Thursday 10 January 2013

A quiet night in

Round 34: November 2039 (Spring)

Trent Kirby is 69, Megan is 67, Claudia and Jacob are 38, Daphne is 8 and Iris is 5. 
(Patience and Josie are 37, Jude is 7, Felicity is 6 and Andrew and Patrick are 3)

Narrated by Claudia Kirby

With Christmas approaching, Daphne and Iris are both winding down at school and getting ready for holidays.

I think Daphne will miss school and look forward to going back. She’ll definitely enjoy the time off but she really loves school as well.

Iris is not so keen. She’s told me many times that she wishes she could be on holidays more often than she’s at school.
As long as she keeps trying her best, Jacob and I are okay with that. Although I don’t know what she’s going to think when she gets to high school if she finds Grade 1 so taxing.

She’s made a lot of friends at school though, including Felicity, so I know Iris doesn't completely dread going.

I would have thought being so far away from pretty much everyone and everything would keep the number of play dates to a minimum. During the week, that’s definitely true but both our girls usually have at least one friend each over on the weekends.

Josie and Patience both drive their kids out here quite a lot, which gives us a chance to catch up while the kids play.

 
The kids all get along well. Probably because we’ve been fostering their friendships since they were babies, but I like seeing them hanging out together anyway. 

Our kids were always going to end up spending a lot of time together, so it was in everyone’s best interest that they all learned to play nice together.

It doesn’t feel like 20 years since Josie, Patience and I were in college together but it really has been that long!

Josie is really looking forward to sending Andrew off to pre-school in February. Josie thinks it will be good for him to expend some of his energy with other kids for several hours a day.

Right now, he’s with Troy three days a week and either set of grandparents will take him the other two days, so he’s not getting a whole lot of time with other kids during the week.

Patience is sending Patrick off to pre-school next year as well, so he’ll be in the same class as Andrew.


Patrick is a lot like Patience and Andrew is a lot like Josie. I wonder if they’ll stay friendly like they are now, or if they’ll end up clashing.

It's worked out okay for Patience and Josie all these years, though they definitely had their moments when they were kids. Josie was such a bully!

It all brings back memories of when Iris started pre-school a couple of years ago. I suddenly found myself with all this extra spare time during the day. I think I probably noticed it even more, because I don’t work outside the home. I was at a loose end with Iris off at school all day.

Since then, I’ve been thinking about going back to work again. Josie and Patience have never really understood why I wanted to stay home in the first place, so they were very supportive.

They thought I was talking about getting back into local politics, like what I did before I had Daphne, but I definitely don’t want that again. I’ll be happier taking over the market.

I'm sure it sounds extremely boring to them but I think it's something I'll really love.

We have a manager to help run the store, so I can set my own hours, be home with the girls when I want and still be doing something productive outside my own home.

Dad is finally ready to hand the reins over to me and it’s the perfect time. I didn’t want to be running the market with little ones still at home and now I won’t have to.

Dad has been “briefing” me on everything I’ll need to know lately, because the plan is for me to take over in February, once Daphne and Iris head back to school.

I don’t know how much of a briefing I’ll need, because I’ve helped out on and off since I was a teenager. On top of that, the manager always knows what’s what.


But Dad says you never know when something unexpected might crop up, so it’s better to be prepared.

It does actually sound like there’ll be a lot to take care of but I’m sure I can handle it.

I’m glad Mum and Dad will both be home for Daphne and Iris when they get home from school, if Jacob or I can’t be.

Mum is a bit of a nag sometimes but she’s a wonderful grandmother.
 

She’s mellowed out a little since my sisters and I were younger too, which is nice.

Dad is such a natural grandpa too. He was made for that role. The girls totally adore him.

Even with all the help Jacob and I get with the kids, it’s hard for me to believe I was still wanting another one just a couple of years ago.

We have it so good with Daphne and Iris right now. They’re old enough to be a little bit independent but still little enough that hanging out with Mum and Dad is a good thing.

In a few years’ time, they probably won’t want to tell us every single detail of their days like they do now.

We’re trying to enjoy it now, even when it can get a bit much!

Jacob’s work hours are a lot more reasonable these days too, so we actually get to spend time together as a couple.

When Jacob first joined the fire department, I could never have imagined we’d have a normal schedule again. He still starts very early but he’s home pretty much every night.

Life is pretty amazing for us at the moment, so we’re going to stick with what’s working for us. We’re very happy with our family the way it is. 

Notes:
  • Title is from A Quiet Night In by Tim Rogers.
  • Second play session of the new Sullivan, still with very little CC. I miss it more and more as I go along, let me tell you! Patience needs her hair back and I have no idea where I could find a Pookleted version! I'd have it my old folders but I don't know what anything is in there. :\ Plus, I'm really trying to redownload stuff where I can, just in case something corrupted in my old folders. Can't find Felicity's either. But Patrick will have the right hair next time you see him and I found Rob's too, so yay for that. 
  • It's actually almost 20 years since the girls were in college, since Patience and Josie are a year younger and started a year later. But it's November, so they're coming up on 20 years too. Can you believe that? That's so insane. 
  • I am very thankful that I have a clean (or clean-ish?) copy of the market, so I can just reinstall it and have Claudia buy it. It's an older version, so it doesn't look all awesome like it did when I made it over but I guess I can fix that up easily enough. :)
  • The gap between this update and the next one probably won't be as long as the gap between this update and the last one, assuming my game behaves. I've already made almost all the families I'll need for it (I just need to make Chris Draper!) and I downloaded a fully furnished house for Kendal and Lake to live in. I will want to move some stuff around but it's pretty much ready to go. I'm keen to get to the end of the year, because BIRTHDAYS! I've missed doing birthdays!

20 comments:

  1. Awesome update, I love seeing all the kids playing together and wondering if down the line there might be some romances :) I've been meaning to ask you about those family photos. I've downloaded the mesh, but am slow to add them to game since there isn't a simpe template that makes recoloring two clicks and I can't open the psp template. Is there a template for each mesh, or do all the meshes call all the photos?

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    1. Oh, you know me too well because I have been wondering about romances between the kids when they're older too! I've always thought it would be funny if Felicity got together with Felix Lane, lol!

      You know, I've never used the template for the family photos. I just extract the texture in SimPE, paste the family photo over it and adjust the size until it fits inside the frame in GIMP. It's not as easy as recolouring with Photo Studio but once you get into the rhythm of it, it doesn't take very long. If you have any more trouble, let me know and I can dig out an e-mail with detailed instructions that I sent to Tanja when she was trying to do this.

      As for the frames, you don't need to recolour all of them. There is one vertical master and one horizontal master. You just need to decide whether you want the picture oriented horizontally or vertically, recolour the appropriate master and then all the other horizontal/vertical slaves with grab the pictures from the master.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. The house etc. all look good to me without so much CC, but I undertand that you miss it because you were so used to it :-)
    Speaking of CC, is it just my impression or are some of the kids wearing a lot of make-up?

    Don't you just love it when the kids have play dates!
    Happy for you that you can play crash-free now :-)

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    1. I don't really miss it because I'm used to it as much as because I really don't care for a lot of the EA stuff. I'm finding that more and more as I go along. The items I actually like are few and far between (though there are more than I thought there were), so I'm feeling extremely limited.

      And nope, the kids look exactly the same now as they did in Sullivan 1.0, as I never put make-up on children. The only thing different about them is their clothing (which I change all the time normally anyway) and their hair.

      I do love a play date! Any excuse to get my sims together, especially now, when there are so many missing. It makes me feel like the hood is coming together much quicker than it is.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. This was a great update! Personally, there isn't a lot of difference between these non-CC Sims and how they used to look.

    I can't believe it's been almost 20 years, either! It seems like yesterday that they were teens, much less University students! :O

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    1. As I was saying to Librarian, the kids, along with the men, look pretty much the same facial-wise. I never use make-up on them and they have their default skins and eyes in, so they look right. I have a bit of make-up in now too, so the women are starting to look more like themselves as well. It's just the hair, really. They still feel like my sims but I'm looking forward to adding back some CC, bit by bit.

      I know! Before I started crashing, I'd almost got used to the idea of Claudia and co. as approaching middle age but after my long hiatus, I kind of forgot! Now I'm having to get used to it all over again. So strange that they've been out of uni for so long!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. So glad to see an update from you! I can't imagine my game without the CC so I know that must be difficult for you. But better to slowly add back and have a working game than to do it hastily and have to deal with that crashing again! Ha, Felicity and Felix is such a cute name pairing lol. I'm excited for birthdays as well, it's always so interesting to see the genetics at work :)

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    1. Yes, exactly. I'm happy to go slowly if it means I can better isolate what might have caused the crashing. But I'll still whine about missing my CC, because I really do!

      LOL, we'll have to see what Felix and Felicity think about that when they get older! I'm not sure they've ever had much to do with each other.

      Ah, birthdays! I just realised it means I'm going to be needing to add quite a few more families, just so I have the sims to age up! I can't even remember who's due for a birthday, besides Andrew and Patrick.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. Happy to have another Sullivan update! The kids are adorable, they really take over the yard, I can see why they visit Claudia seeing she has all that space! Her taking over the market is perfect for her, and her parents at home is great for when the girls come home. I am a little sad they aren't planning on having another one, they have such adorable kids.

    It's hard to believe they are almost forty years old! Looking forward to Andrew and Patrick's birthdays!

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    1. Happy to get one out! I'll have another one out tomorrow, for Kendal and Lake. I'm looking forward to getting back to some of my other family branches though, I have to say!

      I was almost going to do my career criteria on Claudia to see what regular job she'd suit but I realised I still don't really want her in one. She was always getting the want to quit when she was in Politics, so I think I'll keep her with just the market. :) I wouldn't mind them having another either but there's no room in the house! Iris and Daphne are already sharing a room!

      I'm actually going to get birthdays ready before the next update (I always do it early, mainly because I get excited!), so I'm going to be aging up Patrick and Andrew today. :D I love birthdays!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. I'm super late, but I didn't know Claudia and Victoria are twins :) I always go poking around the bios before I read an update.Claudia, Patience, and Josie look great for 20 years out of college.Did you anticipate them being where they are at this age? My first set of college graduates are only three years out, but I can't wait until they reach the 20 year mark.I presume the farming area is in Sullivan as well, or is your farming area in a different subhood.I know it's a suburb, but I am certain if the rural area is in the same hood.

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    1. Oh, didn't you? Claudia and Victoria are one of my favourite sets of twins, actually! Josie is about where I imagined her to be. I always knew she'd marry Troy and I always knew she'd be a doctor. I was pretty certain about Patience career-wise but originally intended her for Finn! When that didn't pan out, I wasn't sure who she'd end up with. Claudia was probably the biggest surprise. I had zero idea who she'd end up with until she got together with Jacob seriously and didn't know she'd hate her regular job so much and quit and become a stay-at-home mum! The only thing that has gone as planned for her is taking over the market, which she was always going to do.

      The farming area is in Sullivan. It's on the outer edge of it but still in Sullivan. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. Wow, it's been nearly 20 years since they've been in college?! Where has the time gone?! They definitely don't seem like they'd be approaching their 40s, but they are. I hope all of their kids remain close friends like these ladies.

    I'm glad Claudia is ready to get back into the workforce. It's nice that she was able to take such a long break and be home with her kids. And yay that Jacob's schedule is more normal now. It sucks when your spouse has such an odd work schedule.

    While I went on my female hair downloading spree that I mentioned in my last comment, I kept an eye out for Patience hair and haven't come across it, yet. I do like the style you chose for her in the meantime, though. I didn't notice you were looking for Felicity's too, so I didn't look. But I haven't seen anything like it, IIRC.

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    1. I know we always say it around here but time flies! It'll be very interesting to see how their kids go as they get older. I sometimes don't get a real idea about which friendships are going to go the distance until the kids are teens. Especially with the huge amount of kids I have at the moment!

      Yeah and the market is going to be pretty much perfect for someone like Claudia too. The girl does not care for office hours! ;) Jacob's hours are pretty decent now. Such a change from when Daphne was a baby!

      I found Patience's hair, fortunately! I actually found it while I was playing Lake and Kendal's update. I pinned it - I think I found it at Snapun's LJ. Still coming up empty-handed on Felicity's though.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. 20 years? Wow. I can hardly believe it. I love how you have "play dates" for your sims. I really need to do that more. More and more I miss being able to 'manipulate' my sims like I did in TS2. It was just so much easier!

    Oooh.... the market! That will definitely keep her busy. I'm still amazed by how you managed to salvage everything without losing. I can't even imagine how many hours you've put into this!

    I know you notice the lack of CC, but to be honest, it doesn't really bother me. I don't really notice something is completely off until I read the comments! But then again, I used to read a lot of stuff that was CC-minimal or Maxis-match so maybe that's it. My eyes are trained to be okay with minimal CC, lol!

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    1. Yeah, the play dates in TS3 are a lot harder to do. This is why I think I'll always prefer TS2. There are just really fundamental things about TS3 that don't really work for my play style and that hacks can't really get around. :\

      Heh, from my point of view, I didn't really salvage much at all! I salvaged all my sims and any lots I uploaded (not many) but that's about it! Most of my sims will be living in brand new houses and most of my community lots will be new too. Not the market, thankfully - I was really attached to that and I'm glad Claudia will get to run it.

      When I see no-CC or minimal-CC pictures, I usually don't notice either. I think I notice the lack of CC more than you guys, because I look at things and think "I would have used X piece of CC there, instead of that EA object/hair/outfit". So I'm seeing all the things I wanted to use as well as what's there. I'm adding things little by little but I'm finding it's hair I need most, so it's not helping much with decorating!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  9. Is it really been almost 20 year since they were in college?? I really can't believe it! And I actually can't wait untill I can say something similar about one of my sims :) I lovewatching sims grow up and start their own lifes and seeing their kids, ... Well I guess that's what the game is all about :)

    I always like your get togethers! They are always so nice to see, and every one always seems to have such a nice time. And just like you and Apple Valley, I'm already looking at possible romances :)

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    1. It has been! Crazy, right? I think the generations aspect and watching everyone grow up is really at the heart of TS2, so it's no surprise I enjoy it so much.

      I think we're all on the same wavelength regarding future romances! I'm always wondering who my kids will end up with!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  10. Great to see you're able to play and update! I love the play date and seeing all the kids together. It's so hard to believe that Claudia and Jason and the rest are approaching 40 already!

    I totally understand the future romance wonderings. I start doing that almost right after I have new babies born, lol.

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    1. I'm finally getting back into the swing of playing and blogging again. For these first couple of sessions, I kept thinking "wait, how do I do that again?" LOL.

      It was very odd to update this gang's profiles and change their ages to 39! Their teenage years are so clear in my memory still, even though I think that was about two years ago!

      Ha, we're all as bad as each other with the future romance thing! It's such a huge part of the game that it's hard not to wonder.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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