Man, those were THE MOST delicious chicken and dumplings around...everyone is saying. :)

I am a vegetarian, and don't eat meat...but they sure smelled the house up quite nicely.

For those of you that don't know this, ANY holiday is a special one for me.

I take care of my 89 year old grandmother. She fell back in July 05, broke her hip, and then, as a result of the fall (tearing her leg), she had vascular disease we didn't know about, and she ended up losing her leg.

She also has Congestive Heart Failure. Her heart only beats at 25%.

So, when you hear me saying "Grandma is making chicken and dumplings"...it's not ordinary chicken and dumplings in my opinion...they're little miracles that we get to share every day.

Ahem...now that I've got the tears out of my eyes...on to our homestudy story.

Anyway...we did EVERYTHING we could regarding the kitty cat smell in the carpet. We steamed it twice. We had professionals come steam it.

The homestudy worker came, said "it's still there".

So, we RIP THE CARPET UP. This time, to ensure that she didn't smell it, we brought 3 different friends over. We TOLD them...be BLATANTLY honest...they were...they said "OH MY GOD...it's like a new house!".

Our social worker, along with HER supervisor came out. It's GONE and no longer an issue.

HOORAY!!! Or so we thought.

The Homestudy worker...who had by then been reported, by us (she was also saying things about the work the social workers do that were very unsavory and in poor taste to be sharing with a resource family), said "it's better, but still there...get rid of your sofa".

Well, how can FIVE people say it's gone (including 3 who do not own any pets) to her saying "it's there, and it's in your sofa"?

I'm sorry...but I KNOW cats had never urinated on or around my sofa!!!

So anyway...her amended statement was:

"At first, the cat urine smell in the home was overwhelming...but they took steps to correct it. It is noticeable, but much better, and it was suggested to replace the sofa, and they said they would if they had to. The home is always clean and well maintained with each visit."

So...there you have it. Is this being used against me (how many social workers really read the amendment as well as the initial study?), or is it just that our children are still not out there yet?

Until Tonight,
Storm