So the experiment quickly took a nose dive.

The family that was supposed to be rapidly procreating was doing it by adoption. It hit a snag however. Adoption in the SIM world, just like in the real world, requires a set amount of finances. I managed to sell furniture and other possessions to adopt the first two, but by the third adoption it was just impossible. So I decided to have the third baby the natural way.

While pregnant with the third baby, mom was a little sleepy quite a bit of the time and didn't understand the real dangers of hypothermia. The oldest boy was out playing in the snow in the afternoon too long. He came in the house after getting too cold, but mom didn't know to gently warm him up.

Next thing I know, there's a social worker at the door.... and well... you know the rest of the story...social worker takes the kid. She even came back after mom had the baby and took the baby too.

So I started over with a pre-made SIMS family with mom, dad, teenager, child and toddler. And immediately set mom and dad to work on having a baby. I think this is cheating though, because usually by the time you have a teenager it gets a lot easier because they are a third adult to help around the house. But we will see if the teenager will help or if they will rebel and runaway to college.

Last night (e:Drew) was reading me the story about the dude who went over the Falls and miraculously survived. This news story led to an argument as to wether or not it was safer to just jump into the falls or use a barrel.

(e:Drew) said the barrels were safer and I argued that surely one could break their neck or other bones in the course of the fall if inside a barrel. (e:Drew) countered that people could be packed in the barrels and I imagined curling up inside a barrel and having styrofoam peanuts stuffed in around me so I wouldn't bump around and break.

So today I found a link that explains the different daredevils who have barreled over the falls and the techniques/equipment they used and the results. I think the most interesting barrel story is the guy in a barrel who survived the fall, but the barrel was trapped behind the falls for 14 hours where no one could reach him and he died from suffocation:

I went to Talking Leaves tonight to buy a book with a gift certificate some people so thoughtfully purchased for me for my birthday.

I browsed the store for nearly an hour.

Fiction versus non-fiction. Standard literature versus classical literature. US author versus a foreign author translated into English. Travel book or food book or travel-food book. Book of Local Interest. Book I'll read again versus book I'll only read once. Number of pages of book versus cost of book.

I found myself overwhelmed at all the books and was unable to select one.

I had to leave book-less.

I'm such a dork.

So...to all you home owners out there.... how did you make out on challenging your assessment? They increased the assessed value of our house by $15,000 originally. They knocked off $7000 after we challenged it. I fought the man and I won... sort of...

Last night there was the smell of spring in the air. So I grabbed the dog and hit Elmwood for a walk down the avenue. I joined the other folks on the street who were also excited by the warm, soft feeling in the air. I landed at a friends' house where I made a surprise visit and we idly chatted away an hour of the evening on their front porch.

As I walked home after the visit I thought about why I didn't stop by my friends' house more often throughout the winter to say hello and I realized that warm weather is much more conducive to spontaneous social activities. I think next winter my goal will be to be more spontaneous through out the season. To keep a well stocked house full of food, DVDs, alcohol and games in order to be ready for last minute get togethers over the winter or for surprise drive bys at friends.

On the other hand, there is some I like about the rthym of coming together with friends slowly in the spring and being crazy busy with friends over the summer, then slowly falling away in the fall and hibernating in the winter.

As a side note, my friends requested that I bring my home made hummus to their upcoming cocktail party and it turned my sad day into a happy day. I love that my hummus is so well liked that someone would specifically request I bring it!