Man, 2013 started off just like 2012 left off – go, go, go!!! Hello and welcome to another special double edition of the Scheu Family Blog. We ended the horrid 2012 (I honestly don’t think I could take another year like that…) with renewed hope for the next year that lies ahead. It is cliché, but it was truly a rollercoaster ride. We had exciting highs and we had the lowest of lows. Thankfully, we were able to spend quality time with both friends and just as a family. The kids were all involved in their sport of choice with mostly great results these first two weeks of the New Year. I wanna give a shout out to the kids for all of them making the A/B honor roll. I don’t know if that has ever happened before… Luke learned a 2nd language this week – mosquito! ??? We use this term when he gets a little wound up or overly emotional and doesn’t enunciate his words, making him quite difficult to understand…sounding like a mosquito buzzing. And congrats go out to my cousin’s daughter, Jasmine, on her announcement that she is having a baby!
Last Monday was New Year’s Eve. Luke & I went sledding down at the park and then came home and made a snowman in the front yard before it snowed again. Matt had wrestling practice in the AM. The girls ended up going shopping in Greenwood. That night, Matt spent the night out with his buddies while the rest of us (plus Abby’s good friend Kara) went out to Brian & Angie’s house to ring in the New Year. Ann made spinach & artichoke dip. Brian & I had a rum night – starting with Kraken spiced rum and finishing with Sailor Jerry. Brian & I won a couple games of Euchre, ate way too much and had a great time. Ann lost her ass at LCR, though swears that Lynn was cheating! LOL
On New Year’s Day, we bummed around the house – watching football all day on our last day of vacation. The Big Ten took it on the chin – especially Purdue who lost 58-14. I was shitty when I figured out I couldn’t watch it on TV (it was on ESPN U, which we no longer get – we used to when it was Insight but not as Com-crap). Thankfully, ESPN carried it online and so we were able to stream it on our computers. Of course it didn’t matter since the Boilers were blown out of the water…the only thing that made it better was Ann made Rebel Dogs for dinner – for better luck this year. We have lots of Facebook pictures this week, including Conner, Abby with kids at wrestling, Phyllis & Dick, the Burdines, Kathy at Disney, Monica, Karen’s grandkids, the boys of Zeppelin with the President, Purdue’s New Years Day game, Kels & Daniel, Annie, the forecast in Largo, Grace Potter, Abby & Lilo, and Abby on stage last year.
Wednesday was cold, cold, cold. It started in the low teens and never got much warmer as Ann & I headed back in to work. Abby & Luke had basketball practice and Matt had wrestling practice. We died that night… Thursday was just as cold. We had single digits to start the day. Abby again had basketball practice while Matt had a wrestling meet at home vs. Franklin County. It was senior night and they went out in style. Matt pinned his guy in the 2nd period and the Pirates won their dual meet 42-22!! Matt’s picture was online and there was a huge one in the paper! Luke ran off and was playing with his buddy Alex and gashed his head on some kind of metal mat mover. He got it pretty good…poor kid…good thing he’s still made of rubber.
Mom & Gigi got a new puppy on Friday, named Pixie Ann. She is very cute and very tiny. Matt took Abby to the varsity basketball game – they looked so grown up and mature…it was a little depressing and a little exhilarating all at the same time. The Pirates are still #1 in 3A basketball!! Matt loves that the snow is finally melting and can drive the Crossfire again! We were up early again on Saturday as we headed down to Nashville for Matt’s wrestling tourney at the Brown County Invitational. The team went 3-2 but just barely missed going 5-0 and capturing tourney championship by TWO POINTS! UGH! Yes, they had 2 one point, heartbreaking losses. As for Matt, he went 4-1 but got short-changed in his only loss at 220. First up was Oldenburg where we easily won 22-6. Matt received a forfeit. Next was Indianapolis Arlington. We again easily won 66-12. Matt faced a very good wrestler and lost a close match by 2 points. Matt had 3 takedowns in the 1st period that were not counted. You might hear me question those decisions on the video below. Next up was Indian Creek who we beat 39-31 and Matt had another forfeit. After that, we faced Northview who we lost to, 34-35. Matt won by decision. Last up was Brown County who also nipped us, 38-39. Matt ended his day with a pin!
Then on Sunday, I went with Luke to his basketball games in Liberty at Union Co. schools. The boys went 1-1 on the day and are 9-3 for the year. Up first, we faced Tri High and won easily, 32-7. Luke was 0-8 from the field with 5 turnovers but he grabbed 12 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, had a forced turnover and two fouls. In the 2nd game, we lost a tough one Knightstown 25-29 in a close game. Luke saw limited time, going 0-2 from field and 0-2 from the stripe with 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Ann went with Abby to her volleyball CYO league games at St Mary’s here in town. She went 1-1 with a few points as the only junior high school player on a high school team coached by Shawna and led by her three girls. She may be the youngest player in the league. Unfortunately, the camera took a crap on Ann while shooting Abby and now a weird colorful distortion appears on every picture. So we have begun the process of sending it in to Olympus for service…
I had a bad morning on Monday – it was cold and we had to defrost / scrape vehicles as the kids finally returned to school again. The van began screeching badly then stopped – it threw the serpentine belt so I had to have it towed. Not to worry, Matt had the Crossfire, so I took the truck. However, it also had to be scraped and jumped (it hadn’t run in a few weeks). Luke & I ran some errands around town before dropping him at school and heading to work. I had just texted Ann that I hope the tires held out, as I had not yet had a chance to get the spare replaced and wouldn’t you know it – I got about a mile off the bypass and blew out the spare. I had it on the front passenger side and the entire side wall blew out. I was lucky it happened during a straight portion of 46. I got it slowed down and pulled over and called Acra’s yet again for a tow. Thankfully, we have roadside assistance and Acra’s had a loaner for me, so I headed to work for a 3rd time and this time I finally made it! When I finally got to work, I found the State Police waiting for me…thankfully, they weren’t after me – I just had to review a tape with them. That night, I was thankful that Brian called and held a coaches meeting at his house for the National Championship – unfortunately, Notre Dame got stomped by Alabama and the game was a wash. Tuesday went much better! Although it was even colder – we had single digits to start the day. Luke had basketball, as did Bu. Matt had his final regular season dual meet at rival Batesville that evening. It was the first time that Ann & I had been in that gym, I believe. It was a great meet, going right down to the final match but in the end, the Bulldogs won by 10. Matt also had a close match as he won by only 2 points in an overtime match. It was Dennis’ birthday so we took him out to lunch at our favorite burger joint, Joe Willy’s.
Wednesday was another long day as after work I taught CPR at Ann’s work. Matt had wrestling practice and Abby had basketball. It was Jimmy Page’s 69th birthday. Thursday is a rainy day, melting the rest of the snow. It’s weird seeing green again after all the white we’ve had lately. Matt had wrestling practice and Luke had basketball practice. Abby missed basketball to do dance team at the junior high basketball game. She had several performances that night. Brian’s son played drums in the band. Luke’s name was drawn at halftime of the 7th grade game to go out and “Shoot for Loot!??? He showed no fear and trotted right down the stands and on to the floor to try a half court shot, a 3-pointer and then a free throw. He almost made the last two, but ended up missing them all. I was so proud of him going out there – it didn’t matter that he missed the shots; he had already won in my book. Way to go, little buddy!! Friday was another rainy morning. However, it was a nice afternoon. The snow is nearly completely gone…except for just a few nasty, dirty little piles here and there. I was late getting home and wasn’t able to go with Paul to the Greensburg/Batesville game. It was a very close game but Greensburg finally lost their first game to the rival Bulldogs. It dropped them to #3 in the state, being replaced with Brayton’s team in 3A basketball. Ann went scrapbooking, Abby had basketball practice and Matt had wrestling.
We were up early again on Saturday. Abby had dance team practice while we went with Matt to wrestling in Straughn, IN for the Tri High Super Duals with Northeastern, Alexandria, Daleville, TC Howe, Centerville and host Tri High. Our only loss was when we tied Alexandria and lost in tie breaker criteria (they had to go all the way to the 8th criteria!). This caused us to finish in a three way tie for first place. Again, they had to go to tie breaker criteria. Would you believe it again went all the way down to the 8th criteria to finally break the 3-way tie…and we won!! It was the first time in like seven years that Greensburg had won a tourney! Way to go, Pirate grapplers! Matt went 4-1, losing in yet another close, controversial match by 1 point. We even saw Sideshow Bob there! LOL 😉 We couldn’t believe it when we came out, it was nearly 70 degrees! Kenny got deer meat from Rihm family store, just down the road. We came home and got showered, changed and headed up to Indy at the Murat Temple for Grace Potter & the Nocturnals’ return to the Egyptian Room. They were amazing again! Langhorne Slim opened the show – not my cup of tea but play their style of music very well. It was a mix of high energy / hillbilly / punk genre. The GPN set list: Nothing But the Water 1&2, Hot Summer Night, Never Go Back, Ah Mary, Apologies, Parachute Heart, One Short Night, Stop the Bus, Colors, 2:22, Tiny Light, Lion Beast Beat, Paris; Encore: Stars, The Divide, Paint it Black. My fave? Tiny Light. It was a different experience from last year when we were in the front row. We got a bit of a late start then had a slow drive up due to it raining buckets. Then we had to go a different way in to town due to I65 having a wreck that closed the interstate. So, we stood next to the soundboard. The sound was great and the light show was really cool. What a great show. Thanks for another awesome Christmas present, honey! :0) Afterwards, I took my lovely wife out for a classy dinner – White Castle drive through in a scary part of Indy – in the pouring rain.
On Sunday, Luke had basketball in Connersville. Matt joined us, which Luke loved. Unfortunately, Luke only saw limited playing time in both games. First up was North Decatur. Luke had a few rebounds, a steal, and made his only shot – which was at the buzzer! We won 22-10. Next was #1 Connersville who destroyed us last game. This game we actually played with them, though we did come up short, 29-20. Poor Luke played only a few minutes of this game. I felt bad for him and a little disgruntled. This team is so good that it is hard to get playing time, but really wish the players would get equal time. His confidence was a little shook and he doesn’t understand why he doesn’t play more. We talked for a while at Burger King, where we stopped for dinner after the games, encouraging him to work really hard in practice to get better. Meanwhile, Abby played volleyball in Morris at St. Anthony’s. They won the first set but dropped the last two. Abby got a lot of playing time again and scored several points. I can’t wait until basketball season is over so I can watch her play.
Here is our video section for this entry. We have 11 new videos, including 4 from last week and 4 from this week; plus 3 from the Grace Potter show…
Our next section is the Shit Luke Says. As always, there were plenty to choose from, but the one that really made us laugh was just after the Colts had lost and we focused our attention on to Payton Manning and his Broncos. He really likes to watch Manning play, so he tried to figure out who he was facing. However, you can understand our initial confusion when he asked us, “Who is playing Densburg this week????? 😉
Next up is our Waybac section. We continue to feature the Gil Hutton collection. We start with another lovely sunset at the Twin Lakes in Monticello during the 60s; Sue & Hank’s wedding in 1961; Cathy in ’63; Judy in ’64; Cathy and Judy in ’64; David in ’65, Cathy & David in ’67; John & June in ’68; Cathy in ’70 and Steven in ’78.
And that brings us to the end of yet another entry. If you’ve actually made it this far, thank you for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up you next time. Until then, have a good one. We miss ya Mom…
Later, Scheu