In Which Emma is Quite Angry With Me

Hello guys! I'm just posting to let you know there's going to be a slight delay with the blog. While playing this weekend, I had some major glitch issues when I updated my mods. My game went ape shit crazy. I'd put the cursor over Zhan or Emma and someone else's name would pop up. Their images were gone from the portrait panel. I restarted my game and suddenly Jo was a teen, Bloom was a child, and Aurora was a mere shine in her parents' eyes. And unfortunately that was the newest save game I had. I had to take out all my mods and cc and I'm adding them back in a couple at a time and testing them. Fortunately everything is working okay so far. But  I've got to replay quite a bit once I get the mods and cc added back in. Or maybe what's happened will all be a dream. I'll have to ponder.

Also real life calls. The first chapter of my dissertation is due next week, and I've got loads of work to do to get a draft done by then. The weekend after that my parents are visiting. (I've got lots of cleaning to do!)  So between my dissertation, my parents and retesting all of my mods and cc, I probably won't  be able to post the next chapter for a week or two. And then again, maybe I will. I am a champion procrastinator, and playing the Sims is my very favorite way to put off important work. Emma is very angry with me (but she's delighted to be younger again).

It's Jo! Bloom! Aurora! And exclamation points!

Emma: Where on earth have you been?
Me: Shockingly, I've been productive. You're reading the blog of a gal that has an APPROVED dissertation topic!
Emma: A dissertation that absolutely no one will read?
Me: Way to pat a girl on the back Emms. I love my topic! And my committee will read my dissertation. And maybe a couple of my friends. So that's at least four or five people.
Emma: Like I (or anyone else for that matter) cares about modernist literature. Let's talk about ME.
Me: Have you looked at the chapter title Emms? This is a chapter about Jo, Bloom, and Aurora.
Emma: Who cares about them?
Me: I do! Jo is totally fabulous!

Jo: I am AWESOME. Even when my eyes are crossed for no apparent reason.

Jo thinks about herself ALL THE TIME. She has quite a high opinion of herself.
Jo: And why shouldn't I? I totally pull off the cross eyed look.
Emma: Jo, you are not heir yet! You're not allowed to talk on this blog!
Jo: I can do whatever I want Mom.
Me: And being the overlord of this blog, I get to say who talks, not you Emms.
Emma: <huffs> My opinion just doesn't matter!
Me: No, not really.
And as a teen Jo has two interests: Michael Bachelor, and Ethan Bunch.

Jo: <giggles> Oh Ethan........

Unfortunately, despite Jo's best efforts, Ethan Bunch begins a relationship with Bebe Hart. Jo, however is unperturbed. She quickly moves on to Michael Bachelor, who is apparently some sort of junior police officer.

Michael: How could you not adore me? I'm a star!

Jo quickly asks Ethan that all important question:

Jo: Michael, are you single? I hope you're single! You're so dreamy!

Unfortunately, Michael is dating River McIrish. But Jo will not be stopped in her quest for Michael. She heads to a party to check out her competition.

Jo: Yeah, I could totally take her down in a fight. 

Fortunately she doesn't have to take River down as Jo has absolutely no problem convincing Michael to break up with River. So she moves in for the kill.

Jo: <sighes> Oh Michael.....

But Michael proves hard for Jo to ensnare. But she never gives up hope on Michael.

Bloom on the other hand, is, well, he's a goody two shoes. He spends all of his time doing homework.

Bloom: Laundry is a metaphor for homework!

Even the news of his new sibling won't distract Bloom from getting his homework done.

Emma: Bloom, I want to tell you that I'm pregnant.
Bloom: Later, mom.

When he's not doing homework, Bloom is autonomously skilling.

Bloom: Your chess is garbage.

Bloom: The stick figures are representative of the angst of the human spirit.

Yeah, Bloom is a touch on the boring side. In his free time, he goes into town and reads. It's riveting stuff.

nt

Bloom: <reads>
Emma Hatch: I'm married! And pregnant!

Yeah, total strangers are way more interesting than Bloom.

Emma: You're not painting my children in a very favorable light here.
Me: I thought you didn't care about them. At least that's what you said at the beginning of the blog.
Emma: I 'do care! And my Jo is not a desperate boy crazy teenager. And Bloom is not a bore!
Me: Pictures don't lie!
Emma: Yes they do! Clearly you're photo shopping all this!
Me: Nope, I don't have photo shop.
Emma: You exasperate me Emchic.
Me: Right back at ya, Emms.
Emma: You better not paint my darling adorable Aurora this way!
Me: Well, Aurora is super adorable, and absolutely everyone in the house loves her.
Emma: As they should!
Me: But as we'll see, our little Aurora has an agenda.

Aurora: Yep! I'm adorable! 

She inherited Emma's pink eyes! If she had inherited Emma's purple hair, she totally would have been heir. No question. And Zhan has clearly fallen victim to the serious cuteness that is Aurora.

Zhan: Oh no! I'm being absorbed by Aurora's adorable cuteness! Help meeeeeee!
Aurora: All will bow to my will or pay!

After absorbing Zhan, Aurora sets her sights on Emma.

Aurora: You're next Mommy!

Aurora: Even dead faced Jo cannot resist my charms! Mwahaha!!!

Aurora: You're next readers! Bow to me!

Next time: Will Aurora bend us all to her will with her adorable cuteness? Stay tuned!

I Succumb to the Inevitable Cuteness of Sim Toddlers One More Time

Welcome back to the Book Legacy. I know you missed me.
Emma: You? No, they missed me.
Perhaps our readers really missed my scintillating storytelling.
Emma: <snorts> Doubtful.
And really, I think the other sims in the neighborhood are really more interested in Zhan than you.

Maid: Zhan! Yes!
Zhan: ...

Emma: Nope that's an anomaly. It's all about me! Although my Zhanie is a mighty sexy man.
Emma certainly seems to like him. They've been going at it like crazy lately.
Emma: You're not going to show that! That's private!
Nothing is private in a Sim's world, Emms.

Emma and Zhan: Oh yeah......

Aaaaand since Emma and Zhan can't be bothered to use any sort of protection (and because sim toddlers ARE SO DARN ADORABLE) the inevitable happens.

The sink breaks?

Just kidding! Well, yes, with a cheap sink breakage is inevitable, but I was thinking inevitability more on these lines.

Nausea

Yes, our Emma is pregnant once more. And in a desperate effort to appear young, she chooses some really interestingly "youthful" maternity wear.

Emma: Yep. I've still got it. 

Emma: <huffs> I don't have to appear young. I AM young.
Not really, Emms. You're not too far off from elder. In fact, I had to take away a few days from your age after you gave birth to give Bloom the chance to paint your portrait.
Emma: You know you don't want me to age up! Just go ahead and give me some ambrosia.
I told you Emms, it's not going to happen.
So Emma decides to torture me (and our readers) by wearing the craziest maternity clothes in my collection of Sim maternity clothes.

Emma: This is my athletic wear!

And unfortunately, Emma's fashion sense seems to be catching on among Sunset Valley's other pregnant sims.
Emma: I am a fashion trendsetter! Because I am awesome!

Horsefaced lady: Some crazy woman with purple hair paid me 50 simoleons to wear this.

Soon enough, Emma goes into labor
Emma: <breathing heavily>OH....IT HURTS! WHY DID I WANT TO HAVE A THIRD CHILD AGAIN?

Bloom: OMG! OMG! OMG! Freaking out now!

And eventually Bloom gets bored with all the freaking out and goes to bed. But fortunately Emma doesn't have to be alone for long because Zhan rushes home to be by her side. And freak out.

Zhan: What? We're having another one?

Zhan: Freaking out!
Emma: This hurts, but disco balls are awesome!

It's a girl! And Emma and Zhan are visibly thrilled with the new baby.

We. are. so. excited.

Her name is Aurora, named for the protagonists in Elizabeth Barret Browning's poem-novel Aurora Leigh and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's awesome sensation novel, Aurora Floyd.
Emma: At last! One of my children has a gender appropriate name!
Seriously, Emms what is it with you and the gender normativeness?
Emma: She's a girl! She should look have a girly sounding name!
Clearly, Emma and I are never going to agree on this issue. Which is fine with me since I'm the overlord of this universe. And I do quite like the name Aurora. It just rolls off the tongue. Aurora.
Little Aurora is a loner and something else. Really at this point it doesn't matter, she's a baby. But the Books really loves the new addition to their family. Jo even autonomously feeds Aurora!

Jo: I'm only doing this for facetime.

Little Aurora's baby days fly by, and because they're boring I didn't really take too many pictures. But when she ages up, she is so stinkin' adorable!

SOOOOOOO cute! 

And with that, I'll close off this chapter.
Emma: What? It's so short!
Real life calls, Emms.
Emma: Fine......
Next time: Facetime for Jo and Bloom!
Emma: What, no facetime for me?

Party Like It's Your Birthday! Because this chapter has a lot of birthdays.

Aaaaaand we're back! Again! When we last left our intrepid heroine-
Emma: Why do you keep calling me "our intrepid heroine"?
Me: Because you are. You are THE founder of this super awesome legacy. You're the author of four (I think it's four) science fiction books, A Sciency Science Fiction Novel, Invasion of the Alien Bowling Shirts, and you've begun a series of books, the It's Super Obvious Science Fiction series: Mutant Bunnies are Mutant and Starships are Starshippy. AND you survived a harrowing possibly game ending glitch, which thanks to the internets and sim forums, I FIXED (because I'm awesome). And you just said that so I would talk about how awesome you are.
Emma: Hehe....I AM THE ONE THAT IS AWESOME!
Me: Really? I don't think so

Yeah, everyone just "loves" Emma

Emma: Bebe Hart is a hater. I mean look at her hair. And that outfit.
Me: True.
Emma: And everyone and everything else loves me. See?

Emma: Nature loves me!

And Stiles McGraw loves me!
Me: Really, he does?
Emma: Yes, just look!

Yep. This is TOTALLY the look of a man in love.

Emma: He was extremely happy with the painting he comissioned!
Me: And I was happy with the 1200 simoleons you got for the painting. So Emma's ego has been stroked and we got money for the family.

And then the glitches began. It started with this. And I didn't get pictures of the other one, so I'll just tell you about it when the time comes.

Why, why can't SOMEONE go in the door?

Apparently, I'm not the most observant overlord. It took me a few days to realize that Bloom and Jo hadn't been able to go to school. And then I spent FOREVER resetting all of these sims so Jo and Bloom could get into to school. Thank goodness for Twallan's Careers mod. All the teenagers go to special schools now. In their formals! It's like prom every day! And that solved the problem. I think. Until the next glitch (which I will get too shortly)

And one fine day, Jo gets the opportunity to go over to Marla Bunch-French's house after school. And then I got a look at Marla.

This is a SERIOUSLY unfortunate outfit.

Emma: Change it. CHANGE IT NOW!
Me: Marla isn't even your kid!
Emma: I don't want to look at children in ugly clothes. Do you?
Me: Not really. But in real life, I'm not allowed to make over people's children. Nor would I want to.
Emma: This isn't real life is it?
Me: Nope! Thank goodness. Real life is filled with my dissertation.

Much better!

Jo butters up tries to befriend little Marla.

Jo: Your house is sweet!
Marla: Look at my hands!

And then Marla develops magic powers and develops the ability to place her hand through her homework.
Emma: Oooh really?

Marla: Bow to my terribly useful and practical magical powers!

And at home, super extra exciting things are happening.

Bloom washes the dishes. His yellow plumbob just illustrates how incredibly thrilled he is that I made him clean up after himself.

Bloom: Oh yeah. I really "love" washing the dishes.

 Emma works on Mutant Bunnies are Mutant.

Chatting online totally = working hard on one's novel

 And Zhan attempts to impress his lady with his physical prowess.

Zhan: I am BUFF baby!
Emma: The person plus is a sign of how turned on I am right now.

And Zhan's attempts to woo Emma are successful. Later that night, he gets lucky. Will there be a new little Book on the way?

Emma: Oh Zhan, you ARE buff!

And though Emma has rolled the wish to have another child with Zhan, I think two little Books are enough. Besides, Jo will age up soon.
Emma: But I want another baby!
But I have made a deal with Emma. She and Zhan can risky woohoo all they want, which they do a lot. Autonomously. If another baby results, then so be it. And then she can wear some of the awesome new maternity cc I found yesterday.
Emma: Baby, baby, baby!

But before Jo does age up, Emma tries to spend some quality time with her.
Emma: Because I am totally a great mother!

Jo: Okay mommy, I'll explain it one more time...

Emma: I was helping her! Not the other way around!
Me: Just keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day it will suddenly be true. Jo is super smart and extra awesome.
Emma: Hmph! Not as awesome as me. Just move on.

And then one night, Jo gets a tingly feeling, which gives her an uncontrollable urge to whirl around whatever that thing is in the picture .

She is clearly excited.

And she ages up into a female version of Zhan.

I think she looks shifty here.

Because of her indifferent study habits, which was totally not her fault because Jo is awesome, she gains the perfectionist trait. But I can work with that.

Jo: You're a little too late Mom.

The next night Zhan ages into an adult. Which was the first time I realized that he is quite a bit younger than Emma.

Emma: No, that's not true. He's older. I am younger!

Me: Stop trying to deny how old you are. You should be proud. My mom always says she's earned every one of her 61 years. 

Emma: Nope. I'm not getting old. I will be young and beautiful forever! Forever I tell you!

Anyway, Zhan ages up.

Zhan: Hmm...sparkles

And I think he looks different. But he doesn't have wrinkles or lines on his face. His cheekbones look higher. It's not just me right? He looks different.

Zhan: Yep. I'm older.

And aging must agree with Zhan, because he has attracted the notice of the papparazzi, who he blithely ignores.

Zhan: I'm skillin' like a villian

But even though the Books are getting older and the children are developing their own interests, they still attempt to come together as a family. But they just can't seem to get their timing right.

Jo: Emchic is right. I AM awesome!

Emma: We're trying! That's what's important. 

Me: And you all look so enthusiastic about spending time together. Dead behind the eyes is more like it.

Emma: You're just jealous of my super fantastic extra awesome family.

Me: Just keep telling yourself that.

And it was shortly after that the other glitch happened. Gus Hart and Fiona Mc-Irish Peoples happen to die in front of the grocery store. And there they floated as ghosts for hours and hours. And then no one could die. The options for my save file looked grim.

Emma: Oh no! Our legacy can't be cut short! It's too awesome not to go on!

Me: I agree. So I trolled the internet forums and I decided that moving the Books to a new version of Sunset Valley was the way to go.

Emma: It's trippy! It's like we traveled back in time! Hank Goddard and Pauline Wan were young and back together, Fiona McIrish-Peoples was just Fiona Mc-Irish.

Zhan: This new house is fantastic!

Emma: It's exactly the same as our old house. In absolutely every single way.

Zhan: But it's fantastic!

Jo is absolutely thrilled about this move.

Jo: I am so "excited" right now. Isn't it obvious?

I sent Jo off the the science academy. 

Emma: My baby is so smart.

Me: Yes, she is. And they wear their formal clothes to school! And Jo looks so pretty!  But Jo, who breezed through school (once she was able to go) is finding the work rather challenging.

Jo: I should get Bloom to do my homework.

And Jo appears to have other things on her mind. She comes home one day with a wish to find out Ethan  Bunch's sign. Is their love and romance on the horizon for our little Jo?

Jo: Oh, Ethan....you're so dreamy

Emma: I'm not going to let any filthy boys date my precious Jo! They only have one thing on their minds!

Me: So the legacy will die with you then?

Emma: But--<sighes> We'll just have to see about this Bunch boy. Why do my babies have to get older? Why do I have to get older? <begins to cry>

But, unfortunately for Emma (and as a further sign of Emma's aging) Bloom celebrates his birthday.

Emma: No, no it's not possible. My little boy is growing up. I'm getting soooo old! <weeps profusely>

Bloom: It's my birthday! Holla!

Emma: <weeps> I'm getting so old! <sobs>

And then Bloom ages up into a mutant.

Emma: What? No! They told us that the toxic waste spill wasn't going to effect us!

Bloom: This hurts.

Emma is such fun to mess with. Don't worry, Emma. Bloom looks completely normal after his birthday. However, because of his indifferent study habits(i.e. Bloom was unable to walk into the school's door) Bloom gains the mean-spirited trait.

Emma: Bloom is my sweet baby boy! He would never be mean!

Me: Is this the face of an angel?

Bloom: Mess with me. I dare you.

Emma: Of course it's the face of an angel! He's my baby boy! He would never do anything mean!

Me: Only time will tell.

Emma: Time will prove me right! And it will prove that I will be young, beautiful and sexy forever and ever!

Me: We'll see, Emms.