Cassie's Journal - October 10, 2012

If you’re a kid or teen in Witch Falls, the only story today is the arrival and set-up of the first rides for the fall festival.

By the time we were set free from school for the day, there were a handful of trucks at the park, and there were teens hurrying over in hopes of getting one of the jobs that were always available for locals to help out with setting up and running the rides and game booths.  Rowen and I went home first to get our homework out of the way, but that didn’t take us long; and then we took Ethan and Ehlana along and joined the gang of spectators watching the set-up action that was nearly as exciting for us as we expected the weekend to be.

The boys weren’t even interested in playing football today, though the football field wasn’t open for them to do that anyway; and that was a bonus as far as Rowen and I were concerned.  Unfortunately, they made up for that by having too much time on their hands to annoy us instead – I mean try to impress all of the girls with some extreme goofiness.  That’s not much of a trade-off, but since most of the girls seem to enjoy the show the boys put on for them as much as they like watching them show off playing football; I don’t see sanity returning to my classmates and friends anytime soon.

Mom and Dad haven’t told us any of the details, and they’re not directly involved in the festival planning, but I do know that our family business is sponsoring a couple of the thrill rides this year as part of the community involvement we’ll be doing for our new business interests.  The coolest rides being set up today were a drop tower, a fireball ride, and a zero gravity; though part of the reason we thought they were the coolest was because they’re all new rides for the festival too.

There are new kiddie rides this year too, and the twins were more interested in that, since going on the big thrill rides wasn’t an option for them.  They suggested that playing on all of the rides actually was possible for them if Mom and Dad would let them use a little Magi power, but that isn’t going to happen for them any more than it did for me when I tried that line out on Mom when I was little.  It would be awesome if they could, though!

We stayed at the park until it was time to go home for dinner, and after splitting up to do that; Rowen and I met up for another visit to the park after we ate, and spent nearly another hour watching the ongoing work.  Mom, Dad, and I all spent some time playing with Ethan and Ehlana after I got home again, and their bedtime routine included baths tonight.  Mom did a Magi lesson with me after the twins were in bed for the night and while Dad got started on his homework, and I’ve been doing my usual nightly computing and studying since coming up to bed about two hours ago.

I’ve finished everything I wanted to get done before the weekend, and other than the family business work I have for tomorrow night; I’m ready to take the weekend off.  Now it’s time to get some sleep so I won’t need to sleep through any of the festival fun.

Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”

Cassie's Journal - October 9, 2012

I went to school; worked all night except for breaks for dinner and a Magi lesson; and wrapped up with a couple of hours of studying while in bed with Mandy.

It’s late, and I’m beat, so...

...say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”

Cassie's Journal - October 8, 2012

Kyle Landry is the school hero again this week thanks to his three defensive touchdowns from two interceptions and a take-away fumble recovery.  Those were just the highlights, and he helped our team to a forty-five to twenty win over Blossom Creek.  With all of the weirdness from last Monday, I skipped writing about our team’s away game loss to Ridgeway, and I can assure you that the boys at our school are a lot happier on the Monday after a win.

Some of the guys that had gone to Sally’s party instead of the big game took some razzing today, with Tim Landry probably taking most of the heat in our class for missing his cousin’s game to go dancing instead.  I don’t know if he tried to do anything to defend his reputation with the other guys, but Nora probably helped him out by talking about making out with him in the hayloft with her girlfriends.  I’ll move on without writing about all of the party chat news.  Some parts of those conversations had Rowen seeing red – and I’m not talking about when she looks at her hair in the mirror.

The younger kids at school were all excited about the upcoming fall festival, and once football and parties talk was pretty much exhausted; the festival moved up to the top of the conversation list for the rest of us.  For this year, the big change with my classmates is making plans for the big weekend that include dating.  Rowen and I stayed as far away from all of that as we could, though we still hear most of the girl chat; and know the supposedly most important dating-game news.

While our actual education might not be as exciting for most of us, including me, and I don’t write about it much; we are actually keeping busy with our class work too.  Music may be the only subject that’s actually new and challenging for Rowen and me, but we still have fun playing at being two of the top students in our year.  We’re into nearly daily quizzes or tests in one subject or another now, and though that makes for stress for some of our classmates; tests are not a problem for us.

Rowen and I got our homework out of the way after school, and then took Ethan and Ehlana to the park.  Yes, football was involved; Ethan ‘played’ one down with a little help, as usual, from Michael; Ehlana happily spent some time with the girls; and then we went to the playground and kept entertained until it was time to go home for dinner.  It was Magi Healing lesson night, and we had an easy clean-up meal so that we were ready to go when Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne came over.

We had fun with our lesson, but it’s been all work for me since then.  Mom and Aunt Leanne took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana off to bed, but I came up to my room and got started on my study plans; starting with my archive reading assignment from the healing lesson.  I moved on to my language studies and a chat session in Portuguese about an hour and a half ago; finished my usual nightly computing; and once I finish this, I’m shutting down for the night in more than one way.

I haven’t done a family update in a while, though there really hasn’t been much news to report.  Violet’s coming home for the festival this weekend, but won’t be bringing Dawn and Jillian with her this year.  They may come with her for the Haunted Halloween walk weekend, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.  I haven’t been able to get confirmation on it yet, but there is some hints that Aunt Grace and Mark are doing a weekend get-a-way the weekend after next.  Maybe they’ll even find some time to talk about their job offers here while they’re together.  It could happen – maybe.

There isn’t much news getting to me about Chris and Martin, and what is involves girls; so I’ll just move along.  Jaimie and Kaitlyn keep me updated on what they’re doing at home, and their little brother reports are the most entertaining.  Jayden is apparently well into the terrible twos; and his big sisters are not exactly enjoying the experience.  Other than Jayden’s frequent temper tantrums, though, everything seems to be going great for the Granite Park members of the Proctor family.

Okay, I’m hitting the wall fast, and it’s time to crash for a few hours.

Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”

Cassie's Journal - October 7, 2012

Today’s part of the work weekend schedule moved the crews that had been at our house and Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s place over to Grandma and Grandpa’s for the afternoon.  It’s been a bit warmer today, but started out just as cool this morning.  I’m really going to miss Tai Chi by the river – we probably won’t get to do that outside much between now and spring.  Popping Ethan and Ehlana into warm sweaters in the morning is one thing, but bundling them up to go out into the cold takes longer than actually doing a short form workout.

Moving along, we took it easy this morning, and had fun while having a light breakfast and getting ready for church.  Pastor Lewis was on a roll today, though I only knew that because our Sunday school class continued on long after our lesson was finished – until the service ended at nearly a quarter after eleven.  Aunt Leanne assured me that isn’t a record, but it’s up there with the longest services I’ve been to since moving here.

We went home to have lunch on our own and get changed, and then we drove over to Grandma and Grandpa’s with both the van and truck; mostly because that was easier and faster than moving the car seats.  Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne were already there by the time we parked on the side of the road in front of their house, and after taking Ethan and Ehlana in to hang out with Grandma; we all got to work.  For Dad, Grandpa, and Uncle Adam, that meant some roofing and eaves troughs work and repair; lawn tractor and snow blower maintenance; replacing some fence boards; and some dead tree branch trimming that required some climbing that Grandma ordered Grandpa to leave to the younger men who would at least heal faster if they fell and broke a leg or arm.  Grandpa’s argument that he didn’t need to worry about that with Magi Healers in the family did not budge Grandma an inch; and he did not get to climb trees with the other boys.

Mom, Aunt Leanne, and I had other outdoor jobs that included putting gardens to bed for the winter; some trim painting; washing windows; staining the new fence boards; and a bunch of little jobs that managed to keep us busy until it was time to go home and get ready for the late buffet at the Inn.  Ethan and Ehlana stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while we did that, so Mom left the minivan with them too; and she, Dad, and I walked to the Inn once we were ready to go.

The hour and a half we spent together at the Inn was really great, and then, since we’d had Sally’s party on Friday night, and were both busy yesterday and today; I went over to Rowen’s house to do homework with her for an hour.  Mom and Dad had Ethan and Ehlana bathed and ready for bed by the time I got home again, so we had a snack; did story time together; and then tucked them into bed before Dad needed to go work in the office, and Mom and I decided that we needed some Jacuzzi time again.  I probably should have gone to sleep early, but I wanted to get some extra studying done now.  Next weekend will be all play and no work, and I’ll want to get some extra sleep by Wednesday or Thursday to be ready for that, so that really only gives me about three nights to do what I normally get done in a week.

Since I have a few more things to do after this, it’s time to wrap it up and...

...say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”

Cassie's Journal - October 6, 2012

The fall festival is less than a week away, and it sure felt like fall today.  Since this is a yard work weekend instead of just one day, the cold weather didn’t get in the way of any play time, but it did mean juggling the work schedule a bit.

Writing that little blurb has me yawning, and not only because I’m tired after working outside from shortly after breakfast until a little after dark.  If it’s that boring to me, then it isn’t worth writing about here.  Since the only other action for me today was an after dinner movie with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana; some quality Jacuzzi time; and a little cuddle time in bed with Mandy while doing my usual nightly computing; there isn’t anything else to add to tonight’s journal, so...

...say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”