T w e n t y S i d e d

Lorretta is sinking her money into the house like a gambling habit. First, it was $5,000 for the original quote of fixing the back bedroom.

Then, she discovered rot in the second bedroom while taking out the paneling. Another $2500 for the repairs. Then, she had to put carpet in all the upstairs bedrooms. She wants to opt for at least mid-tier carpet, since it was how she rationalized continuing with the reno instead of just selling the place.  She is out easily $14,000 by now, and she hasn’t even discovered the water heater yet.

At this point, she finally has to face the third bedroom, the former study, which she hasn’t been touching except for to install the carpets. The other rooms have been stripped of their paneling and painted, but the study she saved for last.

She and Michael work on the room to prep it for painting, and Lorretta calls Kelly on the phone.

The conversation is long, but only because of long pauses and thinking, not because the words take time to say. She offers Kelly and Michael her home once the baby arrives. Kelly tries to say they aren’t looking for somewhere temporary, only to be told Lorretta wasn’t meaning it as temporarily. She offers them the study for a nursery, and points out it’s not even been painted yet. She’d like for Kelly to be able to go back to school if she wanted, and if they lived with her, they’d have an extra car. She also points out that mortgages take longer than Kelly will expect, and she’s reaching the point of unlikely that buying a place will be viable by the time the baby is due. She doesn’t lord it over her, but internally she’s been very, very worried. Kelly and Michael haven’t been exactly proactive about house-hunting. They’re both young, and have never done it before, so she doesn’t expect them to know better. But, she knows they’re almost certainly going to end up in a rental at this rate.

Lorretta also remembers when she had her first baby, and her husband had a full time job. She’d been home all day, long days, with no car and no way to get out of the house with a newborn baby. She’s never told her daughters this, but it was a very hard time in her life. She’s not forcing the issue by any means, but she’d love to make sure her daughter never has to suffer the same thing. Kelly says she isn’t sure, but she’ll think about it.

The next day Michael and her are on the phone for a long time, and Lorretta goes to pretend to do laundry in the basement so as not to listen in. When Kelly calls her later, it’s to accept the offer. Lorretta doesn’t mean to sound so surprised, but it comes out clear in her voice. “Really?”

It turns out, it was Michael who did the convincing. Apparently he likes Lorretta and had no issue with the idea. It isn’t the outcome she expected from the scenario, and certainly not how she’d come to prepare for her daughter’s boyfriends to think of her, but she’s pleased either way. She is excitedly pacing the hallway when her daughter points out something that should have been obvious, though. “How are you going to have the house done by the time he’s due?”

This is a very emotionally conflicting statement. On one hand, oh no. Obviously Kelly has to deliver the baby eventually, meaning suddenly there’s a time constant. But on the other hand, Kelly has slipped up and told grandma-to-be she’s having a grandson. Excitement, terror, deadlines, oh no!

They have three months to get it done, which is at the mercy of contractors, Lorretta’s sudden back issues, and her full-time job. It’s not ideal, but she’s too busy being excited to have a baby in the house to really care.

She lets Kelly and Michael choose the color for the nursery, and gives them a budget to look for replacing the installed lighting, finally, we’re in business.

They go back and forth on if they should hire an electrician for the installs. It’s daunting, without prior experience, but Michael checks some books out of the library on it, does some digging online, and comes back pretty sure he can handle it. Kelly comes over to see the place for the first time. The visit is short, just to be safe, but she agrees that Michael was right, the nursery will be perfect. She picks out her paint colors, gives Michael a basic idea of what she wants for the light, and leaves them to it.

Now, this development couldn’t have come at a better time. The Sims 4 just released their new ‘Growing Together’ pack, which is to go with the news that they finally just released infants.  I don’t know how to feel about the fact they’re releasing such a long-awaited feature when they’ve reportedly started making plans for the next game, but I’m not going to complain too much, babies!

I was hopeful that the DLC would include some new paint colors, because one of my biggest complaints with Sims 4 is the lack of options with color. I miss the color wheel from The Sims 3 so much. But, no such luck, at least it came with…

Metal panels? Are these babies…X-Men? What’s the thought process here?

Whatever, no new paint colors for me. I guess Kelly got her paint colors from a very specific hardware store that only has 30 available paint swatches. Oh, you’re putting in black trim? 4 paint swatches then. White trim? We have 45 available for that mix. That’s insane, fictional paint counter, but sure.

She picks a subtle gray-blue, fairly muted, and asks Michael to get an inexpensive, simple light just to replace the odd vintage fixture that’s currently in the room.

Next week, the laundry room, kitchen, and bathroom. Maybe we’ll finally furnish the place, which is not at all an excuse to play with the new nursery items.

Bay Jubilee Oldest child of Shamus Young. They/Them