Unique Blogger Award

Well, might as well spill the beans now as I've been nominated twice here by two extraordinary bloggers with two amazing stories so here goes...

The incredible Jillbg at Grey Witches (a well-written and photographed story about a young teenage witch and her family) and the lovely Lanlyn at Simlish Fair (a collection of stories about sims in different worlds)

Answers to Jillbg's questions:

What is the most annoying thing that has ever happened in your game?

I would have to say when my one teen sim was out skilling and the police arrested her for violating her curfew!  I think that's the one thing I remember...

Do you play with the sound off or on? Why? 

I always play with the sound on!  Helps with the immersion...

Which premade does really get on your nerves?

I can't say I pay much attention to the premades, actually.  In Sims 2 they had such detailed backstories you couldn't help but fall in love with them whether you came across them or not.  Of the premades I've actually come across in my gameplay, I'd have to say one of the most annoying has to be VJ Alvi.  He's currently long dead in my game but he hit my sims and was always mean to them. 

Answers to Lanlyn's questions:

 What are your favorite things to do in The Sims? (just play, challenges, build, design, write stories, create sims, other?)

Mostly I'm a player, I'm not a true storyteller per se, I write mostly what happens in my game.  The one thing I've always loved about the Sims is there is no right or wrong way to play it.  And some people don't even play it, they create for it, and that's okay, too.  Most games, you either win or lose it.  You can't lose at the Sims.  Even when all your Sims die and become ghosts, you can just play them as a ghost family.  

How long have you been playing The Sims? (Sims 1, 2, 3, 4?)

I began playing Sims about 2004-ish. I think I saw Unleashed (Sims 1) in a Walmart and picked it up on a whim. And I went on a forum and started asking questions. There was a very kind and intelligent lady and fellow simmer who answered my questions. We are still friends to this day.  As a matter of fact, a version of her self-sim plays a major role in this story.

Why did you start blogging for The Sims?

I'm not sure actually. I guess I wanted to record what my family was doing, really. No special reason. It just blew up. There was no grand plan. I didn't wake up one day and say, I'm going to do this, that, the other, with my family.  Just didn't happen.  It was more, watch them do whatever and record it, mostly for my own purposes.

Again, I'd like to thank these two incredible storytellers in their own right for nominating me for this award.  It's a tremendous honor, for which I could probably never repay them!  

Nominees:

 Strangetown Here We Come: 

Catching up (part 2)

Anyway, where was I?
Oh yeah, Skylar.  When I was last here, my youngest daughter had an audition for a recurring role on a TV show. 

Baby girl has it in her head that she wants to be a pop star, and who am I to argue with her?

I've always told my kids that whatever makes them happy, will make me happy.  However, I've always had one hard and fast rule - she has to put her education first.  No ifs, ands, or buts.

Even though she doesn't think so, I love her to death.

Anyway, she got the part.  Was there ever any doubt, really?

Contrary to what the naysayers would have you believe, I actually think Skylar is really talented.  She comes from a family of talented people, actually.  They're just not in the immediate family.  

My parents (yes that's my mother in the short pink skirt and that's my father playing the guitar) were both musicians. 

My grandmother was a musician...

So why, why is anyone surprised?  The only surprise here, is that the musical genes in my family didn't show up sooner. 

She's been singing and performing practically since she was in my womb. 

Then, there is her uncle Bassy.  Geez, that boy is so gifted.  I could take him and strangle him sometimes, cause it kills me what he's done with his life.   I've always said that he has more talent in his pinkie than I have in my whole body, and that when it came time to hand out genetic blessings my parents saved them all for him. 

Baby girl has had a few concerts here and there, mostly because I've limited her performances to weekends since she's still in high school and I continue to emphasize education first.    But ironically, Skylar's biggest opportunity came out of her biggest disappointment.

Catching up (part 1)

Hello everyone and happy new year!

First things first.  My oldest biological daughter, Sage Margaret, got engaged over the holidays.   As most of you know, she's been dating her college boyfriend, Kyle Heilman, for nearly two years.  And as far as I can see, they're pretty well matched.

They're both big on gardening, conservation, the outdoors, and the environment.  They stage hunger strikes to support their causes. In addition, Sage rides her horses, paints, sculpts, and does a little writing, too.  The whole show business thing never really appealed to her.  

He proposed to her outside their greenhouse.  No date has been set for the wedding.  One thing is for sure.  I do suspect it will be outdoors.

 

When we found out about Sage's engagement, Andy and I were on the other side of the world, on our own second honeymoon in Shang Simla, China.

In fact, I had been tasked with catching a certain type of koi fish for the ponds at the Scholar's Garden there.

Sierra and Kaydence?  Those two puzzle me more and more every day.  Just before Christmas they took off for Aurora Skies to attend a science and technology convention.

At this point, I don't know who is leading who.  All I know is ever since Kaydence showed up in Sunset Valley with Bassy, those two have basically been inseparable.   Even traveled to the future together.  Even just saying that 'traveling to the future' sounds odd.  But that is par for the course for these two.
And it scares the crap out of me.  If Sierra hasn't already done enough to make your head spin, she's got Kaydence behind her doing even more stuff. 
Kaydence's mother is "Madison Avenue," a charismatic, dynamic, showgirl pop star from Starlight Shores.  Of course, I hate her guts, but you can't deny what she's done.  The woman built herself from nothing to become a legendary pop star.  That she did it mostly on my brother's back was inconsequential... but anyway.  Kady's inherited some of that showgirl panache, given the way she breezed into town.   
But Kady isn't all showgirl flash, either.  She works her ass off, from dawn basically till after the sun goes down. 
She invented this dew that changes sims into different colors, and frankly, it has me spooked.  And she and Sierra have each built plumbots. If I see another bottle of that stuff I will scream.

As for my youngest daughter, Skylar... well,  she had an audition recently for a recurring role on a TV soap - an audition she got, ironically enough, after her biggest disappointment.

It all started with her last gig in the park - a gig that only two people attended.

Skylar was so broken after that gig that I spent the entire night trying to console her.  And she moped around the house for about two days afterward.

On top of that, she wasn't very happy with Mark McCann, the boy she's kinda sorta dating.  As I understand it, Mark was supposed to be at that concert, and it took him nearly two days to call her.

So, to make a long story short, Skylar got a text message - from Kaydence, of all people.  Apparently, the producers of the TV show she works on were looking for an up and coming singer to play a recurring role on the show.  And Kaydence happened to mention Skylar's name...

Andy and I talked about the situation over dinner at the local bistro.  We always make decisions regarding our children together.  He was a little skeptical about it, because he didn't want Skylar to miss school.  We've always regarded school and education as a priority for our kids, which is why Skylar only performs during the weekends and holidays.
To that end, I told him that I had spoken to the producer who assured me that her audition would be on a weekend and not interfere with school, and her education, should she get the role, would be well taken care of.
That seemed to reassure him, and we decided to let her go through with the audition.

Skylar submitted her professionally done photos and went on to her audition. 

Kady and her stepmother

 When Bassy brought his new wife home from his rendezvous in Sunlit Tides, he neglected to tell her that he had a teenage daughter - a teenage daughter from his relationship with one of her singing rivals, Madison Avenue.

When the two finally met, they had difficulty seeing eye-to-eye.  Cherise complained that Kaydence was 'always reading' or doing some homework on her electronic device (which was a gift from me, by the way, she uses hers more than my kids use theirs)

 Kaydence complained that Cherise hardly even spoke to her.

Now, Kady and the butler her dad had hired, Tasha Sorenson, had become quite close in the brief time Tasha had been working for the family. Tasha had become a confidant to her, especially late at night when she would be unable to sleep.  In fact, Tasha was the first person she'd confided in her desire to write.

The next morning, the morning after the couple had returned from the honeymoon, Kady, at Tasha's suggestion, heard stirring upstairs, so she went up to see who was awake. 

 "While Dad was knocked out sleeping," I said,

 "I saw my stepmother staring out of the window."

 "Good morning.  Did you rest well?" I asked her, attempting to make conversation. 

 "To my surprise, I saw a smile crease her usually serious face.  'I guess you could say that I did,' she answered me. 

 "I could tell she was still a little tired so rather than press my luck further I let her go back to sleep." 

 

 Apparently Kaydence wasn't the only person who had been confiding in Tasha the butler.  Cherise had been complaining about her to Tasha as well.

So Tasha, the butler and impartial observer, played mediator in this impasse between stepmother and stepdaughter.  She suggested they go do something fun together, get to know each other a little bit.

 They did as Tasha had suggested, went out to see a movie.  They got so engrossed in the movie that time basically flew.

 Even made silly faces at each other afterwards.  The movie they had seen was a screwball comedy, after all.

 A few days later, they did something much more to Kaydence's liking - entered a hot dog eating contest.  She is Bassy's daughter, after all, and she likes food.

  

 They entered alongside two people neither of them knew.  But as they proceeded to stuff their faces, it was clear that Cherise wasn't used to scarfing down that much food.

 Even poor Kady had to take a break....

 ...before returning to her plate.  By then, though, the woman next to her had already won the contest.

 Poor Cherise, though, couldn't take anymore, and her hot dogs ended up behind some flowers on the ground in the park. 

Prom Night

A while ago, I told you guys that Kady's friend, Terry, finally got up the courage to ask her to the prom.

And would you believe she said YES!

On the weekend she said yes to Terry taking her to the prom, she was over at Bassy's visiting her dad, stepmom, and her baby brother.  And she couldn't resist taking in a little of Halls of History.  That's her idea of a guilty pleasure.

A few moments later, she said, my brother walked in and interrupted her, asking her about her fave TV shows.

He talked about sports...

...while she talked about movies...

...and, proving she's every inch his kid, revealed she likes watching cooking shows, too.

A few hours later, after she'd changed into her prom dress, Bassy had told her that she looked like her mother.  Which she does.

She stepped outside, waiting for the limousine to arrive.  Her dress is in her favorite color.

It was a dreary evening in Sunset Valley as the limo arrived.

Terry and Kaydence sat in silence as they pulled away from Bassy's rental home.

They dodged light misty raindrops as they entered the school building.  Kady says Terry grabbed her hand and held it.

Kaydence walked in several hours later.  Her expression as she'd walked in said it all.  She'd had the time of her life.

She was greeted, she said, by her stepmother.  "Did you have fun, dear?" Cherise had asked.

Kaydence decided to tell her all about it.  She'd told me she'd had rather have had her real mom there at that moment, but since Cherise was there, she told her instead.

Aww, such a cute couple.

On top of everything else, she even won prom queen.