Tag: Belle Tripp

Post 2.10 | Rules | Post 3.01

As hard as it is to believe, Lindsey Tripp, our generation 3 sim is ready to take on the next leg of this challenge. So with that it’s time to take a quick look back over this last generation and see how we are doing.

We’ll take a quick look at the rules for this generation, and take a sneak peak at what’s coming up for Lindsey. I also forgot to take a look at the points for the last generation so we will do that too.

Belle was in the music career and Francis took the culinary career, which was also unlocked this generation. I believe I managed to keep the rules this time, although we did have a bit of a snafu early on with rooms being “separated” that I shouldn’t have been a couple of times.

The first two bullet points were easy and already explained. We are still working on painting and handiness, and Belle is still working on finishing up the final promotion in music. That should come quickly at the beginning of the next generation. We did manage to meet the mini challenge, however.

Now I gave myself a whole set of mini challenges for this challenge as well and I haven’t taken a look at them to see if I’ve kept to them or not, so I think I should take a quick look there as well.

I did randomize all of Lindsey’s traits, so that is still going strong. So far no one has rolled an erratic trait but I’m sure it’s coming at some point. So far so good on the matriarchy. I have plenty of strawberries, so hopefully we can keep to that. I am still collecting gnomes, and working on other collections as well. So far no aspiration rewards are being used (although that is very hard sometimes.) I have managed to do everything DIY and both Johnny and Francis were just from the neighborhood, not created by me, so it looks like we are on our way to meeting these for another generation.

Let’s take a quick peak at what the next generations goals and requirements will be.

As discussed in prior entries, even though I realized later science would have also made sense for Lindsey, she is going to be an archeologist. I’m not sure what her spouse will do, likely painting so we can get the painting skill maxed finally. This generation we get electricity and indoor plumbing, which is very exciting!

POINTS (SO FAR):

The thing I forgot last time was to look at points. Whoops! So here we go:

-5 for each restriction broken (-10 total) – I totally did this twice with the rooms, but I don’t believe I have broken others.

1 point per $100,000 the family has accrued (+1 total) – the family has only just reach $100,000. I expect this to go up a fair amount this next generation.

1 point per each skill maxed per generation (by any family member) (+6 total)
Gen 1:
– Kiana: 3 (Cooking, flower arranging, and gardening)
– Johnny: 0
Gen 2:
– Belle: 3 (Cooking, piano, and violin)
– Francis: 0
Gen 3:
– Lindsey: 0

Mini Challenges:
– Gen 1: No fridge +3 Points
– Gen 2: $1000 busking +3 Points

Now the other mini challenges will be counted at the end, as will the ending bonus. So not a super high score so far, need to work on maxing some more skills, but for only 2 generations in I feel like I’m doing ok. See you for the next generation.

Post 2.10 | Rules | Post 3.01

Post 2.09 | Rules | Wrap 2

It feels like forever since I have posted here, even though it hasn’t been that long. I realized pretty quickly that I am basically at the end of Gen 2, so we are going to wrap up Gen 2 this post and then we will do the wrap-up and see how Gen 3 starts. We are still working on our final few goals for this generation.

So I had an incident in the middle of playing this round that caused me to have to replay the beginning part of this round. Not everything happened EXACTLY the same as the pictures, but the general “beats” happened the same. So let’s get started.

We start with some mother-daughter bonding over a game of chess. Belle was clearly just home from work as that is her performance dress.

Belle is still working on getting the money for busking, so she heads down to the busking set up at the part and gets herself another $220 simoleons. That means she needs just under $300 to complete this goal.

Belle: Really? More playing in public???

Yes Belle, but you play so beautifully and you love to play.

Belle: Yes, but you know I’m not a “sim” sim.

Belle does get tense from “stranger danger” every time she is out doing this, but one more trip should do it.

Back safe in her home she is working on maxing that piano skill. She is so very close to reaching the top of the career I need to get this done.

Francis helps Lindsey with her homework. I sort of drop the ball a little later on his mentoring, so he isn’t likely to finish an aspiration.

Francis: Especially since Lindsey wants to be an archeologist. There is no job for her to max with that.

That is true, but still, I feel bad. I really thought you’d make it through this one.

Lindsey is getting a headstart on her “career” while still in high school as well by purchasing some archeology books and reading up on archeology. I think she is going to be very successful.

She also sits and has a nice conversation with her grandmother, Kiana, who is out frequently and while she and Johnny tend to break the plumbing items outside, they are very helpful in other ways.

Kiana: We do it to help.

Do what to help, break stuff? How does that help?

Kiana: It forces the family to learn handiness. They need temperature control at some point.

Francis continues to work on his aspiration by helping Lindsey with her school project. Lindsey is close to getting an A in high school.

Belle did it! She has maxed 2 skills, violin and piano. All she needs is the next promotion.

The firepit is still a very “fun” thing for the family to do. It gets decently hot here so it is surprising to me how much time they spend around it, but as long as they enjoy it and don’t overheat.

Francis tries his hand at gaining more painting skills. He isn’t doing the best at it, perhaps we need to leave this to Belle.

I believe this is New Year’s dinner and all the family makes resolutions that they each reach, but that do not count due to something with an update that is being worked on.

For the first time in a while, we have a visit from Johnny. Who does very helpful things like replacing the wash water. I believe he also went and grabbed a load of laundry as well.

The ghosts “helped” during the night by breaking both the toilet and the bathtub, which makes more a tense morning for the family.

THANKS ghosts!

Kiana: They are learning fast.

It was time for Belle to reach the last money she needed from busking. Instead of going to the park the whole family headed to the nearby bar. There was food, bathrooms, and fun for all while Belle played her heart out.

However, with the final tip from customer number 15 we reached our goals. $1016 has been made by busking!

• Make at least 1,000 simoleans by busking. +3 points

Then a moment I knew was coming but still wasn’t ready to have happened, and almost had forgotten was happening, Francis came home from work and grew up to an Elder. How is it possible already???

He was always older than Belle, but still. The family sits down to a nice dinner to celebrate, although Francis will mope about his forgotten birthday (cause I didn’t get a cake done.)

It’s hard to imagine, but it was also time for the next generation to take over. Lindsey’s birthday is at hand. Belle is a sliver away from her final promotion, where we get radios. I’m so excited to have radios finally, and maybe Belle can finish her aspiration.

Our generation 3 heir is now a young adult and we are ready to take on her challenges. Belle has managed to max out 3 skills so far, cooking, piano, and violin. She is very close to getting that final promotion she needs to unlock the radios.

Lindsey gets compassion and responsible traits from her choices as a child. She was 2 badges away from maxing her scouting aptitude, one day I will complete that. She is going to be going into archeology. Francis, unfortunately, is not going to reach his first aspiration, so we may change it. I forgot one of the final things is for a child to max a career.

I will cover a few more things in the wrap for this generation and we are ready to start Gen 3, the Let There Be Light generation.

Post 2.09 | Rules | Wrap 2

Post 2.08 | Rules | Post 2.10

We start this update with some good news for Francis. He is slowly building his way up through the culinary career and got to pick his path. He, of course, chose to continue in the food vein of culinary. He is finally at level 6.

Later that night Kiana is out haunting again, although it’s hard to call her helpfulness truly haunting. My how far ghost have come from their scaring ways in TS2. Kiana not only hangs up the laundry, but takes out the trash as well.

As hard as it is for me to believe this, the next day is Lindsey’s birthday to being a teenager. She has been very successful as a child. She gets Mentally Gifted from completing the Whiz Kid aspiration and she was only a couple creative points away from completing the second one.

On top of the Mentally Gifted she also rolls Child of the Islands and gets the Archeology Scholar, which gives her the Quick Learner trait as well. Lindsey went through a Clingy and Mean Streak phase as a kid, but she is a fairly well adjusted tenn now.

After a quick make over where I really debating what I wanted to give Lindsey for a hairstyle, Francis helped her with her homework. That got him through the latest level of his aspiration and it’s here we reconsidered if we wanted Lindsey to be an archeologist or if we wanted her to be a scientist. Since Francis needs her to be at the top of her career (which isn’t likely to happen before he dies anyway) I decided to leave her as a planned archeologist.

Realizing I wasn’t getting anywhere with getting collections because I hadn’t done a collection round for a bit I sent Lindsey out after she finished her homework.

She then set up at a finish site to try and do some fishing for her scout badge, but I don’t know if we will reach it or not. Time will tell.

I was very happy when this night Belle came home with another promotion. This meant she needed to max out her piano skill to get another promotion, but she is now at level 9 in music and we are that much closer to radios!

Promotions and skills will have to wait though because it is now time for WinterFest. This year I won’t put anything on the tree that can’t be considered candles or non-electric. So the family gets together and decorates the tree.

After opening some presents, and putting more presents under the tree Francis gets to work on a grand fest for all of them. They enjoy sitting down together to eat the meal he made.

Each of them does their own thing, and I didn’t capture pictures of a lot of it, but Francis went for a bit of a job, and then he came back and played some chess with Lindsey.

After chess Francis decided to read for a bit and Belle grabbed a bit more to eat before hitting the piano practice hard. She really needed to get the skill points in so she can get that next promotion.

I apparently never did get any pictures of Father Winter or whatever his name is, coming by and handing out gifts, but that happened as well. It was a very successful holiday for all and everyone had a lovely time.

Once the holiday was over, however, it was back to the grind and Lindsey surprised me by getting enough badges to earn herself a “promotion” in the scouts. She may reach the top yet.

Lindsey is starting to struggle mightily with “fun.” There is not much that brings fun in the house outside of the chess table and the instruments. Lindsey doesn’t get much fun out of them, so in an effort to get her to do her homework we have her sit by the fire, which does offer some fun.

During dinner that evening we find out Lindsey is going through another phase. This child has so many phases, it’s crazy. This time she is going through a Rebellious phase. I guess we will see what that brings.

Lindsey does diligently take out some archeology books we purchased for her and reads up on how she is going to pursue this self-employed job. It’s going to take her away from home quite a bit and I’m thinking we might want her to wait to have a baby for a bit and see if we can get her started on the job first.

The garden is still around and thriving. Francis and Belle take time out of their days to fertilize, water, weed, and pick all the produce they get, and even Lindsey is starting to help out some.

Realizing I needed to get going on the mini-challenge for this generation, the busking, I take Belle down to the park on her next day off and have her sit and play for hours and hours. She got about 14 people to give her tips. I don’t have pictures of it, but she has done this a couple more times and is getting close to the goal.

Kiana comes out again, she seems to visit much more often than Johnny, and sits to talk with her daughter. Belle has certainly missed her mom from time to time, it seems they grew older so many faster then Belle thought they would. Still, it’s nice to have her around in whatever form she can.

It’s even better when Kiana decides to help with chores. This particular night it was laundry night. It’s funny how the ghosts will do laundry and almost makes it feel like there is little reason to have my sims stress over getting it done.

With this look at Kiana, I do believe it is time to say good bye once again to this family. We will be back soon, and at that point I believe we will be seeing some birthdays. I got the notice that Francis isn’t too far from his elder birthday. It doesn’t seem possible!

Post 2.08 | Rules | Post 2.10

Post 2.07 | Rules | Post 2.09

Last time we were with the family they were celebrating a new HarvestFest. We know have the Jungle Adventure and University packs so we might see Lindsey go for archaeology, which is what we were intending, but looking at Francis’ aspiration he wants to see Lindsey reach the top of a career. So we will see what I decide to do when Lindsey grows up.

So at the end of last update I mentioned I was debating how to handle the mixology skill for Francis. I decided, since the family has PLENTY of money that I would go ahead and buy them a bar and just rearrange the furniture and items on the lower floor so they could have room. Francis got right to work and reached his levels without too much effort.

I wanted Lindsey to be able to make it through her scout badges. It may not end up working, her squeamishness making “cleaning up” and doing some things like that hard, although I am pretty sure if I have her set the table a lot she might make it, we will see. For now, she works on her fitness.

Belle is, I believe, still looking for her next promotion. However, she might have reached level 8 at this point. She is getting so close to unlocking radios, which will be a HUGE help to Lindsey, who doesn’t find much that we have at home “fun.”

For now, however, I need her to continue to work on painting, as that is also very important to try and get done, but I’m not sure Belle will make it, we will see. With the piano around she does stay inspired much of the time.

Lindsey worked and worked on getting the final things she needed for the mental aspiration and finally did it. She got through all the potions she needed to and decided to start on the creative aspiration, though I doubt she will make it.

Poor Belle was on her way to getting her promotion when she popped home and grew up. Not sure what caused the pop home, but sadly she was going to be sad for a missed birthday. I can’t believe my little Belle is an adult now. Time flies!

To help negate some of the sadness that was going to come from “missing” Belle’s birthday (and it really was a forgotten one this time) I sent her jogging and then to paint her emotions.

Francis is getting pretty good at mixology now, and when he gets home that night to make up for missing her birthday the couple sits down with a glass of whatever Francis mixed up to celebrate. Francis is quite a bit older than Belle, but it doesn’t stop her from loving him.

That night the monster reared it’s head under Lindsey’s bed again and while she tried to make friends with it, it didn’t work for her. Luckily grandma was out haunting this night, and Kiana took care of spraying it back.

Afterwards she sat down and talking with Lindsey a little bit before Lindsey tried to go back to sleep. Those monsters came out a lot more for Lindsey then they did for Belle.

Lindsey: …and one day maybe I can even find ways to stop the monsters from scaring kids like me.

Kiana: That’s wonderful sweetheart.

In a family like this food is accompanied by music many days, and perhaps it gives Francis some additional inspiration to have his wife working diligently on her music. I believe she is working on finishing up writing a few songs.

Lindsey tries her had at the piano. She doesn’t get nearly the fun, or the sound, out of it that her mother does, but Belle losing herself in the music of her own making and doesn’t even seem to notice her daughters less than stellar playing.

Johnny comes out later that night and does something wonderful. He washes some clothes. Laundry isn’t something we keep up with as often as we used to. This family is so busy and going all hours of the day/night. So it’s wonderful that he does this. Of course he then promptly goes over and breaks the bathtub, but still.

The next day is Monday and that means school project time. Lindsey pulls her project out of her pack once she gets home and gets started on her chemistry experiment. This seems to be right up Lindsey’s ally as she loves to work with her chemical set.

With that I do believe it is about time for this chapter of the EPIC to come to a close. Lindsey is very close to growing up to teen and we are still working to see if we can complete a second aspiration, although it seems unlikely it will happen. Francis is waiting for his next promotion and Belle did finally get a promotion and is level 8 now, only 2 more to go.

Post 2.07 | Rules | Post 2.09

Post 2.06 | Rules | Post 2.08

With Lindsey getting the “Whiz Kid” aspiration she has to work on her metal skill as well as make some potions. I started to use the potion bench, then saw that there might be power related to it. I did ask about it and it was determined we would allow it, especially as it could be heated through flame from a candle or something.

Lindsey also spends time at the chess table downstairs. Sometimes she plays with her dad, other times she just practices by herself. Either way she is working her way up the metal skill track slowly but surely.

Belle, meanwhile, continues to work out in the garden keeping the hard work her mom put into it alive and well. She might not be as good a gardner as her mom (she is only level 7) but for Belle, being out there also helps keep her mom on her mind. Kiana even came out to hug her one night.

Even though Kiana was happy when she came out as a ghost, she quickly became sad, as Johnny typically does. I’m guessing this is due to the fact they are missing out on seeing little Lindsey grow up.

Knowing that Belle is going to need to have her music skills up higher to finish up her job she sets to completing the violin, which she does. She is even able to start writing songs now and I believe she has finished one.

I’m not sure either Belle or Francis is going to end up maxing out painting as both are only about 1/2 way through but they will keep plugging along and hoping.

Our sweet, squeamish little Lindsey decides to take out the trash, then make a mess. The problem is, as she begins to make a mess she starts getting grossed out, so then she cleans up the mess. Poor little mixed up child.

We are back to Monday, and Lindsey is needing to get an A to complete her aspiration. She has managed to max out her mental skill, fulfilling a task for both her and her father’s milestones. With both parents at work I wasn’t sure how that works with kids in this version of the game, but she was fine, and just worked on her science project outside.

By the time she is done her parents are home from work and so she goes in to talk to her dad while he makes some dinner. He is now in need of mixology levels and they do not have a bar. I will have to determine how I want to handle this going forward.

Lindsey goes to bed after scarfing down a little food as she is tired. She does do her homework, however, even though I didn’t take a picture of it and she is currently a B student. She is, however, at the point of breezing through her homework.

Belle: How as work today honey?

Francis: Fine, but I have to find a way to practice my drink mixing. They say I won’t get another promotion without it. How about you?

Belle: Fine, but I wish they would give me my promotion. I have everything they have asked for, but still won’t give it to me.

Kiana visits us again that night. This is only the second or third time she has come out and she always seems very happy to visit. Of course, she goes and breaks both bathtubs, but I’m getting used to that out of ghosts.

Belle is up the next morning feeling inspired, mostly due to the piano, but she is in a good mood, and so she paints. We have moved the easel down to be by the piano to allow for a faster painting skilling since they are typically inspired.

Francis gets the job of cleaning up after Kiana’s mess. I don’t mind when they come out, even if they break things cause they usually also help the plants, and Johnny tends to do laundry, which is very handy.

With Lindsey only needing to get an A in order to reach her aspiration, we go ahead and get her started on gaining more creativity. If we are lucky she might be able to max it as well. She only needs 3 more levels after this day, so it’s entirely possible. I believe she has about 4 days left before growing into a teen.

It is now Harvest Fest time again and after decorating the house I take out the gnomes. A couple of them are ready to be appeased again, a few of them are showing Halos and already dropping seeds all over again. This year we send each person to appease their gnomes, which they do without issue and then we throw them back into the family inventory. We’ll try again next year when I don’t mind seeds being everywhere again.

We did get a couple of new gnomes though, so that was good as well. I also, accidently, bought a new gnome, but that’s ok. Francis then gets started on the grand fest for dinner that night while Belle and Lindsey work on their own things.

Belle is about 1 day away from growing up into an adult, and it’s hard to believe where the time has gone on this generation. Lindsey is so close to reach her child aspiration and if she can get an A in high school she will fulfill much of Francis’ as well. Belle never got a promotion this time even though she did her daily tasks every day, has all the requirements, and typically left in a very good mood for work.

I am hoping she will get a promotion or two next play time because I really need her to max it out so she can get working on her aspiration. Francis is sort of stuck until I figure out what I want to do for him with mixology. He has books, but that only works so fast.

Post 2.06 | Rules | Post 2.08

Post 2.05 | Rules | Post 2.07

With Lindsey now a child we can get further on Francis’ aspiration as he wants to help with homework and have her max out a skill point. So before she heads off to school for the first day Francis sits down and does just that.

Belle heads across the street to see if she can get any money from busking. It’s a popular drink stand and she thinks it’s possible, but no one ends up coming by to listen.

Back inside Lindsey and Francis are doing more father/daughter things and playing some chess. Lindsey needs to play games of chess and get her mental skill up as we made her a whiz kid. That could end up changing though.

We have also noticed that Lindsey is already showing a little chub, and while that isn’t a problem to sims, she is also a scout and we want her to reach her fitness badge, so we have her go play on the monkey bars. It doesn’t always go well.

We then spy another scout and so she decides to go talk with him. He looks sad and part of her badges includes cheering people up and having school social interactions. She is able to cheer him up, but then he has to head home.

Before bed we get a bit of a jump start on the arts and crafts badge for scouts as well by drawing a picture. I believe we started with shapes. Then it is time for bed and she asks Francis to tuck her in.

Francis: Now you stay away you mean mean monsters, no scaring my little girl

*spritz spritz*

Francis, you know it’s possible she could befriend the monster

Francis: That may be, but she is squeamish and I doubt it will go well and would likely just upset her more.

Fair point Francis, spritz away.

The ghosts then come out, and Johnny is in a mood. He heads around to our toilets and bathtubs (I did end up getting a second one way out in a corner of the lot, I didn’t say anything limiting it to one each, just that it had to be outside) and breaks them all….two nights in a row.

Now it isn’t all bad, Johnny also talks with the plants, and replaces the wash water in the wash tub for our clothes. He even occasionally cleans up, but these two nights were horrible. He even knocked over the trashcan.

Francis and Belle are both good parents to Lindsey and even though we don’t see a ton of Belle interacting with her she is someone who is always there to talk to. Francis is the more day to day parent, however, due to his aspiration. Anytime Lindsey wants to play dolls, or chess, or anything else, he’s game.

Lindsey: Now let’s just take a listen Mr. Bear.

Lindsey: No no, you are doing just fine, and we will get you feeling better in no time.

When Lindsey heads off to school Belle and Francis decide to head to the park, hoping that Belle will be able to succeed at busking. I put a busking station there just in case, and sure enough, after a little bit of time the park starts filling up and people come to listen to Belle. Francis takes some time and fishes as well.

Lindsey’s next milestone was to read with an adult for a couple of hours. She had already done it for 1 hour, and after some fumbling around getting everyone on board Francis finishes up reading to her by the fire pit.

Belle, meanwhile, is working on her handiness skill by fixing the items that Johnny keeps breaking over night. We have not seen Kiana for quite a while, only Johnny.

Then it’s time for additional skilling all the way around. Johnny heads out to see if he can catch some new fish for the collection and move up that ladder, Belle works on her piano skill that she needs for work, and Lindsey handles some social building with Blarffy.

That night the monster wakes Lindsey up, and she attempts to make friends. It doesn’t work and both Francis and Belle are woken up to try and take care of it for her. We are able to get everyone back to bed without too much trouble.

I’m learning more about different auras and discovered Belle’s piano has an inspiring effect, her award is energizing, and all the little items Johnny left are focusing elements. We’ve been using the focusing elements a lot to help Lindsey with her homework and mental skills, but Lindsey also go the bug and started some art work…..as a math equation

Johnny is back and this night, minus breaking the one tub, is helpful. He replaces the water, talks to some plants, picks up the trash bin he knocked over, and clears out the trash. Lindsey is woken up, but happily this time, by the monster under her bed and is energized by making friends with it. She spends some time with her ghostly grandpa.

It’s the weekend so I don’t mind too much, but send her back to bed fairly quickly. She is also now up to a Griffon Scout and heads out for her scout meeting in a confident mood.

Belle is up to a level 7 in the musician career and has all the things she needs to progress, just needs more time. Francis is similarly waiting for his promotion to a level 5 in culinary. Belle is also about 1/2 way through maxing the painting skill, so maybe we’ll get lucky and she will max it out this generation. Lindsey is about 1/2 way through childhood, and I didn’t get a picture of it, but Francis is also now an adult. Belle has about a week left.

Post 2.05 | Rules | Post 2.07