Hi! Welcome back! Golly, it seems like forever since we’ve seen each other, doesn’t it? At any rate, welcome back to Already in Progress, the only story that starts in the middle. And because it starts in the middle, I won’t be recapping anything. It has nothing to do with my being terrible at writing recaps, nope. Not at all. But, um, if someone out there is good at recaps and would like a job as my recap writer, applications are being accepted. Let’s start with the household of Buttercup and Albert Shankel, known for their… flexible approach to legality.

Buttercup’s father Ryan has a habit of coming over to visit and letting himself in unannounced. RYAN: Ey shrouda, Buttercup. How’s life treating you? BUTTERCUP: Dad! You should have let me know you were coming over! I’d’ve put up screens or something. RYAN: Meh, I’m retired, honey. If you have a green thumb, it’s no business of mine. Now where are my grandkids? Ryan used to be a cop. Incidentally, Ryan comes from Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge, available over at Boolprop. [/shameless self-promotion]

So we probably shouldn’t tell him that business is booming, no matter how often he says he doesn’t care.

Albert is not doing quite as well: once Joey the Comb was arrested, his CPA practice lost a lot of business. And that was before the IRS audits. He came up clean, of course. Albert doesn’t do anything illegal. But it’s amazing how many loopholes there are in the tax code.

Being underemployed does mean that Albert has time for other things. ALBERT: Hey, Cecil. Up so early? CECIL: Uh-huh. I couldn’t sleep. ALBERT: Well, hurry up and get dressed. But don’t wake up your sister or your mother. CECIL: Why? ALBERT: You’ll see. Come on, it’ll be fun. CECIL (dubiously): Okay…

These early-morning father-and-son walks always start off in a different direction, and always progress seemingly at random, and yet somehow they always end up at the lake in the park, and there are always fishing poles handy. When I was little, my early-morning walks with my father always somehow ended up at the doughnut shop, but it’s the same idea. Fish are better for you anyhow.

Both Jo and Cecil are doing very well in school. Their parents taught them to study, and they were bringing home A+ report cards in no time.

But only Cecil is doing well with members of the opposite sex. He is extremely popular with the young ladies – this is a common sight.

Of course, the young ladies in question are his cousins, or almost, so there will be neither hanky nor panky at any time. But it bodes well for his future success. And speaking of Cecil’s cousins, let’s check in with two more of them.

Now, Oliver decided that he wanted to join the garden club so he could get discounts on gardening supplies. While both Oliver and Oakapple come from money, running a farm is quite expensive, especially when you have children with unique needs, and neither man is willing to ask for a loan. Anyway, Oakapple’s brother has four daughters of his own to raise, and Oliver’s mother would require a written schedule of repayment and above-market rate of interest for any loan she made.

The Garden Club inspection went reasonably well, and Oliver is now a member. I believe he received the minimum cash award, and no wishing well or award or whatever else you can get, but he will get the discount now, which is what he wanted in the first place. Oliver decided to use some of the prize money to take Oakapple out to celebrate.

OLIVER: Thanks for coming over, Sally. SALLY: Oh, no problem! I said I’d babysit, and I meant it. You two were only just married – you still need some couple time. Go have fun. OLIVER: Okay. So, they may need a bath while we’re gone because it’s pretty hot. They’re color coded, so if you could just put them back in the right colors after their baths, that’d be great. Fantine is the one that’s kind of elfin-looking, over there. SALLY: Easy enough. OLIVER: Oh, and emergency numbers are by the phone. And if you get hungry, there’s some grilled cheese in the fridge. And here’s the number of the restaurant where we’ll be, and what else? SALLY: (laughing) Oliver, we’ll be fine. Go out with your husband. Have a great time.

SALLY: Well, that feels better, doesn’t it? NAKED TODDLER #1: (splashes) NAKED TODDLER #2: Uh-huh. SALLY: It’s so much more fun to take a bath together, isn’t it? And it’s so much easier on Auntie Sally – now I only have to clean up the bathroom once. NAKED TODDLER #2: I help clean. SALLY: Yes, by splashing the water all over everywhere. (picks up Naked Toddler #1) And you’re my little elfin maiden, aren’t you? NAKED TODDLER #1: (giggles) Elves not real. SALLY: Yes, you are. And that means you wear yellow, right? (spins Naked Toddler #1 into a yellow sundress)

OLIVER: Fantine! Saigon! We’re home! GIRL IN YELLOW and GIRL IN GREEN (together): Hi, Daddy! OLIVER: Did you have a good time with Auntie Sally? GIRL IN YELLOW: Yes. GIRL IN GREEN: Wheeeee! OAKAPPLE: Did you have… any problems? SALLY: Nope. We played a few games, and then the girls had a bath, and now we’re enjoying the sunshine, aren’t we, girls?

OAKAPPLE: Did you… miss me… Saigon? (to Oliver) Saigon is… the one in… yellow, right? OLIVER: Saigon is the one who looks Vulcan, not elfin. OAKAPPLE: What’s the… difference? OLIVER: Er – Saigon, tell Daddy which one you are, okay? GIRL IN GREEN: (giggles) GIRL IN YELLOW: Airplane!

Babies and Toddlers are never little for long enough, and that’s even more true for plantsims than for ordinary children. OLIVER: Happy birthday, Saigon and Fantine! OAKAPPLE: Happy birthday… girls! (whispers) Uh – Oliver? Which one… is which… now? OLIVER: (whispers) Crap, I don’t know. (aloud) So, Fantine, how about you come give Daddy a big hug, okay? GIRL IN BACK: (giggles) GIRL IN FRONT: (aside, to her sister) He thinks he’s so smart. (aloud) Daddy? OLIVER and OAKAPPLE: (together): Yes? GIRL IN FRONT: Can we have some money to go shopping? We promise we’ll get color-coded clothing again.

Without Oliver or Sally at home, the Couderc household has gotten a lot more routine. (We will see more about Sally in the college chapter, coming up next time.) Simon spends a fair amount of time fixing things.

Cillian gains weight and takes it off again. (sigh) If only real-life weight loss were this easy…

Lucy keeps up connections with everyone, including the cat.

And of course everyone congregates in the smallest room to take care of everything. Never mind that there are two bathrooms in the house, not to mention four bedrooms, a parlor, a living room, a dining room, and a huge kitchen. No, when you want to Hang Out with someone, you have to do it in the bathroom.

It’s Rudy I feel sorriest for, though. ANNE: …So I really have to say that as much as I like Adam Sandler movies, the Walter Matthau version was much better. Of course, he was far too old for the role, but on the other hand he didn’t have anybody picking up coconuts with a portion of their anatomy that really isn’t designed for picking up coconuts. And that was another thing – if you just couldn’t touch the coconut with your hands, why didn’t they just use their forearms? Okay, so that wouldn’t appeal to the prurient interest of the audience, but still – RUDY: awk Shut up Shut up Shut up awk ANNE (fondly): Aw, isn’t it cute how they repeat things?

Anne’s cousin Harkon still has three bolts for his husband, and they still spend time demonstrating those bolts at every opportunity. I seem to have misplaced my notes, but if I’m remembering correctly, this Blow Kiss was autonomous. Honestly, with these two it’s either non-stop romantic interactions or non-stop cleaning.

Dante also has ten Neat points, but he rarely gets to clean anything. In fact, his cleaning is often limited to the catbox, as Harkon and Nirel both tend to leave that until last. Plus, Dante’s the only one in the household with an actual job. He’s a Journalist, and was recently promoted to Horoscope Writer. I think that’s actually the fourth or fifth time he’s been promoted to Horoscope Writer – there’s a bad chance card at the next level up that kicks you back several levels. The correct answer appears to be “Ignore,” except I have a personal handicap of not using that option…

Dante was also in charge of one special little girl’s birthday. Cathrynne grew up adorable, although I have to admit that I’m not sure what exactly she got from her father. One recessive red hair gene, certainly, and I’m still debating if she has his eye color, her mother’s eye color, or the light blue which is between the two in range. I think that the light blue is theoretically possible as Dante’s father Matthias probably had that coloring. Maybe.

Cathrynne, like most of my Toddlers, gets Smart Milk whenever possible. Even accounting for that, though, she skills faster than any child I’ve ever had. She learned Potty Training in one and a half sessions, conquered Learn To Talk in front of the potty…

…and finished up with Learn To Walk in the same session, gaining the memory right after the Smart Milk Glow wore off. (I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t believe me that they all happened at once, but it’s still true.) Of course, that leaves her with two and half days of Toddlerhood left and no special lessons to learn. (sigh) I suppose that’s what the toys are for, right?

That would be why you’ll still see pictures of Cathrynne sporting the Smart Milk Glow at times, since it helps skill faster on the toys as well. Plus it just looks cute on her. You wouldn’t think that bright aqua would go with red hair, but it really does. In other news, Samantha finally has a reasonable LTW after multiple rerolling attempts. Why is it that all of my Popularity Sims want to be a Hall of Famer? And all my Fortune Sims, bar none, want to be Criminal Masterminds – as do half my Knowledge Sims. It has something to do with the rebuild, I just know it. Like how at least half my male townies are now named Abhijeet.

And lest you think the cats have been forgotten, they haven’t. They’re still doing well – unless you count being routinely strangle-hugged and almost kissed to death as a bad thing… For those of you who love animals, rest assured that any pets you see will be around for many chapters to come. Each chapter covers one rotation, and each rotation is usually three days long. This particular rotation was four, to line up with the folks at college, and (as usual) playing a four-day rotation was like pulling teeth. I don’t know why one extra day – twenty-four extra real-life minutes – should make such a difference, but it does. Hopefully, all this rambling has distracted you from the fact that you’ve just had a bunch of Cathrynne-picspam… Wait, did I say that out loud?

Tim has been recovering gradually from Sarah Jane’s death. He is back to working on his latest work of philosophy, tentatively entitled Hume’s Fork: Ataraxia, Dogmatism, and the Infinite Regress. He plans to dedicate it to his wife.

He spends time playing with his granddaughters, and this is just about the only place where his lack of Nice points really shows. REBECCA (indignantly): Ow! Grandpa! You almost hit me! TIMOTHY: That’s good. REBECCA: What do you mean “That’s good”? You almost hit me! TIMOTHY: The operative word in that sentence is “almost,” honey. You’re getting much better at dodging. Now you just need to try catching the ball.

Tim has also been invaluable to Abbey in her quest to get the girls accepted into private school. They’ve both spent a long time on homework help, and Tim used his nine and a half Cooking points to prepare a nice turkey dinner for the Headmaster.* Abbey gave the tour – despite her Shyness, she’s the Nicest person in the household – and the girls helped out too: first by helping clean, and then by going to bed early, in Tim’s room. What? They couldn’t sleep in their own rooms – then the rooms wouldn’t be nice for the tour! At any rate, the girls were accepted with a score of 110/90, so something paid off. * His name was Abhijeet, by the way.

Descartes has had continued success at work, but has been promoted well above his level via chance card, so he will need a heap of skill points before his next promotion. He is Awesome, so of course he will manage it, but it may take a bit. He’s already made a start on the required friend count on his own initiative: notice that he has brought home co-worker and neighbor Trixie Sanders. Trixie is not a Dread Pirate; I’m not sure why she is wearing the outfit. I think that perhaps the hack that is supposed to have coworkers dressed in the appropriate outfit to their level (instead of to match your Sim) when they come by after work doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.

Now, some wives might be worried about their husbands bringing home an attractive co-worker who wears shirts open to the navel and nothing underneath. Abbey has no such qualms. She and Descartes can be pretty stalker-y, although he tends to initiate such things. After all, he’s followed her around like a puppy since college.

Of course, Anastasia and Rebecca, being Children, don’t care about mushy stuff like that. Instead, they are both apparently hell-bent on a competition to see who can make the most friends the most quickly. To this end, they engage in lots of water balloon fights. Lots and lots of really big water balloon fights. They can be hard to manage, but water balloon fights are an excellent way to get a lot of people an friendly terms quite quickly. I have never seen a negative interaction occur during a water balloon fight. Not even when the girls all decide to gang up on the lone boy at the same time.

And their Hang Out sessions are pretty epic too. There are actually seven children in this picture, but Tim’s leg is blocking your view of Anastasia. The family has a huge living room with plenty of floor space, but no – everyone has to cram into the dining room. But a few pictures ago, we saw one of Descartes’ fellow Adventurers, who happens to live right across the street. Let’s go see how she’s doing, shall we?

ABHIJEET: Why are you supplying Trixie with Elixir? LEONID (confused): Because she asked? ABHIJEET: I don’t believe that. You must have some nefarious purpose, and I want to know what it is! LEONID: Excuse me, please. “Nefarious”?

ABHIJEET: Bad. Wrong. Evil. Because you’re a criminal who has probably killed dozens of people. LEONID: Oh, no! I am brains, not muscle! I am coming up with ideas for money, freelance. I sell ideas to highest bidder. (wistfully) It is not as good as being inventor or scientist. I would like to be scientist. ABHIJEET: So why would you give Trixie Elixir? LEONID: Trixie is second-most wonderful woman in world, yes? ABHIJEET: Wait – you’re talking down your own wife?

LEONID: No, I think Trixie is most wonderful woman in world. But I think you think your wife is most wonderful, yes? ABHIJEET: Well, of course she is! LEONID: And you want as much time with her as possible, yes? ABHIJEET: Of course! …Oh. But that stuff’s addictive! Dangerous! LEONID: I am stoppink her any time I like. ABHIJEET: (folds arms) I don’t believe you. LEONID: Is true. Watch.

LEONID: Trixie, zaika, you look radiant. TRIXIE: Yeah? Well, I feel like an overweight rhinoceros. At least I’m not puking anymore. But now I have to pee every forty-five minutes. And Tirtha says it’ll get worse before it gets better. LEONID: You look radiant, zaika. And think! With enough Elixir, we can have twenty-six of these! TRIXIE (flatly): If you ever bring that stuff within fifty miles of this house again, I will have you arrested. (stomps off) ABHIJEET: Okay. I’m impressed.

Not too long thereafter, Trixie obeyed her programming imperative and gave birth in the bathroom. LEONID: Hello! Hello, solnyshko! Oh, you have your mother’s eyes! (to Trixie) He has your eyes, zaika. TRIXIE (amused): I noticed. LEONID: Dmitri Leonidovich Sanders, you have just made me very proud papa.

LEONID: Oh, no. TRIXIE (suspiciously): What? LEONID: I am now havink to get new haircut. I do not look like responsible father right now. TRIXIE: Will you get rid of the eyeliner, too? LEONID: …Eyeliner was tattooed on in 1985. To save time in mornink. (as Trixie glares at him) Is not my fault New Wave movement was flash in pan!

Leonid did find a more paternal look. He also quit the Criminal career track to become a Scientist – there is far less chance of retaliation against one’s family in that field, although “publish or perish” is still very real in the halls of academia. Trixie has been promoted again and now has to wear a hat with a false ponytail attached to it. I suppose it maintains that air of mystery. Either that, or people think that nobody wearing such a dippy hat could possibly be a spy and adventurer.

And two other people have new looks too: Ariadene transitioned from Toddler to Child. It was a good transition, and I’m sure you can tell just how enthusiastic she was.

Abhijeet also aged up. I wasn’t entirely sure how much younger he was than Tirtha, but I suppose that now we know the answer. The first thing he did as an Elder was to get rid of the wig. Er, pay no attention to the fact that Abhijeet’s “wig” changed color when he became an Elder… Nobody minds if an Elder is bald, and you’d be amazed at how long it takes people to notice the missing eyebrows.

Over at the Mifune Sanders household, it’s been a very eventful rotation. I turned my back for one second, and the stove caught on fire. Everyone was several rooms away, too, so I still haven’t figured out whose fault it was. I blame the dog.

It’s certainly true that after the fire, Venus was smelly enough that Charlotte actually got aspiration points for giving her a bath. You have to admit, that’s both impressive and incriminating.

At QND, the Reporter came by – or at least, one of them did. This is actually the third Reporter who has showed up in my ’hood, but she’s the first one to give a Review to the business visited. Despite what she appears to be thinking, the Review was actually a Good one.

Of course, it’s probably lucky that she wasn’t here to see this…

Or this. Louise finally laid off the Townie Teen who worked the register. It was time and past, really – I wouldn’t have hired her if there had been any non-playables available to hire instead. She can’t wear the uniforms I want, and completely ruins the look of the store. She wasn’t very happy about that.

She was undoubtedly even less happy that her job was immediately given to Lexi Rossi. I’m sure you remember Lexi Rossi from her last appearance way back in Chapter 13, right? Lexi, the random move-in to raise money for the dorm? Dug up a treasure chest? Had bolts with both Mircea and Kitty? Is this ringing any bells? Well, she was pretty well supplied with Win, and I finally came up with something for her to do: she’s my model for the Snap Of Life competition over on Boolprop. Astonishingly, I have not yet been eliminated. When the competition is over, I’ll post the story for you.

Now, I can’t prove that it was Disgruntled Townie Girl, but somebody came along and kicked over the trashcan, producing the roaches that Charlotte is so enthusiastically Stomping On. And the roaches produced the flu that Mifune is so enthusiastically Spreading. (rolls eyes) Mifune, coughing into the crook of your arm severely reduces the person-to-person transmission of infectious diseases! Go to bed and don’t even breathe in anyone else’s direction until you’re better! But it was too late, of course. Both Charlotte and Louise had already contracted the virus at that point. The entire household was quarantined for the remainder of the rotation, hence the lack of further pictures.

I believe I mentioned that Frederic has a new Nanny. This is she. And for some reason, she changes skirts roughly halfway through each shift. Either she is amazingly hard on clothing, or my ’hood is going to blow up. Again.

Frederic’s family can also afford a Gardener, for all the good she does. GARDENER: What’s this thing? It’s a tree. GARDENER: A “tree”? Never heard of it. Are you sure that’s a real word? Yes. GARDENER: Oh. So what do I do with it, then? Although Frederic’s family could afford a maid, they don’t have one because Eddie prefers to do the cleaning himself.

He also prefers to do the childcare himself, as much as he can. Celeste is in charge of paying off the Nanny when they get home. Eddie is in charge of giving airplane rides and snuggling. He’s also in charge of supervising Frederic while he helps out around the house. Small as he is, Frederic does indeed have chores.

For instance, he’s a big help when Mommy is building Charisma skill. CELESTE: Where does the ball go, Frederic? What do I do? FREDERIC: Ball go uppa geen, Mommy! CELESTE: Does it now? FREDERIC: Yah! Uppa – uppa geen en inna hole! CELESTE: Thank you, sweetie. I always forget.

And he’s very good about taking his naps on schedule, which makes finding a little Mommy-and-Daddy time that much easier. Still three bolts, folks.

But kids can’t stay little and cute and sweet forever. Sooner or later, they get big and sweet instead. Not that Frederic isn’t cute, of course. But I’m so used to the “chicken” look that the “fish” look is going to take a little getting used to.

Actually, maybe we should scratch that “sweet” as well… And that is where (after a few brief notes) I will leave you.

Zaika is Russian for “bunny,” and is a term of endearment for one’s wife or daughter. Solnyshko is Russian for “sunshine,” and is a term of endearment for one’s spouse, small child, or even pet. These words come from my Russian consultant, Yousei. Yousei writes I’ll Be There For You, which is an alphabet legacy available over on Boolprop. She also speaks excellent English and is absolutely not responsible for the rest of Leonid’s accent, which comes from 1) the five minutes I spent on Wikipedia and 2) lots of really bad movies from the 1980s. Now that he’s a recurring character, it will get a lot better.

Dmitri did indeed inherit his mother’s eyes. No, I don’t have the hack that uncouples the alien eyes and skin. But I made my own custom alien eyes and gave them to Trixie so that they could possibly be passed on. They look pretty good as long as I don’t zoom in too close when I take the picture.

You may or may not have noticed that there are now ceilings in a few pictures. In addition to being a handy way to tell the sequence in which the pictures were shot, the ceiling tiles represent my first (and probably last) custom content download. In fact, unless I decide to get that mod that lets Elders wear Adult clothing, I’m probably done downloading altogether. I mentioned that I am participating in a picture contest over on Boolprop, and I keep getting points taken off for having visible sky in my pictures. Now that it’s been pointed out as negative repeatedly, it’s started to really bother me. Hence the download: Visible Ceiling Tiles Version 3.0 and recolors by jgwhiteus, with a controller by Inge Jones, available over at ModTheSims. Until next time, Happy Simming!