Wednesday 10 September 2014

Underneath the sky

Round 35: January 2042 (Summer)
Novak 2 household profile
Augustin Novak is 87, Naomi is 67 and Owen is 65. 
(Amar is 41, Matilda is 36, Adrienne is 35 Malcolm is 32, Hope is 31 and Beau is 4)


Narrated by Naomi Novak

This has been a hard couple of years for our family. We lost Mum two years ago, which was hard on us all.

Dad was especially distraught though and was in quite the funk about it for a while.

He and Mum were together since they were teenagers - over 60 years, all up. To have her suddenly not there was difficult. 

Then last year, Malcolm and Hope lost their baby. It was quite late in the pregnancy, so it was a massive shock and of course, especially devastating to Malcolm and Hope.

Finally though, it feels like we have something to look forward to again. Several things, which is even better. It’s nice to have something to smile about. 

Hope is pregnant again, so come June, if all continues to go well, Malcolm and Hope will at last be parents.

It’s a little bittersweet, as the baby is due in the same month their first baby was due but they are still over the moon about it. 

Hope is staying off her feet as much as possible, so if we want to see her, we go to them.

I don’t mind too much. Hope is very neat, while Malcolm is not, so I take the opportunity to do some cleaning. 

Malcolm has been trying to keep up with it all but if it’s not to my standards, I know it’s not up to Hope’s standards either. We’re quite similar in that way.

He knows it’s my way of helping, so he doesn’t complain too much about me butting in.

Malcolm and Hope are both very nervous that this pregnancy will end the same way the last one did. It happened so far into the pregnancy, so there’s not really going to be a time when they’ll really feel “safe”, like past the first trimester or when they reach viability, at 24 weeks. 

All we can really do is pray and wait and offer as much practical help as we can in the meantime.

Well, I’m trying to help anyway. This will be Dad’s ninth great-grandchild and he’s absolutely thrilled about it. His “help” has been mainly in the form of pestering Malcolm with name suggestions.

Malcolm being Malcolm, the suggestions are not particularly appreciated!

If they have a girl, they’ll use Hanna in there somewhere, after Mum. Beyond that, they’re not discussing name choices with anybody until the baby actually arrives.

Before this baby arrives, Dad will become a great-granddad for the eighth time. Our daughter Adrienne is pregnant as well right now.

We all have so much fun with Beau at the age he is now but it will be nice to have a couple of babies in the family as well.

Beau can’t wait. He’s got one cousin on Amar’s side but that’s it. He’s really looking forward to being a big brother. 

Adrienne is the polar opposite of Hope at the moment. Hope stopped working as soon as she entered her second trimester and Adrienne is about to enter her third and is still going. 

She’s even talking about going back to work within a couple of months of the birth, rather than taking the six months to a year that most women around here take. 

Adrienne is very laid back about the whole thing but she can afford to be. She’s had two healthy pregnancies before this one, so she’s willing to take risks that Hope just isn’t. 

Amar is a little more on edge than Adrienne is. He wouldn’t mind a bit if Adrienne decided to slow down but she’s very stubborn. If he tries to say anything, she usually tells him she’s fine and that pregnancy hasn’t turned her into an an invalid.  

No one can tell Adrienne anything. 

Adrienne is currently rushing around, trying to complete her new autumn collection. She’s hoping to have it ready before the baby arrives. 

She’s also been busy with her wedding dress, along with the bridesmaid dress for Matilda.

She’s agreed to let me help out with the wedding attire at least, just to take some of the load off. 

I don’t know why she doesn’t palm off some of the easier tasks to her intern. I keep telling her that’s what interns are for!

Adrienne is such a control freak though. I don’t think her interns do much more than get coffee and answer the phone!

I could really use an intern or two at the moment. I’m trying to get my own collection done, while also looking for a new place to set up my store.

The lease on my old place ran out and the owner decided to sell, so I was forced out as a result.

Dad has been coming around looking at places with me. He says he just wants something to do during the day but I’m pretty sure he’s mostly just being nosy!

Fortunately, I think I have found just the right place for my store. It’s bigger than my old store but I’m quite excited by the prospect of expanding.

It’s in a great location, near a lot of other successful businesses, so I’m hopeful that we’ll get some more regular customers in. The current lease still has a while before it ends, so it’s not ready for me to move in just yet. 

This place’s lease would be quite a bit more expensive than the old, so I’ve been talking it over with Owen. We’re doing well financially, so Owen is quite happy for me to go ahead with it. 

I already have ideas for all the extra space I’ll have. I can’t wait to finally reopen!

Notes:
  • Title is from Underneath the Sky by Oasis.
  • I have picked out everything for Adrienne's wedding...except her dress! It's driving me nuts that I can't find the perfect one. I don't have a whole lot of time either.
  • Naomi's new shop is one of the EA H&M stores from the H&M pack but I plan to completely overhaul it before she opens. I'm almost contemplating turning the upstairs into a career lot for the fashion career but I'm not sure yet. I might want more space than I'd have there. Ooooh...or I could add another storey? I'm kind of excited now!
  • Sorry this update took so long! I've been very busy and tired. The one week I wasn't that busy, I was sick. Gah. The next update might take me a bit longer to get out too but hopefully not as long as this one. 

20 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear you were sick! Busy is what I am very much these days, too; can hardly get any Sims-time in, but reading your updates always makes me want to start my game right now and play :-)

    Of course I regocnized the H&M store immediately - I often send the Sims in my 'hood there to shop for clothes, but haven't changed anything on the lot. It will be interesting to see how you alter the shop, and I am hoping for a lot tour.
    Love the dragonfly wallpaper!

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    1. It's hard to fit time in for simming when life is so busy! I find I can decorate whenever but I'm often too tired to do anything I can actually blog about. So it was nice to be able to play this family. Finally!

      You know, I really like the H&M store as is and used it as such in Sullivan 1.0 (or maybe I made some very minor changes?) It's just not quite Naomi's style. I hadn't thought of doing a lot tour for it when I'm done but I haven't done one in a while, so I'll try to remember it for this lot!

      That's a lovely wallpaper from Sims in Paris, if I'm not mistaken. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. Wow, it has been rough for this family. Glad better times are on their way.

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    1. Yes, it's been a tough time for them all. Happy things to look forward to now, at last!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. Don't worry about us; you get better. Besides, that way I won't have to feel too guilty about being late with responses.
    I was holding my breath the whole time. Augustin will live a little longer, yay! I keep forgetting you have almost no businesses open and the hood is still in rebuild mode. That says something about how tightly woven together your story is; it's imperceptible (except for the school; I'm still waiting for that to come back). I'm so glad there's so much good news on the horizon; they need it.

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    1. Oh, my illness was a couple of weeks ago! I'm all better now and am just busy and tired instead. :) Thank you though!

      Yeah, Augustin is getting up there, isn't he? Not really surprised everyone expects him to die every time I post, lol!

      Actually, at this point, I have the majority of my businesses up and running! I think it's 9 or 10 out of 15? I'm glad the missing things haven't been too noticeable though. I'm going to finish my hospital (one day) and then I'll get started on my schools. :) Probably the high school first, seeing I was halfway through building a new one in Sullivan 1.0 and never got to finish.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Hope you're feeling better, Carla!

    Adrienne is a workhorse. Nothing will slow her down, not even pregnancy, haha! I'm definitely with her, though. I'm planning to work until I literally go into labor (or am told I can no longer work) and will be back at work after around 4 months. US sucks and doesn't do paid maternity leave, though. So that's a huge factor.

    I'm so glad they have such good news to look forward to! Poor Hope. It is a very, very real fear. It's like, you get past the 1st trimester and the immediate dangers are gone, but then there's the anatomy scan where they can find scary things and then after that, the threat of stillbirth. It's always scary! So happy for them and hoping things work out much better this time.

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    1. 100% better now, thanks!

      Maternity leave here is much more generous than in the US, so I base my maternity leave decisions for my sims just on what I think they'd do personality-wise, rather than financially. Adrienne would not take a year off to deal with nappies and crying! Amar would though, so I might have him take some time off. He runs his own business and has Austin working with him, so he could be a bit flexible if he needed to.

      Pregnancy can be such a scary thing for any parents but I think it would have to be even more so for those who've experienced a loss before. You just never know. I treat Hope with kid gloves whenever I go into her lot, so story-wise, I make sure her family is all taking care of her too. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. I am excited to see Adrienne and Amar's wedding! She really should slow down, though. I am keeping my fingers crossed for Hope and Malcolm. It has to be so stressful, right when they need to be stress-free.

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    1. At the very least, the wedding will be over soon and it'll be one less thing for Adrienne to be working on. :) And she's letting Naomi help her now, so that should lighten her load a little.

      I keep forgetting how long Hope has to go (probably because she showed up on a community lot and got her third trimester belly when she was barely into her second, argh!). They have almost six months to go still and they're not really going to be able to relax the whole time. :\

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. Carla, Augustin and Hanna were together 60 years! Wow, that is a lot. My in-laws were together 53, but 60! I am so glad this family has happy things to look forward to now. And love the picture of Malcolm plugging his ears about baby names.

    I am glad you are feeling better; I know what you mean about being too tired to find and produce the story to blog. Lately I've definitely felt that way every day and no sign of work letting up until at least January.

    Thanks for the great update!

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    1. Thinking about it, it would actually be closer to 70 years for Augustin and Hanna. I mean, Naomi and James were 65 when Hanna died and Augustin and Hanna had already been together for a few years when they came along. My paternal grandparents made it to 60 years, though my grandfather died before they got to 70. Pretty amazing to spend that much time with the one person!

      I was so hoping Malcolm would plug his ears like that, lol! It's not really very hard to get Malcolm to get angry during conversation, so I didn't have to wait long.

      Fortunately, school holidays are coming up in just one week for me, so things will hopefully slow down a bit by then. :) It's hard when the end is much further away, like it is for you. I'm going to try and have some good notes written down for Olivia and Steve's update, so I can just go in and play when I get the time. That always works well for me.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. This family has been through a lot in the past few years - I'm glad things are looking up for them! Very excited for Hopes baby! I can't wait to see what Naomi does with her new shop.

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    1. It was a lot to go through in a fairly short amount of time but hopefully better days are ahead now. :) I'm so excited for the babies.

      I won't be able to play a session this weekend (even though I thought I would :\), so I may try to do Naomi's shop this week instead. Hoping I get some inspiration!

      Sorry I took so long to reply to your comment - it's been a massive week for me!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. I always love seeing the elders. And wow they certainly have a lot of grand-kids! ;) Big families are great in the sims but I always find it can take a while to get there. lol

    Adrienne cracks me up, 'pregnancy hasn't turned her into an invalid', haha! She must be very independent and used to doing things herself. She should lap it up for a while, you know but then I guess that probably isn't her personality type. She's cute though and I can't wait to see the baby!

    I love Naomi's store! OFB was one of the few TS2 EP that I really got into. I was a bit sad they didn't bring it out for TS3 though. I'd swap Into The Future EP for OFB any day! ;)

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    1. Oh, Augustin's number of grandchildren is nothing compared to my sims Maria and Filippo. They had close to 20, I believe! Augustin only has 9. He'll end up with many more great-grandchildren than he has now, as a lot of his grandkids aren't even procreating yet.

      Adrienne's not the type to enjoy being fussed over. She just likes to get things done. I have high hopes for their baby's genetics, given how adorable Beau is!

      Man, I love OFB! I can't believe they never recreated it for TS3. That half-assed stuff from the Store doesn't even come close. Naomi's store will look quite different next time you see it. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  9. I adore Augustin, he lost his wife, he has no one else to pester than his kids and grandchildren. Him tagging along with Naomi to check out her new location was really adorable.

    I really like that they will use the name Hanna somewhere too if they have a girl, what a sweet touch. I never really thought how this family was getting two new grandbabies. Totally fits their personalities for Hope and Adrienne to be polar opposites regarding pregnancy, even if Hope hadn't lost her baby, they are rather different at the start.

    Looking forward to seeing the wedding, and what you do with Naomi's place, I think it was Dee that did a H&M store with fashion studio upstairs, looked fabulous, I totally vote for that!! You make me really want a fashion person, I'm hoping someone like Willa can go for it, but I haven't spent much time on her group of kids yet.

    Man I am SUPER excited for these babies, to see how Hope and Maclom's baby looks, and Adrienne and Amar have like the cutest little boy ever. I can't believe how sweet he is!

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    1. Yeah, I think Augustin's a bit lost still and doesn't quite know what to fill his days with any more. He's managing to keep himself occupied though, as you can see. :)

      Points-wise, Adrienne and Hope aren't very different - the only big difference is with neatness. But I've always seen them quite differently regardless. Even as kids, before I stuck either of them with an aspiration! I think losing the baby would have changed Hope in some way as well, so she is even further apart from Adrienne than she might have been at one stage.

      Oh, I remember Dee's fashion lot! I'd actually forgotten that hers was a makeover of the H&M lot. I think it was even the same one. I have so many fashion sims I literally don't know what to do with them! Having Naomi's shop be the fashion career lot where they can all come to work will help with that, I think.

      I love Beau so much. I think your Wyatt could give him a run for his money in the cuteness stakes though! Must be the glasses!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  10. I know all about being tired and busy. At least you're getting your updates out and that's what's important. I can't wait to see Adrienne's wedding. It seems like she'll be so busy doing things on her own that she'll pop the baby right out without missing a beat.

    I can't wait to meet Hope and Malcolm's little one. I can't blame her for being cautious. Anyone would be in that situation so there's only so much convincing one could do.

    I can't wait to see how you overhaul the EA shop. I need to start doing that myself but sometimes downloading is way easier, you know?

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    1. Ha, very slowly but yeah, the updates are coming, lol!

      Adrienne's wedding will be right after the next update. Weddings actually don't take me as long to do as updates where there has to be an actual story, so there shouldn't be too long a wait. :)

      I'm pretty excited to finally get Hope and Malcolm to meet their baby! It almost feels like she's been pregnant for longer than Adrienne has, because of their loss the first time around.

      Yeah, I can understand that! I'm being really careful about CC this time around and have only installed one lot with its CC included, so my choice is either to do them myself or to download all EAxis lots and end up redoing them anyway, because EAxis is just not my style!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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