Cassie's Journal - May 25, 2018

The holiday weekend is here, and other than a bit of rain and thunderstorms early this morning; we’ve had an awesome day!

Tai Chi had to be indoors, but it was nice out by the time we went to school; and we had a fun day there while getting the school and town ready for the holiday weekend.  Michael and I were on the crew that cleaned up the paths around town and at the park; including planting some flowers here and there along the way and doing a bit of trail repair in the park where needed.  the surprise for lunch for everyone was our first pizza day, and Michael and I helped out with that a bit too – if only with the deliveries and helping to get the younger kids fed and then deal with the post-lunch clean-up.  That helped to make Rebecca and Jen’s second day of business really great, but I couldn’t help out after school because Michael and I worked the dinner-to-close shift at the Inn and were too busy to do more than help out by having slices of pizza and a drink during our break.

The Inn was busy for dinner; and the rooms are fully-booked this weekend too; which is why we were late getting out of there by the time we had all of the work finished.  We stopped in at the pizzeria again to pick up bedtime snacks for our families and house guests; I stopped in for a visit at Michael’s with the cousins that were still awake, but only stayed for a few minutes; since I had hot pizza to take home too – and more cousins to feed there.  We have the Rice clan with us along with some teens from the other families still here and hanging out with our gang; so the pizza didn’t last long – and neither did my family time because I need to be back at the Inn for the breakfast buffet that Miranda and Jacob are having for the holiday weekend.

I did have a bedtime visit with Dawn and Ehlana once I was ready for bed, but they moved on; and are now in the lounge with some of the other teens and kids because they can stay up late if they want to do that.  I’ll try to add more for the family news over the weekend with my updates, but right now; I really just need to get some sleep while I can.  We’ve worked hard, but it has been a really great day too; so I hope that the rest of the weekend will be just as amazing!

I have to go and find that out in real time first, though, and will shoot for an amazing nap first that’s going to start right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 24, 2018

The only news of the day for every teen and kid in town is that River View Pizza opened today – and was a huge first-day success!

That’s great news for Rebecca and Jen; but even better news for all of us to finally have a fast food option – and the new hang-out spot too!

I got in on the pizza sampling too, and the food really is great; but I also helped out with the work too; mixed in some exam studying while most of my classmates stopped in for food and to check out the patio tables and seating that really is going to be my favorite new place to hang out with Michael and our friends.  While I helped out with some of the studying, I was also very busy helping out in the pizzeria.  Rebecca and Jen were busy with making and cooking the pizzas; but they had me help out with slicing and boxing them; delivering the patio orders; and doing anything else they needed me to do so they could keep up with the orders.

While we had fun with the work; it seemed as though nearly everyone else in town had fun with the food and socializing.  We even had orders from most or all of the game night players when they were done at the Inn.  That worked for me too, since Mom, Dad, and the twins picked up a bedtime pizza snack too; and had some leftovers for me that I had once I was home and ready to get to work on my bedtime computing.  I didn’t stay at the pizzeria until closing, but I was still there when Michael was done work at the Inn; and he took over helping Rebecca and Jen so that I could eventually come home – though I didn’t get there until a bit after eleven.

The work and studying I’ve done since then wasn’t exciting at all, but I got a lot done; and am ready for the holiday weekend.  It’s also been a very long day; and I need to get some sleep.  We’ve got the town and school clean-up to do tomorrow; I expect to be working a lot between the Inn and pizzeria; and hope that Michael and I will get to have a bit of family and friends fun too.

I’ll let you know how all of that goes for us with the next few updates, but that’s it for tonight; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 23, 2018

We’ve had a nice, hot day – and I mean summer-hot; which is why we spent a lot of time outdoors today instead of staying cooped up in our classrooms.  That made for a fun day, including our play time at lunch; our exam studying after school was outdoors too – and included a couple of chilly swims in the river behind my house; and we had a gang of teens for a barbeque dinner while we continued to study until eight o’clock.  While Mom, Dad, and the twins were at the park for the co-ed ball practice; I went to the pizzeria after we were done studying; worked with Rebecca, Jen, and the rest of the volunteers until eleven o’clock – including with Michael once he got there after working the dinner shift at the Inn; and then I came home again and got to work once I was cleaned up and in bed.

I got to that work earlier than the last few nights, so I’m done a bit earlier too; but that’s really only because I did more work in a time phase tonight.  I wanted to get ahead of the work tonight because I have a lot on the go tomorrow; and managed to do that on top of the must-do work.  The short naps and lack of sleep is catching up with me, though, and even morning self-healing can only help with that for so long.  That isn’t a problem I’ll be able to fix for what could end up being a couple of weeks; so I’d better get all of the rest I can – including right now.

The fun level is going to start kicking up a few notches tomorrow, but I’ll have more on that with the next update.  For now, it really is just time to get some rest; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 22, 2018

News of the day – I am having a lot of fun; and working way too hard!

We had a beautiful weather day that I got to enjoy a bit of while at school and between band and teen praise team practices; but that wasn’t really because of any play time.  The outdoor time at school was either at lunch or taking our classes outdoors; the break between practices was a mix of exam studying, a picnic dinner, and a bit of baseball-watching fun during Ehlana’s practice.  The music practices were to get ready for the weekend, and after we were done at the church; Michael and I went on to the pizzeria to help out with more work there.  News of the day for Rebecca and Jen’s new business is that they’ll be ready to open on Thursday and have all of the final approvals and licenses.  I’ll help out when I can tomorrow too, but that’ll mostly be prep work to get ready for the opening day rush that is sure to be record-setting for a new shop in our town!

There will be other bonuses to look forward to as well – like pizza days at school! ;^)

The rest of my night was a near-repeat to yesterday.  We worked until midnight; Michael walked me home; and then I got started on my usual bedtime work and studies.  Time-phasing was required to get everything done, and I’m exhausted again; so that’s all for tonight and I’m going to crash and nap now!

Until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - May 21, 2018

It’s been another long day, but I have news to cover; so I’ll try to get through it before crashing into nap mode.

First up; let’s talk about future plans coming to life this week – starting with Josiah and Christina.  They started ‘work’ today.  He’s starting to set up his optometry business at the med center; and she’s setting up her new pharmacy there too.  The plan is to open both in about two weeks; so they’re going to be very busy!  While they have the top news story for our town, while I’m on the college grad front; I’ll add that Violet and Dillon are making the transition to full-time employees at the lab.  Dillon joins Uncle Adam as a researcher; while Violet is now Aunt Grace’s second-in-command – as well as gaining new jobs through the family business.

New jobs and the transition to being grown-ups are happening for all of the returning grads; but I won’t cover all of that news tonight.  I’m busy-enough with my own school and work; and in addition to only having four work days at school this week because we’ll have to town clean-up on Friday, and the work Michael and I are doing at the pizzeria to help Rebecca; we’ve added final exam studying to the mix.  Today, we did that after school; included a group dinner at my house; and more studying until nine o’clock.  After that, we went to help Rebecca and Jen; brought some friends along; and got the patio set up and finished by midnight.  While they won’t have a sit-down restaurant, the patio tables by the river will be the new hang-out spot for the teens and kids in town during good weather; and is a great place to have a snack or quick meal with a great view of the river and park.

Michael walked me home again after that; I came up to bed and got to work on my computer; and now I’ve had another late night and won’t have time for more than a nap; so I guess that’ll be it for now.  There is more to come this week, though – including the holiday weekend; so stay tuned for more fun, excitement, and probably too-much work while I go have that bit of down time; and, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!