Thursday 28 April 2016

Lucky now

Round 36: November 2043 (Spring)



Maia Novak is 41, Ethan is 37, Willow is 8, River is 6 and Wren is 3. 
(James is 68, Madelyn is 63, Nick and Aaron are 40, Sarah is 38, Connor is 30, Amy is 8 and Natalie is 6)


Narrated by Ethan Novak


For almost two years now, Maia has been working just the one job - running Rosa Lucida. 


She was trying to run the store and keep up with her events planning job for a while but finally came to the conclusion that one job was more than enough.

Seeing she was never really passionate about events planning but has come to be really fond of the store, it was easy to decide which job to ditch.

Maia really likes that she can set her own hours. If she wants a day off, she can call in and let the manager take care of things for her.

Mostly though, she just keeps regular “office hours” - Monday through Friday, nine to five. 

That matches up perfectly with my own work schedule, so we’re getting to spend much more time together these days.

And of course, the kids are all happy Maia has her weekends back again, because they also get more time with her.

Wren is at an age where she can join in on more activities with Willow and River. It’s been a lot of fun to watch.

Either Maia or I are always close by, if not actually outside with them. But behind a locked gate, there’s not much trouble they can get into out there!

Willow and River are both very outdoorsy kids, just like me and Maia are, so they love any time they can get out there.

Wren…well, she seems like she could take or leave the outdoors! 

Willow and River will hunt for bugs, look at birds and run wild and Wren sticks to her blocks. Technically an outdoor activity but only because we have no room indoors.

I’m so curious how Wren will turn out as she gets older. Already, she’s a little different from the rest of the family.

I turned 37 this month. It’s not a milestone birthday or anything but Maia still insisted on doing something.

I guess she still has a little events planning spirit in her. The idea of not going out to celebrate wasn’t acceptable to her.

My parents watched the kids while we were out, so they were in good hands. 

I hate to impose on Mum and Dad too often but they offer to babysit far more than we actually take them up on it.

They say they love having that special time with the kids and I know the kids always enjoy it too.

And of course, Maia and I enjoyed our night out too. With the ages the kids are now, they take up a lot of our time and it’s not often we get time off.

It’s even rarer that we talk about anything other than the kids, so any chance to do that is great as well.

We spent probably a little too much money on dinner and drinks but it was worth it. 

As we left the restaurant, we ran into Nick and Sarah, who we hadn’t caught up with in ages.

We didn’t want to let that opportunity go to waste, so we had a quick drink with them at a local bar too.

A few days later, Aaron and Connor came over with their families. We decided to take advantage of the warm weather and have a barbecue.

Aaron’s daughters Amy and Natalie are the same ages as Willow and River and they’ve always been very close. 

I was pretty keen to show off my new veggie patch to my brothers, which we’ve only just got started.

Connor feigned interest for a while and then wandered off but Aaron was pretty interested, at least.

Maia and the kids planned it all for my birthday, knowing I’d been wanting to start growing veggies for a while and hadn’t got around to it. Nothing to harvest yet, obviously, but it’s looking great so far!

We made do with store-bought this time but next time we have a barbecue, I might be able to use our very own homegrown tomatoes on the burgers!

Notes:

  • Title is from Lucky Now by Ryan Adams.
  • Not terribly much happened in this play session! It was sort of a quick one by necessity, so I didn't play as long as I would have liked. :\
  • But...I did play long enough to move Maia up a few ranks at Rosa Lucida. I always choose those cash rewards unless the family is already really rich and Maia has three ranks of that now and the family is now very comfortable. I'm thinking I might end up moving them, just so they can have a little more space. Not sure yet!



10 comments:

  1. That was nice to see that Maia could let the second job go, that would be tremendously difficult to maintain with 3 children, I think, especially a business like a florist, where crafting items takes so much time too. And it's nice her business made some ranks during the time you had to play them. The evening out was fun to see, as well as the kids playing outside. Wren's so cute, what does she like to do?

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    1. Especially for someone like Maia, who is not really a naturally hardworking person to begin with! She's definitely happier with just the one job.

      Wren is a Science sim but there's not a whole lot toddlers can do to build that skill. There's pretty much just the logic toybox and I think they gain a tiny (tiny!) amount of enthusiasm if they're in the room when the TV is tuned to the weather channel. Her grandpa James is a Science sim too, so they should be able to bond a little over that when she gets older. He got a fancy telescope for his last birthday. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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    2. True, the telescope will be so much fun with her grandpa when she gets a little older!

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    3. I think James will be pretty excited about the prospect too. :)

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  2. Ha ha, Connor's face looking at that veggie patch. I can identify with Ethan though, wanting to show everybody his plants. In fact, that reminds me that I need to Instagram about my plants for this season still. Exciting stuff, lol!

    Was your "events planning" a career job? That's always a ton of work when business sims try to keep their career jobs. Mine never make it for very long because it's just so much work! It would take a very driven personality to keep that up!

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    1. Ha, I identify far more with Connor in this kind of situation! When people show me their garden, I'm like "cool, can we go inside now?" LOL.

      Yeah, Maia's events planning is a custom career. I also used it for Araminta, before she retired. It would have been a ton of work for Maia to keep up with but as a player, I don't find it too taxing. Most of my business owners keep their day jobs, just because I'm usually at a loss for what to do with them on the days I don't take them down to their lot and their families are all at work/school! Especially for restaurants or regular retail (non-craftables), where there's not really anything they can do to prepare for work while they're at home.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  3. Oooh I love that Wren is like her Grandpa James! <3 That will be so sweet when she's able to do more with it. I think the science hobby is one of the most difficult hobbies, because I don't take that all my sims are into astronomy or ants.

    Connor... looking at some dirt and plants? Yeah, I'm really proud of him for even feigning interest! These two have really done well for themselves, would be great if they could upgrade houses just because they'd like a bit more space and have the extra cashflow to get it done. I pick the money too, though I have a hard time reconciling myself with the top one... that's a lot of money! Emma and Grace split the money, so it makes it a bit less extravagant.

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    1. Yeah, I was pleased to make that connection with Wren and James too. I wish there was more to do with the science hobby. There's astronomy, ants and watching the weather channel - is there even anything else, lol? A chemistry set like in TS1 might have been cool!

      Ha, I don't know if Connor did a particularly good job of feigning interest but he tried! I'd struggle myself. ;)

      I really would like to move these two. I briefly worried they'd have a baby this round (either one or both isn't allowed BC) and moving would be a necessity! But I think Maia's age might be helping that...touch wood. But I'm house shopping for them. ;) I've had the same thoughts you've had about going along that money track...but I usually go ahead and do it anyway! It's a prize from the Chamber of Commerce or something. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Aww, they look like such a happy family! Can't tell you how much I miss not having OFB in TS3. But I do love seeing your sims with their own little business's so I guess that's how I can get my fix. ;)

    Nice update even if it was short. :)

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    1. Ha, they're all so laid-back that I think they're naturally predisposed to happiness. :) I like this family.

      It's such a shame they never went all in with an OFB-style expansion in TS3. I've never heard anyone say they didn't like the idea of OFB, so I don't know why they didn't go for it. :\ It's definitely something I enjoy in my game and would have preferred in TS3 to Into the Future or Supernatural!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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