What a fast week…we’ve enjoyed another memorable time, here at the Scheu abode – crossing yet another threshold in our family’s evolution. This one was a big one, for sure…even if it didn’t play out exactly as we planned… Matt began working for Z-West again, moving away from the mortgage career. We’re glad he tried while he was young and figured he could chalk it up to life experience while he figures out what he likes / dislikes to do for a vocation. Obviously, he does very well with kids – being a kid himself still. He is continuing with the job search, putting in resumes in a variety of places and going on interviews. He has still not ruled out a return to teaching, which is cool. It was great to see him and Taylor this weekend. Abby worked in Greenwood this week, commuting from home each day. She stayed in contact with Will in Europe, even though he was usually on the short end of the stick with calls in the middle of his night. We really enjoyed our weekend with her and look forward to entire summer like this one. Luke had a huge week with his graduation from high school and the next day, had his graduation party. With those two items, it was a special weekend that we’ll never forget. Again, it was a cool but it wasn’t without a little drama… Ann & I had a short work week but kept up with our professional responsibilities. I simply didn’t have time for much frisbee golf, logging only about ten miles of exercise but still got in seven rounds of frisbee golf. We enjoyed spending time with family and friends this week. Dad B & Lynn returned to town for an extended weekend, which was pretty cool. We even got to see Dad & Barb for a little while. The price of gas continues to rise, putting a crunch on our wallets since we still travel all the time. And it’s official now – we have a family of adults, everyone one out of school now. School is indeed out forever! It’s exciting and scary all at the same time as we have now entered into the next phase of our lives… Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.
We enjoyed sleeping in on Memorial Day. It was a bright, sunny, hot way to start the week. We did as little as possible, resting up for the busy week ahead of us. I put on the NASCAR races and USFL football games from the weekend. Ann read and napped while I finished up last week’s blog and napped. I swapped cars and talked to Mom. Sandy was working at the cemetery, doing a remote at the annual service. I fueled up the cars and spent way too much money. I can’t believe how expensive gas is right now…surely it can’t stay this high for long, right? Luke & I trimmed a couple branches off the tulip tree out back, which had some decent lumber for our fire pit, so I went out and cut up the bigger pieces, except for the biggest part, which I took my axe to and cut up. Although I wasn’t outside long, I was a sweaty mess when I came back inside. Abby slept in till after noon and then napped most of the day, catching up on her sleep. She started cleaning her room, later that evening. I pulled pictures together for this week’s blog and began editing them. We finished up watching Bosch Legacy (hated the cliffhanger, BTW!) over some delicious cheesy Fireworks popcorn that night. Afterward, we began binge-watching (and burning up the first half of the first season) of The Flight Attendant on HBO Max. As for Luke, we barely saw him again that day. He came home for a little while but went right back out with his buddies. I had to make myself go on to bed around midnight and put an end to a wonderfully, long weekend… Here are pictures from Abby’s New York trip last week.
It was back to work for Abby, Ann & I while Luke slept in. He eventually got up and went with his buddies over to Brookville for the day. They went kayaking all day and he was pretty sunburned, sore and tired by the time he got back home. Abby wound up swapping Barney for the Escape that day, which was really cool of Gma & Gigi because it was in the 90s that day and old Barney only has 2-70 A/C, if you know what I mean. ???? Ann & I had long, busy days as you can image, going back to work after being off four days. I caught up on paperwork, emails and even got a computer reimaged and out to an end user that morning. After a management meeting, I performed our monthly generator test and finished up paperwork on last week’s fire drill and did a little purchasing and put away stock from last week before pausing for a quick lunch from the cafeteria. I had a Joint Commission meeting that afternoon, as we gear up for another triennial inspection this fall. I had nothing to do in the meeting but listen to others as I already have all my shit together, thanks to all the inspections we’ve already been through this year. I finished up my monthly EOC rounds that afternoon before heading out to play a couple rounds of frisbee golf on the Airport Property…or as they’re trying to rebrand it now as the Columbus Airpark property. The guys put out semi-permanent reflective stakes made of a plastic/metal combination that were really nice. I played like crap on a hot but windy afternoon. I was pretty sweaty after shooting 3-over and 1-over par scores. I went into Ann’s work again to pickup the totes I had dropped off that morning, full of Abby’s clothing that she’s trying to get rid of. I thought we were selling it but apparently the gals just wanted it all gone and just gave it away. At least I didn’t have to carry it back into the house that evening. Ann & I went for slushies at Sonic again (something I’ve grown fond of recently) when we got back to town then went to Needlers to get stuff for dinner that night. We had cheeseburgers, tater tots and cheesy broccoli that night. As Ann got the tots going, I went out to the park and played another two rounds of frisbee golf. I was pretty rusty after not playing out there for like two weeks. I had a 4-under on the front 9 and a 2-under on the back 9. I wound up with about 4 ½ miles of exercise that day, which felt really great, I have to be honest. Abs and I cooked burgers on the grill and enjoyed a little porch time with a couple beers. Nothing like grilling burgers with ice-cold beers on a hot evening! Luke joined us just as we were coming in with the grub and we all sat down for a nice dinner. Ann spoke to Matt while I was gone and caught up with him for a bit. Turns out he is no longer working with Cathy and Fairway Mortgage. He decided that it just wasn’t working and he wasn’t happy with the vocation change. He has a couple leads on jobs and will work at Z-West for the summer. He is actively looking for something new and hope he finds something he likes. I look forward to talking with him at greater length when he comes home this weekend. That night, Ann & I continued binge-watching a couple more episodes of the Flight Attendant on HBO Max and fell asleep. I went back and replayed what we missed, but she fell back asleep again. I finished editing this week’s pictures and got the number trimmed down to a manageable 300 before I forced myself to go to bed around midnight again… Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
Wednesday was another busy day. Abs was up and out the door in the Escape since we didn’t hear anything from Jerry on her car (or Luke’s for that matter). Luke was supposed to cup up limbs for firewood at Gma & Gigi’s house, but the city had already picked up everything. Funny, we had outs out front two days prior to them and ours are still setting here, killing my grass… I’m not sure what he did that day, other than lift at the YMCA. Ann had a drug rep bring in lunch and she brought me home a leftover gallon of tea from McCallister’s – they have really good tea! She had meetings, dealt with patients and doctors and even worked up front a little while, making her day fly by. I enjoyed a slower day. It was an office day, mostly, for me. I caught up paperwork, took monthly inventory and began the process of ordering supplies for June. Justin decided he’d had enough of his diet and wanted to go out for lunch at the China Buff. Vic & I were happy to oblige. I was good, stopping after one plate (well…to be honest, it was piled three layers deep…oops). After balancing our credit card logs, I got out late that afternoon and only had time for one round of frisbee golf. As it turned out, it was all for the best. As I walked outside, the rain was just stopping. It only dripped a few times on me on the way to car and while I changed my shoes. By the time I got across the street to play, it had completely stopped. The ground was soaked, but I had a towel to dry off my discs, so it was all good. Even though it was 10 degrees cooler than yesterday, there was no breeze and the humidity was off the chain. I was a sweaty mess again afterward – thank God for A/C on the ride home! I had a couple slip ups early with a wet disc, but things dried quickly and I parred the final 6 holes, ending with a solid 29. When we got back to town, I dropped Ann off and went to the park to play more golf. Again, the wind was absent but the humidity was nearly unbearable. It was hard to breathe and I was sweating like I ran a marathon. I kept wiping off my forehead and hands / arms as much as I did my wet discs. I did pretty good but it could’ve been better. I had a 5-under on the front 9 and a 2-under on the back 9 to end with a 47 – my best score in about two weeks. Luke and I ate leftovers from yesterday while the girls had popcorn for dinner that night (spicy Fireworks popcorn – mmm!). Abs had Megan over for while to help her in her room and Alex even stopped in, but just long enough to say hi and grab his fishing poles from Luke’s room. Abby continued working on that room of hers until she fell asleep that night. As Ann read, I binge-watched the final four episodes of The Blacklist. Seems like they could go either way on another season. Things are wrapped up enough to wrap it up, but they also left a couple things open if they decided to come back for one more season. Personally, I think they jumped the shark even before they killed off the main character… I began watching the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney + but fell asleep during it. Rather than fighting it, I went on to bed.
Abby & I were up early for work on a wet, overcast Thursday morning, while Luke & Ann slept in. Abs drove back up to Greenwood while I worked from home at my desk in the family room. I know I’ve said it before, but I am so productive when I don’t have the constant interruptions. I was able to do all the month’s purchasing, make progress on a few projects and got through four of my monthly reports before calling it a day. They city began resurfacing the neighborhood. They did half the road, which allowed us to get in and out and work around them. It looked like it was gonna rain all morning but never did, which allowed Luke to sleep in and then get out and mow that afternoon. I finished up work and then went out and mowed the front yard. Bryan let us borrow a couple coolers for Luke’s party this weekend, so when he finished mowing, he ran out to Mesco and picked them up for me. When he got home, we went out to lunch at BK and sat down to talk for a bit. He helped me mow the backyard when we got home, which was nice. Afterward, he got cleaned-up and worked on downloading an update on his PS4. Meanwhile, I loaded Betty White back up and went over to Mom & Sandy’s house to mow. I spent a few minutes shooting the shit with the gals before heading home to get cleaned up in preparation of Dad & Lynn returning to town. While waiting on them, we watched another episode of the Flight Attendant to kill some time while I worked on the blog, writing out this week’s html code and edited this week’s video, which has a bunch of different clips. Ann “made??? Papa Johns’ pizzas for dinner, as Dad & Lynn were running really late that evening. They had stayed to eat dinner with Aunt Sharon before they left earlier that day. So, by the time they got to town, they got checked-in and went on to bed. Dad was feeling under the weather, so it’s probably best that they got rested up before the big weekend. Luke went out to Oakley’s house that night. Abby came home from work and went on to her room to continue cleaning that pigsty. Ann & I finished season 1 of the Flight Attendant and binge-watched a few season two episodes before finally heading to bed. We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
Abs beat me up and into the shower on Friday morning. She went on to work in Greenwood and then went to a birthday party in Franklin that evening before coming home that night. She returned the Escape to Gigi and brought Barney home for the weekend. Meanwhile, Ann & I went through Dunkin for breakfast. We tried to get stuff for Dad & Lynn, but they weren’t up yet. So, I dropped her off at the downtown office and I ran a few errands. I picked up 11 cases of different types of beer at CVS (who had a great sale but was out of most things I wanted) and then went out to Walmart for the rest. Well, I had to stop by the liquor store to get a 6-pack of Champagne Velvet for Dad Scheu. ???? I wanted to play a morning game of frisbee golf – something I’ve wanted to do for a while now. It was a beautiful morning with temps starting in the 50s. The conditions were ideal and I was so happy when I pulled in and saw how nice the park looked at that time of the morning. I swear to you now – I no sooner shut the car off and opened my door when I got a notification that someone was at the front door. I figured it was the street guys, who were finishing up the recoating of the road out in the neighborhood. Instead, it was Danny who popped in to install the new “smart??? doorknob and deadbolt set. It’s pretty cool so the kids will never be locked out again and there’s no risk of one of them dying of hypothermia because we can’t hear the doorbell going off continuously. So, I grudgingly closed the door and drove home. ? I “rescued??? Roomba, who was, “on a cliff??? and did a few small chores before getting started with putting together pictures for a slideshow at Luke’s grad party this weekend. It wound up taking me like 8 hours to cull all the pictures and wound up with approximately 1400 pictures (and a few key sports videos to boot!). I picked up Ann and met Dad & Lynn at Wings & Rings for lunch. They decided to stay at the Hampton Inn this time around since things will be a little complicated this weekend. It worked out well because Dad really needed the rest and was able to do that overnight. Kristin made us a couple cocktails and we enjoyed a nice meal with the old timers. We went back to the house and caught up with each other. Luke came home and pretty much went to bed. He got up a couple hours later and worked out at the YMCA. Before he left, he drove me out to J&A Auto to pickup Tonya for Abby. Thankfully, the starter was under warranty and it was a free replacement – so that was good news! Ann made dinner for us that evening. It was one of her family favorites – chicken, broccoli rice dish that really hit the spot. We nearly ate the entire casserole dish of it! Afterward, Luke went to Carriage on the Square for us to pickup some ice cream and wound having to wait for over a half hour for it. It was well worth the wait when he came back with 6 pints of different ice cream. It is so freaking good! Dad & Lynn left shortly afterward to rest up and ensure they make it in time tomorrow morning. Abs came home and chatted for a while before retreating with Delilah to her room. Ann & I watched a couple more episodes of The Flight Attendant and then I found the episode of FBI that had been banned a few weeks back due to all the recent shootings. I heard there was another mass shooting recently ~ what the hell is wrong with people these days? When Luke came back home from Oakley’s that night, he showered and went on to bed. I was pretty wound up that night but forced myself to go to bed around midnight. It’s hard to believe that in a just a few hours, we’ll have all our kids graduated from school. I guess school really is out forever…
Saturday was a long day. We were up earlier than even a normal workday to get everyone in the shower and ready in time for Luke’s high school commencement. I got ready early and ran over to Mom & Sandy’s house for Abby while the girls were still getting ready. She had left a few things in the Escape last night when she swapped vehicles. When I got back, Luke was just leaving in the truck. He talked with Mr. Green briefly, who gave him a grad card and he headed on his way over to see Gma & Gigi himself. Gigi was loaning him the Crossfire for the day, so he can tool around in a convertible on his big day. It wasn’t two minutes later and he was calling the house. Knowing his luck, I should’ve predicted something like this might happen. He had a flat tire and needed us to come pick him up at the bank, where he’d pulled over. So, Ann and I went and got him and delivered him to Mom & Sandy’s house and left the truck for later. We went on to the high school ourselves, where the doors were just opening when we pulled in. Although there was a line, it went pretty fast. Thankfully, we were able to get a spot for the grandparents in the front row and then we had space for the rest of the fam in the two rows behind that. We sat and chatted as everyone showed up, one by one. Matt came home and picked up Abby that morning. Mom & Sandy brought Jamie and Dad & Lynn came in from the hotel. Although there was plenty of room when we got there, by the time it started, we were packed in like sardines. It was pretty uncomfortable and by the time the two-hour ceremony ended, our butts were numb. Sandy (always the witty one) made a comment when I said I couldn’t feel my butt (“well I’m not gonna do it!???). LOL ???? There were 8 speakers (6 valedictorians and 2 salutatorians), which lengthened the ceremony a bit. There were several that received honors that stood when announced as well. What a talented class they have! Only one stunt was attempted (the old falling across the stage gag), and a couple PA hiccups (Bryan has been trying to upgrade that system and the one at the football field for ten years), but otherwise went off pretty well. There was no outage like Abby endured during her speech, thankfully…poor thing… There was a cool part in one speech by one of Luke’s buddies (Johnny), who mentioned Luke and Oakley (the two senior middle linebackers on the football team) in an anecdote about them “sandwiching??? him at a practice but how he was able to learn from it and be better for it. We met up with Luke and his friends and saw several of our friends outside afterwards and got lots of nice pictures. I can’t wait to share them all next week! We went to El Reparo, per Luke’s request, for lunch but they didn’t open until noon, so we had about a 30-minute wait. It actually went pretty quickly and then the owner actually opened about ten minutes early for us, which was cool. We had a kids table and a adults table, though Gma ended up sitting with the kids, which was cute. We enjoyed a couple pitchers of their homemade margaritas and enjoyed a big meal with everyone. Afterward, we went back to those and played several games of euchre – well everyone except Abby, who took an extended nap. Matt & Luke went out to change the tire on Betty White (I’ll have to get her into Jerry next week). It took them a little longer than expected but once they figured it out, they didn’t have any trouble and got it back home for us. What are the odds that he and his best friend Oakley would have both have flat tires that morning – and both be right rear tires?! Later, Ann & Lynn went to Walmart for some last-minute items for Luke’s party with Amy while Dad & I played Sandy & Matt in cards. It was the first time all day that we lost. But we joked that we owed Sandy a couple wins for loaning the Escape to Abby this week – lol. ???? Dad & Lynn left early, to head back to the hotel. Matt headed back up to Carmel about the same time, which allowed Ann, Bu and I to attend a couple grad parties that evening. We stopped at Pat & Shawna’s house first to see Mason. They had a nice little setup in their side yard with plenty of room and lots of good food and cold beer. I had to try the pulled pork, since Shawn had smoked it for them. As usual, it was delicious! We had a couple drinks and chatted with them before we were off to the next party at the Lowe’s. Alan & Christy had quite the party going for Ella when we got there. They had lots of stuff for little kids, Brothers McGee (Bryan & Rob) playing and of course a ton of food and beverages of every type. However, I was really there to see his new basement! He missed every card game for the last six months, working on this thing…and wow – did it impress! It really is a cool transformation. I can’t wait until he gets a poker table in there so we can come out here and hang out properly sometime! They had fried chicken that was outstanding. I hope ours is as good at Luke’s party tomorrow! We saw and chatted with several friends – both young (kids’ friends) and old (ours) that we enjoyed catching up with while listening to BM and enjoying a few adult beverages. We had a call it an early night since we had such a big day the next morning, so we said our goodbyes and headed out. We wound down at home while Abby called poor Will. It was the middle of the night when she called him. But he’s such a nice kid, he not only took the call but he stayed on the line for over an hour with her. We tried to watch a show that night but I didn’t even make it to the end and just went on to bed. Ann wasn’t far behind me and we both got a good night’s rest… Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
We slowly got up and got going on Sunday morning. I did some stuff with the blog while waking up with the dogs, early that morning, watching the sun come up. Once it was light, I got cleaned-up and began loading things into the truck for Luke’s graduation party at High Point Orchard. It is just outside town, next door to the Honda plant. But the way it’s situated, you can’t hear the highway nor the factory and you’d think you were ten miles outside of town. Kuyhlia and her husband have only owned it for a few years, but it looks great and I love the improvements they’ve done to the place. They are just staring out their young family and have decided to sell the business and move out closer to his folks’ farm. We got out there a few hours before the party to set up everything. Old Betty White looked like something out of the Beverly Hillbillies! I limped it out to HPO with the flashers on because I didn’t want anything to blow out or my load to shift. The girls joined me out there a few minutes later and we started getting everything set up for the big party. Matt & Taylor came along shortly and were huge helps to us. We had all 3 kids run a few errands for us to pickup stuff that we’d forgotten or omitted. We had everything ready in time for our first visitors (Phyllis & Dick Hellmich) …except for our food! Ann hired Koch’s to cater the event and they were supposed to be there a half hour before to have it all set up. She called when the event started and they said that they were having an issue with their equipment but that they could bring what they have and bring the sides and all the extra stuff (Ann had paid for setup, Sternos, flatware and plates. Another half hour went by and she called again. They said they’d be there by soon. When they eventually did show up, we were already halfway through the event. We had a hundred people that were ready to eat and had nothing for them except beer and cupcakes. What a shitshow! They only brought half of the chicken, no Sternos to keep the food warm (it was cold by the time it got to us), they forgot the rolls, they brought no serving utensils and there were no plates, napkins or silverware. Ann & Kristie (West, who was an enormous help – thank you!!!) got creative and used a strainer, a pie server a spaghetti utensil to allow them to serve the chicken, mac & cheese and green beans. The girls did dishes (they found a stack of glass ones in the kitchen) to help get the first few people eating something besides cupcakes. Ann sent Matt home to get stuff from home and when they eventually delivered the rest of the chicken, plates and silverware – things were already starting to wind down. ? Shitty Ann was not happy, to say the least. She would later go to Koch’s to pay them and have a “chat??? with the owner, but they were closed and so it’ll have to wait until Tuesday now. That might’ve been a little divine intervention, because she was hot, as you might expect. We had a great turnout to celebrate Lucas. I’d say there were a few hundred there. Nearly everyone we invited were able to attend – even though there were several other parties that day. We were hoping to get to a couple other ones but obviously that didn’t happen. It was great to see all the folks that came, including our good friends and our parents (Dad & Lynn, Dad & Barb, Mom & Sandy). Paul surprised us, coming from one ball game up north while headed to the next ballgame in Ohio! Another surprise was Laura Stoewer. It was great to catch up with her and hear what all my old friends are up to. I enjoyed seeing everyone, but honestly there was a lot of attendees that I didn’t know – especially Luke’s friends. Bryan & Angie and Bob all came a little later and stayed late to help us clean-up, which was very sweet. We are so thankful for our friends and their willingness to always help out. We got everything torn down and loaded up in the truck to bring home – including a ton of leftover chicken, cupcakes, beer and pudding (which we didn’t even order). I don’t think anyone even touched it because we didn’t know have a serving utensil nor even know it was there or what it was until we were cleaning up!). Matt & Taylor left the party and went on home because they had other plans. Abby & Ann tried to go to Kochs and took some items to Mom & Sandy’s house. Luke helped me unload a couple of heavy coolers then he took off to go to several other parties that day. He was lucky enough to have his Gigi allow him to drive the Crossfire for the weekend. He filled it up with gas and returned it later that night. Meanwhile, I began the long chore of unloading the truck and putting things in areas to be put away the next day. I pulled the coolers around back, along with the cornhole boards and set it all up for Luke & his friends that he wanted to have over later. When he got back home, he put the fire pit down towards the back of the yard and set a bunch of bag chairs around it. I had cut up firewood with the Sawzall for the fire that night. Dad & Lynn, Bryan & Angie and Ann & I were sitting out on the back porch and suddenly Drew showed up had brought a trailer filled with firewood. For whatever reason, Bryan decided that we needed a pile of firewood, which was incredibly kind but not out of character for him. We made several trips, stacking it behind the shed. There was so much of it! We have enough to last us about five years! Angie & Luke’s friend Blaine played Abby & I in a quick cornhole tourney, winning 2-1. Bryan & Angie left the “Heart Attack Hangout??? and left in their new Honda side-by-side. The joke is that during Matt’s graduation, we had them over to polish off the keg and a couple days later, I was hospitalized for a heart attack that had been going on for a few days. They were supposed to take stuff with them, but they left them here. Luke had several friends over that evening but we made them leave around midnight. They had a very competitive cornhole tourney and sat around the fire. The last game, Brayden & I faced Oakley & Owen for the title. Oakley hadn’t lost all night. We had them beat but Brayden threw a freak bag that bounced off one, wound up in the hole and sent us back to 13. We never recovered and lost a marathon game that easily lasted about an hour. We picked up a little out back, sent home most of the kids and then came inside with Oak & Brayden, who wound up staying the night with Luke. We noshed on some chicken, pudding, orange slices and cupcakes! ???? The kids stayed up to watch some late night Rick & Morty but I went on to bed, worn out from my long day…congrats, Lukey!
Next up is our Waybac section, which features our last set of pictures from Aunt Sue. It’s been so fun going through these old pictures – most of which I had never seen before. So, big thanks to Aunt Sue for sharing them with me. For the final round, we lead off in the 1940s, where we see Granny Rita & Gpa Pug’s wedding license from Dec ’41 and Aunt Sue with what I assume are likely Deerr cousins, circa ’43; the 1950s has one picture of Aunt Sue & Aunt Mary in Aug ’59; the 1960s has Aunt Mary & Billy in Dec ’64 as well as Billy’ school picture in approx. Sep ’69; the 1970s shows Cathy at her uncle’s studio in ’70, David in his Jets sweatshirt that he would eventually hand down to me and I wore that thing until it had holes in it. That’s back when the Jets were actually good! ???? Still in the 1970s: Uncle John with his new addition – Ms. Kimmy in Apr ’73, Kimmy’s 4th birthday at Granny’s house at 601 S. 9th St with Jackie (12 years old), Aunt Sue & Granny in Mar ’77 and Chris & Jason at Brown Co. State Park in in ’77; 1980s: my school pic from Sep 84 and one of my senior pics in Sep ’86; and then the 1990s: Haley’s birth announcement in May ’91, the Scheu family Xmas at Dad & Barb’s cabin in Dec ’93, Chris on Xmas morning in Dec ’93 and Nick’s birth announcement in Mar ’94…enjoy!
Next up is our video segment, which features one long 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 sure missed you this week, Momma…you would’ve been so proud of our baby…
Later, Scheu