Thursday 28 October 2010

Squeaky fingers

Round 29: August 2029 (Winter)
last update/next update

Caleb Moretti is 47, Cara is 40 and Anthony and Veronica are both 12.
(David is 47, Nick is 26, Sarah is 24 and Oliver is 13)

Narrated by Caleb Moretti

I finally took the plunge, took out a loan and bought my own business. I'm very glad Cara was able to talk me into it, because I really love it so far.

It was once a restaurant that Cara and I ate at a few times but I didn't really want to run a restaurant. So instead, I sell pre-cooked meals as well as some desserts. A lot of people hate cooking so there's definitely a market for it.

I even had a reporter from the newspaper come in and check the place out.

Once I figured out who she was, I was glad I'd only had pleasant interactions with her! I haven't seen anything show up in the paper yet, but hopefully that's still to come.

Everyone in the family has been spreading the word, so I'm getting a lot of new faces coming in.

There's still the loan to pay off but it's looking like that won't be as bad as I thought either. I received an offer to endorse a new line of cutlery and earned $20,000 for it, all of which I put towards the loan.

We never had to worry with Nick, because he earned a full scholarship but soon enough, Cara and I will have to start thinking about tuition fees for Anthony and Veronica.

Assuming either of them can keep their minds off the opposite sex for long enough to even get in to university!

Anthony is completely obsessed with girls right now.

He's always asking his cousin Lila to put in a good word for him with some of the girls.

All the girls he likes are much older than him though and aren't interested.

Anthony's not even allowed to date yet anyway. He's asked, we've said no.

Veronica has already asked Cara about going out on dates as well. She thinks she's old enough and responsible enough to handle a boyfriend.

We don't agree, which Veronica thinks is very unfair.

I can only assume Oliver is the boy she's wanting to go out with. She made friends with him at school and he's usually at our house when I get home from work.

The other day, I came home to them holding hands in the living room. I really hope it hasn't gone further than that.

Veronica says it hasn't and Anthony's backing her up. But I don't think he'd rat out his sister anyway.

So I just try to make myself visible when Oliver's over and keep an eye on them. I can't watch the kids all the time but I can do my best. I'm not ready for Anthony and Veronica to start dating and I don't think they're ready either.

I know all too well what kids can get up when they're left alone; Abigail and I have Nick as proof of that. And just a few months ago, my niece Camilla got pregnant. David's so worried about her.

She'll be home with them and the baby for a year and then she'll head off to college. The first time in her life she'll be out on her own and she'll have a baby in tow.

I'm trying to reassure David that Camilla is a smart girl, and she'll have Lila and hopefully her boyfriend Charlie to help her out. He's not finding that particularly encouraging, not that I can blame him. None of them really know anything about babies and having a baby at university would be hard even if you did.

I'm so glad we got through Nick's teen years without too much trouble.

Nick and Sarah got engaged in January and we were all so excited for them.

Wedding planning took a backseat after Sarah's mother died suddenly but when we had Nick and Sarah over the other night, they told us they'd finally set a date. The wedding will be in September next year - they don't wait to wait too long, but that gives them enough time to plan without rushing.


Now that there's a definite wedding date, Cara has taken to teasing me about how I might be a grandfather before I even turn 50. She thinks it's incredibly funny.

I have to admit, I hadn't thought of that! I don't really feel ready for grandkids yet but seeing Nick and Sarah want to start a family as soon as possible, I guess I should get used to the idea!

Notes:
  • Title is from Squeaky Fingers by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.
  • The reporter came in, pulled out her little notepad and then didn't write a review. The cow! Anyway, Delizioso Catering is now at Level 2 (and is listed in the Sullivan Yellow Pages, along with Amar's photography business). Once Caleb earns a little more money, I'll hire someone to man the espresso bar and put some tables outside.
  • Geez, what happened to my teens who don't immediately start wanting to date at 12? It seems to be all that Veronica and Anthony are interested in! Had I not checked Veronica's ACR token, she very well might have headed up to the bedroom with Oliver because I hadn't turned her woohoo autonomy off.
  • I think Anthony could be my next Sim to earn free tuition. They need 8 scholarships to get that and Anthony currently qualifies for 6. Nick was the last Sim to do that (he got 9 scholarships, if I remember correctly) and I think it'd be so cool if his little brother pulled off the same feat. Veronica is Knowledge/Romance but her Romance side is taking over right now, though she's still skilling quite a lot as well.

15 comments:

  1. Wow, that would be awesome if Anthony gets a free ride to school as well. Thank goodness you caught Veronica before anything happened. I need to fix that token with some of my teens now. I'm glad they chose a date for the wedding, a fall wedding :)

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  2. Apple Valley, thanks for reading!

    If Anthony gets a free ride, it will be a huge burden off his parents, that's for sure. Veronica might possibly get one too but Anthony is looking more likely at this point.

    I don't want another Jacob and Patience situation (13 and 12! Still can't get over that and they're both heading towards 30 now!) so I try to remember to turn off those woohoo tokens as soon as my teens age up!

    Nick and Sarah's wedding will be a spring wedding, actually. I've intentionally never really nailed down where Sullivan is in the world, but I run it on the southern hemisphere calendar, just because that's where I am. :) Jacob and Claudia's will be in the autumn though. I almost want to schedule another wedding for the winter, just to have all four seasons represented, lol!

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  3. I think Anthony and Veronica and their crazy hormones are very true to life. Some teens get the raging kind and others could care less lol. It would be great if Anthony got a free ride, especially since his folks still need to pay off that loan. SO looking forward to Nick's wedding :)

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  4. Those teens really have some super bubbly hormones going, hopefully they manage to behave. It would be really nice for Anthony to get the scolarship, he deserves it. The new business looks really nice and seems to be doing really well also.

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  5. I never thought about selling pre-cooked meals. That makes an amazing amount of sense.

    You have to watch the kids these days. They go sneaking off and then there's a baby.

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  6. Thanks for your comments, everyone. :)

    Mizzgin03, that's true! Some kids are ready to go right away (or they think they are!) and some kids don't care. Connor's 16 now and I can still hardly get him to care!

    Anthony can probably definitely get one more scholarship easily, which would be the top of the career one. The other one will depend on his wants. Already with 6 though, he's slashed the tuition in half which is also going to help.

    My gosh, I haven't planned a single detail about Nick's wedding, except that he'll wear his uniform!

    Speechless, fingers crossed! Thankfully, Anthony and Veronica both have 10 neat points, so they're allowed birth control at least. Less chance of them knocking anyone up, or getting themselves knocked up!

    I still have to play around with the business a little more - rearrange some of the furniture. I'm getting some route failures, which is resulting in a few angry customers!

    HeredonCove, yeah, I've been planning on trying it for a while. It can be expensive to keep stocked though. If you cook on site, the game deducts you money each time you start a plate and at home, you'll soon run out of groceries and have to buy more. So I'm supplementing the supply with some buyable meals I got at Exnem Sims.

    Ha, yes! As David and Kirstin just found out with their daughter Camilla!

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  7. I like the new business. I've been wanting to do the pre-cooked meals thing too but I don't have a sim for that yet. I need more sims!

    I've had both kinds of teens too, those who want to start dating right away and those who don't seem to care. I think I have more of those with raging hormones though. It's good that at least Anthony and Veronica can use BC so at least they'll probably avoid the situation Camilla's in right now.

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  8. I so glad Caleb was finally able to start his business! And it looks great!!
    I like the fact that he sells fresh dishes. It can be hard to keep those stocked, but they do sell very good, especially when they use fresh vegetables.

    Aw teens and their raging hormones! I always knew Caleb and Cara would have to keep a close eye on their children, especially Veronica can be a handfull :)

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  9. Sari, I have so many business ideas that I just don't have the right Sim for yet! You'd think I'd think of someone, with over 110 Sims, huh?

    I am very thankful that Caleb is such a neat freak and passed it down to the twins. I'm hoping that keeps them from getting into trouble!

    Tanja, it is hard to keep the shelves stocked but the buyable meals are helping a lot with that too. I don't think there's any way Caleb could do it otherwise. And I should consider sending him to Kirby Market to buy some fresh ingredients! I wonder if I can raise the price then!

    Poor Caleb...Veronica is going to send him grey early!

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  10. I'm glad he opened his own place! I love the buyable food, I do that at a few places to fill out the inventory, cause it's easy to stock.

    I can't believe how much the twins are into the opposite sex! I don't have any quite like that in my hood at the moment, some swooning, heart-farting sure, but nothing beyond that.

    I can see why David is concerned, I hope it works out ok after all of it, though it might not seem like it in the moment. THings were really messy with Nick in the beginning, but a-ok now!

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  11. Maisie, I was so excited for Caleb to open his business, finally. It's nice for have something different for the culinary Sims, so I'm enjoying doing the catering thing. Especially with the buyable food! Makes it so much easier.

    Well, Anthony is Romance and Veronica has Romance as a secondary, so that explains why they're both so hormonal already. I was playing Chris Draper last night and he's 14 and only just started to show an interest in girls this round. I'd never even seen him heart fart over anyone before, I don't think!

    Nick is a good example of the results that can come from teen pregnancy, so I'm sure David is hoping things work out as well for his grandchild as they did for his nephew. But he also knows how hard it was for Caleb when he broke up with Abigail and he doesn't want to see Camilla go through that. Everything's very uncertain right now.

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  12. Uh oh. Time for the raging hormones again. LOL These 2 didn't waste any time going after the opposite sex. And that would be pretty awesome if Anthony got a full ride. There's something in Caleb's blood that makes extremely smart and determined boys.

    Yay for Nick and Sarah setting the date for their wedding. Can't wait to see Nick in his uniform and to see the dress you picked out for her.

    Caleb's business looks nice! How do you like selling the precooked meals, other than trying to keep up with the stock? I'm in the process of downloading more of Exnem's buyable food so I don't have to stock as much. But I'm having some issues with restocking (one of those problems that was never patched, I think).

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  13. Dani, no, they really didn't! Poor Anthony though, I think it might be a while before he gets a girlfriend. The next girl I age up is Adelaide, and she's his cousin!

    As for Caleb, yeah, he does seem to make smart kids! He didn't even go to college himself, but there's something there.

    Nick's wedding is really creeping up. I just realised yesterday how close Josie and Troy's wedding is and then I'll have to do Claudia and Jacob's after that, which is not planned in the slightest! LOL.

    I think I know the restocking issue you're talking about. When some of the restocking signs show up across the street instead of on the shelves? Yeah, I have that too. It just means I have to restock by hand sometimes. That's really my major annoyance with this lot but it's my only one, so I can't complain too loudly.

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  14. Oh wow, Caleb is almost certainly going to be a young grandpa (not by Veronica I hope, lol!), but since I don't see Nick and Sarah waiting very long to start their family.

    Oh, but Veronica is a romance secondary! Yes, that's trouble. My Ryanne was the same way, as soon as she turned 12, she was all over getting started in that department, lol!

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  15. Laura, no, I'm expecting a honeymoon baby from Nick and Sarah. They both already have the want for a baby, so I'll take her off her BC as soon as they get hitched. So Caleb will likely be on his way to being a grandpa next time we see him! I guess that's what can happen when you have a kid so young yourself!

    Poor Caleb and Cara - I give him one kid with Romance primary and another with Romance secondary! Veronica's already such a bold thing without that to worry about! I didn't realise Ryanne had Romance secondary too. It's definitely trouble!

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