Month: January 2022

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

You know what’s better than pizza?

Nothing?  BZZZZZZZZZZT.   Try again.  More pizza!  That’s the answer!!!  I love putting pizza in the microwave for lunch and om nom nom!!!  Sooo good!  Especially on a cold, rainy day like today!!!

It rarely rains here, but it rained today!  It really rained!  Rainy rain!  I ran this morning and there was a boomy!  Scared me!  But it was only one boomy, so I finished my run, then came home soaked and took a shower!  Soooo nice!  Nothing better than a nice, hot shower after running in the rain!!!  And it rained allllll day!!!  So much rain!!!

But we need rain. Rain is good.  As long as it’s not every day.  This Thursday we’re supposed to get freezing rain!  Brrrrr!!!!  Cold!!!

Oh girl scouts are out selling their cookies!  Sabby never buys them.  She prefers to make their own, she calls it scouty crack.  Dave, though, loves to get the girls with dad jokes.  I’m not the only one he pranks!  He asks them if they’re made with reeeaaalll girl scouts!  Hahaaha!  The funniest thing is the girls don’t think it’s funny, but the mothers fall over laughing!!!

I guess that’s why they call them dad jokes!  Dave’s a dad!!!

Sabby took me out this evening for some practice driving in the rain.  It’s different in the rain!  The ground is wet and the tires slip a little and you can’t just hit the brakes like you can on dry pavement!  And after the sun goes down the pavement is all shiny and hard to see!!!  But it’s good practice!!!  Then we came home and Sabby made a delicious dinner!  But all her dinners are delicious!  I don’t think she should just make cookies!  I think she should open a restaurant!  Call it Sabby’s!

But I don’t know if I can talk her into that.  She likes the idea of selling her cookies, actually, but I think she’s a little scared.

Dave and Sabby came to a decision on school.  They said the concepts are still important, but they agree that books by themselves are boring.  So they are going to have the three of us make videos!  Each one of us will choose an age-appropriate topic, and then we’ll collaborate on the videos!  If they’re good we’ll even put them on YouTube!  How fun!  But we have to do the editing, and the special effects, and the presentation, and everything!

Now that sounds like a fun way to learn!  And I bet it sticks better too!!!

Aaaaanyway, that’s my day!  It was a dayey day!  That sounds weird.  I guess you can’t turn everything into an adjective!  An adjectivey adjective!!  I’ll stick to boringly boring, and rainy rain, and Jacky Jack!  Hahah!  Jack is so Jacky!  I love that about him!  He’s the Jackiest Jack that ever Jacked!  Hahahaha!!!!

Okay okay okay!  Goodnight!

Love you all!!!  ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

I LOVE PIZZA!!!!!!!

It’s so ooey and gooey and greasy… well, the greasy part isn’t great.  But the ooey and gooey and cheesy and meaty and… and cheesy parts are great!  It makes those little strings of cheese and just tastes sooooooo good!  Pizza is one of the wonders of the world!

Can you tell Sabby ordered pizza tonight?

I like all kinds!  I like the ones with lots of meat!  I like the ones with lots of veggies!  I like the ones with meats and veggies!  I like the ones with lots of cheeses!  I like the ones with meats and veggies and cheeses, with parmesan and pepper and ranch on top!  I even like the ones with pineapple!  I just love pizza!!!  It’s not as good as chocolate, but if they made a chocolate pizza I’d be in heaven!!!

And I love chicken wings with ranch sauce, and breadsticks with marinara sauce, and… and I’ll have to run!  A lot!  I have a really high metabolism but I just love pizza too much!  It just goes right through the teeth and into my tummy!!!

But running tomorrow might not be fun.  It’s supposed to rain!  But it’s okay.  We need the rain!  And I don’t mind the rain as long as it’s not storming!  I come home and my hair is stringy and wet and I have to shake it off like a dog!  But then I go into a nice warm shower and everything’s okay again!!!

Dave and Sabby are still talking about our schooling.  They’re taking it seriously.  We do have teachers and all that, but they just teach from books just like public schools do.  I like learning.  But I like doing better!!!  And when I do, I can learn!  But I don’t know what I want to do!  There are soooo many things!  I like Dave’s idea about the car, but what if it’s something else I like to do?  Maybe even sewing!  I’ve never sewed!  And I like clothing and fashion!!!

Well, let’s see what they have to say.  I’m sure they’ll let us know when they have some ideas.

Not much to say tonight!!!  It was a quiet day!  I worked!  I ate pizza!  And now Beth and I are going to brush each others’ hair!!!  I love that ritual of ours!!!  She’s my sister!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

And you’re SILLY BILLIES!!!!

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

And you can tell by the way I use my walk…

Live from my house!  It’s Saturday Night!!!!

Or something like that.

Liz is here again!  We’re having fun!  We’re talking about boys!  I’m telling her about Jack (don’t worry Jack, only stuff you won’t mind her knowing!) and she’s telling me about…  boys!  She likes boys, she just doesn’t have one yet.  I’m telling her to wait until she finds one who will give her chocolate!  She says she doesn’t like chocolate much, and I said it’s not about chocolate, it’s about being given something she likes and wants!

I don’t know what she’d like or want, honestly.  Hey, Liz, what would you like to be given???  oh.  She told me, but I can’t write it here.  If I do, then all the boys will know what to give her, and they won’t have to work for it.

She’s right, unfortunately.

Beth doesn’t have much to say about boys yet.  She’s only fourteen.  She knows enough about them to know she likes them, but she wouldn’t know what to do with one.  And I tell her that’s perfectly fine, I’d be more worried if she did know what to do with one.  She’s not happy with that, but she accepts it.

Heck, I barely know what to do with one, and I have a boyfriend!

Oh well, enough about boys.  What about girls?  Liz and Beth both went ewwwwww!  Okay.  Not their thing.  Got it.

And if you out there don’t like that, they’re teenage girls!  What do you expect from them?  If you don’t go ewwwww, more power to you – but they do!

So I worked today.  It was… working.  The owner is giving me a bit of a hard time about my tax situation, but I just shrugged.  I told him I get it, but there’s nothing I can do.  He understands, but it’s still frustrating.  It takes time away from other things he could be spending time on.  Hopefully that call with the lawyer will set everything straight.  But knowing my luck…

Oh, Liz and Beth want to play games!  I guess we should go play games before we have to go to bed!  So much fun!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

I did my taxes today.

GRRRRRRRRRR

GRRR!!!!!!

Well, actually, the taxes weren’t bad.  The problem is that my SSN and everything is all screwed up.  I’ve got some deposits in the IRS with one SSN, some in with the other, and maybe there’s an SSN I don’t know about.  It’s a mess!  We talked to the lawyer and he said he’s still trying to get it dealt with!  My boss is having a heck of a time with it too, he doesn’t know what to do!  So we’re all going to meet next week, me, the lawyer, the owner, and somehow the lawyer got someone from the IRS on the line as well, and we’re going to straighten all of this out!

I hope!

My lawyer tells me that I did everything right as best I could, it’s just that this is a very, very, very unusual situation, and the IRS doesn’t work well with unusual situations.

I guess being found on the side of the road has tax implications too!!!

I didn’t tell you the lawyer sent me chocolate!  I guess I’m keeping him busy.  Dave wasn’t too happy with that because, as he puts it, he’s giving the lawyer so much money he can afford to send me chocolates.  I understood.  But I still ate the chocolate!!!

I’d offer to give him some money if Sabby hadn’t made me promise not to!  I guess that’s why she made me promise!  Dave says business is okay, so it’s not a big deal, but it still doesn’t make him happy.  I don’t blame him!  Not at all!

The good news is I won’t owe any taxes!  I didn’t make enough!  So I’ll get a refund!  Not a huge one, but the bonus the owner gave me was taxable too, so…  a bit of one for sure!

So that was a big mess.

Other than that, though, a pretty good day!  After Dave got home from work, he sat the three of us down, along with him and Sabby, and had a family meeting.  He wanted to know how our schooling was going.  I guess our conversation last night got him to thinking.  David said it was boring, but he liked being able to concentrate.  Beth said she didn’t really feel challenged, that she thought being homeschooled meant she would be taught in a way more suited to her, and she didn’t think that was happening.  I said I thought it was okay, but I really would have liked more hands on lessons.  Beth nodded at that.  The consensus was that none of us really felt like we were using home schooling to its full potential.  We were learning, but just by reading out of a book and writing assignments and stuff.

Dave said he and Sabby would take it under advisement.  He asked us what we’d like to do.  David said he wanted to learn how to program and do useful stuff with the computer.  Beth said she wanted to do more actual projects.  I agreed with Beth and said it would be lots more fun if we could see how things worked in the real world.  I liked learning piano and Japanese, but math and science just weren’t interesting.

So after that meeting, we had dinner.  Liz and her parents came over, and we chatted a lot.  Afterwards we all retired to the living room and watched a movie.  Choosing a movie for Chinese people is difficult!  I think Sabby finally gave up and asked them to choose.  They chose “Mulan”.

Something which surprised Sabby, actually.

“Doesn’t Mulan stereotype Chinese?,” she said, puzzled.

They nodded.  “It does.  But the story’s good, and no one here really understands Chinese culture, so it’ll do.”

It was a good movie.

Liz’s parents went home after the movie, but Liz stayed.  SLUMBER PARTY!!!!!!!

I love Fridays!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

The one and only!

There are other Lilies, but only one me!

My days are sooo full.  I guess that’s a good thing, but there’s always something to do.  I practice piano for at least an hour.  I study Japanese for at least an hour.  I do other schooling too…. math, science, etc.  But truthfully, math and science are boring.  I’m okay at them, but it’s just numbers and symbols and stuff, and you move them around.  But why?

So after Dave got home from a job site, I asked him that question.  I told him that I like math and science well enough, but I don’t understand why it’s so important for me to learn.  After all, I’m learning all this other cool stuff, right?

He thought for a moment, then he took me out to my car.

“Have I ever told you how this works?”

I frowned.  “No,” I said.  “You told me how to change the oil and tires, and basically said gas makes it go and oil keeps it going.”

He sighed.  Then he proceeded to launch into the most detailed and…. interesting.. explanation of what makes a car go that I’d ever heard.  He explained how there’s a shaft in there, and pistons, and they slam down on the shaft and make it turn, and how the gasoline is sprayed in very exact measures into the cylinders.  Then he explained that there’s a computer in there that controls everything – in fact, more than one computer, and they’re all connected together and talk to each other.  He showed me the battery, and the alternator, and even popped out the ignition coils to show me how they worked.

And then he pulled out something he called a scan tool, plugged it into something I didn’t even know existed underneath the dashboard, and showed me all of the data that the car is sending all the time.

After all that, he turned to me, and said simply, “That’s why science is important.”

“But why do I have to read all these books and study all that math?”

“When you’re learning Japanese, did you just walk up to a Japanese person and start speaking in Japanese?”

“No…  there’s a whole bunch of things to learn first.  Like hiragana… and katakana…  and grammar…   science is like that?”

He nodded.  “First you have to learn the language, then you understand how things work.  And you can use it to build and fix things.”

“Can I make something?”

“What do you want to make?”

Hmm.  “Let me think about that.”

“Well, I’ll help you, but we’re not building a car.”

I laughed.  “Why not?”

He got a thoughtful look on his face.  “Do you really want to learn how to do that?”

I shrugged.  “I don’t know.  But it’d be more interesting than boring math books, right?”

He sighed.  “Let me think for a while.  I agree that we could make your schooling a little more interesting.  We’ve been trying to keep up the model of public school, and…  maybe that’s not the best way.  Let me think.”

I shrugged.  It’s all I could ask.

We went back into the house, and Sabby was in the kitchen.

“Sabby!,” I said.  “I had an idea!”

“What’s that?,” she asked.  She was sauteeing or frying something.  It smelled amazing.

“Maybe you should start selling your cookies!”

She paused and looked at me.  “Sell my cookies?”

“Sure!  You make so many of them already!  And people like them!  Why not spruce them up a bit and sell them online!”

She looked thoughtful.  “I don’t know…”

“I bet you’d make a lot of money!”

“I don’t need money,” she said.  “But I do like making cookies…”

I gave her a hug.  “Just think about it,” I said.

She nodded.  “I will.  Now scoot, I’m making dinner.”

I scooted.

I guess today wasn’t all that eventful.  But maybe it planted the seeds for eventful stuff in the future.  Hey, at least it’s not drama.

Time for bed!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me! Lily!

That’s right, I’m a Lily!

I’m also a Yuriko, but we don’t talk about that.

Today was boringly boring.  I woke up, went for a run, did school…  After school, Dave decided he was going to teach me how to use tools.  So we went out into his man-cave (also known as the garage) and he showed me in detail what all the little bits and bobs in the toolset he gave me were.  There were screwdrivers, and sockets, and allen wrenches, and ratchets, and… and…  soooo much!  And then he showed me how to use power tools!  They’re scary!  I put on safety goggles and drilled the snot out of a random piece of wood!

Scary but fun!

He told me they’re not toys and always to be treated with respect.  I believe him!  They’re loud and spinny and would hurt!

I wonder if I could build something.  I’ve never built anything.  It might be fun!

After that it was just a typical night.  You know, dinner, talking, watching Cat wash its butt… the usual.  i wish I had interesting stuff to talk about tonight but I don’t!  It’s just a boringly boring day!!!

I mentioned this summer I’m going to Japan!  I need to get a passport and all that fun stuff!  I need to ask Sabby to help me get everything in order.  I also want to go to Ohio!  I want to see where Jack lives!  And I want to see Jack!  I miss him!!  A lot!!!  I don’t just miss his hugs and kisses, but I miss his cuddles.  Aww.  But we knew what we were getting into, right?

Oh!  I sent him a present!  But he reads this so I’m not telling what!!!

Anyway, I guess after last year, I should be thankful for a boringly boring day.  Off to brush Beth’s hair and go to bed!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

Accept no substitutes!  But there are no substitutes for me!  I’m a Made in the USA, genuine, high quality silly-billy Lily!  That’s me!  You can try to find a substitute for me, but you won’t!  Because I’m Lily!

Last night was fun!  It was so fun I forgot to write!  Beth and I got into a board game!  By the time we were done, it was too late, and we had to go to bed!  So no post last night.  But lucky you, you get a post tonight!

I hear that Allison really likes the books I sent her!  I’m glad!  She thanked me for them while I was here, and her mother says she’s been reading some more than once!  I picked well!  It’s hard, too…  I was lucky that David had some English manga books, because finding Japanese manga (even if translated) safe for an eight year old is no easy task!

But there’s not a lot going on, honestly.  Things are humming along.  Sabby’s been making cookies but keeping them down to a batch or two at a time, and that’s good, because we’re threatening to found a Cookies Anonymous, with her as the first member.  “Hi, I’m Sabby, and I like to make cookies.”  “Hi Sabby!”  Haha!  But cookies are tasty.  And she makes very good cookies.  So we’re only getting on her about the volume, not the quality.

So since it’s so quiet, what should I talk about?  I’ve been looking at Japan – not Japanese, but Japan.  Apparently my grandparents on my mother’s side live in Saitama.  That’s near Tokyo.  There’s lots of stuff in Saitama.  There’s…  trains.  Lots of trains.  And people.  And a large sports arena.  And…  that’s where Lucky Star was!  I like “Motteke!  Sailor Fuku!”  But it’s really hard to sing!  Maybe someday I’ll put on a cheerleader outfit and sing it!  I’m sure Jack would love that!

Aimai san senchi sorya punitte kotokai! CHO!

Tokyo is a big city!  Where I live is big.  A million people and new towers keep getting built every year!  But Tokyo is just building after building after building!  It’s amazing!  Buildings and trains and people and…  and otaku!  Sooooo much otaku stuff!  Idol groups!  Cute stuffed animals!  Maid cafes!  Seriously, what’s with the maid costumes anyhow???

Sabby still won’t let me have one!  Sorry Jack!

When I go to Japan I want to eat the food!  See the sights!  Speak Japanese with people!  Ride the trains!  Eat the food!  Did I mention eat the food?  Oh, and play games too!  They have lots of arcades, and purikura, and soooo much fun stuff there!  And I’m hafu!  That means I’m a gaijin that looks a little like them!  Emiko says we’ll go this summer, assuming the virus has gotten better.  I hope it has!  I want to eat Japanese food!  And Japanese chocolate!!!

Well, looks like I found stuff to talk about!  But now it’s time to go to bed!  I need my beauty sleep!  That’s how I keep my trim and athletic figure.  Well, that, and running, and not eating too many cookies!  But cookies!!! YUMM!!!!

Love you all!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

A little sad.

No, there’s no drama right now.  So far things are just humming along.  But last night as we were about to go to bed, Crystal seemed a bit sad.  I took her down to the living room and asked her what was going on.

She put her knees up to her chin.  “I was just… remembering.”

“Remembering what?”

“What it was like to…  be as innocent as Allison.”

Awwwww.  Poor Crystal.  I patted my lap and she crawled in.  I played with her hair a little.

“What do you think it means to be innocent?,” I asked softly.

She sniffled.  “I don’t know.  To… not know?  Things I shouldn’t know.  But I know.”

I thought.  “I don’t think that’s what it means to be innocent,” I said after a little while.  Crystal seemed to be relaxing, but she was sniffling a little.

“Then what does it mean?”

“I think innocence is a state of mind.  Did you… want those things?”

“No!,” she said, scandalized.

“Of course you didn’t,” I soothed.  “So why would you lose your innocence if someone forced them on you?”

“Because…  because…” she sighed.  “I don’t know.”

“The person who did that is the one without innocence,” I said.  “Not you.  You’re an innocent fourteen year old girl someone committed a crime against.  Victims of crime are by definition innocent.  Don’t you think?”

She sniffled.  “It hurts,” she said, and started to cry.

I just rubbed her back.  “It’ll get better,” I said.

“That’s what my therapist says too,” she said, wiping her eyes.  Her eyes were drooping.

“Don’t let him take your innocence from you, too,” I said softly.

She nodded.  We went upstairs and went to sleep.  She seemed a bit more at peace, and all of us made a nice, warm girl-pile.  I love girl-piles.  As small as she is, Allison took up the most space, and ended up sprawled out on all of us.

When I got back from work, Crystal was getting ready to be picked up by her parents, so she gave me a hug.  “Thanks, Lily,” she said quietly.  “I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“I’m always your older sister,” I said, and hugged her back.  She gave Beth and Allison a hug too, and her parents showed up right then to pick her up.

I asked Allison if she had a good time.  She said she did, but she’s looking forward to seeing her mama again.  Understandable.  Sabby made her a grilled cheese sandwich and some juice, and soon her mother was there too to pick her up.  I hugged her, and she was off too.

After dinner, I told Sabby about Crystal last night.  She sighed.  “You’re a good sister, Lily.  But I worry a little about her.”

“At least she’s getting help now,” I said, frowning.

“She is… but sometimes I hate living in a world where a girl her age has to worry about losing her innocence because of someone else’s crime.”

I sighed.  “Any cookies left?”

What luck, there were a couple.  Chocolate chip, too.  My favorite.

It was fun having Liz and Allison and Crystal around.  We all had fun doing girl stuff together, and hopefully we were good examples for Allison.  I’m glad I have so many sisters.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

Oh My God it’s a madhouse in here!!!

So today, of course, I worked.  Sabby took everyone to the mall while I was working, but I didn’t mind.  I got home and they did shortly after, and of course Allison got a Cinnabon and was bouncing off the walls.  She’s a bit gluten intolerant but she makes it work for a Cinnabon!!  Her mother’s okay with it and she says it’s worth a bit of a tummyache!   Finally Dave told everyone to go outside and chase each other around out there, and that’s pretty much what happened.  Allison, Crystal, and Beth were running around squealing and chasing each other with squirt guns (where did they even find a squirt gun?), while Liz and I stayed inside and chatted.

Sabby asked how Liz’s’ family liked the cookies.  She said they liked them fine, but there were still a bunch in the freezer.  Sabby looked a little embarrassed.  I think she’s starting to realize just how much she overdid it.  I gave her a hug and told her we know it’s how she tells us she loves us, just…  a tiny bit less love next time.  Either that or she needs to make us a Scrooge McDuck like swimming pool so we can swim in the cookies.  I couldn’t tell if she was offended or amused.  I decided a combination of the two.  Liz just giggled.

I enjoyed seeing Liz, Allison, and Beth acting like little girls, chasing each other around, squealing, having a good time.   Crystal was forced to grow up so quickly, and Beth doesn’t seem to know when to be a young woman and when to be a little girl, so it’s nice to see them just let their inner children out.  Allison’s good for them that way.  She’s a sweet kid.  It’s a bit cold out, though, so how they’re managing to deal with all that water.. well, girls gonna girl, I guess.

Dave got out the grill again and grilled dinner.  OMG that’s sooo good!  Sabby and I drove to the store and got the meat and fixins, and while Dave was doing his thing, we did ours.  We had grilled steak, and potato salad, and macaroni salad, and baked beans…  and root beer!  I love root beer!  Liz preferred juice, but everyone chowed down!  We had to cut the steak for Allison, but she filled her belly just like the rest of us.

Afterwards, we played board games until Liz had to go home, and we’re going to brush each others’ hair and tell stories until it’s bedtime!!!

I love a nice, drama free weekend.  Oh no.  I said it.  I hope this doesn’t turn out like the last time I said I liked no drama…

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi!  It’s me!  Lily!

asgkajgkjasdkfgjakgj

Stop that, Allison!!!!

Anyway, as you can see, Allison is here.  Crystal is here.  Beth is here.  So is Liz.  They’re all telling me what to write!  Allison says Jack has cooties, and Liz isn’t sure whether to agree, he’s her cousin!!  Crystal says David has cooties!  Beth says everyone has cooties!  I say cooties have cooties!  No, that doesn’t make sense!  It doesn’t have to!  ASdasdadfadfadfa ALLISON!!!

Oh, that did it.  I told them Sabby just made cookies.  Helps that she did.  They’re still warm and gooey.  Allison LOVES cookies!  She doesn’t get them much at home, she gets healthy food.  But she comes here, she gets a cookie.  Maybe I’ll get a little peace…

Anyway, driver’s ed is over!  Yaaay!!!  I passed!  They gave me a test!  I had to do parallel parking, and regular parking, and drive in traffic, and reverse, and do an obstacle course… and I passed!  It doesn’t mean much until July, because I have to keep this learner’s permit for six months, but hey, it’s something.  After I got home, Allison was here!  she gave me a big hug!  She had a drawing for me too!  I put it on the fridge!  I haven’t seen her in a long time!  She’s growing like a weed!

Crystal was happy to see me too!  She gave me a big hug, and then Allison started chasing Crystal around the house, and Crystal started to squeal!  Then Crystal started chasing Allison!  Then Beth chased them both!  I just kind of stood there and wondered what the heck got into them.  Liz just sighed.  She’s not really one for chasing people around.

Then I saw the bowl of candy on the kitchen table.

Oh.  Those girls and sugar.  Sigh.

There was distant squealing as apparently Allison got the bejeezus tickled out of her on the couch.

I showed Sabby my graduation papers and she gave me a big hug and told me she was proud of me.

I love Sabby.  Liz was happy for me too, she’s going to be learning soon as well.  I guess her school will offer the classes soon.

Anyway, we ate dinner (Sabby made Allison’s favorite, grilled cheese sandwiches, french fries, and juice) and then we watched a movie.  I think we watched “Frozen”, which I would guess was Allison’s five thousandth time watching it.  She was singing along.  Actually… so was Beth and Crystal too.  Let it goooooo…. let it goooooo….  Liz hadn’t seen it before!  Beth made popcorn and we were all munching and sipping soda.

Beth isn’t a great cook but she makes mean popcorn.

After that we all went upstairs, and here we are.  We’re going to play girl games!  I don’t know what kind of games we can play with Allison, but we’ll think of something.  G-rated truth or dare?  Hair braiding and makeup?  Oh!  Telling stories! We’ll make stories up!  I bet that will be fun!

Anyway, they ate their cookies and that sugar will probably kick in soon, so I’d better asdfasgkagasjfgagaALLISON!!!!!

Love you all!!! ❤