The Zoo

Here are some pictures we took from our family Zoo trip we took this past saturday. We all had alot of fun.

Almost

Just wanted to show everyone the progress on the house. We are hoping it will be done sometime in september. Its looking good!!

The Mis-Adventures of "The Monte" - The Rob Era

The Monte Carlo was from another era. The era of big heavy doors. Because of the big heavy door era they didn't close real good if you didn't slam them, but that's a story for "The Mike Era" of "The Monte".

First off let me say that I have a lot of good memories from that car. It was a great car. Alternator drained the battery a little fast, and a couple rocker arms were broke, but all in all a good car. :) I will tell all those stories in good time, but this story begins during one of the fondest times I can remember.

My first memories of the Monte begin when someone broke in and stole the extra change and gum from the ashtray in the house in Hanover Park, and busted open the glove box that was screwed shut; In those days Dad and Mom were still driving it, but "The Monte" would soon become the first car to be officially passed down.

This story begins during my Freshman year in High School. Rob was a senior, and was driving his recently handed down car to school everyday. This was a big deal, because there were only so many parking passes handed out for Streamwood High, and he got one.

When Rob got permission to drive to school everyday I figured nothing would change and that I would be taking the bus everyday. You can imagine my surprise when Rob decided I could go with him so I could get some extra sleep, and he made it a point to say so we could hang out more. I was shocked, and honored at the same time. It meant he was recognizing that I was growing up, and he didn't mind being seen with me. Up until this point Rob and I were not very close. I was the pain in the ass little brother and he dealt with me accordingly, and I don't blame him.

I never dreamed he would start to treat me like his friend. It was a great honor. One I will never forget. It was the pinnacle of my life to that point. It instilled a sense of pride and a burning desire to make my big brother proud of me. A desire I had never cared to attend to up until that point. In this simple gesture, he changed my life profoundly. I know it sounds stupid, but it's true. I have never let anyone know when they hurt me, especially emotionally, and him most of all so all those times he fought so that I couldn't go with him and Pete to the forest even tho mom made them take me, were starting to be reversed by this one event. I guess that's why I took his leaving so hard...

One day we were a little more late than usual for school so Rob might have been going a tad fast, but no faster than I had seen him go numerous times before. Long story short, he ran into some guys car while pulling into a parking space. The impact, which wasn't so bad it turns out, broke the front right blinker on "The Monte" and the rear left blinker of the car he hit. He was so worried that I was hurt he asked "Michael, are you OK?" but me, being the kid I was, I'm all "Dude, quick park somewhere else they will never know", (which would have worked If I had hit the guys car, but since it was Rob we would definitely have gotten caught), but Rob, well aware of his likely misfortune and being a good citizen, had the kid paged to the office. Now keep in mind the car we hit is like a 1981 clunker with bondo on it and tears in the rag top. Eventually, the guy comes out. He takes one look at the car and says, "Awe man, I was restoring that car." Rob and I just looked at him, like, "Are you high? That thing was a piece of shit when it was new."

Despite the drama all turned out well, and they didn't turn it onto the insurance company, and Rob paid the kid in cash for the repairs with his movie theatre money. Make money money! Make money money! More like Make baby baby! Make baby baby! Am I right? :) Just kidding. :)

As for the rest of the Rob stories, I will soon share the story of Juan, Juan, Juan and Guillermo and how they wanted to beat this kid with Robs nightstick lucky for him he gets away with just a punch in the mouth. (I actually think it was Jesus and Gus who were in the car that day, but its funny that we knew 3 guys named Juan and they all hungout. :)

Remeber when...

Remember when i hated Jason?? That big jerk (not now) took my tough sister from me and made her a softy. I don't remember any specific reason why i hated him accept that he was always jealous. I don't even remember when or why i started to like him. I remember seeing him for the first time at jewel when he had hair. No offense jay but it was not your look. ;o) I remember that he obviously thought rebeca was hot because when we first met him he was already trying to get her. When boo told me she was getting a job at jewel i was pissed. not because of jay but because she was 18 and she was starting off at minimum wage in a grocery store bagging groceries. it was not the glamorous or high paying job i thought she was capeable of getting. I had high hopes for her career. LOL Anyways, she met this hot guy that worked there and he asked her out. Im not sure i connected it was the same guy we met months before pre-haircut. LOL I remember the first date they had they went to the movies. i had to help boo convince dad it was a good idea for me to drop her off at jewel, so they could go watch a movie after he got off work. That was fun but much easier than i remember it ever being for me. OMG her first date shes almost 19 and dad still didn't want her to go. Oh well, we double teamed him with the dating guidelines and how he can't change the rules everytime we hit the age when we were allowed to do something. He always tried that didn't he? So the story continues, they spent lots of time together and i felt like i lost one of my best friends to a jealous punk boy. Which at the time he was a punk he'll tell you himself, right jay? Time went on lots of things happened and i started to realize that regardless of my feelings toward him he loved my sister and he wasn't about to go anywhere without her. I think once i stopped being selfish and tried to get to know him as a person rather than a spoiled sister stealer i started to like him. Now i truly feel like hes one of my brothers and i know he would do anything for me or anyone of my family members. I am proud to have him as my family and its getting increasingly more difficult to remember when he wasn't a part of our family. I love you Jay i'm proud of the man you have become, thanks for being a great father to my nephew and neice and a great husband to my sister.

Shoebilee

Ok, since we are on the topic of shoebilee, I thought i would add the time when Me and Renee were working i cant remmeber who else was working, but anyway it was a really busy weekend probably one of our annoying sidewalk sales and at the time i was Asst.Manager it must of been a sunday because Marlen wasnt there. I was dealing with so many annoying customers and Renee as usual was so energetic and happy with all these bargin hunters..... aka- jews.... Ok so Renee was at the register ringing people up, her favorite job!! i literally had to tear renee away from registar duty. She gets to this lady mind you the lines are like out the door, renee calls me to the register, i come over and the lady preceeds to tell me that this shoe (babyshoe) has a scuff on it and she wants to know if she can get money off , mind you this is the display shoe and the only one we have so it is already marked down to like $10 and its nike brand, so of course she is annoying me, i tell her since it does have a scuff on it, (which by the way i couldnt even see) i tell her i will take another 10% off basically making the shoe a steal, but no she actualy had the nerve to complain again. So, me being the person that i am say listen lady " the shoe is already marked down because its the last shoe and i am going to give you 10% off on top off that, so what do you want? i cant give you the shoe for free either take it or put the shoe back" at this point i think she relizes that she is not going to bargain anymore and she shuts up, i ask her again do you want the shoe or not? and her husband says yes we will take it. I will never forget Renee's face she was like OMG i cant believe you just said that, she was shocked but told me it was awesome. I am not sure if that is what started her "say whats on your mind personality" but either way i thought it was a funny story.

Fourth of July

Okay, so I know I am a little late on this post but my internet has been shoddy at best. And everytime I call tech support the only thing they tell me to do is unplug it. OKAY I GET IT TECH SUPPORT, I KNOW TO UNPLUG IT WHILE I AM WAITING ON HOLD FOR 45 MINUTES....IT STILL ISN'T WORKING!! WAAA!
Anyways, I just wanted to give a little shout out to the days of Shoebilee. I would like to preface this story by saying that for my 15th birthday the only thing that Rebeca gave me was an application. I was taking a nap and I woke up and there was an application for Shoebilee sitting on my chest. LOL I thought that was funny. But I have to say to Rebeca, that was the best job I have ever had.
These were the days after Matthew and before Michelle. Anyways, Marlen (our boss) told us that for Fourth of July we didn't have to dress in uniform and we could wear something patriotic. So, of course we were all excited we didn't have to wear our uniforms for a day. Now, I don't know if it was my strange ability to take things literally but because I heard the word Patriotic, I searched up and down in my closet for something with stars and stripes...the works. Finally, my eyes rested upon a T-Shirt that was about 3 sizes to big for me, it was navy blue with white cuffs that had red and blue stars on it. And if that wasn't bad enough my shirt also had all of the looney tunes on it wearing some sort of patriotic outfit. So fourth of July comes and I walk into work donning my XL Looney Tunes T-shirt...might I add that I was expecting my co-workers to be wearing similar garb. So, I walk into work and I notice that my co-workers have no stars or stripes anywhere on their clothing. All they had were red or white shirts with blue jeans. Still though, it doesnt dawn on me that maybe I went a little overboard until Rebeca takes one look at me and as she is trying to hold back laughter....shes says..."what are you wearing? You look ridiculous!" I'm like, oh I didn't know that we could wear things like that...I thought we were trying to be patriotic. So, all day I am pulling down on this huge T-shirt trying to keep it from hanging off my shoulders...all because I didn't think I had any other "patriotic" clothing. Now, if Marlen had said wear red, white and blue, I would have come in an entirely different ensemble. We had a good laugh about that. I was trying to call Rebeca on the fourth to remind her of my patriotic blunder but I couldn't get a hold of her and so I decided to write a blog. Although I am not sure if this translates into how funny it really was to anyone else, but at least Rebeca and I will get a good kick out of it. LOL

Getting There!

Every week that passes, we are a week closer to our new house! We can't wait!!!