Cars Stink!

Once again something happens with my car. Its always something! As soon as I get the chance to start saving money up something new has to go wrong. After vacation I started working a ton of hours at work. I figured it would be great to save up some money again finally. But of course not, something had to come up. I had to get books for all my classes which wasted most of my money. Just when I didn't think anything else could go wrong my car decides to die on me. I got out of class around 2:30 in the afternoon and I had an hour to spare before work. No point in going home so I went to an art store. On my way to work from the art store I'm sitting at a stop light with my foot on the break. As soon as the light turns green my car just wont do anything. It completely died on me and a cop had been a few cars away so he pulled up right behind me. He was very friendly and kind but he said I was a hazard in the middle of this busy road. So he wanted to toe me so I called my dad and my parents drove out to Schaumburg as quickly as they could. In the meanwhile a toe truck came and got me and pulled my car into a parking lot near by. My parents met us there and then my dad had the guy toe my car to our auto place in Roselle. What a mess this whole thing was. On the plus side though I got to ride in a toe truck, it was freaking awesome in there! I got to watch them lift my car up off of the street onto the bed of the toe truck. The cop was also very nice while we were waiting to. He asked me if I was to hot waiting in my car if I wanted to sit in his cop car with the air conditioning on. He said if I had any questions or concerns to just let him know. I love that guy! He makes me have more appreciation for cops. :)
My car had died once before about a week ago but it was in our drive way so it wasn't a big deal. We haven't had any time to get my car in to be looked at recently. However, my car didn't have any more troubles after it died that one day in our drive way so it seemed to be fine. Of course it wasn't fine, it decided to break down again today. This time I wasn't lucky enough to be in my drive way. Apparently the fuel pump sensor went bad in my car whatever that means. Thus, my car has troubles and dies when it is really hot out which explains why it died a week ago and today but it was fine in between. The two days my car died was when it was the hottest temperature out. Once my cars fuel pump sensor issue is fixed I better not be having any more car issues for a while. They said my car looks ok otherwise so I'm hoping their right. Lately all we've been doing at the Mickow house is spending money to fix our cars. My car dies, the gold van needs breaks, Kristi's car has a bad fuel pump. Its one thing after another with all our cars, its so costly.

Harry Potter Madness!

Tonight was opening night of Harry Potter. Harry Potter is one of the worst movies for us theater folks because Harry Potter fans are insane. Tickets for our midnight showings of Harry Potter started selling out two months ago. As we sold out more and more theaters we added more and more theaters. In the end we had eleven sold out shows of Harry Potter playing at midnight tonight. We also added a 3:15 am showing which was selling out quick last minute so we were going to add another 3:15 am showing.
For the midnight showings of Harry Potter people were already showing up to wait in line at 4:00 pm. That's seven whole hours of waiting in line just to see a movie. If there were a die hard Potter fan in this room with me right now they would probably kill me when I say this but is it worth it? I saw a screening of Harry Potter last night at midnight. I didn't think it was all that spectacular honestly. I liked part one of deathly hallows better then the one coming out tonight. Will see what all the die hard Potter fans think of the movie though. I don't read the books so my opinion doesn't really count all that much.
I only had to work until 9:00 pm tonight so I got to clock off right when all the midnight madness was starting. I hung out for a while and walked around because I love seeing everyone in there costumes. From Valdemort to Hagrid, Dumbledore, and even Severus Snape, people come to the show all decked from head to toe in Potter gear. Some people dress up as all sorts of characters from the movies but people mainly wear capes and wave their wands. Now I'm at home while the rest of my friends are all still at work until 3:30 in the morning.

New Windows

This morning my sister and I got new windows put into our rooms. The brown wooden sliding windows that were in there previously were so old. Those windows had been there since before my parents even owned the house. Since before before Kristi and I were even born.














My parents had been planning to get our windows replaced for a while because they were so disgusting looking and old. They also wanted our windows to match the rest of the house. With money issues and all we werent able to do it for quite a while. Finally today after having weeks of window estimates a company finally came and put the new windows into our rooms.














These windows are the exact same type of creme colored window that is in the rest of the house. In my Grandma's room, the living room, front hall, kitchen, and family room. Now mine and Kristi's windows will match the rest of the house. They look gorgeous and they'll definitely be easier to open then our old ones. These ones have little cranks where as our old ones had to be pulled open.
In order to get these windows in the workers were going to need quite a bit of space to work. So over the weekend my dad had me move all the stuff of off my desk and take the drawers out. The desk would be to heavy to move out of the corner unless we took everything out of it. So eventually we moved my corner desk out of the corner so the guys could work back there where the two windows are. My desk is a V shape and it doesnt come apart. When we put my desk into that corner in my room we couldnt fit it through the door. My dad and his buddy lifted it through the window and it has stayed in that corner ever since. We have never moved my desk out of that corner once since we put it there years ago. So when we pulled the desk out there were tumble weed sized dust balls and spider webs like no tomorrow. It was so disgusting back there! It was the first time I've ever cleaned back there since we put the desk in that corner all those years ago. I got that desk when I was maybe 13, 14? I dont even remember how old I was exactly because it was to long ago. But I was able to vacume back there and clean it up before we moved the desk back. Now I have brand new windows and a nice clean room.














After we pulled the desk out of the corner.













The new windows that they will be putting in.













Out with the old, in with the new!













Kristi's room without a window- a view from the deck













Our brand new windows finally finished.

First

Today is my first day of summer quarter. It's kind of sad going back to school after having such a nice break but I'm trying to be positive about it. I will still be making awesome summer plans with my friends even though I'm in school now. Since they are all on summer break right now they will be free to do things more often then they would be if they were in school. So all in all I still plan on doing some great things this summer like hitting chicago, going to the beach, and of course doing lots of swimming.
My classes dont sound very exciting this quarter but I'm hoping I can get through them alright. On Monday's and Wednesday's I have Capstone which is a general ed course only taken by students at my school. This course dosent exist at any other school. I'm not even sure how to explain it but we're going to be writing a ten page paper by the end of the quarter, reading a novel, and writing journels. I'm not looking forward to this class at all. It dosent start until noon though so at least I get to sleep in on Monday's and Wednseday's. On Monday's I also have a night class that starts at 6:00pm and goes until 9:50pm unfortunatley. Thus, I have a four hour break in between my morning class and night class on Monday's. I'll probably be going home during that four hour break most likley. There are other options though I suppose like doing homework or going to see a movie. I'm lucky my work is so close to school so I could go watch a movie and make it back to school no problem. Four hours is a long time to keep myself occupied though.
The class I have on Monday nights is called Fundementals of Authoring. It dosent sound any fun either and it meets on Monday nights and Saturday afternoons which is the worst possible time for a class ever. Friday's is when I have my third class which is Art Direction and that meets from 9:00 am to 3:00pm in the afternoon. Since it's only one day a week it meets all day. I'm glad I have Tuesday and Thrusdays off and a short day on Wednesday so I will have alot of time to work.
This week I got scheduled 40 hours and I started school today so this week is going to be terribly busy. Nobody is going to see me the entire week. I'll be living at school and work. Next week will probably be the same and I will probably work over 40
hours because Harry Potter is coming out and that is going to be insane!
Living out of my car for the next two weeks is always an option. It might save me some gas. :)

Henry Winkler

Nothing exciting or interesting ever really happens around my town. Schaumburg is bigger than Roselle but even so Illinois isn't really a place where awesome things happen. This amazing story I'm about to share probably tops anything that will happen at my work for a while. Henry Winkler aka 'The Fonz' from the old T.V show Happy Day's came to see a movie at our theater. I didn't start work until 6:00pm today but I got to work around 5:00pm extra early because I had brought oreo cookie cheesecake for my friends birthday. I wasn't in my work clothes yet but I was just hanging out talking to some of the employee's and there he was. All the sudden my friend goes that's the Fonz, that's Henry Winkler. We're all starring at him for a while almost in dis belief. We couldn't believe it but there he was, Henry Winkler was at our theater to watch horrible bosses at 5:20pm. I was so excited I couldn't think of anything else the entire night. We were all slacking on our work because we all couldn't stop talking about Henry Winkler being at our theater. He ordered a popcorn and water from my friend Jessica. She says she knew it was him and couldn't stop smiling the entire time. I was amazed at how nice and friendly he was. I was kind of starring at him while he walked by and I think he noticed because he said "hi, how are you?". I was an usher so I literally stalked his theater after he went in to it until 7:08 when his movie got out. I made sure I was there early so I wouldn't miss him coming out. When the movie got out we were going to try and catch him so I could take a picture of him. I had my camera with me of course but there was a huge crowd and he got out with the crowd and I couldn't get up to him. Eventually I ran and I was following right behind him. He wasn't hearing me though because there was alot of people so in the end I only got a picture of his back from a distance while he was outside of the theater leaving. He was really great though and I'm so glad I got to talk to him even if it was just to tell him the bathroom was down the hall.:)
When he left he gave my friend Jamelva who was ticket taker a pat on the back and said "you have yourself a great day". He was very smiley when he talked to everyone and he always said thank you. So polite, so friendly, I'm just amazed I guess. He gave a great first impression and I'll never forget this day.
I'm surprised not more people recognized him though. He was by himself and he walked down the hall to his theater and eventually left normally without anyone saying anything to him. Although he has completely gray hair now theres no doubt about it that he's 'The Fonz' because he looks exactly the same just with grey hair.

That's the back of Henry Winkler, the best photo I could get. I tried...















Fonzie then.



















Fonzie now.

Minocqua Wisconsin

On Thursday June 30th my parents, my friend Ceila, and I all left for a week up at the lake. My sister and her friend Anne also came up but they drove up earlier then we did in Kristi's car. I had work until 5:15pm and my mom had work until 5:00pm so by the time we were able to leave on Thursday it was about 6:00pm. It took us a little over five hours to get up to Minocqua. We arrived somewhere around 11 or 12 am. I was exhausted because I had been at Six Flags the day before until very late. Then I had to get up for work the next morning and leave for the lake straight after that. So I unpacked, gave Ceila the grand tour and I passed out in my bed. I had had a lot on my plate the last few days and I needed some sleep.
My sister and I each had a friend up to the lake this time and my parents also had their two good friends Dick and Diane up to the lake as well. We werent sure on the sleeping arrangements but in the end it worked out for the best. All the kids slept on one side of the house and the adults slept on another. That way us kids wouldn't be annoying the adults that are trying to sleep if we stay up later. Kristi and Anne slept in the green room upstairs and Ceila and I slept in the room attached to the green room that has my dads old bunk beds in it.
















We stayed up at the cottage until today which is Wednesday. I'm glad I was able to spend Forth of July up at the lake. Its always better being on the lake and watching fireworks from a boat then anywhere else. Diane bought a bunch of fireworks from the store and she ended up liting them all off on the third of July. She was to excited and they were so fun that we couldn't stop ourselves. I think I heard more fireworks go off on the third of July then I did on the forth of July actually. On the Forth of July my parents, Ceila, and I went and watched the Mincoqua fireworks display out on the water in our boat. Its kind of hard to keep still with the wind and all the other hundreds of boats there but we managed.






















Ceila loved it up at the lake, she didn't want to go home and go back to work. She isn't much of a swimmer so she wasn't in the lake a whole lot but we did do alot of other things to. We went go carting multiple times, horseback riding, miniature golfing, and lots of shopping up town. They have great clothing stores, yummy cheese, and of course chocolate turtles at Dan's Mincoqua Fudge which is the old fashioned candy store up town.




















Diane is my dads best and oldest friend. She grew up with him on the same street. They say they don't even remember meeting they were so young. It was great hearing all the old stories of what they used to do when they were kids. Diane lived almost directly across the street from my dad. Her and my dad used to talk on the phone and wave to each other from there front windows as kids. "I'm on the phone with you and I'm waving to you at the same time, can you see me, I can see you".
Diane and her husband Dick came down from Michigan. That's why my parents aren't able to see them very often. It takes them ten hours to get up to our lake from there house. I cant even imagine driving that long for a short weekend and then driving all the way back. On the way to our lake they did take the ferry though so four of their ten hours were spent sleeping on a boat and after that they drove the rest of the way to Minocuqa.
















The wheather was hot and sunny the entire vacation except for the last day. On the last day the clouds were dark almost all afternoon. We knew it was going to rain eventually but we didn't know when and of course it starts down poring while Ceila and I are uptown. We got completely drenched from head to toe running to the car in the poring rain but we had our swim suits on and a little water never hurt anyone. Its just annoying that we werent anywhere near our car so all of our stuff got soaked. My camera bag, my purse, and myself. I was sad to leave today but my dad had to get back to work. I also have to go back to work and start school on Monday. At least I was able to fix in a vacation before school. This vacation was the best ever and it was much needed. I didnt even have to know what day it was or what time it was, I could just do whatever I wanted every single day.

Here are some other random pictures that I took up at the lake. I took so many its hard to choose which ones to post on my blog.

Having a bonfire outside and watching the neighbors one day early fireworks display on July 3rd.













Diane, Ceila, and I.













Forth of July parade uptown.















Kristi at the sand dunes.















A picture of Krist's legs under the lake that I took on my underwater camera. Dosent it look creepy? It looks like a dead body.















I caught a fishie! I only caught two the whole trip but I was happy I even caught that many because they werent really biting to begin with. It was to sunny.













Me jumping into the lake.