Cassie's Journal - March 9, 2016

It’s late, but not ridiculously so; and that’s entirely thanks to two things.  The first is that my Wednesday work night allowed me to get started on everything as soon as I got home from school.  I also cheated all night by using a time phase for everything except our dinner break.

That’s been exhausting, and Mom wasn’t thrilled with my plan; but It worked because I got everything done that I wanted to do not only tonight; but for tomorrow night too.  Now I only have to deal with daily family business issues; and Mom’s going to watch quite a few of those for me while I’m in Colorado.

The downside is that I’ve way overdone it tonight; and might need a week to recover.  Doing that while having extreme fun with my friends next week isn’t going to happen; but I’ll deal with it as I always do – and won’t let a little thing like being tired get in the way of the snow fun.

As for the rest of my day; we started out with Tai Chi by the river; I have absolutely nothing interesting to report from school; and I did my homework on my own tonight – also while in a time phase so that I didn’t waste much time on that when I had so many other things to get finished tonight.  While the work and studying was my top priority, I was also babysitting the twins tonight while Mom and Dad were at the church helping out in the sanctuary.  This is the last day they’ll be doing that this week because Dad will need to get ready for his week in the city next week; but they will do what they can to help out between now and Easter – even though Dad can’t do that at all next week.

Ethan and Ehlana worked on their college studies while I did my work tonight; they got a lot done thanks to the time phasing; and can take next week off too if they want to do that.  They also stayed up until Mom and Dad got home; Mom took care of getting them tucked in for the night; and Dad worked with me in the time phase to get his own must-do work finished by the time I was done and ready to come up to my room for the night.

I did one last computer and email check after getting changed and in bed with Mandy, and once I have this report finished; it’s going to be lights out for me in a need to be unconscious way for the rest of the night.

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

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - March 8, 2016

Happy 17^th Birthday, Luke!

It’s a bit weird to be starting the next-level of friends’ birthdays, since I’m one of the last to make the grade cut for my own year.  Luke’s only a grade ahead of me, but almost two years older; and we don’t have a lot in common either.  My invitation had nothing to do with me anyway, since Rowen and I were invited along with Tim and Michael; so it wasn’t a big deal that we were on the fringe of the dinner party too.  We also barely made it out to Luke’s farm in time for dinner after band practice; and had to leave the party before dessert was served; so that worked out for the best anyway since our interruptions didn’t get in the way of the birthday fun.

We did have fun despite being rushed; but then rushed pretty much describes my entire day.  Tai Chi by the river was an exception to that general rule; but then we were busy the rest of the time before and after breakfast.  While writing tests and doing everything else we had on the go at school wasn’t difficult for me; we were busy all day too.  Even our lunch break was busy because there was some birthday fun for Luke with his girlfriend Denise and some of the friends that weren’t at his party after school.

After school, we were busy with band; and part of that practice was a preview of the music we’ll be doing with the marching band starting next month.  I haven’t really thought about that much, but our little concert band isn’t going to have as much to do over the next year as our marching band starts doing the parades instead.  We’ll still have the seniors’ parties and concerts at school; but we’ll also likely cut way back on the practices next fall.  For today, though, we used up our entire practice time, and then Tim met up with us at the school and Rowen’s mother gave the four of us a ride out to the Taylor farm for Luke’s birthday dinner.

We weren’t the only teens doing that after band, or the only group heading back to town in time for our praise team practice; but we didn’t have any extra passengers with us.  Dad came to pick us up for that trip back to town; and then he stayed at the church to help out as one of the volunteers working in the sanctuary this week.  The sanctuary is closed while that work is being done; so our praise team practice was in the fellowship hall instead.  We could still hear the noise from the work in the sanctuary, and they could hear our practice; but that’s a small price to pay for having the expanded sanctuary ready to go in time for Easter.

That practice was a blast of work and fun because we still have a lot to do before we’ll be ready for our contributions to the Easter season music and services; and that’s especially true when we have March Break between now and then.  My work and busy for the day was far from done after that, though; and Michael came home with me from the church so that we could get started on our homework.  We spent an hour doing that; Michael stayed long-enough to help me with tucking Ethan and Ehlana in for the night; and then he went home so that I could get started on the rest of my work and studying – about four hours ago.

I’ve doubled up the work and studying again tonight, and while that’s kept me up late again; I need to keep at it if I want to head to Colorado on Saturday morning and not need to take a lot of work with me.  Speaking of that, I’ve started to keep an eye on the forecast for Winter Park, and while going snowboarding with temperatures above freezing can be awesome; I hope it doesn’t get too warm out there!  This isn’t part of my ‘cover’ story, but I have been to a ski resort before when there haven’t been many runs left open due to snow melt; and it won’t be as much fun for us if that happens while we’re there next week – and way sooner than is normal for Colorado.

It’s going to be another short nap night for me again, though; so I shouldn’t waste that down time writing about something that I can’t do anything about.

Okay, I could; but Mom would get really mad if I tried to whip up a cold front in the Rockies ahead of our trip – not to mention that things like that can really mess with the weather in much bigger ways than can realistically be controlled.  It’s really for the best to leave things like that to Mother Nature – even when she doesn’t always give us what we want.

That’s definitely wandered off somewhere I didn’t need to go, and that means I’m too tired to be doing this anymore; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - March 7, 2016

Happy 32^nd Birthday, Uncle Adam!

It’s funny that as I write that; the first thing that I’m thinking is that I’ll officially be half his age for a month or so when I turn sixteen next February.  No, that isn’t a huge deal for an uncle-niece age difference, and he’s not even my youngest uncle if you include the unofficial members of that little club; but I still think it’s funny that I was about a third his age when we met during my first Thanksgiving here in Witch Falls.

I’ll guess that he wasn’t thinking about that at all tonight; though he likely is very happy that the age difference between him and Aunt Leanne means nothing now compared to when they were kids and teens.  That’s taking my thoughts in a direction I don’t want to go, though; so let’s get to the news of the day.

The temperature was still in the sixties this morning, and while we had a dash or three of rain overnight; that didn’t get in the way of a really great Tai Chi workout by the river.  That got our day off to a great start; breakfast and the rest of my pre-school morning routine was fairly standard; and then we had a pretty good day at school.  There were some tests to write and projects to hand in, but that was easy for me; and not really anything major for anyone else in our class either.  The weather was perfect for having our lunch break outdoors; so that was a highlight of the day; and the afternoon classes sped by thanks to that bonus play time and fresh air.

Michael came home with me after school so that we could do our homework ahead of Uncle Adam’s birthday dinner; we got that done fairly quickly; and then we were put on kid control while Mom helped Aunt Leanne with making dinner.  We took a small gang of kids to the park; went for a walk on the main path; and played at the playground for nearly an hour before heading back to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house.  A kid clean-up followed that adventure; we had fun in the play room after that until everyone had arrived and dinner was ready; and then the birthday fun began in earnest – for the hour or so that Michael and I had left to do that before it was time to get to our marching band committee meeting.

While we had fun at dinner, Michael and I were also on kid control while we ate; so we missed a lot of the birthday roasting going on with the parents.  Mom didn’t go with us to the meeting; and instead stayed to help out with the post-dinner work – and to hang out with Dad and everyone else that stayed for an evening of fun and entertainment.  Miranda was at the meeting, though, and we had fun taking the next steps toward being ready for our first marching band practice that is now just four weeks away!  Our trip to Colorado is a much bigger deal for me right now, and we have Easter coming up between now and then too; but I’m really looking forward to actually being part of the inception of a new marching band.  That’s a bit scary too, but in a fun way; so I’m not at all worried that the band will be a disaster.

That meeting went pretty well for the work side of it, so we weren’t just having fun without getting anything done; and then Michael came home with me so that we could do a music practice to get ready for our band and teen praise team practices tomorrow.  Mom, Dad, and the twins were home by then, and since Mom and Dad were working in the office; Ethan and Ehlana came upstairs with us to listen in – or join in – while Michael and I first practiced for band and then worked through all of our Easter music.  We took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana into bed for the night after that; had a minor make-out session in the lounge before Michael went home; and then I had a chat with Mom and Dad in the office while they wrapped up their work before we all came up to bed.

I had a lot of work and studying to get to after that, so they were having a lot more fun than I was; but let’s not take that train of thought any further.  The family business work came first, and since I’m doubling up on pretty much everything this week; that took a few hours to get done because I didn’t use a time phase tonight.  My language studying came next; I spent an hour and a half doing that; and then moved on to one last email and computer check that also added a bit more family business work to my night before I could get to this update.

All of that means that I won’t have time for much more than a nap now before needing to get up and going again; but that’s exactly how I expected this week to go for me.  Since Michael and I have those two practices and a birthday dinner to deal with tomorrow; I’ll expect more of the same for Tuesday night – especially since we won’t even be able to get to our homework until after our teen praise team practice.

I’ll let you know how that goes with my next update, but that’s all I have for tonight; and it’s way past-time for me to get started on that nap.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - March 6, 2016

We’re officially counting down the days to March Break and our trip to Colorado now; so all of the extra work this weekend was worth being this tired.

Tai Chi was chilly, but outdoors by the river.  Michael and I were with our own families for breakfast; but we were together for pretty much the rest of the day.  That included church; working the lunch shift at the Inn; doing our homework during our afternoon break; and then working the buffet shift until we closed the Inn for the night.  Other than a short stop for a goodnight hug and kiss outside of Michael’s house; I came straight home after that.  I had a visit in the office with Mom and Dad; took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night; and then used a time phase to get my work and studying done so that I’ll still be sleeping by midnight.

That’s cheating, but I didn’t want to skip anything – and didn’t want to stay up past my time limit either to get the work done.  I also need to get ahead of things to be ready for my week away.  I can keep up with some of my work; but not everything – and I wouldn’t want that work and studying to get in the way of the fun while we’re in Colorado either.  We do have a school week to get through between now and when we leave for Colorado on Saturday morning; and a few things going on that I’ll need to fit in around my usual schedule.

Uncle Adam’s birthday is tomorrow; Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I have a birthday party to go to on Tuesday for one of Michael’s and Tim’s football team mates; and we’ll need to work in packing for our trip somewhere too.  Add in the holiday assignments we’ll have that I’d like to get done before we leave; and I think there’s a good chance that I’ll need to forget about the time limits I’m supposed to follow for the next five nights.

Okay, I’ll likely be ignoring them next week too, but I’ll be doing that because we’ll be having too much fun; and you can’t seriously expect me not to do that when we’ll have a parent-free week.  Sure, we’ll have chaperones, but I am a Magi Master; so that won’t really be an issue if I don’t want it to be one!

Did I write that last part out loud? ;^)

Just kidding, Mom and Dad – though by the time you read this; it wouldn’t matter if I was being serious.

That is something I don’t need to take more time with tonight, and I don’t really have anything else to report tonight; so I should wrap this up and get off to sleep soon.  This hasn’t exactly been the most exciting weekend I’ve ever had, but Michael wasn’t the only friend wanting to put in extra work this weekend to have extra spending money on our trip; so I did at least keep busy while everyone else was busy too.  Missing out on enjoying another day with the temperatures in the seventies like it was this afternoon was tougher; but I’ll survive.

I am ready for some down time now, and will need all of the rest I can get with everything we’ll have on the go this week; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!