Fall 2012 - Huffington

Heather (35), Lance (8), Jimmy London (32)

Finances were tough for Heather.  She had been struggling to get by as a single mom with only child support payments and her small salary from her minimum wage job.  Now that the hood was collecting loan re-payments, and the value of her lot was very high, she was in over her head. 

She did have a few options.  Her first thought was to get a roommate.  Her lot was actually designed as a commercial building.  She and Lance only occupied the first floor of the building.  The entire upper floors were completely vacant.  She talked with Jimmy about possibly renting the upstairs and he readily agreed to the suggestion.  But most of his funds were tied up in his newest business venture and he didn't have much cash to help out at the moment.

After considering her options, Heather decided the best thing to do was to move.  There was a small, two bedroom house that had been vacant for a few years.  The house was cute.

And once she decorated it to her liking, it was a much better fit for her and her son.  After purchasing some modest, but stylish furnishings, Heather had plenty of money to repay the money she owed the hood and the hood was glad to buy her old home and renovate it for a community administration building.

Lance was at the age where he had lots of questions.

"I thought Mr. Jimmy was going to live with us."

"No, he was going to move into the upstairs of our house if we hadn't moved."

"Will he still come over to see us?"

"Of course he would.  He's still our friend."

"Are you and my dad friends again?"

"We're trying to be.  I hope we will be again."

Jimmy did still come around to visit.  One day he came with an interesting proposal for Heather.

He and his brother Frank had recently gotten together and purchased the local mall.  For years it had housed a small clothing shop and lots of vacant space.  The brothers had both shared a love of cooking.  Frank was a professional chef, just like their father had been.  They were using the part of the vacant space to start a diner.  And the rest of the space would be perfect for a salon, and they needed a stylist, if Heather was interested.

She was thrilled.  To work in an actual salon without worrying about running the business from home would be great.  It had to be better than working at a golf course or gas station, late hours.  The hours would be more flexible so she could be at home with Lance in the evenings.

Lance was starting to take an interest in new hobbies.  He signed up for music classes at school and started practicing the violin.  Gareth offered to stop in and give him lessons, if he was interested. Although the violin was not his instrument, he could offer his general knowledge about music.

One day on his way over for a visit, Gareth saw Lance collapse while playing a game of tag with Elsa Straight after school.  He called out for Heather, who immediately ran over to their sons' side.

She knew he'd been ill from food poisoning, since that careless nanny had served him rotten jello.  Maybe she hadn't been as worried as she should have been since it was just food poisoning, but time had passed and he still hadn't gotten better.  As they rushed Lance to the hospital, she prayed that her baby boy would survive.

With treatment and some time resting in the hospital, Dr. First assured her that Lance would make a full recovery.

I installed a "realistic sickness" mod which I may have to get rid of since I've had so many sims not recover and die from it. 

ROS - Lance takes up a new hobby (carried over from the last round, since I forgot about it.)
ROS - Reunited with a friend/family member/ lost love - Jimmy London (this also goes with Joy's wedding too.  He's not really a playable character, so it's hard to know where to fit this in)