The Old Mill Chapter 8

Chapter 8

A renovacy made by Jessabeans as a gift to SamelaRita for the Sims 3Amayzing gift exchange.
Link to the renovacy here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9309941
And a link to the renovacy rules in case anyone else wants to play it!
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/920867/the-renovacy-challenge-a-new-and-short-challenge/p1 The wanted child thinks that his sister’s homework looks hard. It’s alright, the joy child says. When you’re older, it won’t be too hard for you. They are kind to him. I like that. You know I said I wished the daybreak child would paint me? Well, she is painting me. That first painting did sell, and she went on painting more. She is older now, and the wanted child comes home on his own. See that shirt she’s wearing? That used to belong to strength. Now it is old and faded and so she wears it. I don’t think I look exactly like this, but that is the daybreak child’s painting style. She says it is because I am a watermill and so I should look as if I am reflected in water. Or hazy with summer heat. Today is the day lots of things are going to change. Or at least, today is the beginning. They have been saving up for ages now and the stairs are going to be moved. Going to be replaced, because the wood is getting old. Strength is telling the daybreak child and the wanted child how they can help. Hope wants to know where the joy child found those clothes. In the rag bag, she says. And I hope you’re not going to move furniture and decorate in those good clothes of yours. She sounds just like hope talking to the daybreak child before she starts a painting and hope laughs. There is a big hole inside me. This feels very odd now. I am used to being whole. And down here everything is bare. Moving the jars of jam took a long time. Now I wait while they work on me. I hardly recognise myself! The dining table is in the new and bigger kitchen because it is warmer there. The children and their friends still use it for doing their homework. The sitting room is a smaller room now instead of one huge space. It is cosier and warmer. There are new places to sit that are more comfortable. My picture is still on the wall, I am pleased to see. And my fireplace is clean. Another ugly gnome has appeared. This one looks like a dog. The other ugly gnomes seem to be welcoming it. This is very worrying. It is summer now and school holiday time. The wanted child is fishing by my wheel. In the autumn he will change schools and be with his sisters again. The joy child had gone into the sixth form – whatever that means – and only has two more years at school. Then she will be grown up. I have watched over her nearly all the way. In the kitchen, both the girls are busy. The joy child makes jam now. She lifts the heavy pan high. They have grown a lot of fruit in the garden. The daybreak child is making biscuits. The kitchen is busy now, with four people all able to cook, bake, make jam…Good smells waft around inside me. The garden is green and lush, and hope and strength work in it, early in the morning before it is too hot. The cookies look good. Jars of jam are appearing everywhere again. These are very nice, hope says to the daybreak child. They have all worked hard this morning!
I caught four fish, the wanted child says proudly.
And I made twenty-one jars of jam. Those new shelves in the larder are filling up fast, the joy child adds.
I think we should all go to the summer fair this afternoon, says strength. We’ve all earned a break and some fun. Patches can stay home though. They take a picture while they are out and hang it on the kitchen wall when they come back. It makes me feel like I was there with them. They move the one that they took ages ago as well and hang that one in the kitchen too. The children have changed a lot. Strength wasn’t there that time – he was making a surprise for hope to come home to. He was making their bedroom so much nicer for her. School starts again today and the daybreak child is not living up to her name. She is fast asleep! The dog is worried and comes upstairs to tell her she needs to wake up. Hope says she wants to take a photo of them all before they leave for school. The wanted child is a bit worried about this new school. The joy child has new clothes! They are growing up fast. Hope and strength are proud of them and so am I.

The Old Mill Chapter 7

Chapter 7
A renovacy made by Jessabeans as a gift to SamelaRita for the Sims 3Amayzing gift exchange.
Link to the renovacy here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9309941
And a link to the renovacy rules in case anyone else wants to play it!
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/920867/the-renovacy-challenge-a-new-and-short-challenge/p1
Another ugly gnome has appeared. I think they look as though they are plotting something together. Strength and hope would both like to know who keeps dumping ugly gnomes in their garden. They would like to have a quiet word with that person. I am changing again. There are two bathrooms upstairs. They joy child said she would go on working to help improve the bathroom, but strength and hope had secret plans for her. They wanted to give her a bathroom of her own. Three of them trying to share one bathroom in the morning meant that she was sometimes nearly late. And the last of the holes in my floor have been healed. I am becoming more whole with each year that passes. The kitchen is warm and cheerful and full of good smells from hope’s jam making and cooking. Soon the joy child will learn how to do this – but that big pan is heavy. The fruit they have grown goes into the jam. There are jars of jam everywhere. How can I concentrate on my homework, the wanted child says. I’m being walled in by jam. Can I eat some of it? The daybreak child says no. She is finishing a painting first, before she does her homework. The wanted child thinks that she should do her homework first and says so.
Where would I sit? she asks. More jars of jam have arrived on the table. That’s very good, says strength, looking at the painting. The daybreak child id wrestling with her homework now, while the wanted child has fun.
There is an art sale on for the next few weeks at the consignment store, strength continues. Would you like to see if this will sell, or do you want to keep it? You can have the money from it. The daybreak child thinks hard. It’s not my favourite painting ever, but I do think it’s a good one. Yes, I think I’d like to see if I can sell it. Can we go on Saturday?
We’ll go tomorrow after school, and then it will be ready for the customers on Saturday, says strength. Next day, the daybreak child describes her visit so well that I can imagine it myself. She is very excited. There was lots of stuff there on shelves and things, she begins…
I think I might have found out where those ugly gnomes breed. There were loads of pictures, and some of them were much better than mine, but some of them weren’t. And so the guy in charge moved some paintings around and hung mine up, and he said he’ll let us know if it sells. I hope it will! That would be so exciting! They are all proud of her. I would like her to paint me – although I don’t look very smart from the outside. The wanted child comes home and shows off his new badge that he gained today. They still all need to do their homework though. The dog watches them. He thinks he is helping. I am not so sure. I wonder if the daybreak child will manage to sell her painting?

The Old Mill Chapter 6

Chapter 6
A renovacy made by Jessabeans as a gift to SamelaRita for the Sims 3Amayzing gift exchange.
Link to the renovacy here: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9309941
And a link to the renovacy rules in case anyone else wants to play it!
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/920867/the-renovacy-challenge-a-new-and-short-challenge/p1 This is what is tucked away right under my roof. Once there were flour sacks up here, and apples stored up for winter, but now I have these things. The wanted child no longer needs them, no longer fits into them, but strength and hope keep them safe in case they need them again. I keep them safe, like the treasures that they are to me. The joy child has grown too. She comes home at a different time, in a different yellow vehicle. Her homework is getting harder! The dog has brought something home. It looks like something broken, that might have been lovely once. Hope isn’t sure what it is, but there is plenty of space in my attics. She makes a big fuss of him. I think that the ugly gnome looks like it is trying to run away from the dog. Now they are all working hard, at the painted table. They have more chairs now. The daybreak child has brought a friend home. She makes friends easily. The joy child is changing, and I like the changes. Now she is older, she can help with more things. Even I could smell the dirt on that cooker! Strength takes her right up to the top of the house. Would you like to have a bedroom of your own? he asks. They go into the other top floor bedroom and look round it. Yes, I would like my own room now, she says. But this room needs some work. How should I help earn the money to do it up? Strength is proud of her willingness to help. You could get a part-time job, he says, or help in the garden – that makes money for us now. Which would you rather do?
A job, says the joy child, after she has thought for a while. I think I’d learn more from doing that. And I can help in the garden at weekends anyway. Strength hugs her and tells her he is proud of her. And I would like to hug her too. Some more of me is going to be made better. They go out of the room and look down over the rails. You know, we really ought to fill this floor in as well, like you did with the floor below, the joy child says. We’d gain a lot more space without this gap. And I think we need to move the staircases.
Now that is expensive, says strength. But you’re right. One room at a time though. What are you doing, asks the daybreak child.
Looking for a job, so that I can decorate my new bedroom. The daybreak child has been painting – the easel was a present to all of them last year. She thinks about the gloomy upstairs room. I’ll do you a special painting for it, she says. And I think you should have the rug from our room until you can get one, because that floor is rough. His teddy is faded and shabby now, but the wanted child still loves it. And his room is papered and has a carpet. He loves ships and the sea and the seaside and fishing. He can’t wait for the weekend when he can go out with strength and fish with him. The dog has brought another strange thing home. He hopes the wanted child will like it. The wanted child likes the dog! He doesn’t care what the dog brings home, though he says they have to keep it or the dog will be sad. Hmm, says the daybreak child. Something else for the attic. I think she is right. But I will take care of it for him. I think we need to do something about the kitchen, hope says to strength. This is getting beyond a joke. Strength agrees. He has lost count of how many times he has had to mend the sink. It is the cheap one they bought after that burglar came and stole the other one. The kitchen is so different! I don’t think I have ever looked so good. They went for an old-fashioned look because I am an old house. They had to borrow the joy child’s savings to finish it, but she knows they will pay her back. Her bedroom is changing – slowly. She has been doing something called dumpster diving, and she found the rug and cleaned it, and the table and painted it. And she sold some stuff to pay for the lamp. The daybreak child’s picture is on the wall. The bathroom is still very gloomy though. I think they might want to change that soon. The joy child has finished her room! She even has a new bed. That other one was old and cheap and not very comfortable. She says she will keep her job and help to change the bathroom next. I am not afraid of them leaving now. They have done so much to bring me back to life. They won’t leave me now. I can tell that I am loved.