It's a shame. We've had severe thunderstorms way too much this spring. I'm talking enough lighting and thunder to make a light show in the sky. I know I should be grateful for rain when it comes to my crops, but hey...my garden is in a greenhouse. I don't need all this. It was even raining in our house! I had to have a contractor come out and secure the roof.
To make matters worse, Cameron called and told me the pictures we'd sent in for our journal updates were destroyed in a flood at the library. You can imagine, we had a LOT of photos stored up for this period's journal update. Maybe it's for the best. We all tend to get a little long-winded when it comes to our journals.
When I asked him why he didn't store the pictures in his office upstairs, he mumbled something about his pregnant wife and said he never made it over there in time. I bet he didn't lose one book, though.
Fortunately, we were able to salvage a few pictures. We were able to keep the cameras around for a little while after the 5 simday rotation was over, as well...just to get a few more pics.
I'm glad we saved this family photo. My family is certainly larger than the last time you saw us. And, we're living the dream right now. I've got my farm. Have you seen it? Check it out at the site under Home Ownerships/West Cedar Street, if you haven't.
We've settled in nicely here. It's a huge space to fill, but we're working on it, little by little. I've said it before and I'll say it again...the best thing I could've ever done was marry Kim. She put this house together on her own. She knowingly married the "Hardest Working Man" in Simmington Hills; I'm hardly ever at home. We would've still been living in boxes if it hadn't been for her. I told her my preferences and she mixed hers in and came up with a beautiful home for us, in my opinion. (Based on Simmerville native, Dr. Elton Tammer's findings on this subject, each Sim in The Hills has preferences that are listed on their Simology page in the SimYellow Pages. We're exploring how well our preferences can mesh together with our mate's preferences.)
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I have to say things have been going pretty well, despite our most recent loss. My son Shaun was born this period.
He's an active toddler now...time goes by so fast. I can't tell you how happy I am to have a son! I even got us matching outfits...cheesy I know. We've just been through so much, I don't mind getting a little cheese on me.
When I'm home he's always right up under me, trying to do everything Daddy does. I LOVE that feeling more than anything. I wish I was around more often, so we could spend more time together.
He was born a twin, as you may know already...we lost his sister Shauna, shortly after birth. I told Kim, it just wasn't meant to be. Plus, we don't really have the room for 3 kids. We still have to think about changing Sierra's room around to accomodate her brother once he's older. Kim and I both agree that it's nice to have a son together...he looks just like me. I've got so many dreams already for his future. But, I know I'll have to let him find his own way.
I can't close this journal without talking about my little princess, Sierra. She's my angelbaby and is doing very well, I must say. Lord, that child has been through alot in her young years, but she's working hard in school, has an A+ average, and we just enrolled her in CPS with Maxine Wise.
She loves the animals. Kim and I can't PRY her away from the cows and horses, and our dogs...she is always training them or playing with 'em. You last saw Bandit as a puppy but he's grown up now and has a girlfriend, Shasta, who's expecting their pups any day now! Yeah. Bandit was lonely and Sierra begged me to find him a friend. Shasta fits into our family just fine...she's a good dog. She's a beautiful brown and white dog. For some reason Sierra named her Shasta, like the soda pop. (we didn't get any pics of Bandit this time around. He doesn't look like a bandit anymore, though.)
I guess being raised on a farm has influenced our daughter to love all things outdoors. She loves helping me in the garden or helping her Mom with fishing. She jumps off the bus, throws her homework down on the ground and runs around the barns saying hello to all the animals! I wonder where she gets all this energy! I think she gets it from Asya. You know...just the other day, she asked me what happened to her Mother, and I had to explain it the best way I could. Some of the kids told her what they had heard, and it was just a bunch of bullcrap, really.
I also apologized for Asya, because I know she never would've wanted to leave Sierra like she did, but she was very sick. I put a photo of the three of us in her bedroom, so she can see that we were a family once, despite all the arguments.
Kimberly's been a wonderful stepmother to Sierra. She taught Sierra how to fish. Now we can't keep her away from those ponds. Kim's been helping me catch fish, because I plan to eventually remove the restaurant in Aldi's, and put a fish store in that area. The restaurant isn't pulling in enough business to justify me keeping it. Because my harvest is late, the store isn't even bringing that much business in, right now...but, Sabien told me that we're getting a fisherwoman/pet breeder at the end of this period's rotation. I hope to get a contract with her to supply the store with fish, that would help my wife out tremendously. And maybe one day, I can open up another restaurant, if not, that would be fine too. I would really like to expand my farm.
I may be losing money right now, but the positive side is...Sims always need groceries, and we're the only store in town, unless you want to catch a cab or drive downtown to SimCity.
Despite the lack of money and vegetables, Aldi's is now in the "Best of the Best" Club! It took awhile. But, ever since Coca-Cola paid me $1,000 to place Ed Valdes' Billboard Ad up at the store, we've gotten a lot of extra business from it.
His car lot, BBV Motors, is rocking with business and we get a lot of his extra customers into the store. I just wish I had the fruits and vegetables to supply them. Hopefully next period, my big harvest will come. It seems like my crop should've harvested by now, but it hasn't. You would think these customers would be hungry while they're shopping, but they're only buying groceries and clothes, and leaving. I'm not complaining though, it could be worse. Don't forget to check out the tour of my store, also. You can find the link at the site under SimYellow Pages/Sim-Owned Businesses/Aldi's Supermarket & Restaurant
You probably heard that me and Nick patched up all our differences. We're talking again, and I wanted to invite him and his family over to the farm for dinner, but with all the rain, raining inside the house...we just couldn't do it this time around. I'm hoping to see them when summer comes. It will be nice for Sierra to get to know Keva outside of school.
See y'all next time!
