I'm really familiar with CSS by now and, after examining Olga's short CSS code she gave me, I still can't figure out how she did it! I found it extremely impressive and was slightly confused by it, actually.
If anyone can explain it how this code turns
the_date() from "December" into "Dec" with just this CSS, please tell me!

It's a mystery I'd love to solve!
.post-meta {
width: 45px !important;
background: #000;
color: #fff !important;
text-align: center;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
}
.post-meta .published {
line-height: 0.2em;
}
.et_pb_post {
position: relative;
}
Also, when it turned out I needed to tweak the design a bit more, she came through again and found a well-documented post about how to do what I needed.
Thanks, Olga!