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LOVELY
ISLAND #1; #2; #3; #4; #5; #6; #7; #8; #9; #10; #11; #12; #13; #14; #15; #16; #17; #18; #19; #20; #21; #22; #23 Adopt-a-Family Journal --- Family #8 |
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Download Page for
the Seed Family |
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Scenario Meet Poppy and Sunflower Seed, mother and daughter. Poppy is trying incredibly hard to earn some money and improve both her own and her daughter's future prospects....but she keeps having to leave work because Sunflower is a thug and keeps running the nannies off. At long last she has a job in the military that she loves, a nanny that doesn't scare easily.....and the headmaster is due for dinner at 5pm......will Poppy be able to get Sunflower into private school......fail or fly.....you decide. |
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My Story (March 2007) |
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| When I picked up this story, for some reason poor Poppy had no desire to do anything at all. She seemed to fear a few things, but she had absolutely no ambition--her mind was obviously just a blank. Possibly due to this depression (the cause of which is unknown but may have something to do with the sudden onset of a SEASON), she tried to fish something out of the bottom of her trash can, and fell in. This turned out to be somewhat of an "Alice In Wonderland" experience, in that she suddenly wasn't at her home any longer. The next day, she turned up, however, safe and sound, and in her military uniform (which she wasn't wearing when she left the house). Perhaps the whole experience (depression and being trashed) had something to do with a terrorist plot! | |
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Almost as soon as she showed up back at her front steps, a group of neighbors showed up to say hi. Poppy is always thinking about finding a new father for Sunflower, so she immediately began flirting with Land Scaper--owner of a little public beach right down the street. Land responded, but rather half-heartedly, and it wasn't long until Poppy gave up on him. She wasn't really that attracted to him...it's just that he was a single guy in a neighborhood full of married men! |
| Now that Poppy was back in control of her emotions, she could think clearly once again. One of the first things she realized was that she, the Nanny, and her neighbors tended to wade through the creek to get to the house, rather than take the little footbridge that had been put there so conveniently. After a day back at work (during which she got a promotion), she had enough money to put up a fence to prevent that from happening. She had to spend a little more money than she had planned, because she had thought that the fence wouldn't have to go any further than the bridge. However, her guests then decided to walk past the bridge, across the creek, on the OTHER side! Oh well...her funds extended that far, though once again she had just enough money to pay the Nanny for the next day, without much left over. | |
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| A few nights later, a group of neighborhood friends had again gathered at Little Hokey--the Seed's residence--right on time for a big event--though most of the neighbors didn't actually know it was Sunflower's birthday. Apart from her becoming a teenager right on time, another interesting thing occurred. Two of the Seed's pregnant neighbors wore the same maternity smock to the party! Obviously, Lovely Island badly needs the grand opening of Fernandez Fashions, which should happen any day now! |
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| Also during the gathering, Poppy discovered that she was actually quite attracted to "the boy next door"...well..."the man from down the street"--Barley Drop. Maybe it was the uniform, but Poppy just couldn't help making sure that Barley knew she admired him. Unfortunately, I think that pretty much scared Barley away. He's quite the ladies' man, but he doesn't seem to want to be caught by any of them--particularly one who is eligible for marriage! | |
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| Backing up a couple of days before Sunflower's birthday, it should be noted that the headmaster of the private school never did show up as scheduled. [NOTE: I have just discovered that this probably happened because when I installed Pets, any saved headmaster scenarios reverted to null. The NEW Pets Patch just out on 03/28/07 supposedly has fixed this problem.] On the other hand, Sunflower met the neighborhood paper girl one day while waiting for the school bus. she began to question the attractive teen about her job, and was greatly encouraged to find that just graduating well from public school would pretty much guarantee her a good job in the very near future. | |
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| From that point on, both Poppy (who was set on advancing quickly through her career track), and Sunflower (who had decided that being a good student was paramount in her life) spent most of their time either just reading together or studying together. When they needed a break, they exercised. This process is continuing in Sunflower's teen stage. |
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Another
thing that began to happen on a regular basis is that Georgina
Snooker took to stopping off to visit with Poppy after work every
day. Since she lives right next door, and since they're in the same
career track, it's not strange. She pretty much feels right at home
at the Seed residence these days. She and Poppy spend a lot of time
playing chess together--developing their minds for upcoming
promotions at work. Georgina also loves to turn on Poppy's stereo
and practice her dance steps...while standing on the newspaper!
Perhaps that's the newest Sims fad. Another regular at the Seed home, Emily Perry has been enjoying a great relationship with Sunflower. Emily has left her own home to attend a local university. However, she hasn't yet stepped through the gate into those hallowed halls, so she's been feeling a bit like she's in limbo, since she technically won't become a young adult until she does so. Her special times with Sunflower have been helping to bridge that gap. One day they had to have a quiet time together, because Sunflower had evidently injured her left arm. No matter what she did for the better part of that day, her left arm had to be kept elevated, and she couldn't use that hand. |
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By dinnertime, however, Sunflower was able to show off some of her learned cooking skills, by throwing together some nice pork chops to share with Emily. By the time she finished, her arm was working normally again. The pork chops, though, were a little...well...overdone. Staunch friend that she is, Emily sat down and helped Sunflower eat them, while Poppy declined (she was studying for another promotion, anyway). |
| The next day was a bit strange. Just before leaving for work, Poppy called to have groceries delivered, then she rushed out, leaving Sunflower to accept the delivery. When the delivery person arrived, Sunflower didn't get to the door right away, so the driver set the basket down on the top step. Unfortunately, she was on the small walkway just to the left of that area, and for some reason, she wouldn't walk past the basket, so she just kept pacing back and forth until the basket was finally lifted out of the way. By that time, evidently she was "off the clock," because instead of just getting in her truck and driving away, she stayed to play a game of chess with Sunflower, before she finally had to rush out to get to school! |
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Later, when Sunflower came home from school, she dropped her homework on the bridge in her hurry to get through the door to the phone. She had a good lead on a job in the Gamer's career track, so she wanted to call them right away. She was hired, and had to rush right out within the next few minutes, as the carpool showed up almost immediately at her door! While she was gone, I thought I'd help her out by bringing her homework in for her. |
| So that she'd notice it, I tucked it right behind the wall phone. When she got home, she began hunting for her homework. Once she found it, it had to be placed on the floor for this typical teenager to sit down to study. While she was doing so, though it was still officially Fall, it snowed outside--just long enough to coat the ground before the weather turned again and it all melted away. | |
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After all this time of
studying and becoming good neighbors, Poppy and Sunflower decided to
try once more to get Sunflower into a private high school. They now
had a maid and the house and grounds were impeccably kept, and both
of them had learned to cook luscious meals. They also deemed that
they would be able to hold an intelligent conversation with the
headmaster, and that he could do no less than approve their
application. So they called the school, and the headmaster was
scheduled to come. Unfortunately, once again, he never showed up.
Well...he did actually show up...in his car...then suddenly pulled
away from the curb and left, without ever coming into the house! Undaunted, Poppy tried again--waiting until about 2:00 AM the next morning to place her call. She was assured by a harried staff that the headmaster would indeed show up that evening at 5:00 PM. This was going to be tricky, since she had to be at work by 8:00 AM and Sunflower had school at 9:00 AM, then had to turn right around and go out to work at 3:00 PM. Poppy was scheduled to be home at 2:00 PM, so she figured she wouldn't have any problem getting things ready and schmoozing the headmaster for a while from 5:00 PM until 6:00 PM, when Sunflower was due home from work. Indeed, the fact that she was getting A+ grades AND holding down a job SHOULD be a good reference for the private school. At least, one would think so. |
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Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men often DO go astray, as the old saying goes. All the timing was going along just fine, when the snow started up once again. Barely noticing, Sunflower hurried herself off to work, promising to come straight home afterward, to help schmooze and feed the headmaster. As Poppy began to head inside, she stopped a few minutes to enjoy the snowfall, and was approached by a personable young man from the neighborhood--Peter Gibson. As she greeted him, there was an instant, matchbook attraction between the two of them, and they fell headlong in love! |
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Forgetting momentarily that
the headmaster was soon to arrive, Poppy began schmoozing Peter,
instead, and time got away from her. Suddenly, the headmaster's car
pulled up to the curb, and Poppy realized she needed to greet him,
but just as quickly, the car AGAIN just pulled away from the curb
and left. Since Poppy couldn't see the headmaster anywhere, she
assumed he had just gone with the car. Incensed, she ran in and
phone the school again, only to find out that the headmaster
supposedly was already on her property, since there was no way she
could get the school on the phone. As she began frantically to look for the headmaster in the worsening snow storm, Sunflower arrived home from her job and joined in the search. In the meantime, Peter made himself at home in the house, playing chess and generally staying out of the way. He seemed to be determined to keep himself in Poppy's sight. |
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Thinking
to entice the headmaster inside, Sunflower began to cook a meal.
Finally, as she called everyone to come and eat, he walked in
through the front door, but he wouldn't sit down to eat, though
there was plenty of food, and a place had been set for him. Poppy
jumped up and began to give him a tour of the house, but he kept
insisting on going back outdoors into the snow. Finally he was lured
into every cleaned room and it was obvious that he had given them
some points for having a nicely-kept residence. He also was taking
quite well to the conversations both ladies were attempting to carry
on with him. Even Peter was keeping him entertained.
Quickly
fixing some different food, Poppy tried once more to get him to sit
down and eat, but he kept going over to the food, then not taking
any--obviously he was quite a picky eater. Finally, Sunflower got
him to drink an instant meal, and he seemed quite content. However,
his time ran out right at that point, and he left, going back out
into the snow, shaking his head and saying that this wasn't the type
of household the private school would welcome for one of their
students! Well! After that traumatic experience, Sunflower urged Poppy to just give up on the idea of private school. After all, she was top in her class and had already received several nice school awards and some money from distant relatives. Things were going quite well, and she assured her mom that she'd soon be able to accept some inviting scholarships. Once she was accepted at a nearby university, she'd be just fine, and her education was going to be complete, anyway. Poppy accepted that, and went back to wooing Peter, who would probably become a member of the family very soon. |
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Will Sunflower, indeed, become a university student? Will Peter marry into the family? Will Poppy continue her quickly-advancing military career? Or will she decide to stay home and have more children. It all remains to be seen. |
| SPECIAL NOTE: The day after writing this story, I discovered to my chagrin, that Peter is...A YOUNG ADULT!!! Here he is sitting on the sofa over at the Herb residence. Without his outerwear, it's pretty obvious that he's not yet an adult male! Actually, that makes things even more interesting. Since they seem to be so instantly in love, I'll have to figure out just how to get him to be an adult so he and Poppy can get married. I've done it before (in reverse--young lady/older man), but I don't remember how...something to do with the "grow up" feature, I imagine. I'll figure it out, if it seems apropos. | |
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