We woke up to a beautiful morning; went
outside for Tai Chi by the river in shorts and tees; and then went for a swim
in the river to cool off – and the water was as warm as the pool in Florida had
been!
Oh wait – that was my waking dream – not reality! Now that we’re home and getting back to our
normal lives; our reality was an extra-early wake-up call that was fun thanks
to the sofa sleepover, but we didn’t have much time for anything more than some
bonus cuddling and a few kisses before we needed to get moving and ready for
our breakfast shift at the Inn. The
temperature wasn’t far above freezing, so that was a bit of a shock compared to
the past week of warm and sunny; but we were only outside long-enough to walk
to the Inn.
There was one big change to my personal
normal then as I was put on the server crew and sent out to the dining room to
do the final set up for the breakfast rush.
I have loved working with Michael and everyone else in the kitchen, but
will admit that I’m better-suited for working as a server. That could have something to do with being
hyper-active and outgoing; which are two qualities that help a lot when you’re
serving customers and need to be both happy and on the go all of the time. I also especially loved working with Miranda
once she got to the Inn too; and I got to do that a lot because she had me work
the section next to hers so that she could keep an eye on me – and help out if
needed. She didn’t need to do the
latter; and she was impressed while watching me work – though not surprised
that I didn’t have any problems or that I seemed to be a hit with my
customers. The new job helped to make
the shift move along too fast; and then it was time to head home again.
One other change that was fun – with some
change involved; was having tips to take home with me! That isn’t a big deal for the breakfast
shift, but I probably got a few bonus dollars for doing so well as a first-time
server; and that was fun!
Moving along, I came home to a list of
chores that needed my personal attention; and got back to work again. We did the indoors work first; moved outside
for that work once it was a bit warmer; and kept going until we stopped for
lunch at one o’clock. After that, Dad
took me out driving for a while because my test is on Monday. We went through everything that will be on
that road test, and while I haven’t driven very much; I didn’t have any
problems. Yes, practice and repetition
helps develop skills, but I do have other advantages; and any Magi reading this
know that driving just isn’t a big deal on the skills meter compared to playing
with the elements or other Magi talents.
Dad and I did have fun, though; Michael and I followed that up with some
biking and play time at the park with the twins, Naomi, and Aiden; and then it
was time for us to get back to the Inn for the dinner shift.
Sheldon’s is having a Valentine’s Day party
tonight, so the Inn was pretty much full with dinner parties – including the
one that my parents were at with their friends – and a bunch of my aunts and
uncles. That worked out pretty well for
me, since they just happened to be seated in my section of the main dining
room, and while I’d rather have some of the other girls get the bonus tips in
the future; I was glad to get to have that first-time parent-customer
experience tonight! Having Aunt Leanne,
Uncle Adam, and the rest of my local aunts and uncles there too was a bonus;
though I can see already that they have one more thing to tease me about
now. The perfect memory thing helps a
lot with being a server, but being able to keep track of everything so easily
is apparently a talent worthy of getting teased about. Aunt Leanne also seemed terribly disappointed
that I didn’t have any first-night breakage; self-inflicted spills; or other
mishaps like most rookies have at the Inn – herself included. I did have fun with all of that; but hope it
won’t be something I’ll hear about every time for the next decade or ten.
With a full house at the Inn, we were all
busy, but thanks to the party at Sheldon’s; we didn’t have a late night as most
of our ‘extra’ customers moved from the Inn to the pub. I helped with the dining rooms clean-up, but
didn’t stay until close because I needed to get home as soon as I could to join
in on the babysitting already in progress.
Rowen and Tim were leading that effort while Michael and I were busy;
but had junior support from Patrick, Jessica, Scott, and Lindsay. We have all of my cousins, Ryan and Sophia,
and a handful of other friends of those kids with us for the night, but Rowen
and Tim didn’t have all of the kids and tweens with them for dinner – only about
half of them. The rest of the kids were
fed by other relatives or friends; and then dropped off to our house after
that.
I didn’t arrive to chaos, but the kid-rated
fun was rolling along in high gear by then; and Rowen and Tim were glad to have
the reinforcements. My arrival
distracted all of the girls for a while; we got started on some mini-makeover
play time; and Michael joined in to help Tim keep up with the boys while saving
the world, universe, or whatever they needed to do in the different video games
that Zack and Eli wanted to play with them – and with the other boys. Once the junior makeovers were done, we
started to get all of the kids settled down with a movie, snacks, and
drinks. That’s been my favorite part of
the day; and Michael and I got to cuddle with both Brianna and Faith. They may be two of the youngest in our group,
but they were also fired up tonight; and they weren’t in any hurry to be put to
bed.
That isn’t to suggest that they didn’t go
to sleep. They did crash into nap mode fairly
quickly. What they didn’t let us do is
put them to bed until we were ready to do that with most of the other
kids. We caved in because they are so
adorable; and just enjoyed the cuddle time with them while watching the show
and chatting with Rowen, Tim, and everyone else that was still awake. After that first movie, we sent most of the
kids to bed; dealt with that and the clean-up for a half-hour or so; and then
had some teens and tweens time while watching a second movie and waiting for
Mom and Dad to get home from the pub.
By then, I was running out of steam, but
Rowen, Jessica, Lindsay, and I had a lot to talk about – including my first day
working at the Inn as a server. Instead
of letting Rowen and I handle the few kid issues we had while in wind down
mode, Jessica and Lindsay took care of most of them; and Patrick and Scott
handled one spying incident with Zack and Eli.
Those two boys are starting early; and are going to be scary when they
get a bit older! I really am going to
miss home when we go away to college, but in their case; it might be a good
thing to be away for most of those five years of their lives. ;^)
Mom and Dad had opted to be designated
drivers for this party – possibly because Sunday mornings are already
tough-enough when you have a gang of kids to feed and get ready for
church. I’m not mentioning that because
of the drinking aspect; but only because it meant that they were late getting
home after driving their friends home first once the party at Sheldon’s wrapped
up. By then, their babysitters were all
ready to crash; so the party and babysitting reports were condensed; we split
up to go to bed; and I’m writing this update while Rowen is taking her turn in
the washroom.
That might sound weird, but I’m speeding this
along in real time; so it isn’t as if she’d been in there for a half hour or
anything. She will be done any moment
now, though, and I really want to get started on my nap soon; so let’s wrap
this up. Our first full day back at home
has been full-immersion normal – with the added change for my work at the
Inn. There was a bit too much work, but
the tips were pretty good; and I loved getting to spend a few hours with the
twins, our cousins, and everyone else while we babysat tonight after being away
from the kids for the past week.
Tomorrow is going to be another busy day with a full shift at the Inn
for Michael and me. The buffets are sure
to be especially busy because of Valentine’s Day – along with the teens and
tweens that will want to visit the Inn for the hometown meal after a week of
fast food.
I’ll also need to get back to my language
studies and family business work tomorrow night, so the late nights are already
the norm again too; and that’s another good reason to call it a night and head
off to nap mode.
It really is great to be home, and while
the work and busy isn’t amusement park fun; we can’t have every day like that
anyway. Okay, technically, I could do
that, but wouldn’t trade what we have here for non-stop fun and adventure. I’m also obviously starting to ramble on
aimlessly as my brain shuts down from exhaustion; Rowen is done now; and so am
I; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
