Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

Well, it didn�t take long for us to get right back in to our busy routine. The kids have finally settled in to the school routine and are starting to have homework. We kicked things off on Monday night (literally) with Luke back to soccer, Matt back to football and Abby back to her two dance classes. We received a bunch of great photos from Aunt Sharon. I have to share a couple of my favorites�

On Tuesday, we headed down south to Aurora to watch Matt play South Dearborn. Historically, these guys have had our number. While we were there, I received a phone call from the other coach on Abby�s team who was covering practice. He said that he had broken his ankle but his wife would help out, as needed. Mrs. Barnes ran Tuesday�s practice and I am very thankful she is willing to help, as I will miss one practice each week for the rest of the year. As for the game, the Pirates hammered the Squires. Our coaching staff finally �called off the dogs� midway through the 4th quarter. By then, the final score was already determined, 28-6. Matt started at center and took all the snaps. Matt did his job very well, having zero issues with the center-QB exchange. He also did well with protection in the middle. His friend Bryce (who is the starting MLB and b/u center) was injured early in the second quarter. This was a good news / bad news scenario for him. Obviously, he didn�t want his friend to be hurt, but it did allow him to pick up the rest of the defensive snaps in his absence as well as play special teams. However, once the coach remembered that Matt now had no backup, he was relegated back to only center�much to Matt�s chagrin because he really wants to play on the defensive side of the ball. On one play, they blitzed up the middle and Matt had to dive to get a piece of the guy, only to hyperextend his shoulder. To his credit, he stayed in and played through the pain, but Ann and I had flashbacks to wrestling season!

On Wednesday, I finally caught up with my old friend Allen Smith, who returned from Burbank last week after taping the latest season of The Biggest Loser. He looked great!! He lost not only a small man, but about 10 years�he really looks good. I am so proud of him. He has taped a couple work out videos already! 😛 He will make one more video to complete his obligation to NBC. He has inspired our staff at CBC and Valle Vista to start our own weight-loss competition at work. It was good to talk to him after not seeing him the entire summer. He still works in our department, but we have two new guys working there since the last time he was at work!! He is excited to get back home and get back to a somewhat normal routine again.

On Thursday; Luke, Abby and I went out to the soccer fields for a couple hours. As Luke started practice, Abby and I went over and started warming up. A couple of her teammates were an hour early as well, also having siblings with an early practice. We ended up running around in the 90+ degree weather and then Luke joined us for Abby�s practice, so all three of us were a sweaty, tired mess by the time we headed home. Matt rode his bike down to the fields from home to come and help. Mrs. Barnes was also a big help when I started to get frustrated with the kids getting a little rambunctious. I think they�ll be doing a little more running this week to help keep them focused. 😛 On Friday, I worked late to wrap up a long week that saw us undertaking a huge capital project of bolstering our security by replacing most of the doors in the facility. It has been huge to coordinate and there were several issues that delayed the contractors� progress this week. I also found out when my first survey as the EoC guy will be; September 11th � Patriot Day. So, I�m a little nervous; but Dennis came in this day to help with settling my nerves and to straighten out a few loose ends. It was good to see him and talk about some of the things he�s seen already in his short tenure at the corporate office of PSI. It was tough for him to be in Reno, on Lake Tahoe – let me tell ya! I love razzin� him about that! 😛 On the way home, I picked up pizzas for dinner at Papa John�s, put on a movie (Ice Age 3) and I think everyone was asleep on the couches by 9:30! 🙂

Saturday was game day for the two little ones. Abby was up first. She played goalie for the first half of the game, only giving up one goal that was kicked about 20 feet in the air from about 50� out!! It was an incredible shot to see a kid in U10 making a shot like that!! We were again outclassed all game long. They beat us to loose balls, kept the ball on our end of the field most of the game and were able to dribble and pass like our defense was Swiss cheese. 🙁 We only had 1 shot on goal the entire game. They were again bigger, faster and stronger than us. To their credit, the kids never gave up and kept fighting the entire time�despite getting trampled 4-0. The Sunman / Dearborn coach mercilessly sat his three best players the entire last quarter. That was a really classy thing to do� Luke’s game was next. I love watching this age “compete” in games; they’re so innocent. After Luke practiced as goalie this week, he never go the chance, which is fine with him because he loves to run. He had 2 shots on goal, but couldn’t score in his only chance at forward. He was relegated to defense for the 2nd quarter. He sat out the entire 3rd quarter and then had to sit again for 7 of the 8 minutes of the final quarter. I started to say something to the coach in the middle of the game, but decided it was best left for practice when emotions aren’t running so high…God I’m getting old… Poor Lukey thought the coach was mad at him. I think it was an honest mistake, but I owe to Luke to bring it to his attention. After the game, we went to Buffalo Wings and Rings (which didn’t agree with Abby…but that’s another story, best left for another day…) and then headed over to the Columbus Lowe�s to look at a new refrigerator and dish washer. Ann really likes the stainless steel ones, so we�re looking at a Whirlpool Gold and a Samsung. They are very nice. We like the side-by-side ones with ice / water in the door and the freezer on the bottom. We had trouble deciding which one to buy; but we will need one quickly (probably this week). Ann called me on Friday afternoon, stating she had come home to find that the freezer door had been left open all day by one of the kids, essentially ruining a couple hundred dollars worth of food. It has done that to us a few times recently. If anyone shuts the fridge door too hard, the freezer pops open. It is about 15 years old, has a few other issues with it and we really don�t want to sink money in to this old of an appliance. I�m going to talk with one of my friends who works at Lowe�s to see what kind of a deal he can get me, so we�ll see� We had fun playing a long game of Scrabble and nearly bottomless bowls of Ann’s popcorn. Ann & Matt ganged up on me again and Ann managed to squeak another game out.

The kids helped Ann and I to clean up the house on Sunday. It really looked nice by the time the NASCAR race started. What a crazy race, we loved watching them continually wrecking in the rain!! That was really cool! The kids braved the 58� weather to go out and play in the early afternoon. It only warmed up in to the mid-sixties, but that was warm enough for them to jump in the pool at least one more time. I thought they were crazy, but those kids love that pool. They played about 30 minutes and then got real quiet. Ann couldn�t find them and went outside to find them huddled together in towels on the porch, basking in the sun. 🙂 This may have been their last dip in the pool…historically, we have always closed the pool on Labor Day weekend… Ann has been looking at getting our Westie (Lola) a friend, with which to play. We are hoping to find a black Scottie. She spoke with a guy up in Muncie a couple times this weekend, so we�ll see how that plays out… The kids would love it; I just wonder what Lola would think�

We have a few more Waybac pictures left to share this week from our current stash of pix. The first one here is from a group of old pictures received via email from one of Ann�s cousins. This one looks a lot like MaryAnn holding a large dog. However, it dates back to the early 30�s and is Ann�s Great Grandma Morrison holding a lamb. 🙂

Here�s another old, b & w photo; this time from 1951. I think Sue sent me this one a few years ago. It features the first five Scheumann kids along with Granny Deerr…

Here we fast forward to Christmas of �89 at our LaPorte home. I think this may have been the first year without Grandmaw Brown�Mom, is that correct?

Next, we go one year later to pick up another silly picture of our good friend Natalie from her excursion with Ann and friends to Florida for Spring Break 1990. 😛 Love ya Nat!!

Here is a cool one from June of 1991 with my little bro Rob, just after my college graduation ceremony. We came back to the ??? house for a couple rounds to celebrate!! I think I still have that Zeppelin poster out in the garage somewhere. 😛

Here we are back at home a little later in the same month, a day after my graduation party!! What a party it was!!!

Here is another of Rob and I, this time in Ann & I�s Columbus apartment in 1994. Looks like we just woke up after a long night.

And we wrap up this edition with a cool-ass picture of Kyle Petty�s Hot Wheels Harley. I was lucky enough to sit behind Dale Earnhardt�s pits at the Brickyard 400 back in August of 1998 when it was still held on Saturdays. I never did see Kyle outside the car, but I do have a bunch of other pictures of the 44 car, along with the 24 car before the flames when it still had rainbows. I�ll have to dig those out sometime.

That�ll do it for this edition. Thanks for keeping up with us and we�ll catch ya next time. Until then, have a good one. Later, Scheu