current life in da U.P......eh!

So life up here has been nothing but amazing since I've been back. Up until a week ago I have been working random jobs with Adam, running around Marquette and neighborings counties, painting, drywall cleanup, floor clean up, farming, moving wood, spliting fire wood, spliting kiln wood, cooking, staining, primering, building a wood shed out of nothing but beautiful cedar that we stripped, set and then I almost single handedly cedar shank shingled the entire roof-and liked it :) and more that i can't think of right now!

All of this has been satisfying except for the fact Adam and I have been together none stop 24/7 since I got back, this can get a little intense and in fact leads to me becomeing irritated with him to the point of frustration!

So I set out on a job hunt! and to my excitement I actaully got hired and these people are in no way ready for what they have just done!!! The neat thing is is that I am a support counselor at the Great Lakes Recovery Center, and I will be working with youth ages 12-17, sound familar, who are there to recover from either alcohol or some type of drug, and of course figuring out family issues and regaining their self-esteem without addictive substances.

My first "real day" was yesterday and I really enjoyed it. It started out with music therapy, quite different from what we had at Inner Harbour, this music therapy included the Primary Counselor looking up different songs that talked about drugs, alcohol and/or abuse, printing out the lyrics and having the kids follow along and then relate the words and story in the song to their own lives. It was actaully pretty incredible, the kids responded great and the group went well.

I then read one of them the MEAP test. This is a Michigan school test then you have to take like 4 times at different ages, really quite stupid if you ask me, if reminded me of the tests our kids down south had to take, it was asking them impossible questions that anybody with a learning disorder or not normal child life would ever know or even care about!!!!! arg

Anyways, I believe that the food may be worse, if you can believe that. BLAH

Than after lunch we got to go the the UP Childrens Museum, and I got to play for 2 hours. Going down slides, dressing up in their theatre, play instruments, "fly" an airplane and so much more.

That was my first day in a large nutshell!!!



other than my new job experience that doesn't pay real well, I made more not having a real job and just working anywhere we wanted for 10-13 bucks an hour, now i make 8.50 poo poo

We, Adam and I, are in the planning stage, almost building stage, of building a house on wheels, and I'm very excited for that. It is going to be 8x15 with a loft, wood heat and small solar panels to start. Adam helped our friend Justin mill, (a saw mill) most of the wood that we need, and we have been gathering other materials, we are hoping that it goes up quick once we have everything that we need, hopefully this week!!!!!!!! yeah

Well I'm now being beckened to come and eat breakfast, so I shall update once construction begins. I miss all of you and can't wait to meet up again!! with love and memories cranberry girl