We’ve enjoyed another fast week, here at the Scheu abode. The weather was weird – it was frigid then lovely then frigid again. It was a good week because we got to see all the kids this week. Matt had a good week – working from home in Carmel and coaching his Zionsville West wrestling team. We enjoyed seeing he and Taylor and taking them out to dinner. Abby had a full week of classes in Franklin as well as working part-time in Greenwood. We enjoyed seeing she and Will and taking out to dinner as well. Luke had to go to school all five days for the first time in a while. He did track workouts and lifted weights again this week but I don’t think we ever sat down with him and ate dinner at the same time as him somehow. As a father, I was proud to present him with his Man Card this weekend – where he was able to prove himself in the clutch! Ann and I had a full week of work. We enjoyed spending time with friends this week. It was a pretty busy week, so I didn’t even log five miles this week, so that needs to be better next week. But let’s be honest; this week was all about the build up to the biggest football game of the year – the Super Bowl! Even though we didn’t have a favorite team in the big game, we were still pulling for the team that plays its home games an hour away from us – Cincy. I had a powerful déjà vu early in the week. I looked out the kitchen window and swore it was fifteen or twenty years earlier. It looks just like the kids had been out running around in the snow out back…but then I realized it was just Delilah doing the running these days. But it sure made me smile and think back to those days… Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.
It was back to work and school for everyone on Monday morning. Luke enjoyed sleeping in for a while since school was on a two-hour delay. We were glad to see the roads were clear on our commute back over to Columbus. We were a little worried when we got off 46 in Hartsville and found the town’s streets were still ice and snow-covered. But as we rounded the turn out of town to come across the county roads, they cleared-up and were dry the whole way over to work. Ann & I both had fast mornings at work. Justin, Vic & I went to lunch at Mancino’s then went next door to Best Buy so that I could use my Geek Squad warranty on our Wi-Fi repeater. It died a week or so ago, but after replacing the router and still having issues, we finally identified that the repeater had died. I tried resetting it but it wouldn’t respond to anything I tried, so we returned it. I love that Geek Squad… The afternoon went equally fast for Ann, who answered phone calls up from for hours then rescheduled all her patients due to the office closing last week with the winter storm. I did some purchasing, moved a couple projects further along and did a couple of online classes that were due before calling it a day and heading out to go walk. I briefly considered walking outdoors but when I saw the “real feel??? was only in the teens, I decided to head over to the mall. I was a little late getting out and only managed about two and a half miles of exercise. There were about two dozen walkers that afternoon, compared to only about five customers in the stores – except the restaurants, which had folks in there. When Luke got home from school, Lola (or should I say Houdini?) was out of the kitchen again. That new gate just isn’t holding up to her jumping at it and eventually knocking it over – little shit! He worked out then went back to the high school to work with the Pirateers on some sort of routine that they’ll perform at halftime of this weekend’s basketball game. He said it was really bad right now…so we hope it gets better! LOL! Abby had trouble with Tonya this morning. She had to defrost it for the first time since the weather hit. Her door got stuck open and wouldn’t latch for several minutes. She was a little panicked but she eventually got it. She came to Columbus for an appointment and picked up some stuff from Ann, including her laptop that I got working last week. She went on to school and then went up to Greenwood to work later. Matt worked from home then went to Zionsville for wrestling practice, in prep of tomorrow night’s big inter-city matchup against their rival Junior High across town. Ann & I are planning to go up there to see him and pickup his tax materials as well. I was hoping to get our tax materials in so that we can file our taxes and get our return but found no love in the mailbox. Well, there was something – the latest vehicle from the Red Line Club – a metallic black ’68 Corvette Stingray. It is pretty sweet… We wound up having a find-your-own dinner night and watched a few shows on the big screen with the dogs. First, we watched the final two episodes of Reacher on Prime (excellent series) then I watched the next episode of the Book of Boba Fett on Disney+ while Ann read. Next, we watched another episode of Ozark on Netflix and when Ann went to bed, I watched an episode of Star Trek Discovery before calling it a night myself… Here are pictures of Luke’s photo shoot with Farren, back in September that were just recently released – pretty cool!
Tuesday morning came way to early. I ran out of time very quickly that morning even though Ann was running a little late. We ran out of the house that morning and I forgot the cameras. I wanted to take the camera bag so that we could get some good pix and vids of Matt, who we were planning to go watch coach that night. I had a stupid fast day. The morning absolutely flew. And after a long flash meeting with Jim and the senior management, Vic, the Justins and I went out for lunch at Riviera Maya in the mall. I ran into Advance afterward and picked up a bottle of anti-freeze for us to take with us that evening as we travelled up to see Matthew. The afternoon disappeared in some kind of voodoo trick; I think. I have no idea where it went. I spent 90% of my day helping others with their projects or computers or just helping in general to problem-solve. When Luke got home from school and track workouts, he grabbed his workout stuff and take his pre-workout supplements, he had to clean up the mess that Lola made in the kitchen. I had moved two chairs from the table and placed strategically in front of the gate – which worked…she did not escape that day…but she was pissed. There was a bag of recycles hanging off another chair and she decided to attack it and had thrown trash all around the room. When Luke sent us pictures of her mayhem, Ann decided then to go ahead and order her a crate. That way, her BS is contained to one area only. I picked up Annie and we headed an hour and a half north to Zionsville to watch Matt and the Z-West Eagles face off with Zionsville Middle School in the annual Battle of the Nest. When we walked in, Matt and the boys were down 0-40. From that point forward, they only gave up a handful of points and came charging back to win in dramatic fashion, 57-46! The boys and coaches were so excited!! ???? We sat with Taylor on the visitor’s side of the gym. It wasn’t long before Jake (my cousin Katie’s hubby). We caught up with him for a while, which was great. We certainly got our money’s worth, as we enjoyed about three hours of junior high wrestling because Matt’s program is so successful that he is able to have about 40 or 50 boys on his squad! So, after the varsity won, they had a ton of JV / exhibition matches so everyone who wanted to have a match was able to. Katie & Jake’s boy, Brody, wrestled for the home team against Matt. In fact, when it was time for Brody’s match, Matt had to step away and let his assistants coach because Matt was so torn. Brody looked great. He not only won his varsity match but also won an exhibition match later to go 2-0 on the day. We talked with him for a while after the meet and got lots of pictures of Matt and the boys with the cool trophy. It was Matt’s third straight time capturing the coveted trophy to bring it back to Z-West for another year. That makes him 3-0 in the “Nest??? meets. Afterward, we met up at The Friendly Tavern in downtown Zionsville. I had the Cajun catfish fillets that were outstanding. It matched well with a Bass Ale draft. Katie was about to join us while Jake stayed home with the kiddos. We ate and chatted for about an hour and enjoyed the atmosphere. We watched the #1 team in the nation (Auburn) get knocked off by an unranked team in a great college basketball game. We grudgingly said out goodbyes and had an uneventful ride home, getting settled in at home a little before midnight. We decided to stay up and try to watch a show but both fell asleep. I got up at some point but Annie didn’t make it back until about 3 am – LOL… Here are some random pictures from our recent adventures.
Wednesday morning came awfully early. Still, we made it into work on time. The roads have really begun to clear up nicely. In fact, it got pretty warm that day – about 40 or so – and that helped to melt the ice and snow quite a bit. Ya know, I had a good plan coming into the day – work on my monthly reports and do a little customer support here and there but stay focused on myself. Nope. Instead, I people coming out of the woodwork with different needs. I spent an hour putting away nursing supplies that weren’t supposed to be there until tomorrow. I had some purchasing stuff come up that I had to do for a little while. I spent about an hour looking up SDS stuff for a coworker’s report. Just before lunch, the State Fire Marshal walked in. It wasn’t our usual inspector – he wound up retiring last year apparently. The new one (Michele) was very nice and extremely knowledgeable and very…thorough! Normally it takes about 10 minutes or so but this one was about an hour. Justin & I went out to lunch at Great Wall to celebrate a good inspection. The afternoon was also non-stop. I never even had a chance to even OPEN a report to work on it. Instead, I spent the afternoon helping others with computers and purchasing and by the time I got out to walk, it was really late and I was completely out of the mood to exercise. Too bad, too, because it was gorgeous outside. The sun was shining, the wind was settled a little and much of the walking path had FINALLY defrosted. Still, I was done and ready to go home. So, I called Ann to see fi she was amenable to leaving and she was able to make some last-minute adjustments and call it a day. We came home and caught Luke in the driveway, getting ready to go work out at the Y. He said school was good and that he had practiced again for his dance routine with the Pirateers at halftime of this weekend’s basketball game. We’ve had season tickets for 12 years but haven’t used the gymnasium seats in several years. We might have to kick people out of them if there’s any kind of crowd. Luke was excited to achieve the coveted 505 lbs. on his squat workout that night! Wow!! I ran Annie out to Wings & Rings for ladies’ night with scrapbooking friends. I watched the #3 Boilers host the Bit Ten leading Illini in a very tough game. Illinois is tough as nails and has plenty of game. They sure came ready to play and the first half went back and forth with Illinois leading by two at the half. Painter and the staff made some great halftime adjustments and shut down the Illini, pulling away to win 84-68 and force a 3-way time for first place in the conference! I just hope they can hold on to it and finish the week with another couple W’s. It was truly a team effort that night. Obviously, the offense goes through the big men – Edey & Williams, but Stefanovic, Thompson, Gillis, Hunter, Morton & Furst all hit big shots at different parts of the game. But it was Jaden Ivey who took over in the 2nd half that was the difference in this game. We’ll enjoy watching him play for about another two months at Purdue and then he’ll be going on to the next level, I’m afraid… We watched some Olympic snowboarding and skiing before heading on to bed.
I had a little trouble with my snooze button on Thursday morning and slowly got out of bed that day. Ann popped right up, though, and we made it to work on time, thankfully. We had another fast day speed past us that day. It warmed nicely that day and melted most of the snow and ice that was left. There’s still some patchy stuff, but for the most part it is gone – for now. After another fast morning, the guys and I went out for lunch at Chicago’s Pizza for their lunch buffet. Justin bought us lunch, which was very kind. Lenny & I had a phone interview for another dietary worker. We have another one going through orientation. That’s two in a week! After going with zero respondents for nearly four years, it is a great sign that we are filling back up finally. I did another couple reports that afternoon before wrapping it up and calling it a day. I got out a little late, but the weather was nice enough to walk outdoors. I made great time, too, with a pace in the 17-minute range. I logged only two and a half miles, but it sure felt great to get out and move for a while, that’s for sure. We came home and Ann made us an amazing dinner that night. She had ordered a container of foods from Green BEAN over the weekend, so we have lots of great stuff – including what we had that night: steak, potatoes and spicy roasted green beans…yum! Meanwhile, Luke had school, lifted and then played on his PS4 all night. Abs and Will dealt with a little drama at school that Ann & I may need to help with at some point in the future. We’ll be interested to hear how it all plays out… Matt had another wrestling meet that night. Matt had to text us with the big news as Z-West improved to 14-1 on the year with a big win over Avon North, 78-35! We watched a few DVR’d shows as I edited pictures and videos and stayed up way too late doing it. I did get a chance to watch some of the Olympics, which was kind of cool. We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
I experienced a similar issue with my snooze button again on Friday morning…weird… LOL. Ann & I ran through Dunkin, I dropped her off at the downtown office, ran a couple errands and came back to work from home. I was able to get my Safety Committee report done from home. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten that report done in one day. It’ amazing what I dan get done when everybody just leaves me alone! ???? Besides a lovely sunrise that morning, we didn’t see the sun the rest of the day. In fact, it eventually rained for a while again. We still have a little bit of snow hanging on in a few spots of the yard and driveway. I cancelled the upcoming appointment at J & A Auto for the van, since Jerry seems to have cured the issue with the brakes. I called the bank and got the info I’ve been waiting to come in the mail (thanks Annie) and got our taxes filed that afternoon. When I picked up Ann, we were both hungry so we went to El Reparo for a margarita and tacos (I had the fish tacos – yum!). After finishing working that night, I worked on the blog while Ann took a long nap. Luke went to school that morning but left after working out in Advanced PE. He went to Columbus for a doctor appointment then came home to eat and recover from his time with the doctor. There’s a chance that he may not be allergic to nuts anymore. He will need to take a food challenge this summer to confirm, but the idea of that is quite comforting. He went to Greenwood with a football buddy later that afternoon then came home to work out with him at the YMCA. Later, he got cleaned-up and went with his buddies up to Ball State to see some friends. Ann made Fireworks popcorn for dinner as we watched a few different shows: Book of Boba Fett on Disney+, Ozark and Lost in Space on Netflix, Star Trek Discovery on Paramount+. Afterward, we flipped on NBC and watched some Olympics before flipping over to watch the new episode of Ancient Aliens on the History Channel, but couldn’t stay awake…
I felt pretty good when Lola was barking at the sun on Saturday morning, having slept over eight hours that night. I wrote out this week’s html code for the blog as I watched a few DVR’d shows. Ann eventually got up and got cleaned up. Shortly before noon, Abby came home to pick her up and they went to Darby’s baby shower in Mooresville. Luke & Brayden came in sometime late last night and enjoyed sleeping in that morning. Bray got up and went home while Luke played his PS4 then went out to lift at the Y. I had planned to hang a coat rack for Ann, but I never got around to it. Instead, I got cleaned-up and went to Columbus to do some HW hunting at the big Exit76 Flea Market for a couple hours. It was a very successful trip! I didn’t even get through a small portion of the place before it was time to leave. I drove up to Franklin, which from there was only about a 10-minute drive or so. I met up with Will and got a quick tour of the ??? house. I hadn’t been in that house in three decades…and even then, I don’t think I was ever sober when in there! LOL. It brought back a few memories that I hadn’t thought about in many, many years… The girls eventually got back to town from the Mooresville shower. Ann said Darby liked the gifts we got – not just for the baby, but Ann gave her a big bag of goodies for just momma – tequila, margarita mix, glasses and a shaker! We took the kids out for a quick dinner. Speaking of margaritas, we went just down the street to Mi Abuelito for Cadillac margs with Bu as well as a fish taco salad (for me) and some kind of cool dish served out of an actual half of a pineapple (for Ann). We enjoyed catching up with the kids but had to cut it short and head back to Greensburg. We said out goodbyes on campus and made our way through the cold, ice & snow. It snowed for several hours that day and there was less than a half inch of accumulation. We drove straight to the high school to watch the boys’ basketball game. Although they easily took care of Madison in the first half, it was the big halftime show that brought us out that night. Luke, Brayden and friends were dancing with the Pirateers for a special Valentine’s Day routine. It was pretty cool and everyone we talked to afterwards really got a kick out of it. Was it the best dancing the home crowd will see this year? No; but it was easily the most fun. Everyone was smiling afterward! We didn’t stick around to see the 2nd half and instead came home to warm up, kick back and relax for a bit. Luke came home to shower and change before heading out with his friends to Oldenburg to see a girl and her friends that he met last year during one of the Farren photo shoots. On their way back, we got a late phone call on the home phone. When you get a call on the home phone at that time, it’s never good. Come to find out, the Hot Rod Lincoln got a flat tire on I-74 on their way home. Luke really earned his Man Card that night. He changed his own tire in the freezing cold, in the pitch black, on the side of the interstate. I was so proud of him! ???? And I think he learned a lesson – no more cheap tires from Walmart – go to J & A or Five Points, young man!! You get what you pay for. That is the tire with fewest miles on it – he just had it installed less than a year ago. Thankfully, he got every home safely that night and we’ll deal with the tire next week. Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
It was a short night. Obviously, when your kids are out late – and especially when they have car trouble – you can’t sleep until you know they’re safe. Delilah, who had just been out at 230 with Ann, was up and barking at the sun at 730. I watched a few DVR’d shows and worked on the blog until Ann got up. I did a few household chores and finally got her coat hanger hung out in the laundry room…with a big assist from Luke – thanks, buddy! Luke eventually went out and got his tire fixed. Meanwhile, Ann & I took it easy by napping on and off while watching some shows, including Boba Fett on Disney+ and a couple episodes of the HBO+ mini-series called The Girl Before. Luke came home briefly to change and take his pre-workout then went to the YMCA to work out for a couple hours. That afternoon, we watched some of the five-hour pre-game show on NBC. It was snowing again when I ran out to Needlers to get the ingredients for Ann’s Italian sandwich. And by the time we packed up and headed out to the Sunken Boat Bar to watch the big game, it was still coming down pretty good and the temps continued to drop all night. Meanwhile, Luke hosted his own Super Bowl party, inviting a dozen or so boys over to watch the game. Ann ordered them a few pies from Pizza King to make sure they have plenty of food (a key factor for any good Super Bowl party). I brought my “stripper money??? in hopes that a poker game might break-out while we were at Bryan & Angie’s house. It was an exciting way to wrap up the weekend and fun way to bring to an end another great week for the Scheu fam…
Next up is our Waybac section which features a new batch of pictures. These are the first of what should last us through most of 2022. These are the ones Aunt Sue brought a couple years ago but that I only took possession of in December. This batch spans about 50 years and includes some great pictures – some that I’ve never seen before and will be sharing for the first time here. We lead off this week in with a picture dated April 6, 1945, with Granny on the 9th St porch with Sue and baby Chuck. It reads, “Taken on Chuck’s birthday of one month. Not so good of any of us but the others taken the same day are worse.??? LOL ???? Next is a good one of most of the gang. From circa May of 1951, it features the family on Highland Ave and shows Sue, Chuck, Tom, John and baby Sally with who I think may be Granny Deere. I’ll be doing some guesstimating on many of these pictures. Next is another good pic from about the same time period. Rather than being in front of the house, this one is on the driveway side of the home and has Granny Scheu with Chuck, Dad and Sally in ’51. The next photo is one I’ve seen before and has Uncle Chuck (age 8) in the inner tube and Dad (5) on the shore of Lake Michigan during their vacation in August 1953. Next up is a good one of the girls on June 5, 1960: Aunt Sue’s Baccalaureate, Aunt Sally’s Confirmation and Aunt Mary looking on. The next pic has Mary & Vicki that says on the back, “October 28, 1962, at Gaeden Wedding – Anniv. for Granny & Grandpa.??? Next, we see our first color pictures that I estimate to be about 1963 and I think it has Sally, Mary and maybe a friend as well. Next, we have a picture that reads, “December 27, 1964??? which has Mary and I believe Billy (could be David?). Next is an awesome picture of the Funkhouser kids (Jackie, Billy, Vicki) in 1966. Next are a couple of pictures from June 20, 1970 and has my first appearance as well as a good one of Mom at McCormick’s Creek State Park: Mary, me, Vicki, Dad, Mom & Granny…and then one of Vicki at the State Park’s hotel that evening. The next picture is one of my favorites and shows Granny with all her granddaughters, circa 1977 or so, I would guess: Jackie, Kimmy, Vicki and Cathy with Rita. Next, we have a picture of Steven with Granny (Gaga), behind the 9th St house on June 7, 1979. The next two pictures are of Granny Rita with her friends at Euchre Club (maybe?) in 1980. Then we fast-forward to what I estimate to be about 1989 of Granny and her girls on vacation to either Florida or maybe even California and has Sally, Chris, Mary, Granny & Sue. In 1992, we have Ryan’s birth announcement in July and then two great ones in November of much of the fam at Sally’s house for Thanksgiving. And then finally, we have Abby’s birth in September 1999 where Dad & Granny came down for and then a month later, we went up to see them – first at Granny’s retirement home, out off 52 and then out at Dad & Barb’s house, where we see several pix of Bu with her Great Grandma Scheu as well as Barbie and Matt.
Next up is our video segment which features one new home movie this week 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