Already in Progress 62: Trudy Does It Better

Hello! Welcome back to another exciting* chapter of Already in
Progress! During the course of this rotation, FRAPS once again
turned itself off without warning. Fortunately, I have established the
habit of taking the same picture with FRAPS and the in-game
camera, so nothing was lost. Unfortunately, that means that some of
the pictures are not as good quality as the rest.
For this, I apologize.
And now, a word from our sponsor.
*Excitement not guaranteed.

Today’s episode of Goldberg & Silent Lady is brought to you by the
“Beyond Fantasy” posebox created by Chere, a posebox for all
your supernatural posing needs. This posebox is available from
Chere’s Tumblr: chere-simblr.tumblr.com.
(in a rapid undertone) Chere is not aware of this endorsement, and
has much nicer preview pictures than I do.
And now let’s rejoin our story: Already in Progress…

We open with a spectacular fight at Leila’s house between Cat and
an Intruder.
CAT: Go on! Is that all you got? (jeers) My grandmother can fight
better than that, and she’s dead!

WOLF: whine whimper
CAT: That’s right you’re sorry! And are you ever going to be
coming around here again?
WOLF: whine cringe whine
CAT: Damn skippy! And don’t you forget it!

LEILA: Who’s a good, brave guard kitty, then? I think a strong
guard kitty like you deserves a fishy treat. What do you think?
CAT: That’s it? One little fishy treat?
LEILA: You don’t want it? (moves to take it back)
CAT: No! I want it! (pounces and noms it from her hand) Bu’ iff’s
no’ enuff fo’ a (swallow) good, brave, strong guard kitty.

LEILA: You’re right. Here you go.
CAT: Holy CRAP! It’s almost as big as my HEAD! ‘Scuse me, I
have to commune with this fishy treat now.
Note from esmeiolanthe: This cc kitty treat raises both food and fun. It’s by
hmiller61615 at MTS, and I am very pleased with it so far.

CAT: How am I supposed to be guard kitty if you keep bringing
home big dangerous things?
LEILA: WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU!
CAT: I hope you don’t think I’m raising my voice for your benefit.
If you want to hear me, make the noisy thing go away.
LEILA: I GOT PROMOTED, CAT! I TOPPED MY CAREER!
ISN’T THAT GREAT?
CAT: Unless it involves a fishy treat for me, I don’t care. (stalks off)

Abhijeet was rather more supportive.
ABHIJEET: A toast! To my successful and accomplished and
beautiful wife, who has completed her Lifetime Want and now has
everything she needs to be happy!
LEILA: Well, almost everything, anyway. Do you know any
fertility spells?
ABHIJEET: Not off the top of my head, but I will research that.
Note from esmeiolanthe: Abhijeet and Leila had their night out at the High
Street Lot that Jo made for me. You can download it at Mod The Sims or at
Leefish, if you are so inclined.

MURAKAME
Weirdest thing. There’s all these rich houses
getting robbed, but nobody can figure out how.
GOLDBERG
What do you mean, nobody can figure out how?
MURAKAME
I mean there’s never any sign of a break-in.
Everything’s locked up tight, but the stuff is
missing. Gone. Vanished.

When the rotation started, Skye and Dawson were eagerly awaiting
the arrival of their new family member.
Dawson may be Romance, but he has some mitigating form of
secondary (Popularity or Family or some such), so he has no Fear
of the impending happy event.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that he necessarily wants to be there
during all the excitement.
SKYE: Dawwwwwsonnnnn…!
DAWSON: Oh wow, is it that time? I’ll get the hot water and
towels.
SKYE: We don’t have any to-OWWW…els…!
DAWSON: Good point! I’ll go buy some right now!
(Running footsteps, slamming door, screech of tires as car takes off
at speed)

Even without the towels, the baby was just fine, and Skye
eventually agreed that she’d been worth the labor.
Eventually.

Meet Violet Seiff, who I think is a nice mix of her parents. The gray
eyes are a nice little recessive-genetics gift from her grandfather
Albert. (Remember him?) Without Albert, Dawson’s gray eyes
wouldn’t have stood a chance against Skye’s darks blue ones.

In the little challenge I’m playing with the particular family, there
are different colors for each generation. Skye’s color is blue, which
explains the aggressively blue décor. (And hair. And clothing.)
Violet’s color is purple, but it won’t take effect until she or her
sibling takes over at head of household.
That caused me a little dilemma: What color should things
purchased exclusively for Violet (or her sibling) be? I finally
decided they should be purple as well.
(happily) Didn’t I do a good job of disguising the cute picspam?

Skye and Dawson both work, so they have hired a nanny.
NANNY: What’s this?
SKYE: It’s a tip.
NANNY: Oh no, no! This is too much! (tries to give the money back)
SKYE: When I came home, Violet was clean, dry, fed, rested, and
happy. Also the house was tidy and there weren’t any suspicious puddles
anywhere. I think $100 over and above your usual fee is about right.
Remember, folks: If you reward good behavior, you increase the
likelihood that it will happen again.

GOLDBERG
There’s got to be something they have in common. I
just don’t get it.
SILENT LADY turns the page of her newspaper and
snaps it crisply into place.
GOLDBERG
You’re right. I was thinking it had to be in the
financial pages, but maybe it’s the society section
I should be looking at. (under his breath) I hate
that section. Too much Emma.

At the Wren household, Jo has been promoted to Dolphin Tank
Cleaner. This means she doesn’t smell quite as strongly of fish
anymore, and that she doesn’t have to go to work in as revealing an
outfit, and that she doesn’t have to work as strange hours.

This last is a good thing, especially as Jo and Phoenix are become
rather social in their Elder years. Phoenix is aiming for Professional
Party Guest, and what better way to get there than to practice in the
comfort and privacy of your own home? The one problem common
to parties at the Wren house is that there simply aren’t enough
chairs to go round.

Phoenix and Jo are as affectionate as ever. It’s hard to believe that
back in the day Jo saw Phoenix as a poor second-best, isn’t it?*
*See “The Order of the Llama, or, The Performer and Her Pianist,” part of
Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge, available at my LJ.

The dynamic changed a bit when Penny graduated, of course.
PENNY: I really hate to ask this, Dad, but can I stay here for a little
bit? I’m saving up for a garage franchise, and I’m close, but it
would really really help if I didn’t have to pay rent.
PHOENIX: Of course you can! This is your home! You can always
come here, and stay for as long as you need or want to.
PENNY: Great! It’s just that when cousin Jack* moved back home
after college you said that he was a worthless freeloader.
PHOENIX: Yes, but you’re my daughter.
*Penny’s cousin on Phoenix’s side. Does not actually exist in game.

Penny is working and saving towards a garage business,* but that
doesn’t mean that she can’t have fun with her friends sometimes
too. And she does, organizing outings to the community center
uptown and inviting her friends from both college and high school.
Her parents heartily approve of this, since they would like to see
her get married.**
*Or, you know, I haven’t got around to building her one yet.
**Or, you know, I would. Penny’s not all that interested.

Penny did spend the afternoon on an official date with a fellow
from school that she had one bolt with. Both parties had a good
time, even if neither rolled up particularly romantic Wants, and
even if their Want panels were not exclusively full of each other.

And even though Penny watched what’s-his-name leave with a
goofy smile, she rolled no further Wants for him beyond friendship,
and seemed perfectly content to go about her life without him.
I am choosing to interpret this as “not interested.”

Phoenix is more hopeful.
PHOENIX: Do you think she liked that boy? Might there be
wedding bells in the future, maybe?
JO: Maybe, but I don’t think with that particular guy. She’ll find
someone, or she won’t, and it’ll be okay either way.
PHOENIX: I have a guy I work with that she might get along with.
Do you think I should bring him home one day, introduce them?
JO: Stay out of her love life, Phoenix. Meddling never works out.

GOLDBERG
Figured it out.
SILENT LADY tilts her head and raises an eyebrow
inquiringly, without stopping typing or looking away
from the screen.
GOLDBERG
Animals. There’s someone in each house who is a huge
animal lover. In fact, they all donate generously to
the Collie Crown Animal Refuge – you know, up in the
suburbs? Time for a little drive, I think.

At the Miller house, Frederic’s Cooking skill is through the roof –
literally.
He is half a Cooking point and one-and-a-half Creativity points
from topping Culinary, although those last couple of points always
take forever.

Especially when you take time out to do things like “spend time
with your family’ or “have date night under the stars.”

Or “make sure that people eat right.” That’s a big one.
FRDERIC: What is this? You have a well-known chef and
restaurateur who leaves you delicious meals in the fridge that you
just have to heat up, and you order pizza?!

ISAAC (with his mouth full): Yeah.
FREDERIC: You’re both Philistines! Why would you do that?
ISAAC (not taking his eyes off the screen): We’re tag teaming to
see if we can break the high score counter. When Helen gets tired,
she’ll pass the controller back. We’ve passed it like seven times
now. We’re at one hundred twenty-seven million and counting.
FREDERIC: No censor blur? (sits) Hey Helen, tag me when you
get tired.
ISAAC: You want I should heat something up for you?
FREDERIC: Nah, just pass me a slice of pizza, willya?

Then there’s “dealing with the fact that your teenage daughter is
dating.”
FREDERIC (V.O.): So… How was your date with Nathan?
HELEN (V.O.): Nicholas. And it went fine.
NICHOLAS: Ha! You’re getting sprayed with my butt water!

FREDERIC (V.O.): “Fine” like how?
HELEN (V.O.): “Fine” like fine. Which part of “fine” do you not
understand?
HELEN: Oh yeah? Well, I can spray you with butt water too, so
there!
NICHOLAS: Ha ha! Butt water war!
(Much laughter)

FREDERIC (V.O.): How do you think he feels about you?
HELEN (V.O.): I dunno.
NICHOLAS: I think falling in love with you would be pretty
awesome right about now, actually. Thanks for asking.

FREDERIC (V.O.): Well, how do you feel about him?
HELEN (V.O.): Dunno.
HELEN: You know, if we Go Steady, we can have lots more dates
like this one.
NICHOLAS: We can have lots of dates without going steady too.
But since I do want to Go Steady with you, I’m not going to argue
the point.

The birthdays are probably the worst, though. Going gray, having to
buy a new wardrobe, and having to find a new hairstyle that a)
looks good and b) requires hair gel ain’t easy.
I realize now that I did not get a picture of Frederic’s makeover, but
I promise that I will next time.

GOLDBERG sighs, yawns, looks at his watch, and
settles back in his seat. A twig snaps somewhere off
and left. GOLDBERG snaps to attention, scanning the
area.

Phoebe has been trying to bond better with Draupadi for Chant’s
sake.
PHOEBE (in the tones of one offering a great treat): Draupadi, dost
thou wish to help me clean the bathroom? Thy father and thy
brother have left it much the worse for wear.
DAUPADI: Ew! No! Gross! I have seen the way they leave the
bathroom. You completely failed at potty training, by the way.
I never said she was trying particularly hard, mind.

Nicholas and Draupadi, on the other hand, get along as well as any
teenaged brother-and-sister pair.
DRAUPADI: OW! Nicholas, stop it! Ow ow ow!
NICHOLAS: Are you sorry you started that noogie competition
now? Huh?
DRAUPADI: Never! Your face when I grabbed you was priceless.
(grits teeth determinedly) Go ahead – do your worst, I dare you!
Which is to say that they get along quite well, but have unusual
ways of showing it.

Chant has discovered that just because you like Nature, that doesn’t
automatically mean that Nature likes you back.
CHANT: Auuuuuuuuuuugh! Beesbeesbeesbeesbess!

When nobody is being attacked by bees, the harvest is going very
well.

The crops all look beautiful (I had to restrain myself from making
this whole section picspam of how beautiful), and they are selling
very well at the farmstand. So well, in fact, that I’m thinking of
making a bigger farm and building a full-on grocery store
downtown, although a bigger farm requires more people to run it.
Operating the farmstand is a real family affair right now: Phoebe
runs the register, Draupadi restocks, Chant schmoozes and fills in
where needed, and Nicholas…

Nicholas sells.
NICHOLAS: I bet you’d like some carrots, wouldn’t you?
CUSTOMER: No, thanks. I’m not really a fan of carrots. They’re
too chewy, and you end up with a mouthful of rough pulp.
NICHOLAS: Sorry, I didn’t say that right. (fixes her with an intense
gaze) I bet you’d like some carrots, wouldn’t you?
CUSTOMER: Yes. Yes, I would. How many bunches am I allowed
to buy, please?

Draupadi was less focused on the farmstand than the rest of the
household. Her young friend Deadeye was suddenly a lot less
young and a lot more attractive. He’s every bit as Nice and
Respectful as he was before, but the relationship has changed
quickly – and not in a bad way, as far as the two participants are
concerned.

On the last day of the rotation, Phoebe Grew Up into an outfit that
matched the wallpaper – and not much else. Phoebe has since had a
makeover (you’ll see it next time) and I have since default replaced
those horrible purple pants.
I can’t remember precisely what I replaced them with, but the
replacements aren’t purple and weren’t designed in the 1980s,
which makes them a thousand times better than the originals
already.

CAT rubs up against GOLDBERG’S leg and meows.
GOLDBERG
Nice kitty, nice kitty. Go away now, huh? Shhhhh.
CAT rolls over on its back and meows again, louder.
GOLDBERG
Okay, okay, I’ll rub your tummy, just shhhh! Shhhhh!

I finally finished – I mean, the insurance company finally finished
work on Rose and Dmitri’s house, and the family was able to move
back in – much to the relief of Rose.

Dmitri started back in on creating stock for the flower shop, which
I will get around to buying, stocking and staffing one of the
rotations Real Soon Now, I Promise. I will also be restoring stock
using the buyable crafting station items from HugeLunatic over at
Sims 2 Artists. They will be removed once everyone who needs
craftables restored has ‘em.

Rose joined him following the baby’s birth, and various nifty baby
items allow the baby to have a good time under the watchful eye of
Mommy and Daddy.

The baby has a name of course – it’s Anton, and he’s very cute. I
used the Batbox before he was born, and it seems to have worked
nicely. Sure, he has black hair, but it was a fifty-fifty shot. He has
brown eyes rather than the alien eyes of his older black-haired
brothers, so he’s different.
You almost certainly remember (because of course you remember
even the smallest details about my stories) that I freaked out when
Ivan was born with brown eyes, but that was because he should
have had dominant custom eyes. The custom eyes are long gone,
and Anton comes by these naturally, inherited from his grandfather.

Rose decided that it might be time to lose the baby weight now that
she is menopausal and there will be no more babies. For this, she
likes the trampoline in the backyard, and I mostly agree – although
I think that I would probably not wear a skirt for that particular
undertaking.

Ivan Grew Up on the last day of the rotation (in the bathroom,
naturally), and after some consideration, I decided to let him keep
the clothes he Grew Up into. They actually suit him pretty well, and
the clothes that I thought had giraffes on them turned out to not.
Ivan is a Pleasure/Fortune sim who wants to be Captain Hero.
(Which seems like an out-of-character LTW, so I hope the hood
isn’t on the way out already.) He likes girls okay, as long as they
wear swimsuits a lot and know how to cook, and only if they don’t
have red hair.

I did not get a picture of Mikey’s transition, which is just as well,
because the outfit was pretty awful. However, here is a picture of
him post-makeover. I think we can all approve, yes?
Ending note: I was struggling with how to fill the living room for
this family, and then it hit me: Don’t Wake The Llama! Of course
the two dedicated Family Sims would have Family Game Night,
and Don’t Wake The Llama is just the ticket.

BURGLAR
...that’s right, just rub my tummy like the stupid
rent-a-cop you are and then let me run away, okay?
GOLDBERG clears his throat.
BURGLAR
Oh, censor blur. Um... Meow?

Before the rebuild, Catherynne had a pretty sizeable inventory of
toys made, all ready for a new toy store. I didn’t want to watch her
make them all AGAIN, so I used HugeLunatic’s buyable versions
to replace them in her inventory.

The family did not get a chance to make much use of the toys this
rotation, but they did move into their nice new (huge) home. It’s
full of things to craft and to learn from, like this custom candy
machine by Simouns that makes chocolate bunnies and chocolate
plumb bobs. Paul spent quite a bit of time making chocolates this
rotation.

Instead of bulky exercise machines, the family now has a compact
ballet barre. It apparently has a very high Fun stat, since pretty well
everyone started for it autonomously when their meter turned
orange. Lavinia in particular was a frequent and persistent user.

When she wasn’t building a sewing badge (to be able to make
teddy bears for the toy store, of course!), Catherynne was busy
taking care of the plants in the greenhouse.

Professor Douglas tried using the shiny new Vocational Controller
from SimWardrobe to pass along useful skills and knowledge.

In fact, it doesn’t matter what the thing under discussion was: that
was the pattern.
Making friends? Trudy did it better.
Getting good grades? Trudy did it better.
Taking care of those pesky Need meters? Trudy did it better.
It got pretty repetitive by the end of the rotation…

MURAKAME
I gotta hand it to you: Catching him in the act? I
couldn’t have pulled it off.
GOLDBERG
Sure you could. It was nothing.
MURAKAME
Now if I ask very nicely, will you rub my belly too?
GOLDBERG
Not funny, pixelhead!

Hi Sally! What’s new?
SALLY (V.O.): Well, I found a dusty old lamp that somebody had
left on the porch.
Did you try rubbing it?
SALLY )V.O.): I did. And this guy came out of it with no pants on
and told me I could have three wishes. So I wished he would put
some pants on, but he said that didn’t count and I had to wish for
beauty or money or happiness.

Which did you choose?
SALLY (V.O.): Oh, I went with happiness, but it didn’t really make
much of a difference. I mean, Troy and I were pretty happy already.
(softly) He made me very happy.

“Made”?
SALLY (V.O.): He passed. Just recently.
Oh, I’m so sorry!
SALLY (V.O.): Thank you. It was very sudden. He didn’t suffer or
anything.
That’s good. How are you holding up?

SALLY (V.O.): Everyone’s been very kind. My friends don’t allow
me to mope around the house. I get invited over for dinner a lot, or
for gaming contests, or things like that.

SALLY (V.O.): And Tamara’s been a gem, of course, and very
fortunate in her roommate. It was so supportive of him to come to
the funeral. The tie was a little brighter than etiquette says it should
be, but I think he only owns the one. Most young people today
don’t really wear ties.
…That’s true.

SALLY: I’m not going to complain about what people wear to my
funeral, as long as they come. You’ll come, won’t you?
Yes, but –
SALLY: Oh good! We’ve been friends a long time, and I’d hate for
things to not go well at the end.
You consider us friends?
SALLY: Of course I do? Don’t you?
Well, yes, I do. I just didn’t know if you did or not.
SALLY: Well, I do, so don’t give it another thought. But now if
you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with another friend.
Sure. Who?

SALLY: Everybody’s best friend, in the end, really, if you think
about it. (to the Grim Reaper) Is that for me?
GRIM REAPER: .e., .s. Co.de.c.
SALLY: Well, aren’t you sweet! (sips drink) And it’s my favorite,
too! How did you know?
GRIM REAPER: I ai. t. ..eas..
SALLY: Well, you succeed. I approve. Now, what comes next?

Troy Langerak, age unknown because of multiple rebuilds, and
Sally Couderc, the same age as Troy plus two days. Sally and Troy
met in college, and were together for the rest of their lives. They
had a very happy marriage – or rather, two very happy marriages,
since they renewed their vows as Elders. Troy was fairly easygoing,
and Sally was physically incapable of being angry at anyone for
more than an hour at a time. They were both fun to play, and they
will be missed.

The Grim Reaper’s lines, in order:
Yes, Ms. Couderc.
I aim to please.
And on that sad note, I will leave you. Until next time, Happy
Simming!

The Goldberg and Silent Lady sections used a lot of custom content and
poseboxes. All custom content is from Mod The Sims unless otherwise
indicated. In addition to the items advertised at the beginning and content
advertised in other episodes, I used:
“Timeless Office” set by jgwoods
Long drapes and recolors by KiaraRawks
“Hacked Coat Hook” by Mary-Lou and Numenor
“Custom Modeling Poses Hack V2 w/Facial Overlays” by decorgal21572
SimBlender by TwoJeffs, from Simbology
Prop hack and accessories by Decorgal and Adele (a two-download set)
Kitchen Clutter pack by buggybooz (found on their Blogspot; pictured above)

Already in Progress 62: Trudy Does It Better

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