Series: 19 - January 2023

Hi! It’s me! Marie!!!

Lily’s typing for me because I can’t talk!!!

I’m so happy!  I have such a good life!!!  In the morning Lily takes me out of my little box, and then puts me on that long stretchy thing and takes me out to walk!  I love walking, especially in the morning!  There are so many things to sniff and smell!!!  I smell other dogs, squirrels, even rats!!!  And then I find a good place to do my thing and I do it!  It’s fun!  I always feel better after and want to zoom around!!!

And then after I come home, Lily puts on her stretchy things and goes out to run!!! She likes to run too!!! I wish I could run with her but I can’t keep up!  So instead I eat the delicious crunchy stuff they put out for me!  It tastes like meat!!!

One of Lily’s pack-mates came over from a different den.  She’s nice, I like her.  She smells like meat-but-not-meat.  Lily let me sleep next to her and she liked it when I slept next to her.  She would scratch my tummy and do all the nice things.  I miss her.  Lily tells me she lives very far away and may not be back for a long time.  It’s okay, I’ll wait.  I’ll jump on her and lick her face and make sure she knows I missed her!!!

My family is nice to me.  Beth likes to give me scratches, and David will take me out and play a game with that funny-tasting round thing.  Sometimes he’ll run around with me and wrestle!  It’s fun!!!

Sometimes I smell man-dogs.  It makes me feel funny.  Lily says we need to take care of that.  I wonder what she means.  She says she made an appoint with the vet.  I wonder who the vet is?  Sounds like a fun time!!!

Oh!  More food!!!  Does the fun ever end???

Woof woof woof!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Dave’s birthday is in two days!!!

And…  I have some ideas, but I’m not entirely sure what to get him.  It’s hard to decide with him!!! I even asked Jack for ideas and he said he really doesn’t know.  I guess I could get him a tie.. but I’ve gotten him all the cool stuff he doesn’t have that I can think of!

Oh! I have an idea!!! I should go to Amazon and see if my idea is there!!!

Dave’s kind of a nerdy guy, really.  I mean, he’s not nerdy, but he’s nerdy.  He’s an engineer, and while he watches some sports, he always seems happier when solving a problem or doing something useful.  I think that’s why teaching me how to do mechanical and electronic things is so important to him.  He wants me to know how to do useful stuff, too.

But I don’t know how to do all useful stuff.  I don’t know how to sew, for example, and maybe I should learn.  It would be useful, right?

Both Sabby and Dave have always said that it’s important for me to always be doing something useful.  But then they say that taking care of myself is useful too, so if I start getting overwhelmed or burnt out they don’t complain too hard.  That’s nice of them!!!  That’s why I want to get Dave a nice birthday present, and not a tie.

But before Saturday, comes Friday!  Yaaaay!!!!  School starts next week.  I’ll be taking more advanced courses, and some different ones too.  I took basic accounting, and mathematics, and some other courses last semester…  Oh, Beth and I registered yesterday!  But you didn’t know that because Marie took over!  Hahahaa!!!!

Marie has a lot to say, but she’s a dog, so it just ends up being about sniffing things.

okay!  Goodnight!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And I love SHOPPING!!!

But I don’t get to do it often.

But Tomorrow is Dave’s birthday, and Beth and David wanted to get him something.  Dave was busy working and Sabby was at the shop baking, so it was up to me!!!  So I grabbed them both and we went to the mall!!!

I already bought Dave’s gift through Amazon, so I just went for their sake – and to get some CHOCOLATE!!!

Because there is a CHOCOLATE STORE at Lakeline Mall!!!

So anyway, we went, and David picked up his gift, and Beth picked up hers, and I picked up quite a bit of chocolate.  I bought David and Beth some candy too, of course.  Then we went to the food court and had lunch!!!!

Okay okay, it’s not good for us, but…  mall food court!!!

But there was a bit of drama.  Some busybody Karen came up to me and asked why the kids weren’t in school.

I told them we’re homeschooled, that Beth and I are going to ACC and the classes haven’t started yet, and that it’s really not her business and can she please mind hers?

She… was not happy with that.  And she called the police!!!  But I didn’t know it at the time until a couple of Cedar Park’s finest showed up.  We were just happily eating when she pointed at us – “them!  It’s them!  They’re not in school!”

So of course the cops asked us why we weren’t in school.

We told them what we told her.

They said they didn’t believe us.

I told them I could get our mother on the phone.

So I called her.

Put Sabby on speaker.

And stood back.

It went something like this.

“Cedar Park police.  Ma’am, we have three kids at the mall who say they’re not at school because they’re homeschooled, and attending ACC.  Is this true?”

You could hear Sabby’s eyes roll through the phone.  “Yes, it’s true, yes, I’m their mother, yes, they’re being home-schooled, yes, the two oldest are attending classes at ACC which haven’t started yet, and yes, they have my permission to be at the mall.  It’s their father’s birthday tomorrow and she took them to buy gifts.”

“Ma’am, two of these kids are half-black and one is asian.  You’re telling me they’re your children?”

You coould almost hear Sabby’s temper flare.  “You’re at the Lakeline Mall? I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”  And the phone went dead.

I looked at the police, and didn’t say a word.  And we waited.  The police told the karen to wait too because she started this whole mess.  She just looked at us smugly, like “You’re going to get it now”.  We just finished our food.  After all, why should it go to waste?

Twenty minutes later, Sabby stormed into the mall and made a beeline right for us.  The police took one look at her and gulped.

“Ma’am”, one started.

“Don’t you ma’am me!,” she said, her voice dripping with venom.  “I understand that you were just doing your job when you had to investigate children who weren’t attending school.  I assume this lady -” she pointed at the karen and the word “lady” was said with some sarcasm – “called you?”

They nodded.  The karen was starting to turn red.

“Like I said, I understand that you were doing your job.  Right up until you implied that they weren’t my children because they aren’t the same race.  Lily here, the ‘asian’, as you put it, is adopted.  Legally.  She’s my daughter.  Do you want to see their ID?  Maybe take some DNA?  How about running me through your computer to see if I have any warrants?  After all, I’m black.  Right?”

Oh, the police were getting uncomfortable now.

And then Sabby rounded on the karen.  “And you.  You saw three children at the mall – that weren’t yours and you had nothing to do with, and you decided to make it your business that they were at the mall instead of where you thought they should be, making me take time off from my business to come here and straighten out the mess you caused?”

“But – but”

“Don’t ‘but’ me, karen.”

The cops actually smirked at this one.  Karen started to sputter.  “how dare -“

“How dare you?  Mind your business.”  She turned to the cops.  “Are you finished here?  Or do you need to do that DNA test?”

“Can I see some ID?,” one asked, a little shakily.  “and do any of your children have ID?  I still have to check.?

I pulled out my license and showed it to them.  Sabby did the same.

“See?  Our last names match.  I ask again – are you done?”

One cop looked like she wanted to press the issue, but the other gave him a meaningful look.  They looked at the karen.  “Ma’am. I’m sure your heart was in the right place, but this lady has a point.  It really wasn’t your business and you just wasted everyone’s time.  Move along.”

“But -“

“MOVE ALONG”, the cop said.  She waddled off, muttering to herself.  “Sorry to bother you, ma’am, kids.  But please do keep in mind that..  situations like this can happen when your kids are unsupervised during school hours.”

Sabby just glared.  “Are. We. Done. Here.”

“Have a good day, ma’am”.  And they left.

Sabby sighed.  “Are you done with your trip?”

“Yes, we were just finishing lunch.”

“Alright, come home then.  I’ll be going back to the shop.”

And she left.  And so did we.

For the life of me, I’ll never understand karens.

Anyway, the rest of the day was uneventful.  Dave’s gift arrived from Amazon (yay!) and we had a nice dinner.  I’m over at Liz’s tonight, we’re just chatting and eating some of the chocolate I bought from the store at the mall.

Tomorrow’s Dave’s birthday!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And it’s Dave’s birthday!!!

It was fun!!!

Dave isn’t really one for parties, so we just gave him his presents and then asked him what his favorite thing was, so we could do it.

I got him one of those lego Saturn V rocket kits!  He loved it!!!  Beth got him a set of cologne (thankfully not the same scent I got Jack), and David got him a gift card to Home Depot.  He liked all the gifts.  Marie got him a mug that said “#1 Pet Dad” (I had to buy it for her of course), Cat got him a catnip mouse (that’s Cat, haha) and Sabby said she’d give him his present later.

I wonder what it could be.  Hahaha!!!

Anyway, after all that, Dave said he was right where he wanted to be, with his family.  Awww.  We asked him if there was anything he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to grill and watch football.  So he grilled, we ate, and he watched football.

Dave’s pretty easy to please, actually.  He can put his foot down but he really prefers not to.  Sabby, on the other hand… hahaha!!!

Of course Sabby had the baker make him a cake too, and she did a really good job of it.  She’s a real pro. She was on the clock for it, and we paid for it like anyone else, so it all worked out.

Dave’s busy putting his kit together, lol!

Okay.  Time for bed.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And school starts tomorrow!

So Beth and I went to the bookstore and got our textbooks!!!

College textbooks are HEAVY!!!

We ran into that boy that Beth likes there.  She invited him over for dinner this weekend.  He accepted.  Sabby and I and Beth had already discussed this and Sabby said it was fine as long as it was clear it wasn’t a date – she’s not allowed to date until she’s sixteen.  But she can have someone she likes over!

He seems nice.  But you never know.

So after we did all that, we got lunch.  Beth and I haven’t talked a lot lately, so we chatted about stuff and things.  She doesn’t have a whole lot going on in her life, but she seems okay.  She’s a bit happier than she was.  Remember her friends, the ones that Sabby told to take a hike?  Well, they’re… kind of not on a good path.  She’s happy to be rid of them.  Crystal and Diana are good friends – even though she’s still a tiny bit peeved at Crystal.  Aww.  Guess I can’t really blame her.  I guess it’s a sign of how much Crystal means to her as a friend.

Crystal’s a… bit of a wild child, if we’re being honest.  Not like Beth’s old friends – they were just awful people.  But in a a kind of metal or goth-ish kind of way.  I guess those kinds of experiences will do that to you.  She’s doing alright, though.  Every time I come over, I ask how she is.  She says fine.  I tell her she’d better not be lying to me.  She promises she isn’t.  Then she gives me a hug and tells me thanks for caring about her.

Warms my widdle heart.

Diana’s… not.  She’s a good girl.  Makes a mean taco and is teaching Beth a bit of practical Spanish – which is always good.  I learned a little in school.  It’s useful here.  Her mother is kind of traditional, even though her father isn’t in the picture.

Allison’s a good kid too, but she’s more a friend of the family.  Everyone loves her but none of us can “claim” her, if that makes sense.  I think she gets along best with David, but that’s after she put David in his place.  Remember how she took care of him when he pulled her hair?

He deserved that.

But they’re friends now.  Lego fixes everything.

But anyway, Beth is doing better now.  Maybe she’s growing up a bit.

We got home and had a quiet dinner, eating leftover Dave grilling and leftover Dave cake.  It’s a chocolate cake, and well, it didn’t survive me tonight.  Hahahaha!!!  We sure found a winner with the baker.  She’s really, really good.  Sabby’s good.  The baker is a whole other level.  And she’s pretty easy to get along with – we just tell her what we want, pay her well, and she does it.  What more could you want?

Oh!  I should talk about Katie but this is already too long.  She’s fine.  Some other time!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

And school started again today!!!

It was fun, I guess.  It was school.

But hey, education!

So now Jack’s going to school, and I’m going to school, and Beth’s going to school… everyone’s going to school!!!

Oh I forgot to mention that yesterday was Martin Luther King day!!!

Well, truth be told, I don’t know a lot about Martin Luther King.  Sabby explained it a little bit, like she did last year.  She explained that back then there were a lot of people who wanted black people to be separate from white people, and he didn’t like that, so… he fixed it!  And they killed him for it.  Aww.

Sabby says he’d be so angry at the way people are trying to separate themselves again.  Maybe she’s right.

He said something like, “I have a dream that one day my four children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.”  Me too!  I mean, I’m half asian.  Remember on Friday how that lady tried to say I wasn’t Sabby’s daughter because I’m asian and she’s not?  How rude!  But I think I have an okay character!  Sabby says I’m a little gullible, but I’m nice!!! And Sabby’s nice too!!!  And so is Dave!!!  And Beth and… well, David too, okay.  All of us are nice!  And I’m half-Japanese, and Sabby’s black, and Dave’s white, and Beth and David are half-black half-white… oh, and Liz and Jack and Grace and their families are Chinese too!!!  (Bet you forgot that!) And Emiko is Japanese and Bill is white and Maria and Diana are hispanic…  we’re all sorts of different colors and cultures… and we still all love each other!

Isn’t that what Martin Luther King wanted for all of us?

Hmm, about the only thing we’re missing is middle east!  But Sabby says Jesus is middle eastern, so we got that covered too!  Hahaha!!!

Marie represents dog, and Cat represents cat…  we’ve got species too!!!  Hahaha!!!

Oh and on twitter… there’s lots of Japanese people who post pictures of hamsters!  Hamsters sleeping!  Hamsters eating!! Hamsters on their wheel!  Hamsters looking pensive (well, as pensive as hamsters can be).  Hammies all over the place!!!

It’s cute!

So we’ve got hamsters that aren’t judged by the color of their fur, but the content of their… ummm… character.  What kind of character do hamsters have anyway?  Aww.  Now I want a hamster.  Hahaha!!!

Okay!  Good night to my extremely diverse and yet very peaceful and happy readers!!!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

And, well, it’s more school, I guess.

A boringly boring day!!!

But I guess boringly boring is good in its own way.

Beth asked Sabby if she can start learning how to drive, and, well, I guess Sabby couldn’t say no, right?  After all, she let me.  She can’t get a real license until sixteen, but she can start the process.  But I have a provisional license, so I can’t teach her.

Which is probably for the best.  Let them deal with that!  Haha!!!

But I guess she’ll get signed up soon.

I asked Sabby if they were going to get her a car like they got me a car, and she sighed.  I guess she hadn’t thought about that, but she kind of has to if she’s going to be fair.  So we’ll see what they come up with.  I think they’re going to wait a bit because prices are cratering now.  I guess that’s fair too.  So… we’ll see what happens.  I’m not sure I want to drive with Beth, but they don’t want to drive with me, so…  I guess we just have to deal.  All of us!  Hahaah!!!!

Sabby kind of wanted me to share but I told her I didn’t want to.  Not because I don’t like Beth, and not even because I don’t trust Beth, but because I need my car and if it’s going to crash I want to be the one to crash it.  Sabby seemed to understand.

Katie was over for dinner tonight.  She’s a little sad.  I asked her why she gets sad around children.  She said because she’s going to have one, and the child won’t have a father, and it makes her sad.

AWWWW.

But I guess I understand that.  I’m sure she’ll find someone!!!  Maybe I’ll put her name out at church!  Hahaha!!!!  Ummm…  no.  I won’t do that.  But she needs a good guy who will help raise her child and not leave her and be a good dad.  But Dave can be a grandpa!!! I said that at the table and Dave almost spat his food out.

Hahaaha!!!!

I hope he doesn’t do something stupid with cayenne pepper again.

But I think he’d be a good grandpa.  I could see him putting the baby on his knee and telling it stories and putting it on his shoulders… that’d be cute.

But it’s Katie’s baby, so we’ll see.

I think Katie will be a good mom.

She just needs some help.

I guess we all do in one way or another.

Okay, bedtime!  Marie’s whining!

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!

I’m a little sick today.

Nothing really bad, just a sniffle and feeling blah.

So I didn’t do much today.  I laid in bed and just kind of vegged out.  Sabby told me sometimes you just need to take some time and veg out, so I did today.  I’m still not feeling great but I’m alright, I guess.

Jack came over with a huge cup of hot chocolate and a huuuuuge chocolate bar.

I love that boy.

He always knows just what to do.

And “just what to do” usually involves chocolate.  And when it doesn’t… well, it usually involves chocolate, anyway.

Anyway, he stuck around and we listened to some funny stories on YouTube.  Involving – you guessed it – Karens.  I swear they go to a school or something for advanced karening, it’s always the same thing.  “Help me find this.” “I don’t work here.” “yes you do. Now help me find this.” “No, I don’t work here.” “stop lying to me! you’re wearing the uniform!” “No I’m not!” “I want to speak to your manager!” “Buzz off!” and then usually she starts slapping or hitting, the police get called, she starts lying up a storm, there are cameras, and she gets carted off.

It’s always the same story.  I don’t get it.

Maybe the people telling the stories are making it up.

But I’ve run into a few karens.  I don’t think they are.

I dozed off a bit and he just rubbed my back and it was soooooo nice and soothing.  Of course, the door stayed open.

Anyway, at dinner, Beth brought her boy friend (not boyfriend) over.  He seems nice enough.  Packs away the food, but seems to be well mannered and seems to respect Beth.  He’s pretty smart too – smarter than me – so they have that in common, at least.  She put on some light makeup.  Sabby didn’t really approve, but, well, she is growing up.

Katie came over too, and she gave him the third degree.  Said something about “I’m pregnant because a boy couldn’t be responsible and that won’t be happening to Beth.”  He just looked embarrassed, and Sabby said “Katie, they’re not dating yet.”  She turned red and didn’t say anything else.

I guess I can see where she’s coming from, though.  It must be a tough position to be in.

Dave did give him kind of a short version of the kind of third degree that he gave Jack.  They’re not dating yet but he said something like “She seems to like you and it’s in the contract.”

Then he said that even if they’re not dating, he can still hurt her, and he’d better not.

Anyway, I went back up to my room after dinner and Sabby brought up a root beer float.  Awwww.  Tasted good, too.  No chocolate, but Jack took care of that earlier.  haha!!!

Okay, I’m going to sleep, maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow.

Love you all!!! ❤

Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!

Sunday is Chinese New Year!!!

And, well, I’m half-Japanese.

We had a PARTY!!!!

Emiko and family came, and Liz and family, and of course me.  We’re trading red cards and having Chinese and Japanese food, and playing Chinese and Japanese music (I get to play some J-Pop and J-Metal too, as well as traditional stuff) and treats too!  We’ve got mochi and daifuku and onigiri and pocky too!!!  And the Chinese folks brought their snacks – I don’t know what they’re called but they’re delicious!!!  Some kind of meat dumplings, and potstickers, and fried wontons (those are so delicious!).

And we’ve got Ramune and milk tea and boba and Japanese drinks too!!!

Beth and David are pigging out!!!

They’re not usually too keen on the Asian stuff – I mean they don’t mind but they don’t go out of their way for it – but they’re having a great time!!!

The Chinese folks are trying the Japanese stuff, and the Japanese folks are trying the Chinese stuff, it’s a real melting pot tonight!!!

We’re all wearing our traditional outfits (Jack is hot in his).  I mean, Dave and Sabby aren’t but they’re gaikokujin in this celebration.  But they’re welcome, of course!!!

Grace is wearing a small version of a traditional Chinese outfit, and she’s just the cutest.  But she always is.

It was lots of fun!  We ate and drank (Dave seem to like sake) and, well, talked about rabbits I guess.  Haha!!!  Grace kind of conked out on the couch but we put a blanket over her.  She’s so cute when she’s sleepy!

Oh, I didn’t say – Jack slipped something into my red envelope!!!  It was.. a promise ring!  AWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!  He told me he can’t propose yet but he wants to someday, and maybe on Chinese New Year.  I told him that I’d look forward to that day, and he doesn’t have to get a really expensive ring, just one from the heart.  He gave me a hug and kiss, and I returned it.  Everyone hooted and hollered and they finally broke us up after a minute, but I’m so happy!!!  It even fits!!!

Okay.  Gotta go now.  I’m tired, that was exhausting!

Oh… I didn’t write last night.  We were playing a family game and by the time it ended it was late, so I just went to bed.  It happens sometimes!!!

Love you all!!! ❤