cardamom cake

The Ashmore Legacy: Generation 2.3

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:06:55 GMT

This update in three words: SO. MANY. BABIES. (But so much cuteness, too.)

Late one night, when Lydia and Natalie are asleep, Bridget and Stephen finally have a moment to themselves.

"You know I love spending time with the girls, but I feel as if I never even see you anymore."

As a symbol of their commitment to each other, they say their vows in private on the deck where they shared their first kiss many sim years ago.

And to preserve the family name, Stephen Cole finally becomes Stephen Ashmore.

I think we all know where this is going...

And so on.

On her wedding night, for the first time ever, Bridget dreams about someone besides herself.

Not for long, of course. Look at that smile!

What a narcissist.

Lydia doesn't really care about her parents' wedding. She just wants to finish her book. (Actually, that sounds like me at that age.)

It's Lydia's first day of school! I can't even make fun of her -- she's just too cute.

Bridget's maternal instincts finally kick in.

More gratuitous cuteness. Actually, this entire update probably qualifies as that.

Or maybe she's just in a good mood after all the great Woo Hoo she's been having.

This is the first thing Stephen does when he comes home from work. (He got a new job, I don't remember which.)

Pregnant again!

At least she looks happy about it this time.

That's just scary.

Lydia brings a friend home from school. It's Adam Wilbanks, Lucinda's son! (She got married.) I don't think there's doubt in anyone's mind which kid is better-looking. Sorry, Lucinda, you still lose at life.

Adam has evidently inherited some of his mother's creepy habits, like standing around in other people's private space...

... and staying at their houses really late at night to watch TV.

Lydia still wants to be best friends with him, though. What a sweetie.

Lydia becomes obsessed with checking her email. She never has any.

Everyone is obsessed with playing the piano...

... possessive, even. Bridget, I understand that you're upset that you can't play right now, but is that really the sort of face you should be making at your eight-year-old daughter?

I don't even want to know.

Lydia cleans everyone else's rotten food because apparently not even the maid dares to touch it.

"Do you honestly think this is my responsibility?"

Lydia gets food poisoning from eating this because no one cares enough to cook for her.

And passes out on the bathroom floor. I feel enormously guilty, especially when this pops up: No one's paying enough attention to Lydia. Children need social interaction with family members to be happy and healthy. Apparently, the moment a toddler becomes a child, Bridget and Stephen feel absolved of their parenting responsibilities. They're lovely people, though, really.

Stephen doesn't even like Lydia anymore. She got too old, or something.

Instead, he's obsessed with Natalie, even though she's whiny and annoying...

... probably because she looks just like him, missing upper lip and all.

Actually, Stephen just loves babies in general. Imagine his excitement, then, when Bridget gives birth to not just one child...

... but twins! Stephen nearly has a heart attack. Bridget is like, eh, whatever.

Philip has Stephen's eyes and skintone with Bridget's brown hair.

Jasmine looks exactly like Lydia.

Who apparently spends all her damn time on that couch thinking about family events she doesn't partake in.

More gratuitous cuteness.

Like I said, Stephen loves babies...

... but apparently not enough not to drop them on the floor the moment he's distracted.

I lost Philip once and had to look all over the house for him. I found him like this. Some Family sims they are.

Later, Bridget makes the shocking discovery that dirty diapers don't smell all that great.

LYDIA & MAID (in unison): Ew, gross!

Bridget thinks it would be a great idea to adopt a child -- you know, because there just aren't enough babies in this house already.

She still has wet dreams about herself on a nightly basis.

Philip becomes a toddler! I really like his coloring. I have high hopes for him in general.

Jasmine does, too. I hate to say it, but she bores me a bit. I have a feeling she'll grow up to look like a less attractive version of Lydia.

Lydia becomes a beautiful teenager. She definitely has heir potential.

More importantly, she's useful.

He is so, so cute.

Everyone loves Philip. I think he's the first Ashmore kid to actually learn something successfully.

I don't know why everyone always gathers in the bathroom...

... but this is possibly the cutest scene ever. Lydia chose to read to Jasmine, by the way; I didn't tell her to.

The Repo Man shows up because everyone has been too busy trying to keep the twins alive to pay any attention to the mailbox.

He took the mirror. How useless.

Natalie becomes a child. You can't tell in this picture, but she's pretty ugly. Unless something amazing happens when she ages to teenager, Natalie is out of the running for heir.

NATALIE: I hate chili. Just like I hate YOU.

Bitch.

Whatever happened to this cute kid?

Soon the other two grow up as well.

Jasmine post-makeover. I was right; she looks like a less hot version of Lydia.

Philip post-makeover. Cute! So unless Natalie or Jasmine become inexplicably hot when they age to teenager, it'll be between Lydia and Philip for heir.

I realized I never posted anyone's stats. Here they are, for anyone who's interested.

Bridget Ashmore
Family: Become Hall of Famer*

5 neat
3 shy
7 active
3 serious
7 nice

*I had the random aspiration hack installed when I made her. I've uninstalled it since then, though.

Stephen Ashmore
Family: Reach Golden Anniversary

5 neat
8 outgoing
6 active
3 serious
3 nice

Lydia Ashmore
Romance: Have 20 Simultaneous Best Friends

10 neat (who would've thought...)
5 outgoing
2 lazy
3 serious
7 nice

There'll probably be one more Generation Two update, but after that I hope I can move on to the next generation. The founders are about to become elders, anyway, so there won't be any more kids after this.

The Ashmore Legacy: Generation 2.2

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:11:11 GMT

In which tragedy and bliss take turns to strike, Lydia grows up, and gorging oneself on junk food is proven the conclusive remedy to all the world's torments.

When we left off last time, Bridget discovered once again that she was pregnant.

Somehow she doesn't seem too happy about it. In the background, Lydia is being ignored as usual.

Bridget is promoted at work, but instead of celebrating, she passes out on the lawn.

And in her dinner, causing Stephen some concern. He's a sweetheart.

Ever the attentive husband, Stephen orders some Chinese food for Bridget to scarf down when she wakes up from her nap.

"Mmm..."

Later she starts making odd faces, leading me to believe she's going into labor...

... but no, she's just having a hissy fit about the water on the floor.

Or, you know, you could just clean it up.

That's the spirit.

After that impressive display of physical exertion, Bridget is starving...

... so much so, in fact, that she turns up the flame a tad too high and sets the house on fire. Nice going, Bridget.

Crisis averted. By now Bridget is so damn hungry that she eats the burnt, crusty, probably carcinogenic food. That can't be good for the baby.

Of course, now that her hygiene is depleted from the fire... see where I'm going with this? I swear, this entire update is me working like a madwoman to keep Bridget from dying of starvation, sleep deprivation, or... bad hygiene, I guess.

Er, that doesn't look good.

And neither does this. Bridget has a miscarriage a few sim hours before she was meant to deliver. I cry tears of frustration.

She looks heartbroken. It's so sad.

Stephen is fired from his new job after a bad chance card.

He takes a hint from Bridget and drowns his sorrows in, er, bagels and cream cheese.

Sometime during this, Lydia grew up. She's a cutie, but that hairstyle does nothing for her features.

Again, Stephen takes on most of the parenting responsibilities...

... though even Bridget finds the bathroom a great place to make friends.

Lucinda still finds time to come over and stare creepily at the Ashmores like the jealous freak she is.

One night she runs in, smacks Bridget around a bit for no apparent reason, and runs out again.

"I don't care if she's your friend, Stephen -- I hate that woman!"

Enough time has passed since Bridget's miscarriage that she and Stephen decide to try to have a second child.

To be safe, Bridget stops working for the entire duration of her pregnancy. Like when she was pregnant with Lydia, she spends most of her time painting.

Lydia has another birthday. She's adorable.

I'm not so sure about that face, though.

As usual, Bridget is a wonderful mom.
STEPHEN: Honey, do you really think our daughter should be eating that?

Like parents, like child. I've raised a family of nerds.

And to end this update on a happier note, baby Natalie was born with no complications. She has her father's eyes and complexion, and I think she has her mother's brown hair, though it's difficult to tell.

This is actually where I am in the game right now, so even I don't know what happens next. :-)

The Ashmore Legacy: Generation 2.1

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:26:02 GMT

Another entry already! I'll probably update this pretty often until I've caught up with where I am in the game.

After missing work to debate international affairs with Bridget yesterday, Stephen decides to quit his job as a Test Subject and launch a political career.

He spends more time with Lucinda, and they become best friends.

Soon it becomes apparent that Bridget is indeed pregnant. I haven't had a chance to marry them yet because I haven't been able to get all of their needs up at the same time, so they're still living in sin at this point (shock, horror).

Bridget spends most of her pregnancy painting. Stephen just likes to watch. I think he's still a bit awestruck.

It's a girl! Lydia has her mother's eyes and complexion and her father's black hair. She's cute so far, but so are all sim babies, so who really knows?

"What is that?"

"Don't you dare throw up on me!"

Bridget eventually begins to accept -- and, at quiet moments, even appreciate -- her daughter.

Stephen, meanwhile, is apparently trying to win an award for Most Devoted Sim Dad Ever.

How sweet.

Notice the absence of a violent reaction to the art on the walls. Being a dad seems to have mellowed out his personality.

Of course, some parts aren't nearly as endearing.

You'll have to do something about it at some point, you know.

Ever since Lucinda and Stephen became best friends, she's been hanging at their house a lot.

She watches enviously as Stephen cares for Lydia.

She's still at the house when Bridget decides that she wants to Woo Hoo, like, right now.

"That took you long enough."

...

Lucinda passes the time by watching TV downstairs. She's single and is feeling lonely. Maybe she should just adopt a baby?

She decides to take a swim to cheer herself up, but she's afraid to dive and backs away from the pool. Lucinda pretty much loses at life right now.

She's been at their house for so long that she's starting to smell.
"Of course, getting engaged would be much nicer..."

She walks in and stares creepily at Bridget for a bit before randomly admiring her.

"You're my role model! I want to be just like you!"

"Get off me! What a freak."

LUCINDA: I should probably go home and take a shower.
BRIDGET: Yes, please do.

But first she has to go upstairs to stare creepily at Stephen, freshly Woo Hoo'd and standing around in his underwear holding Lydia.

Are you staring at his ass? Have you no decency?

Soon Bridget finds herself hunched over the toilet again. You'd think that after going through this once, her aim might be a little better.

And Lydia finds she isn't getting as much attention from her parents as she used to.

I didn't realize this when I last posted, but the real drama doesn't actually start until the next episode. Find out what happens next on The Ashmore Legacy... coming soon to a computer near you!

The Ashmore Legacy: Generation 1.1

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 03:33:13 GMT

This is my first attempt at the Legacy Challenge. I've taken some liberties with the rules: I used the money cheat to build the house because I hadn't originally planned to use this family as my legacy, and I'm not keeping track of points. Hopefully it'll be at least somewhat entertaining.

This is Bridget Ashmore, the founder of my legacy. Her name is from the Random Name Generator, and the last name is already starting to annoy me. Oh, well.

The house was vaguely inspired by the Victorian rowhouses in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of DC. I haven't landscaped the lot at all because I'm usually too bored with building by the time I get to it, but it looks pretty bad like this, so I should probably do something about it.

Some visitors show up. The woman is Lucinda Paisley (named after the Only Ones song "Oh Lucinda (Love Becomes a Habit)"). She'll make an appearance in the next episode, but we don't care about her right now, because Bridget needs a man and this guy just might be the one.

His name is Stephen Cole. They hit it off immediately.

So well, in fact, that Bridget starts making moves on him just a few hours later.

After talking the entire night, Bridget invites Stephen to move in. So much for playing hard to get!

Stephen doesn't seem to have any objections.

STEPHEN: I'm so glad I met you. I have TWO friends now!
BRIDGET: Good for you!

BRIDGET: I think we know each other well enough now. Let's make babies!

"Finishing each other's sentences is for n00bs. We have synchronized DREAMS!"

And no, I don't care that you hate the painting. I happen to think it looks nice there.

Stephen can't believe his luck. Bridget is HOT!

They're such nerds.

The next day, Bridget makes waffles for Stephen before he has to leave for work. She looks so satisfied with herself.

The conversation quickly turns to... nuclear proliferation?

Is he grinning? I'm not sure that's an appropriate reaction.

"Can't we all just get along?"

"We need to cooperate with other countries, not fight them!

Stephen is supposed to go to work, but-- aw, of course he can't pass up a good debate.

"I don't think the government knows what it's doing."

He's actually quite passionate. I've never seen sims this political before!

At least he and Bridget seem to agree.

BRIDGET: This is about as much conversation as I can handle. I need a makeout session, stat!

When she wakes up the next morning, Bridget sprints into the bathroom.

*retch*

*vomit*

Honestly, the way you two have been going at it, this really should not come as a surprise.

BRIDGET: Holy shit, I'm pregnant!

STEPHEN: *waves*

And after the obligatory makeout session, this is where we leave off.

Next time: A birth, a visitor, and ever so much drama.

By the way, if anyone knows how I can activate my 30-day trial version of Photoshop for OS X (besides actually paying for it; I'm a broke student), I will be eternally grateful.