Her vet clinic charges a $250.00 urgency fee (in place of the standard $90 office visit) but otherwise the next available appointment was in a week or so.  Luckily, after being checked out by the vet and numerous blood tests, etc., no major issues found.  The vet is new to the clinic, but not to Ripley - it's the same vet we got her from in the first place?  She was very happy to see Ripley again, and that there didn't seem to be a major issue.

All in all, it turned out to just be an expensive car ride for Ripley!