Cassie's Journal - May 13, 2017

Welcome home to stay, Jake and Stephanie!

I was only able to spend a handful of minutes with them today, but they are happy to be home; and hopefully they’ve had fun with the welcome home dinner and party that her parents put on for them tonight.  Yes, we could have stopped in after work tonight, but Michael and I worked the breakfast shift and then stayed to close the Inn tonight so that his parents and sister could catch part of the party instead; so we needed to get home and take over the camping adventure supervision from Mom and Dad – the camping that the twins, Naomi, and Aiden talked us into doing with them tonight not long after I got home from that breakfast shift.

We do not have Rowen and Tim with us tonight because they had other plans; so Michael and I each have two junior camping buddies in our respective tents.  Naomi did try to hide in Ethan’s sleeping bag again when we were taking turns with washroom breaks and getting ready for bed, but while I’d have been okay with having all six of us cuddle in pairs; we didn’t go there tonight.  We’re also not staying up too late because it’s Mother’s Day in the morning; and we’re all going to be very busy.  Some of our Moms are getting to start their special day with a kid-free night; but let’s not go there either! ;^)

This report is getting a bit disjointed; but let’s back up and cover the news from the rest of the day.

I was up as early as always for the breakfast shift at the Inn, so the extra sleep helped a bit with that; and then it was non-stop busy for pretty much the rest of my day.  As expected the breakfast rush was busier than usual thanks to Mother’s Day shoppers in town at least for the morning; and it was heading toward ten o’clock by the time I got finished and came home again.  A stack of chores was waiting for me to get started on, so I only took a little break; and then got right to them.  The camping plan was worked out during the last-half of the morning; but my only involvement in that was agreeing to do that – and getting Michael signed up for it too.  We had a late lunch; I finished my work in another hour or so after that; and then Michael and I spent his break time setting up two tents and hanging out with our junior campers until we needed to be at the Inn again for the dinner shift.

Jake and Stephanie got back to town while we were still doing the prep work for dinner; which was why I had those few minutes to visit with them until the dinner rush got started and I needed to work the dining room.  They were busy too, though, and in addition to visiting with everyone who was working; they also did a tour of the Inn – including the second and third floor to check out the completed and nearly-finished guest rooms.  There have been a lot of changes since they headed back to school last August; and they’re happy about how everything is working out for them.

While Jake and Stephanie needed to move on to their welcome home party, I was busy working the dining room with Miranda, Rebecca, and the other servers.  The Inn wasn’t packed, but we were busy until the crowds started to thin at around seven-thirty.  Jacob, Miranda, and Rebecca left then; and Michael was in charge of closing the Inn while I was unofficially in charge of the dining room for the rest of the night.  That kept us busy; and we were ready to head home by the time we were able to lock up and do that – and then join in on the campfire in progress in the back yard.

The songs, stories, and snacks added up to a fun way to end the day.  Mom and Dad stayed to chat with us for nearly an hour before going inside and up to bed; but then we only kept the fire going for another half-hour or so after that before getting ready for bed and having that bit of fun with Naomi accidentally ending up in the wrong tent and sleeping bag.  Our four junior campers kept Michael and I from having any change for some teen-rated play time, but we’ve had fun anyway; and I was happy to have a bit of girl chat time with Ehlana and Naomi.

They’re both sleeping now, and I’m doing my computing because I don’t expect to do much of that tomorrow by the time I’m done with the crazy Mother’s Day shift at the Inn.

For the record, ‘crazy’ was not capitalized too; so I was referring to the work at the Inn; not the mental state of the Moms around here! ;^)

I have done some family business work tonight, but nothing major; and nothing particularly exciting either.  It’s time to pack up my computer and join Ehlana and Naomi in dreamland.  We’re going to have a very busy morning with the fun we have planned for the Moms, Tai Chi by the river, breakfasts at different homes, and the church service that Michael and I need to be at church for early because we’re helping out with the music.  While I nap; feel free to flip the digital page and read on; since I expect there will be a lot to write about tomorrow night – unless I just crash and nap by the time I get home!

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 12, 2017

The top news today is that many of our favorite collegians are done for this school year – or forever; and are heading for home now – though none of them will be here tonight.

I haven’t been offering any updates on their classes, exams, senior thesis, or anything else in my journal, but a lot of that news is available elsewhere in the archives; so feel free to read the journals if you’re interested in the Magi college experience.

Then again, you could just read on in my future; and you’ll get to my own college journals – the ones that I’ll begin writing in about a year and three months! ;^)

Moving along, we’ve had a nice spring day here with temperatures in the low-seventies.  Unfortunately for me; I was indoors most of the day and didn’t get to enjoy nearly-enough of the warm and sunshine.  Tai Chi by the river was nice, though; and we were outside at lunchtime too.  I spent the rest of my day at school or the Inn through until I got home tonight at a bit after ten o’clock.  Our school day was uneventful; and the work at the Inn was a bit too busy.  For Michael, Rebecca, and me; that shift stated with clean-up work on the second and third floor; I helped with the dinner prep work after that; and then we all ran our tails off keeping up with a big dinner rush – possibly because families were in town for Mother’s Day weekend shopping.  I’ll guess that the breakfast shift will be busy in the morning too; which is another good reason for me to wrap this up and get to the sleeping part of my day.

That is going to happen comparatively-early tonight because I didn’t bring Michael home with me; I didn’t do much more than have good night chats with my family on the way up to my room; and I used a time phase while soaking in my Jacuzzi so that I could have the extended tub time without staying up later to do that.  I also did a bit of multi-tasking with that; so my bedtime computing and a bit of family business work got done while I was in the tub too – everything except this report and some emails that needed to be sent out in real time.

That does remind me that I should add just a bit more about the college students’ travel plans.  Violet and Dillon are in Woodvale for the weekend; but will be home in time for the late buffet on Sunday so they can spend at least a bit of Mother’s Day with his family as well as with hers.  Christina and Josiah are with her family until Sunday afternoon too; and Jake and Stephanie will be flying home in the morning – and get here sometime late in the afternoon.  I don’t expect to see them much either until Sunday, but I will be at Michael’s for breakfast; and will get to spend the work day with them at the Inn – assuming they do work with us on Sunday.

I’ll keep you posted on that, but it is time to nap now, and I’ve had more than enough fun for one day; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 11, 2017

The ground was a bit damp this morning, but we were still out by the river for Tai Chi – and dodged the bits of leftover sprinkles that fell here and there for most of the morning.

Having better-than-forecast weather was probably the only news of the day for this report; though I managed to have a bit of fun between the classes, work, and studying.  There was a lot of work and studying to do today, and it’s really late now as I write this; so I’m going to wrap this up quickly and head into nap mode sooner instead of later.

There is no interesting news from school today.  Work at the Inn was really busy with a split of our time between helping upstairs in the guest rooms and then working the dinner shift until shortly-before it was time for game night.  Michael came home with me after that; we did our homework and a music practice to get ready for Mother’s Day on Sunday; and then we had a bit of quality make-out time before my family got home again.  The rest of my night was fairly-standard for a Thursday – Mom’s Magi lesson for Michael and me; the bedtime thing with the twins; and then all of the work and studying in bed after Michael went home for the night.

I am ready for the weekend, though, so the effort was worth it; and that’s all I have for tonight!

It’s been fun and exhausting, but life is going to get even busier from here for the rest of the month; so I’d better get used to less sleep.  Getting all of the rest I can will help a bit with the self-healing in the morning, though; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 10, 2017

Happy 17^th Birthday, Nora!

I hope she’s had a good day, but while we had nice weather for the first half of the day, rain moved in by mid-afternoon; so Nora’s party got rained out – or at least it needed to be moved indoors.  We’re also getting some thunderstorms rolling through overnight; but I was home before we had any major rain.

My day started out great with Tai Chi by the river – and that was thanks to a sunny morning with temperatures still in the seventies – even shortly-after dawn.  Michael stayed for breakfast before his morning workout at school; and my fun continued with some hair and dress-up play time with Ehlana before we met up with our friends for the walk to school.  I can’t report much that was exciting during school other than the birthday fun we had with Nora at lunchtime, but we did have a good day; and enjoyed some bonus outdoor time – at least until the rain arrived.

Nora’s party started after school; though there was a delay for those of us that wanted to go home and get cleaned up and changed before the party.  That meant getting a bit wet too, but I didn’t melt; and am not too cool for umbrellas, coats, and boots.  Life has changed for us over the past five or six years, and maybe it’s because we’re nearing the end of the school year that I’m feeling that more today than normal; since having my classmates and friends turning seventeen really does emphasize the fact that we’ll be off to college in just a year and a few months from now.  That wasn’t something we even talked about tonight; but then we were more interested in other things – like the upcoming senior trip; summer holidays; and, for the guys, football.  Baseball was in the gossip news too; but my report on that tonight is more about my complete lack of writing about baseball at all yet this week while I’ve been too focused on my own life.

I should have written about it on Monday and Tuesday, since Ethan and Ehlana started their practices this week.  Mom, Dad, Michael, and I would have all had our practices tonight had they not been rained out; and most practices were already starting a bit later than usual because of the way the schedules were set up this year to give teams four weeks to get ready for the start of the season next month.  Missing Ethan’s and Ehlana’s first practices should have been a bigger deal for me, but that’s just one more thing I’ve missed out on while trying to juggle everything I have on the go – and that will continue to be a problem; so there’s no point in having regrets.  I will try to get to as many of their games as possible; though I might miss the starts of many of them while working breakfast shifts at the Inn on Saturdays.  There will be lots of baseball updates from now until the end of the summer; so stay tuned for what should be a very busy and hopefully entertaining summer of sports!

Baseball did have an effect on Nora’s party; since it was originally planned to end in time for baseball practices.  The rain-out didn’t really change that much; though some of Nora’s friends stayed longer while the rest of us headed for our homes to try and beat the storms that the forecasters were predicting for our area.  Michael came home with me, and while we didn’t leave as early as we would have if we’d needed to get to our practices; we were still home before eight o’clock.  We did our homework first; had a Magi lesson with Mom; and then spent some time with Ethan and Ehlana before putting them to bed for the night.  Michael went home after that; and I worked in the office with Mom and Dad until midnight.  They wouldn’t have turned into pumpkins or anything, but my time phase helped Dad to get his work done by then; and they went up to bed while I stayed and kept working until I was done everything I could do in a time phase.  I came up to my room after that and got ready for bed; snuggled in with Mandy; and then wrapped up the rest of my work in real time before getting to this report.  I didn’t get to have an early night, but it also isn’t heading toward four o’clock quite yet either; so I will at least get a bit more sleep than I do most other nights.

That won’t happen if I drag this out when I don’t really have anything else to add, and I am ready to crash into nap mode anyway; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 9, 2017

Another long, busy day is nearly-done; and I am running on fumes as I end my day with this little update.

We’ve had another amazing weather day around here; and I’m only disappointed that I didn’t get to be outside to enjoy more of it than was possible today.  Tai Chi by the river was as awesome as always; it was great to be outdoors again at lunchtime; and our marching band practices are always better when it’s warm and sunny – though the wind-down is on for that; and we’re getting fewer teens attending the practices now that the big trip is done and we only have two parades left to go before we’ll be shutting down that band and returning to just having our little concert band.  The Memorial Day parade is just weeks away, though; so we had a full practice to get ready for it – and for the Fourth of July parade.  We’ll be playing Disney songs for that parade; and that seems a fitting way to wrap up our marching band adventures.  I’m not disappointed that the band won’t continue on, since it has been a lot of work for the handful of us that have done the most to make it happen; and it really is an expense that would be tough to keep going in our little town when there are more-deserving projects to help fund instead.

It has been a remember-forever kind of adventure; and I hope that other kids will get to experience that kind of fun around here in the future – whether that’s with music or some other activity.

The weather helped to make for a pretty good school day – even though I was still dreaming a bit about cutting classes and spending the day playing with Michael instead.  Instead of making that dream a reality, though, we were the good, responsible teens we always are; did all of our work; and even ate our veggies.

Okay, my veggies were cut-up carrots in a baggie, but that’s only because we had to snack as we went along thanks to all of the practices after school.

That was really just a trade-off today; since we would have been at the Inn again tonight instead if we hadn’t been busy at the school and church instead.  I don’t really have much news to report from any of the practices.  The highlight of the day for the music part of our fun was the praise team play time; and we’re ready for our contributions to the Mother’s Day music on Sunday.  We’ll have a bit more to do to get ready for the Memorial Day service, but that will be just one blip in a weekend that is going to be ridiculously-busy for everyone in my family with both the holiday weekend and Violet and Dillon’s wedding.

I’m way overdue for a wedding update, but my involvement continues to be non-existent right now – and won’t change much even as we get closer to the big day.  Mom and Aunt Leanne will be doing more over the next couple of weeks, though; and that will really pick up once Violet and Dillon get home next week.  That’s news I can save for another night when I’m not exhausted, though; so let’s move this along so I can get done and head into nap mode.

We were finished our practices by a bit after nine o’clock.  Michael came home with me and we did our homework in the office; followed that up with a Magi lesson with Mom; and then we spent a half-hour with Ethan and Ehlana while getting them into their beds for the night.  A bit of alone time in the lounge with Michael seemed like a great idea at the time, and I did love that bit of cuddle time with a minor bit of making out; but I should have sent Michael home and gotten right to work instead.

Yes, that’s inconsistent with my earlier comment about always being responsible, but I’m a teen; so get used to that little reality! ;^)

That is why it was heading toward midnight by the time I got started on my studying and family business work, and I had a lot to get done tonight; which is why it’s now past-four.  Sure, four hours of work and studying might not seem like a big deal, but keep in mind that using a time phase adds a lot of hours to my day – even when I also do hours of work in real time.  The equivalent for tonight would be about ten or twelve hours of ‘real’ time for this shift of my part-time job.

No wonder I’m wiped out!  The good news is that I’m done with this report, and sleeping is an option; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!