Cassie's Journal - November 8, 2015

Our day began with a very chilly Tai Chi workout by the river that was still nice; but reminded us that we won’t get to exercise outdoors for much longer this year.  Breakfast at Michael’s house for me was really special; and let’s give half of the credit for that to Jacob and his gourmet menu; and the other half to Jake and Stephanie for our breakfast video chat with them from Europe.  They’re doing great; look amazing; and it sounds as though they’re continuing to do really well with their studies while also having fun with all of the new friends they’re making over there.  They’re also starting to make plans for their holidays, and while I wish they could be home for Christmas; they are going to love their holiday adventures.

Compared to that, our day here wasn’t very exciting; but I’ve still had a good day – even with a fair bit of work that has included the buffet shift at the Inn and a lot of bedtime studying and family business work.  I didn’t get around to any of that before spending a couple of hours at church and the afternoon playing with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden; and that’s when I had most of my fun today.  The church part of that reminds me that I missed reporting a classmate birthday yesterday; so let’s take care of that.

Happy Belated 15^th Birthday, Marcie!

I might have skipped mentioning Marcie’s birthday completely, except her birthday trip to Crystal Springs yesterday was a top teen chat topic during Sunday school.  She went there with her boyfriend, Allen, their best friends, and her family; and they apparently had a really good day filled with shopping, a visit to SportsFusion, dinner, and a movie.  Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I did have a gift for her that we gave her on Friday because we hadn’t expected to see her on Saturday anyway; but that was the total extent of our involvement with her big day this year.

After church, I walked Michael to the Inn on my way home; helped Mom with making lunch for five after that; and after eating and cleaning up, I took Ethan and Ehlana with me so that we could go out and play while Mom and Dad needed to get to work in the office for the afternoon.  We grabbed our bikes; collected Naomi and Aiden; and then went for a ride and some play time at the park.  Michael met up with us there during his afternoon break; and he was able to play with us for nearly two hours before we dropped all four kids off with Mom and Dad when it was nearly time to get back to the Inn.  I took a few minutes to change and freshen up first; and then we were soon immersed – literally – in the dinner preparations for four or five hundred.

Working in the kitchen meant missing out on a family and friends dinner – even though that was happening in the dining room at the Inn when Mom, my aunts, and a few friends collectively decided not to cook dinner tonight and let Miranda and Jacob feed their collective gang instead.  I’m sure they had fun, since Miranda and Jenny passed on some stories from the dining room to Michael, Rebecca, and me; but we were too busy tonight for me to take the time off to join them without making the work harder for everyone else in the kitchen.

I worked until close tonight; walked home with Michael and his family; and stopped in at his house for a short bedtime visit and chat before moving on and getting to the work and studying waiting for me there.  Mom did a bedtime Magi lesson with me; I stopped in to say goodnight to Ethan and Ehlana when Mom, Dad, and I all came up to bed; and then I started my work and studying with some Jacuzzi multi-tasking because I really needed the tub time after a play and work afternoon and evening.

The language studying is going really well; the family business work is challenging and getting busier right now; and my archive assignment tonight was so dull that it took a lot just to stay awake through the thousand pages or so of extreme tedium.  Let’s not spend any time going off on a side-trip about some of the ancient Magi studies and research into our abilities again; since I could better-use that time on my nap – which is all I’m going to have time for tonight after spending more than four hours on my computer tonight.  For all I know, Magi will be thinking or saying the same thing about my journals and research some day in the future.

I guess the last thing I have for this update is a look at the week ahead.  Other than the football game on Friday and all of the usual school, practices, studying, and work on my normal schedule, there isn't anything extra in the plans right now.  Dad will be getting ready for his week in the city next week too, so other than helping him with another yard work day on Saturday; I don’t expect to have much time to spend with him over the next two weeks.  No parties or special events to look forward to might sound really boring; but a comparatively quiet week would be a good thing right now – especially when we are just a couple of weeks away from the start of the Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday blitz that will keep us busy until the New Year.

That’s thinking too far ahead when I’m this tired; so let’s not go there and just wrap this up without a pretty little bow and ribbons.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 7, 2015

It’s been a long, busy yard work day around here; and I’m so tired that Michael went home early tonight because I kept dozing off and he told me to go and get some sleep.

I did manage to stay awake for a minor make-out session with him between when we tucked Ethan and Ehlana in for the night and my micro-naps, but I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t have much energy left in me by then; so Michael had to settle for some play time that wasn’t much more than cuddles, caresses, and soft kisses.

We did get a lot of yard and house work done around here today, though, and we should be done with the fall clean-ups soon; so I am at least glad that we had a good day for that – even if I’d like to have more play time with Michael too.  Except for adding in the movie time with Ethan and Ehlana before they went to bed and mentioning that all three of our meals today were short and sweet so that we could keep at the work; that’s pretty much it for today.  I got ready for bed after Michael left; did an email check; and now I’ll be crashing for the rest of the night once I’ve finished this update.

Consider that done; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 6, 2015

Happy 1^st Birthday, Annette Bishop!

Annette is one of Michael’s cousins; and my only involvement with her big day was the gift we picked out for her that Miranda sent along with the other gifts they got her; but I hope she’s had a fun day.

We’ve had a fun day here; and a big part of that was thanks to our team’s first-round playoff win over Winfield Farms.  Michael, Tim, and Lucas were the stars tonight; Michael and Tim scored three touchdowns each; and Lucas had two.  The guys also worked hard on defense, which is why Winfield Farms only earned two touchdowns on turnovers; and only managed one additional touchdown and one field goal during the rest of the game.  Two of our eight touchdowns came fairly early in the game, and Winfield Farms was trying to play catch-up for the rest of the game; so I’ll also mention that they tried riskier plays in that effort to catch up that mostly ended badly for them.

This really was a big win for our team, and football fever is catching all over town tonight – especially with Jason and the other senior players.  A fifty-six to twenty-four win is a big deal too, and I don’t want to take away from that; but I’m not sure that some of the players and most of the spectators saw everything that I did tonight.  Winfield Farms made more mistakes than we did tonight, and if Jason and the other seniors think it’s going to be that easy through the rest of the playoffs; they’re going to be shocked in a bad way when we do go up against another of the top teams this season.  That’s very likely to happen next week, and we’ll be on the road.  The final match-ups for next week aren’t official, but Tim was keeping track of the games that he could follow through online updates; and he’s positive that we’ll be up against Hillcrest next Friday.  They’re one of the favorites to reach the championship game; and Tim doesn’t think we’re ready.

We are having a really good season, and it seems as though I’m down on the team even when they have such a good game; but I’m writing about it this way because even the wins feel different this season compared to last year.  For me, that’s mostly because the egos of too many of the guys have run wild; and I especially don’t like the instances of poor sportsmanship that I’ve seen or overheard that have been directed at our opponents or at our own players.  Win or lose; I expect more from our team and players.

The after-game party was a good example of that, and while Michael and Tim are both confident guys; they don’t sit around and brag about themselves – and neither does Lucas.  Jason and his best friends on the team are so over-confident right now that it’s a wonder they can get around at all with those over-sized heads of theirs.  All the rest of us can do is hope that they won’t get those egos trounced out on the football field.

While most of the teens at that party had fun, I was tired by then; and didn’t really find most of the action and conversations much fun at all.  I did like spending a bit of time with Rebecca, Lucas, and some of our other friends; but I was also ready to go home when Michael and I headed out at twelve-thirty.  Rowen and Tim left then too; but we split up once Michael and I got to my house because we were all interested in some quiet cuddle time with our respective boyfriend or girlfriend.  Michael and I had our cuddle time in the living room, and that didn’t really last very long because I started to fall asleep by one o’clock; so Michael decided to go home so that I could go up to bed after he left.

I know that’s not very exciting, but it’s what happened, and if I wasn’t this tired; then Michael and I would still be having fun together – and I wouldn’t have been writing this update for a while yet either.

Getting some sleep now is an option, though; and one that I’m going to choose in the very near future.  There isn’t much else to really write about anyway, since our classes today at school were just a way for most of us to keep busy while waiting for the football game.  Our cheerleading on the sidelines and for the half-time show were really great; the weather was cooler but nice-enough for the game; and I especially loved cheering tonight with more than half of my family at the game.  Michael’s parents took turns catching one quarter of the game each too; and it seemed as though nearly everyone in and around town came to watch the game tonight.  I missed out on dinner and a football game with my family – other than the cameo moments I got to spend with them during the game; but Michael and I did have a quick dinner at my house before the game; and we even had time between school and the game to get our homework done and out of the way for the weekend.

That’s good for me, since I will have lots of work to do with chores on Saturday; but I’ll write about that tomorrow.  Right now, I really just want to crash and nap until morning; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 5, 2015

I’m going to keep this short because it’s been a long day; and I need to get all of the rest I can to be ready for another busy day and our first football playoff game of the season.

Top personal news of the day is that Michael and I skipped game night so that we could come home to my house; get our homework done; have a music practice; and then spend some quality time making out in the lounge – with an emphasis on quality and not the amount of time we had for that before my parents, brother, and sister got home from the Inn.  We did work the dinner rush at the Inn between our football and cheerleading practices and that best part of our day alone time; but we really needed the break tonight – even though that meant missing out on some fun with our families and friends.

The weather was still warm today, but we’ve had a bit of rain here and there too.  That didn’t get in the way of our practices this afternoon, but we did get sprinkled on during our walk between the Inn and my house; and it was raining lightly when Michael went home after the short Magi lesson that Mom did with us once they were back from game night.  Michael went home at eleven o’clock; I took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed for the night; and then it was time to get started on my bedtime studies and work.

I’ve managed to get everything on my to-do list finished tonight, but it’s past-three o’clock; and I’m going to wish that I’d had more sleep by the end of the day tomorrow.  Getting to the down time I can have right now is my current top priority, though, and I don’t have anything else to report anyway; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 4, 2015

Happy 37^th Birthday, Dad!

Tai Chi by the river was a great way to get Dad’s big day started; and we had fun with breakfast too – including a video chat with Grandma and Grandpa; the special breakfast menu; and getting Dad to open his gifts.

After that it was time for most of us to get to work again, and for me; that meant helping with the clean-up, getting ready for school, and then spending the day in classes except for our lunch break and cheerleading practice.  We did at least get to spend extra time outdoors today thanks to two teachers in need of temporary escape from the classroom; and our cheerleading practice was comparatively short because I wanted to be home in time to help Mom with the birthday dinner work.

She had other helpers for that, and contributions from my aunts; but the cooking still took longer than actually eating the meal did.  Michael could have taken the night off from the Inn to join us, but opted to work instead – mostly because he’ll already be off for the game on Friday; and his parents were already short-handed tonight.  We had fun during the meal, but I doubt that Dad will rank this one among his top-five-ever-so-far birthdays.  He had to work all day, and after we’d finished dessert and after-dinner drinks, our aunts, uncles, and cousins headed home; and Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, and I went into the office and got started on our work or studies.

I did help out with one last birthday gift for Dad – a time-phase that allowed all of us to get our work and studying done much more quickly than we would have had we worked in ‘real’ time all evening.  Mom and Dad are appreciating that gift more than the twins and I are right now; but let’s not go there – or even think about how they’re ending Dad’s special day.

While it’s definitely more boring up here on the third floor tonight, I still appreciate being done my work early tonight so that I can get the extra sleep.  I’ll likely end up having a late night tomorrow, the football game will keep us busy on Friday evening, and I’m sure we’ll have another fall clean-up day on Saturday; so sleep could be in short supply over the next few days.  Instead of thinking about that, or anything else; I’m just going to wrap this up and get started on that quality down time now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!