Now that everybody had made new friends, the house was never empty. At least one of our kids always brought somebody home from school and often they did their homework in a group of four or five people. The older ones helped the younger ones out, which was really cute. I’m sure they all learned a lot during those times!
Something I learned was that toddlers grow up really fast. In the last days I hadn’t paid any attention to Julia, our youngest, and without us knowing she aged to a child. There was just so much going on in the house that we missed it! Something that is absolutely unforgivable.
But that wasn’t even the worst part. Being forgotten over and over again apparently changed something in her. She started running around, talking to herself and even arguing with her. Also she sometimes seemed to be in a fight with somebody who was not there but made her hand act on its own! There was no better explanation – she had gone insane!
Our dog Flip was also still alive. Once in a while I saw him run through the house or in front of his food, but I didn’t interact with him much. Grace mostly took care of that and went out for a walk with him regularly – something he really needed but I couldn’t give him because of my age. I felt that my body was ready to give up, which was something terrible. And I definitely wanted to see more of my kids age up, so I decided to step back a little.
It was impressing to see how Ivy had changed. But then again, she had always had good relationships with her sisters and her brother. Still it was nice to see her getting along well with them. If only she picked up some of the seriousness Henner showed about school…
With everything going better in the new house, Cassie decided to work on something she wanted to achieve so bad. Her writing career had practically been non-existent, especially since she didn’t like computers. I even bought her a notebook and a pencil in her favorite color, but she didn’t touch it once. Instead she started spending some time on the computer again and one night told me she was working on an autobiography.
We couldn’t really believe that there was time to do something that felt good for us, but there was. Grace hang out with Marissa, Henner was busy with school and the three other ones always found someone or something to play with. It seemed like all of a sudden we weren’t needed any longer.
See what I mean? Henner missed not one homework and soon was on the honor roll of his school. We were so proud of him!
Life was getting really good during our last days.
Something we didn’t like to watch was Grace befriending some guy she met at school. It was obvious that he was interested in her in a way we didn’t approve, since she was way too young for that! Her first romance was not supposed to happen before she graduated from high school!
Luckily she wasn’t interested in him in the same way. This way we could save some arguments with her and go to sleep without one ear staying awake and listening to what was going on out there at night.
It seemed like all of us could really calm down after all. Of course stuff happened all the time, but all in all we now were where we wanted to be. We had a happy, big family with five kids we could be proud of. Especially Henner made me so proud, since he turned out to be so much like me.
Well, you might call him my favorite. I know we were not supposed to have favorites, but I couldn’t help myself. He was everything to me.
Just when everything looked so good, something terrible happened. Flip had been walking slower and slower every day, but no one had expected him to die already. The Grim Reaper had other plans, which was heartbreaking for all of us. We were going to miss him so much, even though I hadn’t seen him much lately. After all, he had been our family dog!
Author's Notes: Rest in Peace, Flip! :( He had been around forever and then he suddenly died, that made me very sad... But it's not like there was much time to mourn, because so much was going on! When writing the story, I feel like nothing happens and like I'm repeating myself over and over again, but some stuff still DOES happen. Like Julia's birthday. They didn't teach her all three skills and now she is insane. I have never played with an insane sim before, just read about some. So that should be interesting.
Chapter title: An amazing song by Muse, which I thought fitted nicely here. There are good things happening (butterflies), as well as bad ones (hurricanes).
I think insane sims are pretty fun. Neurotic ones too. I think a really fun disadvantage can be more fun to play than an advantage.
AntwortenLöschenFinn is still anxious about being there for everyone, which is sweet. I hope he can come to peace with all the good things he did for his huge family.
So the scribbling pad didn't work for Cassie? I'm sorry to hear that. I thought it would be just the thing for her.
I thought Finn might die in this chapter. It's good to see him make it just a bit longer.
You really think? So far I've only considered them to be annoying, but I haven't played with them much. But you're probably right - and also it's something that doesn't happen every day. Few sims are insane, so she's really special :D
LöschenThe idea of the scribbling pad was great, but she didn't use it. Once she actually went to the computer on free will (it never happened to me before that a sim improved his writing skill on his own) and so I let her use it later. Weird sim.
Well, Finn isn't dead yet, but I kind of expect him to die any day. His lifespan is over and so I keep watching him very closely. Every day could be his last day :(
Cassie could always use the scribbling pad if she wished to write a novel, couldn't she? She doesn't have to choose her method of writing autonomously?
LöschenHow many days old is Finn now?
I just like quirky sims who show a lot of personality, and I think low-impact disadvantages like Insane and Neurotic give them great autonomous personality.
Well, after she went to the computer autonomously, I sent her to the scribbling pad once. Just because she is a technophobe and really SHOULD prefer that! After that she didn't want to write again, like ever.
LöschenFinn is now 115 days old, his lifespan ends at 110. So five days older than he is supposed to get, which is not that much. Yet. He'll probably never die though -.-
I guess you're right about that. Traits like Insane or Neurotic or even Absent-Minded (which is not that strong a trait, but still) really give them more character. Better than one sim who is ambitious, good, friendly, neat and charismatic or something. That would be rather boring.
Oh, is your default lifespan set to 110 days? Mine is set to 90, so Lance and Layla getting to 104 was FOREVER. Vegetarians. Bah.
LöschenI actually think Neat could be a fun trait to play. I mean, just being responsible and tidy is kind of boring, but I'd likely want to play it as obsessed with cleanliness. :) None of my sims have ever been neat, though.
Yes, I changed it a little bit, because I was annoyed about children being in primary school for one week only. So I set the child and teenagers span higher, as well as young adult and adult (although I just raised them by 5 each). But sometimes I'm thinking of setting those back. So many children in the house just annoy me.^^
LöschenI've had a few neat sims, and most of the time I liked to play them, since the house was really tidy. But then I got annoyed, because they spent hours in the bathroom, washing their hands after going to the toilet and stuff. That took so much time.
If you want to be really mean, make a sim neat and neurotic. He/she will never stop cleaning AND checking if everything is okay. :D
RIP Flip!
AntwortenLöschenPoor Julia, ignored again. I love insane sims, though. They keep things lively!
It cracks me up that Finn was concerned about Grace starting a romance... didn't he and Cassie get together in high school? I'm glad he starting to feel good about his family, though.
I agree with Susan, the way the chapter started I thought it might be Finn who died at the end!
Somehow they really forgot abot Julia. When she was a baby, Finn's and Cassie's days revolved around her, but as soon as she was a toddler, Grace was the only one who cared about her. But then she got busy with her stuff,too. Maybe Julia will be heard now that she is a kid, or/and because of her insanity. It's so strange to watch, every once in a while she grabs her own throat and seems to die Oo
LöschenYes, Finn and Cassie started dating when they were in high school, but he really seemed angry at that guy whose name I can't remember.Probably it was this "...but my daughter is still a child and I have to protect her!"-feeling. This doesn't mean that she will stay single forever. But no more spoilers. :D
To be honest, I sometimes wish he would die, just so that the household gets a little smaller :( He has made his LTW and is basically done. But then again I'd like him to see all his children age up into teens and also he has to officially choose the heir. Even if we help him with it. I just have to write faster so that we can get to the heir vote :D
I totally get wishing sims would die so your household would shrink. I felt that way about Lance and Layla!
LöschenI'm glad I'm not alone there :D As much as I love my sims, at some point they should just go and make some room. Literally. Besides, Finn wasn't my favorite character anyway - although this combination of Ambitious and Couch potato was nice.
LöschenOh, me too! Once my household gets to a certain size, I start trying to figure out ways to get rid of people and hoping that they'll just wish to go on their own or die already! Unfortunately, I also usually want to keep them around to see what they do. And I always want the elders' urns so I can't just move them out, either. It's terrible! Next time I do a challenge, I'm picking one with a limit on the number of kids!
LöschenThat is a good idea!! Not more that two kids or something like that. But at the same time it's interesting to have a bigger choice...sigh.
LöschenI was coming to be sure that things were OK, since I hadn't seen anything from you in a while, but now that I look at the dates here, it hasn't been THAT long. Clearly I just expect you to post more so I can be amused! At any rate, I hope the summer is going well for you.
AntwortenLöschenAnd on the subject of wishing sims would die, it's now time for Zahra and Fabian to go. They've led good, if flawed, lives, and eight sims in a household is driving me insane!
Haven't heard from you in a while, so I thought I'd stop by and see if everything is ok! I hope you're just busy with fun summer stuff...
AntwortenLöschenWhimper! We miss you Amhranai! If you can, drop us a note to let us know you're OK.
AntwortenLöschen