We're All Mad Here

Erin was spending more and more time hanging out with her “best friend” Bungle. When she talked about him, I just smiled and nodded. I mean, it’s not like it was unusual for people in this family to talk to things that weren’t there. I just hope she doesn’t forget to spend time with real people too.

Branden, on the other hand, seemed to know what she was talking about. He asked Erin a lot about Bungle. He seemed to want to know if Bungle knew where Glenda was. Glenda who? Wait, wasn’t that the name of his favorite doll when he was a kid?

Erin seemed to understand, though. She said she’d try to find out for him.

In less confusing news, Caitlyn was being very scholarly these days. Deanne was jealous, but not jealous enough to do her own homework.

She didn’t take it very well when Branden tried to be helpful and offered to help her with her math. Sometimes big brothers just aren’t appreciated.

Then, while Branden was cleaning up after breakfast, he saw something that made his face light up.

I don’t completely understand, but I think he found his old doll? I didn’t realize it meant so much to him.

There wasn’t much time to talk after that because the school bus arrived. For the first time *all* my children were headed off to learn.

With Hetal also gone to work, I got to have a peaceful breakfast at home. Alone.

The silence was golden.

Then I had to head downtown so that the mayor could give me a medal.

Pretty nifty, huh?

Now that’s more like it.

I wonder what I should do with my new-found fame and fortune?

It was at the grocery store.

Caitlyn arrived home with her phone stuck to her ear. She can’t stop talking to some admirer.

Deanne has a new crush. She can’t stop talking about some Weaver fellow. I’m pretty sure he’s Ayden van Gould’s love child with that psycho chick Echo he was dating for a while.

I think Esteban may be a bit difficult for Deanne to catch, though.

Erin took an interest in our new stereo, which was a sort of housewarming gift from some people I’m pretty sure we don’t know. Hodginses, I think?

But she didn’t like the song that was playing.

Kitty break!

I got the kitties a new present. I don’t think they know what to make of it yet.

Everyone is back to being very responsible.

Branden in particular has been working hard on some kind of after school project. He’s hoping it will help him in his future career.

He hasn’t even been taking breaks to get something to eat.

I hear the project went very well, though! I wouldn’t expect anything else. Branden is such a hard worker.

Caitlyn is such a good big sister.

Erin went right to sleep. I swear that never happens when I do it!

Meanwhile, Deanne was hard at work at some kind of secret baking project. What could she be making?

It looks like we have another birthday coming up….

———-

No fails!

Note: I missed a fail in the last chapter and went back and edited it. If you don’t feel like going to check to see if you missed it, Branden peed himself at the party.

This is the last post before the heir poll. I’ll put that up shortly.

The big event in this post is that I discovered that the MasterController Reset Sim command is much stronger than the resetsim cheat, which is what I usually use. Branden’s IF doll wanted to “come out to play” when he was a child, and I pulled her out onto the ground while he was napping on a park bench at school. I didn’t know you had to pull out an IF *at home*. So Glenda disappeared, and I hadn’t been able to find any way to get her back. MasterController Reset Sim did it. I’m sure Branden wishes I’d figured that out a LONG time ago….

Oh, and well, Allison reached the top of her career, which would be far more exciting if that were her LTW. She only has rescued 10 people, and she needs 30. I missed several emergencies early on because I didn’t realize what a short amount of time you have to respond to them, and then she just hasn’t gotten a lot of rescue opportunities. It seems unlikely that she’ll be able to finish it, but I guess we’ll see.