Cassie's Journal - October 26, 2015

We had a cooler morning for our Tai Chi by the river, but we are getting deeper into the fall now; so every day we can exercise outdoors is a bonus now.  A warm breakfast in the sunroom took care of the chill we were feeling by the time we were inside again; and then I was off and running again to help with the clean-up, get ready for school, and meet up with Rowen at her house for the walk there.

Halloween and football are the top chat topics at school; and most of our lessons today were themed appropriately for the occasion.  The younger kids love that more than the teens do; but we have fun too and it is really great to see all of the displays around the school filled with crafts and projects that make the place look so festive.  The actual lessons weren’t newsworthy at all for me; so let’s skip that and move on to a couple of highlights of the day.

For Jenny, that was passing her driver’s test, and while some of the guys razzed her about it; I’m sure she’ll be a decent-enough driver – and not require advance warning so that everyone else can get off the road and out of her way.  I’m sure that you can guess why she’s so fired up about her new freedom.  Now she can go and visit Peter too instead of relying on him to do all of the driving.  I foresee many trips to Brookbridge for Jenny; and don’t need to crank up the Sight to do that.

The other news bits are related – football and cheerleading.  I didn’t mention this with the last football report, but our team is all but certain to make the playoffs regardless of what happens on Friday against Pinehurst.  Tim doesn’t think that’s a problem for our team, but he is sure that his Captain and the other senior players have temporarily lost their minds.  We’ve lost the only two games we’ve had so far this season against other, serious playoff contenders.  Pinehurst will be the third; yet the older guys are practicing as though it’s no big deal.  Coach is doing his best, but he probably won’t have much luck dealing with the over-confidence that Jason is leading too many of the guys into believing.

Our cheerleading squad doesn’t technically have to worry about winning or losing our unofficial and unofficial cheer competition with the Pinehurst squad, but we do want to do well at our last regular season game; so we practiced very hard today – and finished up at nearly the same time as the boys.  Jenny’s shiny new license was a top story during our practice too; along with a fair bit of talk about plans for the Halloween weekend.

Speaking of that, Michael, Rowen, Tim, and I don’t have much actual free time available for making our costumes; so we’re going to dress up as the Scooby gang.  There’s a new Scooby-Doo cartoon series out this fall, so the kids will recognize us; and wont’ take long to throw together.  Michael and I are going to be Fred and Daphne while Rowen and Tim will be Velma and Shaggy.  Tim wants to be Shaggy; and Rowen’s okay with being Velma – mostly as a joke on her younger years when she was a self-admitted, shy bookworm.  The easy costumes was the main factor in our choice, and our only prop will be a stuffed Scooby-Doo that Tim is taking care of ‘borrowing’ for us; but suspiciously can’t reveal the source without putting us in extreme danger.

Let’s just pretend that he’s getting into character or something and leave it alone.

After we were finished our practices, Michael came home with me; we had dinner in the sunroom with Mom, Dad, and the twins; stayed in the sunroom to do our homework; and then Michael stayed for his first family business meeting.  Grandma and Grandpa are away, but Miranda came to the meeting too; along with the rest of the usual gang.  Having Michael and Miranda there meant that we couldn’t talk about everything we might normally include for the future plans side of things; but we just took care of that after Miranda and Michael went home.

I’m not going to cover every detail; but here’s a few highlights on the night – including a couple that were in that short meeting extension.

The new bridge is coming along a bit ahead of schedule thanks to less rain than usual around here in the fall, and barring any major problems; it’s easily on-track to open by the Memorial Day holiday next May.  To go along with that, a mini-plan for a pair of paths between the old and new section of town are going ahead for spring too; along with that section of the pathway that we eventually want to have built around the entire town and tied into the park paths.  One of them is going to be on the south-side lot line of the Emersons and Seagers houses, and while Aunt Leanne will co-ordinate negotiating that little land buy for the town – and us; I’m sure it won’t be a problem.  The other one will be south of Witch Falls Road somewhere so that everyone on that side of town will have access to the path that’ll make for a quicker walk or bike ride over to the new section of town – and over to the lab and med center too once the bridge opens.

In other news, the Solar-Wind farm is doing even better than hoped; and producing enough extra power right now that we might even be able to cut the power bill prices to the customers in town – and maybe in the entire Ridge River district.  Sure, our little investment there still needs to make a profit for the investors that most don’t even know are from here in town; but we’ll still do what we can to help our neighbors and friends anyway we can.  Construction in the new section of town will be entirely indoors for the winter soon; and that’s a particularly big deal at the church this week because they’re building the construction zone wall in the sanctuary that will stay up for most of the winter while the dividing wall between the sanctuary and the section of the addition that will expand the sanctuary by more than half is torn down and the work is continued on the addition.  It’ll be months still before they’ll be ready to start the remodel that’ll make it one big sanctuary; but it is starting to get exciting for everyone now – instead of just the Pastors and everyone else directly involved in the project.

Miranda gave us an update on the construction at the Inn, and now that Ayres’ Haberdashery is in the new store; work on the main floor has started in the old store.  The new kitchen will be there, along with a dining room that can be divided into two rooms and used for private parties or events.  The plans are still fairly flexible at this point, but whenever the new kitchen and dining rooms are ready to go, they’ll decide how to make the move so that the old kitchen, dining room, and entrance can be turned into one big dining room with room for around five hundred.

Why is the thought of that having me glad that Michael and I will be heading off to college a year or so after the new and improved Inn is going to be open for business?  I’m just half-kidding about that, Miranda! ;^)

On the town business front, the only current news I have is that there will be no new businesses opening this fall.  There will be others opening in time for Memorial Day; but we didn’t talk about any of that tonight.  We did talk about one future plan after Michael and Miranda left that I’ll be leading the nudges for because it’s about the future for two of my friends.  Let’s not get into too many details for that right now, but my new job is to talk with Rebecca and Jenny about our home town and fast food.  They both really wish we had that as an option here; and I need to get them thinking about fixing that little problem themselves when they grow up.  I know that sounds scary, but they are in Grade Eleven; and it really won’t be long before they have to start thinking about what they want to take in college – and then do with their lives after that.  I’ll keep you posted on how that goes, but I can tell you that I really don’t expect the need for very many nudges on this one.  Rebecca’s been wondering for a while how she’d fit into the new plans at the Inn with her parents, Jake, and Stephanie running the place.  Jenny has the same problem with her father and brother for the fix-it shop; though she’s not interested in that kind of job anyway – and laughs anytime someone suggests she could be a teacher like her mother.

For the record, I’m almost positive that Ethan and Ehlana aren’t mixing up wishful thinking for their teen years with our use of the Sight on this one; but they will be happy if this little bit of our future plans work out.

By the time all of our guests left for the night, it was closing in on eleven o’clock.  Mom still did a short Magi lesson with me before we helped to get Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night; and then I came up to my room and got to work – once I was changed and in bed with Mandy.  Having the language studying done until after Halloween helped a bit, but I still had a lot to do; and that’s why it’s well-past two and I’m just ready to wrap up my day now.  Tomorrow won’t be any better for that, and I don’t have any major news from my work; so I’m going to finish this update too and head off to sleep.

It’s been fun around here today even with all of the work, and the momentum for fun around here is going to pick up speed again every day between now and Saturday; so I’m out of here and off to dreamland.

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - October 25, 2015

Tai Chi by the river was chilly this morning.  Breakfast at Michael’s was great; and church and Sunday school rounded out a really good morning.  I worked pretty much all of the time after that, starting at the Inn; and ending just moments ago when I wrapped up the last of my family business work before moving on to this update.  The Inn was packed for lunch and both dinner buffets, and Michael and I spent our break time doing our weekend homework; so I really do feel as though I’ve worked non-stop without any real breaks.

While I was busy at the Inn, I missed an office work afternoon at home for Mom and Dad; and Ethan and Ehlana got to spend the day playing with Naomi and Aiden instead of being stuck indoors all day.  Dad had a lot to get done for work next week after being in the city last week; and Mom always has more work that she can be doing.  I can relate to that; but I got a lot done tonight too – including wrapping up my current language study time so that I can take the week off from that; and be ready for the language I’ll be studying in November and December.

I stayed until the Inn closed for the night; walked home with Michael and his parents because Rebecca had been set free early after being up late with Jenny on Saturday night.  Okay, she had a bit of alone time with Lucas too before he headed home, but since they get even fewer chances for that than Michael and I do; I’m just happy for her – and was good with staying and helping so that she could go home a bit early.  I did the goodnight hugs and kisses with Michael at his house; came home to mine; and did my Magi lesson with Mom while Ethan and Ehlana wrapped up their college studies for the evening.  I had some chat time with each of them after that while tucking them in for the night; and then it was time to get changed, in bed, and working on my computer.

That was too many hours ago; I’m beat; and it’s time to get some rest now.  We could take a look at the week ahead too, but Halloween is next week; so we don’t really need to go there when it’ll feel like nearly everything we’re doing will be holiday-themed.

Oh wait, I do have a bit of news on that.  Ehlana and Naomi are going to be ‘Shimmer and Shine’ this year – the new Disney Genies on the block that are very popular with the kids around here – and everywhere else.  Ethan and Aiden didn’t want to be left out on that, and while I’m not sure how well it’ll work out for them; they’re going to dress-up as Shimmer and Shine’s magic carpet – or maybe carpets.  They’re still working on that with the Moms.  One way or the other, they’re sure to be an adorable quartet!

That also reminds me that Michael and I are past-due to get our costumes worked out for next weekend; so we’ll need to get that done over the next couple of days.  We should have dressed up for the dance on Friday and didn’t; but we’ll definitely want to do something for the party at school on Friday – even if we don’t do anything on Saturday.

Okay, it really is time to crash now, so that’s it for tonight; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - October 24, 2015

Happy 16^th Birthday, Jenny!

I’ll get to Jenny’s birthday report in a bit, but let’s start out this double update with the personal news that my Michael and me sleepover was a complete success; and then back up to Friday morning and go from there.

It was raining when it was time for Tai Chi on Friday morning, so Michael came over and met me in the sunroom before we went upstairs with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana for our workout.  He stayed for a quick breakfast; and then he was off and running to get to the school for his weight training with the guys while I helped with the cleanup and got ready for school.  Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana got ready to go for the day too because the twins were spending the morning at KidZone with their friends while Mom did her running around; and then they spent the afternoon at the lab while I was busy at school.

The rain moved on out of the area by late morning, so while things were a bit damp; going outdoors for lunch was an option that at least half of the students picked over staying inside for that break.  Our classes weren’t particularly newsworthy today, but we did have quite a bit of fun – thanks in part to excitement over the football game and Halloween dance; combined with the talk about weekend plans that included the Haunted Halloween Walk on Saturday night.  We didn’t have cheerleading or football practices after school, but didn’t have all that much time off either; because the players needed to be back at school early for warm-ups and the usual pre-game work and meeting; and I had to be at school not long after Michael did so that I could help out with the set-up for the cheerleader side of the game – along with a bit of bonus help here and there where needed.

Michael and I had time after school to check in with his parents; have a visit with Mom and the twins while having an early dinner for two in the sunroom once we had the food ready.  I’ll skip the rest of the action between the end of classes for the day and the start of the game; since there really wasn’t much newsworthy-enough to write about anyway.  Jenny kept us entertained with some sweet-sixteen musings about what her weekend was going to be like with Peter; but most of that chat time would just not be appropriate to include here for the amusement of future, adult Magi readers! ;^)

So now it’s time for the Friday night football report.  As I mentioned in my micro-update last night, the weather turned out to be really good for the game; and we had a great turnout for our last home game of the regular season.  It remains to be seen whether we’ll get to have any home games for the playoffs.  We played Blossom Creek, and let’s start with the good news – we won by a score of thirty-five to twenty-five.

This was a pretty good team-effort win; though there were a few stars deserving special mention – beginning with Tim Landry and Garth Green.  Tim scored three really big touchdowns; and Garth Green threw for three touchdowns on trick plays that were additions to the play book especially to try and take advantage of our smallest, but quite talented player.  Tim was on the other end of two of those touchdown throws that also still required big runs to the end zone; and Michael had the other one.  Lucas added a running touchdown; and Ray and Tim combined for the fifth touchdown – though that one was the second of the game.  The trick plays were a big deal for us, but our defense – including our offensive defense – was a big part of our success tonight too.  Blossom Creek scored six field goals on us; but only one touchdown.  Michael, Tim, Lucas, and Garth all made big defensive plays that kept us from giving up any really bad turnovers; and Blossom Creek proved to be a bit lacking on red-zone offense.

All of that made for a really great game, but there were sideline and spectator entertainments that just added to the fun for me.  Our cheerleading squad did a great job; and I think it was one of our best nights of the season.  Having quite a big turnout of my own family was good too – especially when that included Dad after he got back from the city.  Miranda and Jacob took turns coming to watch parts of the game too; and I’m sure it was just a coincidence that Michael’s touchdown came while his Mommy was there to see it.  Jacob got to see one of Tim’s touchdowns, but Michael was able to give his father a few things to cheer over too – including a pretty good sideline pass interception that he also took a pretty good hit for while earning it; and a twenty-yard, lateral catch and run on that first offensive play.

I won’t get into the play-by-play, but the bottom line is that we had a good game; and deserved the win.  Captain J.J. took that too far again, and has his usual group of senior players way too over-confident going into what will be a tough last game of the season against one of the best teams in the small-school division.  Pinehurst is going to be ready to play; and Michael, Tim, and I don’t believe that our seniors and team captain have their heads in that game – at least they aren’t there right now.

We have a school Halloween dance report to get to next, though; so let’s do that and skip the rest of the football drama.

Okay, we can’t entirely do that; since the football team players were all being talked about at the dance, and treated like heroes for winning the game; but Michael tried to stay out of that and just hang out with me – and with the rest of our friends.

The dance was already in full swing by the time we actually got to it, since we’d needed to pack up after the game and then hit the showers to get cleaned up; and that also meant that we didn’t have a lot of time to actually dance by the time we also made the rounds and had some chat time fun.  I’ll add that we didn’t stay until the end of the dance, so we could have had more dance time; but it had already been a long day by then and we were both tired.  I’ll admit that I was already thinking about a sofa sleepover long before then, but I didn’t mention it to Michael; and didn’t have a problem convincing him that we should leave early and use the rest of our time until curfew to be alone in the lounge instead of playing with our friends.  We were there long enough to see Peter get to the dance and make Jenny’s day – and presumably get her sixteenth birthday off to a great start from midnight until whenever he went home again.

You already know that I took time to get changed into something more comfortable after getting home; so the only remaining news from last night is that Michael and I had a seriously hot make-out session while not watching a Halloween movie; and then we fell asleep on the sofa and stayed there until the twins gave us our Tai Chi wake-up call in the morning.  We had a bit of quiet play time after Ethan and Ehlana left too; but nothing too serious because we did need to get ready for our workout by the river.

It was cloudy and cool, but we were able to exercise by the river; and I was really glad to have Dad back for that.  Michael stayed for breakfast in the sunroom; and then he headed home to get started on the yard chores that were on his to-do list for the morning before he’d need to go to the Inn to help out with the lunch rush.  Mom, Dad, Ethan, and I were all on fall clean-up duty at our house for the day, and while it was a lot of work; the lawn tractor with the vacuum made the leaf clean-up so much easier.  The top fun of the day was setting up the Halloween decorations; and Ethan and Ehlana had a blast helping me out with that.  We took it easy this year on the display; mostly because Mom, Dad, and I are even busier this year than last; and we didn’t want to have a major clean-up to deal with after the holiday.  They yard and house still looks great, though; and my brother and sister are very proud of what we put together.

There was one big change for me over previous Haunted Halloween Walks, and that was my own involvement in the festivities this year with the band.  Michael was working the dinner shift, and Rowen was helping out at the computer store until it closed; so I’d offered to help out with the set-up for our little mini-concert; and went to the school to meet up with the other volunteers after having an early dinner on my own while Mom and Dad were finishing up a bit of work around the house.  I took my saxophone along with me; we hauled chairs and music stands from the school to the little stage on Witch Falls Road that all of the music acts used for the evening.  We had a couple of trucks available to load and unload, but we still walked back and forth; and did two trips before we had everything we needed.  The Haunted Walk was still more than an hour away from starting by the time we were ready, and Rowen and Tim had joined me by then after having dinner with their own families after the stores closed for the night; so we wandered around and checked out the booths that lined both sides of the street.  Most were either still being set up; or the volunteers were busy with cooking food or treats; but we did buy a few things – including a trio of souvenir cups filled with hot chocolate that Rowen and I thought were a cute addition to the usual booth offerings.

Michael only caught up with us in time for the band warm-up, and while Tim stayed with us while we did that; he moved on to hang out with some other friends when it was time for us to start playing.  We were the lead-off music act; and we played Halloween-themed music for an hour.  The song selection ranged from oldies that the grandparents loved to new Disney songs that the kids and tweens enjoyed.  Singing along and dancing were possible, since we had an area of the road the width of the stage available for doing that; though it started to get more crowded as more people arrived in town and wandered around while waiting for their turn to go on the walk.

Playing our first gig of the school year with the band was great, and I especially loved doing that with Michael; since he hadn’t been to any practices yet because of football.  That wasn’t a problem because he is such a talented musician; and because we do practice together and on our own when we can.  We had to clear the stage quickly, and Michael and I helped out with getting everything back to the school because there weren’t many volunteers for that; and then we met up with my family to go on the walk together.  That included Mom, Dad, and the twins; their best friends and some or all of their families; and the Carringtons.  We did not draw Miranda this year for our guide, but still had a blast; and it is nice to get the slightly-different narrator delivery of the stories – even though Miranda is still the very best at the job!

We had a wonderful time going on the walk; and the stories haven’t even slightly lost their spooky charm for me.  There’s also always something new to see; particularly because the little skits vary with nearly every showing by just a bit – and from year-to-year too.  That’s partly due to a bit of improv that’s allowed to earn a bit more audience participation here and there; and partially because the actor mix changes – even if the core group of actors play their roles for years; if not decades.  After we finished with that, we had some play time at the few game booths; picked up some more treats and souvenirs; and then Michael and I needed to head for Jenny’s house and the sweet sixteen birthday party that her parents were hosting for her.

Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, and Lucas were all going to the party too, and we kept an eye out for them; but didn’t meet up with them along the way; and we were the first to get to the Warren’s house.  I mean that to include ahead of all of the teen invitees; and Jenny’s mother happily drafted us to help out with the bits of last-minute work she was doing to get ready for the mini-party.  With a busy Saturday for the stores in town and the Haunted Halloween Walk, doing a major party for Jenny hadn’t really been an option, but since it was her sixteenth; Emily and Jessie did the best they could to make it special for Jenny.  I was glad that Michael and I could help with that – even if it was just a little bit.

When Jenny eventually arrived and had Peter with her; I didn’t need to ask to know that he’d done way more than a little bit to make her day special; so he earned major bonus points with me for that.  I had already learned from Emily that Peter had come to town shortly after lunch and had been spending the day with Jenny – including taking her to the Inn for dinner while her parents were busy with the store and volunteering to help with the walk set-up.  Once we had a chance at some girl chat time, Jenny was happy to tell Rebecca, Rowen, and me about a few other happy birthday details, and in addition to the dinner and time spent with her; Peter also gave her a really nice jewelry gift that I’d rate as fairly high for such a new romance.  I liked that too, but to be honest; Peter’s major bonus points tonight came because he made a real effort to get to know Jenny’s friends.  I won’t write ill about any specific ex-boyfriends; but I’m sure that some of my previous journal reports have mentioned that hasn’t always happened in the past for Jenny.

Emily and Jessie had invited both family and friends to stop by to celebrate with Jenny; so there was a steady stream of well-wishers.  Most of the adults and kids only stopped by after they were finished with the Halloween walk – or waiting for later time slots; while most of the football players and all of the cheerleaders stayed for at least an hour or two.  Michael and I stayed until midnight; but then we headed home because we were both tired out by then.

‘Home’ meant our respective houses, and while Michael walked me home, we shared a fairly short goodnight hug and kisses; and then he went home while I came inside and went up to bed.  After spending no time on my computer last night, I had some work and email to deal with; so I’ve been doing that for a couple of hours now while winding down from all of the fun and work today.  I’m going to have a busy and long day tomorrow too because I’m booked to help out at the Inn for both the lunch and buffet shifts; and have a lot of work to do on my computer tomorrow night; so it’s time to wrap this up and head off to sleep.  It’s been another really great day, and I always feel blessed to be able to have so much fun with my family and friends.  That work tomorrow won’t be as much fun, but I’ll be doing that with some of the people I love most; and that’s a blessing too.

I can say the same thing about sleep right now too, and I’m seriously ready for that down time right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!