And what brand of sewing machine did she use?

Husqvarna-Viking, I hope!

I'm sure it was, Rose. Would Meadow use anything else?

(I think he forgot your product placement in there so I hope you got a refund.)

-SCG

Heh. I'll do a product placement when there's a Sims object of the product to place!

Um, dictionary.com isn't giving a definition for pescaphalic...

Would that mean fish-headed? Bernadette doesn't look much like a fish either...

did that say there was lace on the top? I don't see any lace but then i'm back on dialup and on a different computer, so the pictures may just not look as good to me as they do to you guys.

miros1 wrote:

Um, dictionary.com isn't giving a definition for pescaphalic... Would that mean fish-headed? Bernadette doesn't look much like a fish either...

Picky... picky... picky... I fixed the typo.

Liss wrote:

did that say there was lace on the top? I don't see any lace but then i'm back on dialup and on a different computer, so the pictures may just not look as good to me as they do to you guys.

The lace is on the shoulder straps and a middy panel. It didn't scale as well as I'd hoped but at least now Meadow doesn't look so much like a search-and-rescue beacon.

Yes, it's too fine to show on my graphics as well. Pity.

It looks like a solid color Hot Pink top to me, although not an unattractive one. I thought it was just my computer, as I know my graphics card isn't the best. (Computer is running decently now that Best Buy had to replace the faulty memory it came with. It was the memory like I thought it was.)

I'm wondering why we have websites if downloads are on the forum instead? When subscribers decide, I'm thinking they look at if the websites have updated recently...they might not know to search the forum. To each their own I suppose. Speaking of updates, better I work on my next one.

-SCG

me personally, I have been putting uploads on the forum because I can't deal with working on my site right now. It's easier for me, as sparse as my updates are. That may change soon, but for the time being, that's how it stands for me.

Tales of Happy Valley
Chapter 272: Dream a Little Dream of Karen

That afternoon at the high school, Mr. Reno was droning on English Literature class about Morte d'Arthur. Arthur Thayer wasn't at all fond of the title of the story, and he was even less fond of Mr. Reno's monotonous reading from a book that he had already read. He gritted his teeth and invested the final hour of that school day exercising his skills in patience and prayer. Praying, that is, for the bell to ring. Please, bell! Ring soon!

When at last that blessed klaxon sounded its sweet raucous voice, he was the first out the classroom door, hurrying pell mell to the nearest escape hatch from the school. He didn't make it. Instead, in his haste he collided violently with the object of his (and every other high school boy's) secret admiration, the legendary Walking Wet Dream Herself, one Karen Lund.



Arthur collided violently with Karen Lund Herself.


Even as the both of them were in an uncontrolled descent to the floor, he thought, 'Ack! Arthur the Klutz strikes again! I could have smacked into my sister. I could have flattened Coach Strode. But nooo! It had to be Karen!' The Karen!

He was fumbling for words of apology when Karen reached up a hand so that he could help her up off the floor. When he took her hand it felt like a thousand volts running up and down his spine. She touched him! Arthur discovered he was trembling. He hoped it didn't show.

"Oh, Arthur! I'm so sorry!" she said. "I'm such a klutz!"



She waited for him to help her back up.


"Oh, um, no, it was my fault," he said. "I should have watched where I was going!"

She was actually smiling at him! This was Karen Lund, the one all the guys were terrified of, Sheba's little sister! And she was smiling at him!

Oops! And she was talking to him! Better pay attention.

Once they had settled that both of them weren't watching where they were going, and both of them were in a desperate hurry to get out of school that day, Arthur was beginning to feel more comfortable talking to her. He took a deep breath and summoned all his courage, and finally popped the question.

"Um, Karen, well, y'see, maybe you'd like to come over to my house and maybe we could study English lit together or something?"



He summoned all his courage and popped the question.
That's Cherry Reinhold and her brother Wallace in the background.


"I'd love to!" she said. "I have Reno's class next semester but I've already read all the required books. So maybe you can give me some pointers about Reno!"

Arthur covertly pinched himself to make sure that he hadn't died and gone to Heaven.

SimCityGallery wrote:

It looks like a solid color Hot Pink top to me, although not an unattractive one. ...

It looks pretty solid on my fancy schmancy monitor, too. The lacey parts do look different on different skin tones, though.

The lace is more obvious in the game but you still have to zoom in close enough to get your face slapped if you want to see the details of the pattern. My goal was to add some detail and interest to the garment rather than to show off a lot of skin. (Meadow doesn't need to advertise. She's already caught a husband and she's good at keeping the romance alive in her marriage.) So it's close to what I was after although I did expect the lace to be a bit more noticeable.

Important plot point: This is the Meadow who lives in Happy Valley, not the one who lives in Baumdoubt Valley.

SimCityGallery wrote:

I'm wondering why we have websites if downloads are on the forum instead? When subscribers decide, I'm thinking they look at if the websites have updated recently...they might not know to search the forum. To each their own I suppose. Speaking of updates, better I work on my next one.

Yup, that's kinda the point. "No rules.* Just right." So pull up a chair and dig into the bloomin' onion and do what's most fun for you!

Folks who read the Chronicle will find the stuff in the Hullabaloo, which might lead them to look at the index for the Downloads topic. Those who don't read the Chronicle might also overlook all the notes about the downloads lurking the Hullabaloo but I'm guessing that it's not more likely that they'll overlook the Hullabaloo than to overlook any other site on SimsHost.

The actual download files are still on the individual webmasters' sites so the site owners get credit for the downloads no matter where they're linked from. You could put your display pages on a server in Borneo and as long as you link to your dl directory, it counts.



*Well, OK, not many rules! Just enough to make this bally thing work!

Tales of Happy Valley
Chapter 273: Aunt Karen

Arthur and Karen sat together on the bus on the way home. He enjoyed the envious glowers he was getting from all the other guys on the bus as they whispered off-color jokes to each other.

When they got home to Arthur's place, they decided to unwind before going face-down in their schoolwork. He was surprised to discover that he really didn't need to work up his courage to ask her to dance.



Be careful of that knee, Karen!
SimsHost subscribers can download Karen's outfit from this topic in the Downloads area.


He found that he really liked watching her move. This was not exactly a new revelation since all the guys would pass signals any time she was dancing at a school dance or some spot downtown on the weekends, but it was the first time he experienced the phenomenon from up close with a license to watch.

She seemed to have a unique ability to move that luscious bod without bouncing all over the place, a feat all the more impressive since it was fairly obvious that certain body parts had no visible means of support. He found this to be both intriguing and mesmerizing, and wondered where she learned it.

He didn't have to wonder long, though. While they were dancing, she leaned toward him (Nirvana!) and said, "This is fun, Arthur! It's the first time I've danced with a guy who wasn't my father or my sister's husband!"

He thought about it. Yup; he could not remember seeing her dance with anybody but girls. Did she even date? "Wow! So they taught you to dance?"

"Well, really my mom and my sister taught me to dance."

"Oh right!" he said. "Your sister is married to my father!"

"He sure is! He's a great brother-in-law, too! Hey, I think that would make me your aunt!"

"I'm not entirely comfortable with that thought."

"Oh, but only by marriage!" she said.

Before he could think of a clever reply, she launched into a particularly complex set of maneuvers, spinning around in time to the music and giving him a tour of all that was worth ogling about Karen.



Her zipper pull beckoned.


The most disturbing thing about Karen's garb was the zipper pull. Already more than halfway down, the large silver ring bounced along with the rest of her, beckoning his attention. He couldn't help but fantasize about being just a quick yank away from paradise.

That was when it dawned on him.

"You know, I really like you, Karen," he said. "I mean, I really, really like you--"

She danced closer and dimpled into a devastating smile. "I really like you, too, Arthur."

"But--"

"But not in a first-kiss kind of way?"

"Um--"

"That's OK," she said. "I think I feel it, too. I mean, you're really nice and very smart and totally cute--"

"And you're the hottest babe in the whole school!"

"Why, thank you, sir! You're welcome to look! I work for it!"

"But I don't understand," he said. "I mean, I like to look! And the way you move, it makes me, um--"

"Horny?"

He felt a blush coming on. "Well, yeah."

"Good! That means it works!"

"But if I think you're so sexy, then why don't I think of you in a first-kiss kind of way?"

"I dunno. It could be because technically I am your aunt, though we've never been that kind of family-close before. But I don't really think it's because we think of each other as family. It's just that you're waiting for someone and you don't know who she is yet."

"And so are you."

"Yes. And so am I."

"But I still like to look at you."

She maneuvered him into a strange dance step where they were back to back, holding hands. She looked over her shoulder and asked, "Is that all? Anything else you like?"

He thought about it while he tried to match her moves. "Yeah, there's lots more to it. I enjoy your company. You're not so scary up close."

"Me? Scary?"

"Yup. All the guys at a school are afraid of you."

"Hmm. Afraid of being rejected."

"Yeah."

"Perhaps appropriately so. I'm like you, Arthur. I'm still waiting for Mr. First Kiss to come along, and I don't think I've met him yet. Or at least if he has, I haven't got to know him very well."

"But you will!"

"Yes, I'll know him when I meet him. I'm sure of that! I just hope he knows it too!"

aww what sweet kids! and with some scruples too - but then of course she is related to She... and with a family tradition of Captain Heroing it must be hard to go against the grain. Nice top BTW, downloading.

Sita wrote:

aww what sweet kids! and with some scruples too - but then of course she is related to She... and with a family tradition of Captain Heroing it must be hard to go against the grain. Nice top BTW, downloading.

Yup. As their back-story developed I realized I could slip in a morality point. Arthur discovered that even the fantastically gorgeous and rather aloof Karen was real people, too. His kind of people, albeit not his kind of life partner.

And for Karen's part of it, she and Sheba have always been close. (You know how Sheba is about family.) I figured she would have learned a lot from her big sister, who picked up Her value system from their parents.

At the same time, Karen would suffer from the baby-sister syndrome and want to develop her own style. Despite the epidermal display, she follows her big sister's tendency toward shyness and compensates in her own way.

Incidentally, like her sister Sheba, Karen is exactly as she was born to be. Melvin and Lois Lund throw a good colt.