Saturday 10 April 2010

Caribou


Round 26: Winter 2023
last update/next update

Caleb Moretti is 41, Cara is 34 and Anthony and Veronica are both 6.
(Filippo is 68, Nick is 20, Amelia is 34, Maia is 21)

Narrated by Cara Moretti

At the beginning of this year, I was finally able to get an internship at the hospital. I was so excited to finally be working in the field I actually studied for!

I'm working really closely with my brother-in-law, David and even more so now that I'm working daylight hours. He's been really helpful to me so far and he was even the one who recommended me.

We're feeling a little more financially secure now so we bought a car. We really splashed out, as you can see. It's a piece of crap, really but it runs and it makes it much more convenient for Caleb to get to work in Exeter.

I was having to work a lot of nights for a while there, which meant I slept all day leaving Anthony and Veronica to Caleb. It was nice to be able to rest but I really missed hanging out with the kids.

I don't think I could do nights any longer than I did. There's no sleeping once Veronica gets home from school!

I love being able to spend more time with the kids now. Even when Veronica flat out tells me I'm being boring. Veronica doesn't pull any punches.

She's not a musician - she's definitely an artist. I can barely draw a stick figure so she doesn't get it from me. Caleb drew comic books for several years though, so I guess she picked it up from her dad.

Anthony's more scientific but somewhere along the line, he's become incredibly interested in spacemen and aliens and that's just about all he talks about. Maybe he's a future astronaut?

Both of the kids are very outgoing and we are overrun with kids every afternoon after school. They're usually cousins, like Noah and Adelaide, but that's hardly surprising. Anthony and Veronica have a lot of cousins!

We then have to feed all these kids, but Caleb usually has plenty of things in the fridge that are easy to heat up.
We'd both love to take a vacation but right now, we're just dreaming. There are a lot of other things we need to have money for before we think about overseas trips.

It is nice to fantasise though! I'm not really that interested in going to Cape Elizabeth, seeing I grew up there but Three Lakes, or Takemizu maybe? They both sound like amazing places.

Some people have all the luck. My friend Rose is getting married in a few months and her future in-laws are paying for her and Joanna to go on a honeymoon. I was so jealous when she told me! Rose is a little uncomfortable with the idea but they were apparently quite insistent. I think I'd forget all about any awkwardness once I was relaxing in a fancy hotel!

Maybe paying for a holiday eventually will be made easier now that we've decided not to have any more kids. Caleb would like another but he's feeling like our family might be complete the way it is. I definitely feel that way, so I'm glad he's coming around too.

I can tell he still misses having little ones around the house though, from the way he looks at his nieces and nephews. But we can't keep pumping out babies just so we always have toddlers on hand. I'd need a more compelling reason to have another.

Toddlers are adorable but so demanding. Especially when you have twins!

Amelia is Caleb's boss at work now, a fact which she loves teasing him about. She gets no small amount of glee from bringing home a bigger paycheck than her older brother and being able to give him orders at work.

Caleb's not really bothered. If he was a sous chef the rest of his life, he'd be okay with that. Money isn't everything to him.

He does love his job though. His cousin Jacob just graduated from university and has been working a fast food job, just to pay the bills.

Caleb's been trying to convince him to use it to get his foot through the door of the restaurant industry but I don't think Jacob knows what he wants. I guess he'll figure it out. He's only 22. Caleb was almost 40 before he figured out what he wanted to do with his life!

Nick is about halfway through his junior year and he came home for a visit this week.

He wanted his girlfriend Maia to meet his grandpa.

Filippo is such a great grandfather. I don't know how he keeps up with all of the grandkids but he does. He's so involved and he even babysits sometimes. I'm glad Anthony and Veronica's only remaining grandparent is such a doting one.

Nick, Maia and Filippo arrived shortly before the kids got home from school and there was practically a tug of war over whose room he was going to check out first. Anthony's ant farm won out.

And then Veronica had to show Filippo her current work in progress.

Caleb stayed downstairs with Nick and Maia, where he found out that Maia's graduation has been delayed, due to her being placed on academic probation. Caleb wasn't really surprised. When she and Nick first started going out, Caleb told me she was a nice girl but a little flakey.

I didn't get to meet her until I got home from work at 6 and we all sat down to dinner but I have to agree. She is a really sweet girl.

One thing I really liked about her is the way she seemed genuinely interested in what Anthony and Veronica were talking about.

Other people's kids are not always very interesting, especially when you don't have kids yourself, but Maia was great with the twins. I think they liked her too.

But of course, they know Nick likes her so they would!

Both the twins pretty much take Nick's word as gospel. They really love their big brother.

I bet they'd behave if we had Nick watching them after school. Our poor nanny is having some trouble with them! She's told us that Veronica has a bit of a smart mouth, which sadly didn't surprise me.

She also told us that she sometimes hears them shrieking up in one of the bedrooms and then walks in to investigate, only to find them silent and looking very guilty.

The stray feathers on the floor make it obvious what they've been doing! I don't know what to do with them! They only ever really act up when they're with a babysitter. I think we need to pay this woman more for putting up with them!

Pic spam:

Oh, man, someone stop me from taking pictures of these two! I can't stop!

Notes:
  • Title is from Caribou by Pixies.
  • FYI, Cara is not in the med school program that I'm planning on putting Josie through. Just to make things easier for myself, only Sims who graduate from 2022 onwards (so Finn and co., plus anyone after them) will need to do the post-grad stuff.
  • Lunar linked me to the invisible recolours of the dining booth ages ago and I've only just got around to trying them out. They are even more fabulous than I thought they'd be. When you recolour them, you can still see the outline on the floor, which makes them really easy to grab and put on the couch. Love it! Thanks again, Lunar!
  • Cara and Caleb have about $7000 in their household funds. This is quite the achievement for them - they're doing better. Still not overseas holiday better but I've locked the want for both of them. Once they can afford it, they're going because they really deserve it! Then again, I want Caleb to buy a restaurant eventually and they should really be saving money for Anthony and Veronica to go to college too. Decisions, decisions! But it's fun. I like it when my families can't afford everything they want to do as soon as they want to do it.
  • Filippo dropped by autonomously. I told you he was a good grandpa!
  • Anthony and Veronica, despite giving the nanny a lot of trouble, are amazingly good students! I usually force my kids to do their homework because I'm worried about them getting taken away if they start failing, but I've been leaving it until they roll the want lately and Anthony and Veronica roll the want every single time. Sometimes it's not until morning but they always make sure their homework is done! It must be their genius older brother's influence!

16 comments:

  1. Oh, I can identify with Cara--after training for a profession, you want to work in it!

    Anthony and Veronica are so cute and mischievous. The picture of the nanny with her hands on her hips studying Veronica was great.

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  2. Francesca, I'm glad for Cara finally working in her field. She worked really hard to get there - she worked through pregnancy, a miscarriage, wedding planning and then another pregnancy. She deserves to finally get to do what she really wants to do.

    I'd already decided to write about Anthony and Veronica causing trouble and then I saw that nanny with her hands on her hips. Perfect!

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  3. Not too surprising that the twins get in trouble. That's great they roll the homework wants. I had a kid taken away for homework saltier this round. It was so stupid. lol

    Cara is adorable. And yeah for finally getting in her career field! And working the day shift must be nice too.

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  4. Yay for Cara! She deserves it! The twins are adorable, but I'm sure they'll outgrow their mischievous years :)

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  5. Maisie, oh no, did you get the kid back or write it in? I almost had Tate and Trent taken away when they were kids but I quit without saving.

    Cara's working days...for now. Once she gets promoted to Resident, she'll be back on the nightshift, unfortunately.

    Tessa, we'll have to wait and see! I have some Sims who don't seem to have ever outgrown their mischievous years. ;)

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  6. You'll have to share the link for the booth recolors as well.

    Perhaps Maia is a future teacher by the way she interacts with the twins.

    Wow, dropped by on his own? He is the best grandpa ever. That's so sweet and it's obvious that he's adored by all.

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  7. Cara and Caleb are such a sweet couple. I'm glad you're planning to send them on a vacation, they definitely deserve it.

    The twins are adorable but I feel sympathy for their nanny. She needs eyes in her back.

    Filippo has to be the greatest grandpa in the history of sims! None of the grandpas in Wellington are that dedicated.

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  8. I'm glad the invisible booth works so well!

    Cara and Caleb are just waaaay too cute. I can see why you take so many pictures of them.

    I loved seeing Nick and Maia in this update. It figures that his younger siblings would look up to him.

    And it's hilarious that they're such normally well behaved kids until the baby sitter comes around. They have to let loose sometime I guess!

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  9. Wow, I really loved this post and how it was family oriented...I just have on question, I would like to download furniture and clothing and such for my sims just as you do-but I'm not quite sure how to do so downloading with zip files. Do you know any websites that actually carry all types of sets and objects for. Download by sims2package downloads instead of zip file downloads ??

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  10. Apple Valley, the booth recolours are here:

    http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=253579

    I was thinking teaching for Maia too, when I saw how good she was with the twins but she'll have to graduate first! It's not looking good. :\

    Filippo's grandkids all love him as much as he loves them. It's really cute.

    Sari, I think Caleb and Cara might be able to go on vacation the round after next, if things keep looking up for them. I really want to send them!

    Mmm, yes, the poor nanny. If it was my other nanny, I wouldn't be saying that but this is the good one who doesn't leave babies on the floor in the kitchen and actually interacts with the children instead of watching TV!

    I don't think I have any other Sullivan grandpas that dedicated either! Adam's pretty good but he lives with his grandkids and Sims always seem more likely to roll wants for the Sims they live with.

    Lunar, Caleb still always looks so incredibly smitten with Cara, after six years of marriage. When I'm posing them, he always ends up turning his head towards her. I love these two.

    Nick's so much older than his little brothers and sisters, so they're pretty much in awe of him. I remember being like that with my older cousins when I was little. They always seemed so old to me. It's weird to look back and remember they would have only been about 15 or 16 when I was 3 or 4.

    Kids will play up for anyone who's not their regular caregiver. Well, the twins will anyway! They're cheeky but it's all Veronica's influence. Anthony's kind of just along for the ride.

    Princess O, honestly, if you want any sort of decent downloads for your game, you're really just going to have to learn to use zip files. Once you have a zip program installed, it's just a matter of double clicking to open them. If you can open a folder on your computer, you can open a zip file.

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  11. The twins are so cute, I'm sure they will be gorgeous teens once they grow up!

    You're right about it being nice that some sims can't immidiatly afford to do something they want! I absolutely hate it when my sims have lots of money, and I'm constantly looking for ways so they have less :)

    About the school-questions:
    I actually want to know how you do it; do the teachers have maxis-jobs on the side to guarantee them an income, if so how do you managege to let them 'open' the school occasionally, and how many days do you play the school?
    For university; you have a dorm and several houses, I've understood. Do you have several community lots too, or is the library build in in the dorm?
    I'm sorry to overwhelm you like this, but I'm thinking about blogging about school and university, and rebuilding my university, and I'm looking for ideas, there may be more question later on, I'm so sorry for that!

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  12. Tanja, thanks, I think they're pretty cute too.

    I don't mind questions so fire away whenever you feel like it. I love talking about Sullivan. :)

    Anyway, right now, all of the Sims I have teaching at my schools are also working in the Maxis education career. I don't pay them for what they do at the school - they're not even actual employees of the lot, because with Inge's school stuff, that's not required.

    The school never really "opens", in terms of turning over that little sign from OFB. This ensures that I don't get random Sims wandering around the lot who aren't supposed to be there. I just send Tatiana and Betsy down to the lot while I'm playing them and have them "start school" and that teleports all the students and teachers to the lot. I only ever go down once per round to play each school and I play for as long as it takes me to get enough photos for a mildly amusing update. ;) I honestly freeze the time with Freezer Clock and am constantly refreshing motives, so I can't really tell you exactly how long I play.

    For university, my students usually live in dorms, rather than houses, though Josie and Patience are in a house and two students (who I haven't decided on yet) will be in a house next year as well. The library I'm building right now that you've probably heard me talking about is a separate community lot. I have a ton of college community lots and am adding more and making over the ones I have. Hope that helps!

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  13. Oh, now I'm gonna have to get that booth recolor because that picture of them is just so adorable! Why oh why couldn't they make those interactions available on the couches???

    Cara and Caleb are just too cute! I'm so glad to see him happy now after everything he went through before.

    And I love how much all those Moretti guys look alike!

    And years later, it only just dawns on me that David took Kirstin's last name, lol! I never noticed that! Do you have many guys take the woman's name, or is he unique? I haven't before, but I was thinking about doing it for Amelia and Drew, since she's my last Bradshaw girl and I hate his last name (Bruty, lol!).

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  14. Laura, I was asking the same question when Lunar linked me to those invisible recolours. There's a lot of variation in the animations for the booths, so you can get lots of good pics.

    I keep meaning to put the same hairstyle on Caleb and David to see if they're actually identical. Evan is very similar too but his skin is darker, so it's not as noticeable. But the Moretti genes are strong!

    Heh, I've had a few guys take the woman's name. Kirstin was my only chance to carry on the Sitko name, which is the same reason Tate took Zelda's name when they got married (Araminta had already been married for years). Lake and Jace took Ottilie and Magdalena's names when they got married because I didn't like their surnames - Sims and Fuchs. Eliot took Cordy's name because there are too many damn Novaks in this hood! LOL.

    Generally, I prefer to use the guy's surname because that's what I'm used to in RL but I'll use the woman's to preserve a last name, if necessary. Steve will take Olivia's name when they get married, because she's the last Nihill. I'm more concerned about preserving my surnames though. When and if Asha and Luc get married, she'll take Lane, because I haven't got much sentimental attachment to Royce.

    Bruty is a terrible last name! It reminds me of the Italian word for "ugly" - it's hardly different from it at all, actually.

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  15. veronica is so spunky! I love it!

    I like my broke families! Its challenging when they cant fulfill their wants because they cant afford it. :)

    I liked looking at the family pictures on the wall - you do an awesome job with those.

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  16. bbop, Veronica will be one to watch, I think.

    Glad you like the family pics. I take such an absurd amount of them. Most of my Sims don't even have space on their walls for the amount I take! I should rotate them more often.

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