Frustration

Season: Spring
In this post: Randy London, Peggy Crabtree, Jeremy London, Sharon Crabtree-Carr, Louise Sims, Jennifer Crabtree, Ryan Crabtree-Carr

Narrator: Peggy Crabtree

My mother always said that getting an education would make things easier. Sometimes I get a strong desire to march up to her front door, waltz right in without knocking “Mom, you were wrong.”

I wouldn’t do that of course. No one ever tells my mother, Jennifer Crabtree, that she is wrong. Ever. It would be a waste of time and oxygen because she would never believe it. The fact that we cannot afford a car or a sitter to watch Jeremy while I make the trek over to her house also hinders me from carrying out my plans.

No, instead, I glaze out the window while burping Jeremy thinking about the satisfaction I would get from telling my mother that she is wrong, while simultaneously trying not to envy my neighbors and their lack of student loans.

Things would have been easier if Randy hadn’t gotten demoted. I know deep down he is sad about it but his ability to remain calm about the demotion makes me want to scream.

When I questioned him about the demotion, he “I haven’t been working my hardest. I’ve been slacking. In intelligence there is no room for laziness. Someone is always ready to take your place.”

I had to hold myself back from slamming my book into his face.

There aren’t too many people that I can talk to with about this. Sharon motto in life lately seems to be “everything will fall into place”. I know she will listen to my problems but her carefree attitude is to relaxed for my taste. I need someone who will offer me opinions other than “Do worry so much”, “When one door closes another one opens”.

Ruth on the other hand would be great but she has a nanny and doesn’t have to change diapers if she doesn’t want to. Ruth only works because she wants to keep the business in the family. No way would she understand what its like to only be able to afford to furnish half of the house. I don’t really feel comfortable about explaining my financial hardship to someone who hasn’t been their before, even if she is my sister.

It would just make me feel worse to complain to her, even thought it is not her fault.

My mother would be no help either. I could just hear her nag “You should have married someone with more than just ambition maybe a full bank account or better yet, a trust fund.”

No, I keep my mouth shut and pretend everything is better than good when she comes over.

The only person that knows how I feel is Louise Sims and only because her husband manged to blow their entire life savings on “investments.” I almost chocked to death when she told me he blow $50.000.

Sometimes, I wounder if I could go back would I change anything. Maybe instead of “shacking up” with a boy with dreams and empty pockets, I should of listened to my mother and married a boy with a trust fund that could afford hire a maid to wash the windows for me.

While a maid and a nanny sounds nice, I can’t picture life without Randy or our little Jeremy.

I doubt that some trust fund baby would dance on the front porch after dinner.

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• I try and make my sims pay for college which is not turning out as well as I had hoped.  Some sims like Randy and Peggy can barely afford to pay their bills and their college loan (just like in RL)
• Randy and Peggy have a two story house but because they are so poor can only afford to buy enough to furnish the first floor.  Hopefully by the time Jeremy is a child they have enough money to move into the second floor and for him to have his own room.

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Like A Child

Season: Spring
In this post: Amanda “Mindy” Schmidt, Sharon Crabtree, Mark Schmidt

Mindy felt silly, like a child, standing in the mirror practicing faces. She was no longer a little girl barely tall enough to reach her father’s belt buckle. She was now a teenager and if her friends could see her now the would tease her until the end of time.

Sighing, she tried again. Making her eyes as wide as possible, furrowing her brows and trying to make her smile appear nervous.

“Mindy! Breakfast is ready.” Sharon’s shout from the kitchen interrupted her posing.

Mindy stuck out her tongue at her reflection in the mirror. She acknowledge the fact that no matter how pathetic she managed to lock she was still in trouble. If the mail had not been so reliable and her report card had gotten lost maybe she would have been off the hook. But the chance the school would have not informed her family of her bad grades were probably slim to none.

Breakfast was a silent ordeal, meals had been since Thursday night when her mother had checked the mail. Mindy tried to keep her mind from wondering what kind of punishment was going to be dealt out to her.

Silence was never good. Right?

“Tyson and I are going to take the dogs to the vet.” Sharon’s announcement broke into her musing.

Mindy waited for the other shoe to drop.

“Your dad will stop by later to discuss your grades with you.”

Shit.

Mindy waited for her father’s arrival. The time seemed to move at a snails pace. So slowly, that she changed the batteries of her wall clock to hopefully speed it up. Only to realize the clock was fine, the batteries didn’t need to be changed.

She groaned out loud and sank to her bed. Silently, praying that this wasn’t going to be as bad as the knots in her stomach indicated.

“Amanda” Mark shouted from the front yard.

She didn’t hear any anger in his voice. Her body automatically did what it normally would do when her father announced his presence.

“Daddy!” Mindy could help keep the excitement from coming out in her voice. It didn’t matter to her why he was there or that she saw him at least twice a week or talked to him almost every night. Seeing him always excited her. Like when she was a child.

“Mindy.” Mark responded before pulling her into a hug.

It start off simple with a “Really, Amanda? D’s” and a disbelieving look on his face.

There was no screaming or shouting. No threat of eternal grounding. Just a stern lecture on the importance of education laced with a hint of disappointment.

Which was enough to make her wish that he had spanked her. She wanted to cry, to blame someone else for her failings but really it was her own fault.

“Your mother and I have talked about it. You’re going to summer school. We expect better from you from now on.”

“Really, honey. We know that you can do better.”

His response had been more positive than negative but why did she feel even worse than before?

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• I love the fact that even teenage sims run out to great parents when they appear on the lot.  It is such a cute interaction.  I even have several adult sims that do it when their parents stop by, the biggest culprit is Dominique Keyes when her mom Victoria Hale comes over from a visit.
• Amanda’s grades sucks.  Before I started playing Oasis Valley, my sim kids always had good grades.  But now they only do their homework when they roll the want and since Mindy almost never rolls the want her homework is backed up.

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A Little Faith

Season: Winter
In this post: Jennifer Crabtree, Sharon Crabtree, Tyson Dawn, Mindy Schmidt, Jason Wilson, Chris Merrick, Josh Merrick

Things in Mindy life were moving at warp speed.  Everything seemed to be happening to fast, changing without notice or her consideration.  The only thing that she knew for certain was that the adults in her life were going crazy.  That was the only explanation, the only reason that her mother would all the sudden announce that Tyson was moving in.

The only one that seemed to think that craziness was the only reasonable explanation for her mothers actions was her.  None of her closest friends seemed to agree.

“Well, how else do you explain it?”

“It’s simple, Amanda.” Jason was the only person that called her by her full name.  Everyone called her Mindy expect when she was in trouble.  Jason was the only other person that insisted on calling her by her full name, he called everyone by their full name.   Sometimes, she had a hard time telling when he was being condescending.

Maybe he just had a major personality flaw, which is was what Chris suggested.  That Jason had a problem relating with people his own age.

“She’s in love.  She wants to move forward with her life.  You didn’t really believe that your mother would pine for your dad forever?  Did you?”

“You know, Mr. Smarty Pants.  Sometimes you can be a real ass.” Chris said not giving Mindy a chance to respond.

“What?”  Jason sounded confused.  Mindy could tell by the look on his face that he was searching for the reason that anyone would be offended by what he had said.

“Not everyone has a television family like yours, Jason.”  Josh snapped.

“I’m only stating the truth.  Statistically speaking, couple who become parents while teens don’t make it.  It’s almost inevitable that they would break up.  Add in a kid and the odd that they will stay together after 5 years is almost null.”

The sound of Jason’s alarm going off interrupted any further conversation.  It was their warning that the school bus with the little kids should be showing up in about 10 minutes.  That it was time to put on her babysitting hat and watch her cousins Becky and Danny.  It was now her job to watch them every Tuesday and Thursday while their mother helped out at Just Desserts.

Mindy watched from the boys make their way home on foot from the bottom of  front steps of her porch.  She sat quietly and waited for the bus.  Tapping her feet and trying not to think about the fact the in less than one week Tyson was going to move in.  That in less than five days she would have to get use to not only sharing her house but also her mother with another person.  She never realized how accustomed she had gotten to it being just the two of them.  Adding a third person into their space just seemed unnatural.

The sound of the bus pulling up jolted her out of her musing.   She jumped up from her spot on the step and made her way to the bus to greet the twins.

Danny award her effort by running pass her barely mumbling a barely audible  “Hi.”

Becky followed him at a normal pace stopping to reach out for a hug.

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“Are you nervous?”

“Nervous about what?”  Mindy answered, they had been silent at the table all night.  Not a word passing between them.

Sharon had been cleaning the house nonstop, clearing invisible spider webs from the corners.  Lamenting the fact that there furniture was not of better quality even though it had served their purpose well for years.

Mindy wondered if her mother was more worried about what the matriarch of the family, Jennifer, than about Tyson.  Tyson had seen the house a couple of times before and still wanted to move it.    She had a feeling that her mother was more nervous about what her grandmother would say about Tyson than what Tyson would say about the house.

And since she can’t fix Tyson, she is fixating on the house.

“Mom, you have done everything that you can.  Grandmother is going to love Tyson and she is has been her plenty of times.

“Not nervous about lunch with Mom.  About Tyson moving in?”

“Oh.”  Mindy tried to come up with something to say that would be reassuring for the both of them.  “No.”

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Jennifer pulled Mindy into a tight hug, holding her close she whispered low enough only for her to hear, “Don’t worry.  You can always come stay with us.  I don’t know that silly child of mine is thinking.”

Mindy cringed.  The glance that Tyson throw in their direction indicated that he had heard what Jennifer had said.  Not that Jennifer cared, she had not made any effort to lower her voice.

“You know sometime, Sharon.  I really worry about you.  You barely know this guy.”

“Mother, really.  We’ve been together for two years.  If I don’t know him by now then I’ll never know him.

Jennifer started to speak but Sharon cut her off again.  “I’m a big girl, Mother.  I know what I’m doing.  Have a little faith in me.”

Jennifer couldn’t help but worry about Sharon.  Sharon had always been her most impulsive child, running off  on a whim to do whatever caught her attention.  Jennifer was convinced that was how Sharon ended up with Mark Schmidt.  His bad boy appearance and sad eyes drew her attention.  Sharon got carried away.  So, far away that she shocked her parents when she announced she was pregnant.

Now years later she finds herself sitting across from Sharon’s new boyfriend, she couldn’t make herself believe that impulsive child was now a responsible women. Sure Tyson’s travel stories were exciting but was he ready to take care of her daughter and granddaughter?

“I wish you would think about this more, Sharon.”

“Mother.  He is moving in.  It’s already settled.  For once, can you have a little faith in me?”

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• I had so much fun editing this one. Before editing it I thought that it was missing something.  Hopefully, whatever was missing has been found.  
• Sharon is finally moving on.  I was trying to wait for her to roll the want to marry Tyson.  She hasn’t rolled it yet but based on her personality I thought him moving in would be prefect.  Maybe marriage will come next.
• Mindy doesn’t have the much longer in the teen stage, but there is a lot going on with both sides of her family at the moment.  So far, she is holding up well.  Hopefully, she can keep it up?

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Ruth’s Fix

Warning long and picture intense.

Season: Fall

In this post: Jennifer Crabtree. Joe Carr, Ruth Crabtree-Carr, Sharon Crabtree, Holly Green, Ryan Crabtree-Carr. Andrew Crabtree-Carr (Curtis Vincent, Zachary Alpough)

Ruth couldn’t get past the feeling that she was missing out. At first she couldn’t place what she was missing out on. She looked around her and couldn’t see anything missing. She lived in a nice house that had been in her family for three generations. She was married with two children. Had servants to make her life easier, a nanny and a maid. She was her mothers heir, inheriting the house, the business and some of the cash. She just couldn’t figure out what it was she was missing.

Until she watched Peggy cuddle her new nephew, Jeremy, to her chest, politely declining when anyone reached out to hold him.

She realized that every where she looked people seemed happy, everyone but her. Peggy, her youngest sister, the college graduate. The one that was up to her eyeballs in school and home loans. Peggy, the one who was playing house with her boyfriends of forever and just had his child. Peggy the one only able to afford to use the first floor of a two-story house.  Peggy was happy, happy despite the stress, the uncertainty.

Sharon was happy, too.  Happy even though she had gotten pregnant before graduating high school.  Happy to be living in a two room shack with her teenage daughter and second-hand furniture.  Happy to have found a man, a wanderer, who travels the world and shares her interest in all things abnormal.  Happy to be working in her mother’s store for a small wage.

Ruth was surrounded by happiness.
All day everyday.
Happiness smiled in her face.

As she walked up the gravel path, hoping to catch one of her young sons still awake. She wondered about her own happiness or lack thereof.  Was she suppose to find her happiness in long days and late night?  While stocking shelves and listening to complaints?  What had she done to deserve this? This absence of happiness.

She figured happiness was the accumulation of joy. Those fleeting moments that made you smile. At some point those moments would add up and you were suppose to be happy. Ruth had the bits of joy, the sensation following a lovers kiss or a baby’s laugh. But it never added up to happiness.  It lingered and faded.

Every night she locked the store doors and raced home to soak up what joy she could get.  If she were lucky, they would both be awake.  Waiting to bring a smile to her face and erase the memory of hectic moments before.

If she were lucky and the gods above shined down on her and distracted the other woman with the doorbell or a phone call.

Than she could experience joy in the morning before bathing or dressing.  Those things could wait.  They didn’t bring her joy and wouldn’t add up to happiness. She would head to the store with a smile, thinking that if the day went right, maybe just maybe by the time she got home she would still have some joy stored up.

It never seemed to work out that way. Slowly, that almost-but-not-quite-happiness feeling would be leached from her body.  Cranky customers, rude but happy employees.

Would all form a coalition against her.  To suck her dry, leaving her to rush home for another fix of joy.

Most days someone else enjoyed her fix.  Someone else would hear her son’s happiness as they filler their little belly’s  with milks she loving and painfully pumped every night.

That other woman would change their diapers and listen to the happy baby squeals as she powdered their smooth bottoms.

The woman whom she paid.  Who was suppose to free up her time so she could run the family store and protect the Crabtree name.

Would greet his guest.

Listen to his voice as he tucked his children in at night

As she, the wife, mother and obedient daughter was left feeling like an addict, looking forward to getting her joy, whenever, wherever she could.

Hoping and praying one day that she would collect enough to get what seemed to be handed to others.

Happiness.
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• I have always thought of Ruth as a people pleaser, follower type.  She just fits into whatever idea people have for her.  While Jennifer, mother, and Joe, husband, have very strong personalities and ideas.  So Ruth basically follows along with whatever they say.  Even if it goes against her own desires.
• Jennifer has had the want to fire Curtis Vincent for long time.  It wouldn’t go away.  I finally caved and gave in.  The picture of them arguing is where she fired him.  I don’t see him as the type that would be able to keep a job, anyways.
• FYI: I finally caved and started a new babble blog.  I will post the outtakes for this and other updates there.  I will also have other hood rules there, too.  I don’t want to clog up this blog too much.

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The Day (Birth Announcements)

It was like falling deep in love I heard the angels cry above I felt a blessing straight from god The day that you gave me a son.

Babyface: "The Day"

London Household:

Randy London felt fear grip his body when Peggy had first told him to entertain her mothers and sister, while she got herself and the baby ready.  He didn’t think that he would have found Jennifer Crabtree in a good mood.   If he would have known that all it took to get on her good side was to impregnate her daughter he would have done it sooner.

Their conversation was interrupted when Peggy opened up the bedroom door and announced that her and baby Jeremy Ash London were ready for visitors.

Hale Household:

When Armando Cox first heard his step-daughters, Jean Hale, shout of pain he thought something terrible had happened.  Maybe she had fallen and now she and the baby were in danger.   What he hadn’t expected was her to calm announce that she was in labor and needed a ride to the hospital.

Jean would never admit it to anyone but the first sign of labor pains had frightened her.  She didn’t know if she was ready to be a mother but the arrival of Adam Christopher Deppisse, meant she had little time to prepare.

At least, now she was living with her mother who had done this many times before.

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• Apparently, the game has noticed my abundance of females and has decided to spit out males.  That’s 5 boys in a row.

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