1. Welcome welcome! This is Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky
Boolprop Challenge – you knew that; you can read – and with
this chapter, we go back to our normal state of No Plot
Whatsoever. In fact, since no heir has been chosen, there’s not
even an inkling of a Future Plot that a sharp-eyed reader could
pick up on. No, this chapter just contains jobs, babies, wrapping
up loose ends, and babies. Oh, and proof that my game hates
me.
Did I mention babies?
2. Checking in briefly with Buttercup and Albert, we see that they
have provided Ruth with not one but two grandchildren. The
first born by a few minutes is Jo (short for Josephine), with the
lighter skin and darker eyes. Her twin is Cecil (“SEE-sill”).
Both children are named after joandsarah77, who wrote an
excellent tutorial on how to make presentations like this one.
When I asked if I could name Buttercup’s firstborn after her,
she said yes, and asked how a boy would like being called
“Crazy Cat Lady.” I didn’t think he would, but CCL is
practically “Cecil,” which is nice. She also said she’s “rather
ugg” on her full name, so I used Josephine instead.
3. But, as I believe I have mentioned, Myrna really wasn’t all that
far behind Buttercup on the baby front.
4. And with the birth of Leila, the No Promotions bonus became a
reality. Between Buttercup and Leila, nobody got promoted
even once, and I still earned four career rewards towards
Workaholics Anonymous.
Leila is one of the fairies from Iolanthe, and, like all the fairies,
she is a good dancer. She is also rather spoiled and childish –
again, unfortunately, like all the fairies except the Fairy Queen
and Iolanthe herself.
Gilbert probably would not count as a feminist.
5. The subsequent birth of Lisa was simply icing on the cake, and
possibly counts as proof positive that my game now hates me.
Two sets of twins! Two!
Lisa is named after an actress in The Grand Duke. (The plot
involves a theater company – I didn’t start looking at cast lists.)
Gilbert’s Lisa specializes in “soubrette” roles, which actually
means flirty, saucy, pretty young women, but which always
makes me think of ice cream.
6. Adam and Myrna promptly handed off the twins to their
grandparents and went to work on the second pregnancy.
7. And speaking of working, Myrna wanted to Get A Job, so I let
her take one in the Politics career, on the grounds that I didn’t
have the career reward yet.
8. Myrna was able to jump in at a high enough level that she got
the reward without going to work.
9. That was actually fortunate, because Myrna was put on
maternity leave before she ever got a chance to make the car
pool. I’ve left her in the career track because she gets paid
while on maternity leave, and quite frankly, the family could
use the money.
10. In addition to her maternity pay, Myrna contributes by making
Toy Robots. There’s a ridiculously small profit margin on them,
but there’s also a low initial outlay for materials. Myrna has had
her Silver Robotics badge since forever, and should be earning
her Gold badge any day now.
Really.
11. The Tacky Flamingo does make money, and in fact is now at
Level 5, but Adam only has time to make a flying visit every
day. These flying visits are not long enough to accumulate any
real cash.
Level 5 star courtesy of Tirtha Couderc from Already in Progress.
12. The reason for the lack of time is that, in the Shankel
household, childcare is a male responsibility.
I believe the phrase Valerie used when establishing that rule
was “I spent nine months hosting the little parasite – now it’s
your turn.”
13. Housework is also the responsibility of the men, although in
this case it’s more because the men are the ones with the ten
Neat points. Ruth and Myrna would be just as happy even if
you couldn’t eat your dinner off the floor, but Adam and Ryan
would freak out.
14. Although the Drew Rule means that it’s all hands on deck when
it comes to repairs.
15. And then there’s the stargazing. No alien baybeez yet, though.
Of course there aren’t any. (sulkily) My game hates me.
16. Adam and Myrna have both developed a bad energizer habit.
Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure Myrna hasn’t slept at all
this rotation…
17. Their habit is funded by frequent Dates, and it certainly doesn’t
seem to do them any harm, but I do worry about what effect it
will have on the baby.
Of course, Ruth was on the bubbles all during her pregnancy
with Buttercup, and she came out just fine. But I’m not sure
you can really compare stimulants and depressants. It’s kind of
an “apples and oranges” thing.
And speaking of fruit reminds me…
18. Checking in briefly with Oakapple, you can see that he has
acquired both a new wardrobe and a Silver Gardening badge.
19. Oh, and a fiancé.* Mustn’t forget that.
Ruth is absolutely thrilled, and can’t wait for a) the wedding
and b) grandbabies. She’s probably doomed to wait a very long
time for the latter, though, since Oakapple is infertile and not
really interested in much beyond grilled cheese and Oliver.
Updates about Oakapple and Oliver can be found in Already in
Progress beginning with Chapter 39, if you are interested.
And since I am out of pictures and have engaged in shameless
self-promotion twice now, I will leave you here.
*Fiancé with one E denotes a man engaged to be married. Fiancée with
two Es denotes a woman engaged to be married. Now you know.
20. Notes, disclaimers, and other trivia
This chapter’s title comes from a song from The Sorcerer. It’s
sung by a young woman who, under the influence of a love
potion, finds she is madly in love with the village notary – even
though he is eighty years old, deaf, and smells funny. (Alas, I
could not find a video for it on YouTube.) I think it is equally
appropriate to a Simmer who was thrown twins when she only
wanted one baby, and had her fingers crossed for a boy, at that.
Please join me next time, when we will see precisely how much
my game hates me. Until then, Happy Simming!
