So I got that save file working. And bonus.. discovered I have two save files, one from the very beginning of the story, and one way past where I have written. So I am left with three choices….

1. Start completely over. Pretty straight forward, I’d lose the beginning stuff I have (which I love), although I could rewrite it.
2. Start from the day 1 save and play seven days to match the seven days worth I have written up. This would allow me to add new screenshots and continue with the story as I want to without being constrained to how the game went when I played further. Would require re-setting up the world (ghosts, etc.) that I had done in the game file I took further in.
3. Use the Week 4 Day 5 played file in conjunction with the notes I have taken from it way back then. Would require very little set up, just the mods… however, I don’t have as many screenshots as I thought I had of the time that’s been played but not written into the story, and it would make things harder to progress the story as I want to.

I’m leaning heavily towards option two. I already wrote up days 8-10 in a new post, which needs proofing and editing, then would be ready to go. I’d lose all the time I played in the played file, but I think I’m okay with it. It would totally give me the freedom I want with the story, and allow me to stage screenshots better than the ones I have from 2012. I’ve already gone through the posts I have posted on my blog (prologue and three chapters) and edited them so they’re the way I want them.

If your interested, they’re here:

• Prologue: The Roar
• 1. Where is everyone?
• 2. The Will to Survive
• 3. Determination vs. Hopelessness

Expect to see chapter four in the next few days, as I said, it just needs editing.

I’ve spent way too much time on this considering I still have testing to do for Switch Three of the Apartment Switch, which is due out Sunday…. but that’s okay. I’m still having fun! Now, back to my testing …. (if only I can get this story out of my head long enough to play!)

So, one of my oldest stories on here is still technically “on hiatus”… and it has been since 2012. I never got to the point of retiring it, I just stopped writing it. Partially – well, no mostly – because I got so frustrated that I couldn’t make the game do what needed to happen in my story. I still LOVE the story idea, and where I wanted to go with it. I even have two “drafts” of posts sitting here on wordpress, waiting for the words to be written to go with the pictures. I have the rest of the pictures for more posts saved from backup to backup and computer to computer as the years have gone by.

It finally occurred to me tonight that if I had gone to all this trouble to save this story that had a measly three actual chapters posted.. then maybe that should tell me something: this story is important to me. Important enough to save, which means I really ought to honor that by re-examining why I stopped writing it and how I can get back to the story. I started the story, I think, as a game-driven story.. or so I thought.. but then the game didn’t follow what I wanted to happen. Of course, back then I didn’t know what a game driven story was versus a story-driven or scripted. Now I do… and what I see is possibilities. Whether I can do them justice, I don’t know… But if I saved this story for all this time (and I did), I feel I have the duty to at least try.

Where to go from where it is? First of all, it’ll need to be changed to a story-driven simlit. I couldn’t continue because game and story weren’t matching up and I wasn’t (at the time) willing to cheat to get where I needed the game to be. If I change the driving force of it to being the story.. and not the game.. then cheating in game to get the screenshots I need is possible, and even desirable. Which eliminates the main reason I stopped writing the story. Now the only question left is.. do I have the writing talent and/or time to put into it to make this story actually work? That I don’t know. But I feel I have to try.

So.. on that note.. expect to see some strange story posts coming sometime soon.. once I have the time away from testing the Apartment Switch … and I get the save functional again on Sims 3. If I can get the save functional in the next week or two, I will definitely be continuing the story. If not, it’ll have to go in the “retired” file.. but I truly think I can get it back up and working. I found the town it uses and have it installed and working, I just have to get the save back into the game. .. Then all I need is to write!

Can I do it? Who knows. (Why I felt the need to write all this out, I don’t know that either.. but here it is. Site update news indeed.)

Caleb’s Application for a Pen Pal < | >

Sometimes things happen for a reason. Other times, it seems completely random. I hadn’t quite decided what this pen pal project was going to be, but Caleb was so excited about it, he couldn’t even sit still.

Bright and early Monday morning, Caleb painstakingly filled out the questionnaire and folded it carefully into the front of his school planner. I tried to be as excited as he was, but a large part of me still worried. What if this all came to naught? How would Caleb take the let down if something went wrong?

Pasting a smile on my face, I packed Caleb’s and Ryder’s lunches and even remembered to give them to the correct kid before the two of them left for school. Ryder would have been confused by the extra sandwich I always packed for Caleb. That boy sure could eat, and he was ALWAYS hungry… so I made sure I kept lots of leftovers in the fridge, or I’m sure he would have burned the house down before now. I wondered what he was going to do for food once it was his turn to be the hero of the town. I knew he’d manage – just how many meals he would burn before he figured out how to cook was the part I didn’t know. I had tried to sit him down in front of the Cooking Channel, but his immediate thought was “food” .. not “how do I make it?” So that didn’t work out too well. He was just going to have to learn the hard way.

Again, with very little to do, I cleaned stuff that still didn’t need cleaning, and browsed on the web some (since the boys weren’t home to monopolize the computer, and Jared was napping). Finally, I gave up and went out collecting, even though we didn’t need the money. The garden easily supported our bills and then some. I could be comforted knowing I would leave a nice little nest egg for Ryder, even though none could go to Caleb. With the government contract, all he was allowed to start with are himself, his very important mailbox, a small survival kit, and his clothes.

For a while, I let myself think back to my start with just those things.. it had certainly been a rude shock. But then, I didn’t have much to begin with, and just having my own land had been so very inspirational to me. Having something that was mine and mine alone. I turned from my digging up yet another crystal and peered across the street at my house. Without me, that house wouldn’t exist. Without me or Jared, the kids wouldn’t be here. Had I made the right choice for my family? Only time would tell for sure.. but I felt that I’d done the best I could with what I’d been given. Hopefully Caleb would end up saying the same thing when he was my age.

I cut my gathering short as I noticed the school bus coming over around the bend in the road. Caleb and Ryder were, once again and always, the only kids on the bus, being that nobody else actually lived in the town. The next town over is where they went to school, bused each day miles down the road through varying picturesque countrysides. Both Ryder and Caleb bounced off the bus and headed indoors, not noticing that I was across the street. The bus driver waved, and I waved back politely. He drove off with a smile, and I crossed the road to get home.

“How did it go, Caleb?” I asked after pushing through the front door.

“Great! I was one of the only ones to sign up, so I should get matched pretty easily. I just have to wait for my first letter to arrive and then I get to write back as soon as I can. I wouldn’t want my pen pal to have to wait too long!” His sentences practically ran together he was talking so fast.

I smiled, and was about to say something else when he turned abruptly and headed towards the fridge. I knew that meant the conversation was over, at least for now, unless I wanted to try to decode “food in mouth” talk. Minding his manners would probably not occur to him with as excited as he was, so I avoided the issue and went out to start on the garden.

After his snack, Caleb joined me.. and not far behind him was Ryder, although he was more interested in the monkey bars than the plants. I thanked Caleb for helping again, and he smiled back.

“I’d better learn now, right? Before long I’ll be growing my own garden. Although I plan to be growing food, not flowers.” He said, wrinkling his nose at the Chrysanthemums I had made my living growing.

“That certainly makes sense. You do like food.” I smiled in reply, and went on weeding.

I tried not to tune him out, but all he could talk about was his new pen pals. Apparently he had signed up for more than one! He went on and on, wondering everything that could possibly be wondered about his new “friends”. I mumbled replies, and I don’t think he ever noticed that I was still hiding my worry over the whole thing. Hopefully Jared was right, and this was a good thing for Caleb. At the very least, it would get him writing. Simlish had never been his favorite class.

As the day drew to a close, I called Ryder back inside to clean up for dinner, and left Caleb with the last little bit of gardening. Dinner was a lively affair, as usual, with lots of jokes tossed back and forth between the boys. I approved a movie for the two of them, so long as they did their homework right after. Before I knew it, it was bedtime… and then the next day.. and the next.

Waiting had never been Caleb’s strong suit. Every day, he checked his email and the mailbox, never seeming sure where the letters might show up. Every day, his face looked more and more worried. I tried to tell him to be patient, that his pen pals might be very far away, but he still fretted. I guess I couldn’t blame him, but I tried to keep him positive. Secretly, I wondered if the whole thing had just fallen through. The mailbox remained, stubbornly, empty, and I hoped the letters were coming in their own time.. for Caleb’s sake.

.. To be continued..

Caleb’s Application for a Pen Pal < | >

Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch Two Rules
Switch Two Part 1 < | > Switch Three Part 1

More fun with the Ritchie family!

Here’s the toddler cuteness pic I didn’t get to last time. Not sure about the hat and glasses, though, Alex… luckily you’ll probably be spending most of your time in your jammies.

“Honey.. One toddler isn’t enough.. I’m pregnant again!” Kobe tried his hardest to look surprised. It wasn’t very convincing.

Cute toddler spam. I just love when they do this in the bathtub. And cue more spam..

What’s this a cooking pic?

Yup! Nicely done Athena!

Alex being cute again.

Time for Kobe to age up. He’s an adult now.

Cue even more toddler spam.. lol

Somehow I never got a shot of Mason as a baby. He’s the one in the hat in this photo. Alex is in her pj’s so no hat. It’s a cute hat, sure, EA.. but do we have to have two of them in one house?!

The humor and hijinks festival finally shows up in town. I join the jokers, as usual, and they win. The toddlers stayed at home, so the adults had a good mini vacation. Shot off our fireworks at the end of the festival (for some reason, the fireworks stand never opened up so I couldn’t buy them earlier?!) for City Native aspiration, then headed home.

Proof that Mason has his daddy’s hair color.

Time for Alex’s birthday!

Aww.. what a cutie.

The protest I donated money to for the aspiration.

Again for City Native aspiration, have to paint a mural at my new art center (which you totally don’t get to see based on these two photos..)

The finished work.

First aspiration for Alex. Wonder how many she’ll get?

If you look closely, you can almost see another nooboo belly. Yup.. there’s more kids in their future. (I have to keep myself occupied, and it’s not like they don’t have enough room in this apartment.)

Welcome baby Shaun (a boy)!

More toddler cuteness.

Well done Athena! At least that’s done. Now I just have to wait for the Romance Festival to show up. (Unfortunately, we end up having to wait another whole week for it!)

Happy birthday, Athena! She finally follows Kobe into adulthood. In other news, she actually isn’t pregnant in this photo (hence, the birthday.)

Second aspiration for Alex…

And, finally, the Romance fest shows up!

Is that Alex working on her third aspiration?

Yup!

Three kids aren’t an even number. Time for the fourth.

Alex’s birthday.. finally. Three aspirations done just in time!

Oh! How pretty! She looks just like her mom.. and the same hairstyle doesn’t help with that.

Mason gets his first aspiration.

Is that Athena eating Strawberries? Yup, it sure is. We already have two boys and the boy bedroom has no room for another bed. Time for a girl. I just hope this works.

Yikes.. I hope she’s not having twins! She’s HUGE!

Kobe walking through the house?

.. To remind me to post these. Nice masterpiece

.. And the final one he needs.

Don’t worry, Athena.. I know labor stinks, but this is the last kid. I promise.

Welcome to Tamara. Yep, the strawberries worked.

I caught Alex taking care of the baby.. what a good girl.

Kobe’s elder birthday.

And now it’s time for Shaun’s birthday, too.

Shaun.. what even are you wearing on your head…?

Sibling homework time.

Playing games for Shaun’s aspiration.

Look who grew up! Hi, Tamara!

Proof that Shaun’s a cutie under that turban.

A better picture of Tamara. Learning skills with mommy.

Mason gets his second aspiration.

Just in time to grow up.

.. Interesting. Apparently there was too much cake eaten.. lol!

Finally found something I needed to put out on the balcony. This is one of the few times I remembered to use it.

Why am I so excited about this bulletin board in the lobby? Because it means the last thing Athena needs for her City Native aspiration, the Geekcon, is coming next!

Finally a decent picture of Kobe.. while he teaches Tamara some skills.

Practicing for the competition at Geekcon.. programming skill is pretty high now so she shouldn’t have any trouble winning.

See? Goals complete!

Sorry about the walls down.. Still a good picture of Alex, though.

Tada! Way to go Alex!

Why the weird picture looking up the stairs?

Because that last painting she sold got her this aspiration! Yay!

Tamara’s birthday. That means only one day left until Alex’s.

Oh, what a cutie!

Shaun gets his “A” just in the nick of time.

Another walls down picture. Apparently I have the instruments in weird unable to take picture locations.

With nothing else to do, I had Athena finishing out her guitar.

Another weird picture because…

Yay Kobe! I didn’t think he was going to make it.

Kobe sneaking in another painting after getting…

… This. Just barely in time for Alex’s birthday.

And that means that I officially have all the goals complete. I don’t take any pictures of Alex’s skills or traits, because hers will be shown in the Switch Three testing post. Here’s everyone else’s.

Not too bad for a spouse. Look at all those happiness points! (He was also within a few days of death, so I barely avoided Alex having a sad moodlet.)

She was busy!

I had so many points leftover!

Four maxed skills? I think that’s a record for me in skills in sims.. and she’s close to maxing programming too.

Even Mason didn’t do too bad considering I wasn’t really focusing on him.

And Shaun and Tamara. I didn’t show their points because they were pretty negligible.

Final household and their available funds.

Lot worth.. definitely was over the 100k needed. And I’ll finish this post off with two overhead shots of the apartment. I figure you guys have seen most of the apartment through all these pictures, anything more than these two shots are overkill.

Well, we’ll see you in Switch Three!

Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch Two Rules
Switch Two Part 1 < | > Switch Three Part 1

The Question < | > Waiting

Name:

Caleb Traveler

Select your age bracket:

16-18

Profession:

High School Student for now, who knows what upon graduation.

If you selected “other,” please describe:

I will probably be a gardener like my mother, but I have no idea what the government contract will require me to do. I’m destined to build a house for the city of Simsville in an effort to rebuild the town. If I could pick what I would do, it would be something involved in food. I love food!

How many pen pals are you interested in acquiring?

One or two.. with earning money and building a house I will probably not have time for more than that!

What qualities do you seek in a pen pal?

I honestly don’t know how to reply to this. I guess it would have to be someone who can put up with my ramblings about food.

Do you have a desire to meet your pen pal face-to-face?

If it fits in with the travel restrictions placed on me by the city, I certainly would like to meet them. I do have to be careful about where I travel, though, being that I’m under contract by the city.

Please describe, in as much detail as possible, your reason for wanting to join the pen pal project:

I love meeting new people, and I think it would be fun to find someone from someplace else that might know some recipes I don’t know. Knowing that my letters are getting to travel around the world would just be so neat. When I heard about the pen pal project I just got so excited, and I had to join. My friends think I’m silly for wanting to write to someone who I don’t know, but I think that would be part of the fun – getting to know someone new.

Author’s Note: Caleb is a part of a Drifter Challenge, told in story form. He’s going to be “running” the second generation. He’s an outgoing, glutton, gregarious sim with a teenage aspiration of “Party Animal.” I have no way of knowing what trait he’ll roll for his adult trait as I’m enforcing a random trait roll for the challenge. He will be doing a fair bit of traveling, as I plan to have him visit the city festivals in search of new food recipes in the first half of the challenge, and then he has the Outdoor Enthusiast Aspiration to finish in the second half of his challenge (once his heir is child age). Caleb, obviously, doesn’t know this yet.. but I do. Personality wise, he’s very much into food, and loves meeting new people.. so a pen pal who might be able to talk recipe ideas would be ideal.. or at the very least, someone who can at least put up with him talking about food a lot. I will be weaving his letter-writing into his story. As for how many chapters his story will last, that I can’t say.. but I will say I’m very excited to write his story, since he’s such an interesting sim for a drifter challenge – (Come on, a person who loves food in a challenge that starts from basically starvation rations?! .. Perfect.) I do expect to be writing his generation for a while because I have a lot planned for him. The letters will begin to be sent before he actually takes over for his generation, in other words, while he is still a teen and will function as a bit of an interlude as he grows up.

The Question < | > Waiting

The Longest Days < | > Caleb’s Application for a Pen Pal

It feels like it’s been forever since I last wrote. But it hasn’t. Not really.

Yesterday was Ryder’s first day at school. I expected more trouble from him, based on his past attitude about it, but he seemed resigned to the fact that he had to go. He certainly didn’t make a fuss about it, just quietly ate breakfast and gathered his schoolbooks and left to catch the bus. I barely even got to wave goodbye before he was gone, it was that fast.

I puttered around the house all morning, trying to find something to interest me.. but for a change, nothing was broken, nothing needed cleaning.. and the garden was waiting for Caleb’s help when he gets home from school.With nothing better to do, I talked with Jared for a while, then decided to go out collecting, even though we didn’t need the money.

By the time the boys got home from school, I was sweaty and dirty and really just wanted a nap.. but mothering waits for no-one. Ryder had apparently had too much fun on the playground, and came home wanting nothing more than a long soak in the bathtub, and Caleb just wanted to watch a movie. I needed him to work in the garden, but I agreed to let him watch one before he and I went outside.

While Ryder danced with Jared, Caleb and I finally headed outside to care for the unruly garden. Waiting until later to deal with the weeds and the bugs always seemed to make it take more time, but I tried to be okay with it. Despite being bored stiff (apparently the movie hadn’t been very good), Caleb soldiered on, learning to be a gardener in case that was what was in his future. He seemed to be picking up the skill fairly well under my tutelage, and I couldn’t be prouder.

But that was before he dropped a bit of a bombshell.

“Mom?” he asked tentatively while we gardened.

Surprised, I stopped for a moment, then answered, “What..? Should I be worried?”

“No!” He insisted.. but took a rather long pause before saying, “At least, I don’t think so.”

Now I really was worried. “What’s up?”

“Nothing big, really.” he paused again. “Or at least, nothing too big.”

Trying to be patient, I waited for him to continue. It was another two plants of weeding on his part before he felt ready to continue.

“Mom, this lady visited our Simlish class this afternoon. She was talking about this new project that has been set up, trying to get some kids to join.” He looked at me tentatively. “I’d really like to join.”

“Don’t you already have enough on your plate with the government contract?” I asked worriedly. “What kind of “project” is this?”

He took a deep breath, weeded a couple more plants then blurted out, “It’s a pen pal project.”

“A what?” I asked, surprised.

“Well, when you moved in, you said the only thing you had was a mailbox.. so.. I figured that mailbox had to be working, right?” He stopped gardening and looked at me, his face all hopeful.

“Of course it worked. How do you think I sell all the things I collect and harvest?” I replied, confused.

“Then I could use my mailbox to send letters!” He said, smiling. Then his face fell. “But we need parental permission to sign up…”

“Okay. Stop. What exactly are you asking?” I said, trying to wrap my head around his disjointed questions.

“Well, here’s how it works. There’s sims in other towns, other cities, some are kids, some are adults.. some might even be different races or kinds of sims… and they’re interested in writing to other sims. Like me. I would write letters to whichever sim I’m paired with, and they would write back. We would be pen pals. At least, that’s how the lady described it.”

“So you’d just be writing letters, not meeting them? You know we have restrictions placed on our travel with the contract, right?” I replied, still concerned.

“Of course, mom. I’d only meet them if it could be worked out within the restrictions, and not until I’m older. Right now I would just be writing letters to another sim.”

He looked so very hopeful, but tried to play it off. I hated to feel so negative about it, but the fact that it might be another adult sim made me worried. What if they were a bad influence? What if they wanted more than a few letters? I watered a couple of plants, then said, “So you could be writing to an adult or a child? Is there a way to pick one or the other? How do you get matched up?”

“That I’m not sure about. I know they use our profiles to pair us up. I don’t know if I could request another child. But I don’t think it should matter. Why would it? I’m just writing about my life and they write about theirs. Getting to know each other, like. I like meeting new people, and meeting someone from far away would be so exciting. Please say I can sign up? I have to put in my application next week if I’m going to do it.” His sentences almost ran together, he was so excited about it.

“Give me this weekend to think about it, then. And talk to your father about it, too. I’ll let you know Monday before school, okay? Now can we finish gardening, or what?” I laughed as lightly as possible, trying to bring back the companionable silence we had been gardening in before this came up.

His face fell, almost like he knew I was going to say no. “Alright, Mom. Monday, then.”

We went back to gardening, but now there was so much tension between us. I tried to relax, but thoughts and worries about his future and getting mixed up in this pen pal project kept intruding into my thoughts.

All day, it was all I could think about. While Caleb and I watched TV.

While I cooked dinner.

While the boys chatted excitedly about Ryder’s first day at school.

While we sat down to a lively family dinner.

While I read a story to Ryder before bed.

While I helped Caleb with his homework.

I tried to think about other things, but it seemed like it was impossible. Finally, the boys were asleep. I woke up Jared so I could talk to him about it. See what he thought of Caleb’s new idea.

I explained as best I could why I was worried about it.

Jared listened, and I could tell he was trying hard to be properly horrified by the possibility. But he just couldn’t do it.

“I think it’s a good thing, Keira. Let him meet new people. You know he’s always been drawn to strangers, ever since he was just a tot. It doesn’t mean he will be in any danger. Since the program is approved by the school, it must be safe for them. And we’ll be here to monitor things, make sure everything’s okay. We should let him do it.” He said decisively.

And then he went back to bed. Leaving me up, unable to sleep with my worries. My hopefully needless worries.

Eventually, I was able to sleep. It was going to be a long weekend.

The Longest Days < | > Caleb’s Application for a Pen Pal

House 007 Part 1 – Day 2 < | > House 007 Part 1 Day 4

Today’s goals:

House 007 Part One Day 3:
2 PM: The two painting competition winners go on a group outing
5 PM: The person on this outing with the highest relationship is
offered a rose
6 PM: Return home
11 PM: Evict the contestant with the lowest relationship
12 AM: Bedtime

Again, we’re to follow Ariana’s whims.

Taylor sighting!

Thomas and Trent (today’s group outing contestants) are up at 4:30.. why, I couldn’t tell you.. but I foresee they’re going to be tired later!

Cleaning house..

Watching TV…

Eating breakfast…

Finally, all the boys are up and taking care of their needs.

Ariana wakes up and takes a shower and bathroom break. I notice two things. First, Sean has a “drifting love” moodlet, and second – the fridge is completely empty. I have Ariana hire a caterer to fill up the fridge, but there’s very little I can do for Sean. Ariana eats a snack then starts in on following her whims. First thing she wants to do is chat with Vincent and hug someone. Then she rolls “tell a joke” so I figure we can do all those things pretty easily.

Vincent is in a conversation with Jeffrey.. and Ariana rolls a want to kiss Vincent. I don’t think this is going to go well.. but she wants to, so ok. (We nixed a “ask to be boyfriend” want for Vincent before this one popped up.)

Yet another want for a kiss.. and a want to woohoo Vincent shows up. Here goes nothing.. it’s not like this conversation wasn’t really strange already!

We just have time for her last two whims before the outing: get to know Vincent and be friendly with Vincent. A “get to know” interaction solves both.

Time for the outing! I’m going to send them to my nightclub.

Get to know Trent and flirt with Trent show up, so we start out with those.

Next it’s “hug” and “kiss” so we work our way up to a first kiss with him.

A want to Woohoo shows up, but I neglected to put a bush down here, so we’ll skip it for now. Then she wants to dance to the DJ so I have them “dance together”.

I found it funny that most the “people” here are ghosts..

A want to do something romantic comes up and I decide to have her do that with Thomas so he isn’t left out.

Eventually, she’s back to wishing for Trent, so we go get her flirt on with him. Thomas heads to the bathroom.

Then we hit a dry spell on wants.. nothing is do-able. After some more dancing and talking, it’s time for the score.

Checking the relationships, Trent comes out a slight, but clear winner.. so we offer him a rose in an already Awkward conversation.

Rose is accepted, then time is up so I send everyone home.

She still has her want to woohoo with Trent.. so I send her over for a couple of flirts.. and wouldn’t you know it, but now she wants to woohoo in the hot tub. We’ll give it a go! Soon as they finish the hot tub woohoo, Trent gets a drifting love moodlet. Sims logic – go figure.

She also has two “get to know” Vincent whims, so let’s do those. Embrace and make out.

Can do. Another dry spell on wants, so I send her off to talk to someone other than Trent and Vincent!

Time to score again.

Vincent 4 + 4 = 8
Sean 3 + 1 = 4
Trent 3 + 3 = 6
Jeffrey 2 + 1 = 3
Thomas 1 + 2 = 3

With a tie for the lowest, I’m torn about what to do. Both say “Romantic Interest” so that’s no help, either. I base the “leave” vote on the fact that she’s currently socializing with Jeffrey, therefore her relationship with him is higher after the socialization.

So, that leaves Thomas out in the cold. Sorry, Thomas. I have her “just be friends” with him before he leaves. Bye Thomas!

Bonus: Hi Mika!!

House 007 Part 1 – Day 2 < | > House 007 Part 1 Day 4

A Birthday for Caleb < | > The Question

My day did not start out well. I had a defiant toddler and a broken sink. The sink I can fix.. the toddler.. not so much.

Tomorrow is Ryder’s birthday and he doesn’t seem to be interested in growing up and having to go off to school. All he wants to do is dance to the stereo and play with his toys.

I tried interesting him in some flash cards, but he refused and went right back to his dancing. At least he went potty on his own first!

Completely the opposite, Caleb practically skipped out the door for his first day of high school. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone quite so excited to go to school in my life. He made me promise to leave the garden alone until he got home from school, too. Apparently he was serious about wanting to learn to garden so he would be “ready” when it was his turn to move out. I still think he’s going to be in for a little bit of a surprise at how hard it is to start from nothing.. but at the very least, he was excited to do it.

Since I was forbidden the garden during the day, I had to come up with something else to do. The broken sink was high on the list of priorities, so I pulled out the stuff from my “junk drawer”, looking for the right part to stop the leaking. I was in luck, and managed to find a replacement washer for the leaky faucet.

Jared seemed willing to laze around the house, but I knew I had other things to do.. I just wasn’t used to waiting to take care of the garden. Perhaps Jared would watch Ryder while I went to check for salable collectibles in the neighborhood. He agreed, albeit reluctantly, and off I went.

After digging up some fossils and a couple of mysterious capsules, I got out my old fishing pole and checked to make sure it still worked.

I had bought Caleb one just like it, and if he was serious about trying to learn to fish before his “adventure”, I wanted to be ready to spend some time with him down by the creek.

When I finally got home, I was sweaty and smelly.. and I found Jared watching TV. Apparently he had abandoned watching a toddler who felt he should be able to play on his own. He did say he’d given Ryder a bath, though, which was a big help. It would have been nice if he’d cleaned up some of Ryder’s mess before he went for the TV, though.

Curious what Ryder might be up to, I peeked into the boys room and found him playing quietly with toys by the toy box. What a good boy. Despite the defiance, he really just wanted to be left alone to find his own things to do now that he felt he was a “big boy”. I, however, just felt a bit sad that both my boys were growing up so fast.

… Which reminded me. I still needed to bake a cake for Ryder’s family party tomorrow. I thought I’d make it something silly, like one that looked like a hamburger but was a cake instead. Perhaps I’d have time when the boys went to bed tonight.

I took a quick shower to wash off the grime of my collectible hunt, then cleaned up the stuff I found and sent it off to the parties interested in buying those things. Sometimes it amazed me how much money I could make from selling things that I dug up or grew myself.. but I was glad to have a job I could do from home. This allowed me to be as close as possible with my boys as they grew up.

I went to make some grilled cheese for when Caleb got home from school – I swear, that boy is always hungry.

… And wouldn’t you know it, but the stove broke. By the time I got it fixed, I barely had enough time to make the grilled cheese.

Caleb came home complaining about having to run laps in his gym class and not having enough time to shower, so he went right in and plopped himself down into a bath. So much for the grilled cheese! I put it away, knowing he would want some later, and I collected the gardening tools.

When he got out of the shower, he saw what I was working on, and apparently forgot all about food for a change. We hurried out to get the gardening done. Everything needed watering, as usual, and a few plants showed some bug damage, so we sprayed those, as well.

While we worked, he talked non-stop about his day at high school. Which teachers he liked, which ones he was sure he would hate, and which classes he had friends in. He talked about lunch-time the most, detailing the entire meal and who he ate it with.

After we finished gardening, he convinced me to take him for some evening fishing time. I brought out the new pole I got for him, and he was ecstatic. I think his main motivation was trying to catch fish to eat.. and I couldn’t help but laugh when I warned him he wasn’t likely to find dinner out there.

I was surprised, however, at how naturally he seemed to take to fishing. Before long, I caught a lemon that was floating by…

…and he had his first fish. It was a giant Tuna! His first question, of course, was whether I could cook it up for dinner. I agreed, reluctantly, and Caleb decided one fish was enough so we jogged back home.

The day wasn’t over, however, and I was quickly sidetracked by a broken TV that Jared insisted I fix right away. While still working on that, I noticed there was a stinky diaper in the house, and took a break to change it, since nobody else seemed interested.

By the time the diaper and the TV were taken care of, Caleb had already eaten the grilled cheese he’d found in the fridge and had gone to bed.

Ryder wasn’t far behind him, and I rejoiced at finally having a moment to bake Ryder’s cake. After it baked, I set up the candles on it and hid it at the back of the fridge. (Somewhere behind Caleb’s prize tuna…)

I gratefully climbed into bed beside my snoring husband and went to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, I was woken by crying. Apparently Jared had forgotten to feed Ryder before tucking him in bed, and he went directly to his brother to try to get food. Caleb’s response was typical.. to head to the fridge to eat another grilled cheese, so I got up and fed Ryder. I figured since I was already up, I might as well have a snack with them, too. I doubted very seriously either would be getting back to sleep anytime soon. I was in for another long day, it seemed.

After a quick breakfast, I sat down to work on Ryder’s communication skills – something he’ll need when he starts kindergarten in a few days.

Caleb decided to work on his homework since he hadn’t had a chance to last night. I wish he’d told me he had homework to do because I would have nixed the fishing trip! I decided helping Caleb with his homework was more important than teaching Ryder to talk. We finished his homework with just minutes to go before his bus came.

We had decided to have Ryder’s birthday cake after Caleb came home from school, so I had a lot of time to kill. I had also promised to leave the garden for him to work on… so all that was left was for me to work on Ryder’s skills.

The problem was convincing Ryder that now was a good time to work on his skills. Sometimes he can be very recalcitrant when it comes to doing anything with us. He’d much rather spend the time on his own.

Eventually, I put grumpy down for his nap and spent some time cleaning the house. Then, I took a nap myself.

When I woke up, Caleb had just gotten home so we all gathered to sing happy birthday for Ryder. Ryder, of course, was in a hurry to get through the celebration so he could spend some time on his own.

After Ryder finished his cake, Caleb and I headed out to care for the garden. Ryder elected to work on homework for the first day of school tomorrow.

Before long, however, Caleb’s early morning caught up with him and he went to take a nap. I finished caring for the garden, then headed in to see what everyone else was up to and take a shower. Working in the garden is dirty stuff!

After letting Caleb sleep for a while, I woke him up so he wouldn’t get too far off schedule. He did have school the next day, after all. He managed to get in a shower and a movie before bed. I spent the next hour or so dismantling and getting the toddler stuff in the house ready for sale as well as putting together Ryder’s “big boy” bed.

By the time I had it put together, Ryder was ready to head to bed.. as was I. My nap had only gone so far.

I drifted off to sleep with concerns about Ryder’s first day of school – he still was insisting he didn’t want to go. Caleb had even talked to him about how exciting school was.. but Ryder was having none of it. I only hoped school itself would change his mind!

Author’s note: Ryder rolled “good” for his child trait. Hopefully it helps!

A Birthday for Caleb < | > The Question

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And we’re back to the Nash household.

Helping out with homework for the guaranteed focused moodlet for Sarah’s Whiz kid aspiration.

Poor Iris. When I loaded up the game, I forgot it was her birthday so she spun into adult age all by herself later that night. Now she’s sad!

Sarah came home with an “A”, but no silly clothes. Is it sad to say I missed them?

But getting that “A” finished her Whiz Kid aspiration. I get her started on the Rambunctious Scamp one next.

The new toddler in the household. Meet Erika. Such a cutie.

Good job, Matt! Unfortunately, because I married him as an adult, he’s also reaching the end of his life.

More cute toddler pics. I just can’t resist them!

Sarah at the park working on her Rambunctious Scamp aspiration. She met a new little friend, too!

Yeah, I knew this one was coming..

Which is why I took this a day or two early. He had a good life after he became “my” sim. The entire family mourns him.

Apparently Grim likes Sims, too. (Side note: Those of you who read my drifters will note that this particular Grim is still skinny!)

Great picture of playtime with mom. Such a cute pose.

“Daddy?” I thought it was cute that he was watching over her while she played on her tablet.

Aww.. no more toddler!

.. But she aged up pretty! Way to go Erika!

Working on Erika’s Whiz Kid aspiration.

While Sarah works on her THIRD aspiration, the Rambunctious Scamp.

Got it!

A cute shot of the sisters.

And then.. it’s teenager time!

Aww.. Sarah grew up pretty! (If only you knew the things in store for you, young lady..)

Iris needs only to mentor someone for three hours to get her aspiration complete. Since she’s level 10 in guitar, and can mentor Sarah now that she’s a teen, we go for it.

Grats Iris! One more aspiration down for her.

The girls having breakfast before school one day.

Later that night, all three are finally at the table together. It happens so rarely I just had to take a picture of it.

Look who’s visiting again!

Ghost woohoo? I could have moved him back in.. but decided not to. Iris seemed happy to see him again, though, since she hadn’t seen him on his previous visits.

Iris painting.. as usual.

But that masterpiece you see at the right of the above photo gives her another aspiration complete.

Took a picture in case she sets herself on fire. She doesn’t. (This time.)

Now the sisters are best friends, too.

And Erika got her Whiz Kid complete.. with plenty of time left over to work on the next one. (I believe she does finish it, but I think I forget to take a picture.)

Why the stressed-out face, I don’t know.. but she’s writing music to work on her musician aspiration. I decided to let her go for the aspiration finish, because I didn’t have anything else planned for her at the moment, it gave me something to do.

Plus.. she finished her guitar skill.

And yes, this fire is completely Sarah’s fault. I was trying to have her raise her baking skill, but it didn’t work out so well. I decide enough is enough and ban her from the kitchen for the day.

I switched over to this because I was curious how much she had made through painting. Turns out it finished right away, so she’s made quite a lot!

Time for Erika to grow up!

Aww.. another cutie. I hope I get to see her around town in the next Switch.

And.. because Erika is now a teen and can play guitar, and Sarah needs 3 hours of mentoring.. I get them to work. Three hours later, and Erika stops playing guitar, happier that she can go work on her Joker aspiration. (Obviously, she won’t get it, there’s only one day left, but we can start on it.)

First ever time I’ve finished an adult aspiration on a teen. Nice job, Sarah.. and with one day to spare, too. (Haha)

Turns out, Iris shares a birthday with Sarah this time around, so I let her age up first. She doesn’t seem pleased to be an elder, does she?

And.. the last thing I have her do (other than a quick outfit change for this last photo).

Challenge complete! Heir is now a young adult, which means it’s time to pause the game and finish everything up.

Proof I got the 100k value I needed.. and a really fast overhead “tour” of the house I spent most of the Switch in.

That little red room off to the right of the master bedroom I designed as a walk-in closet using clutter items, but it was a real pain to take a photo in, so you’ll just have to believe me that it looks pretty cool.

Iris’ Finish “time” .. and a look at all of her traits.

Look how many points she still had to spend!!

And.. finally.. the funds available at the end of the challenge. They certainly weren’t hurting for money!

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And we’re back with the Nash’s. I left you with the cutest shot of Sarah as a toddler.

Same toddler, different angle. LOL. The last shot of them doing family things in this apartment. That’s right.. it’s time to move.. so apartment pic spam…

Pretty good, if I do say so myself. I saved up a whopping 23k and had 27k to spend. It didn’t go very far.

The only real furnishings include one full bathroom, a kitchen, a bed.. and the kids’ rooms. I have a long way to go, huh?

Iris’ two brothers still live next door. (I eventually regret leaving them there…. you’ll see why later.) At this point, I’m still excited to see them.

First bedtime story in the new apartment. She looks worried about her great big new room.

The next morning.. we’re back to learning.

Why does the maid that shows up for free always scare me the first time in this apartment…. I forget about him.

Some in progress pics for the downstairs:

And lunch time with mama! Who needs high chairs?!

Adorable bath time!

Then, for her aspiration, she had to go to the romance festival and be kissed. Figured while we were there, we could renew their vows.

Just for laughs, we asked the Love Guru about their relationship…

So what does she say??

…She’s clearly confused.

The protest that she manages to donate money to someone at. Took me forever to find one. I finally had her join the Politics career, start one herself, invite people to join, then quit protesting and pay one of them. It worked.. but it certainly wasn’t the most elegant way to go about it. I had her quit the job right after this. She has enough to do without having a career! If I’d just been paying more attention to the main square below the apartment I probably would have found a protest to donate to without jumping through all the hoops. But I’m glad to know that there’s another way to get it!

Now.. here I miss taking shots.. but we spent several days power leveling her programming skill because the next tier of her aspiration wanted her to win at Geekcon. Then, we went to the Geekcon…

Not bad for spending most the day there! Part one of that last tier aspiration done. (At this point, I’m still reeling from finding out that you have to have a 100k apartment for the last bit of the aspiration. I was expecting to do about a 50-60k apartment and call that the goal for this last apartment. No such luck…. I take some time and think about it.. and with adding a strong warning about being sure you’re making money with this Switch, I elect to keep the goals in the same order.)

Crazy sounds from next door… hearts flying.. in the middle of the night, so I do what any sane person would.. I go to ask her brothers to quiet down. Owen comes out wearing this. I completely lose it laughing.. it was so completely unexpected!

Matt blowing out his candles.

Seems like he’s okay with aging up.

Little bit had to come down and get herself breakfast in the middle of the night. Poor thing was next door to starving.

Ok.. so Iris has a cake…

To remind me about this! First level 10 skill for Iris!

And the cake, obviously, is for the toddler.

Wow, isn’t she pretty?

Family skilling time. They’re all working on inspiring things, of course.. so all the aura objects are out on this lovely balcony.

Yep.. I got bored. Figured another baby girl would be just about perfect for this family. (Providing, of course, that they have a girl..)

Matt doesn’t seem too thrilled about the idea, though.

Funny pic of Iris playing her guitar..

Because .. yay!

Maybe you shouldn’t be throwing knives around while pregnant there, genius.

A decent shot of the family actually eating together.. in their completed dining room.

More noise from the neighbors. It’s about this time I really start regretting leaving them there, because there’s noise coming from their apartment practically every night.

Sorry to tank her relationship with Griffin, but.. seriously, guys, there’s a kid trying to sleep!

I haven’t seen this picture before. I like it. But it’s not worth enough to keep. *sad face*

Yet another shot of the silly guitar..

.. Because.

And with that.. she finishes City Native! Wow, that was a hard one! One goal complete. Technically, two. Because the apartment is now worth over 100k for that goal, too.

Sarah really needed someone to talk to, and the mail lady happened to be there. Through the course of the conversation I find out..

… I thought it was hilarious. Poor mail woman.

Later that day, Sarah finally finishes her first child aspiration. On to Whiz Kid.. though she doesn’t really need it. It’s just something to do at this point.

Geez, Matt.. you think you’d be better at this the second time around. I decide not to follow them to the hospital.. and Erika is born. Yay!! It IS a girl!

And her daddy loves her, no matter how grumpy he looked about Iris getting pregnant again.

Okay.. that’s more than enough shots for one post. I’ll get the rest of Sarah’s childhood and teen years in Part 3.

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