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To explain that picture we have to go back a little bit and get the answer to how Tom intended to solve the problem of making sure nobody discovered Siri hidden in the cottage, and also how make sure she could keep warm in the winter without raising suspicion. There's a fireplace but I'm sure smoke coming from the woods would make someone go check it out and Tom does not want that. So what to do?

You buy the land of course! If it's your private property then no risk of the city council suddenly deciding to do something with it after all these years. But how do you explain wanting to buy a run down abandoned cottage in the woods all of a sudden? This is where the very public grieving comes in handy. The giant cross in front of your house, the donations to orphanage and the clear desire to make sure Siri is not forgotten and to do good in her name. Evergreen is a very green city, sort of rural with a lot of greenery and farming. Sigrid was a marine biologist for a living, and part of that job is protecting marine wild life from the effects of human consumption. So the final part of Tom's master plan is to buy the cottage from the city council, and turn it into a green energy power plant and pretend it's something he and Sigrid had long wanted to do, and that they decided to do in their dead daughters memory. A sort of make the world a better place-kind of thing, by providing the city with green energy. Sigrid's past profession has the science, and Tom with his mechanic background is perfectly equipped to set up and maintain a green power plant. I imagine Tom had no problem selling his plan to the city council. Politicians are attention-lovers and this would be perfect as a vote-grabbing news story, the two grieving parents starting a save-the-planet green power plant in honor of their dead daughters memory. Get some cash for a cottage and piece of land that's not being used any way, and an image boost for them. Sold!

This all went down before Isamu was born, but for some reason I forgot to include that in the last post. Whoops! Siri stayed hidden in the cottage, and Sigrid and Tom came over and set up a bunch of wind turbines by the front where the wind blows in from the river, and a bunch of solar panels on the roof. The water wriggler that I forgot to remove from an earlier picture is technically there for Isamu to play in when he gets older, but they are explaining it with the water wriggler being there to clean off the solar panels when needed

The power plants serve multiple purposes. For one thing it provides Siri with the electricity she needs to run indoor lights without involving the communal power company, and it makes the lot thoroughly uninviting. With the wind turbines spinning at the front and big warning signs warning people from coming inside it's even less likely anyone would dare to venture inside and end up discovering Siri. But the best part is that Sigrid and Tom spread the rumor that they have to keep the control room (aka the cottage) heated during winter so the electronics inside don't freeze, which is why there's smoke rising from the chimney during winter. Pretty clever if you ask me :3 (Aside from the fact that one may wonder why old-school heating and not electronic but let's not nitpick haha!

So to recap, Tom and Sigrid bought the cottage and the land off the city council and supposedly turned it into a green power plant. This allows Siri to use the fireplace during winter to keep the cottage warm without raising suspicion, and them now owning the land should prevent the city council or anyone else from going near it. This part of the plan is exactly why Sigrid agreed to the whole thing in the first place. Even if Tom said no visits, she figured with the power plant there it would theoretically be possible to visit without anyone getting suspicious. She just needs to convince Tom and she thinks with enough time she might be able to.

And that brings us neatly into the next part I wanted to talk about. We know how Siri is doing. Isamu is born and has quickly become the light of her life, her constant ray of sunlight in her otherwise fairly lonely desolate world. She spends her days taking care of Isamu and getting ready for winter. But what has Tom and Sigrid been up to? We know they set up the power plant, we know they donated to the orphanage, and are making a show out of grieving Siri. But that's all show, what's really going on behind the mask?

If you recall the Sjöströms have always been pretty solitary. They kept to themselves, enjoying quiet time at home. Didn't show up much in public, didn't really have friends or connections with other households in the hood. But this changed after Siri moved to the cottage. All of a sudden Tom started showing up places. In the background on community lots, as walk-by, even inside peoples houses. One day I found him sitting in the rocking chair in Tore Nilsson's nursery, just chilling staring emptily into the air

We all know Sims have strange social codes sometimes, but Tom is a shy Sim, unlike outgoing Sims he doesn't invite himself places. He's retired so not someone that would come home from work, neither parents had a hobby chance cards, and to make things even stranger when I checked Tom in SimPE he'd never even met either of them. Yet there he was, sitting in their nursery next to their sick premature baby boy. Wandered in from the street, into an unknown persons home and decided to keep their baby company

At this point Tom is getting on the older side. He's lost his beloved daughter, the thing that secretly gave him joy and made life meaningful. He pushed her away over something that really wasn't her fault, and he's shoved the emotions so far down he probably doesn't know where he hid them. And it looks like it ended up being too much for the otherwise so reliable Tom. He's gone senile, or perhaps a psychosis. Whichever it is something is not right that's for sure. Out roaming the streets looking for something he can't quite define, finding himself drawn to children. Perhaps he's looking for the baby Siri once was, or the grandchild he knows he has somewhere out there.

Sigrid on the other hand handled things better. While I'm sure she misses Siri dearly she's not seeing it as a good-bye forever like Tom, so she's not falling to pieces like he did. She too though became a more frequent visitor in community lots. I imagine both of them notice Siri's absence at home and feel the house is a little empty, and with Tom stuck in his own mind bubble I imagine Sigrid likes the company of other people from time to time. Or maybe she's out looking for Tom, who knows

But with Tom more out of the picture Sigrid became the boss of the family, the one making the decisions. And Sigrid decided it was time to say good-bye to the house and move to the community home for the elder. She wanted more eyes around to help her keep track of Tom, and she thought it'd do them both good to not have to walk around in their house with all it's memories of Siri growing up.

And it just so happens that the elderly home is located on the same street as Siri's cottage. Happy accident

If you look closely you'll see the lot where we saw Sigrid walking back from the direction of the cottage is two lots down from the elderly home. Perhaps she was out on an afternoon walk. Or perhaps there was something else going on

Here they are arriving at their new home (Autumn Wind retirement home by joandsarah here on MTS, though redecorated interiorly by me). Tom seems a little scared and confused by this new unknown place, but a little soothing talk from Sigrid and he was ready to check it out.

In case anyone is interested in seeing what their new home looks like I'll include pictures of their room at the retirement home. While part of the idea was leaving all the memories of Siri behind I knew they'd never leave her completely hidden so the paintings on the walls are artwork that Siri made as a kid, that used to be on the walls in their house. The hamster cage belongs to Sigrid, she got it when she thought they'd never have a baby because she wanted a living breathing creature to dote on and she's become a hamster lover since.

Tom was hesitant at first but he quickly forgot that once he discovered the Myshuno-machine. He looks so adorably confused trying to figure out this new and exciting thing.

After a while Sigrid convinced him to go have some breakfast and let the myshuno-machine rest. Is it just me or is there something sad about the way he's sitting there at the table, eating his pastry... Real roller-coaster of emotions in Tom these days.

And by now I'm sure you're thinking jeez is she never going to get to Siri and Isamu

Enough back-story talk and parents-update, bring on the cuteness! This year the snow came early and when we return to the cottage it's covered in a thick layer of snow. Winter is here! Siri always loved playing in the snow as a kid so of course she and Isamu have to check it out and have a fun day outdoors. What do you think of the cutie overalls Siri made for Isamu?

No surprise Isamu is terribly excited at this new strange phenomenon, ever the happy excited baby boy.

Gotta build a snowman! I love how Siri sort of checks in with Isamu, checking how he's getting on, or perhaps having a conversation asking him for feedback on the snowman build.

By the time Siri finished the snowman it was already dark.

Isamu looks like he had fun.

New indoor clothes too now it's colder.

Snow day outside is fun, but sure does tire you out!

Last time we checked in with Siri it was autumn and she was working on making quilts to cover up the walls. She made some progress on that but still lots of wall space to cover up so during these dark cold days she continued her project of cold-proofing the walls and making it a little brighter and happier in there.

Bedroom looking a lot more fun with an alien quilt on the wall and some fun paintings by the crib.

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