CARE PACKAGES for our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2005

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1273305/posts ^ | 2-18-05 | patriciaruth

[patriciaruth]

Time for a new thread!

Our Merry Band of Patriots has seen a psy-ops unit at Bagram, Afghanistan, help educate voters in Afghanistan and come home successfully, while we supported them and special forces in the field by sending over 100 movies and many packages of snacks and toiletries and Hallowe'en candy. A Christmas tree and decorations (Daybreakcoming) and stockings (Ican'tbelieveit) and cards and over 400 candy canes were sent for their follow-on unit, and a box with movies and magazines and misc is just beginning to fill for their next care package. The movies and books we sent previously went into the Special Forces library there.

We've seen Beast Battery at Kirkuk, Iraq, through till their deployment home, sending them over 100 movies and dozens of books and a microwave and DVD/VCR player (from arjay) and many big boxes of snacks. Plus a huge wave of goodies was organized by McLynnan for Christmas in Kirkuk (2 prelit trees, ornaments, Santa suit, many stockings with stuffers, many cards, and a couple thousand candy canes to share out with all the forces there).

We've supported the 411th Engineers at Baghdad in 2004 with about 70 movies and several dozen books, a Playstation 2 and a Nintendo console with a couple dozen games (from asgardshill and ican'tbelieveit), a 4 foot Christmas tree and ornaments and boxes of snacks and many cards and 600 candy canes. In the next couple months we will be bidding them Godspeed as they return to their homebase in Hawaii.

We've sent over 50 movies, a DVD/VCR player (from arjay), and a dozen and a half books to an MI unit near Kirkuk, plus some Christmas decorations and stocking stuffers, and many cards and 156 candy canes. They have mostly left for home now and we just sent a package with more movies to their follow-on unit.

Also we have sent some packages to an Aviation unit at Balad, Iraq and to an Infantry Medics unit, and a small Christmas package each to another AVN unit and an MP unit.

Stryker Infantry company formerly at Fallujah and now at Mosul since November has been the major focus of our care packages these past months. All of Stryker at Mosul has taken fire, and our adopted company has suffered a KIA and some soldiers with severe injuries.

Early on we sent food items (mostly power bars and dried fruit and nuts) then Christmas stockings stuffed with goodies and many cards and 200 candy canes, and since Christmas have begun sending movies. They recently received a DVD/VCR player (from arjay) and with the movies just mailed today their collection will total about 75 movies and a dozen books.

And all this happened because our grassroots volunteer group began forming in the early summer of 2001 to send care packages to Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, when the 101st Airborne and then the 10th Mountain were there.

The contents of packages just mailed will be listed in post below.

[patriciaruth]

Thanks!

[Libloather]

I just saw a billboard for http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com - ever hear of it?

The Cell Phones for Soldiers program was started in April of 2004 by thirteen year old Brittany Bergquist and her twelve year old brother Robbie of Norwell, Massachusetts. After hearing a news report about a local soldier who ran up a massive phone bill calling home from Iraq, they decided they wanted to do something to help. Brittany and Robbie donated their piggy bank money, collected snack money from their friends at school, and with $21.00, they went to the bank to open an account. The South Shore Savings Bank of Hanover, Massachusetts donated $500.00 to help them get started. Their goal is to help our soldiers serving overseas call home. They hope to provide as many soldiers as possible with prepaid calling cards for now, with an ultimate goal of providing banks of satellite phones, video phones and VOIP communications. Through generous donations and the recycling of used cell phones from drop-off sites across the country, they have already distributed thousands of calling cards to soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

[patriciaruth]

Is this offer still good? Could you check it out? I know many members of the army have email addresses.

Free Internet Service to Spouses of Overseas Military Personnel

In recognition of the sacrifices made by the immediate families of our military personnel, CSOnline is waiving dial-up Internet charges for the spouse, or a designated family member, of an active duty military staff member currently assigned out of the continental USA. This offer applies to both new and existing customers while major military operations are still continuing.

http://www.csonline

Requirements to obtain the free dial-up Internet service include proof of military ID, copy of deployment orders, and proof of relation. Each qualifying military member may select 1 immediate family member to receive this free service. This offer is limited to 1 account receiving free
service per qualifying military member and is limited to geographical areas served by CSOnline. (See here for exchanges and cities served.)

Our hope is that this offer will lessen the financial burden that a family may encounter with a spouse/family member being overseas and also allow easy communication across long distances for the family!

For more information or to inquire about eligibility for the Free CSOnline Dial-Up Internet Service please email accounting@csonline.net or call any of the following numbers: 814-677-2447 or 814-227-3638 or 814-425-1696 or
724-399-1158.

[patriciaruth]

Masterlists for books already sent.

BAGHDAD, Engineers Combat Battalion
BOOKS:
1776 (David McCullough)*
Alistair MacLean hardback collection: (Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra, The Guns of Navarone, When Eight Bells Toll, HMS Ulysses)
The Bastard (John Jakes)
Call to Arms, Corps 02 (W.E.B. Griffin)*
Counterattack, Corps 03 (W.E.B. Griffin)*
Edgar Allan Poe-Poems and Tales
Enchantment (Orson Scott Card)
Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
Enemies, Foreign and Domestic (Matthew Bracken)
Family First (Dr. Phil McGraw)
Galloway (Louis L’Amour)*
Glory Road (Robert A. Heinlein)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (iceskater will send after she reads it)
Hondo (Louis L’Amour)
The Hunt for Red October (Tom Clancy)
Last of the Breed (Louis L’Amour)
Man from the Broken Hills (Louis L’Amour)*
Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
Mission Compromised (Oliver North)
On War (Carl von Clausewitz)
Peter the Great (Robert Massie)
Reagan’s War (Peter Schweizer)
The Rebels (John Jakes)
Ride the Dark Trail (Louis L’Amour)*
Russka (Edward Rutherford)
Sarum (Edward Rutherford)
Semper Fi, Corps 01 (W.E.B. Griffin)*
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (T.E. Lawrence)
Seven Steps to Understand the Bible, guide by Dave
Shogun (James Clavell)
The Sigma Protocol (a Robert Ludlum book)
Sitka (Louis L’Amour)
The Sum of all Fears (Tom Clancy)
A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute)
Undue Influence (Steve Martini)
The Winds of War (Herman Wouk)
*sent by SwatTeam
Sent by Media Mail to Baghdad in December, never heard if they arrived:
Abduction (Robin Cook)
Airframe (Michael Crichton)
The Arraignment (Steve Martini)
Call to Treason-Op Center (a Tom Clancy book)
Dead Even (Brad Meltzer)
From the Corner of his Eye (Dean Koontz)
Gin Lane
Incident at Twenty-Mile (Trevanian)
Intensity (Dean Koontz)
A King’s Ransom (James Grippando)
The Last Man Standing (David Baldacci)
LOTR: The Fellowship of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Monster (Jonathan Kellerman)
(There will be) No Second Chance (Harlan Coben)
Shock (Robin Cook)
The Testament (John Grisham)

BAGHDAD, psyops
Books:
Teeth of the Tiger (Tom Clancy)
Mitigating Circumstances (Nancy Rosenberg)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

KIRKUK, Battery
Books sent via patriciaruth:
Altman Code (a Robert Ludlum book)
Art of War (Sun Tzu)
Captivated (Nora Roberts*)
Elective Decisions (Davis)x2 by mistake (donated by the author)
Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
End of the Drive (short stories by Louis L'Amour)
Executive Orders (Tom Clancy)
Family First (Dr. Phil McGraw)
The Forest (Edward Rutherford)
Glory Road (Robert A. Heinlein)
Goodbye Darkness-Memoir of WWII in the Pacific(William Manchester)
Incident at Twenty-Nine Mile (Trevanian)
Ivanhoe (Sir Walter Scott)
The Jansun Directive (Robert Ludlum)
Jewels (Daniel Steele)
The Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan)
Last of the Breed (Louis L'Amour)
Lincoln (Lord Charnwood)
A Little Magic (Nora Roberts*)
Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
n War (Clausewitz)
Peter the Great (Robert Massie)
Pied Piper (Nevil Shute)
The Prometheus Deception, a Robert Ludlum book
Random Harvest (James Hilton)
The Right Stuff (Tom Wolfe)
Sarum: A Novel of England (Edward Rutherfurd)
Scrabble dictionary The Sea-Wolf (Jack London)
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (T.E. Lawrence)
Shogun (James Clavell)
Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)
Still Missing (Beth Gutcheon)
The Summons (John Grisham)
Sum of All Fears (Tom Clancy)
Tactics of Mistake (Dickson)
Tai-pan (James Clavell)
The Teeth of the Tiger (Tom Clancy)
Timeline (Michael Crichton)
Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute)
Tunnel in the Sky (Robert A.Heinlein)
The Virginian (Owen Wister)
Without Remorse (Tom Clancy)

Books sent to Kirkuk by others:
"Area 7" -by- Matthew Reilly
"Basket Case" -by- Carl Hiaason
Coyote Waits" -by- Tony Hillerman
"Forbidden Knowledge" -by- Stephen Donaldson
"It Doesn't Take a Hero" -by- Norman Schwarzkopf
The Legacy of Heorot" -by- Larry Niven
"Moving Pictures" -by- Terry Pratchett Minor in
Posession" -by- J.A. Nance
"Night Watch" -by- Terry Pratchett
"Night Whispers" -by- Judith McNaugh
"The Real Story" -by- Stephen Donaldson
Sacred Cow -by- Tony Hillerman
Shakespeare's Complete Work" -by- Shakespeare
"Stalking the Angel" -by- Elvis Cole
"Talking God" -by- Tony Hillerman
"Trinity" -by- Leon Uris
Unfit for Command (John O'Neill)
American Soldier (Gen. Tommy Franks)
"A Table in the Presence: The Dramatic Account of How a US Marine Battalion Experienced God's Presence amidst the Chaos of The War in Iraq",
Lt. Carey H. Cash "Reckless Disregard: How Liberal Democrats Undercut our Military, Endanger Our Soldiers, and Jeopardize Our Security",
Lt Col Robert Patterson "Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man",
David T Hardy and Jason Clarke
"The Connections", Stephen Hayes
"The Federalist Papers", Alexander Hamilton, et al
"The Iliad", Homer sent by Mo1

KIRKUK, MI
BOOKS:
Abraham Lincoln (Lord Charnwood)
The Caine Mutiny (Herman Wouk)
The Chequer Board (Nevil Shute)
Comstock Lode (Louis L'Amour)
The Daybreakers (Louis L'Amour)
Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
Enemies: Foreign and Domestic (Matthew Bracken)
Fair Blows the Wind (Louis L'Amour)
Ice Station Zebra (Alistair MacLean)
The Last Juror (Gresham)
Last of the Breed (Louis L'Amour)
Life on Earth (David Attenborough) H
The Man from the Broken Hills (Louis L'Amour)
Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
Most Secret (Nevil Shute)
The Once and Future King (Lawrence)
The Puppet Masters (Robert A. Heinlein)
The Quick and the Dead (Louis L'Amour)
Reagan's War (Peter Schweizer) H
Ride the Dark Trail (Louis L'Amour)
Russka (Edward Rutherford)
Sackett (Louis L'Amour)
Sackett's Land (Louis L'Amour)
Sarum (Edward Rutherford)
Sharks Have No Bones and 1001 other things you should know (James Trefil)
Shogun (James Clavell)
Silver Canyon (Louis L'Amour)
The Skyliners (Louis L'Amour)
Teeth of the Tiger (Tom Clancy)
Under the Sweetwater Rim (Louis L'Amour)
The Virginian (Owen Wister)
To the Far Mountains (Louis L'Amour)
The Warrior's Path (Louis L'Amour)
Washington, The Indispensable Man (Flexner)
Westward the Tide (Louis L'Amour)
Without Remorse (Tom Clancy)
Sent by DrDeb:
1776 (David McCullough)
100 People Who are Screwing Up America (Bernard Goldberg)
A Matter of Character: Inside the White House of George W Bush (Ronald Kessler)
The Truth About Hillary (Edward Klein)
The Purpose Drive Life (Rick Warren)

MOSUL, Stryker Brigade Combat Team:
Books:
Ice Station Zebra (Alistair MacLean)
I, Robot (Issac Asimov)
Last of the Breed (Louis L'Amour)
Tai-pan (James Clavell)
Reagan's War (Peter Schweizer)
1776 (David McCullough)--sent by DrDeb

BAGRAM air base near Kabul, Afghanistan
Books mailed by patriciaruth:
The Altman Code (Ludlum book)
Comstock Lode (Louis L’Amour)
Enchantment (Orson Scott Card)
Far Side cartoon book,
Glory Road (Robert A. Heinlein)
Goodbye Darkness-Memoir of WWII in Pacific (William Manchester)
Book of Irish Verse, The (for Patrick Sullivan who was told he could take it home)
Secret Honor (W.E.B. Griffith)
King Rat (James Clavell)
Last of the Breed (Louis L'Amour)
The Other (Tom Tryon)
Pied Piper (Nevil Shute)
Shogun (James Clavell)
Silver Canyon (Louis L’Amour)
Still Missing (Beth Gutcheon)
The Teeth of the Tiger (Tom Clancy)
A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute)
Tunnel in the Sky (Robert A. Heinlein)
Warrior’s Path (Louis L’Amour)
Washington, The Indispensible Man-(biography about the Father of Our Country) by Flexner
Without Remorse (Tom Clancy)

Books mailed by jtill:
The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Catch the Whisper of the Wind, Cheewa James
Capital Offense, Kathleen Antrim
The King of Torts, John Grisham
The Soul Catcher, Alex Kava
Quentins, Maeve Binchy
The Associate, Phillip Margolin
The Art of Deception, Ridley Margolin
Cold Hit, Linda Fairstein
The Next Accident, Lisa Gardner
Beyond Suspicion, James Grippando
Unfit to Practice, Perri O'Shaughnessy
Mortal Prey, John Sandford
A Long Day for Dying, Patrick A. Davis
Sleep No More, Greg Iles
Secrecy, Belva Plain
Separation of Power, Vince Flynn
Warning Signs, Stephen White
Silent Partner, Stephen Frey
The Stone Monkey, Jeffery Deaver
Hard Eight (Janet Evanovich)
Blind Side (Catherine Coulter)
The Kill Clause (Gregg Hurwitz)
To the Nines (Janet Evanovich)


From Library of Trinity Lutheran Church (for Kristina)
Lutheran Hymnal
2 Praise and Worship Songbooks
Studies in Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Books Mailed by others
1776 (David McCullough)- JustaCowgirl will be sending this.
A Matter of Character
Unfit for Command (John O'Niell) – Mo1
American Soldier (Gen. Tommy Franks) – Mo1

Sent to BAGRAM by media mail, November 22, 2004, various donors
Acts of Malice (Perri O'Shaughnessy)
The Alibi (Sandra Brown),
Apollo 13, previously titled Lost Moon (Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger)
Balance of Power (Richard North Patterson)
Billy Straight (Jonathan Kellerman)
Breach of Promise (Perri O'Shaughnessy)
Cold Paradise (Stuart Wood)
Cry of the Wind (Sue Henderson)
Debt of Honor (Tom Clancy)
The Eleventh Commandment (Jeffrey Archer)
Enemies, Foreign and Domestic (Matthew Bracken)
Fatal Tide (Iris Johansen)
First Avenue (Lowen Clausen)
Glittering Images Hello, Darkness (Sandra Brown)
An Important Family
*The Joy of Cooking
Last Night in Rio (Janice Kaiser)
Legal Tender (Lisa Scottoline)
The List (Steve Martini)
The Medusa Stone (Jack DuBrul)
The Midnight Hour (Karen Roberts)
Mistaken Identity (Lisa Scottoline)
Moment of Truth (Lisa Scottoline)
Motion to Suppress (Perri O'Shaughnessy)
No Safe Place (Richard Patterson)
Presumption of Death (Perri O'Shaughnessy)
The Rainmaker (John Grisham)
Reflecting the Sky (S.J. Rozan)
Rough Justice (Lisa Scottoline)
Seven Simple Ways to Understand the Bible (Dave)
*She Went to War (Rhonda Cornum story)
Silent Treatment (Michael Palmer)
Unfit to Practice (Perri O'Shaughnessy)
Writ of Execution (Perri O'Shaughnessy)

LANDSTUHL, Germany
The Man from the Broken Hills (Louis L’Amour)
Hondo (Louis L’Amour)

Walter Reed/Fisher House
on the other computer....not well enough to get it at the moment.

[patriciaruth]

Sent 2 years ago to OhioWfan's son at Baghdad:
Ice Station Zebra,
Out of the Silent Planet,
Perelandra,
That Hideous Strength,
Manifold Time,
Manifold Space,
The Pilgrimage,
No Different Flesh,
Glory Road,
Tunnel in the Sky,
Ender's Game,
The Virginian.
Crichton's Timeline,
Clancy's Without Remorse and Sum of All Fears,
L'Amour's Last of the Breed,
Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Double Star,
Larry Bond's Red Phoenix,
Stephen Horn's Law of Gravity,
Don Coldsmith's Runestone,
T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom,
Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash,
Olson Scott Card's Postwatch and Enchantment,
Zane Gray's Riders of the Purple Sage.

BALAD, IRAQ (no longer have a contact there. mystery-ak may)
AVN group
Koonz's Icebound;
Wister's The Virginian;
Heinlein's Glory Road;
a biography of Washington, the Indispensable Man,
Clancy's Without Remorse;
L'Amour's Last of the Breed
couple others sent to individuals.

[nina0113]

I made it down to the post office with my box for Bagram today:

3 boxes of 30 single-serving paks oreos
2 boxes of 40 individual rice krispie treats
3 8-qt presweetened drink mix
15 2-qt drink mix envelopes
Fantasy Football League 2005 magazine
Nascar August 2005 magazine
book of word variety puzzles
Books:
Inca Gold, Clive Cussler
Shock Wave, Clive Cussler
All Creatures Great & Small, James Herriot

[patriciaruth]

Oh, boy! Cookies! Oreo and Rice Krispie treats!

What a great box!

[CAluvdubya]

Can you add me to the ping list, please? Is there anything else I can get? I would like to stay involved. I'm also getting some ideas from my daughter's boyfriend. (He is a Marine that was stationed just outside of Fallujah last year and came back home in March) Hoping he will have some ingenious usable ideas.

[patriciaruth]

How did I miss putting you on the ping list?

Well, I'm kind of a wreck lately. My old cat (18 y/o) has been failing for some time and it has taken a lot of my limited energy to keep him going these last months. We finally put him down this last week, and are in mourning now.

BTW, we haven't seen Nemesis. It didn't get really good reviews so we, being OLD original Trekkers, didn't go, or apparently even rent it.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste...especially to senility or exhaustion from lack of sleep being up with the cat.

My husband runs and hides now when I put in another Western to screen it. (Those I haven't seen I watch to see if I want to get them for other bases. I'm currently going through a few VHS movies that aren't out in DVD.)

Hubby'll be so grateful when I pull out Nemesis tomorrow as we are still waiting for a new contact APO for Mosul where it is going.

I'll post the boxes mailed out for Baghdad Engineers and MI Kirkuk tomorrow, and you'll be on the ping list.

We know someone at Tal Afar now, NW Iraq near the Syrian border. I don't know if we will be getting an APO contact through him. If so, I'll ask you to send them something. That's a very dangerous location right now.

If you don't want to wait to see if Tal Afar pans out, we do have a request from Baghdad psyops. They are putting together a party in a box pack for their compadres at smaller locales. And I'll need canned Dole pineapple in its own juice (rec a discount volume grocer) mailed directly to them.

You need to get some flat rate priority boxes if you want to do this, as cans of fruit are heavy.

I'm babbling because I'm still sleep deprived.
Talk with you later!

Cheers!
Patty

[patriciaruth]

Mailed to Engineers at Baghdad, August 22, 2005, insured $237, postage $11.90
2 decorated thank you letters from Ros42 and friend, 4 thank you cards from iceskater, Lion Den Dan, SENClander, JustaCowgirl, angelsonmyside, one thank you note in American flag card from Theresawithanh. Letter from patriciaruth.
20 DVD movies:
DC 9/11—Time of Crisis (Showtime movie with Timothy Bottoms)
9/11 Filmmakers’ Commemorative Edition (firemen in the WTC on 9/11, real footage)
9/11 WTC--Day of Disaster (private footage of firefighting outside WTC on 9/11) (I was screening various films on 9/11, this one didn’t make the cut for the other bases)
Alamo (Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton)
Analyze This (Billy Crystal, Robert de Niro)
Are We There Yet? (Ice Cube)
Conagher (Sam Elliott, Katherine Ross)
El Dorado (John Wayne, Robert Mitchum)*
Hostage (Bruce Willis)
Hotel Ruwanda (Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte)
Magnificent Seven (Yul Brenner, Steve McQueen)
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance (John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart)-gift from CAluvdubya
Rambo III (Sylvester Stallone) -gift from mshoponline
Red River (John Wayne, Montgomery Clift)
Roy Rogers (Bells of St. Angelo/Under California Stars)- gift from angelsonmyside
Shane (Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur)
Shootist (John Wayne, Lauren Bacall) *
Sons of Katie Elder (John Wayne, Dean Martin)*
True Grit (John Wayne)*
White Fang and the Hunter/Mooch goes to Hollywood- gift from angelsonmyside
6 DVD recordings sent by MJY1288:
2 Rush Limbaugh June,
2 Rush Limbaugh July,
Company of Heroes,
President’s Speech on Iraq from May, 2005

*in John Wayne gift box

Mailed August 22, 2005, to MI at Kirkuk
Insured for $163. postage $10.90
12 DVD’s
DC 9/11-Time of Crisis (Showtime movie with Timothy Bottoms)
In Memoriam, NYC, 9/11/01 (HBO film with Rudy Giuliani narrating)
Alamo (John Wayne)
The Alamo (Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton)
Conagher (Sam Elliott, Katherine Ross)
Cowboy (Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon)
The Gunfight at the OK Corral (Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, DeForrest Kelly)
The Horse Soldiers (John Wayne, William Holden) B&W-gift from 4integrity
Return to Snowy River (Tom Burlinson)
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Wayne)-gift from CAluvdubya
Tall in the Saddle (John Wayne, Gabby Hayes) B&W
Winchester ’73 (Jimmy Stewart, Rock Hudson) B&W-gift from 4integrity
1 DVD recording Rush Limbaugh July, 2005, done by MJY1288 with permission
2 large 12.5 oz cans Gold Bond body powder
4 large packs Carefree sugarless spearmint gum
4 travel tissue
1 letter from Glenn Ford supporting Reagan Ranch
2 decorated thank you letters from Ros42 and friend, 5 cards- from 4integrity, iceskater, Lion Den Dan, SENClander, angelsonmyside, JustaCowgirl, one note in American flag card from Theresawithanh. Letter from patriciaruth.

[Ros42]

Wow! Troops are going to love all that! Thanks Patty and everyone else who help to support our awesome troops!

sorry to hear about the kitty cat :(

[Coop]

Great work, Patty! Standing by for Operation Popcorn...

[patriciaruth]

Is everybody close to being set for Operation Popcorn for The Engineers at Baghdad?

We could mail them out earlier if everyone thinks they could be ready by next Monday, say?

Whatcha think, you all? I'll need an OK to launch from everyone, or an earlier launch date is a scrub.

Anyone still need customs forms or flat rate priority boxes (5x8x11) or the popcorn?

So, report in everyone, and let's see where we stand.

Iceskater – 4 boxes (~100 bags)
Mathluv – 2 boxes of 28 each Sam’s club (Act II butter)
Omegatoo – 2 boxes (~50 bags)
SENClander – 2 boxes (~50 bags)
Ros42 – 2 box (~50 bags)
Coop – 4 boxes (~100 bags)
Abigail Adams – 2 boxes (~50 bags)
Jtill – 4 boxes (~100 bags)
Mshoponline and her Mom, 1 box each (total~50 bags)

[Coop]

I'm not ready (the only thing I'm missing is the popcorn... and flat-rate boxes...and custom forms).

But I can be ready by next Monday!

[patriciaruth]

Okay, start scuttling around and get the goodies. If you're not ready by next Monday, you may be ready by the original launch date.

[mathluv]

I have everything sitting on my kitchen cabinet.

[Abigail Adams]

Okay, I was in need of some clarification. It looks like I'm supposed to buy 50 bags, and mail them in two Priority Mail prepaid boxes? I was confused about popcorn boxes/bags/mailing boxes.

[patriciaruth]

Yep.

You can buy two cartons of 24-28 bags of microwave popcorn from a discount grocer/warehouse (for a total of around 50 bags)and fit them into 2 flat rate priority boxes (5x8x11). There's a trick to it. Let me know if you need packing instructions.

Or you can buy 6 boxes of 8 bags and maybe one box of 5 bags from Wal*Mart or an inexpensive place (total of 48-53 bags) which you fit into 2 flat rate priority boxes.

Don't forget to get a wide roll of good quality clear sealing/packaging tape (Scotch or Duck), if you don't have one to seal up the boxes. The cheap, thin stuff is a nightmare to try to use.

Boxes and customs forms are free at the post office. Each box costs $7.70 to mail.

Happy Hunting!

Cheers!
Patty

[Abigail Adams]

Thanks! I was never very good with math. :-)

[Ros42]

I can be ready Monday too.