Things are Different Today, I Hear Ev’ry Mother Say

The world began the long process of returning to normal this week as businesses slowly began to reopen and self-quarantining sanctions began to loosen. We are still practicing social distancing but stores have more safety precautions now – there’s Plexiglas at just about all the checkouts we go through, many stores are good about wiping down the swipers in between customers and many people are wearing masks now – especially the employees. Our lives have started to normalize a bit as well. Matt is still doing classes online for his middle school students via e-learning. He said Ms. Taylor spends most days with him as well, which makes him happy. It sounds like Ann & I when we were first dating. I think she pretty much stayed at my house for a few months before we decided to move in together. It was good to see both of them this week. We’re so proud of the man he’s becoming. Abby has only a few days of school left this coming week before finals hit and she enjoyed seeing Gary for a while this week. She worked really hard on her college courses via e-learning and may wind up with straight A’s! It’s been great having her home as a young adult. She’s really turned out to be a cool person to be around and we really enjoyed hanging out with her every day this week. Luke continued to do school via e-learning as well. He worked several hours out at Arby’s and is learning valuable lessons about what life looks like when you have a job. He finally got to see his friends a little this week, spending time with the likes of Kam and Drew. He’s such a funny kid and we enjoyed seeing him when we could this week. To break up the monotony this week, we decided to play a game of Around the World…in the liquor cabinet – LOL. Our hope is that we find something we like while experimenting with new recipes each night with a different type of alcohol each day. Annie and I both took time off again this week as did our co-workers. Although I averaged over 9K steps per day this week, I fell a little short of my exercise goal again – logging a little under thirteen miles. Our weather was still all over the place this week, but we managed to find some patio time… Ya know, this is the weekend we should be headed down to the Sand Pebble to meet up with Mom. I found myself really missing those days this weekend; but just thinking about all those memories always brings a smile to my face… Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.

I was up early and out the door for work while Annie slept in on her day off on May the Fourth Be with You Day. Luke and Abby got up that morning and did a cross-train workout. While Abs did cardio and yoga, Luke did some lifting and cardio. It was a gorgeous day up in the 70s with lots of sunshine. I had another long day at work with a team of contractors in-house to find and repair my water main break underground. Justin, Vic & I grabbed some lunch at Arni’s, which helped the day go a little quicker. I walked three miles around the airport property after work. I was disappointed to see that sweet sunshine was gone and it was overcast. You could feel that a cold front was beginning to move through the area. The kids did some schoolwork later that morning and in the afternoon Ann & Abby went grocery shopping while Luke went to work at Arby’s until close. When I got home that evening, the girls were making T-bone steaks and potatoes. The steaks were actually just the New York strip side with a bone – minus the filet/tenderloin cut (maybe an L-Bone?). I fired up the grill and the girls joined me for a little patio time as we drank the growler of Honey Wheat we picked up last week at ZwanzigZ. Dinner was outstanding and the only thing that made it better was sitting on the patio afterwards was sharing a couple sippers of Glenlivet scotch as the clouds rolled in. We came in and watched a Cops marathon and the new episode of Rick & Morty. We had planned to watch American Idol, but I conked-out on the couch and by the time I woke up, Ann was asleep. So, I checked in my new Hot Wheels and waited for Luke to get home. He said he had a really good day and didn’t get pulled over on his way home, which is always a plus – ha ha… On my way home, I ran to CVS and as I was coming back through town, I went past our old house on Main Street and was shocked (and a little sad) to see they had cut down that majestic Blue Spruce tree in the front yard. Sandy had planted that just before we moved in and I can remember decorating it for the first Christmas without even a ladder. By the time we moved out here to Ryle, we couldn’t even reach the top with an extension ladder so we just left the lights on it. I assume they were still on it when they cut it down…I wonder if I should ask for them back? LOL! It was raining by the time we went to bed and it rained on and off the whole night. Here are pictures from Amy’s drive-by birthday party last week.

It was much colder when we got up on Cinco de Mayo. It was still raining when we left for work. Luke got up early and had a telehealth meeting with his doctor. It seems to be the cool thing to do these days. He again did a cross training workout again that morning as well as attend classes via e-learning. Abby also did her classes and turned in a big project, which was a big load off her mind. Ann & I had fast days at work. Mine was a bit grueling and by the time I got out of work late, I was only able to get in about two miles of walking before heading home. It was Taco Tuesday, so the girls made homemade authentic Mexican-style tacos with corn tortillas, chicken, onion and cilantro (just like the ones we get at ElRep). The only thing we were missing was the tomatillo sauce. The kids actually ran to ElRep to try and get a cup for us but found the place completely packed with a line that wrapped around the store and parking lot! So we made due with the sauces we had on-hand. Meanwhile, I made frozen strawberry margaritas – using Ann’s recipe and guidance. They were outstanding! The Margaritaville marg maker made the job pretty easy. Abby had Megan over for dinner and she stayed to play a couple games of euchre. After Ann & I spanked the girls and finished four pitchers of margaritas, we decided to go watch American Idol. I ended up falling asleep (big surprise) and went on to bed. Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.

I was up early and into work on a cold Humpday morning in the 30s. As the rain moved out, it got up into the lower 60s. Ann slept in on another day off. Originally, I was supposed to be off as well since Ann had a doctor appointment up in Indy. However, that changed to a telehealth appointment, so she attended her appointment in her sweatpants and I went on in to work. Annie said she had a good doctor appointment and if her bloodwork comes back well then she may be deemed cured! Woo! Hoo!! With the water line project in full stride at work, it was best that I was at the office that day. It was another stupid-crazy day but at least we made good progress on the plumbing project. I busted out all my monthly ordering, completing all our purchasing so I can move on to my other monthly items. We have contractors out in our front yard, running fiber optic cable for a new high-speed internet connection for our classroom as well right now. I also received the second bid for a replacement water softener system today so I’ll have to present that and start the process of getting that approval next week. I got out late from work again that evening and found that it was surprisingly lovely outside. I was only able to get in about two miles of exercise before heading home, which was a bummer. When I got home, Luke was working at Arby’s and the girls were cooking dinner. We had a clean-out the fridge night. Afterward, we had some porch time with a couple sippers of bourbon and water on the rocks and watched the sunset. We ended up making a fire but by the time the sun went down, the temps really started to dip so we came back inside pretty quickly. Abby and I played a quick game of Yahtzee (she smoked me) and then she called up Matt & Taylor and we played a 4-way race on Mario Kart for about an hour. I finally had a chance to start collecting pix and vids for this week’s blog entry later that night. I also dug into our digital pictures. I’m still trying to figure out what all we have. The first batch was a load of photos from Deanna’s camera. She was quite the shutterbug back in the early two-thousands! I have a good start but there are tons of folders I need to go through over the next few weeks… Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.

We had a cool start to our Thursday. My day flew by and I was late getting out of work again. We had contractors in the front yard, contractors on the patient floor and I walked a third contractor around all day, doing some of our annual inspections that are required by the Joint Commission. I snacked on and off all day but had 8K steps in by the time I left work and wound up with about 13K for the day again. I only managed two miles of walking but had some my best times of the year so far. It was lovely outside and allowed me to set a great pace and kept it going. Ann and Mom & Sandy all got their flowers today for Mother’s Day, which turned-out nice. Ann & Abby made fish tacos with tilapia, cabbage, onion, jalapeno, cheese and tomatillo ranch sauce – YUM! Luke ended up going over to Adison’s house and then wound up out at Walmart. Around the World in the liquor cabinet continued that evening with vodka. We had Dirty Shirley’s on the patio. Abs jumped on a Zoom call for Greek Week and Ann & I watched some DVR’d shows. It was a good night.

I was up early on Friday morning after falling asleep way too early on the couch last night. I heard Molly get up and tried to catch her before she had any accidents. But, like a couple other times this morning, she couldn’t hold it. She did manage to actually hit the piddle pad for once, which was nice. But she did have a few more spots of blood this morning. Abby got up with Ann and took her to the downtown office, where Bu stayed with her to do homework. They stopped for coffee at Dunkin and returned in the late morning. Luke slept in that morning then got up to play a little PS4 before heading into work at Arby’s. Abby said that she had agreed to start working next week at Wings & Rings after speaking to her boss last night and this morning. Ann broke the sad news that she was officially cancelling After Prom after she received word from school that Prom had been cancelled that morning. I took it easy, editing pictures and videos and starting to write out my html code for this week’s entry while watching the season finale of West World. I loved the ending with Dark Side of the Moon playing…very cool. That afternoon, Abby & I ran a few errands and picked up supplies for our liquor cabinet for the month. ???? We swung past Arby’s and gave Luke a hard time, asking all sorts of crazy questions while ordering before revealing who we were – LOL! ???? We really had him going there for a minute, acting confused that we weren’t in the Long John Silver’s drivethrough – LOL. We came home and decided to get a few steps in so we walked a couple mile around the neighborhood with Delilah. She did great with us. When we came home, we made a couple Picklebacks then started in on Jerry Loves Ginger cocktails since it was rum Friday. After Matt finished with school, he and Taylor came down to spend the night with us for Mother’s Day. Gary came down to see Bu and spent the night as well. We hung out on the back porch for a while until it just got too cold. Matt & Luke picked up ElRep for dinner and we put the leaves in the table to sit down and have a big family style meal. Later, Ann went out to the Messer’s to help with setting up an impromptu prom / senior dance for their exchange student, Irene. They ended up just hanging out and talking over cocktails. I had no idea it was coed so I was a little bummed when I learned that all my buddies were out there. I haven’t seen them in so long… But I had a great time with the kids that night. After we killed off the rum, ginger beer and ice, we switched to beer and played a big game of Uno. Luke was Ann’s DD, for which we were thankful. After bringing her home, he ended up staying the night with Brayden. I got a notification from FTD that our Mother’s Day flower order for Lynn had been cancelled for whatever reason, so we scrambled around to find a local florist in the Largo area. We found one and got in an order but since I never received a confirmation email from them, I’m guessing that they will never arrive. We tried to call and confirm but it went straight to voicemail each time. We set up Matt & Tay out in the family room with the inflatable bed and called it a night. We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.

We all enjoyed sleeping in on a sunny Saturday morning. Abby drove Ann out to St. Paul to get another big batch of goodies from Wildflour for breakfast. I got up and picked-up the house from last night’s festivities. It was a little too chilly and the grass was still wet, so I waited a few hours before getting out and working in the yard. I checked fluids in the vehicles before loading up Betty White and heading over to Mom & Sandy’s house to mow & trim. Luke came home to grab his mowing shoes and drove over separately so he could go on to work afterwards. Drew came with him, driving his pickup truck. He got his driver’s license this week, so it was cool to see him out on his own. These kids are all getting so big now – and Drew had his second (or third) solo which is really cool. He’s well on his way to becoming a pilot! It looked like we were having a big party at the Scheu abode at that point, as we had Luke & Drew parked over at Mrs. Dodd’s house with their two vehicles, Gary parked out in front of it in his car, Matt & Taylor each had their own little red cars parked out in front of our house, Abs had Tonya in the drive and Ann & I had our three vehicles – 9 cars in all. I felt sorry for the neighbors with that crowd. Matt & Taylor drove over to see Mom in Matt’s car and brought Lola & Molly with them. Abby & Gary came with me in the truck and brought Delilah. When we got there, Luke couldn’t get Sandy’s mower to start, so he used the Husqy I brought. Gary jumped in and trimmed so I just had to blow off the grass afterwards. The kids and dogs enjoyed seeing Gma but I think she enjoyed seeing them even more. She said she loved her surprise party with all the kids, calling it a “Wingding of a party!” Even Luke’s friend Kam joined us from his new home across the street. We said goodbye to Memaw and as Luke went on to work, I took the rest of the kids and dogs to Dairy Point for ice cream cones. We stood around the pickup with the dogs in the bed, eating our cones and laughing. We came back to the house and I while I worked out in the yard for a couple hours, the kids all took naps. Ann & I watched a couple shows afterwareds, including the season finale of Magnum PI before Ms. Taylor had to leave so she could work that night. Once the kids woke up, Ann made dinner. I cooked BBQ chicken on the grill while Ann made tasty sides of tater tots, mac & cheese and corn. Afterward, we started another fire and had a few cocktails. The drink of the day was whiskey so we had Tennessee Fire with diet Dr. Pepper and a little Grenadine. Luke got off work and brough Kam over to spend the night with us. We stayed around the fire for several hours before calling it a night. We were hoping to play some euchre, but Ms. Ann was too tired. Instead, we watched a classic episode of SNL from ’93 and fell asleep on the couches.

We enjoyed sleeping in again on Mother’s Day. I think Ann was actually the first one up that morning. I got up and got to doing our weekly household chores. In the late morning, the kids and I jumped in Betty White and we headed to Rural King to get flowers for around the light pole as well as a tree for the corner where we pulled out that big shrub a few years ago. Luke drove there separately and then went on to work at Arby’s. We ran to Walmart for a few things then came home to help Ann fix lunch. She made homemade meatballs, spaghetti, garlic bread and salad. We all helped out where we could for her then she & Abby took lunch to Mom & Sandy for Mother’s Day. When they got back, we sat down and ate a big lunch. We should’ve Zoomed with them while we ate but didn’t think about it until after the fact. Afterward, we went outside and planted the tree and flowers before a big storm rolled through town. Matt needed help with his car, so we went to AutoZone to get him a cap for his radiator reservoir and a replacement parking light. We got the old cap off in pieces – having to pry it open. We got the light assembly off and the bulb out and replaced. However, neither one of us was able to get it back in. So, we had to go back to AutoZone and they were able to get it back in place for us. We came back to the house and napped while watching some DVR’d shows on the big screen. After another round of storms rolled through, it really cooled things off. We said goodbye to Matt and raided the fridge for leftovers. We ended binge-watching Ozark, finishing up the first season and about half of the second. It was a relaxing way to wind down the day and put a cap on another strange week, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next up is our Waybac feature which features our first batch of our digital photos. Some of these have never seen the light of day. They were transferred from the camera and put on a backup drive and so these have been so much fun to go through… To begin, we will be using pix from Dee’s stash of pix from 2003. There are some great ones here! We lead off this week in Columbus for Luke’s birth then head to Gma & Gigi’s house; next we have July – Chad & Grace in the Fair Parade then Fourth of July fun – Mom & Sandy’s house, uptown for the parade then out to our house for a dip in the pool, grilling out and fireworks and Slushi hanging out in places she shouldn’t; in August, we have Gigi in the spa and Luke’s one-month old photo; in October, we see the girls on Halloween at Mom & Sandy’s house; and in November we have Danny’s 50th bday and then Thanxmas at our house…

And finally, we wrap up this entry with our video section which features one small home movie as well as several from around the internet.

And that does it for this week’s edition of the Scheu Family Blog. 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 and stay safe out there. We miss ya, Mom.
Later, Scheu