Cassie's Journal - January 31, 2018

Happy 37^th Birthday, Patricia!

Michael, Ethan, Ehlana, and I did the birthday visit with Rowen’s Mom after breakfast and on the way to school.  She had a dinner party too, but that was for family and a few adult friends only – including Mom and Dad; so I was home doing some babysitting.

We’ve had a good day.  The weather was decent for the last day of January, and while I didn’t spend a lot of time outdoors; the walk home from school is much nicer when it’s fifty out instead of double-digits below freezing.  The flip-flop for the temperatures is causing some issues; but we’ll still take this over an extended deep freeze.  I don’t have any news from school – we’re busy, but having fun; and we seem to be ahead of the schedule for our lessons.  I came home from school with the twins, Naomi, and Aiden.  Some cousins were dropped off when it was time for Patricia’s birthday dinner, and while I had help with getting dinner ready for my little gang; I was on my own to get them fed and then entertain them for a few hours.

I was able to do some of my work on either side of that bit of babysitting; and then I finished up my work while Dad did his homework and the twins studied in the office.  Mom did some work too, but she had other things to do around the house too and had been able to do most of her work for the day while we were at school or work.  The babysitting did slow down my day a bit; so it was ten o’clock by the time I was done and could come up to bed.

I opted for some Jacuzzi time first; did that in a time phase because I can; and now I’ll still be sleeping with time-enough for a full night of rest.  Getting right to that is now my top priority; and I’m okay with waiting until morning to get the new month started!  My week is going to wrap up with a lot of busy, and that down time is going to help me to keep going; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - January 30, 2018

This is two nights in a row where I’ve hit the wall; so let’s go with another very short update.

It was warmer today – into the forties.  We had a good day at school; a fun band practice; and Michael was at my house for dinner before we went on to our teen praise team practice at the church.  Working on Easter music when we haven’t gotten to Valentine’s Day yet seems strange every year, but we had a good practice, and I’m trying to keep this short; so let’s move on.  Michael came home with me again; we did our homework; followed that up with a Magi lesson with Mom; and then took care of getting the twins in bed for the night before Michael went home.

I’ve been busy with my work and studying since then; that’s taken too long thanks to extra work landing on my plate; and now I just was to nap while I can.  We have a work day tomorrow, so don’t be surprised if I opt for the early bedtime – if that works out for me.  All I have time for right now is a nap, though; so I’m going to get right to that while you flip digital pages and move on – or take a break; and don’t!

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - January 29, 2018

We’ve had a cold, sometimes-snowy day around here – though we didn’t get very much snow.

I had a good day at school; had dinner and spent the evening at Michael’s house; and came home by ten-thirty so that I could do my Magi lesson with Mom and then get started on my bedtime computing and language lessons.  That work and studying got done, but I’ve hit the exhaustion wall; so that’s the total extent of my update tonight.

While you flip the digital page and read on – someday in my future, I’m going to snuggle with Mandy and get some sleep; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - January 28, 2018

Our movie night ended up being for one movie; the sofa sleepover was junior-camper-rated fun; and we’ve had a good day – if not a very exciting one by comparison to shopping in the city and getting to play Magi superhero with my best friend! ;^)

We had fun this morning – both at home and church; and then Michael and I worked the full shift at the Inn.  I did the lunch shift to help out with the shortage due to flu and cold season, and while Michael and I had a normal afternoon break; we did our weekend homework during most of that time off.  The buffet-to-close part of the shift wasn’t too crazy, but we were busy; and didn’t get out of the Inn until shortly before ten o’clock.  I walked Michael home; only stayed long-enough to say goodnight to him in a non-verbal sort of way; and then Mom did a Magi lesson with me while Dad finished up his homework – and before I came up to bed and got to work on my computer.  That was too-long ago, and I’m not going to get much sleep; but I got everything done; and should be able to stay ahead of the workload all week.

I should just wrap this up and get some sleep, but there are a few things about that near-crash that I’ve been thinking about all day and want to mention here; since they’re issues that all Magi have to deal with.

First, and certainly in no order of importance; Rowen and I can’t talk about what we did with very many people.  I can’t even tell Michael; since he doesn’t know about Rowen.  She can pretty much only talk about it with her grandmother or my parents – and probably won’t do that unless we do that together.  This isn’t something I’m mentioning because of pride; and we’d never brag about something like that – no matter how cool it was!  I do think that it’s too bad that we can’t talk about things like this freely with other Magi.  We can learn a lot from each other and our unique experiences.  I get that we can’t all just go out there and start running around doing super good deeds, but there are times when we could do more; and either can’t or are too afraid to act in an emergency situation.

That brings me to my next point – that the situation would have been very different if the boys had been with us – or I’d been there with a vanload of kids – like for the Christmas shopping trip.  It’s too easy for me to imagine watching that accident happen and being unable to stop it.  I don’t know if that’s a choice I could make or not, but it’s something to think about; since the consequences for doing something like that and exposing our secret could be even more serious.

When it comes to the actual incident, when I talked about it with Mom and Dad tonight; they pointed out how impressive it was that we did as much as we did so quickly – and I hadn’t even thought about it at the time; but I navigated that ice patch and the traffic around us while working with multiple power weaves and tasks.  Rowen and I worked together so well too; and that’s despite the fact that we haven’t done all that many lessons together recently while we’re both so busy.  Sure, we still manage to have a bit of Magi play time now and then; but really don’t have that many opportunities to do that either.

Finally, for tonight; Mom wants me to think about dealing with potential exposure risks for us because of technology.  One obvious example is the cameras in every smart phone.  Miracles caught on camera would be a problem, and while we weren’t waving magic wands around or shouting out spells; we wouldn’t want to draw any unwanted attention our way.  I don’t have any answers for that; but I will think about it.

Okay, I guess that’s enough for tonight.  I really need the bit of nap time I have left, and that’s all the news for today; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - January 27, 2018

My top story of the day is not the shopping fun that Rowen and I had in Crystal Springs today – it’s the accident that we kept from happening on the way to the city!

The flashbacks I had to the day Rowen and I found out about each other are completely normal; but the only thing the two incidents had in common was that Rowen slipped on ice at the top of the steps by the falls, and in this case; a minivan with four kids and their parents spun out on a patch of black ice – and would’ve been demolished by a transport truck if Rowen and I hadn’t kept that from happening.  I don’t want to make a big deal of it, since what we did wasn’t about us; but I will admit here in my journal that we were awesome!

As for what happened, we were about fifteen miles from Crystal Springs; Rowen and I were several vehicles behind the minivan that spun out; and I got a hit of foresight just before that happened – which gave me time to put shields up before I took care of getting that minivan under control and Rowen dealt with the oncoming transport truck.  We both used air shields to keep them apart without crunching any part of either the van or the truck, but it was still a close thing; and Rowen did an amazing job with everything she did – including keeping the truck’s cargo from being damaged.

That was huge for us, but it was also a bit weird because we didn’t stop to gawk or cause any other traffic issues – though some of the other drivers around us did stop.  None of the people involved will remember us, though; so that’s definitely for the best.  We’re okay with those two drivers getting to be the heroes of the moment.

Compared to that, the rest of my day seems trivial; but we’ve had an awesome day – and the fun is going to continue with  the movie and cuddle time that Michael and I will be doing in the lounge – along with Tim, Rowen, Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden.  Before I get to that, though; let’s cover the rest of the shopping trip news.

I was up early; got to the Inn in time to help out with the breakfast prep work; and then Rowen and I had a hot breakfast before I kissed Michael goodbye and we hit the road for the city.  I’ve covered the only highlight of that side of our round-trip travel time, but we enjoyed having the uninterrupted girl time too.  The main point of our shopping was to pick up gifts for Valentine’s Day, birthdays, and other reason; but we also shopped for clothes, shoes, and some supplies that four sets of parents wanted us to pick up while we were in the city anyway.  It took us all day to do that; we only stopped for lunch in the food court; and we picked up fast food to go when we were done at Wal-Mart and ready to hit the highway for home again.

We got back to town by a quarter-to-eight; made three stops to drop off those supplies orders before ending up at my house; and we unloaded everything that was left in the minivan with assistance from four junior helpers.  There was some work to do after that – including hauling bags and boxes up to my room; Rowen and I had a visit with Mom and Dad in the office before coming up to my rooms once Tim caught up with us; and now I’m getting ready for the rest of the night while everyone else except Michael is getting the lounge ready and the movie pick queued up.

Michael will be here soon thanks to a comparatively-early night at the Inn; Rowen and I are keeping our boys here overnight; and I’m writing this now because Michael and I will definitely be having a sofa sleepover.  We’ll also likely be having that sleepover with junior campers in the lounge, but after that drama this morning; I’m okay with the extra family time with my brother and sister.

We may be Magi Masters, but we’re not indestructible; and our family has a long, unhappy history to prove that out.  I’m going to try just a bit harder to put a little more joy in my life – and make sure that everyone I love most knows that too.

That’s the one thing I’d like everyone reading this to remember.  Be grateful for the wonders you have in your life – and share your love whenever and wherever you can.

I’d like to hope that nobody ever gets to heaven and tells God that they’d have liked to have just one more day to play Pokémon Go! ;^)

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!