Sunday 21 February 2010

Came around

Round 25: Winter 2021
Betsy and Kimberly Carmody are both 50, Sarah is 16 and Susannah is 11.
(Ethan is 15)

Narrated by Kimberly Carmody

I'd still like to look at adopting a third child and Betsy's completely against it. I know she's right and that a third would be a bad idea but there's still that little niggling feeling that I can't seem to ignore.


I don't want to go ahead with it if Betsy's not on the same page, or if it's going to cause resentment down the road. We've been through enough heartache as a couple.

And all of Betsy's arguments make perfect sense. We're both 50 now and we would probably be 52 by the time we got a child, if we'd even be approved at this age. Depending on what age the child was, we might be close to 70 by the time they graduated high school. I know all this but I think I just need to hear it, to really drive it home.

It's probably best that we don't rock the boat because the whole family has been doing really well since I came back home. It's most noticeable with Susannah. There's just been a huge change in her and she seems to always be so cheerful now.

She's 11 but maybe she's kind of a young 11. She hasn't yet reached the stage where she's embarrassed by either of us but Betsy is positive it's coming. She says by the time she gets to high school, she probably won't want to know either of us!

For now though, she loves to spend time with us. Her latest thing is trying to get me to look for a new job. I've been working nights since I came back and I don't get to see my girls as often as I'd like to.

But I never went to college or even trained to do anything other than hairdressing, so I've been cleaning houses. I don't even like cleaning my own house, so you can imagine how much I love this job.

It was at work that I came up with an incredible idea that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of before. Why didn't I just buy Naomi's old salon? It was up for sale again and of all the places I've worked, that was the one place I really loved.

I had to talk it over with Betsy, of course and she was a little reluctant at first. Sarah was recently accepted into Suffolk University and taking into account her scholarships, it's still going to cost $2000 a semester for tuition, which Betsy is intent on us paying. Betsy's parents paid for her to go to college, which she was always grateful for and she wants us to be able to do the same.

There was no need to worry though because I'd already done all the maths and the salon was much cheaper than Betsy was assuming. There'd be plenty of money to send Sarah to college and enough left over to live on and even send Susannah to college when the time comes. Seeing the money was Betsy's only concern about the salon, we agreed that buying it would be a fantastic idea.

We decided to go out to celebrate leaving Sarah and her boyfriend Ethan in the house together, seeing Sarah insisted they were just saying goodbye. In hindsight, we should have watched him leave.

At the time, we didn't think much of it and headed out to Exeter for dinner. We did eventually get inside the restaurant, after Betsy was done checking herself in the mirror. She's become a little vain since turning 50. It's almost like living with Anna some days.

Betsy and her sister are very similar but Betsy's generally easier to get along with than Anna. I definitely ended up with the more easygoing Carmody sister.

Betsy and I haven't had many "dates" since we got back together so it was lovely to spend some time alone together for a night.

When we got back home, we discovered Sarah was either taking an awfully long time to "say goodbye" to Ethan or she'd snuck him back over once we'd left.

Ethan was pretty keen to leave once he saw us so we let him go and dragged Sarah inside for a good talking to. I don't think we've ever been so angry at her! She knows she's not supposed to have boys over when we're not home.

Sarah kept insisting she and Ethan weren't doing anything but kissing.

I'm almost positive she was lying through her teeth about that - her bed was all messed up and she makes it before she goes to school every day. But that's not really the point, even though we're definitely not thrilled about that either.

Ethan is a nice kid and Betsy and I both really like him but Sarah broke a house rule. So despite all her protests, we grounded her. She can go to school and to her after school job and that's it.

Once everything was a little calmer the next day, Betsy talked to Sarah and tried to figure out what was going on. She still didn't admit to anything but Betsy thought it might be a good time for a refresher course on birth control and all that sort of thing.

At least the salon isn't giving me any trouble so far. It's been going really well. I did a little renovation to signify new ownership and a new start. Anna came by to check it out and to demand I touch up her roots for free.

Most of my customers aren't as demanding as she is. We're not quite overrun with clients yet, so it's just me right now. When I build up a larger client base, I'll hire a second stylist.

Extra:
When did Betsy turn into Anna? I know their personalities are identical (being that they are clones and all) but usually, Anna is the primper. Betsy wouldn't stop this round. I think she's just checking she still looks good with the extra wrinkles I gave her!

Notes:
  • Title is from Came Around by Peter Walker, which I cannot find on YouTube or Grooveshark or last.fm. But I love this song.
  • I couldn't believe I'd never thought of having Kimberly buy the salon either. Betsy and Kimberly have more than enough money and Kimberly never has any wants to skill, so she's unlikely to get very far in any of the Maxis careers. So buying the salon was the perfect option for her.
  • Just as Betsy and Kimberly were pulling out of the driveway to head downtown, I noticed Ethan was over - Sarah had booty called him! When her parents came back home, Sarah was still out in the front yard making out with Ethan and headed inside to her bedroom just as they got out of the car. I had to reshoot some stuff so it looked better but it really did happen mostly exactly as I described. My teens are usually pretty dumb and they booty call whenever they feel like it but Sarah was being sneaky. Got caught anyway though, unfortunately for her!
  • I don't know if I would have had Ethan and Sarah have sex if it was entirely up to me but seeing they're 15 and 16 (and not 12 and 13 like Patience and Jacob were!), I'm not too fussed about it.
  • Sarah is off to college next round - I can't believe it! She earned 5 scholarships. Sarah will start in Summer 2023. And lucky her (or lucky her parents, really), she gets to be the first student to pay my new much heftier tuition fees! They are double what they used to be but the city needs the money for the university overhaul, so it makes sense that those who use the university are the ones who'll pay a little extra.

19 comments:

  1. Bravo to Betsy and Kimberly for sticking with their house rules...

    I haven't seen a teen make a booty call. It was funny with the extra birth control lecture the next day.

    Just before I graduated, our fees and tuition went up quite a bit, but it was needed because our faculty have been underpaid.

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  2. OMG! Teenage booty call. I still remember when that happened to me and I freaked out. That's not really something I'm all that "down" with, but they were quick like bunnies. Sneaky buggers. I didn't even know they could do that until it happened!

    And I know I've probably said it before, but I adore Betsy's freckles. Her overall appearance is very cool looking, actually. She's easy to pick out of a crowd. I'm glad they're getting on better and the family is doing well for once.

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  3. Good luck for Kimberly with her new business!

    I've had a few teens make a booty call, usually they do it when their parents are home so they're bond to get caught.

    I'm glad things have settled down for this family. I was afraid they wouldn't make it but now it seems they did get through all their problems.

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  4. Yeah, I'm still weary on teen woohoo and such. I don't even have inteen; just ACR. I'll probably be clueless if one of my teens become pregnant (which I think is impossible with just ACR, but still). and yes, I agree, some teens are so stupid to get caught.

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  5. Thanks everyone!

    Francesca, no point having rules if you're not going to enforce them, right?

    Sarah was already on birth control, not that Betsy and Kimberly would have known, if anyone was wondering. No babies for Sarah!

    Mao, I remember you freaking out about that over at BS, though I can't remember who the Sims were. I've had a few teens attempting to be sneaky but Sarah's been the sneakiest so far. Very clever, waiting until your mothers are leaving the house!

    I like Betsy's look too. I've got four freckle masks by Corvidophile that I love and I combine them differently for any Sim I want to have freckles (Anna has them too). Most of the other masks I've come across don't show up all that well unless you're really close.

    Sari, most teens are not as crafty as Sarah, apparently!

    I'm glad Betsy and Kimberly are doing better too. I was expecting them to start arguing again and was all set to start writing it that way. They've been getting along though, which is nice to see!

    Laurel, yes, you're correct. Teens can't get pregnant unless you also have InTeen. I have both, so that's definitely a risk my teens are taking when they have sex. A warning though - YAs can still get pregnant if you just have ACR, so that's something to look out for.

    I am (obviously) okay with teen sex in the game but 15 is kind of the magic age. I really don't even consider it before then and since Patience and Jacob, I turn off woohoo in ACR until they reach that age. Unless I get a Sim one day who I think would do it earlier, I'll continue to do that.

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  6. Ugh, booty calls. I might have to try and disable them-wonder if you can disable them just for teens. Si'Enya made a booty call as soon as they moved back to the hood. She didn't even like the guy romantically. I canceled that real quick, especially since she's only 13 and had shown no interest in guys before.

    The freckles are really cute, I'll have to find them.

    I'm glad things are working out for them and the girls.

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  7. Sneaky sneaky girl! Waiting until the parents left. Tsk tsk! It's like she knew she was doing wrong, lol.

    And I adore freckles too.

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  8. Apple Valley, hmmm, I just checked and there doesn't seem to be an option to disable them for just teens but you can turn off booty calls for individual Sims. That'd work just as well, though it's a bit more fiddly, obviously.

    I had to cancel Finn and Victoria's attempt when they were 13! They both just tore off their clothes and were ready to go at it on the couch. They were at least romantically interested in each other though!

    Lunar, it's times like these that make it hard to remember that they're just pixels who don't really think. It's difficult to think of them that way when they behave so realistically.

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  9. Hi Carla,
    something I've been wondering about:
    You play your houses only for a few simdays in a round, so how can your Sims manage to save enough to buy salons and stuff? With all the money they have to pay (taxes, college...)

    Greetings from Austria

    Astrid

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  10. Where does this Booty Call thing come from? I have ACR, and I've never seen it.

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  11. It's nice that Kimberly finally found something she wants to do. I hope the salon goes well, but most of the time they don't give any trouble.

    Oh, Sarah, so sneaky, it's a good thing the parents stuck to their own rules. I think it was a good thing they give a lecture about birth control!

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  12. Astrid, well, in this case, Betsy got a $45,000 chance card, which was around about the cost of the salon. In general though, there are a few reasons my Sims have managed to save so much money.

    1. Some of them have two or three generations worth of money already, so are quite wealthy. Betsy moved in with her parents right after college. I haven't done this much recently, because I'm trying to avoid having my Sims become too rich.

    2. My Sims age two days per round but I often play them for around 5 days but occasionally longer. I turn aging off and handle aging manually.

    3. Something else I'm not doing any more but the bank accounts on Monique's computer earns interest incredibly quickly. It builds up money fast. I only use the bank accounts now for the governor and my school principals, because they need to keep their money separate from the household money.

    princess_katia, hmmm, well, Booty Call is definitely an ACR feature and has been for as long as I can remember. What it does is your Sim will call their "One" and invite them over and they'll automatically woohoo when they arrive. I can't remember what menu it's under but if you poke around on the Adjuster for a bit, I'm sure you'll find it. You can direct it but Sims will do it autonomously as well (as Sarah did). You can only do a booty call if there are no suitable targets on the lot. All the other Sims on the lot are related to Sarah, so she fit the criteria. If Ethan was already over (he's Sarah's "One") or if there was another unrelated straight male on the lot, she wouldn't have been able to do it.

    Tanja, yeah, salons aren't too tricky once you've got the gold badge, which Kimberly's had for ages. I'm sure she's pleased to be able to stop cleaning houses too!

    I'm pretty glad I had put her on birth control! I noticed she wasn't yet on it when I entered the lot and thought "Should I?"

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  13. I have never had teenage booty call! How hilarious albeit horrifying for parents.

    I'm glad things are going well and hope the salon does too! Nice for her to have a business that she enjoys again.

    I can't believe Sarah will be off to college soon. And yeah when u put it that way for having kids at 50, I'd say no too. Can u imagine a high schooler at 70?

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  14. Maisie, my teens don't usually do booty calls too often but it's happened a few times. I'm usually able to have complete control over my teens' sex lives!

    And I know, I still remember when they adopted Sarah! They grow up so fast!

    Araminta will find herself with a high schooler when she's close to 70. Gosh...I hope she and Henry live that long! With my new age span, not all Sims will make it to 70.

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  15. "Araminta will find herself with a high schooler when she's close to 70. Gosh...I hope she and Henry live that long! With my new age span, not all Sims will make it to 70."

    OOhh, that's true! I was thinking you already know that! Cause I know you track ages, but doh they aren't elders! I sure as heck hope they live into their seventies! When do your sims become elders again, 62?

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  16. I think the booty call feature is in the ACR v2. Try upgrading, katia

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  17. Maisie, no, my elders age up at 60 now. At one time, 62 made sense but seeing I have long forgotten why that is, I just changed it!

    But yeah, Henry and Araminta aren't elders yet, so how long they'll live is still up in the air.

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  18. Oh, yay! I love that she bought a salon! That'll be great for her!

    OMG, Sarah! But yes, that booty call is a sneaky one. I've had to cancel out quite a few attempts for my sneaky little boogers! But you know, that's just like teenagers!

    And I think they made the right choice by not going ahead with adopting another one. LOL, the way Sarah is going, maybe they'll get a grandchild soon!

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  19. Laura, I was ridiculously pleased with myself when I thought of buying the salon for Kimberly. LOL, I'm so lame!

    And oh gosh, let's hope no grandchildren yet! Sarah would have to be really sneaky if she wanted to get knocked up this round. The next time I visit the Carmodies will be to age up Susannah and that should just be a very short visit. Enough time to get knocked up, but she'd have to be really keen!

    I've heard that puberty is the absolute worst time to add another child to the family, so I'm thinking Susannah wouldn't have been too impressed with a younger sibling right now!

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