Week 4, Part 5: Broke (TPC)

[lakewood_bacc]

Hello, and welcome back to Lakewood: Just a BaCC. We're in week 4, and now it's time for the Broke family TPC. As per the rules of the TPC, there's a bunch of kids – currently one child and two toddlers – so there's a lot of bathing and feeding and teaching going on. John, the first generation spouse is taking care of that right now. The little one there is Jack, the secondborn of the generation.




Our foundress Brandi is currently trying to help make ends meet by fishing, as summer is approaching and we need stuff for the yard sale. It's slow going, though.



Jeff, the firstborn, is still a helpful little guy. He likes to paint on his own, and he's completed several paintings for the yard sale now. He's got 9 creativity skill points now too, and the want for the final one locked.



This little tyke is Jim, the thirdborn and an illegitimate son of John and Darren Dreamer. He just recently became a toddler.





Both Brandi and John got a bit of phone time in the evening, as they both had friend wants in their panels. Brandi even managed to get hers before she was needed for baby duty again.


As a result, Brandi was in gold and was able to make some smart milk to store for later. Even though the kids are growing up, more smalt milk is always useful.




Late that night, it was time for Jack to become a child. Brandi did the honors, and John came to watch even though he could barely stand on his feet at that point.


John was a good boy though and cheered anyway.


And here's Jack all big. It's not the best outfit, but I'm glad it's nothing totally horrendous, because he'll have to live with it a bit, seeing that we don't have clothes money right now.

In fact, right now we can't even afford poor Jack a bed, so he has to settle for the couch for the night.

The next day, while the kids were at school, Brandi did some fishing again. She gained a bronze badge, too.

Then she headed to the Walmart for some digging.

That didn't go too great. Also, Lazlo was apparently at work and couldn't come over for a date, so still no illegitimate baby. Mind you, I don't really know if the family can even afford a fourth kid at the moment.

Once again, it seems our townies had a more interesting time than Brandi did.

And apparently everyone loves Pascal. Well, he's a nice guy for sure.

Back at home, Jack got home with a surprise: he was the star in a school play and netted the family §215. Well done Jack.

Jack: ”My report card still isn't too great.”

Yeah I know. Don't worry, we'll work on that.

Because Jack was so good at acting, he's got reason to be happy: he got his own bed! The only place to put it was in the nursery though, but I bet it beats sleeping on the couch.

After buying the bed, the family had 4 simoleans in the bank.

 

After school, we also learned that Jack's OTH is Sports.

Jeff continues to be awesome and completes another painting for the yard sale. Thanks, Jeff!

Jim's child birthday is coming up, so John got to work teaching him his remaining toddler skills. Up first was the Nursery Rhyme.

It'd be convenient if Jim could stay little for a bit longer, since now he has a bed, but won't when he grows up. Oh well.

Meanwhile, Jeff kept his mother occupied with his favorite hobby: hurling baseballs at other sims.

I helped Brandi sneak away though, as she needs to keep fishing for the yard sale.

Jim was the only one awake at night, but fortunately he's good at amusing himself.

Another day, and time for school again. Jeff gets to do his homework and I enjoy one of the last times I get to tell him to do it.

Brandi: ”Bye honey, I'm off to work for another day! Have a good day at home!”

Finally a work day for Brandi, maybe the family won't starve before she comes home with her paycheck.

Well, John's day at home wasn't all fun and games either. He had some toddler training to do.

Fish to catch, too, whenever he was free from the toddler care. Every little bit helps our upcoming yardsale. While he was at it, he got a silver talent badge.

Phew, I feel a bit better about things now that Brandi's back with her paycheck. The Broke family is still definitely broke, but maybe sliiiiightly less broke.

The best way to raise a kid's fun bar is playing red hands with a parent. I generally have the parent initialize it, too, as the kids are kind of but not really uncontrollable. They can be kids and play in the yard, but sometimes a parent is going to want some fun too.

Well, they have their own fun too, but let's not tell the kids that. This time someone was rudely trying to interrupt, but got ignored entirely.

Jack was pretty good at entertaining himself, and today's school bus friend, Tessa Ramirez, helped with that.

Well, it looks like Jeff wasn't quite able to finish that homework before growing up. That was the last time I was allowed to tell him to do it. I usually grow sims up one day ahead of their time, but this time there's been so much going on that we kept Jeff as a kid as long as possible.

But now we can no longer delay the inevitable, it's time for Jeff to become our first uncontrollable teen!

Here we go, all grown up! Quite a nice transition outfit too, which is great since money is way tight. Well done Jeff. And I'm sorry we don't have cake, we really should't spend money on one right now.

Jeff: ”It's okay, I get it.”

Jeff ramdomized Popularity/Pleasure for his aspiration. He's attracted to ladies with jewellery and glasses, but doesn't really care for ones too good at cleaning. (He does tend to clean up when left to his own devices, so I suppose he just wants all the cleaning for himself.)

Well, Jeff is allowed a couple commands for a makeover if needs be, so Brandi started the car and headed for the Walmart.

She checked the clothing racks and in the end, we decided that all of Jeff's teen clothes were acceptable, so we didn't spend money on more. Which was nice, since we only have that one paycheck worth. What was also nice is Lazlo happened to be there.

I miiight have influenced the events a little bit.

As usual, the other residents of Lakewood had their opinions.

Unfortunately, no lullaby. Seriously, this illegitimate child thing is way harder than I would have thought! Neither Brandi nor John have had an easy time with getting illegitimately pregnant.

Back at home kids were being kids and playing whap in the dark yard. I suppose both Jeff and Jack enjoyed hurling the ball at each other.

Jeff also socialized with our guest a little bit. Oh, and I remembered to give him his aspiration perks. According to the usual ”no money” rules, he couldn't get job perks, but I figured mood perks would be useful for an uncontrollable teen.

But after that, John did one of the things that I can do to control what Jeff does: help him with homework. It might be too much work once there are several teens, but right now it's okay.

Meanwhile, Brandi worked on the upcoming yard sale.

After homework, Jeff decided to help out too.

With Brandi's salary, we could afford the open/closed sign and the counter needed for keeping the yard sale, but curses, not the cash register. So close and still so far! But soon, soon...

Another night saw Jim playing by himself with the bunny.

That's soon to be in the past, though. In the morning it's the last time that Brandi will be bathing him, as he's soon going to be a big boy and able to wash himself.

Brandi got to do the bathing, and apparently breaking the tub at that. John got to do the repairing. Fortunately, we're allowed to fix broken plumbing.

It seems that Jim's birthday will have at least one visitor. Reese Capp from the neighboring DITFT came home from school with Jeff.

Jeff wasn't too much into socializing, though. He was too cool for that.

Some final cuddles for Jim to feel great on his big day.

 

Well, this is it, Jim. Go ahead and grow up! You're actually already overdue for this birthday, by my schedule at least.

Jim: ”Okay!”

There we go, Jim. You're still cute, too. Oh, and thanks for growing up in a decent outfit. We really can't afford to spend on clothes right now.

Jim: ”No problem. I'm helpful like that.”

Jeff kept being helpful, too. He paints on his own, even as a teen, and maxed his creativity, scoring some major points.

Brandi headed for work again, doing her best for the family finances. We're so close to the first yard sale, so close!

That afternoon the yard was used for its proper purpose in a TPC: autonomous playing.

So far, Jeff seems pretty decent at taking care of himself. His sleep schedule may be messed up, but he even got a phone call and took care of his social by answering it on his own.

Brandi came from work and... finally, finally! We could afford a cash register, so tomorrow it's time for our first yard sale.

 

Umm... Not that I'm not happy to see you Lazlo but how about... not now? John is at home and we don't want any drama. Brandi will call you a bit later.

 

In the evening, Brandi did call Lazlo, and they headed into the Walmart for a date. We need that illegitimate baby!

Lazlo was initially distracted, however, as there was a pickpocket on the move.

They did eventually get down to business, though.

Despite all the cheering, there was no lullaby in the photobooth.

But, I didn't give up, and the car was apparently a more successful option. Finally!

All in all, it was a very successful date. Baby number four is incoming!

After Lazlo left, Brandi did some last minute digging. Always looking for more stuff for they yard sale, and in this case it's getting very very close.

Back at home, Jeff decices to help the yard sale too, by completing another painting. Go Jeff!

Also Brandi gets a bouquet for her date effort with Lazlo. Which is yay, because date bouquets are one of the few things we are allowed to sell directly in buy mode.

Not only that, either. Apparently Lazlo comes back with a big TV. Thanks, Lazlo, that'll be a great addition for tomorrow!

 

Jeff continues being helpful. His sleep schedule is messed up, so he stayed up most of the night. But he's decent at taking care of himself, and he makes himself useful around the house, like cleaning that filthy tub when no one else has time for that.

I was pretty worried when he started cooking though. Jeff, you shouldn't even have enough cooking points to make salmon in the first place!

ortunately, I remembered that alarms are now unlocked in the BaCC, and while the Brokes may not have a burglar alarm, they may have a smoke alarm. So I promptly bought one.

And just as fortunately, it wasn't needed this time, as Jeff is a more competent cook than you'd think. I also found out he wasn't making salmon but one of the Seasons recipes with inventory fish. Good going Jeff!

Alright then, Brandi and John, rise and shine! Today's a big day!

Brandi: ”Why do we have to get up at the crack of dawn?”

Because today's our first yard sale, and I want you to be fed and showered in good time, so that we can open the shop as close to 7 am as we possibly can. Now go get ready, pee, shower, eat, chop chop!

Alright, it's seven o'clock and we're officially open.

Brandi: ”... that's... great...”

Right. Maybe getting pregnant right before the yard sale wasn't the best idea ever. But John is there too, he should be able to help.

Well, here's a picture of our loot before we begin for real. At least we don't have a shortage of stuff to sell.

And soon enough, we get our first customers, too. Both Brandi and John work on the sales, and it seems to start well, as the cheap stuff is easy to sell.

So far so good, our customers seem to like the ”business” and we get to level 1. Of course, gaining levels is not really relevant here, this is for the sake of the money only, but it's nice to be liked. Thanks Goneril!

John gets to run the cash register when someone is ready to pay. It's slow going of course, but he's learning.

Oh, also I'm not sure what happened, but I think we got some money (if my memory serves, about 3,000 simoleans) before we had time to actually sell anything, shortly after opening the business. I looked and looked for a reason, but couldn't find one in anything we did.

In the end, I decided we didn't do anything wrong and we can accept this weird windfall. (The rules do their very best to forbid anything that gives the family money from thin air, but if despite me sticking to the rules the best I can, my game just decides to randomly give me money from thin air, I won't say no!) Besides, if we get good sales today, part of the money is definitely going to cosmetic things like clothes and prettier walls and stuff.

Yessss Jason, you want that expensive vase we dug up, you want it so much...

Thank goodness for the Smarter Cashiers hack! This would be so much more painful without it.

We seem to also get child customers, and at least Bottom likes our yard sale.

All that selling and rushing to puke in between was a bit much for Brandi. She needed to go rest in a nice bath in the middle of the day, but fortunately John was able to handle things on his own for a bit.

After that, Brandi drags herself back to work. Hey, in a yard sale you do everything you can if someone is interested in that big tv!

Meanwhile inside, the boys are left to their own devices. I can't give Jeff commands at all, and in Jack's case I don't think making him help with the yard sale would be in the spirit of the rules at least. But, they are both helpful by deciding to paint.

Look, even the town grump, I mean, one of the town grumps, likes our yard sale!

Olive: ”You didn't see anything.”

Yess, Alexander, that's a fine chest, you so want it!

Hey look, he did want it!

Three minutes to 7 pm, it's time to turn the sign back around. The first yard sale is officially done.

We did quite well with the sales. Actually, just about the only thing that wasn't selling so much was the (sim made) paintings. I don't really know why, maybe because they were a bit of a ways off from the other things for sale, on the porch?

Oh, and I think Esmeiolanthe was wondering about how the paintings restock. The answer seems to be, they don't. If someone buys a painting, it just disappears, and to sell a new one, you must manually take it from the inventory and set it for sale. The same happens to the BV maps, at least.

A question for my fellow TPCers: what do you do with all the sold out stuff from yard sales?

I just realized I have a bit of a problem, you see. Apparently you can't delete stuff while it's sold out, or set it not for sale, nor put it into inventory. With stuff like fish and crafted items, I can restock them if I have more of the same kind, then set it not for sale again, but the majority of our items was buy mode items: stuff from John's inventory, stuff dug up and stuff received as gifts. Even if I have a second item of the exactly same type in inventory (often I won't), restocking will buy a new one from buy mode, and seeing that I have to sell it for 50% off, doing so isn't smart financially.

For now I could stuff all the sold out stuff on the back yard, but I'm not too happy about that, as I was kind of reserving that spot for a family graveyard. Plus with future yard sales, the useless sold out things will just multiply. There must be something I'm not getting, otherwise we'll be drowning in the sold out stuff before the end!

As evening comes, it's time for some other activities. John takes care of helping Jeff with his homework.

After another nice bath, Brandi gets her first baby bump.

John also gets to go to the Walmart and spend some of the family's yard sale gains (about 11,000 simoleans) on clothes. Jack desperately needs a makeover, and future members of the family will surely appreciate a bit of variety.

Here's Jack in some decent clothes finally. Sorry that took so long, kid!

Jack: ”No more sweating in that sweater, yay!”

Another urgent purchase: Jim finally got his own bed. We had a little trouble finding a place for it, but it got sorted out.

Jeff keeps being a reasonable teenager, cleaning on his own and feeding himself. The tub was broken, so I wasn wondering if he'd just keep mopping until someone lured him away, but fortunately that wasn't the case.

He also tucks in his kid brothers. Aww.

While everyone but Jeff was asleep, I gave the trailer a subtle makeover. Finally, we can get a proper flat roof like I wanted.

Also, a second set of dog items on the porch.

The living room. Nothing too fancy, mostly just carpet so that we don't have to live with the wood floor anymore, a better couch and a second easel.

The bathrooms got a bit of tiles, and both of them have shower tubs now.

A bit of paint and carpet in the master bedroom too.

Well, the yard sale may be done but that doesn't take care of all these other things that need taking care of. Like homework.

Or playing in the yard.

Also, it's never too early to start working on the next yard sale.

Brandi helps by trying to keep the younger boys amused.

Jeff is again, pretty good at keeping himself amused, and in a productive way too.

As for his social life and aspiration level, he gets to have some help from his Dad. It might be embarassing for a teenager, but what can I do if I can't give him any commands...

John: ”Hi, you're Reese right? My son met you at school and mentioned he'd like to be friends.”

Reese: ”... right.”

That afternoon, everyone seemed to have their own fun.

Yeah Jeff, Reese will totally want to listen to your bragging. In the bathroom.

Umm... Well... I suppose she did?

Jack continues the trend of being helpful and making paintings. Thanks Jack!

John eventually manages to lure Jeff and Reese to fish at the same time. It's socializing, and it's useful for the next yard sale at the same time. Not too bad!

And the socializing works, too. Jeff and Reese become friends, and Jeff is quite happy about that.

Time for the second baby bump. One more day, and the fourth mandatory pregnancy for this generation is over!

Sometimes being pregnant seems to stop ACR interactions from happening for some reason. Well, not the case for Brandi and John apparently, they're happily ACRing regardless.

Another day dawns, and John lures the younger boys to fish with him. More fish is always better for yard sales.

It seems that John also manages to catch the stove on fire while making breakfast. It wasn't really urgent to do that anymore, John, we already have the first Law Enforcement position, but let's add that to the score sheet anyway.

Oh, actually, since there've been three burglaries and this is our third fire, this makes for a second Law Enforcement position. I didn't even realize before. Nice!

Thank goodness for that first Law Enforcement position, too. Thanks to the fire alarm that the family is allowed to own, the fire brigade was there to quickly put out the fire. Like, before my uncontrollable teen caught himself on fire or something.

It's a good thing the younger kids were still outside fishing too. All's well that ends well.

Hmm, a wolf on the porch. I have to say I'm tempted.

You see, the family could afford the required dogs now, thanks to the yard sale, and I almost made the adoption call already. On the last minute, I realized that pet adoption is a service and thus locked until we reach population 500. Adoption is specifically said to be an exception, but pet adoption is not.

Theoretically, the Brokes could go to a shop and buy the dogs – except that's more expensive and Lakewood doesn't have a pet shop yet. Also adopting a stray would be allowed, but thanks to my empty templates, we have none, aside from the wolves. Plus I'm terrible at befriending strays anyway.

So it did make me think maybe a wolf would count as a dog, as silly as that'd be.

The odds of befriending wouldn't be great, but I figured since Brandi didn't have anything in particular to do, she could as well do the greeting.

Brandi, when I said play with the wolf, I kind of meant, you know, outside...

As I suspected, after a couple of interactions our wolf decided to leave, probably to never be seen again. Well, if things go well later this rotation, I might be able to unlock a second business district, which would push the population past 500. If not, we'll figure something out. In the worst case I suppose I could exclude Jeff from the heir options to give myself more time, as the family is supposed to have the dogs before the first heir becomes an adult.

That night, after a couple of paintings completed by the boys, it was time for the fourth child of the generation to make an appearence.

Jeff: ”The baby is coming, the baby is coming! What to do, what to do?”

Fortunately, Brandi didn't need any help from Jeff but was able to do the thing herself. And she got big fat aspiration points for it, too.

Soon enough, she had her little daughter in her arms. We named her Bettie.

Bettie had an appropriate greeting committee, of course.

She also got some nice, warm clothes asap.

Oh, right. We have both a baby and an uncontrollable teen in the house. Let the endless baby-pickups commence.

Because I like to be prepared, John studied some fire safety, should any kitchen fires happen again. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have the others study it too, seeing that John knowing fire safety can only save John...

Jeff stayed up pretty late with the baby. I was eventually able to lure him away, and he decided to take a nap.

He's not the only one excited about Bettie, either.

Careful with the baby, John!

John: ”I thought she liked being played with!”

Jeff's sleep schedule is still messed up. At least he made it to school and only went to bed after.

The younger boys went to school too. Jim even got his first A+.

Jim: ”Daddy, I got an A+! I got an A+!”

John: ”That's great Jim! And look what I caught!”

Yeah, they seem to need to show off a little bit.

As our last half a day closes in on its end, the kids are still being kids. I didn't actually know two kids could jump on the same bed at the same time.

After managing to feed the kids, John and Brandi sneak off for some alone time. And that's when the clock strikes six, and we're done with the week with the Brokes. All that remains is the scores.

The BaCC:

Playable sims: 26 + 1 (Bettie) = 27
SM: 14
Population: 378

Households: 7

CAS sims: 3 placed / 21 earned

Community lots: 11 businesses + 1 free = 12

Businesses:

Lakewood Recreation Center (Lizzie Davidson, level 10)
Yummy! (Regan Capp, level 9)
Curious Gadgets (Pascal Curious, level 10)
Variety Buffet (Daniel Fortunato, level 10)
Face the Music (Ajay Davidson, level 3)
Better Dressed Sims (Jenny Capp, level 1)
Club Flamingo (Nervous Curious, level 6)
It's Art (Daniel Pleasant, level 8)
Pretty Pretty Flowers (William Trollson, level 4)
The Dance District (Lizzie Davidson, level 5)
Furniturize (Daniel Fortunato, level 3)

Other community lots:

Lakewood Walmart (general store)

Careers:

Business: Unlocked! / 1 taken (William Trollson, level 5)
Medical: Unlocked!
Architecture: 2 openings / 1 taken (Jenny Capp, level 8)
Culinary: 1 opening / 1 taken (Brandi Broke, level 4)
Criminal: 1 opening / 1 taken (Regan Capp, level 6)
Music: Unlocked! / 1 taken (Ajay Davidson, level 7)
Slacker: 1 opening / 1 taken (Bella Goth, level 5)
Education: 1 opening / 0 taken
Artist: 1 opening / 0 taken
Dance: 1 opening / 1 taken (Lizzie Davidson, level 4)
Law Enforcement: 1 + 1 (for 3^rd fire) = 2 openings / 0 taken

Business Tycoons: 1 (Ajay Davidson)

Universities: 1 (privately funded, founded by Lizzie Davidson)
Business Districts: 1
Downtown: no

Fires: 2 + 1 = 3
Burglaries: 3
Electrocutions: 2

 

And then the TPC:

Points from previous week: 6

Points for this week:

+ 3 for an illegitimate child (Bettie)

Total so far: 9

 

Alright, that's it for the Brokes. Next time, we'll be visiting the Goth uglacy, so I hope you'll join us whenever that may be. Until then, happy simming!