Helen's in Trouble

Getting back on track here, Ginny was at the hospital, having the twins. Ambrose dragged his weary bones out of bed to be there with her.

That left Helen home alone - sorta, and Rina, who decided it would be fun to lounge around on the new bed, dreaming of ..... food!!!! What else???




Distracted by the chaos of the twins' birth, both Ginny and Brosie had totally forgotten about it being Helen's first day at school. Nor had they organised a decent breakfast for her.
It's not that they're bad parents, they were just too busy with other stuff ... that's all.

So, starving hungry, Helen grabbed a slice of stale birthday cake from the fridge, and started to tuck in. Completely oblivious to the school bus parked outside. When she finally polished off the last few crumbs, the bus had already gone, so she had to hop on her bike and cycle there.



In order to get into the good books of her teachers, she agreed to deliver some permission slips to the town hall. So she was fairly late getting home. And she was feeling a little tired and wanted nothing more than to go to bed. She'd just walked into her bedroom when she heard the door close softly behind her.

"Young lady?" Ambrose said sternly.

"I'm tired dad," she replied wearily, "can I go back to bed?"



"Not until you explain yourself."

"Excuse me?"

"Why were you late for school? On your first day too?"

"I .... I was hungry. So I stopped back to have some leftover cake."

Thoroughly exhausted, stresssed and hungry himself, Ambrose let his temper get the better of him and he exploded.

"What were you thinking young lady???? Cake???? For breakfast????"



"It was the only thing I could see... and I was hungry." she pleaded.

"You know, we did leave you some pocket money to get yourself breakfast at school!"

"I ... forgot."



By then, Ambrose had calmed down somewhat, since his eldest daughter's terrified face melted his anger away. He patted her on the arm.

"I'm sorry," he said, sighing heavily, "I'm just stressed out here. And I do so want to be a good dad, you know? Give a good impression. Your being late for your first day of school didn't show that."

Helen smiled weakly, and they hugged.

"This doesn't mean you'll get off lightly here," Ambrose said with a grin, "I expect you to do your fair share of the chores around the house!!"

"Oh, I will!"

"Attagirl!"

"Now, can I go to bed? I'm so tired."

"What about homework?"

"Um, can't I leave it until later?"

"Not if you planning on poor grades."

"But I'm so tired!"

"Tell you what, sleep on it, and when you're fully refreshed, we'll organise some 'homework time' together. How does that sound?"

"Thanks dad."

The Secret Dream World of Helen

Sims have the weirdest dreams, have you noticed? But in Helen's case, this isn't so.

First of all, methinks she's got aspirations to be just like her daddy, and become a World Reknowned Surgeon.

And you're wondering this because??????

She had a dream about owning a chemistry set! Yeah, I know. Big deal. That doesn't mean she wants to join the Medical career. She could easily be a scientist instead.



BUT .... she rolled a wish, to be a World Reknowned Surgeon.
So, who am I to deny her this aspiration???

Secondly, she loves Marina to bits. I saw it in her dreams whilst she was sound asleep!!!



Altogether now....

Awwwww.

She's not the only one to have vivid dreams either. Ambrose was having one about pills!!



Apparently, the hospital budget has gone way overboard, and he was worried that they were going to make drastic cuts with the medication bills. He knows it's not his place, since he's fairly low on the corporate ladder. But still, it DOES affect everyone!!

See, SOME Sims dreams do make sense.
Not that often.
But they do.

Virginia Gathers an Alliance From a Rather Unlikely Source

I'd completely forgotten all about these pics, thanks to the glitches I'd been having. So I thought I'd share them here.

As I stated quite clearly in the last update, there was a tiny window of opportunity before Ginny actually gave birth. In that time, she was getting rather irritated and grouchy.




Her back was killing her too, so she complained to Brosie about it.



Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears there, since Ambrose was having problems of his own. He was going to work, completely exhausted (for reasons unknown) and his job performance was failing - badly. He'd had a warning already. And now, with the imminent arrival of the twins, sleep was once again going to take a back seat!

Ginny stretched and grumbled.

"Oh, darn," she said, glaring pointedly at her husband, "these twins are weighing heavily on my back!"

He didn't hear her as he made his way to bed.

"Hello? Didn't you hear what I said? A little sympathy here dontcha know???"




But someone did.

Rina.

And she joined Ginny in throwing hard glares at poor exhausted Ambrose.



For that kind of loyalty, Rina was awarded an early morning walk.

"Come on old girl," Ginny said, tugging at the leash, "let's get some fresh air before I find something to bash that insensitive man's head in!"




Rina replied with a simple wag of the tail, and her tongue lolling out.

Unfortunately, the walk was cut short, since Ginny suddenly went into labour en route. So, as she made her way to the hospital, she sent Rina straight home, just to make sure that their pet didn't get lost on the way.

Another Mini Makeover

Prior to the disastrous twins birth that gave us the infamously glitchy Violet, I'd recently purchased the newest Stuff Pack, Master Suite. So who better to give a mini makeover to, than our favourite family?

I had a small window of opportunity in which to grab this chance and decided to opt for the bathroom (which is often overlooked) and Brosie and Ginny's bedroom (which has already had a makeover - of sorts).

And ta-daa!!!





Whatcha think?

Obviously there are some pieces of furniture that don't actually belong to the stuff pack, but I thought I'd mix 'n' match a little, rather than overwhelm the rooms with everything from the list.

Violet Steals the Whole Show, in More Ways Than One

I was in serious, serious doubt about the fate of this family. I firmly believed that they were cursed in some way, dating back to when they were originally from Sims 2. If you recall, I had more problems than enough, starting with Ambrose's wedding, followed by the disaster that was Riverblossom Hills, imploding upon itself.

And now, here in Sims 3, the trend continued with glitches galore. Their disappearance in Champs le Sims. And now, this wonderful, beautiful, glorious ..... hideous problem

Following, or at least 'trying' to follow, the original Sims 2 family, Brosie and Ginny managed to have Helen. Followed by their first set of twins. Violet and Susan. When THIS suddenly arose out of nowhere.



Susan was born normally. A baby shaped/sized Sim.

Violet, was a different matter.



Yeah, that's her, in the crib. See anything? Nope, me either.

She was a long, pink string - thingy that almost obliterated the entire household and surrounding area. I could only watch, aghast, as time and time again, Violet's presence completely took over the entire gameplay.




And the trend continued so much so that I had to intervene and force the twins to both have birthdays before their time. So, Ginny and Brosie managed to skip the initial feed/fuss/burp/ play/change diaper scenario that Sim parents usually go through at this point.

I asked for help, shared some pics and was instantly relieved to discover that it wasn't all bad. Just some CC that had managed to find it's way into the toddlers clothing section. So, a big thank you to my good friends JulieJ and Daphne for spotting this problem and showing me how to get rid of it.

Thank you, you're absolutely wonderful.




So, poor stringy Violet, was taken to CAH (Create a Household) for a mini makeover - which you will all see pretty soon anyways. And also to get rid of that horrid, horrid rogue outfit that had mysteriously managed to slip in there and wrap around my precious little toddler!!!




As you've already figured out, I leave no stone unturned when sharing this (and my own personal) family's experiences during gameplay. Proof that I will NOT give up on them, even through all the problems/glitches I will be faced up with, possibly in the future.

They've been through so much together, it'll be a shame to lose them now. Not when they've got so much more to give.

In the next update: Bathroom and Bedroom Mini Makeovers