Saturday 19 February 2011

Pocketful of money

Round 30: December 2031 (Summer)
last update/next update

Evan Moretti is 42, Ione is 35, Justin and Xavier are both 10 and Aurora and Bianca are both 5.
(Araminta is 68, Caleb is 49, Finn and Victoria are both 30, Elspeth is 17 and Caitlin is 8)

Narrated by Ione Moretti

I've really been missing Dad, especially in these last few weeks, with the lead-up to Christmas. This will be our first Christmas without Dad, so I'm going to try my best to make it a merry one though it'll be hard.

Evan suggested that we go away for a while instead but I think we'll save that for in a few months' time. I don't think I'd enjoy it so much right now and I feel like I'm needed here at home anyway.

Evan has been fantastic. I love that he was so close with my dad. It's meant that when I talk about him, Evan really knows and appreciates how I'm feeling.

The kids are coping okay, now that it's been a couple of months.


I overheard Justin and Aurora talking about Dad the other day though and it made me smile. He was an awesome grandfather to them.

I feel like I was a little distant with everybody right after Dad passed, so I'm trying to make up for it now. The kids are on Christmas break and I've taken some time off as well.

I've been making an effort to take them out of the house and do some fun things together, like heading out to the local pool. We've all enjoyed it, even though it's a bit hectic trying to wrangle four kids on my own.

Justin has always been a little bit wary of the water. He often stays right near the edge when he's in the pool.

Lately, he's starting to enjoy himself a bit more. He dove right down to the bottom of the pool, which he wouldn't have done a year ago.

Then there's Bianca, who has loved the water from the first second she entered a pool.

She just loves the water.

Since we've been visiting the pool so much, Bianca's been hinting (or really, flat out begging) how she'd like one at home.

I never thought it could be something we'd be able to consider but we're a lot better off now than we were five years ago. I still don't want to jump right into such a big project though, so I've told Bianca that she might have to wait a bit, while her dad and I think about it.

I don't know what's going to happen with Mum, now that she's retired and on her own. If she needs money, I want to be able to provide it for her.

Mum says she's okay. She says her pension is more than enough to live on but I still worry. Her salary wasn't that high when she was working, so her pension isn't very impressive either.

Emotionally, Mum is missing Dad a lot, as we all are, but she's a strong woman. Elspeth is still at home with her for the rest of the year and I'm glad for that.

We wanted to do a traditional roast on Christmas Day but neither Evan or I have the skills for that. Fortunately, Evan's brother Caleb is a chef and made us two turkeys for the occasion! We were so grateful!

I don't think the kids would have cared if we ate sandwiches instead though - they were just excited about the presents!

Bianca has the same tomboyish tendencies that I do, so she loved the remote control car we got her. I have to say though, it's moving outside after Christmas! It was under everybody's feet all day!

Justin has been wanting to start music lessons for a while and now, we can finally afford for him to start. He loves his keyboard!

Aurora wants to learn to sew, but we couldn't find a machine suitable for a girl her age. So she got her very own easel instead.

We can so rarely get Xavier interested in anything but reading (which is not a bad thing to be obsessed with!), so more books was the natural gift choice for him. I wasn't sure if we'd get him out of his room all day.

But he loves his grandma, so he came running down stairs when Mum and Elspeth arrived.

Elspeth hung out a little with Caitlin. Elspeth is an aunt many times over but it's Caitlin who she's really bonded with.

Caitlin even managed to convince Elspeth to go run under the sprinkler with all the kids. Elspeth wasn't too into it though.

Not that the kids minded playing without her. They all love that thing!

We set a table up in the backyard for the kids, so they could make as much noise as they wanted without bothering anybody.

Elspeth decided to sit in with us for lunch, rather than outside with the kids. I can't believe she's heading off to college soon. Mum got pregnant with her when I was in my first year of college, so this is making me feel really old!

During lunch, there were a few quiet moments, where I think we were all thinking about Dad. But he still hasn't been gone long, so that seems natural. Most of the time, everyone was happy and chatting.

Finn and Victoria had to go in the afternoon, to go and visit her parents but Mum and Elspeth stayed behind.

Elspeth has been worried about leaving Mum to go to university but I think she's going to be okay. Mum is certainly insisting that she will be.

If she's not, Finn and I are more than capable of helping Mum out, in whatever way necessary.

I don't want Elspeth stressing about Mum the whole time she's away at college. Finn and I will watch out for her and it'll all be fine.

The kids are always a little wired after such a busy day but we managed to force some wind down time on them after Mum and Elspeth had gone home. I'm glad we could pull together a nice holiday for everybody.

It was a little easier than I thought it would be but I do still wish Dad could have been here to enjoy it.

Spam:

Mostly kiddy spam.

The kids' lunch was a little awkward! Justin the slob, with his super-neat siblings and cousins. Justin has Evan's personality exactly.

I took so many sprinkler pictures!
Maniacal Declan cracks me up!

Notes:
  • Title is from Pocketful of Money by Jens Lekman.
  • This family raked it in with Henry's death. Henry had an excellent relationship with all six of these Sims, so they earned a lot through life insurance! They've got about 14 or 15K in household funds, which will be nice with four kids to feed! They were really struggling for a long time, so I'm happy they're doing so well now.
  • While writing this up, I thought how lucky Sims are. I had hair very similar to Bianca's when I was that age and it was always a tangled mess after swimming. And hers doesn't even look wet! That was so random but really, Sims have it easy!
  • I would really love to do a Christmas gathering with Evan's side of the family but I get tired just thinking about it! They all have so many damn kids!

15 comments:

  1. Such a nice Christmas despite the fact that Henry wasn't able to join anymore.
    I always love these kind of familygatherings.
    I like the presents you got for the kids, they all seemed so happy with them, wich of course it the whole point of giving gifts :)

    Great shot of Declan! I can't believe the boys is 10 already!!

    Just a small note, maybe you've seen it already: there's a double part in this post, somewhere in the middle, when they are all hving lunch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad they were able to spend a merry Christmas even if they were all missing Henry. It's nice to know that Ione and Finn are looking after Araminta so Elspeth doesn't have to worry about her mom when she goes to college.

    The gifts were great, it looks like everyone got exactly what they wanted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a lovely Christmas, and right when they needed it, too. So many times the first holiday after a death in the family is just hard, so it was nice to see them feel good about being together.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Loved the family get together, and seeing the children all together was great. It tired me out just reading about them. LOL

    Sims really do have it easy. It would be awesome to be able to just click and point, then BAM, your room has been repainted. Only in my dreams.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tanja, I like doing these family gatherings too, as anyone reading for long enough could probably guess!

    I keep forgetting to give the adults some gifts - next Christmas, I'll try to remember! Can't leave them out. ;)

    Declan, Justin and Xavier are all 10 and birthdays is coming up next, so they're just about 11! I can't believe it either.

    Thanks for reading and for the heads up on my error! I think you were early enough that not many people would have seen it yet!

    Sari, well, they all made an effort to try for a happy Christmas and they were successful. It's especially hard around the holidays, after you've lost somebody.

    Araminta will be well taken care of, whether she stays on her own or moves in with one of the kids. :)

    Thanks for reading.

    Rachel, I felt like doing something happy for them, seeing I killed off Henry at such a young age! There's a lot of Family Sims in this bunch, so this was just the trick to bring some happiness to them at the moment.

    Thanks for reading!

    Riverdale, I was glad I had that sprinkler to occupy all the kids! I was really regretting buying Justin that piano after a while!

    Oh, man, I would love that! I wouldn't mind motherlode either. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Christmas holiday was great. I never got to experience an Australian Christmas, but we did share the notion of Thanksgiving and southern sweet tea before leaving. I'm glad Ione took some time off to enjoy her family, losing a loved one does that to you, two of my friends recently lost their fathers and they are the same way right now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just feel so bad for Elspeth. She didn't have her Dad as long as Finn and Ione. No wedding or babies. :( It's sad. I don't want to age up Delaney or Tyler, cause I don't want this to happen in my game.

    Sadness aside though, it was great seeing all them together, celebrating Christmas, in summer. The nice thing about summer Christmas is that the kids can go outside! To eat and play! That's nice, instead of trying to cram everyone in, we always make it work, but not everyone has the space and the house heats up fast with baking/people.

    I'm glad that Ione is sitting better financially, though it came with the aid of her father's passing. A pool for the kids would be nice, less work for her then taking them to the public pool anyhow.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Apple Valley, you must have left not long before Christmas then, if you experienced Thanksgiving but not Christmas. Heh, iced tea is not too big here! Most people who drink it just buy the bottled stuff, which I'm sure is like sacrilege to you guys!

    Ione had a lot of vacation time saved up, so taking some time off with her kids was possible, as well as being a good idea.

    Thanks for reading!

    Maisie, I've known Henry was going to die now since he aged up and had considered that he'd never attend Elspeth's wedding or see her have babies. That is a risk when you have children late in life but it doesn't make it less sad for Elspeth. :(

    The house does get uncomfortably hot at Christmas, with all the cooking going on! Because of that, my cousins and I actually still sit outside at the "kids' table", though the youngest of us is 21 and it's no longer really a kids' table. We always joke that when we have kids, we'll still be outside and we'll send the kids indoors. ;)

    I still can't quite believe Ione and Evan are so well off. They were poor for so long and now they're kind of sitting pretty. I might do a pool next round.

    Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ooh I didn't even think how HOT it would get in the summer months with all that baking. My Dad would be flipping out over that. He doesn't allow my s.mom to bake or even use the stove top in the summer, cause it's a waste of energy.

    Is air conditioning uncommon in your area? You've mentioned on twitter being unable to sleep cause of the heat, and I was wondering, but always forgot to ask!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Maisie, some Aussies will do cold cuts and salad for Christmas, just to avoid heating up the house but we're traditionalists. It's not Christmas unless you're constantly wiping your brow in the kitchen!

    I wouldn't say air conditioning is uncommon but we only have it in the living room. So I still suffer in the bedroom. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sims have it easy, lol! It's true, but sometimes life is also so difficult for them. Like you know, when things block their intended paths or someone is using the dishwasher or the fridge and they have to wait in a line. Sim life is too short for lines!

    Poor family. It was nice to see everyone together though. But aw.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lunar, that is also true! I'll take being able to squeeze past the couch to get to the bookcase over having perfect hair all day! Perfect hair would be nice but real life route failures would get old quickly!

    I'm still a little sad about Henry. He was a pretty awesome granddad. :( But the family pulled together a nice Christmas anyway.

    Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a nice Christmas despite Henry's absence. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and enjoy their time with each other.

    For a split second I was like where is the snow but then I stopped failing so hard. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm so glad this family is out of debt, even though the reason they're out of debt isn't so pleasant. But the kids looked like they had a great time with their gifts. I know it's hard when someone passes before the holidays, though :(. Make yourself a note next to your next Christmas update that says "give parents gifts!" lol

    Bianca is like a miniture Evan. She's so cute! Well, all of them are, but I just noticed the resemblance looking at the family pic.

    Oh and I love that pic in the dining room (the one in the center of the family pictures). And I don't even want to think about how easy sims have it. MOtherlode, spinning into new, clean clothes, and no laundry (unless you play TS3).

    And I love bottled iced tea! Well, depends on the brand. But it's definitely very common in my area.

    ReplyDelete
  15. HCove, I couldn't bring myself to make it too depressing! I'm still a bit sad about Henry. :(

    LOL! Yeah, no snow at Christmas in Sullivan. I did one special Christmas update in 2009 that was in winter but that took place off the regular timeline. It wasn't "canon", if you will! ;)

    Thanks for reading!

    Danielle, it seems awful to say but at least some good came out of Henry's death. He would have been happy that his life insurance helped his daughter's family so much.

    Next Christmas, it'll be with Gordon and Lia and I absolutely just made that note!

    Bianca is the only one of the kids who looks at all like Evan - the other three are all Ione clones. But I don't mind - it's not like there's a shortage of Moretti genes in this hood.

    You mean the hands? That's a Celebrations pack thing. I put it up in Evan and Ione's first house after they got married and they've brought it with them to this one. I was quite impressed that I remembered!

    My friend is addicted to that Lipton iced tea stuff - the peach flavour. I think it's nasty but I think all tea is nasty. Bleurgh! LOL!

    Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete