Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch Two Rules
Switch One < | > Switch Two Part 2

Welcome back to the Ritchie household, it’s time for Athena to start her journey through the Apartment Switch – Switch Two. Here’s what we start with.

And.. the dreaded money shot. (or lack of money shot?)

Ready to go! My first order of business.. looking for a guy for Athena. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? .. Think again.

Young Adult.. yes. Scary-looking… also yes.

Too old.

Too young.

Too… busy to stop and talk to Athena.

I see possibilities…

However, I don’t like his traits.. and Athena doesn’t seem impressed.

Again.. too busy to stop to talk.

What is it with sims that won’t stop for an introduction!?!?

Well.. that’s interesting. And loud. We go spouse hunting down the street a ways. (No traveling.. I have no money!)

Umm… what? Just saw her go running by.

Deciding both of us are seeing things, it’s time for a nap or two. By this time I’ve collected a couple of posters.. but certainly not enough money to start furnishing.

Please… can you drop the prices so I can get food??

Guess not. So much for that $10.

Whoa!! He better have good traits! (Okay.. so it turns out he has two good traits.. we’ll gamble and hope the third is good too. After that spouse hunt, I’m snagging this one before anything else goes wrong!)

Athena quickly takes a shower so she’s not so offensive… I was able to afford a bed, a shower, and an easel. Better get cracking on money making here!

Kobe doesn’t seem impressed with dinner. The best we can afford is two lousy eggrolls.

… And this is to prove that there was a second bed for him before it was bedtime. Otherwise I would have been breaking my own darn rule. LOL. Okay. Crisis averted. She was in too bad of a mood to woo him, and he was busy being upset about his haggling fail, too… so the romance angle to sleep in the same bed was SO not happening. I had to think fast and go looking for posters. Fast.

… What the heck… again??

Whew. A good night’s sleep will fix a lot of ills, apparently. First Kiss success.

Oh.. and just because I gambled on that last trait?? I got a Klepto. (Laughs miserably to myself… hopefully he steals better things than the dirty dishes my last klepto brought home from work.. maybe we can sell the stuff he brings..? Note from the future.. nope. Lots of dishes. Dirty ones.)

There’s nothing like painting to go with the smell of whatever roach poison the landlord is actually spraying for a change?

Since they’re at that stage of the relationship, I wonder if sending them to tonight’s romance festival can prompt a quick marriage.

Aww.. they’re so cute together.

“Please??”  … Yup!! Spam cute wedding pics…

And at this point, Athena was so tired she practically fell asleep on the walk back home.

I had the only one who had any energy left harvest all the flowers at the festival to sell.

What is this?!? A table?! .. Breakfast of champions. Granola and cereal. Yum?

And now.. apartment pic spam because it’s time to move!

It felt like it took forever, but it really didn’t. This is what I was able to afford at the next place. Quite a lot, actually. All of the walls and the paint and a rough outline of the furniture it will have.

It’s practically no time at all before I’m ready for pic spam again… (just lots of boring painting and Kobe going to work to earn a pittance in order to try to earn the painting easels.)

Seriously fast turnaround there. And now I take some time to do what should have been done at the end of last house.. but since I just changed the requirements and time to build them.. I had the wrong lot built.. so I bulldozed it and built my Arts Center.

I’m going to assume it works.. but I will test it later just for safety. I did upload it under #apartmentswitch because I put hours into the build.

Breakfast at the new pad. At least they’re eating real food for a change.

I take a risk and get Athena pregnant. It’s still very early in the challenge, but I really hate waiting for the kid to age up. So I’m gambling.. again. I seem to be doing that a lot this save.

Already?? Nice job.

Wow. Just Wow. This little beauty put me to a point where I’m willing to take the risk to move, even though I probably ought to save a little more money. With as much as she’s making painting, it’s going to be a non-issue. So: apartment three pic spam.

And it was late at night, so the day hadn’t even switched over.

This.. is what we’ve got. No stairs, one set of doors, a flimsy outdoor wall.. and a few pieces of furniture. Get painting guys! (it’s at about this point I start wondering why on earth I still have poor Kobe punching a time clock. It’s a virtually worthless job. Oh .. wait.. he did get the easy breezy easels.)

Paint fumes while pregnant. Can’t be healthy.. but it’s sure helping for the house. I barely have any pictures of it “in progress” because they’re making money so quickly. By the time the next set of shots happen, the house is about 80% done with furnishings, just need paintings to start getting the value up into the stratosphere. And she’s STILL waiting on the humor and hijinks festival in the second tier of the aspiration.

She looks like she’s just waiting for him to panic again.

Right on cue.

It’s… it’s a … nooboo!

“Don’t tell me.. you’re my mom?!?”

That face…. That face. I think I’m in trouble. It’s a girl. And since I promised I’d name the kid after my daughter, I did. Meet Alex. So this small sim may very well be big trouble in a little package. At least she’ll come by it honestly.

More in the next post. This one has gone on long enough! I just couldn’t quite play all the way to that toddler stage for the cuteness pic. Plus, this face was worth ending on. Best baby shot I’ve ever taken in game.

Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch Two Rules
Switch One < | > Switch Two Part 2

Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch Two Rules
Switch One Part 2 < | > Switch Two Part 2

Welcome back to the Nash family’s strange journey through decorating San Myshuno, or – in other words, Switch Two of the Apartment Switch challenge.

When Iris (our heir) aged up I chose the Musical Genius Aspiration. She will be switching back and forth between it and the City Native one as she works to get both.

Starting skills: (I specifically avoided skills she would be working on in Switch Two, so that I could test whether it was possible starting from basically nothing useful.)

Needs (I was careful she was high on these) and Traits:

And the dreaded Money Shot:

No funds at all, so she’s ready to go..!

Day one. Meeting any male that passes by of the marrying age. (Young Adult, of course!) This guy was an adult, but there wasn’t another young adult around at that moment.

Sleeping stinky on a bench. You’d think I was doing a Drifter Challenge! Poor Iris.

Posters! The lifeblood of the beginning of this challenge.

This guy was one of our two top candidates of Young Adults. Good traits, bad job, but the job can be changed. Problem: he’s a single dad. Now, I have nothing against single dads per se, but I just don’t have the extra funds and space to allow for an extra room at this stage of the game.

This one.. I didn’t find out about it until I tried moving him in. The OTHER top candidate.. said it right on his “job” title. “Stay at Home Dad” .. and he was single. So.. stuck without any other really good options… (long story short, the only other option at young adult that I saw got moved in only to find out he was bugged with “1 day to age up” glitch and was unable to age at all… so I went back to my beginning save and started over. The same sims were around, so I was good to go.

We ended up going for an Adult. This cutie. And yes, we’re stalking him right by the public bathrooms. Gotta stay in your home turf, there, Iris.

His stats. The job.. we’ll change.

Yep! He likes us!

The proposal in the hallway. Could you guys pick harder spots to photograph well??

In the apartment this time. As you can see, I was finally able to afford lights. When taking photos, it’s very important otherwise you just can’t see anything in the pictures. Technically, I bought the bed and the shower first.. the lights came third. Too bad I can’t keep the 20k Matt came with….

The job taken care of.. now he’s a painter.

And honey.. that’s not going to happen. Let’s try the painting one instead.

After trying to earn money with just collecting, I gave up and set Iris to painting. With a couple of traits purchased with all her spare points, she was in business, even without having a job. The reason for no job, you’ll see a bit later.

I actually was able to afford the first week’s rent without working for it for two days!

… With this. What a cute couple.

I found a place to put a table in this tiny apartment. Barely. But they seem to like it. At this point, I realize my apartment is up to value, and I’m moving on. So.. picture spam!

Obviously, I got rid of the second room wall. I just hated not having any living space to move around in, and I didn’t need the second bedroom.

Not too bad! Slower than I would have liked, but I puttered around a while before settling on painting.

This is what I was able to buy with in the second apartment with what I had after move-in.

And this… is why she has no job. She has musical skills to work on. Now that I can actually afford luxuries, like a guitar, she gets started on the City Native aspiration. (I’ve elected to learn level 3 guitar, and sing along with it to kill two birds with one stone. From the research I’ve done, it’s one of the best ways to do it. We’ll see how it works.

Trying out busking. With only level 4-5 in guitar.. she makes some decent money. Not enough to quit painting over.. but definitely does get some cash.

She collects a small following, too. Proving that I was busking because I was bored.. I finish the decor of apartment two, and am ready to move on. Pic spam:

(The very best picture I could get of the kid’s room. Sad, huh?)

I think I fit a lot in for being such a dinky apartment.

And in two days! That was fast! Based on what I was able to afford in the new place, however… the third is going to take me considerably longer. (Downstairs and upstairs pics below.)

Pretty slim pickins. Also: I moved a wall upstairs for the little painting nook. I didn’t like the shape of the bedrooms. In the downstairs, that balcony door gets moved as well…. and the kitchen arch, for that matter.

And.. anyone who watches my stories knows what this means.. if I’m taking pictures of woohoo, then it’s for a baby.

Cheers.. and really bad picture.

Matt seems happy about it.. if you don’t mind the big pause before clapping.

I moved the painting easels out to the balcony. You can’t argue with it being a gorgeous view.

This picture is for two things.. one.. Matt’s getting his paintings viewed for his aspiration… and that little blond girl? Is one of the single dad’s daughters mentioned earlier in the post. I just thought it was funny seeing her around town. Without her dad, no less.

Iris looking at her pictures. I don’t think the baby’s ready to appreciate it yet. I keep changing between aspirations on Iris.. I think she’s working mostly on the painting one at this time, but she’s got about half the music one, and .. well, still working on the City Native one. The one I actually need to complete.

We go to the Stargazer Lounge (no travel restrictions on normal, remember!) and use the bubble blowers there. While she’s there, I give Karaoke a try. Nobody’s much interested in her singing, but then she’s only level 4, she’s not very good yet.

Awww.. cuddlies on the couch. This picture just made me realize how bad that blank wall looks.

Hence.. this photo. Much better. It matches the rug. Kind-of.

She’s starting to get pretty good at this singing stuff. At least it’s not cringe-worthy anymore.

Matt trying to bring in money while his wife practices in the kitchen. He’s not very good at it, though.

Aww.. she’s really getting into it.

Why do I always try for baby in the middle of the night?? For some reason, I decide to actually follow them to the hospital.. something I very rarely do.

Matt’s still freaking out. Too funny.

The receptionist takes forever. As usual.

I’d give him that look, too, Iris. He’s just being silly at this point.

If you look closely, you can see both the bundle and the baby.. I almost got worried about twins.

But then I remembered my luck. I’m not having trouble with the challenge, therefore no twins. Meet Sarah.

Aww.. finally best friends!

Team jokers for the Humor and Hijinks festival.

Go go team Humor!

I get tired of waiting for the free fireworks, and just buy some of my own.

Whee! Sparklies!

And the finale. Our dog, however, thinks the sky is falling and runs out of the room while the fireworks go off in the GAME. Silly dog. I’ve met braver Chihuahuas. (You should see her in thunderstorms. Not even kidding.)

Then it’s on to the next adventure for City Native. The only one of three that I can do on my own without a festival or a protest going on (which may take some time…..) .. is painting a mural at the Art Center. So, just to be safe, I kick this poor girl off her mural, remove it, start one of my own.. and start taking pictures. It’s my first mural.. give me a break.. of course I pic spam!

Without help, murals take forever. Take note. It’s dark now.

And painting the nature mural got her max skill. Awesome. No wonder her paintings make so much money.

And I leave you with this. Sarah is going to be a knock-out. Look at those eyes. Love her!

Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch Two Rules
Switch One Part 2 < | > Switch Two Part 2

House 007 Part 1 – Day 1 < | > House 007 Part 1 – Day 3

Today’s goals:

House 007 Part One Day 2:
8 AM: Painting competition
2 PM: Group Outing with the four lowest painters
5 PM: Give a rose to the contestant with the highest relationship
on this outing
6 PM: return home
Kick out one contender (lowest relationship score on outing)
12 AM: Bedtime

Again, we follow Ariana’s whims. But before we get started.. It’s ghost watching time.

At least he’s being useful.

Bye Trace!

There’s a little activity in the house before the painting competition, but not much.

Thomas elects for an early morning workout, while the other few souls up are seeing about breakfast.

At 8 AM, everyone except Ariana wakes up as if on cue. Most are hungry.. but they’re going to have to wait for food. As per instructions, every contestant is sent to an easel (unlocking the studio door first, of course).

Everyone seems to really be taking this seriously, and working really hard on their small classic paintings.

I send Ariana to go get breakfast. Never know when she’ll get another chance to eat, and she doesn’t exactly have to supervise the boys. That would just be weird.

The painting continues.

One by one, they finish their paintings and head off to take care of other needs, mostly hunger or pee. Sean beelines for the TV.

Vincent takes his time and is the only one to hit painting level 2 during his painting session.

Totaling up the paintings.. We have a tie that must go into a paint-off. Sean and Trent tie for second place, and since I need to know who’s second vs who’s third, I send them back to paint again.

Ariana rolls up a completely unreal want.. deciding she suddenly wants a boyfriend. No. Just no ….and then she goes to prune the bonsai tree. (making herself focused, of all things.)

I send the two boys off for the painting competition round 2.

Then, she wants to get to know Vincent. That I can do.

Kiss someone? I don’t think her relationship is high enough to even attempt it with anyone… She just keeps rolling wishes for the dart board and the foosball tables. (Finally, I delete them so she can start having whims for the boys. I am eventually left wondering why I did that.. lol.. so much chaos….)

I decide to have everyone dance together. Since it’s an activity everyone can do together.

Sean loses the painting competitions which means that Sean, Neil, Vincent, and Jeffrey are the sims to go on today’s outing, Thomas and Trent go on tomorrow’s.

In the intervening time before the outing, I have them dancing and chatting with as many of them as is possible.

The outing.. Ariana calls for transportation.. again, it’s Sean, Neil, Vincent, and Jeffrey.. and I send them to the Drifter restaurant I built (and recently upgraded to allow for bigger parties of sims to visit).

I have a heck of a time trying to get all of them sitting at the same table.

Everyone keeps wandering off to go to the bathroom.

I order for the table.. roast chicken and root beer floats. sounds good to me (except for the root beer, I only like root beer in candy form.. lol)

Eventually, I do get them all sitting at the same table. We were even given a patio table, which is a first for me at this restaurant, and it makes for some really nice screenshots.

Anyone who reads my “Travelers” blog will laugh because this lady in the pinkish shirt shows up at the table and stays for a while, just like the paparazzi showed up at the Traveler’s table.

The order seems to take forever to arrive, though, and I end up wondering if I’ll have to give the rose before it even arrives. Finally, it does.. thirty minutes before it’s time for the rose. I score the date while letting them finish their meal.

Scoring:

Vincent 4 = 4
Sean 3 + 2 = 5
Jeffrey 2 + 1 = 3
Neil 2 = 2

(Neil also has a “just friends” listed in his relationship panel for some reason) In the end, it’s no surprise to me that Sean wins, as she has had a whim to make out with him all day.

Rose accepted!

Since she has a want to kiss someone and that option is actually available, I go ahead and indulge her in her whim. Kiss accepted! (somehow I missed the actual kiss, but I got the big heart afterwards.)

I send all the boys back home, but Ariana has to use the restroom first.. otherwise there’s going to be an accident!

Turns out I also forgot to pay the bill. (I’m so not good at the restaurant thing in game yet), but luckily they charged us anyway.

Due to the “make out with Sean” whim I mentioned, I try to get him on a couch and get the option available.. and success!

She now wants to hug someone and flirt with Vincent. Make up your mind, girl!

So we head over to do that. He’s in the movie theater, so the pics are dark.. but he accepts a flirt (still no pink bar though!) and the hug she wants. Now she wants to kiss someone again. So we flirt again.. and that’s accepted. Pink bar appears!

One more flirt and the “kiss” option appears. Success! Now she wants to “do something romantic”.. perhaps we should pick someone else. Oh, and “be friendly” with Sean. One thing at a time.

It’s about now I remember I forgot to kick Neil out, so I go do that really quick before anything else happens to make me forget.

Done. I head over to the guy with the lowest relationship and no pink bar for her “want to do something romantic” (by this point, there’s only one person in the household that she doesn’t have a pink bar with!) Which he refuses. Then accepts? I am so confused.. but he now has a pink bar too.

Wants: make out with Vincent and be friendly with Sean. We choose to do the Sean one first. She also wants to give him a hug… so we do that too.

And “Get to know Vincent” appears. So we’re off to find Vincent again. Get to know complete, “donation to a charity” appears and I get rid of it.

Since you can’t make out until First Kiss is complete, we do that (I just realize she got two “first kisses” on Vincent for some reason… She wants to schedule a date. A little late in the evening for that, sweetie. We bypass that one too.

The closest place to sit down is the garden bench so I send them out there to try for the “make out” session she wants. She also wants to flirt with someone, so that’ll work for that too.

After making out with Vincent, she wants to flirt with him. So we do that too in the few minutes we have left until bedtime.

Then she wants to hug someone and .. buy a toy!? *face palm* Ariana, what the heck. You’re about five hundred steps ahead of the game.

Five minutes left.. “Kiss someone” and “kiss Vincent” .. okay.

Time for bed. Ariana is pretty exhausted by this point.. and so am I. What a day!

Bonus: there’s a ghost out. Hi Taylor! We’ll leave everyone here sleeping (No idea when or where Neil exited, I missed it in all the hullabaloo. And I just learned that apparently hullabaloo is in the dictionary. Who knew.)

See you next time!

House 007 Part 1 – Day 1 < | > House 007 Part 1 – Day 3

Time to Talk < | > The Longest Days

I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I felt that Caleb was now as excited about his future as I have been. The past few days, he’s talked about nothing else. Even the art projects he brought home from school were pictures of house ideas – each one more outlandish than the last. He seemed in no hurry to grow up, that’s for sure…. but at least I no longer had to worry about his reaction to the contract. Having it all out in the open really took a load off for me.

This morning, I woke up early with Jared, and we quietly had breakfast before the boys woke up. Caleb’s big day was coming, and I wanted to be prepared as possible. We discussed ideas, going back and forth, trying to figure out something that would be a memory that Caleb could always keep with him.

Perhaps it was because we were already eating, or maybe it was just because I’d just been thinking about it, but the restaurant popped into my head. It was perfect. I even arranged for care for Ryder, so he wouldn’t be in the way on Caleb’s big day. Ryder, the lucky tyke that he was, was scheduled for a playdate with a small friend from a local town’s daycare. We didn’t exactly have a daycare here in town, and since Jared and I both “worked” at home, we didn’t need daycare services often… but it was nice to know it was there for just these occasions.

For the rest of the week, Jared and I managed to be as inconspicuous as possible. As far as I could tell, Caleb had no idea what we had planned for his upcoming birthday. It was a big one, too.. which made it all the more important to make it memorable. We managed to act as if it were just another week. As usual, Ryder commanded the lion’s share of Jared and I’s attention. Between feedings and flash cards and blocks and the toys and the.. well, you get the idea.

Finally, the day arrived. I impatiently filled the day with gardening and teaching Ryder his thinking skills flashcards. The whole day seemed to just drag by. When Caleb finally got home from school, Ryder was already gone on his playdate (and hopefully behaving!)

As off-handedly as I could, I asked Caleb to put away his school stuff, that we had an errand to run. He complied, and Jared, Caleb and I piled into the van. I had already talked to the driver, and we were going to take a roundabout way to get to the restaurant instead of going straight there. Finally, we passed the turn-off that led towards the next town (the closest shopping areas to where we lived, and where we usually ran any errands). I saw Caleb’s eyes suddenly sharpen.

“Hey, Mom? Why are we going this way?” he asked, suddenly curious.

He knows! Or, at least suspects! My brain yelled at me. As calmly as I could, I answered, “You’ll see.” I saw Jared hiding a little smile and I silently willed him to keep it under wraps as much as possible.

After what seemed like forever, the car pulled into the restaurant. I noticed that they had updated the sign to read “Traveler’s Bar And Grille” in honor of our family’s rebuilding the town, and I wondered at the amount of people that were actually here. Considering our house was the only house in town… there seemed to be a lot of people here. I wondered if Jared had said something to someone about us coming here today.

“Mom??” Caleb exclaimed.

“Come, on, son.” I said, “Happy Birthday!”

Caleb bounded out of the van, and I saw the driver grinning at my son’s excitement. We hardly ever came to the restaurant, so being here was a big deal. I climbed out, and approached the host station.

“Travelers, party of 3.” I told the host, and he smiled, pulling out menus. “No need for those. Just bring us a big Pepperoni Pizza and some Creme Sodas.”

Caleb’s eyes widened as I mentioned his favorites, and he barely seemed to be able to contain himself in his excitement.

“Right this way.” the man said, and the three of us followed him. I noticed a lot of the restaurant’s patrons eyeing us curiously.

We sat at our table, and a grey-haired man and woman approached us.

“Hello, Travelers! We wanted to be a part of this special day, too, and congratulate Caleb. He’s grown so much lately. High School starts tomorrow, right, Caleb?” the man said.

Caleb answered before I could even think of a reply. “Yes! I’m so excited to meet my new teachers!” he said.

“I’m sure they’re all excited to meet such an important young man.” said the woman. “Your family’s heroism for this town has not gone unnoticed.”

“I’m sorry.. I don’t recognize the two of you.” I broke in.. wondering why these people seemed to be trying to join in our private celebration.

“Oh, dear. In our excitement to finally meet Caleb, we must have forgotten to introduce ourselves,” said the man, “We’re from the town government who holds your contract. We heard you and your family were coming to celebrate Caleb’s birthday, and we couldn’t resist coming to meet you ourselves.”

“Excuse me…” the waitress said. “Just the pizza and the creme sodas for ya’ll??”

“Oh, please sign us up for a big confetti birthday cake, too.” I said, smiling widely at Caleb.

“Really, Mom? A big cake.. just for us?!” he crowed, practically bouncing out of his chair in his excitement.

“Of course!” I replied, “It is an important celebration in honor of you today, after all.”

The conversation continued, until our food finally arrived (I had noticed a big crash nearby as what seemed to be the food meant for us fell on the floor and the kitchen staff had to start all over. I felt bad for them, but maybe that waitress should have been more careful!) I tried to drop hints that we had planned this to be a private celebration, but the man and the woman seemed oblivious, and I didn’t really want to be rude.. so they stayed.

“Hold on, can I please take a photo of you guys, with my phone, just to show I actually got to meet you?!” the woman said.

“I’ll duck out of the way… ” said the man, and, strangely, he proceeded to do just that.

“Thanks so much! It was great to finally meet such a famous family!” the woman said, and left with a pointed look at her companion. Apparently he either didn’t see it or he ignored it.. because right by us is where he stayed, talking up a storm about how lucky the town was that I had moved in and raised my family right here, building the first house back into this poor town. Caleb seemed to drink the attention right up, talking back animatedly, discussing how he was planning to build the best house they’d ever seen. They were little-kid ideas, but his heart was certainly in the right place. The man treated Caleb like a hero, and Caleb clearly noticed.

As the pizza and the Creme Sodas disappeared, I noticed the waitresses gathering with a big blue cake. Smiling, I nodded at them, and they brought the cake over. Confetti and streamers and horn-blowing accompanied what seemed like the entire restaurant’s cheers. We all sang Happy Birthday, and Caleb got ready to blow out the candles.

“Make a wish, honey!” I reminded him, and he paused just long enough to do just that. Internally, I wondered what he’d wished for. It was bad luck to tell, of course, but I still wished I knew. Knowing his most private of dreams would certainly be helpful… that way I could do whatever I could to help it happen. I assume most parents think the same way about their kids.

And then .. the moment was over. Caleb was a teenager. The whole restaurant cheered, and Caleb hurried to pull the extinguished candles out of the cake. The waitress handed us a big knife to cut up the cake, and people slowly returned to their own meals. All but that man. I wondered if he planned to stay the entire time we were here.

Since Caleb was “big” now, I let him cut the cake when he asked to, chuckling to myself at the huge piece he cut for himself.

“Are you sure you’re hungry enough for all that?” I asked him, trying not to burst out laughing.

“Of course I am, Mom!” Caleb answered. “Watch this!”

… And he proceeded to shovel the whole thing into his mouth, barely chewing each bite before the next one disappeared. Indeed, most of the cake went the way of this piece, and we had only a small fraction of the cake leftover to take home.

“I’ll save the rest for Ryder.” Caleb said, and finished off his fourth creme soda. “Ready to go, Mom? I’m sure Ryder is missing us!”

I smiled at the care Caleb showed for his younger brother, and Jared and I finished off our (much smaller) pieces of cake and prepared to leave.

“Sure thing, honey. The van should still be waiting for us, we can go pick him up now.”

We said our goodbyes to the strange government man, and to several other restaurant patrons who wanted to have their picture taken with Caleb, and we headed home into the approaching dusk.

Once home, Caleb put the cake in the fridge and went to take his bedtime bath… then, exhausted from a long day, he tucked himself into bed.

Even Ryder seemed ready for bed, too, and before I even had a chance to read him his customary story, he was sound asleep. I tucked both boys in and switched off the lights.

“So, what do you think, Jared? Was that a success, or what?” I asked as my husband and I got ready for bed.

“I think we can call it, that, yes.” he said, laughing. “I wonder what that man was thinking. He certainly had a lot to say, didn’t he??”

“That he did. I’m glad we’re planning to stay home for Ryder’s birthday in a few days. That was a lot of extra attention we got!”

“Agreed.” Jared replied, and we curled up into bed.

I slowly drifted off to sleep, wondering again what Caleb might have wished for so seriously before blowing out his candles…. and trying not to worry about Ryder growing up too soon, trying to be just like his big brother. You know, parent things. The stuff we all wonder as our children grow. … Maybe I’d bake Ryder a pink cake, since that was his favorite color, it seemed… Another day complete.. and a milestone reached for Caleb. High School ahead….

My thoughts droned on.. until finally sleep took me.

…. To be continued.

Author’s Note: I have no idea who those sims were who decided to join the Traveler’s celebration, but I felt the need to weave what seemed like paparazzi into the story. That man just never did go away, although most of the rest of the people they attracted did. I took my writing cues from the screenshots I had, and just wrote what came to mind. And – yes, I’m random-rolling every trait for this story.. and Caleb really did roll Glutton to go with his Outgoing from when he rolled his child trait. He also rolled the Party Animal aspiration.. which of course isn’t going to be worked on because he’s unplayable until he grows up, but it gives him the “Gregarious” trait.

Time to Talk < | > The Longest Days

A Surprise For Kiera < | > A Birthday For Caleb

Every day in parenting is an adventure.. and a lot of work, too. Some days it seemed too much work, but I always felt rewarded at the end of the day, no matter how tired I was.

Just yesterday, I spent all day harvesting our Chrysanthemums for sale at the farmer’s market in town, cleaning and repairing the bathroom, and spending time teaching Ryder the skills he will need as he grows.

Unfortunately, all of this work didn’t distract my mind from a dawning realization. With high school starting in a few days, it was time for Caleb to learn about his inheritance. I didn’t want to just spring it on him, I wanted him to be able to be prepared for the difficulties he would face. I didn’t know for sure what the contract on him would require (other than building the house, of course) – but I did know that it wouldn’t be easy. It certainly hadn’t been easy for me!

So.. with a heavy heart, I worked my way through Sunday’s chores, and planned to talk to Caleb before bed. Jared agreed to help out with Ryder so Caleb and I could have our talk outside on what I considered “my” bench.

Dinner was a quiet affair, and even Caleb seemed subdued, like he knew something was coming.

After dinner, I took his hand and led him out to the bench.

“I have a story to tell you, Caleb. It’s a good story, but one I’ve never told you before because you just weren’t big enough to understand. It starts out sad but gets so very much better.”

I could see Caleb’s shining green eyes watching me in the approaching dusk.

“You see.. when I was your age, my mother passed away very suddenly. Dad didn’t cope very well, and he became very distant and withdrawn. I had school, and my friends.. but I never really felt that I “had” my dad anymore. I went through high school almost on auto-pilot. I never really sat down and thought about what I wanted out of life. Somehow, I let everything just pass me by until it was too late. Just before I graduated, Dad died, too. I’m sure he felt that, since I was going to be grown up and move on with my life, that he had nothing left to live for. It just wasn’t true. I missed the dad I’d had in my childhood.. and I wished I had had the guts to say so while he was still alive.”

Caleb’s eyes had clouded and a frown touched his mouth.

“I tell you that.. to try and show you how hopeless I felt at the time. Nothing had gone right in my life for what seemed like a very long time. Then, everything changed. One night, while sitting around in the apartment I could no longer afford to live in, I saw a news featurette about a government program in Simsville. Apparently, the entire town had been decimated by tornadoes and flash flooding. Everyone who lived there had been forced to re-locate. The only thing left standing was a small restaurant.. almost like a beacon of hope. The town government had decided to try to sponsor people to move back in. They would provide the land and the contractors if someone would be willing to take the gamble on moving into what was, almost literally.. a ghost town. Since I had nothing to my name except my clothes and my high school diploma.. I felt that this could be a new start for me. Someplace fresh.. where people wouldn’t look at me with pity, knowing what had happened to my family.”

“So you moved?” Caleb broke into the story.

“Yes. I moved. Just me, the bits of survival gear the company gave me, a cellphone and a packet of information also from them.. and my suitcase. When I got here, all that there was was this bench, that mailbox.. and me.”

Caleb’s face had lit up. “What an adventure!” he crowed.

“Yes, it was that. I learned to fish, and garden, and finally, to dream. I built this house and this family from those moments out here in the desert, and I would do it again. But here’s where you come into the story.”

Sighing deeply, I braced myself for the fact that he might not be glad to get the same chance I had gotten. I thought to the tattered packet of information I had brought with me to this land and had kept in the back of my dresser all these years. There would be one of those waiting for Caleb, too. And it was time for me to find out whether he was willing to carry the dream forward.

“Caleb… this house was not built for you. Your destiny lies in building your own house, in taking the plunge to your own adventure.”

He merely looked confused, and I felt like I was completely flubbing the whole talk. Sighing again.. I tried to start over.

“You see, there’s a packet of information – a contract – waiting for you, as my firstborn. When you graduate high school, you are to move out like I did, following the guidelines in your information packet, and build your dream. Your firstborn will do the same thing.”

“Ewww.. kids. That means I have to find a girl, right mom?”

I laughed.

“Yes, I suppose it does. But you have a good many years before that happens. What do you think?”

“I think it’s awesome! I like being outdoors, and maybe you can start teaching me about the gardening and fishing, right? Do you think I could live here, like across the street? That would be way cool.”

I slowly let out the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“Well, yes, I suppose I could start teaching you those things. At least the basics. And – Caleb, I have no idea where the land that’s meant for you is. There are other neighborhoods that need houses in them, too. One that I know of is as green as this place is brown. There’s also a city.. and even rumors of a dark place.. with monsters.”

Caleb’s eyes lit up at that comment… “Monsters?!? Really? Could we go see them??”

Again, I had to laugh.

“No, I don’t think it’s the type of place you go to visit. I’m just saying… there’s more in this town than just this deserted street. Your land could be anywhere. But the best part is that it will be yours alone. Yours to dream up a house, yours to raise your family on. I made this choice to come here, knowing that the legacy I leave you with is a good one. You have a chance.. one that I thought I would never have.. but that, unbelievably, I was given. I don’t know what happens should you choose not to take the packet of information, but I doubt it’s a good thing.”

Concerned, I watched Caleb’s face. He thought about it for a long moment.

“Mom, I don’t know why I would be so silly as to not take it. I’ve heard rumors all the time in school about how you’re the hero this town was looking for. How nobody else was brave enough or crazy enough to try to build a house here.. but you did it. This is the best house, ever. Especially my monkey bars. You should be proud. I know I am! I don’t know how I’ll build a house like you did. But I do know that I’ll try. Wherever my land is.. ” he trailed off, watching my worried face.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I love a good adventure, and that’s what this is. Wait until my classmates hear that I get to build a house just like you!” He paused for a moment, then glanced towards the house.

“But…” He paused, thought for another moment, and then continued, “How come Ryder doesn’t get to build a house?” he asked, looking down.

“Because someone has to take care of this house.” I replied. “Although, if he chooses, he could take one of those contracts, too, I suppose. As far as I know, they never found anyone else to help build this town. This house could be sold just as easily for someone else to come live in… if anyone still wants to move back here.”

He thought about it, then said, “Well, that makes sense. I hope Ryder stays here. It would be cool to have him as a neighbor, I think, instead of some other smelly sim.” Caleb grinned at the thought. “When Ryder gets bigger, can I be the one to tell him he has to take care of this house? .. And tell him the story of you fishing and gardening your way to building it?”

I looked at him in surprise, “If you want to. I suppose you could be the one to tell him. But he doesn’t have to stay here, you know.”

“I know, Mom. But I want him to. Maybe if I asked nicely. Do you think?”

Again, I chuckled. The things this child came up with….

“Yes, I think if you asked he might stay. Just remember, he’s allowed to make his own choice just like you are. I’ll support you two no matter what you two decide.”

“There’s nothing to decide for me. I’m going to get my own adventure! And there might even be monsters!! Wait until I tell my friends…”

Quickly, before he could run off, I caught him into a big hug. He hugged me back, then squirmed away.

“I have to get ready for bed, Mom.” He cocked his head, listening to crying coming from our house. “And I think Ryder needs a bedtime story. I’ve already had mine!”

With a grin, he took off for the house.

I sat there for a while longer, just watching the moon rise. Then, hearing Ryder crying again, I got up to get back to the business of mothering. That had gone well… maybe too well. Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned the monsters. Laughing briefly, I headed back into the house to read my youngest son to sleep.

To Be Continued…

A Surprise For Kiera < | > A Birthday For Caleb

Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch One Rules

The one thing I’ve noticed as I’ve play-tested along, is that there is a big difference between “Normal” and “Extreme” .. you wouldn’t think so, but there is. Hard to explain. I think I like the easiness of normal, but the freedom to build in extreme. Guess I like both, then. LOL. Anyway. Here we go. Of note before we start, though… I’m going to do this all in one shot so I don’t have to shoot a second cover photo. Yep. Laziness at it’s best.

My Sim for this go-round is Joel Ritchie – Creative, Romantic, Cheerful and started with the “City Native” so he gets a bonus for being on his “home turf”. The aspiration was switched once I got in game to the writing aspiration.

I started out talking up the ladies that I could find in the area – since there’s no collectibles to start with usually. They’ll spawn eventually. I found a couple of prospective partners, but was still holding out for possibly finding a better mate. Eventually I found Ulrike Faust – Perfectionist, Creative, Art Lover and working as a painter. When I saw her traits combined with her job I knew I was set. Befriended her and moved her in ASAP. Only level 2 in her career, but already a level 4 in painting. NICE! Bonus: I’ve never played her before so she’s pretty much all new to me.

With her painting, him collecting (and selling paintings from the square when I remembered to), I soon had at least the basics. For me, the basics included a computer for Joel and an easel for Ulrike. Also: a bed, a cooler, and a shower/sink/toilet. Walls took another day or so.

He seems happy, at least.

It took another couple days to get married to her.. but that was okay. Lots of time was spent leveling Joel’s writing skill. I got him to level three before writing a book – I’ve never seen a children’s book that sold well from the early levels. I also made a strategic decision not to publish anything until I hit level five writing so I could sell to publisher instead of self-publishing. Another decision I keep re-thinking is not getting him a job. For now, he’s doing his “work” from home.

Chatting with the Mrs. before she goes to work.

Last minute painting before popping the easel into household inventory as well as the inspiring wall art from her work. I’ll trade them for a TV and the value will still be there. More pic spam: (I tried to make this apartment look different from the last attempts, but there’s only so much you can do in this shell, in my opinion.)

And lastly: what it looks like without the easel and artwork: (Ulrike looks confused… haha)

Well, that was fast. Time to move!

Put down the wall by the balcony so they’d actually be living in a real room indoors. Added the door that looked like it best matched the windows I can’t change. Then the initial furniture purchases. Again, I had enough to purchase the basics. Looks a bit like lawn living… but they’ll be fine. It feels a bit like I’m living in a palace compared to the last dump – despite the fact that it’s just as crappy an apartment.

The next day, after Ulrike’s job, I send her off to the museum for her aspiration (looking at paintings at the museum). That doesn’t take to long, so I send her back home, and put her back to painting.

A Masterpiece later, I have enough money to start painting/flooring. For some reason I felt the need to do that before buying new stuff or even walls. I went with a bright, cheerful paint job.. although I do change the second bedroom’s flooring before I’m done.

More skilling and days at the job for Ulrike later, I am able to afford the rest of the walls, and some columns in the kitchen. I like the way it’s turning out.

Both of them in the little “inspiration nook” in the hallway. Still quite a bit of work to do left on the apartment before we’re done… but it’s getting there.

“Hey honey? I’m pregnant!” .. “Already? Guess we better upgrade our apartment!” (Okay, so it’s not the way the conversation went. But in the next day and a half I had everything needed for this apartment, blithely forgot to take screenshots and moved them to the next one.)

Had to go back to this apartment in build mode to get the pictures I forgot.. here’s the walls cutaway.

..The deck

.. And walls up. It’s incredibly hard to get pictures inside the apartment due to the size. (Perhaps why I abandoned the effort originally) .. So I gave up trying and just used these overall shots.

Well, that was fast.

A very pregnant and mostly unclothed Ulrike (I’m constantly telling her to put some clothes on.. LOL) standing outside their new lawn-living arrangement. I had a little bit of an idea of how to make this one differently, so I set the furniture out in their “correct” spots.

Here’s the walls I finally built. The bathroom and the kitchen got their paint before I ran out of funds again.

Ulrike.. again half naked.. and introducing us to Athena. I think this will be their only nooboo, so I hope she’s at least good looking. But then.. when are toddlers NOT adorable??

The little family. Trying to earn money so they can paint the walls.

Oohh. I see paint. In more ways than one!

Ulrike gets level 10 painting.

.. Just another day as a stay at home dad and writer.

Working on yet another book…

Wow.. his skills went by so quick! That home studio trait is really nice!

A shot of the hallway from the living room. You can see the kitchen to the left and the entry way at the far end.

The dining area.

Somehow the best shot I could get of the kitchen/dining area was through the window.

Master Bedroom.

Kid’s room.. never used. I moved them when Athena was still a baby to see how moving with a baby worked.

Finished apartment. I like the way it turned out!

For some reason, halfway through this house, the “Home Studio” trait disappeared so I had to put it back. It’s a nice one to have, though. I may have to add it to the next apartment.

Moved into the next apartment just in time. Meet Athena!

Lawn living quality in a great big apartment. Building the upper floor was one of my priorities, right after buying the very basics for each sim. I guess I could have splurged and gotten them “better” basics instead of building the upstairs, but I wanted to get an idea of where everything was going to go in the house. I specifically wanted it to look different from the way EA builds it, but keep the balcony overlooking the “Great View” windows.

Off to sleep little one. Daddy has some cleanup around the house to do, it seems.

The kitchen coming together. Yes, I’ve decided to do a purple/pink theme to the house. Why? To see if I can, of course!

Athena, the independent, teaching herself on the blocks in her newly-walled-in-room. No paint yet, but that will come.

The view from the studio. I had to put it in the same spot I stuck the office in my “normal” play-through just because the view is so awesome. The studio is open to the upstairs, though, and isn’t walled off, so that’s something new.

Time for bed again. Mommy takes a break from painting now that the apartment is starting to come together.

See? It’s turning out really well. And looking like I’ll have the house done WAY before Athena grows up. Having her earlier didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

Play time with mommy on one of her days “off” of work.

More pics of the balcony down to the living room and studio. I really like the way the house turned out, even if the decor is rather “loud”.

The upstairs. Nice and bright, and fits with the rest of the house. Wait ’til you see the way the kitchen/dining turned out!

Athena, playing on her own again. She seems to really like it.

While Mom and Dad work in the studio.

Awww.. nap time! Toddlers are so cute!

The kitchen.

Joel ages up.. on the same day as Athena is due to age up. Good thing you can re-use cake!

Go Athena!

Awww!

Athena’s new “big girl” room. I used a lot of the kid’s stuff pack for this, because it’s still very new to me. And yes, I remembered the no monster lamp next to her bed!

The dining area, looking from the kitchen.

The repairs are never ending. I suppose I could just replace them.. but then what would poor Joel do all day?

Working on her Creative Aspiration

Mommy’s birthday.

Time to put that violin down..

She finished the aspiration! Onto Whiz Kid.

Playing with mom for those chess games.

Since I’ve been over 40k in house value for a while now… I built a karaoke bar. Not a very good one, mind you.. but it’s built. And I send Joel and Ulrike to check it out one night. (They’re playing the LLama game back in the corner there…)

And look who’s home with a weird outfit?

Grats on the A there, Athena…

..Which finishes up Whiz Kid. Now to do Rambunctious Scamp.

Practicing typing at her pink computer.

While mom and dad do what they do basically every day.. paint and write.

Looking from the studio towards the kitchen…

From front door past dining into the kitchen..

.. And from dining towards the living room.

The upstairs balcony outside the bedrooms.

Third aspiration complete.. and just in time, too.

Happy birthday, Athena!

What is up with the short haired girl teens in my game. Second one in a row!  Oh well, at least she’s got decent clothes. 🙂

Yup, I couldn’t handle the hair. Changed it to a ponytail to match the style of her clothes.

Sitting reading in the living room. Since she’s got the nerd brain aspiration as a teenager, she had to read three books.. this is the second.

Then we have to upgrade something (or repair it) and nothing was broken for a change… so she upgrades a toilet. Which, contrary to EA saying it helps it break less.. it still breaks just as much afterwards.

Oh, Athena, that looks so dangerous. But she lives.

New table centerpiece to do the homework with.

Both Joel and Ulrike finish their aspirations.

And Athena gets an A.

More work on handiness. At about this point, I realize she won’t be able to finish nerd brain aspiration, either.. but that’s ok, I wanted quick learner on her anyway. (Can’t own the rocket ship in an apartment. Don’t worry. I tried.)

Might as well learn to cook now.. going to need it later. As with my normal play-through, I’m trying not to skill the things she’ll need in the next Switch in this household, so as to make it a bit harder and more accurate for testing.

Such a colorful kitchen.. wonder who the cake’s for?

Oh yeah, she got this, too. Must have been a good cake.

.. Dad. Poor Joel and the last of his adulthood.

Aches and pains await!

More learning to cook..

Man looking through these pictures, all I see is that a lot of things break in this house.

See?

And again.

Ulrike strutting..

Deservedly so. Nice job on the maxed career!

Also.. wow nice masterpiece. No wonder they’re rich.

Joel’s royalties check comes in. He gets that every day. And yes, that’s how much cash they have on hand.

Ulrike’s turn.

She doesn’t seem pleased with the aging.

Before I show the final age-up… the final stats for everyone:

The house value:

And the final funds:

Hefty chunk of change there. The closest I’ve ever gotten in one generation to getting the Rosebud achievement. (Although it might have been a little closer on my house 6 drifter, if you count how much was spent on the house..)

Good bye to teenager-hood! She even made her own cake. What a good girl. See you in Switch Two, Athena!

Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch One Rules
On to Switch Two

House 007 Contestant Bios < | > House 007 Part One Day 2

Today’s goals:

House 007 Part One Day 1: (Meet N' Greet)
Before 4pm: Perform one Flirty interaction with each Contestant
4 PM: Schedule a party
11 PM: Give a rose to the contestant with the highest relationship
12 PM: Bedtime
Kick out one contender (lowest score)

Gameplay is to follow Ariana’s whims and wishes.. so this should be interesting. Not a game play style I’m very good at. Before doing anything else, I pause, set up the game options, and change a few things in the house (double beds to single beds, adding a sprinkler system.. you know, the important things.) Shown here:

Also, I locked the “extra master bedroom” (the greenish one at the left of the above screenshot) and replaced the office archway/doors with actual doors that I could lock so the guys don’t all head off and do their own thing. After another save and backup just to be safe.. We’re off.

The day for Ariana and her contestants starts at 8:30 AM (I was very excited about getting her aged so she had called off school for the day)… so I have a lot of time to be following her around and paying attention to her wishes. I foresee a lot of pausing the game so I don’t get overwhelmed.

She starts off wanting to play the violin (from being sad), wanting to talk to Vincent, and wanting to embrace someone. Hold on a minute there, sweetie.. you have to get to know them first before springing that on someone! I plan to do five friendly actions with each contestant and then the one flirt. Best laid plans and all that.

Trent was first, because he’s on the household bar first…. and he accepted all chats and the flirt! .. Which quickly made both of them flirty.

He seems pretty happy with himself. So, per her whims, I gave him an embrace – also accepted.

Sean was next, and happened to be standing in an awkward place right behind Vincent – making photo taking tough.. thanks, buddy.

All accepted, including the flirt.. now he’s flirty, too. LOL. And immediately, she wants to schedule a date. I think I’ll bypass that as I’m still working on getting everyone their flirt.

Thomas was next.. and was actually standing in an easier place to take pictures at. All accepted, no flirty this time though. (Apparently I missed the flirt photo.)

Vincent was next, and whim achieved to chat with him. Flirt accepted, both got flirty. This is going to be interesting… lol. Now she wants to kiss someone and watch romance TV… the kiss someone we’ll try… no option for it, though.. so perhaps not. (Another missed shot.)

After a quick potty break for poor Ariana, we search out Levi. He’s busy watching the fish on the other side of the house. All accepted, and another flirty sim in the house. haha.

Neil is busy hiding in bed because he chose to visit the family graveyard.. so he’ll get skipped for now.

On to Jeffrey. And he’s busy talking to a bunch of other guys.. so this could get awkward.. but somehow doesn’t.

Another flirty sim.

Time to chase down Neil. Who is still sad.

Tried consoling him about death.. which he was ok with.. and the first flirt turned down from any of the guys.

Both are now embarrassed, and it’s 3:21.. so I finished just in time. Since she’s still talking to Neil, I have her tell her self-deprecating joke that she wants to him.

With our extra time before the party, I have her hire a maid. And a gardener. It’s 3:57.. close enough.

Let’s party! I choose a costume party.. because I’ve never done one in sims, and it sounds like good fun.

All seven are set up as guests, Ariana the host. Hired the obvious caterer and mixologist.. and here goes nothing.

Haha! Hotdogs galore! (Ariana and three others, plus two clowns and two grim reapers.) I get rid of several impossible wants, and she’s back to wanting to flirt with Vincent.

First, we start with talking about costumes for the party. We’ll track him down in a minute.

Bonus… the Caterer is cute!

When we finally get down to the kitchen and Vincent, he accepts the flirt. Then she wants to tell a successful joke.. and since Sean’s right there in the conversation, he gets the joke.

Tada!

Thomas for some reason changes out of his costume, but I can still compliment him on it. One less hotdog in the house, I guess. Someone.. I don’t catch who.. sends her a blown kiss which she accepts.

And it’s officially the biggest conversation I’ve ever had in Sims. Jeffrey refuses a compliment on his costume.. so there goes that relationship. hehe.

And, right on cue.. the dishwasher breaks… so I replace it. (hey no stabbing guests with forks Ariana!)

She wants to become playful, so we work on that. Then a wish for a flirt goes awry and half the conversation turns flirty.. which, is understandably awkward.

I send Ariana to order the second Buffalo Wing Tea for the party.. and hope other people get drinks, too. (They do..)

Hey, you’re not supposed to be chatting with the help!

Mixologist showing off.

Party turns out to be .. bronze.

Thomas gets embarrassed by being caught dreaming big on the outside basketball court.. which I found really funny since it was the caterer that found him.

Scoring:

Trent 7 + 1 = 8
Vincent 6 = 6
Sean 5 + 2 = 7
Thomas 4 = 4
Neil 3 = 3
Levi 2 = 2
Jeffrey 1 + 1 = 2

Since there was a tie for last place (I honestly couldn’t tell you there was any difference in their relationship bars.. I made a tie breaker of who would accept a low level flirt. Jeffrey accepted…

Levi refused. Tie broken, Levi has to go home. At least I did have a clear winner: Trent.

I had to wake him up to give him his rose, though. He graciously accepted.. and I set about getting Ariana ready for bed since it was 12:14 by the time I managed to track Trent down for his rose. (He insisted on going all the way across the house.)

Ariana gratefully took another bathroom break and a shower, and was in bed just after 1 AM. Not a bad day!

However, it was time to evict Levi. Sad to see him go! I set him to unplayed and left him in household management, maybe I’ll see him walking by in game sometime!

House 007 Part One Day 1: (Meet N' Greet)
Before 4pm: Perform one Flirty interaction with each Contestant -
complete
4 PM: Schedule a party - complete
11 PM: Give a rose to the contestant with the highest relationship -
Vincent, complete
12 PM: Bedtime - complete
Kick out one contender.. Levi, complete.

When I went back in game, I had to laugh… Jeffrey felt the need to be the sim to kick out Levi from sleeping inappropriately.

Bye, Levi..

Bonus 2: Trace decided this would be a good time to haunt.

House 007 Contestant Bios < | > House 007 Part One Day 2

House 006 Chapter 5 < | > House 007 Part 1 Day 1

First stop – I would check the new goals.. but this house is all weird.. so for part 1.. the goal is as follows:

House 007 Part One:
Find your sim's true love.

Okay.  So I totally paraphrased. A lot. But…. Really? Really Vi? Oh boy. I have never attempted, read, or even considered doing a bachelor/bachelorette competition in sims.. and now I get to do just that. But I stink at making new sims. So I threw a little wrench into it. More on that in a moment. For right now.. as the picture above shows.. it’s going to be like herding chickens. Or cats. Whatever your preference is. And if I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, you’ll have to forgive me. If you look closely in the above shot, Ariana looks a bit terrified too. (Close-up here:)

Second stop – checking on where our heir from house 006 is:

Ariana Drifter, our new heir and the “lucky” bachelorette. I did take her on a run through CAS, her clothes just said “teenager” to me, and now it was time for her to be all grown up…

… And due to her good trait and autonomously donating to a charity that turned out to be bogus at the very end of the last house… she starts out Sad. Joy. Perfect. *laughs to self*

Third stop – What we’ve all been waiting for: The contestant Bios. (I elected to ask fellow drifters (and my daughter) to create my contestants for me. Remember me saying how bad I am at making random-unrandom sims? They always end up looking alike. So, here they are. I reserve my opinion on them, since the challenge is supposed to be unbiased!)

Trent Wallis – created by RainyDayz179

Sean McIntyre – by misfit091376

Thomas Cardwell – made by Vihisha!

Levi Barnes – by Illusie

Neil Rocher – by Illusie

Jeffrey Boyd – by Illusie

And Last, but not least:

Vincent Porter – made by my daughter, Alex

So.. there’s our contestants. It may be a couple days before I get going on the challenge, but I wanted to post these guys for everyone to see. It should be interesting, and I definitely have to read over the rules VERY carefully, I don’t want to mess anything up!

House 006 Chapter 5 < | > House 007 Part 1 Day 1

House 006 Chapter 4 < | > House 007 Contestant Bios

Checking on the goals:

House 006 Building Goals:
350,000 value home (8 beds, one of them a double minimum) -
I chose the extreme challenge and started with 0 simoleons. -
Complete
House 006 Generational Goals:
One sim to Level Mansion Baron Aspiration - Complete
Young adult heir - Teenage now
Other Info:
After Mansion Baron aspiration is achieved, build a night club
on the blue velvet lot in willow creek. -Complete

Again.. everything is done except the aging. So here we go!

Cole working on his Angler Ace aspiration. I don’t plan on finishing it, but it gives me something to do with him other than .. well.. nothing.

And here is where the theme for this post starts. Can you figure it out? No? Well, you will!

Gardening party.. for lack of anything else to have them do. It’s good skill points for Ariana, anyway.

Ariana eating.. by the pool? The pool nobody uses? .. No idea why she’s out there, but it made for a good picture.

Mika autonomously pruning the bonsai tree.

While upstairs, un-noticed by most of the household, Taylor breathes his last.

Somehow I missed getting a final shot of his stats.. so we’ll just have to say goodbye to Taylor without them.

Remember our little Ariana’s friend from last chapter? I even thought to invite her over!

They make such cute friends!

Mika helping out with homework. Because why not.

Our very first ghost. Sniff. So sad.

Mika!!!!  No! .. Well actually, I was kind of cheering for it, because I was tired of so many sims.. but still.. I’ll miss Mika.

She didn’t do too bad for herself.

Everyone comes to this funeral…

Not Jennie too! .. Right on top of Mika. Well, at least Grim was already here on the job.

One urn..

Two urns. I’m going to make this a haunted house yet. Perhaps they’ll all terrorize the festivities in house 7 part 1…

Jennie’s stats. You know, I should have remembered to take a picture of how much lifetime happiness points they had because most of them had a LOT of points left over.

Trace being the patsy for my curiosity about what happens when you put soap in the fountain and then play in it. (Not much.. but it entertained me.)

Grim’s drinking on the job. After that double funeral, I can’t blame him.

From the look on Kelsie’s face, I think she just figured out that with nearly glowing bars on Melany’s and Trace’s trait panel means she’ll be “raising” the teens on her own for a while.

Why the dark picture?

To celebrate the fourth member of this household to max a career. (For reference, the other two got to level 9 which is not too shabby.)

Cole runs into Grim again after school the next day. Figure out the theme yet? … ?

Kelsie trying to work off some of the pounds that being a chef has rightfully earned her… with Melany’s help. (Its keeps them out of trouble!)

…Trace? You’re not supposed to be next..

But he is. In the smallest room in the house. Thanks, Trace.

Of note: I took Melany’s final stats shot before I took Trace’s.. I add them in here.. you’ll see why later.

\

Trace’s final stats. Trace and Melany were the same age. Although Mel’s picture showed up first in the list? I certainly expected her to go first!

Ariana reading for her Renaissance Sim aspiration. She can’t get very far in it.. but maybe the quick skilling bonus will be helpful in her future?

Cole. Fishing again. But no Grim in sight. Least he found a pretty sim to fish with. Too bad she’s MUCH older.

Mika haunting on the first night she’s been gone. And see, Taylor’s back downstairs. What’s he off to break now?

This proves that ghosts can’t help but drink from the globe-hidden-drink-thing, either. It’s absolutely a Sim Magnet.

Oh look. A helpful ghost. At least one of them is!

Taylor.. crying over someone’s tombstone. At least he stopped breaking things. (Nope, it was just a break. He broke the hot tub three times that one night. And it was only three because I stopped fixing it after that until the next morning and he poofed away.)

See? Poofing. You come up with a better word for it. I dare you!

The end of Kelsie being regarded as the baby of the family. At least someone’s around for the kids. (Wait.. that’s two someone’s.  Melany seems to be sticking around, too.. even though her age bar is STILL full.)

Aw.. that’s putting on a brave face!

I invited Karla over again. They’re just so cute together as friends, I couldn’t help it. I had to let the story continue playing in my head.

The girls telling secrets.

And finally! Ariana has a REAL best friend. Her old one was her nanny from childhood. Eeks. I couldn’t let that stay, you know?

Mika’s back. Again.

But she’s being far less helpful this time. Don’t you know that drinks will go right through you, Mika??

Cole getting his quality TV time interrupted.

This childhood friend of Ariana’s was constantly asking to come over after school… so with stories ringing in my head.. hey maybe a future side love interest?? He’s a kind of interesting looking sim.. and I always am so monogamous with my Sim relationships.. maybe that could change?

.. Guess not. He seems more into Cole. Watch the eyes!

See?? I’m tellin’ you, he’s into Cole. So much for Ariana’s possibly cheating heart.  LOL.

Cole.. forever alone.. with his fish. Or not fish.. you have 8 skill WHY are you catching weeds?  .. Sims logic.

The cousins spending some “quality” time together.

Ah Crap. Taylor’s back.

Wait.. he’s behaving this time??

I love this shot. But seriously. Who did you steal you ungrateful aliens?!? Because this is totally the last night in this household.. and someone get’s abducted. I laughed SO hard.

..Thanks for bringing Kelsie back!

Oh so it’s Mika that’s going to cause trouble?

Kelsie heading to bed while Mika heads.. to..

.. flirtyville? You know, Mika, you COULD clean up that plate..

… instead of haunting the bonsai tree.

Cole gets to age up first….

And our heir has made it to young adult. <<Applause>>

Cole’s final trait panel

And Kelsie’s.

A smile from our heir to finish the post off….

And that’s our final family. WHY Melany survived.. I don’t know. I have to put it to her healthy physical habits.. I guess?  I didn’t think it could make them live almost a WEEK EXTRA!! Also of note in the above picture.. the final funds the family has. WHAT THE HECK. Really. Why was I so worried about not making 350k for the house. *blush* Silly me. I guess we made it, huh?

And.. since the house has been seen in SO many pictures, I’m not going to post  the individual room shots. I’ll post two overhead shots of the layout, as follows:

I think it turned out rather well. Next up.. House 007!

House 006 Chapter 4 < | > House 007 Contestant Bios

Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch One Rules
Back to Part One | On To Switch Two Part 1

As you can see from above.. the whole family has been spending time skilling.

Well.. all except for Owen. He’s still growing.

Owen all toddler-ified. Isn’t he adorable? I just love this family!

She looks like she’s got a good idea..

.. But what she’s really got is her first child aspiration complete. I set her on the path of the mental one next.

More family Skilling time. Iris and Salim are working on her mental aspiration.

Bedtime for the kids!

Breakfast and TV before school.

Iris really helps out around the house. I had a maid for a while, but it seems glitched. He spent most his time just standing around in everyone’s way. I finally fired him.

Next part of the Whiz Kid aspiration…. gotta get those guaranteed focused homework completions.

Super Mom is at it again. She’s always working on toddler skills.

Uh oh.. why did I make the kid’s bedroom bigger?

An empty bassinet.. but not for long…!

Hey honey.. I’m pregnant again.

He doesn’t look pleased.

But.. he comes around and applauds the decision.

A wide screen shot of the open-plan dining room.

Iris, finishing up her second aspiration. Now she’s an A student. Way to go, Iris!

Owen is so cute! Squee!

This pregnancy is much harder on Aspen for some reason. So sorry, girl.

One last squishing of the dragon.

And Owen grows up just in time!

…What is it with that PJ shirt?  Both kids have it.

Meet Griffin!!

Owen comes home from school all angry. Wide shot to show the entrance-way.. I like the way it looks.

I’m not sure why Aspen look so worried at Griffin growing up.

This couple makes the cutest kids, I swear.

Look.. more paint missing on the outside of an EA apartment. So annoying.

Owen gets his “A” for his Whiz Kid aspiration.

Iris ages up. Somehow I missed getting a picture of her right after aging.

Mr Grumpy Pants is home again..

Here’s Iris as all three of them are studying. Salim is writing in a Book of Life.

Oh, yeah.. at some point Salim got this from his writing income.

Which I noticed because he aged to elder.. yes I made him a pink cake. LOL

I like Iris’ PJs much better than her everyday wear.

Griffin and Mama playing.  So cute!

Owen playing chess by himself.

Way to go Owen!

Cutie having Chili for breakfast.

More homework to be done…

And time for little Griffin to age up…

What a cutie!

Here he is working on his Physical skill (Motor?) .. since we don’t exactly have room for a monkey bars.

I love this “watching movies” thing. It gives them fun while not leaving them doing it forever.

There really is a gorgeous view from the office…

Mom talking to her two little boys. (Showing that at least Griffin doesn’t have the same PJ’s as the last two have had!)

This is what Aspen does when the kids are at school. I could have had another toddler to keep her busy, but I decided three kids was enough.

And this is what Salim does. I think, actually, this was one of the last books I made him write. In the end, he was making nearly 11k per day just from writing royalties.

… He may be focused from playing chess.. but once AGAIN.. he came home angry!

The boys eating dinner. For some reason, I seem to take a lot of pictures in this eating nook. I guess I just like the way it looks.

Owen ages up…

… not so cute anymore. And what’s up with the female voice?! Man I hate that bug.

Breakfast at Nash house.

While the kids are gone to school, Aspen does her final age-up.

I think she aged very well. 🙂

These two are always sneaking off to do this sort of stuff. It’s kinda cute.. especially since they’ve pretty much run out of stuff to do while the kids are at school.

Family traffic jam in the upstairs skill area.

Breakfast. And, for a change, everyone in the same place for once.

\

Just had to throw this in here. Aspen met him the first day I played her. He’s been calling EVERY DAY to ask her to do something or other (often a date) ever since. I was expecting them to stop when he finally died. No such luck. She’s now getting texted by a ghost. *headdesk*

All the kids heading off to school at once.

Way to go, Griffin!

Salim calling to retire. I decided to let him do that for his last couple days of life. Notice the trash chute.. he called the landlord right after.

And even though we barely know the lady, she came over and fixed it right away. (Forgive the walls down, they were too close to the door for a wall up shot)

Way to go Aspen. She barely tried on this skill, only cooking what the family needed to always have the fridge stocked.

… Now it’s Griffin?

…See? This is the next day.

The day before Iris ages up. She’s going to be stuck starting with a Sad mood for the next challenge.

On a whim, I try to have Aspen demand to have Salim live another day.

.. And it WORKS?!

.. He immediately goes to have a snack. Lazy tubby sim that he is.

Owen chatting up Grim before he leaves….

Everyone’s final stats. If I missed showing that an aspiration was completed, you’ll see it here.

Final house value:

Some random house photos:

Since I forgot to show how much money they had before I went to household management.. this shows it instead. They certainly weren’t hurting for cash!  

And finishing up Switch One – the final age-up:

See you in the next switch!

Back to Part One | On To Switch Two Part 1