We had a busy week speed past us since we last touched base. We saw Spring officially return this week. It won’t be long before all the trees, bushes and flowers will be in bloom, the grass will need mowed and we’ll all have seasonal allergies! St. Patrick’s Day came and went and I don’t think we even had an Irish meal, beer or whiskey. Luke enjoyed another week off from school. I think that makes four straight now? With Spring Break ending, he won’t know how to react when he returns to school tomorrow morning! He did work this week at a couple different jobs and spent a lot of time with friends. Abby had a full week of classes at FC. She’s got so much more confidence with her schedule and classes as she has put in a lot of time for her studies – and it looks good on her. She seems to really be back into the swing of things – and I think it helps that campus is starting to open up a little more with each passing week. She even went to a football game this weekend (FC along with the whole conference made the decision and stuck with it to move fall sports to the spring)! She has another week until her Spring Break begins this coming Friday. But it was Matt who topped them all by successfully completing another lap around the sun as we celebrated his quarter-century birthday. The fact that we have a child that is 25 is hard to beleive! Ann & I had fast weeks at work. We struggled a little with the time change. Although my weight stayed the same, my BG numbers began coming down despite not working out this week and only walking a couple miles. We spent time with our friends and family this week, which was good for our souls. The Big Dance began this week, which is something my friends and I have always enjoyed. Matt and I are in a couple bracket competitions as well, which always makes things even more interesting. There have been a lot of good games and a ton of upsets. I guess that’s why they call it March Madness! The cool thing is that they are playing all the tourney games at the historic gyms around the state: The Fieldhouse (Pacers), Lucas Oil (Colts), the State Fairgrounds Coliseum (Ice), Hinkle (Butler), Mackey (Purdue) and Assembly Hall (IU). The sad thing is that we have no teams in the Big Dance with the Boilers having another one-and-done performance. Oh well, I guess there’s always next year… Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Scheu Family Blog.
With the time change, the dogs slept later for us which is good…because, honestly, I had trouble getting up as well. I know I pressed snooze at least five times. It was different driving into work when it’s dark and getting to see the lovely sunrise behind us during our commute. The sky was a lovely hue of orange. It began raining during our ride over and there was even a rainbow! With the visible light in the orange/red spectrum, the rainbow was even colored differently. It was a typically fast Monday morning and before I knew it, Victor was brining me a Burger King burger for lunch (thanks bud). I stayed in my office and ignored emails and calls the best I could and forced myself to work on my annual report. I was happy with the outcome as I finished six chapters and now only have one more to go! I got a little caught up in what I was doing and when I looked at the clock all afternoon, I didn’t realize that I forgot to “spring forward.??? By the time I realized what time it really was, it was too late to go walking. I thought, well maybe I can do a quick lap around the college…but when I got outside, I was reminded that it was freaking cold again! The wind was wickedly powerful. It was last night and it still was that afternoon. We swung past Best Buy to pickup Matt’s birthday present for this weekend and headed on home. It had obviously rained all day as there was standing water everywhere, but at least the sky was dry. The clouds were dark and ominous still and the wind was still whipping when we got home. Although Columbus didn’t see any ice, Greensburg was full of it. It was on all the trees, street signs, powerlines, and parked vehicles. The temps continued to drop that night and it dipped under the freezing mark. But the wind was weird as it came out of the east and it actually got warmer as the night progressed! Luke spent the day with Brayden and the two of them came up with a business plan where they want to do yard work this summer. It is interesting but they have a lot to work out before taking too big of a leap. I applaud them for trying something…I just wish I weren’t bankrolling it – LOL. They want to use the truck and lawn tools and keep all the $$ – what the heck!? Ann made a healthy dinner of baked chicken, roasted veggies, and some yummy St. Patrick’s Day potatoes (they were actually green!??). We snuggled up with the dogs and blankets and watched American Idol. Luke went out with Brayden after dinner. They wound up at the bowling alley where they stunk it up – LOL. Brayden barely broke the century mark with a 101. Luke couldn’t even top that, rolling a meager 75. That night they went out driving around Decatur county. That night, we watched a new movie on the big screen that featured Sam from the Highlander series called SAS: Red Notice. Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
It was cold as hell on Tuesday morning. It was wet and foggy that morning. I had a busy morning. I was triple booked for an hour or so. I juggled a webinar, facilitating a tornado drill while also holding an orientation class. Justin and I had a new recruit in the office to help bolster our staff – something we really need right now. As he did his part, I jumped on a webinar and then went downstairs when the emergency sirens went off outside. We ran our annual drill to coincide with the statewide drill. Afterward, I did my part of orientation and then went to lunch with Justin, Vic, and the other Justin. It was Justin’s 36th birthday. Of all places, he wanted Snappy Tomato pizza buffet. When we got back, I got my paperwork caught up and finished updating my computer to the latest version of Win10 and did a little more of my annual report before it was time to leave for the day. It was warm enough to walk outside that afternoon and I did just that, logging about two miles before I picked up Ann and we headed 15 minutes up 31 to surprise Abby. She was out to dinner with her friends so we met her out at the Mexican restaurant just off campus. They pulled up a table so that we could set with her and her friends, including Garret, her grand little and two of Gary’s fraternity brothers. We had a margarita with our dinner and enjoyed laughing and enjoying stories about our two love birds from their friends. We ran next door to the liquor store and picked up a few things, including a bottle off the top shelf – literally. We had to get a ladder to get it down! It was a bottle I had been looking to buy for about a year or so, called Blackened. It is the Metallica whiskey (thus the name, from their 1988 tune). We dropped off the kids at FC, along with the white board that I had used for 20 years during my CPI trainings. Since I haven’t trained in several years, I told her she could have it for as long as she wants it. I was pissed when I found that someone had taken out the telescoping legs so now it has to be set on a table…grrr… Anyhow, we said goodbyes and came on home. Luke was out with friends in the truck when we got home. We got settled in and watched a couple DVR’d shows and wound down the evening, quietly, with the dogs.
It was another dark and cloudy drive over to Columbus on the morning of St. Patrick’s Day for Ann & I as we headed into work. It was pretty much overcast most of the day but did warm nicely to about 60 degrees. I had a long day at work. The boys drug me along to China Buffet for lunch but it was the gift that kept giving that afternoon. ? I did manage to finally finish my annual report, so that’s a load off my mind. Now I can move on to other projects that have been queued up for the past couple months. I got out of work late and asked Ann if she wanted to leave early. I probably should’ve walked at least a mile around campus but I was tired and over my day. I was ready to just go home and get in my comfy clothes…which is just what I did. I finished editing pictures and got them all renamed and got everything uploaded. Ann made Fireworks popcorn and cheese. We watched Oak Island and NCIS and then she read pretty much the rest of the evening so I watched a couple episodes of Dark on Netflix and then put on a new movie called News of the World with Tom Hanks that was quite entertaining. Luke helped Gma and Gigi for several hours that day, including building a rack to hold Sandy’s record collection. Later, he ran around in the truck that afternoon and evening. Later, he worked out at the Y and stayed the night at Kam’s house. We have a ton of social media pictures to share this week.
It was chilly and rainy on Thursday…and pretty much stayed that way all day. Ann & I both had fast days at work. The boys and I went to lunch at Mancino’s for a grinder before we had our monthly marathon meetings that afternoon. When we finished, I got changed and prepared to go walking. It was still cold, windy and raining so I headed to the mall. As I left, I texted Ann and asked what she was doing. She was ready to leave for the day, so I stopped at her work to pick her up and we headed home. We stopped at the big liquor store to see if we could find something for Bryan, but the things we were looking for were located out at the bigger store on the westside. We came back to town through the pouring rain and went to Walmart, where Ann had pre-ordered her shopping list earlier in the week on our way to work one morning. She got all the supplies for the two birthday parties this weekend – Bryan’s 50th and Matthew’s 25th. It was fast and easy – very cool! It stopped raining long enough for us to load the car and then unload it at home but started drizzling at home. Lola didn’t want anything to do with it. Molly just did her business on the porch (gross!) but Delilah loved it and ran around the yard like a banshee. ???? Abby texted me earlier and said coyly, “Don’t be mad at me…??? I thought for sure she had taken her stimulus check and blown it on a tattoo sleeve! Come to find out, she had just locked the keys in her car. Thankfully, Luke wasn’t busy today and was able to run up to Franklin and get her taken care of. He helped Gma again that day before going up to rescue his big sister. As a thank you, Bu took him to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Meanwhile, Ann & I got comfy and watched the NCAA tourney games and ordered dinner from Koch’s. We love that they now deliver! But they didn’t answer the phone and Chili’s didn’t deliver, so we decided to just pass and find our own. Instead, Luke ran through BK drive-thru and picked me up another Bacon King (what a sandwich!) and we watched the “First Four??? NCAA tourney games, which had two games each at Mackey Arena and Assembly Hall – which was kind of weird. Ann read, shopped and talked to Mom and Matt while I worked on the blog and my Led Zeppelin collection. Luke went back out to go lift that night. He said they wound up not lifting last night. He also said that Hibbett’s called him earlier that afternoon. They wanted him to work but he said no because of Abs. He said they wanted him to work tomorrow night as well and he said yes to it…
The dogs were squirrelly on Friday morning. I put them outside for about an hour as we got ready for work. It was chilly but the sun was out all day and it warmed nicely. We grabbed Dunkin as I dropped Ann off downtown while I came home to work at the desk in the family room. I met Luke as he was pulling out of Ryle He was in old Betty White with the yard tools and was headed over to Mr. Harris’ new property to do some work for him. I was surprised at home much I got done and even more surprised when Luke came home after only a couple hours of working. He was cold and tired after pulling out a couple of clothesline poles that would up having an excessive amount of concrete in the holes. He showed me a picture of a 2’ wide and 4’ deep hunk of concrete that he somehow lugged out of those holes – impressive! Unfortunately, in doing so he also broke my nice shovel. Thankfully, it was a Craftsman so I gave them a call and they’re shipping us out a new one. ???? Luke drove me in the Hot Rod Lincoln to go pick-up Ann in the hopes that she would want to go out for lunch. She did and we wound up at ElRep. We came home and Ann made a ton of food for Bryan’s party while I went back to work. Luke went to Davis & Daughters to get his oil changed. He was gone for nearly two hours and came back frustrated that he had been in line the whole time and never got in. He wanted me to go with him and man did I make the right choice… Apparently, they changed hands recently. I had no idea and haven’t been out there in a while. I told him to just make an appointment with Jerry, but he wasn’t interested. I wonder if he is now… I finished up with work late that afternoon and paid the bills. I hate paying bills. I finished up and turned on the NCAA games and was shocked to find my bracket already busted when Ohio State got upset by Oral Roberts. When I watched Tennessee get upset as well, I started to worry about Purdue’s chances as they faced the Mean Green of North Texas (a school I’ve never even heard of before) in a 4 vs. 13 matchup. Matt and I did a few brackets and not only have a league with an entry fee but also did a private one with just the two of us – loser has to buy the first round of drinks next time we go out. Luke went to work that night at Hibbett’s. Ann continued pre-making a ton of food for Bryan’s and Matt’s birthday parties. She really outdid herself. Her back and feet were hurting. Paul & I were texting and he wound up out at the bowling alley, just a mile from our house. We need to get together with those guys sometime soon, for sure… That evening, I watched in disbelief as Purdue forgot to show up for the first half of their bball game. Thankfully, Painter made some adjustments at halftime and the Baby Boilers battled back to tie the game and force OT in dramatic fashion. Unfortunately, they had nothing left in the gas tank in the overtime period and just like last week’s Michigan game in the Big Ten tourney, they were easily squashed. They forgot how to play defense, turned the ball over and couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives. …Very sad… Matt said he was cancelling his bday since he was no longer in the mood to celebrate with this historic letdown. This was the Mean Green’s first NCAA tourney victory. ? Afterward, I was so dejected that I turned off the basketball games. …Much to Ann’s delight! So, we watched a couple episodes of Men in Kilts. I fell asleep on the couch and went on to bed. Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
The dogs let us sleep in a little on Saturday. Still, when I got up with them, they had pee and poop in the kitchen – gross! Why don’t they wake us up BEFORE they do their business?? It was the first day of Spring and it was a lovely day that got all the way up into the upper 60s. I got an early start to the weekly household chores so I wouldn’t have to worry about it during Matt’s birthday party tomorrow. Ann got dressed and went out with Ms. Amy on their annual junkin’ trip around the southern Indiana county towns. I ran a few errands then came back and got Luke out of bed so that he could help me get Black Betty to Jerry’s and he could give me a lift back. We had to use the battery jumper as it was just under voltage to start. With the little extra boost, she fired right up. It smelled funny after setting for a few months. I didn’t get the battery cable back on the terminal tightly and it freaked out the car. As I tried to pull away, it had a seizure and died on the street. Thankfully, I hadn’t moved more than 25 feet away from the house! I put her neutral and pushed it back to the house. Luke tried again to get his oil changed but they still had one bay down and the line was out to the street so he came back home. By the time he got back, I had charged the battery, started her back up and let her warmup a few minutes before we tried to get across town again. This time we were successful. Hopefully Jerry can figure what the heck is going on with her and we can get back to driving her to work. Luke followed me out to J&A Auto then we tried again to change the oil but they were still too busy so we went on to lunch. He chose Taco Bell. It was the first time in months that we’d been allowed to go it and eat. We came home and I continued picking up the house and doing laundry and dishes while Luke showered and went into work at Hibbett’s. I finally put the March Madness tourney back on and watched a few games while listening to music at a level that Ann would not like while doing my chores. ???? Amy helped Ann carry in her new treasures and then just as quickly went on her way. Ann tried to nap but would up getting up to cook pre-cook everything. I ran out to get a gift bag for Bryan’s presents (a new bourbon for his collection called “Merica??? – a gag gift – and a bottle of the hard-to-find Metallica whiskey called “Blackened.???) and stopped in to see Luke for a few minutes at Hibbett’s while I was out there. By the time I got back, Ann had pretty much everything ready so we put on our birthday t-shirts and loaded up the Barneymobile and headed over to the Sunken Boat Bar. We got everything unloaded and Ann helped Angie & Kristy setup the food. The basement was decorated in a beach atmosphere and with the theme of “Turning 50 is a Beach.??? Ann made jalapeno popper dip, spicy sausage dip, buffalo chicken dip, veggies & dip and a ton of chips and pretzels. Angie made meatballs and Kristy made 4 trays of slider sandwiches. There was cookies and cupcakes and fruit as well. Brothers McGee played as well as various special guests. We laughed and caught up with everyone for several hours. After the majority of people left, we had just Bryan, Shawn, Conk, Rob, Bryan’s little brother and I. We sat around the fire pit and had a bourbon sipper and a stogie. We came in and had another sipper or two around the bar, laughing and telling stories. I finally had to call it a night a little after 4…
That damn Lola had us up early on Sunday morning. It was just a couple hours from when I went to bed ~ dumb dog… I got up and joined Ann with prepping the house for the fam to come over for Matt’s birthday party. Matt got home first and we enjoyed catching up with him. Abby & Gary got there about the time Mom, Sandy & Pixie did. Dee, Jamie & Grace also joined us a few minutes later. Mary Ewing made Matt’s cake again. It was a cool quarter cake for Matt turning a quarter century! His choice of meal was chicken fettuccine alfredo with overnight salad and garlic bread – yum! We horribly sang Happy Birthday to Matt in true death-march style. We gave Matt his birthday card and present – a new smart TV – that he wanted. We watched basketball games until everyone had to head their own ways – including Luke. He had to go to work at Hibbett’s that morning but got off early. He got here just after Gma & Gigi and Dee & Jamie left. His brother and sister hung around another hour or two before they went on their way. Luke ran out to the Messer’s to get a few things that we left out there last night. He got his oil changed and ran around with his buddies for a while that evening. He came to our rescue a couple times last night by brining us limes once and then picking up his mother later on. So, we funded his oil change and some new clothes that he wanted from Hibbett’s. I flipped between basketball and racing while I wrote out this week’s blog and html code while Annie read on her phone. She made cheesy popcorn for dinner and we continued watching the Bid Dance until I began falling asleep on the couch so I just went on to bed and called it a week.
Next up is our Waybac segment which continues to feature pictures off Deanna’s first digital camera in 2004. We lead off in April – Easter Day downtown with Mom & Sandy during a WTRE promo; June – Luke’s birthday with the big man having his cake and eating it too; July – 4th of July at Gma & Gigi’s house for lunch then later at our house for swimming, grilling and fireworks; as well as the Fair Parade over by Washington school and then the last night at the fairgrounds; also in July was Gracie’s birthday out at Dee & Chad’s first house and the Indy Blues Fest; August – we say hello to Minnie & Charlie at Mom & Sandy’s house; September – Abby’s birthday with some pinata fun in our Ryle St garage; November – Thanksgiving Day with Gma & Gigi and December – Christmas Eve on Main St.
Next up is our video section, which features one new home movie as well as several from around the internet.
And that does it for this week’s edition 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 and stay safe out there. We miss ya Mom.
Later, Scheu