Chapter 2.1 | Chapter 2.3

Here's what yesterday looked like on my SimNaNo goals:

Today's posts put me at over halfway done on my targeted word count, although I will need to keep working to get the post count.

So, last post, we aced the first part of Generation 2 - now for the fun stuff. The "real" beginning of the Gen. First, though, let's copy over the rules:

That done, let's acknowledge the cute pic of the happy couple in front of their new home - the "Lower Class Egyptian Home" linked above.. and move on.

First thing I do: have Marl (why do I keep trying to call her Myra. Wrong sim) take some of the Taro root from her new husband and plant it. I also buy some starter veggies and fruit and plant those, too. Okay, let's be honest. I had her plant way too much - and later I end up selling some of the plants because they don't "look right" in the garden. (HAHA!)

I don't know if the awning here will keep them dry in the rain, but never-the-less, I really like the open-air concept for the dining "room". Although why they had to sit at opposite ends of the table, I don't know.

Marl gets down to business as quickly as possible... and starts some laundry. Of note: we are all prepared for babies in this house, as you can see... but these two have yet to woohoo. Since they'll have to "Try for Baby", I'm not quite ready for it yet. (Especially since it's almost Summer, and we need to hit up Granite Falls for Herbalism stuff.. but again, I'm getting ahead of the story.)

Marl dodges the bees as she's getting to know them. This is the garden before I add too many plants and have to rearrange.

Dad stops over to check on his "little girl". She informs him that they won't be home for the next week - they're spending the Summer in Granite Falls. (Which isn't quite like an Oasis, but we'll deal with it.)

After I spend the time to add in the "Early Civilization" Campground and Forest that I built, they go on vacation and immediately head for the closest fishing hole. That'll give the plants a chance to finish spawning, and Skyor time to get the fish for the first part of his Outdoor Enthusiast Aspiration.

I run myself crazy picking up flowers and plants and digsites and bugs.. and entirely forget to take very many pictures.. but if you've tried this aspiration before, you'll understand why. Finally, we get to the part where he needs 4 Herbalism skill, and we "chain" him to a grill to get that done.

Eating his roasted Beetles. Or, at least cooking them to eat them. He doesn't seem to be that worried about it. Being that he was born in the "Stone Age", I would guess not - and after all that collecting, he was pretty darn hungry.

Marl has been doing some collecting, too... but I think she spent most the time complaining about her fishing skill being too low to catch anything. This, by the way, is Skyor eating that all important second plate of beetles. We finish out that part of the aspiration, and get to the part where you have to befriend the hermit.

Little story before we get there, though - they had two whole days where they had thunder and lightning pretty much ALL day. I kinda rolled the dice and still had them in the forest and Deep Woods collecting everything possible, figuring I could run them into the hermit's house if one got struck the first time. I had to keep cancelling Skyor's friendly overtures to the hermit, because I didn't want to glitch the save out by getting to know her too early, which was thoroughly annoying. Somehow, however, neither one got struck by lightning even a single time. I saw some other sims get hit.. but not our couple. For which I will eternally be grateful... LOL. I apparently forgot to take even a single picture of this, but I guess that's okay - they would have been dark photos, anyway.

We finally get to know the hermit, and we take the time to get to "Good Friends" so we can learn the extra Herbalism recipe. Meanwhile, I'm still hunting down bugs and plants and anything else I can collect with both sims until their needs get too low, then refilling the needs and continuing on. Very exciting - let me tell you.

However, the most exciting part of the whole trip was right at the very end. We had only a couple of hours left on the trip, and I had literally one insect left to find. That darn Walking Stick that's only in the Deep Woods. I've never finished the Insect collection, so I was trying my hardest to spot the little guys.

When I finally spotted them - I was literally yelling at the screen for Skyor to hurry up and get over to where they were so they wouldn't disappear (And hubby probably thought I was crazy!!) But - I finally completed the Bug collection. (Wouldn't you know it, I also completely forgot to have the "curator" aspiration up to catch the moment - but maybe it'll count later, if I get that far? It's not like I don't have other things I have to get done this generation.)

We send them home a scant hour early because everything was collected anyway, and I start divvying up the bounty. Herbalism plants go to Skyor, veggies go to Marl, Bugs to Skyor, etc. All the rocks, crystals, maps, fossils, and Herbalism concoctions Skyor had made all went on the sales table. I didn't put any mysims trophies out - that would have looked weird, so I just sold those outright.

People are buying stuff left and right. Marl is busy somewhere in the background, planting the new veggies. I set up an inside planter for each of the Herbalism plants, but Skyor will have to plant those - after he learns what they all are. Because that's the part of the aspiration we're on. After a while, Marl runs out of stuff to do, and I have them switch off. She runs the yard sale, and Skyor works on his skills. I'm going to have him do Wellness and Herbalism, and Marl will do Cooking and Gardening. Hopefully we'll have time to get all of that done.

Lunch time. Marl grills up some veggie something or other that gave both of them a huge moodlet buff, which I'd never seen before. Something I'll definitely have to do again, that's for sure. At least they're sitting together this time. Oh yeah, and I just remembered to mention - you won't be seeing Paku and Utali here, because they were left behind in the Bronze Age, as per the rules.

She's back doing laundry again. Somehow I missed all the Granite Falls pictures, but I managed to get two of her doing laundry. Go figure.

A shot of the roof "garden" where Skyor is starting on his Wellness skill. Too bad it doesn't give more "Fun" - he's still really hurting for it, and I'm still unwilling to let them Try for Baby - so I'm trying to come up with other things to do.

Zarra stops by to say hello, so we invite her in and chat a while. At least one of our couple will have some Social need filled...

I finally relent. It occurs to me that I don't absolutely have to have the first kid be the heir, so they can have one or two before-hand if I'm struggling with the skills. Or that darn tent sleeping requirement that I'm dreading. However - this post is long enough, and I figured this was as good a place to stop as any - so we'll have to wait to find out if this Try for Baby bears "fruit".

I am going to leave you with a bonus: I went in and took pictures of all of Skyor's younger siblings - in order (which took some remembering who came first) in their current age state and clothes that they grew up in. I think - looks wise - Myra is my fave, but we'll have to wait to see how she looks as a teen. Skyor certainly has grown on me, though, and I'm having a blast with this challenge!

See you next time!

Chapter 2.1 | Chapter 2.3