Cassie's Journal - August 14, 2016

I should begin this report with the news that Michael and I didn’t exactly fall asleep last night as early as I’d expected when writing my update last night.

That might have something to do with a bit of Magi Healing for two that had us both feeling much better not long after we got comfortable in the lounge, and while that worked out great for us at the time; the lack of sleep and extra use of power has caught up with me tonight.  The good news, though, is that we did have a lot of fun last night; so it was worth the cost to me!

We did eventually get around to some nap time; Tai Chi by the river was great; and then we were at Michael’s house for breakfast – mostly because Miranda needed us there with Jake and Stephanie now safely in New York again.  Rebecca was at the farm with Lucas last night after work too; so that was one more reason not to leave Jacob and Miranda alone and missing their kids.  I’m glad that Jake and Stephanie will be back to stay before Rebecca and Michael leave for college.  That’ll be a lot easier for Miranda than if they’d all be gone at the same time.

The gourmet breakfast was a bonus, but it was the time together that was really great; and I’m glad we were able to do that before getting to the rest of our busy day.  We walked to church with my family; the service and Sunday school were pretty good too; and then it was time to get to work at the Inn for the rest of the day.  I don’t think that the weather made any difference today for how many customers we had; and it was crazy at the Inn keeping up with the business while short-handed.  This is an annual event, so it isn’t new to Jacob and Miranda, but it is tougher this year because of the extra dining room space that’s being readied for when we have two chefs instead of one starting next May.  Without dragging out the details, I’ll simply report that we worked our tails off all day; Michael and I were among the group of worker bees that took fewer and shorter breaks to help keep up with everything; and we’re all pretty much wiped out now.

Okay, I’ll guess that everyone else that was working at the Inn tonight is sleeping as I write this, but I’ve been working in a time phase tonight; so I won’t be far behind them with getting around to the napping part of my day.

We had a full house in here for lunch; and I’m sure we were closer to two and a half buffet sittings than two; since there were customers waiting in line for tables most of the evening.  We still managed to get the Inn closed by ten-thirty or so; and then I came straight home with just a micro-stop to say goodnight to Michael, Rebecca, and their parents.  Mom, Dad, and the twins were all in bed already by the time I got back; mostly because we do have an early start to the day coming up in not very many hours.  For Dad, that’ll be heading to Crystal Springs for his work week in the city.  The rest of us will be heading out on our fifth-annual amusement park adventure.

I’ll write more bout that over the next two days, but should mention tonight that we aren’t going to have a very large group with us this year – just Mom, the twins, Naomi, and Aiden with me; and Michael’s parents, Rebecca, and Lucas with him.  Rowen and Tim aren’t going this year; Dad opted for his week in the city this week instead of changing it up and working there next week instead; and our aunts and uncles decided to skip it this year too.  Rowen and Tim aren’t coming because Tim needs to help out with work instead, and while I’m going to miss having them along; that is happening more and more as we get older.  They will always be our best friends, though; and there’s nothing wrong with having our own lives – even if that we sometimes don’t get to have fun together.

Once I was up here in my room, I needed to pack for the trip; I multi-tasked that while spending some time in my Jacuzzi; and I also got started on some family business work that needed to get finished.  I had most of that done by the time I got out of the tub; finished the family business jobs shortly after getting into bed with Mandy; and then I spent a bit of extra time on my computer and email checks.  That was mostly to do a full check at Hathorne Industries ahead of our trip, but there aren’t any hints that we have anything to worry about while we’re away; so I don’t expect to have any problems with the Hathornes at the amusement park.

That would be ironic if we did; but I digress. ;^)

The work is done now; all of my favorite collegians have checked in and are either safely back at school or still in transit for various reasons; and Grandma and Grandpa are having fun with their work and play travel adventure.  I don’t have anything else to add, and while the time phasing will still allow me to get to sleep before midnight, I really do need to make up for that power drain by getting to the napping while I can; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 13, 2016

I don’t have much time before Michael gets here, and I plan on keeping him for a sofa sleepover; so this is going to be another short report.

The breakfast shift at the Inn was busy; my chores time at home after that was okay, but meant that I didn’t have much down time today; and the dinner shift was crazy-busy because we’re short-handed this weekend with the college kids off to school and the new hires too new to keep up with the workload that the more experienced teens had been able to handle.

Michael had his ballgame tonight; and the werewolves lost their first game of the season to the Vampires.  The score was twelve-to-eleven, and the Vampires did have a good rally to win the game; but Michael wasn’t really upset over the loss anyway.

He worked in the kitchen before and after the game, and was busy all day too; so I don’t expect that we’ll be ending our day with a major make-out session.  I hope that we will have a bit of fun before falling asleep, but I’ll keep you posted on that one.  For now, though, I just want to finish getting ready for the rest of my evening and then get to it.  We didn’t get out of the Inn until nearly ten-thirty, and we split up to grab showers and get changed first; so it’s already getting late – and we have another long, busy day ahead of us tomorrow.

Whatever happens for the rest of tonight, we do at least only have one more busy work day to get through before starting our two days of fun and adventure; so we do have that to look forward to – even if that full shift at the Inn is sure to be a tough one.  We’re going to think happy thoughts tonight, though, and ‘sofa sleepover’ is my happy thought for the night!

It’s time for me to take that thought, add a bit of pixie dust, and fly and be free; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 12, 2016

This is going to be a micro-update because it’s been a long day; and I’ll be up early to help out with the breakfast shift in the morning.

Let’s start with the news from around here that I missed out on today.  First up, Josiah’s parents put on a going away barbeque for Josiah, Christina, and some of their friends – including Jake and Stephanie.  Michael and I did stop in after the Inn was closed for the night, but the party was pretty much over by then; so our visit was pretty much a short visit to say goodbye to Josiah and Christina; since they’ll be leaving tomorrow too.  Next up, Mom and Dad had a game tonight with their co-ed team.  They were up against the Pirates, and won the high-scoring game nineteen-to-sixteen; so I missed out on a fairly entertaining evening while working the dinner-to-close shift.  I also missed a work morning at the lab that Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana had fun with while I opted to work from home and do some more of my weekend chores along with a couple of hours of family business work.

I did have some play time this afternoon with Michael while he was on his break.  We went biking at the park; swam for nearly an hour with the twins; and then had a snack break before it was time for us to get ready for work.  Other than a bit of fun here and there, it’s been all work and not really any play time since then; which has a lot to do with why I’m wiped out now and ready to crash for the rest of the night.

I’m doing the breakfast shift to help Miranda out, and will be working dinner-to-close again too for the same reason – especially since Michael has a game tomorrow night too.  This isn’t going to be a very exciting weekend for me, but I knew that already; and we do at least have some fun to look forward to on Michael’s days off – our fifth-annual amusement park adventure.  Let’s save that news for when we go on the trip, though; and I’m just going to call it a night and head off to dreamland now instead of dragging this update out anymore than I already have.

Yes, my Friday night has been way too dull, even compared to most other teens around here, but it can be fun and games all of the time!  Dreaming about what might have been – or could be – instead sounds like more fun than lamenting about what isn’t happening tonight instead, though; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - August 11, 2016

Yes, it is mid-August, and I have lived other places where it gets hot in the summer, but when the ‘feels like’ temperature around here climbs above one-fifteen; it’s time to stay indoors for a while!

The good news is that I did that for most of the afternoon.  The bad is that I also worked the dinner-to-close shift at the Inn tonight too; and it was probably hotter in the kitchen for most of that time.

I’ve gotten ahead of the news of the day; so let’s back up to this morning and go from there.

It was still hot and humid out at dawn, but we were outside for Tai Chi by the river anyway; and had fun with that – even though I didn’t have my favorite exercise buddy with me.  After that, it was time for a quick breakfast that was all about spending a last bit of time with Violet and Dillon before they headed for Woodvale; and then I helped them with getting Violet’s car loaded so that they could be on the road in time to hopefully make it to Woodvale by noon and lunch plans they had with Dawn and some friends.  The house felt emptier after that even though they’d have been at work all day anyway if they hadn’t left; which was why I felt motivated to get a head start on my weekend chores again today after the morning chores in the house were finished except for the ongoing loads of laundry.  I only managed to mow the lawn before the heat had me changing my mind about doing chores all morning just to keep busy and not thinking too much about things that can’t be – like spending more time with Violet and Dillon.

I worked on my family business jobs instead; did that using a time phase; and had everything done by the time Mom and I stopped to make lunch for six that included the twins, Naomi, and Aiden.  It was time to play for a while after that, and Michael joined us for some of that fun while he was on his afternoon break, but we spent most of the afternoon indoors except for one swim in the river.  The water was nice-enough, but the air was hot-enough to take your breath away; so we didn’t play in the water for very long before going back inside to have an ice cream sundae afternoon snack break.  Knowing what it was going to be like in the kitchen at the Inn, I grabbed a shower and got changed before meeting up with Michael at his house and going on to work from there; and then we get into what was definitely the hottest part of my day.

Too bad for Michael and I that it was the weather-related kind of hot! ;^)

I won’t put you to sleep with the drudgery that was our work shift tonight.  It was too hot; and too busy because the heat drove the camper-customers into town and the comparative cool of the dining rooms at the Inn.  Fortunately, we still have most of the college teens around, and many of them were working a last shift tonight before heading away to school, so we weren’t short-staffed; but we will be this weekend if the trend continues – especially when we lose our nearly-fully-trained second chef on Saturday morning.  That’s something to deal with starting on the weekend, though, so let’s move along.

While we pretty much had a full house tonight, the hot weather did at least mean that our customers mostly came into town early instead of later; so the main rush was over with by seven o’clock.  We had the Inn cleaned up and closed by a bit before ten o’clock; and then I went home with Michael and his family so that we could have a visit with Jake and Stephanie.  We won’t be able to do that tomorrow night because they’ll be hanging out with her family instead, and then they’ll be gone to the airport early on Saturday morning; so this was my last chance to hang out with them when we aren’t busy working our tails off at the Inn.  That visit was still too-short because Jacob and Michael need to be up early for the breakfast shift again; which is why I came home at a bit after eleven o’clock.

Everyone else in the house was in bed by then, and while not everyone was sleeping; Mom and Dad did not need me stopping in for a visit on my way up to my room.  No added details needed there, so if you must use your imagination right now; don’t ever tell me if I’m still around whenever you are reading this in my future!

I had a quick shower; got ready for bed; and only needed to do the usual bedtime computer and email checks before getting to this report.  Once again it feels as though the third floor is emptier without Violet and Dillon here tonight, and it is just as insubstantial as my feelings this morning; since they wouldn’t likely have been home yet tonight if they had still been here – they’d have likely been out with Jake, Stephanie, and some other friends instead.

By the way – Jacob and Michael may have needed to get to sleep when I left, but Jake and Stephanie did go out to the pub for awhile to meet up with Josiah, Christina, and a few others.  I don’t mention that kind of thing much, since it doesn’t affect me very often at all; but my favorite collegians do have a life outside of our families and the Inn.  Maybe Michael and I will be able to do stuff like that with them in another seven years or so once we’re finished college, but then we’ll have our own adult lives by then too, and their lives could be very different by then too; so we’ll have to see how that goes for all of us.

Since I’m not worrying about the work and problems at the Inn this weekend tonight, I should probably leave off thinking too much about the future seven years from now too.  In fact, I’m ready to stop thinking about anything and just get some sleep.  We have three very busy days coming up, and while extra shifts at the Inn are going to be part of that for me; we also have some ball games and what I hope will be some chances to say goodbye to some of my college friends before they leave town.  I’ll keep you posted on all of that, but that’s all for now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!