A hop skip and three and a half years later... As the later posts hinted with the delays between and mentions of health, things did not go great for me. For a while there I was busy just getting through, with no time for Sims or much of anything. Over the last year I've slowly been getting a little better and reviving my love of this game and the community, and my recent play sessions have made me ache to return to this story. I realize it's been a ridiculously long time and most of the people that were following are no longer active, but I don't like the idea of leaving this hanging unfinished, when there's a story to be told that I can't get enough of when I play. I've mentioned it a couple of times in posts in the main forum, and those posts have spoilers, so I would really like to post updates again. There's a lot to catch up and who knows where my health goes from here, maybe I disappear again, but for now, I want to post
I've gone over and fixed the broken links of the early posts. I used MYP back then which never got fixed, and I figure if I am going to post again I should make it possible to refresh memory on what happened before. So if anyone does see this and wants to get acquainted, the old posts are there
The last four updates were Stoffe, Siri, Stoffe again and Siri again. So we're well overdue for a visit with the Sawyer family.
Chapter 13 - The Sawyer family
Our last visit with the Sawyers saw a flurry of birthdays, the second pair of twins grew up to toddler, the first pair grew up to children and Sally Mae herself aged up to adult. Peggy made friends with Karl Sernman, and she and Lulu took advantage of their dad being focused on work and not paying much attention. Sally Mae went to the grocery store, and met Stoffe. After she returned home, she seemed quiet, and Billy Bob seemed to sense something was up.
Sally Mae does not really have time to sit around and think though, so while her surprise encounter with Stoffe may have planted some subconscious thoughts in her head, her day to day is still a never ending list of things to do. With Peggy Sue and Lulu Belle now in school, Sally Mae makes time to help them with their homework. I had not really planned for them to be great in school, but the girls kept rolling wants to do homework and ask for help and Sally Mae will do anything for her kiddos, so of course they get all the help they ask for.
But you can tell Sally Mae is a bit more distracted than usual, for example she started a fire when cooking dinner because she let her thoughts wander. Been a long time she started a fire.
The pregnancy we knew was coming showed itself, and Sally Mae woke up to a bump.
Still happy and smiling whenever she's around the kids
Anna Nicole learned to talk, exciting!
Peggy and Lulu continued to use their parents bed to jump in, which I can not think wise.
In fact, one day Billy Bob caught them at it when he came home from work and as expected he was not amused. He decided the little pests could burn that energy in the obstacle course, and promptly took them there forcing them exercise.
He had no sympathy for quitters, the only way to get better is to keep going. So he kept them working well into the dark.
On the plus side it meant Harley could sneak into the trailer and watch TV, which Billy Bob would not allow him to do.
Discipline does have it's upsides, and thanks to all the help Sally Mae gave the girls both manage to secure top grades and are fighting each other to tell mum all about it.
Billy Bob comes home to find Sally Mae helping the girls with their homework, and not even having cooked him an evening meal. He stared her down as he grabbed leftovers for himself. Peggy seems to feel the atmosphere and looks upset.
Sally Mae went out to grab the bills from the mailbox, and Billy Bob went out after her.
He's mad that she touched the mailbox, only he is supposed to get the mail (so he can make sure to remove any cards that might have been sent by her old friends). He yells at her, about the lack of a dinner and telling her to stick to her jobs and let him do his. He tells her to go to bed and he'll put the kids to bed. The look on her face as she gets into bed breaks my heart.
Billy Bob knows it was a mistake to yell at her, and although he sort of managed to pass it off as concern for her by sending her to bed and taking care of putting the kids to bed, he has to be careful not to push her too far. I don't think he realizes how perceptive kids can be, now that Peggy and Lulu are older they can pick up on the atmosphere and it clearly makes them uncomfortable.
As Billy Bob goes to put the toddlers in their cribs, his frustrations are boiling over. Looking at Junior and seeing Sally Maes face and coloring look back at him something inside him snaps, and he finds only distaste for the son that was supposed to be his heir but only has his mothers useless genetics.
Angry and frustrated and mad at his wife, he goes outside to his obstacle course to run and work out some of the feelings. He looks quite menacing.
As you can tell, the tone is growing darker. As I warned in the early posts on this, I do play a game with some aspects of real life in them. I also use Sims as a form of therapy, taking elements from my own life and processing them through stories where I have control, unlike in real life. Billy Bob is styled after one of my past partners, who wasn't very nice, and used manipulation and emotional abuse to control and get his way. The story is a sort of what if, what if I did not get out when I did? I was a teen as well, but I broke free before there were children to complicate things. How would things have gone if I had stayed? Would I still have broken free one day? That is the sort of questions I explore through Sally Mae and Billy Bob. Going forward there will be some gaps, as part of the story as I played it out for me is more adult content, and MTS is PG13. In summary Billy Bob is having to play the nice guy more as seeds of doubt have been sown in Sally Maes mind, and that makes him angry and frustrated and he finds ways to take that out on her that are not obvious to her, but allows him to feel in control. Certain needs are being dialed up, if you catch my drift.
Sally Mae wakes up early, as always. She's tired, so she starts by having some pepper punch. As she stands there, it's clear she is looking away from the sight of her husband asleep in the bed on the other side of the window.
Now the girls are older they are able to help Sally Mae a little with the younger siblings, which is a big help getting them out of the cribs in the morning.
Nice return to normal for Billy Bob, breakfast being made as he wakes up and gets ready for work. He has just enough time to sit down and scarf down an omelette before heading off.
Peggy decides to help mom out with the dishes
Which is good, cause keeping up with the household chores is hard, even more so now that the girls are older and add to the use of bathrooms. A filthy shower, and a broken tap has to be dealt with this morning.
Garden is overgrown with weeds, and needs tending. Lulu tries her hand at teaching Harley some tricks.
Billy Bob had a very good day. He got a bonus at work of 3000 simoleons, and he ended up being promoted to captain. Seems his newfound tactics of working out his frustration is doing him good at work.
He has to settle for leftovers yet again though, as Sally Mae has not had time to cook. At least today she takes them out for him.
After dinner he goes out to his boxing bag to exercise. Sally Mae comes out after him.
Sally Mae figures if Billy Bob got a bonus, then he can afford to let her spoil the girls a little. Billy Bob however is unimpressed, and seems to be telling her money does not grow on trees.
But also a good time for him to act nice, reminding her they are married and what's his is hers so what does she have in mind?
Sally Mae wants to take the girls to a hair dresser, let them update their style if they want to. Billy Bob listens while seeming uninterested.
Sally Mae seems to hold her breath, crossing her fingers and waiting for Billy Bob to decide.
Surprisingly, he says of course she can take the kids, go for it.
Sally Mae kisses his cheek in thanks, and waddles right on off with the two girls in tow.
You'd think she'd pause to put some more clothes on, with that big belly her outfit is an interesting choice for going out amongst people but then again, who cares, right? They head into the hairdressers, Peggy Sue gets to go first.
She looks quite excited sitting down in the chair, and very pleased with the outcome in the end. She decided to keep her hairstyle, but the stylist gave her a nice big bow to make her feel cute.
Lulu's turn!
She decided to get a haircut and style change, though she too went with a bow to match her sisters. The stylist seems to think the outcome is perfect, and I am prone to agree!
After that they went to the clothing store nextdoor, and the girls got to pick out a couple of outfits. They both found something that matches their new bows, and Sally Mae even splurged on a few new things for herself. She decided to put on some of the new clothes right away, I imagine the fancy vibe of the store made her feel a little out of place in her maternity outfit.
Quite the outing for these guys, who never really leave the run down yard except for school. But soon they return back home.
Sally Mae cooks hamburgers for them to sit and eat together, she looks so pleased sitting there with her two oldest daughters talking.
Then it's high time the little ones get into bed and sleep.
Sally Mae does a little cleaning. Billy Bob realizes the windows put in for Sally Mae to see the kids, can also be used for him to remind her that he's waiting for her as she finishes up the evening chores.
And that is where we will leave off for today. We got to see a little bit of the newly grown up Peggy and Lulu, and the growing tension between Billy Bob and Sally Mae, and the precarious balance Billy Bob has to tread. The more he demands, the more he has to also let go to keep up appearances. That work bonus was well placed for him, letting Sally Mae splurge it on the kids and herself no doubt helped the quiet the voice in Sally Mae's head that keeps asking if things really should be this way. For now at least... in future, who knows.
Hopefully I can post the next installment soon I'm thinking it's high time we find out what happened to Stoffe and Vanessa, having just returned from their vacation to find their house burning down
30th Jul 2023 at 1:37 AM
