Cassie's Journal - November 13, 2015

Our Friday the thirteenth has turned out to be very unlucky for our football team tonight; and our season came to an abrupt end.

Congratulations to Hillcrest – their team; and their faithful fans!

The toughest part of the night for me wasn’t the loss – it was not being able to be with Michael to help him deal with the disappointment nearly as much as I would have liked after the game; and during the trip home.  We did spend a bit of extra time together after we got home; but I’ll get to that part of the report in a while.

Since football is the top story of the day, though; let’s get all of the bad news out of the way – and cover the good parts of the game and trip too; since it really was a good game despite the loss for Michael, Tim, Lucas, and a few others.  The final score was fifty-eight to forty-nine for Hillcrest.  While the score was close during the entire game, they had the first touchdown; and we never even managed to tie the game even once through to the end.  Hillcrest won by three field goals, but we matched their seven touchdowns; and didn’t try for any field goals because we always needed touchdowns.

Michael scored three of our touchdowns; and he was the star of the game for our team – though since Tim had two touchdowns; it’s more fair to say that they were co-stars.  All five touchdowns included long runs after the catches; and they were quick scores.  We did not do well on most drives without those big plays; partly because Ray had a fairly low completion percentage today and also gave up four drive-ending turnovers.  Lucas earned a running touchdown that was from just a bit over twenty yards away; and Reid scored once too on one of the trick plays that he’s become really good at pulling off.  All of the big plays and scoring on both sides was exciting, and while I’ll point out that our Raiders weren’t ever in a great place for a serious comeback; it wasn’t a blow-out either; and our guys never gave up.

Hillcrest was definitely ready to take advantage of our weaknesses, and while they did earn three of their touchdowns and all three field goals on ‘normal’ offensive drives; the two interceptions and two fumble recoveries their defense earned off of Ray gave them well-timed, short-field opportunities that they turned into four touchdowns.  We managed a couple of turnovers too, but neither was picked up with good field position; and defensive turnovers are definitely not a strength for us this season.  The last point I’ll make before moving on is that Hillcrest played better than we did as a team.  They also didn’t have any real stars – except possibly for their quarterback and a couple of guys that played on both their offensive and defensive lines.  That was the biggest difference tonight.

Rowen and I didn’t hear about it until after we were home and on our own with the boys; but Jason and the other seniors were apparently quick to blame Friday the Thirteenth for our ‘horror story’ loss, and Jason had other targets for his post-game ranting; but Michael, Tim, and Lucas weren’t on his hit list tonight because there wasn’t much he could say about their play when they were so obviously having a great game.  Michael and Tim are as disappointed as everyone else on the team, but then they were better-prepared for the loss since they hadn’t expected another championship this season.  Tim even admitted tonight that he hadn’t expected our team to do as well as they did.

We – the cheerleaders – didn’t have any blame-game action going on during our trip home.  We had a good game too; had lots to cheer about during the game; and our half-time routine was yet another hit for us – always a good thing when we’re the visitors.  We didn’t have summer-like weather for the game, but the sky was clear; the temperature stayed in the fifties until after the game; and the wind was much calmer compared to the higher winds we’d been dealing with at home over the past couple of days.  That worked out for us, and since the weather might not be nearly as nice during the last two rounds of the playoffs; I’m not entirely disappointed that we won’t be continuing to the next round.  That extra ten or fifteen hours a week will come in handy now too – especially when we’ll soon be spending more time getting ready for all of the Christmas parades concerts, and shows.

I can start thinking about all of that tomorrow, but I’m tired out now; and it’s time to speed this up so that I can get some rest.

We were late getting back to the school; Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I all helped out with the gear before heading home.  Rowen and Tim walked with Michael and me; we stopped on my front porch for a chat; and then Michael came in with me for a while and Rowen took Tim over to her house.  It was too late by then, and Michael should have gone home; but we came up to the lounge and enjoyed a very minor make-out session.  The cuddle and talk time was more important for both of us; and I’m glad that I could help Michael with the first steps of his football loss recovery.

Okay, he was taking it pretty well anyway; but why mess up a perfectly good excuse for staying out for more than an hour past what should have been his game-night curfew?  At least we didn’t shoot for another sofa sleepover! ;^)

Yes, we’re saving them up for the holidays; but won’t mention that to the parents either.

I’ve skipped over the rest of my day before the football game and trip to Hillcrest, but to be honest; I don’t really have anything to write about.  It was a fairly normal Friday, and the only non-school chat topic was the football game.  While I was away, I missed the dinner and a movie night that Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah hosted this week, but while I’m sure they had fun; I seem to be getting used to missing out on family time like that now that I’ve been doing it for a couple of years.

Michael went home shortly before two; I got ready for bed; and got started on a bit of bedtime computing while cuddling with Mandy and talking to her.  I’ve only done the basic computer checks and dealt with one email that needed to be answered before getting started on this journal update.  That hasn’t taken long, but it’s still past two-thirty; and I’m not going to get much down time before I’ll need to be awake again and ready for another yard and house chores day.  Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I talked about getting together tomorrow night during our little front porch visit, and we might even see about putting together a sleepover; but that’s just an idea right now; and would need all of the parental approvals first – not to mention a location and possible expanded guest list.

I’ll let you know how that goes with the next report, but for right now, it’s time to crash and nap; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 12, 2015

I went to school; had a short cheerleading practice; helped out with the dinner rush at the Inn; did my homework with Michael; and went to game night with our families and friends before heading home for the night.  Mom did my Magi lesson with me once we were here; I took care of getting the twins tucked in for the night and had a nice little chat with them while doing that; and then I came up to my room to start my bedtime computing from the comfort of my Jacuzzi.  That start of my usual nightly studying and work didn’t happen until shortly before midnight, and that was more than three and a half hours ago; so I’m pretty much exhausted now.

My work is done, though; and I’ll be able to take the weekend off – except for any work that comes up that can’t wait until next week.  Round two of the football playoffs is tomorrow night, and since we’re sure to have another late night with the road trip for the game; I’d better just wrap this up and get started on my nap.

Before I skip Rebecca’s news of the day; I’ll add that she made the basketball team – not that anyone was surprised with the news.  She is probably the next-best player to Carolyn Landry.  I’ve been out of the loop for basketball tryouts this week – and the basketball cheerleading tryouts too; but I’m happy for everyone that made the different teams today even if I don’t have time to be involved in any of that.

I don’t have time to sit up and write a long report either – not that I have any major news to include for posterity.  Sleep needs to be my top priority right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 11, 2015

My classes and cheerleading practice kept me busy at school all day.  Studying and family business work filled the rest of my day up to now – except for a break for dinner; and the time I spent with Ethan and Ehlana while tucking them in for the night before coming up to my room and getting ready for bed.

It’s still early compared to normal for me, but my work and studying is done for the day thanks to some quality time phasing that allowed all of us to get a lot done while we worked in the office.  Mom and Dad are likely taking advantage of the extra time in a much more exciting way than I will be tonight, but they don’t normally stay awake as late as I do; and sleeping is my top priority right now.

Thankfully, I can actually do that now, and there isn’t anything else newsworthy-enough to get in the way of doing that; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 10, 2015

It’s been another crazy-busy Tuesday for me; though there’s been enough fun to go along with all of the work to keep me happy – if not well-rested.

Our morning routine didn’t include anything newsworthy to report; and my school day was fairly uneventful – except for cheerleading and band practices at lunchtime and after school.  The cheerleading workout was outdoors, and we were pretty much ready for the game on Friday by the time we wrapped that up; so the next two practices should be comparatively easy.  Band practices now are all about getting ready for the Christmas parades and concerts season, and though it’s hard to believe; we’re down to just weeks until our first Christmas parade of the year!  That’s why we spent a little extra time on our practice again today; and then Mrs. Robinson and I had a chat about the latest news for getting our marching band and trip to Disney plans.  Most of that was just a bunch of boring details, and the only important news to report from all of it is that we will soon have all of the necessary approvals from the school and town to go ahead with the project; and there will likely be some financial support too – though not for the actual trip to Florida.  We’ll need to raise the money for that ourselves.

Michael and I went to his house for dinner; we took care of the clean-up; and then moved on to the church for our teen praise team practice.  While Stacey is off taking care of David, Pastor Martha and Mrs. Robinson are going to share the work for the Christmas musical and all of the rest of the holiday music and services we’ll be involved in.  Mrs. Robinson led our practice tonight, since it was mostly about the music; but we’ll be adding in the ‘actors’ for the musical fairly soon; since we’ll also need to teach them all of the chorus music.  We were at the church for nearly an hour and a half; and then I went home again with Michael so that we could do our homework and have a bit more time together before he’ll be back to his after-school work at the Inn tomorrow.

The homework was easy-enough to get done; we had a nice bedtime chat with his parents and Rebecca; and then I came home again after we shared our goodnight hugs and kisses out on his front porch.  There was no make-out session of any kind tonight, but Michael’s getting tired too; so we decided to save that for another day.

At the rate we’re doing that saving; we’ll need to take a month off sometime to make up for all of the making-out we don’t have time for now! ;^)

Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana were all working in the office when I got back, so after catching up on what they’d been doing all day; Mom did my Magi lesson with me and then sent me off with orders to tuck my brother and sister in for the night and then get to bed.  I did that, but going to sleep too wasn’t an option; and I’ve been working on my computer for the past three and a half hours.  That means that bedtime will be a bit earlier than yesterday; but I’m just as tired out thanks to a more-tedious archive assignment.  That is pretty much all of the news I have for today, though, and I don’t want to waste that extra nap time by dragging this out for no reason; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 9, 2015

Congratulations to the Burroughs’ family; and welcome to the world, David Burroughs!

Stacey and David are both doing well; Pastor John is a very proud Daddy; and Rebekkah is going to be a wonderful big sister for David.  I haven’t been writing much at all about pregnancies other than Aunt Leanne’s in quite a while, and not even much about hers; but I’m including this one because David is likely to be a future friend of Brianna’s – and he’ll definitely be a classmate.  Pastor John and Stacey have become good friends with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Mark, and Aunt Grace; so their kids will spend time together as they grow up.  I’ll be on the outside edges for that too because of the age difference, but I’m glad that my brother, sister, and their cousins are all going to enjoy growing up with life-long friendships.

There is a side-issue that comes along with David’s birth, and while it isn’t something that even made the local gossip news; it is something that will affect me more directly than baby David will.  Stacey is obviously going to be too busy with her new baby and toddler daughter to keep up with her work at the church; so we’ll have a temporary teen praise team leader helping us to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Knowing Stacey, she’ll likely be right back to helping out again as soon as she can; but our Tuesday evening practices are sure to be different now.

I don’t want to get bogged down on thinking about that because our praise team will be fine even as we’ll miss working with Stacey while she’s busy with her family, and I do have more to cover; so let’s move along.

Happy 14^th Birthday, Jillian!

Michael and I sent a gift and card for her, and we exchanged a couple of text messages this morning too; but that was the total extent of my involvement with Jillian’s big day.  Dawn made sure that her best friend had a good day at school, though; and her parents had a party for her after school that included dinner and a movie out.  Dawn’s staying for a sleepover too; but I don’t have many of the details yet – just a short email response with a promise of more to come tomorrow.

By the way, since I indirectly mentioned using my smart phone, I’ll add that I do actually use it once in a while; but Mom and Dad will not have to worry about overcharges on my phone plan anytime soon.  Dawn and Jillian are two of the very few people I even use text messaging to keep in touch with, and while it comes in handy for that; I’d much rather just talk to people in person.  That might sound even stranger to you whenever you’re reading this in my future, but to be honest; I really hope that’s something that will change back to the old ways instead of continuing to advance.  I love technology as much as the next teen; but sometimes the cost of it in terms of personal relationships is too high.  That isn’t a diatribe I want to get into tonight either; so let’s not go there.

Closer to home again, today was the start of basketball tryouts at school; and Rebecca is trying out for the team again this year.  I’m sure she’ll make the team, since she is one of the best returning players from last year, but while that is all but a done deal; they’ll still do the work and training – and Carolyn Landry will definitely want to push her team mates to help make her senior year a best-ever for one of her favorite sports.  I’ll keep you posted on how that’s going for them, and Michael and I are going to do our best to get to more of Rebecca’s games; but we’ll see how that goes too.

Compared to births, birthdays, and basketball tryouts; my day was fairly uneventful – and too busy.  Tai Chi by the river was too chilly again, but we made up for that with a hot breakfast in the sunroom.  We’re really digging into the new study modules in all of our classes; so that work kept us busy all day except for our break at lunchtime.  We were outside for most of that, and while it wasn’t hot out; it was nice-enough to have our lunch out there and enjoy some play time with our friends.  Cheerleading practice went well; and we’ll have our two half-time routine options ready to go by Wednesday – mostly because we’re just adapting a couple of the routines from earlier in the season for this game.

We are going to be up against Hillcrest this Friday; and we’ll be on the road for the game.  I can also report that Tim is not a happy camper tonight after their first practice to get ready for that game.  Since I’ve written about it here and there all season, I won’t drag out the issues Tim has with his team captain and most of the senior players; and I’ll instead simply mention that the egos are even more inflated now after the win this past Friday; and too many of the guys are not taking this next match seriously-enough.  Rowen and I caught the end of that practice while doing a bit of homework after our practice and while we waited for Michael and Tim; and I can confirm that Tim is right about that.  Coach Robinson is doing his best to deal with it; but he’s up against a group of guys that just don’t have much experience at all with losing many games – and some of them are undefeated in the playoffs during their High School careers – so far.  As Tim’s mentioned to us fairly regularly all season, they’d better get over their unbeatable complex before it’s too late – especially now that they’re in the playoffs; and the season is over for them if they lose.

They still have three more days to get ready for hillcrest.  Let’s hope for the best!

Michael came home with me after our practices; we had dinner in the sunroom right away; and then we were on the clean-up crew of two – with supervisory and entertainment help from Ethan and Ehlana.  We did our homework after that; had a music practice; and followed that up with a Magi lesson with Mom.  Some play time with Ethan and Ehlana kept all of us busy until we took care of getting them tucked in for the night, and then Michael and I had a minor make-out session in the lounge before having a short chat with Mom and Dad in the office when it was nearly time for Michael to get home again.

I’ve pretty much been working on my computer since seeing Michael out; getting ready for bed; and snuggling in for the night with Mandy.  The archive assignment was actually fairly interesting tonight; my language studies are blasting along ahead of schedule; and the family business work continues to be fairly heavy right now thanks to seemingly unending new business opportunities.  I won’t bore you with the financial details, but since your perspective on that statement might be through the lens of a history that will record our current economy as quite a mess; I will add that there are quite easily as many business opportunities in bad times as there are in good.  The only difference between most companies and our family business is that everything we do is meant to help others.  We’re always looking for new ways to do that – and I’ll modestly admit that we’re pretty good at it too.

Some of us are also working a bit too hard at that – and everything else we have on the go; which is why I’m still awake and writing this update when I should have been sleeping hours ago.  That’s all of the news I have for tonight, though, and getting started on my nap is an option and priority; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!