CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVEI've really just been playing the file and trying to focus more on just enjoying the game, hence the sudden drought. There has also been a bit of a fiasco with my college class and with my health, so I've been recovering from that. We had to be assigned a new professor, because our actual professor has been in the Intensive Care Unit for the past week or two and won't be returning to teaching (he's ninety-one years old and still teaching), so everything was screwed up. Then, last week, I started getting a bit of a stuffy nose.
I have severe sinus problems year-round because of screwy genetics, and it's bad enough that I don't have a sense of smell. I still have my sense of taste, contrary to popular belief that the two are connected, so I get by on that. So whenever I start to get a stuffy nose, you can bet that something is about to go very wrong.
Well, on Saturday, I started to have trouble breathing through my nose and the right side of my face started to swell. Sunday, I couldn't get off the couch and slept all day. I skipped school and instead went to the doctor on Monday, not even getting out of my pajamas, to see what the heck was going on.
I currently have a nasty sinus infection and an ear infection in both ears. So I'm NOT a very happy camper right now. I might have Tatiana take over storytelling in the chapters that I'll post later today, because it's easier for me to channel her when I'm in a foul mood.
Tatiana: Expect me.
Until then, I'll carry on as normal as I can. I'm much, much farther ahead in the game now, so in my illness-induced free time you guys will get a huge new wave of chapters.
All good things must come to an end, and Tatiana and Beatrix had to return home. It wasn't too bad, though, because I brought a bunch of new things home that needed to be placed in the house.
First of all, before the vacation, Victoria managed to snag her third and final unique reward, the food replicator. I recolored it to match the rest of the kitchen, which I'm proud to say that I don't need to close off from the rest of the house to protect Beatrix's SuperMax. The fridge is so full of leftovers that if anyone gets hungry, instead of trying to cook for themselves they just go for the leftover fruit parfait. Hooray!
I only brought home one chest from France, so I need to make a return trip to get a bunch more. They really are wonderful for providing storage. Once I get more, the one that I have stashed by the garden will hold extra harvestables and seeds that Beatrix will use for her new nectar making hobby. I also keep the life fruit in there so it doesn't accidentally get put into other foods.
I also put some nectar racks in the dining room, where I'll store the very old, very best nectars.
The spouse memorial room now plays host to two new hallways, the one that leads off to the nectar making room...
...and a fancy new gem display room. I've decided that to start a collection of plumbob cuts, but as I get more and more gems I'll add in large skull cuts. As of right now in the game, there are four skull cuts in here. I may have misjudged how much space they take up and might need to later expand the room, but for now, eh.
Christopher began to work on the special book that he said he would write for Beatrix to share with her family later down the line...and to offer an explanation to some certain other people in her life.
Tatiana woke up extra early and did the laundry for Beatrix to thank her for the nice trip to France. She really, truly enjoyed the trip, which gives me an idea for one of her future traits...
Beatrix made breakfast for everyone, then went and waited for the mail to come. She had dropped quite a bit of money on a special delivery the night before, and it would be coming that day.
She ran down to the second level basement when it came, and entered the display room to place all of the fancy new plumbob cut gems she had gotten.
There was a huge backlog of grapes that she had brought home from France for Victoria, so she used some of the extras to make nectar.
I put some SimLife goggles down there for Beatrix to play with while her nectar processed. I think she likes them.
In true Tatiana fashion, she woke up the next morning with a raging mood swing. Yeesh, Tati, I didn't have as many mood swings as you when I was a teenager...
Tatiana: You're eighteen, that makes you still a teenager. Just a calmer one.
Shhh.
Then, disaster struck. It was around this time that my sinus problems started to rear their ugly heads, so I kept drifting in and out of focus while trying to load the replicator with ambrosia. Instead, I accidentally made three platefuls before I finally managed to get a bowl in the replicator, and then I had a backlog of four plates and one immortal. I didn't know where to store them, so what did I do?
That's right. I made Beatrix eat every single one of them. Not all at once, of course, but over the day she carried the plate around, pulling one out and eating it every time she got a little hungry.
A phone call came through later in the day, while everyone was out doing their respective running around. It turns out that Don Lothario has passed away.
Christopher left for his last day of work the next morning. After today he will age up to elder, and then he'll retire from the teaching career so that he can spend more time working on his books. He still needs about three thousand more simoleons per week to complete his lifetime wish of
Professional Author.
I later learned that day that Brent had aged up to Young Adult. Tatiana still has five more days to go until she ages up.
Beatrix spent the entire morning cleaning the house. I would hire a maid, but cleaning is what Beatrix does to make use of her massive amounts of free time. She still works, but only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I don't think I'll have her retire for a very long time, since it's a guaranteed way to get her out of the house every once in a while.
That night, Christopher aged up to elder in front of his computer. Victoria still has a while left until she herself becomes an elder.
I finally got to work on that pond that Christopher discussed with Victoria, and I'm pretty sure that this is the best piece of Sims landscaping that I have ever done successfully. Right now it has angelfish and alley catfish, but after I send Victoria on a Deathfish run I'll add those in, as well. At the point of the game that I'm in now, I've placed a chest hidden by the weeds that holds on to extra fish that might get put into the pond, like foreign fish.
A full shot of the entire property in all its glory:
Christopher looks quite snazzy in his new elder clothes. I must say, World Adventures added some really nice things!
With Christopher an elder and Tatiana about to age up, Victoria and Beatrix decided that it was time for yet another trip to France.
