Stuff!

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Hey guys, I’m finally getting around to answering some of the questions you left in the comments for Life at Villa Ravelo. I thought I’d put them in a post since not everyone goes back to read comments from a week ago!

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback, by the way, as always!

Also, I’m working on a Ravelo update for tonight or tomorrow night, and then I’m hoping to do an Annabel Island update before Christmas, but since it took me a week longer than I anticipated to do the last one, who knows how it will go. So why do I even mention it, if I can’t make any promises? Well, because I hate when this blog is blank for days on end, and I want to let you know that I’m always working on something. Some updates just take longer than others. And sometimes my brain goes on vacation to Maui or Mallorca and doesn’t even send me a postcard. Stupid brain.

Anyway…on with the replies to your questions…

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Foul Whisp’rings

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Cecily’s dinner with the Dunnavants went splendidly, despite the lack of servants and a less-than-spectacular feast. Dr. Dunnavant praised the behavior of Madeline and Morgan, who helped the nanny serve dinner, and Mrs. Dunnavant complimented Cecily on the beauty and elegance of her home. Cecily wanted sincerely to impress the Dunnavants, as they not only owned Annabel Island and spent a great deal of their fortune keeping it beautiful, but were respected and admired by both her husband and her father.

A few days later Cecily found a housekeeper, Miss Flora Smith, who had excellent references as a maid and cook and would have been a great help to them the night of the Dunnavant dinner, had she arrived but three days earlier.

”Miss

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Life at Villa Ravelo

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Hey, everyone! My name is Anastacia Ravelo, and I’ve been nominated by my dad (whom you may know as Trent) to fill you guys in on what’s happening with the Ravelo family. He would have done it himself, but he’s been busy acting in and directing his own film, “Hank Peterson and the Mug of Eggnog”, which proves to be a huge hit if he can just persuade Johnny Depp to play Professor Grumblegate.

So who am I, you ask? Well, I’m the eldest granddaughter of Simon and Lauren Ravelo, who happen to be standing in the picture you see below. I’m there, too — the little girl in the ugly pajamas. I’m not little anymore, though. I just got my driver’s license yesterday!

Ravelo Family

Isn’t it nice to see older couples being all lovey-dovey with each other? I really hope I can have a relationship like that someday.

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Brrrrr

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Hey, I figured out how they make snow on the North Pole:

”Making

Wouldn’t you know, that was the first thing Santa and the Mrs. did when I moved them into their Christmas house last week. Thought I’d share it just for kicks. (Credits: House by Pinecat at The Sims Resource, Santa & Mrs. Claus apparel/hair by Maxis.)

Elsewhere in the news…IT’S COLD!!! Below zero! Why do I live in Minnesota?? :-) Ah well, the snow is pretty…as long as you don’t have to drive in it.

Ravelo update coming soon (hopefully Tuesday night) and Annabel Island on the weekend, if not before. Until then, Happy Simming! And stay WARM!

Family Hopes

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The morning sun advanced slowly over the houses of Annabel Island, peering through every window, urging the inhabitants awake with its serenely glowing stare. In one particular house, a little girl named Madeline opened her eyes and blinked away the sleep before climbing out of bed. As she stretched her arms to the ceiling, she heard the cry of sea gulls just outside the house and felt her heart give a little shake of excitement.

”Madeline

Though she had been on the island for at least a week, she still couldn’t believe how wonderful it was — she had always been fascinated by the sea, thanks to the books her Poppy had read her, and now she lived right by it, and could visit it whenever she liked (as long as her new nanny accompanied her). She had even ridden on a ship now, which had been the grandest thing she’d ever done until the moment she had set foot on the island and felt its wild, surging promise of adventure.

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The Ravelos Branch Out

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So what’s been happening with all of those Ravelos? The 20th grandchild was born at the main legacy house last night, but before I post about that, I thought I’d fill you all in on what the rest of the Ravelos have been up to (making babies, mostly). This will probably be the last time I post about any of them, unless they show up at the main house, but in this update you can see who married who and how many kids they had. I’ve included just the highlights from each of their lives as well as a family portrait.

We’ll start with the oldest, Marlee. As you know from my last update, she married Damion Ternynck, had twins, and moved to a house in the quiet suburb of Hazelton. Her career as a romance novelist and painter was thriving, but it wasn’t quite enough to support her family, so she took a job in the Business track. Though they were somewhat poor, she and Damion had a splendid relationship (which resulted in two more pregnancies).

Ravelo Family

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Plans, Foiled and New

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Well, my friends, NaNo is nearing its end, and I have almost 15,000 words. I can either lock myself in my room for the next 9 days and churn out 3800 crappy words each day, or I can put NaNo 2005 behind me, eat turkey and pumpkin pie, sing some karaoke, see the new Harry Potter movie a few more times, and try again next year. I know, I’m weak. My hat is off to those of you who are still plugging away, whether you reach the finish line or not — you totally rock, and you have my sincere admiration. Keep it up! You will feel like the king of the world when you reach that 50K.

As for me, I’m fine with remaining a pauper for the time being. My problem with NaNo is that I don’t have a story crying out to be told, so there’s nothing driving me to write all those crappy words. It feels great to reach 50K, yes, but I’ve already proven to myself I can do that (and the resulting novel didn’t have one good paragraph in it). So I’m not going to torture myself any longer this year. I’d rather focus my creative energy elsewhere, and save the big push for when I have a story that’s dying to be told.

That means I’m going back to my Sims stories for now, and I have a few things in the works. Read on, if you’re curious! Feedback is welcome.

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Non-Sims-Related Novel-Gazing

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Well, we’ve just about reached the halfway point of NaNoWriMo, and funnily enough I have half as many words as I should have by now. So I’m pretty far behind, but all hope is not lost — if I write an average of 2350 words over the next 16 days, I can still make 50K by midnight on November 30th. Since I can write about 2400 words in 45 minutes, this should be no problem at all, right?

Umm…right.

Perhaps I should have phrased that differently. I can TYPE about 2400 words in 45 minutes. But I wouldn’t call it writing. It’s stream-of-consciousness gobbledygook that just barely resembles prose. My main character spent the first 7000 words of my novel sitting on a bus, rambling on about what she sees out the window, where she works, what kind of town she lives in, and how she doesn’t like people much. Then I decided it would be more interesting if she was on her way to work instead of on her way home, and had her wait for the bus…for another 1000 words or so.

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