Heirs of the Magi Archives: Cassie's Journal 2014 - Part One

By Steve Leggett

Cassie's journey toward the Ascension of the Light continues in 2014. A new year and joining the teens with her thirteenth birthday is just the beginning of the fun ahead. Sharing all of that with Michael, Rowen, and Tim - and with her family and the rest of their friends - makes everything more amazing; and there are going to be more firsts too. First birthdays and Valentine's Days with a boyfriend help keep the winter months warm; and their spring and early summer adventures are best-ever-so-far kind of fun!
Join Cassie and her family and friends in Witch Falls and keep up with the latest goings on there. The Ascension of the Light is coming; and these are the years when the Magi of Witch Falls will grow and prepare for their roles in that amazing future!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Leggett
• Release date: Jul 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9780986753794

Steve Leggett

I've been an avid reader since my early childhood, and though I've been legally blind for around twenty years now, that love of books has continued, despite the challenges. The bug to try seriously writing books hit me in 2007, and I started with writing fan fiction stories, which was a great way to learn how to develop story lines and existing characters, as well as do research and new character creation. The feedback from readers, both positive and negative, was also a very important part of the learning process. Two million or so words, and several thousand pages later, and I was ready to start Heirs of the Magi. Fantasy epics and series are my favorite books. Whether I'm visiting the worlds created by authors like Andre Norton and Frank Herbert, or exploring the magic closer to home, like with Nora Roberts and so many other classic and contemporary writers, it's the more intimate involvement with the people and places that these books create that I love most. That's the type of story I had in mind when I began developing Heirs of the Magi, and I hope that you will love the books as much as I've loved bringing them to you!

Book preview

Heirs of the Magi Archives

Cassie’s Journal 2014 – Part One

By Steve Leggett

Published by Steve Leggett - Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 – Steve Leggett

Cover Image by Kayla Leggett - Copyright 2014 - Used by Permission

ISBN: 978-0-9867537-9-4

Books by Steve Leggett

Heirs of the Magi Trilogy

Magi Sanctuary

Magi Master

Magi Ascension (Forthcoming)

Heirs of the Magi Archives

Cassie's Journal 2011

Cassie's Journal 2012 - Part One

Cassie’s Journal 2012 – Part Two

Cassie’s Journal 2013 – Part One

Cassie’s Journal 2013 – Part Two

Cassie’s Journal 2014 – Part One

The Catalyst Chronicles

The Catalyst is Born

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

January 2014

February 2014

March 2014

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014

Notes

January 2014

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year – again!

Starting the day with good morning kisses with Michael; Tai Chi for two; and a Jacob and Jake gourmet breakfast definitely started the New Year off on a high; and the rest of the day has been a lot of fun too.

Michael and I had some work to do too; starting with the breakfast clean-up and continuing at my house while we helped to get everything ready for the party. We did pretty much get the rest of the day off from lunchtime on; though we were also on the kid control team for most of the rest of the day. The cooking or cleaning chores were mostly avoided completely thanks to the collective parental decision to use fine Chinette; plastic cutlery; and cans, bottles, or recyclable glasses for everything except hot drinks. All of the food was pre-made and potluck; so there wasn’t much to do there either except keep the ‘buffet’ table loaded.

Our guests started arriving at eleven-thirty, and Rowen, Tim, and her family were among the first. The football fanatics were all here in time for the start of the first games. As usual, the living room was football central while the lounge was used for kid entertainment, video gaming, and what ended up only being two chick flicks. While Michael and I were both playing with the younger kids a lot; we weren’t always doing that together. Michael, Tim, and some of the other guys mixed football with some play time on the floor with Ethan, Aiden, and the other younger boys for an hour or so this afternoon while Rowen and I played dolls with Ehlana, Naomi, and the other girls in my room.

The guys were playing with dolls too, but just in case the names are different in your future; in our present, boys only play with action figures – not dolls. It’s late, and I don’t want to get into a long rant on how silly girls in general think that is; so let’s just not go there.

Football, kid games, and movies were the main entertainment options, but with everyone from great-grandparents to babies at the party or stopping by for shorter visits; there were groups of people hanging out in the dining room, kitchen, and office today too; and several guest bedrooms were available for afternoon naps both for kids and a few adults. Rowen and Tim disappeared for a little while during a break in the football action just before dinner; but they weren’t napping. I’d be a bit jealous, but Michael and I got to have a little alone time after our guests went home for the night after the last football game ended; and we didn’t really watch the movie that was on the television in the lounge while we had that chance for some play time.

Let’s back up and get to that Michael and me part of the report in a bit. Our party guests included Michael’s family, though Jake and Stephanie split their time between our house and hers; and Rebecca went out to spend some time with Jenny and some of their friends for a few hours too. Most of my family was here for the day; though Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah came over later in the afternoon – in time for dinner – after spending the rest of the day with his family. Rowen and Tim were the opposite; and went to his Aunt and Uncle’s football party so that they could watch most of the last two games of the day there. Since they likely had an even fuller house than we did; I’m sure that had something to do with why Rowen and Tim had felt the need to find that alone time while they were here.

While a lot of my time was split between kid-play and hanging out with Michael, Rowen, and Tim; I also managed to spend at least a little time with Grandma, Grandpa, and my aunts, uncles, Zack, and Leah. I can’t say that for all of the drop-in cameo visits – I didn’t even see some of our visiting friends and neighbors if they didn’t do the rounds and I was busy in the lounge. I wish that there’d been more time to spend with Grandma and Grandpa – especially when the travel talk about their impending trip reminded me that they’ll be leaving on Saturday morning; and will be away until the first weekend in March.

I guess that’s one more thing to try and fit into my schedule for the rest of the week – more time with Grandma and Grandpa. With just four days left for our Christmas holiday; I have a feeling that this will be yet another item on my to-do list that there just won’t be enough time for – unless we try a little time-phasing to help out with that.

Moving along, there’s no way I’ll cover every little thing that happened today; so let’s start by skipping the football report. Feel free to look up the details from today’s games if you’re really interested; but just because I’ll remember everything I saw and heard today doesn’t mean I’ll spend any time thinking about those games – unless the guys are still talking about them tomorrow.

I mentioned that lunch and dinner were potluck buffets, but should have added that they were also casual; with the footballers taking plates and drinks with them into the living room while parents or grandparents fed the younger kids at the dining room table. Michael and I had both of our meals in the living room – eating lunch with Rowen and Tim; and dinner with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Uncle Mark, Aunt Grace, and Michael’s parents while Mom and Dad were busy – and eating in the dining room. That was practically the only time we spent with them in a group; and Aunt Leanne and Miranda had fun entertaining all of us – even though some of their fun was poked at Michael and me. For the record, I have no intention on going with any of their New Year’s resolution suggestions.

Yes, I’m sure that you want to know what at least some of those suggestions were, no matter how far into my future you’re reading this; but there are just some things that should be lost to history.

Michael and I continued to split our time between football and kid play time after dinner. We caught the end of the Rose Bowl and the start and about the last third of the Fiesta Bowl. While we were warm and having fun indoors, a little snow was falling outside; so we went out to shovel the driveway and sidewalks as soon as the game was over so that they’d be clear when everyone who was still there was ready to head home. That work was probably easier than rounding up kids, gear, and either leftovers or empty dishes; but it was cold too, and we didn’t waste any time just getting the work done and heading inside again.

That did give us an excuse – I mean a good reason – for the post-party cuddle time so we could get warmed up, but since we spent close to a half hour with the last round of goodbyes and helping Mom and Dad with the final living room clean-up; I doubt anyone would believe that line.

It was already getting late by then, but Miranda had negotiated the extra time for Michael right down to the running time of our movie choice; allowance for our goodnight kiss; and time to walk home. We knew she was just having fun with us again, and would be sleeping long before Michael got home; but she probably didn’t intend for us to factor that in to our play time.

When you’re reading this some day in the future, Miranda, I’d like you to know that our version of that schedule you gave us was very entertaining for Michael and me; and a lot more precise than one hundred and seventeen minutes for movie, kiss, and walk home. Go ahead and use your imagination – we did! ;^)

Oh, and by the way; time limits really are very silly when time-phasing is an option for one of the participants. Michael and I could have days of fun in one hundred and seventeen minutes if we really wanted to do that.

I’ll guess that you may never think of ‘a quickie’ the same way ever again after that comment – especially since a quickie doesn’t have to be quick for a Magi Master.

Don’t give me that look, Mom – I’m sure that you and Dad know exactly what I mean from personal experience – possibly on every occasion when I see you both smiling in a way that you shouldn’t have been for the amount of time you were alone. That’s also something that I can assure you Michael and I don’t have experience with, and we won’t anytime soon – though I won’t guarantee that for time-phase make-out sessions now and then when life gets in the way of some ‘us’ time.

I guess there really isn’t much else to report tonight. Michael went home about twenty minutes ago; I got ready for bed and tucked myself in with Mandy; and have been doing my nightly computing since then. That included email replies for Dawn, Violet, Christina, Jaimie and Kaitlyn, and a few of my school friends who were checking in with New Year’s Eve and Day news.

This really has been a great start to twenty-fourteen; and ending the first day of the New Year with the Michael and me play time was my idea of a perfect way to wrap up an amazing couple of family and friends days. Now, I’m ready to have a short winter’s nap; so it’s time to wrap this up and head off to slumber-land for a handful of hours.

Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Thursday, January 2, 2014

This has mostly been a recovery day to recover from our New Year fun. I’ve done some work too, including some chores around the house for Mom; another round of snow shoveling first thing this morning with Dad and Michael at our house and with Michael and Jake at their place; and a half-hour or so of family business work that needed to get done today. I had the work done by lunchtime; and then Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I got together for a play afternoon.

Before getting to that, and while I’m thinking about Rowen; her father is particularly excited today because they’ve officially taken over the old Witch Falls Electric and Light store behind their computer store as of yesterday. The renovations won’t start until next week; but he was already in there playing around and visualizing what his new data center is going to look like in just a couple of months. I know that Rowen’s Mom is a bit nervous about the financing they’re doing while getting this new business up and running, but Mom will make sure that their data center is a success; and she doesn’t actually have anything to worry about – we just can’t tell her why. Rowen’s glad that her father is so happy; but isn’t sure whether she’s going to like the extra work he may have her do to help out. She likely has visions of scrubbing and cleaning; but I think it’s more likely that she’ll get to help out with building the servers and wiring the networks; so she probably doesn’t have any more to worry about that than her mother does for the finances.

Moving along, Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and I had lunch together before I went to meet up with Michael, Rowen, and Tim – in that order. Mom vetoed the suggestion for taking Ethan and Ehlana with us for some tobogganing because of how cold it has been today, and judging by how light the kid traffic was on the usual sledding hills along the ridge; she wasn’t the only parent keeping younger kids indoors today. Ethan and Ehlana were disappointed, but it really was cold out; and we only ended up playing on our sleds for about an hour before deciding to come back to my house for hot drinks, a snack, and some video game play that the twins could join us for.

We hung out in the lounge for a couple of hours, and then Rowen and Tim headed out when it was time for Michael and me to help Mom with making dinner for eight. We were having Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner so that we could spend a couple of hours with them before they leave on their trip; and they’ll be doing another meal with Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and Zack tomorrow night.

Since we’d been having big, special meals for the past two days; our meal tonight was just spaghetti with salad and garlic bread sides. That didn’t really take very long to make, and we had everything ready by the time Dad got home – shortly after Grandma and Grandpa joined us. While travel talk was at the top of the chat list tonight; we covered everything from winter house checks to school, work, and fun plans for the next couple of months around here while Grandma and Grandpa are away.

Ethan and Ehlana were put in charge of entertaining our grandparents while Mom, Dad, Michael, and I cleaned up from dinner; and then we continued the chat time for another hour after dinner before Grandma and Grandpa headed home again. Michael and I had some play time after that with Ethan and Ehlana that included a group Magi lesson with Mom while Dad got to work in the office. There was enough time after our lesson for a bit more video gaming with Ehlana and me up against Michael and Ethan; and we did that until it was time to get the twins ready for bed. Michael and I helped out with that; we did the snack and bedtime story in the office with Mom and Dad; and then Michael and I tucked Ethan and Ehlana in for the night before coming back up to the lounge so that we could not watch the end of another football game tonight – the Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Oklahoma.

I’ll skip over the details of our play time, and again be grateful for my photographic memory; but did want to mention that I finally got around to sharing that little holiday surprise I’d picked up just for Michael and me – and that might have had a lot to do with why Michael wasn’t very interested in watching the game. ‘Little’ is definitely accurate, as is lacy, sheer, sexy, and hot. For the parents out there reading this in the future, try to remember that I’m a twelve-year old (almost thirteen) with a doctorate-level education; and I can assure you that Michael doesn’t have a problem with how I feel about intimacy with my boyfriend. I’ve also mentioned before that we have already discussed certain boundaries too; and being Magi-trained gives us the discipline to stay within those limits. You trust your Magi kids with keeping that huge little secret and follow all of the rules – compared to that; it should be easy for you to trust us to make our own decisions about sex.

Michael didn’t head home until shortly after eleven-thirty; and we had a quick chat with Mom and Dad as they were packing up from their work evening in the office. I hopped into my Jacuzzi after getting back up to my room; and have been multi-tasking my nightly computing while soaking in the tub. That was an option because Mom was going with a bedtime Jacuzzi session too; but let’s not think about what she and Dad might be doing one floor below me – or if you are going to use your imagination for that; don’t tell me about it whenever you do read this in my future.

While I’m still taking a break from my language and archive studies, I did some family business work tonight; took the time for the full news, sports, and entertainment check; and only needed a minute for email thanks to a near-empty inbox. There isn’t really anything newsworthy to write about from any of that, and I guess that’s really pretty much all the news I have for today; so it’s time to wrap this up and for me to get out of the tub and ready for bed. We mostly have another play day tomorrow, and while we didn’t make any definite plans for the day, we’re having dinner at Tim’s house and spending the evening there; and then I’m doing a sleepover at Rowen’s house. After lots of family gatherings, we’re not doing the dinner and a movie night tomorrow, but Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana don’t have decided what they’re doing yet. If the twins do sleepovers too, Mom and Dad could either end up with a kid-free night or four toddlers at our house.

I’ll pick option two for that because Mom probably won’t let Liz or Hannah take on extra kids overnight when they’ll still be busy at the salon and bakery during the last weekend of the Christmas break. I’d suggest that Rowen and I should do our sleepover at my house too so we can help out, but we’re overdue for one at her place; and Patricia mentioned that to us yesterday so we better stick with the current plan.

Okay, that really is it, and I’m ready to crash and nap soon, so...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Friday, January 3, 2014

It was very cold again this morning, and since everyone had a full day of holiday gossip; the weather was back up near the top of the Ridge River grapevine network. We’re supposed to get a bit of a break from the deep cold for a day or two – including the near-freezing high we hit this afternoon; but then we’re also supposed to get a bit more snow on Saturday and then start plunging back into the bitter-cold by sometime on Sunday.

The cold didn’t really affect my day unless you want to count a couple of chilly walks with Rowen. We won’t count needing to help my boyfriend warm up from his early morning walk over for Tai Chi because that was a lot of fun for both of us. He was helping out with some jobs at the Inn all morning; and headed home to get ready to do that right after Tai Chi. I haven’t done a Tai Chi update in a while; so let’s do that before moving along.

Now that we’ve mostly been exercising indoors for the past two months, Michael, Ethan, and Ehlana are really doing great learning the different forms and postures. They won’t be able to just come out to the river in the spring and show all of those new skills off like they can when we’re in the house and alone; but we will kick things up a notch or three to make our morning exercises more fun for all of us. Mom and Dad are great together, and I think that Michael and I will be that good together or better; but Ethan and Ehlana are a bit scary they’re so good. They assure us that it’s a twin thing, and I don’t doubt that; but that doesn’t make watching them any less amazing.

After Michael left to go home and get ready for his morning at the Inn, I helped Mom with making breakfast while Dad got ready for work and Ethan and Ehlana got changed and cleaned up. While we don’t usually do hot morning meals on weekdays, we added eggs and hash browns to the menu; along with bakery croissants and muffins that we warmed up right before we sat down to eat. Ethan and Ehlana talked our parents into inviting Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia over for a sleepover; and got my okay to use the lounge for their movie night – and possibly to camp there overnight too. I thought that was a great idea, but for some reason, Dad had a problem with my suggestion that Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I could do that kind of co-ed sleepover next weekend.

I wonder why?

Mom and I took care of the breakfast clean-up too, and then I gave my rooms a once-over; grabbed a shower; started a load of laundry; and had a visit with Mom in the office while waiting to move that load from the washer to the dryer. She was doing a family business work morning, so Ethan and Ehlana were playing on their iPads while she did that. Once I had the dryer going, I headed out and over to meet up with Rowen and the computer store.

We weren’t doing any work there, but went next door with Owen to the old Electric and Light store to take a look around. Those stores, like most in town, are very close together; and part of the renovation will be to connect them. That’ll actually be one of the biggest jobs; though there are a couple of other changes that Owen wants to make, and those three jobs will be about half of the renovation time – as well as among the first jobs. While, as with their own place, the Electric and Light business had both a store and workshop-storage room; the data center won’t have a store. Most of their business will be contracted, and what little local business it will have they can handle through the computer store.

After looking around today, I’d say that their two-month schedule should be easy to work with; and they’ll end up having lots of time for the servers and network infrastructure that Owen will install himself – though it sounds as though he may contract Jenny’s father to help out if he needs the extra hands for wiring everything. He’s definitely like a kid in a candy store when it comes to the new toys he’s getting to play with for this – just as he still is when building the custom notebooks for Mom. Some of the equipment is already arriving; and he’ll be building servers and the rest of the systems over the next month or so while the renovations are done; and then have two or three weeks to get everything installed and up and running.

After doing our tour of the future data center, Rowen and I stopped in to visit my grandparents for a while; and then she came home with me for lunch. We were meeting up with Michael and Tim for some more tobogganing after lunch; and Ethan and Ehlana were allowed to go with us today – along with Naomi and Aiden. We added Jessica, Ryan, and Sophia to the group at the last minute; and then headed over to our favorite hill along the ridge at a bit after one o’clock.

I know that some of my friends and classmates don’t like hanging out with their younger or older siblings, but we had a blast with our little gang; and Rowen even had fun when Patrick, Scott, and Lindsay joined us to play too. That was partly because the two pranksters only needed to get one look from Tim to dissuade them from even attempting a second prank – and had them aborting the first one. There’s one more little bonus for Rowen in the boyfriend department!

We played for nearly two hours; brought everyone back to my house; and did the hot chocolate, snacks, and sledding recap with Mom before it was time for Jessica and Ryan to go home; and for Michael, Rowen, and me to go with Tim to his house. I needed to pack an overnight bag and drop it off at Rowen’s on the way; but we were still home with time to play video games for a while until Tim’s parents got home from the shop.

I really liked getting to spend more time with Tim’s parents tonight. Michael obviously knows them very well, and Rowen is getting to know them better since starting to date Tim, but even when we’ve had our study sessions at Landry’s Auto; I haven’t spent all that much time just talking with Martin or Tracey. Between dinner and the Bowl games tonight; we got to have hours of chat time and fun with them. They’re different than my parents, but then they’re alike in many ways too. Tim’s father is definitely more like my Dad than his older brother. Tracey is more outgoing, but then that’s not as obvious compared to her very active and enthusiastic sister-in-law.

What was most interesting for me with Tim’s parents was getting to discover those little things about them – and people in general – that you don’t get to know from casual acquaintance. That kind of understanding and familiarity comes a little bit at a time; and we moved that along tonight. I don’t think I’ll get into that tonight, but that’s only because I want to write a bit about Magi in a mixed family instead.

By the time any of the teens involved can read this in the future, it won’t matter; though I still have issues with the Magi council’s secrecy when it comes to Magi kids and teens.

Tim’s family is different than mine, Rowen’s, or Michael’s because his father knows more about Magi than Jacob does; but he also isn’t a Magi either. He and Jacob both know more than Rowen’s parents do; but since Martin was there when his wife threw a combine off of his brother and watched Mom, Uncle Adam, and me heal Lee; he’s seen more Magi action than possibly every non-Magi in town that knows about us. I don’t know how much else Tracey has shared with him; but I think that it’s a safe bet that he knows more about his son’s abilities than Jacob knows about Michael.

Okay, that news won’t be a surprise for any Magi in the future; but I know it would be for certain teens if they knew about it right here in my now.

That’s one of the reasons why I’m writing about this tonight. Rowen’s parents know almost nothing about her abilities, so things like dating wouldn’t have that added component to them, but that’s different for Tim’s parents; and I wonder how that affects mixed couples when it comes to having their children enter the dating scene. I would expect that two-Magi parents would naturally hope for a Magi partner for their children; but that might not be the case for Tim’s parents. In Martin’s case, he may not even know enough about all of the Magi to even speculate about that, though he does know about me; and that’s a mental trail I’ll skip walking along. He probably does wonder how the two fired-up and hyper-active members of our little teen foursome ended up with two of the quietest teens our age instead of together; but then he isn’t the only person in town to wonder about that.

Don’t take that the wrong way, because Tim’s parents absolutely adore Rowen; and think that she’s very good for him – especially in the education department as his grades improve the more time he spends with Rowen and me. That may sound odd when Tim has had the advantage of being best friends with one of the best students in the school his entire life; but there’s no doubt that Rowen is having more of an impact on him than Michael ever could.

One other thing that I wanted to mention is that Tim’s parents are very proud of him. That can be said for most parents, but the reason I bring it up is because Tim is in a similar situation to his father. While Martin was over-shadowed by his big brother, Tim has that issue with his older cousins; and his best friend is a top student and extremely talented in both music and sports. Sure, he has the whole Magi thing, and it’s probable that neither Tracey nor Martin know about Michael; but that isn’t something they can brag about. What I’m getting at is that Tim is outwardly a pretty normal, average kid when it comes to his ‘public’ self. Yes, he’s also popular, handsome, and out-going; but I find it interesting the different approaches each of us kid, teen, and adult Magi take to developing our personal and public lives.

Oh, and by the time you read this, Tracey; your son is going to be more than the best you ever dreamed or hoped for. Yes, Ethan, Ehlana, and I do know something; and no, I can’t tell you about it now – and maybe not even all of it in the future.

So we had a finger-food dinner that was a mix of options from Chinese food to wings and potato skins; and then the teens in the house got to do the clean-up despite Tim’s protests about hosting – not that he really tried to get out of the work all that hard. He may talk tough, but I’ll guess that his mother gets what she wants from both of her favorite boys pretty much every time. That’s something refreshingly cool about Tim’s family – it’s the girl in their trio who gets spoiled by the guys instead of the only child.

Yeah, Tim does get to have some pretty cool toys, but then so do his parents; and the girl who was given a bedroom suite by her adoptive father is not going to comment on anyone else when it comes to being spoiled.

We finished the clean-up shortly after the first game started, and then we joined Tim’s parents in the living room to watch football for the rest of the evening. Martin, Tim, and Michael had fun talking football together while Tracey, Rowen, and I cuddled with our boys and often had our own chat going on ex-football. This was the first time I started to feel that sense of family and belonging while at Tim’s house; and I hope that we get to have more nights like this.

There really isn’t much else to report for that part of our night. The guys flipped between games, and Michael, Rowen, and I stayed until the end of the second game before Michael walked Rowen and me home to her house. It was colder again by then, so he and I didn’t spend much time on our goodnight kiss; and Rowen assured me that the one she shared with Tim before we left was better – mostly because they made some excuse to go off to his room so they could take care of that without company watching them.

We weren’t surprised to find out that Scott was spending the night too, and since he and Patrick had watched the bowl games with Owen; they were still awake and fired up. What was surprising is that they were good while we were hanging out together with Rowen’s parents and having a bedtime snack; and they didn’t even try to prank us or play any jokes at all.

Maybe they’ve made a New Year’s resolution not to do that anymore. We can hope.

So after that little visit, Rowen and I got ready for bed; and have been chatting and surfing the web since climbing into bed for the night. We talked about everything from our quickly dwindling supply of vacation days to the joys of alone time with our boyfriends while Rowen browsed her way through YouTube vids and I’ve done a light version of my nightly computing. I’ve skipped talking with her about most of this journal update for obvious reasons; but she’s preoccupied with the alone time she’s hoping to have with Tim tomorrow night while Michael and I have our own plans for one last play night at my house before we’ll be going back to school on Monday.

While we do have two days left before that inevitable event, we don’t have any holiday-type plans for the weekend. It’ll be a normal work weekend for Michael; I’ll have my normal Saturday chores; and Rowen will be at the computer store for her usual Saturday morning shift. We’re going to get together with Michael and Tim during Michael’s afternoon break for a study session; though Rowen, Michael, and I all pretty much have our holiday assignments finished anyway, so that’s mostly for show – and to help Tim. I may go and hang out at the Inn for a while too, but this should mostly be a quiet, rest-up weekend.

I won’t see Grandma and Grandpa again before they leave early in the morning; but I’ll keep track of them whenever they’re travelling; and it’ll be fun to see how difficult it is for me to keep track of their links when they’re so far away – especially in India and Pakistan. Since many of these trips are to places they probably wouldn’t have travelled to on their own; I’m really glad that they get to have those experiences now – even though we miss them a lot while they’re away.

That’s all I have for now, so I’m going to put my computer away and let Rowen chat me off to sleep. I don’t want to be too tired for that Michael and me time; or anything else we end up doing this weekend.

Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Grandma and Grandpa are winging their way toward India as I write this, and while I wish that I could be on the trip with them; the trips there, while they’re moving around between India, Pakistan, and Europe, and back home again won’t be much fun.

They will be happy about missing more winter weather today; since we’ve had more snow and it’s gotten cold again tonight. That weather didn’t get in the way of our fun today; but Dad and I will be doing some shoveling in the morning; probably instead of Tai Chi. That’s the main reason why I’m going to short-form this update – because it’s already nearly one-thirty; and I’m going to need to be up again in about four and a half hours.

So, here we go with that.

My morning started with Tai Chi for one; the rest of my morning while with the Emersons was fairly uneventful; and when Rowen went to the store with her parents, I spent the rest of my morning doing chores at home. Rowen came over after lunch, and we had a play afternoon that included time with Ethan and Ehlana; and with Michael and Tim while Michael was on his afternoon break. There was some study time in there for the four of us who aren’t about to start as unofficial college freshmen next week; but with NFL playoff games on tap; it wasn’t all that easy to keep Tim’s attention on our little holiday assignments.

I ended up staying at home for dinner after Michael went back to the Inn; but Rowen and Tim left then too, and had their own play plans for tonight. I’m sure that you can guess my favorite part of the day was when Michael and I got to have another few hours of alone time; though hanging out with Ethan and Ehlana until they went to bed was pretty good too – and the four of us had fun while Mom and Dad were busy with some weekend homework.

While Michael went home before midnight, I ended up doing some family business work after getting into bed with Mandy; though I needed the wind down time anyway after that few hours of fairly hot playtime with Michael. Our next alone time opportunity may not happen for a while once we’re back in school, but for tonight; I’ll just be grateful for the fun we have been able to have this week – and for my photographic memory!

That does cover the basics for today, and I’d rather dream about the play-time details instead of writing about them; so...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

The snow shoveling wasn’t really that much work this morning, but it was cold; and not as much fun as Tai Chi would have been. Getting some time with just Dad and me was nice even if that was while we worked to clear the driveway, sidewalks, porches, and the truck and minivan; but we were both still really glad to get inside once we were done and enjoy the hot drinks and food that Mom had ready for us by then.

Our last Christmas break day has been fairly quiet; other than dealing with the weather. It was a low-key morning at church; partly because there were quite a few absent families – particularly among the ‘country’ members of our congregation. There aren’t any major problems here in town, but troubles out on the area farms included everything from keeping livestock warm in the freezing temperatures to a few power outages. Compared to the other holiday church services, that made it feel like the sanctuary was half-full; and we didn’t even do our lesson in Sunday school with a third of our class away today.

My day didn’t exactly liven up after that. The cold kept us indoors; and Ethan, Ehlana, and I had Mom and Dad to ourselves for most of the day – except for when Michael, Rowen, and Tim came over for a couple of hours this afternoon to hang out during Michael’s break from the Inn. Tim wanted to watch the football games; so Rowen and I mostly just cuddled with our boys and talked while they watched the end of the first NFL playoff game of the day between the Chargers and the Bengals.

While I’m on football, Tim also wanted to talk with Michael about the weight training they’re going to start doing at school in the morning before classes start. When he found out that Kyle was going to begin his training tomorrow to get ready for college football; Tim decided that he and Michael should join his cousin for the weight-training workouts if they wanted to get serious about playing football next season for our school team. That’s going to be tough for Michael, and he already has our Tai Chi every morning anyway, but even if he isn’t as enthusiastic as Tim is; there’s no way he’d let his best friend down or leave him without a training partner.

The good news for him is that if he gets sore from those work-outs; I’ll be able to help him out with a little Magi Healing. He really does want to play football too if Tim is, and wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun if Tim happened to make the team and he didn’t; so his motivation isn’t totally for Tim – just most of it.

Moving along, Michael headed back to the Inn as soon as that first football game was over; and Rowen and Tim left too – mostly because Tim wanted to get somewhere to watch the second game. I didn’t go to the Inn tonight because it was going to be very quiet there anyway; and I wanted to stay at home, get ready for school tomorrow, and be in bed early. I also wanted to get set up for my next language studies by rounding up everything I’ll need for the first month or so of my studies.

Between now and the end of the school year, I’m going to be studying the Dravidian languages, including Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. It’s just a coincidence that Grandma and Grandpa are in India as I’m starting this next language group, since my study plan was put together long before they booked this trip; but it does make it more interesting for me. Maybe they’ll even meet some kids or teens for me to be chat partners with when I’m ready to start practicing my verbal skills.

Since we are back to school in the morning, it was time to get back to my usual nightly computing, but skipping some play time in the kitchen at the Inn allowed me to do all of that work after dinner; a Magi lesson with Mom; and enjoy some quality time with my Jacuzzi. Once I have this finished; I’ll be heading off to sleep.

There isn’t much to add for upcoming events this week. Violet and Dillon will be home sometime tomorrow; and will spend the rest of their break here in Witch Falls. The rest of our first week back to school will mostly just be getting back into the normal routine. Game night will be back on Thursday; Michael, Tim, Rowen and I will be going with the same study night rotation; and dinner and a movie night will likely be back on Friday again if for no other reason than because it’ll be our last chance for some family time with Violet and Dillon before they head back to school on the weekend. Gretchen’s having her thirteenth birthday party on Saturday, and that’s going to be fun because she’s going with a shopping, lunch, and matinee day in Crystal Springs. She isn’t inviting everyone for that because of the driving issues; but Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I are invited.

I’m glad this will be a quiet weekend at the Inn, or Michael and I might have needed to skip the party – especially since Jake and Stephanie head back to New York on Saturday too. I’d like to have more time to spend with all of our favorite college teens; but they’ll all be busy with their families and friends this week; so there won’t be many chances for that. I know it’s time to just get used to all of that, but I’m not; though I’d never trade going back to just Mom and me over the few drawbacks to having so many people to love – like missing them when we have to be apart.

Nearly everyone in Witch Falls would likely find it very strange that I never even experienced that during the first nine years of my life – missing anyone. Wishing for a happy-ever-after family isn’t the same, though now that I think about it, that was still something I was wishing for when we moved here; so maybe the Witch Falls magic helped to make that wish come true!

Feel free to work that into your magic history stories, Miranda – maybe people will start tossing coins over the falls and making wishes or something.

Anyway, I’ve had enough for today, and really do want to get a decent night of rest ahead of our first week of classes in the New Year, so...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Monday, January 6, 2014

It’s been a busy day!

Heading back to school was only part of that, but after staying at Michael’s tonight to watch the BCS Championship game, and not getting to my school night studies until after midnight; I’m glad that I was able to have the extra sleep last night.

We have a temporary addition to our morning and evening routines at home, though I wasn’t there for the first evening chat with Grandma and Grandpa. The morning chats will be more fun anyway; since they’ll be able to give us their daily recaps during what is the end of the day for them in India. This was an adjustment and play day for them, so there wasn’t much to report; but we’re all glad that they’re having fun so far ahead of the work they’ve already started doing by now.

Heading back to school after a holiday always feels a bit strange, and not walking there with Michael was the strangest part of the morning for me. He’d met Tim there about an hour early for their first weight training with Kyle, and though they were the only guys from our grade there; Kyle also had invited other guys from the football team to join them; and they had a teacher there and available in case of emergency. Tim had more fun than Michael did with that, but that was mostly because Michael had already done a few workouts work of heavy lifting at the Inn during the buffets yesterday.

I don’t really have anything newsworthy to write about from our actual classwork today, other than that our teachers were happy to launch us right back into full study-mode without any steps to bring us up to speed over a few days. The gossip network was running at full-speed too, but Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I didn’t make any headlines; so our conversations with our friends and other teens and kids mostly were about what we all did over the holidays. Football was obviously big for the guys with the championship game tonight and talking about the pro game playoffs. I seriously doubt that there were more than a handful of guys not watching that game – at least in our area; but I’ll get to that soon.

The after-school action was at my house tonight, and since we pretty much had a full plate of assignments; we only had a little time to play with Ethan and Ehlana between the time we had our work done and Michael and I needed to go over to his house for dinner. Violet and Dillon were home by then, but they were having dinner with his family; so Ethan and Ehlana had Mom and Dad to themselves for most of the evening.

While I’m thinking about the twins, I haven’t talked to them about it yet; but their first day of college ‘classes’ must have been fun for them. I don’t expect that they’ll need any more help with that than I did, at least at first; but I will be able to work with them if Mom needs me to do that – and Ehlana’s lab sciences will definitely be fun to do with her now and then even if Mom doesn’t need a part-time lab tech supervising them.

My favorite part of the night was dinner with Michael and his family. It’s the last night I’ll be having dinner with Jake and Stephanie before they head back to New York; so it was really nice to have those hours to spend with them while we ate and watched the football game. Miranda, Stephanie, Rebecca, and I weren’t into the game all that much, but three of us were happy to cuddle with our boys while they watched the game and we talked about work, school, and fun plans both for us here at home and for Jake and Stephanie at their schools and in the big city. Things like Valentine’s Day will definitely be different for them than for us – and not just because they’d be working at the Inn if they were here.

I hadn’t thought about that for Michael and me this year; and don’t think that I will until we get into February and have to deal with the probability that Michael and I will have a working first Valentine’s Day together.

The football game will get some chat time at school tomorrow, and the Florida State fans will be happy campers; while those cheering for Auburn or the underdogs are disappointed tonight. I don’t really have anything else to say about the game; though I’m ready with the usual stats and game details if Michael needs any support tomorrow.

I went home right after the game ended; had a chat with Mom and Dad; and then came up to my room to get ready for bed and started on my studies. That was three hours or so ago; and I’m ready to get some sleep. The only plans we have for tomorrow is dinner with Violet and Dillon; and Michael will be with me for that; and we’ll be hanging out with them in the evening too. We aren’t starting band practice until next week; so that’ll make it easier for us after school, and might allow for some play time too before Michael and I will need to be home to help out with dinner.

That’s it for now, and really time to pack up and crash for a few hours, so...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

We’ve had a fun day, but it’s also really late again; so this is going to be a micro-update.

The morning routine was pretty much back to normal weekday Tai Chi, breakfast, and getting ready for work, school, and play time at KidZone. Michael was home for breakfast with his family, and off to school early for weight training; so a new normal for Rowen and me will be meeting both of our boys at school instead of walking there with Michael.

I loved getting back to our music class this morning. It wasn’t even until we started warming up and playing that I realized how little I’d played my saxophone over the holidays. Michael and I will need to get back to regular practices; though we didn’t do that tonight. While music was my favorite class, the rest of the day was pretty good too; and so was our study session at the computer store.

Michael and I were home in time to help out with dinner; and we got to catch up on what Violet and Dillon had been doing all day along with the usual KidZone and parent daily recaps. Violet and Dillon couldn’t talk about everything they did while hanging out with Mom; but I knew they did at least one Magi lesson while Ethan and Ehlana were at KidZone; and Violet did some family business work with Mom too.

I don’t have anything specific to report from the rest of our evening. Dinner was good, and so was having the play time with Violet and Dillon. That’ll be the last chance we have for that without a crowd around to share them with before they head back; so I’m really glad that we got to have this time with them. We played some games, watched some television, and had a group chat with Grandma and Grandpa; did an extended bedtime story and snack time with the twins; and wrapped up the night with a bit of teen and parent time in the office while Dad finished his homework.

Dillon’s here tonight, but Michael went home by ten o’clock; so I was able to get started on my bedtime studies and nightly computing a bit earlier than usual. That really only ended up allowing me to get more work done instead of finishing up early; and it’s after three o’clock again. Tomorrow will be the first school week ‘work day’ of the New Year for Rowen, Michael, Tim, and me for our part-time jobs, and I don’t expect to see Michael tomorrow night; so maybe I’ll just put in the extra hours early and see if I can start having one early night a week.

We’ll see how that goes, but for now; it’s time to pack up my computer and head off to sleep.

Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Okay, I’ve hit the wall; though it’s only coming up on eleven o’clock, so this is going to be very short.

We went to school; had a fun day there; studied at Landry’s Auto; I worked from the time I got home until coming up to bed except for our dinner break; and I have all of my work done.

That’s it, that’s all, goodnight, and...

...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Thursday, January 9, 2014

The extra nap time last night had me fully recharged by this morning; so I was fired up and ready for another long, fun day.

Good morning kisses with Michael and Tai Chi with him and my family is always a good start; and I really like the morning phone chats with Grandma and Grandpa too. One thing that I am going to miss is having Michael stay for breakfast some mornings; but he really doesn’t have time for that right now while juggling Tai Chi and weight training. He only has about a half hour to get ready for school and eat something on the fly.

There isn’t much to report from school. In our class, the top chat topic was Gretchen’s birthday party – at least for those of us who are going to Crystal Springs with her. There are a few hurt feelings too, but everyone also understands that it’s too expensive for most families to do big parties when they’re in Crystal Springs.

It was my time at the Inn tonight that I had the most fun; starting with our after-school study session. One of the good things about the quiet business time during the few weeks after Christmas is that there isn’t as much work to do at the Inn; so we were able to take our time getting our assignments done and have a little play time before Rowen and Tim headed out and Michael and I went to help out in the kitchen for the small dinner rush.

After the shock of having Jacob actually win a game night championship, Miranda didn’t attempt another girls against the boys; or even a partner trade. She did have lots to say when her team ended up near the bottom for the senior championship scoring, but Jacob and some of the other guys just suggested to her that she might be the main distraction keeping him from playing his best; while that hadn’t been a problem on a guys-only team.

Jake and Stephanie didn’t help them out with that theory; since they did win the senior championship – their first time competing with the adults. Michael and I managed a top-five finish; and that saved us from getting drawn into that debate on one side or the other. I stayed to help with the clean-up; walked home with Michael and his family; and got home in time for the goodnight kisses with Ethan and Ehlana before doing my Magi lesson with Mom in the office while Dad got started on his homework.

Violet was at Dillon’s house tonight, so Mom worked with me for over an hour; and then set me free to get started on my archives and language studies. That was only about two and a half hours ago, and while the extra sleep last night helped out a lot; I don’t want to be burned out again by the weekend and need to cut back just a little. My archive assignment in particular was a snoozer too; and I nearly fell asleep trying to get through it tonight – not that I haven’t done that before during some of the most tedious lessons.

I don’t have any other news from around the family and there isn’t anything I want to write about here from the news, entertainment, and sports checks; so I guess it’s just time to say goodnight and get some rest.

Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!

Friday, January 10, 2014

Yesterday’s update is coming to you this morning because I fell asleep last night while watching our second movie in the lounge – while cuddling with Michael. He thought it was cute, and he advised me that Rowen and Tim thought it was funny. So did Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana; and I’m glad that I could entertain everyone.

Waking up on the sofa in the lounge this morning felt strange, and despite the jokes; I was still in the same clothes I fell asleep wearing – not that the thought of having Michael help me get changed isn’t interesting. Maybe we’ll try that out sometime. ;^)

This update is about yesterday, though; so let’s get to that. The morning routine was fairly uneventful; though that could partly be because I was a bit tired then too. Our first school-day Friday of the year was a Day One schedule; so that wasn’t quite as much fun as starting the day with music would have been. I love our Spanish class too; but that isn’t as much fun when pretty much everyone else in the class except our teacher isn’t particularly enthusiastic about the subject.

Ending the afternoon with Phys-Ed is good, though, and being set free for the weekend usually has everyone at school happy. Michael, Tim, and Rowen came home with me; though we split up so that they could all check in with parental units first. We did our homework; and then had time to play with Ethan and Ehlana before getting put to work. Michael and I were in the kitchen, and Rowen and Tim were in the lounge to get it ready for the movies part of our dinner and a movie night.

I won’t mention that it took them a very long time to do that – especially since they took everything Mom had picked up with them in one trip – and only needed to re-stock the fridge. Testing the sofa for comfort, or any other ‘work’ excuse they might use doesn’t change the fact that even my brother and sister knew what they were really doing.

We had a fairly large gang over for dinner; which is why movie night was in the lounge for kids and teens, and in the living room for the adults. Violet and Dillon were with us for dinner and the first movie, though they mostly talked with Mom, Dad, and the rest of the adults during dinner while Ethan and Ehlana helped to keep my friends and I entertained. I’ve skipped over some details there; but I’m doing this while getting ready for Gretchen’s party; and need to hurry up a bit.

Dinner