Meridian - Music&Money

Even in his deams, Asher couldn't get a break. Since his father was murdered, a good night's sleep was very hard to come by. This particular night, Asher was haunted by nightmare after nightmare, the most terrifying of which involved his father, resurrected as a zombie, standing over Elena's bed, and he couldn't get to her room in time to save her.

He was finally fed up with waking up covered in sweat, heart racing, so he decided to give up on trying to sleep and see if anything was on television.

He heard the floorboards creak as his sister crept into the livingroom, looking exhausted.

 

"Can't sleep either?" she asked, groggily.

He shrugged. He hated when she could tell something was wrong. He was supposed to be taking care of he

r, not the other way around. Asher stood up and heade

d for the kitchen.  "I need a drink," he muttered.

"Ooh me too! Can you bring me one?"

He chuckled as he poured her a glass of water. He was going to need something much stronger.

"Why can't you sleep?"

"I'm just really stressed out, lately," he said, trying to change the subject.

"It's Dad, isn't it?"

"No! Uh, no. That's not it. I'm just tired, I work all day, and we're running out of money."

"Why don't you try going downtown tomorrow- well, I guess today, since it's technically 1:30. Play some music at a bar, unwind. If you set out a jar and ask for tips, people will totally give you money."

It couldn't hurt to try, right? He loaded his guitar and amp into the rust bucket called his car and drove to a bar in the new Downtown in the early afternoon. He set up his gear and put out a jar. After quickly scribbling "Tips, please :D" on the label, he was ready to go.

He always seemed to forget how great playing music made him feel. It was like all the stress and concern melted out of him with each song. He played for hours, and more than one tipsy patron paid for his drinks. At one point, another sim joined him on drums. Even though Garret was off beat, it was a blast to play with another music lover.

Asher started feeling pretty sleepy and the drinks were getting to him. He cleaned up his equipment and checked his jar. His jaw dropped when he saw how full it was. He made 800 bucks, doing what he loved. And thank goodness, because he was able to afford a cab, instead of trying to drive in his condition.

Asher's looking to start up a rock band. He needs a drummer, a bassist, and a singer. If any of your sims are musically inclined, please, please, PLEASE drop me an email at lemoncreekpo@yahoo.com if you'd like to talk about getting a band started. 

Rose Abbott Falls Ill

Just days after her only daughter became engaged, Rose Abbott has come down with a mysterious illness.

"She just sleeps all day," her husband, Frank, told us. "She won't eat or play with her granddaughter. We're all worried sick."

Marc Rivera, the local doctor, has been paying her daily visits. He spoke with us as well, saying, "It started out looking like food poisoning, but now it's something like the flu. If she doesn't start eating soon things could get really bad. If she doesn't improve in a day or two, I'm going to urge the family to take her to a city hospital. There's only so much I can do here."

Grimm - Money Woes/Crow - Help Wanted

Abbey Grimm logged on to her computer like any other day, intending to check her finances. Find out how much they had left in the account for this month, what bills need paying, etc. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. There was a long list on the credit card bill of expenses, a wedding dress, champagne, food, flowers.

"Your wedding is going to cost HOW MUCH?" Abbey screamed at her sister.

"Look, Ab, when you get married you'll understand. I just want it to be perfect."

"And perfection requires a thousand dollar wedding dress? You are going to take all that crap back before the wedding on Wednesday. We can't afford this!"

Nadine tried to explain that most of the items were non-refundable. "And I cut the tags off my dress!" Abbey walked away before Nadine could finish.


Across the neighborhood, another fight was going on.

"How do you not tell your husband that you are pregnant, Eve?" Ryen Crow asked, sounding defeated.

"I wanted it to be a surprise! And sometimes women lose the baby before now, so I didn't want to say anything if I wasn't absolutely sure."

"This surprised me alright. And you did it in front of the entire neighborhood. I want to make this place our home, Eve, but I can't do that if you're going to make me look like a fool in front of our neighbors."


Ryen couldn't sleep in the bed that night. He was too mad to sleep next to her. "I'm sleeping on the couch," he spat bitterly. But the couch wasn't comfortable for sleeping. He was restless. He glanced on the floor near him and saw an empty soda and a bag of chips that Eve had been munching on earlier. 'This place is filthy,' he thought. 'We should really hire a maid.'


And that's what he did. The next evening he put out an ad, searching for someone to help tidy up and do little things that were needed around the house. In the ad he typed, "will pay very well," to hopefully speed things up.

There was an email in his inbox first thing in the morning. Abbey Grimm applied for the position. The flexible hours and easy work would be just the thing to pull in some extra cash and still leave her able to work on her novel.


Abbey came in to work the next morning at eleven. Eve was in a meeting with the spokessim talking about starting a school, since she was a teacher in their old town. "Thanks for doing this," Ryen said, feeling awkward. He barely knew this woman and she was going to be cleaning up his messes. He made a mental note to be more neat.

"Hey, don't sweat it," she replied. "I've gotten pretty good at cleaning, taking care of my sister all these years. Can you show me how your dishwasher works?"

Ryen walked Abbey through how everything worked, even showing her how to make the sink faucet run "hot", as if she couldn't figure that one out. After he walked her through every mundane task, he left her to it.

She spent the afternoon getting comfortable in her new job, thinking the entire time, "This is the nicest house I've ever been in, and I'm scrubbing its counters."

Orphanage renovations

Thanks to an extremely generous donation from Parker Tate of Ashby Falls, the Lemon Creek orphanage was able to make some much-needed updates. 

"The kid's rooms now have carpeting, we have two bathrooms, and we got to have an entirely new playroom, with new toys and fresh carpet and wallpa

per. Thanks to Parker Tate, we have a television that works and the kids all have new clothes. What we didn't spend, we put in a savings that is for the children only, so it will collect interest and we can use it to continue buying their clothes and necessities."

Lupe Rivera smiled and said, "Parker recently adopted little Mia from us, and he gave back in the most generous way. We couldn't have done this without his help, and we are extremely grateful."

Party and wedding announcements

Today the Crow family held a housewarming party to get acquainted with the neighborhood! This counts as their Lemon Festival celebration for the season. They are the only family to have a pool, so most residents shed their street clothes and enjoyed a good swim.

The shy Ryen Crow came out of his shell a little bit and served grilled burgers to his guests. Sims that didn't want to swim enjoyed the Crow's surround sound television system and big screen tv.




Eve Crow took this opportunity to tell everyone, her husband included, that she was entering her second trimester in her pregnancy. Ryen didn't know until this, and he was obviously in shock.

He didn't say much for the rest of the party.

Afterward, it was truly a time for celebration, because two engagements were announced. First, Nadine Grimm and Cain Pruett are engaged to be married this weekend. Cain plans to move in permanently with Nadine and her sister, and also intends to take the Grimm last name.

Claire Abbott is also announcing her engagement to Xavier Silverstein.
"I asked him! We were eating dinner, and I just thought, I've got to claim him before someone else does! So I asked him to marry me, and he said yes!"

Congrats to Cain and Nadine, as well as Claire and Xavier. We wish both couples well!

An arrest!

New gossip has sprung up around town after Elena Meridian was brought home by a police officer around three AM. She snuck out of her house at 1 with a boy from the new downtown. 

Asher, her guardian, says that he had no idea Elena had snuck out, and he planned to keep a better eye on her.

"It is what teenagers do," he said, sheepishly. "But I didn't think she'd find trouble in a small town. Guess I was wrong."

As her punishment, Elena has to spend three weekends cleaning up around Lemon Lake and Town Square.

More news!

Lemon Creek's population is swelling lately! Away from the main part of town, residents have been wondering what was being built. A large (well, large for Lemon Creek!) modern influenced house sprung up and no one moved in for over a week. We finally got to meet our new arrivals, the Crow Family! Ryen and Eve Crow have been married for a few simyears and said that they moved here to get away.

"Ryen has been so stressed lately. Hopefully a beautiful, quieter place will help him a little," Eve told us. Ryen didn't want to speak with us at all. Eve shrugged and said, "He's pretty shy."

Let's give yet another new family a warm welcome!

Meet our newest residents!

Asher and Elena Meridian moved into a two bedroom home down the road from Abbott Farms. Asher is currently working as a piano tuner and makes extra money playing gigs, and his 14 year old sister is actively searching for a job as well as going to school and learning to play music.

"We are super into music," Elena said. "It's gotten us through some pretty hard stuff, and I hope that it will take Asher far."

It is rumored that they moved to a quieter town to get away from the publicity of their father's mysterious death. When asked, Asher responded, "Uh, I really don't want to talk about that."

Well, welcome to Lemon Creek, Asher and Elena. We hope you'll love it here.

Romance at the Sour Lemon!

Xavier Silverstein christened the newest Lemon Creek restaurant The Sour Lemon and it turned quite a profit on it's first day! Virtually everyone showed up to try out the newest place to eat, including Claire Abbott. Xavier and Claire arrived together, along with Claire's new adopted baby, Krista.

This turned a few heads on its own, because Xavier has been dating Abbey Grimm for a few simyears, now. No word on how Abbey feels about this.

Despite this, the happy couple enjoyed their time together, and Xavier cooked their lunch. Xavier and Claire were inseparable on this sunny afternoon.

Inter-hood adoption!

We are so thrilled to announce that the first inter-hood adoption out of Lemon Creek has been finalized! Mia Grimm, an infant at the Lemon Creek Orphanage, will be adopted the day she transitions into a toddler. 

Parker Tate, prospective Mayor for Ashby Falls has moved the Rivera family with his effort to become a parent again. His rocky past was taken into account, but it was determined that Parker is a changed man and any child would be proud to call him Dad.

This is a picture of the nursery Mia will be living in, provided by Parker Tate. She will have much more space than was available at the Orphanage. (Thanks to Ashby Falls for the picture!)

This just goes to show the great things that two hoods working together can accomplish. We can't thank Parker Tate and the rest of Ashby Falls enough!

Love is theraputic

Nadine Grimm has begun seeing a psychiatrist in Miners Hollow. After only two sessions, Nadine has begun to take responsibility for her actions.

Her therapist, Erika Wilson, told us as much as she legally could. "Ms. Grimm had a huge breakthrough where 

her kids are concerned, and we hope she's going to keep improving. The best way to support her in this is to give her privacy and a lot of love."

Nadine is getting a TON of love, alright.

 Part of her therapy program involves a group session, where Nadine met Cain Pruett. 

Blond, tall, and athletic, rumor has it that Cain is being treated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from his time spent in the army.

The two hit it off right away, discussing their past, their journey to mental health, and their interests. It wasn't long before the pair got close.

Could this spell happiness, finally, for Nadine Grimm?

First adoption in Lemon Creek!

Marc Rivera called today to say he had wonderful news and needed a reporter right away.

Lemon Creek Orphanage's first adoption was finalized and we were there to see it all. Krista Grimm is one of four infants at the orphanage, and has been adopted by Claire Abbott.

Lupe Rivera scooped Krista up in her arms and moved in, temporarily, to the Abbott household. She taught the Abbott's all about the baby's needs, schedule, and personality.


Claire Abbott tearfully told us that she was thrilled to be able to be a mother, and that she was going to give Krista a simple, enjoyable life.

Lupe Rivera carefully passed Krista to her new mother in the nursery at Abbott Farms.

"We're going to miss Krista, but I'm sure we will see her often. We live just right down the road!" Lupe said. "I'm confident Claire will make a wonderful parent. There's plenty of room for her to run around and learn and grow. I can't wait to see what kind of a girl she becomes."

The infants, Krista included, will have their toddler transition in a few days.

The Grimm's are forced to move

The home that Nadine and Abbey Grimm were born and raised in has been sold. The girls are in the process of moving everything into a trailer home at the edge of town.

"I'm the only one able to work, and you don't make much money waiting tables. I made enough money by selling the house and moving to a much smaller, and cheaper, place to quit my job for a while, relax, and work on writing my novel. I'm also able to afford a therapist in Miners Hollow, the closest city to Lemon Creek."

Abbey has promised to keep us updated on how her sister's therapy goes.

"To an extent. My sister has a right to privacy, but since it's a matter of public safety, I'll keep in touch."

Lemon Creek Orphanage adjustments

Marc Rivera spoke with us today and gave us an update on how things are going with the local orphanage. It's easy to tell the couple is loving their new job, and Marc has grown especially close to Penny.

"It's like we went from zero to sixty in ten seconds. One day, we were just a couple, now we have eight children. The older two are adjusting well to having the quads in the house, and the infants are sleeping through the night.

We are allowing adoptions to take place starting Monday. We would prefer if other hoods adopted the children in order for them to be as far from their original families as possible. Lupe or I will visit the prospective household with the child and will move in for a few days, until the child feels comfortable. Then Lupe and I will leave, but we expect regular updates on the children."

Lemon Festival Begins!

To kick off the lemon festival, the Abbott family opened their doors to anyone who wanted to come and taste their lemons, absolutely free!

There were many things to taste, including plain lemons, lemon tea, lemon meringue pie, lemonade, lemon sorbet, and strawberry lemonade.

Frank Abbott also did a gardening demonstration for free. 

There were two empty plots of land next to each other. Frank fertilized one using compost fertilizer and left the other plain. He planted tomatoes in each. "You can assume that the fertilized plant will grow more quickly and more healthy," he said. "But it really hits you when you literally see the difference. By the end of May, these plants should be ready for harvest, and then you'll see how important it is to take care of your soil."

Afterwards, the town went to the Grimm house to pick through bins at a yard sale! A few sims showed up just to have a peek at "Crazy Nadine" but she stayed in the house the entire time. Nearly everything sold, leaving a few sim's wallets light, but helping Abbey Grimm with spring cleaning.

Nadine Grimm gets worse

Nadine Grimm's antics are no secret around here. She has been considered odd for many years. However, her recent public breakdown has made her the center of town gossip. Her four infants were removed from her custody, and now things have gotten even worse.

Nadine Grimm shaved all her hair off. 

She showed up at the Lemon Creek Orphanage in a blue dress, head completely shaved, and rang the doorbell. Lupe Rivera greeted Nadine at the front door and politely asked her to leave. Nadine didn't respond and walked into the house. Marc Rivera called the police immediately.

The orphanage has a strict no-contact policy. If a child has been forcibly removed from it's parents, those parents are not allowed any contact what-so-ever with the children until they are legally adults. Nadine was not arrested because it was determined she didn't know what she was doing and because no damage was done.

Xavier leaves for Asia

Xavier Silverstein left for his trip to Han Dow, a tiny village in Japan. He's leaving to write a series about how their culture, work, and food kept the healthy while a devastating virus made it's way through the region. 

He sent this photo along with a letter to his brother, who allowed us to view it. The letter read, in part, 

"I'm loving the food, here. They even let me try cooking it for them. It was a simple cooked salmon meal, but it was amazing. It makes me miss culinary school even more. I'll bring back plenty of new recipes for us to try out."

Craig has told us that part of a surprise for Xavier's coming home is a new restaurant for all of Lemon Creek to enjoy. Xavier will be head chef and will name it when he returns. A waitress has already been hired, but if anyone would like to make extra money cleaning up, apply with Craig Silverstein.

Lemon Festival news

The general store has a new addition! Pets, including dogs, cats, and birds are all available for adoption. 

Today we spoke to Claire Abbott who was out and about. She was inside the general store, checking out birds. 

"My father is allergic to pet dander, but I've really been dying for a pet. I'm going to bring home a bird as a Lemon Festival present to myself."

We took this opportunity to ask Ms. Abbott to come outside and speak to us about the upcoming Lemon Festival.

 

"The Lemon Festival starts officially May 10th (ht). It will last until August 7th. May we will focus on gardening, June we will focus on food, July we will focus on entertainment, and August we will focus on the end of summer and how to prepare for fall. There will be bonfires, cook-offs, classes, and so much more. I can't say much else or it will ruin the suprise!"

It started to rain, and Claire quickly added, "well, I'll say one more thing. Each household will invite the entire neighborhood over for at least one party each. And the first party will be at Abbott Farms." Claire then ran back into the general store to avoid the storm.

Grimm children removed from home

Last night neighbors were awoken by the sound of loud screaming and police sirens. Any sims who looked out their windows could see the scene unfold. We were on the scene.

First, the police showed up, sirens blaring. Abbey Grimm greeted the officer and then quickly went inside. Nadine Grimm soon came out and began to argue loudly with the officer.

A Child Services agent pulled up in a van

and Nadine was put in the back of the patrol car. The social worker brought all four children to the van and left. The police car left with Nadine in the car, and didn't return until morning. It is unclear why the child

ren were removed from their home, but the officer on duty said that they had an anonymous tip that the mother was unfit.

The quads were immediately taken to Rivera orphanage where they are being cared for.

Mrs. Rivera refused to comment specifically. "This is hard on everyone involved. I think it would be best to let this blow over. The children are completely happy, healthy, and safe, and that's the best we can hope for."

When asked if the babies would be returned to their mother, Marc Rivera said, "That's really not likely. At all."

Lupe Rivera putting Mia down to sleep.

Drama in the neighborhood!

It seems like the Grimm sisters are up to their usual behavior. Nadine Grimm came to the town square and picked up some groceries. Eyewitnesses say she seemed "strange". 

Frank Abbott spoke with us. "She was wearing an old dress and had her hair done like in an old movie. She was speaking in a high pitched voice and was mothering everyone. It was real strange."

Before paying for her groceries, she ran out of the grocery building and began to clean up imaginary puddles along the sidewalk. Residents tried to calm her down as she frantically cleaned, but it didn't help.

She then collapsed onto the pavement and started laughing hysterically.

Darren Abbott also had his share of drama. As Abbey came to take

 her sister home, she ran into Darren and they immediately got into a fight.

Darren began yelling and shoved Abbey. She shoved him back and they continued yelling.

Frank Abbott ran over and broke them up by taking his son to look at the petstore. 

No one knows why this unlikely pair would be fighting, but it's certainly interesting.

Bowling Alley opens!

Life in Lemon Creek is getting more modern! Our first bowling alley has opened. There are multiple lanes, an arcade space, and a dining space. It's going to be a great way to spend the evening with friends and family. 

Claire Abbott spearheaded the addition to the town, saying that Lemon Creek needed a gathering place that was all about fun.

The restaurant isn't quite open yet because they are waiting for the appliances to be shipped. In the meantime, there is a full snack bar sims can use when bowling wears them out.

Rose Abbott is thinking about starting a Bowling Club. If any sims are interested, let Rose know!

Claire Abbott tries out the lanes.

Lemon Creek Orphanage opens!

Newlyweds Marcus and Lupe Rivera have decided to open Lemon Creek's first orphanage. They converted most of their living space to a huge bedroom/playroom with child friendly decorations.

Two children are already registered. A six year old boy, Charlie, and two year old girl, Penny, are now calling the Rivera residence home.

"It's always been my dream to have many children," said Lupe. "But Marc and I can't have any children. This is our way to be able to raise and love little ones, and we're giving back to the community, too."

Her husband also spoke to us. "I'm sad that we even need a local orphanage, but there you go. We hope we won't ever have to turn a child away.

Great Harvest!

Today was the first harvest day of the season for the plants at Abbott Farm! Claire Abbott, the town's spokessim, was working up a sweat picking strawberries, peppers, and, of course, lemons!

"It's tough work, but it's super rewarding," Claire said. "I'm working with my family, which makes it a lot easier, and it's an Abbott tradition, so I really enjoy doing it. I also like knowing that I'm helping make something that will feed my friends and neighbors."

The harvest work is far from done. Frank Abbott chimed in, "I'm getting older now, so it's great that I have my wife and kids to help with the farm work. This will probably be the last year I'm strong enough to harvest, so I'm stretching it out for as many days as possible."

Go to the town market to pick up your fresh produce before everyone else! 

Nadine Grimm gives birth!

Lifelong resident Nadine Grimm recently gave birth to quads at a distant hospital. This is the first incidence of multiple births in Lemon Creek. The babies are named Luke, Mia, Krista, and William. Their birth is extremely controversial because it is unclear wether single parent Nadine will be able to support four children. They are all low birthweight but should be coming home within a few days.

Nadine has had a long history of severe mental illness, making this case even more complicated. She lives with her younger sister who takes care of her. 

We caught her sister, Abbey, as she left the house for her waitressing job.

She said, "Look, whatever my sister does, I'm going to have her back. That's pretty much just the way it is. I had no idea she even wanted a baby, let alone taking fertility medication. I'm going to help her with them, and they won't be a drain on the community at all. My sister isn't a bad person, she's just made some difficult choices. I'm pretty tired of everyone portraying her as a monster. She's sick, and it's not her fault."

Abbey then had to leave for work and had no more time to speak with us.

Welcome message and a birthday!

This is the news blog for Lemon Creek! This blog will be updated frequently with all the news and gossip in the neighborhood. :) Thanks for visiting. 

Congrats to Rose Abbott who celebrated her Elder birthday today. Rose transitioned at a small birthday party at Abbott Farms. Rose now is planning to focus on making this summer's Lemon Festival the best one yet, as well as pressuring her two grown children to give her some grandchildren. :)