Sage-giving

My oldest daughter, Sage, decided on her own that she was planning Simsgiving dinner this year.  Oh Sage, so idealistic that girl is...

It was a noble goal, I admitted, but I just didn't know how possible or probable it would be.  Especially given the current state of our clan.

Especially given that my beloved baby brother has only got a one track mind.

And my beloved middle daughter, well she's off in her own stratosphere.  Who's that metallic creature with her?  That's S13RR4, her plumbot. 

How'd the heck did she get a plumbot?  That's another story for another time.

But anyway, Sage wanted to get the family together for dinner.  Sage wasn't alone in the kitchen, though.  S13RR4 was there too.

And she convinced Kaydence to help, as well.

 
Kaydence was charged with mixing drinks.

With the meal ready, Sage waited.

Meanwhile, Sierra was tinkering in the laundry room with S13RR4.

And miracle of miracles, they came.  Even Imsety showed up - with nutrition cubes???

The dining area was full of Plumbs.  I couldn't believe it.

The new bridegroom showed up with a woman on his arm who was NOT his new bride.  Oh Bassy, will you ever change?

There was even some conversation at the table.  "Hey Skylar," Satis said, "I heard you killed it the other night at the festival.  I would have come but I had to work late at the hospital."

"Look around you, Sage, you did this," I told her.  "I'm proud of you."

The show must go on

We Plumbs are, first and foremost, a showbiz family.  We have been ever since my grandmother, Jamie Jolina, plucked her guitar in front of her circle of friends at parties in her home in Sunset Valley.  Then, my dearly departed father took that showmanship to a whole new level first as a soloist in the Sunset Valley orchestra and then composing songs for movies and television.
However, I elected not to follow that path, and I have not pressured my children into it at all.  My youngest daughter Skylar, however, has come to it entirely on her own, without any pressure from Andy or me.  We have insisted that we will support her - with one caveat. 
Her education comes first.
And so, we have only allowed her to do auditions around town on Friday and Saturday nights, and not during the week.  And she's only allowed to do sing-a-grams in town on weekdays after she's done with her homework. 
So Saturday evening, after returning from the festival, she'd gotten enough experience points to do an audition in the park, which impressed Rolando the proprietor enough to schedule a performance on Sunday evening.  Since her performance ended at 9:30 on Sunday night, I was okay with this. 

 

Sometimes I don't know where Skylar gets the stamina.  She's taking acting classes, piano lessons, guitar lessons, dance lessons, and she's got straight A's.  She also has a partial scholarship to Sims University, but since she's taking advanced placement courses in school, I expect her to eventually have a full one like Sage had.

As for Kaydence, after she got into it with one of the other girls at the festival, I caught her kicking some of the decorative flamingos.  She hasn't quite figured out what she wants to do with herself yet, but she did enroll in drama courses and music lessons, and I think she dabbles in debate, too.  I don't know how Kaydence does it, either.  Kaydence is talking about emancipating herself from her parents, and she just turned thirteen. 

When we got to the park, who did we run into but Kaydence's mother, Madison, getting very close to Rolando the proprietor! 

In the very same breath, though, Madison shouted at him and argued with him.  I didn't hear what was said, but I imagine Rolando didn't take too kindly to what was said. 

 

During the show itself Madison and Kaydence stood feet from each other, but both literally and figuratively worlds apart from each other.  Neither acknowledged the other; but the facial similarities were more than obvious.  

My baby girl came out, wearing a full head of extensions and my sapphire earrings.  

 

Andy and I stood as proud parents in the front row, with our beaming smiles.

 

Even though Sierra would rather have been somewhere else, we did manage to convince her to come out in support of her sister.

Skylar covered two songs.  I had to admit she was a natural up there on stage.  But the last thing I wanted to do was become a 'stage mom.'  

She finished her performance, to wild applause.  Rolando responded:

Safe to say, baby girl MIGHT have a future in this biz. 

Kaydence's visit

 

My darling baby brother, Sebastian Ryan "Bassy" Plumb, made it official.  He married this lounge singer named Cherise Hall, at some swanky Sunlit Tides resort.  I heard about it like everyone else - by reading about it in the paper.  Heck, that's how Kaydence heard about the wedding.   He hardly knows the woman and yet he says 'I do' to her, moving her into his house, his life, and Kaydence's life.  Just like Bassy.

So the pride of Bassy's loins, my darling little niece Kaydence, has graced us with a visit.

Apparently, the other day Kaydence was hungry and she tried to cook herself some macaroni and cheese.

Unfortunately, she had the fire a little too high and the kitchen just about burned down.

My brother had just come in from one of his acting gigs when the fire broke out.

The fire department was called, and it took nearly three hours to put out the fire. 

So the next day at Community School for the Gifted (CSG), I'm called upon to chaperone the high school fine arts class field trip to the bistro.  And there was Kaydence.

 

Skylar's behavior toward Kaydence, though, was absolutely appalling.  She walked right past her, not even acknowledging her, and went inside with her friend Heather.  

That evening when I got home, I told Skylar about it.   I said point blank that she was not going to behave that way toward another member of this family.
Skylar's response was absolutely chilling.  "You found a little girl you like better than you like me."
"Skylar!"
"It's true, isn't it, Mom?"
"Skylar, of course it's not true.  You're my daughter, I love you."
"How come we don't do anything together anymore?"
I sighed a deep, heavy sigh.  "You're always so busy, Skylar, with your practices and auditions, I don't always want to get in the way.  But you're still my baby girl, you'll always be my baby girl. I love you."

I still don't know if I've gotten through to Skylar.  She's so stubborn. That is VERY familiar, lol. 

She and Kaydence do not like each other at all, and I suspect it's mutual.  I also suspect that there's some jealousy and a little rivalry brewing between them.  I have no idea how to handle girl rivalry because I have zero experience with that.  I was never into that kind of thing growing up, and neither were my daughters up to this point.  Satis was a brainiac, Sage was a tree hugger, and Sierra was, well, Sierra. 

On Friday evening my brother and sister-in-law left in a cab for the airport and Watcher knows where.  They didn't tell me or Kaydence where they were going.

Kaydence decided on her own that instead of spending the weekend by her lonesome at her dad's rental, she would spend it with me.

She arrived at the mansion at 10:30 that night.  Most of us had already gone to bed.  There's a reason I said "most of us."

Most of us, that is, except for Sierra, who was up on the balcony stargazing.   I don't think Sierra knows what sleep is.  Sometimes I hear her up at four in the morning either working out or typing on the computer.

And very early that morning she disappeared out to Summer Hill Springs out by the mansion and went fishing.  She came in boasting about having caught her biggest fish ever.  Sigh.  Andy's daughter, all right. 

Come to think of it, Kaydence being here doesn't matter a whit to Sierra at all.  I don't think anything matters to her.

 

She's pretty much in her own world.  

 

The next morning, Kaydence wanted some help with a homework assignment.  So I decided to help her.  Someone had to.  

Skylar was out in front of the business building performing for tips.
 

That evening, after we'd finished, I heard Kaydence beginning to sob briefly.  But no sooner had that happened than Andy swooped in to the rescue, getting a smile out of her with a dead-on impression of Watcher knows who.

While Kaydence was still laughing, Skylar walked in and she was forced to smile.

Kaydence is an amazing little girl.  At the age of seven, she told me in confidence that her dad had cheated on her mom with her nanny and that she herself had caught them together.   At that young age she realized that even though she loves her parents, what they did was wrong.  My brother Bassy is at least as responsible for what's happened to her as her mother Madison is.  He was handed this incredible little girl on a fucking silver platter and he managed to screw it up.  I cannot believe how badly my brother screwed this up.  Kaydence is having to play catchup with her same-age peers.  And that dismays me more than anything.   

What also dismays me is that once again, I'm cleaning up his mess.  I've been doing it my whole life.

I actually think Kaydence would benefit from counseling.  I think she needs someone to talk to about what happened in her life and help her sort through it. 

 

She's definitely got issues, there's no question about it.  I saw her kicking a flamingo down at the festival.  But overall, I'm surprised she's as well adjusted as she is, given all that's happened to her, and none of it was within her control.

I'm calling Sierra's therapist in the morning.

Faceoff

 

Soon after Ramses' birth, Satis started her medical internship at Sacred Spleen. 

"Mom," Satis called, late at night, "I need someone to watch Ramses for me.  Josh is at the fire station and I have to work, and I can only call the sitter a certain number of times a week."

 Being a grandma means having to babysit at the drop of a hat. 

So there I was with Ramses, who fell asleep on my shoulder.  I swore to the Watcher that I would never be a rocking chair grandma and there I was in a rocking chair with my grandson. 

As for this little boy's father?  After Josh repeatedly refused to answer any of my daughter's calls and couldn't be found anywhere, I'd gotten on my computer and tracked him down. 

I tracked him to a little two-bedroom frame house on Skyborough.

Politely, I rang the doorbell. 

 

When he refused to answer, I knocked.

Finally he answered.  "Satis' mother?"
"Yes.  I'm glad to see you actually retained something in that little pea brain of yours.  Now, my daughter's been trying to contact you for the last three days.  Where the hell have you been?"
"Uh - around?"
"Not acceptable.  My daughter and my grandson demand answers.  They deserve much better than the likes of you."
"I've been at the fire station -"

"For three days straight?  What kind of sucker do you think I am?  I know you're lying to me, I can see it on your face.  You might be able to get Satis to believe that lie, but I don't.  You hurt my daughter, you've hurt me.  That simple.  Listen to me, dodo brain, and listen good.  You do what you've got to do for my daughter and my grandson, or you will be forbidden to see either of them - forever.  No in-between and no dilly-dallying.  And you know I have the power to make that happen."