In which Matt Maker and Fiona Finder discover that their mothers are, in fact, unreliable.

1. Makers and Finders
A Cursed Baby Boom Challenge
Chapter 5
Ow! Get out of my personal space, Matt! How dare you?!
Hahah. Just kidding. No, it was just more of that stupid curse's side-effects. Rather than
going straight home, I tried transforming myself into my werewolf form, right there in front of
Matt. Shouldn't matter, right? He's brave. And he's seen me transform lots of times before.

2. It didn't work. “Matt? I think I'm broken. Help me, please!”
Matt didn't know what to do. His best suggestion was to fulfill our plan to go to university.
Perhaps there, we could find some smart professor or some such, who could help us out.
So, in the interest of saving some money, we went back to our home lot, and took the
university exams, hoping for at least a little scholarship money. I'd sell the really nice nectar if I
had to, but I'd rather not have to do that, yet. Keeping them in my inventory was like saving
them up for a rainy day. Or, you know, having wonderful moodlets ready to drink.

3. I got six credits, but Matt did not. He was almost at level 6 Charisma, though, so we chatted
for a bit, until he got that last point, and then he took the test again, and got six credits, as well.
Neither of us got any scholarship money, though. It was starting to snow, and I thought it was
good. Maybe we would have an igloo tonight, after all. Still, we had the tent, so we were
prepared, either way.
We walked across the street, so we could apply for university. Stupid curse.
After checking all our options, we decided he would go for Charisma, and I would go for
Logic. That is, he majored in Business, and I majored in Technology. None of the degrees

4. would aid him in his particular career, and I wouldn't even have a career. This was more or less
just a way to buy some time, and hopefully earn some money at the school. I heard that they
give excellent students daily stipends, if you apply. That will do nicely, and so it's a good
investment, after all. We'll probably spend a lot of time at the library, anyway.
And when we were there, we'd certainly ask the science professors about my strange
condition. We barely had enough money for moving costs, but we managed without selling
those last nectars. I was glad of that, because of the valuable moodlets, and the fact that we
wound up drinking all of the nectar glasses that Matt had snagged while we were on the long
plane trip back to Moonlight Falls. On the plus side, I didn't mind vomiting so much, when I
was enjoying the sugar rush, and the excellent nectar, and the buzz, tipsy, and drunk moodlets.
Yep. Nectar is worthwhile!
BOOM!

5. Are you freakin' kidding me?!
"You have been hit with the Moderately Mysterious Curse®, brought to you by Curses-R-
Us. Please read the enclosed instructions for effects, and how to lift the curse. Your satisfaction,
guaranteed! For Customer Service, call 1-800-FUDG-YOU. Not responsible for headaches,
depression, or shooting sprees caused by long wait times."
The instructions were simple, but clear:
"The town that takes in The Cursed Ones (TCO) has been plunged into "eternal" winter, to
be lifted only once all five sub-curses have been lifted.
"Sub-curse 1: Electricity - No electrical objects are allowed to be purchased or used on the
home lot until one of TCO max their skill in Logic.
"Sub-curse 2: Plumbing - No plumbing objects are allowed to be purchased or installed on
the home lot until one of TCO max their skill in Handiness.
"Sub-curse 3: Communication - No Electronic media (including, but not limited to,
telephone, television, radio or computers) may be purchased or used on the home lot until one of
the TCO max their skill in Charisma AND Sub-curse 1 is lifted.
"Sub-curse 4: Building - Nothing may be built on the home lot (nor anything from the Build
catalog placed thereon) until one of the TCO maxes their skill in Glassblowing. Any windows
created in the process of learning this skill must be used in the subsequent buildings created on
the home lot.
"Sub-curse 5: Furniture - No furniture may be purchased from the Buy Catalog. However,
anything that is purchased in a store, received as a gift, or found elsewhere may be placed on the
home lot and used. This sub-curse will be broken when one of TCO max their skill in Invention.
"Neighborhood: The neighborhood at large may be accessed freely during the day, but TCO
must return to their home lot no later than midnight, each night. They must remain until dawn.
"Travel: Travel to Shang Simla, Champs Les Sims, and Al Simhara IS allowed. While
there, the Travel Base Camps may not be used for more than access to the bulletin board, but the

6. curfew does not apply in foreign lands.
"University: At University, TCO must rent a blank lot and live according to the same curfew
and curse restrictions as at the home lot.
“Travel through time is right out, so long as the curse is in effect.
“See below for a personal note from our customer:
“Edited due to foul language. Curses-R-Us is a Family-Friendly corporation, and does not
allow swear words.
“P.S.: The Bitch has a curse of her own! Evelyn may never grow old (on pain of eternal
damnation, and you know she had that little fling with Death, so don't push it, kid! Who knows
what she'll convince him to do to you) until you have had at least two dozen children! That's
twelve girls and twelve boys, so you can each experience the joy of having a dozen ungrateful
mini-yous running around, causing you more trouble than they are worth. And because she's a
Capital B Bitch, I'm cursing you to only come up with names that start with B! HAH! And these
are separate curses I worked myself, so even if you lift this curse I paid for, you STILL have to
have those babies, and I hope they all grow up to be JUST LIKE YOU! I may not have the
power to curse a whole town, but the Mother's Curse is well within my grasp. I actually
cooperated with her on this one, so you KNOW we mean business! And here's one from the both
of us mothers: Your kids can't leave home until they DIE or fulfill their Lifetime Wishes!
HAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAaaaaa...
“P.P.S.: Don't try moving to escape the Moderately Mysterious Curse®. You won't be able
to move off that plot of land until it is fully broken. No more running away from your
responsibilities, you SELFISH BRATS!
“P.P.P.S.: THAT is what you get for trying to move away from your responsibilities, all over
again! I WARNED you! But you haven't been gone that long, and it was a simple enough spell
to turn back time for a few days, so you two can just start over. HAWHah!”
“But... But the spell instructions specifically said that we could travel to other countries,

7. and go to university, too! Why?!”
“You don't seriously expect our mothers to be honest, consistent, or reliable, do you?”
“No, Matt. I really should know better by now. I mean, why am I even surprised?”
“Well, how about you test out to see if your little problem has been cured?”
“Right! And if it works, I'm just gonna STAY that way. Stupid curse.”
It did work. Although I missed all the progress we had made, and I knew I would certainly
miss that tent, if it did not snow enough the first day, I was confident we could manage. If
anything, I was more determined than ever.

8. Matt was pleased for me, but even he was shaken up by the whole thing. I had to encourage
him, for a change. “Come on, pal. Let's go to the library, get you a career, and me a Social
Networking skill point, so I can keep blogging all this, and then we'll go to the park and start the
biggest game of tag Moonlight Falls has ever seen.”
He joined the book club again, of course. Well, at least now we have plenty of cash, right? I
was a bit concerned about our cash flow before, I'll be honest.
And he discovered that there was no posting for Firefighter today, so we'd have to make a
quick stop at the fire station. That's fine. I was kind of looking forward to checking out the
place, anyway. I'm sure we'll spend a lot of time there, specifically, me at the invention bench
and Matt working on his handiness.

9. I got my blog started again, and a few posts in, while Matt studied the first level of Charisma
skill. Then, we were off.
The park was literally next door, and full of people (and picnics!). Matt finished up his first
skill point, and then we rushed over there to start an epic game.

10. And that's when it hit me. Matt is more than simply “cute.” He's actually really attractive!
How had I never seen it before? I don't know, but I certainly could see it now!
I wanted to stop and flirt, and maybe share our first kiss, but time was a wasting, and that
charisma skill was too important to delay. So, we started the game together, and then invited
everyone we could see to join us.
I guess we were just really obvious about our affection, though, even during the game,
because these two complete strangers commented on it. Maybe there's something magical about
this park? It is a pretty magical town, after all.

11. It was magnificent! Once Matt had met enough sims to get the “celebrity challenge,” he was
assured of gaining Charisma skill fast, so I stepped out of the game to pick flowers, harvest some
things, and generally find as many valuables as I could at the park.
Also, I enjoyed a lovely free meal. Picnics for the win! To be sure, I'd be buying food at the
grocery store soon enough, but free food is free food. Matt decided his best use of time was to
play with his magic. He had lost all of his magic skill, due to the curse, and figured it would
come in handy, eventually. Well, he's probably right. He usually is.

12. By 8:30, my teeth were chattering, and we went to the fire station, so Matt could apply for a
job, in person. They have the BEST showers there! It was glorious to warm up and get clean.
Of course, we didn't have much time before we'd have to head home, so we took naps, hoping
we'd have enough energy to last through the night. Also, hoping we'd finally have enough snow
to build an igloo.
After our showers, we only had time for a half-hour power nap, before we had to go and
face the long cold night at our empty lot. We'd have to find some way to keep ourselves
occupied and warm until a heavy snowfall allowed us some shelter.

13. You know, I think it is so weird that we are hoping for heavy snowfall, in order to get shelter
from the cold. But without travel, how else are we supposed to have shelter? We can't buy a
tent!
Well, readers, do you guys have any suggestions for us? Please let me know in the
comments. Although, I won't be able to read any of them until after dawn, when I can walk
across the street to check my phone.
Stupid curse.