Round 7 Part 3: Riedmayer Cove (2053 - 2057)

Jill Smith is 60 years old, Johnson Simpson is 57 years old, Agatha Riedmayer is 33 years old, and Andrew Riedmayer is 2 years old.

"Golden years"
narrated by Johnson Simpson

I never thought, thirty-some years ago, that this is where I'd end up, but life is pretty good. My "grandson," Andrew, turned five a while back.












Agatha is really good with him. Helps him with his homework and stuff, so he can get the best start in life possible.












We managed to get him into private school as well. Jill talked to the headmaster over coffee while I cooked dinner.











Then Agatha spent some time schmoozing him over drinks. I think she got a little tipsy, but apparently it worked since Andrew was accepted.












Now that he's in school all day, things are pretty quiet around here. Jill and I are both still working, though she's got enough time off to take up a pottery-making hobby.











I think she's continuing other hobbies as well, based on the little--and not-so-little--gifts that end up on our front porch. Either that, or Agatha is following in her mother's footsteps. As long as it's not affecting Andrew, I figure it's none of my business.

Administrative notes

1. I've started making profiles for my Sims so I don't have to put their aspirations etc. at the beginning of each post. You can see the ones I've made in the archives for 2001. (Obviously I did not actually write them in 2001.)

2. I also published the family tree online. My one or two regular readers will have to tell me if they can actually view it; I might have to set all the Sims to "dead" so the tree doesn't try to protect their fictional personal information.

3. I won't be doing the "house end of week" pictures anymore. It was fun the first few weeks when everyone was climbing out of poverty, but then I kept it up well past that point. So now I'll just do pictures of new houses or major renovations. If I feel like it.

Now I should go get stuff done IRL so I can work on an actual story post later. (Riedmayer Cove is about 75% done.)

Round 7 Part 2: Dejackome Place (2053-2057)

Melanie Tse: 57 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Max All Skills. (Fulfilled: Become Game Designer.) Astrological sign: Virgo.
Gavin Dejackome: 35 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Become Criminal Mastermind. Astrological sign: Cancer.
Annie (Riedmayer) Dejackome: 32 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. LTW: Become Captain Hero. Astrological sign: Aquarius.
Rivka Dejackome: 3 years old. Astrological sign: Scorpio.

BJ Bigfoot

For a family tree, see this post. The only difference is that Caitlin and Patrick got older, but I didn't take updated screenshots so I can't update the tree anyway.

"One, Two, Three"
narrated by Annie Dejackome

Gavin had to go away on business a few weeks before I was due with the twins, and sure enough, I went into labor the day before he was scheduled to come home. Fortunately, I still had plenty of support. Aunt Mel kept Rivka entertained and out of the way the whole time.

Meanwhile, my dad and my sister Agatha came over to provide support and medical expertise (at least, Dad had a bit of medical expertise). We played lots of chess to pass the time. I think Dad won every game, but of course I was a little distracted.

Finally, the twins were born! First was Melanie Jill, whom we call Lanie. (As you might guess, she's named after Aunt Mel and my aunt Jill, who was like a mother to me growing up.)

The second twin was a boy, Quinton John. (That was my late father's name, but it also honors Dad, who goes by Johnson.)

Gavin had heard that his brother-in-law Donte had made a robot, so not to be outdone, he created Moh. Moh was a little obsessed with the babies, but I guess that's a good thing when you have twin newborns and a preschooler.

Fortunately, Rivka wasn't a preschooler for very long. She's still the spitting image of her father, though as she's gotten older her hair has turned more strawberry blond than true red (and of course her eyes are brown, like mine).

The same year, I finally got my dream job with the SCPD, and before I knew it I had been awarded the prestigious Captain Hero award.

While I was working the twins kept growing, and soon took Riv's place as resident rampaging toddler. (Times two!) Lanie looked pretty much exactly like her sister had at that age.

Quinton looked a bit more like me.

It was very important to Gavin that we get Rivka into Bluewater Academy. I would have liked to wait and do the whole admissions process when the twins were old enough to attend, but Gavin engineered the whole thing, so I let him. I figured Riv would enjoy being in school with all her cousins, anyway.

I must admit, even though they're a lot of work I'm not too eager for the twins to go to school. I'll miss those rare moments when they spend a quiet morning coloring at their activity table, being all tiny and cute everything. But that's how it goes, isn't it? You close your eyes and when you open them again everyone's grown a little older and all sorts of things have changed.

And here's the house at the end of the week. I feel like I need to scrap the whole thing and make it fresh at some point, because it has an awkward layout after being added onto many times. 

I am more pleased with the outside--it took a very long time to get the roof just right.

Notes:

1. All the adults got secondary aspirations this round...Melanie and Annie got Family (yay Comfort Soup!) and Gavin got Romance, which could spell trouble. I guess we'll see.

2. I don't know what Annie's new LTW is now that she's a Captain Hero. I'll have to look it up when I play them next.

Nooboo!

The return of Prosperity Plains, heralded in my last post, was not much of a return, was it?

I do not have much excuse for June through November, but for the last two months I have had this excuse:

He came three weeks early, and we hadn't exactly finished setting up for him, so the first few weeks were very crazy. Now things have settled down and I have learned how to play Sims and  blog while feeding the baby, so perhaps new posts will appear. I make no promises, however. I learned my lesson about those. :)

The Return of Prosperity Plains

So, did anybody miss me?

During April and May, I was sick on account of being pregnant. Then during June I've STILL been sick on account of being pregnant (second trimester does not live up to its reputation...) and I've started a BACC. It's a lot easier in terms of rules--I only have to check my print-out when I want my Sims to apply for jobs--but harder in terms of math. My BACC Sims will probably never hire a maid simply because I won't be able to figure out when the population is high enough.

Anyway, I have a so-far empty blog for that here, and I'm hoping to be posting more over on this blog. I've got a good 10 lots that I've played but not blogged, and I'm going to try to get through Round 7 at least by December, at which point I will have other things occupying my time. (BABY.)

Right now I need to get off the computer and go do laundry, though, so more later.

Round 7 Part 1: Kules Korner (2053 - 2057)

Brittanie Kules: 72 years old. Aspiration: Romance/Fortune. LTW: Own 5 Top-Level Businesses. (Fulfilled: Have 20 Loves, Woohoo 20 Sims.) Astrological sign: Aries.
Ryan Cho: 60 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Become Hand of Poseidon. (Fulfilled: Become Prestidigitator.) Astrological sign: Virgo.
Darius Kules: 54 years old. Aspiration: Fortune. LTW: Own 5 Top-Level Businesses. (Fulfilled: Earn $100,00.) Astrological sign: Aquarius.
Elise Kules: 54 years old. Aspiration: Popularity. LTW: Become the Law (Fulfilled: Become Hall of Famer.) Astrological sign: Leo.
Alexis Kules: 22 years old. Aspiration: Family. LTW: Reach Golden Anniversary. Astrological sign: Scorpio.
Silas Kules: 15 years old. Aspiration: Knowledge. LTW: Become Space Pirate. Astrological sign: Sagittarius.
Priscilla Kules: 11 years old. Astrological sign: Sagittarius.

Almost all of the members of the Kules family still live in this house, but Jaden lives across the street with his wife Gretchen. (You saw them get married in the last post.)

"Always"
narrated by Brittanie Kules

I guess if I start where Ryan left off last time, the first thing that really happened was that Alexis went off to college. I was kinda surprised by how much I missed her...we never got along too good until the last few years she lived her.

Ryan's all old and gray now, but as handsome as ever, and somehow or other the flames haven't died down yet for us. I've never been much of a one-man woman, but that man is something else.

Priscilla is a teenager now too. Her parents got her a drum set for her birthday. I'm glad I live on the other side of the house, is all I can say. She thinks about nothing but boys now--it worries her mother, but I was just like her at that age and I turned out all right, didn't I?

My oldest son, Darius, and his wife Elise have definitely settled down some. They aren't ready to retire yet, but sometimes I'll come upstairs to borrow a cup of sugar or something and find them sitting around in nothing but underwear, just reading or chatting or what have you. It's nice to see; Darius has always been a bit uptight. No idea how he came out of me.

They're good parents, too. Not too strict, but they make sure the kids don't go all wild either. Of course, Silas would keep his nose to the grindstone without anybody reminding him--he's like his father that way.

Though, come to think of it, he's pretty into that video game system Darius has. Maybe it's Priscilla who keeps Silas from getting too serious.

I suppose that's all a little beside the point, though. So, anyway. This whole time, with our kids growing up and getting married and whatnot, Ryan and I had a few talks about the future and where we wanted to go from where we were.

And then one day, well, Ryan took me out to the little pond we have in back of our place, and he started talking real serious. He said, "You've always been a puzzle to me, Brittanie, and probably you always will be. But after all these years I finally figured out that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I need to know if you feel the same way or if this is just fun for you."

"It's been fun," I said in reply, "I won't lie and say it wasn't. Won't lie and say that wasn't what I was looking for, when I met you. But you were always...you were different somehow. Not just fun. Never could be just fun."

So then he got down on one knee and pulled a box out of his pocket and said, "Well, then, Brittanie, will you marry me?"

And, God help me, I said yes.

We got married just a few months later. I can't say I wasn't nervous--I had enough time to start wondering why I thought that after all these years I could say that I was going to stay faithful to one person forever and mean it. But it helped, being on Darius' arm on my way up the aisle. Sometimes you need somebody a little uptight to help you do what you know you've gotta do. He's been doing that for me maybe his whole life.

Ryan and I went off to Twiiki Island for our honeymoon, just the two of us. It was a real nice time, and I think it helped me remember why I wanted to marry him in the first place. Not because I think I ought to ('cause if I thought that, I'd've married him near 30 years ago). Not because he asked and I didn't have anything better to say but yes.

I married him because he's...well, because he's who he is.

Outtake: Um, Elise, this might not be the best time to strip naked and join your in-laws in the hot tub.

(Those 10 outgoing point Sims are something else...)

Notes:

Priscilla is a Romance Sim with a LTW of 20 Loves. Ugh.

Ryan rolled a secondary aspiration of Romance this round. Oh, and at some point he became Hand of Poseidon. Now his third LTW is to Woohoo 20 Different Sims. NO.

Darius and Elise both rolled Pleasure as a secondary aspiration. Hence the increased amount of lazing around in their underwear. They've worked hard for a long time; they deserve a little slacking off. 

If anything else happened, I don't remember it. Maybe I should try blogging updates less than 6 months after I play them. 

Round 7 mini-update: The Riedmayer-Kules wedding (2053)

Narrated by Gretchen Kules

Jaden and I got married in December of the year we graduated from college. I spent a few months bunking with Agatha at my parents' house, and Jaden stayed at his parents' and oversaw the construction of our new place.

We had a good-sized crowd at the wedding, between my family, Jaden's family, and our friends. The crowd included my niece and nephew, who were both right around three years old at the time. Jaden's niece Priscilla was 11, and she was perfectly happy to play with the little kids and keep them from running off instead of sitting still and watching the ceremony.

I could tell Jaden was really moved by the ceremony. His parents have never married and have a weird sort of relationship, so doing marriage "right" was very important to him.

I think I might have gotten a little choked up myself when he slid the ring onto my finger.

And then we were officially Mr. and Mrs. Kules.

After the ceremony we posed for some group shots while the rest of our guests rearranged the yard.

We didn't have a full meal; just cake and little snacks. Jaden was very polite about feeding me the cake, which is good because this dress cost more than anything else I own and I wouldn't want it to get stained.

Jaden's brother, Darius, was the best man and he made a toast that was very touching--he's a lot older than Jaden, so he remembers what Jaden was like when he was small.

My sister Annie was matron of honor and she made a toast too...with sparkling cider, since she was 6 months pregnant at the time.

Then we had a bit of dancing before everybody went home to eat their dinner.

More posed pics:

Here's Gretchen's family, just like the picture above but with the addition of Jackie's boyfriend, Ryker.

From left: Jill Smith, Agatha Riedmayer holding Andrew Riedmayer, Ryker Owens, Jacqueline Riedmayer, Jaden Kules, Gretchen Kules, Annie Dejackome, Gavin Dejackome holding Rivka Dejackome, Johnson Simpson.

Here's Jaden's family.

From left: Alexis Kules, Ryan Cho, Brittanie Kules, Jaden Kules, Gretchen Kules, Darius Kules, Elise Kules, Silas Kules, and Priscilla Kules.







The wedding party.

From left: Silas Kules (groomsman, nephew of the groom), Douglas Long (groomsman, friend of the couple), Darius Kules (best man, brother of the groom), Jaden Kules, Gretchen Kules, Annie Dejackome (matron of honor, sister of the bride), Agatha Riedmayer (bridesmaid, "sister"/cousin of the bride), and Jacqueline Riedmayer ("sister"/cousin of the bride).

And the ZZE class of 2052/3: Ingrid Riedmayer, Sarah Long, Douglas Long, Jaden Kules, Gretchen Kules, Jacqueline Riedmayer, Marion Landgraab, Margaret Landgraab.

Notes:

1. I am pretty pleased with how the pictures turned out, except I wish I had remembered to adjust my Sims' heights. Let's pretend the short people are wearing thick shoes/high heels. 

2. Custom content! Gretchen's hair is Rite of Passage by Almighty Hat and Sarah's hair is Hero's Sister, also by Almighty Hat. 

Gretchen's dress is from the "Romantic English Regency" set by iamliz13 at Mod the Sims. The bridesmaids are wearing a recolor of the same dress from the "Regency Maxis-Match Gowns" set by oepu at Mod the Sims. You can't really tell except maybe in the toasting picture, but the dresses have a pregnancy morph, which is pretty much why I downloaded them, so Annie had some decent matron of honor wear.