Cassie's Journal - July 31, 2017

It’s the last day of July, and while our annual break from school is a bit more than half-done; this always feels like the half-way point to me.

Ending July and starting August with our days off from the Inn is nice; though Michael and I didn’t exactly get out of work today.  After Tai Chi by the river, we split up for the morning; and I worked around the house and on the family business with Mom after having breakfast and sending Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana off to work.  Okay, the twins went to play at the lab, and can’t officially work there for another decade or so; but why let that get in the way of a joke that they really like!

Michael was busy anyway with his own chores around his house and yard, so I was okay with getting my work done during the morning too; and we did take the rest of the day off to play.  He came over for a late lunch; the twins hooked up with Naomi and Aiden; and we went for a long bike ride around town on the paths and at the park.  Playground action; ice cream treats at the Emporium; and swims in the river were all mixed in with the cycling; and then we were home early-enough so that Ethan and Aiden could be fed before their ball practice.  We had a bit of rain this afternoon too, but that was the fun to play in kind of rain; and helped to keep us cool.  It was cooler again today, but my kind of perfect summer day that’s warm-enough for the best kinds of fun without being too hot to enjoy the entertainment!

Michael stayed with me for dinner; Rowen and I went to the park with our boys for their football workout; and had fun chatting with some of the other girlfriends that came out to play too thanks to the nice evening weather.  Rowen and Tim came home with Michael and me, and we’re about to start watching a movie; so I need to get to that soon.  I’m just doing this report and the rest of my usual bedtime computer checks because there is a very good chance that I’ll keep Michael for a sofa sleepover after Rowen and Tim go home – and they won’t be staying too late because they’re both working in the morning.  For Tim, that’s an early start because he’s helping out with more of the service calls now that Kyle’s at his football training camp; and they get calls pretty much every morning as the farmers around here get started for the day and run into problems with equipment that isn’t happy about being woken up before sunrise too.

Flip the digital page to find out whether that sofa sleepover thing works out for me; but that’s all I have for tonight.  It’s been a really good day, and I hope that we’ll get a great start to August – though I’ not just saying that because of that sofa sleepover; and possibly a major make-out session with my boyfriend! ;^)

That’ll just be an added bonus, but not if I don’t get back to living my life; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - July 30, 2017

It’s late; I’m fried; and this is going to be a micro-update.

Tai Chi by the river; gourmet breakfast at Michael’s; and church and Sunday school kept us busy all morning after a fun evening of campfire entertainment and a comparatively-early camping bedtime.  Michael and I worked the full lunch-to-close shift; so we missed out on a play day with my family; a barbeque pot-luck lunch; and a buffet dinner at the Inn – though my family was at one of my tables; so I did get to serve them – and get a nice tip! ;^)

We had a full house for the buffets; the clean-up took a long time; and it was heading toward eleven o’clock by the time I went home with Michael.  I nearly fell asleep on the sofa with him, but forced myself not to have an unplanned sofa sleepover because I had family business work to get done.  The hours of cuddling with Michael would have been a lot more fun – no offense, Mandy; but I didn’t want to end July or start August with a back-log of work; so here I am; ready to crash after doing those hours of work in a time phase and ‘real’ time as needed.

The work is done, though, and that’s all the news I have for tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - July 29, 2017

I so need to get to more of Ethan’s and Ehlana’s ballgames – especially if I’m going to take the blame for lack of cheer support in every loss!

Unfortunately, getting away from the Inn early this morning wasn’t an option; and the Hair Herons had already lost to the Flamingos by the time I was done with the breakfast shift and a bit of work in the guest rooms that I helped Miranda with while Stephanie took over the dining room by mid-morning.  The ten-to-eight score was respectable, and the girls weren’t really disappointed; but that didn’t keep Ehlana and Naomi from having fun with me.

We had fun with the camping last night too – which is why the kids talked Michael and me into a second night.  The humid heat finally broke here last night, so while it still got hot again today; it wasn’t unbearably-hot; and it was actually great weather for the chores that Dad and I did between my shifts at the Inn.  We had enough fun working together too, and I had fun working with everyone at the Inn tonight too; but was very glad when Michael and I were sent home early instead of staying to close.  Jake and Stephanie are dealing with that tonight; and Michael and I will lead the close crew tomorrow night.  I’d suggest that it would work for all of us every week, but Michael and I will likely work close shifts both nights once football season starts again and we’ll be busy every Friday night through until Thanksgiving.

I am just taking a break between work and camping; so I should wrap this up.  The dinner shift was busy and still fairly hot for the parts of my work that happen in the kitchen.  Michael and I split up after leaving the Inn so we could grab showers and get changed; and he’s already here in the back yard; and we’re going to have a short campfire before getting to the camping part of our night.  Mom and Dad will hang out with us for that; and we’ll likely end up with some neighbors and friends; but I can keep you posted on that with the next report.

For now, it’s time for me to get back to actually living my life; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - July 28, 2017

Sports news story of the day – Kyle Landry headed for school and football camp today!

Okay, not very exciting for most of us either; but that is a big deal for all teen guys in this town with dreams of college football glory.  Kyle isn’t at a top-tier college with a chance to win national titles, but he is the best player on his team – just as Lee was back in his college days; and he’s good-enough to play with pretty much any other top-tier player.

His travel day likely wasn’t all that exciting – at least until he got on campus; but then my day hasn’t exactly been all fun and games.  Michael and I worked the breakfast shift; we both put in extra time helping with other jobs around the Inn after that; and I worked on the family business and some chores at home when not at the Inn – though we did both take some time off during our main afternoon break.  That was when Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden talked us into a camping night – the camping that I’ll be getting to as soon as I’m finished this computer check and journal update.  We set up the tents; the four kids took care of getting most of the gear into the tents; and we went for a swim and a trip to the Emporium for ice cream after that work was finished.

The dinner shift was really busy; in part because Miranda and Stephanie have another weekend getaway group staying at the Inn; but word seems to be getting around even more quickly than they’d hoped that we have two world-class chefs at the Inn; and we’re getting a lot of new weekend dinner customers from all of the towns around here.  That’s fairly awesome, but adds more stress and work as Miranda and Stephanie are struggling a bit to work out the staffing levels they’ll need with the extra space in the dining rooms and the expected business that is above expectations right now.  They don’t want to hire more people than they’ll need after the summer holidays; but still need to ramp up to what might end up being half-again as many employees as they had before the remodel.

I do have that camping to get to now; so let’s save that kind of business chat for another time.  The only news from the Inn is really that we were really busy; Michael and I pretty much stayed until close – though we didn’t actually have to do that; and then we split up to grab showers and get changed before heading out back to spend the rest of the night with our junior campers.  They didn’t do a campfire, but did spend some time with Mom and Dad tonight while Michael and I were busy at the Inn.  Two of us are working the breakfast shift again, and Ehlana and Naomi have a ball game in the morning; so we won’t be staying up too late.

We’ll only have that one ball game this weekend, but while it would be nice to have some bonus play time without the extra game watching; I’m sure that I’ll be putting in more time at the Inn when I can; and Dad and I have some chores to catch up on tomorrow too.

None of that sound all that exciting for the last weekend of July, but we’ll have fun with and around the work too; and I’ll keep saving up all of the extra money so that we’ll be able to do everything we want when we head for college next summer!

Now that’s a thought that reminds me to enjoy every special moment I can with the twins and their friends!  I’m going to go and do that right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - July 27, 2017

We had a fair bit of rain overnight, but pretty good weather for the rest of the day – if still a bit on the hot side.

I’m mostly saying that because it was another hot work day at the Inn – including during the breakfast shift when we had a lot of customers coming in from the campgrounds after a wet night looking to get a hot meal and do some morning shopping while the campsites and their tents and gear dried out.  I put in extra time at the Inn because Miranda needed the help.  When I wasn’t working at the Inn, I did some chores at home; and took a break in the afternoon with Michael so that we could go for a swim and actually have a bit of a rest ahead of the dinner-to-close end of our work day.  After closing the Inn, Michael took me home with him; we cuddled on a sofa in the living room; and didn’t really watch anything on television until I came home at eleven o’clock.

My work was supposedly done last night, but more popped up when I did my email check; and it took more than an hour to deal with those family business issues before I could get to this update.  I wanted to be sleeping an hour ago, and now I’ll only have time for an extended nap; so that’s all I have for tonight.  The work continues again tomorrow, and will start before dawn for me with another breakfast shift, so I am out of here; off to dreamland; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!