Bobbi Jo Broke or I Lived Two Lives--Continued

Hope you have read Part 1 of "I Lived Two Lives". That was all in my first Pleasantview. So here is their story so far in my revised Pleasantview. I still have limited photos because I did not take screen captures until recently.

Brandi was, again, a stay-at-home mom while Jody and Beau went through school, although she did go back to school for a while to learn journalism.  Meanwhile, Brandi became “Bobbi Jo”. It seemed to fit her personality better and besides, there was already another Brandi in Pleasantview, Brandi LeTourneaux, an NPC who became a bona fide citizen of Pleasantview after rooming for a bit at the home of the Candeloros. But that’s another story. Of course, I think you’ll understand if the Brokes in this Pleasantview never ordered pizza, or did their own home repairs…

Bobbi Jo decided to make a little money boarding adults and she also took in a couple of teenagers to foster during these years. So at this point she had already swapped the single wide for a double-wide, now she reinforced everything and added a second floor. Chloe Gonzaga was one of the teens who lived with Bobbi Jo until she finished school and got a job. Another was Leonid Olfshki, who also stayed until he recently became an adult.  Bobbi Jo finally got her career in journalism going when Jody became a teenager and Beau grew up and began working. Again, Dustin had moved out when he was an adult, but never went back to a criminal career this time. Bobbi Jo became interested around this time in the creative arts, painting masterpieces and becoming an accomplished seamstress.

Bobbi Jo making her famous stuffed trout

Bobbi Jo talking with a very pregnant friend, Calista GilsCarbo

One of her foster children Leonid:

Bobbi Jo has been much happier this time, and lived longer, too. She also enlarged the teeny-tiny pool they had when Skip was here, but made sure there were TWO ladders available and added a slide for the kids. She grew her hair longer and kept it in a lovely chignon, then changed her mind and cut it quite short. She was always a pretty girl, but the new haircut and a makeup makeover made her into a gorgeous woman. No matter what the length of her hair, though, Bobbi Jo prefers to wear some sort of bang because of her high forehead.

Bobbi Jo gave up her career at this time because she had decided to adopt a child and Bobbi Jo wanted to be home with her or him. Elle was only six years old.


"I thought the agency would bring the child to us," Bobbi Jo told a friend, "But we had everything ready and look out the door and Elle was all by herself, just walking along the sidewalk toward the house in her little blue dress. And she just walked her way right into our hearts."


They were extremely close and Bobbi Jo had the daughter she'd always wanted. Elle, who was smart as a whip, soon had her brothers wrapped around her finger, and maintained excellent grades. She loves the color pink (because Bobbi Jo loves pink), video games and playing with her dollhouse. The first little while she stayed in Bobbi Jo’s room for about a year, until she got comfortable, then Bobbi Jo made a room for her upstairs and she slept up there, along with her brothers. But she was allowed to climb in with her mother any time.

 Elle sleeping in Bobbi Jo's bed the first couple nights. Then they put a bed in there for her.

Beau was very successful in his career as an adventurer; then he went on to learn architecture, finally he moved into Dustin’s house with him and they are two of the swinging bachelors in Pleasantview. Well Beau is a swinging bachelor; Dustin, surprisingly, is much more reserved with women.

Beau the bachelor

Dustin Broke

Recently Bobbi Jo met her new neighbor, Julian Cooke, and THAT was love at first sight. After all these years Bobbi Jo was in love again! She invited Julian over to get to know the family better--Julian, the chef, grilled fish—which won the hearts of Leonid and Jody. They were already grown and starting their respective careers, but still their opinion was important to Bobbi Jo. Everyone who met Elle loved her and Julian was no different. This was especially important because Elle was still a child and Bobbi Jo wanted what was best for her. Elle had no compunctions; Julian romped in the pool with all of them and played a game with her later and she decided he was just right for their family. In fact, this was the weekend that Julian proposed. When Bobbi Jo said yes, he began adding an addition to his home so Elle had her own room as she did at home and so Bobbi Jo could have an art studio. Jody and Leonid would keep the Broke home and live there.

Julian Cook over for a cookout and swimming with the adult Jody and Leonid, Little Elle and Bobbi Jo

Jody snapped this photo of Julian and Bobbi Jo, then went out with some friends not knowing that Julian would be proposing to his mom in a short while. Luckily, he liked Julian and was fine with the news.

There will be more posts on Bobbi Jo and Elle and their new life with Julian. There will also be later posts on Jody and Leonid as they pursue their careers (and women).

Last installment of the story of Bobbi Jo Broke HERE

Next update to blog: The Lassiter Family Ch. 2

 

Bobbi Jo Broke or I Lived Two Lives...Part 1

Bobbi Jo started life as Brandi Broke. This Sim comes with the game and in my Pleasantview she has had two incarnations. When the game begins Brandi is a widow with two sons, Dustin, a delinquent teenager and, Beau, a toddler. Their father was Skip Broke who “died in a suspicious pool accident”.When you see how small the pool was; it's believable, but who yanked up those pool steps? In addition, Brandi is pregnant with a child who, according to reports I've read, came along at a time that Skip could not be his father. Evidently, since the baby looks exactly like Bobbi Jo and is a boy, this indicates there is no father. Artificial insemination? That or the ability via boolProp for females to get impregnated by anyone or even themselves.

Brandi as she looks when you start the game next to her is the late Skip Broke:

The widow Broke with her sons Dustin, the teenager, and Beau, the toddler

They live in a mobile home where they are quite cramped. As I said, Brandi is pregnant with a third child which, in my case, was a boy whom I named Jody. In my first Plainview (before it crashed), Brandi’s family did not fare well at all. 

The first Pleasantview version: Brandi wanted to make money but could not do so because she had to stay home with Beau and little Jody. After several nightmares with the nanny, she just could not leave them in someone else’s care. Besides, the Nanny would never teach Jody the things he needed to know like potty-training, learning to walk and talk. The Nanny mainly watched TV, left dirty diapers all around the house and set fire to the stove while cooking. Luckily, Bobbi Jo had a windfall of $50,000 from a distant great aunt that helped quite a bit.

Dustin Broke, delinquent

Beau Broke, little tyke

Now Dustin had been a good child up until his father’s death when he was around 13, then he began acting out. In desperation, Brandi made him quit his job (which was none too savory) and concentrate on his homework to get his failing grades up to par. She also kept Angela Pleasant out of his life for a while, making sure they only saw each other in school and on weekends. Later, the Pleasant family left town so that made things easier for Brandi. Finally, Dustin seemed to be on track. As an adult he finished his schooling and moved out to his own place. Meanwhile by this time the younger two boys were both in high school, when some terrible unforeseen things happened. 

After a particularly good weekend of swimming and a cookout (see video) the that Sunday night they decided to order a pizza because Brandi had just begun a new job that would start Monday and didn’t want to fool with cooking supper.  Beau went out to pay for it and right there, on the front steps, he was hit by an errant flying saucer and killed immediately. He hadn’t even finished high school!

Unfortunately, I do not have pictures for any of this, evidently I didn't realize I could even make them. Same with the movies except for the video of them in the pool taken that very night. I only have a few videos of the adult Jody from this first Pleasantview all from early in his adulthood. I hate to not have photos, but I wanted to tell the difference between my old Pleasantview (when I didn't know much about how to do things) and my 2nd Pleasantview (after the "crash" of April 2010) and just had to do it without the photos.

Anyway, Beau's untimely death was a shock both to me and to the Brokes. Jody and Brandi were crushed, of course. A few days later, Jody was playing SXS3 on the pc in his bedroom and Brandi was on her computer doing work for her job. Suddenly, Brandi’s computer went kaphlooey! Irritable from the stress of the past week; Brandi stormed into Jody’s room and demanded he get off his computer so she could use it. However; by this time Jody had begun a project for school on his computer, so Brandi gave in and decided to try to fix her own computer. Her mechanical skills were not high at all and I had not been playing long and didn’t realize this could be risky. She was quickly electrocuted. Now, I had seen that happen to the repairman repeatedly and it never killed him; he just walked around with his hair sticking out for a while. But this time it was fatal, even though Jody begged the Grim Reaper. The Reaper gave a riddle to Jody who could not answer it and that was that.


Poor Jody was now all alone. Luckily, because he was no longer a child but a teenager, the social worker left him alone. The first couple nights after the accidents Jody was plagued by ghosts, which sorrowed him more than frightened him, so he had Beau’s gravestone and Brandi’s urn moved to Forest Lawn Cemetery on the edge of town. The evenings quieted down immediately.

The Broke family swimming in their teeny-tiny pool. Later that evening Beau would be dead.

Jody lived for some time in the same house until he grew to be an adult. In fact, Jody became the big success of the family (since Dustin, sadly, returned to his career in crime.) The original house was sold to Jenna Simmons after Jody finished med school and had become an intern. Then he moved to his own home on Professional Row and continued his career, eventually becoming chief of staff at the hospital. He was a bachelor for a very long time; he just couldn’t find anyone he was really crazy about (who was available). Time passed though, and then he met, fell crazy in love with, and married the beautiful Barbara Bel Geddes. They had just had their first child, Max, and he was a toddler when my game crashed or, more accurately, exploded. *sigh*

Jody (when he still lived by himself at the Broke house) with his best friend, Royal Devon.

Next installment of the Bobbi Jo Broke story HERE

 

Glenn Caswell Ch. 3 - Three Lakes Vacation

In the late fall, Glenn decided to take Gareth on a camping trip to the resort called Three Lakes, which was situated up in the mountains. He’d been talking about (or asking about) for over a year. Glenn was brought up in the countryside of Georgia, but it had been many years since her childhood. Since then she had been a city girl, both in Atlanta and New York City. Nevertheless she wanted to give it a try. 

Leaving for the airport on a frosty morning..

Glenn was not shy about asking other tourists or local people to take their photo. They usually mugged for the camera. Like here at the Three Lakes Market where they bought the proper clothing, souvenirs and Glenn indulged in some jewelry purchases.

First day at the campground:

Sitting around the campfire the first night 

They spent the first day at the market, on a nature tour and fishing at the campground. Marshmallows and ghost stories around the campfire were, of course, mandatory.

Gareth enjoyed catfish for breakfast at Smooth Rock Spa.

The next day they went to the Lumber Mill Range where Glenn checked out the axe throwing and Gareth did a little more fishing. With their natural competitiveness they both absolutely loved the log roll.

From there they took a tour, then went to Smooth Rock Spa where they soaked in the natural hot springs, Gareth did a little more fishing, Glenn hit the sauna and then learned how to do deep tissue massage.

They had planned on camping out in a tent the whole time, but after two days and two nights when they endured episodes with swarming bees and poison ivy, then plummeting temperatures and a heavy rain storm Glenn decided to leave the camping grounds and move to the elite Blue Sky Hotel for the last 2 nights of their stay so they could favor their bites and rashes with dips in the tub, and dry out the camping equipment. 

Early morning fishing at the campground...

One particularly weird happening was on the last night at Wood Axe. Glenn, in warm pajamas, climbed into the tent with her child after a nice shower and went to sleep. It was pouring out. Around 2:30 am she found herself practicing the “chest thump” gesture with a fellow camper, she was covered in dirt, her hair gone crazy, standing up in peaks and she was wearing only her underwear. She still had no idea how she got that way in the morning. 

They packed up and moved on to the hotel the next day. The beautiful Sky View Hotel up in the mountains overlooked the town below.

The game room at the hotel where they played Don't Wake The Llama with fellow tourists.

They were too tired to go out one night for supper, so they ordered room service (pork chops)

 Checking out of the hotel:

Catching the shuttle to the airport on the last morning

Glenn and Gareth still had a great time overall, but Glenn came to the conclusion that her “roughing it” days were far behind her. Still the campfire and marshmallows were a so much fun, and so was the fishing at the campground pond. There were so many games and activities at the hotel that Gareth and Glenn were in heaven. They decided when they go back (and Glenn planned to do that) they thought they would go to the hotel first and the campground last.

Next update to blog "Bobbi Jo Broke Ch. 1"

 

Next installment of the Glenn Caswell family HERE

 

Glenn Caswell Ch. 2 - Changing Your Life

Knowing her biological clock was ticking, and concluding that at her age (pushing 40) it was getting less and less likely she would find someone she wanted to marry; Glenn decided she did not want to wait any longer to have a child and would use artificial insemination. The only men she really respected were John and Jim, but rather than cause a problem with their wives by asking either of them to be paternity donors (she was close friends with both women), Glenn opted for an unknown insemination donor. She had an easy pregnancy and went on maternity leave shortly before her son was born. She named him Gareth John, loved him dearly from the moment he was born. He became the absolute center of her existence. 

A pregnant Glenn asked for counsel from a close friend, Madeleine Ferguson, who bore and raised 5 children, two of them still at home! As she finished Shep Ferguson (Madeleine's hubby) arrived to greet her, but Glenn seemed a little stuck for words...

Glenn delivering her son--no hospital, no doctor (but that is the Sims 2 way).

"Are you Mommy's precious little nooboo? Yes, you are!"

After being alone so long Glenn had suffered qualms now and then during her pregnancy that she would not have the patience to deal with a child or put his needs first. She need not have worried. The moment he was born Gareth became her whole world and she wondered whatever had she done before she had this little person to love and care for in her life.  Glenn has been considering whether she should be a stay at home mom for Gareth and give up her career, or use a nanny. She didn't like what she'd heard about the nannies in town, so it looked as though her career would go on hiatus. She made a lot of money in the SCIA and always had lived conservatively, so she felt she could get by on her investments until Gareth was older.  Glenn made some changes to her floor plan to make way for a good sized room for Gareth.

Gareth's toddler years:

 

More cuddling just before his birthday

It seemed to Glenn that years just flew by. Soon Gareth was a young boy in school. No longer a baby, he was great company! 

Future architect?

 

Corky Lomax over for dinner

Mary Mack with Holly Ferguson

Holly and Gareth. This pic turned out so cute Glenn sent a copy to Holly's mom, Madeleine

Glenn helping Gareth with his homework:  

Now that Gareth had reached school age, Glenn was not going back to teaching yet. She decided to write a novel: a mystery, or more accurately a crime novel. With her experience on the Police Force, as a private detective and in the SCIA, who could be better versed in the subject? Gareth continued to be an exceptional student, who seemed to learn new things more quickly than many of his fellow pupils. Meanwhile, now that she was 45, Glenn wondered if she would ever meet the right guy, but she had her standards set very high, perhaps no man could live up to them. She had her boy to think about as well--she didn't want just anyone around him. She was extremely attractive, but her independence had run men off before. Only time would tell.

Next installment of the Glenn Caswell family HERE