Strohm Legacy

2005-09-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

A moment of silence please.

The Strohm family died an untimely death when my computer decided to blow up on me. I still hold out hope that some day they can be restored to the living, but for now, I have mourned them and moved on with life.

Please join me in reading about my new Legacy family, the Vacha's. You can find them here:
http://vachafamily.blogspot.com/

2005-09-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, University - The Later Years

I'm not sure why the kids decided the entrance to the dorm was a good place to do this, but I just thought this was a cute shot of Zircon hanging out with some friends. Sort of the calmn before the storm, you know?

I guess Kendra doesn't think much of Jay's musical abilities. Fortunately, she doesn't have to listen to him killing a cat for too long, because...

The storm, erm, I mean Melisand, has arrived at university and Kendra gets kicked out to make room! (For some reason, my picture of her default young adult outfit didn't load in to here... it actually wasn't bad, except it was very much a jock's type outfit and didn't suit her at all.) Here she is after a quick trip to the mall for some clothes and a new hairstyle.

Melly invites Vasyl into the ponytail club.

Yuck, thought I was much closer in than this and obviously I just barely managed to snap the picture in time, but Zircon and Arianna just got engaged.

For those of you who think Meadow Thayer is the cat's meow, here's what she turns out like as an Elder. Yup, the cook in the Strohm Dorm at Academie le Tour is none other than teen hottie, Meadow Thayer. Not terribly ambitious, was she.

Don't you just love sibling love? (Actually, these two get along very well. They always have and hopefully always will.)

"What are you doing in my kitchen boy!"
"See that puddle you're standing in? That's from the sprinkler system you set off when you set the food on fire. The food you then proceeded to put out on the counter for the students to eat. If you think I'm going to touch that junk when I can make myself a delicious hamburger, you're out of your mind, lady."

And another member of the ponytail club! *cough* Another sim who's name I've plumb forgotten. Oh well. She's not all that important anyway.

Poor Meadow. She becomes the perennial victim of both Strohm children when they need a quick aspiration boost. So out of curiosity... how far down in relationship points do sims have to be before they start fighting with each other? *whistles innocently*

Here's a shot of Melisand studying hard to get her A+. What? It's not MY fault they let the students do their teachers to get better grades. And she was looking for someone to satisfy some, urm, you know... "wants."

"I can't believe you've graduated already, Z! It's going to be so lonely without you around."
Yes, a whole lot of time passed in between Melly coming to college and Z graduating. But it wasn't terribly exciting and didn't need to have pictures shared. ;-)

"Well, you'll still have your teacher around, although what you see in the old coot I'll never know. And you won't have to paint me masterpieces to sell anymore, you know, just to keep your big brother happy."
"Oh, good point. That means more time to make out with boys! And you know exactly what I see in my teacher. A perfect 4.0 grade point average. We've had this discussion before."

"I can't believe they're going to kick me out of here soon, Ari! I don't know if I'm ready for the real world yet!"
He looks almost panic-stricken. She looks suitably unimpressed. I'd suck it up and start behaving like a man, Z.

Melisand went shopping before Zircon's graduation party. She bought herself a slinky dress, some lovely jewelry and some very grown up looking make-up. You can't really see it (I wasn't able to get any of the pictures in closely enough), but her necklace and earrings are of a cat sitting upright, head turned to stare at a pearl. Very cool stuff, downloaded from The Sims Resource. Sadly, I don't have the artist's name who created them, but he/she is VERY talented in my opinion!)

Z was only allowed to invite 2 guests to his graduation party, so he invited his mom and his fiance. Smart man, not dissing the women. ;-)

You know... if there wasn't daylight visible through the glass there, I'd think Zircon was a vampire, the way he frequently sucks on Arianna's neck like that. Fortunately, she doesn't seem to mind hickies.

(Hmm, another shot is missing here too. :-( Had a shot of everyone toasting Zircon, but it's not here. *grumbles*)

Are you sure this is legal? I mean, you guys get high enough that you literally float there! (Everyone had so much fun with this that I kept it even after the party. *g*)

"So, now that you've graduated, are you ready to start that family? Your father and I aren't getting any younger (except when we take a shot of Elixir) and we want grandchildren soon. Your father wants SIX of the little rugrats even!"
"You can tell dad I'm having two. TWO children. If he wants more than that, he'll have to work on convincing Mel to have 'em."

I think Melly is supposed to be waving goodbye to her big brother, but she's a little confused on where he's at if that's the case. And I will definitely be doing something very quickly about that dorky outfit that Z's wearing now that he's an adult. *shudders* A yellow tie with a purple shirt? Geeze!

Melisand decided she wanted to keep wearing her new jewelry and make-up, even when in her everyday wear. I figure she bought it, she's entitled to it.

"Okay, wait. You want me to do what with HIM??"

"Man, the things we Romance sims will put up with for a little WooHoo. Just because I spun up the want to WooHoo with 3 sims doesn't mean you had to force this guy on me."
Well, if you'd gotten the phone number of that cute guy who keeps streaking your dorm, I would have brought him over for you. Not my fault you couldn't score his number! (She'd talked to the guy the first day he streaked, but every time after that, he'd come streaking as an invisible sim, noticable only from the pixilations. And he was no longer in her phone book, so she hadda make do with the mascot.)

By that smile on your face there, Mel, I'd say what they say about geeks and sex is true, huh?
"Go away, I'm basking in the glow here and you're ruining it."
*grumbles and stomps off* Can't even get my props when I give her a good hookup, selfish girl. *grumbles some more*

Melisand does her homework again, making sure she keeps up that 4.0 GPA.

Um, Melly? I'd lower the caffeine intake if I were you. Or don't work out as much, to lower those endorphins. Or something. You're sort of freaking me out here with that look...

Although I guess if she's going to go prancing around in her fancy gem-encrusted underwear in front of all the boys, she needs to keep her body in peak shape.
"Darn tootin! Besides, how else will they know what they're missing by deciding to live with me instead of picking another dorm so I could have WooHoo'd with them. You won't let me fool around with anyone here, since it'll apparently 'hurt their feelings,' the big wussies."

I can't remember which of her conquests she'd tempted into the changing booth while deciding if she wanted to buy new underwear or not. I think it was the mascot. Looks like the dang fool girl went and let herself fall in love though with whoever it was. I'll have to see what I can do about that.

Here's a shot of Melisand in her new outfit for her senior year. (Hmm, you know, I think I forgot to show Zircon in his senior year threads. I'll have to see if I remembered to snap a picture of him or not.) My plan is, they wear whatever suits them best for their first 3 years of college, then they wear something a little more mature looking their senior year. She still looks totally hot. I haven't decided if she's going to get married and pop out 4 kids or if she's just going to sleep with lots of guys and have 4 kids. We'll see what mood I'm in when she graduates.

And we'll end with a shot of the sim I created to be a placeholder for University. Mostly, I wanted to include her because I absolutely LOVE her outfit! Downloaded from Sim Chic. Incredible work over there and well worth joining (it's not a free site, FYI). I'm going to have to have one of my played sims wear this too.

Okay, that's it for now. Hopefully it won't be so long before I get more updates here. I just hadn't had a lot of time to play lately. :-(

2005-09-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, Chapter 7

Jade makes another appearance and, as she usually does, stops by the spot where she died and cries. I don't blame you one bit, sweetie. You were taken before your time was up! *glares at Grimmy*

Then she takes a swing past her old bed, cheering for the memories she and her husband made there.

And oddly enough, her next stop on this particular night was to Kennedy's urn, where she leaped inside to join him and, by the looks of things, they held their own private roof raising party!

And my first ghost glitch. Both urns no longer touch the pedestals they're supposed to be resting on. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that this is the worst I have to deal with on this lot.

Melisand comes home after school a few days a week and heads straight here to mourn her grandmother. Kinda sweet, if you ask me.

"Sweetheart, now that our son is in college and our daughter is getting close, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for all the wonderful WooHoo you've given me over the years."

Sheesh, you'd think he was a Romance sim, not a Family sim. *rolls her eyes* That man talks about WooHoo more than any non-Romance sim I know. Of course, he's been super easy to keep platinum, since all he wants to do is play with his relatives and fool around with his wife. :-D

"You know, Nery, your son may look sort of geeky, but he is definitely all man!"
"Um, cool. Thanks for sharing, Ari. No, really. I'm gonna go pound on the drums for a bit now, m'kay? That's okay that we lost the drumsticks, I was planning on using my head anyway."

In my attempt to get a CUTE pizza delivery guy, I had the current one move in and then back out. In between, however, Melly took the opportunity to use that handy little device behind her to suck the poor guy of every drop of Aspiration he had, thereby triggering a visit from the shrink. *cackles loudly* And then she had the balls to make fun of him for being crazy. You're the one who put him there, Mel! *conveniently disowns any responsibility for having made Melisand do anything to the poor guy...*

Why is it on the portrait pictures, they always seem to draw the boobs first? I mean, that's your DAUGHTER you're painting there, Jade! Sheesh.

Oh yeah, they're not obsessed with Mel's breasts or anything. Nope, not at all.
"Say, if I rub them like a genie lamp, will you give me 3 wishes?"
The poor girl looks as shocked as I am by this townie's (who's name I've completely forgotten) conversational skills.

"I am not interested in romance or WooHoo."
Melly was awesome on the lie detector. Out of 14 attempts, she only got caught once!

Nope, not a Romance sim at all. That doesn't just happen to be a statue of Cupid you're sitting there daydreaming next to or anything...

Kennedy doesn't wait long at all to make his first appearance as a ghost. The same night he died, he floated around, just checking everything out. Jewel hasn't scared anyone at all yet and Kennedy at least gave them a peaceful first haunting night.

Then he decided it was time to have a little fun.

After scaring Nery, I guess he felt dirty or something, 'cause he went and drew himself a bath.

Kennedy? Hon? I think you're supposed to step into a tub, not jump into it head first. Good thing you're dead or you'd likely break your fool neck.

Kennedy swung past Jade several times during the night, each time triggering both of them to think about each other.

Then, for some inexplicable reason towards the end of the night, he decided to scare his daughter. Right after this, he calmly went back to his urn and retired for the night. *sigh*

Melisand heard about her parents' evening and decided she was definitely ready for college. She applied for her scholarships and took off Monday morning.

"Catch ya later, kiddos! I'm off to university where I can do whatever I want whenever I want!"
Hoo-boy... why am I suddenly worried? Well, we'll see what mischief she gets up to next time. See you back at college.

2005-08-31T18:22:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, Chapter 6

Melisand invites Ralph over, looking for her to get her first kiss. Looks like she made a good choice, the way this boy whistles at her...

... and flirts with her ...

... and gives her back massages...

... and ... WHAT?!? He rejected her for her first kiss?? Are you serious? You stupid, foolish, pathetic little boy! You have no idea what you've thrown away. Never fear, poor Melly does get her first kiss. With Amar. She stayed friends with Ralph, but never tried to make a move on that stupid townie again, by my actions or her own. Once spurned, forever written off.

And here's Melly going out on her date. With the much smarter, and obviously more wealthy, Amar.

You know, you'd think a Romance sim wouldn't be so embarrassed when her father gooses her mother.

And here's Jade and a co-worker in their fancy shmancy chef's outfits. Unfortunately, the picture wasn't as close in as I thought it was. Jade's got this cool dragon pattern on the back of her outfit. I'll try to remember to snap a closer picture next time I play (which will be shown a few chapters from now).

And after sampling all those dishes she makes as a Celebrity Chef, Jade had to pump a little iron to get back into shape.

But daaaamn, her ride to work is SWEET!

That's right, make sure you buckle in. I've heard your driver is a speed demon.

Haven't a bloody clue what Jade is dreaming about here, but it looked cool. (It's a big star surrounded by a bunch of little stars - I'm guessing it's got something to do with reaching the top of her career track?)

And Nery finally maxes his creativity, finishing his mother-in-law's unfinished picture. Such a good son-in-law he is.

And it's time for Kennedy to join his lovely wife. He was definitely adrift once Jewel died. He wandered around the house, doing nothing except calling old friends and painting pictures.

Although all the women in the Strohm clan (even those not quite brought into it) are distraught, but Kennedy seems to be taking it all in stride.

"Kennedy, I got something stuck on my finger. What the heck is it?"
"I don't know Grim, but don't bring that thing closer to me. It looks like something died there!"

"Come, sweet Kennedy. It's time to be rejoined with your wife."
It looks like Grim is caressing Kennedy's cheek there or something.

The family gathers around Kennedy's platinum Popularity urn and mourns his passing.

Jewel and Kennedy, reunited in death. They had a wonderful life together and took their legacy from a home with their furniture on the lawn to a large family estate worth a decent sum of money. I think both of them will be looking forward to watching how the clan they founded grows. I know I will.

"So, now that you guys have all this inheritance money, do you think you can shell out some dough for Zircon to take me skiing?"

Um, Jade? Melly? Is this really how you should be mourning the passing of your father and grandfather?

Ladies? Please. Show a little decorum, will you?

Kennedy wastes no time in returning to the homestead to check out how things are going. He takes a moment to mourn himself while everyone else continues on with life.

2005-08-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, University Years

Here's Zircon at university. Er, okay, he looks like the ultimate geeky Freshman here. We'll definitely need to do something about that. But first...

Meet Jay. Our perpetual Term Paper Writer. This will be Zircon's target every semester to influence to write his term paper for him.

This is MUCH better than that geeky look. Okay, so it's kind of artsy, but Zircon doesn't seem to mind and I rather like it myself.

"So Dorm Girl, you can see I'm manly, despite what the other kids say, right? I mean, just look at me!"
"You're bothering me and I'm trying to watch TV. Go away, geek."

"Ah, my prescious blossom. Now that I'm a young adult, we can finally take our relationship to the next level. Say you will come on this fascinating journey with me and make me a happy man."
Hmm, I think maybe that artsy look is rubbing off a bit too much there...

Although it appears Arianna likes it. So I guess it'll stay.

Geeze, Zircon, you two are in public! Are you sure you should be sucking on her neck like that?

Oh, yeah, like that's so much better. *shakes her head* At least take it out of the dining room, will you?

If that's not a look that says "thank you" I don't know what is. I guess these two will be happy together.

"Oh baby, you've made me so happy!"

Um, Z? Isn't the woman supposed to leap into the man's arms?

Okhaay, looks like these two are into the whole gender revesal stuff. Whatever works for you.

"So, my precious flower, now that I'm a young adult and we're allowed to experiment, will you make a real man out of me?"

"Oh, I thought you'd never ask, Zircon!"

Uh, yeah, I think maybe we'll just leave these two alone for a while, sound good? *quietly closes the door behind her*

You've definitely earned that small grin on your face there, Z. Good job on some good WooHoo.

Going to let her wander around in her underwear now, Z, so you can make all the other boys in the dorm jealous?

"Z, baby, are you going to go bragging to all your friends here now that we've had WooHoo?"
"Of course I am. I'm a college boy and the first one in my dorm to have WooHoo!"

"Hey Dorm Girl! Did you hear I had WooHoo? And it was amazing! I can't wait to have it again!"

"Yeah, sure, I think we all heard you two last night. I don't need to hear any of the details, thanks anyway."

"Besides, a woman should keep her virtue safe and not give it away until after she's been legally married."
"I'm sorry, were you talking? I was thinking about the WooHoo I had last night..."
"Whatever."

"*pant* Now that *pant* I've gotten Ari into *pant* my bed, I need *pant* to make sure to *pant* stay studly so none *pant* of the other college boys *pant* can turn her head. *wheeze*"

"Oh yeah, who's the man! She ain't gonna be lookin' nowhere else for her luvin'!"

Finally, Zircon gets down to the business of actual college work. Took him bloody long enough.

"Jay! Why aren't you writing my term paper? I'm doing important work here with this SSX3 game and you're going to lower my GPA!"
"I need to go to the bathroom, Zircon. I'll get back to it soon. ..... My folks are so going to kill me for failing school because I wrote someone else's term papers. If only that geek wasn't so darn influential."

And we'll end this chapter here. I doubt I'll have more of Z in college, unless Melly winds up in the same dorm. But it'll likely be after Zircon graduates and heads back home. See you there!

2005-08-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, Chapter 5

ACK! Zircon! What the heck happened to your face?!? You shower constantly, you've never had your cleanliness meter go more than 2/3rds of the way down. How the heck could you get such monster zits!

Oh. This may have something to do with it. They'd ordered some Chinese food in hope of finding a cute mate for a future Heir. This guy doesn't cut the cake though, so I'll have to get him moved in and back out in hopes of getting a cute delivery guy.

"Getemoffgetemoff! Make those things go away, Controller!"
I would if I could, Z. Believe me. They bother me as much as they bother you.
"I doubt it. It's not your face they're ruining! And you'd better keep Arianna away while I look like this!"

"So, sweetheart, our family is starting to make some decent money. Think we can take a trip somewhere soon?"
Well, Kennedy, one of you two will be going somewhere soon, but I don't think it's what you had in mind...

See... there's a -reason- I never let my Sims fix either the dishwasher or the trash compactor. Anything else in the house is fair game, but not those two items. It's rare I've seen someone able to fix either one without getting electrocuted.

At least Arianna and Jade seemed to get a good chuckle out of the situation. This was the first of their relationship points too. Weird women, if you ask me. (Although I usually giggle over it too, so who'm I to talk.)

Jade really is a cutie, when she keeps the pounds off. Gotta make sure to keep her fit, especially since ever since she got fat, she constantly spins up wants to either use the exercise machine, go swimming, or get fit.

Grim! No!! You're not allowed to take Jewel yet! Her life bar isn't full or anything, you line jumping idjit!

I thought I'd be all upset when my very first Sim -ever- was to die. Except the Grim Reaper showed up early. Jewel still had space left on her life bar, so I wasn't expecting him. So she died with like 50,000 aspiration points unspent AND she'd gotten fat with the meal she was just cleaning up from. So now she's a fat ghost. *sigh* Stupid early arrivals.

"Pull my finger, Jewel."
"Ew, no way. I've seen Nery pull that one."
"No, really, pull it."
"No!"
"Fine, fine. We'll do this a different way."

"Here, have a drink, Jewel."
"With alcohol? Sweet! This blasted Controller of ours has kept this place dry and never bought us a bar or anything. Gimme that!"
Hey, it's not MY fault you never spun up the want to buy a bar. If you'd let me know you wanted one, I would have bought one.
"Yeah, you say that now, when it's too late for me to spin the want. Hmph. Let's blow this clam bake, Grimmy."

Kennedy was so distraught, he came running out of his shower without bothering to put his clothes on first! No wonder everyone's hiding their eyes.

Er, okay. I guess he just wanted some coffee...
"What's everyone crying about?"
We'll just let him figure it out on his own, eh?

I feel badly for Jade. Throughout her entire life, she and her mom got along famously. (Wish I could say the same about me and mine!) If I'd had a way of resurrecting Jewel, I might have, just to make Jade happy. But I didn't, so I didn't.

Oh, sure, NOW you mourn your wife! Well, I guess better late than never.

Jewel Strohm (Cancer), Legacy Family Founder
Platinum Fortune Sim Urn - 1 point
Lifetime Want: Chief of Staff - Achieved - Not an impossible want (only 25k points)
Spouse: Mailman - 1 point
Died with 6 Family Friends - 2 points
Family Net Worth: 145k - 2 points (rounded up)
Career Rewards: (I think they have, erm, 4 of 'em - no points until we have all 10 anyway)
3rd Generation Heir born - 3 points

Jewel's dead less than a day and already her family is thinking more about the money she left them than about her. Sheesh!

And the masterpiece portrait Jewel will never get a chance to finish. :-(

Nery was as work when Jewel died, so he promptly went off to her urn to mourn the loss of his mother-in-law. Either that, or they're tears of joy that she's no longer around to look disdainfully at him. They weren't really all that fond of each other.

"Why! Why did you have to take my mother! Who else will commiserate with me now about having to marry foolish NPC men! Curse you, Grim Reaper!"

Alas, life continues to march on. It's time for Melisand to grow up into a teenager. We invited Amar over so that Melly could get to work almost immediately on finding herself a boyfriend.

"Oh please, oh please, don't let me have my brother's nose! Please let me be hot, like my mom and grams."

Melisand, it's not very ladylike to do that in public with everyone watching. And what on earth have you been eating to make it so colorful?

Yay! Another hot Strohm lady. I might have to rethink this whole firstborn takes the heirdom... I might need to go with the oldest female gets it. Decisions, decisions.

And why is it all the females seem to enjoy rubbing themselves when they turn into teens?? Her mom did the same thing when she aged. Although since she did roll the Romance aspiration, I suppose it's not too unexpected.

"Oh, her parents invited me here for this. Maybe I'll get lucky with her. I hope I hope I hope!"
Sorry, Amar. Even if you're boyfriend material, you're not just a teen, but you're a townie. These heirs are only allowed to marry NPC's.

Melly develops a desire for horticulture.

Ah, that's much better. Low rise pants and a cute halter top.

Um, Melly? Just what is it that you're growing there??

And Zircon decides he's waited long enough. He's ready to get himself off to college so he can finally make some time with his promised bride! See you next chapter, when we visit La Fiesta Tech.

2005-08-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, Chapter 4

Nery is such a good Family sim, he enjoys taking care of his young daughter. (And I love these tender family scenes, so I had to find a way to sneak it in.)

Of course, this is one of the annoying side effects of Family sims. They are incapable of simply coming home from work. They absolutely MUST give us a rousing chorus of "The Hills Are Alive" or something. *rolls eyes*

Somehow, I completely missed Melly transitioning from a toddler to a child. Here she is in the very cool green Space Jammies. Yes, Melisand, you have all of your fingers dear.

Jewel -constantly- wants to tuck Melly in whenever she goes to sleep. She didn't do this with Zircon when he was a child. Despite this, her relationship with Melisand isn't all that great. Go figure.

Wanted to keep a picture of this painting, because I thought it was such a cool one. But Jade was getting very close to the red in her aspiration and needed to sell a masterpiece, so off it went. :-(

Jade, sweetie... you keep shoving those candies into your mouth like that and you're going to pork out.

Nevermind, too late. Well, we'll just take care of that next chapter, won't we.

Zircon reaches Overachiever status, snagging himself a nice scholarship and his father and grandfather some aspiration points.

I created the Wiseheart siblings, cute sims to pass off to any Spares to the Heir I find I enjoy playing too much to give up. ;-)

Zircon works on making sure Arianna notices him.

"Z, watch those hands! You're not allowed to touch until you go to college, bub!"
"Damn, when can I go? Can I go now? Can I? Please?"
Nope, not yet. You need to work on your skills a bit more. Stop trying to make time with your future wife and you'll get there faster.

Although I suppose one can't exactly blame the poor boy for being a bit anxious...

Jewel FINALLY manages to max out her creativity skill. Took you long enough woman!

Yeah, I know, that was a short chapter. This was mostly just filler between the last chapter and the next one, where lots of stuff happens. See you there! *wave*

2005-08-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, Chapter 3

When last we left our intrepid Legacies, Nery was begging Jade to let him try for a second kid. Was he successful? Will Jade ever compliment her goofball of a husband? Will the heir grow up to look like a dork or will he be a cutie? These questions and more will be answered in this chapter, dear reader!

"Great job on the Woohoo last night, Kennedy!"
~Man, I wish I could woohoo like my father-in-law. Jade never compliments me on my woohoo. I even got her pregnant last night and still no props!~
(You can ignore the kid in the foreground with the cake - I don't care how out of order this picture is, it worked too well with the ending of the previous chapter.)

Jade whiles away her maternity leave holding impromptu concerts with her parents. Fortunately, Jewel's and Kennedy's creativity scores are almost maxxed, so the concert doesn't sound like a bunch of cats in heat.

"So, gardener chick who's name I don't remember. If you join this household, you will not have to do manual labor like gardening again. But you won't ever get to rest either until you're near ready to croak. And you'll have to make sure to pop out the kids really quickly when you first move in. You ready for that?"

"Oh! I almost forgot! We're supposed to get ghosts in this place too! Of course, I haven't seen any yet, but I'm sure I will. So, you still in?"

"You know, Mrs. Strohm, I'm thinking maybe your son would be more interested in the blonde bimbo who exposes half her clevage after all..."

Aww, even in his sleep, Nery can tell whenever Jade finally comes to bed with him. He's so smitten!

Okay... Jade at least has an excuse for getting so big. What's your excuse, you bathtub jumping freak? To work with you! *snaps her whip*

Damn, I'm good. Fit already, boyo!

And just in time to "help" your wife give birth by alternately panicking and clapping your hands!

Without much adu, Jade gives birth to our spare to the heir, Melisande. Although her first trimester of pregnancy was rough (she was sick constantly), the rest of her pregnancy was a breeze. Her needs hardly seemed to move, which was a pleasant change from her mom, who was ALWAYS hungry, exhausted or in dire need of the toilet whenever she was pregnant.

Nery greets his daughter from quite some distance away. I don't know, maybe baby girls make him nervous or something?

Kennedy has no problem coming right up and greeting his new granddaughter.

~So, mom... this strange man is related to us? Why?~

Jewel plays with little Melisande. For a Fortune sim, she spends more time than anyone else auto'ing things with Melly. She'll even wake up in the middle of the night to let Melly out of the crib if she wakes up early.

"I'm home! ..... I said, I'm home! .... I AM HOME!!"
Do you get the feeling nobody cares, Nery?

Nery entertains Melly and, as a Family sim, is easy to keep platinum, since he constantly spins up wants to play with her and talk to her and whatnot. As long as I remember to pass her off to someone else to change her diper, because he never seems to get rid of that fear until his kids turn into children.

Meanwhile, Jade goes back to working on the Neverending Novel. I swear, she's been working on this thing for YEARS! The payoff for this better be worth it. (And no, she doesn't finish it anytime in this chapter. We'll see about next chapter.)

So... Zircon managed to sneak off and transform into a teen without me looking. And then, of course, because we lost our air conditioning, my computer overheated and locked up, so I lost a bunch of stuff, including his transformation, because I didn't save. You'd think I would have learned my lesson from the previous 2 times I lost my game, but noooo, not me. *sigh* Oh well. I didn't like this outfit anyway.

This time, I paid attention and got Zircon a birthday cake before his teen birthday! Such a good SimController I am. *cough*

"Hmm, what should I wish for? Oh, I know, I'd had that freaky dream where I turned into this rather hideous teenager. I wish for that to NOT happen this time!"

We're all crossing our fingers.

Well, damn. You can't see it all that well here, but I think he turned out even uglier! (I'd heard that setting the picture size to Medium size, High quality would give me clearer pictures than the Large size, High quality setting I'd had it on. It does, but I didn't realize it would also keep me farther zoomed out than before. So I'll have to make sure to zoom in closer on my pictures now, but that won't happen until halfway through the next chapter.)

So, anyway, this simply will not do. First a trip to the wardrobe, then a trip to the mirror.

"You're kidding, right? This is not the haircut you're going to stick me with, is it? I mean, c'mon! My hair is all in my face and stuff lady!"

Here's what Zircon looks like now. If he looks like he's got a board shoved up his backside, it's because I not only read him the riot act for his attitude earlier, but I threatened to put him back the way he was before. He shaped up really quickly after that.

The family gathers around to celebrate Melisande becoming a toddler. (I'd sent Jade back to work, since her parents have 4 days off in a row between them as their days off and she needs to get cracking on becoming a Celebrity Chef so I can stop worrying about her mood.)

"And a whoopsie daisy!"

To be honest, I haven't a bloody clue why Melisande is crying here. She wasn't hungry or tired or anything. I guess she just didn't want to grow up.

But she does enjoy holding court! We'll end the chapter there, with Zircon trying to convince Melisande that toy trains are much better than silly rabbit heads. Pfft, like she'd fall for that.

(And I will thank jfed eternally for pointing out that you can skyrocket your teen and adult sims' social needs by having them play with a toddler with the rabbit head! Wow is that so much easier than cycling them through the telephone or having two of them just chitchat!)

2005-08-02T19:25:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, Chapter 2

So, after the Eternal Fire, 3 Mockingbird Lane was bulldozed and the Strohm's moved in to 10 Mockingbird Lane. Built their house smaller this time too. (And blatantly stole the idea for individual toilet stalls from Jfed142. Great idea for multiple people to go to the bathroom at the same time, but take up just a small amount of space.) Obviously this shot was taken after I found out how to do the boolprop cheat to get back my Political and Medicine career rewards.

And the outside of 10 Mockingbird Lane.

Well... apparently, I hadn't saved my game in a while when I moved the family out (without saving) and moved them into their new home. I liked their clothes better the first time they turned into elders, but the inadvertant reset on my part (I really thought I'd saved more frequently than that!) meant I was able to have Jade and Quinn start up portraits of Jewel and Kennedy while they were still Adults and not Elders. Yay for slackerness on my part!

Zircon's cake was apparently possessed or something though. I put through the command for Jade to bring him to his cake, the candles lit, but while they were heading into the kitchen, Jade put Zirzon down, he transformed into a child and the candles weren't blown out. So I had someone clean up the unused cake, but for some reason, the flames remained. It was kinda freaking me out though, so I moved their food processor there to hide the flames.

I thought I was closer in than this, but apparently not. I'll try to remember to take another picture when I play again. But Zircon turned into a cute child. Not sure I like the hairstyle though, but I haven't gotten around to changing it yet either.

"So, honey, now that we're elders, can I FINALLY have a beer?"

Jewel tucks her grandson in to bed.

These two really are so cute together. Another autonomous display of affection.

Kennedy was developing a spare tire, so he quickly took steps to remove it. Alright, I took steps to remove it. Quick nitpicking!

"Kennedy, now that you're an old geezer, are you allowed to still kiss people or will it give you a heartattack?"
Kennedy didn't dignify Regina with a response.

Nery got the Science reward (I hadn't yet found the cheat on how to restore the career rewards I lost when they had to move, so that's the only one out there when this was taken).

Kennedy spun up the want to kiss, so I figured I'd oblige.

And as I was curious to see what geezers making out looked like, manipulated them to do so. Seems Quinn isn't the least bit phased by his parents making out on the couch.

I left them alone to get Quinn and Nery breakfast and came back to find this. I hope my husband I are like this when we're old and gray too!

Poor Nery. He published some rediculous paper about llamas and alpacas and heaven only knows what else and wound up the laughing stock of the science community, so they kicked his butt to the curb. At least they gave him a slamming ride home!

Aww, buck up, Nery! You got us the Science reward before you got canned. Now you can get us something else!

Zircon rushes outside to greet Jade when she comes home. I guess he figures Nery must be too manly to want public hugs when he gets home or something. Did you SEE those pictures of your dad in the tub kid? And you think he's manly?!?

Quinn -finally- sold a masterpiece! He'd dropped down into the red and I managed to sell one masterpiece, which got him up to the green (he was waaaay down in the red). Spun up the want immediately to sell another masterpiece, but it took me FOUR BLOODY PAINTINGS before one qualified! He had 5 hours left before he became an adult and I wanted him in the platinum, darnit! Thankfully, I managed to squeek that one out.

Yeah, Quinn, we know, nobody likes the darn cakes. Not much I can do about it though. Sorry.

Well, I guess he grew into his features, but that hair has GOT to go. He looks like Fabio or something there! Wow, his bod is cut though... maybe I should find an outfit without a shirt for him.

Nah, just gonna kick him out of the house. The whole family runs over to wish Quinn luck in his new life on his own.

"So, angel, now that we've got a spare bedroom again, don't you think it's time we worked on a spare to the heir? It's been an awfuly long time since we've 'raised the flagpole'."

"I mean, you've been getting some great promotions and making lots of money. We can afford another kid and I want 6 grandchildren someday. Please? Pleeeaaaaasssseeee?"

Evil me is going to make you wait to see if they get to working on a second kid or if Jade makes Nery beg a lot more. See ya next chapter!

2005-08-02T18:01:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 3, Chapter 1

Jade and Nery are finally ready to tie the knot. Nery looks a might too pleased with himself there, doesn't he.

Jewel and Jade share a look just before the ceremony starts.
"I hope Jade winds up as lucky with her arranged marriage as I did with mine..." Jewel thinks as the music cues up.

The ceremony goes off without a hitch and Jade and Nery are ready to start the rest of their lives together.

"So... I guess we should get going with this whole continuing the family line business, eh?"
"Well, Jade, sweetie, if you insist." He's playing it so debonaire there, isn't he.

And a good time was had by all!

A very good time! Jade had a fairly easy pregnancy. She threw up just that first "day" and the rest of her first trimester she was fine. Her outfit could be better, but it could definitely be a lot worse too.

Whoah, she definitely got MUCH bigger than Jewel ever did! I wonder if she's carrying twins? That would be so cool!

Jewel is pushing to get her next promotion, so she takes a brief dip in the energizer so she can pull an all-nighter and get that last logic point.

Which turned out to be a good thing, since she was the only one there for Jade when it came time for her to give birth to Generation 3. She looks so excited for her daughter, doesn't she?

Jade gives birth to an adorable little boy and quickly hands him off to Grandma, since she had 3 needs down in the red. Jewel doesn't seem to mind at all getting a little bit of bonding time in with her grandson.

Young Zircon has his father's pretty blue eyes and red hair. His skin seems to be a little darker than his mom's but not nearly as dark as his grandfather's. And way darker than his dad's.

Isn't that sweet? Kennedy and Jewel are still very much in love, even though they're about to become old geezers.

Kennedy gets to travel in -style- to his job as Mayor of Veronaville!

Triple birthday time! Both Jewel and Kennedy are ready to become elders and Zircon is about to become a toddler. I think this was where my glitchiness starts from.

Kennedy isn't bad as an elder.

Jewel makes a good looking elder herself!

Jade comes home from work sporting her many pieces of flair. (Bonus points for those of you who know where that phrase comes from.)

The Strohm Family has accumulated enough money to redo their house. 2 stories was a bit of a pain in the butt to deal with, especially since there were always log jams at the stairs. So I redid the place as one huge one story place. Actually too big, but I figured I'd leave it for future generations to grow into. This might also have been what triggers the glitches I get, not sure.

Jade teaches her son to talk.

Well, he wasn't interested in saying "bottle" but "teddy" worked well. Jade looks like such the proud momma!

Nery does a little playing in the bathtub.

For quite a while, he plays in the tub.

Here's a close up of Zircon. I guess his skin tone is just like his mom's. (I didn't notice that Jade's was a bit darker than Jewel's before, but I guess it must be.) He's a good looking toddler. Let's hope the looks hold out through adulthood.

Nery serenades his lovely wife, pleased with the job she's done with their kid.

Yes, Nery, we get it. You have full fun points. Can you stay out of the bloody tub for more than 5 minutes? I swear, I pay a little bit of attention to anyone else in the house and this guy makes a beeline for the nearest tub!

Time for Quinn to finally become a teenager!

Hmm, not such a good look there. Looks like the puzzle pieces still aren't quite fitting right with this guy. Maybe when he's an adult. I'm awfully glad though that Jade is our heir and not Quinn!

A new asymetrical hairstyle does a little bit to help offset Quinn's awkward features.

Quinn seems quite pleased with the change, which is a good thing, 'cause I wasn't planning on giving him another haircut.

And here's where I figured out my home was really glitched. I noticed the maid had stopped coming, although carpools still did. Then the gardener stopped coming. Then Nery caught the stove on fire and, despite having a fire alarm, the fireman didn't show up. Not only that, despite taking my command to extinguish the fire, Nery spent 5 Real World minutes trying to put it out without doing anything. *sigh* Time to move the family out and start again. Which means I'm going to have to have portraits of Jewel and Kennedy as elders! Blech!

2005-08-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 2, Chapter 6

I would like start this chapter off with a psuedo apology to SmokerKat of the Sims 2 forums. I had only gotten to like chapter 4 of her story when I started mine and didn't realize she was using gem names for her Sims. (Although in my defense, her founder was named Lauren, Gen 2 was Amber, Gen 3 was Cole and Gen 4 was Coral. *blush* So I hadn't actually noticed any naming convention. ;-))

I would also like to apologize to you readers for foolishly using a picture of Kennedy tucking in infant Quinn after showing all that work that -toddler- Quinn had done learning how to walk and stuff. Oh well! Now, without further ado, here's the laster chapter, Chapter 6, of Generation 2.

Awww, isn't sibling love adorable? Jade enjoys cuddling with her baby brother.

Nice table manners there, Quinn. How that kid manages to shove his entire hand into his mouth to eat, I really don't want to know.

Ah yes, feeling that sibling love now, Jade? Well, what else do you expect Quinn to do with all that food he's eating?

The Strohm family children put on an impromptu concert for your enjoyment. You can't hear the music? Thank your lucky stars, because their creativity points weren't that high.

Jade is such a suck-up. Her mom wanted her to become an overachiever, so she went out and took care of that right away.

Jewel brings little Quinn to his birthday cake.

Um, Quinn, are you possessed or something? How the heck are you doing that??

Quinn as a child. Although none of his features are really bad, they don't seem to really fit together all that well though. He's like a jigsaw puzzle where you've had to force in pieces that almost fit, but don't quite. Oh well, maybe he'll grow into them.

The Strohm family has their first meal together. Everyone's being at least somewhat polite in their table manners, except dad. Nice rolemodel you're being there Kennedy!

"So, Quinn. Are you ready for school tomorrow?"
"School? Why do I have to go to school? I'm just the spare, I don't have to do anything!"

The next morning, Quinn apparently must have been REALLY hungry. He licked that plate clean and then he must have eaten it, because it disappeared from his hands right after.

Aww, Jewel and Kennedy still love each other.

Jade sneaks out with her friend Wendy over the weekend and goes to do ... well, I really don't want to know what she goes off to do. I was crossing my fingers for a successful sneak-out and got one. :-D Yay me!

The Strohms invite the headmaster over to get Quinn enrolled into private school per Jewel's wishes, so Jade puts on her best dress and wows the headmaster. (I forgot to write down the score, but Quinn made it in, so it's all good.)

Man, still using that SAME bakery folks? Come on, get with it!

Time for Jade to grow up into an adult already! But I'm too young for this! (Notice we invited Nery over to celebrate this birthday. Don't wanna waste any time getting him primed for our plans.)

"Hmm, what should I wish for. Ah, who'm I kidding. Same thing I always wish for. To be as hot as my mom when I grow up."

"Success!" Jade is a bloody CLONE of Jewel. Thank goodness they wear different outfits or I'd never be able to tell them apart.

Jade gets right on board with my agenda and she and Nery quickly develop crushes on each other.

A bit more judicious flirting and so forth and love is soon in the air.

Not one to let the grass grow under her feet, Jade immediately pops the question to Nery. His response? "Are you kidding me? Of course yes! I've just been waiting for you to get legal so I ca-- hey, what're you looking at?"
Hmm? Oh, me? Nothing, don't mind me, just go on about your business.

Jade welcomes Nery home in a manner I suspect he can become accustomed to. (Actually, he'd left her birthday party before I could ask him to move in, so I had to invite him over the next day.) Nery brought only 1,000 Simoleans and no friends. But he's got a full fun personality (which means I won't have to watch him cry when he gets pranked on) and almost full cleaning and creativity points. He's a Family Sim, which is good. Unfortunately, his lifetime aspiration is to have 6 grandchildren. Not entirely certain what I'm going to do there...

Oh. Heh, okay, finishing Generation 1 here. We can just pretend it's the same day Jade transformed into an adult so that this break makes sense, right? Right. Oh and isn't her new outfit great? I'm sure there are better shots of it in the next chapter. But as it's getting late, I'll have to do that tomorrow.

2005-07-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 2, Chapter 5

So, Jade's sibling is finally born and she has a baby brother, Quinn. Mom and dad seem quite happy for their new little one to join their family. Dad even woke up by himself and made the bed just so the room would be a little neater for little Quinn!

Hmm, guess Jewel's scolding really sunk in. Kennedy greets Quinn in a quiet and dignified manner.

:-/ Okay, forget what I said about dignified. The man's a downright loon! (Actually, I think it's really cute that he wanted to play peek-a-boo with his new son, but we won't tell him that.)

Jade didn't make it to the birth, but she showed up shortly afterwards to come green her little brother.

And get in a little play time of her own with the new tyke. He seems to enjoy playing with his sister more than his father, didja notice that?

And here's a shot of Quinn asleep in the downstairs crib.

An adorable picture of mom giving Quinn his very first bath.

Okay, these folks -really- need to find a new bakery if they dislike the cakes so much! (The nanny showed up, even though Jade was a teenager and everyone was home for the weekend and I guess she thought they needed some Jell-O or something.)

Time really does fly quite quickly around here! It's already time for Quinn to grow up into a toddler. The family gathers, along with Jade's almost-boyfriend Amar, to cheer the little fella on.

A quick toss into the air and some shiny sparklers and...

We have one adorable little boy. Looks like he might take after dad in all but skin color, if the hair he's got there holds true. Jade's hair was the same black as mom's so it'll be interesting to see what he gets when he changes to a child.

Jewel teaching Quinn to walk.

"Come on, Quinn. Say 'daddy,' I know you can do it. Come on, little one!" (Okay, after Kennedy popped up with a picture of himself THREE times in a row while trying to teach Quinn to talk, I figured he must have really wanted Q's first word to be daddy.)

Sheesh, alright already, the kid said "daddy" now give him a break. As you'll notice, mom is causing a bit of a catastrophy behind Kennedy. (Forgot to snatch any pictures while the fireman was there, but I did remember to have Kennedy tip him so he'd show up in his friends list.) What was hysterical was as soon as the fire got to a decent blaze, Jewel snatched up Quinn and went tearing out of the house. Which turned out to be a good thing, because...

When I went to go check on Jewel, she apparently was stomping on some cockroaches. In a panic myself, I double-clicked on her picture to see where she was and gasped in horror. Jewel had put Quinn down so she could stomp on the bugs, except Quinn thought the garbage from the overturned can was a great place to play!! I hadn't even noticed some horrid neighbor come kick the can over either, which is how they got bugs on their front lawn. Which, I guess gave me the excuse to tip the exterminator. Just gotta remember to transfer the friendship to someone younger so they'll have him when he's needed. Not that he was all that good looking. *sigh*

Jade gets tired of smelling poopy dipers, so she finishes up Quinn's training on the kiddy toilet. Don't you just love that expression on her face? Plastered on smile while rolling her eyes. Boy, she looks thrilled to be there.

And after all of that excitement, Kennedy thinks it's time for Quinn to go to sleep, so he tenderly tucks his young son in to the upstairs crib.

(That's it for pictures until I get a chance to play again. Hope you've enjoyed it so far!)

2005-07-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 2, Chapter 4

"Whoah, where'd those come from!! Mom, I've finally grown boobs!" Well, okay, I'm sort of guessing that's not what Jade's thinking there, but the picture sure looks like it, doesn't it?

"I'm too sexy for these clothes!" Jade declares, planning to hit the mall her first weekend as a teen to buy a better looking outfit. Or two.

Despite her inflated opinion of herself, Jade grew up well.

Kennedy receive a "completely legal" transfer of 30,000 Simoleans from a campaign he helped run. So the Strohm family hired their original contractor (why go elsewhere when you're happy with the original) and had a second floor added onto their home. Turns out to be a good thing I sunk all but 3k of their money into the home, since 2 days later, Kennedy got slapped with a 10,000 Simoleon fine for receiving another compaign donation! So they lost the 3k they had and I had to sell off a countertop and a chair to make sure they'd have enough to pay the maid, but at least they didn't have to face the repo man. And Kennedy brought home enough money to pay the bills that had arrived that morning, so it all turned out okay!

The master bedroom has been converted into a game room and the baby's room is now the dining room. It's not shown here, but the downstairs bathroom was made smaller and the tub replaced by a shower. This is in anticipation of being able to upgrade the kitchen and add more counterspace for a dishwasher, food processor and some flowers.

And here's the new upstairs. Master bedroom (in red and black) and bathroom. Jade's room is the one in blue (picture snapped before I replaced her kids bed with a double bed) and a baby's room, currently decorated in pink, just because I wanted the room to look finished. And a Jack & Jill bathroom, between the two kids rooms.

And despite their experience the last time they added a roof onto the house, they put another one on again. We all breathed a sigh of relief when no burglar showed up!

Jade comes downstairs after her first morning as a teenager to find a birthday present waiting for her. (Okay, she was almost down to red and badly needed an aspiration boost.)

Dad's enjoying watching his daughter perform on the new drum kit.

Over the weekend, Jade bought herself 2 new outfits. This is her weekday outfit. (Kennedy's being a slacker and hasn't gotten dresed yet.)

We finally put Jade into private school. Forgot to take pictures of the Headmaster's visit, mostly because I was getting so frustrated that the idjit wouldn't get off the swing to participate in the tour! I finally deleted that sucker, because it was more annoying than anything. I kept waiting for -anyone- to want Jade in private school, but it never happened, so I finally just went ahead and took care of it, since I was tired of her low fun meter when she got home from school.

Here's Jade boarding the bus for her first day of private school. You'd think after the hoops they make you jump through to get in, they'd pick the kids up in something nicer!

Here's Jewel and a co-worker of hers having a pillow fight. I would have expected physicians to show a bit more decorum, but oh well.

"Sometimes, I'm so worried living here. I keep expecting that ugly burglar to come back!"

"You know, Jade, now that you're a teenager, we should sneak out to a concert one of these nights."
"I'd love to, if I'd ever roll up the stinking aspiration to sneak out!"

"Sweetheart, have you had that talk yet with Nery? Jade is already halfway through her teenage years and I want him to know we expect him to perform well after all the time and effort we've put into making him a family friend."
"Never fear, my love, Nery knows what's expected of him."

Meanwhile, Jade is working on trying to woo Amar. Hopefully she'll spin up the want for a first kiss or to go steady, since after this hand-holding session, they both have crushes on each other.

Jade works it some more on Amar, just to make sure he doesn't think he's going to go out with any other girl.

The way he's checking her out while collecting his tips, I don't think she's got to worry much!

"Hmm, so this is who Kennedy wants me to hook up with, eh? Not bad at all. Let's hope the promise of her looks is fulfilled when she's an adult!"

"Well, I was thinking, when we're married and I don't have to do this stupid grocery delivery job anymore, that I might like to go into business. But we'll see what lifetime want I spin up."

"Someday, when I get a guitar, I'll put on a wicked awesome concert!"

XI'm too sexy for my clothes, too sexy for my clothesW

It looks like Kennedy is about to get his desire for a second kid...

"So, what do you think about having a little brother or sister, Jade?"

"I think it's about time you and dad got around to that. I mean, what happens if the Grim Reaper decides he wants me for himself or something!"

A cute picture of Kennedy rubbing Jewel's very large belly.

"Oh my god, Melody, my parents are such freaks! My dad is standing there talking to my mom's belly! The brat isn't even born yet! Yeesh, I can't wait until I grow up and move out.... wait, I'm never getting out of this house. Darnit, I'm doomed!"

2005-07-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 2, Chapter 3

Okay, so, what? Is getting a roof the trigger for a burglar to break in?!? I swear, THAT NIGHT, they got robbed. *sigh* And by such an unfortunate looking guy too, sheesh!

The cops showed up quickly and a fight ensued. Poor cop lost though.

Kinda hard to tell through the dust of the squabble, but the cop is a HOTTIE. Unfortunately, I couldn't get Jewel or Kennedy to tip the guy quickly enough before he walked off in a sulk. And because the burglar won, I wasn't able to let him out of the cop car and get him into the friends list either. *grumbles*

"Oh my god! I'm going to have such a great story for Show and Tell tomorrow at school!!"

"He took my favorite statue. Why didn't that cop show up earlier?"

"At least the cop showed up before the burglar found our hidden stash of money!"

"Code Blue, Room 232! Code blue, Room 232!"

"We're going to have to give him mouth to mouth. The defibrillators aren't doing the trick!"

"Damnit, we lost him! WHY!!" (Okay, so ignore the fact that it's a different time of day and Jewel is wearing her PJ's instead of her clothes. It was still a cute series of pictures, admit it.)

And since her parents couldn't snag that hottie cop for Jade, meet her future husband, Nery Thompson, grocery delivery man. He's cute enough, fortunately.

It's that time again! "Hmm, what should I wish for... oh, I know! I hope to be as cute as my mom when I grow up!"

Time for the magical transformation! I did much better at the timing of the picture, don't you think? But you're going to have to wait for the next chapter to see how Jade looks as a teenager. *g*

2005-07-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 2, Chapter 2

This one's going to be a rather short chapter, because the other set of pictures from Jade's childhood work better as their own chapter, in my opinion.

Once she got Jade through the exhausting times of infancy and toddlerhood, Jewel felt she finally deserved a shot from the coveted Elixir of Life water cooler. This was definitely not the last nip Jewel took from this cooler! (Well, in all fairness, Kennedy has taken his fair share of shots as well.)

Kennedy gives Jade some lessons on Jewel's Surgical Man. I have no clue what he pulled out of the body there, but it obviously wasn't good. (I kept these lessons going until Jade was almost in bladder desperation, because somehow, the lessons Kennedy was giving her on his podium were still taking effect too, so she was skilling up in both Mechanical and Charisma at the same time!)

Jewel is talking with their maid, Arianna Jalowitz. "I know I had a daughter, but if Jade gives birth to a son, I'd love to have you in the family! Or, at least, sleep with my grandson and give us your genes, even if you don't want to marry into the Strohm family."

Jade is very excited about her first A+. She spent a good 10 minutes outside jumping up and down. (Both Jade and Kennedy were at work and apparently Jade didn't care to share her good news with the nanny.)

"Daddy's home! Daddy's home!" Hmm, think Jade doesn't want the nanny there any more than the rest of us? (For those of you who've noticed, yes, it is a different maid. I had to actually end the services to get the other one to leave when she showed up on a weekend when everyone was home. So Monday morning, they sent over another nanny.)

"Baby, Jade is going to be a teenager soon. Don't you think it's about time we got to work on that second kid? I mean, we haven't even WooHoo'd in a while now!" Jewel managed to put him off for a little while still, although she did break down and give the poor guy a tumble that night.

"Mommy's home! Mommy's home!" Isn't this kid just too cute for words? :-)

And we'll end with a shot of the latest addition to the Strohm household. They finally could afford to buy a roof!

2005-07-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 2, Chapter 1

When last we saw the family, Kennedy was shouting a hello to his daughter, Jade. I guess Jewel must have had a word or two with the excitable father, because here he is waving a nice and quiet hello to Jade.

Just a cute picture of Jewel up in the middle of the night, playing with Jade.

A mom's work is never done. Here she is comforting Jade, again in the middle of the night (why is it always during the night!) when the poor dear woke up screaming. She was either hungry or she had a nightmare.

Goodness, how time flies! It's already time for Jade to turn into a toddler (thank goodness - infants are hard to care for). Jewel is anticipating that Jade will add substantially to the Strohm family Legacy.

Jade turns into an adorable toddler. (Forgot to snap a transformation picture.)

And Kennedy decided it was FINALLY time to lose that horrid mailman's baseball cap. He cleans up pretty darn well, in my opinion.

Jade's first word. That kid always has food on her mind!

And here's daddy, happy that he's taught his daughter how to walk. Just a little more training and she'll be ready for the big, bad world of childhood.

After all that hard work, Jewel gives Jade her first bath in a big person's tub. (Had to sell off a few things to afford the bloody thing, once I remembered toddlers can't get washed in the sink!)

Hmm, these nanny's aren't so bad. She's even cleaning the tub after Jade's bath.

Well, a little condescending, perhaps, but at least she's paying attention to Jade. Of course, when Jewel came home from work, the nanny didn't want to leave. Had to kick her out before she'd finally leave the lot.

Jewel received a 5,000 Simolean thank you from some sherpa she'd helped out, so the family quickly hired an interior decorator and got to work making their house feel more like a home.

Time for Jade to turn into a child. Guess Kennedy doesn't think much of the cake!

Jewel brings Jade over to her birthday cake and helps her blow out the candles, while Kennedy cheers them on.

Hah! Remembered to snap a picture of the transformation! Of course, I snapped it a bit too early, so it looks like Jade is *cough* tooting some bright colors out of her butt. Oh well. Maybe next time.

In all the excitement of taking a picture of the transformation, I forgot to take one of Jade transformed. *sigh* I swear I'll get it right yet. So, anyway, here's a picture of Jade sleeping in a big person bed for the first time at least.

2005-07-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 1, Chapter 3

Jewel had another job before this one, in law enforcement. But after a single night of running down criminals, she realized it was absolutely not the job for her. So the next morning, she went digging through the newspaper and saw a want ad for a paramedic. This looks like it'll be the right line of work for our orphan.

When Jewel got off of work, she invited Kennedy over and got back to the business of making him fall in love with her. I guess hanging out on the bed in her underwear works, 'cause he sure fell quickly at that point!

After working her magic, Jewel put her clothes back on and invited Kennedy to move in with her. He brought no friends with him, but he did bring a much needed 1,000 Simoleon infusion as well as a whole lot of skill points. Not quite sure how a mailman got such high aspirations, but since Kennedy wants to become Mayor of Veronaville some day, he quickly got started on a political career.

That night, Jewel popped the question (I forgot to snap a picture of her on her knee, darnit) and without a moment's hesitation, Kennedy said yes. I don't blame him, I mean, look at Jewel. She's a hottie!

"So, Kenny. Now that we're engaged and all, do you wanna, you know..." Jewel asked, waiting nervously as Kennedy turned his head away to hide a grin.

And a fun time was had by all!

Heck, even the next morning, they were still into each other. Looks like the SimController made a good match-up! Go me!

Hmm, looks like maybe TOO good a time was had! Jewel quickly starts to show and so she and Kennedy decide they better get hitched now, so Jewel's heir will be legitimate. Fortunately, Jewel's stomach is still almost flat, so she fits into the wedding dress she bought.

A few friends were invited to witness the ceremony.

And the deed is done. Paperwork signed, blood work approved. Jewel and Kennedy Strohm are well on their way to starting the legacy Jewel envisioned back when she was still a child. A family that remains connected and attached to each other.

"So, baby, now that we're hitched and got a kid on the way, don't you think we ought to get some walls around this place? I mean, exhibitionism is good and all, but I'd occassionally like to have sex without everyone watching." (Yeah, I know, this obviously was taken before Jewel got pregnant, but I liked the timing I gave this better here. So deal. :-b)

They pooled together what money they had, sold off a couple of things they could live without, and hired a contractor (okay, they hired me) to get the pair started on a real home. There's no roof yet, but hey, it's a start.

Not long after they hired the contractor come put down a foundation and some walls, Kennedy was woken in the middle of the night by a god-awful caterwauling. "What is that racket! Jewel, can't you keep it down?"

"Oh, you're having the baby now? Okay, okay. Stay calm. I didn't know what you were screaming about. Okay, just remember the lessons from our lamaze class. We didn't have a lamaze class? Oh, then go ahead and scream all you want, honey."

Without much more fuss, Jewel gives birth to their daughter, Jade Strohm. The first born child will be designated the heir to the Strohm Legacy. (Unless they are hideously ugly and the second-born child is cute. Then they may be declared incompetent to handle their own finances and their sibling will become the desginated executor of the estate.)

Kennedy comes over after all the noise is done and, well, I'm hoping he's not shouting like it looks like he is, but he does introduce himself to the heir of the Strohm Legacy. Don't you just love how Jade is looking at Jewel, wondering what the heck Kennedy is shouting for?

And we'll end the Generation 1 chapters with a shot of sweet little Jade hanging out in her crib.

2005-07-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 1, Chapter 2

Later that day, a few neighbors came over. Unfortunately, there was an awful lot of bickering and playing pranks going on, so it wasn't exactly the best time Jewel has had. But still, she made a couple of friends and learned who to avoid in the future.

Jewel's first self-cooked meal wasn't exactly the roaring success she was hoping for. But it filled her belly and didn't make her sick, so it wasn't a complete failure.

This crybaby is the guy I picked for my Legacy Sim? Man, I hope Kennedy just -really- doesn't like having water balloons thrown at him. If he cries all the time like that, Jewel may have to kick his butt to the curb after he gives her an heir!

Jewel's second meal wasn't so bad, but apparently Kendra thinks it was a little dry and needs something to drink to wash it down. How dare she insult Jewel's cooking in front of Jewel's future husband!

Cloe tries to warn Jewel about the ghosts that seem to frequent Sim neighborhoods, but Jewel doesn't seem all that impressed.

Jewel and Kennedy get funky. They dance well together. Let's hope they can make cute babies, 'cause if they're ugly, I'm going to be terribly disappointed!

Jewel looks awfully pleased with herself for having made Kennedy her best friend. She's quickly on the way to getting him into her bed.

Ah, yes, that's right Jewel. Turn on the old charm. No way any mailman can resist being sweet-talked to.

Boy, out of the orphanage for just a couple of days and already Jewel's thinking of trying to kiss someone. I wonder if she's got her eye on the same person I do...

Sweet, seems the flirting is going both ways here. Good! A happy Sim and a happy SimController is a good pairing to have. Hopefully she won't get too obsessed with Kennedy though, since Jewel has lots of things she needs to take care of if she wants the Strohm family to thrive.

2005-07-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

Strohm Family

Generation 1, Chapter 1

Meet Jewel Strohm. Left on the doorsteps of an orphanage when she was still an infant, she knows nothing about her family or where she comes from. When she reached adulthood, the government gave her 20,000 Simoleons and sent her on her way. Growing up owning nothing of her own, not even her clothes, it's not surprising Jewel is a Fortune Sim.

Jewel wasn't able to afford much, but she bought with an eye to the future. She purchased a huge tract of land, hoping future generations would add to the small home she planned to build. She purchased the essentials and waited for the day she could buy more.

Her first day in Veronaville, Jewel spent some time enjoying the quiet and freedom to simply lose herself in a good book. She was definitely enjoying being out of the orphanage!

One of the first people she met was the paperboy (who's name I have foolishly forgotten!). Jewel figured the best person to get the gossip from was the kid who delivers the news, so she asked him about the sirens she'd heard earlier in the day.

"Oh, yeah. We have problems with burglars in these parts, ma'am," he told her. She looked around at her few meager possions sitting out in the open.

"Do you think I should invest in a safe?" Jewel asked. "Naw, just get some walls and a burglar alarm and you should be okay," the paperboy said. What he didn't add was that her stuff was so low end, he doubted anyone would be desperate enough to want to take any of it. Jewel checked her bank account, but knew she wouldn't be able to afford anything for a while.

(Ending this chapter here. Let's hope the pictures load up properly!)