Tinkering Teen

GENERATION 1

CURRENT AMOUNT OF KIDS: 9

    Almost everyone hits a fiscal low point at sometime in their life, and as a result, we must learn to make compromises and sacrifices in order to meet ends' meet. The Sims series memorably demonstrates this hard fact of life by forcing a player to demolish their pixels peoples' sheds in order to make a quick buck.

  After some house readjustments, Ian's little workshop has managed to find a comfortable spot within his bedroom.

  He'd better start improving on his inventing skills, too, since he'll need the money for when he gets older. Speaking of:

  Yes, our former Turbo Toddler has finally hit those bumpy teenaged years. And, I'm not going to lie, watching a bunch of virtual pixels grow older in such a short period of real world time is making me, strangely, begin to reflect . . .

  However, seeing a Sim's waffles go from "good quality" to "spoiled" in 4 seconds flat made me much more thankful for my own life.

  Enough rambling, though, it's time for a impromptu party! The tinkering teen is almost here.

Heather's face is weirding me out.

 

"Fluffy, I don't deal with dirty litter-boxes on my birthday."

   So, how does he look --

                             BRAD. 


     HAVE YOU POSSESSED YOUR BROTHER RECENTLY?

   Oh, yeah, Angie's dump truck full of Simoleons happened to be in town and dropped by, so we got the household a nice Mac knockoff.

   And since that thing was about 2,000 Simoleons, it's time to break out the old collection finder! If Gwen's going to be our Generation 2 momma, she better learn all the moneymaking skills fast. Thankfully, a nice trail of goodies is just behind our home.

  Off she goes, into the cold, monochrome wilderness.

This looks like something I drew in high school.

  Meanwhile, those other lazier Holland are all progressing in their skills and making cash in a nice, temperate environment.

  Manual labor wins the day over, because Gwen found a lot of loot -- seriously, those map tags don't do her list any justice, so here's mine. 

  It's like looking at a geologist's record book. Gwen's mad rock finding skillz . . . end up deprecating some of the rock values, but still . . . 

   She made more money in a day than her mom and sister combined. So that means Gwen has very high expectations from yours truly . . . and those rabbit hole jobs are a ripoff sometimes.

  And then she proceeded to donate 100 simoleons to a charity.

  Gwen remained pretty humble about it, I must say. She only mentioned it to Fluffy after a a sudden posing demonstration. 

  At least Heather isn't completely missing out. She gets to learn Sims' skills more easily now.

Yuletide Cheer

GENERATION 1

CURRENT AMOUNT OF KIDS: 9

     There's no better way to spend time with the family than to buy their love make a nice banquet on Snowflake Day. With at least eleven people to serve food to, the leftovers will last us well until next spring.

    So begins yet another mother-daughter bonding session that'll last approximately one Sim hour. It was a pretty awkward one, as Angeline was preparing some epic organic grilled salmon (for everybody not named Emma) while listing to the writing tab cast for tips on how to make big bucks, while Heather was making a crappy autumn salad and didn't get a single Simoleon.

  After heading off to sleep, the first thing Angie did was set up a feast party at her place. Yeah, we didn't get the chance to do it on Spooky Day, and our older kids' gifts included "getting the hell out of Mom's cramped house".

   We need some form of non-cold weather related entertainment, too:

Which now means she can't electrocute herself out of her misery when the grandkids come. Sigh.

  
     Mandatory cute kitten picture!

    Heather decided to give baking a shot, thankfully blessing the party with some cinnamon rolls (which made me sad since it reminded me that the only Cinnabon in my town has been closed for a year).

You'll always just be second best, homemades rolls.

    And Ian officially has the best kid's weekend off ever: all this food and a birthday?

They grow up so fast.

    Meanwhile, Gwen decides to show off her arty, edgy side by spontaneously making a snow angel. With no outerwear on.

  

   Thankfully, the party has officially started! The first kid to show up was --

.   .   .

I'VERAISEDTHISGUYSINCEHWASABABYWHATTHEHELLISWRONGWITHMEeeahem.

 The next guest on our list would be Aaron, who blessed the family with bills we can't afford. Thanks, son. We have the sell the creepy doll now.

  Meanwhile, Danny and his girlfriend Jeanette Hauser dropped in with a nice chocolate pie.
His neutral expression is sort of suspicious, though . . .

I wonder if he's seen The Help?

   Shortly following the two lovebirds are Fiona and Chris, who seems to be flashing his the crazy eyes, pre-Sims 4.
   

The way he has his head cocked to the side reminds me of an owl.

  With that, let the feast begin! Autumn salad, cheesy bread, chocolate pie, cinnamon rolls, French toast, grilled salmon, goopy carbonara . . . besides being in ABC order, they were all delicious!

When you least expect it, the Sims really do simulate reality.

   And a mere two hours later of eating and chatting, everyone gets up and leaves in an organized manner. No, seriously. First Aaron . . . 

.  .  . then Brad . . . 

. . . to which this panda will helpfully demonstrate my reaction . . .

. . . and then Fiona and Chris with Dan n' Jean following closely behind. D&J weren't too impressed with the festivies, so no screenie for them.

  Thankfully, we have enough rations for the heavy snowfall.

Up yours, lovebirds.

  With the party now over and done with, the kids leave Mom to do the cleaning and go about honing their skills for life's inevitable challenges.

And Angie managed to achieve something I know I never will. ;-)

Golden Years

 GENERATION 1

CURRENT AMOUNT OF KIDS: 9

     Making Sim elders look good makes writing a five page essay an absolute cakewalk, guys. Trust me, Angeline's wardrobe has gone through more edits than my first draft:

Pardon her attempts to blend into the wallpaper.

     
   Regardless, ever since entering her golden years, Angie has been ecstatic; having and raising nine children, being responsible for laying down the fiscal foundation for future generations of a 100 Baby Challenge and having to look good doing it would just about wipe out anybody. Her retirement is beyond just "well deserved". 
   

Even a busted knee can't keep her down.

   Thankfully, her creativity hasn't slowed down at all -- she finally finished An Army's Baby:

    

    And unlike many authors who found their novels bomb after writhing away in development hell, Sims-style instant gratification strikes again!

FINALLY a Sim noticed those pop-ups!

    Since Angie truly has all the time in world now, she decided to celebrate by exploring new territory: a poetry book!

"Let me count the ways / The stretch marks haunted my days . . ."

    Shortly after Angie started to write her next book, a certain set of triplets finally got on the school's honor roll!

     Which means they get new traits . . . 

    . . . new makeovers . . .

 . . . and a little shack on the other side of town. As you can tell, Ian's very happy about having his cramped bedroom to himself.

"I know I gained like, 1% of more space, BUT STILL."

" . . . "

   Of course, now with only 776 simoleons to the family name (the triplets took the other 2,000. Yes, really), our remaining members had better start looking at the classified ads. 

    Angie decided to save money by repairing the stove and upgrading toilets by herself.

    Ian was kind enough to not set himself on fire whilst whittling around with his first inventions.

   And Gwen and Heather are the first teens in the house to get part time jobs. Gwen got the long end of the stick by working at one of those weird places called bookstores, and Heather gets to fold people's worn clothes at the spa.

"At least we're not going out of business any minute now."

   Speaking of books, Angie is still working out her creativity muscles after all this time. 
  

  Unfortunately, Angie's exhaustion won't be cured any time soon; Saturday will be Snowflake Day and has to find time to make food for at least eleven people (not including herself). Yep, looks like two extra people are tagging along for the holiday cheer.

   But at least Heather has the day off to help Mom -- 

  Oh, glitches, you never fail to amuse me. And make me want to chuck my Mac out my bedroom window.

   At least Gwen managed to get something of an education today, since the school turned down Heather and Ian from entering. Might as well make the best of it.

    Like having Angie adopt a surprise pet for the house!!

  

    

   So anyway, business as usual around the house once the kids came home from a day of semi-school. Heather beat up her pounds of cookie induced fat with a nice round of training with the dummy, leading to an early gift: an orange belt. Looks like Emma better watch her back!

   And for those curious about how old the twins are:

    Which means I'll do my damnedest to make the next fillertastic chapters interesting.