Willow Grove 11/30/19

Kala Akina had a semi-eventful Summer round.  It was the weekend at first and the landlord threw a building party.  Kala hung out with the neighbors for a while, but kept ignoring any attempts from Akule Whitecloud to socialize with her.  After the party she rolled the want for a date, so I had her call up Jamil Nazari.  I figured since Jamil has just recently moved in with Frida Kristensen, he'd want to keep his relationship with Kala quiet and would prefer a home date rather than going out.  Problem was, as soon as he arrived Kala's neighbors Nova Whitecloud and Brigid Flanagan decided to get into a fight, sending Jamil fleeing into the Whiteclouds' apartment rather than Kala's.  After the fight she was able to go into their apartment and hang out with him some, but when she left he refused to follow, so she ended up just going to bed until the date timer ran out.  The next day she rolled the want for a date and the want to have three first dates, which seems like a sign that she's cooling on Jamil after their lame date.  I thought maybe she should ask Akule out, but when she knocked on his door he said he didn't feel like hanging out.  Guess he was still mad she ignored him at the building party.  Anyway, the next three days were mostly just Kala going to work and back, except for the night a burglar broke in.  Luckily there was an alarm; the thief was caught before he even had a chance to steal anything and Kala got a $500 reward for her trouble.  At least she got something out of this round, lol.  Better luck in the Fall Kala!

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/29/19

Summer round kicks off with the De Luca family as always.  The beginning of the round was the weekend, so Matteo spent some time fishing to replenish his stock for the grocery store.  On Monday he went to Fresh Rush, where I confirmed that Hakim Nazari is indeed the manager now.  Consequently, Matteo needed a new cashier to fill Hakim's old position so he hired Markus Kristensen.  Fresh Rush is now fully staffed.  On Tuesday Matteo ran Comandgo which was uneventful, and on Wednesday he headed out to Red's to see what was up with Kala Akina.  Turns out she is listed as "Unused 3", so she's not the manager.  The only way I can see to fix it would be to fire and rehire her, but since she doesn't actually have the qualifications to be manager it seems rather pointless to do so.  She was still assigned to chef duty and there were no other problems, so I'll just leave it alone.  If she gets more promotions from her end, I don't think it'll matter and if she gets a demotion she might actually become manager!  Wednesday was also Leo's birthday and he grew up to teen.  I have him helping his dad with the gardening whenever he can so that he can build up his gardening badge.  He'll need at least silver by the time he takes over.  He'll also need to do some fishing and maybe work on some cooking points.  For now his dad has everything under control, although Fresh Rush didn't make any money on the days Matteo was at the other businesses so he'll have to continue working on it so he can eventually just "check in" there.

That's all folks!  Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/28/19

As I mentioned previously, the Whitecloud brothers moved into their own apartment last round and Dyami's girlfriend Brigid Flanagan moved in with them.  So far Dyami is the only one with a job (he works at Red's) which means his brother and his girlfriend spend a great deal of time together.  I was a little worried about this as Akule and Brigid have more chemistry together than Dyami and Brigid do, but they've been nothing but friendly towards one another.  Mostly they just hang out and play pool all day.  Akule also has two bolts with Kala Akina, who lives in the same building, but she's dating Jamil Nazari.  Jamil, however, just moved in with Frida Kristensen, so I'm not sure if his relationship with Kala is going to work out that well.  Guess we'll just have to wait and see how this drama plays out.

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/25/19

There were a lot of comings and goings in the Kristensen household this round.  First Henrik passed away, which made everyone pretty sad, especially Hedda, but not to worry Hedda, you'll be joining him next round.  Later Frida moved her boyfriend Jamil Nazari in at the same time that her son Lukas moved out to live with his girlfriend Nakia Nazari.  I didn't realize until after I moved him out that Nakia is actually still a teen, but I didn't want to move him out and back in again later, so I just went with it.  I'm sure she'll grow up next round, so it should be fine.

Next up was Kaden Nazari (there are so many Nazaris!) who had just moved into his own apartment.  Nothing much happened until the end of the round when he moved in his fiancé Lulu Whitecloud and they promptly tied the knot and got pregnant.  Hooray for more babies!

Until next time, Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/22/19

Imani and Stefan Dimir decided to take the plunge and have a baby this round.  They had a boy, who they named Jelani.  Imani will be staying at home with the baby, while also working on her pottery, which earns them a little extra cash.  As for Jamil, I thought I'd have him throw a party and invite both his ladies over to see which one he would pick.  Naturally he didn't choose.  So the next day I had him invite the two on an outing.  Once again, he refused to make a choice, so based on the fact that he'd only rolled wants for Frida the entire outing, I chose for him and had him kiss Frida resulting in slaps from Kala.  End of story...or so I thought.  Next day Jamil rolls the want to be best friends with Kala, and subsequently brings her home from work.  She rejects some of his advances, but eventually forgives him and now they're in love again.  Sigh.  So the way I'm choosing to interpret this is that Jamil wants the money and status that an older woman like Frida can offer him, but he wants to keep his relationship going with Kala also.  Kala is apparently so desperate to be with him that she'll accept being the other woman.  So I'll have him move in with Frida, but carry on with Kala as well.  Sims!

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/21/19

The Flanagans lost Mona this round; she was 71 when she passed.  Now it's just Fiona and Reilly, since Brigid moved in with her boyfriend next door.  Reilly will grow up next round, but I'll probably have him stay with his mom, since she'll be an elder shortly after he grows up.  It doesn't look as if she's going to find a love interest, but he still has plenty of time.

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/20/19

Winona and Haku Akina thought they'd have it easier this round with only two teen girls at home.  They were wrong.  Firstly, the girls' relationship has seriously deteriorated to the point that they're now enemies.  So, as you can imagine, there's a lot of slapping and attacking going on constantly.  On top of that, everyone got the flu.  Fun right?  Oh yeah, and Haku decided it would be the perfect time to have a baby, since they're not getting any younger and this was the last round they'd be young enough to do it.  Solid reasoning, but the last thing they really needed.  Nevertheless, they welcomed a healthy baby boy at the end of the round, who they named Celadon.  Both girls grew up to adult and Lulu will be moving in with her boyfriend Kaden Nazari, while Nova will stay at home for another round at least.

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/19/19

Nothing much has changed in the Anana household.  Miki is still working; Siku and Kahana are not.  Miki does most of the cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping; Siku and Kahana stay up late at night, sleep in for half the day, and do minimal chores.  Siku doesn't understand why his mother is so determined to work all the time, since they got a pretty large insurance payment when his grandparents passed away.  Why work if you don't have to?  Miki has given up on the whole job issue, but would it kill them to at least give her a grandchild or two before she dies?

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/18/19

The Nazaris had a fairly uneventful round until the last day, when Hakim got promoted to manager at work and the youngest son in the family, Hasan, grew up to teen.  That's about it for them.  Next round daughter Nakia will become an adult.

The Dimirs had an even less eventful round.  Andrei and Sabina worked all week and Viktor went to school.  No one even brought a friend home.  Sad.

Anyway, Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/16/19

Kala Akina had an interesting session.  Work-wise she got promoted...twice.  Normally sims don't get promoted when working for a sim-owned business, though I have occasionally had one get promoted to manager this way.  I actually don't mind that too much as it allows a sim to become manager without having to get all those badges.  However, Kala got promoted past manager to "Unused 3", which I think I've only seen happen once, so I don't remember what impact that has when playing the business.  I'll have to wait until I get back to Matteo to figure it out; is she the manager or not?  In other news, Kala decided to throw a party since it's kind of lonely without her dad and sister around.  She invited her sister, her sister's boyfriend, Stefan Dimir, and Jamil Nazari.  The party was a huge success, mostly due to Kala and Jamil taking their relationship "to the next level".  Kala doesn't know that Jamil is also dating Frida Kristensen, so when I play him next I think he'll have a decision to make.

That's it for today.  Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/15/19

This round (Spring) was pretty eventful for the De Lucas.  Business-wise, Matteo finally got all three businesses running fairly smoothly (though not making much profit yet) with a full contingent of employees.  No managers yet, though, as he'll need to wait for someone to earn enough badges for those promotions.  Back at home there were a lot of changes.  Leo grew up into a child, much to Helena's relief, and started school.  Nicolaas brought a few different girls home from school, but the one he's shown the most interest in is Thea Kristensen.  Matteo's "aunt" Ama and "uncle" Mikhail both passed away, as well as the family dog.  They were all buried in the backyard plots near Lorenzo.  After all the sadness, Matteo and Helena decided to get Leo a belated birthday present in the form of two new pets, a puppy named Scout and a kitten named Bailey.  Leo will become a teen next round and it'll be time for Matteo to start passing along those business perks to his heir.

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/14/19

Frida and Ingrid Kristensen are twin sisters who both have children: Frida has a teen son Lukas, while Ingrid has twins Markus and Thea who just became teens this round.  Also living with them are their parents Hedda and Henrik.  Frida works as a hairdresser at Comandgo and Ingrid is a hostess at Red's.  As far as dating goes, Lukas is dating Nakia Nazari and just this round Frida started dating Jamil Nazari.  You may recall that Jamil has been dating around a bit and is also dating Kala Akina, so we'll have to wait and see how that turns out.  Ingrid is not dating anyone, but being a Family sim, she really wants to have another baby.  At the moment though, her only date prospects are Jamil or Matteo De Luca who is her boss and married, so it's not looking great for her.

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/11/19

Fiona Flanagan is yet another single mom (honestly I have an overabundance of them, but barely any single dads) with two kids and an elderly mother.  She works as a hairdresser at Comandgo Emporium.  She's not dating anyone, but her mother Mona was dating Anoki Whitecloud until his recent death.  Her daughter Brigid is also dating a Whitecloud, Dyami, who recently grew up to adult and moved into the only remaining apartment in their building along with his twin brother Akule.  Brigid also grew up at the end of this round and she'll be moving in with Dyami and Akule.  Fiona's son Reilly is still a teen so he'll be staying put for the time being.

Twins Imani and Jamil Nazari moved out of their parents house and into their own apartment.  Imani's fiancé Stefan Dimir also moved in with them.  During this round, Imani and Stefan decided to get married right away, while Jamil seems to still be playing the field.  He recently started dating Kala Akina, but the relationship is only at the crush stage.  This round he brought home three different women from work (both the Kristensen sisters and Fiona Flanagan), all of whom he has chemistry with and gets along with quite well.  I'm not sure which way he'll end up going, but time will tell.

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/10/19

Winona Whitecloud is a single mother with two sets of twins and an elderly father to support.  She's been dating Haku Akina for a while now, but they were never able to move in together due to the fact that he also has twins and the household couldn't hold everyone.  However, his girls grew up last round, leaving him free to join Winona and her brood this round.  They got married right away, luckily before Winona's father Anoki died, and proceeded to deal with the chaos of having four teens in the house and only one bathroom.  Thankfully the boys grew up at the end of the round and moved out, so next round should be a bit calmer with only two teens and two adults in the household.  Though they are still young enough to have a child together, neither seems keen.  Can't say I blame them really, lol.

Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/8/19

The Nazaris are a large family with six children.  Hakim Nazari works at Fresh Rush Grocery, where he aspires to become manager one day.  His wife Maleka is a stay-at-home mom.  This round their oldest two children, Imani and Jamil moved into their own place just one floor down from their parents.  That left them with 2 teens, a child, and a toddler still at home for the round.  Their son Kaden is dating Lulu Whitecloud and their daughter Nakia just started dating Lukas Kristensen.  By the end of the round all but Nakia had a birthday: Kaden became an adult and moved out, Karim became a teen, and Hasan became a child.  I'd expected Maleka to roll a want for another baby at one of these birthdays, but I guess she's decided six is enough for her.  She still has a little time, but not much, so I guess we'll see what happens next round.

Andrei and Sabina Dimir have two sons, Stefan and Viktor.  Stefan moved out to live with his fiancé Imani Nazari at the beginning of the round, leaving teen Viktor as the only child in the household.  Andrei works at Fresh Rush and Sabina at Comandgo, so Viktor doesn't see much of them during the week.  Maybe that's why he brings so many friends home?  He went to school three days this round and brought a new friend home each day; he's becoming quite popular.  No girlfriend yet though.  He has some chemistry for Brigid Flanagan, but she's older and already dating someone, so I don't think that will work out for him.

Miki Anana has had a tough time raising her son Siku alone, as well as caring for her elderly parents.  Things didn't get much better for her this round.  Her parents passed away at the end of last round and then her son decided to move his girlfriend in, never mind the fact that neither he nor his girlfriend (Kahana Akina) has a job.  Miki is not that impressed with Kahana and though she loves her son, she's not too excited about working into her twilight years in order to support his loafing about.

That's all folks!  Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/5/19

First up in the rotation is always the De Luca family.  Lorenzo De Luca and his four friends founded the town initially.  I had a different plan for this 'hood at that time, but it didn't really go anywhere and ended up morphing into this idea.  Since I decided to move forward with Lorenzo as the business owner, I had his friends close up their shops and move in with him to the House of Fallen Trees.  They have various skills and badges from their time as business owners so they've been pretty helpful to Lorenzo over the years.  After Lorenzo passed away, they stayed on to help his alien son Matteo carry on the family businesses, which have now grown to three: Fresh Rush Grocery, Comandgo Emporium, and Red's Famous 50's Diner.

During this round Matteo married a woman he's been dating for a while, a relative newcomer to town Helena Bakker.  Helena has a young son Nicolaas and as soon as they were married they got to work on having a child together, which turned out to be another son, who they named Leo.  Leo will be their heir to the De Luca fortune and businesses when he grows up.

The next family in the round is the Akina family.  This round Kala's father and sister moved out to go live with their significant others, leaving her on her own for the first time in her life.  The beginning of the round was fairly dull for her; working as a chef at Red's really takes a lot out of her.  However, on the weekend things started looking up.  Since all the guys she ever likes keep pairing off with other people, Kala decided to call up Jamil Nazari, a guy she doesn't know that well but has good chemistry with, for a date.  They went to Bernard's and had a great date.  Though they're only in crush at the moment, the future is promising for these two, especially since Jamil's family is up next.

That's all for today.  Happy Simming!

Willow Grove 11/3/19

For the last week or so I've been playing Willow Grove, which is a town inspired by a guy I used to talk to on the forums.  His idea was to have a town with no "regular" jobs, just player owned businesses and employee jobs.  That's what I've done here.  I have all my sims living in the premade downtown section of Willow Grove and currently one sim owns three businesses which all the other sims in town work at.  At some point I may have other sims save up to buy businesses of their own, but for now having one owner is working well.

I'm not exactly sure how my update process will work for this town, but I play through each household a season at a time (I've already played one season to get back into the swing of things) and mostly play to wants.  I've been creating new families at the beginning of each season, but soon I will slow that down to only at the beginning of Spring.  Relationships are confined to playable sims only, so no townies here!  My business owner lives in the House of Fallen Trees, but everyone else lives in apartments, where I cut the rent down to 1/3 of the true rent (by familyfunding 2/3 the amount each week), because it makes it affordable for sims living without promotion bonuses.  What else?  I don't sent anyone to Uni, but when anyone ages up to adult I let them have one bottle of elixir to extend their adult lifespan a bit.

That's all for now.  Happy Simming!