1. My gentle readers, good morning! Or if it’s afternoon where you
are, good afternoon! Or, uh, good evening! …Oh, heck, just plain
welcome.
Last time, you may recall that we had a wedding and notice of two
new coming attractions. [/shameless self-promotion] This time
around, I wouldn’t expect too much plot if I were you. Please
accept my apology in advance. I hope to make up for that, maybe
even next time.
But for now, let’s get started, shall we?
2. Several people asked for photographic comparison of Adam’s
nose, to see if it really did shrink. (I wanted it myself.)
On the left is Adam in Uni, when his nose was the most
impressive. On the right is Adam now.
Thoughts?
3. You may recall that last time I offered a tour of the newly
redecorated house if people were interested. Some of my readers
were, and I do try to be obliging.
Here is a long view of Adam and Myrna’s level, to give a sense of
the relationship between rooms.
4. The sitting area, as seen from the foot of the stairs. Adam and
Myrna’s bedroom is through the door by the statue.
5. Adam and Myrna’s bedroom. It’s small, but all they do here is
sleep. Well, sleep and other bedroom-y type things. Most of their
life is spent in the rest of the house.
The color scheme has changed a bit from upstairs.
6. The library and art areas, seen from the foot of the stairs. There is a
full bathroom behind the wardrobe. It’s too small for me to get a
picture of, but I’m sure you all know what a bathroom looks like.
Through the archway is the “rec room,” for want of a better term.
8. …as well as a pool table and a robot bench. As you can see, Glen
is working on fulfilling his part of the Open For Business
requirements. Once he gets his gold badge, I will have completely
won that part of the challenge!
9. Another view showing the remainder of the room. The door leads
outside to where the driveway used to be, since the “rec room” is a
converted garage.
10. Just off the “rec room” is the mausoleum. The archway is between
the robot bench and the chocolate machine. Here you can see all
the urns of the departed, all the Official family portraits, and one
unofficial photobooth picture of Myrna when she was in Uni. I
thought it filled that spot quite nicely.
Someday I really need to get this family to order all the snapshots I
have of the rest of the family…
11. A long view of the main living level, again to give an idea of the
relationship between the rooms. All these “orientation” shots were
taken from the exact same angle, so you should hopefully also be
able to tell what is above what.
12. The living room as seen from the front door. The dining room is to
the left.
Lisa’s decorating brand of Wacky is Modern Glamour, as it was
thought of in the 1950s and 1960s. Or at least how I think it was
thought of, since I wasn’t actually around and didn’t do any
research.
This is a game. Who researches?
13. The living room is L-shaped; this is the other part of the L. There is
a stereo behind the loveseat that currently plays Big Band music.
When Adam was in charge, it played Classical.
There is a half bath behind the white door, but it’s even harder to
take pictures of than the one downstairs.
14. The layout of the dining room is virtually unchanged from Adam’s
decorating. The main differences are the wall hangings and the
replacement of the wardrobe with a coffee table. (I didn’t have any
one-tile wardrobes that fit the Modern Glamour theme.)
15. From the dining room, you can see the kitchen.
Be warned: the kitchen contains a lot of custom content. It’s my
consolation prize to myself for not being able to buy the Kitchen &
Bath Stuff Pack.
Because I have a Mac, remember?
16. One view of the kitchen. Myrna is cooking breakfast for the
family.
The weird green thing in the corner is the top of the pineapple in
the bowl of fruit. None of the rooms in this house are full-room-
picture friendly, I’m afraid.
17. Another shot of the kitchen. The Smart Milk has been there since
Rose was a Toddler. Meh, it doesn’t go bad and we’ll need it again
eventually.
18. An orientation shot of the third floor. If you’re interested in the
bathrooms, take a good look now.
19. Lisa and Glen’s bedroom. I intend to go buy a crafted flower
arrangement for the nightstand from the business owned by another
playable in the ’hood, but I didn’t see the point in delaying the tour
just for that.
20. I’ve always wondered why there was no door to the master
bathroom in this house…
Also, look! I finally managed to use that tile! I’ve been looking at
it since 2006 and thinking What would you ever use that for? Now
I know!
21. The only things that changed in the hallway were the wall covering
and the frames to the pictures. They’re cc frames, but if I had
Apartment Life I’d be able to frame custom paintings. (You’ll find
that I download most of my cc to get something that I’d otherwise
have gotten in an EP or SP.)
This is a very oddly-shaped hallway. The nursery is to the
immediate left ( you can see just a bit of the door frame), the
sticking-out bit at the top of the stairs is the kid’s bathroom, and
the door waaaay over by the poster of The Mikado is the door to
the guest room.
22. The nursery. It’s more traditional-looking because in the 1950s and
1960s, they romanticized motherhood, childhood, and babies. No
Modern Glamour for them!
23. The guest room/office. The couch folds out into a bed. (Or at least,
the set comes with a bed that looks like it folded out of the couch.)
This set is not replacing anything -- I just liked it.
24. This is the office part of the guest room/office. I don’t think
anyone really needs an office, but I don’t have any kids yet and the
family is loaded. I’ll just redecorate again in a few years.
25. The bit on the left is really a dresser and the bit on the right is
really a radio. The door leads back to the hall.
This concludes our tour. Please remember to take your trash with
you when you leave, and it’s polite to tip your guide.
26. The nursery will see some use pretty soon, since Olga is on the
way. I have no way of knowing if Olga is going to be a boy or a
girl, but they’re getting named “Olga” either way. Gilbert used
exactly three O names… if you’re wiling to stretch a point.
1. Old Adam
2. Oakapple
3. Olga
(grumpily) I still say I should be allowed to declare “Nanki-Poo”
an O name.
27. Lisa spent the first day of her pregnancy eating, vomiting, sleeping,
and occasionally working on her Cleaning skill. Did you know the
fingerprint scanner also builds Fun?
28. Of course, getting scared by your great-grandmother tends to drop
all those meters right back down.
LISA: Sorry, Grandma Valerie! I just wanted to build some skills
for work!
Lisa has a job in Law, but unfortunately not high enough to snag a
career reward right away. I’m pretty sure she has the required
spread of skill points… I wonder if I have “harderjobs” in by
mistake?
29. This would be one reason we have a working energizer on the
premises at all times.
Glen’s outfit is an indicator of one of the other reasons.
LISA: Glennnnn, whaaaaat aaaaaare yoooouuuu weaaaaarinnnng?
GLEN: Dunno. Your dad gave it to me.
LISA: Heeeeee ddiiiiiidd?
30. GLEN (V.O.): Yeah, after the wedding. He gave me a new
telescope and an Electro dance sphere and this outfit. He said it
was lucky?
LISA (V.O.): Is it?
GLEN (V.O.): Well, it’s a bit breezy, anyway. But it’s the thought
that counts, right? Hey, does he usually make you sign receipts for
presents?
LISA (V.O.) (puzzled): No.
GLEN (V.O.): Huh. I wonder why he had me sign those cards,
then.
31. The following morning, an unabducted Glen went to work. He
started as a Multiregional Sim of Some Question, and was
promoted to a Warhead Disarmer. He is one Body point short of
earning the household a career reward, but there were no jobs he
could just poach a reward from available.
32. Lisa got her baby bump on the second day of the rotation, and
look! Her maternity clothes match the décor!
33. Adam has been passing along all the business perks the Tacky
Flamingo has earned so far, and because he’s using the stop-start
method, it’s going pretty quickly. But so far, that’s all the contact
Lisa has had with the business.
LISA: Poppa, I’m sure I can handle things.
OLD ADAM: No, no! You need your rest! Go take a bubble bath.
Your mama and I will handle everything!
LISA: Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I’m fragile. But a
bubble bath does sound pretty good right now…
34. Adam and Myrna took turns running the business. At the start of
the rotation, it was eleven stars short of Level 10. Although Adam
was the more popular in the hot tub, he only raised one star.
35. Myrna managed the other ten stars all on her own. This is a pretty
lousy picture and normally wouldn’t be included at all, but it has
historical significance: it’s the very last star needed to get the
business to Level 10!
36. TOWEL-CLAD REPORTER, WHO HAS YET TO GIVE THE
TACKY FLAMINGO A REVIEW DESPITE COMING
AROUND SEVERAL TIMES: So tell me, Mrs. Shankel: How do
you do it? How do you gain so many stars in such a short period of
time?
MYRNA: I open the business, I clean the toilets, I pick up the
trash, and then we get stars.
TOWEL-CLAD, ETC.: That’s it?
MYRNA: There’s more to it?
37. Normally, I would have had Glen paint the Official portrait, but
he’s trying to get abducted, promoted, and to earn two robotics
badges -- all at the same time. Besides, Myrna needs to be kept
busy.
38. Because this is what she gets up to if she hasn’t got anything better
to do.
39. She also created this lovely painting while staying busy. Can you
guess the Gilbert & Sullivan opera?
40. When Adam is home, it’s easier to stay busy.
Much easier.
But Adam does go to work, since his LTW is to Become Education
Minister.
41. I realize now that I didn’t take very many pictures of Lisa and Glen
together. Or at all, really. Lisa’s pregnancy was not as difficult as
any of Ruth’s, but it was harder than any of Myrna’s. If she wasn’t
eating or in the potty, she was usually sleeping. This is a rare
moment of togetherness.
GLEN: Do you think that maybe we could name the baby after my
Aunt Olivia? I have a lot of fond memories of her.
LISA: Sure. How do you feel about the name Olga?*
GLEN: Oh, I like that!
*In the Jewish naming tradition, to “name after” means to “start the name with
the same letter.” I’ve always liked that tradition. Although the name was
always a foregone conclusion, as previously mentioned.
42. No points for guessing where this is taking place.
LISA (panicked): Aaaaaaaaugh! Glen! Glen! What do we do if
Olga turns out to be a boy?!
43. As it turns out, Lisa didn’t need to panic about that possibility,
because Olga is a girl.
This is actually somewhat disappointing, since I had lots of great
ideas for Olga-the-boy, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.
Yeesh, the original Olga sings a rhymed couplet about torn gloves
and then has roughly four lines of exposition. How can I build a
character on that?
I’m sure I’ll think of something…
44. Last time, I promised a better picture of Oliver. Well, I’ll go you
one better: here’s a nice picture of everybody!
Oliver has a new shirt (from dustfinger on MTS), and he is finally
able to pull off facial hair! He is more excited about this
development than I can possibly describe.
45. As you can see, the farm stand is doing very well indeed. We can
finally afford an awning to cover all the merchandise!
The plantsim owners don’t mind getting rained on, but the
customers do.
Eventually, I hope to be able to afford nicer counters, and maybe
some benches for people to sit on.
46. And since we seem to be doing family pictures this time around,
here is Buttercup’s family. You will notice that both Buttercup and
Albert have new outfits. I pulled my clothing equality mod after I
played their house last rotation, and they ended up in pretty out-of-
character outfits. Albert got the red Family Fun Stuff combo, and
Buttercup got Olive Specter’s dress.
But who, you may ask, is that in Jo’s arms?
47. Why, that would be Penelope Wren!
Penelope has her father’s brown hair, her mother’s blue eyes, and
the same skintone as both her parents. She is adorabubble, of
course: all babies are adorabubble by definition, at least according
to Miss Manners.
48. Finally, it seems I made a boo-boo when moving Rose and Phoebe
to Uni. Since I sent them individually from home, I had to add
them to the dorm one at a time. Apparently when I added Rose and
then left the lot to add Phoebe, I quit without saving.
At least, that’s only explanation I have for her transition outfit
changing. (You can see the original in the inset.)
Once again, the outfits are disappointingly not-Wacky.
49. Here you see their new looks: continuing the “stripes” theme for
Phoebe and continuing the “super-feminine-floral” theme for Rose.
Rose actually needed to build some Creativity skill right away, but
generally both girls have high enough skill points that they don’t
have to do much other than go to class. This leaves room for a Plot.
Well, more of a Plotette, really. But Plot or Plotette, look for it next
time.
Until then, Happy Simming!
50. Notes, disclaimers, and other trivia
This chapter’s title is a song from HMS Pinafore. It has no
relevance to the chapter, but then, neither did any other song. And I
like this one.
Myrna’s latest poster is for The Yeomen of the Guard. In fact, all
the posters in the upstairs hallway are all for Gilbert & Sullivan
operas that you have seen in one form or another: The Mikado,
Patience (or Myrna to you), Trial By Jury (or Arbitration)… If I
put the complete set up for download, would anyone be interested?