Cassie's Journal - May 17, 2017

We had a couple of little rain moments today, but they blasted through town fast; and most of our day has been sunny and beautiful.  That meant that baseball was on for tonight; and Rowen and I had our first practice of the year at the park while Michael and Tim are at the school this year; and Mom and Dad have the coed practices at the other ball diamond at the park.

I’ll start with that baseball news; and then plan on keeping the rest of this update short so that I can get to sleep and nap for a few hours.

Our team is not going to have many senior players this year.  That isn’t unusual; since most of them will be off to college by mid-August and can’t play the entire season anyway; but we didn’t have any of them this week while they’re away on the annual school trip.  I haven’t heard a lot about that, but Rebecca and Lucas are having fun – and that might be the last chance for doing much of that together between now and the end of the school year while they’re both busy with work and getting ready for final exams.  Our practice went well; Claire is our coach; and I think we’ll do well-enough with the team we have this year.

Wednesday nights are going to be interesting again during the baseball season, and while the practices mess with my normal mid-week work night; we had extra issues tonight because Michael and I worked at the Inn for as long as we could before our practices.  That was thanks to a big dinner rush that was all about people wanting to check out the new dining room now that it’s done; so Miranda needed the extra help and called me in to do that.  The change in plans meant that I didn’t end up helping Mom much again tonight; though Ethan and Ehlana did hang out with Rowen and me a lot at our practice while Mom was busy with the coed workout.

We didn’t have much family support tonight, but that was because Violet and Dillon had wedding work happening that included getting help from my grandparents, Aunt Leanne, and other volunteers from both sides of the family.  I’m not helping with that either; and wish that I was doing more for Violet – especially when they’ll now be adding in a move into their apartment next week too so that’ll be done before they go away for their honeymoon.

I will need to write about the wedding in more detail over the next week and a half, but really need he sleep tonight; so let’s move this along.

Morning Tai Chi by the river and the rest of the get-ready-for-school routine was uneventful; we had one test to liven up our school day a bit; and having lunch outside with some football fun for entertainment was the highlight of the school day.  I came home after school while Michael went to the Inn, and got my homework done, but barely got started on my family business work when Miranda sent the call for help and I hurried over to the Inn.  That work meant missing out on a barbeque dinner at home with some bonus baseball friends and their kids over for that too; but then Michael and I both ate on the fly when we needed to get to our practices.

I mentioned that Aunt Leanne helped with wedding work tonight; so she skipped baseball to do that; and Mom might miss the practice next week instead – or they both will; depending on how close they are to having everything ready for the wedding.  I’m back there, and didn’t want to be; but let’s pick all of that up with the next report – especially when we’ll have a lot going on this weekend to get ready for the wedding and holiday weekend.

After the ball practice, some of us opted to jump into the river to cool off.  That didn’t take long – between five and thirty seconds for all but one of us; and then it was time for me to say goodnight to Michael and come home with Mom, Ethan, and Ehlana.  I got cleaned up and changed; met up with them in the office; and we got to work or studying while in a time phase.  Mom let us work until eleven; did a group Magi lesson with us; and then took care of getting the twins tucked in for the night while I came up to my room and got back to work.

That reminds me that I haven’t mentioned Silkie in a while, and just as I didn’t mention her bedtime run around the back yard to take care of business; I also didn’t mention that she was at the park for the evening too – splitting her time between hanging out with Mom, me, and the twins – though she was with the twins and their friends most of the time.  My supposedly-short update is getting a bit long-winded with these little side-trips; but that just says a lot about how tired and diffused I am right now.

I went back to working in a time phase for a while; switched to ‘real’ time when needed for the rest of my work and studies; and wrapped up with one last email check.  My language studies are rolling along nicely, but the family business work was a bit frustrating tonight.  That work would be so much easier if everyone in the world would just start caring about everyone instead of having so many looking out for number one and not caring who gets stepped on along the way to ‘winning’ at any cost.

That definitely isn’t a rant I want to get started on while this tired, though, and I won’t bore you with the business details; so I guess that’s it for tonight.  I expect another long, busy day tomorrow – especially if we have a big turnout for game night at the Inn because of the new dining room too – which we likely will have happen.  That’s something I can report on tomorrow, and that you can flip a digital page to read about in my future; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 16, 2017

Happy 4^th Birthday, Rebekkah!

Zack and Eli are hardly best buddies with her, but Rebekkah is friends with Leah and Hailey; and they were all invited to her party today.  I had no involvement in her big day at all, but am mentioning a lot of these ‘friends of cousins’ birthdays for future reference.

The next top news story of the day is that the main dining room of the Inn is now finished; and will be open for business in the morning – though there is still a bit of work to get done; and the official opening of the remodeled Inn won’t be until after the holiday weekend.  It will be finished before then; but the rooms are fully booked for Violet and Dillon’s visiting wedding guests.  Speaking of them, they’ve rented an apartment now too; they’ll move in ahead of the wedding; and the quick answer for why they’ll need the place with a year to go at college is that they’ll be doing some of their graduate work here at the lab – and they may be home more often; depending on their schedules.

We’ve had another great weather day, but I didn’t spend much more time outdoors – except during our marching band practice.  That was a nice bonus; though we also had a smaller group with the seniors away in Georgia.  Ditto that for our little concert band practice and the teen praise team practice; and that also explains why we had shorter-than-normal practices all-round.  I still missed out on dinner and Ehlana and Naomi’s baseball practice; and didn’t help Mom at all except for before and after breakfast; but I did get a slightly-earlier than normal start to my bedtime work and studying.  I don’t really have any other news from my early morning or school day; since all of that was normal and uneventful.  Michael and I had fun with our practices; and then he came home with me so we could do our homework together.

We did that; had a Magi lesson with Mom; and then got the baseball recap from Ehlana and Ethan while we had some bedtime fun with them.  The extra time would have allowed for a bit of make-out time with Michael in the lounge, but we used a time phase for that so he’d still be home in decent time and I could get started on my family business work.  It was a bit after eleven then; I used a time phase for the work I could do that way; and added two more hours of work in normal time.  That added up to a lot of busy, but I’ll get a bit more sleep tonight.

I really want to do that now too, so that’s all I have for now; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 15, 2017

My morning began too early with the wake-up call to get out of bed long-enough to have a little visit with Dad before he left for the city.  That was a sleepy bit of fun; but I was happy to have the monthly bonus nap time with Mom and the twins after Dad left until we needed to get up again and head outside for Tai Chi.  I needed a bit of self-healing to be ready for that; and then felt pretty good by the time we met up with Michael and I shared a long good morning hug and kiss with him.  The workout was good too, but then Michael headed home to get some food and then head for the school in time for the morning workout with the team – or at least with the guys that were available for that today.

The seniors were not available because they were on the way to the airport by then with the rest of their class for the annual senior trip.  Rebecca and Lucas are, obviously, on that trip too; and I hope they have a great trip to the Atlantic coast of Georgia.  There will be a bit of education involved too; but they’ll have time to spend at the beach and in the ocean too; and the girls liked the idea of nightly hotel sleepovers instead of some other past options – like camping the Grand Canyon.  I’ll keep you posted if there is any other news as the week goes along, but today has been a travel day; so there just hasn’t been anything to report – or at least nothing that I’ve heard from Rebecca, Jenny, or any of the other girls.

Our school was a bit quieter today because of that, but we are closing in on the end of the year; so we kept working and are wrapping up the last round of learning modules ahead of the annual exam review that will start either in the week leading up to Memorial Day or during the week after that.  The weather was awesome too; so we went outdoors as much as possible – including during a couple of bonus classes.  That was fun, but I don’t have any other news from school today.  Michael and I had to get to work after we were set free for the day after last class; and we put in five hours of work there to help out with the major push going on to get the main dining room finished by tomorrow night.  It was closed off again, so the smaller dining rooms are being used for customers while we now have the ‘work’ wall torn down for the last time; and the last blast of finishing work and bringing in the rest of the new tables and chairs will get done by tomorrow night – even if the crew doing that work ends up staying at the Inn half the night to make that happen.  That isn’t likely going to be necessary after putting in the extra time tonight, but if it does; Michael and I will be there to help out after our practices.

Speaking of practices, while I worked; Ethan and Aiden had their baseball practice; Mom, Ehlana, and Naomi were there to support them; and I missed out on that – and on another wonderful evening of great weather!  Michael and I really need to work on that; since it’s going to be even more fun around here over the next few weeks as the new path around town opens – along with the rest of the park trails; the new trails that will open for the holiday weekend at Quarry Lake; and everything else that will happen as we transition from spring to summer.  Sure, that’s wishful thinking, but maybe we’ll get a bit of time here and there for some play time; so I won’t just give up on the idea because it’s improbable.

Moving along, we wrapped up at the Inn a while after it was closed for the night; Michael came home with me so we could do our homework; and that part of my night was fairly-standard.  We did that work; a Magi lesson with Mom; had some bedtime fun with the twins; and then Michael went home so that I could get to work on my usual bedtime computing, studying, and family business work.  I needed a shower before doing that; but didn’t take long in the bathroom before getting ready for bed and tucked in with Mandy.  I’ve done everything that needed to get dealt with tonight with a combinations of time phasing and other Magi-powered help, but had a lot on my plate for tonight; and it’s again way too late for more than a nap before I’ll need to get up and going again.  I didn’t end up getting to help Mom with anything, and that won’t change tomorrow when I’ll be at school or the church all day and evening; but maybe I can do better for the rest of the week after that.

Stop laughing – that’s at least a bit more-likely than finding more time for fun with Michael! ;^)

My idea of fun right now is to head into nap mode, though, and I don’t have anything else... oh wait; I do have one more bit of news.  Jake and Stephanie found out today that they had an apartment in the new building with their name on it; they’ve signed the lease with Aunt Leanne; and will have more help than they know about so far with the move-in that they’ll be able to do next week ahead of the holiday weekend because the building is ready for early move-in.  Violet and Dillon will be – or already have been – extended the same offer even though they still have another year to go of college, but there are other reasons for that; and I haven’t heard confirmation of that with them because they’ve been busy with other, wedding-related things today.  Ditto that for Jake and Stephanie for part of the day, but I’m out of the loop for that still; and that might not even change all that much through the rest of this week.

That feels weird to me, but it’s the way it is, and I really do need to head into nap mode now; so I’ll have to pick up that story as more details are available.  For now, I’m out of here; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 14, 2017

Happy Mother’s Day to all of my favorite Moms!

Happy 33^rd Birthday, Uncle Mark!

We’ve had a seriously crazy-busy kind of day around here, but let’s start from the beginning and try not to jump around all over the place because I also need to get some sleep before getting up to see Dad off on his trip to Crystal Springs in a little while.

Our camping wake-up call was a lot of fun because we – the girls – raided the boys’ tent to do that with hugs and kisses ahead of our Tai Chi by the river.  That workout was even more fun thanks to having the Carrington clan with us; and Brianna was especially fun because she’s decided that it’s time for her to learn Tai Chi too – or to do that in public; since she’s been learning indoors now and then whenever she’s wanted to do that with her parents and brother.  That really felt like one of many cameo moments of fun for me; since I needed to run from that to getting ready for church; and then hurrying over to Michael’s house for breakfast.  Add in the Mother’s Day gifts fun with my family along the way; and I should have used a time phase to enjoy that more than I could while rushing around the house.

Breakfast at Michael’s was a total blast; and it was amazing to spend that time with Jake and Stephanie.  Yes, they’re home to stay now, but we’re all going to be very busy over the next few weeks; and I’m so glad that we got to have some time with just Michael’s family today – not including the time we spent together working at the Inn for the Mother’s Day buffets.  The food was awesome thanks to a bit of a chef’s duel between Jacob and Jake; I loved hearing the college wrap-up stories; and we had some more Mother’s Day gifts fun to have with Miranda before Michael and I needed to hurry over to the church.

If tradition continues at our church for whenever you’re reading this in my future; Mother’s Day and Father’s Day services are very different – and likely says a lot about guys and girls in general.  While our Father’s Day services are always short – supposedly as a gift for the fathers; the Moms in our congregation are generally happy to hang out together for an extended period of time – and the service is closer to normal time; or even a bit longer than normal because of the extra music and Mother’s Day fun.  I’ll humbly admit that the duet Michael and I sang was one of those fun highlights, and we get a lot of joy out of doing things like that for the people we love most, but let’s leave it at that; since the music and occasion isn’t about us.

Uncle Mark’s birthday got overshadowed by Mother’s Day, and I didn’t get to have much involvement in that celebration – or anything else that was going on with my family after church – other than being one of their servers for the late buffet.  There was some family and friends birthday fun at lunchtime and this afternoon, but that was mixed in with the Mother’s Day celebrations and play time; and we’ve had a perfect day around here for outdoor fun with sunny skies and temperatures that climbed into the eighties.  I wish that I could have taken the day off to play too, but it was an all-hands-on-deck day at the Inn; and Miranda put on three buffets for Mother’s Day – at noon, three, and six.

That, by the way, seems very unfair for her, since she doesn’t get a break for Mother’s Day, but now that Jake and Stephanie are here; maybe Miranda will be able to take a Mother’s Day off  now and then – or take turns once Stephanie joins that club with her.

No, that is not an announcement, but I also expect that Jake and Stephanie will start their family within the next few years – once they’ve helped to bring the Inn up to the next level of business that they’ll all need to support a growing family.

If today is any indication; that won’t take long.  We could have used the extra space that we’ll have very soon with the full main dining room today; since all three buffets were sold out and then some because we squeezed in about a half-dining room full of extra guests over the three sittings.

We also ran our tails off today, but it was also an amazing, remember-forever kind of day for me getting to work with Miranda, Stephanie, and Rebecca all day.  Sure, I’ve done that lots of times, but this is the first day when we’ve all worked as servers; and the first day with Stephanie officially working as one of the bosses.  Having two world-class chefs playing in the kitchen was awesome too; Jake takes the fun level up a few notches wherever he is; and I really loved getting to share all of that with Michael and his family – even if we could have had an awesome day with my family instead that would have included a lot more play time without nearly as much work.

I missed out on bike rides, canoe adventures, play time at the park, and a barbeque lunch while I worked today; but I did get to catch some fun moments here and there while my family enjoyed the late buffet.  They picked that one for the usual reason – as did most of the store owners that had their shops open for the day.  That was also my best chance to offer my best Mother’s Day wishes for all of my favorite Moms – though that was true for the first two buffets too; since the first one was very popular with the ‘country’ families that were already in town for church anyway; and that was another bonus that came with working all day – getting to share those happy moments with so many people I know and care about!

Michael and I needed to take our breaks when we could; didn’t get an extended afternoon break at all; and did our homework while resting during two of those shorter breaks.  That was hardly fun and exciting, but we did go outside and sit by the river while studying and having our snacks; so we got to enjoy just a bit of the beautiful weather.

One downside to the warm is that the kitchen gets a lot hotter, but now that I’m a server; that isn’t as big of a deal for me as it has been before now.  Yes, there is air conditioning, and that does make a difference, but we’d likely need to keep it cold-enough to have frost on the tables in the dining rooms to keep the kitchen cold-enough when all of the equipment is running at or near capacity on a hot day.  Jacob and Miranda have done an amazing job with the remodel, but a major structural refit for multiple extra air conditioning or heating systems was definitely not in the budget.

That’s hardly an interesting topic to write about on Mother’s Day – or any other time; so let’s move along.

Having the last buffet start at six o’clock did allow us to finish up a bit earlier than normal for a Sunday – but only by about a half-hour; since we did have that overflow diners issue for the last buffet too.  After a night of camping and a crazy-busy day, I would have been happy to come home and go off to sleep; but that wasn’t really an option.  Instead of doing that, I stopped in at Michael’s for a bedtime snack, drinks, and visit with him and his family; came home by ten-thirty; and had a bedtime visit with my family before they went to bed and I came up to my room to get to work – and multi-task some quality Jacuzzi time.  I seriously needed that bath by then; used a time phase so that I could get a lot of work done too; and then kept working and studying while getting ready for bed.

Once tucked in with Mandy, I still had a couple of hours of work to do in real time; did the family business jobs first; and wrapped up with the language studies that included some online chats that I also translated and transcribed while talking – just to have a bit of practice that will come in handy for my future career.  All of that has added up to a too-late night, and I really will only have a nap now before getting up to see Dad off on his trip.  Since he will be away, though, I need to keep up with my work; and try to do more to help Mom too – not that I’ve done very well with that lately.

I won’t improve on that if I’m too tired to help, though, and that is pretty much all of the news I have for today; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!