Main Apartment Switch Rules | Switch One Rules

Once again, I have a bunch of pictures of the apartments I came up with and the sims I was playing. So here we go:

My tester is Aspen Nash, and she wants to be a fisher-woman… so I expect to be spending a lot of time away from the home. Since I’m on Normal difficulty, travel to the other city lots isn’t restricted and I plan to take full advantage of that. My first trip was to the park before poor Aspen even had a chance to look at her new, empty, apartment. Probably for the best – it looks pretty depressing in there. Turns out I found some really nice frogs, and spent a lot of time fishing for very few catches.. but it’s always like that at the beginning. (Why did I choose fishing? – I wanted to prove it was possible to use fishing as a good money earner!) She spent her first few days at the park earning money until I had a nice little nest egg to come home and at least furnish the basics for her. I ended up rotating between coming home and “recharging” and spending time in fishing locations. Pretty soon, the apartment was ready to move on, I chose not to take three items, but I did elect to carry my two frogs per person. (That rule has since been outlawed.) The apartment is a bit drab, but what do you want for a starter worth 8-10k?

I finished the first apartment much faster on normal than on my last play test on extreme, so things are looking good for this little family. I also moved in a husband at some point during apartment one. He is a writer, which is really good for making money (and the main reason I chose that townie to move in.)

Now, I start rotating between home and fishing, allowing hubby some time to write at his new computer, and fishing while he’s working. It seems to be working out pretty well. No guesses on how I’ll fare when it’s time for them to have a kid!

I furnished the second bedroom for a toddler, but no toddler is in sight at the moment. I will be moving before it’s time to have a kid.

Notice she already completed the fishing aspiration. I’ve NEVER done it that fast.. it’s crazy how fast she was catching fish. The last fish I ended up needing was the catfish, and he’s usually really easy. The challenge is moving right along, those sturgeon really sell well and I’ve been pretty lucky getting a few of them each time I visit Sylvan Glade.

Also: here’s hubby’s info just because:

I move out with 1500 or so in funds, and into the third apartment. I will be having the heir here, so I’m glad it’s a nice big place. (Or at least it seems big after the first one.) I have about 10k to spend after moving in … So there’s an interesting wall I decide to delete.

Literally.. a wall with a door in it when you can walk around it. Silly EA. I also find a spot they forgot to paint right outside the apartment’s front door. My OCD really hates this. LOL

The funds I have give me enough for a bed, a bathroom, the step up from the basic kitchen, a basic “study” (Computer, desk, chair. hey. It’s a study if you call it one, right?), a dining room (or at least, table and chairs), and a living room with a couch and a TV. One step up from lawn living, I guess. I’m left with 24 bucks. Guess it’s time to get back to work, kids. *grin*

That’s how it started, at least. I went with a very green theme and picked Spa Day furniture. I think it turned out really nice!

Here’s where I decide to start taking more pictures… more for me than you guys.. but whatever works, right?

For money, Salim does his work and his writing, Aspen and I are off to Sylvan Glade.

Aww Aspen it can’t be THAT bad. (A moodlet solver to fish for longer without going home.) After catching a record number of sturgeon, we head back home and celebrate by trying for a baby.

First try didn’t take.. but the second one did! Yay for nooboo on the way.

With the rest of the money we made, I finish furnishing the apartment in record time and move them out to the last apartment.

Finished apartment pictures:

I took this next shot after moving, in manage worlds, proving that the apartments are staying furnished after I leave them.

On to the last apartment. With the extra I had saved I had enough .. well, so that things were better than lawn living. I also moved a few walls around and did some painting. Note that the beige change shows up after my daughter said it looked bad and over-rode my choice to a dark blue. I ended up liking it and leaving it.

Practically no lights, and almost nothing in furniture. Since it’s the middle of the night I send them to bed. Bright and early the next morning it’s back to the grind.

Salim writing..

Watching TV…

Aspen cooking.. and generally being miserable about being pregnant.

They’re not kidding about the “Great View” lot trait. It really is a great view from up here. I decide that the windows are going to be uncovered except for in the bathrooms.. because .. yeah, it’s gorgeous.

Baby time! (At this point I’m chanting “please not twins please not twins” and hubby said, nope. Triplets. … thanks.)

Turns out it’s just Iris.

Cuteness overload!!

Daddy actually getting in some parenting time. Since he’s turned into the primary bread winner, Aspen is now mostly a stay at home mom.. which works out okay now that Salim is really bringing in good money from his books.

Aww.. ! I didn’t know the moms could play with the toddlers!

All this staying home is starting to put on the pounds. I decide to make her run some of it off. (My sims always seem to end up tubby. I keep them well fed. LOL)

Iris is nearing childhood, and I’m a bit bored since the house value is complete.. so I have them try for baby again. Success!

Some quality time with Dad for Iris.

I’ve been having Aspen work on the pen pal postcard collection, and just about every day the mailbox is stuffed full of postcards to sell. The mailman must be really tired of it by now.

Meet Owen!

Right after having the baby.. Iris needs aging up. No more toddler cutie!

Wow.. she’s going to be a knockout. I think I love her already!

I almost forgot poor Aspen’s birthday.. Seriously she was probably going to age up without cake at any moment by the time I finally finished making her cake and hurriedly told her to “make a wish”. She’s now a full-fledged adult.

On to Part 2

The Apartment Switch Challenge Open For Testers

Today, I went ahead and published the first Switch for the Apartment Switch Challenge. It’s now also linked from my blog, at the left hand menu above the calendar. It’s officially open for a public testing phase… feel free to read the rules and dive right in.

If you’re playing it, I’d love to hear about it. Comment here or message me as IllusoryThrall on the Sims 4 forums and I’ll get back to you ASAP. Questions, comments, concerns.. all are welcome.

I plan to release at least every other week until all six Switches (mini-challenges) are published. I’m trying to give this Switch a little bit of a “soft” launch, without making a topic on the Sims Forums just yet… I want to see if I can get some feedback from testers before I do that, and I also want to make absolutely sure I can keep up with the publishing schedule. I’m in the final stages of testing for this first Switch, just polishing, really, (read: challenge completed and just waiting on my heirs to age up) and will be starting testing on Switch Two in the next couple of days.

EDIT: I plan to fully release Switch One to the Sims 4 forums Sunday, February 19th.

House 006 Chapter 3 < | > House 006 Chapter 5

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 - Child age now
Other Info:
After Mansion Baron aspiration is achieved, build a night club
on the blue velvet lot in willow creek. - Complete

Basically, everything is done and we have a long time to wait. Goal for this post: catch you guys up to where I am at play-wise and get those two kids to Teen! Be warned.. this is a long post.. I had lots of pictures!

We start with Ariana meeting her first sim for her aspiration (Social Butterfly). Shortly after this, she discovers Grim’s “Dance Machine” trait.

Nothing like could gazing with Grim!

It was at about this time I finally noticed the gorgeous marina across from their front door. How I’d never noticed it or the boats before is completely unknown.. lol.. but it’s really a pretty spot for a house. (Even if the lack of people walking by is a source of constant annoyance for me. I always gotta go somewhere else for meeting new sims.)

…Like the park! This kid turned out to be the only child in the entire town. Which just wouldn’t do since Ariana had the social butterfly aspiration. After this trip to the park, I went into household management, picked some households and started adding kids. I must have added around 6-7 of them to the town in the hopes that the next trip to the park would give Ariana some new friends.

Space monster! Dead ahead.. FIRE! (bubbles come trickling out) .. Nice job, guys. You missed him.  (LOL Sorry, couldn’t resist)

Making a friend. It got pretty late, though, and it didn’t get to “BFF” levels for her aspiration. Guess that will have to happen tomorrow.

After getting Ariana back home, I realized I never bothered to upgrade the kids’ rooms to child rooms.. they both still had toddler beds and toys. I remedied this rather quickly since it was past both of their bedtimes. Here’s Cole’s room…

… And here’s Ariana’s. I just love the way they turned out. Buying the kids furniture pack was a great buy, in my opinion!

Kelsie.. who I perpetually see as the baby of the family.. finally hitting adult. She’s so much younger than everyone else (remember she was still a teen when she moved in with Melany, so I was forced by the game to move her in…) .. I often forget she’s a grown-up, too.

The next day’s trip to the park. I’ve never been so happy to see a whole bunch of kids at the park before! I squealed in joy and hubby gave me a really weird look. Hey.. friends are necessary for that social butterfly thing.. it’s SO my least favorite child aspiration.. I usually avoid it like the plague. (Hey, I did warn you I’d probably gripe.)

Meeting kid # 1 at the park. This is Karla.. who quickly put story ideas in my head and I can see Ariana growing up with a friend. She’s that PIzzazz chick’s kid from the City Living pack. I think she turned out really pretty!

…See? Aren’t they adorable as friends??

I completely forget what I named this kid… had to go look it up. This is Jordan.

More friends to be made…

… Finally. Probably the fastest I’ve ever completed that aspiration without cheating. (Yup, that’s how much I hate it.. I’ve been known to cheat my way past it in other games.)

She was just so cute sleeping I had to take a picture.

Ummm Ariana.. I don’t think that’s how makeup works…

Cole working on his Whiz kid aspiration. Both of his parents were busy so Mika got roped into helping him with his homework for the guaranteed focused moodlet.

There’s so much going on in the picture. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many people celebrating a birthday without manipulating the people into standing around the cake waiting for the age up.

Aww… Taylor makes a cute elder, don’t you think?

A picture of sleeping Mika… why?

… Because this happened.. and I realized that at some time, Mika had been the first to get this aspiration complete in one of my games. Just goes to show how much money she’s been making from her book writing!

Kelsie, cooking up a storm…

… Congrats, Kels!

Mika is the next birthday. (Note from the future.. for some reason, this cake hung around in the fridge forever. Cake is usually the first thing to get eaten out of the fridge.. but this one still had pieces in there a week after it had been used. I thought it was kind of funny.)

Aww, poor Mika. I always find them holding their aching back after aging to elder amusing.

Way to go Jennie! I hadn’t even been really trying for it, so this came as a complete surprise!

Jennie aging up after work.

She looks happy about her birthday.

… For some reason, this silly globe-drink-thing is really popular in this house. I’m always seeing one adult or another pulling out a drink from it.. and often they get left all over the house. It’s kinda funny.

Practicing comedy routines for his daily task. He always has the funniest expressions!

Melany is now “Trainer to the Stars”. Highest I’ve ever gotten in the athletic career. I’m pretty sure she’s not going to max her career before she dies, but it’s still pretty cool to get that high. Especially considering Melany and Kelsie have been my gardening guinea pigs.. always getting roped into helping.

Hi, Taylor.. what’s up? …

… My first EVER tech guru max career. Again, not really trying. He spends most of his time hacking. Hey, it keeps him out of trouble!

They are still such a cute couple! I totally <3 these two!

… Not sure when this happened.. but at least I finally noticed it.

… A very stinky Cole in a silly outfit. What’s that mean?? He’s got an A!

Which finally finishes his aspiration.

Ariana in a silly outfit, too. Musta been some fun at school today, kids!

Ariana’s got her second aspiration completed. Way to go!

Melany’s turn for elder birthday…

… Followed by Trace’s.

He seems confused. LOL Guess that happens when you get older.

Why do we have a picture of Kelsie cooking while the maid (who has been working for them for so long that she’s now an elder.. lol) cleans?

.. Because Kelsie finally maxed Gourmet cooking. Only my second or third sim ever to do that.

Mika! What’s up??

… Level ten writing. Another first for me.

Ariana got into the vanity table again. Too funny. I keep cracking up over these makeup foibles. This is just the first time I’ve caught it on camera. (I had to go back and edit this.. note from the future yelling at the past.. it’s the second time I’ve mentioned it.. and it’s not the last, either.)

About this time, I noticed how pretty the garden looks through the kitchen window. Silly me had to take a screenshot.

Jennie standing around looking proud of herself?

.. Because now she’s really rich!

I’ve been mostly following the kids around.. and then I noticed this lovely group conversation in the dining room. Too cute.

.. Not you, too, Cole!

Ariana working on aspiration #3.

I took this because he’s getting up there. I wanted to have a record of it just in case. He did pretty well for himself, I think.

Awww. Cole putting on a puppet show for his mama. (Oh yeah, if you’re looking closely you’ll see Mika and Taylor woohooing in the next room. LOL)

Mika being the first to actually play in the fountain. Adorable. (especially in high heels.. haha!)

More chess pictures.

Because she did it. Three aspirations done! I don’t think I’ll get the fourth.. but it’s still impressive.

I got a bug up my rear about creating a bit of a story/friendship with Karla, and invited her back over to work on the relationship.

Ariana is so cute. I love her facial expressions. She’s going to be one of my favorite drifter heirs, I think.

<3!!! What cuties!

I really like how this house looks in this neighborhood. It’s so peaceful!

The kids playing in the fountain.

You guys have nothing better to do than dance, huh?

.. I make them go watch a puppet show instead.

Aww!

Finally. The moment we’ve been waiting for.

Aww! She’s so pretty! I even like the short hair on her.

…Not to forget Cole…

Wow he aged up nice. Can definitely still see how much he looks like Trace, though.

.. Well. That was a long post. Hopefully worth it, though! Maybe I can get through the teen days in the next post and finish out this house. Don’t worry, I plan to do a “house tour” for this house like I did for the last one. I think it turned out pretty nice!

House 006 Chapter 3 < | > House 006 Chapter 5

Back to the Main Testing Page

Completed first apartment (on extreme)

Funny “angry” painting during second apartment:

Completed Second Apartment:

During third apartment:

Married, finally! (I totally should have done this sooner!)

During Apartment Three:

Nooboo incoming!

Wait.. what’s that behind her??

Yup. Twins. *runs away screaming*

Completed Apartment Three:

During Apartment Four:

It was at this point that I realized that the challenge was going to work much better with six Switches instead of five.. and I rearranged the order you move into apartments. Because of this, the apartments pictured were no longer the right order and my daughter and I started over with the correct order.

Instead of making a second post, here are the pictures from her challenge playtesting done on “Normal” difficulty:

During Apartment One:

Completed Apartment One:

During Apartment Two:

Luckily, neither of us had gotten too attached to our sims, and the files were deleted in favor of our new challenges (and new sim making, yay!)

Back to the Main Testing Page

House 006 Chapter 2 < | > House 006 Chapter 4

Checking on the new 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. -
at 342k now
House 006 Generational Goals:
One sim to Level Mansion Baron Aspiration
Young adult heir
Other Info:
After Mansion Baron aspiration is achieved, build a night club
on the blue velvet lot in willow creek.

When I loaded up the save this time around, everyone got their mansion baron aspiration complete, even though the house still only said 342k value. Within a couple days of loading, I had bought the expensive violin and was finished with the house to my satisfaction. Now I just have to safely get the heir to young adult and the house will be a win.

I just love the new toddlers, so expect a lot of photos! (the Feature shot is Mika and our heir, Ariana.)

Cole being cute learning to talk with his mama.

About this point I save and head over to build my new nightclub: Ice 9. (Why I called it that, I don’t know.. I guess it just seemed to fit.)

The outside (at night, because that’s when you visit night clubs!)

The inside in build mode

The downstairs bathrooms (only half of the downstairs is used)

You’ll see some more pictures of it in live mode in a bit. It is up for download under both #drifterchallenge and #thrallsdrifter.

I swear, Ariana is a “Charmer” .. but she always seems to fight parental influence. That face of rebellion is her usual expression. I think this time it was over potty training.

While Cole lives up to his “Angelic” and is SO adorable while learning his flash cards with his daddy, Trace.

Ariana finally decides potty training is okay just before bed. (Maybe she was just too tired to argue?!)

.. At least she sleeps soundly through the night.

Gardening party. Also: there’s a gardener because I finally had extra points on someone.. (after getting everyone Carefree followed by Entrepreneurial – or at least everyone that has the points for it.) As usual, Melany and Kelsie are the ones roped into the gardening chore.

Mika and Jennie are busy in their own ways, teaching the toddlers. Of Note: Ariana actually has a smile on her face and is enjoying mommy time for a change.

Said Mommy time doesn’t last long, and Ariana becomes angry and heads off to do her own thing. Cole continues being cute and cooperating.

Kelsie and Melany finish with the gardening.. and seeing Kelsie dancing again gives me an idea… I still needed to test my nightclub. So off Kelsie and Melany go.

At first they’re pretty much the only ones there, but before long, the place is packed. I like the traits I picked out for the lot, and everyone seems to be having a good time.

Kelsie and Melany meet some new people…

And Kelsie finally maxes her Dancing skill.

Even Grim seems to like the club.. and yep, he’s still chubby. (Ignore the bare half walls next to Grim, I fix them.)

Melany does me a favor and makes sure the bathrooms work.

While Kelsie shows off that I went back in and fixed the bare walls. You never know what you’ll notice on a playtest of a venue… that’s why I always test before uploading!

Back at home, Ariana is doing what she REALLY likes doing: playing by herself.

Sims Logic: the game says they’re playing together and getting communication skill as well as imagination.. and they’re looking opposite ways. Makes sense, sure. (sarcasm)

Later, Cole goes to get his groove on.

Ariana comes down to join in.. and although Taylor if facing the other way (and stinks at dancing), the game says he’s “teaching” them to dance. Personally, I think the toddlers aren’t going to be helped much by him, but you never know, right?

Ariana dances with her mom after Taylor has to run off to do more hacking for me.

Uhh.. Cole, you’re in the wrong room. At least he’s playing happily.

One of the few times I get the game to let me click the “play” interaction. (For some reason, it hardly ever shows up!)

Trace in his lovely colorful office…

Reaching Comedy level 10! WTG Trace! (I think he’s the very first sim I’ve EVER gotten to comedy 10.)

The next morning.. it’s finally time to bid goodbye to the toddlers. I miss Ariana’s caking.. but I do get a GREAT shot of her eating breakfast after:

Isn’t she the cutest?! I absolutely love her. She rolls “Good” and becomes a social butterfly. (The Aspiration I HATE for kids.. it’s such a pain! However, with where the heir is going, I think it’ll be a good thing to have the faster social skills.. so I’m going to force myself to finish it for her. Expect griping from me. LOL)

I do manage to catch the last few seconds of Cole’s toddler-hood… gosh he was so cute!!

And he ages up to look just like his dad. I tried to get them from similar angles so you can see it, but this was as close as I could get. They’re almost clones they’re so close in looks. The hairstyle doesn’t help, that looks similar too.

Up next: childhood. (I know, I’m sorry, this post was all toddler spam.. lol but I couldn’t help it, they’re just too cute!)

House 006 Chapter 2 < | > House 006 Chapter 4

“Yes, this is my second Drifter Challenge.. Yes, I’m also crazy. That being said… I was inspired by some of the great storytellers blogging their Drifter Challenges with an actual story-line and I wanted to see if I could do it too. Bear with me as I dust off some creative muscles I haven’t stretched this far in quite a while. (My other stories take little creativity, being very game-play-driven.) We’ll see how this goes!” … That’s the original introduction to the story. However, so much has changed since then that I feel like I need to add some more information to it now.

I love this story. It’s a Drifter Challenge that I chose to write as a story. I had big plans for it when I started it, but some of them fell through, unfortunately, and it caused the writing to pretty much completely stall out. At this time, I do not know if I’ll get back to this story or not. That being said, it’s still a nice read (what little of it there is)… and I, hopefully, will be able to figure out a new direction to take the story since the one I had in mind didn’t pan out.

A New Start For Keira <|> Time To Talk

I feel like my life has been so much better since I took the contract to build a house for the city. I could never have dreamed things would have changed so much in such a little time. I have a home of my own, a loving husband, and a growing son. He started elementary school today, and came home full of energy and stories of his day. He and I sat at the table having an after school snack and I listened to all the exciting things he learned at school (and the friends he made, of course!)

Later, even Jared joined in and we all watched a movie together in the newly decorated “living room”. It was so nice to spend some family time without me having to run around cleaning the house or working in the garden. (Luckily, Jared had taken care of most of that while I spent time with Caleb.)

A few days passed with more gardening and school and family time.. then the unexpected happened. I found out we had another nooboo on the way! I waited for Caleb to get home from school, worried that he might think he was being replaced. Jared, of course, was thrilled. (I think, mostly because he loves playing with toddlers!) .. But what would Caleb think??

To my surprise, Caleb was overjoyed at the thought of a little baby brother or sister, and eagerly watched my belly grow as he waited for their arrival. I think his preference was for a little brother, but he tried to be okay with both options.

Days turned into weeks, and before long the money I had made from gardening afforded us the ability to “finish” our home. I say it like that, because undoubtedly the children’s room will need to change as they grow. I included a photo of the interior designer’s mock-up with the walls removed, as well as two outside photos of our wonderful house.

And yes… that’s Caleb’s other big surprise.. a set of Monkey Bars to practice on. He has struggled with the ones at school… so Jared agreed to help him learn at home so he wouldn’t embarrass himself at school.

The big gurus at the government had come by to take promotional shots and they all said how much they liked the house I had built. Apparently they were having trouble getting anyone else to take the contract to build houses in these empty towns! I wasn’t going to complain, because that left more space for the generations to come for my family.

One afternoon, Caleb didn’t come in after school.. and I worried terribly as to where he’d gone. Jared finally found the poor soul sound asleep on the very bench I used to camp on. Apparently he sat down to take a break from the monkey bars and simply nodded off!

Before we knew it, the time for the baby to be born had come. Of course, it was in the middle of the night.. so we ended up letting Caleb stay home and be a “big boy” while we hurried off to the hospital.

Before too long, we were back with our newest addition to the family. (Is it me, or does it seem to go faster with the second one??) Caleb had gotten what he REALLY wanted: a new baby brother. Jared and I named him Ryder, and tucked him safely into his little bassinet. I decided he would stay in the hall, right outside our bedroom door, so Caleb would be able to sleep all night without the baby waking him up, and we could hear him when he woke.

He adjusted easily to a sleeping schedule, though, and midnight feedings were far rarer than they had been with Caleb. Perhaps practice does make perfect.

Caleb, ever watchful when something needed doing, was really helping out around the house. He washed dishes and took out the trash, and spent time watching his brother, as well.

He didn’t neglect his monkey bars, however.. and soon the day came when he could make it all the way across! I was so proud of him, I immediately grabbed the camera and took the above shot as proof. Never let it be said that I wasn’t supportive of our boys!

That same week, Caleb surprised us again. Both with a new outfit and a mask that he made at school and with his shiny new A on his report card. All the studying he had been doing had really paid off.

Ryder was now learning to talk and walk.. and really enjoyed the time Caleb took out of his daily schedule to play with his brother. I was so proud of the two of them I felt I could burst. How had I gotten so lucky?

Day by day, Ryder grew up. He learned to put himself down for a nap while I gardened, and he finally figured out what the potty chair was for. Caleb didn’t mind having his little brother share his room, but he put his foot down at stinky diapers. (I can’t say as I blame him – all of us were happy when the potty training “stuck”.)

Ryder grew steadily, taking on new things on a daily basis. From stairs to climb to trying to “help” in the garden, I adored watching him grow up. Our little surprise was really fitting in with the family well.

Each day felt like a blessing.. although there was that little worry in the back of my head. How would Caleb react when he found out about having to strike out on his own as soon as he graduated high school? I tried not to think about it, but I knew that soon I needed to sit him down and explain the contract. I thought it was a good thing for him, but would he agree? I didn’t want to just spring it on him as he graduated.. I wanted him to be aware of what was coming and more prepared for it than I had been. But when was the best time to tell him? Jared was little help, as he said that it was my decision. Was he old enough to know now? Or should I wait a little longer?

To be continued…

Author’s Note: No, Ryder was not strictly a surprise. I’m not running mods in my game, so I had to have them “try for baby”… but I like to think it was a GOOD surprise for Keira!

A New Start For Keira <|> Time To Talk

House 006 Chapter 1 < | > House 006 Chapter 3

Checking on the new 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. -
at 129k now
House 006 Generational Goals:
One sim to Level Mansion Baron Aspiration
Young adult heir
Other Info:
After Mansion Baron aspiration is achieved, build a night club
on the blue velvet lot in willow creek.

I will start by saying this will be a slightly abbreviated post.. simply because I got zoned out playing so many sims that I forgot to take many screenshots (plus I just kept screenshotting the same things over and over.. that’s all they do is work and skill.) With that said.. here we go!

We’ll start with a “what is everyone doing?”…

Kelsie is skilling cooking and mixology for her career.

Jennie is done with skilling painting, so she’s skilling logic for her Master of the Real. She still paints to add to the house’s collection, but logic is important too!

Trace is writing new comedy routines and then refining them and performing them to an empty room. It’s sort of sad, really.. but it’s leveling his comedy skill, so it’s all good.

Mika and Taylor just aged up to adult. I only got the picture of one of them.. who knows why I forgot the other! Their birthday is the same day as Jennie’s, but due to work schedules the aging up process happened at wildly different times during the day. (Notice that the walls have actually been painted down here!)

Taylor is programming.. why?

Because he’s got the skills to hack lots of money into the household accounts.

Jennie’s birthday shot. She went right back to painting.. what a good girl. Half the current house value is probably due to her paintings!

Taylor at his computer again.. but this time it’s to remind me to add in this image…

Yay! He’s lucky to have one he can finish (as opposed to Jennie’s and Melany’s.)

I loved this shot of their new garden at night.. it looks so pretty! I’ll give a full house tour at the end of this house, because it’s really shaping up to be an awesome house!

… Yikes! All that work on the house hurts when you get to Monday and bills being due!

Mika is hard at work…

Being pretty much the primary breadwinner for this house. She makes over 6k PER DAY in royalties. Pretty much puts to shame any money anyone else can bring in. (Of course, we still have the garden making about that every few days, too.. they’re definitely not hurting for money.)

Finally, a shot of Melany doing what she seems to be addicted to doing.. playing basketball. I can set her to doing something else, but as soon as I turn my back.. she’s back to the hoops.

.. See?

Now that the house value is up over 200k, (and yes, the upstairs is STILL bare of anything but a few beds and a couple bathrooms and bare offices.) it’s time to make the heir. I waited so long for the heir in the fear that I wouldn’t be able to get the funds to upgrade the house.. but I clearly shouldn’t have worried about it with what Mika’s making! It just means there will be a lot of waiting around taking pictures of the kids.

Since there’s still room in the house, I’ll have to assume there’s no twins in Mika’s future.. and I allowed Trace and Jennie to get pregnant, too. Two toddlers at once should keep me busy.. and it’ll be fun to watch the two cousins grow up.

Now it’s Trace and Melany’s birthday… she’s at work during this shot, but we’ll see her later.

Mika, are you SURE you’re not having twins? You’re huge! No rest for my sims.. and no vacation days. Both pregnant women worked all the way through their pregnancy and didn’t miss a minute of work. I’m not sure how I got that to work out.. but juggling everything to keep their needs high was interesting.

The promised shot of Melany aging up to adult. She seems to have very few screenshots of her, she’s always playing basketball or being roped into gardening by me.

Jennie painted THIS while pregnant. My husband’s initial comment was “is she going to birth a little demon?!” .. and I couldn’t stop laughing. I’ve never seen this particular painting show up on an easel. It went into a place of honor in Mika’s writing office.

Oh my gosh!! Hooray! Our heir isn’t BLUE! .. But it is a girl.. AGAIN. Her name is Ariana.. and we’ll just have to wait to see how cute she is.

And here is Cole Sherwood. (I went with his dad’s last name.)

This was taken just in case.. because standing in a puddle while fixing a sparking appliance seems really safe. (haha)

Mika’s feeding the mailbox more books…

And now she’s done with her aspiration! Congrats Mika! (Back to Mansion Baron now.)

Look who grew up?? She couldn’t be any cuter! (I will make another note from the future here.. technically this is not my first drifter toddler “milestone”, since, while waiting for my new computer – you may notice the graphics quality is definitely higher on this than my old computer – it also doesn’t bug out and freeze with 8 sims in a house… luckily.. anyway, I started a second “Drifter” save, the “Travelers” (link above if you’re curious, it’s told as a story instead of commentary-style like this) – and they had a toddler before there were toddlers in this house 6.)

.. But she definitely looks like she’ll be a trouble maker with that expression. Her first day was spent saying “no” to whatever mommy Mika wanted her to do. And she’s a “charmer” .. haha!

Another cutie! Cole’s Angelic.. and likes following daddy Trace around. We’ll see how they grow up next post!

Oh yeah.. one more check of this… Almost there! (Although for some reason, she got Mansion Baron achievement when I loaded the house back up to get this screenshot. Who knows why.. but I’ll make sure the value is over 350k by the time the heir is grown.. such a LONG time to wait!) .. Oh.. and those 15k violins? I don’t have a single one in the house!

(That’s what a 342k house looks like in bills. Glad I’m not living there!)

House 006 Chapter 1 < | > House 006 Chapter 3

House 005 House Tour < | > House 006 Chapter 2

First stop – checking on the new 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.
House 006 Generational Goals:
One sim to Level Mansion Baron Aspiration
Young adult heir
Other Info:
After Mansion Baron aspiration is achieved, build a night club
on the blue velvet lot in willow creek.

Second stop – checking on where our heir from house 005 is:

Wasn’t much to change on her. I didn’t notice until this picture how much she looks like her mama at her age.

Traits designed for writing…

Skills she got on her own in the last house..

Yep.. there’s that 0 simoleons again. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

At least her stats started well!

I included both pictures because .. well why not. She’ll be working on both aspirations (as long as I remember to switch back and forth). Also – don’t forget, she’s destined to marry Taylor. I know, arranged marriages.. an old custom. They’ll be okay with it, I promise.

Third stop – making a new sim:

Meet Trace’s intended… Again, I started with a random sim and went from there. She wants to be a painter, hence why she’s colorful.

And Now… We can begin.

With such a big challenge I have a few priorities….

First order of business… moving in Taylor for Mika. That way he can get working on his job.. and one more hand fishing. (And yes, that’s Zachary Drifter in the background. I don’t know how he’s still alive, but aparently he is!)

Of note: after I already moved in Taylor I found out the rules had been changed from the last time I read them.. moving in past siblings is now not ok. But since I’d already moved him in, and I had plans to move in at least Trace, as well.. I voted for allowing them to stay. It used to be okay .. but a new rule – “Note:  This Challenge is not intended to Move In prior mini-challenge Household Members.  Doing so may greatly impact the challenge in negative ways” makes it not so.  My second challenge will follow this rule, this save.. will not. (But then, I’m already using a modified version of the rules – a combination of the new ones and the old ones – so I vote it’s okay. Author’s stubborn choice or something like that.

I immediately send Jennie off to collect anything that’s possible to collect this early…

.. and she finds at least a few things.

After that.. the three of them spend quite a bit of time fishing.. to lesser and greater degrees of success. Grim was with them for a while, as well, but he got bored and left by the time I thought to take a picture.

Photo spam: the first night.

Don’t they all look so cute!?! (Oh yeah, Trace isn’t moved in right away because he’s still a teen and I can’t afford another bed just yet.)

With all the sims on the lot.. one of my highest priorities (after the garden) was to enclose the bathroom. Before that, I was having to juggle which sim was allowed on the lot to use the bathroom.

Woohoo was also making things awkward, so enclosing the bedrooms came next… as well as getting rid of the revolving cooler seat. I didn’t bother with an oven just yet because .. reasons. (Read: I’m scared of them setting themselves on fire.. lol)

Oh yeah.. and speaking of woohoo… I finally got Mika and Taylor hitched. It was appropriately romantic in front of the log couch and “in” the makeshift kitchen. (laughs)

House version 2.0.. they even have their fancy front door. Gardening is taking up most of Mika’s time, as opposed to her writing.. I need to get someone else in to work on the gardening after the plants get grafted to make them dragonfruitys.

Invited over the siblings (Since Trace is finally all grown up and ready to marry Jennie.) Aren’t they a cute couple? I have the hardest time getting blond sims in my game, so here they are. Melany is behind Jennie in the photo, but I still hadn’t decided whether to bring both her and Kelsie in yet. Their same hairstyle was getting on my nerves, though, and eventually tipped the balance in favor of moving them in so I could fix Melany and “un-twin” them.

Oh.. and I also finally was able to afford something important.

They are officially allowed to have a stove now. (laughs!)

And here.. is where I decided I’d gone completely crazy. I forgot how much work this many CONTROLLABLE sims is. But I was so worried at how slow things are happening, I wanted the insurance of extra sims. It’s still really not an advantage.. at least not yet.. because they all have so far to go to really be making decent money.. and one is still a teen. (Couldn’t move in Melany without Kelsie since she is just a teen… so we brought her along. She can help garden.)

Next: a series of photos to show the house’s growing. I rearranged things quite a bit as soon as I had money after moving in the other two siblings. No windows yet.. but getting the furnishings on the inside that they need to make money and live well is a higher priority.

(This just reminds me how crappy their beds still are.. that’s gotta be a top priority…)

… Does anyone else have the problem with their sims where they won’t sit down to watch TV unless you specifically tell them to? It’s really annoying. I hate seeing them just standing there when there’s perfectly good sofas available. GRR. I know they USED to sit down just fine.. but lately.. they never do.

Sitting.. because I made them. Notice the starter TV still .. they live like poor people!

The “Inspiration corner” as I like to call it. It’s a place for doing things that need inspiration!

Kelsie doing her homework all by herself. I put the “focusing corner” (although it’s not really a corner) near the dining table for now, so it reminded her to do her homework (something I tend to forget.. I usually have her out working on the gardening instead.)

The last surviving Drifter other than the two in this household… and it looks like Grim is stalking him. Poor Addison.. I wonder if aliens get a longer life than normal sims, because he’s been around for AGES.

Another house shot.. this one with some outside decor… and finally, a foundation.

A quick shot of the value/aspiration. I feel like things are moving SOOOO slow in this house! Most of their cash is still going for living upgrades and random work to the outside of the house.

Breakfast time. Note the new TV and the “focusing corner” in the background. Off to the right (out of shot) is the downstairs bathroom.

Kelsie dancing for her dance machine trait. She kept getting bored without getting her dance on, so I bought her a stereo. In the background is Trace skilling guitar and Mika writing her newest novel.

Melany, our athletic sim out jogging yet again. I really need to buy her some athletic skilling objects back at home.

The minuscule focusing corner and Taylor doing his best to hack funds into the bank.

The seemingly never ending job of gardening/evolving plants is finally starting to net some money.

In progress house shot. It was at about this point that I got fed up with piecemeal-ing the house together and “borrowed” 20k from the “bank” to finish getting the house into “shell” form. Basically, I used 20 “kaching” cheats with the intention of paying the bank back once they had 20k cash on hand. I *think* there’s enough time to pay back the bank as well as furnish the house in what they have left. Mika and Taylor are 8 days from adult at this point.

Here’s the result. I wasn’t altogether sure how it would turn out.. but it looks pretty cool even without painting. I know we don’t have cars in sims 4, but I just wanted to give them a driveway (partly for the basketball goal there in the front right of the picture).. and partly because there was so much room on the lot, it seemed a good idea to use some space up.

Yep.. I’m still sending random sims out to grab the local collectibles. Melany or Trace seem to be the usual victims since their career skills don’t make money. (Melany is in the body building career, Trace in entertainment.)

A rare shot with most of the Drifter’s and Sherwood’s in the same area of the house. Shortly after this shot, the stairs (cutaway on the left by the bathroom) were moved in favor of a door to the back patio. The stairs were put into the front “foyer” room.. which I need to get a shot of, it’s pretty impressive.

The outside of the house. Loan is now paid off, and the bonus was I had enough left over to “finish” the outside shell of the house with decor items. The inside is still very bare, but at least the outside is looking like a real home. Next on the list is some landscaping (which I am really quite terrible at) for the aspiration.

The new “playful corner” for Trace’s comedy work. (See? No wallpaper.. lol.)

Yet another shot of Jennie painting.. but this one was taken for a reason…

Yay Jennie! I’ve been keeping all the masterpieces no matter what they look like and just haphazardly throwing them up on the bare walls. Eventually, they’ll be distributed throughout the house… if I ever get the wallpaper/painting done.

And now, I’ll leave this first post with some house shots.

The first floor (can be clicked on for a bigger pic)

Second floor (clickable, too)

The promised shot of the front foyer

And a shot of the back. The pool will (hopefully) be bigger, and I’ll probably also add a “poolhouse” with a sauna in the “back” of the house.

Lot value check… doing ok. Mika and Taylor are 2 days from adult, and Kelsie finally aged to young adult. To get this house done, I will probably be waiting until very late to have the heir.. or at least, until I can see probably getting it done. I have no idea how I’m going to get 350k value (I’ve NEVER had a house worth that much that I built.. so this could get interesting..) A good half of that value is probably the masterpieces that are rambling over the walls inside the house. And yes.. I just now noticed I never set lot traits. Oops.

House 005 House Tour < | > House 006 Chapter 2

Introduction by the Author < | > A Surprise For Keira

Well, today’s the day. With both my parents gone before their time, and no other family to speak of, I have little to hold me to my home, and fewer options. Last week, on the news, they had a “human interest” piece on a series of mid-western towns that had been devastated by tornadoes. The only thing still standing was a small restaurant, and the people that had survived were understandably leery of moving back into the area. The local government was holding out a “carrot” for new settlers. A lifetime contract, if you will, to help rebuild the towns. I contacted the number listed, and spent much of my final teenage days in meetings and on the phone with the people sponsoring the contract. For a FREE plot of land, all I would have to do was build a house fitting their description – 2 bedroom 1 bath minimum and worth 30,000 simoleons. The design was left up to me, and they already had a contracting company ready for whatever I could dream up. The only catch seemed to be the stipulation that my first born.. and their first born.. and on down the line.. would be contracted to build their own house, as well. I tried not to get overwhelmed by the details… and I plunged ahead. I loved the idea of making a difference, of being able to leave a legacy behind when I was gone. Whether by bravery, stupidity, or fate itself – I was going for it. Everything was signed, sealed, and I was in the contracting company’s hired car with my meager possessions stuffed into one suitcase in the back. With a pre-paid cell phone, my suitcase, and myself.. I’m to be delivered to MY land. All mine. The excitement was unbearable, and the trip seemed to take forever.

With little more than good-luck wishes and the aforementioned suitcase and phone, they dropped me off on the side of the dusty road next to a mailbox. A mailbox with MY name – Keira Traveler – already on it. I had no money, no shelter, and nothing to eat.. but they had helpfully left me with some basic survival tools – gardening tools, a fishing pole, and mess kit to eat .. well.. whatever I could find. The task had never seemed so daunting as it did when the car pulled away from the curb. For a brief moment, I felt like crying in loneliness, but, thankfully, it passed. With that moment of weakness behind me, I headed to the stream I could see running behind my house .. and prepared to learn to fish. It couldn’t be THAT hard, right?

Hours later, having finally caught a few small fish… I figured I had enough for a snack courtesy of the grill at the “neighborhood” park. I eyed the plants in the planters there, hoping to see fruit, vegetables, or flowers that I could use to plant my own garden.. but they all appeared to need more time to grow. I had noticed a bunch of people walking down the sidewalks all day, eyeing me curiously, but I didn’t feel brave enough to meet new people just yet.

After my snack, I headed back for more fishing, and lo and behold.. I caught a cowplant berry. In the survival guide they had provided me with, I had made an earlier note about cowplants.. viable, growing baby plants could be sold for a nice chunk of change. So, abandoning the fishing trip, I went to see if this little berry would grow for me.

Amazingly, it did.. and I was able to purchase my first thing… a toilet. As you can see, it was none too soon.

Feeling much better… and finally with a real sense of hope, I watched the sun go down sitting on a sidewalk bench.. then curled up for a cold night of sleep.

The next day, things were definitely looking up. I managed to find some digsites with things to sell to the local traders. I spent a good portion of the day scrounging up what I could, along with more time with my fishing pole. By the end of the day, I had even found some flowers to plant in a garden of my very own.

As the days went by, I started to feel more at home, and even felt brave enough to meet some of the people who continued to walk by, curious as to who might have been silly enough to fall for this town contract. From most of the people, all I heard was amazement that I would be willing to “give up” my life to the town and this government contract. Very few seemed to even think that I might have actually wanted the chance I was being given.

Luckily, not every one thought that way, and I met some people who I could relate to.. even one man who I really liked – Jared. He was a colorful sort of person, and seemed to really support the choice I had made. As the days went by, he and I seemed to get closer and closer. I noticed him keeping track of my growing campsite, and he seemed genuinely thrilled for me when the first walls were finally put up.

I wasn’t stuck to eating just fish anymore, either. With the acquisition of a cooler, I was able to eat cereal, yogurt, or granola anytime I wanted without dipping into the things that I found to sell. I got a used futon, and some more plumbing for my growing “bathroom”. I can’t even tell you how great it felt to be able to keep myself and my campsite cleaned up with bathroom fixtures.

It was such a joy to see him, I would run after him any time I saw him walking by… even if I was just in my jammies. We could talk for hours.. although I rarely had that kind of time with my fishing, scrounging, and gardening taking up most of my time. Some days, I was even able to talk him into helping out around camp.

One day, I simply couldn’t wait any longer. I had to make a move since he seemed to be either too shy or too scared to make one of his own. He accepted my flirting, and, to my surprise, he even flirted back. He said he hadn’t made a move because he didn’t want to pressure me into a relationship he wasn’t sure I wanted. I quickly let him know that was definitely NOT the case, and planted a kiss on him that I hoped he wouldn’t forget any time soon.

More days passed, and Jared seemed to be spending more and more time at my camp. Finally, I asked him to move in. By that time, I had a bonafide garden and a bathroom, and felt I had a good start on building a home I hoped Jared could come to love, too.

Within a week of him moving in, I had convinced him to marry me… and we finally had a roof over our heads. I couldn’t have been happier. It wasn’t much of a house, not yet.. but I could really see the possibilities of my dreams coming true.

Jared helped around the house as much as he could, and even seemed to enjoy our daily gardening sessions. The chrysanthemums I had planted were really doing well, and were starting to really make some money. I had long since given up on a vegetable garden, because it simply didn’t make enough money to be worth it.

I finally was able to afford some decent appliances for our “kitchen”.. and I started teaching myself how to cook. I started small.. and even avoided using the oven until I felt confident that I wouldn’t set anything on fire.

Then.. one night.. after a day of feeling rather queasy, I took “THE” test. Jared was surprised, but as happy as I was to find out I was expecting. My pregnancy went by pretty quickly (it seemed) and before we knew it, Caleb was born. Jared seemed a little overwhelmed by the baby, so I did most the care and left Jared alone outside with the garden.

I can hardly wait for Caleb to grow up, if nothing else.. so he can start learning how to take care of himself. Juggling the baby, collecting, and gardening really is taking a toll on me. It led directly to:

How embarrassing. I did finally make it back to my bed, though.. and I vowed not to let it happen again. Before I knew it, my juggling act had a new participant.. Caleb. Instead of just laying in his crib, now he’s into everything. I’m barely able to find time for gardening, but luckily Jared seems to have settled into his role as a parent and is helping out with Caleb more. Caleb is such a Charmer… always a smile for everyone (unless he’s not getting his way!)

He quickly picks up the basics – walking talking, and pottying. Okay, so it wasn’t THAT quick.. but definitely appreciated as he really is starting to be his own person.

I also found the time to meet with the interior decorator and get the house really looking like a house. As I make money from gardening, I’ll decorate it some more to get to the right value for the contract, but I don’t think it’ll be too hard to get to. It’s a simple house, but simple is just fine with me. I don’t need anything too fancy, and the stucco exterior seems to fit really well with the environment.

I have to say, it’s great fun watching Caleb grow up. He loves to play and dance, and is always following me or Jared around. I’m afraid I take far too many pictures of him, but I’ll try to show only the best ones.

Author’s Note: I know, I started a second drifter save, I’m completely crazy. And to blog BOTH of them? .. even crazier. I started this one while waiting for my new computer to arrive… and I think I’ve fallen in love with this little family.. or is it just the toddlers I love? Who knows. I also kinda wanted to try telling a story for this drifter save (the other one is just commentary-style).. whether that continues or not.. we’ll see. So far so good, though. 

Introduction by the Author < | > A Surprise For Keira