Cassie's Journal - May 8, 2017

It has been way too nice out today for school, so Michael and I took the day off; grabbed our bikes; and went off to play for the day!

Okay, that only happened in my daydreams; but I wish we had done that instead of spending almost the entire day indoors instead of out in the warm sunshine! ;^)

Tai Chi by the river was nice, though, and we did get to be outside for our lunch break; so we did get to enjoy a bit of the nice weather – if not for nearly long-enough.  The rest of the time, we were in our classes at school; and then we ended up working at the Inn after school and through until around eight o’clock.  We were working the dining room and kitchen – we were helping out with the remodel work.  No, I haven’t taken up carpentry on the side, but there is a lot of cleaning and finishing work that we can do; and Jacob and Miranda are working their days off to help make sure the Inn will be ready ahead of the holiday weekend – and for when Jake and Stephanie are home and join them to run the Inn together.

Today, Michael and I helped out with work in three guest rooms and the main dining room.  I haven’t done an update on that lately, but we are nearly-ready to open up the entire ‘old’ Inn; and the main dining room is closed today and tomorrow while work is being done to be ready to take down the wall that has been dividing the original dining room from the old kitchen and entrance area.  That will likely be completed next Monday and Tuesday; and then the main dining room will have enough seating for five hundred!  That may sound silly for a town this small, but Miranda has a plan; and I’m sure it will pay off for Michael’s family.  Moving along, we did some work in the dining room too, but that was mostly cleaning and a bit of errand running for the remodel crew.  They’re putting in extra time now too, and don’t mind the long days because there is a bonus on the line to complete the job on-time; and they’re going to make sure that happens.  Miranda knows what she’s doing with that too; since a big summer season will go a long way toward getting this remodel paid for sooner instead of later.

I don’t get to report that it was all fun and games after we left the Inn because the work just kept rolling along.  Michael came home with me; we did our homework; and had a music practice to get ready for our practices tomorrow.  After that, we did our Magi lesson with Mom; took care of getting the twins into bed – the only real time I got to spend with them today since breakfast and the walk to school; and then Michael headed home so that I could get to work on my bedtime computing.  I stated that work in the office because Dad’s busy getting ready for his week in the city; and needs to get extra work done ahead of Mother’s Day this coming weekend.  We used a time phase and worked until he was done; he and Mom went up to bed after that; and I stayed and worked in the office until I was finished everything except the last round of computer checks and this update.

I decided to do that from bed; came up to my room; and took a bit of time to get showered and changed – mostly because I got a bit dirty working at the Inn and felt grimy.  Mandy appreciated my efforts too, and while she’s generally an awesome feline friend; you do not want to mess with her when it comes to keeping ‘her’ bed clean or offending her sense of smell.

Thanks to the time phase help, I’m actually done and ready to head off to nap land earlier than I expected, but that’s relative; and I’ll still only have time for an extended nap.  The week is going to get busier from here, though; so I’ll take what I can get and try to be happy – if not very rested.  That’s all the news I have for today, and I am ready to sleep now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 7, 2017

Happy 6^th Anniversary, Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne!

It’s official today; though that seems repetitive after offering those best wishes for them already on Friday.

We’ve had a pretty good day around here; though I’ve missed out on most of the family fun today – and a lot of the nice weather too.  Tai Chi by the river was nice, and I was at Michael’s for breakfast; so that made for a great start to our day.  The church service and Sunday school was a bit quiet today, but the younger kids finished up Mother’s Day crafts they’ll have for next weekend; and Michael and I were among the volunteers helping out with that – so that we could spend more time with Ethan and Ehlana.  We needed to head for the Inn after church; the lunch shift was crazy-busy despite the nice weather – or maybe because of it; and that cut down on our afternoon break time.

Playing during that break would have been nice, but we had homework to do instead; and had to settle for doing that on Michael’s back porch while missing out on the park play and bike riding that was going on with my family while my parents and grandparents kept a group of six kids entertained all afternoon.  Michael and I did spend a little time with them at the park, but that was a short visit; and then we were back at the Inn in time to help out with the buffet prep work.  I worked in the kitchen for that; switched to serving in the main dining room after that; and worked my tail off for the rest of the night.  The highlight of my shift was helping out with serving my own family for Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s anniversary dinner party, and while I didn’t get to enjoy that meal with them; we did have fun.

The tip was great too! ;^)

The late buffet timing for that dinner party wasn’t just to give my aunt and uncle a bit of extra time for their weekend away – they waited until then so most of their store-owner relatives and friends could join them for the fun.  That was a big group; which was why I had Miranda and two other servers helping out with that third of the main dining room.  Miranda had considered putting them in the combined smaller dining rooms; but decided that everyone else would rather be able to wish the happy couple well too and used the back third of the dining room instead.

Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne got thoroughly roasted; they had an amazing meal; and then Aunt Leanne had to give some kids a ride in her new car as the party broke up – starting with a ride for Brianna.  At the risk of sounding too practical and like my parents; that car is definitely a toy – and totally useless for Mom and kids transportation.  Aunt Leanne loves her car, though; and it is awesome!  I was too busy to even watch much of that show, but did catch a few glimpses through the front windows; and heard from Mom, Dad, and the twins that they all had a lot of fun with the post-dinner entertainment.

Mom and Dad did need to get home and do some work, though; and I was busy until nearly ten-thirty by the time we were finished with the clean-up and ready to close the Inn for the night.  Michael and I did our goodnight hugs and kisses on his front porch; I came home; and did my Magi lesson with Mom while Dad finished up his work.  From there, I stopped in for bedtime visits with the twins because they were still awake and studying; and then I came up to my room and started multi-tasking some Jacuzzi time with my language studies.  I opted to do the studying first because I’ve been slacking off on that a bit; and that’s why it’s again very late – because I had to stay up to get the family business work done too instead of cutting corners on the studying.

None of that work and studying is particularly newsworthy beyond to normal fact that it’s being done by a teenager; so I won’t bore all of us with the details.  You can get that news elsewhere in the archives, but that’s just a reminder; since I really hope you have better things to do than read over financial reports and other boring business news.  I’m too tired to even think about the work and studying I’ve just finished.  We have another busy week ahead of us too, and I’ll need all of the nap time I have left to get ready for the first day of the school week; so I’m totally out of here and heading off to dreamland now.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 6, 2017

Congratulations, Malcolm and Nadine Sinclair!

I haven’t heard anything from their wedding yet, but we’ve had beautiful weather; and I’m sure they’re having an amazing day and start to their new life together!

My day hasn’t been filled with wedding-level fun, but I have been very busy.  I was up early for work at the Inn; got ready to go – including putting together what I needed for my trip and writing my SAT; and then I dropped Brianna off with Mom and Dad for some bonus nap and cuddle time for them before going to meet up with Michael for the walk to the Inn.  We could only help with the breakfast prep work and the very start of the breakfast shift; but then we needed to hit the road for Central State college – along with all of the other teens going there for this round of SAT’s.  We didn’t go in one big travel group, but we did follow Rowen and Tim in his Corvette; and space available that nobody took advantage of because we’re teens and everyone wants to drive! ;^)

I was okay with having Michael to myself for the drive each way; and we had fun together while not really trying to keep up with Tim on the way to the college.  Michael and Tim are both good drivers, and while I’m making fun of that for Tim because of his car; he does not do anything that would risk his license or mess with the cost of insurance.  By the way, that isn’t ridiculously-expensive for the four of us because we just might be getting a deal through a family business company – though Tim doesn’t know about that yet.

Let’s not make a big deal of the SAT tests.  Michael, Rowen, and I aced ours; Tim will be top five or ten percent for his; and that shouldn’t surprise any Magi reading this in the future.  We wrote the exams; went out for lunch; and did a bit of shopping; and then Michael and I headed for home because we needed to get back in time for the dinner-to-close shift.  Rowen and Tim stayed to play a while longer with some other friends that were enjoying a day in a city, but while it would have been nice to do that too; Miranda and Jacob needed us because they had fewer teens working due to the SAT’s and other reasons.

Michael and I stopped at our homes to check in with my parents and so we could both freshen up ahead of our shift; and then it was non-stop action from the time we got to the Inn until we were done work at ten o’clock.  The Inn was very busy; there were some dinner parties there that were also going to be continuing on at the pub; and I ran my tail off through until we had the dining room set up for the lunch rush tomorrow.  I went home with Michael; we had some cuddle time on the sofa while talking with his parents; and then I came home shortly after they went up to bed so that Michael could get some sleep too.  That was by a bit after eleven o’clock; Mom, Dad, and the twins were all in bed by then; and I only stopped in for kisses with the twins on my way up to my room.

That was my plan, but Silkie wanted to go outside; I ended up taking her for a short walk; and then I dropped her off with Ethan again before coming up to my room for the night.  I took a quick shower; got ready for bed; and then joined Mandy there; since she was already curled up in her usual spot.  My plan for a quick round of bedtime computer and email checks didn’t go as quickly as expected either; and I ended up spending an hour working on the family business before getting around to this update.  The work wasn’t anything major, but needed to be done in real time; and I didn’t want to let it pile up for tomorrow night.

I am ready to crash and nap now, though, and I have another busy work day ahead of me tomorrow; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 5, 2017

Happy 22^nd Birthday, Stephanie!

Happy 6^th Birthday, Sophia!

Happy 6^th Anniversary, Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne – though those best wishes are early!

Let’s begin this report with that third announcement.  I’m adding it to this report because our day started out with some anniversary fun.  There was a shiny, new, black, 2-seater convertible in Aunt Leanne’s driveway this morning; and her gift arrived early so that she and Uncle Adam could have it for their weekend away trip that began shortly after I left for school.  Getting to see that early-morning show had been fun; and I don’t need any details about what my aunt might be doing with a kid-free weekend away to thank her husband for that gift! ;^)

They will also be at Nadine’s wedding tomorrow; so their weekend away will require multi-tasking as well as not going too far from home.

While the new car thing was the highlight of the morning, Tai Chi by the river was nice; and I went to the Inn with Michael for breakfast so that we could get in on the birthday breakfast video chat with Stephanie and Jake.  None of us had much time for that, but they’ll be home soon too; so we’re all fairly excited about the fact that we won’t be apart for much longer.  Okay, Michael and I will be heading off to college in a year and a quarter, and be gone for most of five years; but you know what I mean – and we won’t be half a country away from home either.

With all of that going on, having any birthday fun with Sophia was tougher to fit into our day – especially when Michael and I worked dinner-to-close tonight.  We did fit in a birthday visit with Sophia after work, but only stayed long-enough to watch her open our gifts and have a chat with her – and her Mom and sister – before we needed to get to the Inn and help out there.  Ethan and Ehlana were at her party, though; and Ehlana and Naomi are two of the friends spending the night with Sophia too.

If we hadn’t been working at the Inn, we would have worked at the party instead, but Michael’s aunt and uncle had other help; and Miranda and Jacob were too busy at the Inn tonight to spare us for even a few hours.  We did have a tough shift tonight, but Miranda, Rebecca, and I always have fun too; so it was a good night there – and I did pretty well on tips too!

While I was busy and the twins were at Sophia’s party, Mom and Dad were busy taking care of Zack and Brianna.  They had help for that from Grandma and Grandpa today, and Mom had the kids all day from the time Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne sped off in her new toy; so they’ve had a busy day too.  I’m still more-tired than Mom and Dad are; but only because I’ve had a few later nights this week.  I also need to work the start of the breakfast shift before Michael and I head for Central State to write our SAT’s tomorrow; so I’d better move this along – and you can always ready about Mom’s adventures in her journal instead of getting it second-hand from me.

While we were busy at the Inn, the dinner crowd thinned out early; so Michael and I were done by a bit after nine-thirty.  He came home with me; we had some play time with my parents, Ethan, Zack, and Brianna; and then he took care of getting Zack to bed while I brought Brianna up to my room and tucked her into my bed with Mandy.  She’d fallen asleep by then; so once Ethan and Zack were tucked in; Michael and I had a bit of cuddle time in the lounge before he went home for the night and I got ready for bed and tucked in with my two cuddle buddies and my computer by midnight.  I was only going to do the basic computer checks and this update, but ended up doing a bit of family business work that I didn’t want to leave until Sunday night or Monday.  That wasn’t a major job, but I didn’t rush it; since I didn’t want to wake Brianna with a major power usage right next to her.

I don’t think that we’ll have a middle-of-the-night wake-up call, since Brianna was really tired by the time I got home, but that is always a possibility with Magi kids as hyper as Brianna and I are; so I should probably get started on my nap – especially when I need to get up early for that breakfast shift.

My day has not been new sports car kind of awesome, but it has been pretty good; and I’ll hope the trend continues for the weekend – even though I’ll be busy with my SAT exam tomorrow; the travel there and back; and work before and after that trip.  I’m tired just thinking about all of that; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!