Chapter 69 - My Word You People Are Pigs!

Let's just wipe ...off...this..muck....! Oh my Goodness, there's a child under this!

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After two solid days of baking Katrina ran out of counter space for her creations and was left with the problem of what to do with everything.

Her original plan was to just put it all in the fridge and let the family (or nature) take it's course but in the end she settled upon a much grander gesture.

A party.

She invited everyone we knew and told them to wear baggy trousers.

The guests duely arrived and were so overwhelmed by the scale of the cake based fallout in our kitchen that they completely failed to eat anything.

Katrina had to chase them around with trays of cookies and continually call them to try her baps and munch her muffins.

After their initial shyness the sugar rush kicked in and soon everyone was scoffing down sweet treats with gay abandon and there were many compliments about her skills in mixing, baking and icing flourishes.  I didn't fail to notice that Katrina never once mentioned the CupCake 2.0.

The party was a huge success and we were just beginning to consider throwing these people out on thier ear when some guy in a hat said that people would pay to eat these cakes.

A couple of other people agreed and soon the talk had turned to how this could become a reality.  A member of the group mentioned that there was an old resturant for sale just over the road from our house (how we had never seen this before i'll never know) and that Katrina should buy it and do it up.

I wasn't sure about this but Katrina appeared mesmerised by the idea and quickly started asking people exactly what they would want from the resturant.

Pretty soon she had something that resembled a business plan and a purposeful glint in her eye.  I think I see a large chunk of our funds disappearing into this venture..

..will this family ever make a million!

Chapter 68 - Oh You're Baking! That's Grea..t... What the!!?

In on a tray.... Out on a plate... Damn I'm Good!

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Katrina works in the Cuisine Industry and as a result is always cooking up a storm in the kitchen.  However, her latest thing is baking.  She is all about mixing, rising, dusting and frosting.  But after making batch after batch of box mix brownies and breadsticks she was feeling superbly underwhelmed by the limits of her oven.  

So, in what I hope was a moment of madness, she bought perhaps the most elaborate and over the top contraption for making cupcakes I have ever seen!  I mean come on!  What ever happened to those little light bulb ovens?  We had to literally remodel the kitchen and remove a bathroom to fit this thing in.

That being said we did recoup some of the money for the thing as the contractors actually gave us money for the walls!  That's right the walls, they took 'em out whole and shipped them off, like some flat pack home.

But Katrina is more than happy with our new addition, so please say 'Hello' to the newest member of the household - the CupCake 2.0.
 

That's right box mix brownies!  Tremble at my Cupcake Maker!

The cupcake maker is now Katrina's pride and joy and after reading through a manual the size of a small dog she figured it out and made a very satisfactory plate of vanilla cupcakes.  She spent most of the first day tweaking and twiddling and, ultimately cleaning, the machine and now appears to have a good grasp of the basics.

However, it seems that making baked goodies is the only thing on her mind, our house is literally flooded with the things.  She has said that she will not stop until she has made, and perfected, every recipe in the manual and then, she announced, thinks that she could make some of her own recipes herself.  Oh, Lord.

I see counter space! Fire up the ol' CC2 Machine!

I fear that the house may not be able to withstand much more of the baked goods and it seems that some members of the household are suffering more than others as a result of Katrina's new hobby.

The smell!  It's.... it's..... ME!!!!!!

Christmas Aspiration Attempt - Blog Post Ten

I find on the computer a recipe for creating a life extending drink.  It is simple to follow.  I believe that I can do it with the few ingredients I have at my disposal.

I set about my task and I am happy that after only a small number of tried I have created what I believe to be the right blend.

One drink of this and I will have the time to finish my quest.  I am growing old and the extra days this will give me will be enough.

But as I lift the glass to my lips, the walls leaning in to watch the results, I find that I am doubtful.  I look around at my four walls.  Choosing to remain in this prison longer than required, have I truly gone mad?  But to fail to complete my task is an admission that I have wasted my life on a venture that was pointless.

Others have attempted this challenge and they have not resorted to extensions.  They have succeeded and failed through their own merits.  No other.  I should do the same.

I lay the drink aside.  But yet, I cannot bring myself to throw it away completely.  It remains motionless on the counter as I continue my daily life.  

But it's noiseless questioning is deafening in the silence of my room.

But no, I have chosen to do this the right way.

The real way.

I am ready for this.

Although, now that the time approaches I find myself wishing for these four walls for just a little longer.  What is here is familiar and warm.  The place I see now is dark and unknown.   

Perhaps it will be glorious.

Perhaps I have made a mistake.

Christmas Aspiration Attempt - Blog Post Nine

The house I am creating is beautiful. 

I long to be able to venture further than my rooms.  But I am trapped within my self made jail.  What was once a motivation to complete my task and allow myself the fruits of my labours, has become a taunting entity at my back.  Laughing and smirking at my inabilities.  Passing comment on the futility of what I am attempting. 

The prize I fear I will never obtain.

Most of my recent days I have been focusing on the canvas in my meagre garden.  I find myself suddenly drawn to it again in a way that has been long missing.  I have produced some of my most meaningful creations and they have sold well to my mysterious collector.

Perhaps this new found lust for life has grown as I myself find that I am older.  My hair has greyed and my body tires easily.  I feel my life gone in the aches of my joints and I find my mind wandering back to the past.  A past that I can barely remember now.  A past blurred by the passing of time and the overwhelming silence of isolation.

Chapter 67 - Hi-Jinks? Well, Someone's Having a Laugh!

Well, this place just Popped up over night!

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I'm sorry... did you say PIGS built a house?  And where, dear father, did these pigs acquire the necessary skills?

I have been spending as much time as I can with Pedro.  It isn't easy with work and what-have-you but I am told that if you pack as much knowledge into their tiny brains at this age it can give them certain advantages when they are older and I, for one, would certainly like that for Pedro.  

I would love for him to be the first Bustamante who gets to the top of their career!  It would be a great honour!

The next strange occurrence around here was the building of a 'city'.  It is a new concept wherein sims cram themselves into small, stackable houses.  Surround themselves with noise and bright lights, while they meet other cramped sims in one of the many coffee shops available and talk about how amazing it is to live in such a diverse and vibrant place but wouldn't it be great to get away from it all, just for a while.  So go and book a holiday in a forest.

They also like to hold a large assortment of events and as it happens the first one was all about laughing!  How could I not want to go and to take the family!?  The flyer plopped through the door, and by that I mean I vaguely became aware that was happening as if a bulletin had been splashed across the viewing screen of my life.

I took everyone, except Katrina, who was working, to the Hijinks Festival.  

But what I found when I got there, was anything but funny...

Think I'm holding Pedro, huh?

So....what about now?

Argh!!!!!

Holy Mother of Mothballs!!  It's another Pedro, but this one is in 'girl'.

That creepy little lookalike toddler was there.  But this time she was not alone.  Her mother had brought her along.  I knew that I had to try and talk to her but I had no idea how to start this conversation off...

"Hi.  (friendly laugh) Isn't it crazy that BOTH our kids look like children of the corn!?"

I decided that I should check out the goings on at the festival first.  The main jist of the thing seemed to be buying merchandise, eating food, partaking of a few mind altering substances and then pulling pranks on everyone in the place in the name of fun.

Alexander and I gave it a go...

Ohhhh!  Geez!  It's like L'eau de Fart!

But that looks like something I could get into...

Dooooooode!

I'll admit that it was a bit of a laugh, even though I had only just aligned myself with a team (I chose jokster) before the contest was over.  Luckily for me the joksters won and so I got a share of the prizes!!  

But I knew that I had to get some answers about this strange little toddler.  So introduced myself to her mum.

'Mum' is younger than me and her name is Jennie McCann.  And apparently she knows all about me.  She said that she had wanted to come forward sooner but hadn't known how to broach the subject.

I invited her back to the house so that we could discuss things further and that she could tell her story.

It seems that after mum had died Jennie and dad had gotten close.  Real close.  Beyond the literal definition of close, if you catch my meaning.  And little Cherish (Lord, I know what Grandma Farrah had meant when she'd said Sims shouldn't be left to name their own kids!) was the result of that 'friendship'.

I was standing in the room with my half-sister!

This is startling news for a man who just had his adult birthday!

Happy Birthday to me!

So.  You and dad.... Nope! Wait!  Don't need that image!

Christmas Aspiration Attempt - Blog Post Eight

Nothing is real.  Everything is just a fantasy.

This life.

My life.

Chapter 66 - I'm Not Saying my Work is Weird...

"The Smell!!  I swear to Watcher it wasn't me!"

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Act Natural!  Act Natural!

Work continues to be a series of failed experiments and blagging elements and crystals from my workmates.  And as a rule my work colleagues continue to be the elusive and hermit like creatures of habit that they have always been.  I have however, begun to notice that there is something rather unusual about one of my new friends.

I mean, I am not one to judge, no sirree.  But I have to admit that the more time that I spend with her the more I am coming to the conclusion that this is not an elaborate stick-it-to-her-parents makeover.

I don't think you are going to believe me but I think she is an alien.  

Not convinced.

Lets look at the facts:

One:  She is blue and has strange pointy ears.  Now you may say, Kyle that's cosmetic surgery.  But answer me this, how do you get your entire body blue?  Full body tattoo?  Come on!

Two: She comes to work in a spaceship.  Again perhaps you'll argue that she's a scientist, so why not.  Or that she invented some variation on a hot air balloon.  But explain this... to enter the thing she presses her nose three times, tweaks an ear then evaporates!

And three:  She has never once used the bathroom.  And I mean NEVER!  Never.  Not once!  How do I know?  Believe me if you had seen our 'facilities' here you'd know how I know. 

Hey!  So Aliens, right!  LOAD of pigPlum!  Am I right!?

I was finally convinced after I started a conversation with her about the ludicrous notion that there might be life on other planets.  At first she smirked and said how could I be so sure.  

I agreed and said that I couldn't be sure, but added that even if there was, there was no chance they would be anywhere near as advanced as us and probably nothing more than some kind of ooze, or at least sensationally stupid.  She seemed to get quite upset.

I feel that I have seen you before....

At home we have some exciting news.  Seems Pedro (I know, I know, Katrina chose the name!  And I know, he looks like a girl!  Blame Katrina again!) has decided to become a toddler and it is driving us INSANE!!

We attempt to feed him because he is hungry but he won't take the food.  We leave the food for him and he takes it but then won't eat as he has decided to have a tantrum!

Put him in the highchair, Kyle! I hear you cry.  We TRIED!  Four times in a row but all that happens is he stares at us before wandering off!

And don't get me started on people 'helping out'!!  Argh, I learned at school that in the long, long ago how babies were considered a social responsibility of all sims but that it could cause problems when the primary carer couldn't hack their way through the well meaning visitors to care for their child.

Well, it appears to be starting again.  Seems the household is drawn to care for Pedro and it gets. in. the. way!

I still can't shake how much that kid on the street looked like me and now I see Pedro as a child.... the mystery deepens.

Chapter 65 - A House Full

237 channels and never anything on!

 

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In the stilllllll, of the niiii-iight!

I was all set to try and determine what the dealio with the look-a-likey toddler was when I got a call from Katrina.  She said that I needed to come over IMMEDIATELY!  There was something that she needed to tell me and she should have done it sooner and if  she waited any longer she may chicken out again.

I hadn't seen or spoken to her since or last date.  And what a date THAT was.

Oh yeah, I was cool like a cucumber.

Cool like an ice pole!

A sexy icy pole and everyone wanted a lick!

Yeah! Lick that pol...

Wait. What?  That seemed so much better in my head!

Anyway, it had been about three or so days since I had spoken to her and I was monumentally too dense to realise what THAT meant.

Even when she took me inside as there was 'someone who wanted to meet me' it didn't even sink in.  I picked the tiny screaming bundle out of the cot.

It smelled.

It smelled bad.

Katrina had left the room.

I wished I could.

I tried to just ignore the smell.

Nope.  There was only one thing for it... Oh, Brother!

It was while I was elbow deep in bottom related paraphernalia that I suddenly realised who this little bundle was.  I am not afraid to say it stopped me in my tracks.  I've never felt this way before, not sure I ever will.  The sudden realisation that there is another, tiny little, you in the world.  And that he is entirely helpless and dependant on others for help.

Dependant on you..

Dependant on daddy.

Errmmm, hello tiny sim.

I think I am your daddy

I am glad we have met

You'll never have to cry again.  Daddy's here.

I put our little bundle back in his crib and he fell asleep.  Although I could have watched him sleep for ever (why is that not creepy with babies?) I knew there was something that I had to do.

Looking around at Katrina's house, it was sparse.  There was barely wallpaper on the walls.  I suddenly realised how much Katrina had been struggling after the death of her parents.  Looking after a house and her kid brother.

And now a baby.

Not anymore.

I went to her and immediately asked her to move in with me.  No strings attached but that this baby was mine and I had a duty to care for it and if providing a warm, safe home was something I could do then I had to do it.

At first she was reluctant.  This was her family home and what about her brother, Alexander.  She could very well leave him behind.

I told her that he was more than welcome to come too.  They were all invited.  He could have my room at the top of the house, his own little domain.  And the downstairs bedroom would be for the baby.  She could decorate it any way she wished.  Money no object.

She agreed and the moved in that very night.

I like to think her agreeing to move in was out of undying love for me but I fear it may have been the interior design privileges.

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Jordon's room......

..isn't anymore!

Christmas Aspiration Attempt - Blog Post Seven

Life has become a circle.  Days roll into nights and back into days again.  

I have begun to improve my skills in the world of online gaming.  Some of the prizes are substantial and could seriously change my fortunes in my quest.  But my opponents too have the same idea and choose not to make my victories easy.  More often than not entire nights are spent in an ultimately fruitless activity.  I know I should set my sights on something more lucrative, which would be my painting but I just cannot bring myself to lift a paintbrush.  Not again.  Not yet.

I am constantly haunted with the idea that my time is finite and that I should concentrate only on the best path.  But what is that.  Just the day to day needs take up so much time; eating, sleeping, bathing.

I fill my room with paintings to inspire me to work, to focus my mind towards my goal but sometimes their very presence acts more as a reminder of what I am lacking.  How far away I am from my goal.  How I stand little chance of success.

I won't deny it.  I am feeling sorry for myself.  I am trapped in my own personal hell.  A hell I created.  A hell that I inflicted on myself when I thought that this was the life that I wanted.  And now I am trapped.  I know I could give up.  Just climb that fence and walk away but that would be giving up.  I would be forced to face the world and admit that I was just not strong enough.  I would have to face myself knowing.

These thoughts often invade my sleep.  Vivid but unintelligible swirls in my mind. 

What should I do?

Life is just a circle.