Enjoy!

</div></div>

Part Two will follow in a few days, if I'm lucky. Work is slowing me down. Enjoy!

 I haven't been all that well, BUT I have an update nearly sorted out:  a two-parter.  I have a filler slide or two to shoot, and then I need to write it up.

I can't exactly predict when it will be done.  I just got my first load of grading/commenting to do, and this will slow me down a bit. The grading will keep up through December, too.  Nevertheless, it's some nice progress, especially since I've played Elaine up to teen and her elder brothers are all in college.  

Generation Nine almost in college!  Yay!

I have over two hundred pictures, so once I'm done sorting them out, I will be dividing them in half. It's not exactly going to be a Part 1 and Part 2, just 250 pictures is a lot.


I apologize for being so slow.  I had a fellowship proposal to write up this week, and those are pretty complicated.

School starts Monday, and frankly, I am really depressed about it. For one thing, evidently there is talk about merging my department with another one. I don't mind "English and Foreign Languages," but "English and Foreign Languages and History and Psychology and Sociology" sounds as though it's nothing to be taken seriously. And would you want a graduate degree from a department like that? Seriously?

For another, trying to figure out my syllabi is a serious bummer. Do I cut assignments? If so, which ones? If I do, how will I live with the guilt? If I don't, am I allowing the University to pick my pocket by giving them 150% work for 90% pay?

The LA Times today suggested that it would be a good idea to extend furloughs for the UC into next year. Oh, yeah, sure sure we understand that UC faculty are only paid modest amounts, but surely there won't be a "mass exodus." Translation: it is so hard to find work once you are tenured that they pretty much have us over a barrel, so they can carry this on indefinitely. Meanwhile, students are ANGRY. Some of them are going to protests and getting arrested. UC students don't like 32% fee hikes. CSU students, sadly, are used to it by now.

And Monday I get my ten year service pin. WHOOPIE. I already agreed to wear an "I don't want to strike" T shirt. And I am first in line.

What can you do, huh? I'm baking a pie. I figure that might help me, anyhow. And I've been playing. And . . .

well, here is Elaine.







 

 The Squeaky Clean Legacy, 16.3.b: Romanes Ite Domum II</div></div>

Part 2 to follow in a day or two, but why make you wait?

Squeaky Clean Legacy 16.3.a: Romanes Ite Domum</div></div>

Please comment on my Boolprop thread!

 I've actually got some pictures ready for the next update.  I don't have them all, but the next one will be all Roman, and this means a lot of it will be Sextus and Other PB's wedding and the first baby, Duodecimus Marius.  I've got a couple more weddings to throw, and then we're back with the Goodytwoshoes again.  Hopefully I'll be caught up on reviews soon, too.

Also, if you haven't been to see the new movie *Julie and Julia*, GO GO GO.  It was absolutely fabulous.  It's based on a real story.  An office worker and writer decides to do a blog:  she would cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook in 365 days, which is NUTS.  I won't ruin it for you, but how often do you get a triple threat like Nora Ephron, Meryl Streep, and Amy Adams?  Stanley Tucci is great, too, as Julia Child's husband Paul.  It's about women, it's about writing, it is about FOOD.  It even brought back some not-so-lovely memories of getting a book published:  it is every bit as annoying as they make it seem.  

After you see it, you're awfully tempted to get your very own copy of *Mastering the Art of French Cooking*, and after awhile, I stopped struggling.  It's actually not a bad time to do that, because they've published a bunch of movie tie-ins (what a surprise!)  So I got the first volume of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and Julia Child's *My Life in France* and Julie Powell's book for less than 40.00 from Amazon. And after I get Julia Child's book, I will teach myself how to make a really, really good omelette.  

Yes, I should be working, but this is also my chance to fix up the house and do some crafty and domestic stuff that I can never manage to do when school is going on.  I've got a crochet project in the works, too.  So I'm pretty happy.

 I'm going to get back to simming soon.  I've been blogging and other stuff and letting things slide (and also getting tight pants from too many calories.)  Last night, no kidding, I dreamed about Cecil.  He was in some kind of athletic contest with a guy half his age and refusing to pack it in.  There's probably a reason he's gone on to have a life of his own way out of my control: I think he's the most independent of my characters, and sometimes, frankly, he scares me.

So, because Cecil wants me to, probably because I left him on vacation, and because I'm not getting anything done, I am getting back to playing TODAY.  

OK, anyone who *doesn't* want to see some toddler pix and is afraid to be spoiled, don't click under the link.  Any or all of these might show up in a future chapter, so you've been warned.

( Oh, sure you do. )

Penelope and Dinadan had their third, and it's a boy, so I'm still trying to figure out what to do.  I'm leaning towards waiting a few days and letting the two eldest enjoy their grandparents, now that they've all actually become friends. And then I will probably let Jack and Sophia move out.  They won't have to die, and that will free up two more chances for a girl, so it's a win-win.  If they *still* don't have a girl, then I'll be able to send the oldest two to college, and keep trying, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.  ARGH.  You can see why I like playing Achilles and Ulysses.  It's a nice break.  


PB

Onwards for a bit less pink and squeaky and a bit more oddity.

And now for a long-awaited wedding. . . 

 

 

And now for a big bumper weddingpalooza!

And at last, it is time for a wedding that everyone has been waiting for seemingly forever.

Stay tuned for the rest of the update!

More this way   ---->>>
 

Who knows when the Exchange will go back up, right? And I'm sure you'd like to see wedding pictures as much as I'd like to show them.

The rebuild, the switch of neighborhoods, now the Exchange, the first chapter in LJ format--it's all part of a series of SNAFUs, and not even the worst of them. And that is why this chapter of Squeaky Clean is called:

In due time, Penelope proposed to Dinadan again, and all was in line for a set of long-delayed weddings.

This way---->>>

 Don't want to jinx anything, but I finally got to where I'm really, really ready to start tossing weddings and birthin' babeez!  So with the last free weekend I'm going to have for a while, I am going to do *exactly that.* There's already one baby on the way and I am betting it will be purty.  

The Roman weddings may happen a tad later.  But because the Exchange is all messed up, I might post some nice wedding shots on LJ anyway.  It's not exactly a *surprise* that Penelope is marrying Dinadan, and if there are pretty pictures, I don't see why I shouldn't share them.  I don't remember anyone ever saying "RAWRRR I SAW THAT PICTURE ON LJ" before.  The babeez, some of them anyway, might be a bit classified.

Hee, hee.

 It's been a long time, I know, and there are many chapters I owe comments on.  But today I am giving two midterms, and I know my time will be limited after this.  So here is this transitional chapter:

Chapter 15.5: Goodbye To All That.

I can't remember who started the post on what your "white whale" would be for Sims 2 CC. No surprise to anyone who has listened to my whining about it, it is, of course, CC wedding cakes that actually work.

And now! Thanks to eris3000 on MTS2, and thanks to dicreasy and dizzifulbliss , who let me know about them---

Wedding cakes that work!

"The whiiiite whaaaale!"



DANG, doesn't that look pretty? There are six different ones. There's even a *chocolate* one. MMM. And the same creator has a bunch of other wedding CC--tables (seen above) and arches and things of that sort that do not require Celebration Stuff!

You can set them for sale if you have Lord Darcy's and Numenor's mods--I checked, using (of course) Gilbert Jacquet as my guinea pig. You can't put them in the Decra-Chills because they are too big. But they really do actually work, as the following pictures of Rosie and Shane's second wedding will show.
( Wedding and cake picspam! )Also, my unauthorized opinion on SimSecret this week--BO-ring.  Also confusing.  I have no clue what the rules are now--the same old nasty cracks seem to be ok, but the nicer ones like "I really love your stuff" aren't--even, confusingly, a Johnny and Ripp one that was a shade naughty but not more.  If Ripp/Johnny isn't a SimSecret, what the heck is?  

So I have been working away on the rebuild, and I'm happy to say that I have most of my families and most of my lots in place. There are a few small details, such as Generation Eight mostly being teenagers, but mostly all those things are easily fixed. I'm not the greatest builder in the world, but even bad buildings can be made a bit better. So here's a guided tour to (some of) my new neighborhood.

( lots of picspam. )

Hope you enjoyed these.  I'm pretty sleepy right now myself.  Pleasant dreams!

While the rebuild is going along slowly, there are some fun things about it.

SHH!  If you know any of the details, don't give it away!

I'm an impatient builder, but even I can't resist the urge to make the legacy house look a bit nicer.
( pictures! )

I'd love to show you some more, but that's classified for now.  Still, I have most of the Sims I need.  There are some things I still need to do, like building and fixing up businesses, but for now, I'm pleased.

I've been wanting to say something about this for a while, and after Secret #30 onsimsecret , I thought now would be a good time.  For those of you who can't be bothered, it's mostly about how "misogynistic" and "puritanical" dicreasy 's Legacy is, but it ends "at least you can't claim to be a feminist.  You either, PB."

Well, it's hard to respond to something that specific.  The narcissist in me is righteously pissed off to be tossed into an afterthought like that.  Moving along.

Yes, I do think of myself as a feminist.  I'm not going to back away from the "f-word."  All feminists don't agree about everything.  For example:  I think single-sex education really has a place.  I went to a largely female college and an all-female college in Britain and I think it was good for me.  Some people would think that's anti-feminist, because don't I want equal opportunity?  Oh, well.  I do strongly support LGBT civil rights, and I think that's pretty clear without getting all preachy. 

As for the ethics of SC:  ( if you really want to know. )
I don't like to get more specific than that.  I think that obvious morals are really dull, and I want different readers to be able to find something they can like and relate to.  Besides, I have to maintain SOME kind of mystery here.  I might get more explicit when SC is done, but right now I'm too busy resuscitating my neighborhood and my Legacy to do that. 

PB

Busy couple of days! I have a few days to Sim and get some spring cleaning and reorganizing done. If I sat down to do it on my own, I would probably put it off. This time I'm cleaning and organizing the only way I can do it: "Erg. I can't stand it like this anymore."

( Real garden. . . ) 

On to pixel gardens! This is the lot for which my neighborhood nearly died. More accurately, it's the largely Maxis lot I built when I realized that it was way safer to build my new lot that way. I know it's very boxy and incomplete, but I think it's kind of pretty, too, and maybe it's a good thing I had to rebuild a few times, because I worked out the main setting.
( Pixel gardens and goddesses. . . )With as much time as I lost, I figured I would cheat the last placeholder up fast. This is the last of the Marius boys, Oscar. He's Marina's grandson, my simself's great-grandson, and Cassidy's adoptive younger brother. Simself descendants ought to get a little LJ attention. And doesn't everyone enjoy a little toddler and kid spam?
( More simself grandbaby pics. . . . )Penelope graduated!  Late last night, ZOMG.  With all the stuff going on, it feels like a miracle.  I'm going to play the boys up, and get some more houses ready for them, and get serious about those weddings.

BTW, what is the cheat for allowing more guests?  I'm calling them by phone right now, but it's a pain, and I'd like for Ulysses to have a roof raiser grad party.  And more guests seems to help.  

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

PB