For the ‘country kids’ it was a SNOW DAY!!!
Since there wasn’t any snow on the ground yet first thing
this morning, the rest of us weren’t quite that lucky; but we still ended up
with the afternoon off once the snow finally moved into the area and started
coming down at about an inch an hour.
I wasn’t the only kid or teen to be a bit disappointed to
find out that school wasn’t cancelled for the day this morning, but with only about
half of the students in every class, we didn’t exactly work hard anyway, and
once the snow started falling; nearly everyone started getting excited again. Getting set free at lunchtime caused some
problems for some of the working parents, and Mom helped out with that by offering
to have Rowen and Patrick, and Scott and Lindsay Faulkner, spend most of the afternoon
at our house.
Our half snow day wasn’t all fun and games, though we did
get to play a lot too. With Dad in Crystal Springs, I started shoveling the
driveway for the first time as soon as we got home. Rowen started to help me with that, while
Patrick and Scott were more trouble than help, since they were more interested
in throwing shovels full of snow at each other – and at us – than in actually
getting the driveway and sidewalks cleared.
With several inches on the ground already by the time we
started, Rowen and I were making slow progress on the driveway, and that’s
probably why Jake ordered Michael to come over to our house to help us out. We were glad to have the help, and were having
fun too until Lisa, Tim, and Nora came looking for Michael, and found him at my
house – in the middle of a guys-against-girls snowball fight work break.
That didn’t go over well with Lisa, and was the first of
several tweeird incidents that kept her mad at me for the rest of the day. When Michael advised them that he wasn’t able
to go sledding with them until we were finished clearing the driveway, Tim
talked Nora and Lisa into staying; and he joined in to help us get finished
faster. He also helped us get into
another snowball fight that was more like a little war with Rowen, Lindsay,
Patrick, Scott and I up against Michael, Lisa, Tim, and Nora.
I’ve mentioned that I like to win nearly as much as Aunt
Leanne does, and though it was socially in my best interest to lose that fight,
we didn’t; and that just made things worse for me with Lisa. The irritations of getting stuck waiting for
Michael and fairly convincingly losing the snowball fight was only slightly
offset by the hot chocolate and Olde Bakery snacks warm-up break that Mom
invited all of us in for; though I’m sure Lisa would have preferred to have
taken that break anywhere except at my house.
Michael was finally out of excuses not to head out with Tim
and their girlfriends after we finished our snack; though he wanted to stay. I know how that sounds, but it’s also the
truth; and I didn’t even need to sense anything empathically to know that. When they headed out in search of other
members of the Grade Seven couples club and more snow fun, Mom helped Rowen and
I get Ethan and Ehlana bundled up for some outdoor snow fun, and we spent
three-quarters of an hour playing with them, and keeping Patrick, Scott, and
Lindsay entertained. Jessica Bassett
came over to play with Lindsay too; and we built snowmen; made snow angels; and
pulled the twins around the yard on two of the toboggans until they started
getting cold and were ready to go inside again.
Rowen and I shoveled the driveway again after that, and then we took
Patrick, Scott, Lindsay, and Jessica over to one of the favorite tobogganing
hills to finally get in on some decent sledding action.
Cue the next tweeird moments now.
I would first like to point out that I was just minding my
own business, and Jessica and I were getting ready to trudge up the hill again
after a pretty good run when Michael and Lisa crashed and burned at the end of
their run down the hill. The only reason
I ‘caught’ Michael was because he would have run into Jessica if I hadn’t; and
I laughed while getting knocked over and ending up half-buried in the snow with
him on top of me because it was funny.
The fact that he ran into me when there were so many other kids and
teens on the hill, not to mention the whole timing thing had me laughing even
more, and he laughed too even though we both knew that Lisa wouldn’t be finding
anything about the situation funny at all.
Make that a ‘wasn’t amused’, since by then she was sitting up and
glaring at me from where she’d ended up after sliding about fifteen feet
farther than Michael had. Seeing both of
us laughing about it didn’t help, and neither did the jokes that were tossed at
us while most of the witnesses to the crash laughed too.
While I was in more than enough tween trouble already, I was
having too much fun, and didn’t let it bother me while Rowen and I played with
our friends – including with Michael and the other guys. Everyone was mostly interested in
tobogganing, but that didn’t keep us from tossing snowballs around, and finding
other entertainments while we waited to take turns sliding down the hill. Rowen and I took our little gang home for a late-afternoon
snack break, and then we needed to shovel the driveway and sidewalks again. Scott and Lindsay were picked up while we
were still working on the driveway; and Patrick went with them while Jessica
went home. That gave Rowen and I a
chance to hit the hill again for a while without having to watch the younger
kids too; and we played there until we each needed to get home for dinner.
Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam came over for dinner with us, and
Mom had invited them mostly so they didn’t have to cook a meal too while
dealing with the snow removal at their house after work. I’d expected game night at the Inn to be cancelled, but it wasn’t, and Mom decided that
she couldn’t let Miranda down on the one week of the month that she actually
had a chance to win the senior championship.
We bundled up and headed over to the Inn early, and were there in time
to help out with getting the games set up while the dining room was being
cleaned from what Miranda told us had been the quietest dinner of the year so
far.
There wasn’t even half the usual turnout for game night, and
Rowen and her family were among the regulars that weren’t there tonight. Ditto that for the Landry clan, though we
heard that was because the Landry men were busy dealing with a combination of
area snow removal and equipment breakdowns.
If you’re guessing that Aunt Leanne took advantage of that opportunity,
you’re right; and she and Miranda had Michael and I partnered for the junior
gaming competition before we knew what had hit us.
Now that I’m trying not to let any of the tweeird bother me
anymore – or get in the way of having fun – I mostly thought that Aunt Leanne’s
jokes and nudges were entertaining, and Michael and I had fun playing the games
together too. I’m sure that won’t go
over very well with Lisa when she finds out about it – especially since he and
I won the junior championship tonight.
I wonder if Rowen will think that’s funny or be annoyed that
she didn’t get to share the win with me.
To be fair, we weren’t the only players competing with
different partners tonight; there were less than half the usual kids and teens;
and we had Ethan and Ehlana with us for a lot of the night helping us out. That all added up to not just winning, but
being way ahead of the second and third place teams. Since Mom and Miranda won the senior
championship too, Miranda was even happier to claim both crowns for the Stone
and Proctor families. Aunt Leanne was
very happy too, and amused herself by teasing Michael and me while we cleaned
up after nearly everyone else had left, and had a little snack, drink, and chat
break before heading home.
No, I’m still not in any imminent danger of crossing over,
but I am having more fun, and feel more like myself than I have in a while.
After getting home again, I helped Mom with getting Ethan
and Ehlana ready for bed and tucked in before coming up to my room and hopping
in the Jacuzzi again to get cleaned up after a long day of snow work and
play. I thought about taking the night
off from my usual archive and language studies, but decided against that; and
started out by reading a couple of novels while soaking in the hot, swirling
water. That nearly put me to sleep, but
by the time I climbed into bed with Mandy, I’d caught my second wind and put in
another hour and a half of archive work before doing a last email check and
starting this journal entry.
I may wish that I’d gone to bed earlier by tonight, but I’ll
enjoy our weekend in Woodvale more now that I’ve finished all of the work I
wanted to cover this week. After today,
getting away for a couple of days might be the best thing for me, though
there’s a high probability that I’ll be in for more tween weird at school
tomorrow before we can escape for a couple of days.
Let’s not go to sleep thinking about that. Rowen, Dawn, and I are going to have a blast,
and dreaming about shopping, movies, and the rest of the fun Aunt Melissa,
Violet, and Dawn have planned for us should work even better than not thinking
about soft, cuddly bunnies!
Until next time, this is Magi Master Cassie Proctor; logging
out!
