Baker - Lose One, Gain Three

Welcome back to the Baker house in Sunset Valley. Last time we met the family and Svetlana and Heathcliff made a valiant effort to complete their LTWs as Elders. Heathcliff defied the odds and managed to complete his Perfect Private Aquarium, but Svetlana wasn't as fortunate and she died before she had made the 20 friends she wanted. Becky made good progress in the Music career and on her LTW to max Charisma and Guitar, while Topher went from being a child to a teen and is now only a couple days away from being an adult. Heathcliff is still with us, but at 100 days old he is likely to go at any time. As we start off here, Heathcliff is at home relaxing, Topher is at work at his part-time spa job, and Becky is out front of the theatre playing for tips. She was performing in a concert, but it popped her out of that action for some reason and wouldn't let me send her back in to do that.

As predicted, Heathcliff did not last long once I started playing. That same evening after dinner, while he was playing some games on the computer, Grim came for him. Topher was there to witness his passing, but Becky was at work and missed it. Heathcliff contributed 3 points to the challenge.

The family is still fairly poor, so there wasn't enough money to do much in the way of setting up a nicer burial plot area on the lot, but I did get a few flowers a least and  arranged them with Svetlana and Heathcliff's tombstones. It's just too bad it didn't give them the same type of stone so they'd match.

With Heathcliff gone, the next day I had Topher scoop the fish out and send them off to be mounted. I'll preserve Heathcliff's achievement, but I really don't want to have to keep feeding the fish all the time and at least if they're mounted I know we can keep them permanently and they won't die and be lost. Yes, it was a bit expensive, but selling the bowls and endtables helped recoup some of the cost, and I'd also been able to sell one of the beds they no longer needed. Becky got a promotion and a bonus when she finished work the night before as well, so they had enough to cover it.

Monday was Topher's birthday and he decided at the last minute to throw a party. Once he got home from work, he called up several of his friends and acquaintances and invited them over. Becky finished up her performance about the same time, so she was able to make it home for the party as well. Once everyone was there and had mostly been greeted, Topher blew out his candles and aged up to Young Adult. He gained the Unflirty trait, and chose Descendant of da Vinci as his LTW, which means he'll have to master Sculpting, Painting, and Inventing.

On Wednesday Becky did a performance at the theater as usual, then played for tips outside afterward. In the course of playing she mastered her guitar skill and so had completed half of her LTW. She also finished the Master Guitarist skill challenge when she got to level 10.

That same evening, Topher went and registered as a self-employed Sculptor even though he had just gotten a promotion at the spa. He also worked in the garden that Heathcliff had started, though it remains to be seen just how long we'll continue it here. No one really needs to be doing gardening right now, so I really should let them spend their time on other things, though I probably will try to get some money trees going at least.

Topher had shown an attraction to Carly Landgraab at his birthday party, so he started chatting with her on the phone to build up a friendship. I was having issues getting her to come over again so they could talk face to face (she would glitch and be invisible, or she'd say she'd come over then almost immediately I'd get a message that something came up and she couldn't make it) so I had him go over to her place one evening. He discovered that she was single, and even though he's not big on flirting I had him do so and she proved to be both single and quite receptive to his advances. Before long I had them going steady.

Bebe, Carly's stepmother, was asleep in the bed right beside them the whole time they were doing their whirlwind courtship

Carly lives in the Landgraab mansion of course, and though I'm not crazy about that house, it would be a good move up for Becky and Topher so I'm thinking I'll get him and Carly married and have them move in with her - and then move out Malcolm (her brother) and Bebe so I don't have to deal with them. I can always either bulldoze the lot and build them something better on it or just build something on the empty lot next door and move them there later on if I find the Landgraab house too annoying. So, to that end I got Topher to pop the question.

Meanwhile, Becky managed to get a promotion that night which put her at the top of the Rock branch of the Music career. She hasn't quite achieved her LTW yet, but she's quite close. She's also getting close to becoming an Elder, which I'm not very happy about since I don't feel like I've had much time with her really. Poor thing, I've been working her to death her whole life making money for the family and I've never let her do much of anything else. I'm contemplating what I can do to roll her age back some to maybe start having a bit of fun with her, at least for a little while. Until then, she's at a bit of a loose end since she no longer has any set work hours, she simply needs to go perform concerts from time to time. I let her start exercising a bit to satisfy her Athletic trait.

Anyway, Topher came home after proposing to Carly so he could get some sleep. I was tempted to have him just do a quickie wedding with her so they could go ahead and move into the bigger house, but Topher has a sculpture in progress that prevented me from packing up his sculpting bench. Finishing that became his priority when he got up again the next morning.

Once he'd finished his sculpture I was able to pack it and the bench into the family inventory and send him down to the Consignment Store to put the sculptures he'd made so far up for sale. Once that was taken care of, I had him call Carly up for a date. She met him at Central Park and after a bit of preliminary hugging and kissing, they exchanged rings and became husband and wife. I'd had Becky come down to watch, but she decided to wander off and do something else.

Topher and Becky moved in with Carly, Malcolm and Bebe. Unfortunately I messed up when I did the move and I lost all of Heathcliff's fish that I'd stored in the family inventory as well as his and Svetlana's tombstones. Because of this I ended up having to go back to a previous save and re-play from the morning following Topher's engagement. It wasn't a lot, but did mean having to re-do all the changes I'd made at the Landgraab mansion to accomodate everyone. I mainly did this to save the tombstones - I would have been bummed about losing the fish, but wouldn't have bothered rolling back just to save them.

I had intended to have Malcolm and Bebe move out right away, but after looking at their traits and LTWs, I saw that they could get me further ahead sooner, so I decided to let them stay. For now at least. Bebe was apparently Bebe Hart, daughter of Gus and Dorie Hart. It seems she married Malcolm and Carly's father Geoffrey after Nancy died. I'll have to figure out a way to make a lot of money fairly quickly to finish her LTW (the Landgraabs didn't come with very much cash despite the fancy house), but it should be do-able. I added the sauna into the house, so I can keep knocking a day at a time off her age like I've been doing with Adrianna Britt to keep her alive until the LTW is done. I'll use it to keep Becky young for awhile longer too.

Here's a look at the new household members post-makeover:

Carly (Landgraab) Baker
Age: Young Adult
Traits: Absent-minded, Excitable, Loser, Handy, Vehicle Enthusiast
Favorites: Pop music, Autumn Salad, Green
LTW: Become a Creature-Robot Cross Breeder

Malcolm Landgraab
Age: Adult
Traits: Bookworm, Good, Eco-Friendly, Ambitious, Friendly
Favorites: Classical music, Cobbler, Yellow
LTW: Fashion Phenomenon (reach level 10 of Stylist profession)

Bebe Landgraab
Age: Elder
Traits: Technophobe, Family-Oriented, Bookworm, Good, Frugal
Favorites: Indie music, Autumn Salad, Green
LTW: Swimming in Cash (have §50,000 in household funds)









Malcolm is engaged to Madison VanWatson and has a son named Bobby VanWatson with her. I don't intend to purse that relationship at least until Malcolm finishes his LTW since I don't want even more unplanned additions to this family.

I got Malcolm started with the Stylist career the following day. He wasn't actually scheduled to work for a few days yet, but I took him to the salon and had him offer people makeovers to practice a bit and start building his job performance. His first subject was Kaylynn Bunch, and his second was Arlo Bunch.

After doing those, I turned my attention to Becky for a bit and had her go down to the theater to hold an autograph session before doing a performance there. She did quite well and managed to earn §4,400 from it (§1,400 for 14 autographs signed and §3,000 for 10 people that entered the theater because of her event).

At about this point I took a bit of a break from actually playing them to build them a new house because yeah, the Landgraab mansion sucks and it was quickly driving me nuts. I started one house next door at 15 Summer Hill Court, the empty 60x60 lot there (same lot the Medinas are on now in their version of Sunset Valley), but then decided to go a bit smaller and cheaper for them to start with. Eventually I'll move them to a house on the Summer Hill lot, but they're really going to need more money before they can afford it. So I started over on building another house on Redwood Pkwy. along the coast. Smaller, cheaper lot, and I was still able to build them a really nice, large house without breaking the bank too badly. They made quite a profit in terms of ready cash when they moved - which was part of the point, since I'd also decided that moving to a cheaper house would be a quick and easy way to complete Bebe's LTW so it would be done, and I'll get credit for her unique things, and I won't have to keep her around too long. The strategy worked beautifully and so now I'll be able to count her few points regardless of what happens to her. Maybe I'll start trying to attract a meteor with her... Once the house was ready, I had Topher make the call to move, then they all piled into Becky's pink limo that she gets for work to drive across town.

For those who are interested, here are some shots of the new house. These were taken immediately after they moved and after I'd put out the things I had them bring with them, like Topher's sculpting and inventing benches and Malcolm's drafting table.

Front view

Rear view

First floor

Second floor

I had a bit of a scare when trying to put Heathcliff and Svetlana's graves out because they disappeared as soon as I placed them. I was able to retrieve them to the family inventory via Master Controller and when I put them out in a different location on the lot they worked fine. I'll just have to remember to be careful what I try to place around the garage because things are a bit wonky there from fitting the flat garage to the house on a foundation. Heathcliff came out to visit that night, and I caught an amusing moment when he was haunting the computer that Bebe was writing a novel on. She just kept typing away as though nothing was happening while the keyboard and monitor were bobbing around in the air.

Malcolm had his first real day of work at the Salon the next day, and he went despite not having gotten much sleep because of the ghosts (Svetlana came out to play too). He managed to catch a catnap on one of the benches in the afternoon, and while he was doing that I took Becky down to the salon to get another tatoo like she was wanting. While she was there, Xander Clavell died. I don't think she knew him (though I'm not really sure if she did or not...she knows a lot of people), but she was affected by his death nonetheless. I almost missed it because I was checking on the people back at the house, but saw the notification about it and managed to get back over to her while Xander was shaking hands with Grim.

That evening I sent Topher down to the Stones Throw Greenhouse to collect seeds for Carly. There's not much room for a garden on their new lot, but she needs gardening for her job, so she's starting a small one at the side of the house. Mostly I was looking for money tree seeds and other special seeds so perhaps someone can make some ambrosia for Becky. While he was there, Lisa Bunch went into labor in the bathroom. She just stood there for a long time, doing her moaning and holding her belly instead of leaving to go have her baby elsewhere like I'd have expected. She did eventually leave before she delivered.

Apparently someone started a fire in the kitchen at home with the deep fryer while I was with Topher. Not sure who it was since it didn't drag me back there and I missed seeing it when it was happening. I did go back there to catch the aftermath though. The firefighter got stuck and just stood there instead of getting back in the truck and leaving. Not sure if I'll replace the deep fryer for them or not. The sims are waaaay too attracted to that fryer and the ice cream maker and it drives me nuts (I ended up caving in and replacing it).

The next day went by normally with Malcolm going to work again, Carly going back to work for the first time after the wedding, and the others being left to their own devices for the most part. Since I've ended up keeping Malcolm and Bebe along with Carly, I decided I should focus first on Malcolm since I completed Bebe's LTW with the move. Malcolm has locked in wishes to get married, and to get married to Madison, his fiancee and the mother of his son, in particular. She's already an Elder, so the clock is ticking on being able to let him do that before she dies. I want to finish his LTW so I can count his points, but after that I'd be just fine with letting him marry Madison and move out. I'd let him go ahead and get married before then, but I really don't want to add any more sims to this household, especially not ones that would just be developing a cadet line of the family. I did decide to let Topher and Carly go ahead and try for a baby though, which took way longer than it should have between interactions on the sauna not cooperating at first, Bebe barging in on them a couple times, and then later on Svetlana came out to haunt and interrupted them a few times.

I did remember to have Becky do a performance one day, but mostly she was left on her own for the next few days. Thankfully she's naturally fairly social, and she managed to get the last bit of skill she needed in Charisma to master it while talking with Bebe one afternoon. This completed her LTW of Golden Tongue, Golden Fingers and secures her place as a contributing member of the challenge. I'm still deciding if I want to try to do more with her or not, and until then I've been having her do mud baths to keep her at the Adult stage.

Unfortunately things seem to be a tad buggy on this lot for some reason. Or maybe it's just Bebe. She seems to have an affinity for typing in weird positions.

It took a few nights of trying, but eventually their efforts paid off and Becky realized she'd gotten pregnant. I wasn't sure it had worked, because for some reason I don't seem to be getting the chimes lately. Most likely a setting on one of the mods that I need to change. In any event, the next generation is officially on the way.

Standing inside the table must have hurt...

I think I'll wrap up this entry here. I'll probably stay with the Bakers for a bit since I've decided to use them, and Topher in particular, as my litmus test for when to install Late Night. I figure that once I've completed his LTW I'll have experienced enough of the Ambitions content to move on, and I'm getting anxious to get to some of the later EPs. So, in closing, here's a look at how my score stands at present with Becky and Bebe having completed thier LTWs this session:

Introducing the Baker Family and Ambitions

Welcome back everyone. Last time I indicated we'd be going back to the Medina-Britt household after installing Ambitions, but I ended up with a bit of a change of plans. I did install Ambitions as planned, but then I got to thinking about what I want to do with the Medinas and Britts, and decided that I really want to split them up into their own households partly so each family has more room to grow and expand, and partly so I won't have to deal with so many sims at once. I'm still pondering how exactly I want to do that, however, along with researching the different options and possible consequences. I also decided to try out Twallan's Story Progression mod so to see if I like it or not I started messing around in a new version of Sunset Valley with one of the pre-made families in the sim bin so I wouldn't put my established families at risk while I test. The family I chose, somewhat at random, was the Bakers (this shot was taken after I'd been playing them for a sim week or so).

I originally wasn't intending to make them part of this blog, because I thought I was just going to play around with them to test a few things out then be done, but as I was doing so I got interested in them and decided that I want to keep playing the family. I thought about just having them on the side, then decided that if I'm going to be playing them then I might as well include them in the challenge and the blog as well so I can count the things they do toward completion. This does mean that I don't have any pictures of them from what I've played so far, but I'll try to recap a bit. First, let's meet them (I should note they've all gotten makeovers from how I found them in the bin to start with).

Svetlana Baker

Age: Elder
Traits: Flirty, Family-Oriented, Good, Charismatic, Ambitious
Favorites: Pop, Fruit Parfait, Spiceberry
LTW: Super Popular (Be friends with 20 sims)

Heathcliff Baker

Age: Elder
Traits: Workaholic, Natural Cook, Perfectionist, Good, Computer Whiz
Favorites: Kids, Key Lime Pie, Irish Green
LTW: Presenting the Perfect Private Aquarium (Have 13 different perfect fish in fishbowls)

Becky Baker

Age: Young Adult
Traits: Hopeless Romantic, Mooch, Athletic, Heavy Sleeper, Lucky
Favorites: Pop, Cobbler, Yellow
LTW: Golden Tongue, Golden Fingers (Max Charisma and Guitar)

Topher Baker

Age: Child (started as a toddler)
Traits: Light Sleeper, Friendly, Neat (acquired when he aged up)
Favorites: Classical, Dim Sum, Spiceberry
LTW: None yet










I will be focusing first on Svetlana and Heathcliff to try to get their LTWs done. I don't know that they'll have enough time left to complete them and they won't have access to deathflowers or the like to extend their time, but challenge rules say I have to at least attempt to, so I'll be giving it the ol' college try as they say and we'll see if I can manage it. Becky and Topher will be getting attention as well, but I don't anticipate any problems with Becky's LTW since she has loads of time still, and Topher's still really young (just turned Child). I might try to steer Topher into one of the Ambitions careers, but we'll see what he shows an interest in as he gets older.

A lot of my play so far with this family was geared around toddler training for Topher. I did pretty well with him and he learned all his skills as well as had all of the skill books read to him and he maxed out on the xylophone and peg box. Since the family doesn't have much money for buying books (or much of anything else) right now, I had Heathcliff take him down to the library to read to him, and I think that's what I'll be doing from now on if I can manage it because it went really fast doing it that way. It only took them two afternoons to get through all 9 books, really more just an afternoon and a half since they didn't get down there until late on the first day.

Becky has been focused on her career and working on her guitar skill so far and didn't take much part in raising Topher through his toddlerhood. She did interact with him, and frequently had wishes to Snuggle, Toss in Air, Pick up, etc., I just felt her time was mostly better spent doing her stuff since I had the two elders there to take care of Topher and teach him everything he needed. This also means that the elders didn't get much of a chance to work on their skills or wishes much, but that's ok. Since I didn't see them having much of a realistic chance at finishing their LTWs anyway I wasn't too worried about it.

As for other updates and items of note: Becky is currently at level 4 of the Music career, level 5 Guitar skill and level 3 Charisma skill; Svetlana has 3/20 friends needed for her LTW and is 85 days old so only about 5 sim days left guaranteed - if she hits it hard with the friend making she might have a chance, but it's a slim one; Heathcliff has level 3 in Fishing skill so hasn't caught that many different kinds of fish yet, and hasn't gotten any perfect ones so far and he's 83 days old, so has about 7 days left guaranteed - chances of finishing his LTW are slim as well. As I said at the start, they're currently in Sunset Valley (a different one from the one the Medina-Britts are in) and on the same lot that the Medinas started on (it's my favorite starter lot in SV), but I'll probably move them to another town after a bit. I have a few different worlds I've gotten from the store that I've never used, so would like to try them out. Available options are: Hidden Springs, Lucky Palms, Monte Vista, and Dragon Valley - if anyone has any recommendations, feel free to leave a comment below :) I'll probably be moving the Britts to Twinbrook, so I don't really want to take the Bakers there. A move likely won't happen until after the elders die, or at least until Svetlana goes because I don't want to sever what relationships she has going so far and damage her chances of finishing her LTW even further.

That pretty well catches things up to where this family is at now. They really haven't done a lot so far that would have been really worth taking pictures of aside from the toddler stuff with Topher, so we haven't really missed a lot in terms of blogging their story. Certainly far less than I'd missed recording with Alesha Medina when I decided to start this blog with her. Anyway, on with the show!

We pick up the tale on Wednesday morning. Topher headed off to school and Svetlana called up Nancy Landgraab to work on a friendship with her. Heathcliff went to the park to work on his fishing, and Becky went to perform for tips. She had the day off from work, so hoped to get her skill up as well as make a bit of cash since they need the money and she's the only one bringing any in.

Heathcliff managed to catch a perfect Minnow, so that's one down, 12 to go. He started working on Goldfish next. Topher had to stay after school to help clean some bug cages but then he came over to the park and hung out for awhile to do his homework. Meanwhile, Svetlana joined her family at the park once she'd become friends with Nancy over the phone. Once there she started chatting up Victoria Andrews and later Dorie Hart.

By the time they were all too tired and hungry to stay any longer, Becky had made §353 in tips from her playing and raised her Guitar skill to level 6. Heathcliff caught a perfect Goldfish so he now had 2 of the 13 he needed, and Svetlana had become friends with Victoria and good acquaintances with Dorie.

The next day everyone except Topher slept in since they'd been up late the night before. Svetlana spent most of the day on the phone with Dorie and became friends with her. She also called a few of her other friends and started talking with another acquaintance before it got too late to make any more phone calls. Heathcliff tended the small garden he'd started then went back to the park to fish, but didn't have any luck getting another perfect fish. Topher had another after school activity then had a friend over. Becky went to the library for awhile before she had to go to work. All in all it was a pretty ordinary day with not much progress made on needed things.

On Friday, Svetlana made another friend on the phone and Heathcliff caught a perfect Rainbow Trout at the park. Becky worked on her Guitar skill a little bit before work, but didn't get very far with it. As evening fell, the house next door developed a ghost problem that a local ghosthunter came to take care of (so far I'm thinking I could do without that addition because the music that plays when there's a ghost infestation gets very annoying very quickly).

Later in the evening when Heathcliff was still at the park, Cornelia Goth passed away while he was nearby to witness it.

On Saturday, Topher worked on making some baked goods to try to do a bake sale, while Heathcliff headed to the salon to see about a tatoo. When he got there, he encountered Pauline Wan, who was going into labor.

It was late afternoon before Topher made it to the park to try selling his muffins, but he did make it and set up his table. Interestingly enough, Pauline Wan and Hank Goddard were there having a picnic - the same Pauline that had just been in labor earlier at the salon. They did not have a baby with them, so it's unclear what happened with it. Sadly, Topher didn't have any luck with his sale and hadn't sold a single thing by the time it was late enough he had to pack up and go home.

Sunday was another park day for most of the family. Topher set up his bake sale table again, but didn't have any better luck than before. Becky set up nearby to play for tips and made around §200 in a couple different sessions. Heathcliff fished and managed to get a perfect Black Goldfish, bringing his total to 5/13 perfect fish needed. Svetlana stayed home and worked on friendships over the phone, but unfortunately lost one friend from not talking to her in too long.

The next day went by fairly normally, but that evening was Topher's birthday. Becky had to work, so she wasn't able to be there when he blew out his candles, but Svetlana and Heathcliff were there and cheered him on. He grew up well and picked up the Savvy Sculptor trait.

That same night, Becky got a promotion and was faced with a choice of which direction she wanted to go with her music career. She choose to pursue a career in Rock music as it fit her style better than the Symphonic did. The next day she was off, but she did a performance at the theater in the afternoon. When she got home that evening, she had her birthday to Adult.

Heathcliff went down to the beach to try fishing as he'd only had moderate luck the day before at one of the lakes. He managed to catch a perfect anchovy and then a perfect jellyfish in a reasonable amount of time bringing his tally to 8/13 perfect fish. While he was still doing that, Topher asked Becky to help him with his homework since she was actually home in the evening for a change (she's been working most evenings and is rarely home when Topher is). Becky hadn't had a chance to do much with him in a long while, so she readily agreed.

Sadly, while Becky and Topher were doing his homework, Svetlana passed away while checking on the broken shower in the bathroom. She had made it to 11/20 friends I think, possibly 12/20, so she did better than I thought she might, though as predicted she didn't finish, so none of her points count (it would have only been 1 or 2 points at most anyway).

Svetlana wasn't ready to go :(

As if losing his wife wasn't bad enough, Heathcliff also had a setback that night when two of the fish in his aquariums died, the Red Herring and the Black Goldfish. Thankfully he had another perfect Red Herring in his inventory, so the loss only took him down to 7/13.

It's kind of hard to see, but there's green stink clouds over the middle two bowls that have the dead fish

Everyone in the household was really depressed the next few days of course. Topher had school, and spent time with his best friend Donnel over afterwards. Becky had the first day off, but she performed at the theater in the afternoon then played in the park for tips afterwards. The second day she tried to squeeze in another concert before she had to be at work and ended up being late, but it worked out ok. Heathcliff spent most of his time fishing at the park was able to replace the Black Goldfish and added a perfect Siamese Catfish to his collection. A perfect salmon proved rather elusive though.

Heathcliff finally caught a perfect Salmon on Saturday, bringing his count to 10/13. At this point I'm just crossing my fingers he'll hang in there until he can get the last 3, but he's on borrowed time now. Topher spent Saturday doing stuff around the house, while Becky had to work that evening. Sunday Heathcliff got a perfect Alley Catfish and a perfect Angelfish, so he only needed one more to complete his LTW. Becky hung out in front of the theater for awhile playing for tips before her performace at 3PM.

Finally, and amazingly, on Sunday evening Heathcliff at long last caught a perfect Shark. This completed his LTW just as soon as I got it into a bowl for him. It won't be much I'm sure, but his points will now count toward the challenge.

The next few days fell into a routine of Topher working on schoolwork and occupying himself best he could to keep his fun up outside of school. Becky worked on her guitar skill, learning new songs, playing for tips when she could, and doing performances at work and on her days off. Heathcliff kept fishing and eventually had caught all of the fish available in Sunset Valley save for the Deathfish and finished the Amateur Ichthyologist challenge. He stayed up late one night, resorting to taking a nap on one of the stone benches at the cemetery, then tried for that last one. It didn't take him very long to get one.

There's not a lot to tell in the several days following. Topher got a part-time job as a Spa Receptionist because he got an opportunity at school that asked him to get a part-time job. Becky continued to work on her Guitar and Charisma, doing performances and playing for tips as much as possible. Heathcliff tended the garden and otherwise tried to occupy his time with watching the Yummy Channel or reading. He's 100 days old and I'm largely just waiting for him to die at this point, though I am considering taking him to China to fish to see if he can get the Commercial Fisherman challenge done as well. I could just do that in town, but I don't want him to end up dying all alone out at some remote lake. Will see what I decide to do when I play them again.

I think I'm finally ready to get back to the Medina-Britt family, so the next update will probably be about them, but I reserve the right to change my mind. ;) I'll be splitting them up and likely moving the Britt family to Twinbrook. Here's how my score stands currently:

Until next time!