rebbilina

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Choi family

That evening, Brandi came over.

Eugene cooked and they had a bit of a romantic dinner. Not that the setting was particularly romantic, but it was still nice.

After dinner, things heated up.

Good thing he doesn't have any neighbours, otherwise him not having curtains would have been awkward.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Choi family

New day, new weeds to pull.

I downloaded the Loads O' Laundry mod after thinking about it for quite some time, but never really getting to it, so after gardening and a shower, it was laundry time. So far, I'm a big fan, and I'm really looking forward to have a reason to build mud rooms and stuff like that.

Also, this is becoming the Loads O' Laundry appreciation post now, but I love that there are ways to air dry clothes indoors. I never really liked how sims 3 and 4 made you tumble dry all clothes, unless they could be hung outdoors. I feel like these are pretty common, since all clothes can't be tumble dried anyway, I'm literally looking at a dry rack pretty similar to the one in the mod as I'm writing this. I just love how it's something very common, that kind of works as a clutter object, and is useable.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Choi family

After the restaurant, they went to the beach, and started getting cosy before even leaving the pavement.

They spent the afternoon and evening watching waves, talking and kissing. Nothing big, just simply hanging out. Eugene felt he was pretty certain that he really started to like Brandi.

Unfortunately, the date ended with some shady dude approaching Brandi. She did not apprieciate it. Afterwards, her wallet was gone. They reported it to the police before going him. A bad ending to an otherwise very nice date.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Choi family

They decided to go to El Vaquero Steakhouse, the newly opened restaurant in town. Eugene would never even admit it to himself, but he very secretly felt relieved that this wasn't Lydia's shift.

You know, I could have fixed this with gussy up, but I enjoy sims looking like silly goofs, so I'm not simply not gonna right now.

"This is nice", Brandi said when they had been seated and gotten their meal. "A restaurant was long overdue."

"It really was", Eugene said. "It'll be nice to have somewhere to go that isn¨t just being outdoors."

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Choi family

Next morning, with a big garden to weed.

It did feel pretty cool using those big clippers for the apple tree.

After finishing up in the garden, he decided to try to call Brandi up again to ask for a lunch date. Luckily, this time she was home and agreed.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Choi family

The new garden expansion and apple tree, since fraps wasn't running the last time.

Eugene slept in late after having been up so late to garden. This meant he skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch instead.

Last year, he hadn't exactly been lucky in love, and Eugene was determined to change this. After gathering courage, he called up Brandi LeTorneau to ask her for a date. Unfortunately for him, that bad luck seemed to still be going, because she wasn't even home.

Instead, he spent his evening eating leftovers and reading about gardening in the paper.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Holmes family

Lydia came home with another promotion that night. This time she knew it was coming, she'd chatted a bit to a neighbour who walked by that apparently was related to her boss, but still, it was nice. With a bigger income and more money, she'd finally be able to get a mortgage and buy a bigger house for them.

Theo had Tristan as his audience when leveling up his creativity skill before bed.

This is where we leave the Holmes for now, with a sneak peek of what to come. With that mortgage, the family has moved in to a new house more suited for them. The coffee shop dream might be far away, but at least they'll be able to stay here for as long as they want. There's plenty of room and Theo could even get his own bedroom.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Holmes

The promotion meant Lydia was working evenings. It wasn't ideal for childcare, Ana had agreed to watch Theo anyway, since he was the only child enrolled, but she also told her that once there were other sitters in town and she had other children enrolled, she's only be able to do daytime watching. On the upside, she got to hang out with Theo and do the normal house tasks during the day, like finding out how friendly Chester was with the newspaper deliverer.

Meanwhile, Theo was entertaining himself with the xylophone.

[rebbilina]

The School Project Project

I couldn't stop myself from giving this mod such an awful title. xD

This mod gives children and teenagers a chance of bringing home school project instead of standard written homework.

There are in total 6 school projects converted from TS4 Parenthood: bridge, castle, electricity, rocket, solar system and volcano.

Kids have a chance of bringing the following three projects: castle, solar system and volcano. Teens have a chance of bringing the following three projects: bridge, electricity and rocket.

Chance of bringing a school project is by default 20%, but it can be tuned in BCON "Tuning - School Project" of group 0x7FBE051B and instance 0x0000200A.

School projects take longer to finish (by about 1/4 longer), but are more rewarding, letting your Sims gain some skills, hobby enthusiasm and even badges, making school actually useful. 😉

Bridge makes your Sims gain mechanical skill and tinkering enthusiasm.

Castle makes your Sims gain creativity skill and arts enthusiasm.

Electricity makes your Sims gain mechanical skill, robotery badge and tinkering entusiasm.

Rocket makes your Sims gain logic skill, toy making badge and science enthusiasm.

Solar system makes your Sims gain mechanical skill and science enthusiasm.

Volcano makes your Sims gain logic skill and nature enthusiasm.

Skill, badge and enthusiasm gain isn't that great, but it's there.

You won't see the skill meter above your Sim's head, because apparently there can be only one meter at a time.

Sims have a chance of making school project of one of three qualities: poor, good and excellent.

The outcome depends on skill and badge corresponding the project, getting help with school project (but it only counts if it happens during quality check) and traits:

clumsy Sims will always get penalty,

technophobes wil get penalty when working on electricity and rocket,

'can't stand art' Sims will get penalty when working on castle,

geniuses and perfectionists will always get bonus,

handy Sims will get bonus when working on electricity and rocket,

artistic and avant garde Sims will get bonus when working on castle.

Bonuses do not stack. Penalties also don't. So if your Sim is genius and perfectionist, they will get only one bonus. Bonus and penalty can cancel each other out.

When making castle, your SIms will hold a crayon instead of a pencil. While working on the electricity project Sims will hold a screwdriver. In case of other projects Sims will still use pencil, because I haven't decided what else would fit. 😅

If you use smonaff’s Fall Asleep While Doing Homework, Sims who have fallen asleep can't make a project of excellent quality - it will be good at best.

Additionally, if you have @earlypleasantview's conversions of TS4 School Projects in your downloads, upon completion of a project a project will be placed in your Sim's inventory. The only exception is the castle as various qualities are recolors of the object, so you will have to manually set the recolor you want it to be.

Added resources

This mod adds following resources:

BCON of group 0x7FBE051B and instance 0x0000200A

BHAVs of group 0x7FF4DCC2 and instances 0x00001100, 0x00001101, 0x00001102, 0x00001103 and 0x00001104

bunch of animations

Edited resources

This mod edits following resources:

BCON of group 0x7FF4DCC2 and instance 0x00001001

BHAVs of group 0x7FF4DCC2 and instances 0x00001001, 0x00001009, 0x0000100B, 0x0000100D, 0x0000100E, 0x0000100F, 0x00001010, 0x00001014, 0x00001017, 0x00001019, 0x0000101A, 0x0000101B, 0x0000101D, 0x0000101F, 0x00001021, 0x00001023, 0x00001029, 0x0000102A and 0x0000102C,

BHAV of group 0x7FBE051B and instance 0x00002035,

text lists: anims - adult, anims - child, anims object - adult, anims object - child, anims object - teen, attributes, Dialog prim string set, MakeActionString prim string set, Model - Material, Object Models

Conflicts

This mod conflicts with a bunch of mods:

if you are using simler90's Homework Assignment Mod, choose plug-in zz_Meduza_Simler90_HomeworkProject_AssignmentFull and make it load after both my mod and simler90's mod,

if you are using simler90's Homework Assignment Mod (Placement Version), choose plug-in zz_Meduza_Simler90_HomeworkProject_AssignmentPlacement and make it load after both my mod and simler90's mod,

if you are using simler90's Homework Help Mod, choose plug-in zz_Meduza_Simler90_HomeworkProject_HomeworkHelp and make it load after both my mod and simler90's mod,

if you are using smonaff's Fall Asleep While Doing Homework, choose plug-in called zz_Meduza_Smonaff_HomeworkProjectFallAsleep and make it load after both my mod and smonaff's mod,

if you are using @episims' Pencils by Color Traits, choose plug-in called zz_Meduza_Epi_SchoolProject_ColorPencils (or zz_Meduza_Epi_SchoolProject_ColorCrayonPencil if you are also using @episims' Activity Table Crayons by Color Traits) and make it load after both my mod and Epi's mod,

if you are using @episims' Activity Table Crayons by Color Traits, choose plug-in called zz_Meduza_Epi_SchoolProject_ColorCrayon (or zz_Meduza_Epi_SchoolProject_ColorCrayonPencil if you are also using Epi's Pencils by Color Traits) and make it load after both my mod and Epi's mod.

This mod is not compatible with Cyjon's Harder Homework. There's no compatibility plug-in as of now. Maybe I'll make one later, but right now I'm dead inside after converting 40 meshes. 😫

Known bugs

When project's model changes Sims arms are bent under weird angle for a moment.

Thanks to @lordcrumps for supplying me with meshes and textures for school projects from TS4 Parenthood!

Credits: @earlypleasantview as I've stolen borrowed their conversions of finished projects

Download at SFS | alt

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Holmes family

First order of business after work was fixing the bath tub. Personally, I probably would have changed out of the uniform first, but you do you Lydia.

Some evening shenanigans with the Holmes.

With them ending their day in very different ways. Of course, Theo was the best thing that'd ever happened to her, but Lydia still sometimes really needed a smoke at the end of a long day of dealing with restaurant customers and a toddler.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Holmes family

I've finally played some sims again, after having a bunch of real life stuff to do and running into a bunch of problems setting up the Pleasantview-Bluewater-Belladonna save. It probably doesn't seem as that long on here, since the queue was well stocked before, but I haven't even loaded up the game in almost a month before this.

Anyway, back to more fun stuff and Cedar shore.

A new restaurant had opened in town and Lydia got a job there. She had considered that coffee shop dream, but a stable job meant stable income and ultimately was more important now that Theo was older and the house felt smaller every day. Her first day at her new job also meant Theo's first day at daycare.

She didn't have time to have a bath, but she still felt happy going to work. A stable income and getting to socialise with other adults every day felt good.

She had to seat a very large group of teenagers on her first day, but managed to solve it all and even got a promotion out of it.

[rebbilina]

El Vaquero Steakhouse

So I've once again emptied the treasury. But, for good reason.

Essentially, my original plan for Lydia now that Theo is a toddler was to have her run the bakestand and eventuelly open up that coffee house she dreams about. Only problem is that running a business is pretty draining on their needs and for now, it just doesn't really seems manageable with a toddler to care for on her own once she closes for the day. Also, they will need to move out before he ages up into a child, but perferably before, because the house is cramped.

And this is where the town's first restaurant, El Vaquero Steakhouse, come into play.

As you can probably tell by the name, it's a steakhouse with a sort of tex-mex, southwestern US vibe (by someone who hasn't even been anywhere remotely close to that part of the world. It's a pretty standard restaurant, made to fit into that 30k budget, but also has a bar, so sims can go for drinks.

Some interior+outdoor seating pictures.

As you can see, the top floor is empty right now, but in the future, i plan on having something unrelated to the restaurant there. My main idea right now is maybe a small office for some type of career with fewer office workers, but it could also become something else. I like doing this with my community lots, it saves space when the neighbourhood fills up and I feel like it's very realistic for central areas of a town. At least where I live, it's not uncommon for shops to be on the ground floor of a building, with flats or offices being on the top floors.

A restaurant opens up the culinary career, which is what I'm planning for Lydia. These are the number of spots available.

Dishwasher: 4 spots

Drive Through Clerk: 4 spots

Fast Food Shift Manager: 2 spots

Host/Hostess: 2 spots

Waiter/Waitress: 3 spots

Prep cook: 4 spots

Sous Chef: 1 spot

Executive Chef: 1 spot

Level 9 and 10 will be unlocked with downtown. Additional culinary spots will open up with more restaurants that aren't sim owned, with all restaurants having these spots. In addition to these spots, we also now have ordering pizza and chinese unlocked. Not that I actually think this restaurant serves these meals, but the requirement was just to have a restaurant.

Anyway, back to normal posts!

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Holmes family

We're moving straight on to potty training. Lydia is tired of changing nappies.

Not that potty training in itself was very inspiring. Lydia was pretty sure she'd had more fun watching paint dry.

The day ended with the birthday boy being put to bed and his mum cleaning up after the party.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Holmes family

Party time!

Of course, Melanie decided that it was her grandmotherly duty to give Theo a bottle as soon as she got inside the door. Lydia bit her tongue hard to not say anything about the stinky nappy or the fact that they were just about to blow out the candles, and of course Theo was gonna get a slice.

Finally, time to blow out the candles.

I was originally planning to do his makeover first and then share his toddler look, but my heart just completely melted over what happened next. As soon as the aging up was gone, Theo autonomously went to the stereo and started dancing. I rarely see this in game, and I think it's such a cute interaction. Normally, I randomise all my sims OTH once they aged up to toddlers, because I'm not a huge fan of it being decided mainly on personality, but because of this, I assigned him music and dance. One area in life where he takes after his dad.

Uncle Lucas even came to join in.

And there we have him, post makeover. I think he still mostly look like Lydia, but I think the eye shape and maybe jaw or cheeks are more Oliver. Time will tell. He also rolled to inherit Oliver's dimples.

These are the personality points. We appear to have a very nice and playful little fella on our hands, who isn't exactly very neat, outgoing or active. I gave him friendly and excitable as his 3t2 traits.

I also just have to share what his icon looks like, because that's the cutest thing I've ever seen. He reminds me of Emil in Lönneberga (of course the Swede is making Astrid Lindgren references), which you know, suits those playful points. Can you tell I completely love this kid already?

Not entirely sure how Tristan feels about that cuddle, but the party went great at least.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Holmes family

You know, I think we can kind of sense a theme in how the mornings in the Holmes household turn out.

This wasn't a normal morning though, and after breakfast, Lydia got in with the preparations for Theo's first birthday party. She'd invited the Michaelsons, Eugene and the Riveras. Not that she really knew the Riveras that well, but seeing as they were newer in town and as Ana Rivera was soon gonna be Theo's nursery teacher, it felt like a nice thing to do.

Oliver, however, was not gonna be there. He'd called and told her he had a very important exam that same day and just wasn't going to be able to make it.

"I'm sorry, I just can't this time. I really wish I could be there. It's not tbhat much left of my degree though, and then I'll be there for everything." Lydia was feeling a little heartbroken about it and tried hard to convince herself that she only felt that way for Theo. Oliver could be all words about it now, but who said he was actually gonna stay here after graduation. He did however send a nice birthday present. Music related, of course.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Rivera family

Jennifer came home with another promotion. This time, she has to gain 3 logic skill points to get promoted again, so hopefully this means they'll slow down now. For all the other ones, she's met all the requirements for next level already on promotion. (This is also true for Louise, I just forgot to mention it in her latest promotion post.)

This really was just a calm, indoors day for the Riveras. The rain picked up again and they spent their time indoors.

I swear, she burns more food than any other of my sims, despite many of them being on the same cooking level (1). I think it might be the clumsy trait coming through.

The Riveras ended their day with watching a movie before going to bed.

[rebbilina]

Round 2: Rivera family

Luckily, Ana's sunburn had cleared by the next morning.

Monday morning meant heading to the station for Jennifer. Ana decided too call upp Lydia Holmes to tell her about her nursery idea. And just like that, she had her first enrollment.

"Wow, I'm definitely interested. Honestly, I'm really desperate for childcare."

"Theo is more than welcome. After his birthday though, my license covers one year old and up, and I'm not really comfortable going against that."

"No worries, it's still greatly appreciated. It's getting trickier to care for him and care for customers at the same time every single day."

It was raining, but Ana didn't mind. Perfect weather for a calm, indoors day. She felt like painting. Having other work lined up and not trying to rely on this while she was hoping for a school opening up soon made the painting feel like something fun to do rather than a task that needed to get done.

Just a painting break for a dog walk once the rain stopped.