Homeschool & Feedback

After years of watching my youngest son struggle through his school days with a deflating self-esteem, I finally decided enough was enough and pulled him out of school.  We live in a small area so bullying is acceptable if you are a jock or belong to the right family lineage sadly.  Aside from watching him get depressed, his grades were plummeting every year to the point he was nearly held back last year.  Despite the fact that he tops the percentile charts when they do the state evaluation tests and had asked me to send him to Summer college when he was 13.  Our state is currently ranked 41/50, which has sadly went UP since last years ranking, and that is not saying much.  I am not bashing the school system, please do not get me wrong, teacher's have their hands full.  I am just explaining my personal reasons for making this decision.  My oldest son graduated from this school system without the ability to fill out an envelope or a job application, which was what initially started opening my eyes to this failing system.  I also have a second son that will graduate this year, so I have indeed given the school system a fair try.  I am not sure what is so different about my youngest child from his brothers, but the system simply is not working for him.  So I felt it was in his best interest to bring him home to teach him.  After all his grades were 20-30% when I made the decision.  I am not sure I can fail him any worse than that lol.  Needless to say this decision has cost me the majority of my spare time.  I am not a teacher (nor do I play one on TV) so I am taking crash courses in state laws, reference materials, websites and techniques to teach my child.  It is exhausting and time consuming, but he is enjoying it most of the time.  It takes me longer to figure out what and how to do then it does for him to complete the work.  He is still a hard headed teen so not every day is a bowl of sunshine, but we are figuring it out.  So for anyone who has commented on my work and I did not personally thank you, I apologize.  I do read through them, but I do not have the time to devote to personally thanking every person on a regular basis.  I struggle with several health issues as well, so that also figures into my battle for personal time.  I hope everyone can understand that I am not trying to be rude or do not care about the wonderful feedback.  I miss the days of leisure.  Believe me it was much easier to get up and ship him off to the school bus for the day lol.    

Hello

I am not even sure anyone visits my site anymore, but just in case... it has been a CRAZY year! We are getting to the end of rebuilding our home. It has taken SO long because we have done all the work and designing ourselves. It is becoming a thing of beauty. I have not given up on creating, but I have not had time to do much with my game. I have a couple of lots that I plan to submit when I get Adobe installed on my new computer...FINALLY a new computer (that was also a drawback to creating)! Money was tight and my computer was getting old and insanely slow for running the Sims 3. This one should be good even when the Sims 4 gets released next year. My husband is building it for me himself (he is good at that techy stuff). Oh yea, I also got married this year, we have been together for years, but we finally tied the knot and made it official. If it is possible to upload personal photos on here, I will try to get some posted of our home. I am sorry life has forced me to become self-absorbed the past few years. I miss everyone, but I was getting overwhelmed trying to keep up with comments and creating things. While in reality I was also designing, contracting, budgeting, painting, staining, puttying, etc. on my actual home (not to mention raising 3 teenage boys). Turns out that is MUCH easier to do in Sims Build/Buy mode lol. Hope all is well with everyone. Happy Simming and hope to see you soon.

Apology

I had several major complications arrive in my life shortly after accepting the Select Artist position.  I needed a mental hiatus (or nervous breakdown) lol!  Things are calming down now, and I am working through them as usual, but I wanted to apologize for coming up missing and not commenting back to people.  I was quite simply overwhelmed with reality and could not muster up the concentration to create anything or respond to people.  I appreciate all the wonderful friends I have made here and I am going to do my best to have a lot for you within the week. 

Update

Well Winter is coming so the exterior work will soon be on hold.  We hope to have the last of the wall frames ripped out and replaced over this weekend.  We will still have to put the new siding on, but that will be the last of the outdoor work until Spring.  On the bright side, we will be able to work on the interior over the cold months.  There is plenty of drywall needing to be hung, and then I get to do the part I like......painting lol!   I already have the remodel completed in my Sims game, it is just a shame that it is not nearly so quick or easy in reality ha, ha.  I am excited about the eventual changes, and annoyed by the mess we are currently living in, all at the same time.  I am already building some of the shelving to put into our walls for added storage, I also have a really neat idea for a hidden closet that I have to figure out how to extract from my mind into reality.  To the naked eye it should look like a section of photo frame trim.  The closet is more exciting then what I will be storing in it though........no secret safe or illegal items, sorry, just a place for my Christmas tree and other seasonal items rofl!   I will still make lots as I have time and energy to.  If I know what I want, I can build a lot in a day or two, if I do not see it in my mind first, it is a struggle (or flat out gets scrapped).   So I am at the mercy of my imagination's schedule as well.   Thanks to anyone who is reading this for all the support & understanding I have recieved since I started creating here at TSR!  

Hiatus

I would like to apologize for going missing and leave a note as to why.  My son finally had surgery on his knee last month, and that has required several, day long trips.  We also discovered the exterior of our home had been getting rain damage behind the siding.  It was due to faulty installation but the manufacterer of our home (yes I live in a mobile home in reality) have filed Bankruptcy.  So even though the home is only 12 years old, we are stuck fixing the rotted walls on our own!  We are quite literally having to remove and rebuild our home in 12 foot incriments at a time!  From the floor support to the roof!  The roof is new so ironically enough it has NOT leaked lol!  Although it is a major set back, and a huge amount of work, we opted to stay, since the home is almost paid for, and rebuild.  The silver lining is that I will basically have a new home in the end (built properly) and I now get to play Sims for real by designing my actual home the way I want it to be lol!  However I will not have time for creating.  I have already lost the SA title, which would have been my choice anyway, because although it was a honor, I just do not have the time nor the energy to create anything lately.  Thanks to everyone who has been so sweet to me during my time as a SA!  I am now going back to being one of the fans instead of one of the creators!

Sorry

Just wanted to apologize for the slow down of submitted lots the past few weeks.  Everyone in my home has been taking turns getting sick.  So I have been busy taking kids to the Dr, shoving medicine in everyone, including my man.  Naturally they shared their germs with me so I have a wicked cold.  Nothing major, but because I have asthma as well, colds get me down a bit more then the kids.  I have been working on lots but I could not concentrate enough to finish any of them.  I should have a lot complete later today, so hopefully it will be published tomorrow.  I just wanted to let anyone know, that might be wondering why I slowed down, what was going on.  Not to sound cliche, because I am far from Mother of the Year, but my children do come before my gaming.  Hope everyone can understand that.  Thanks for your patience! 

~Courtney

Blizzard

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up in case this blizzard we are expecting knocks out our power.  (hope not lol)  If I drop off the grid for a couple of days I will be back as soon as I can!  I really hope the weather man is wrong.  I do not even remember seeing a Blizzard warning in my entire life!  Atleast I have a fireplace for backup lol!   

Lots

My son has had Dr appointments lately and two of the three lots I have been working on were large ones.  They turned out to be quite time consuming lol!  I do have more on the way.  I will be sticking to smaller lots for a while after these!

Hectic Holiday's!

I just wanted to let anyone interested know that I DO have a couple of houses in the works, I just got busy with the holiday's and have not had time to finish them up yet!  I will get one uploaded later today so give it the normal two days to become available.  Hope everyone had as good of a New Year as I did!