Days 9 and 10 were spent chilling out on the lot making sure no one had a bad reaction to their flu shot. The contestants enjoyed themselves, although speculation arose when the production crew took away the un-played chess set from the community space and installed two fish tanks instead. The contestants who enjoyed cooking were excited to see new top of the line refrigerators installed. There was mild confusion when the drapes in the cinema room were updated for aesthetics. Day 11 dawned early with a call to breakfast at 6 am on the dot. The contestants were then instructed to head down to the end of the hall and wait further instructions. As the passed the room where they'd previously done speech challenges they noted 8 new chess tables. They speculated that speech challenges would no longer be issued. Finally they heard a door lock click and over the hidden loud speaker they heard "Everyone enter and stand in front of an easel. Today you will be doing a painting challenge, the first to Complete a painting will be the winner. Finished paintings will be auctioned off to the viewers." Jaimee was the first to abandon her easel in search of the bathroom. Eventually she was followed by Leopoldo, then Britta, and shortly later by Amber. Which left Ricky, Criston, Milton, and Erwin. In time both Ricky and Criston abandoned their posts in search of a bathroom, leaving Milton and Erwin. Milton finished his painting just a few seconds ahead of Erwin, and while not a deciding factor, Milton's lake painting auctioned off for $10 more, at $39, than Erwins abstract pink house did. End of day 11 Stats
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When Lilah first came to the island it was with her mother Kalil and grandmother Kalilah. They didn't arrive by choice. Grandmother Kalilah was a widow living with them when word reached them that Lilah's father Nathanial Cobb had died in a train crash. With no skills of her own Kalil had been unsure of what their next step would be after the bank repossessed their home. Kalilah made some calls to distant cousins and they were given tickets for a boat to Riverview. Lilah found herself wondering if she really was as lucky as her mom claimed her to be, given the boat wrecked half way across the ocean and the lifeboat barely got them to the island before it sprung a leak too. "Mom, I'm not feeling very lucky." She had said their first night as she helped gather rushes for a lean to. "Lilah, love we're alive and if we learn fast the land here will provide for us until we can be rescued. I call that very lucky, my miracle child." her mom had replied. That evening Kalil transitioned from adult to elder with a semi apologetic smile to Lilah, as if to say I'm sorry I won't always be here for you. So the three women learned how to fish, snorkel, and gather from the land. It was rough at first sleeping in the open, and Lilah's grandmother developed a deep rattling cough which she brushed off. Through hard work the women managed to get a small single story shelter built. As Lilah blew out the candles on her cake, she worried about her grandmother's cough and lack of apatite. She was also worried about her mom, who was starting to develop the same cough. Lilah had been right to worry, they hadn't gotten the beds built soon enough or blocked all of the drafts. While grief stricken Kalil pushed Lilah to learn as many basic skills as possible. Kalil was thrilled when she discovered some wild plants on the far beach below an abandoned mine. She cried as she harvested the apples, for her mother had loved apples and apple pie. Through continued hard work and determination, they added an 8x8 deck area that between bone rattling coughs Kalil had said "a greenhouse maybe next summer". To which Lilah had crossed her fingers in hope and said "together we'll build a lovely greenhouse". They'd also added a second floor to their little shack. Lilah was prepping her paints when she heard a thud, dreading what she'd find she raced up the ladder. Tears blinded her as she tried to find her mom's pulse knowing even as she tried that it was to late. Two days after her mom had passed Lilah was sitting and crying on the beach when a boat pulled into the bay. She watched in disbelief as a small boat of people steadily grew closer. Was she hallucinating? No she wasn't, the boat and the people were real. They were just as shocked to see her as she was to see them. They were scientists from Bridgeport who checked the island for wildlife once every decade. After a long talk the lead scientist made Lilah an offer; she could stay on the island and they would set up regular trips and satellite communications so she wouldn't be completely cut off from the world, or they could move her shack and belongings to any town on the globe where she could start out with her small allowance ($1,169) from helping them find the local small animals. That night she played the mourning song she'd written for her mother as she contemplated her choices. She could stay and travel a few times off island for supplies when she had the money; or she could move to a new town and sort of start over but with her home as it was now. Moving of course meant people all the time, school, community rules, and access to immediate medical care if needed. Lilah played all night to keyed up to sleep, as the sun rose and the dawn light flooded her small shack, she knew her decision. Letting the last note die on the air she took a deep breath, her mom had been right she was lucky and the future was hers for the taking. So what will her future be, it's in your hands now. Lilah has two grave markers, a guitar, and some seeds in her backpack to start out with. Note her funds might need to be cheated to the above mentioned $1,169 after placing. https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9248689 If you play the lot as a renovation challenge standard rules apply, with the caveat that because Lilah was isolated and unable to attend school she has a lot of catching up to do academically so if in a town with a school she sill need study club and one other after school activity, no part time job for her as a teen. Her traits are genius, lucky, loves the outdoors, and brave.
(Update & exchange link at bottom of post.) Dear Elowen, As my closest friend and confidant I'm writing to you, because I don't know who else to write to. I'm sure by now you've heard of my banishment, but probably not the details. I learned that my younger sister Rosamund was to be engaged to Ronan, what no-one told me was that he has certain needs regarding water use. We were getting the palace grounds ready for a big welcome party for him and his family. You know me Elowen, I'm forever trying to conserve and save, making every last drop of water, food, firewood, or whatever count to it's most so as not to waste for the betterment of our world. Well I saw a large tub of water filled near the wheat fields, and thought that perhaps it was to help with the fields that had been struck by summers heat. In my desire to help, I inadvertently watered several crop fields with salt water destroying them, I also almost killed Rosamund's fiance who'd been napping in the bottom of the tub. Needless to say father was furious, it's bad enough that he's never forgiven mother or myself for me not being a son as he expected of a first born child, but somehow I've always managed to make a mess of things just like when they tried to arrange our engagement, for which I don't blame you for picking Fedelmid over me. As I was saying father was furious, my inadvertent careless action cost our valley half a years crops. It will take several years for the elders to fully restore the fields, even using their powers to make plants bloom. Fortunately for me Ronan didn't die, a quick salt bath was made for him inside the palace, but my actions nearly started a war, for which I'm grateful was prevented. While I accept that it was my fault and I had to have a consequence for my actions, when I woke up I wondered if father hadn't taken things to far. I woke up to a woman who identified herself as Ms. Wolff calling me Miss Norris. She said she'd been trying to wake me for 10 minutes once she realized I wasn't a vagrant crashed on the property, and instead the client she'd been told to meet. My simlish was rusty so it took a few try's to understand that she was explaining that the patch of ground I was on was to be my property. I thanked her in hesitant simlish, when she realized I was foreign she developed a bit of an attitude and became very rude. As with any of the fey kingdom, let alone as first in line for the throne should my parents step down, my first thought was to teach her a lesson she'd not likely forget and cast an inner beast spell. I was shocked to discover that father had stripped me of my powers and my wings, so I'm mortal now, unless I learn a way to reverse what was done to me. After Ms. Wolff left I looked around my surroundings. To the south of me across the paved road that mortals use these days is the ocean and a nice beach. There's a house next to me with a fenced in yard. To the north and up a small hill are more buildings. I suspect mother talked father into leaving me near the ocean, but is it so I can find a way home or as a reminder of my mistake. My stomach rumbled and I realized that I would need to find food on my own if I were to survive. There are no servants in the corners to fetch morsels for me at my whim. Luckily I spotted an apple tree with ripe fruit at the beach. I harvested apples and limes before returning to my patch of land, which is home, but doesn't feel like home. I almost cried when I planted the best apple of the ones I'd picked. To not be able to make a plant bloom hurt to the core. How else was I to follow my goals of making the world the best possible place for all if I had no power to restore the health of plants and animals injured from a persons careless actions. Please don't point out the irony of my actions that got me banished, I would have far rather faded using all my powers and life force to restore the careless damage I'd done than live banished in the mortal realm with no power at all. Once I was done planting the apple I followed the road up the hill towards all of the buildings. Imagine my shock when I recognized the mountains in the background. Elowen, my friend, you would not recognize this place as the same fields we had fenced in when we were young children. I wonder if the arrival of mortals was why the fields had become off limits. Yes we had snuck over to a few mortal cities in our teens, but we had never thought to sneak back to our former play grounds. Improving my simlish was going to be important to my survival so I set out to introduce myself to the first person I met. His name is Iqbal Alvi, I had trouble understanding everything he said, but I managed to understand some basics. The park is open to anyone who wants. People are allowed to pick fruit and fish if they want. I learned that there is a library across the street that is free to use. I spent a few hours wandering around collecting fresh fruit and introducing myself to people. One man, named Xander Clavell, kept going on about something called spaghetti. Eventually both the heat of the day, how I miss our cool forests, and boredom drove me across the street to the library. I read a book on local town rules, since I suspect I'll be stuck here for sometime I'll need shelter. They don't permit partial constructions, so if you want a house or room added to an existing building all walls and roof have to go up at once. Since I know nothing of building a home I looked up the contractors listed in the guides on the table. The cheapest was a small room with two doors and a light for about $2,000, or maybe it was a little more than that. I'm not sure how I'll get mortal money, but I'll figure it out tomorrow. Either I'm really lucky or the town doesn't worry about whose in the library when. Since no one came to kick me out, I wandered up stairs and discovered a bench outside on a balcony. It wasn't very comfortable, but I managed to get a few hours sleep. In the morning I discovered that the park was set up for some type of festival. I spotted some flowers that Rosamund and I used to put in our hair and picked a few. I was about to weave them into my hair when a man with a push cart offered me a large stack of mortal money for them. I needed the money if I was to have a shelter built on my land, so I traded the man and gave silent thanks to Madoc for looking over me. In an effort to learn more about my new home I wandered over to the shops. The grocer paid me for the fruit I'd picked the day before, and indicated I could sell her fresh produce and fish anytime I wanted. She wrinkled her nose a bit as we made the exchange, and suggested that if my shower was busted I could use the ones at the gym. She must have taken in my bewilderment at such foreign words and pointed to a building on the other side of the park, and repeated gym & shower. This time though when she said shower she pantomimed cleaning herself. I'm getting better with the simlish, but the language is so clunky. It has none of the lyrical flow or tone of high elvish. As I wandered around outside the store picking up what looked to be stray seeds I noticed one of the grocers helpers carry out some items and place them in the large blue bin. The way he discarded them led me to think they were being thrown away. Elowen, please if you have ever cared for me, never tell my mother that I, Alvara first born daughter, heir to the throne of the Royal House of Monte of the Northern kingdom, dug through a large bin of trash. Let alone pulled furniture to use from said trash bin. That though is exactly what I did. The smell of the bin was horrid, yet it yielded me some very serviceable pieces of furniture which I collected and tucked away until I had a roof under which to put them. Once that was done I counted the money I'd earned so far, and made a few small purchases, that wouldn't break the towns strict building rules. I bought myself a funny zippered blanket for sleeping in, they call it a sleeping bag. I also purchased a bicycle and a stand to lock it to when I'm not using it. It's not the same as horse back, or horse and carriage, but at least I won't get odd looks for my natural hair color from the car drivers I've met so far. After cleaning myself up, they've come up with a type of indoor waterfall they call a shower, at the gym I wandered back over to the park. A large wooden floor that people were moving around on with wheeled shoes called skates, had been set up in one corner of the park. The skates were free for anyone to use. It took me a little to get the hang of the skates, they're rather fun. I did accidentally run into a man wearing a uniform. He laughed, and said he was having trouble with his skates too. He introduced himself as Hank Goddard as he helped me to my feet, and to regain my balance once upright again. He suggested we skate together for a little while which was fun. Elowen I think he was trying to flirt with me. Eventually I got tired and decided to head home to my little plot of land, which is smaller than the cooks herb garden. I startled awake at one point during the night to strange sounds. A strange creature was scanning me and my two seedlings. I shammed sleep, since I was unsure if the being was friendly or not. The following morning I paid the bills I'd read about. It is strange this concept they have of people owning the land, but paying the government cash money for protection. I suppose it's not that dis-similar from our barter and trade system, or how the farmers and crafters provide to the palace and in return we provide for them through the elite guard and hearing out grievances, and helping to resolve disputes. I won't lie, I don't mind that I won't have to sit in formal dress on that hard ornate throne and hear the petty complaints from the commoners in that stifling room where weekly court is held. Afterwards I practiced riding my bike up and down the road, before heading to the park. I've spent so much time in the sun these past few days, that my skin is almost the shade of a ripe acorn. As I explored the park looking for more collectables to sell, someone set off a small firework. Much to my dismay it caught my clothes on fire. Far more alarming though was the number of people who ignored my pleas for help. Finally a stand worker threw a bucket of ice water over me, but by then all that was left was my undergarments. (Actual event; caught fire from being over heated, I didn't want to loose her so tce'd the fire out by deleting the moodlet.) Dismayed, I rode my bike home, I gathered my spare clothes and went back to the gym to use the shower. After my shower I did some more collecting, and even tried my hand at fishing. I also found a small statue, that looked much like the gnomes that live in the hills. I counted all that I'd earned that day, plus what was left over from the previous day. I had enough to get that small structure built. Fortunately for me the company work's anytime of day. I even had enough money to have the structure built a little wider than it's usual width, and added two windows and a small fence on the side to move my seedlings to so they're protected from stray animals. Elowen I won't lie part of me wants to cry, this tiny shelter I'm now calling my home is smaller than the closet used for my ball gowns. I haven't allowed myself to cry even though it's all I want, as I miss everyone and everything from our homelands so much. I've been staying so busy just trying to keep myself fed and adjusted to this mortal world these first few days. I hope that this letter finds you and Fedelmid well, and that she is well past her morning sickness. I regret that I won't be there when you introduce your first child to the royal court. I'll have no way of knowing if you read this missive or not, let alone receive it, since I can't enchant it the way we always did with our letters as teens. I'll write again if I can, in the meantime love to all especially my sister Rosamund. Your faithful friend, Alvara For anyone interested Alvara Norris is now on the exchange.
She is not strictly a renovation challenge sim, but she & her home can be played in that direction. Special notes of consideration: She is starting with a shelter which has no appliances or plumbing. She has managed in her first few days earned enough from a broke start to build her current shelter, and has 966 simoleans for funds. There may or may not be some items in the household bin or her backpack as she was out dumpster diving and collecting when I packaged her for uploading. Being a former fey princess, she has no understanding of the skills required for even the most basic pt job in the mortal realm. Should a player decide to send her to college that opens her options. Otherwise for funds she can do anything that does not require filing paperwork at city hall or set hours at a rabbit hole. Optional, For Extra Challenge: Additional rooms can only be added using the games blueprints or using the following zoning rule; when adding an additional room/patio/defined space to the house & lot you can only add that which will have all 4 walls, 1 door, 1 window, flooring, wall paneling, & roof (applies for rooms meant to be indoors). Interiors of existing rooms can be renovated as desired. I started her on the lot next to the Frio brothers in Sunset Valley, a fairly standard 20x30 lot with a nice scenery buffer on it. Should you choose to relocate her lot location or town location, the suggested story line is she traded locations with someone for whatever reason you want. Total time spent on renovation 6 weeks 1 day. While Nick was still around he donated $1,100 to charity, which may or may not cover the stuff that I eventually just cleaned up in casT because I was done with the challenge. At the end of part 3 I mentioned moving the bunks upstairs. These are those changes. There really isn't a rule against Nick getting a job, but I'm having him wait 1 week until Rose ages up before starting work, there will be a 1 day overlap. The week trundled by in the usual routine; chores, school, home work, meals. I toyed briefly with the idea of having Nick & Hanako save up the money to move out, but that would have meant even longer game play, and I'd hit an I'm done point mentally with the challenge since the primary goal was to make over the building. So their saved simoleans went into makeover. I had contemplated replacing the table, but once I realized the one they have has an environment score of 2 I left it. After all if the goal is to have the place continue to be an "Orphanage" nice but nothing that triggers sky high bills is important. Time for Hanako, Rose, & Vijay to transition. There's still a little over a week before the twins Paolo & Bianca become young adults. They had left their part time jobs the night before because I had mentally storied them as work study jobs for high school students. Hanako took a job in law enforcement for her LTW. After much thinking both Vijay & Rose signed up for gardener self employment which I don't think receives a weekly stipend. For the time being Vijay will also be staying on with Rose at the orphanage as part time helper, when he's not out fishing. The newly transitioned were required to attend graduation. Which meant Nick & Hanako only had 3 days of work, but they both managed to get promotions. Final week & weekend, final bit of play. I used edit town to move Nick & Hanako to a new home. I think she moved out after a few days, but not before Vijay visited them and they threw a party and invited Rose over. I realized a critical error on my part. Rose is shy, I forgot to have Hanako, Nick, Rose, & Vijay make friends with Paolo & Bianca when they were toddlers. So now every time Rose is in the room with them she becomes uncomfortable. Oops! Rose meets their elderly neighbor while out at the library and two of his kids. Story progression has already moved some children off of the island due to their parents age. Rose agrees that his 3 children can come live at the Orphanage because he and his wife are getting the times nearly up message. It's late at night on a rainy Sunday when they move in. The final look. I cleaned up some of the build/buy items instead of replacing them. I've kept most of the original lights. Lot value is just under $50,000; and the bills are a smidge over $200 per bill or $450 a week, which thanks largely to the continuous reappearance of the mysterious mr gnome death markers won't be a problem. They average to $1,500 per marker, and some days I find 4 on the lot. (Holy moly!) Because the lot is meant to be an Orphanage, having individual rooms didn't make sense to me, so I may not have met all of the challenge goals. Since the lot came with a laundry room I kept the washer, otherwise I'd happily get rid of it. The final version is two stories.
The only thing I didn't add that I would/will if I were to play the save again is solar panels and a wind mill. Last time I played I left off towards the end of week one. This time I left off towards the start of week 4. During the last few weeks I reflected on how I want the finished orphanage to look, and what needed to be the priorities for the limited funds that were happening. Not sure if it's because they are on the outskirts of town, but I noticed that travel time and going into town to do stuff takes both a lot of time for the sims and also seems to wear them out quicker than if they stay home and do stuff. I also readjusted the aging settings; elder is still at 8 days, and toddler still at 7 days; the extra days from elder were split semi evenly between child & teen with teen getting 1 or 2 days extra. School & chores are pretty much the forever bane of a young sims life as well as Mother Linton's. All made that much harder by how far apart everything is spread. Had I really been thinking I would have moved Mother Linton's bed in with the tot's. Having a little money saved up helped, as did having a weekend off from school. As a surprise for Mother Linton, Nick carefully 'deconstructed' the shed where the laundry room was and shifted the materials over to the space between the kitchen and the building that housed the toddlers. Additional materials were purchased/traded for the foundation. The old fence rails were moved to mark the garden boundaries. While Nick was tempted to get rid of the dandelions, Mother Linton explained how dandelion greens were good in salads and how she also made jelly's and herbal remedies from dandelions, but because of heavy pesticide use she had to carefully grow her own instead of wild harvesting them. So Nick carefully replanted them next to the fence. The clothes line was also moved to just off the kitchen to make everything easier to get to. Happily apples produce faster than other plants in game and nick was able to sell off the first harvest for more walling. Tending tot's and laundry was much less time consuming now, and Mother Linton finally had time to teach the tot's the last of their toddler skills. Don't know if it was the garden, or the changes to the house, but something drew some extra attention and while everyone was sleeping they had an unexpected visitor. For the second half of the weekend the children were allowed to do whatever they wanted. For Rose it meant a trip to the library since the orphanage didn't have a computer yet. Nick didn't consider his time off as time off and spent his free day helping out & on his garden. Vijay is always auto fishing so I leave him to his own devices. Hanako likes to explore, so she went into town to pick flowers and fish at the central park across from the school. When Rose came home from the library she was able to make a case for getting a low end computer, which was put in the laundry room. Once it was installed Rose finished writing a short fiction story and earned a little extra money. As everything was set up for the twins, Bianca and Paolo's, birthdays a call came in. Sadly it was a wrong number. The twins aged up and every one enjoyed having cake for dinner, which was not the norm. While everyone enjoyed their treat, the gap between the main building and the children's dorm was filled in, and the cribs were taken apart and reconstructed into a bunk bed for the twins. Now that the twins were old enough to look after themselves a little bit, Mother Linton was allowed to go out for then afternoon. The only place close by was the graveyard, so she explored the catacombs. Exploring the catacombs has it's ups & downs. The up, she found some valuable uncut stones and metals that provided some much needed funding. The downside, she was attacked by something that caused her to pass out from a cold fright, fortunately the morning autumn sun thawed her out so she could return home. With Nick still 6 days from becoming an adult, it's a we bit to soon to force full adulthood responsibilities onto him. Which was just as well because Nick hadn't felt very confident when a burglar tried to rob them during the night. Happily the alarm alerted the authorities, even if the burglar got away. The upshot of that nights adventure was that Hanako, Paolo, & Vijay all decided that they wanted to go into law enforcement, but only Hanako & Paolo were determined to actually pursue the different paths of law enforcement for their future careers. Where as Vijay decided that mastering several skills was more important than anyone career path. While Bianca was momentarily tempted by a life of crime, but then decided that it wouldn't allow her to follow her passion of art and music. With the garden going dormant because of the chilling weather, Mother Linton suggested to Nick that he should start considering some of the schools after school internship programs. Nick wasn't to kean on the idea because none of the programs worked with the science center and he had decided that he wanted to become a scientist. They agreed that he could wait for the onset of winter before signing up for anything. Monday also heralded birthdays for Rose, Hanako, and Vijay. After an early morning chat with Mother Linton it was agreed that Rose could celebrate her birthday in the morning, and have an extra day off from school. Which Rose spent writing. Unfortunately the rest of the day got very busy between chores, school, and homework, so no cakes were made for Vijay & Hanako. They weren't to disappointed because there was still lots of cake in the fridge. The space between the two buildings finally got walled in. An easel along with a domino table was purchased. Whenever the weather permitted Nick tended the garden. Paolo learned to fish, while Bianca spent her free time painting and selling her paintings. Hanako got permission to check out the gym. She really wanted a radio for the house so she could work out to music on her own. Rose continued to work on a scifi book she had started, that is when she wasn't cleaning or cooking to help out. Vijay liked to work on the unsolvable challenges which earned extra money for the household. As the deep cold of winter threatened to settle in both Nick and Rose took after school jobs. Rose really didn't want to, being around people was stressful for her because she had become very shy preferring books to people. She took the job at the bookstore, while Nick settled on the job at the grocery store. As more funds came in an extra wall was added to the laundry room and the bath fixtures were moved into it. As much as everyone wanted nicer accommodations there were other priorities that had to be considered first, such as keeping the bills low and getting nicer kitchen equipment, and a small radio. With no more toddlers to look after Mother Linton was able to spend a certain amount of time networking through phone calls & assorted websites. All that networking yielded a nice surprise for the orphans. And they got to spend the first day of winter at the winter festival. Before leaving Mother Linton insisted on a group picture. She knew that no matter what this would be her last group of orphans she raised. (The picture was hung on a wall, but was lost due to game crash & subsequent file cleaning.) When they got back from the festival Mother Linton and Rose had a heart felt talk. The upshot being Rose promised to stay at the bookstore until spring, while working towards what she really wanted. Which was to become an author, and because of how shy she was, being able to stay at the orphanage and take over the running of it after she finished the schools ece* courses. (ece = early childhood education, and is required for daycares, preschool, and primary educators in the US.) Bianca helped Mother Linton hang some holiday lights they'd been gifted before doing homework. The next few days were the winter grind of school, work for the teens Hanako & Vijay had jobs at the spa, chores, and homework. Rose, despite being a bookworm, struggled with homework constantly. Now for the fun bit ... I forgot to save the game after the third day of the week. Which in a way turned out to be a blessing because they had a really bad snowflake day and never got to open their presents. I'll let the pictures sum it up. My game crashed about two sim days later. So I had to go back to week 3 day 3 the last save point, or as my saves are labeled Orphanage 3-3. Which in a way was a blessing because I really hadn't wanted to age Nick up one day early. I'm usually pretty good about saving once per sim day. Having to restart the week from the third day had it's ups. One of which was shifting the order in which I did one of the planned building changes. Instead of waiting for the second story to be added on I moved Mother Linton's bed to the dormitory, pulled the wall out one width, bought the special rug early and moved the garden into the future greenhouse a little earlier than originally planned. This time when snowflake day rolled around, I sent Mother Linton to explore the catacombs; then go to the gym, where she enjoyed the hot tub; the cafe for a bite to eat; and spend the night at the fire station, just in case while Nick hosted the gift exchange party. It should be noted that Mother Linton was about 103 sim days old at this point and more than earned one night away from the orphanage. The gift giving exchange went off pretty well Nick and Hanako weren't to thrilled with their gifts. He got the rainbow light, and she got coal. Rose like the pretty orchids she received, along with a nice shell lamp. Paolo thought it was cool that he received a bouncy ride, but was a little bummed that he wouldn't get to use it. No sooner than they exchanged gifts and it was time for cake and birthdays. Paolo added loves to swim to his mostly athletically inclined traits. Bianca's additional trait was irresistable. The house received a new front door and the old one became a side door out of the greenhouse. Friday morning was a school day, but everyone pitched in and helped Nick water the garden before school. Friday after school was Nick's birthday. A dryer was purchased for use during the winter, and then due to an odd routing glitch anytime anything was put next to the washer it was moved to the other side of the room. With Nick an adult and Mother Linton at roughly 105 ? 106 sim days of age he quit his part time job. He will be a stand in guardian until Rose becomes an adult. Saturday was Nick's graduation ceremony, then back to the house for chores, homework and skill building. The final round of outer walls and roofing were added to the upper level, but not enough money for stairs yet. With exception of the bathroom on the end of the sleeping quarters the lower floors layout is finished. Early Sunday (week 4 day 1) Mother Linton faded. She had lived a very long life. Grim stuck around and cleaned the tub. The orphans hosted a funeral for her on Sunday afternoon early evening, as the first warm breezes of spring tugged at the air. I played a few days into the fourth week. Which was/is a grind routine week. Everyone continues to help garden, and as they get seeds for achieving the skill point Nick plants the new seeds. Rose got to quit her job, but Hanako & Vijay stayed at theirs. Neither Bianca nor Paolo have after school jobs, but they earn money other ways. Because Rose will be taking over the orphanage, she spends a fair amount of time in the garden. Stairs up to the second floor got added. The plumbing fixtures were moved up stairs from the room off the kitchen, and walled in for privacy, and all beds have been moved up. The easel and computer got moved to the old dormer room which is now a studio/skills room. This lovely gnome sold for $1,000 which will get used for walls on the second floor. I've got about another sim week before Rose, Hanako, and Vijay become adults. At which point Nick, Hanako, and Vijay will move out, how isn't decided yet. Then about another weekish or so before the twins Bianca & Paolo become adults and also leave. At some point I plan on having Rose add a toddler or two into the mix via adoption, because I'm not even close to having the Orphanage finished, maybe about halfway or so. Essentially I've got the shell mostly done. But there's other stuff that also needs to happen. So the worlds I was going to place the orphanage in turned out to be not so great options. Primarily due to what hubby's pc can handle. In the end I converted a community lot to residential in Rflong's Isle of Sims II world, out in the farming area. There is a Q&A sharing thread over in the forums for anyone attempting the Renovation Challenges as set up by simmer SamelaRita. I've made it about 4 maybe 5 days into the challenge. I'm going with the age settings suggested by SamelaRita on her blog, elder 8 days, teen 21 days, children 14. She didn't mention toddler's so I set them at 7 days. As I suspected I did have to go in and tce debug to remove duplicating spawners before starting play. Love knowing how to clean up ea/maxis code glitches. ;) The first few days have been spent trying to earn money through gathering and fishing. I'm not sure why but my sims have not had the option to sell fish at the store so sales are happening through the backpack, except for bugs. My sims earn more money from the science center for them. Nick had the neighbors permission to harvest one time, so he could start a garden of his own. In some ways it feels a little counter intuitive to the renovation, but the first purchases where better beds, a fire alarm, and toddler skill toys. Speaking of toddlers, the if dolls got swapped between the two tot's, and next time I go in game will get moved to Mrs. Linton's backpack so they will play with the skill toys. They only need to learn their walking skill from the 3 toddler skills. Eventually the "weeds" might get pulled from the garden area, or maybe they'll get left since dandelions are edible even if the sims can't interact with them. I'd be lying if I said I never got bored of my legacy families, or that I needed a break from favorite challenges that I've been playing since Ts2 days. One of my good simmer friends introduced me to this short looking challenge "The Orphanage Renovacy" Created by another simmer. This is a renovation challenge! The aim is to bring this orphanage up to date, and get it looking good again. Here are the rules. No money cheats allowed. You can’t sell what’s on the walls or floors – you have to paper over it, and floor over it. You can sell anything they own or find, or make, catch or grow. If you want to customise anything that’s already there, you have to pay 25 simoleons for doing it – donate on the mailbox to “spend” the money. If you buy something new, you can customise it any way you want. On the “Aging” part of the option menu, set the age for Elderly to 8 days. You can set the ages for the others at any length you like, but I went for 12 days for childhood and 21 for teens. Mother Linton doesn’t go out to work. Download the family and building here: http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=5212857 (I ran the lot through custard and it checked out as clean.) As best as I can tell the challenge either ends when renovations are complete, when the elder fades, or the last simlet becomes an adult. I might share game play pic's, but probably not as this is just a little fun side challenge for me. I will say I'm placing the lot into either Twinbrooks or Appolosia Plains as both seem like a good fit and both towns have a consignment store. Well okay not AP, so probably Twinbrooks or some other town. Hubby's pc didn't like AP and crashed before I could do more than add the lot to town.
Also heads up the lot noted above does contain spawners on it, so if you have to rotate it at all while placing it you will need to tce debug to delete extra spawners. Life on the island for Hayden and his dad starts out rough. They lost Julia, Hayden's mom, when they crashed. Although from time to time her ghost pop's up to check on them. Cole grew up an orphan so he was used to going without before he & Julia married so he was able to adjust fairly quickly. Hayden was having a harder time, he'd never known hunger before, nor was he used to having to forage for food. Hayden knew their camp was fairly primitive, and was grateful for what Cole had scraped together out of wreckage & drift materials. Eventually Cole moved Julia's marker to the abandoned graveyard. Hayden took what few pictures he could with the sample roll of film that had come with the camera. People started to show up, which was nice. One person even gave Hayden 10 simoleans for the few pictures he had taken. Hayden wondered if he would be able to get more film, the idea of earning a living from pictures he took around the island excited him. One day they met a young couple who had just gotten a house built up the road from them. Cole contemplated filing with the empty city hall for self employment, but given no one actually worked there he wasn't sure how that would work out. So instead he played for tips. Eventually two more houses were added up the road from them. (I had to go a different route for adding houses than originally planned. Currently I've added 3 houses, the couple added were two sims who decided to dance together while Cole played in the park, the two bachelors who got added were npc's who Cole had met and then showed up as zombies during the full moon.) Cole finally had some luck growing some plants from seed to add to what they could eat besides fish. Cole used his tip money, and the money Hayden got for selling fish to the scientists who would drop by, to buy leftover logs & stone from the construction company. After the first contact Hayden asked Cole why no-one would take them back home with them, which left Cole with the hard task of explaining that some of the people didn't have space on their tiny boats, and the ones who did wanted money up front and refused to believe that Cole and Hayden were from The Verde family and could have easily payed them triple the fee being asked if they were taken back to industrial island. Cole also explained that he had considered trying to make a raft but didn't want to risk loosing Hayden the way they had lost Julia to the sea. Hayden hugged his dad, and confessed it was nice to have to earn his way through hard work instead of having everything handed to him, it was also nice to not be stalked by the paparazzi. Cole wished he could have stalled the aging process, but time awaits no-one. Knowing that Hayden would be transitioning soon he discussed buying a cake from their neighbor. Lucky for him she was expecting and had hit the nesting stage and was constantly baking. For Hayden's transition day Cole invited over their neighbors. As the weather turned cooler Cole worried about getting a shelter up before winter's snow arrived. Hayden wasn't sure about how he felt about online courses at the school building that had been built as it meant he wouldn't have as much time for fishing or playing with his camera. He practiced talking to his dad about not going in the mirror that he'd been gifted for his birthday, but Cole still said that long distance education was better than no education. The upside was he finally understood all of the technical terms in the photography book his mom had gotten him so long ago. After he was done at the school signing up for his courses, including an extra curricular course on art, he stopped by the empty city hall and tacked a notice on the board just inside the door. "Photographer for hire." Hayden Verde Marital Status: Second Chance This works like Couple, with the added requirement that your sim must have at least two partners/spouses over the course of his/her generation. The first partner must be in at least partner (boyfriend/girlfriend) status, and you must have at least one child by the first partner/spouse. The first partner/spouse must be moved in and everything. ... At some point after you have had at least one child by the first partner/spouse, that partner/spouse must go, either by death or break-up/divorce/separation. Then, your heir must find another sim to marry or move in. If you roll for only one child it must be by the first partner. If you roll for more than one you can divide them between the two partners however you like, so long as at least one is from the first partner. If you roll Perfect Careers or Fulfilled as goals, you may choose to reroll, since your partners may not have enough time to reach max careers or fulfill a LTW. But you may keep those rolls if you think you can manage them. If you choose to keep one of those goals, only one partner has to fulfill it, whichever one is in your control for the longest time. Number of Children: 2 Children Your generation is only allowed to have 2 children. Note that exceeding this number by having accidental twins or triplets is fine, but you must not have any more children after that. Primary Career: Freelance Photographer Sell photos you take. Secondary Career: Education Secondary Career: Science Generational Goal: Fulfilled Both your heir and their spouse (if applicable) must obtain their LTW. Changing the LTW via aspiration reward is allowed. In addition, any Wish that is "promised" (that is, pinned to the board) MUST be fulfilled. You may only cancel a promised wish if it becomes impossible to fulfill. (for instance, "play game with sim" when said sim has died.) You do not have to promise every (or any) wish, but once promised this rule applies. Miscellaneous Fun: Half-Siblings No two pregnancies or individual adoptions this generation may be with the same partner. Re-roll if you only need one child. Note that you can have half-siblings at any time in the legacy; this roll only forces you to do so. Lot's to Add: ? Science Center & Museum (aprox 250k simoleans) or ? Fishing hole & Science Center (aprox 200k simoleans) or ? Fishing Hole & Museum (aprox 150k simoleans) To say that things will get interesting for the generation 8 game play will be an understatement, especially as I'm starting the heir & one parent over on a new island. I was happy to see that Hayden got the violet/lavender eyes from the founder Kylie, who knows if the red hair will ever come back.
As you probably noted at the end of the gen 7 post I've included city hall & a mausoleum on the island, this will allow Hayden to register as self - employed once he can learn the camera skill. I'm also planning on trying to get a few npc's as good or better friends and convince them to move in to add a few houses to the island before Hayden reaches young adult. Since education has been cleared once if I can get 4 houses on the island before Hayden reaches maturity I'll add the school in somewhere along Port road. Same will apply to the military base & police station, since they can't be owned. Cole having level 8 guitar skill should help out a lot with getting a few houses (4 to 6) added to the island early on. How long Cole is around after Hayden becomes a teen is undecided at this time. I had two reasons for moving to a new world even though there was no roll to move. * Industrial Island where the Verde's had started was filled to max capacity, and very few of the townie NPC's were unrelated to the Verde's. * Game kept crashing; either due to being overly full, or because I had added in all of the ep's on top of the island being full & being started base only. Warning you, the reader, now this will be a long-ish post as it is the only post besides the goals post specifically for generation 7. I will also warn you now that it does not have a happily ever after ending. Julia and Cole set to the task of raising their instant brood. Cole was more of a natural at parenting than Julia, despite them both being family orientated. Julia's true passion was food, cooking, and learning new recipes. Before they knew it it was time for birthdays, and Julia relished using her new bakers oven to make cakes, although sometimes there were requests for store bought cakes, and those were honored. Not all birthdays were celebrated with parties, and sometimes it was only Julia & Cole home to celebrate an age transition. One day Julia and Cole celebrated yet another promotion, even though she wasn't putting any effort into her work. After the nerve wracking experience of teaching both Trisha and Kyle to drive, Julia and Cole agreed the others could walk everywhere as teens, after all the island wasn't that big. Julia expressed concern, because she kept getting sick and Cole suggested hiring a butler to help out around the house. Julia learns that she's expecting. She and Cole reassure their brood that no-one will be getting displaced just because she's having a child naturally. Before long it's time for the fall feast meal, to celebrate a good years harvest. As always they only invite family. Given the extensive family tree they're related to almost everyone on the island. Julia learns that Thomas has yet another new partner. Before long it's time for Julia to welcome the newest family member, a little boy they name Hayden. They also hire a butler about the same time. Before long it's time for more birthday's. When she can Julia continues to bake the cakes, but with almost everyone involved with some sort of after school activity, the opportunity for parties don't happen as much. The family stays busy, and before they realize it Snowflake day is upon them. Julia hosts a gift giving party. Most of the gifts are good, but someone decided to prank Kyle with a rainbow light and stuffed frog, which he gives to his younger siblings. A few days later it's time for Trisha's birthday. Even though she knows she can stay as long as she wants she's ambitious so she takes a job at city hall and moves to one of the new fancy houses the city built for council members. Julia had hoped everyone would forget her birthday, she wasn't sure how she felt about being middle aged. Then it's Kyle's turn, he's ambitious but not like Trisha. After graduation he files paperwork for self-employment. He has dreams of becoming the best artist around and maybe opening up a museum. He knows the best way to make that happen is by staying home for as long as he's allowed while he establishes himself as an artist. The whole family turns out for graduation. After Hayden's transition from toddler to child Julia announces that her boss want's her to go to Al-Simhara and learn some new recipes. Andie and Janice moan that they don't want to go. Andie is in the middle of putting together the school paper and yearbook, and Janice is in the middle of rehearsing for the spring production Macbeth. Kyle says he won't mind sitting his younger siblings. In the end it's only Julia, Cole and Hayden who go. Hayden is excited when Julia let's him go into town with her, and falls in love with a camera in the curio shop. Julia smiles and indulges her youngest child's request. When he spots a book on camera's at the booksellers she agrees to that to. Before they know it there short visit is up and it's time to return to the island. They never made it back to industrial island, Cole and Hayden barely make it to shore. They loose Julia at sea. After a day of scrapping around Cole assembles a rough camp for the two of them. There are two buildings on the island so at one time someone tried to settle it, but for now it's deserted. Cole knows he is nearing elder hood, he hopes that he lives long enough to see Hayden become a young adult, and tries to hide his cough as well as his grief with the guitar playing. Father and son quickly realize they will need to scavenge all of their food. Cole already misses Julia's perfectly prepared meals that she always kicked up a notch. |
Mama Dragon40s almost 50s mother and grandmother, who also enjoys sims. Categories
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June 2020
Random Legacy Progress
Generation 8 Goals
Martial Status: Second Chance Children: 2 Primary Career: Freelance Photographer Secondary Career: Education Secondary Career: Science Generational Goal: Fulfilled Miscellaneous Fun: Half-Siblings Lot's to Add: ? Science Center & Museum (aprox 250k simoleans) or ? Fishing hole & Science Center (aprox 200k simoleans) or ? Fishing Hole & Museum (aprox 150k simoleans) Generation 7 Goals
All gen 7 goals were completed before Thomas even moved out, or within the first sim week of game play. Marital Status: Step Children Children: 5/4 Primary Career: Culinary Secondary Career: Dumpster Diver Generational Goal: Idle Career Miscellaneous Fun: Luxury Lots to add: Bistro - Completed Day Spa - Buy (not partner) the rabbithole (no skill requirement). ($50,000) Times I've used cheats:
Gen 1: * Set family funds to $0. * Killed off Kylie's parents of old age. * Added Rufus to the family to move him to a different lot in town. Gen 2: * Had Natasha eat 3 life fruit to extend her age. * Used tce true to trigger Natasha's age transition from adult to elder and then to death. Gen 5: * Took the 3 possible heirs into cas, for YA headshots. Gen 7: tce + cas to change the last names of both girls to Verde when they became toddlers. Also snuck a peak at their YA stage to see if heir was going to be obvious or if a poll would be needed. Gen 8: Saying goodbye to Julia. And changing out the mailbox & trash can on the new home lot. Tce family funds to 0, shipwrecked = another broke start after camp set up. ;) Lastly tce add to family, while game was paused to add three households in addition to the Verde's to the island. Goofs! Oops! Oh Crap! * This applies to gen one but I didn't catch it until gen 3. I was supposed to have $140,000 and Buy the science building. I haven't decided how I'm going to handle this ... but I think I know what I'll be doing. :( Random Legacy Progress Past Generations
Generation 1 Goals
Completed All Goals Single Parent Children 2: 2/2 Career Science: Skill based Gardening 10/10 Fishing 10/10 Handiness 10/10 Gen Goal: Opportunist Misc Fun: Joker ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Lots To Add Science: 3/3 Completed Grocery Store: Completed LTW Add: Wild Plants to Park - Completed Generation 2 Goals
Completed All Goals Single Parent - Completed Children: 2/2 Career: Education - Skill based - Completed Charisma 10/10 Logic 10/10 Skill Professor 31.45/30 Gen Goal: Fulfilled - Completed LTW - Professional Author $4,209/$4,000 Misc Fun: No Strangers ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Lots To Add Career: School 2/3 LTW Add: Book Store - Completed Skill Add: Chess tables to Park - Completed Generation 3 Goals
Marital Status: Couple - Completed Children: 2/1 oops! Twins - completed Primary Career: Journalism - Completed Skill Based: Writing 10/10 Charisma 10/10 Secondary(Spouse) Career: Music (Classical) - Completed Skill Based: Guitar 10/10 Logic 10/10 Generational Goal: Expansionist - Completed Elder suite for Kyle Jr on the 1st floor Misc Fun: Gourmet 5/5 (old - 2/4) - Completed LTW: Illistrated Author - Completed Lots to Add: Career: Office Building - Maxed Charisma and Writing + $58,000 - Completed LTW/Skill Add: Library Writing + $36,200 - Not Completed ? Misc: Graveyard $26,200 - Completed Generation 4 Goals:
Gen 4 Completed all Goals Marital Status: Couple with help - Completed Children: 4/4 Career: Military - Completed Athletic 10/10 Handiness 10/10 Secondary Career: Law Enforcement (Super Spy) - Completed Athletic 10/10 Logic 10/10 Help's Career: Artist Painting 10/10 - Completed Gen Goal: Change of Scenery - Completed Misc Fun: Hands Off ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Lots To Add Career: Military base - Completed Skill Add: Public Gym Athletic 10/10 - Completed Spouse Career Police Department - Maxed Logic, Athletics, and Painting (no money requirement). - Completed Since Zach their cousin lives in the house I'm using his maxed art skill, combined with Jamal's maxed skills for the requirements. Generation 5 Goals
Marital Status: Couple - completed Children: 2/2 Career: Law Enforcement (Super Spy) - completed Secondary Career: Farmer - completed Generational Goal: Hobby, or Obsession - completed Miscellaneous Fun: Fashion Diva - completed Lots to add: Community Garden - Max Gardening 10/10 & 24,600 - completed Diner - Max Cooking Skill 10/10 & $24,000 - completed Generation 6 Goals
Marital Status: Single Children: 2/2 Career: Criminal (Thief) Skill based - completed Athletic 10/10 Logic 10/10 Generational Goal: Perfectionist - completed Miscellaneous Fun: Live Your Trait - completed Lots to add: Criminal Warehouse - completed Library - completed |