Humble Beginnings 2/16/25

 Things are looking up for the Gordon family, despite adding, not one, but TWO new babies to the family.  That's right, they had twin girls, Maria and Miranda.  Scott managed to finish 5/6 AP classes before heading off to Uni with a $1000 scholarship to cover his final class.  They couldn't afford to give him anything extra, but he should be fine if he gets a job.  Zane began dating Meadow Thayer, and when he also grew up near the end of the round, he took her with him to Uni.  She also has a LTW for Education, so they're a pretty good match.  Zane followed in his big brother's footsteps, completing 5 AP classes and earning a $1000 scholarship.  Meadow, being an orphan, has no money and will need to start working immediately to earn money for classes.  Chad grew into a teen and rolled the LTW to be a Gamer like his dad.  Since he'll only need a community college degree for this, he'll likely stay home to study when he grows up.  Sophia became a child, as did the twins by the end of the round.  Eric, who is now an elder, reached the top of his career, thanks to a good chance card.  Amaya will join Eric in elderhood next round, so thankfully there won't be any more kids for the Gordons.  She'll finally have some time to devote to her painting.  By the end of winter, after expenses, the family has $9736 in savings and will remain Working Class.

Happy Simming!

Humble Beginnings 2/13/25

 The Franklins went through some highs and lows this round, but they're on the verge of disaster.  Early on things were going fairly well.  Caleb grew up and finished his community college degree, someone (I think Charlotte?) brought in a big bonus, and Riley married and had a son (Bailey) with Dagmar.  Isaac continued romancing the ladies, one of whom was Melissa Fancey.  Riley, Dagmar, and Caleb all found jobs corresponding to their LTWs (R & D in Athletic, C in Culinary).  That's when things got...complicated.  It should be noted here that everyone in the household except for Charlotte and the baby have primary aspirations of Romance.  Xavier has always been a fairly innocuous Romance sim, so he didn't cause a problem, however the others are on a course of chaos.  It started somewhat innocently, with Dagmar and Caleb rolling wants to be friends and then best friends.  But since they have 2 bolts, I knew that wouldn't be the end of it.  I had Caleb look around for someone else to turn his attention to and all he found was Melissa Fancey, who he also has 2 bolts for.  I'm not too bothered by that, as Isaac isn't really serious about her, and he became an elder this round, so he's not likely to settle down at this point.  Caleb and Melissa had a nice first date (away from the house, as Isaac is in love with her technically, and I didn't' want to start unnecessary drama), but as soon as he returned home, he rolled the want to fall in love with Dagmar.  At about this time, Xavier died unexpectedly at the age of 65 (I thought he had a bit more time).  Since the family is Working Class, they were not able to keep the insurance money unfortunately.  However, at this point they had about $40,000, so I thought they'd be moving up.  By the time Bailey grew into a toddler, Dagmar and Riley were expecting their second child.  It was at this point that Dagmar also rolled the want to fall in love with Caleb, and Charlotte got hit with a bad chance card that cost the family $20,000.  I had been thinking I'd split the family at the end of the round, giving Charlotte, Riley, Dagmar, and Bailey $25,000 and leveling them up to Lower Middle, while keeping bachelors Isaac and Caleb here at Working Class, with over $10,000 in savings.  However, since they didn't end up having enough funds to level up, they'll all be staying here, which is likely to become a war zone next round.  Caleb and Dagmar are a flirt or two away from falling in love and if we add Melissa to the equation, WWIII will erupt.  I have no idea where everyone will end up when the dust settles, but it's going to fracture relationships either way.  Stay tuned.  At the end of winter, the Franklins have $22,204 after expenses and will remain Working Class.

Happy Simming!

Humble Beginnings 2/10/25

 Big changes were in store for Angela Owens and her family this winter.  They moved into their new apartment and Amanda and Vanessa immediately began searching for jobs in Law Enforcement (both their LTWs), which they found fairly early on.  When Jennifer grew up, she also took a job on the police force (her LTW is to Marry Off 6 Children).  Wendy continued in Culinary for most of the week but finally found Slacker towards the end of winter.  By that time, she was pregnant with Andrew Chen's baby - a girl, Robin, who became a toddler by the end of the round.  Jennifer married her high school sweetheart, George McCarthy, as soon as she grew up and they had a baby girl as well, Hannah.  George was working in Athletic until he got fired right at the end of the round; his LTW is for 5 Top Businesses, so we'll try to see what we can do with that.  Wendy seems to have lost all interest in Andrew after giving birth to his child and rolled the want to get engaged to Count BJ Haggerty (right after he spontaneously turned her into a vampire), so she'll be moving in him next round.  I'm not sure how healthy their relationship will be, given she also has the want to woohoo 5 different sims, but we'll see how it goes.  Amanda and Vanessa also started dating.  Amanda fell for Charles Bendett, their former landlord at the motel, which is a little awkward since he and Angela went out a couple times during her escorting days, but they're 3-bolters so I think they'll be okay as long as Angela is kept away from him.  Vanessa is seeing Benjamin Long, who is an elder already, so quite the age difference there.  By the end of winter, decisions had to be made about what to do with this bursting-at-the-seams family.  There was more than enough money for them to be promoted to Lower Middle Class, but I didn't want to keep them all together, as it would impede their relationships, so I decided that George, Jennifer, Angela, and Hannah (and the dog) would move up to Lower Middle, taking the minimum $25,000 with them.  My reasoning was that George wants businesses, which he can't do unless he's LM Class, and Angela is nearing the end of her life and needs to be LM to leave life insurance money to her kids.  I gave Amanda and Vanessa each $5000 to start their lives as Working Class, and Wendy will remain in the current Working-Class apartment, with a remaining savings (after expenses and the purchase of two coffins for her and her husband-to-be) of $1077.

Happy Simming!

Humble Beginnings 2/7/25

 At the end of last round, the Iversons merged with Linda Edwards' household, creating a blended family consisting of Linda, her son Joseph, her daughter Rachel, Joseph's fiancé Destiny (who immediately became his wife), and Destiny's brother Chase.  Shortly after moving into their apartment, Linda gave birth to another son, Michael.  Joseph was working in Criminal, but soon switched to Athletic (his LTW), and was joined by his mother and sister (who aged to adult early in the round), since they both also have the LTW for Athletic.  Chase and Destiny continued working in Slacker, while also pursuing their degrees.  Chase was able to finish his community college degree and find a job in his LTW of Adventurer by the end of winter; Destiny is still working on her degree, as her progress was greatly slowed by becoming pregnant (the baby will be born next round).  I had planned to move Linda's boyfriend (Michael's father) in as soon as Linda aged to elder, but for some reason I was unable to age Alvin up to elder with her - he just didn't appear on the list of potential friends to age up!  I think it may have something to do with him being an AL townie, as I noticed other AL missing from the list as well, even ones that Linda was very friendly with.  So, I made the decision not to move him in, since it would be very weird for Linda's boyfriend to be younger than her kids. We'll just say he had cold feet about being a father and leave it at that, I guess.  Chase began dating Bruce McMillan, and Rachel is crushing on Marie Mazza, so I decided to move them both out (to separate households), giving them each $5000 to start their new families as Working Class.  This family will also remain Working Class (though they nearly got promoted), with a savings of $11,747, after rent/expenses and giving money to Chase and Rachel.

Happy Simming!

Humble Beginnings 2/5/25

 The Baxter/Nanale/Lum family was very successful this winter.  Emily reached the top of the Culinary career and her husband Alvin brought in several promotions as well.  Dylan continued to climb in Entertainment, though his progress did slow a bit due to needing skill points.  Rose finished her degree and eventually found a job in Business (her LTW), scoring a promotion just before the end of the round.  Meanwhile, Josh became a teen, started dating Alison Edwards, and began taking AP classes towards his degree, as he wants to be an Architect.  Logan became a child, and Dylan and Rose had another baby, Sydney, who is now a toddler.  At the end of winter, after expenses, the family has saved $54,025 and will therefore remain Lower Middle for the time being.

Happy Simming!

Humble Beginnings 2/3/25

 The Tang/Welsh household was pretty uneventful this round.  The boys became children, and their mother Michelle was able to teach them to study, which will be helpful to them going forward.  The dogs continued to be menaces, peeing everywhere and destroying everything, despite being scolded over and over.  Other than that, it was mostly just work/school/Michelle skilling.  There were very few promotions, and at the end of winter the family has $38,300, keeping them Lower Middle Class.

Happy Simming!

Humble Beginnings 2/2/25

 The Carter/Cormier family has become the Carter/Ray family, with the departure of Ricky from the household (he and Irene Franklin are now together and expecting a baby) and the addition of Craig Ray, who Daisy met, fell in love with, and married this round.  Lily has not really shown any interest in dating since Ricky left her, so I haven't pushed the issue.  She's doing well in her career, reaching the level of assistant coach, so maybe that's where her focus is at the moment.  Daisy's new hubby Craig has the LTW to reach the top of Criminal, so he's going to be a lifer!  He was able to find a job right away and worked one day, during which he got arrested, but was able to afford a good lawyer, who got him off the hook.  Daisy's LTW is for Culinary, which she didn't find right away, so she started a home business as a stylist.  She wasn't very successful with the business, but did eventually find Culinary, starting as a hostess and being promoted to waitress before the end of winter.  She's also expecting her first child.  Mason grew into a teen with the LTW to raise 20 puppies/kittens.  Since they had two dogs already, I had them breed them, which resulted in two puppies.  I'm not sure I'll go all in on trying to fulfill this LTW, but at least he got a little progress.  He's got a couple of love interests, one he likes better than the other, so we'll see how that develops.  At this point, I'm leaning towards having Daisy and Craig stay here, and moving Mason out eventually, so we'll see how that goes.  For now, the family has $45,636 and will remain Upper Middle Class.

Happy Simming!