We endured our first full work week of the new year since we last touched base. We enjoyed spending some time with friends and family this week. College football ended as the Big Ten basketball season kicked into high gear. And the NFL playoffs began this weekend which means that the NASCAR season is just around the corner. Abby’s good friend Britney had her baby this week and I’m happy to report that both mama and baby are doing well. Matthew had a busy week with working from home in Carmel and coaching wrestling in Zionsville 6 out of 7 days this week. They had seven dual meets this week and came out with a winning record and lots of experience for his young team. We were hoping to see him this weekend but that didn’t work out, unfortunately. Abby continued working in Greenwood and coming home most nights. She did find time to spend with her friends this weekend and spent a couple nights in Franklin. Luke had a big week. He began the process again this week of applying for the Greensburg Fire Department. It is a lengthy process that takes several months to complete…and I thought the on-boarding at my work took forever! It was nice to see his transformation this week. Granted, he has been committed to staying in shape but he’s got that fire back in his belly and is more committed than ever to make the force this year. His plan is to be a firefighter for his main occupation but to also have a side business of doing handyman-type jobs for folks around the surrounding counties. He wants to do inside as well as outside work / odd jobs for folks and has put his recent earnings back into his business, upgrading and adding tools. Ann had a good week at work, staying busy with her days going by fast. I had a long week at work, trying to focus on doing 2022 reports but still having to support the staff’s needs and still keep up with all of my regular tasks and responsibilities…all the while making sure that I have met all the 2022 regulations and setting up the 2023 program and getting all that paperwork / files ready. It is quite the process that I won’t complete until sometime towards the end of February. I enjoyed spending a little time with friends and got back out on the disc golf course. I logged just over 6 miles of exercise this week, falling way short of my goal. My dietary goals fell equally short as well this week. I again enjoyed five rounds of golf but was limited due to my schedule and the weather. I still haven’t gotten out to the Greensburg course yet this year, but the weather may be good enough to get out there this coming week. We continue to wait on our new dishwasher from Lowe’s – it’s been nearly two months now. We might need to give our dishwasher boy a raise if things don’t change soon – LOL! Hello and welcome to the latest chapter of the Scheu Family Blog.
We were up early and on the road on Monday morning for Ann’s meeting with her boss and the boys. I finished up purchasing and got all the paperwork finished and signed. After our management meeting with Jim, Brent and I got to talking and we were over our fasting so we went down to the cafeteria and grabbed a quick bite to eat. We were good, eating soup, salad & grilled cheese. I finally started my monthly reports that afternoon then hit the links to play some golf. The wind was weird again, blowing out of the south and southeast at times. Still, I was pretty locked-in and just happy to be throwing my discs. I played without gloves the first round and managed a par but had trouble keeping my hands warm with that biting wind. So, when I began the 2nd round, I put on my gloves and felt much better. It took me a couple holes to get used to them again, but then I settled in and I finished as the sun was beginning to set. I walked to the van, feeling good about having finished with a par on the day. Ann & I stopped at Needlers to get supplies for her pitch-in lunch tomorrow and to make burgers for dinner that night. Abby had a fast day at work in Greenwood then helped Ann in the kitchen that night. Luke got his fire department application put together and turned it in, as he will begin the process again. He said there aren’t nearly as many applicants this time around, compared to his first time around. After dinner, we turned on the National Championship game to watch Georgia thump TCU. It was never a game after about five minutes. It was total domination. I struggled to stay awake but toughed it out. By the time the 4th quarter rolled around, the Bulldogs were up by 60 and so we finally turned it off. Georgia would wind up 15-0 on the season and back-to-back champs of the BCS. Instead, I put on last night’s Purdue game vs. Penn St. After a slow start, Edey & Smith took over the game in the 2nd half and the Boilers pulled away down the stretch and were able to run their record to 15-1. Although they will likely lose the #1 ranking tomorrow, this week has been a good one from them. They played in a really cool building called the Palestra in Philadelphia. It had so many cool historical things that the announcers touched on throughout the broadcast. It was really loud and looked like a really cool atmosphere that night. Here are some random pictures from our recent adventures.
When I woke up on Tuesday morning, I initially thought it was Thursday, so I was a little disappointed that my week was just beginning instead of ending – LOL! It was a little lighter on our way into work and unlike yesterday where there were no cars in the parking lot when we got to Ann’s work, it was full that morning. I got through several reports that day as well as my annual review with Jim and even interviewed a guy for our open dietary position. We shouldn’t have had an opening since we just filled it…except our new recruit came to the first day of orientation and then never came back. This guy walked in off the street. He said he just got laid off, saw the sign in our front yard that we were hiring and came in to ask what jobs were available. After work, I went outside to find it was a gorgeous afternoon. What a difference a day makes. Instead of wearing a sweatshirt, gloves and dealing with a little windburn on my ears and cheeks, I was short-sleeved, wore sunglasses and even worked up a bit of a sweat. I had some really nice tee throws but my putting was atrocious. Still, I finished two under par and enjoyed the lovely weather. Ann & I drove home that night and didn’t even turn the lights on the whole way for the first time in several months. Luke and Samantha were at the Y working out when we got home. Abby wasn’t far behind us and when she got home, we played a quick game of Phase 10. Afterward, we watched an NCIS crossover that spanned all three shows. We watched another couple shows while napping. I edited pictures and videos for this week’s blog entry and enjoyed a quiet evening. Meanwhile, Matt and his junior high Eagles had their first meet vs. Hamilton Southeast, where they won 57-50 to start the season at 1-0. Way to go, Coach Scheu! And earlier that evening, I was saddened to hear that Jeff Beck had passed away…
It was dark and cloudy as we commuted into work on Wednesday morning. Ann had a good day but mine was just meh. I wasn’t able to make much progress on my reports due to having unexpected IT work that came up and wiped-out my afternoon. The one thing I was hoping for was a good lunch. Brent & I started talking about KFC. I told him that I wanted some chicken livers and a chicken pot pie. However, when we got there, they were sold out of both. Instead, I ordered a spicy chicken bowl but it came out regular. It was a little disappointing…sort of like the day. It was still decently warm when I got out of work. Unfortunately, I was about 30 minutes late so I only had time for a quick round of 9 holes. It was only in the mid-forties but the humidity was so high that even though I played in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt I was still sweaty by the time the round ended. The wind was much calmer but the air was thick and a weird fog was just starting to move in as I finished and picked up Annie. We drove home with the lights on and the fog got worse and worse. We stopped by Amoco for gas and ran into the adjoining Sonic for 4 slushes – a pair for us and a pair for Gma & Gigi. It was so foggy out there that we could barely see the Sunoco sign even though we were just next door. We went to visit with Maryann & Sandy for a while, share slushes and give Sandy her final Xmas present. It was the 2nd time getting the present. Ann had to send it back the first tie because they sent her the wrong thing. This time, the bottoms were too large for our ever-shrinking Gigi. So, Annie will send them back and hopefully get the correct item for because the third time is always the charm, right? Mom seems to be on the mend with her new walking boot after seeing a specialist for her aching foot. Sandra had just gotten back from working out at the Y and both were good spirits. We were surprised to see that the Xmas tree was still up – a sure sign that Mom O hasn’t been feeling well. ? We said our goodbyes and had a find-your-own dinner night and watched the weekly FBI trilogy. The house looked and smelled great…you could tell that Ms. Julie had been there this morning to clean! Abby was late getting home that evening, having stopped to see Britney in Shelbyville that evening…and to see her new baby, of course! Mama is still in some pain but baby is doing wonderful – and is cute as a can be! When Luke & Sam got back from working out the YMCA, I helped him with a truck issue then they made dinner and Sam went home. Luke retreated to his bedroom to play online video games with Braden, who is now at IU. He is still loving the fact that we hardwired a CAT-5 line directly from the cable modem to his PS4, enjoying his games with minimal lag. Ann fell asleep in her chair and I watched the pilot for Mayfair Witches on AMC, which I thought was pretty good. That night, Matt & the Z-West grapplers won their second wrestling meet in as many nights – spanking Tri-West, 66-34. Nice! They are now 2-0 on the year. Ann & I started looking at his schedule to identify a couple dates where we could get up to see him in action… We have a ton of social media pictures to share this week.
We were awakened by thunderstorms, early on Wednesday morning. It rained pretty much the entire day in varying degrees. Ann said she had a good day. Me – not so much. The only thing on my agenda was to work on my monthly reports. Ha! I didn’t even write one word that day. Instead, I worked on customer support, doing a ton of IT work as well as purchasing, weekly rounds and helping Lenny with evaluations. We did enjoy a good lunch at Chicago’s pizza. There was a group of 6 of us, including our corporate buddy, Justin. I worked straight through until it was time to leave to get Ann. In fact, I was even a little late getting her. It was just non-stop. I chased down a network outage most of the morning, which really got me behind. I didn’t have any time for exercise – especially golf since it was so wet outside. Ann & I went to Best Buy before leaving town. I finally got done screwing around with my watch not working and traded it in for another new one through the Geek Squad. They really make it easy to keep your technology stuff up and running. They didn’t have one in stock but were able to ship me one and have it to the house before 10 am tomorrow! ???? We drove home on a dark, foggy night…though not nearly as foggy as yesterday or this morning for that matter. We went to Needlers to get food for the next couple days and for me to find something to take to Poker Night. Paul had texted earlier and wanted us to meet he & Dayla at the Batesville / Greensburg basketball game, here in town. However, I had already said I’d play cards and I was the 4th of the quorum, so that would’ve been shitty if I’d cancelled that late. Paul said both boys saw action on the court that night with the JV Bulldogs winning but the varsity Pirates taking the late game. Meanwhile, I met up with Rick & Scott over at Mark’s house where we ate, drank and watched college basketball while playing a few hours of poker and then a couple hours of euchre. I came out ahead on the night, which is always good. We enjoyed telling stories and laughing for several hours. Abby had a good day, working with her buddies at Sly Fox then enjoyed Popcorn Night with Annie and the dogs that evening. Luke worked out at the Y and is looking into taking an EMT course while going through the hiring process for the GFD. He thinks it will make him seem more attractive to them for taking the initiative. Although I spoke with him a couple times on the phone that day, I didn’t see him at all. So, I’m not sure what all he even did that day – though I’m sure it revolved around doing home improvement work somewhere, buying tools, working on his truck, lifting out at the Y or hanging with Sam. ????
It was noticeably cooler in the house on the morning of Friday the 13th. We got up at normal time for work, but it was a little different. Ann & I worked from home that day – me at my desk and she in her chair. I could get used to not driving to Columbus and the boss should be happy as well as I started working at about 730 that morning. Abby left a tad early to run through Dunkin on her way to work in Greenwood that day. Luke enjoyed sleeping in and had the day off. He pretty much played PS4 all day, enjoying his hard-wired connection. Ann finished up work sometime in the early afternoon and napped for a couple hours. Luke did some research, trying to find the best buy on a set of power tools. I continued working until about 4 and finished up two more reports, which completes my monthly requirements. That allows me to focus on my final two reports – a quarterly one and then my big annual report. After I sent off my last report and tore down my workspace, Luke drove me to the store for our weekly supplies in his pickup. He’s done a good job with it. After he helped carry in and we got everything put away, he & Samantha worked out at the YMCA then went to Columbus for dinner at the Panda Garden. Meanwhile, Ann made us potato soup and chipotle salad. We watched the next several episodes of Ginny & Georgia until I fell asleep and went on to bed. Luke & Sam retreated to his bedroom to watch movies while Abby wound up staying in Franklin with Carly that night after work. Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
We enjoyed sleeping in on Saturday morning. It was a lazy day. I watched the #3 Boilermakers game from last night as I worked on the blog a little then turned my attention to my music collection. I’ve been working on it for a while but haven’t had time to really get it where I want it and then add it all to my phone. Purdue won easily and gave Coach Painter his 400th victory at his alma mater. Abby came home, ate and then took a long nap. Luke & Sam got up and returned to the YMCA to lift and work out for several hours. Ann & I flopped in the living room and watched the weekly Law & Order trilogy before turning on football. It was Super Wild Card Weekend with a pair of games today, three tomorrow and one on Monday night. However, we changed our plans when Mom & Sandy came over to spend the evening with us. We had a great time playing cards, eating dinner and catching up / telling stories. Abby made me a couple of whiskey sours with the basic Blackened before she left with Seth, heading up to see Carly and go out on the town in Franklin. They wound up at their old stomping grounds – Bojak’s and she spent the night up there. She told us a great story about an older lady that was at the bar that night, trying to pick up both the gals and guys! The card lords were with Ann & I that evening, blessing us with all the good cards. Although I only got to play 4 loners, I actually had 9 that evening as we swept the elders in three straight games to take the lead on the year, 3-2. We ordered Domino’s for the first time in several years. The extra thin crust and garlic knots were delicious! Luke went with Sam to a birthday party and got home late, after Ann & I had already gone to bed. Matt had a big day, coaching the young Eagle grapplers that day at the Cascade Duels tourney. They finished 3-2 on the day, getting smashed by Cascade, 3-82, whopping Avon North 69-40, destroyed Lebanon 76-30, got creamed by Whiteland 25-85 and then dominated Perry Meridian 72-36. Coach Scheu said the reason it was so tough was because he had to adjust his lineup and bump everyone up a weight class. Because it wasn’t a true test for his crew, he was looking for honest efforts out of the kids. It was good experience for the team but now he needs a couple days to work on getting his voice back. That’s my boy… ???? Z-West’s record stands at 5-2 after their first week. Ann & I are looking forward to getting up to see Matt and the kids in action soon!
I had trouble breathing with my c-pap overnight, thanks to another raging sinus infection. It has moved into my lungs, so I may need to consider calling and getting a Z-pack so I can get some relief. I was hoping my body would fight it off, but I’m not sure how much longer I can deal with it. So, I got up before the dawn and a lot earlier that I wanted to on a very chilly morning. But it allowed me to focus back on updating my music library on my phone. I have a card in it that has half a terabyte and I pretty much have it filled. I had about 200 new albums to put on it but I like all the song files to have the proper info and artwork, so it takes hours to complete when you have thousands of songs. Although I deleted several outdated or corrupted files, my library now includes just under 56K songs! Ann made a big coffee cake for breakfast, but Luke & Sam missed out because the slept till noon and didn’t come out until they were headed to workout at the gym and then went over to Columbus for lunch at Chipotle…and run in to Harbor Freight to browse the tools. He was all proud of his new toolbox that he set up. He’s now ready for his handyman side job to take off. If you or someone you know needs an odd job performed around the house, please reach out to Luke for your home improvement needs! Abby returned with Seth that evening. They told a good story about that gal at the bar named Carla. Ha! I did my weekly household chores and we watched a few DVR’d shows before we flipped over and watched playoff football all day. The early game was really close but the Bills pulled it out. The afternoon game was another battle that saw the Giants moving on. Ann made Fireworks popcorn for dinner. She read and played on her phone most of the day while I finished up music collection and finished up the blog. Luke & Samantha came back later that evening, as she has the day off tomorrow for MLK Day. He worked on a little flier to advertise that he is available to help folks out around the house and yard. That night, we watched the final game of the day with the Bengals playing the Ravens. This is always a highly contested game and this renewed rivalry was chippy pretty much from the first kickoff. It was nice to have the weekend off, where the only thing we had to worry about was what to eat and how to keep warm. It was a great way to wind down the weekend and a relaxing way to wrap up another fast week, here at the Scheu abode.
Next up is our Waybac section which continues to feature pictures of our young family in 2008, thanks to Deanna’s digital camera. We lead off in Jan: a visit to the Indy Children’s Museum, pictures of the Statue of Liberty from the air at NYC; Mar: Easter Day; July: Independence Day weekend, Grace’s birthday; Aug: Kings Island; Dec: Christmas Eve.
We wrap up with our video section which includes one super-short home movie this week as well as a ton of Jeff Beck videos and others from around the internet.
And that does it for this week’s chapter 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