Month: April 2023

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And the engine is out!!!

That was hard!!!

We had to attach the engine to a chain, and hoist it up, then disconnect it from the transmission and exhaust and all that stuff!!!  Then we very carefully lifted it ou!!!  That was hard because I had to go under the car to unbolt the transmission!  It’s dark and smelly under there!!! Awww!!!

But then we carefully wheeled the engine over to a stand and bolted it on, and, well… now it’s ready to work on!!!

Dave seems really excited. I guess he likes doing this kind of stuff.  Well, he is an engineer.  And it’s kinda fun to see how it all goes together.  I told Rebecca and crowd and they just said “eww!  I’d break a nail!”

Well…  I guess.  But that’s never really mattered too much to me.  And that’s why God made manicures, right? Haha!!!

So tomorrow we’re going to start ripping the heads off and see what all the damage is.  Dave’s already said if the heads are damaged we’re not going to try to remachine them or anything, because that’s something for highly skilled people to do that’s not us.  So we’ll just buy a remanufactured head.

They make those!!!

But Dave said there’s all sorts of machining and sanding and lapping and other words I didn’t really understand that need to be done, and he doesn’t know how to do it, and it should be done right.  So, I guess that makes sense.  Some things it’s just better to pay people to do.

Like when I had the accountant do our taxes!

Speaking of which, those got sent in a couple of days ago…  and we ended up owing some!  Aww!  But I guess it’s okay, it wasn’t too much.  That’s just part of doing business.

Speaking of which, even with taxes, it’s doing really well.  We’re getting close to being able to afford another baker!!!

Which would be nice.  Sabby and baker together are having a hard time keeping up with demand.

But for the most part everyone’s pretty happy.  Oh!  Katie’s starting to show pretty well now!  She’s a bit moody and gets sick often and likes to eat weird stuff, but…  she seems pretty happy about the whole situation all told.  I guess having a good support system helps.  … I should know, right?  I guess the guy is trying to get her to, umm… “take care of the problem”, but she’s refusing.  She says he ran away, he lost any right to tell her what to do.  Awww.  Besides, she wants it.

I hope she can find someone to help her raise it.  She’s pretty and smart and cheerful, I’m sure she’ll find someone!!!

Anyway, that’s all the news!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And I”m DIRTY!!!

Not like THAT, silly-billies!!!  GRRRR!!!!!

I worked on the car tonight!!!

Dave and I got all the tools out and we started disconnecting stuff and putting stuff to the side and saving bolts and… and doing all sorts of stuff!!!  We didn’t get the engine out, but we got a lot of the way there!!!  It’s at least mostly electrically disconnected!!!

We have this neat tool called an engine hoist that you connect to the engine and it just lifts the engine right out of the car!  Maybe we’ll use it soon!!!

Dave’s been really helpful.  He’d better be.  But he’s an engineer, and he seems to know what he’s doing, so that’s good.  David actually seems to want to help a bit!  So we’re letting him.  He’s not great with a wrench, but I guess that’s how you learn.

Beth is not jealous.

Hahah!!!

Anyway, I’ve got oil and grease and dirt all over me!  I need to shower!  Ewww!!!

Jack seems oddly, ummm… excited about it.

Silly-billy.

Umm… anyway.  That’s what we did today.  Other than that, it was classes.  Beth had a voice lesson tonight, and she also spent some time with her mentor.  She’s starting to learn how much she, well, has to learn..  but she seems to be enjoying the process.  They gave her her own lab coat!  She loves it!  She’d wear it to church if she could!

But Sabby would never allow that, lol.  We don’t have to really dress up most of the time, but jeans and that kind of thing isn’t allowed.

So, anyway, I guess that’s that for tonight.  I need to shower, Marie needs to walk, and I’m tired.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

So… Ummm…  Yeah.  The car is kinda toast.

Looks like the timing belt jumped a couple of teeth and there was some piston-on-valve action.

I think I know what that means, but the mechanic said “You’re better off just swapping out the engine”.

Dave asked what the likelihood of the engine being actually rebuildable was.  The mechanic said pretty high, it had plenty of oil, just probably some bent valves and maybe rods.  The fact that the car got pulled over very quickly when it stopped meant that damage was probably limited.

Dave said “thanks,” and had the car towed back to the house.

Looks like…  I’m rebuilding an engine.

Well, that’s something.

Dave said I’m going to pull the engine out, take it apart, find all the stuff wrong with it, get whatever machining that needs to be done, done… and then put it back together again.

Not gonna lie, that sounds hard.

Like, really hard.

But Dave’s already busy getting all the tools we need, that we don’t already have.  He has the air compressor, but there are a few more specialized tools he’ll need.  Well… I’ll need.

And this is my project too.  Beth isn’t too interested, and besides she has her hands full with classes and spending time with her mentor.

So..  I guess I’ll be telling you how that’ll work out over the next few weeks.

In other news, David”s going to summer camp again in a couple of months.  So is one of his girlfriends.  The other one, well, her parents really kinda don’t want her and David hanging out.  And, well…  given what I learned when Ai visited, can’t blame them.  She’s pretty upset, but she’s ten, I guess she’ll deal.  The other one seems pretty smug.  Guess they learn fast.  Wouldn’t be surprised if it just becomes his one girlfriend.  Which is probably better for everyone, if we’re being honest.  Little player…

And I got the sheet music for the concerto, so I guess it’s time to really really practice.  It’s actually pretty fun to play, though.  Especially the finale.

Busy times for everyone, I guess.

I guess the most important thing is:  I need really short jean shorts!  At least that’s what Jack tells me.  Sigh.  Boy’s incorrigible.  And I love that about him.  But I am NOT working on a car in really short shorts.  That’s just asking for scars on my legs!

Okay!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

So I didn’t post last night!!! Ooops!!!  But there’s a story.  There’s always a story…

So on Saturday we decided to take a trip on the spur of the moment!  We went to San Antonio and went on the citywalk!

But on the way back the car broke down!!!  In New Braunfels!!!

Awww!!!!

So we had to get it towed!!!

But it took a long time for the driver to come, and the tow truck could only take one of us, so Liz had to come down and get us!!!

Awww!!!

Liz didn’t mind, though.  She’s nice that way.  And Sabby promised her cookies.  And we all know Sabby’s fully capable of delivering on that promise.

Dave went in the tow truck and the rest of us went with Liz.

Luckily it broke down near the Buc-ees in New Braunfels so we had lots of snacks and a nice bathroom.

But by the time we actually dropped the car off at the mechanic and got home it was really late!  So we just went to bed.

It’s a good thing we have four cars!!!  Well… three right now.

Dave doesn’t think it’s going to be anything horrible, but it certainly wouldn’t have made it back to Round Rock!!!

So this morning we went to church.  Sabby was a little anxious about what people would say, but I just…  I dunno.  It’s not that I didn’t care, but I kinda didn’t care.  I think I like church now.  It’s not because I like everything they teach and stuff…  I don’t understand it. But the pastor proved last week he puts his money where his mouth is.  And that counts for a lot, right?

His sermon today was “be as little children” and he talked about how children just say what they think and don’t have all of the baggage that adults do.  I think I inspired his sermon.  Which wasn’t helped by how he stared me in the eye and winked when he was giving it.  Hahaha!!!  But I got him!!!  As he was concluding, I stood up and bowed!  Then I sat back down primly, and he laughed!

But I didn’t say anything.  I didn’t want Sabby to get too mad at me.  But she just gave me a bit of a stink-eye and said no more.  I think she knew he deserved that.  After all, he kinda actually asked for it!

Truth is that Jesus guy did have a lot of good things to say.  We could do worse than to listen to him.

Jack’s still grounded but he’s not too upset about it.  We still get to talk a lot and we patched it up.  He knows where I stand and I know where he stands and he knows where the line is.  I made sure he understands:  you get to be immature if you want, just not at church.

I’m looking forward to seeing him again.

But on the bright side, it was a really really nice day, and we went out for chocolate pancakes!!!

Marie loves days like this.  She could go for hours walking around and sniffing stuff.

Okay.  I posted tonight!!! And Golden Week is coming up!  Ai’s looking forward to it!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

I’m spending the night with Liz tonight.  Beth has Crystal over, but I don’t spend enough time with Liz.  It’s been a busy week!  She kinda wants to smack Jack, but he’s getting it bad enough from his mother.  She’s really, really not happy with him.  Cousin-scolding just doesn’t have the same zing to it.

Golden week is coming up!  That’s a week where Japanese people have all sorts of different holidays!  There’s Showa day, Constitution day, Greenery day, and Children’s day.  And of course if you listen to some of those idols, there’s ordinary day and adult day too.  Don’t forget to buy Babymetal DeLoreans!  Hahaha!!!

Long story behind that one, let’s just say Suzuka Nakamoto’s mind is a little odd.

Anyway, other than that, Liz and I are playing board games and watching YouTube.  We found this really weird group called the “Caramella Girls”, they have this song where they swish their hips so hard that it looks like they’ll get spine problems!!!  But it’s a fun song!  They did a couple more too!!  Apparently they were a meme a few years ago…

The Japanese people think it’s about balsamic vinegar!  That’s another long story…

Anyway, Liz and I doing all that, eating chocolate, and, you know, being our normal giggly selves.  Well, I’m being giggly.  Liz usually isn’t all that giggly.  She’s a bit serious sometimes.  But that’s okay!  Liz is Liz, and I’m Lily!!!

Oh!  I forgot to tell you!!!  My piano teacher wants me to do another recital!  But this time she wants me to do a concerto!  With an orchestra!  She wants me to be the soloist at a high school orchestra concert!

That might be fun!  But I’m a little nervous.  At least I have the gown for it!  Hahah!!!

I think I’m going to do the Schumann concerto!  It’s not as hard as some of them, and I think I can learn it!!!

Well, I’d better!

Haha!!!

Okay!  Liz is sleepy and wants to go to bed.  Truthfully, I think I’m like her big breathing teddy bear sometimes.  But I don’t mind!  She’s my little Chinese anime doll, so we’re even!

OW!  She smacked me for that!!!  Hahaha!!!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Well.. they’re not in-laws yet.  But what should I call them?  mother-in-law-in-waiting?  I dunno.  There’s no real name for your boyfriends’ parents, is there?

But they invited me over for dinner.  He might be grounded, but they let me come visit.  They…  didn’t go anywhere, so it was just dinner – we couldn’t spend any time together alone.

That’s alright, I suppose.  Really it is.

He apologized to me.

I’m still not entirely sure he knew what for, but his parents said they’d raised him to be more respectful of both religions and women, and he failed with both with one joke.  I told them that I wouldn’t really have minded if it weren’t for the place.  They understood, but their point stood.  And… they weren’t wrong, really.  I told them about the pastor’s visit and they said that was very nice of him.

They’ve had bad experiences with Christians, but that impressed them.  A little, anyway.

Anyway, they made a nice, light Chinese dish, and it was delicious, as usual.  Lots of vegetables and rice and a light umami sauce.

Grace looked so confused.  We were talking about things that she didn’t understand.  But eventually she just tore into her food, sneaking bites of beef to Lily (the dog), and…  it was nice.

They’re starting to look at houses now that the prices are going down.  His father isn’t sure he can get a loan – that’s really tightened up – but he’s going to try.  That’s good.  They need a house.

Okay!!!  I got home a little late, and it’s late!  So goodnight!  Marie says goodnight too!!!  And cat doesn’t care.  She made that clear.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

Well, the fallout from Easter Sunday is mostly over.  Jack’s still grounded.  He will be for a while.  But we’re still talking over text and in our group chat, so… I guess it’ll be okay.  I told our gorup chat what he did (after warning him, of course).  They all fell over laughing.

It was funny.  I never said otherwise.  In fact, it was so funny I had to leave the sanctuary and whooped it up in the hallway.  Any other time I woulda thought it was the best thing ever.  After everyone stopped typing “HAHAHAHAHAHA” into the group chat, it calked down a bit, but now everyone likes him.  Haha!!!

Anyway, enough about that, I suppose.

Beth’s in a bit of trouble, too.  But not the really bad kind.  Just the “learning experience” kind.  She spent some time with her mentor today over at the lab, and they had her help run an experiment.

She completely messed the experiment up.  It’s a complete loss.  They have to start from scratch.

But they were smart and gave her an experiment that they didn’t have to work too hard to replicate.  She’s still pretty upset, but it’s a learning experience, and Dave just told her you don’t know what not to do until you do it and it fails.  So no one has any sympathy for her, but her mentor isn’t all that upset about it.  When Sabby asked her what she learned from it, she said she learned that she doesn’t know all that much about science, and the importance of experimental protocols.

None of us but Dave know that “experimental protocols” are, but Beth thinks they’re really important now.  She’s probably right.

It was a really nice day today!  Really nice!  Dave grilled tonight!  We pigged out.  It was a good night.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And the honeymoon’s over!

Well… figuratively, anyway.

Jack and I had a long talk tonight.  He’s grounded, but they’re letting him chat with me online, anyway.  They seem to like me, so they don’t want to get in our way too much.  Jack did enough of that himself!

He’s…  not doing too great.

He thought he lost me.

Well, he didn’t.  If he keeps that kind of thing up then we’ll have some problems, but he didn’t.  So I told him that.  I told him that I chose him from the beginning, I’m sticking with him, and if he does that again we’re going to have some problems.

I’m still not entirely sure he knows what he did wrong.  See, he wasn’t raised with church.  He rarely goes to church.  He doesn’t understand church.  And, well, I haven’t always been the best role model, either.  I mean, remember what I did at the beginning, getting caught checking a waifu game, and rocking out to babymetal?  I don’t think he realized that people go there for a reason, and that people like to hear what the pastor has to say.

(sometimes I don’t understand why, but that’s still what church is for).

After a little while I think I finally got through to him a little bit.

But I don’t think he’s going to go to church with me again for a while.

And truthfully…  I’m okay with that.  He’s welcome, but if that’s how it has to be for now, then, well, that’s how it has to be.

I told him it was an immature joke.

He countered that I thought it was funny.

I countered back that I can be immature too, but not in church.

He told me he didn’t think I took it that seriously.

I told him I sometimes didn’t, but they’re like my family in some ways, and they’re how I found Dave and Sabby, and how Crystal got help several times, and how Beth found her mentor, and other things besides.

I wonder if he realized all the stuff they’ve done for me, even though I’m not always the most grateful.

Well, he’d better.

But he hasn’t lost me.

I’m still going to marry that clown someday.  And we’ll have lots of kids, and they’ll do what Jack did and he’ll understand then.

Anyway… I think we’re okay.  he’s still grounded, though.  We’re not going on dates for a few weeks.  Sigh.  I’ll miss him.

Maybe he’ll get some time off for good behavior.

Anyway, gotta run.

BTW speaking of mentor, Beth spent the day with her mentor.  She learned a lot, I hear.  Like how to write grant papers and where the best coffee on campus is.  You know, the important things!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

So…  today was unexpected.

I said very little to Sabby today as well.  She seemed to want to talk but I didn’t.  Was I right to run out of the room laughing like I did?  No, of course not.  It was rude and disrespectful.  I know that.  But it was also not something I could help.  Jack was real instigator.  Sorry, Jack.  But it’s true.  He didn’t have to say that.  It was really funny, obviously it was, but he didn’t have to say that, and honestly, he shouldn’t have.  Or at least he should have waited.

I still love him but he deserved his grounding.

But that’s not the interesting thing that happened today.

The pastor stopped by, around dinnertime.

Sabby seemed a bit flustered – she wasn’t expecting him, and the house is a little bit cluttered.  He didn’t seem to care about all that, though.  He wanted to talk to me and Sabby.

I was a little nervous.  I was afraid he was going to scold me.

He didn’t, though.

He told Sabby he hoped she wasn’t too mad at me.

I was, honestly, surprised.  Sabby seemed a little annoyed, but after all, it’s the pastor…  she at least heard him out.

He said that church is supposed to be our family, not a place where everyone takes everything seriously and can’t have any fun.  He said he wished that I had chosen a slightly different time to get the giggles, but that it gave him a chance to finally tell that priest and rabbi joke, and it was the most exciting Easter he ever had.

Sabby countered that I was very disrespectful and that I embarrassed her a great deal, and that Jack’s comment was completely inappropriate.

The pastor didn’t actually know what Jack said.  So Sabby told him.

He snickered just a bit, and that just annoyed Sabby further.

“I understand, Sabrina”, he said – he always uses her full name for some reason.  “But maybe you could stand to have your pride punctured a bit.”

Sabby looked like she was going to blow up… then deflated.

“Don’t do that again,” she said to me.

“I wasn’t planning on doing it the first time,” I retorted.

“Be yourself”, the pastor said to me.  “If that means I have to come up with a joke on Easter Sunday… well… I guess I’ll manage.  Don’t do it on purpose, though.  Alright?”

I nodded.

“We’re family,” he said.  “Sometimes with family, you take the bad along with the good.”  He patted me on the shoulder and ruffled my hair a little bit.  Then he stood up and took his leave.

After the door closed, Sabby looked at me, an unreadable expression on her face.

“I was a little hard on you.”

“You were.”

“You deserved it.”

“Maybe a little.  Not that much.”

She sighed.  “Maybe not that much.”

She moved over to me and gave me a big hug.

“If Jack does that again you won’t be allowed to see him until you’re thirty.”

“If Jack does that again, that’s a very real possibility.”

“Don’t be too hard on him.  He’s a boy.”

I sighed.  “He is.  But he knows what’s important to me.  He should know better.”

“Boys sometimes do things even though they know better.”

“I guess”, I said, a little dejected.  I hadn’t talked to much to Jack today.  I know he got in big trouble and I didn’t want to make it worse.  Truth is, his parents have been very tolerant of our being together, much moreso than most parents would, and Jack really messed that up.  I don’t know whether I want to pile on, or just let his mother have the final word.  Maybe we should talk about it a little, anyway.

I’m not really angry with him or anything.  But… Sabby was right.  His mother was right too.  That was disrespectful.  I’m not really religious, and I know Jack isn’t either.  But most people in that room were, and…  and we should respect that.

Sabby went back to making dinner, and I… I just kind of sat in my room and thought for a while.  I love Jack.  I still want to marry him someday.  But… but that’s the first time I’d ever seen him actually be immature.  And I don’t really like it.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And Sabby is PISSED.

Partly at me, but.. well, let me tell you the story.

So this morning we got up at stupid-o’clock, showered and got into our nice spring clothes (Beth was super cranky).  Jack came over along with one of his parents (the other stayed with Grace because it was too early for her), and, well, we went to services.

The church is oriented so that the sun comes through a big stained glass window in the morning, so in the middle of the service the building just exploded into light.  It was really pretty, I have to say that.  A lot of people gasped.

The pastor proclaimed “He is risen!”

And Jack whispered in my ear, “Me too”.

I… got a giggle fit.  I couldn’t help it.  I started snickering, then finally got up from the pew, ran out, and burst out laughing as soon as the door closed into the sanctuary.  I just sat there for a whole five minutes giggling.  Then, when I finally got myself together, I walked back in.

The pastor stopped what he was saying, looked at me, and said “I know another good one, Lily…  a priest and a rabbi walked into a bar”, and he proceeded to tell a slightly off-color but admittedly funny joke.

I was beet red. I sat back down in my seat and glared at Jack, who at least had the decency to look ashamed.

I was embarrassed throughout the rest of the service.

After the service, we went outside, and Sabby rounded on me.  “What was that about, Lily?”

“Ummm.. Jack said something funny to me.”

“And what, pray tell, was so funny that you ran out of the sanctuary and started whooping laughing?”

“You heard that?”

“The whole sanctuary did.  Now what was so funny?”

I looked at Jack helplessly.  “Ummm..  the pastor said ‘He is risen'”

Jack spoke up.  Bless him.  “And I whispered ‘me too’ in her ear”.  He turned as red as I was in the sanctuary.

Sabby frowned.  Jack’s mother frowned harder.  “Come here,” she said to Jack, and, well…  I didn’t quite make out what they were saying because Sabby was laying into me, but he was getting it.  Hard.

“At… at least I ran out of the sanctuary,” I said.  “I couldn’t help it.”

She sighed.  “No, Jack started that.  Maybe.. maybe it’s best if you don’t come to church anymore,” she said.  “You just don’t take it seriously.”

I looked at her.  “You wanted me to go.  I didn’t want to go.  I go because of you, and because they’re family in a way.  Now you’re embarrassed of me?”

“Yes, Lily, I am.  You embarrassed me.” She looked over at Jack.  “I think he’ll be lucky if he’s ungrounded before he turns 18.”

He waved at me meekly and got spun around to get told off some more.

And we went home.

‘I haven’t said another word to Sabby all day.  Not one.  I didn’t ask Jack to do that!  I couldn’t help it that it was so funny!  He shouldn’t have, but he did, and now she’s blaming me and telling me I embarrassed her?  Well I embarrassed me too!!!  She’s not being fair!  It’s not like I really want to go to church!  I do it because I respect her!!!

And now she doesn’t respect me.

Jack’s grounded.  We’re not going to see each other for a little while, I guess.  It’s not just because of his joke, it’s… well… because of what he implied.  In church, too!!!

Figures.  It’s all a mess now.

Love you all.  Maybe you still respect me, anyway.

I guess.