We continued the sprint to the end of the year. This week went even faster than the last as our year will end in a flurry of activity. This week will pale in comparison to next and that will fall short of the following one. The weather was up and down. We had some rain and temps briefly hit the 60s but mostly we were in the 30s and 40s which prevented me from playing in frisbee golf this week. Matt continued working from home in Carmel during the day and coaching wrestling in Zionsville in the evening. It was good to see him this weekend for a few hours. Abby had a big week of tests and term papers this week as she wrapped up her classes. Now she just has Finals Week and she’ll be back home. She had a big week with her sorority and still managed to find time for friends and her boyfriend. It was good to see her for a few hours this weekend as well. Luke had school, lifted weights multiple times each day and worked a few days while still finding time to see his buddies this week. Ann continued to prep for her coming surgery and tie up loose ends before the end of her 2021 comes early next week. She spent a little time with friends and enjoyed a couple Christmas parties. I had a busy week at work as we continue to struggle with staffing, which is limiting our ability to admit patients. And now we had another quit in my kitchen. If you know someone who wants to work, please send them my way! With our busy schedule, lack of light and cold temperatures, I fell short of my weekly exercise goal with a little over eleven miles. I did get started back on my new diabetic meds which continued to help me bring my BG numbers down to normal levels. It is now dark when we head into work and it is dark when we get home as well. And although that means our days are super short, it has also provided us with gorgeous sunrises and sunsets! We enjoyed seeing all the kids as well as extended family this week, which is why we love this holiday season so much. Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.
It stormed and rained like crazy overnight and into Monday morning. Whereas it was about 60 when we went to bed, it was already down into the 40s when we left for work. By the time we got out of work it was in the 30s and by the time we went to bed that night, it was in the 20s. It definitely feels like Christmastime! It was back to work and school for everyone. Matt returned to his desk, staying cozy and working from home in Carmel. Abby completed a term paper and continued her hectic school schedule in Franklin, making time for the weekly sorority meeting that evening. Luke worked out with Coach Jackson in the morning, his teacher friend after school and then his buddies at the Y that night. Ann had a fast day, which is about all you can ask for when we talk about a Monday. I had a good day but had too many carbs for my Glucophage at lunch and paid for it that afternoon. I got out of work a little late and only managed to walk about two and a half miles that afternoon. It was bright and sunny when I got outside. It was nice in the parking lot, but by the time I got across the street and around the front of the Learning Center, that stiff wind out of the northwest smacked me in the face and I wished I was walking in the mall. That biting wind helped keep me at a brisk pace and wound up in the 16-minute rate. As the winter equinox approaches, we noticed that it is getting so dark early. By the time we got home, it was completely dark. We did our best to keep warm with the dogs on that evening. We watched Yellowstone and 911 in between MNF. It was nasty in Buffalo with 50 mph winds and snow. In fact, New England only threw ball 3 times and still won (damn Pats). I worked on procuring pictures for this week’s blog and backed up all the new pix and vids. I fell asleep early on the couch and instead of going to bed, I stayed up and kept editing pictures. By the time midnight rolled around, I had to force myself to go to bed while Ann again fell asleep in her chair and stayed in it most of the night… Here are pictures from last weekend’s Downtown Holiday Walk (Christmas parade) with Luke & Gigi.
Tuesday was a cold one. It started out in the low 20s and didn’t get much warmer. I think it was actually in the teens when we got to work – brrr! On our way into work, we decided that the next vehicle we buy will have a heated steering wheel! We had severe network issues that day, partially having to do with the AWS outage. I eventually found a workaround for a small number of users, but for hours, we were dead in the water. It’s funny how dependent upon these boxes our lives have become. I rolled out a new laptop for my boss Jim, but without a network, I couldn’t finish setting the damn thing up! The outage allowed me to get an early start to my afternoon walk. It was way below my outdoor exercise temperature threshold, so I headed over to the mall. I was disappointed to see there was no Santa this year. ? They had a few decorations out, but not as much as even last year. Still, there was a small crowd of people on the east end, where there were a dozen shops open – granted, three of them were things like Toys for Tots, the Love Chapel and something else similar. The west side was not only barren but I don’t think they even bothered to turn the heat on…which was fine with me. I got in a 5K before picking up Ms. Ann. She said she had a good day and didn’t experience the severe connectivity issues like we did. She had a couple things she wanted to pickup at the outlet mall, so we headed out that way to do some Christmas shopping. When we finished, it was already pitch-black outside. We contemplated coming the back roads that Abby takes, but instead we just went back into town and took our familiar route through the country. I still about missed a couple turns. Black Betty’s headlights are so dim – even with the brights on. By the time we got home, Luke had already worked out after school and was headed back out to go hit the weights at the YMCA. He took out the trash and recycles for us before taking off. I don’t even remember him coming home. I ate dinner on a find-your-own night and promptly fell asleep on the couch! When I woke up, Ann gave me shit for sleeping through another show…but when we put on the next one, she fell asleep – for the night! I see how you are, Annie! I should’ve gone to bed but stayed up instead and edited this week’s blog pictures. We have a couple good ones from the parade. I forced myself to go to bed at midnight. I woke up an Annie, but as usual she slept a few more hours in her chair before eventually coming on to bed in the wee hours of the morning…
Although we didn’t receive any precipitation overnight (Justin & Victor both had snow on their cars that morning), we did have a solid amount of frost on the windshields when we started the cars for work. Thankfully, our network issues were solved and we were back to normal – in fact, a little better than normal. The morning went fast as well as the afternoon as I got a good start to my list of monthly reports. I walked outdoors on a chilly afternoon. I got out a little late and only managed to walk a little over two and a half miles. I was fine by the time I finished, but for the first mile or so, I was questioning my decision… Ann and I came home and she cooked up a big pot of cheesy bacon & ham pasta with cheesy broccoli – yum! We took it easy that evening and watched some DVR’d shows. I worked on more pictures and videos and we both slept. Luke worked out at school then ate dinner at ElRep. Later, he lifted at the Y then came home. He talked with us a little bit about football. Seems there is some renewed interest in playing at the next level again. He talked a little about going to Manchester at some point with a couple buddies to go visit and talk to the coach. He also mentioned Franklin football as well…so who knows what he will decide. But I think we’ve already missed most of the college deadlines – though, to be honest, in the COVID era, I’m not sure that matters too much any longer… Delilah and I went to bed for a couple hours then she went to her pin when Ann came to bed at some point in the middle of the night. Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
Thursday was strangely warmer. We only need to warm up the van about 5 minutes that morning and it was good to go. It was in the 40s and 50s all day. I had a quick morning then picked up Annie and we went to see Jami to get haircuts. She was told a great story about how she was going to be the Hairdresser to the Stars that night! Turns out she received a referral for Ana Gasteyer, who was in Columbus for some kind of Broadway event. In fact, we felt a little special because she had been asked to do her hair twice (once that morning and once that evening), but she said she already had an appointment (us!). ???? We can’t wait to hear what Anna was like and what Jami thought of the experience. Justin bought Yee Kee for lunch and I ate a little too much house fried rice. I knocked out all but one of my reports that afternoon. I got out on time that afternoon and met my daily walking goal of three miles on a decent afternoon. When I came back to work earlier, it was sunny with blue skies. But by the time I got outside that afternoon, it was cloudy and windy…and was starting to cool down a little. Ann & I ran out to Rural King when we got back to town to get dog food and wound up with a cart full of other stuff. It was all good because we went to Needlers afterward and got supplies for card night. Ann was gracious enough to make that Italian sandwich that we all love. Luke had school and lifted before working a couple hours afterward then going to the girls’ basketball game. I flipped on the TV and watched the #1-ranked Boilermakers face Rutgers. They were big time underdogs. However, they came out on fire and played great the whole game. Purdue was just good – not great. They had the lead for most of the game and then with only three seconds or so left, Williams hit a jumper that put them up by one. Rutgers didn’t have any TO’s, so they inbounded the ball, dribbled to half court and threw up a prayer…….which was answered and just like that; the Boilers were no longer the #1 team in the nation. It was the first and last time (for now) in school history that they played as the top team in the nation. I don’t like them being ranked that high anyhow. I met up over at Mark’s house with Rick, Bryan & Bob for a night of poker, football, food and cocktails – not necessarily in that order…especially after that Purdue game. I was not a good person to be around after that occurred. I was pretty bummed and the fact that I lost $10 that night didn’t help either. I finished 2nd in the football pickup ‘ems as well, which netted me diddly squat. The food was good and the football game turned out to be pretty good in the 4th quarter. But that basketball took all the wind out of my sails and I was pretty much ready to go home and go to bed after that… Still, I had a good time razzing Bryan. He has a great beard, but it made him resemble Ted Cruz a little – LOL. We even had a new raise that evening that we dubbed the Ted Five. ???? I came home and was all set to watch a show that night. I sat down on the couch and of course I fell asleep. I got up a couple hours later (I had obviously been snoring badly because my mouth was dry and throat was sore) and drug my weary butt on to bed. We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
Friday was another warm day – unseasonably warm. It was in the 50s and I think it might’ve even gotten close to 60 eventually. Ann & I ran through Dunkin before I dropped her off at the downtown office. I ran a couple errands and then worked from home that morning in the family room / den. I completed the rest of my reports, including my EOC Safety Committee. I finished up shortly before it got dark and started raining. I ran a couple errands and came back to help Ann wrap Christmas presents. With her having surgery next week, we’re not sure how she’ll feel when it comes time to do our annual wrapping, so she had the idea to knock it out early. We didn’t have anything else going on that night, so it was all good. Plus, Luke was out of the house for a couple hours to go to the boys’ basketball game that night. It gets dark so early now…which I guess makes sense since the winter solstice is only a week or so away. I worked on the blog that evening in between helping Ms. Ann and her wrapping time. I was saddened to hear that not only had the Bronco’s receiver Demaryius Thomas (he won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning) passed away but also Big Al (Al Unser Sr). The 4-time Indy 500 winner finally lost his long battle with cancer. I hate cancer… And Michael Nesmith of the Monkees died as well…no wonder it rained that afternoon. Ann made spicy, cheesy Fireworks popcorn for dinner and we settled in to watch some of our favorite DVR’d shows. After the game, Luke and his friends came over to hang out in the family room. They were only back there for a half hour or so and Lola needed to go out. They were paying attention to her and she started shitting on the carpet. We had started a new dog food yesterday and it includes a probiotic in it. We think the combination of all the factors is what caused Lola’s accident. But she made quite the mess as her excrement was not fully formed. It took me about 10 minutes to get it cleaned up. Luke helped as well, which was pretty cool since he had a room full of boys with him. It smelled horrendous. We burned a candle for a while and put it out and that seemed to help. I think we got it all out of the carpet, but it was a mess. She stayed outdoors for about an hour until it began to storm. Delilah had to get a bath because her paws were packed with mud. It took me a little while to get her cleaned up and even longer to get the tub clean afterwards! Oakley updated his PS4 and then everyone went home before the sever weather blew in that night. We put the patio furniture cushions in the shed and took the glass out of the table and brought it inside. We took in several Xmas decorations from the front porch in preparation as well. There were reports of tornadic activity with the storm and it was slated to hit in the middle of the night. We tried to stay up late to see it come in, but we wound up going on to bed because we had to get up early the next morning. When we finally brought Lola back inside, she was relegated to the kitchen where if she had any more poop emergencies, they would be easier to clean-up. She wound up staying there for the rest of the night as well… Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
It was another early day for us on Saturday morning. Because we were afraid Lola would have another accident, we kept her locked in the kitchen. She disagreed with that decision and was up barking at 2 am. We tried ignoring her for almost an hour, but she only got louder and more persistent. I finally came out and gave her a swat on the ass and an ultimatum. Although she likely couldn’t even hear me, she understood my body language and she was fine the rest of the night. It stormed overnight, but the worst of it missed us, thankfully. The folks in Kentucky weren’t so lucky. Ann said she read that a tornado was on the ground for over 200 miles – the longest in US and likely world history. Luke worked at Hibbett’s that day. Ann & I went to Columbus. She had to have a COVID test in order for her to have surgery next week. Afterward, we went over to her work where the staff were setting up for their annual Donuts (or Cookies) with Santa. It was the first time for this event in two years as COVID cancelled it last December. This year looked a lot different. In years’ past, they held it as an area hotel. That day, it was held on the office grounds. They had a big tent setup and the parents would stay in their cars with the kids and enjoyed a “drive-through??? Santa experience. While Ann was busy with her crew, I went to my work and then ran a couple errands and did some HW hunting to burn time while waiting on her to finish. It poured on us on the way over. We drove right through the heart of a nasty storm. Poor Black Betty was not happy. By the time we finished at the drive through at the hospital and got Ann over to her work, it had stopped raining and was actually pretty nice. However, shortly after I dropped her off, clouds rolled back in and the wind kicked-up. In fact, it was so cold and hard that it completely disrupted Ann’s “Santa Experience.??? It blew over their tent and ripped off all their decorations. Still, they persevered and braved the elements to bring Santa to about 75 kiddos! I picked her up and we drove out to Dan & Casey’s house at Grandview Lake for Ann’s Christmas party. The docs had it catered with both brisket and ribs that were just great. One of the girls’ husbands (that owns the Cork liquor stores) brought a bottle of bourbon for George called Michter’s that was really good. The three of us had a couple drinks on the rocks while nibbling and chatting before eating. After dinner, we had to leave before they even exchanged gifts so that I could take her to meet up with Amy in town to resume her Christmas shopping. At her very first stop, she finally found us a liquor cabinet. She has been looking for several months – almost a year. We will have to go pick it up in Black Betty on Monday. I came home and charged Betty White’s battery so Jamie & Dee can borrow it to go pickup a new dryer. Meanwhile, Luke got up shortly after we left and went to work all day. He got home less than an hour after I did. He walked in the door and went straight to the refrigerator and grabbed leftover pasta. He was obviously one hungry boy – LOL! He got dressed up that night and went with his buddies out to Westport to crash somebody’s wedding reception. He had fun then spent the night at Oakley’s house that night. I did our weekly household chores and worked on the blog while Ann shopped with Ms. Amy. They got back late that night and Ann had her arms full of bags, so it looked like she was successful in her venture. WE caught up on each other’s days (let’s face it, she had much better stories than me) and watched a few DVR’d shows and mapped out our day for tomorrow. I spoke to Kimmy earlier and was excited to see she had retrieved the box of photographs that Aunt Sue had brought for me last year. As if I wasn’t already super excited, now I’m totally stoked!
The dogs were up with the sunrise on Sunday morning and let the whole house know about it. I got up and wrote out this week’s html code and wrapped up most of this week’s blog entry. Ann got up a little while later and Luke came home shortly after that. We got cleaned up and headed out the door to start our busy day. I don’t normally like leaving the house on Sundays, but today was different; I was actually looking forward to it – despite it being out of my normal routine. We first headed over to see Mom & Sandy, where we swapped cars for the day then headed up to Franklin to pickup Abby. After procuring Bu, we headed up to Indy to Kimmy & Chuck’s house for the big Scheu Family Christmas party. This year we had a smaller crowd than usual: Vicki, Billy, Blancha & their grandson and Jackie, Zack, Jazmin, Zec & Jace; Cathy; Dad & Barb, Ann & I, Matt, Abby & Luke; Sally & Scotty and later Chris, Trish, Joey & Jack; Barney & Steph, Haley & Parker, Emmett and Nick, Connor & Blake and of course Kimmy, Chuck, Brayden & Gavin. Kimmy had tons of food and spirits while Chuck grilled a whole tenderloin. We enjoyed watching the Cowboys win as well as the Purdue Boilermakers. We took some great pictures and visited with everyone for a few hours. I even took over tending bar a couple times. It was great to catch up with everyone but before we ready, we exchanged presents with Dad & Barbie and had to say our good-byes and head out. With 65 & 70 closed, we had to go through some sketchy areas of the downtown area. We made it back to FC safely to drop off Abby so she can study for Finals Week. We drove back to town and went straight to the high school for Luke’s football awards banquet. They had a decent turnout this year. It was nice to thank the coaches and congratulate the boys – especially the seniors that we’ve been with since 2nd and 3rd grade youth football. Luke was named MVP of the linebackers for the 2nd year in a row. He shared that honor with his one of his best friends – Oakley. In addition to that honor, Luke & Oak were also made All-Conference (EIAC)! How cool is it that our linebackers were the best in the entire conference! I already knew that they were playing at a high level since that’s what I was watching during the ball games. It’s just good to know that opposing coaches were as impressed as I was. Luke went out with Brayden for a couple hours after he dropped Ann & I off at home. Ann made spicy, cheesy Fireworks popcorn for dinner and we watched Yellowstone and Magnum PI while I finished up this week’s blog entry. We both called it an early night, worn out from the day’s excitement. It was a great way to wrap up the week and a relaxing way to cap off another weekend before start it all again tomorrow morning…
Next up is our Waybac section which continues to feature pictures from Deanna’s digital camera in 2006. This week, we start off in March with more pictures of the girls in Chicago; in May we have a bunch of great photos showing our Memorial Day weekend party; July has the Decatur Co fair and Grace’s birthday; in August, we see Gigi’s back-to-school bash at WTRE; September has Abby’s birthday party at our home; we have more Thanxmas pictures in November; and in December we see pictures from Christmas Eve and the girls having a spa day.
Next up is our video section which features one new home movie from this week.
And that does it for this week’s entry 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