Expanding

January, Winter 2009, Trisha Johnson is 37, Clay is 36, Breda and Dallas are 6




Clay and Trisha talked about opening up a massage parlor for years now. So once the new school year started the two decided to go through with the idea. And since Trisha's sister, Tosha, was managing Steppin' Out, she could focus the majority of her attention on the new project.

So once the land was chosen (ironically right next door to her clothing store,) and the land construction was approved. Trisha was ready to break ground and start to build Serenity Day Spa. (I forgot to get an outside pic, will do so soon.)




It wasn't a massive lot or a huge building, it was quaint and cozy. With two private suites and a brunch bar, and an arcade game to keep customers occupied as they waited for their session.

Trisha wanted to add more, but since they were working with their own savings, she didn't want to spend too much money. Once Serenity started to make money then she could do additions.

Customers enjoyed the deep tissue massage and the hot stone as well. Those where the two massages offered at Serenity. They were the only two that Trisha and Clay had the chance to learn on their vacations. They would like to learn the far Eastern one as well. Maybe they will be able to travel for business and learn it. But for now they would have to be happy with the two they did know.




With his wife putting in so many hours at the massage parlor Clay found himself spending even more time with the twins. Not that he minded. He enjoyed being with them, ever since their births. He helped with a lot of their training, from potty time to walking and talking, so reading them to sleep every night was nothing major.

He did hate cooking though, and looked forward to his days at Serenity. Though he spent most of his adult life as a professional party guest, he really enjoyed being his own boss. No one to answer to, except his wife. And she was all the boss he needed. Clay was glad that they decided to do this venture together. Not only did it give him more time with his children, but he also got to do something that he enjoyed with his wife.




Breda and Dallas weren't bothered by their mom working so much. They were used to it. Even though she had opened Steppin' Out years before they were born, she worked that store everyday, putting in long hours to make it the top ranked business that it is today. And Dallas expected that his mom and maybe dad, would do the same with the day spa. He knew that his mother wouldn't rest until Serenity was the top spa in their area.

But he was still a kid, and he wanted all the time that he could get with his mom. Breda on the other hand could care less. She loved her mom but she was closer to their dad. So she didn't hurry in the morning to eat breakfast with their mom, she rather dance or do homework.

So it was one of those mornings with his sister working on her homework from the night before and, his mom hurrying to down her breakfast of cereal, that Dallas decided to ask about taking a vacation.

Trisha paused and asked where would he like to go, and of course like any child, he wanted to visit Disney World. Trisha smiled and said she would talk it over with Clay and let the kids know.

That even left Breda excited.




The family vacation discussion would have to wait though. It was Clay's day to work at the spa, and Trisha set to work on cleaning house. First up was the littler box. Cymmi is thinking that it's about time someone cleaned the filthy thing. She was sick of peeing outside.




And amongst all the chaos the Johnson's decided to buy their first place. City life was great, and they enjoyed living downtown, but the kids were getting bigger, and a two bedroom apartment was not the place for them. They needed room, a yard to run around in, and most importantly, separate bedrooms.

Neither Trisha or Clay would picture themselves living in suburbia, but that's where they found themselves. They looked at the few homes offered in the city, but none offered what they were looking for. Small yards, not enough bathrooms, no privacy, and that was just name a few.

So they ended up settling on a quaint four bed 2.5 bath house in Riverdale. It provided all the room that the family needed. (I actually built this house. If anyone wants it let me know. No CC all Maxis, and I have all eps and stuff packs installed.)



Clay pulled Trisha off to the side so the twins wouldn't over hear them, and he expressed how excited he was. He couldn't want until his wife conceived their third child. He was ready to teach the baby nursery rhymes and how to use the potty.

Trisha was excited herself. Though sometimes she wondered if she was biting off more than she could chew. With two businesses to run and a family to care for, would adding a third child to the mix be to much?

Clay didn't care and wanted to get back to trying as soon as the movers finished with their furniture.

It had been three months since they broke ground for Serenity, and two months since they had started trying for a baby, and one month since they moved into their new home. It was now the end of January and Trisha still hadn't conceived yet. She was nervous, and wanted to ring the subject up to Clay, but didn't know how. So instead she talked about hiring a local interior designer to spruce up their place. Clay knew something was on her mind and asked her about it.

"It's nothing really. I just think that I should pay a visit to the doctor just to make sure everything is okay with me... reproductive wise."

Clay stared at his wife for a moment. Just where did that come from? Why would she think something was wrong with her?

"What do you need to go to the doctor for? We had no problems having the twins. And so what if it's taking a little longer with this one. You're still having fun trying to make the baby? I don't see a need to consult a professional."

Trisha tilted her head to the side, examining her husband from a different angle. Yup, it was Clay alright, but the crap coming out of his mouth? Didn't sound like him at all.

She then went on to explain that she was getting older, which meant they her years of fertility were coming to an end. And each month that she didn't get pregnant just pushed them closer to not having a third child.


Clay still didn't share her point of view, stating that doctors were only there for you when you were sick. Since Trisha wasn't sick she didn't need to see a doctor.

Steaming, Trisha blurted out that maybe the reason why Clay didn't want her to go wasn't because something was wrong with her, but that something was wrong with him. Maybe his little simmers couldn't get the job done.

Shocked, he only watched as she pushed back from the table and stormed out of the dinning room. He was truly at a lost for words.



Game Notes: Sadly, these two have been trying to get pregnant for a while now. I don't understand why it's not happening. When Trisha was still using birth control they always had the "try for baby" option pop up so I took her off of the birth control. And figuring that it would happen soon, I built them a four bedroom house. But nothing yet. So we shall see. Maybe she's too stressed out with all the running around she does. Forgot to add. Trisha rolled the ROS to take up a new hobby or open a business. So they decided to open a business like they wanted.

Moving On

December, Winter 2009, Emma King is 34, Lars is 1



I spent the whole of my pregnancy stressed out. Not only because I had no idea who the father of my unborn child was, but also because I hadn't a single maternal bone in my body.

I never thought about having children, starting a family. Yes, I wanted a husband and a house with the white picket fence, but kids? The thought never crossed my mind.

I guess since I use my body for my work, I'm a interpretive dance instructor, having children never became an issue. Even when I was with David the topic of children never popped up.

So being pregnant left me in a state of shock and denial.

But as soon as I laid eyes on Lars there was no mistake who the father was. Rupert Cotton. Which was a bit of a relief for me. I didn't have to worry about breaking up a marriage between Xander and his new wife. So some of the stress was gone.

Step two in removing stress from my life. Starting over. Which meant I had to move.

I packed everything up and headed to the city. I kissed my suburban life goodbye and got a quaint two bedroom downtown.

I did admit to myself that another reason why I moved 45 minutes from Riverdale was because of Rupert. I don't know why but I'm scared to tell him about Lars. I even avoided him the whole pregnancy, which, sadly, wasn't to hard.

I see now, though I'm in love with Rupert, he's not the guy for me. He's a ladies man, and always will be. I don't need to run around after someone like that, and my son doesn't need that kind of roll model or influence in his life as a father figure.

So I'm not even sure if I'll ever tell Rupert about his son. And besides, Lars has years before he starts to ask about his daddy.

One positive out of all of this. I enjoy being a mother! Who would have though. Lars has become my whole life. Everything I do I do it for him. To make sure I can provide him with the best childhood possible.

And my little man became a little man before my eyes. Lars' first birthday rolled upon me with such speed. It seemed as if I'd just given birth to him. And the older he gets the more he looks like his father. He even has Rupert's eyes, and his curly hair.

But I don't regret not telling him about Lars or even moving away from him. I'm happy with my new life.

And my new man, Waylon Menon. We met while I was pregnant, exchanged numbers but nothing came of it. It wasn't until I was grocery shopping that I bumped into him. We decided to hang out and the rest as they say was history.

Lars even approves of him. In truth I don't know what to think. Lars might think Waylon is his dad. But we won't know anything until he actually starts to speak.

But the most important man in my life still is Lars. I spend as much time as I can with him. Between work, and trying to juggle a social life I'd say Lars is getting the best of me. Not that I' trying to sabotage things with Waylon, but I don't want to sacrifice my relationship with my son to please a man. Like I said everything I do I do for Lars.

That's why I don't want to hurt things between Waylon and I. Plus I think, no, I know I'm falling in love with him, and he would be good for Lars. A positive father figure in his life.

So we decided to welcome in the new year the only way we truly knew how.

A bit of karaoke...

and poker. After winning a few hands I casually asked Waylon to move in with me. I was so nervous but I didn't let it show. I had my poker face on, lol.

He didn't even pause to think about it, he jumped up from the table, causing a few people to look over at us, but he didn't care. He pulled me up from my chair as well and hugged me something fierce before saying yes.

I was so thrilled. This was my first serious relationship after David, years after David. But I know I'm ready now. Ready to settle down, ready to build that family I though I never wanted. Ready to start a life with Waylon and Lars.

Returning home that night, I did what I do every night. I tip toe into Lars' room, tuck him in and give him a light kiss. Except the difference this night? I was crawling into bed with the man I loved.

Notes from GoldenBuffy: Emma rolled the ROS for you deserve better. So she had to pursue a relationship with the sim that was most attractive to her. Since her top three where married, and happily I might add, I had to pick Waylon. It was either him or I kept her swooning over Rupert. But I'm glad that I did hook her up with Waylon. When I looked in her memories I saw that they had woo hoo'd, when this happened I had no idea. Obvious it happened when I wasn't playing her, lol. So they feel in love quickly. They are not family sims, I think they are both popularity, but they roll to get engaged to each other and marry each other. So I think this was meant to be! So if either one ever pops the question, I think she will actually get the wedding ring on her finger this time and not play runaway bride, lol.

Peas of a pod?

December, Winter 2009, Peng T'ang is 34, Li-Fen is 32, Ye is 15 and, Ruling and Roulan are 5





Even though Ruling and her twin are only 5, she is set in her ways. She's always the first one up if it's the weekday or the weekend. She also can't leave her bed unmade. I think it's safe to say that little Ruling is a little super cleaner. Everything has to be just right or her little world isn't perfect.



Roulan on the other hand is the complete opposite. Well, not complete, since she likes to clean as well, but not as much as her sister. She doesn't enjoy school as much, hates homework, and rather spend her time blowing bubbles or watching the clouds pass over her head.

One could say she is a free spirit, following a beat to her own drum. She likes to take things nice and slow.




When Ruling isn't cleaning or studying (which she does a lot) she gets a kick out of tormenting her sister.



Which she hates greatly. She swats at her to leave her alone.




But Ruling will not give up. Roulan calls for their father who only tells her to "handle it,". Causing the girl to roll her eyes. How is she supposed to handle it when her sister refuses to leave her alone?



By turning the tables on Ruling!



"Grrr! Arg!"



Ruling clutched her chest. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Good!" Roulan cackled, "Maybe next time you'll leave me alone!."




But the twins do get along most of the time and enjoy eating breakfast with their older brother Ye.


But Ye has other things on his mind than his little sisters and their taste in shoes. He's in love, with his best friend. And to make it worse, she doesn't even know it. (Sorry about him being blue. He froze in the snow and his skin didn't return to normal, and I can't fix it.)

So he calls her up and invites her to Slippy's Ice rink to do a bit of skating.




He decides to start without her, and it turns out not to be such a bright idea. His poor bum. He'll be feeling that come morning.

Trying to save himself from more embarrassment her exits the rink and spots the object of his affection. Cameron Smith. He loves her so much. He wishes he could take her in his arms and kiss her. But that would be bad. She doesn't even know how he truly feels about her.

He's though about telling her, but with the recent death of her sister he doesn't think it's the best of ideas.

So instead he enjoys her company at his house having snowball fights in the cold, and playing video games in the hot summer.

But he wouldn't trade it for the world. As long as Cameron was willing to be around him, Ye was the happiest teen on the planet.

And Ye will come up with any excuse just to touch Cameron.

It doesn't get any easier watching her leave at night to return home. Oh, how he wishes he could confess his love.

He does how ever tell Roulan how much he loves a girl with chestnut colored hair, and beautiful almond eyes. And the deepest chocolate eyes one could drown in.

"Why can't you just tell her how you feel?" she asks. This whole not sharing of feelings is something unfamiliar to Roulan. But she was still in the phase that boys gave you cooties.

"If you tell her that you love her you can have babies!" Roulan blurts out excitedly.



The mention of love and babies catches Ye off guard and he he tries quickly to explain to his little sister that though he is in love with a girl, that doesn't mean they will have babies.

He starts to blush at the thought. Yes, he loves Cameron, but the thought never crossed his mind about really being with her. He's way to young to be thinking about that. And though his sister is only 5, and just exploring where babies come from. He needs to have a talk with his dad about Roulan watching Discovery channel alone.

12 Steps

October, Fall 2009, Mathew Picaso is 35, Samantha is 34, Rose is 8, Lola is 4 and, Becca is 1




Rose was still very excited about school. She had started the 4th grade and now was considered one of the "upper" class men at Riverdale Elementary. She also liked the newly built school, it still smelled of fresh paint and plaster, and all the the desks, books, chalk boards were all new. And the best part was the new playground equipment. All the children enjoyed recces.

But the topic of conversation that cool Tuesday morning was that fact that one of the kindergartners peed themselves on the playground. Rose didn't find it too funny, but her friends did.

Samantha could relate to the small child. Carrying around an increasingly heavy baby was causing her to run to the bathroom 6 times a day. And that was before noon. She couldn't wait until she had this baby.



About an hour after Rose had left for school Samantha went into labor. The news delivery guy just happened to be placing the news on their door step and heard the moaning coming from inside, he opened the door without thinking and rushed to Samantha's aid.

It wasn't Mathew, but she was glad to have someone with her until the ambulance arrived.



Lola was in her room playing when she heard her mom scream out in pain. It made her curious and she waddled out to see just what was going on.

She had no idea that her mom was about to have a baby, but she knew something wasn't right with mommy. She was in pain. Lola plopped down onto the floor and began to cry.



Samantha returned from the hospital with little Becca. She was beautiful and healthy, getting her parents brown eyes, and her dad's brown hair.

Mathew watched as Samantha put the little one down for her nap. As he surveyed the tiny room he realized that this apartment was just too small for his growing family. Even if this was their last child, they needed the extra room.

He voiced his concerns to Samantha, who agreed. But she reminded him that they didn't have the finance to buy a home, not with owning the grocery store, and Mathew working an extra job to make ends meet.

But they needed to room, and they both decided that they would look into seeing if they qualified for a mortgage to get a house.




With the birth of his third daughter Mathew was over joyed that Samantha finally forgave him for his past transgression. He told her every moment that he got how sorry he truly was, and how much he loved his wife.

Samantha assured him that he was truly forgiven and that she trusted him. But she wasn't being truthful to herself. If she admitted it to herself she really was nervous about her husband, about Sharla and what had happened between them. She was scared to death that he would go back to her, or worse yet, find someone younger, in better shape, with no kids to sleep it.

She just wished that she knew someone she could talk to about the affair. She needed closure with herself and her feelings. She was certain that she would never be able to fully trust her husband again.



Between all the apologizing, Mathew did his best to help around the house. Now that Samantha had her hands full with three little ones, it was the least he could do.



And when he arrived home from the military, he would head down to Shop n' Fresh to put in a few hours there.

Rose found it hard to be a big sister. Between playing with Lola, and doing her home work and, trying to complete her bug collection...

Rose was exhausted.

Samantha could feel that she was burning the wick at both ends. She was hardly getting 5 hours of sleep at night, and hardly any naps during the day. Lola needed attention when Becca was sleep. Becca needed attention when she was woke. Not to mention potty training Lola and teaching her to talk. Which wasn't turning out so well.

Samantha tried to get her to say "Mama," but Lola didn't want to. She tried to get her to say "Dada," but that didn't hold Lola's attention either.

It wasn't until she had asked her daughter if she wanted a "baba," for lunch. That was a word that Lola wanted to say, and she did, over and over again.

Samantha was over joyed. Lola was speaking!

And finally, Samantha got a moment to herself.