4 days...

last night was crazy.
to say the least.

not too many left

great (extended) weekend.
made it to chicago.
made it to the zoo.






got to feed some giraffes and drink some tea.
watch a couple movies, went to the beach.
caught up with an old friend, spent some time with a new one.
yeah.
good weekend.
now, just one more left before i go...

bored (not a feeling i'm used to...)

i could never get used to this whole "not working" thing.
it was alright the couple of days that it was sunny.. i just sat outside and made jewelry...
but today...
rainy.
boring.
blah.
went into work yesterday... for that meeting...
finished up allll my reports...(how, i don't know)
so now i am officially done at orchards.
i am going to miss every one there.
my co-workers were the absolute best, and so was my supervisor.
how many supervisors personally write out thank you cards to their employees when they leave?

yeah, laura was the best.


ok... well since i am bored out of my skull i guess i'll try to find something more productive to do than sit at this computer and post cards that people give me.
i suppose it is time to get changed anyway, i'm playing softball tonight with my family over in south lyon. (i love that i am able to spend so much time with my cousins before i go... last night i went over to michelle's with katie and we made picture frames... yeahh freda craft night! whoo!)

tuesday.

so it's tuesday.
today i'm going to get some things taken care of.
what things? you ask.
well i will tell you.
i need to take a ton of library books back. some that i got for enjoyment, and then the whole bulgaria section that i depleted the novi library of as well.
they are overdue, and i'm sure somebody that has to send out the overdue book reminder notices is thinking, "what idiot needs 8 books on bulgaria? even the little kid picture books?"
well, this idiot, that's who.

so yeah, doing that today, then i'm going to either try to get my camera fixed, or get another one.
with all the money i have... right.
which brings me to what i have to do thursday morning, which is, go to court in livonia and fight my speeding ticket. sigh, someday i will slow down and do things at a normal person pace.
until then, it's speeding tickets, and spilled drinks, and bumping into walls, and people returning my phone calls saying "you talk too fast, i can't understand your message."
well, they just move to slow... or so i tell myself.

tomorrow, even though i am technically done with work, i am going in for a TDM. (team decision making) because i have a little 15 year old punk kid that i want to put in a residential.
and no, i am not that mean.
it sounds callous, it isn't.
i have been working with this kid for over a year.
he has gotten kicked out of three relative placements.
he can't go back with his mom, because she can't control him.
and i have bent over backwards to keep him out of residential this whole time.
so i go over there for a home visit last week, to see how he has been doing, (even though i talked to his relative caretaker and i knew he is never there, failed all his classes at school, just stopped going to school, and is into drugs now).
and he goes, "i'm doing good"
then he corrects himself, and goes to the new worker (who i brought with me to meet him)
he goes, "yeah, i drink, i smoke, i do what i want"
exactly.

then he had the nerve to accuse his aunt of not feeding him. so his aunt starts to get upset (as anyone would if a kid is telling his worker in front of them that they aren't being taken care of) so she is like "i have the receipts that i bought you clothes and feed you. Tracy, look in the fridge, there is food!"
so the new worker (Lucy) and I tried to reassure her that receipts were not necessary. This kid told me at the last visit that his aunt takes great care of him and he doesn't appreciate it.
Then his aunt's son come in through the window (the one who just got out of jail, who she wouldn't let in, he is completely disrespectful and a bad influence on Zalvonte) and started yelling and it was the biggest scene i have ever seen at a home visit... ever.
plus i had the new, young, worker with me.
all i could think was "if i make this one quite, i'm gonna feel soooo bad"
but she was cool, handled herself well, and didn't get scared.
not that detroit is that scary.
but when you aren't used to things like that, it could be a bit unsettling.
so back to my story. the aunt calls the police on her own son, while i am yelling at him that this isn't his visit and he is disrupting my meeting (another thing i would have never been able to do a year ago...quite frankly, it is nice to know i can be a a hard ass if the situation calls for it).
Then the aunt's daughters come out and start yelling at Zalvonte "why are you lying on my mamma like that! you know she takes care of you!"
so now it is official, everyone is upset and yelling.
So at this point, I decide it best to end the home visit.
I tell Zalvonte "the meeting is wednesday, we are recommending residential. i suggest you attend because nobody else will be sticking up for you and you might want to speak for yourself. you can run, and it won't matter to us, because i will go to court, file a WRIT and the police will pick you up. then, you will STILL be going to a residential and also have an AWOL WRIT on your record."
(this is a far cry from the old tracy, who was afraid to say anything remotely negative to anyone, and only wanted to make every one happy.)
but honestly, this kid is out of control.
and he isn't a BAD kid... i actually really like him.
he just is a 15 year old kid that thinks he can do whatever he wants.

sigh, i'm going to miss my job
ok, not necessarily that kind of thing.
but i'm going to miss the fun stuff.
like taking the kids to MSU and Henry Ford for college tours.
or like on my last day, taking Dominic to Herman Kiefer for his original birth certificate and then to the secretary of state so he could get a state id, and hence, get a job.
or helping the kids fill out the stuff for college.
or just anything.
i'm going to miss seeing Brittany and Antonio start college in the fall.
god, i love my kids.
all of them.
even the punks.
:-P

guaranteed fun

at jenny's condo on third st. and w. grand blvd before the concert: (note; jenny is not present)


at the concert: (max fisher music center)


after the concert: (headed up to pontiac)






and a big three cheers for Detroit for hosting the Concert of Colors weekend long diversity music festival.
euphoria.

well, since i'm all about posting pictures today...

17 year old SCA volunteer when i fell in love with alaska...

forget-me-not

yes, this was right after i had it done.
note very sexy blue plastic protective thing and wonderful red skin surrounding the flower.
hot.
and yes, the first words out of my mouth were "hell yeah, now i have the alaskan state flower permanently tattooed on my ass!"
cause i'm classy like that.
yeah.

fun times last night on the slip 'n slide with julie.
honestly, more bars should have huge, oversized, slip 'n slides.
i can't imagine why they don't.

last day at orchards...

yesterday was my last day at work.
i didn't say many goodbyes, because... well... i don't like goodbyes.

but yeah.
i love my co-works.
seriously.

about to leave work to pick up the beads and silver to make Amber's bridesmaid's jewelry for her wedding.
if i can't be there in person, at least a little bit of me will be there in spirit.
if you (you being the person who isn't reading this since nobody has the address to my blog)
but anyway, where was i... oh yes, if you want to see some pictures, here you go:









i was going to take pictures of every piece i made with intentions of setting up an ebay store or something...
didn't happen.
we'll see...i'm going to bring all my jewelry making things with me to bulgaria... i'm sure they have beads and whatnot over there.
i hope so... i love making it...
takes my mind off of... everything.
:-)