2008 Tour of Homes....Welcome

I have been telling you about the Tour of Homes for a few weeks now and it is finally here! This is my third year participating and I am excited to invite everyone into our home again. This year we moved and I haven't really "introduced" the house to the bloggers yet - so I will give you a few before and after shots as well as my holiday garb. Come on in....let me show you around. This is our entryway. You can see into our living room, hence the desk. That is where our blogging "magic" comes alive. LOL.

This is what the entryway looked like before. You can't really tell but we changed the color.

This is the before shot of our living room. All I can say it YIKES.

This is a current picture of the living room. The photo is a little dark but if you look closely you can see gifts that I started to wrap on the couch. I wasn't getting very far because Avery kept stepping on the wrapping paper!

We went with a live tree again this year. I love the way it smells. Fresh Pine....

Here are a few favorite ornaments. Elise loves Hello Kitty....

Jude really likes birds. He tells people we have a real bird in our tree.

I just received this one yesterday, as a Thank You gift. It is made out of real olive wood from Jerusalem. I love it.

I usually get the kids dressed up and take their picture in front of the tree instead of taking them to a "professional" photographer. Then I post the outtakes on my blog. This year we only got outtakes. Ahhh...the joys of having a toddler! Here are some of the better ones for ya!

Now to the kitchen....These are the before shots. Yellow is not my thing.

Here is our kitchen now, in all it's glory. What a mess! LOL. We have been making and creating all day long.

Of course the kids helped!

Jake bought me Christmas flowers!

These are Peppermint Meringues. This is the first time I tried them. Jude calls them snow mountains.

Peanut Butter Fudge. This is round two. Since I just had my gall bladder out I was taking some pain meds....the first batch got a little ugly. Let's just leave it at that!

This is a before picture of our basement!

It is the kids playroom now!

My craft room is so neglected this year. I haven't made a card or even one Christmas gift yet. I still have 10 days.......

This is our bedroom. Our Chruch adopted some families from Jude's school that needed help with the holidays. I collected the gifts. Now I have to deliver them. I can't wait.

Here are some misc... pics.

I hope you enjoyed my tour. Please come back again next year! If you are interested in my other tours check them out here: 2007 & 2006.

Also, feel free to become a follower of my blog by clicking on my sidebar!

Here are the recipes for the Peanut Butter Fudge, Peppermint Meringues or Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies.

Getting Ready....

I hope you didn't forget about the tour of homes. I have been thinking about everything I will post. If you have a blog and want to increase your traffic I highly recommend joining in the fun!



On another note....I did get rid of that pesky ole gall bladder. They gave me some crazy pain meds and go figure....I actually need them because I am in pain. I only took advil with my appendix. Anyhoo...the meds have totally messed up my sleep schedule. Everything is all backwards. I probably over did it today - one of my incisions started to bleed. Bummer. I guess I should just rest for a couple of days.

I don't care what you say....

...she is still a baby!

What exactly do you want me to say????

Yesterday I had to go to court. It is a pretty normal part of my life these days. Since I am not an attorney or a CSB worker, I usually just sit there, observe and take notes. When I am with some of the magistrates they will ask me what my role is and what I am working on with the client. I mentioned before that I was subpoenaed and that is a little different. In that case I was actually already off the case but I was going to be the star witness for the prosecution - against my ex-client. That stresses me out. But it worked out and I never even had to testify. There is one particular magistrate that while I am in her court I just observe. She does not ask me questions and I (although it is SO difficult for me) I just sit there and keep my mouth shut. She is a stern woman - the CSB workers call her mean. I happen to really appreciate her. She expects everyone to do their job with excellence. I like that in her. When the workers or parents fall short she does not hide her frustrations. I love that she has high standards and enjoy being in her courtroom. So, yesterday I had this hearing to attend. It wasn't a regularly scheduled one - my clients attorney filed a motion for a change in placement back to her home based on a bunch of different reasons. Originally when I spoke with the attorney there was a problem with something that was directly ordered in court last time. So, that is how this whole thing started. In the mean time some other issues were brought up and I was so interested in how this thing was going to play out. I told the case worker - I get to just sit back and be a fly on the wall..... Famous last words. We get in the court room and before I knew what the heck was going on I was being CALLED as a witness. That means I get sworn in and the attorneys (there were four of them in the room) get to take turns asking me questions. I was totally unprepared because I was planning on just sitting back and listening. I think some of the attorney's are confused about what my program does and when you are on the witness stand you do not get to say what you want to say....instead they ask you questions and you have to answer just that question.....Man it was horrible. I am sitting up there so nervous. I had to state my name....spell it....give my qualifications....I say I have a BA in psychology....the attorney says "and you are licensed in the state of Ohio?" I tell her no....she says, "you don't have a social work license?" NO...how can I be more clear....thanks for pointing it out.....grrrrr....frustating....she really made me feel like a fraud of some sort. Oh well. One of the attorney's made me mad. He tried to make it look like I wasn't doing my job. Me? What do I have to do with this? Anyhoo....the magistrate didn't get annoyed with me or anything so that was good. I hate that I was caught off guard. There is this one attorney that I always work with and he seemed to ask me the right questions - ones that I had put together and complete answers for.....

What a crazy day - I don't have to go to court again until next week. Same magistrate. Wish me luck!

Adios, Gallbladder!

Well, I never got around to flushing out my gallbladder....I could never find a time when I would have several days to sit on the toilet. So, after much pain and other stuff I won't discuss with you - I have decided, along with my surgeon, to get rid of the sucker. So, this Friday it is a goner. This will be two organs in 6 months. Strange.

Pictures...Recent Stuff.

Jude blowing out his candles.

Here is Elise with Ralph.

Jude trying to get hurt.

Jude watching Ralph roll.

Jude holding Ralph.

Jude was goofing around and hit the side of his eye on our stool. Now he has a black eye.

Elise by the Christmas tree.

Avery hiding in our fire place....our kids are strange.

Avery being cute.

Jude and Elise looking at the snow a couple of weeks ago.

Avery wanted to see the snow, too.

Elise got new boots....this is her dancing in them.