I will Return, Yes I will Return…I’ll Come Back for the (Money) and You…

We had a long week, here at the Scheu abode as we returned to work after quarantining last week due to the ‘Rona. We are all feeling well and, thanks to the vaccine, only had mild or short-lived symptoms. Matt missed a meet at the start of the week but was able to join the team to lead them to a successful weekend tourney. I don’t believe he missed any work, since he is able to work from home. We enjoyed seeing him for a few hours this week. Abby returned to work this week, after missing much of last week. She also returned to spending time with her friends, staying in Franklin a couple nights. Luke had a short week at school and decided to switch jobs. He started track practices, dealt with some car issues, ran around with his buddies and began visiting schools to entertain the prospect of playing college football. Ann did well as she returned to work for the first time this year. The only thing she has to work on now is getting back into a normal sleeping pattern. I returned to the office as well, after working from home all last week. I finally got in some exercise this week as well, as I noticed my belt was a little tighter than it was just a couple weeks ago. Despite the craziness at the office and the poor weather conditions, I managed to at least log nine miles. It was well short of my goal, but at least it’s a start. It was good to spend a little time with my work friends but missed seeing my other friends as we did not have a poker game this week. The weather was much colder this week and we saw a little bit of snow a few times. It wasn’t enough for any significant accumulation nor have I even bothered to get the snow shovel out of the shed yet this season! It was good to see all the kids this week, even if they weren’t together at the same time. I enjoy this time of year because of the change of pace for a bit – things are generally slower around the house since there’s no yard work. And with the colder temps and shorter days, that means more time to stay inside, keep warm and watch stuff on TV – like NFL playoff football and Big Ten conference basketball games. All our favorite shows are in the swing of their seasons and then there’s the anticipation to the start of the NASCAR season that’s right around the corner. Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.

It was back to work for the girls and I on Monday morning. Luke enjoyed sleeping in, along with his numerous house guests. Apparently, he and Brayden had a couple ladies stay the night. They were up until almost dawn, having just gone to sleep when I got up to shower. It was a long day for Ann & I. It was the first time back in the office for Ann since before Christmas. It was almost 10 days for me. There was lots of paperwork to do that morning and by the end of the day, I finally had everything caught up. I even made time to setup our O365 upgrade on half our computer fleet. Abby returned to work for the first time in a week and did fine. After work, on a whim, I checked fluids in Barney and found that it was very low on oil. As I left work to walk in the mall, I swing into Advance to pickup a couple quarts and added them right there in their parking lot. I really need to call Jerry for service tomorrow! I’m a couple grand over on miles and several months over on time. I walked about two and a half miles at the mall. You’re still only able to walk in about half of it. The other half is sectioned off into two other areas by large walls. I picked up Annie and when we came through town, we ran a couple errands before meeting Abs at the house. The girls made a Meatless Monday meal of fettuccine alfredo with broccoli…that I promptly added smoked sausage to. Who ever heard of Meatless Monday? Not me! Meanwhile, Luke enjoyed sleeping in because he had the day off from school for MLK Day. He got his car fixed (the speakers) at Greensburg Sound. It was just a wiring issue, thankfully. He & Brayden went to track practice and then he & Cayden worked out at the Y for a couple hours. When he got home, he showered and went on to bed, worn out from his day. We watched the Boilers beat the Illini (played earlier that afternoon after being postponed for Covid last week) in double OT then we watched the final NFL game in the Wild Card round. It was never close at the Rams thumped the Cardinals. I fell asleep on and off after the heavy-carb dinner. Once halftime hit, I gave it up and went on to bed. Here are pictures of Luke and friends heading to the Winter Formal last weekend.

We were and at it again on Tuesday. The girls and I were up early and headed out to work while Luke lollygagged because he was off school again. This time, he was headed to Franklin for a college visit with his buddy Ethan. They got to tour the campus as well as meet with the football coach. He took them through all the facilities and he really liked the stadium and field. He was pretty excited about the possibility of playing there. I guess the coach told him there was a spot for him as a linebacker if he was interested… Meanwhile, Ann & I commuted back to Columbus and had another fast day at our offices. I was hoping to get my annual report started, but there was too much other stuff going on. My IT project hit a snag, so I worked through that as well as finished up most of my 2021 EOC books. I finished up on time and went out to exercise. I thought the weather was good enough to walk outdoors, so off I ventured around the airport property. I was fine until I got around to the northwest side of the college campus and got smacked in the face by the wicked wind. By the time I finished, my face was wind-burned but I was actually sweaty. I managed to log a little over three miles and was pretty sore when I finished. Abby had a fast day at work and was again offered a job after graduation. In fact, they have a whole plan for her now. We encouraged her to not sell herself short but acknowledged that it was a relief to know that there is at least something waiting for her once she has her degree. I know Cathy has expressed an interest in her coming to work for her as well. When we got home, Luke was all excited about FC. He started the college admission on the computer before going to work out at the Y. I hopped on and completed the FAFSA (I thought I was done with that stupid thing!) for him and submitted it to Franklin. Afterward, I checked fluids in Tonya and added a quart of oil to it. I finished up the meat and cheese that we used for paninis last week and sat down to relax. Ann watched her Chicago Fire shows so I put on Netflix on my laptop and watched a couple coolly twisted movies – Shutter Island and Fractured – while I worked on the blog and began editing pictures.

Wednesday was more of the same thing we’ve had all week with the girls and I being up early and off to work on a cold day below freezing. The main difference was that Luke go this butt up and returned to school for the first time this week. After a long day of classes at the high school, he went to work at Hibbett’s. Despite receiving that sweet discount on his sneakers, he decided to put in his two-week notice. He wants to focus on “being an influencer??? with his workout routines and track workouts. After work, he came home briefly then went to workout at the Y and promptly made a couple of sales as well! After showering that night, he finished his online admission “paperwork??? and submitted it to FC. Abby worked up in Greenwood again and afterward stayed with her friends in Franklin that night. I had another long day, focusing mainly on IT work that day. I traced down issues with our O365 project that ran last night. By the end of the day, I had 18 of the 19 computers done with the final one being off-site. I’ll work on that tomorrow. Justin took me out to lunch with the other Justin to Chicago Pizza. In the afternoon, I worked in the HR office to install a new ID badge printer and software. I wrapped up a couple of loose ends in the office and headed out to exercise. I learned my lesson from yesterday and decided to dodge that stiff, cold breeze and instead I went to the mall to walk. I walked inside until I started to get sweaty and then did a lap outside, around the perimeter of the mall. I wound up getting in about three and a half miles. There were lots of walkers but not very many customers. I did notice that several of the old ads that were up on the walls had been removed. In addition, the helpdesk / customer service desk in the center of the mall had been removed. When I picked up Ann afterward, I was tired, sore and sweaty. Lola had made quite the mess in the kitchen, torn down the gate and was asleep on the couch…damn dog. We enjoyed a quiet evening with the dogs. Ann made spicy Fireworks popcorn with cheese for dinner and we watched several shows on the big screen that night. After a couple shows on the DVR (NCIS Hawaii and Oak Island), we flipped on Paramount + to watch the latest episodes of 1883 and SEAL Team. I was able to watch one more show (Beyond Oak Island) before falling asleep on the couch and heading on to bed. I was able to finish up editing pictures and videos for this week’s blog before calling it a night… Here are some random pictures from our recent adventures.

It snowed on and off all day on Thursday. It was even colder day. It started off cold because our water heater is on the fritz. I think that leak went on for a lot longer than we thought and I think it damaged the water heater because for the last several days, my shower has been hot for about 2 minutes and then slowly got cooler and cooler. At least we should be saving on water because our showers are much shorter now! ? It was another long day for both Ann & I. After working on other managers’ issues, Justin took me out for lunch again. This time we went to Riviera Maya where I enjoyed their street tacos – yum! I finally got to my own work in the afternoon and finally began working on my annual report. I got wrapped up in trying to reinstall programs on my computer later in the day and completely missed the opportunity to exercise. I ran Annie over to the hospital for her quarterly meeting and then returned to work to knock out most of the first chapter of my annual report. By the time we got home, Lola had torn down the gate again and made messes again in several areas. This time, she crapped in the family room. I was furious and made time that night to order a new dog gate. Apparently, she runs and jumps on the gate until she knocks it over. Those days are about to end… Abby went to work in Greenwood after staying the night with friends and then chose to stay up there again that evening. Luke had a fast day at school then went to track practice afterward again. That evening he worked out at the Y and then worked on another workout sale at the computer. We watched the Purdue / IU game and found myself screaming at the television. Between the horribly lopsided officiating (anyone say home court advantage?), the missed free throws and the inability of Coach Painter to put Edey back in at the end of the game after Williams continued to miss shots and turn the ball – it was inevitable that the Hoosiers upset the #4 Boilers on a last-second three-pointer by a bench player, who had a career-high game. Their defense was tough, but they weren’t calling many fouls against IU – especially in the first half. Ann & I both fell asleep watching DVR’d shows after the game but rather than going to bed when I woke up, I wound up playing on the computer and before I realized it, I had to force myself to go to bed at 2 am.

We enjoyed sleeping in a little on Friday, though not on purpose. Both Ann and I accidentally turned off our alarms instead of pressing snooze this morning. I was tired all day because of the lack of sleep. It was still spitting snow that morning as I took Ann to work via the Dunkin drive thru. I ran a couple errands before heading back to the house to work from home that day. I worked on my annual report and got through two chapters before picking up Ann. We grabbed lunch and I worked another couple hours before calling it quits. Ann & I both napped briefly that afternoon. Matt had a meeting, here in town and was hoping to swing by the house afterward. Unfortunately, time did not allow and he had to head back up for wresting practice. Abby left work a little early and went to Columbus to get her hair done by Ms. Jami. She stopped by the store for Ann, who need a couple supplies to cook dinner that night of chicken enchiladas and Mexican street corn – yum! ???? Luke had a quick day at school then went to the YMCA to workout for several hours again. When he got home that night, he was mad that the sound system in his car keeps messing up. He was ready to pull it all out and sell that night. Abby had her friend Daisy over for dinner, drinks and a few games of Sorry that evening. We had to buy replacement pawns and cards off eBay because ours are either lost or worn-out and we got to use them that evening. It doesn’t take much to get us excited around us – LOL! Abs played bartender, making a couple Moscow Mules, a couple whiskey sours with our new Bullet rye, and then a couple amaretto sours. In the end, Abs won the night – taking two out of three games while I won the other one. We have a ton of social media pictures to share this week.

The girls and I were up early and out the door on Saturday morning as we took Tonya up to see Matt coach in a big tournament in Mooresville. Matt and the Eagles came into the Paul Hadley Super 8 Invitational tourney 2-1 on the year. First up, they faced Southport and came out victorious, 69-52. Next up, Z-West smashed Owen Valley, 82-29. After a brief intermission, the Eagles were in a fight with Plainfield. Matt’s team was down like 0-42 before making a big run at the end and came from behind to win in stunning fashion, 60-48! Wow! That meant they won the Gold Pool and would face the winner of the Blue Pool, which was Columbus Central. Their match was neck and neck. No one had a lead of more than 6 points the whole way. It came down to the second to last match, which Z-West won and with the final forfeit, the kids went wild, winning 63-54 and taking the title and the trophy back to Zionsville! Matt would late say that it was his school’s first tournament win in nine years! Way to go, Coach Scheu!! ???? He and the kids enjoyed the moment with the parents for about ten minutes, posing with the trophy and having a good time. We let Matt do his thing with the kids and went our separate ways. He met us at the Moontown Brewery in Whitestown. It was their Whiskey Weekend. We had just missed their Barrel Aged Bash, a free concert the day before. They were celebrating the release of two bourbons under their Old ’55 line that weekend as well as serving their normal beers with a new twist – running them through the oak barrels to give them all a unique taste. I stayed away from the beers, but Ann and Matt had one, I think. Abs had a cider and their Dankarita. I stuck with the bourbon myself, starting off with a couple of their Wise Man cocktails – a whiskey sour with their Old ’55 single barrel and then we shared a couple pours of the bourbons. We wound up buying a bottle to bring home with us and opted for the 100-proof Bottled-in-Bond single barrel bourbon. I can’t wait to share some with Bryan and the guys! We enjoyed talking with Matthew for a while then had to say our good-byes and head home. It was sure good to see him and it was on the way home that I realized not only that I hate driving on the interstate (and could never drive up and back to Indy on a daily basis) but just how much we miss watching Luke wrestle this year… Speaking of him, he enjoyed sleeping in then went to the YMCA to work out for a while. Later, he went to the boys basketball game at the high school and then late that night, he went out to stay the night with Drew. We got home and jumped into our comfy clothes to watch playoff football that evening and keep warm. Although it was really cold that night, it was nothing compared to the guys playing in Green Bay, where it was below zero conditions on the field – brrr! Both games were close – tired right until the end. The Bengals defense got an INT with a minute left and then kicked a walk-off field goal to beat the Titans. The Niners defense blocked a field goal and scored a TD on a blocked punt to set up a walk-off field goal to beat the Packers. It only reinforced the idea that I’ve instilled in the kids that I’ve coached – including Luke…defense wins championships! And just like that – both number one seeds went down that night… Here are some pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.

Ann wound up sleeping in her chair until like 6 am on Sunday morning then came to bed and woke up the dogs. So, I got up with them. I had to pee anyhow, so I just stayed up. It was another cool day, but probably the warmest day of the week. It snowed about mid-morning for about an hour. It left us with a nice dusting and Delilah enjoyed running around in it. It quickly melted away and by the time the girls got moving, much of it was already gone… I did some chores around those like paying the bills, doing the dishes and then once Annie got up (almost noon!), I did the laundry as well. I watched a couple DVR’d shows like a classic episode of Star Trek from 1969 and the newest Ancient Aliens from Friday night. I watched Purdue host Northwestern. The #4 Boilers wound up taking care of business and beating the Wildcats by 20 points. While transferring pictures off my SD card, I somehow managed to delete all the files without saving them. So, I had to find a solution to recover the files, which I did. I settled on a nifty little program called Disk Drill that did the trick for me. I checked fluids in Barney and Black Betty, which both needed a little help. BB’s battery was dead, so I charged it that day and just left it on the auto-trickle charge setting overnight. The next NFL divisional playoff game started about mid-afternoon as the current champs (Tampa Bay) hosted Los Angeles. The Rams jumped out to a huge lead and the Bucs looked like they were dead in the water. But you can never count out Brady, and right on cue he brought them back and tied the game with only seconds left. However, they left too much time and with only tens of seconds, the Rams threw a pair of long passes to Cooper Cupp and just like both games yesterday, the visiting team (LA) kicked a walk-off field goal to win the game and send “Champa??? Bay home early – much to Robby’s chagrin. Meanwhile, Luke came home in the early afternoon after being up late and going to Shelbyville in the wee hours of the morning just to experience Waffle House at 3 am! Bryan made the kids a big breakfast / brunch before Luke came home to sleep several hours. When he woke up, he went to Grandma & Gigi’s house to swap cars (he has to drive to another college visit tomorrow) and then lifted weights at the Y for a few hours. That evening, I shredded cheese, Abby made margaritas with our new Teremana respado tequila (it was really good!) and Ann made spicy, cheesy Fireworks popcorn for dinner. We watched the final football game of the weekend that night as the Buffalo travelled to Kansas City as I finished editing pictures and videos as well as writing out this week’s HTML code and finishing up this week’s entry. The weekend of football ended on a high note. This game lived up to the hype, for sure. It was obvious from the start – whoever has the ball last will likely win the game. Both teams went up and down the field and there were several scores in the final minute and change. Just when it looked like the Chiefs were going to win, the Bills came back. Just when it looked like the Bills were going to win, the Chiefs came down the field with 13 seconds left and kicked a field goal to send the game to OT. Once KC won the coin flip, we knew the game was over. Sure enough, they came right down the field and won the game. What a great way to cap off an amazing weekend of football! Afterward, we finally finished the Law & Order: Organized Crime episode – the third time’s the charm! We then had time for one more show, so we watched Magnum PI as I tried finishing up the blog and call it a night. However, just like the way this day has gone, something went wrong and I couldn’t get into the blog page to edit it and so I opened a helpdesk ticket and will have to wait and see what they can do for me…

Next up is our Waybac section, which continues to feature photos from Dee’s digital camera from 2006. We lead off this week with more pix of the girls during their Chicago trip in March; Memorial Day weekend at our house in May; July has the County Fair and Grace’s birthday; August has the kids at WTRE during their Back-to-School Bash; in September we have a pic of both Abby’s birthday as well as Keith’s bday; there’s a few Thanxmas pix in November and then in December we have pix from the Owens family Christmas Eve as well as the girls enjoying a Spa Day.

Next up is our video segment, which features one short little home movie as well as a ton of videos from around the internet.

And that does it for this week’s entry into 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