Cassie's Journal - August 8, 2016

I’m heading out on a back yard camping adventure with Michael, the twins, Naomi, and Aiden now; so this is going to be a micro-update.

The buffet-to-close shift was one of our toughest so far this summer; I went home with Michael; and we had a nice little sofa sleepover in his living room that did not include any major make-out time because we pretty much passed out not long after his parents, Jake, Stephanie, and Rebecca went up to bed.

Tai Chi by the river and breakfast at my house was pretty good; and then we spent the morning working.  For me, that meant helping Mom with chores around the house and some time-phased family business work in the office while the twins were at the lab and archives.  We had some rain around lunchtime; Michael and I were both set free for the afternoon; and we played with Ethan, Ehlana, Naomi, and Aiden for the rest of the day.  Dinner was a Stone-Proctor families potluck at our house; Michael and I were on the clean-up crew; and then we set up a tent for our camping adventure.

Yes, that’s one tent; two teens; and four kids.  I’m sure the parents have nothing to worry about – unless Naomi’s Dad is worried about her sneaking into Ethan’s sleeping bag again tonight! ;^)

We’ve had a bit of play time and a swim since then; I’m doing my email and bedtime computer checks – and this update – now instead of later while getting ready for bed; and we’ll be doing scary stories and maybe some music by the river next before getting to the camping part of the night.  I won’t say that there won’t be any cuddling with Michael and me tonight, but we will be good; so our camping will definitely be kid-rated fun!

I’m ready to get to that now, though, and there isn’t anything major to add tonight anyway; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 7, 2016

This report is coming to you during my afternoon break because I’m hoping for a second sofa sleepover with Michael tonight after we’re finished work – though we should do that at his house instead of mine to at least pretend that it isn’t intentional. ;^)

I can honestly report that the sofa sleepover last night wasn’t planned; and I’ll take the blame too; since I literally fell asleep on Michael.  The good news for us is that I didn’t do that until after we’d had a fairly hot make-out session first!  We also had a bit of fun with Ethan and Ehlana while tucking them in for the night; didn’t watch the movie we picked to ignore while we played; and then I crashed for the night while we were cuddling and not watching a second movie.

The lunch shift at the Inn was crazy-busy, and the dinner shift is likely to be worse, so I don’t expect that Michael and I will have the energy for a post-work play time for two tonight, but cuddling with him again all night would be great; so that’s my current plan.

I’ll let you know how that goes with the next report. ;^)

For the news from today, though, I should start with the morning wake-up call.  No, that wasn’t a hot round of morning make-out fun – it was a tag-teamed pounce from Ethan and Ehlana that had us quickly awake and then getting ready for Tai Chi by the river after sharing a bit of five-year-old-rated goofiness.  We had fun with our morning workout too; and then I got ready for the day before heading over to Michael’s house for breakfast with his family.  We’re running out of time to do that with Jake and Stephanie before they go off to their last year of college; so we wanted to spend time with them while we can – now that we’re down to just days until they leave for New York.

That’s true for Violet and Dillon too, and I haven’t been able to do as much with them this summer as I’d like, but that’s the way it is; and I’ll just have to do the best I can with them too.

Having the gourmet breakfast was a bonus; and worth the clean-up work after we ate while the chefs took their turn getting ready for church.  We ended up walking to church with my family; Michael and I sat with Mom, Dad, and the twins while Violet and Dillon sat with Jake and Stephanie; and we had fun during the part of the service we were there for – and during Sunday school too.  The service went long, so Michael and I had to hurry to the Inn to help with getting everything ready for the lunch rush; and we worked hard straight through until we were set free for our afternoon break.

It started raining before we went to the Inn after church, though not hard-enough to make that little walk unpleasant; but the wet was a bit steadier off-and-on all afternoon; so we came home to my house for our break so that we could spend some time with Ethan and Ehlana.  They had Naomi and Aiden with them to play indoors too; so we’ve had all four of them to hang out with – mostly in the sunroom.  We went for a swim too; which is why I’m currently getting cleaned up and ready to go back to the Inn again.  Michael’s currently doing the same at his house, but let’s not spend too much time thinking about him in the shower; or I won’t be interested in focusing on the work once we’re back at the Inn again. ;^)

Speaking of that, I need to finish up here and meet up with Michael so that we can get back to work.  I did my email and computer check for the day too, and while there’s some work to do; it can wait until tomorrow.  There wasn’t any wedding news in my email yet, and since this is a travel day for Grandma and Grandpa; I don’t expect an update from them until they’re settled in their next hotel and destination.  I won’t bother with second-hand news for them this time; since you can read all about their travels in their journals instead.  I really need to go, though, and don’t have anything else to add to the news from around here; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 6, 2016

Congratulations, Neil and Michelle Ryan!

I have no news from the wedding yet, but we have had a decent day that wasn’t too hot and rain-free; so I hope they’ve had an amazing day with their family and friends.

My day hasn’t been wedding and party-level fun; but I’m hoping that Michael and I will make up for that when he gets here to hang out with me for the rest of the evening.

First up for my news from today is that I got called in to help out with the breakfast rush at the Inn when Miranda had a call-in shortage; so I skipped Tai Chi; got ready quickly; and headed to the Inn to help out in the kitchen for a few hours.  That made for a busier-than-planned start to my day, and the busy continued when I got home and needed to jump in to help out with the chores already in progress.  Yes, I’d gotten a head start on them with the lawn mowing yesterday, but we still had a lot to do; so we worked until nearly one-thirty before wrapping up for the day and having lunch.  After that, I had some play time with Michael, Ethan, and Ehlana that included a bike ride; play time at the park; and a swim before Michael and I needed to be back at the Inn for the dinner shift.

I had my ball game too, so I only worked until about twenty-to-six before heading over to the school for my game.  We were up against the Flares tonight, and while we didn’t have our star player, we managed to earn a close, ten-to-seven victory that we needed a big sixth-inning to put away after battling back-and-forth through the first five and a half innings.  We didn’t have a bit turn-out of spectators for the game, but Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana did come and cheer us on; so Rowen and I had a pretty good game with three RBI’s each.  We went home for ice cream treats and a swim; but then I headed back to the Inn to help out with the rest of the shift until close.  Michael went home after that to grab a shower and get changed before coming over here; and I’ve already cleaned up and gotten changed too while multi-tasking the usual bedtime email and computer checks before getting to this report.

Ethan and Ehlana are going to bed soon; and they’re only waiting for Michael to get here so we can tuck them in and spend a bit of time with them before we move on to the alone time I hope will keep us entertained for the rest of the evening.  Violet and Dillon are out for the evening again; and Jake and Stephanie have likely already met up with them and the other friends they’re hanging out with as they all get ready to head back to college soon.  That does work out nicely for Michael and me, since they’ll likely be out late tonight; but I’ll have to let you know how well that works out for us with the next update.

I don’t have any other news for tonight, though, and Michael will be here soon; so that’s all for tonight, folks!

It hasn’t been a lot of fun today, but I am going to work on that right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

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!