happy mother's day!

I know there are a lot of mommies who read this blog, so in honor of Mother's Day...

in the middle of your picture

May 2082 (prom) - Dallas Deppiesse is 17, Lucy Harris is 15. (Tyler and Beau Jackson are 18, April Hutchins is 18, Summer Phoenix is 17.)

*** notes: you'll probably want to have read Lucy's recent update first. Optional soundtrack, "All I Need," by Radiohead ***

She was just Lucy. She was just some funny little girl he met on the internet, even though they've gone to the same school since childhood. She dragged him out of his shell and became his first real friend. And then they became more than friends. They grew up together, they got older, and somehow he'd missed the point where she had morphed into something of a goddess.

LCU, a lesson in biology

LCU, spring semester, 2082 (last semester, fall 2081)

Keri just HAS to see this house, all the way out in the freaking suburbs! She's still not over it all, and says, "I can't believe you got married. You, got married! Not even a year ago, you didn't even want to live with him, so you married him?"

"He grew on me," Mariah says. "What can I say?"

Keri says, "And I can't believe you got yourself knocked up, haven't you ever heard of birth control???"

tethered

April 2082 - Toby and April Harris are 42, Lucy is 15, Sarah is 13, Sam is 10. (Dallas Deppiesse is 17.) Last update, September 2078.

Lucy is still not allowed to date Dallas Deppiesse, but it has proven to be a lost cause trying to keep them apart. So her parents reason that she is allowed to have friends, and indeed, a friend he is. A friend that she watches movies with, holds hands with, and kisses goodnight at the door. A friend who drives her home from work, invites her over to dinner with his family, and stays until ten almost every night to "study." And the touching, always touching, her fingertips graze his ankle, or his hand comes to rest on her knee, as if they might die if they weren't constantly tethered by some kind of vital but invisible life force.

And nobody wants to mention - you know silly kids and their fragile egos - but do they even realize that they've started to dress color-coordinated?

But both of their grades remain consistently excellent, so who can complain? Call it what you will.

this rustic life

March 2082 - Jeremiah Day is 25, Stephanie is 22. (via phone, Bella Bradshaw is 25). Welcome to Lakeside Heights, baby Skye. Last update, March 2080.

Stephanie is talking to her brother, long distance, while Jeremiah sets lunch out on the table. Lara had the baby - it was a girl, and they named her Skye. Stephanie can't even believe how much she's missed. She has four little nieces and nephews now, who aren't so little anymore. Liza is in junior high now, Shaun just started preschool, and Raine is starting preschool next year! Stephanie says, "The last time I saw Raine, she was still in diapers!" Oh, Patrick mentions, Raine still is in diapers, they've got to get that potty training done before the fall. Still potty training at three and a half! Sheesh! And they say girls potty train faster?

Stephanie says, "I can't wait to meet Skye!"

"Are you coming home then?" Patrick asks.

"Well, we kind of have to, I think. I'm kind of pregnant."

"Well, either you are or you're not," he says. "There's really no kind of about it."

"I am then," she says. "Yeah, I guess I am."

one day, at the love shack...

February 2082 (mini-update) - Maxwell Shaw is 35. Beau Jackson is 18.

One day, at the Love Shack, Maxwell Shaw becomes an ambassador for safe sex.

He says, "Safety first, people! What happens at the love shack, stays at the love shack... except for your STDs and oops babies! Yup, those will come home to haunt you!"

your secret admirer

February 2082 - Cabe Deppiesse is 40, Ashlee is 42, Natalia is 12. (Charlie Roseland is 12, Chandler Price is 23, Orion Deppiesse is 48.) Last Update, June 2080.

Valentines day brings out the crazies, and Natalia thinks her best friend Hazel just might be one of them. Thank God they're too old for those stupid paper Valentines now, but Hazel is hell-bent on getting her first boyfriend. She wouldn't have even met Charlie Roseland if it weren't for Natalia. It wasn't like she was setting them up or anything, but they just happened to all sit at the same lunch table for the whole first half of the year, and then she got it in her head that Charlie might like to be her Valentine.

"Oh my God," Hazel says. "What's wrong with your friend?"

"What, now he's just my friend?" Natalia says.

"He won't go out with me?"

"Not everybody wants to go out with you, Hazel."

"Sure they do," she says.

LCU, "spring" break 2082

2082, LCU, "spring" break

The newlywed Mrs. Keri Riley-Kim says, "Check out the wedding ring, Blondie. This one's taken!"

handsome Paul

January 2082 - Orlando Centowski is 66, Audrey is 65. Last update, December 2079.

Audrey and Orlando are hard at work this winter, filling orders for portraits and making pottery. This portrait is a gift to Charlotte and Paul for their wedding last year. It's taken Orlando this long to get around to it though, as he just didn't know how he would manage to paint his own daughter's quite ample chest! Perhaps Charlotte might have chosen a little more coverage on her wedding dress?

happy new year, 2082!

Happy New Year, 2082.

It isn't New Year's Eve. It isn't New Year's Day either. Today is the second of January, and he's there to walk her home from work, like he always does, except today, they have one stop to make first.

2081, extras

Before we start the new year, here are some random extras, outtakes, and misfits from the year 2081.

in real life

December 2081 - Berjes and Hailey Monif are 36, Hazel is 12. (Jodie Larson is 26. Mariah Riley is 23. Hayden Phoenix is 32.) Last update, October 2079.

Maybe nobody's really happy, so maybe it doesn't matter that Berjes has screwed everything up really, really bad.

Hailey is throwing around the D-word. She says Aurora's brother is a lawyer, and could have the papers ready as soon as she wants. She's bad-mouthing him to their daughter, and she gloats at it when Hazel echoes her tone in perfection, saying, "Eeew, Dad, you are not from this planet, I swear it! Put some clothes on! Nobody wants to see your hairy back!"

Berjes would like to state that his back hair is perfectly groomed, thank you! And he says, "I see you've been talking to your mother."

LCU, reining bridezilla

LCU, fall semester, 2081

***Very long, but picture-heavy, mostly - it's a wedding, you know ;)

Justin gulps hard and says, "You hired a housekeeper for this tiny apartment?"

Keri says, "Well, yeah! You didn't think I was going to clean it myself!"

"You hired that housekeeper?"

Keri says, "Well, you don't have to stare." But Keri can't help staring either. And it's not that she even likes girls like that, but she has to admit, that's one hell of a bosom!

Justin says, "Can we get you an outfit like that?"

how do you keep track of all those Sims??? (census 2082)

I'd like to do a regular census every round, maybe? This is census 2082, even though it's technically 2081 still in this blog, just barely ;)

national female appreciation month

November 2081 - Jack and Nessa Phoenix are 32, Aaron is three weeks old. Last update, April 2080.

Aaron Phoenix is three weeks old now, and his mommy is absolutely in love! Nessa has to go back to work in a few weeks, and she doesn't know how she'll do it. She can hardly even put little Aaron down for a second! Everybody knows you're not supposed to wake a sleeping baby, but she's been known to pick him up sometimes, just to hold him a little bit more, sneaking her fingers underneath him while he sleeps, carefully, so not to wake him.

But they've already filled out the paperwork, and Jack is going to stay home with Aaron. Nessa has places to go in her career, like executive vice president. She always knew she would be happy to become a mother, but she didn't think she wanted anything to slow her down.