Driscoll type strawberries aren't out yet, but are one of the biggest and most flavorful types there is. There is nothing more annoying than getting a box of berries are bland, or worst, are fuzzy underneath. I used to grow several June bearing types here, and was able to protect most from the animals. Chipmunks were the biggest problem as they would carry away whole berries. Once I started baiting rat traps with whole grapes, the chipmunks are no longer a pest here. For birds, I would paint some small round rocks with bright red paint and set these out in the patch as 'decoys'. Its funny to watch a big bird pecking at a rock and giving up. I gave up on the strawberries as they were just too much work to keep weeded, and managed enough once they sent out many runners. Spider mites are always a problem with them too. I do grow thornless red raspberries and these are a breeze to pick every year. Lots less money than buying those tiny little baskets in the stores.

After you sew it together, You do the trim. The difficult part is piercing the layers of flannel for your first row of single crochetes or 1 sc followed by 1 ch. I use a very sharp yarn/darning needle I bought at WalMart that has a somewhat large eye to make pilot holes for that first row. I like to use a thin steel crochet hook and size 3 or 8 crochet thread, or Knit CroSheen, but sometimes I have used size 10 cotton crochet thread. After that first row, then I usually add another row of single crochet and then develop a design. Sometimes I do all shells (5 dc in one sc, skip 2 sc, 1 sc in next sc and repeat all around). Other times, I make a fancy edge by ch5, skip 2 sc and sc in next sc. Then I just do about 6 rows of that, sometimes making the chains longer in the last few rows. If you make a gradual curve at the corners (I shape them by tracing the edge of a soup bowl for the corner), then you don't have problems with puckering at the corners.

"What exactly are Cheetos?" Cheetos were invented to torture health food nuts past the brink of insanity. Try as they might to block the craving for useless cheezy temptations Cheetos invades their pleasure cells causing a serotonin/dopamine cascade resulting in total addiction from just one orange dusted nibble. Even causual addicts can be spotted by the tell-tale orange coloring of their thumb and forefinger. Hopeless hardcore addicts may even sport an orange ring around their lips. ; ) lyra Here is a link that might be useful: the cheezy facts

Well I totally agree with Organic, when the child is in your care and you organise a babysitter then that is your business and not the other parents'. The thought of informing BM has never even crossed our mind! And she doesn't ring us about her babysitters either, which is her right. We expect her to look after the kids properly when they are with her, and it is her judgement whether this or that person is ok to have as a babysitter. And if that person is not to our liking than it's stiff sh*t for us really. We actually had a situation a couple of years ago when BM hung out with a bunch of feral people. She got them to look after the skids quite a lot at one stage, and the skids used to dread going to their house because it was dirty and they'd have to sleep on the floor with a thin blanket that stunk like pee. And no I'm not exaggerating.. So FDH offered BM that we can always look after the skids when need be, and we are only 10 mins up the road so it's the same time as to drive to the ferals' place. But noooo, BM was in control of 'her' time and she'd be damned if she'd give us extra time for free, THAT was NEVER going to happen! Very frustrating but you can't do a thing about it. When the skids are with her it's her business. And in Loves case they are NOT dealing with 2 normal parents, BM is a mess, and to inform her is actually endangering SS and the babysitter. That poor girl doesn't need to be harassed by crazy BM. Most of us are here because we are not dealing with a normal parent, otherwise why hang around here if things are fine and both parents are normal? Love don't give BM the babysitters number, no way! BM can ring you guys if there's an emergency and maybe SS can ring her before you guys go, so he's had his phonecall to his mum for the day. And I don't think it's normal she talks to him that much, our BM does the same, exactly the same. She'll neglect the kids when they are with her (used to leave them home alone, go on the piss, promise them heaven but always have a headache when it's crunchtime, keep them out of school, not take them to sports etc etc). But oh boy when they are with us! Constant phonecalls to check if they are ok (it being such a risk to be with us) and making sure we'd take them to sports otherwise she'll come and pick them up herself (MOTY), blabla etc etc. It is controlling and disturbing and I'm frustrated on your behalf that you guys are harassed by this woman so much that it interferes with your normal everyday life. Hang in there, big hug