Cassie's Journal - November 30, 2016

While Rowen’s sweet sixteen was hardly a party-of-the-century kind of day; the fun level was higher than it was today.  We all had work to do after school; the temperature is cooling down toward normal for this time of year again; and I’ve done a lot of work since getting home from school thanks to doing a fair bit of that work and studying while in a time phase.

That’s also going to allow me to go to sleep early; which is why this is going to be a very short update.

My morning was normal and uneventful; school was good but unexciting; and Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana were happy to take advantage of my time phase to get all of their work or studying done early too.  None of that sounds like a very exciting way to end November, but it’s the way it is; and I’m okay with getting a solid eight hours or so of continual nap time.  Maybe I won’t even need some self-healing in the morning to make up for the general lack of sleep.

You can flip the digital page to find out how that works out for me, but I’m going to wrap this up and go live and nap my way through the next day or so before getting around to that next report; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 29, 2016

Happy 16^th Birthday, Rowen!

This update is coming to you early because I’m not sure that I’ll be able to keep from having an un-planned nap while doing my work and studying.  It’s been a long day already; and I’m already having trouble staying awake and focused even on this report.

Michael and I skipped Tai Chi this morning; we met up and went to Rowen’s house in time to help out with making her special birthday breakfast; and then we had fun with the birthday entertainment as she opened gifts and we had a birthday cake for dessert because she doesn’t have time for a party tonight thanks to our band practices.  Sure, she could have taken the night off, but her parents have the store on Christmas hours anyway, and most of her friends were at band practice anyway; so that’s why we did the birthday breakfast instead.  WE also had a birthday party at lunch for her so that her extended group of friends could get in on that too – and we could do that now that we’re done with football cheerleading.

We didn’t want to skip the band practices – and for me; that was especially because Michael can come to the concert band practices again too now that football season is over.  Christmas music was the name of the band game today, and while getting ready for the parades we have over the next two weekends was a big part of that; we’re also working hard on the music for the school Christmas pageant and the Christmas party for the Seniors that we’ll play at again this year.  For marching band; we worked on parade marching instead of football field shows, and while that wasn’t all that tough for most of us; we did need to do the work to get our turns cleaned-up.  We also worked on our cold-weather marching – though it wasn’t cold out while we were practicing tonight.

It did start cooling off today, though; and it will be cooler-still by parade time on Friday night.  I’ll keep you posted on that; but let’s get back to Rowen and her big day.

Rowen passed her driver’s test this morning; so she’s joined that club; and she took Tim for a drive in his Corvette after marching band practice before going on to whatever they did for the rest of the night while Michael and I were busy with teen praise team practice and the studying we did after coming back to my house once we were done at the church.  She doesn’t have a new car or any other seriously awesome gift that any teen would drool over, but she was happy with her gifts; and Tim did a good job for the boyfriend gifts – thanks to some help from Michael and me and the magic of online shopping!  I’m only mentioning the low-key gift thing because I do only seem to mention those extreme gifts in my journal; so I should include a bit of perspective when the gifts that Rowen got today were closer to the norm for most teens around here.

As I’ve mentioned, Michael and I did our homework at my house after our teen praise team practice; and we got started on that late because of the usual practice over-runs that add up to a late end to our final practice of the day.  We did that studying in a time phase; that helped Mom, Dad, and the twins with their own work or studying; and then Mom did a short Magi lesson with Michael and me before he headed home for the night.  Mom and Dad took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night; so I haven’t been here in my room for long – and it didn’t take long to get changed and ready for bed before getting to this update.

I do want to get all of my work and studying done, but really might not last as long as I need to for that to happen.  That’s something that you’ll need to flip the digital page for to find out, though; since I need to get started on that work now and won’t know if I get everything finished or not until I either do or don’t make that happen.

Maybe I’d better have a nap and then try to work if everything I try to do is as messed up as that thought!

That’s too tempting, and I’m really just procrastinating now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 28, 2016

It’s been a good day, but I’m tired and have a birthday breakfast to go to in a few hours; so let’s keep this short.

Tai Chi by the river was good; we had a bit of rain earlier today; but a fairly-nice afternoon with temperatures climbing into the sixties for just a few hours.  High School football season is over; so getting to hang out with Michael was an option again after school.  Since it was nice out; we started our after school adventure with some play time with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden at the park; and then I was at Michael’s house for the rest of the evening.

We did our homework; had dinner with his parents, Rebecca, and Lucas; practiced our music for band and the praise team; and had a nice little make-out session in his room before wrapping our night up with a bedtime chat with his parents after Lucas went home and Rebecca opted to go to bed early.  I’ve skipped the work parts of our night, including the clean-up after dinner, but then this is supposed to be a short report; so I should stop even mentioning things like that.  I came home at eleven; had a visit with Mom and Dad; check in with the twins on my way up here to my room; and got ready for bed.  It was time to work and study after that; I did half of the work in a time phase and the rest in real time; and now it’s past-three again and I’m wishing that I don’t have quite so much work to do and more time to sleep.

That isn’t an option, though; since I really need to keep ahead of the work during the school week so that I have more time on the weekends for the holiday fun and work at the Inn.  Having a nap right now is an option right now, and I’ll get more down time with less writing in this journal; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 27, 2016

Our Thanksgiving holiday weekend is over now as I write this, and we’ll be back to school again in the morning; but the Christmas holiday feeling is in the air and we are going to keep having fun over the next four weeks – even as we’ll be busy with work and all of the rest of our daily responsibilities.  I’m not going to get into any of that tonight because it’s really late and I need to have a nap before getting up and going again; so let’s just get to the report for today so that I can do that sooner instead of later.

Tai Chi by the river was fun, and not too chilly; and we dodged the rain for that too – a theme that continued throughout the day for me.  Breakfast for our gang was crazy, but while I helped with some of the prep work; I actually had breakfast at Michael’s house with his family – and then helped with the post-breakfast clean-up there before Michael and I had to hurry to church to warm up with the teen praise team.  I feel as though I’ve been on the go all day because I have been.  We were busy at church from the time we got there until we needed to hurry again and get to the Inn to help with the prep work for the first lunch buffet.  Today was also the first Sunday in Advent, so we had a lot to celebrate at church; and our teens and teen praise team helped to make the service fun and upbeat as we led our congregation with amazing music, skits, and everything else we did during that hour and a half of high-energy praise and worship.

High energy was needed for the rest of the day at the Inn.  It was all hands on deck; each of the four buffets were sold out; and we turned as many extra tables as possible for the extra diners that hoped to get in on one of the buffets even when it meant having to wait for tables to clear.  I mentioned dodging the rain today; and I managed to do that whenever I needed to be outside.  I didn’t get out much, but did do a round of goodbyes with my outbound family during the afternoon break with Michael; and I was glad about staying dry when working while damp wouldn’t have been fun at all.  We did the best we could for having fun while we worked today, but sometimes we really are too busy to have much fun; and today was one of those days.

While I worked, I missed out on all of the family fun – including the second buffet that they attended before everyone headed out of town.  Michael’s family came to the first buffet and left after that; which is why we didn’t get a chance to spend any time with them after breakfast except for a quick round of goodbyes at the Inn.  Rebecca and Lucas went home to help them with loading up before they hit the road; but then she came back to work as soon as they left while Lucas headed home after staying for the first buffet with his family.

We were behind on the clean-up by the end of the fourth buffet, so it was going on eleven by the time we closed the Inn and came home.  I only had a short goodnight visit with Michael at his house on the way to mine; had a short visit with Mom and Dad in the office before coming up to my room; and then began to multi-task my work while having a long soak in my Jacuzzi.  I used a time phase when I could; worked in real time when I couldn’t; and it took three and a half hours to get everything finished – real time hours.  I couldn’t procrastinate on anything tonight because we have a busy week ahead even with football season over for our team.

The highlights for the coming week include Rowen’s and Rebecca’s birthdays – among others; the Pinehurst Christmas parade on Friday night; the kids’ Christmas shopping trip on Saturday; and our now-annual visit to the Christmas tree farm to pick out our trees next Sunday afternoon.  I’m getting tired just thinking about all of that, and since I have pretty much covered the must-write news, I guess it’s okay to wrap this up and get some sleep; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 26, 2016

We’ve had a really busy day, but I’m exhausted now and have another very long day ahead for tomorrow; so this is going to be a very short update for a holiday.

Some self-healing was required for me to pull it together and get to the Inn on-time to help with the breakfast rush.  I spent three hours doing that; had the late morning and afternoon off; and spent that time with my family – and with Michael when he could join us too.  Top action for that time was the trail ride at the ranch after lunch and the follow-up canoe ride that some of us went on because we could when the temperature tried to reach sixty by mid-afternoon.  Sure the water is still cold, but we stayed in the canoes; and didn’t take any younger kids or older adults along with us to make sure we wouldn’t have any problems if we had tipped any of the canoes.

I also helped out with the work around the kitchen before lunch; and then worked the dinner-to-close shift at the Inn.  We were busy; but Michael and I had fun with his family and the rest of the staff; and then moved on to have a visit with his family for an hour after I went home with him.  Finally, we came over to my house once his younger cousins were all in bed and their parents and grandparents were ready to crash by then too; and we watched a Christmas movie in the lounge with the teens, Violet, and Dillon while the kids and adults in my house went to bed too – once the college football game they’d been watching was over.

It was past-one when Michael went home; I saw him out; and then got ready for bed after straightening up the lounge while my cousins were getting ready for bed – and Violet and Dillon headed back to his house after Violet had some sister time with Dawn before doing that.  I’ve done only the basic email and computer checks since getting into bed with Mandy; didn’t have any family business work that couldn’t wait until tomorrow night or Monday; and will be able to crash and nap once I have this report wrapped up.

Okay, I’m there and past-ready for some quality nap time – even if I won’t get to have many hours of it; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!