Round 33: May 2038 (Autumn)
Narrated by Asha Lane
Now that Luc has been touring for a few years now, we’ve all got used to it and have settled into a routine.
Or at least, it’s as close to a routine as we can get. The touring doesn’t really allow us to establish anything truly consistent but we do what we can.
The kids are still tough to deal with on my own but they’re just difficult kids in general.
It’s comforting to know they pull the same tricks when Luc is home.
He’s just a little more tolerant of them than I am. Half the time, it’s him encouraging them.
Luc is terrible about noticing that I need a break when he is home, so now I just tell him to make dinner or whatever I need him to do.
He doesn’t usually complain and he’s a better cook than I am anyway. I can't really manage more than grilled cheese a lot of the time.
He does whine a bit when I tell him I’m leaving him alone with the kids to have a night out with my friends.
Tough luck. I’m alone with the kids for weeks, so he can deal with one night every now and then.
It’s nice to be free to catch up with my friends for a few hours and just relax. I don’t get that often, so I take advantage of it when I can.
My friends all hate the idea of their husbands leaving them alone with the kids for such long stretches, like what happens with me and Luc.
Lia could barely stand it while Gordon was in law school and spending so much of his downtime studying, so she can't imagine what it would be like if he was actually away.
She's possibly a little dramatic. She'd deal with it, because you do what you have to do.
I didn't think I could when Luc first started going away, but it’s just something we’ve both got used to.
Besides, as pleased as Lia is to have her husband home full time, I’m just as pleased I don’t have toddlers to deal with any more.
Lia and Olivia both still have tiny ones at home and nothing they say makes me wish I had one!
Theo and Peter are adorable, of course but I’m so glad Luc had things taken care of and we won’t be expecting any more of our own!
Then again, Ruby, Marcus and Felix were all quite demanding toddlers and I know not all toddlers are that way.
Even as rowdy as our kids can be now, I’m enjoying them a lot more now that they’re older.
They're so much more fun now that they can talk and occasionally behave rationally!
Still I never know when a fight will break out, especially between Ruby and Felix.
Ruby, at 11, has decided Felix is too much of a baby for her to bother with, so they’ve been clashing a lot.
I’m so grateful she has her own room or else I think the fighting might be even worse.
She escapes there when Felix is getting too much for her (which he does tend to do) or when she wants to hang out with Ramona. It gives the rest of the house a break from the screaming matches as well.
I didn’t know what to expect for Mother’s Day but the kids were on their best behaviour all day.
I don’t think we’ve ever had a meal out without a food fight before but it was a nice change!
Ruby was even being nice to Felix for once.
I don't know what Luc bribed them with but it was all very much appreciated.
Amazingly, the peace lasted once we got home, all the way until dinner time.
Marcus is the black sheep of the family in that he’s a total neat freak, so it’s not unusual for him to clean up after dinner. It is very, very unusual for Ruby and Felix to join him.
I’m not expecting it to happen again any time soon! Perhaps next Mother’s Day, if I’m lucky.
The Monday following Mother’s Day was not quite as wonderful. Felix brought home a report card filled with Ds.
Or he would have, if he didn’t throw it away before we could see it. It didn’t occur to him that we’d figure out his was missing once Ruby and Marcus brought theirs home.
Ruby and Marcus both got mostly Bs, as usual. Neither of them are amazing students but they do their best and Luc and I are both happy with that.
Felix was much more upset about his grades than I thought he would be. I’d assumed he was just trying to hide them to avoid punishment but he was breaking my heart with the crying.
He’s finding Grade Two much more difficult than he thought he would.
Luc and I went kind of easy on him when we had a talk about his grades, not wanting to traumatise him or anything.
Felix seemed a a bit more positive than he did the day before. He says he’s going to try harder and thinks he can do a little better than he’s doing.
That all sounds good but I think Luc and I are going to have to stay on this. More reading at home and definitely supervising homework very closely. Hopefully he can pull his grades up with a bit of hard work.Notes:
- Title is from Static To The Heart by Jukebox the Ghost.
- Asha's just getting into a groove with her kids now but Ruby's burgeoning teendom may blow it all out of the water next year! I have absolutely no clue what she's going to be like in high school!
- Yay, my pancake restaurant works properly now! When I took Patience and Rob there, it was a total pain. The Ashtons ate just fine but the host was refusing to seat anyone else, so it looked quite empty (except for around the podium, which was crowded with Sims!) But I've set it up with an owner and have Brendan Lachance working as the host, and he's doing much better!
- Poor Felix got a D and I was getting constant social worker warnings! I refuse to let my kids get taken away for poor grades, so I usually bump the grade up to a C before they go to school, just so it can't fall to an F! His grades still aren't as good as Ruby's or Marcus's but he's improving. Harder Harder Grades is brutal sometimes!
You had me cracking up with Luc encouraging the kids and their behavior, so what my husband does. *roll eyes* But I tend to think they are just big kids as well!
ReplyDeleteThat harder grades hack is no joke. I have a kid in my hood, no, make that two I think, who have found themselves with D's. Like you I bump it up to a C so they don't get taken away, but man it's tough.
I think a lot of guys are big kids like Luc is! Luc also doesn't see the kids as much as Asha does, so he likes to enjoy them when he does, instead of spending his time telling them off!
DeleteThe harder harder grades is really tough and I find it's especially tough on the child stage. I remember Adelaide having similar troubles when she was little. She never got an A until her very last day of high school!
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I feel so bad when i see kids cry its soo sad -_-
ReplyDeleteI want it to get that harder grade hack but kids in my hood get bad grades as it is now .. they all just lazy
The kids crying is really heartbreaking. :( Especially when they're being consoled, because the parent always looks so upset as well. It's a really sweet looking interaction though.
DeleteIf your kids are already having trouble keeping their grades up, you definitely don't need Harder Harder Grades! Sounds like you're doing a good enough job of making it difficult without the hack. ;)
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I think it's amazing how 1 house can look so differently when there's some one else living in it! I love the cool, clean lines you used here.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see Ruby as a teen, and to see what she'll be up to! I'm sure it will be interesting!
Speaking of growing up; Luc is 45 already?!
I really like the harder harder grades hack, but it's hard sometimes!
Poor Felix, it's so sad to see kids cry!
I hope you don't mind but I was wondering where you got that red blender/mixer (I really don't know how it's called) and the wall sticker in Ruby's room?
I wasn't sure I'd use the brownstone when I placed six of them down but I've managed to make them look different enough that I'm not bored with them, fortunately! Glad you like Luc and Asha's place.
DeleteYep, Ruby's 11 and Luc is 45! Which means he's had a few wrinkles added to his face, which I'm not sure you can really see here. I was actually more surprised to see Asha was 41 - I had to check that a couple of times, lol.
Kids crying is awful. But hopefully, Felix has got ahead and will do better in school from now on. He was getting Cs when I left their house.
I'll have to check on the blender and the wall sticker. I'm pretty sure both have info in the description but I can't remember what it says!
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Hi Tanja, I just checked the red blender and wall sticker in game. The blender is from 4 Ever SimFantasy, though I'm not sure what set. The wall sticker is from Ella Sims 2, which appears to be closed. Their stuff is at the Graveyard but from what I could see, they didn't have the wall sticker. :\
DeleteThanks for checking Carla!
DeleteAww, poor Felix! I love the harder grades hack for the variety but it can be brutal sometimes. I'm not sure which version I have but I have a few students with D's. I always pump up the grade too so that the kid won't be taken away.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice that the kids were on their best behaviour on Mother's Day so Asha was able to take it easy. :)
You have to take the good with the bad with Harder Harder Grades and poor Felix is unfortunately suffering for it at the moment. Like I said to Tanja though, I did manage to legitimately raise his grade to a C, so I have my fingers crossed for him now.
DeleteI don't think Asha ever expects such peace from her children, so Mother's Day was a lovely surprise for her this year.
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Poor Felix I know Abel was like that as well, and Myra too, but they both have doofus trait so I tried to right it in that they had learning disabilities. Mothers Day looked like fun, Luc must have had a pretty big bribe.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about Abel and Myra! I have a similar trait, which is "Dense". Felix doesn't have it but if he ever rolls it, I'll have to reconsider how I write him.
DeleteLuc refrained himself from encouraging silly behaviour like food fights and gymnastics in the living room, just for Asha's special day. ;) It won't last, I'm sure.
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Oh man, poor Felix! My TS3 sims are way worse about grades than my TS2 sims. At least there's no threat of social worker there. Seriously, who gets a social worker due to bad grades??
ReplyDeleteI am not at all surprised to learn that Luc encourages the kids being crazy. Asha sure has her hands full! It's so hard to believe they have THREE kids!
Oh, really? Most of my TS3 Sims do their homework autonomously, so I actually rarely have to worry about grades at all in TS3! Funny how our games are so different in that respect.
DeleteNo, Luc just seems like the type to encourage that kind of thing, doesn't he? He has a "kids will be kids" kind of attitude, because Ruby, Marcus and Felix are a lot like he and Cordy were like when they were kids. Asha and Zaria were a little more sedate. ;)
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Aww poor Felix! I'm sure he'll get his grades up eventually. I have only recently installed harder grades so I haven't had too much experience with it yet!I love how you wrote mother's day into this and the pancake place is looking really good- I'm so glad you got it working properly. Haha I do feel sorry for Asha having to deal with those kids but hopefully they will get better as they get older (or not as the case may be...)
ReplyDeleteHarder Grades certainly makes things a bit more interesting, that's for sure! Before I installed it, I was experimenting with only having kids do their homework if they rolled the want, hoping that would give me some variety in grades. But I found that kids almost always rolled the want and teens never did, unless they were Knowledge (and sometimes not even then). I like Harder Grades much better.
DeleteAsha definitely finds her kids easier to manage now that they're older - they were all horrible toddlers! But Ruby may throw a spanner in the works when she starts high school. ;) We'll see.
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Wow, the kids grow up so fast! I can’t believe Ruby is going to be a teenager in a few sim-months! And Luc and Asha are in their 40s?! Geez!
ReplyDeleteHaha, at least the kids aren’t acting out just because Luc isn’t around. I really can’t wait to see Ruby as a teen. She looks a lot like Luc, I think, which means she’ll look like a darker Cordy. Very cool. Oh, and that means we’ll see Ramona as a teen at the same time :).
Glad things worked out much better at your restaurant this time. And poor Felix. Harder grades is definitely tough on the kids. I still can’t remember what determines their grades. I think I have a hack that prevents the kids from being taken by the social worker. That way if such a situation occurs, I can write it in the way I want or be able to take some extra pics of the removed kids before they’re gone for good. I hope he’s not discouraged and can pull his grades up.
Well, Luc's been in his 40s for a while now and he's actually closer to 50 than he is to 40! I still can't quite believe Asha's age though, lol!
DeleteHa, no, these kids are just plain cheeky, with or without Asha. But yep, Ruby and Ramona will both be teens soon, along with Gabriel Nott. I think you're probably right about what Ruby will look like but I still can't quite picture her yet!
With Harder Harder Grades, I think it's the skill associated with their hobby that improves their grades. Or, at least, Felix got his grades up to a C once I had him jump rope for a little while and earn some body points. But then, I don't know what Film & Lit Sims are supposed to do. :\ You'll see more of Felix in the primary school update. :)
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Seems about right for Luc to be just as much of a handful as the kids! Asha has her hands cut out for her I'd say! I really like this chaotic family dynamic, definitely not the traditional family by any means, and that fits them perfectly. Really looking forward to seeing Ruby as a teen, and Ramona too. I wonder how Luc will be with a teen daughter.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Felix can keep his grades up and passing. I have a few that have a difficult time too with their grades, despite their efforts and raising their grades. Aspiration helps, which just doubly screws Ella with her grades.
It's almost like Asha has four kids, lol. Luc's just that kind of guy. I think when Ruby starts high school, he might find himself wanting to become a bit more stern. I can see him being a bit protective of her, knowing full well what teenage boys can be like. ;)
DeleteOh, your poor Ella. :( Felix doesn't have any of the obstacles she's facing, at least. Harder Harder Grades is really tough for the kids but I'm hoping Felix is past the worst of it now.
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Aww, poor Felix. I have my own grade woeso in my hood, so I know it can be hard. Also poor Ashe with those kids and a husband who travels so much. He *would* complain about her going out, lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping Felix is over the worst of it but who knows? I've had kids like Adelaide who struggled all the way through, so it could go that way too.
DeleteLuc is not the world's most thoughtful man, though he can be sweet when he wants to be. But he often forgets how hard Asha has to work when he's not around.
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