Frozen Soul, Frozen Down to the Core

The big news of the week has been all the snow! The kids are in seventh heaven, being able to go out and play in it and getting school delayed or even cancelled. On Monday, it snowed and snowed. We ended up with about 4 inches of snow, so I had to finally dig out the snow shovel. They cancelled school. It was funny that every time the phone would ring, the kids would all shout in unison, �School is cancelled!!??? I spent the first half of my day at work just clearing the snow. We had three of us out there and we had to go over it all three times. Thankfully, we bought a new snow blower for work, so it helped immensely in the parking lot. We still did the walks by hand. We started the season with over a skid of salt and have nearly blown through a third of it already�and we�re not even in to January yet! With this snow and the forecast for cold weather, I think we may actually have a white Christmas this year!!!! Abby�s jazz class was also cancelled that evening. Matt attempted to watch his siblings but they had other ideas and ended up over at Grandma�s house before it was even lunchtime. We had a long talk at the dinner table (over a really good pork chop meal) about our expectations and how disappointed we were in how they acted. It was a good talk that went really well and set the tone for the rest of the week. Gigi brought over two computers from the station for me to work on. I tinkered with it the next two evenings and got it back in tip-top shape for her. That night and on in to Tuesday, the temp really started to drop. We woke up at 1 degree and a 2-hour delay. I took the kids to school and then headed on in to work. I am thankful my boss is cool enough to allow me to pretty much set my own schedule. Without her and the team of Mom / Sandy / Dee, we wouldn�t be able to do much of the activities we are allowed. We then turned around and left early from work to get home, pick up kids and head to East Central High School (about an hour�s drive) for Matt�s wrestling meet. Just as we got all the kids loaded in the car and was attempting to call Luke�s basketball coach to let him know we would miss it, I received a text from Matt who said that although I had spoken to the coach only an hour earlier and he assured me that Matt would have a match, he was letting me know that he would not be wrestling. We were all so let down because were geared up for the match. However, that did allow us to attend Luke�s basketball practice. Abby accompanied us again for his final practice of the season. She hung out in the game room with other kids she knew as I walked the track for the majority of practice. With about 15 minutes left to go, Bu grabbed me and made me whip up on her in air hockey (you know it�s true Ab!). We came home, freezing in our shorts (yes I know Mom), to a nice warm home with big bowls of popcorn�just the perfect thing for a chilly night� Wednesday was the only day that Ann & I actually carpooled this week, unfortunately. We were running so late that morning. I dropped off Gigi�s first computer and she was absolutely thrilled. I received a public thank you from her over the radio, which I thought was pretty cool. It was by far the coldest day of the week as temps bottomed out around five below that morning. Yikes! Luke and his class were scheduled to do Christmas caroling out in the community somewhere�I�m not sure if they got to do that or not� Speaking of Christmas spirit, Abby�s class adopted a needy family this year and Abby was selected to help go buy items for them, which she was thrilled about � and we are proud of her for. That evening, we had our annual all-staff Christmas party for CBC over at the Elks again. I went over a little early to help set up the place and was later joined by Ann. Linda & I were margarita buddies again that night. We had fun and even won a door prize � an electric, trash-talking dart board. We just need find a good place for it in the house now. My maintenance tech, JT, won a new, red Wii system. It started to snow just as we were leaving, so I was thankful I had my wonderful wife as a designated driver. My work friend Danny won an award and we all laughed our asses off, watching our co-worker Lou (near retirement) showing-up everyone on the dance floor! �oh and I have to thank Abby�s best friend Megan for my Rockin� Monkey!!! LOL!

On Thursday morning, we got a call early that the school was on a 2-hour delay�the only school in our area that wasn�t closed�but the phone rang again about a half hour later � and although we thought all the kids were sleeping, the shouted in unison once again, �School is cancelled!??? Sure enough, it was true. It had snowed again pretty good overnight and the roads were an absolute mess. I went ahead on in to work as Ann decided on her status. She eventually ended up staying home with the kids. I saw a few slide-offs and that darn van�s frontend is out of alignment and is a handful on the ice and snow, wanting to jerk back and forth. I left work early and took Abby & Luke out to the park to hit the snow hill. It took a little while to dig out the sleds from where we stuck them last year out in the garage. The only thing I asked Matt to do was take out the trash and shovel the snow. I guess 1 out of 2 isn�t too bad� While Matt was at wrestling, the kids and I froze our butts off on the snow hill. We had a blast for the most part. Ann & I tried to tell Luke to dress in layers but he didn�t listen. �well, about 15 minutes in to our outing, he decided he was too cold and had to go to the van. So I trudged over to the car with him and turned on the heater. Bu & I went down several times before he finally rejoined us. We all played for quite a while until Luke started crying and screaming about being cold and something about Abby and snow. That was the best I could decipher�each time I asked him what happened, he would begin crying again. Abby�s tap dance practice was cancelled, so when we got home, we didn�t leave the cozy house. I finished up Gig�s 2nd computer but advised her it needed some more RAM and would be good to go. She was very happy and I hope I get some Hot Wheels for my time! 😛

On Friday, all hell broke loose at work. It started off with Ann & I getting a wake up call at 5 am from Mom to say we were on a 2-hour delay. Ann went on in to work for a meeting while I stayed back with the kids. After running them to school, I headed in to work. My phone started ringing as soon as I pulled in to the parking lot as the vending folks were there to swap out our machines. It was pretty cold out that morning and it took us nearly two hours to get the old machines out and the new ones in because of it being such a tight squeeze. So I was pretty worn out by the time I got done eating lunch. But the day was only beginning. I was hoping to stay till about six or so to complete my monthly safety report. I didn�t even get a an eighth of it done when the fire alarm went off. I went downstairs and everyone was looking to me. I shrugged my shoulders and headed to the fire panel. We discovered that the air compressor had malfunctioned and smelled like it�s motor was toast. No sooner had we called the repair guys then we had a therapist come tell us that there was a leak in her office. JT crawled up in the attic and found that when the compressor died, it allowed water up in to our dry system that was obviously much too cold to handle that pressure and cracked an elbow. The water was everywhere in her office. We got the water shut off and drained out but not soon enough. Because of the type and age of the system, the pipe was not able to be repaired and we had to initiate a 24-hour fire watch through the weekend for the entire attic area, which meant a lot of extra work for the nursing staff. I did all the regulatory papers, called the fire department, created several forms and set up the fire watch. We also had an issue with our water that took several hours to figure out and will need to be addressed when next week. I finally got out of there about 10:30/11 pm. In the meantime, Ann bought food and drinks for the wrestlers, as it was our turn to provide for the team at Saturday�s tourney in Columbus. Abby spent the night at Aunt Deanna�s house with Gracie. We had a bunch of Christmas cards on the desk that evening, adding to our collection this year. We love the picture ones and we added a neat card from my old friend Dawnan (and her family)�s card as well as a couple from the Smiths: Uncle Dan & Aunt Sharon had a fun one and my cousin Katie & her family had a cute one as well. Luke�s class�s Letters to Santa were also published in the local newspaper, which was cute. Although I was exhausted from my extended work day, I was also wired and ended up getting my butt to bed around 3:30 (although I nodded off a few times on the couch)�

After a couple hours of sleep, Ann & I were right back up early on Saturday � about 5:30 � to get Matt over to the high school to catch the team bus and then hurried home to help Ann get everything packed up coolers and loaded in to the van. As I headed over to Columbus for Matt�s wrestling invitational, Ann got Luke ready for his last basketball game of the first session. Luke played the Heat again, which meant he got to play against his friend Seth. Luke continued to improve and wrapped up the first half of his season by getting 4 points on 2-for-7 shooting from the field. He also had 3 assists and 2 turnovers. Defense was his strong point again; he had 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers forced and another blocked shot! He handled the ball more this game and did a better job of protecting the rock. I am thankful that Seth�s sister, Alexis, volunteered to shoot video on our little camera; otherwise, I wouldn�t have been able to �see??? Lukey play. Even though they don�t keep score, our team obviously outscored Seth�s team. Afterwards, they received awards upstairs in the play room. We signed up Lucas for session two basketball in the new year and we are hopeful we will get Coach Simms again (we requested it) � Luke does well with consistency and he learned so much in such a short time.

While this was going on, I was at Columbus North, setting up all the food and drink that Ann had prepared. We had four coolers and several other items. Thank God the boys & the father of one of Matt�s friends on the team helped me carry in because it was a long haul and those coolers were heavy! In between the food, the tourney and the water issue at work, I was stressed out and grumpy. I couldn�t get my maintenance guy to return a call so in between matches, I had to run to work and take care of it myself, which I was not very happy about� But that day wasn�t about me, it was about Matthew�and he came to play. Before I get to his matches though, can I just state for the record how disappointed I was in the way Columbus North (a very rich school) set this invitational up? It was very unprofessional, disorganized and felt like I had set it up in my backyard the day before. They did not utilize the main gym, so they could not fit all four mats in the same location. There was not enough room for all the players and parents to sit. I ended up standing most of the time or setting on some folded mats down on the floor by Matt and his team. Ann, I think, stood the entire time. They had two mats set up in their wrestling room, upstairs and there was zero room up there. It was a mess�dark, cramped and not worth the price of admission, if you ask me. But back to Matt: The invitational was hosted by Columbus North and included Columbus East, Seymour, Connersville, Greensburg and Jennings County (North Vernon). Matt wrestled in all four rounds that day at 215. He had a chance to go 189 � but there was the usual log jam there and featured two other wrestlers already. He asked me what I thought and I told him he needed mat time; no matter what weight, he needed as much experience this year and next to prepare for his varsity years when he is a junior and senior. He was by far the smallest of that class of giants. Wait until you see the pictures and video; these guys are huge. However like the biblical story of David & Goliath, he had great success against the much larger opponents. His first match was against Seymour. He came out a little flat and got caught in a takedown attempt and ended up on the bottom. He fought and fought. In a sign of things to come, he was able to gain a point for an escape at the very end of the first period, which gave him the confidence that he would build off of the rest of the day. Ann said it was good that I mess around with him and that he practices with bigger guys, because this guy leaned on him the whole time. He eventually got a reversal and got the guy turned. As is the case with most of his matches, once he gets someone on their back, they don�t normally come back. This was not different and he pinned the man in the second period. Ann arrived in time for Matt�s second match against Jennings County, which they had faced at home a week or so ago. I was hurrying back from work and made it in just the nick of time myself. He again had his shot stuffed and was taken down. In a stroke of unusual happenings, Matt made a mistake and was placed in a cradle, which likely would�ve been tough to get out of; however the opponent had locked his hands too early and was called for it and Matt was given a reprieve. He took full advantage of his second chance, fought hard again to get a reversal with a nice sit-out and put the big dude on his back, where it was just a matter of time before he pinned him as well. In his third match, Matt again faced Jennings County. In all the other matches (and how it is normally), they call your name two matches early to give you time to get to the proper mat, stretch, get pumped up, etc. In this case, he went straight from walking upstairs to the matt and went straight on it and started wrestling. I was right behind him and I actually missed the first part of his match. I couldn�t believe they had started already! Matt was caught off guard and was totally out of his routine, finding himself unprepared. He barely survived the 1st period, ending up on his back but able to make it through to the whistle. He wasn�t as lucky the second period, as he was taken down, smashed to his back (he was absolutely manhandled by this guy!) and pinned. Poor Matt couldn�t breathe and was nearly choked out. Luckily he was pinned before he passed out. He was pretty mad afterwards that he didn�t fight harder but I encouraged him that he did the best thing. There was no way he was going to get out of that hold and it was useless to blow out all his energy in a losing effort, as he still had a fourth match to consider yet. He faced Seymour again in the fourth and final match. This one was finally downstairs in the little gym (the previous three up in the stinky, dank wrestling room). He did not have a coach for this match (they were already at other matches at the same moment), so he turned to me and asked if I�d sit in. I was thrilled he asked me and proud that he had enough faith in me to be the interim for his match. Both guys were pretty worn out by this point in the day. It was pretty close all the way and was his first match to go in to the third period that day. It looked like Matt may get beaten by points. But you could see at one moment in the final period � he got this look on his face, gave out a primal growl and was just tenacious, out-hustling the bigger man and again scoring a reversal and turned him on his back. Again, Matt overwhelmed the young man and he could not get off his back before Matt earned yet another pin!! He really worked hard for all three of his victories today and you could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew he had given it his all and we were all proud of his effort that day�

Abby stayed with Gracie for most of Saturday and in to Saturday night, as they went out to visit with Grandma & Grandpa Buchanan. Matt was pooped, as you might expect, afterwards and he pretty much vegged on the couch and played Xbox the rest of the day and night. Luke came with me after wrestling and helped me to get 30 cases of water and a couple 3 gallon jugs for work. He bugged me the entire ride back to Greensburg to take him sledding so I agreed to drive him there but he�d have to go by himself. Ann laughed and said that I needed to take my hat and gloves, which I begrudgingly. I was content to sit in the van and take pictures. Ally was there with her husband and kids. Luke played with Kayden & Kyren for about an hour. They had a blast and I finally had to jump in for a couple passes down the hill. 😛 We were going good when the green slide broke on us. Now we�ve (I�ve) broken both sleds in concurrent years. Both sleds are still usable but maybe it�s time that the old man quit acting like he�s 15 and quit breaking the kids� toys. We stayed out for about 2 hours and only came home once were cold and it was dark outside. Purdue won again, beating Indiana State. They are currently ranked #17 on the Coach�s Poll and #19 on the AP poll. On Sunday, Grandpa & Grandma Scheu came to visit. It was the first time in several years that they had been down to visit. It was so good to see them and the kids mauled them for most of the visit. Ann made a coffee cake and we had a nice conversation, catching each other up on events from the past year. We missed the Scheu Christmas Reunion at John & June�s, which was held on this past Friday. I guess it was way down in attendance this year�kind of sad�we always have such a good time at the annual event. We had a little gift exchange at home, but forgot to get a group picture. 🙁 We ended up going out to eat at El Reparo, a Mexican restaurant. We ate like kings and laughed a lot. I love their 40 oz margaritas! After dinner we said our good-byes and they headed back up north, much to our chagrin. It wasn�t an hour or so later that we heard the sound of jingle bells on the front porch. Abby opened the door to find Santa Claus had come to see the kids, baring gifts. Luke was napping in his bed when Santa woke him up. The look on his face was priceless! Luke had a blast with Santa�s visit. The other kids were gracious as well. I�ll have pictures and videos next week of both visits�I�m outta time this week. Later that afternoon, we watched an exciting Colts game that was a must-win for them and the Cowboys also won in a squeaker over the evil Redskins. If the Colts win next week against Oakland and then the following week vs. the Titans, they�re in the playoffs, win the AFC South and host the first game!

Here are this weeks� videos:

Let�s take a look at the a few quick Waybac pictures � Christmas (well, mostly) Edition:
Leading off this week we have three from Dad O�s slide collection from the mid-fifties, including a Christmas tree, a man in front of a house (likely his brother in front of their family�s home??) and a man climbing up a hill next to a water fountain (Clifty Falls?); then we have two crops of Mom at Aunt Dorothy�s house on Christmas in 1961 (Mom, that looks like Kathy next to you, but the years don�t match up � so I have to believe that is a young Peggy with Debbie and Aunt Marilou perhaps on the couch as well???); next are a couple pictures of me on Christmas in 1972 in Lafayette on Shortridge � opening up my beloved garage that I played with until it fell apart; then a couple crops of Mom & I in late November, 1973 with my new Santa coloring book (Ann & I got the biggest kick out of my face � it is a dead ringer for Lukey�s�good God if I was half the terror this child is, I apologize Mother�); and then one more from November 1973 with Mom B and I in the same location � Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown�s dining room.

Next up we have a couple pictures from Grandmaw & Grandpaw�s living room on the dreaded �davenport??? � first is Mom with Dad B during our first trip back to Indiana from Cali in January of �80 and then later that year in October with Rob & I and Great Grandpaw Morgan; next is Rob on Silver during Christmas of 1981 in our living room on Rockwood in LP; then Rob & I with Nathan & Katie in our backyard in July of �82 (the thermometer shows 100 degrees!); then a couple crops of Rob & I in October of �82 in our living room in LP; a couple crops of Rob with the rest of us at the annual birthday bash � this time in Kokomo in early November of �82; next are a couple shots of Rob with Santa (at the Moose??) in December of �82 and finally a family picture of Kenny, Becky, Chris & Ally, circa �82.

Our next section takes us into the following decade: Christmas Day dinner with our family in the dining room on Rockwood; three pictures of the Bryan Christmas in Kokomo (Katie & Dad; Dad, Dan & Sharon; and Sharon, Rob & Dad) from roughly 1994; a couple of the Brown Christmas in the basement of the dream house in Rossville with Aunt Marilou & Mom and then Rob with some new undies from about the same year; that is followed by a couple pictures of the Bryan Christmas in the same house, upstairs but a year later: Nathan, Deena Marie, Katie & Rob; then all the boys � Nate, Rob, Dad, Dan & Vird; then the Bryan Christmas the following year in about �96 with the elder tribesmen: Dad, Dan & Vird; Mom, Dad & Rob and then all the gals: Mom, Sharon, Kate, Deena Marie & Belinda; then a couple crops of our young family in Disney World, circa �99; me at Mom O�s house on Christmas Eve; and then Matt & I in our Main St home on Christmas Day, circa 1999.

We wrap up this section with a slew of pictures from the new millennium, so here we go: the first batch is from about 2000 – Mom, Dad & Chad at our dining room table on Christmas, Abby with Santa, our outdoor Christmas tree on Main St., Matt being a little shy with Santa and Mom, Ann w/ Bu the couch slayer with her future victim and finally Matt as a power ranger on Halloween, prepping for the costume contest up on the square, here in G�burg; then the next year we have: Bu in her high chair on Main St., a couple crops of Mom, Dad, Gigi and Matt on Christmas in our living room, Ann opening presents, Dad & Gigi, Mom O with Mom B, Matt stuck again in the dining room chair near Christmas (that boy wouldn�t listen!) and finally Bu on her little rocking horse in the dining room; and then we end in 2003 with Ann & newborn Lukey in June and then Abby with Gracie & I, putting together a bunch of littlest pet shop or similar on her birthday in the living room of our current home (I miss that soft, warm carpet � but this new flooring looks so much nicer).

Well that wraps up another edition of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keep up with us this time out and we�ll catch you up next time. Until then have a good one.
Later, Scheu