Cooke Week 3: Customer Satisfaction

The Cooke family includes:
Julien Cooke, Popularity/Fortune adult. He is unemployed but owns the highly successful Cooke's Grocery.
Jan Tellerman Cooke, Romance/Pleasure adult. She is also unemployed and runs the Lonely Hearts Club.
Juliette Cooke, their baby daughter

Week 3 in our second household also begins with a birthday--Juliette becomes a toddler. So far she looks a lot like her father but with some of her mother's coloring.

The next morning, Jan discovers that she is pregnant again. She is not enthusiastic.

On Wednesday morning, Brandon forgets where we keep the potatoes and the resulting star pushes the store to Rank 5.

On Thursday afternoon, Jerome Cooke is born.

And that night, Juliette becomes a child. Jan tells her all about how in the morning she's going to get packed off to school and won't be able to bother her mother for 6 hours straight.

Back at the store, Julien attends to various customers while the Tams smooch behind the cash register.

Friday night, the store reaches Rank 6.

On Saturday, Juliette invites the Tam kids over to play. (She and River are good friends despite a several-year age difference--when you're the only two girls in the entire town, you can't afford to be picky.)

Later that day, Jerome becomes a toddler. I think he and his mother have the same serious little mouth.

On Saturday, the addition of many new features pushes Lonely Hearts Club to Rank 1.

Meanwhile, the store reaches Rank 7.

The three elderly garden club memebers (Tiffany, Matthew, and Joe) will stand around for hours talking and blocking the cash register. When Julien encourages them to buy something, they get huffy and lose stars.

I solve the problem by putting a bench in front of the store, where people can sit and shoot the breeze without getting in anybody's way. It works surprisingly well.

By the time the week is out, Julien's store reaches Rank 8.

And Jan's club reaches Rank 2 and then Rank 3.












Progress towards challenge:
New Sims: 1
Taxes collected: $2500/$7300

Tam Week 3: Nice boys

When we last saw the Tam family (a whole two posts ago), they had just expanded their house and discovered they were expecting their fifth child. Now we rejoin them:
Scott, Knowledge/Family with a job in the Gamer track and an arcade that's doing very well
Megan, Family/Knowledge with no job (except taking care of four children) and a neglected library
Simon, a boy child
River, a girl child (Simon's twin)
Malcolm, a boy toddler
Derrial, a boy toddler (Malcolm's twin)

The first thing of note to happen is a double birthday on Monday night. (It's all birthdays, all the time in this family.) Malcolm manages to grow up in platinum despite not learning a single toddler skill--sometimes neglecting your child at the logic toy pays off.

Then it's Derrial's turn--same story for him.

Early Tuesday morning, the ever-popular Tam Arcade reaches Rank 4.

That afternoon, Simon brings home his first A+ just as Megan goes into labor. I tell her that if she has twins again I'll drown her in a pool.

It's just one, and another boy (!), who receives the name Hoban. Notice that River also got an A+.

On Wednesday afternoon, Scott gets promoted to flag capturer, thanks to the fact that his children are in school and can make friends for him now.

Hoban becomes a toddler that night. His personality is 7-8-6-3-6--another nice one!

The next morning, Megan's fourth pregnancy is confirmed during a quiet mid-morning study session. (The older kids are all at school and Hoban is playing with blocks.)

Friday night, Simon grows up in platinum. I pick Family/Pleasure for him and randomize the turn-ons. He likes blonds and redheads (yay recessive genes!) but not unemployment. I guess he wants to be the stay-at-home parent? He rolls the lifetime want to marry off 6 children, just like his mother.

River is next. She's Family/Knowledge, turned on by fitness and handiness but turned off by redheads (boo). She wants to become Education Minister--she has half a shot; the population just has to hit 250 sometime before she becomes an elder.

The arcade reaches Rank 5 on Saturday morning. Halfway to an open slot in the Business career!

Shortly after noon on Saturday, Megan gives birth to her sixth child, another boy, named Jayne. She looks really thrilled to be done with pregnancy and labor.

Saturday night, Hoban grows up in platinum, thanks once again to neglect at the logic toy.

Sunday night, Scott gets promoted to Platform Jumper.

A few hours later, Jayne becomes a toddler. His personality is 10-2-10-3-7, so we're 6 for 6 on nice children. (Malcolm is the meanest Tam child, with "only" 5 nice points.)

And with that we leave the Tams for another round.







Progress toward challenge:
New Sims: 2
Taxes collected: $900/$4800

Cooke Week 2: Popularity

The third "CAS" Sim for Serenity Valley is Julien Cooke. I didn't make him, of course; I am lazy and so I decided to use Sims out of the Sim bin.

Julien is Popularity/Fortune with a LTW of 20 Best Friends. One of the first things he does, sadly, is quit his job as a fast food shift manager, since Culinary isn't open yet.

Also on his first day in Serenity Valley, Julien opens Cooke's Grocery, which is, you guessed it, a grocery store.

The first three customers are all women, but Julien doesn't find any of them particularly attractive.

However, he has two bolts for Jan Tellerman here. She's romance, but he's popularity, so it could work.

Julien goes home, where nothing remarkable happens, and then on Tuesday the store reaches Rank 1 thanks to Goopy here. Julien picks the cash prize.

Tuesday night, Julien asks Jan out on a date to Tam Arcade. It goes well.

On Wednesday the store reaches Rank 2.

Wednesday night, Julien invites Jan for a home date and ends up asking her to move in. She brings $3000 and a job as a hostess that she has to quit.

In the wee hours of Friday morning, the store reaches Rank 3.

A few hours later, Jan finds out that she is pregnant. She looks less than thrilled.

Later, Jan uses some of the prize money from Julien's store to open a club, thereby opening a position in the Slacker career. One wonders what the patrons think of a heavily pregnant woman tending the bar.

Early Sunday morning, the store reaches Rank 4. Note to BACC players: Grocery stores rank up REALLY REALLY FAST.

Julien and Jan would be perfectly happy never getting married, but I want the baby to carry on the Cooke name, so I force them under the arch as soon as Julien gets back from the store.

Juliette Cooke is born later that same morning.

Progress toward challenge:
Jobs opened: 1 Slacker
New community lots: 2
New Sims: 2
Taxes collected: $1300/$3900

Tam Week 2: Toddlermania

At the beginning of Week 2 we're right back with the Tam family, so I won't bother recapping.

Monday night, Megan is standing in her undecorated, dirty kitchen when she begins to suspect she is pregnant again. (Maybe I was rebelling against my real life fertility issues? Though right now I'm pretty okay with those, since my son is kicking me in the ribs as I type this.)

The next evening, Simon grows into a curly-haired toddler. (Megan, being a Family Sim, immediately rolls the want for another baby.) His personality is 10-6-2-7-8, amazing since born-in-game Sims are usually low on the nice points.

Then it's River's turn. (And Scott promptly rolls the want for another baby, even though Family is only his secondary aspiration.) Her personality is 10-2-10-4-9--she's even nicer than her brother!

That night, we have our first burglary in Serenity Valley! I'm pleased, since that's one step closer to a position in law enforcement and it's not like the Tams have much worth stealing anyway.

The Tams are not pleased.

Early Thursday afternoon, Megan goes into labor while Scott is at work and delivers TWIN BOYS all by herself--meet Malcolm and Derrial Tam!

You know you have too many small children when you're just happy that everyone's sleeping--even if one of the toddlers is slumped over in the corner because her parents didn't get to her in time.

Simon manages to master potty training just before his birthday. I have no idea why Megan is wearing her coat indoors--maybe they can't afford heat?

Scott arrives home from work in time to train River.

That evening, it's time for a QUADRUPLE BIRTHDAY!!!!

Simon grows up in platinum in the corner of the bedroom, watched by his father (not pictured). (Megan, sleeping in the neighboring bed, promptly rolls the want for another baby.)

River grows up in platinum as well.

Malcolm grows up looking like his brother Simon. His personality is a little different: 4-9-4-7-5. (He's practically mean compared to his older siblings!)

And finally it's Derrial's turn. His personality is 4-4-4-7-6.

The next morning Scott makes his first visit of the week to Tam Arcade. They have $0 in their bank account, River has no bed to sleep in, and tax day is coming up fast. 

In the wee hours of the next morning, Tam Arcade reaches Rank 3, earning a $10,000 reward!

The Tams use half of the money to renovate their house, which is starting to look a little homelike. With their financial worries eased, Megan and Scott decide to try for Baby #5.

On Sunday afternoon, Megan's third pregnancy is confirmed. Will she have twins again? Stay tuned to find out, but first we'll be heading to the home of our new CAS Sim of the week...








Progress toward challenge:
Burglaries: 1
New Sims: 2
Taxes collected: $600/$2600