Grand Opening

Pleasantview Elementary School - Round 1 - September 2009

Craig Ray is the current principal/teacher until a fulltime teacher is hired.

PVES is located in the Pleasantview suburbs and is dedicated to quality education of Pleasantview's youth. The school has a music/art room, library, and classroom where students can gain the skills they need to be successful upon graduation.

School begins promptly at 8:00 a.m. Students arrive on campus and head to their assigned classes for the morning. Students have lunch at noon and then head off to their afternoon classes and depart for home at 3:00 p.m.

Kayden Erikson looks on as Arlena McGaw composes music on the synthesizer. The art/music room also had an activity table for building logic and painting pictures, easels, and a violin. This is room is very popular among the students. Jalice Love, Katelyn Curtin, and Isaiah Gavigan head into the library to begin their study session. Library time is scheduled in so that the students can enjoy reading for leisure or can study select skills.Isaiah and Jalice opt to play a spirited game of chess instead of reading or working on the computers. Students usually arent too good at chess upon first entering PVES, but with practice, become very skilled at it.

Katelyn decides to study while in the library. While this is a scheduled period, students get to decide how they will spend their time while here. That is, as long as they are doing something educational!Ashlee Wade and Gallagher Newson are in the classroom doing gradework. While this is the students' least favorite activity, it is very important that they finish their gradework as it affects the grade they will receive! Craig Ray (not pictured) tries to make gradework as fun as he can.

But PVES is not all work and no play! Students receive a recess time where they can use the playground equipment, or make their own fun as Gallagher and Ashlee are doing here as they toss the football.

PVES - Where Learning is Key!

*It need works, but I think it's off to a pretty good start! Eventually the townie kids will be replaced by playables....they won't be killed off or anything, they'll "move away." By the way, I built it! Can you believe it? I freaking SUCK at building stuff, but I am very proud of this!!!

They Grow Up So Fast!

Rotation 1: September 2009

Craig is 48, Kasha is 42, Tyler is 15, Ryder is 2, Christa and DeAndre McMillan are 21

Narrated By: Craig Ray

I can't believe I'm almost 50 years old! I'm turning into "that old guy." Where have the years gone? Christa's off at school and a mother and Tyler will be headed off to college soon......geez! Pleasantview has come under a new government, and while most residents seem to be pissed about this, it doesn't really bother me. Do I WANT to pay taxes? Of course not! But I would like to know that if the city needed something, it would be there. It doesn't hurt that Mayor Harris has named me Director of Education and put me in charge of Pleasantview Elementary School (PVES). I think that this is all going to work out pretty well for everyone if we can simply come to terms with it.

Every since Anna died, Kasha has been painting like crazy! She wants to be sure that her mother's shop continues to turn a profit. Picture This! has been around for years and I'm trying to convince her that it isn't going anywhere. She's doing a wonderful job managing it.

Christa came for a visit and brought a guy with her. She's been in school for 2 years, and we haven't so much as heard her MENTION any guys, so I figure this DeAndre McMillan must be special to her......hmph, we'll see about that. I refuse to have another Tyson situation on my hands! I was working when they came over so Kasha started the questioning for me!

She asked him about his intentions with Christa and he said they were just friends, but he wanted to be so much more. Kasha thinks it's sweet, but I'm reserving my final opinion for later! Kasha explained to him that Christa has been hurt and he said that he's willing to wait until she feels she's ready........now that's a line if I ever heard one!

Christa misses Ryder so much that it makes all of us sad. By the time she graduates, he'll be starting preschool. But she'll have a good education and will be able to take care of him. I gotta admit, when she first told us she was pregnant, I was ready to kill her. She was throwing her whole life away. But Ryder is the sunshine of all of our lives and I'm so glad he's here!

She introduced DeAndre to Ryder, who promptly closed his eyes. Ryder is a very shy child and takes a while to warm up to people. DeAndre seems to be a pretty patient guy, and he claims that he loves children.

He actually got Ryder to open up to him and they sat on the floor playing peek a boo for over an hour. Maybe DeAndre is a nice guy, but I don't want my baby girl getting hurt again.....or I might have to go to jail!

DeAndre has even won Tyler over which is sometimes hard to do. Tyler has his playful moments, but he is also a very grouchy young man at times! Seems like the whole family likes this guy.........

So of course, I come home and corner him in the bathroom, demanding to know what his intentions are with my daughter. He remains calm, looks me in the eye, and says, "Sir, I plan to marry Christa one day. I think I love her." Well, what the hell could I say to that? I just told him that he could and would never love her more than me. And that if he messed up, I would be all over him!

Kasha told me I was too hard on the boy, but hey, we didn't get a chance to be hard on Tyson and we could have saved Christa a lot of heartache! Kasha decided after dinner that she wanted to play pool. She cheats! Bending over the table like that, it's distracting!

Yep, she's such a cheater! She always wins when she plays dirty like that! But we gotta go to bed eventually, and I plan to get her back!!!!

Welcome to the View

Ok, so here we ok.....first post in the new format....let me know if it all makes sense....rules and regulations coming soon!

Rotation 1 - August 2009

Robert is 31, Regina is 28, and Jason is 13
Narrated by Robert Harris

I can't believe my luck! I never thought I would leave Simlifornia, but when you're offered the job of mayor, you don't turn that down! I'm Robert Harris, the first mayor of Pleasantview. How can a town exist without a governing body? The president of Simerica wondered it as well! Pleasantview has been around for many years, functioning off of money given to it. But no more! Our great President has decided that a city as big as Pleasantview with as many subdivisions as it has, should have its own governing body and accumulate its own wealth. And that's where I come in!
I'm young, but I've been around politics my whole life and I am so glad that I've gotten this opportunity. One of my first orders of business is to build a city council made up of sims from different departments within the city. You know, education, the police, etc. I'm also enforcing tax laws in which collection of taxes will begin this month. I'm sure I won't be very popular at first because of this, but Pleasantview is broke, and it's not receiving any more handouts!

One of the first sims to come in to pay his taxes was Craig Ray. He's a pretty big figure in the education around here and so I immediately decided to make him the director of education. He's the first official member of city council. He had no real problems with the taxes and said that he understood. Woulda been nice if everyone felt that way!

Most residents were pretty upset with me about them. Rochella Jalise McGaw was one of those people. She owns two stores in two subdivisions and is pretty upset that she can no longer just horde money made from them away. It amazes me that these sims think that life everywhere is like this! Sims pay taxes! It's a part of life! Even I have to pay taxes!

Aiden Taylor also didn't have a problem with the taxes, but he had a request that the city keep a library of all it's residents. His mother passed away a few years back and he wants her life to be on record. Who can argue with that? So Aiden Taylor also joins the City Council as Head Librarian.

Jayla Hammond was pretty nice, although I could tell that she too was upset about having to pay taxes. What were these sims doing with their money? I just don't understand it! She was also concerned that there weren't many community events for the public to enjoy. She wasn't interested in heading that division, but she said it would be right up her boyfriend's alley. I told her to have him call me so we could set up a meeting about him taking on the job.

Gabriella Elise Erikson was concerned with the crime in the city. Her father was murdered and it still hadn't been solved. She had no interest in joining the council on the security side of things, but she was concerned that there were plenty of gyms, but most of them didn't have steady memberships. She wanted to level some of the unnecessary buildings to make room for things we actually need. So I made her in charge of recreation!

I spent an entire day at the newly built city hall (which their tax money will be paying for!) that's located in Carson City. My wife Regina is right now a stay at home mom, but she is studying up on couples counseling and anger management so that she may one day open up a counseling center.

We only have one son, Jason, a pretty level-headed young man. He's 13 so the hormones haven't started raging too badly! You may notice that Regina is only 28 and wonder how we could already have a son that is 13, it's because we had him at a very early age. Regina stayed at home with him and her parents until I graduated from college and then we got a place together and I began working in politics. Regina has been talking alot about having another baby lately. Right now, I just want to get the city where it needs to be. I'm going to be pretty busy for these next few years!

We had plently of neighbors who stopped by to wish us well and to offer suggestions on things that Pleasantview needed. They are pretty quick to ask for things but no one wants to spend any money!

Jason't hormones aren't raging, but every now and then they take a peek out! He's becoming more and more interested in girls, although sometimes they aren't really interested in him......poor boy, he doesn't know this is only the beginning of being confused by the female species!

I work from home as much as I can right now, but that will change once I get a full staff going. I think Pleasantview will be ok if the citizens take an interest in what happens to them.

Jason started school here and found that he was actually a bit behind. This surprised me a little, but I've been helping him with his homework when I can so he should catch up soon.....

Our lives have changed so much since moving here, but the move has made us so much closer as a family. I think this may be the start of something wonderful.......

* I think this is going to be really fun! Is it doable? Can I take an existing hood and turn it around? I guess we'll see!!!!