One

You would have done the same thing if you could, I’m sure. There really was no other option for us.

So, here we were lost in the brambles of our new home – a new home for us that for us had once held sweet memories.

Closer inspection just made us sadder, but it ticked the boxes of necessary necessities – running water and electricity!

Since we would need to stay home with the little ones, Stella and I would pretend to be only one sim. Only one could venture out, away from here at a time. The other would watch the little ones, home alone all day.

There was other work that had to be done at home right away too. Those brambles had to be cleaned out of some areas so the garden wasn’t chocked, the tots weren’t in danger of being poked, and the bike tires were not deflated.

The summer heat was let in though half walls, missing walls, and missing ceiling. And rolling out a sleeping bag over uneven wooden floors and dirt wasn’t something that we wanted to do either.

By the end of the day, we’d done all we could. Marie was walking already. We’d taken turns, Stella and I, taking the little ones to the library and reading a half dozen books to each of them before returning and swapping places, potty training and teaching them to walk. Everyone was tucked into their sleeping bags now, but me. I needed to at least harvest what I could from our little garden before tucking in myself.

It might not have been idea, sleeping in a room without doors and floors – a room where ivy was growing on the inside of the walls – but, it had a roof, and that was really all that mattered that first night. You’ll notice we bought some plug-in night lights – much easier than trying to figure out how to put in lighting fixtures.

Stella and I realized right away the next morning that, while Marie and Paulo had done their homework straight away, WE had totally forgotten to do ours! The children entertained the little ones with games of peek-a-boo while we did as much as we could before the bus came.

Luckily for me, Marie had made a bunch of muffins on the little bakers oven that the library provides as interactive learning for children. We’d moved the fire pit and chairs up closer to the building, out of the brambles, so I didn’t worry about getting scratched up. It was a nice break.

Then, I finished my copy of the homework (since we enrolled as only one sim at school) while the little ones played with new learning toys I managed to barter for them today. (Some sim wanted the old children spring rider and seesaw; and, after conversing for awhile, he agreed to provide the labor for our structural needs using the old dead trees and brambles as supplies. We also found old tile in the kitchen cabinet, so he laid the tile first and then added more planks to rooms we were using. He also swapped some doors and archways around and added a wall or two. Bless him!)

Before coming home after school, Stella stopped to harvest some more fruit in the park by the school. Every little bit would help to feed us, be sold to buy whatever we needed, or be planted in our garden. You have to be so thankful that Mother Nature freely gives to us what we truly need.

While we hadn’t made great strides yet, at least we had a door and a path free of brambles, and floors under our sleeping bags and under our feet in the main parts of the house.

The children spent their time after school in the air-conditioned library, getting help with their homework from librarian and her assistant.

By the end of the day, another section of the house was roofed and more walls were in place. The plug-in lights worked well, and were cheap!

We moved the fire pit and chairs to the other end of the building closer to the one door into the sleeping area.

And, at the end of the day, I took out all my pretty hair baubles and replaced my side pony with a regular one. I now looked like Stella and could take my turn at school tomorrow.