Cassie's Journal - August 5, 2016

Before I get to the news from around here, I need to mention a family wedding that I haven’t even written about this summer – mostly because I’ve had no involvement in it at all.  Christina’s sister, Michelle, is getting married to Neil Ryan tomorrow.  I might not have even paid any attention to that today if it wasn’t for the fact that the local members of the Johnson and Carrington clan headed out today for the weekend to attend that wedding.  I was so oblivious to all of that yesterday that I didn’t even notice that Christina and Josiah left for her home sometime on Thursday, since she’s one of Michelle’s bridesmaids along with Tory and one of Neil’s sisters.

I was happy to get home in time to see Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Zack, and Brianna before they left town; but I didn’t see anyone else before they left – partly because I was working at the Inn while some of those departures were going on.  Let’s hope that they’ll have a great weekend, and that Michelle and Neil get to have a wonderful start to married life, but other than offering those best wishes; there isn’t anything else for me to add to that news – especially when you can likely read all about it from the perspective of other Magi who will be there for the big event.

With that said; let’s get on with my own news – starting with the tail-end of Denise’s party last night.

Mom ended up being our driver to Quarry Lake, and that ended up being very important to the rest of my night because she helped me out with warding the minivan while we drove out there; I healed Michael of his fatigue; and then healed myself too so that we could really enjoy the play time with our friends instead of just going there and falling asleep the way I’d expected.  That was the good news.  The good and bad is that we stayed up and partied with our friends until it was past-two; we followed that up with a fair bit of quality make-out time in our tent after that; and then we only had time left for a nap once we were finally ready to get a bit of sleep.  We woke up to a fairly energetic thunderstorm just before dawn – not that we got to see a sunrise while the storm was rolling through.

That caused quite a few problems for us because we needed to get packed up and ready to go; and that doesn’t work out very well when the tents and some of your gear is wet.  Michael and I skipped Tai Chi; dealt with packing up; and then had a ride back to town with Rowen and Tim.  While the boys headed over to the park for a football workout; Rowen and I took care of setting up the tents again in my backyard so that they could dry out; and then she headed to the store to work while I got busy with chores.  I fit in the goodbye visit with the Carringtons around the work; and then gave myself extra chores by deciding to mow their lawn too once I was finished cutting the grass at our house.  While that hadn’t been requested, it needed to be done; and I’m overdue for helping out a bit more when my family needs it.  All of the yard work and chores in the house kept me busy through until I needed to get ready for my dinner-to-close shift at the Inn; and I didn’t end up spending any time with Michael during his breaks because he wasn’t really taking breaks anyway.

It wasn’t quite as hot out today, but it was still hot in the kitchen when I got there to help with the dinner prep work; and stayed hot all evening.  We were busy, but not as crazy as it’s been for some of the other shifts I’ve worked over the past couple of weeks.  This time, the lack of sleep last night started to catch up with me, though; and I had to push myself to keep going.  Michael, Rebecca, Jenny, and I still mostly had fun along with all of the work, but by the time we were set free for the night; I was ready to walk home with Michael; kiss him goodnight; and head for my room and some Jacuzzi time before going to bed for the night.

Mom and Dad were still up and watching a movie with the twins, but Violet and Dillon were out for the evening, I hadn’t missed any major family fun with most of our relatives away from home for the weekend; and I kept my bedtime chat with my parents, brother, and sister very short before coming up to my room.  I’ve been in the tub since getting it filled; did my basic bedtime computing while enjoying the Jacuzzi action; and I’ll be getting out of the tub and ready for bed shortly after I finish this report.

All of the work today hasn’t been very exciting, but Michael and I did have a fairly amazing night of camping; so I’m not going to complain about the not-so-much-fun parts of my life.  I’ll have more work to do this weekend, and a baseball game to play tomorrow night if the weather is decent, but we don’t have any other major plans; so some fun with Michael after work on Saturday and Sunday might be an option.  I’ll keep you posted on that; and hope for the best!

For now, though, that’s all of the news I have for tonight; getting some sleep will help out in case I do get the chance for some Michael and me alone time; and I mostly want to wrap this up because I’m exhausted and ready to stop thinking for a while.

There is something I should mention before moving on – the 2016 Olympics in Rio.  The opening ceremony was tonight; so millions around the world are focused on the Olympic Games.  I won’t be one of them, but that’s entirely a personal choice that I wouldn’t dream of pushing on anyone else.  I’m not against international sports or competitions; I just don’t think that the Olympics are what they were meant to be anymore.  Maybe they will be again someday, but until that happens; I won’t be watching the show or supporting the Olympics in any way.

Okay, time to not go there and start some ranting that isn’t needed; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 4, 2016

Happy 16^th Birthday, Denise!

I’m hoping that she’s having fun by now, and she is happy that she got her driver’s license this morning; but I wouldn’t say that her birthday party had been a lot of fun yet up to the point where Michael and I came back to town to work the dinner shift at the Inn.  That’s mostly because Denise, and her boyfriend, Luke Taylor, are both farm kids; and farms don’t stop running for family birthdays.  While Denise was able to play at Quarry Lake this afternoon along with a few friends; Michael and I were only out there during his afternoon break – and we spent most of the time helping out with the campground and dinner party set-up.  We were part of the volunteer crew, and while we had fun, it was also scorching hot out this afternoon; with the ‘feels like’ temperature soaring to one-fifteen.  That was too hot to be working that hard, but the tents needed to be set up; and so did the pavilion for the barbeque dinner.

Doing all of that work meant that we only had time for a cool-down swim before getting a ride back to town for our dinner shift – especially since we needed to stop at our homes to get cleaned up and changed before moving on to the Inn.  We knew that we were going to miss out on Denise’s birthday dinner and some of the fun at Quarry Lake, but we weren’t booked to work until close.  Unfortunately, the heat drove more customers indoors – though that’s good news for Jacob and Miranda.  That meant that they were short-handed, though; and Michael and I were drafted to stay until close – along with working harder than expected to keep up with the orders and non-stop clean-up and dishwashing.  For anyone reading this that has worked at the Inn – or some other restaurant – on a summer day as hot as this one; you know what it was like in the kitchen today.  For those of you who don’t have that experience – be glad of it! ;^)

To skip over that blast of too busy and way too hot; I’ll only ad d that everyone working there tonight simply got through those hours by gritting our teeth and focusing on getting each little job done and moving on until we were ready to close up for the night and escape.  Once we’d done that, Michael and I split up to hit the showers and get ready to head out to Quarry Lake again.  I’m writing this update while doing that – and did a quick email and computer check first while I was still in the shower.  I’m not taking my computer with me tonight, and while I hadn’t planned on doing that anyway, after the day we’ve had; I doubt it will be because Michael and I are too busy doing anything else other than sleeping in our tent.

Maybe that was why Miranda really needed us to stay until close tonight! ;^)

Seriously, though, we will try to catch the tail-end of the birthday campfire, but I doubt that we’ll last past midnight before crashing into nap mode.  Maybe I’ll be wrong about that, and I’d be happy with that too; but won’t hold my breath.  I do need to wrap this up and meet up with Michael, though; so let’s cover the rest of the news for the day.

Tai Chi by the river was fun; breakfast in the sunroom was quick and only mildly entertaining because some of us were more focused on work than anything else.  I helped Mom with chores after that; we worked in the office around the chores; and she did a Magi lesson with me because we actually had time to do that for a change.  Ethan and Ehlana, by the way, were at the lab all morning; so we could do that work and lesson on our own while Ehlana played with Dillon in the lab and Ethan did his own thing in the archives.  We had lunch ready by the time Violet and Dillon brought the twins home; I dealt with getting the tents and gear rounded up while waiting for Michael to be done at the Inn; and then we got a ride out to Quarry Lake with Jake and Stephanie.  They didn’t stay and play because it was too hot, though with everyone else out of the house all afternoon; they might have just been more interested in a different kind of hot for their afternoon break.  I shouldn’t go there, or I might decide that I’m not all that tired after all right now!

Moving along, while I haven’t heard all of the news from home while I’ve been at the campground and working at the Inn, I do know that Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana mostly had an indoor afternoon to stay cool except for one swim in the river that Mom supervised.  The twins are having a sleepover here while I’m gone; and Naomi and Aiden are happy to be spending the night with their best friends.  They’re also camping in the lounge, but if Naomi is going to try sneaking into Ethan’s sleeping bag again tonight; I won’t be here to witness that or take pictures.

That’s one more thing that I need to do before heading out – say goodnight to them; so I really need to get this done and move on.

The fun level in my life will hopefully kick up a few notches before Michael and I run out of steam tonight, but the party and camping news will have to wait for the next report while I go out and live it.  Flip the digital page in my future if you can’t wait to find out what happens, but that’s all I have for now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 3, 2016

Yes!  I actually managed to stay awake for a while with Michael when we had some alone time for a change!  We enjoyed a fairly hot make-out session before getting around to the sofa sleepover part of our night; and then our wake-up call was fun too – even though that was early; and Michael needed to get to work at the Inn for the breakfast shift.  Not having Michael with us for Tai Chi or breakfast meant that I had to settle for some fun time with my family instead, and that was an entertaining hour and a half or so, but then it was time to get to work for the rest of the morning.

Since I’d been awake early anyway, I’d gotten ready early too; so I took care of the kitchen clean-up and some laundry chores before we all headed out to work.  For Dad, that was to the office; while the rest of us headed for the lab – after taking Naomi and Aiden home or to the bakery first.  I ended up splitting my morning between a bit of play time with Ehlana in ‘her’ lab and some family business work time in the archives with Ethan; with the second part of that work-play done in a time phase so that I could get all of my work done – and Ethan could do more with his archives work.  We stayed at the lab until one; went home for a late lunch; and then Michael and I went biking on the trails for a while during his afternoon break.  We followed that up with some swim time that Ethan and Ehlana joined us for; and then we stopped at the Emporium for ice cream treats before walking Michael back to the Inn ahead of his dinner shift.

We had a fairly quiet rest of the afternoon, an early dinner, and then I was off to the school for my baseball practice while the twins went to the park with Mom and Dad.  My practice went fairly well, but it was different without Carolyn there; and Coach Sarah wasn’t as fired up without her favorite player there to push all of us to work harder.  We probably tried harder to cheer her up because she was missing her little girl than we did with the actual practice, but that was okay; and I think that it did help a bit by the time we wrapped up our workout for the night.  Rowen and I went to the park to meet up with Michael and Tim, but while Michael took the time for a quick swim in the river; he headed back to the Inn to help out with the close because Jacob and Miranda were short-staffed for the night and had been busier than expected for a Wednesday night.

I came home after that; spent a bit of time with Mom, Dad, and the twins while Violet and Dillon had gone somewhere else after helping with kid control at the park; and then I came up to my room to enjoy some quality Jacuzzi time.  I’m still doing that while writing this; and plan on going to sleep a minute or two after I crawl into bed with Mandy.  I’m glad that Michael and I were able to have that play time last night, but I do need to get some sleep now and then too; and that is an option that I plan on taking tonight – even though it would be more fun to have Michael here for another night.

That wouldn’t be good for him because he has another breakfast shift to work at the Inn in the morning, though, and he’s tired too; so we aren’t doing that.  I’m also going to wrap this up, since I don’t really have any other news for the day – not to mention that I’m getting a bit wrinkled up from enjoying too much tub time already.

It had been a pretty good day, if not very exciting.  That should change a bit starting tomorrow, since we have another Quarry Lake birthday party and camping adventure to look forward too – though we’ll be juggling work and other responsibilities around that fun too.  That’ll be news for tomorrow, though, and I do want to get out of the tub soon and off to bed; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 2, 2016

This is going to be a short report because Michael’s going to be here soon to hang out for a while now that we’re done with the work and practices parts of our day; and I’m planning on keeping him here for a non-accidental sofa sleepover.

Tai Chi by the river and breakfast in the sunroom was great; the morning chores weren’t quite as much fun; and then our play afternoon with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden was pretty good – though it was getting a bit hot outside by then.  That’s why our marching band practice was so draining – the temperature with the humidex factored in was closer to one-ten than it was to one-hundred.  We did manage to survive and have a pretty good practice too, but then Michael and I needed to move on to our teen praise team practice.  That went well too, but we were both in need of showers and clean clothes after that; which is why we’ve split up to do that instead of just hopping in the river to cool off.  The heat is also why we didn’t pick a camping night; though having the twins, Naomi, and Aiden along for that would have been fun too – if not as fun as a cuddle night with Michael will be for us! ;^)

The twins do have their best friends over for the night, but they’re hanging out in the living room as I’m writing this, and while I love them a lot; they’re not getting an invitation to hang out with Michael and me this time.  He’ll be here soon, though, and I don’t really want to write about anything else tonight anyway when I’ve got that sofa sleepover and some make-out time with him to get to next; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 1, 2016

Happy 1^st Anniversary, Jake and Stephanie!

It’s been a year already!  How time flies when the newlyweds are away in Europe for nearly ten months of that year! ;^)

Their anniversary celebration wasn’t European-vacation level fun, but they did at least have the day off; and didn’t have to work all day at the Inn.

Unfortunately, they also didn’t get very nice weather from early morning through until mid-afternoon; which is why their dinner party was indoors instead of a back yard barbeque.  Jacob and Miranda made that decision fairly early when it was fairly clear that it would be too wet out for a party even if it did stop raining.  That made getting ready for the party and doing the chores a bit tougher, so I helped out once I was finished my own chores at home by mid-morning.  Michael and I worked together most of the time, so we had some fun along the way, but Jacob and Miranda needed worker bees for everything surrounding the dinner party; so we did a lot of work today and didn’t play all that much.

That isn’t exciting for us, but we did our part to make the day special for Jake and Stephanie; so it was worth it.  I won’t bore you with the work details, but the house was basically cleaned from top to bottom; we helped with the major meal; and Michael and I also took care of getting Jake and Stephanie’s room at the Inn set up with everything Miranda and Samantha put together for them – including champagne on ice, Olde Bakery treats, and a couple of gifts that we didn’t ask about because we were pre-warned that at least one of us wouldn’t want to know.

Michael and I also took care of the dinnertime work with help from Rebecca and Lucas so that Miranda and Jacob could enjoy the meal with the rest of their family and friends, so we ate when we could; and kept busy running between the kitchen and dining room as needed.  We still had some fun with that, but by the time we finished the clean-up after Jake, Stephanie, and most of their friends went out to the pub; I was on the way to being wiped out.  That’s why I went home not long after we finished cleaning the kitchen and dining room; though I stayed for a bit of cuddle time with Michael in the living room while Rebecca went home with Lucas for the night with plans to spend her Tuesday on the farm.

I came home early because I didn’t want to be up all night doing my family business work – and had a lot to get done.  Despite being tired, I got right to that while multi-tasking a long soak in my Jacuzzi while in a time phase.  I stayed in that time phase through until I finished my work; and I was in bed and cuddled with Mandy by then.  I’m back in normal time again, and have only done a quick, final check of my email and a scan of the headlines around the world before getting to this report.  Now that I’ve added in that power drain from the time phase and everything else I did with a bit of Magi-powered help; I’m past-ready to crash for the night.  Michael and I still have more chores to do tomorrow, and we have marching band and teen praise team practices too; but I’m hoping we’ll get to have a bit of play time too.

Maybe that’ll work out for us, since it didn’t today, but I’ll have to let you know how that goes with my next report; since I do still need to live it; while this is all near or distant past for you as you’re reading this someday in my future.  Heading off into nap mode now will at least have me ready to handle whatever happens, though, and I don’t have anything else to add tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!