Mommy Dearest

How I love my daughter. I can't believe that I have to leave her during the day, but when I'm home with her, she loves me so much. She loves for me to toss her in the air and to read to her. Also, Lyndon welcomes the break, sometimes he needs to study for his sermons or pray and meditate to God and Faith isn't so understanding.


We're discussing having me quit my job and come home to take care of Faith and maybe open the gift shop a bit more often. I'm not sure, his salary isn't a lot, but like the Bible says, God will provide.

Working for the Simoleans

Things are going bad rather quickly. Shortly after Starr's death, we recieved a package from England. Instead of the expected letter of condolences, there was a bill for back taxes on the property there. We owe $50,000!!! The only way I see to pay that is to sell the family home and moving into something smaller. No amount of overtime I put in will pay that fine. We'll see what happens, but I definately don't want to go to jail!

Food Expo Starts

The Food Expo had a lovely start, we even had a night BBQ in the backyard. I don't know why Darrel and Sazo sunk so much money into the patio, we have until simMonday to move out of the complex and into a "traditional" single family home or elsewhere. We'll probably buy one of the homes being built on Fuji Court. Elda and her family will have to move...again. I feel sorry for them, but I'm sure they will survive.

Busy Busy

Work is going well. I have past my test for sales techniques, register skills and flower arranging and am the official owner of three bronze badges. That means that I am no longer classified as a trainee and will start recieving a salary. I got a bonus of $2000. The shop got an award for $10000 and Elinor said that I deserve some of the bonus, yay! I put it in my savings, I want to gain enough to buy this place. Johan has been spending the night most nights, I wonder if he should just move in.

Gig and Leaving?

Salvador left the hood and I have launched my solo career! I still work for Tatiana at her resturaunt, Tati's, but I want to persue music career fulltime now.

I might leave Astaire. I'm tired of fighting for the marriage and he's still in love with his ex-girlfriend. He's not helping at all, mourning her moving away and all. I even gave him a baby! Jepps!

BBQ

We had a bbq to celebrate the start of the Food Expo. Sazo's dad made ribs and they renoveated the back yardz to have a nice patioz and grill. I loved the ribz, yummys.

I'm stillz pregnant, but the pregnancy is easys. Elda said she hated being pregnant and glads her baby is here, I love it, I'm not tiredz or cranky or anything. I even look really cutez pregnant.

Wow

Wow! The most amazing thing happened. I met a really hot girl! She's older than me and will be going to university soon, but wow! So hot! Cliantha, nice name for a hot girl! Maybe I will try and ask for her number, she said that she'll be at the formal, maybe we can dance there and fall in love. Hot!

Boys!

There are not many eligible boys in the hood. I wonder where I will find my husband! Apparently not here! We'll see, the High School Formal is this simday and I am excited, I have a cute dress and will get my hair styled and maybe there will be other boys there...it doesn't matter too much right now, I'm focused on work and school and building skills and relationships. Sometimes mom lets me go along with her to The Centre and listen to the meetings and observe her work. It's neccessary since I want to be the hood president like her...one day.

Hood Council Note: Food Expo

The kickoff ceremony for the Food Expo has begun! I gave a speech and introduced some key players. Thankfully, the Food Expo is pretty standard in Apple Valley, we've been participating for so long that things run like clockwork. I've been trying to encourage other hoods to participate in the Food Expo as well, who knows, maybe we'll have the honor of hosting the Expo again someday...we'll see.

Proud Papa

I'm a proud papa! Elda and I had a little girl, we named her Thomasina in honor of my grandfather (Tom) and late uncle (Thomas). She's the apple of my eye, so cute and it looks like she might have Elda's dark hair and eyes. We will have to move again, we just moved below Elda's parents and the hood council is giving us until simMonday to find new housing so they can demolish this lot and build affordable housing. I am going to put in our application for a townhome, we'll be renting it, but that's about all we can afford right now.

Community Director Note: Proposal for School: Phase One

Rayne Wilsonoff

Purpose
There is a need for the hood council to build a local school instead of bussing off the children and teens to other public schools where parents and the council can not monitor thier curriculm and education closely. This effort would take a considerable investment, but it would provide more jobs for residents and give us more control over the curriculm and education our children recieve.


State of the Hood's Education System
Currently the hood counts 9 teens and 10 children that are bussed off to nearby schools. It would take about two simdays to establish the Apple Valley school so that it can open on simMonday (if construction starts this simSaturday). By this time the pupil count would be 16 pupils. If we look at the number of students currently enrolled in private school: 5 teens and 2 children, that would ease the load of pupils for the school. Then that would leave 12 students to start the school.


Phase One
It will be best to slowly intergrate the students into the school and start with high school students and then add elementary students in Phase Two. With the increased requirements for university, the high school students are in danger of not being prepared for thier future. That would give the school 4 students to start with, also would only require 1 teacher. With this in mind:


Potential Jobs
1 Secondary School Teacher
-suggest teacher moves into an apartment on school grounds. If not possible, then at least the caretaker must move into the school.

1 Principal
-suggest that the Community Director holds this position to oversee the curriculm, will not increase duties of the CD too much, also will not cost the hood extra money to pay the principal.

1 Part-Time Cafeteria Worker or Delivered Pre-cooked Meals
-suggest delivered meals to save on cost. Can try to work a contract with Tati's

1 Part-Time Caretaker
-suggest either teacher does this afterschool or hire a worker to come in during afterschool hours to clean. Local maid service will be disruptive to classroom environment.

Classes/Grade Levels
Classes will be held simMonday-simFriday, 9am-3pm.
Will submit a more detailed curriculm proposal if the school proposal is approved.
Teens: Level 3, simyears 14-18 (pupil count 4)
Teens: Level 4, simyears 18-22 (pupil count 0)

Curriculm
Nationally Approved Curriculm/Subjects: use basic gradebooks
Extracurriculars: chess club, debate team, sports team, theater, yearbook, etc
Skill Building Classes: art, physical education, home ec, music class, shop class, etc


Investment
School Building
-believe this will be about $50,000 for the initial construction. Then another $30,000 for furnishing the school with neccessary equiptment.

Salary for Teacher
-can be a flat salary (suggest $1000/simweek) subsidized by the fact the teacher lives on campus and has room and board

Maintanience of School Building
-cleaning, repair work, landscaping, school supplies


Total Initial Investment=$90,000


We can qualify for the New School Education Grant ($35,000) and the Small School Iniative Grant ($40,000) which would require the hood to provide $15,000 towards the cost of the school, which is well within the budget.

Newspaper

Should we publish the paper online? Clark wants more exposure than the local newspaper, hihi, too bad he didn't marry a Kent, then he'd be Clark Kent-hahaha!

He already manages the website now and he's the correspondant for STAR, but I suppose an online version of the paper won't hurt...I guess.



We're waiting on our customized paper dispenser to come from the factory and we're going to order some signs for the buildings as well.

Community Director Note: My Plans for the Term

Rayne Wilsonoff

My plans for the term as Community Director:


Secure family values, uphold rights for children and elders

• Encourage families to create wills by hosting a free class at The Centre, free donuts will bring a bigger crowd
• Research health insurance policies for residents
• Establish a play group system for children to meet thier neighbors

Ensure a family friendly and healthy community for current & future generations.

• Encourage residents to compost instead of trash
• Install more lights and benches at the parks
• Obtain address signs for homes

Ensure adequate culture, local food produce, restaurants and bars, & social meeting places.

• Host a child friendly event: Children's Festival with free lemonade and sweets and local entertainment and games and prizes. Location: Celebration Park or Modern Sculpture Park, cost for residents: free
• Host a teen-friendly event. (What's cool now?): Musik Festival with concerts from local bands (contact Selita Grey) and maybe some international acts (contact Sergio Gitano of Harper's Cove, post notice on Career & Fame Board). Location: The Foundry
• Add a trend section in the local paper. Will review resturaunts, bars, etc. Also help residents stay abreast of the local trends.
• Allow local farmer's to reside on larger lots, thus produce more food.
• Build a public pool and gym for residents to enjoy in the summer time

Ensure a quality education system for residents

• Build a local school for the children of Apple Valley.
• Host graduation ceremonies for graduates of the school and the university
• Encourage more extracurricular activities for teens and children-start with debate team, chess club, and simscouting program

President Note: Future Plans

Ayanna Kent
With the new term, here are my plans as the President

Construct a Bank
Add bank office at The Centre. Possible on bottom floor of the ballroom and decrease ballroom size to upper floor only. Bank would have ATM capabilities, office space for Financial Director to assist with loans and savings accounts. Financial Director will oversee this renovation and implementation.

Re-Establish fines/community service for conflicts

• Construction on jail due to be complete on simMonday. Will have three cells, recreation room and cafeteria, outdoor exercise space and jailor's apartment with two bedrooms.
• Jailor will be Jarvis Forrester-Miller, due to possession of aging wavier and position on the force. No salary will be given except a small stipend when inmates are housed.
• Fine list needs updating as well as a process for punishing residents and townies.
• Renovation of The Centre to include a courthouse for conflicts and office space to process data. Can reduce size of library so that it resides in the upstairs office space, renovate lower space to have the courtroom for trials and administrative offices.
• Judge will be Hood Council President or the sim that holds that position downtown. If jurors are needed, a random selection of adults from the hood will be chosen to serve for the trial.

Increase tourism

• Order additional custom objects: maps, poster prints, trinkets, etc. Also get map created of the hood to hang in the Welcome Center instead of the TV.
• Keep online Office of Tourism updated with flights and events.
• Hold raffle for a free trip to Apple Valley. Including airfare, accomadations, food, and spending money. ($5000)
• Create a Apple Valley Flag

Change timetable

• Follow Baleen Island's way of keeping time: instead of simdays, use Season # Simday #

Further relationship with affliates

• Email/chat with spokessims from affliate hoods more often
• Travel to affliate hoods

Hard Times

Times are getting a little hard, I've even start salvaging items from the trash to sell. The hood isn't set up for me, I wish I could move and settle elsewhere...but where? Where would I go?

Patricia is gone, her husband took the family to Harper's Cove. Sent me a nasty message "ha! leave me wife alone!" Grrr...Patricia and I have true love, does he think that he can stop that?

Selita is upset. I think she knows of my feelings for Patricia, but I don't care. Only my son makes me happy now.

Will he be ok?

Joey is married and he seemed very happy at the wedding, but will he be ok. His new bride seemed a bit upset when I gave them a check for $850. Apparently she expected more...I wonder if she thought Joey would get more money. Maybe I need to change the will so that they won't get funds from us unless they have children.

Ladies

I started flirting with the new freshman, Jolie and she hot! H-O-T!!! Sizzling! Then Faye, the chick I tried to flirt with got mad! Ha! Can't she see, she snooze she loze!

Wow

I am in major like with the hottest guy-Jorge! Sweet Jorge, sweet STRONG Jorge!

He likes me too, so he says. We've kissed and played and tickled and went on a date-bowling! So sweet, sweet Jorge!

Robbed!

We were almost robbed. Thank goodness we have the new state-of-the art alarm monitering system (it's installed in every house in Royal Gala).

The police were here in a flash and the burgler was caught. We even claimed a small reward since he was wanted elsewhere in the hood.

I don't know if he will be jailed-I hope so. Thankfully everything was recovered, but it's still a scary feeling.

What, like a garden, never stays the same?

Life. Yes, life always changes. The twins are doing well and will be off to university before we know it. They both have jobs, Fiona is a secretary at a law firm, Fredic is a drive thru clerk (heaven only knows why, that boy cna't cook!). My eldest daughter has left the hood, now both of my older children are elsewhere, Ayanna was elected for another hood council term and she's vying for SUN Core president and to top it off there are rumors that Tatiana may sell Euphoria...I'll be out of a job if that happens.

Whose the Daddy?

I admit, I spoil my daughter. She loves to eat cake and especially birthday cake, so I buy her cake all the time. Not good for her teeth, but I love spoiling her. Maybe we should adopt a pet for her...when she's older of course.

Nicole and I are preparing the grounds for the Food Expo, there will be some events held here-hopefully we will make more contacts and have the church congregation grow a bit more.

Grandchild

Carmela annouced that she's pregnant. There's hope that I might live to see the heir of the family.

My other insolent son, Salvador, has immigrated to another hood. Good riddance. I would probably pay to have him out of the hood, embarassing me and the Herendez family. His ancestors are probably rolling over in thier grave!

Affordable Housing

I wish mama was still around, she would know what to do.


Apple Valley needs to address the affordable housing situation. Instead of allowing sims to own multi-family housing units, we are now leasing them by the week. This only affects the housing on Fuji (The Fuji Flats I like to call them) and the townhomes on McIntosh. This doesn't affect the Fresh Flora property since it's owned by the owner and they sublet space to thier current trainee...for now. I hear that they will stop subletting the space.

After reclaiming some of the units, we now have four units available for rent. Two flats on Fuji and two duplex units on McIntosh. The Apple Valley Boarding Home has three rooms available now. The Forrester-Millers are moving to the new jail and that will free up a home for sale on Granny Smith. I'm curious to see how that will pass. There are two families living in flats that are eligible for the home, but I'm not sure if one of them would buy it since...well, they seem a bit more on the modern side and the homes on Granny Smith (and elsewhere in the hood except on Fuji) are a bit more traditional.

We might start having a limit on how long sims can stay in the rental units-perhaps two simweeks (14 simdays) would be enough. That would give graduates enough time to save money and then buy a home or move into the family home again.

Hood Council Note: I'm the Financial Director

Since I have an anti-aging wavier, I now have the lifetime (or as soon as my wavier expires or I chose not to) position of Financial Director.

This term I plan to:

Local businesses and associated laws
Establish a program for New Small Business Owners:
Give new business owners $1000-$3000 credit towards purchase of a community lot.
Help business owners network with other small business owners in other hoods, perhaps the resurgance of the Small Business Conference.

Implement taxes and welfare support
Establish a program for Mortgage Loans:
Borrower must provide at least 10% down payment
Loans must be paid off within 21 simdays (three simweeks)
Payments will be twice a week (simTuesday and simThursday)

Increase rental fees:
Increase rental fees on the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) due to promixity to main strip.

Change tax structure
Instead of $750/simweek per residental lot, increase it to $750/simweek per family. Removes loophole where families in multi-family housing paid less in taxes than other residents.

Manage the local real estates and architectural planning of the hood
Decrease number of multi-family units from 10 to 4:
Condemn and bulldoze the Fuji Flats (three two unit multi-family units)
One lot is ready for demolition, give other families 3 simdays (until simMonday) and $1000 for inconvience to find new housing (total $4,000)
Would decrease rental income for the hood, however would promote home ownership
Still maintain the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) and AVBH (4 rooms available for rent)

Build mixed income housing area:
Build three small lot homes on Fuji Court. At least two homes must be at least two bedroom and one bath, less than $15,000, other must be bewteen $15,000 and $30,000. At least two homes one story, one home two story.

Renovate Pavilion
Renovate skating rink so more sims can enter rink to skate.

Build Celebration Park II
Small grill area, playground, bathroom on 2x3 lot

Revamp Celebration Park I
Demolish grill and playground area to create more open space. Add chess set, focus more on the lake and fishing activities

Expand Modern Sculpture Park
Demolish small 1x3 lot and build on larger 2x3 lot
Buy Euphoria from Tatiana Garris, use additional land space for the new park
Will increase value of new homes on Fuji Court


Renovate The Core
The Core is too bulky and hinders views of main street (McIntosh)
Demolish 2nd level.
Create 5-9x8 office spaces for the following retailors: The Green Paw Pet Shop; Gears & Beyond; Snips; Wearable Art; I-Scream Icecream & Pizza
Retailors are paying for renovation-no funding needed from hood council, only approval on final design.

Wow!

Wow! So bigz! I wonder if I mightz be having twins! At least I lookz amazing carrying this child. Thankz goodness some of the designer stuff still fits me, otherwise I'dz have to wear thatz maternity crap.

Sazo and I are stillz gathering things for the wedding. We're goingz to have it in the backyard and have it bez a small affair. I wonder, should I invite Jadhira? Yeaz, she'd likez that.

Financial Director Note: Report

Ka'Obi Sweeny
Since I have an anti-aging wavier, I now have the lifetime (or as soon as my wavier expires or I chose not to) position of Financial Director.

This term I plan to:

Local businesses and associated laws
Establish a program for New Small Business Owners:
Give new business owners $1000-$3000 credit towards purchase of a community lot.
Help business owners network with other small business owners in other hoods, perhaps the resurgance of the Small Business Conference.

Implement taxes and welfare support
Establish a program for Mortgage Loans:
Borrower must provide at least 10% down payment
Loans must be paid off within 21 simdays (three simweeks)
Payments will be twice a week (simTuesday and simThursday)

Increase rental fees:
Increase rental fees on the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) due to promixity to main strip.

Change tax structure
Instead of $750/simweek per residental lot, increase it to $750/simweek per family. Removes loophole where families in multi-family housing paid less in taxes than other residents.

Manage the local real estates and architectural planning of the hood
Decrease number of multi-family units from 10 to 4:
Condemn and bulldoze the Fuji Flats (three two unit multi-family units)
One lot is ready for demolition, give other families 3 simdays (until simMonday) and $1000 for inconvience to find new housing (total $4,000)
Would decrease rental income for the hood, however would promote home ownership
Still maintain the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) and AVBH (4 rooms available for rent)

Build mixed income housing area:
Build three small lot homes on Fuji Court. At least two homes must be at least two bedroom and one bath, less than $15,000, other must be bewteen $15,000 and $30,000. At least two homes one story, one home two story.

Renovate Pavilion
Renovate skating rink so more sims can enter rink to skate.

Build Celebration Park II
Small grill area, playground, bathroom on 2x3 lot

Revamp Celebration Park I
Demolish grill and playground area to create more open space. Add chess set, focus more on the lake and fishing activities

Expand Modern Sculpture Park
Demolish small 1x3 lot and build on larger 2x3 lot
Buy Euphoria from Tatiana Garris, use additional land space for the new park
Will increase value of new homes on Fuji Court


Renovate The Core
The Core is too bulky and hinders views of main street (McIntosh)
Demolish 2nd level.
Create 5-9x8 office spaces for the following retailors: The Green Paw Pet Shop; Gears & Beyond; Snips; Wearable Art; I-Scream Icecream & Pizza
Retailors are paying for renovation-no funding needed from hood council, only approval on final design.

Love

I am glad that my husband and I are still very much in love. I wonder how we can spread that joy to other couples? Maybe we can host a love seminar? I should ask him. I told Lyndon about the little girl I saw and heard about. I think she's being neglected, her parents seem to care less for her. Perhaps we can give her a home. Faith could have a sister-they're about the same age, and we could have another child. Would the parents accept this or would we need to call child services? Would we legally adopt the girl or simply raise her as our own? Lots of questions.

Happy Birthday Faith!

Faith's birthday went well, she loved the toy that Lyndon picked up for her. We ate cake and listened to her play her new toy.


I wonder...will there be more children in our future? How will we be able to help the community more? Lyndon wants us to host a revival. A revival? I wonder if the residents are ready for such, it's hard enough getting them to come to church for services, much less revivals.

Musik

I'm doing better on the bass, maybe I can start taking private lessons soon. Soon I'll have to enter university and then what? I don't want any kiddos, I want to model. Maybe I can apply for Carla Niven's fashion line. I think I'd be a great model. Maybe I'll move...hmm, so many opportunities!

Stepping Up

I think I will join the military.



The hood council promises to pay off my student loans if I join and I get a salary and one time living award. I don't know if I would need to move to a military base or if I would need to fight in any wars, but probably not-there hasn't been any conflicts in Apple Valley in eons!

Job

I talked with Jan of the Medical Centre, I could work there after grad. She said that she will train me and I will be a nurse. Helping patients and managing the gift shop. Mostly managing the gift shop and filling prescriptions. One day, I could be the Chief of Staff there.

Birthday!

Faith's birthday will be soon. I visited the Toy Shoppe to find a nice gift for her...something a toddler girl would enjoy...I'm so excited about her birthday!

I was looking at her the other day as I fed her her nightly bottle. She resembles Nicole and I. Her eyes are bright blue like mine and she has wisps of blond hair like Nicole's. Even her skintone is the perfect blend of my vanilla and Nicole's cocoa.

New Term

The votes are in and the new hood council will be effective this simSunday, which leaves simSaturday for the old council members to finish unresolved business. The only new sim on the team is the Community Director, Rayne Wilsonoff replacing Leroy Mendenhall. Ka'obi Sweeny returned as a permenant member due to the anti-aging wavier she has and I am back as well. The hoood council is entirely females-girl power!

I have a lot of ideas for the new term, I think we need to establish a scholarship for out-of-hood students to come to the university. It would help bring in new blood and DNA, which is essential to a small hood. The census says that we're shrinking, too much death and emmigration and not enough births. I don't think it's a problem...yet.

The Office of Tourism is open and Clark Grey manages that site and arranging the travel into and out of the hood. We're trying to make the visa system more automated and hopefully we'll have more visitors come to the hood. We could use the simoleans.

The construction has started on a jail, we need something besides fines to enforce the laws. With the new jail, we'll need at the very minimum a judge, two lawyers, and jailer. Thankfully we have our jailer-Jarvis Forrester-Miller, he will be the permenant jailer since he and his wife have an anti-aging wavier due to her international assignments. We'll need to post openings for the lawyers and judge. Thankfully, Fiona wants to go into law. So we'll have a lawyer pretty soon. I hope she follows in my footsteps and become a spokesim. She seems to want to, but will she?

Other jobs needed in the hood: we have a Manager for the Medical Centre, but Jan needs help, thankfully she has talked to a university student who is interested in working there after school. We need more military, we only had two military sims and one is dead and the other an elder. I suppose we need to build a military training base sometime soon, but it's hard to see the need for them when we are not in the middle of a conflict and haven't had one.

Preperation

Clark and I are preparing for this baby to come. I visited the medical centre to look at the facilities. I want my baby born in a nice clean environment. Our upstairs neighbors have moved-well, some of them. Zaida remained behind, but I woke up in the middle of the night craving llama eggs and saw her son, daughter and his fiance sneaking into a cab. Clark is investigating the death of Mr. Dawson and I think we should move. Now! That woman scares me. Thankfully the flat below my parents is available, we should move there. We'll be close to mom and dad.

Food Expo Preperation

The food expo starts tomorrow simday. Darrel is very excited about it, CupaJava isn't a designated site, but he hopes that the coupons and discounts given during the Food Expo will generate more business. Sazo's fiance, Sandy, moved in with us since the hood council reclaimed her flat. There have been some changes with flat ownership, thankfully we owned our before the changes were inacted. O, we'll be grandparents soon. Elda is due any simday now and Sazo just announced that he and Sandy are expecting a child. I wonder how that will affect thier wedding plans?

Tomboy

Marilyn is such a tomboy. She is always playing catch with her father or fetch with Dryfus. I suppose it is well and good. Thankfully Ginger is more like me. She loves standing in the kitchen watching me prepare meals and asking all sorts of questions. Perhaps we should buy her a toy oven, she would love that. Making muffins and such.

RA!

I'm the RA! This will be great for my nursing career! Helping sims in need. I have my own private bedroom and bathroom and I am available to all students for help.

This is great training if I want to become a nurse. Already students trust me and they come to me with thier problems and I help them.

I wonder how Rebecca's doing? I'll email her.

The Birds Here

don't dig me. WTF! Don't they realize how hot I am, how much I rock?

Pharmacy

The Pharmacy has been updated with some new medicines. A cold pill, a diet pill and a sleeping aid, thus far. We also still have love aids available and can create on an as needed basis vaccines for many other viral infections. There's a young man at university that I think will be a perfect trainee for the medical centre. I hope so...I'm getting older. I retired as Chief of Staff at SC Regional and now manage the Medical Centre full time.

Astaire and I went to his grandparents' memorial service. I helped serve cake and desserts. Astaire looked like a waitor in his suit, we need to find something else for him. The service was nice, the pastor was there and said a few words over thier urns and we paid our respects.

Memorial Service

Cassandra is resting, so I'm posting some photos of the memorial service. It was nice to see the family again, it was sad that they were there for a sad occasion. Clark and his wife Elda came, she looked as if she would go in labor anysimday now. Astaire and his wife came, they left the little one at home. Other community friends came, ate desserts, listened to Hazel Starr play a tribute to her grandmother and they paid thier respects. Very nice.

Changes

Mother is dead. We're going to have a small family memorial service and then send her to the memorial gardens parque. My nephew has moved to Simmington Hills to start a bakery. I'm proud of him for going forth with his dreams. I'm a SUN Core member-I took mother's spot. I suggested the idea that hoods create thier own office of tourism, I suppose Apple Valley must lead the way.

Grilling

I was making the rounds around the hood and stopped by Celebration Park. While making a salad I saw so many lost souls walking about. I hope I can reach them, help them. Thankfully there will be two dinners at the church during the Food Expo, partly to raise money for some renovations at church (I need an office so I can counsel residents; the gift shop is too small and crowded; and the roof is leaking), partly to meet more residents and invite them to services.

Exceling

I finally earned my bronze badge in flower arranging and on the register machine! I am working on my sales skills, and Elinor has given me charge of creating the wildflower inventory as well as the tulips! I'm still fishing on my days off and selling the fish to the Farmer's Market to gain some extra money. I sold him some veggies actually and made $800. I have to make sure that I have enough saved to purchase the business from Elinor. O, Sandy's pregnant. She's a big bragger. Always gloating about how things are happening quickly for her...I don't care. Really!

My Son

My son has these big dreams and hopes. He wants to become a police officer. He wants to start a family and he's thinking about skipping out on university to get his dreams and goals. O dear, doesn't he realize that a degree is very important?
I've been voted as a permenant Hood Council member, depending on how well my terms go, since A'ron and I have an anti-aging wavier due to his work with Pahala Shore. So they figured that it's best for me to be a stable fixture to the council. I don't mind, I love it.

I will be a

a father. Sandy told me that she's pregnant. Pregnant! I'll be a father. Sandy moved in with me...before we found out she was pregnant. Maybe now we'll need the space of the downstairs apartment :\ too late, the hood has reclaimed it and now Sandy and I live with mom and dad and soon there will be another sim. A baby! I'm going to be a father!

I'm Pregnant!

I'mz pregnant! Sazo and I are expecting a baby! This means that we will postpone the wedding untilz after the baby is born...perhaps simMonday. I will use my maternity leave to havez the wedding and enjoy the honeymoon and of course take care of the kiddo. Sazo is going to takez a day or two off from Cupa Java and let his father run it withoutz him. Pregnantz! I must tell my family!

Bye Bye Hello

My big brother, Ray, moved to Simmington Hills. He wants to open a bakery or something. I still help out with the store, my skills are getting better, but not by much. I still haven't decided if I will go to university or not. Julio and I still talk on the phone. He's cute...older, much older. He's in university already. I doubt he would wait for me...

Astute

Finally! HAHA! It's over! We had a baby boy and his name is Astute. Eh *shrug* it works for me. I had a baby shower before his birth-my MIL (Cassandra) came, along with the pastor's wife (Nicole), and two of my friends-Gretta and Jadhira. They were nice, they brought presents for the nursery (an high chair, teddy bear, painting and rug), we ate cupcakes and sat on the floor in a circle and talked babies-(Cassandra has 5 kids, Gretta has 2, Nicole just adopted 1 and Jadhira has 0). Well, little Astute came at 10:38pm, I fed him and then collasped in the bed...again. I refuse to stay home with the little bugger, that's Astaire's job. I wanna rock out!

Investigation! Scandals!

Being a journalist is amazing! I am invesitigating the suspicious death of our neighbor, Brad Dawson. The offical report is that he died of exposure...duh, being locked outside in the snow in your underwear is not a good thing. Especially not in the snow-which I admit, was my doing. I was playing around with the weather machine and forgot to turn off the snow switch, but...Brad never forgot his keys...he was top notch military, not the type to forget his keys and get locked outside when no one was at home...except his sleeping lover. Very suspicious indeed and now his son is rushing to leave the hood. Hmm...

Baby Sister

I have a baby sister, Anika Rose.

I love taking care of her, good practice for when I have my own family.

She likes me, she doesn't drool on me or anything.

I'm trying to find a job, maybe I could be a crossing guard at school. That's fun.