Despite the kids having no sporting events we still had a fun, busy week here at the Scheu abode. Matt had a full week of classes at U Indy with Taylor. We did get to see him briefly this week, which is always nice. Abby had a busy week as she prepared for finals next week at Franklin, helped Ann at work and even came home one day as well. She is hoping to change rooms in order to be closer to her friends and Garrett. Luke was back to being a two-sport athlete as off-season football practices began this week and basketball season continued. He is in the midst of a weird stretch of the season where he only plays three ball games in two weeks. He also worked for WTRE, dressing as the Grinch and riding atop the Crossfire in the frigid weather this weekend. Ann is about five weeks out from knee replacement surgery and had her tooth repaired this week. We had our first Christmas party of the season with her work folks, which is always a fun one. I had another less-than-stellar week with my keto diet but still managed to at least maintain my weight – thanks in part to meeting my weekly exercise goal. Even though we had some challenging weather conditions, I managed to log fifteen miles of walking this week.
It was back to work and school for us on Monday morning. Matt & Abby began their final week of regular classes at their respective schools. Luke had a good day at school then had basketball practice. He stayed late to shoot extra free throws with Shiv before Gma picked them up. Ann & I had fast days at work then I walked a 5K at the mall due to the cold, wet conditions. Old Black Betty had a couple seizures on the way home – we narrowed it down to an electrical short associated with her new wiper motor. Once we turned off the wipers she was fine again. The writing is probably on the wall and end of life may be near for her. We stopped at Mr. Abrell’s house to pick-up photographs of Luke playing football this year. They turned out really well and we’ll share those on here next week. That evening Ann cooked creamy garlic herb chicken for dinner that really hit the spot on a cold night. Here are pictures of Luke’s basketball game vs. North Decatur last week.
Luke slept through football practice before school on Tuesday. That will be the last time he does that… The rain turned into snow overnight and it flurried all day. Ann slept in while I drove Black Betty in to work – she did fine as I kept the wipers turned off. We’ll be thankful to get the poor thing into the shop this week to see what’s going on with her. Ann went to the dentist and now she is officially the queen…she got a crown on her broken tooth! LOL!! Luke had a good day of school then went to basketball practice and again stayed late to shoot about a hundred free throws with Shiv. I had a slow day at work then walked an hour at the mall, getting in a little over three miles. Luke finished his driver’s ed online class so we celebrated by taking him to dinner at ElRep.
It continued to snow overnight and by morning, we were awakened by an early-morning phone call to say that Luke was on a two-hour delay for school due to the icy conditions. Ann & I had a slow, slippery commute into work but our days went by quickly and before I knew it, I was walking another three miles at the mall. Luke eventually went in to school and had basketball practice. We left a shade early from Columbus to get Ann home in time for her girls’ night out. They painted pottery then went to Pizza King for dinner. The government offices and the USPS were closed for a Day of Mourning in observance of George Bush’s death and funeral. Here are pictures of Luke’s basketball game vs. Rushville last week.
We had another cold start to our Thursday with temps in the twenties. We ran Black Betty into Jerry’s shop again. Luke had school and basketball practice. Ann & I had good days at work and I walked another three miles at the mall. Ann made buffalo chicken dip and roasted cayenne chick peas for me to take to Poker Night. It was our weekly boys’ night out at the Sunken Boat Bar. Although we had a smaller crowd (Bryan, Rick, Shawn & myself), we made up for it with a ton of food (jalapeno sausage, sausage in a blankets and shrimp with St Elmo’s cocktail sauce that nearly killed Bryan!), football (game sucked but Bryan had good tunes) and fun (cards & booze are my new favorite past time!). Bryan was the big wiener that night but I came home with more than I left with at least!
Apparently, I did a little too much Sailing last night with Jerry which made it difficult to motivate Friday morning. Luke went in early for football practice before school (but he forgot to tell the Wests what he was doing and they showed up to get him – sorry guys!!). He said he had a “boring??? day at school then went on to basketball practice. Ann & I had short, fast days at work. I walked two miles in the neighborhood on a chilly afternoon. My face was numb by the time I finished. I spoke to Jerry while exercising and he said he would need the car through the weekend. That evening, Ann & I went to her work’s Christmas party which was held again this year at Dan & Casey’s lake house, outside Columbus. It was as bear to get out there at night, but was well worth it. The setting is gorgeous out there. We had a great time with Dan, George and the girls as well as the rest of the office staff and their significant others – as usual. They had a huge meal catered by Blackerby’s (who also run the Hanger out at the airport). It was a huge Italian meal this year and we had a ton of leftovers. After a few cocktails and a bonfire, we enjoyed the annual white elephant gift exchange. We called it an early night due to the long drive home and Ann having to work early the next morning. Meanwhile, Luke & Shiv went to the varsity basketball game then he went to Pizza King with his friend Taylor. Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
I got up early on Saturday morning with the dogs before 5 am. Luke had fallen asleep on the couch, messing up Molly & Lola’s sleep routines. I got him up and sent him back to his bedroom and the dogs finally settled down. Ann wasn’t able to sleep in very long. Instead, she got up and headed over to Cornerstone Bakery before driving over to her annual event in Columbus that they now call Donuts with Santa. Abby & Garrett drove down from FC to help-out Ms. Ann. She had planned to return to campus with them and help move Abby out of Cline and into Elsey, but that plan got delayed by a couple days and so she came on home and got in a quick nap. I did weekly household chores and watched a couple movies. Luke slept till about noon then we got cleaned-up and helped Gigi with her annual Christmas Walk (parade) downtown. I drove the Crossfire and had Luke dressed as the Grinch riding on the trunk with the top down. It was fun but went way too fast. As we waited for the parade to start, we got in a couple pictures with a pony, Ms. Decatur County, the mayor and several kids came up and asked for pix as well. Gigi walked in front of us during the route, joined with Gracie – who was dressed as the ‘TRE Christmas tree. We got lots of good pictures (big thank you to Ann & Jamie for braving the weather and getting pix/vids) that we’ll share next week. Afterward, Luke went to the varsity basketball game and I went to bed super early, worn-out from the long day.
After sleeping like ten hours, I got up before the dawn on Sunday to make breakfast and watch a couple more movies while Ann & Luke slept-in. We got cleaned-up and when the kids came home from college, we all piled in Barney and drove out to the Bohman Tree Farm to have a family pictures taken by Farren Carlson (she’s the same photographer that did Abby’s senior pictures). We brought the dogs along with us, so it was a little challenging at times but they were good. When we got out there, we couldn’t find her. Come to find out, she had to leave due to falling ill. So, we drove back into town and dropped off the dogs before heading out to El Reparo for lunch. We took our time and enjoyed eating with just the five of us. I can’t remember the last time the five of us sat down as a family with just ourselves for a meal. There’s usually a friend or significant other with us. While we ate, Ann kept in touch with Farren who was thankfully feeling better. So, after lunch we picked up the pooches again and headed back out to the countryside. It is really pretty out there and the setting was very cool, up on a hill – overlooking the farm. This is the first time we’ve had pictures as a family since 2007 – almost eleven years and a month to the day. Afterward, we stopped by to see Gma & Gigi on our way back through town for a while. I ended up staying in the van with the dogs and watching the Colts game so Pixie wouldn’t have a conniption. We came home and said goodbye to the kids, who had to head back to school to study for finals starting tomorrow. We finally got a chance to flop on the couch, take naps and watch football while the dogs absolutely passed-out for a few hours – worn-out from their big adventure. The Colts won a big game over the division-leading Texans. The Saints clinched the NFC South title. But the big game was the Cowboys / Eagles face-off in the late game. Even though Dallas was in first place, they had to win to stay atop the NFC East. It promised to be a close game as it normally is… We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
Next up is our Waybac section which concludes our #16 photo album, which spanned the year 2003. Next week, I’ll have to break out #17 and fire up the scanner! We conclude with Matt at wrestling practice at the new Fieldhouse in February; Luke’s birth in Columbus in June; Abby’s birthday party at our home in September and Christmas with Mom & Dad in Rossville.
We end this entry with our video section which includes two new home movies this week as well as several from around the internet.
And that puts the kibosh on this episode 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. We miss ya, Momma…
Later, Scheu