Chapter 1.8 | Chapter 2.1

Point check:

Total Points: 225
Self Wetting: -20
Pass Out: -95
Failing School: 0
Negative Traits Earned by NTHs: -5
Accidental Deaths: 0
Fires: -10
Social Worker Visit: 0

Single Birth: +5
Twins: +10
Triplets: 0
Any sim in the household completing Any Aspiration Milestones (Child and Adult): +150
Any sim in the household completing Aspirations (Child and Adult): +40
Toddler Skills maxed by NTH toddlers: +40
Skills (Child and Adult) maxed by NTH family members: +10
NTH children (Child and Teen) earning an A in school: +30
Positive Traits Earned by NTHs: +30
Happy Toddler Trait Earned: +15
Top-Notch Toddler Trait Earned: 0
NTH sims reaching the top of a career (Teen and YA/A/E): 0
Randomizing every trait and aspiration for an entire generation: 0
Not using spares' Satisfaction Reward points for an entire generation: 0
Every 100,000 simoleons earned: +20
Immortalizing the Torch-Holder: +5

So, I have 9 days left to play in this generation. Seems like forever, but I’m sure I won’t get a huge amount of pictures from it.. (going to be a lot of fast forwarding and knitting, methinks…) In other words, this will be a short chapter.

We start off with Fetia’s first haunting. Aww, we miss you, girlie!

Then, she decides to leave us a crappy painting. Um.. thanks for trying? (At least she finished it..)

This paparazzi thinks it’s newsworthy that Jesse had to spray graffiti for 2 hours. I mean.. I guess??

Jaxson ages up to adult, which means he’s allowed to be kicked out of the house. I waste no time in finding him a new home in Sulani, and assure him his brother will be joining him within the week.

Jesse spends a lot of time knitting. He unlocked all the toddler onesies and made two baby onesies for Coty. This is a shot of Coty being thoroughly happy about the gifted onesies.

Jesse maxes his knitting skill, but I’m not sure he’ll get the aspiration done.

I keep forgetting Coty is a Glutton.. and then he does something like this. And I remember. Why did you guys pick him again?? LOL.

Tyson, if it’s so awful, WHY are you eating it? There’s plenty of non-spoiled food in the fridge, I promise you….

Coty, dear.. no fires, please. You’re a big boy now, and should know better! (Spoiler: no fire.. whew)

Jesse needs to teach someone to knit for the aspiration.. so Coty gets roped into learning the.. er.. strings? LOL.

… This is his first reaction. Not sure it’s because he has to pee.. or because he’s thoroughly confused. Could be both. Knitting isn’t easy…

-5 … Really, Coty?!?! You couldn’t walk 30 feet to get to the house to find your bed? Again, why was he picked?? (J/k you know I still love you, Coty..)

And… drumroll… This generation is officially OVER! Right after blowing out the candles, Coty proceeds to tick me off by stealing a piece of cake before he can put new candles on for his brother. Sigh.

And.. since I can’t control Jesse anymore.. Coty gets to cook it.

Finally. We kick out the last spare. sorry, Tyson, but Jaxson is lonely out there. =P

Jesse’s last action, his only free action as an elder: retiring. And just in case you’re not paying close attention to the pictures, it’s Harvestfest, too. We’ve been invaded by gnomes.

… Which brings us to the end of this chapter. I take some screenshots for posterity of Jesse’s stats:

I will stick my nose in here to mention: I COULD have used all Jesse’s points to buy youth potions and passed them down to Coty… but I didn’t want things to be “too easy”.. so Jesse gulped down his last saved-up potion moments before Coty aged up (so maybe he’ll get to see his first grandkid..) .. and I never spent any of Jesse’s points on anything but youth potions. All but one of them were drunk by him, too. (The last one burned up in a fire, if you remember. RIP.)

Time to count up points.

Self Wetting: -20
Pass Out: -100
Failing School: 0
Negative Traits Earned by NTHs: -5
Accidental Deaths: 0
Fires: -10
Social Worker Visit: 0

Single Birth: +5
Twins: +10
Triplets: 0
Any sim in the household completing Any Aspiration Milestones (Child and Adult): +155
Any sim in the household completing Aspirations (Child and Adult): +40
Toddler Skills maxed by NTH toddlers: +40
Skills (Child and Adult) maxed by NTH family members: +10
NTH children (Child and Teen) earning an A in school: +30
Positive Traits Earned by NTHs: +30
Happy Toddler Trait Earned: +15
Top-Notch Toddler Trait Earned: 0
NTH sims reaching the top of a career (Teen and YA/A/E): 0
Randomizing every trait and aspiration for an entire generation: +10
Not using spares' Satisfaction Reward points for an entire generation: +10
Every 100,000 simoleons earned: +60
Immortalizing the Torch-Holder: +5

For a grand total of… 285!!! (I thoroughly expect to start off the next Gen by losing a good portion of those. It’s the way ISBIs go!) Anyway.. despite the lure to start the next generation right away, I will probably wait until the next time this story comes up in the posting rotation to start. At least, that’s the plan. (LOL)

Chapter 1.8 | Chapter 2.1

Chapter 1.2 | Chapter 1.4

The Diversity Experiment – Chapter 1.3

Time for my next update. I spent a whole lot of time grinding out these two’s skills, especially Fabrication for Aiyden, but I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures of it. It was pretty boring, let’s be honest.

So you’ll have to deal with this one..

.. and then this one. Apparently changing the Maker Space (which Aiyden doesn’t need anymore because he has all that stuff at home) to a Garden made the place all Green and stuff. While I was busy grinding skills, I almost missed that Sharing is Caring was going into effect, and I had to hurry to vote for something, anything else. Because.. no. That NAP is too buggy.

Fall hits for them, which was my personal cut-off for skill-building.

… Which means it’s NOOBOO time!!

Now that Aiyden got his level 7 in fabrication, I splurge and let them buy a Juice Fizzer. He still needed one more Freelance Crafter Gig completed for the last tier of his Aspiration.

The next day… Iris is supposed to drink a cowplant essence for work. Uh oh. I hadn’t saved any up.. and she can’t sacrifice herself because she’s pregnant. So it has to be Aiyden. Sorry, buddy.

… Right into the pile of laundry that Iris manages to leave EVERYWHERE.

.. Never seen a potion of “Daze” before… Iris makes a face at it.

And then wishes she’d said “no” when I told her to drink the stuff.

Aiyden: “Honey? I have a surprise for you.” ….

Iris: “Hm?? Oh, that feels great, Aiyden..”

Aiyden: “I quit my job.”

Iris: “Wait. WHAT?”

Aiyden: “But look – I have a new one. And it pays more.”

Iris: “Why didn’t you talk to me about this before now?!”

Aiyden: “I didn’t want you to talk me out of it. I got my 5 gigs done for my aspiration, and I want to make a bigger difference in this town.”

Iris: “….” (Both go to bed.)

Both are grumpy-morning sims, so Aiyden decides not to bring it up again.

When he’s done eating, he gets a start on tomorrow’s work for his new Civic career, and Iris grouchily finishes her breakfast and gets back to work on her Gardening and Logic skills.

The next morning… mere hours before both are supposed to be at work.. labor pains start, and Aiyden immediately panicks. He drags his complaining wife off to the hospital, citing the fact that they never bought a crib for the baby as reason to go.

Iris: “Wait.. Doc.. I don’t think that’s my baby…..” (Flatline)

Doc hurries up and puts the heart back in. Aiyden misses this and has wandered off to play computer games.

Finally, The doctor figures out what he’s supposed to be doing, and our first little girl, Mackenzie, is born. Was the first random name that popped up, and I liked it.

I get everyone home, find the baby in the crib, and then wonder where in the heck Iris is going. Apparently I never got the pop up for “whether to go to work or not” and she was like “Ok, done with this morning” .. and left the baby screaming to go to work.

Aiyden dutifully calms the baby, making himself late for his first day of work in the process, then regretfully sends his little girl off to daycare and goes to work.

After work, the two are sent to read some skill books.. and they both choose to sit around the pool. I have no idea why. Perhaps it’s safer out there? I mean, the baby is sleeping. Wouldn’t want to wake her up, right?

(And this was when I noticed I had played right through dinner time and it was nearly bedtime. LOL. So that’s where this update ends…) See you next time!

Chapter 1.2 | Chapter 1.4

Chapter 5 | Chapter 7

Kids Count:
6 Young Adult (moved out)
1 Teenager
2 Child
2 Toddlers
2 Babies

We start out with a full house, and a lot of birthdays coming up.

The first of which is Freya, turning into a child.

Mean? Really? I’ll have to keep an eye on her. Don’t want her tanking all her relationships with her siblings on her own.

At least she’s cute.

Now it’s her twin sister – Faye’s – turn.

Well, that’s kinda a weird trait for an alien.. but okayyy.

Aww. I don’t know why she looks so sad, though. Don’t think I’ve seen this shirt before, it’s cute.

The babies are still doing fine, by the way. 🙂 All the kids coming home spams with me grade notifications:

Which means – we have three more birthdays to take care of.

Dana goes first.

… What a MESS of traits. LOL. She should be interesting.

I have her get her new job…

… and send her on her way. Good luck to you, Dana!

Now it’s the boys’ turns.

Hmm.. I’m not sure what to think about this one.

He gets his lifeguard job. He’s a cutie, at least!

Ed’s turn. I had to interrupt him swimming. In the middle of a thunderstorm. You do you, I suppose…

At least he didn’t get a teen career, so he’ll have more time for helping out at home.

He doesn’t look it – but that green glow is because he’s extra happy. He completed his new year’s resolution by getting an A.

Homework time!

Then we send the teens off to get their skills for their A’s. Because of his mixology career want, we have Eduardo work on cooking.

… While his brother works on fitness.

Since there’s now a spot in the household… We have the aliens come in to pick up Malakai.

Welcome back! Please be pregnant!!

Such a cute family. Seriously. If they weren’t so cute, I would have given up on this challenge because, so far, it’s horribly boring. LOL.

Another birthday!

Hard to tell what she’ll look like, but I love the purple skin tone.

Her sister grows up, too, but looks pretty much the same (except for different diapers) so I didn’t take a picture.

By that night, I’ve decided Malakai is clearly not pregnant, so the aliens come again. Second try’s the charm?

….

…..

… Nope.

… How about the third?

… Again, nope. And at this point, I was frustrated enough that I decided to just call it a day. The “E” twins both have an A in high school, so they’re ready to age up.. but I have to figure out whether I should keep Ed, because he’s the youngest boy to be the next heir.. or whether I should just assume that we’ll get another boy before Malakai is done having kids. Tough decisions. =P See you next time!

Chapter 5 | Chapter 7

1895 | 1897

1896 (Fall)

Birthdays came and went with very little fanfare in the Tangles household, and Abraham and Florence both grew up as the new year came and went. Abraham had lost a bit of his easy to get along with outgoing side with the passing of his parents, and had apparently discovered a love of books. Stefan regularly found him slacking on his household chores with one novel or another.

Florence started school and seemed to enjoy it, usually coming straight home to do her homework. Stefan was proud of his little girl, and he tried to be done in the fields early enough so that he was available to help her if she needed it.

Then, one morning at breakfast, Abraham cornered Stefan after Juliet had left the room to care for the younger children, and started stumbling over asking something. Nonplussed, Stefan looked at him blankly, waiting for the boy to start making sense.

“Mr Tangle, sir.. I really appreciate all you and Juliet have done for me, and all, but I don’t want to be a farmer when I grow up.”

“Whyever not? It’s a noble profession. It’s what your father did.”

“Well, no, sir, he had a farm, yes, but mostly he was the town’s teacher. Still, though, I’d like to make something of myself. I want to go to school.” Abraham stumbled over his words a bit, but his voice remained steady, determined.

Comprehension finally dawned on Stefan’s face, and he felt his head start pounding. How could his wife’s brother even contemplate schooling instead of helping out on the farm? He HAD to know how expensive school was. There was no way Stefan could justify paying 1000 simoleons on high school for the boy. He had never expected to have to take care of him, anyway, and the cost of an extra mouth to feed was already worrying enough. Winter was coming again, after all, and if the Almanac and last year were any guide at all – it was going to be another long one.

Stefan felt his temper rise another notch or two, and tried to keep his voice down so he wouldn’t upset the rest of the household as he answered the boy. “Oh, that’s right. It doesn’t change anything, though. The answer to your questions is: absolutely not. Do you think money grows on trees? I assure you, it does not! I’m not paying for a pretentious orphan to better himself to make his pig-headed, deceased father proud, instead of sticking with the lot he was given in life. THIS family is all about farming, and that’s what’s in store for you. There’s plenty to keep you busy around the house, we can’t afford to have you wasting time with book-learning!”

Stefan pretended not to notice Abraham’s cringe, and directed the boy to do some woodworking on the bench outside. Perhaps that would keep him out of trouble for a while.

Feeling pretty proud of himself for handling that well, Stefan dropped the matter from his mind, finished his breakfast, and headed outside to care for his fields. The leaves were already beginning to change colors, after all, and a chill was in the air. He dreaded the plants going dormant for Winter, but there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was make as much money as possible so that they would make it through the cold season.

Stefan pointedly ignored the boy working diligently at the workbench and hurried past him to take care of the plants and gather produce for the market that evening, missing the dirty look that Abraham shot him behind his back.

With all the housework Juliet had to do, Stefan had taken over care of the beehive. It went better on some days than others. This was apparently not going to be a good day. He applied the mite treatment, collected the bounty of honey and beeswax for Juliet’s candles, and left the bees alone to (hopefully) calm down.

Luckily, the trip to the market was profitable, and the next morning, Stefan paid the bills and the loan with confidence. This farm had been a wise purchase, and, though the first winter had been rough on the bank account, Stefan was pretty sure this one would be less stressful. Whistling happily, he headed back inside to check on Juliet and the children.

---

Juliet adored all of her children, but for some reason, she felt particularly close to Florence, her first born. Perhaps it was because she was older now, and her curiosity about the world was finally really blossoming.

Juliet was making breakfast one morning and Florence came down with an imaginative story of making friends with a monster under her bed. Juliet shook her head silently in bemusement, and tried to encourage Florence’s creativity – especially when that creativity saved Florence from having to wake up her tired parents.

After breakfast, she shuffled Florence off to school, and sat down to do some knitting while watching the three toddlers. She kept an ear out for Charlie waking up upstairs, but, now that he was a bit older, for the most part, he seemed to be a very easy baby to care for. His fussiness when he was a newborn seemed to have been replaced with a patient calm that was a welcome change. Nellie had become as precocious as her older sister had been, and keeping her from getting bored and making messes could be a challenge. The twins, on the other hand, still had plenty to learn, and seemed to do the best at that learning when both could be in the same room together while doing it.

Stefan was still in the fields by the time Florence got home from school, but Abraham had finally come in, complaining about splinters and hitting his hand with a hammer. Juliet found some housework for him to do, and tried to ignore the slight temper tantrum he had when Florence wasn’t given similar chores. Instead, Juliet encouraged her eldest to do her homework, and spend some time practicing on the piano.

Stefan still hadn’t come back in for dinner, so Juliet made sure to save him some in the icebox. She wondered what was taking him so long, but didn’t really want to leave the children to check on him. Perhaps he had gone straight to market without dinner for once? If so, he was likely to be grumpy when he came home, so she was careful to get everything as tidy as possible so as to not set off his temper.

While Juliet was rocking little Charlie to sleep, Stefan came in, mumbled something about it taking extra long to sell things at the market, then stumbled straight into bed. Juliet finished her tasks as quietly as she could and, finally, joined him.

As the season went by, Nellie continued to grow and learn. She was trying to be just like her elder sister, and wanted to help out by playing with the twins whenever she could. Juliet often found her curiously watching her baby brother, Charlie, as well, as if wondering when he would be big enough to play with, too.

One evening, as Juliet was making some Forager’s Stew for dinner, Abraham approached her. He related Stefan’s dictates about school, and begged for Juliet to speak to Stefan in his favor. Juliet told Abraham she would think about it, and try to find an appropriate time to do so. As she finished dinner, she wondered why Stefan had been so adamant at saying “no” when he, himself had been denied school as a teen, and had seemed to regret it ever since. Perhaps the farm wasn’t doing as well as Stefan had seemed to say it was. Maybe they just couldn’t afford to send Abraham to school?

Juliet stayed quiet all through dinner, and the time that it took to get all the children settled into bed, but her mind was whirling.

“Stefan, dear, I must talk to you.” she began while Stefan was cooing to his newest son in the privacy of their bedroom. Stefan sighed and turned towards her, waiting for her to continue.

“Why can’t we send Abraham to school? Do we not have the money? I thought the farm was doing alright for funds!?”

Juliet watched a flash of anger go across his face, and he seemed to pause before replying, “Of course we can afford it. The farm is doing very well. Don’t you worry about that.”

“Well, then.. why..?” Juliet began, only to have Stefan interrupt.

“The boy has his own inheritance from your Mother and Step Father, as well. I have been given control of it until such time as he moves out on his own. There was no provision made in it for his schooling, however, and no mention of you or your children in the wills. Which would mean any funds for schooling would come from us, not his blessed inheritance. I felt it was more important to save the money for our three boys.”

“So we can’t afford schooling for all of them?” Juliet was confused, and knew it showed on her face.

Stefan sighed, “No, I have enough for all of them. And for the winter. – Even after the additions we just put onto the house. I just didn’t think an orphan like him needed to go to school. I thought you would want him at home to help with chores. The girls will, obviously, be staying home to learn to care for a family, and I thought Abraham should learn how to farm so he could be ready to take care of his own family.”

“Well, yes, he should learn that, too. But as you know, school would afford him more opportunities in town, and with his interest in books, I think that would be good for him. He works hard around here, and going to school in the mornings shouldn’t affect his chores too much. I would think you would want him to make the most of himself, especially since you were denied the same opportunity.” Juliet watched guilt, and, strangely, anger, go through Stefan’s face as he thought about it before answering.

When he didn’t answer, Juliet added a plaintive, “What about just letting him go to school for me? I swore when Mother died I would do the best for my brother, no wonder what I personally thought of him. He deserves to go to school if he wishes it. Plus, it was probably my father’s dying wish. He always wanted Abraham to be a teacher like him.” To herself, she remembered how bitter she had been about that fact.. and yet, now she was lobbying for just what she had hated a few years ago. Times certainly did change a person.

“Alright. Fine.” Stefan said, and started to say something else, but Juliet was already squealing with joy and jumping into his arms. “He can go to school. I will tell him in the morning. But- this won’t absolve him from working around the home!” Stefan pushed Juliet away a bit and held her shoulders as he emphasized his last sentence carefully, “He can’t keep his nose in the books all the time!”

“Of course not!” Juliet replied. “Thank you, Stefan! I knew you would come around!”

She was overjoyed, and quickly turned to finish preparing for bed.

---

Stefan couldn’t believe he had let himself get talked into this. Apparently Juliet could talk him into anything. Next thing you know, she would be trying to get him to pay for the girls to go to school, too. Utterly ridiculous. Why did Abraham even need schooling?! His father had owned a farm, why was Abraham so focused on following him into the teacher profession? Rolling his eyes (after making sure Juliet wasn’t still watching him, of course), Stefan turned back the covers on his side of the bed and crawled into bed. It’s not like the man had seemed to be all that successful at being a teacher, he had died penniless and the farm he owned had been repossessed by the bank. All he really could remember of the man was his vitriol towards himself, his family, and his beloved Juliet. It just didn’t seem right.

Getting to sleep was harder than usual for him that night, and he watched Juliet sleeping peacefully beside him. He was torn between feelings of guilt for trying to deny Abraham school, and the inexplicable anger over letting him go when there were so many chores he could be doing at home, instead. Abraham should have been grateful for what he had, instead of asking for more. The orphanage certainly wouldn’t have let him go to school… why should things be so much different for the boy here? Then there was the fact that Abraham’s father had been so horrible to Juliet and Stefan’s family. That certainly didn’t make him any more willing to spend good money on the man’s only son. Stefan argued back and forth with himself for most of the night, and it was quite late when he finally got to sleep.

Because of this, breakfast was well underway before Stefan came downstairs. Florence was talking about some art project they were supposed to be starting in school today, and seemed to be dominating most of the morning conversation. After getting his food, Stefan loudly cleared his throat, getting everyone’s attention.

“After talking with Juliet last night, Abraham, you will start going to school today. I will make sure the fee is paid for you.”

“Hooray!!” Abraham yelled, pumping his fist into the air.

Stefan was quick to interrupt to say, “This doesn’t mean your chores around the house will lessen – you will still have to earn your keep.”

Abraham’s smile faded for a moment, and he nodded dutifully at Stefan, then turned and shared a smile with Florence and Juliet.

Just as Stefan had feared, the morning without Abraham’s help was hectic, and forced Stefan out of the fields to help Juliet out. The fireplaces all had to be stocked and lit for the season, because it was starting to get cold in the house, and every time they turned around one toddler or another was missing, and one of them would have to go chase them down. Finally, Juliet shooed him outside again, saying she could handle things.

---

Juliet breathed an expressive sigh of relief when school let out for the day, but she wasn’t going to complain out loud about the two eldest not being home, for fear that Stefan would change his mind. Somehow, she would persevere. She had to.

She rushed Abraham to do his homework before Stefan came in, so he wouldn’t complain about “wasted time”.

Florence wanted to work on her aspiration, since she had almost finished it – and she promised to finish her homework as soon as she was done. Juliet agreed, and went back to gathering up the laundry for the next load of washing.

Abraham was as good as his word: he finished up with his homework and immediately stepped in to help with the toddlers. He cleaned up and set the dinner table as well, which was a big help. Juliet fought exhaustion, and made it through most the evening, getting everyone in bed just in time.

Picking herself up off the floor wryly, Juliet took a deep breath, and trudged off to bed. She would make it. She had to.

1895 | 1897

Chapter 1.8 | Chapter 1.10

Caizey started off the week with the best of intentions. She could totally do this – be a wholesome, happy, and supportive stay-at-home parent.

Little Kailyn seemed to be pretty well-behaved for a toddler, too, so that should help the situation. She quickly learned to climb stairs, and was more than happy to get her own breakfast off the counter.

Perhaps pancakes with sticky syrup was a mistake, however… one Caizey soon regretted when she had to give Kailyn a bath right after breakfast. At least none had gotten on the fancy couch..!

Kailyn loved her new kitty-cat toy, and spent quite a bit of time playing with it – anytime Caizey needed a break and went back downstairs to paint or harvest the garden, Kailyn would end up playing with it.

Winterfest dawned early, and Caizey baked a cake for her own birthday just to get it over with as quickly as possible. No need to dwell on the fact she was getting older.

The maid, however, thought that any birthday was cause for celebration, and ended up waking Kailyn up with her raucous version of Happy Birthday.

Caizey quickly hid the cake and called her baby girl down to open her presents. There was no need to fill the kid up with sugar. Kailyn adored her laser light show gift, and wanted Mommy to take it upstairs and plug it in right away.

Caizey, however, was less than impressed by the Jazz cats painting that was in her present, but she pretended she liked it so as not to ruin the day.

The rest of the day was spent teaching toddler skills. Kailyn was really working hard, stretching her thinking skills and expanding her vocabulary. Caizey wanted her to have the best start on life possible, and she knew all these skills would pay off later.

The stress of being a full-time parent was definitely getting to her, though. Not having the freedom to leave her home anytime she wanted was very tough when she’d gotten so used to it. She missed the magic realm, and the exciting duels.. and she was really considering getting a nanny for Kailyn and taking some time “off” for herself.

It only took one look outside .. and picking up the phone.. for Caizey to immediately feel selfish for wanting to leave her baby so soon. Spring – and Kailyn’s birthday – were coming up soon, and surely things would be easier then.

Impulsively, Caizey spent the rest of the afternoon painting, and let Kailyn play (seemingly happily) by herself upstairs with her blocks.

The days drug by, with each day mind-numbingly the same. Cook, teaching Kailyn, harvest the garden, paint, and send the paintings off to the gallery. Money was certainly not an issue, because the Money Trees were netting her a fortune. She had become a sim-millionaire, and was only painting because she was bored – not because she needed to.

Finally, Kailyn’s birthday arrived, and the precocious youngster was eager to move on to bigger and better things. Caizey looked forward to being able to travel again while Kailyn would be at school. Surely Kailyn would be old enough to look after herself if she hadn’t come home before school ended??

They took a trip to the store, and Caizey let Kailyn pick out all the clothes she wanted for her first day of school on Monday. Well, and clothes for at home.. and well, for whenever, really. Caizey approved of the fun, artsy, colorful outfits her daughter put together, and getting out of the house was a balm for Caizey’s wanderlust. Once again, she felt like she could do this parenting thing.. and was feeling magnanimous enough to agree when Kailyn asked to join the Scouts after school and weekend activity. Maybe that would even mean Kailyn would want to do some traveling with her while hunting for her badges? .. Caizey sure hoped so!

Chapter 1.8 | Chapter 1.10

1890s Week 4 | 1890s Week 6

(Spring)

I loaded this game back up and it immediately played the “death” sound. I panicked, trying to figure out who was dying.. hoping it was a townie. (And wondering how on earth a townie was dying on a nice day…)

… No such luck. Apparently it was time to say goodbye to Ginger – who was NOT sick the last time I saved this game and left it…. so I have no idea what to tell you. Her tombstone says she died of old age, which is somewhat comforting, but still… poor pupper.

The kids really took it hard, here’s Gertrude’s reaction after she was done with her bath.

And the boys both ran outside to say goodbye to their beloved pets. So sad. 🙁

Then.. Glenn spins up to teen. I had to re-roll aspirations a couple times until he got one that’s actually possible for the 1900’s. Not 100% happy with the Ren. Sim one, because he’ll have to quit jobs a couple times, but it will be the first time I (hopefully) complete that aspiration, so that’s a good thing. I gave Gertrude a minute to spin up as well, and then went in for both of their makeovers.

It turns out Glenn REALLY needed one because he grew up a bit “derpy” in my opinion. Huge forehead and chin, big fluffy eyebrows.. A change in hairstyle, some scruff, and finally new eyebrows effected quite a change, though I do feel sorta bad about changing the eyebrows for some reason. His look is definitely growing on me by the end of the post, though.. which is good since I’m stuck with him as the heir!

Here’s Gertrude’s traits. I had to reroll her trait, because, again, Geek was definitely not a thing back then – and the Loves Dogs really didn’t surprise me. Apparently she was really still missing Ginger.

Her makeover went far smoother than Glenn’s, however, and she’s gorgeous. Very sad in this picture because of Ginger, but still very pretty.

Okay, so the scruff on the chin only hides that weird chin a little bit. And pouting isn’t helping your case, Glenn.. LOL.

Why can’t I have a female heir!? .. Look how winsome she looks. 🙂

Glenn, however, (despite his hot headed trait) seems to be pretty happy-go-lucky, so that’s definitely a point in his favor. We immediately pay the 1k so Glenn will be able to go to school. Gertrude will be staying home with their mother, so no school fee for her.

Glenn finishes his homework and starts working on his skill so he’ll be able to get an “A” in high school. If I’m paying for school, he better get the most out of it!

Gertrude continues working on her knitting skill. By the end of the week, she’s almost got it maxed out, which I *think* will count towards Anna’s aspiration goal of child getting a skill maxed.

Valentine’s Day – so James comes home and buys a rose for his lovely wife. I don’t have them try for baby, though, because I really don’t need anymore kids, and neither do they. Where would I PUT them??

Excuse me, missy. Those didn’t exist. Put it away and get back to your chores!

Another lovely family moment brought to you by the Sheppards.

I’m not sure who knocked the trash over, but .. poor Gertrude ..!

Hm… never seen the lump of clay get turned into .. that.. before. Wonder what it’s supposed to be? (And who left it in the middle of the floor…?)

Oops.. more teenagers. I’d forgotten they had Jesse so soon after the twins. What was I thinking??

I let him keep his hair style… even though it’s a bit strange. He very clearly has different facial genetics from his brother, though.

And.. I leave you with this on their Easter Saturday. I laughed SO hard when Flower Bunny hit the ground, it probably wasn’t very nice of me.. but it was hilarious. See you next time for the last week of the 1890s for the Sheppards!

1890s Week 4 | 1890s Week 6

Chapter 1.1 | Chapter 1.3

The Diversity Experiment – Chapter 1.2

So, here we are, back in Evergreen Harbor, with a pair of sims who are really not getting along very well. I keep trying to get them to make friends, but it’s slow going.

Eventually, I give up and send them to the new Maker Space. Iris is less than impressed, while Aiyden seems overjoyed by all the gadgets he now has access to.

While Iris attempts to find something to occupy herself, he climbs up the ladder to do some recycling. He needs bits and pieces to start working on his first commission – a simple rug.

The rug turns out to be more difficult than he had initially expected, and takes two tries to get it right before he feels he can send it on to his client. (I add a computer to the office, so he can keep working on gigs while staying at the Maker Space.)

Iris, however, gets bored of dumpster diving for stuff for Aiyden to salvage, and cancels out all her interactions to go buy something to eat from the food stall. I really can’t blame her.

Aiyden gets some mentoring from a Master Maker in the area, but even the mentoring can’t keep him from being dragged into the machine and spat back out. Embarrassed, he apologized to the mentor, and started over.

… Only to have the machine break on him. Sighing in frustration, he decides to risk his life and try to fix it. Luckily, everything works out for him, and soon he’s able to complete his second rug commission of the day.

Looking around, Aiyden realizes that it had gotten dark and Iris must have gotten bored or tired and went home. Following her example, he trudged home. Tomorrow was soon enough to get another commission.

Aiyden’s commissions were all done for the day, and Iris had finished her work, too. With a huge storm outside, neither felt like leaving the house, so they sat around and chatted instead.

Sometime during the evening, Aiyden discovered his feelings for Iris and swooped in to surprise her with a kiss. It may have been sudden, but she didn’t say “no”… in fact, she actually kissed him back.

After a long conversation and some more flirting, Iris agreed to be his girlfriend, although both seemed to feel that was as far as they should go for the night and they still slept in their own beds.

Iris usually completed her “work from home” task easily and followed Aiyden to the Maker Space to help him find salvage for his growing obsession with fabricating. He wasn’t making much money doing it, but he was slowly getting better.

… Well, sort-of.

Love Day came around, and Aiyden decided it was time to take their relationship to the next level.

He bought her flowers, and she seemed to really appreciate them, taking a moment to gently sniff them and put them in a vase in the kitchen. Where she came up with a vase at, nobody knows.

Iris then thanked Aiyden for the roses in the only way she could think of.

Together, they decided on a romantic date to the new restaurant in town, and they were pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t a hole-in-the-wall dump.

While Aiyden used the facilities, Iris ordered for them, so that the food was ready to be delivered by the time he got back to his seat. The waiter, however, seemed very new to his job, and dumped the entire order on the floor. Apologizing profusely, he headed back to the kitchen to push a rush order in for replacements.

When dinner came, Aiyden raged inwardly at the fact that she had ordered him spaghetti, of all things, but he didn’t take it out on her. At least the drinks were good… and it wasn’t her fault she hadn’t known about his dislike of spaghetti sauce.

Another storm had moved in by the time they were done eating, and the two of them were soaked by the time they finally got home. Getting out of their wet clothes and warming each other up was great fun, however, and it seemed Iris sleeping upstairs may have become a thing of the past.

By this time, I had worked them so hard that Aiyden was finally able to buy some equipment for working from home, and he seemed to really enjoy making candles. Although working with the hot wax while half-naked may not have been the best choice…

That night, the Romance Festival was in town, and the two new lovebirds couldn’t help but attend. Aiyden’s first concern was consulting the love guru, who had interesting advice. “At least your flaws are evenly matched.” … What did that even mean? Shrugging, Aiyden decided that maybe the guru wasn’t all that wise after all, and called Iris over.

Taking advantage of the flirty vibes and the drink that went to both of their heads, Aiyden read her some flowery poetry and romanced her, ignoring the guru watching happily.

He then dropped to one knee… and pulled a ring out of thin air.

Iris took the question very seriously, and thought for a long moment before deciding to say “yes”.

She then kissed him impulsively and jumped unceremoniously into Aiyden’s arms. She was lucky he managed to overcome his surprise and catch her!

Iris pointed out the wedding arch, and they decided there was no time like the present.

They hardly noticed the celebratory fireworks, as they were completely wrapped up in each other.

Aiyden seemed particularly pensive the next morning, and didn’t talk much during breakfast – but Iris couldn’t seem to be quiet. At least her cooking was improving, though!

Unbeknownst to either of them, alone in the garage, Little Moo grew up to be.. well, not so little. I’m just praying Aiyden keeps his paws off the Cowplant. (Spoiler: he’s already discovered gardening by playing with it, so I’m going to have to watch him closely!)

Chapter 1.1 | Chapter 1.3

1894 | 1896

1895 (Summer)

Stefan considered all that had happened lately, and wondered that they were still getting by as a family. Juliet’s parents dying suddenly had really changed things, though, by adding young Abraham to the mix. Juliet hadn’t seemed too phased by her Mother and Step-Father’s deaths, but having an extra mouth to feed had certainly made things harder for her.

Then there was the twins – they were almost out of their cribs now and would be fully mobile within the week. Which meant there were going to be four toddlers in the house. With this in mind, Stefan had been glad for the savings he had stashed away in the bank – an addition to the house had been necessary to make room for everyone.

While they were adding on, they expanded the upstairs a little, as well, so Nellie and Florence would have more space in their room.

The biggest renovations were on the ground floor, though. Abraham now had a small room to himself, while the twins were going to go in the “spare room” – that wasn’t quite so “spare” anymore. With this many people in the house, Stefan had also felt that another bathroom was needed, and the expansion to the parlor allowed him to surprise Juliet with a piano. When she would have time to play it was in question, but he had felt she deserved some sort of grand gesture from him for all she did, and this had worked greatly for that.

Juliet’s bees were active again, and pestering him in the fields constantly, so he had started trying to get them to bond with him, too. So far, it wasn’t going well. Despite the bees, the produce was growing and selling very well, which made Stefan very glad for the income. That addition had not been cheap.

---

Juliet’s days were packed full of things to do since Abraham had moved in. Between the twins learning to walk, the girls being everywhere all at once, and trying to keep up with household chores, she found herself burning the candles at both ends of the day – literally.

Mornings were the worst, however. She had a sneaking suspicion that there was going to be another addition to the family soon. She hadn’t brought it up to Stefan yet, because she wanted to be completely sure, but the nausea that assailed her every time she tried to eat breakfast was telling. What would they do with yet another baby?! She hoped she just had a touch of malaise, instead of the alternative.

Abraham was grateful for the home and tried to pitch in as much as possible. He did dishes, took the trash out, and even kept the girls occupied when Juliet needed to do other things – like cooking or laundry. She didn’t want him to slack on his schoolwork, though, especially since he was behind his class due to all the time off for the funerals in Brindleton Bay, so she made sure he wasn’t doing chores all the time.

All of the fireplaces had been banked for the summer, and a heat wave had moved in. Juliet was miserable, and decided it was past time to let Stefan know. She was sure she wasn’t just sick – the signs were all there.

So, the very next morning, she had Stefan sit down – and broke the news.

Stefan seemed speechless at first, and just sat there and looked at her in wonder. As if this was all her fault.

His consternation seemed to clear, though, and he smiled, shrugged, and tried to make her feel better. He promised to help out around the house as much as possible to make things easier on her.

---

Stefan tried to put on a brave front for Juliet, but inside he was in turmoil. Another baby? … And what if it were twins again? They really didn’t have room for more children, and he dreaded the possibility that it could be a girl. At least the twins’ room potentially had room for another boy – but there was definitely not room in the house for another girl. Cringing, he dearly hoped it would be a boy, because – even with the farm’s profits – he really didn’t want to have to spend more on another addition to the house.

He tried to remain positive, though. At least the produce had been consistently good this summer, and was selling at the market well.

Despite the construction on the house, he was still able to make the loan payment and pay the rest of their bills. He ignored the spots on his arms, and the faint feeling of being overheated, and chalked it up to the current heatwave.

---

Abraham was getting used to his new home and family. He had never been very close with his sister, but he was grateful to be living in a home instead of the orphanage back in Brindleton.

He had difficulty making friends at the school, though, and mostly kept to himself. He tried to ignore the whispers behind hands about him being an orphan from back east, and concentrated on his schoolwork instead.

At home, he tried very hard not to make Stefan or his sister regret taking him in, for there was always something to do in the house, whether it was his studies, or keeping up with the cleaning. The toddlers were always making a mess, it seemed, and there were always dishes to be washed and trash to be collected.

And now there was to be another baby in the house soon. He watched his sister’s abdomen growing with not a little bit of horror and interest. How could her body stretch like that? And how much more could she take? She was already exhausted most of the time, and took naps whenever she could. He felt badly for her, but he was already doing as much as he could to help.

---

Florence didn’t seem to be impressed with the new additions to the household, and had started really causing trouble whenever she could. Juliet tried to discipline her, but nothing really seemed to work.

Every time Juliet turned her back, she was into something else. Juliet simply didn’t have the energy or time to spend all her time with the youngster like she had at the beginning, and Florence really seemed to be upset by it. There was little Juliet could do, however, especially since Samuel and Benjamin were finally walking.

Samuel had grown up to be a real charmer, much like his sister Florence, and seemed to use all his energy to try to get as much attention as he could from everyone around him.

Benjamin, however, was much more independent. He was content doing things on his own, and seemed to rarely make trouble. How twins could be so completely different, Juliet didn’t know, but she was grateful that at least one of her children seemed like he was going to be easy.

Florence continued to act out, even more now that the twins were out of their bassinets and demanding attention.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like her brothers, though, for they seemed to get along okay. Perhaps she was just jealous of the time that they took away from what she considered should be “her” time with her parents.

Juliet’s physical misery seemed to grow apace with her belly. Just making it through each day was impossible without a nap. She tried to last until Stefan came in from the fields, but she had to admit that some days she just couldn’t. And running to the outhouse every hour wasn’t helping the situation.

Nellie was starting to follow her troublesome sister around, and they were often found outside the house when they were supposed to be inside, quietly playing. Nellie didn’t seem to be as interested in making messes, she just wanted to be close to her big sister.

Juliet was trying to carve out some time to work on an outfit for the coming baby, but with the four toddlers, that was incredibly difficult. Even Samuel was taking after Florence, and was now getting into the bookshelf on his own, accidentally ripping books and scattering them about the room.

---

Juliet just couldn’t keep up. Exhausted, she fell asleep, only to have the toddlers escape to the great outdoors. Stefan didn’t really appreciate the kids out among the fields with him, but he understood his wife’s energy levels were low and she needed a break. How things were going to work when there was a baby in the house, too, was yet to be seen, but he doubted it was going to be good.

For today, however, he decided he wasn’t going to be able to get any more work done, and he gathered up the toddlers that had escaped and went in search of the missing Florence. She was running about upstairs, and had managed to get the wardrobe open to spread their clothes all over the bedroom. Sighing deeply, he began cleaning up the mess, only to have Florence disappear again. She moved much too fast, he mused wryly, and gave up cleaning to go try to occupy her.

---

Juliet woke up from her nap, and hobbled towards the outhouse desperately. To her horror, she didn’t make it. Nobody noticed, but now she was filthy, and she had yet another mess to clean up.

That night, little Charlie was born. Giving birth seemed almost routine at this point, and Stefan only woke up long enough to help before he fell asleep again. Juliet glared at his sleeping form and tried to settle the new baby as best as she could.

Getting back to bed, however, was more difficult than she had anticipated, and she woke up a bit later, curled up on the floor. Crawling to the bed, she didn’t even bother to get under the covers before she fell asleep again.

The next few days were a struggle for both parents. Charlie seemed to be the fussiest baby they’d ever had – and was even more difficult to keep happy than even the twins had been. By the time either parent had found time to fall asleep, he was awake again, and demanding food or other care. It was infuriating. And it wasn’t going to end any time soon.

1894 | 1896

Intro/Rules | Chapter 1.2

Yeah.. I started a new challenge. So sue me. 😉 Actually, I intend for this to be my “I’m bored and don’t want to get into anything deep” challenge, or the “I don’t have time to do more than a little play” .. well, you get the idea. Something a little more casual. However, my grand idea is anything but casual. I want to keep these guys around for 100 generations. So I’ll be working on them for a while. I know it’s possible to get the legacy generation challenges by doing fast aging and adoptions and such, but I just can’t see playing a family like that. I like to get to know my sims! And there’s no way I could imagine playing for 100 generations without liking or being attached to the sims in question. So here we go. There’s more info on the Intro/Rules page, if you’re interested how this is going to work, or where I got the sims from, as well as info on the commercial lots I built. (All are on the gallery under my Wyldhawke Origin ID)

Anyway, let’s meet our founders. I chose the Greenes, and gave them hair/outfit makeovers. Nothing about their faces or bodies were changed, though.

Iris wants to be a collector, and has the Loves Outdoors, Clumsy, and Lazy traits. She also comes with a biology degree. Aiyden wants to be a Master Maker and has the Maker, Romatic, and Hot-Headed traits. He also comes with a physics degree.

Anyway, now that I’ve introduced them, let’s get down to the play.

They load up on the pavement next to their new home, and Aiyden immediately devolves into a coughing fit. Iris seems a bit worried for her college friend.

She inquires as to his health, and he mentions the smog is choking him. He is second guessing their decision to spend so much on this house when the neighborhood appears to be in such bad shape. (They are 40k in debt from buying the bare necessities and building the house.)

Iris immediately lights into Aiyden for doubting their mission to clean up Port Promise, and he initially looks bewildered by her attack.

Before long, however, his hot-headedness takes over, and he’s giving as good as he gets. As a simmer, I try to make them play “nice”, but they’re simply not cooperating. Every “friendly” interaction is causing further damage to an already tenuous friendship.

Finally, They’re thoroughly angry from both sides losing the argument, and I gave up and sent them to inspect their new home. Both stomp off to the front door like recalcitrant teenagers.

Iris checks out their kitchen – which is pretty much the only mostly furnished room in the house. Aiyden checks, and finds that the bathrooms, indeed, at least have plumbing, there’s a washer and dryer – and one double bed that looks like a rock to sleep on. He comes back to relay the bad news to Iris, and she doesn’t take it well.

“There’s only one bed? How on earth did this place cost so much, then? What did all our money go to? The walls and floors are so BORING! How could you have approved these designs?”

“Whoa. You weren’t exactly helpful in picking out the designs, you were too busy with college to help out, so I picked the house that looked like it would be big enough for both of us. It’s not my fault the designer misunderstood and thought we were a couple!”

“Whatever!” Iris has had enough of Aiyden, and turns her back on him to order some cheap (very cheap) bedroom furniture for herself, and contact the local job bureau for employment. She has the furniture installed in the room that’s the furthest from Aiydens (in the third floor), and lucks out with finding a company who will hire her on based solely on her degree, not her abysmal skills. Aiyden considers the fact that his Aspiration requires him to be a Freelance Maker, and makes the contacts to join that agency – but his “slacker” approach in his “career” only seems to aggravate Iris more.

With neither of them speaking to each other at the moment, they both decide to head to the local Community Space to check out the neighborhood. Aiyden is horrified by the mess on the lot, and immediately starts meeting people to try to gain influence so he can turn the lot into a Maker Space.

Iris sees the lot and immediately has other ideas. This neighborhood NEEDS revitalization. This junkyard of a community space can always be cleaned up later – after they have some better laws in place. She immediately start campaigning for the area to be more “Self-Sufficient”. There aren’t a whole lot of people around, yet, though – and who can blame them with all this mess around?! – so both Iris and Aiyden settle on the same thing to keep themselves busy.

Dumpster Diving. Before long, they’re both filthy and miserable, but they’ve been finding a ton of great stuff they can sell to improve their home situation.

Iris finds some locals to convince to join her cause finally, while Aiyden continues looking for deals in the dumpsters. He finds a coffeemaker that looks like it’s seen better days, but he decides that’s the one item he thinks he can salvage for their home.

When he finally turns to finding people who might also like a better space to gather as a community, the smog again chokes him up. This lady is not impressed, and decides she didn’t want to talk to him after all.

Throughout the day, Iris continues to gather influence and votes for her plan of action for the neighborhood, completely ignoring whatever Aiyden might be up to.

She finds another dumpster, and ignores the cats who are now showing up en masse to look for food in the junkyard. She might as well look for more deals, because it’s not like she’s going to get any dirtier by dumpster diving some more.

A commotion behind her finally draws her attention, and she turns to find a cat stalking a mouse that is clearly too smart for the trap placed by it’s hole near the junkyard “office”. Chuckling, she turns to look for some more things to sell.

They end up spending most of the night searching for deals, and end up with quite a nice chuck of change.. and needs that are in the red on pretty much every front. Exhausted, they both head home.

The next day, Aiyden’s priority is fixing the coffeemaker he found. And possibly cleaning it up, because it smells something awful.

Iris spend her time rearranging their new furniture, and making sure the cable got hooked up properly. Already the place is starting to feel more like a home. She even ordered a more comfortable bed for both her and Aiyden.. although she might have consulted him first.. but she didn’t think about it.

Finally, she makes dinner for them, and finds out what he spent his day on while they were at the junkyard.

“A Maker Space?? What do we need that for? Didn’t you see the horrible plans that the neighbors have for the neighborhood?? You should have been campaigning to stop those ideas, not wasting your influence on that silly junkyard. We could always have fixed that later!!”

Aiyden just rolls his eyes and goes back to eating his salad. Not a very good salad, either, mind you. But – then – with the way things look, it’s no wonder the only produce they could get at the store was already turning brown at the edges.

Will these two ever start getting along??

Intro/Rules | Chapter 1.2

**ON HIATUS**

Yep, I’m starting a new challenge. Again. Don’t ask, it’s probably better that way. I’m calling it “The Diversity Experiment” or “TDE” for short. This challenge is based on the “Rebuild|Renew” and “Rebuilding Worlds Vol. 2” Challenges by OJenn on the Sims Forums. I’m going to be putting them together.. and, instead of picking ONE town to play, I’ll be rebuilding ALL of them. My ultimate goal is to get to 100 generations (which is a Sims 4 Achievement I would love to have said I’ve gotten once) starting with a mixed race couple and continuing through the generations, keeping genetics / races / gender identities / etc as diverse as I possibly can. I will be using the genepools provided by the Challenges, or making my own, depending on whether the genepools exist or not. Per the Challenge Rules, each sim will roll for aspirations, hobbies traits, and aspirations. Also, I will be setting up some sort of way of rolling for each sim’s gender and partner preferences, although I haven’t 100% decided on how, yet. Obviously, these rolls don’t apply to the founders, as I’m using made-over versions of the one of the provided sim families – The Greenes. I specifically did not touch any face or body sliders, or skin tone/eye or hair colors. I only “made over” their clothes and hairstyles. I’ll introduce them a little better in the first chapter.

(more…)