Boomtown 7/31/21

 Despite painting all day, Elvin Phelps still did not get the creativity points needed for promotion.  Camryn had the day off again and in the early morning hours she gave birth to a daughter, Sadie.

Nate Neil ran Cold Issue, but it didn't rank up.  Everyone else in the household got promoted which really helped the family funds.  Later in the evening, Sofia died, leaving an inheritance which built the bank up even more.  They now have more than enough net worth to move to Middle class and Comandgo is above rank 5, so all that's needed is to rank Cold Issue up to level 5.  In other news, Michele and Michael are expecting their second child and Nate will age up next round.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/30/21

 Irfan Zaidi had the day off, but Jordan worked and Charlie got a Slacker job, which he worked and got promoted in after school.  Later on, Charlie aged up to adult and Skylar became a toddler.  Now that Charlie's an adult he gets into fistfights with everyone.  I'm not sure if that's better or worse than before, but at least he's not kicking over the trash every five minutes.

Gary and Trista Walton both worked, but only Trista was promoted.  Grayson had the day off.  There was some drama later on when Grayson had a lady friend over.  Trista got jealous when she witnessed a romantic interaction between the two and now she and Grayson are furious with each other.  Grayson had gotten past it all, but it's refreshed now.  He really needs to get out of this house, but there's just nowhere for him to go.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/29/21

 It was an unproductive day in the Traver household, as both Ben and Kendal had the day off.  Butterfly found a job in Slacker at least.  In the evening Tamara grew into a child.

Traci Neil stayed home with Piper while River worked.  He still didn't get promoted, which surprised me at first, but then I realized that he's short a friend.  Sigh.  In other news, Piper grew into a child and the new baby, Alice, was born.

Once again I was surprised, as Robert Hollinger did not meet his maker this round.  He still has a sliver left.  He did, however, hand over Lucky Shack to Maria.  She'll be running it next round.  Speaking of Maria, she rolled the want to get married so she and George tied the knot just a few hours before their third child, Claire, was born.  George was all set for a promotion at work, but got a bad chance card that landed him a demotion instead.  Twins Mary Ann and Melody both got promoted though, which means all three of them are now at the same level in the Culinary career.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/27/21

 Trish Leonard got One-Twenty-Five up to rank 1 and everyone else in the household got promoted except for Dixie who still needs mechanical points.  In addition, both the babies grew into toddlers and Trish's baby will be due next round.  Dixie has stopped being furious at Nick and Trish and she wants to fall in love with Nick again, but that hasn't happened yet.  Trish and Nick haven't pursued anything romantic either, though they are friends at this point and Trish has the want to get married.  It's just a generic marriage want, so it could apply to anyone and whether that's her married baby daddy Michael or Nick remains to be seen.

End of round.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/26/21

 It was a quiet day for the Phelps.  Camryn had the day off and although Elvin worked, he was short creativity points needed for promotion.  Their son Jensen grew into a child and I believe their baby is due next round.

Sofia Neil ranked Comandgo up to level 6, then handed it over to her son Nate prior to what I thought would be her death.  However, Sofia surprised me by still having a small sliver left on her life bar.  Her boyfriend Oliver got an amazing chance card at work that brought in $75,000!  Nate was able to immediately purchase Cold Issue Clothing and he'll start running it next round.  In order to move up to Middle class, they'll need two rank 5 businesses and a net worth of $35,000.  Their net worth is a little bit short of that right now, but should be there by the time Cold Issue gets to rank 5.  In any event, the family will be moving up much sooner than I thought they would.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/25/21

 Irfan Zaidi brought home another promotion, while Jordan had the day off.  Charlie continued to hate everyone, but thankfully he'll be growing up next round (along with baby Skylar) so his teen angst days will be over.

Both Gary and Trista Walton had the day off.  Grayson worked, but is still short a logic point, so no promotion.  Jerry is not doing well in school and attempted to catch up on homework with only minimal success.  Trista went into labor in the middle of the night, giving birth to another son, Jeff.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/24/21

 Ben Traver had the day off, which he spent with the baby.  Kendal worked, but the promotion continued to elude her.  Butterfly's grade went up enough that she could look for a job, but there wasn't anything available.

Both Traci Neil and River Smith were home all day.  Traci has been having a particularly difficult pregnancy, so she didn't get much skilling in either.  Next round River heads back to work and their baby will be born.

I think next round will be Robert Hollinger's last.  He'll run the business one last time before handing it over to Maria before he dies.  His life insurance money should put the family close to buying the second business.  Then all they have to do is get it to rank 5 and have a net worth of $35,000 and they'll be moving to Middle class.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/23/21

 Camryn Phelps got a promotion to Detective, while Elvin had another day off.  Upon returning home, Camryn earned the body point she needs for her next promotion.  In between caring for Jensen, Elvin managed to pick up a body point and a creativity point.  He still needs two more creativity points though.  Next round Jensen will grow up.

Sofia Neil ranked her business up to level 5.  Both Michael and Michele worked, but only Michele was promoted.  Baby Daniel grew up into a toddler.  It looks like next round will be Sofia's last and I think she'll be handing the business over to Nate, even though he's the youngest, because she's very close to him.  She's not that close with Michele and hates her husband Michael, plus Sofia's boyfriend Oliver can't stand either one of them, so I think he'd influence her towards Nate as well, who he's only ambivalent towards.

Trish Leonard was able to get Oresha up to rank 4, just one more to go on that one, but she still needs to rank One-Twenty-Five up to level 5 as well.  Both Kenny and Dixie worked, but only Kenny got promoted as Dixie is still short a couple of mechanical points.  Dagmar gave birth to a baby boy named Levi and since Nikki and Levi were born so close together, they'll actually be the same age I think.  Dixie is nearly over being furious with Nick and Trish, but there's no guarantee that she and Nick will get back together.  Not only that, but with their two bolt chemistry, we might see Nick and Trish get together.  Complicated family dynamics, lol.

End of round.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/22/21

 Irfan Zaidi worked, but didn't get promoted.  His girlfriend Jordan had the day off and in the evening she gave birth to a baby girl, Skylar.  Charlie ran away again, but was returned home immediately upon reporting him missing.  I don't have a lot of experience with runaways in TS2, but do they always get returned right away?  Seems anti-climactic.

No one got promoted in the Walton household, but Trista did pop in the evening, so she's on track with her pregnancy.  Janice also grew into a child.  Grayson is still furious with everyone but the children.  He's been dating a couple of different women and normally I'd have him move someone in, but there's really no room here as he's basically a houseguest himself.  If he were to meet Jordan Rusewicz, that might be an option for him down the road because Irfan is an elder and Jordan is quite young, but we'll have to see what happens.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/21/21

 Upon entering the Traver household, I suddenly remembered the aspiration benefit where sims can "plead with boss" for their job back.  I never use that one, so I always forget about it.  Anyway, I had Kendal plead for her job and she got it back!  She didn't get promoted, but at least she didn't have to look for another job.  Ben did get promoted though, so that was good.  Butterfly finally got caught up on homework which will hopefully raise her grade to a C and allow her to get a job as well.

Traci Neil got a promotion this round, while River had the day off and spent it taking care of the kids.  They are slowly, but surely, plugging away at their goal of owning Red's.

Robert Hollinger earned about $2000 at Lucky Shack, but unfortunately no one else in the family managed to get promoted.  Consequently, they didn't make much progress towards buying the second business.  Robert's got two, maybe three, days left at this point and it doesn't seem like he's going to live long enough to see the family headed towards Middle class.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/20/21

 Sofia Neil and company didn't have much going on.  The business did not rank up, everyone had the day off, and though Nate's grades finally climbed high enough for him to get a job, the paper was stolen and he couldn't look for one.

Business-wise, not much progress was made by the Leonard family.  Nick got promoted, but no one else worked.  However, on the personal front there was quite a bit of drama.  Firstly, Trish began an affair with Michael Phelps, resulting in her becoming the third pregnant woman in the house.  Later, she went to sleep in Nick and Dixie's bed (Nick was already sleeping there) and Dixie walked in and went ballistic over it.  It looked bad, sure, but Trish and Nick aren't even technically friends (though they do have two bolts) and nothing but sleep was happening.  Nevertheless, Dixie is irate with both of them now.  On top of all that, in the early morning hours, Dixie gave birth to her and Nick's baby girl, Nikki.  I have no idea where all this will end up, but it should be interesting to say the least.  Kenny and Dagmar were just trying to lay low during all the chaos.  Their baby will be due next round.

End of round.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/18/21

 Irfan Zaidi got promoted one level back up to where he was before that huge demotion.  His girlfriend Jordan had the day off (their baby will be born next time).  Charlie did pretty much nothing except he did catch up on his homework.

Trista Walton got a bad chance card which got her demoted all the way back down to Security Guard.  Consequently, she had to go back to work the same night, but at least she earned a promotion, so she's working her way back up.  We had some drama when Grayson walked into the bedroom and saw Trista and Gary sleeping in the same bed together.  He now hates them both, but has to continue living here since he has nowhere else to go.  Curiously, Trista did not pop when she should have.  Maybe it's because of going to work twice or something?  Or she could have the glitch where she doesn't pop at all?  Hopefully, she'll get sorted out next round.

Camryn and Elvin Phelps had a pretty quiet round.  Camryn worked, but didn't get promoted.  Elvin had the day off, which he spent taking care of Jensen and trying to skill.  They'll have a new mouth to feed soon, however, since Camryn found out she's pregnant.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/16/21

 The Traver family did not fare as well as I'd hoped this round.  While Ben did get promoted, Kendal got fired for poor work performance.  Since someone stole the newspaper, she'll have to wait till next round to look for a new job.  In other news, both girls grew up - Butterfly into a teen and Tamara into a toddler.

Both Traci Neil and her boyfriend River worked this round, but neither got promoted.  Their daughter Piper grew into a toddler and Traci is also expecting again.  This will be their third child.  They still need to save another $60,000 to buy Red's.

At the Hollinger/Phelps residence no one got promoted, but George and Maria will be having another baby in the near future.  The family has $48,000 of the $80,000 needed to buy a second business.  Robert is 73 and has at least a few days left, so if someone gets a lucky chance card that brings in cash, he might just be around for the purchase.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/15/21

  Elvin and Camryn Phelps both got good chance cards while at work; Camryn returned home with a promotion and Elvin got a $10,000 bonus.  They've now saved $23,000 out of the $85,000 they need to buy Midnight Flows.  Also their son Jensen grew into a toddler and learned to walk.

At the Neil/Phelps household, Sofia ranked up Comandgo to level 4.  Sofia and Oliver had the day off, but both Michael and Michele brought home promotion bonuses.  Upon returning home from work, Michele gave birth to a son named Daniel.  Nate continues to maintain a D average and is therefore ineligible for a job.

Trish Leonard got Oresha up to rank 4 and later grew into an adult finally.  I decided not to get her a regular job, since she's got her hands full running two businesses.  Kenny was the only other sim to work and he earned a promotion.  Next round Nick and Dixie's baby will be born.

End of round.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/14/21

 Irfan Zaidi balanced out that huge promotion he got last round by getting demoted back down to Recruit this round.  Jordan didn't get promoted either, but at least she didn't lose ground.  Charlie's grade is now up to a D (impressive, right?) and he still hates everyone, but he didn't try to run away again, so that's something I guess.

Everyone worked at the Walton/Rauscher house, but only Gary got promoted.  They're still a long way off from becoming business owners, but they'll eventually get there.  In other news, Trista is pregnant again.  This will be her and Gary's third child (technically the second one is Grayson's - don't tell Gary though) and they are quickly running out of room in their tiny house.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/13/21

 Traci Neil and boyfriend River Smith welcomed their second child, a girl named Piper, this round.  On the work front, River got a bad chance which resulted in a demotion, but it's ok because he'll be able to get promoted again, which will bring in more cash to put towards the business fund.

Robert Hollinger's long-time partner Meadow passed away at the age of 63 this round.  Robert was the only one who was really sad, however, since most of her kids didn't get along with her after they caught her cheating on their dad a while back.  Robert's got at least a few more days in him, so he's working as hard as he can at Lucky Shack to build the bank balance so he can buy Rodney's Hideout.  Job-wise, George was the only family member to bring home a promotion.  Also George and Maria's twins grew into toddlers.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/12/21

 Trish Leonard opened her second restaurant this round.  She wasn't able to hire a chef yet, so she had to do the cooking herself.  Luckily, she had her brother Kenny with her to help out with hosting and serving.  Once Trish gets both restaurants to level 5 (and $35,000 net worth) the family will move up to Middle class.  The Leonards are by far in the best position to be the first Middle class family in Boomtown.  In other news, Kenny moved in his girlfriend Dagmar Wade, who already has a job in Culinary and brought in $14,000.  Dagmar is now pregnant and Dixie had her first pop, so we'll soon have baby bottles everywhere.  Trish will finally grow up next round, which I'm very happy about.  I don't really remember what my reasoning was behind having one of Rhonda's youngest children take over her business, but I'm rolling with it.

End of round.

Ben Traver and girlfriend Kendal Lawson welcomed a baby girl named Tamara this round.  Ben got a bad chance card and got demoted at work.  Butterfly's grade is back down to a D-, but she'll be growing up next round so she'll be okay.  Kendal will get back to work next round and hopefully improve this family's circumstances with a promotion.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/11/21

 Irfan Zaidi moved his girlfriend Jordan Rusewicz in with him this round.  She brought in $14,000, which is really helpful towards saving up for a business.  Charlie doesn't like her, of course, but what else is new?  Charlie hates everyone.  Jordan also works in Military.  Irfan got a chance card promotion, so now he needs a ton of skills for the next one.  Charlie continues to maintain his F average, but he did at least finish all his homework, so maybe it'll come up soon.  Apart from all that, I should also note that Jordan is pregnant.  That should make things more fun, right?

Trista Walton need a lot of skills for her next promotion, so though she worked she didn't get one this time.  Neither of the guys worked.  They still have a very long way to go on saving for their business, so they'll be remaining Poverty for a while.  Baby Janice had a birthday and is now a toddler.

Camryn and Elvin Phelps welcomed a baby boy named Jensen this round.  Then they both went off to work, leaving him with a nanny.  Camryn got a much needed promotion.  Elvin is still working on his.

Sofia Neil's family settled into their new Working class digs and got right to work trying to save up for a second business.  Sofia ran Comandgo, then worked at her Slacker job, earning a promotion.  Oliver also brought home a promotion.  Michele and Michael both had the day off so spent time skilling as well as making things official by getting married.  Nate brought his failing grade up to a D.  Next round we'll see the birth of Michael and Michele's baby.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/10/21

 Traci Neil and boyfriend River Smith both had the day off, so they didn't earn any money towards the business they need to purchase.  I'm looking at Red's Diner for them.  It costs over $87,000 and they only have $25,000, so it'll be a while.  River is at the top of his job, which is good in theory because his pay is high, but he also won't earn any promotion bonuses which is tough.  In other news, their son Chad grew into a child and their second child will be born next time.

Robert Hollinger continued to plug away at saving up enough money for his second business.  Even though Lucky Shack is at level 10, he continues to run it every day because it brings in a substantial amount of money.  The family also has several new income streams as well, since Maria's boyfriend George moved in and the twins grew into adults and took jobs in Culinary.  Maria and George's twins were also born this round.  They are boy/girl, named James and Lucy.  I think Meadow may die next round and Robert won't be terribly far behind her, a few days at most, at which point Maria will take the reins and try to carry the family to Middle class.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/9/21

 Ok, so a lot went down with the Leonard family.  Firstly, Trish got the restaurant leveled up to rank 3, which meant the family would be eligible to move up to Working class.  They still didn't have quite enough money to purchase a second restaurant, however, until Rhonda died and left them just enough insurance money to put them over the top.  Trish bought One-Twenty-Five Cafe.  (Side note: I finally decided to build a cemetery for Boomtown, so Rhonda's grave was moved there, and I'll also be moving all the graves from the Traver house as well.  No more death trap haunted house.)  Once I knew they'd be moving up, I had to decide who would be moving and who would be left behind.  Since Trish is the business owner, I based the decision primarily on her relationship panel.  She hates Irfan and her younger brother Charlie, is best friends with her brother George, friends with Nicholas, friendly (but not quite friends) with her brother Kenny, and not close, but doesn't dislike her sister Dixie.  George was going to be moving in with his girlfriend Maria anyway, so he wasn't really in the mix, but since Trish is still a teen she needed an adult to move out with her.  I figured Nicholas (and consequently Dixie, since they're a couple) would be the obvious choice.  Since Trish's relationship with Kenny has improved significantly since he became and adult and he hates his father Irfan as much as she does, I figured she'd bring him along too.  So, at the end of the day, George moved in with Maria, Dixie, Nicholas, Kenny, and Trish moved to a Working class house, and Irfan and his son Charlie were left behind in the Poverty house.  Charlie immediately ran away from home, but was returned almost instantly by the police, so that was anti-climactic.  Also I should note that Nick and Dixie are expecting their first child as well, so that'll be exciting when I get back to them.  The new household will be added to the end of the rotation and will not be played again until next round.

Trista Walton got inexplicably promoted despite being miles behind on the skills she needs.  I don't even know.  Neither Gary nor Grayson worked, but Gary has all the skills needed for a promotion and Grayson is just one logic point short.  Jerry grew into a child and will start school next round.  So far I haven't had any luck getting Grayson out of the household; he hasn't even met any playable Boomtown women.  I guess I'm treating them like a "throuple" for now.

Not much to report for Elvin and Camryn Phelps.  Elvin worked and Camryn had the day off.  Since Elvin still needs quite a few skill points, he didn't get promoted.  They still need more things for the house and the baby will be born next round, so they haven't saved up much yet for their first business.

End of round.

Benjamin Traver got promoted at work and he got to move all those graves to the cemetery, so that his girlfriend and daughter could finally get a decent night's sleep.  Kendal has been having a pretty tough pregnancy, so moving the graves probably saved her life.  Butterfly is still not doing great in school, but it got a little better, and she'll only have to go one more day until it's the weekend and she can hopefully catch up on back homework.

Happy Simming!  

Boomtown 7/8/21

 I was worried that Sofia wouldn't make it to Working class this time, because even though she only need three more stars, her customers were being very stingy about throwing them.  Luckily she did pull it off just before closing time, meaning that she, her boyfriend Oliver, her daughter Michele, and her son Nate all moved out at the end of the day.  Before that happened though, I was able to confirm that both Traci and Michele are pregnant when they both had their first pops.  I think it's pretty likely that Michele's boyfriend (and father of her baby) Michael will be moving in with them as well once his current household is played.  Since Sofia and company have already aged this round, they won't be played again, but they'll be added to the end of the rotation and we'll catch up with them again next round.  With her mother gone, Traci will need to start saving up for a business of her own if she ever wants to make Working class.

Robert Hollinger's business, Lucky Shack, reached level 10.  In order to move up to Middle class, he'll need at least 2 level 5 businesses, so he's just saving up at this point to buy a second.  I'm not sure he'll actually live long enough to do that, but we'll see.  His long-time partner Meadow will likely die before him, even though she's younger, so he'll see some life insurance money from that (not as much as he would if they were married, but something for sure).  I'd say he'll probably leave the business to Maria when he dies because he's closest to her of all his kids.  She will likely be the one to take the family into Middle class.  Apart from the business running, Michael was the only one to work and he scored a promotion.  At the end of the day, he moved out to join his girlfriend Michele Neil.  I think Maria's boyfriend George Leonard will move in here next round.  Also the twins will reach adulthood next time and the new twins will be born.  Lots of changes.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/7/21

 Trista Walton gave birth this round to a baby girl named Janice, whose father is Grayson Rauscher, as I suspected.  Everyone had the day off, so I was kept busy trying to keep them all busy to avoid all the boings and slapfests that come with cheating.  Since Grayson has nowhere else to go at the moment, I'd like to avoid the constant fighting that would be going on should I let anyone get caught.  I've got enough of that in other households where adult kids don't get along with their parents/stepparents/siblings.  Nothing else to report.  They're not even close to having enough money to buy the bowling alley I've got earmarked for them, so it remains status quo for now.

It was a quiet day for the Phelps.  Both worked all day, both got promoted.  Elvin's promotion caused him to go back to work in the evening, during which he got a good chance card which netted him another promotion.  Not too shabby for a couple just starting out.

End of round.

Ben Traver got a promotion at work.  Kendal had the day off, which was good because she had to recover from the repeated ghost attacks the previous night.  Butterfly's school average went up to a C luckily, which kept the Social Worker away, but she's still struggling to keep her needs up enough for homework, so she may be in trouble again soon.  Thankfully the ghosts decided to take a night off and everyone was able to get a decent rest going into next round.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/6/21

 Robert Hollinger has nearly reached rank 10 at Lucky Shack, but he's still got a ways to go before he can afford that second business.  Meadow didn't work and neither Maria nor Michael got promoted.  Melody's grades dropped to the point that she was fired from her job, so she has to focus on school now to get her average back up.  Apart from work it was a pretty quiet day.  I noticed that Robert had a minivan in inventory (there's a player owned car lot in Strangetown), so I had him give it to Elvin.  It's my policy not to let sims in Boomtown sell things from their inventory that they bought at the various playable businesses, but I will let them use them if possible.  Since Robert is getting up there in age, there's no need to let a perfectly good car go to waste just because he already has a vehicle.

Rhonda Leonard has one day left it seems.  I was hopeful that Trish would rank up the business this time, so that the family could move up to Working class before Rhonda's death, but she ended up being a couple stars short.  I think she'll do it next time, but it'll be too late for Rhonda.  Almost everyone worked, but no one got promoted.  Charlie got fired due to bad grades.  Nevertheless, the family nearly has enough money for their second business, though if they rank up before they buy it, the family funds will be split and they may have to save up again.

Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/5/21

 Continuing with Boomtown...

Gary Walton was rolled over from the Bohemian Hobo Challenge.  He apparently had a son that was taken by the Social Worker.  (The son was adopted into the Heroes vs. Villains Challenge, so he's still around town.)  Gary married townie Trista and they have a toddler son together.  Gary works in Slacker and Trista in Law Enforcement.  Also, for some reason, they have another former townie, Grayson Rauscher, living with them.  To be honest, I really can't remember anything about this family, so I'm working completely off relationship status and memories here.  My guess is that Trista is pregnant with Grayson's baby and that's why I moved him in.  I have a standing rule in my game that I don't let playable sims get pregnant by townies unless I'm prepared to move the townie in because I hate having townie dads roaming around, not aging, while their kids are growing old and dying.  Since moving sims into Boomtown is fairly restrictive though, I've not been allowing try for baby with townies, so I'm not sure what happened here.  Maybe it was accidental?  In any event, the Waltons have a roommate, who Trista is having an affair with, and who might be the father of her baby.  We'll see.  Grayson works in Culinary and is pretty high up, so he brings in a good paycheck in any event.  If a house opens up or if he hooks up with another playable sim that I can move him in with, I'll definitely do that, because the current situation is a disaster waiting to happen.

Finally, we have the Phelps residence.  Elvin Phelps and his wife Camryn moved out of Elvin's parents' house earlier this round.  They didn't have a lot of money to get their household started, but it was enough for the basics.  Elvin works in Criminal and Camryn in Law Enforcement, so either he's a really good liar or she's a dirty cop.  Either way it's an interesting dynamic.  Naturally the first thing that happened after they moved in was Camryn discovering she's pregnant.  That'll definitely make things easier for them.  They'll have more of a challenge to move up to Middle class, since they're starting from scratch and will need two level 5 businesses plus the required net worth.

And that's the end of the round.

Looping back around to Ben Traver, he moved his girlfriend in finally and immediately knocked her up.  Kendal already had a job in Criminal so she was allowed to keep it.  One of the ghosts decided to come out at night and he zeroed in on pregnant Kendal and poor Butterfly.  They both survived the night, but were exhausted the next morning.  Ben woke up fresh as a daisy because the ghost was not interested in him for some reason.  Luckily Kendal has the day off and can rest up.  Butterfly does not have that luxury and will have to go to school tired I'm afraid.  At least Kendal brought in $11,000, which puts them about a third of the way towards buying the business they want.  I'm sure they're anxious to get out of here as quickly as possible.

Sofia Neil very nearly got her business up to rank 3; I think she'll definitely do it next time.  In other news, Traci and River tried for another baby and I was sure I heard the jingle, however right after that Michele had Michael Phelps over and they were able to try for baby as well, which shouldn't have been possible if Traci was already pregnant, since baby would make a full house.  Since the option was there, I had them try and got another jingle.  I started thinking maybe I was mistaken about Traci, but then she started having morning sickness.  Michele didn't experience any symptoms, but she was at work until late and then went right to bed.  So I guess we'll find out next time if both are pregnant (against all odds) or if it's just Traci who is pregnant.  In any event, the household should be splitting next round when the business ranks up, so there'll be plenty of room for everyone in the end.

That's it for now.  Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/4/21

 Continuing with the residents of Boomtown...

Robert Hollinger is one of the founders of Boomtown.  He has been involved with a number of women in town and has fathered quite a few children (nine), though only five of them live with him, along with their mother and the oldest son's wife.  Robert owns Lucky Shack, which is currently rank 9, and is saving for a second business, which he'll need to level up to Middle class.  I guess I should've mentioned that Robert is the only sim so far to reach Working class, though I did move the son and daughter-in-law out right away, so they'll be played at the end of the round and will also be Working class.  The rules do not explicitly state (as far as I can recall) what to do about the class level of kids who move out of a household that is Working class or higher, but it seems reasonable to me that they would remain in the same class so that's what I'm doing.  They really had to go though because Elvin's wife, Camryn, was really not getting along with anyone in the house and it was bursting at the seams with eight sims.  Now some babies can actually be born, which will be sooner, rather than later, because Maria (one of Robert's daughters) had an encounter with George Leonard (who you haven't met yet) that left her pregnant with twins.  How do I know it's twins?  Because Maria's twin, Michael, wanted to move his girlfriend in and got the "household can't have more than 8 sims" message, but there are currently only six sims in the house.  The younger set of twins are still teens for a few more days, so they didn't have any drama going on.  I guess I should note everyone's jobs: Robert works Lucky Shack full-time, Meadow is at the top of the Slacker career, Maria also works in Slacker, Michael is in Law Enforcement, Mary Ann does not have a job, and Melody is working a teen job in Law Enforcement as well.

Rhonda Leonard is also a founding member of Boomtown.   She works as a Criminal and recently passed her restaurant (Oresha Family Dining) on to her daughter since she doesn't have much time left.  She lives with her boyfriend Irfan, who is the father of two of her five children.  All her children still live with her, as well as her oldest daughter's boyfriend.  There is a LOT of fighting in this house.  Rhonda doesn't get along with her two oldest kids - Dixie and George, maybe because they hate Irfan.  In fact, no one in the family likes Irfan, apart from Rhonda, and most of the kids can't stand their mother either.  Among the three teens, the boys (Kenny and Charlie) are friends, but they don't get along with their sister Trish.  Once the business ranks up to level 3, this family will be eligible to move up to Working class, but at this point I'm not really sure who'll be going.  Rhonda will likely die before that happens.  Trish owns the business now, so she'll definitely be going, but because she's still a teen, she'll need an adult to move out with her.  The only one of her siblings she likes overly much is her older brother George, so he's probably in.  She's okay with her sister Dixie and Dixie's boyfriend Nicholas, but she's not super close with them.  Jobs are as follows: Rhonda is a Criminal, as is Dixie, Irfan and Charlie both work in Military, and Nicholas and George are both in Culinary.

Tomorrow we'll hopefully get through the last two families, the Waltons and the new Phelps residence in Working class.  Happy Simming!

Boomtown 7/3/21

 I was planning to move to Belladonna Cove next, which I haven't played in literal years, but I realized the reason I haven't played it in years is because I was unhappy with the rule set I have in place there.  So I decided to revamp the whole thing, keeping the parts I like and overhauling the rest.  While I was working on that I discovered the Trailer Park challenge by fuzzyspork.  Since it was a fairly short challenge, I had a go at it.  I found it to be an enjoyable light challenge.  Now that I'm finished with that, and not yet finished with Belladonna's reboot, I decided to move to Boomtown - a challenge I'm sure most everyone's heard of.  I don't remember who created it, but if you search for it, I'm sure you'll find the official rules somewhere.

The basic premise of Boomtown, for those who are not familiar, is a neighborhood with four social classes: Poverty, Working, Middle, and Upper.  In order to move up a class, there are financial and business requirements.  In addition, each class is limited to certain jobs they're allowed to take.  All the founders (I started with four) began their lives in Poverty class.  So far, only one family has moved up to Working class.  Another family completely died off as well.  The rules state that whenever a Poverty house becomes vacant (for whatever reason) it must be filled with a new family.  I have, of course, added more rules of my own to spice up the gameplay in ways that I find entertaining.  I won't detail all that now.  You'll pick it up.  I should mention though that I basically use Strangetown as a challenge 'hood.  The base 'hood is a Heroes vs. Villains challenge that I play with my daughter, Downtown is Boomtown, and Bluewater is the site of many smaller challenges.  When I finish challenges, I often roll sims over into other challenges because it just makes for more interesting starting conditions than single sims from CAS.  Boomtown is a great place to roll them into, so you'll probably see that happen often.

There are currently five households in Boomtown: Traver (P), Neil (P), Hollinger (W), Leonard (P), and Walton (P).  Each household is played for just one day before moving on.

Benjamin Traver and his daughter Butterfly are new residents.  They were rolled over from the Bohemian Hobo challenge (I think?) and were moved in to fill the household of the former Denham family, who sadly all passed away/were taken by the Social Worker.  Ben inherited all the leftover furnishings, which is a plus, but he also inherited the six graves that are present on the lot, which is not.  Haunted houses are fun, right?  We'll see if he survives.  His first order of business was to quite his job in Politics and take one in Culinary, since that's allowed at the Poverty level.  Next, he started romancing a townie woman that he knew, but though they fell in love and woohooed, she still continued to refuse him when it came to moving in.  He'll have to keep trying I guess.

Sofia Neil is one of the original Boomtown founders.  She's an elder now and the mother of three kids (technically four, but one was taken by the Social Worker), all with different fathers.  She's currently living with the father of her youngest son, her two adult daughters, teen son, her oldest daughter's boyfriend, and her grandson.  Sofia works in the Slacker career, but also owns Comandgo Emporium, which she acquired last time I played, but ran for the first time this round.  She's met the money goal needed to move up to Working class, but still needs to get her business to level 3.  Her boyfriend, Oliver, also works in Slacker.  Her kids Traci, Michele, and Nate work in Criminal, Culinary, and Criminal, respectively.  Ironically, Traci's boyfriend River is Captain Hero.  Traci and River's son Chad became a toddler this round.  Traci does not get along with her mother or Oliver at all, so when the business rank goal is met, I plan to move Sofia, Oliver, Michele, and Nate into a Working class home, leaving Traci, River, and Chad behind in the Poverty house they currently inhabit.  They'll have to make their own way.  Sofia's tired of ungrateful freeloaders.

Hopefully, I'll get through the other three households tomorrow.  Until then, Happy Simming!