It was a cold week, here at the Scheu abode. With those colder temperatures came precipitation as well – even sleet and snow…ugh. It was a quick, transitional week. Rob & Sharon went back to Lafayette for a couple days before making their way south again. Dad is doing well and is feeling better than he has in years. Ann & I had very busy, stressful weeks at work. The kids were in full school mode as we got closer and I think a little anxiety is starting to set in, regarding our Chinese exchange student coming to stay with us very soon. And we celebrated me making another trip around the sun as we kicked-off the holiday season.
Monday was a gorgeous, Indian summer day that reached all the way up in to the 80s! It was Rob’s 35th birthday and so Luke & I called and sang Happy Birthday to him. Ann took Abby to jazz class that night and I took Luke to football practice. It is getting dark so early now. This was the last week of Daylight Savings Time and so we will need to move practice up a half hour earlier. And I found out the sad news that Craig Ferguson was leaving the Late, Late Show. That is such a funny show…but the cool thing is that Metallica will be in residence the entire last week of his run.
Tuesday was a noticeably cooler day. Abby wasn’t feeling well again (she has been fighting something for some time now). Ann ended up getting her from school and bringing her to Columbus to see Dr. Fangman, missing her first Pirateers practice. Thankfully, the doc thinks that she has her diagnosed and we get her back to normal. It was my 46th birthday and enjoyed reading all the love and nice words via social media, text and then we had a small party at Gma & Gigi’s house after work. Maryann called me early this morning and sang the Birthday Song to me. Gigi’s Gourmet was open that night and we enjoyed Pizza King pizzas, buffalo wings, chips & salsa, potato chips, some other odds and ends and then a delicious brownie cake and ice cream before opening presents (Gigi picked up some new Hot Wheels at the Fisher Price store in New York!). Sadly, the Allman Brothers played in their final concert – ever – an epic night at the Beacon Theater that lasted about fivers and three sets.
Wednesday was just a cold day. Abby was a little better and had Britney over for homework and dinner. Luke & I went for a chilly walk in the neighborhood before warming up with Ann’s dinner (a meatless fettuccini alfredo that we added bacon to). We watched game 7 of the World Series in Kansas City but it was San Francisco that ended up winning their third championship in five years.
It was so damn cold on Thursday that I had to send Abby out to start the Pacifica and let it warm up before work and school. Abby went to Kama’s house afterwards and then on to Pirateers practice. Luke & I met up with Bryan, Drew and the rest of the football team at North Park for a good practice. It was pretty cold and the kids’ fingers were all stinging by the end of practice. We lost another couple older boys but were able to replace them with younger kids. We have a lot of rebuilding that has to be done so Bryan & I have focused on doing just that – working on the basics of blocking and tackling. Meanwhile Ann and Abby went to Dixon Studio for tap class. We have a ton of new social media pictures: Luke; Brody & Reese; Lynz & Jack; Haley & Ryan; Parker; Aunt Sharon (Morgan); Cassie & Courtney; DeMarco’s big accomplishment; Homer mask; a Calvin & Hobbes Sunday panel; the Ghoul Bus; Angie & Hannah; Rosie’s new ankles; FC’s bball team poster; Grace with the Flaming Lips; the Allman Bros’ final show; Romo is injured again; more Homer; two cool chicks; Abby and friends; Ann with Stacy; Nathan also had a birthday this week; Nate & Steph’s girls; Jake & Katie’s kiddos; Barn, Steph, Kimmy, Chuck, Haley, Nick, Connor, Lindsay, Sally & Scotty all on Halloween; then the LaPorte Slicers football team won a big game over Michigan City to gain a berth in to the Sectional finals (!) – Go Slicers!!; what would Halloween be without Sammy Terry??; DeMarco achieved another milestone; Metallica was a part of the SF Giants parade after winning the World Series; a cool Halloween Hot Wheel; it’s SEMA time again; a couple of lovely pictures of Aunt Sharon (Bryan); Seth & Hannah; and our buddy Linda Elkins with her new view out her backdoor (after the temps we’ve had this week, I’m sure she’s glad to be out west).
Friday was Halloween. It was the coldest holiday I can remember. There was one when Matt was about 6 or 7 where we were pretty darn cold, but I think this one took the cake. It started off rainy and was damp and windy the entire day. Drew came home with Luke to go trick-or-treating. Normally the kids are out for an hour or two but it was so cold and wet that they were home in less than 20 minutes. Back at the house, we normally see 100 – 150 kids at the house and there may have been 25 or so on this ghastly evening – just a horrible night for going door to door. As Luke pointed out, the good news is we have a ton of candy leftover to compensate for the lack of loot the boys brought home! ??? Ann made a big pot of chili that was perfect for the weather and she had a huge bowl of chopped jalapeño that really warmed us up! As we do every year, we did get out and play catch with the football in the front yard but this year we were only out for five minutes before giving up and coming back in…brrr…in fact we turned the heat on. Meanwhile, Abby went to a Halloween party dressed as a ‘Goth girl.??? She didn’t stay long and ended up with us out at Bryan & Angie’s house. They needed a break from working on the new house and had us, along with Rick & Lynn, over for a cocktail and conversation. At the end of the night, Drew came home with us and spent the night with Luke. There was a freeze warning again that night.
We slept in on Saturday morning. Ann made muffins for the kids. Drew went home around noon and Ann made a great lunch of spicy tilapia and some weird sliced potato thing. Afterwards, Luke and I did some chores around the house (repaired Abby’s door, fixed Luke’s bike chain, caulked the shower, install the PS3 in Luke’s room and a new TV in Abby’s room). We also planned to help Memaw but she and Gigi were feeling ill and didn’t want anyone in the house. We got our replacement Weber grill from Lowe’s but found the same old story – leaking at the regulator. We’re not sure what the hell is going on with it or how we’re going to rectify it. It was officially the 1st anniversary of Linda Elkins Day in Columbus. Purdue played a big game at Nebraska, who is tops in the division, but they still looked like they were a team rebuilding their program unfortunately. We had cheesy popcorn for dinner and snuggled up on the couch and got caught up on our DVR’ed shows.
On Sunday we slept in again. It was nice because we picked up an extra hour due to Daylight Savings Time ending, turning the clocks back to “fall back.??? It was in the 20s when we woke up. We struggled with our dryer again. It is getting worse and eventually won’t start at all. Today it took us nearly an hour to get it to turn on. It’s about a decade old so we probably have gotten the life out of it. We watched football and racing while doing our weekly household chores and taking naps on the couch, which was a nice way to end a relaxing weekend.
Next up is our Waybac section which features three more pictures of Mom. We lead off this week in November of 1978 with Great Grandma Morgan’s funeral in Attica; then to LaPorte in 1980: July with Rob in the backyard in Kenwood, Dad & Rob in the kitchen playing cards with Grandmaw & Grandpaw and Mom with Rob and Grandpaw’s birthday cake; then on to August with Rob again and Mom & Dad in the living room; then on to LaPorte in 1982: July with Rob, Dad & Katie at the parade on the 4th, August in Rossville for a fish fry with the Brown family (Grandpaw, Kenny & Timmie can be seen in this picture) and in Lafayette at Grandmaw & Grandpaw’s house with Great Grandma & Grandpa Morgan; then we skip ahead to September in 2001 for Abby’s 2nd birthday at our new home in Greensburg with has classic images of Matt, Abby & Maddie; Dad, Grace, Beth, Amy & Bailey; Ann & the kids and Beth/Drew, Mom & Laura; then on to June in 2003 with Dad and newborn Lukey as well as Matt & Abby in our first pool; Luke, Abby & Keith in December 2003 and finally Rob & Sharon on the boat in Lake Michigan in 2005.
Next up is our video section which features one new family movie and several other videos from around the internet this week.
And that does it for this week’s installment of the Scheu Family Blog. As always, thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you again next time. Until then, have a good one. We miss ya, Mom…and I missed having you sing to me on my birthday…
Later, Scheu