Kicking off this update is the Pleasant family. Coral Oldie decided to go and live with her daughter after her husband, Herb, died. She immediately rolled wants to get a job, and I figured she wouldn't do too badly as a Playground Monitor.





Here she is digging through the job ads in the paper. Unfortunately, no opening in the Education career available today.



Turns out she shouldn't have bothered, really. A few hours after moving in with the Pleasants, Grim came to take her away to her final destination.

Coral: "Excuse me, Mr. Grim, but couldn't you let those poor girls wear something warmer? Those outfits are simply scandalous!"



Jeff sealed his fate to become a Fortune sim with his reaction to Coral's death. Both he and his mum didn't bat an eye at Coral passing away, but were more than happy to be able to cash in her life insurance money.



A Romance sim making time to take care of their offspring? Daniel really must be turning over a new leaf.



Birthday time! Jeff transitioned into a fairly cute kid. I love his freckles :)



Mary-Sue finally achieved a high enough rank to acquire the teleprompter career reward. Comes in really handy for Daniel, who's been slogging through those charisma points in an attempt to become a Hall of Famer. He grew up into an Elder recently, and feels time's a-ticking.



Jeff practises making his point as well. Classy.



Mary-Sue leaves no opportunity wasted to stress the importance of a good education. How else will Jeff ever rake in those simoleons? She never had the opportunity to go to University, and had to start at the bottom of her career, and it's been a long hard slog which she wouldn't want Jeff to go through as well, because if he...

Jeff: "Moooooooom! I get it!"



Jeff raking the leaves for some extra pocket money. Those cleaning skill points are sure to come in handy at some point as well.



With her mothering duties cut back now Jeff's in primary school, Mary-Sue has more time to concentrate on her career, and it's paying off. Here she is having reached 50.000$ in earnings, after a promotion. She's still far off from her ultimate goal of 100.000$, and I'm starting to fear she won't make it before she passes on.



She's getting increasingly creaky every morning.



Daniel's still attempting to make up for his indescretion with Bella, and age seems to have mellowed out Mary-Sue, as she's slowly being won over by his charms again.



Succes!



It took a LOT of work, but in the end Daniel and Mary-Sue reconciled and fixed their marriage. At least now they'll be able to live out their golden years together in some semblance of happiness.



For Daniel, those golden years are now platinum! He fulfilled his LTW, and is now a 'living legend', according to the pop-up. I'm just glad I won't have to see him swanning about in those hideous shorts anymore, as he retired shortly after.



Daniel and Mary-Sue invited over the family for their Anniversary party. Mary-Sue's cooking still isn't anything special, but the Burbs are too nice and/or polite to mention it.



Dinner is followed by a game of poker for the adults on the new table Daniel bought. Mary-Sue, Fortune sim that she is, managed to fleece the lot of them. I never really took her for a hustler, but there you go :D



Jeff grew up into a teen, and selected Fortune as his aspiration (obviously). I gave him an appropriately serious-minded makeover, and he started jobhunting pretty much immediately.



He rolled a rather curious want shorty after transitioning. oO I'm guessing he's been hearing about all those alien abductions lately, and figured it'd be a good way to earn a quick buck. Possibly, Jeff, though I'm thinking it wouldn't be the most, uh, pleasant way.


The Dreamers



Brandi is in two minds about whether she should have a baby with Darren. She wants it but fears it at the same time. As long as she doesn't straight-up wants it, I'm not letting them have a go, so no new Dreamer babies for the time being.



Beau just made the phonecall to move out to College, and is being waved goodbye by his mother and sister.



The Gypsy Matchmaker delivered a lamp! Has anyone figured out why those are delivered yet? My latest theory is it happens when you max out a hobby, but I've got no idea if that's just coincidence or what.
Anyway, Brandi, having been Broke for most of her life, wants to ensure her kids won't have to go through all that, and wishes for bags of money.



Darren's not getting anywhere with that 'max 5 skills' LTW, and wished for peace of mind. Nobody's made a third wish yet, so the lamp is just sitting around in their living room at the moment, being a conversation piece.



Meanwhile, it was time for Billie's birthday!



Here she is, made over. She lost the girly-girlness of childhood, and seeing as she had oodles of attitude even when a kid, and her OTH is Tinkering, I gave her a tough girl look. Nobody messes with Billie Broke!



Darren aged up as well, but is still a smooth operator, despite his silver hair and bad back.

Darren: "This is so worth another trip to my chiropractor."



I've been aging up the townie kids, as they can't keep their Peter Pan complex forever. Marsha Bruenig was quick to come home with Billie after school. 



Billie is a Popularity sim, and rolled the want to throw a party. She invited her three friends: Marsha, Lucy Burb and Jeff Pleasant. She still likes Aldebaran Curious, but he's younger than her, and still a kid, so he didn't get to come.



Brandi is a bit apprehensive about her daughter's new look. After all, she finally had a girl after two boys, and now she turns into a tomboy?



Billie doesn't care what her mum thinks, and has installed a work station in her bedroom, where she cobbles together all sorts of robotic parts.



She's even succeeded in making a small, operational toy robot.



Darren absolutely loves the damn thing.


The Burbs



The Burbs started off the week in minor: it was time for Mickey to go to the big dogpark in the sky.



John Burb was severely traumatised.



Mickey's final resting place. You were a good dog, Mickey, and the first I ever played until death do us part. I'm too soft-hearted to kill off the pets normally, but they can't keep around forever, as that'd look silly in a synched neighbourhood :(



Linus grew up into a teen, and chose Knowledge for his aspiration. Those are regular glasses, not sunglasses, but for some reason they go crazy with the reflection. Huh.



John and Jennifer are still very much happily married. I was thinking about letting one of them have an affair for a while, but they were always too busy for it, so I just let it slide.



Jennifer is still working her way up on the career ladder. John's been banned from the telescope during the night, by the way. He kept sneaking out to stargaze, too. YOU HAVE ENOUGH KIDS ALREADY JOHN. Sheesh.



Scanning for prints. I wonder what he found that made him pull that face?

John: "Some of... Mickey's... hairs...." *breaks down bawling*



Lyra transitioned into a child, and is one of the prettiest kids I've ever had in my game. Those alien genetics sure work out well.



A typical family scene: Jennifer earning some cash on the side giving financial advice, and John happily chatting away with the friend Linus brought from school, cause Linus himself is way too shy to actually talk to them. He prefers to sit back and observe.



Lyra also brought a buddy home, namely Perseus Curious.

Percy: "You're green! Like me! That's so amazing!"



Linus horsing around with his dad. They never really got to spend much time together, what with Lyra's arrival and all, so they're trying to make up for lost time now.

That's it for this update :) Bit of a short one, I know. I've been working on some different things alongside Strangely Pleasant, which I might post about soon, depending on how they go. Till next time, and thanks for reading and commenting! :3