Since I have ran out of printer paper at the moment…I thought I would post my Holiday Newsletter on here for you all to read. With school and everything going on…the holiday cards will be out late. I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday with your friends and family!

The Schumaker

Holiday Newsletter – 2011

It is that time of year again where we all are rushing around trying to get everything in place for this holiday season. Some host Christmas at their house and some send the gifts off to the loved ones that they are unable to be with. I will say that even though the holiday season is crazy, it has to be one of my favorite times of the year. I love sitting back and reflecting on what Rob and I have done over the past year, and it seems as though the end of the year comes quicker the older I get. The older generations in my family warned me about this, but I never believed them until well now. Rob and I did have a pretty busy year with various travels, visiting family, and attending many Cleveland Indians baseball games.

2011 was again a year of lots of changes. While Rob did not find a permanent job he was able to fulfill his second year of his Visiting Professor position at Cleveland State. He is once again busy looking for something that will be a tenure track position that would be begin in Fall of 2012. He has had some very good prospects and so all we can do is hope and pray that something will work out. I left Universal American in the middle of June due to the decision of starting back with school in trying to finish my Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work. I chose to stop working in June since Rob and I had a pretty busy summer ahead of us. As much as I miss some of my co-workers and some of the members who I helped on the phone, I know that I did the right thing.

Classes for me started up in late August at Cleveland State. I chose to jump in full time and took 18 credits. The first week of classes I began to think that I had bitten off way too much, but once I settled back into the routine of school the course load was not too bad. I took two Social Work classes, Abnormal Psychology, English, Biology, and then the Bio Lab. I just finished my classes with A’s and B’s. If I keep the pace that I am going, I should have a Bachelor’s in Social Work (BSW) by May of 2013. I have already enrolled for Spring and Summer classes. This spring I will take another two Social Work classes, American Government, History of Eastern Asia, and Megacities of Asia. In the summer I will take a geography class to satisfy another general education requirement.

This year once again was filled with many trips. My girlfriends always ask me if I ever stay home. I laugh and tell them that every so often I will stay at home, but yet I get antsy on wanting to go explore some place new. In March, I flew home to Oregon for my annual visit to see friends and family. The week that I am there always goes so quickly, but I was able to see everyone that I wanted in addition to sleeping in and relaxing at my parent’s house. The weather was decent for early March in Oregon which made the trip even better. In early May, Rob attended the Midwest DSI (Decision Sciences Institute) Conference, which he had been invited to submit a research paper to. This year’s conference was held on the campus of IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis). Rob presented his Harness Racing paper at the conference and also networked with others who attended. He enjoyed the conference so much that he is looking forward to attending the 2012 conference which will be held up in Ann Arbor, MI. The other conference that he attended was the IIMA Conference. This year’s conference was in New Orleans, LA. I went down to NOLA with him as I have a dear friend who lives there. While Rob was at his conference, Stacy was showing me the sights, sounds, and teaching me how to take in the different smells of the French Quarter, which I fell in love with. I look forward in going back to NOLA in the future. Since we drove down to NOLA we stopped in Fort Campbell and celebrated my nephew, Simon’s, fourth birthday. He was very excited to have his Auntie Amy and his Grammy and Poppy (my parents) at his house. I was able color in the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas that trip as well. I will say that if Rob got a job in any of those states I would not be unhappy!

Late July, early August brought Rob and I to our annual summer trip. This year we took a road trip to visit a few baseball parks in the Midwest that Rob had not been to yet. Some of you know that one of Rob’s goals in life is to visit each Major League Baseball park before he dies. This trip we were planning on crossing off Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals) and Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City Royals). Along the way we stopped at a few friends house to visit and Rob was able to color in the state of Nebraska since he had never been there before. Due to the extremely high heat while we were in St. Louis, we opted out of a baseball game. We did go through the Budweiser Factory while in town and ate at a local sports bar that was recommended by a friend. While in Nebraska we spent several days with my Grandma Donna and even ventured up to South Dakota and visited the Corn Palace. We also saw my 89 year old Great-Grandmother on this trip. We did attend a Kansas City Royals game. While in KC we visited the Harley-Davidson Plant and the Hallmark Corporate office/Visitor Center. We ended our trip by spending a couple days down in Fort Campbell visiting my sister and her family. We were able to meet our niece, Madigan Ellen as well.  In late September, I played tour guide when my parents came from Oregon to visit for a couple of days. My parents were able to experience Amish Country, the Smucker’s Factory, and see Cleveland State University.

In addition to our traveling and school, my social butterfly wings have spread to their max. The tea group that I created in late December (No Hats Required Tea Group) has been a success. I have two wonderful co-organizers which are very helpful. Our tea group travels around to tea houses within a three hour driving radius of the Cleveland area. The farthest we have gone was out to Dayton, and we frequent a tea house in Sylvania, Ohio called Sweet Shalom. Sylvania is on the Ohio/Michigan border which is about a two hour drive from Cleveland. Other than Sweet Shalom, we have found many tea houses to visit and try. Some we all look at each other and say, “Let’s not come back here!” and others we make sure that it goes back on the event calendar for later in the year. Our group at one time had about sixty members with about twenty active members. I cut the group down to about thirty-five by removing all of the inactive members. My organizers and I would rather have a smaller active group rather than a large stagnant group. I look forward to the tea events that we have planned for this coming year. One will be a house tea party will be in the theme of the Titanic which will be around the anniversary of that tragic accident, and of course we will head out to Sweet Shalom each month for their different full themed teas such as Little House on the Prairie. In addition to my tea group, I am also the organizer of a movie & book club here on the west side part of Cleveland. We try and read one book a month in addition to seeing a movie as a group together once a month, and lastly I was given the title of “Event Organizer” for the Cleveland Ladies Club that I am very active in. I have met some awesome ladies in that group that I can honestly call good friends. I host various events throughout the month which mainly consist of grabbing dinner at a local place that people may have wanted to try or attending a free classical concert by the Ohio Philharmonic.

2012 looks like a busy year and it has not even started yet for us. Our five year wedding anniversary will be in May. We are starting to make a list of ideas on where to go for celebration since we spent our fourth year anniversary in downtown Cleveland. We are waiting for Cleveland Indians 2012 Opening Day tickets to go on sale as this could be the last time we are in town for Opening Day. We went last year and despite the Tribe losing to the White Sox, it was a fun experience. I am in hopes of flying to Oregon possibly around Easter for even a quick trip to see my Oregon family and friends. I do wish that Oregon was closer to Ohio, but at least I will add more miles to my membership plan with my favorite airline. I am hoping that the weather here in Ohio is not as bad as what some are predicting for this winter. I have really enjoyed these fifty degree weather days that we have had the past couple of days in Cleveland. I know that the snow is just around the corner but I hope that it forgets how to cross Lake Erie from Canada this season.

Once again, Rob and I both wish you a very Merry Christmas and a safe Happy New Year!

Rob & Amy Schumaker