@simsample

Keep.
He is good with the toddlers!
Okay, he is a sloppy pyromaniac - I'd take the stove out. He can serve cereal, lunch meat sandwiches, chef salad and gelatin for a while - until the family can afford a new kitchen
He will probably find something else to cause drama with anyway!

I once fired a nanny because she set the house on fire. The toddler twins were NOT happy and cried for the whole day It never occurred to me that they liked the nanny!

Or SimSample could put in a 'butler' version of the food replicator and all that would be necessary is clean up: https://modthesims.info/d/466921/fo...r-all-sims.html

There'd be no more fires!


This is my personal favorite- a serving platter that you can put on a counter and serves the same purpose as the butler: https://www.tumblr.com/simsantoinc/...rdrobes-modular

I'm having a conundrum with one of my founding families. Misha's daughter Nadia got pregnant as a teen (totally my fault and the result of a non-playable sims can get pregnant mod and a poorly-placed photo booth) and she's now an adult and ready to move out. The main issue is that Nadia isn't a very attentive parent. She'll be in the same room as the crying baby (now toddler) and won't do anything about it. Her dad and his new partner Ester, however, will run from wherever they are to immediately feed/change/put to bed the baby as soon as it starts to cry. Misha has always been good with kids even though he's a pleasure sim, and Ester is a romance sim elder, which surprised me that they'd both be so involved. The baby's father Tódor is set to age up to adult tonight and will move out as soon as possible due to intense dislike of his brothers. He's a knowledge sim and has only met the baby once but they seemed to get on alright.

The issue is what will happen to little Aelita once both her parents move out. There's no chance of her parents moving in together since Nadia has been two-bolts in love with her neighbour the entire time she's been a teen, and he feels the same so they're obviously going to move in together. Tódor has no interest in anyone right now so he's going to be living alone for the foreseeable future.

Should Aelita
a) continue living with her grandparents
b) move out with Nadia and her boyfriend (a popularity sim)
c) move in with Tódor once he ages up and gets settled.

I'm honestly stumped.

Thank you everyone who has offered ideas for the butler, Micklethwaite. Much appreciated, I'm considering all options and will make a decision next time the rotation takes me to that family.

@pinkdynamite I would keep the baby with her grandparents, and once she is child age, have her call both of her parents to keep a relationship with them. They could visit, too. Perhaps when she is older she will choose to move in with one of them? But for now I think the parents probably don't really know what they want from life, so Aelita might be better off with Misha and Ester for a while.

@pinkdynamite : I'd leave her with her grandparents, but let them befriend Tódor, so he too is involved in the raising of his child, I'd even consider inviting him to move in with them. (In any case he needs somewhere to live.) Then, should one day, Time's Wingèd Chariot finally catch up with them (I'm putting that as tactfully as possible), Tódor will be able to take over her care. I'd keep Nadia in the loop too. As Aelita's mother she has a right to be kept informed, and, as she grows older, she may take more interest in her child.

Sims, even quite unrelated ones as friends, do move in to help in my game, when needed and invited. Seth Almassizadeh, a business colleague of Consort's (originally a Downtownie), moved in with Consort and April Hutchind-Capp, to help during her pregnancy. Consort felt unable to cope on his own -- it's a long long time since Contessa was pregnant.

[EDIT] When I read simsample's reply, it's really quite similar to mine. Great minds think alike??

[EDIT - P.S.] Andrew was quite dismissive when he read my edit. "If yours is a 'Great mind'," he said to me, "Then Heaven help us!"

In my experience, pleasure sims are very good with kids, love to play with them (babies, toddlers, children, teens, the whole age range).

You tell Andrew he's not allowed to talk about our friend that way. I'm not convinced he's saying that, because I think he loves you more than you love yourself.

Anyway, @pinkdynamite, leaving the child of a teen pregnancy with the grandparents is a very common way to resolve the issue of parents who aren't mature enough to raise a kid, especially in a case like this where the grandparents exhibit willingness to step up. There used to be a saying in my hometown (alas, for decades the leader in teen pregnancy in the US), "the first grandchild is for the grandmother," meaning that you probably are having the first kid too young and so did she, so the grandmother is still young enough that taking on one more kid is not going to be a problem.

Perhaps we share a mind? We often have the same ideas! And, there are stretches of time when I'm convinced my mind has gone (like today, walking into the garden and then not remembering why I went there in the first place). Maybe you had the mind this morning, did you feel particularly inspired around that time?

And remind Andrew that it was your idea to buy The Sims 2 in the first place, and that he wouldn't even be here if you hadn't had that great idea.

That's interesting, I didn't think pleasure sims would be good with kids for some reason. He's even better than some of my family sims!

The whole family and I have talked it over and based on all your wonderful input we have decided that Aelita will indeed continue living with her grandparents. That's a very good idea to move Tódor in with Misha and Ester, since his family is quite poor and he won't have much money when he moves out. Thanks for the excellent suggestion AndrewGloria. I have a suspicion he will be a much better parent than Nadia but perhaps she just needs to grow up a bit more.

I'll post updates once we see how this all plays out. Thanks again!

You are absolutely right about Andrew loving me. More than anyone else, he has helped me to know and accept myself for who I am. I think I do Andrew a disservice when I report what he says to me. What doesn't come across is his caring expression and his infectious smile. He uses a sort of friendly banter when he talks to me, but there is absolutely no malice in it. He talks the way he does because he knows he is absolutely safe with me, as indeed I feel completely safe with him. I am very happy to know Andrew as a friend. Andrew has a high concept of friendship; he says your friends are the ones who are there for you when the chips are down. Andrew and I know we can rely on each other. As my friend I also expect him to tell me when he thinks I'm wrong. I think that's what real friends do for each other.

Andrew is turning into a real asshole and I am disappointed in him.



Proof that AndrewGloria and Simsample are really orange cats?

Tim and Claudia Warrens want to have to have another child, and I don't know if I want them to. They are too old for biological children. They could adopt, but I don't know.
Pros:
- they are both family sims and will make them happy
- one of them wants to marry off 6 children, and they currently have 5
- it's already a full house
- they can adopt a child and skip all the baby/toddler drama
- two oldest kids will move to college in about 4 simdays, and they will have a bit more space

cons:
- they are struggling to emotionally support the kids they have. The house is clean, food is cooked, but they have no time and energy to encourage behaviors, help with homework, play or chat with them. I am afraid that an adopted child might not get attention and would be left alone a lot
- it will be hard to build up all the sibling relationships for an adopted child. I would want them to have a bond with each sibling, but there are five of them, there is a constant chaos, and two of them will be in college soon. I don't want adopted child to just be there doing their own thing, half forgotten by burnt out parents and busy siblings. (On the other hand, they might bond with Alia the dog who is pretty much just existing in background; it would make an interesting storyline).

So, I could:
- have them adopt a kid and see what happens;
- not adopt and deal with the ones they have. Tim might not get his lifetime want fulfilled;
- let Tim have an affair and knock someone up. He took twins to Three Lakes at one point (to "staighten them up" after their grades fell to F) and had an emotional affair with a tourist, so he could;
- just wait and see how it feels when twins are out of house and toddler has grown up. It's just the want for another kid is constant for both of them and it kind of feels like they want to have all the kids before they turn into elders

Adopt! Adopt! A child or teen maybe. That's what I'd do! The affair is good for dramaz, but doesn't help Claudia at all. A kid can form relationships with college-bound siblings via phone.

I support the motion to adopt

Inspired by your support, Warrens applied for adoption and choose to have a random teen. I am a happy to report that my game has generated the first boy since the adoption of Tazama McCallister.
Alvin is popularity sim with behavior issues (I roll dice for backstory for adoptees). He has no siblings and has been in and out of foster care for a long time. Warrens are confident they can set him on the right path and make him quit his criminal career.
So far, Alvin has made friends with Claudia. All his new teen siblings want to be friends, and he himself tries to interact with younger girls as well. It's a bit awkward but cute. He tried to bath a hungry toddler and read to sleeping child. But he'll learn.

Two other families adopted as well this rotation but I had no doubt about them. Warrens, well, they did get even more chaotic and hard play. But I already like Alvin.

I recently transferred my BACC hood to a new map (Thanks FranH!) but now the original name, Portland, doesn't seem to fit. The new map I used is Harbor Valley, but that name doesn't seem right either. So far I'm leaning towards Ridgeview. Does this look like a Ridgeview to anyone else? Perhaps Ridgeview Bay/Vista/Glen? Or maybe someone has a better idea?

I think Portland is not a bad name for it. It's too mountainous to be anything like the island of Portland in Dorset, England, but Portland, Oregon does have mountains, which though not very high, are steep like the ones in your new terrain. I wonder if anyone has made an overhead cable car (tram) like the one they have in Portland Oregon. I'd be surprised if nobody has! I have a bit of an interest since, as you know, a boy from your Portland has just arrived to stay for a while in our Veronaville. I'm beginning to think of him as a Portland resident (a Portlander?).

Hazyview?

In South Africa, small town in the province of Mmpumalanga (it means where the sun rises), pics attached

This is a very silly soapy Pleasantview, so maximum potential drama advice, please! Also I play with Inteen, but the teens involved in this mess are either graduates now or in their last day of high school so I consider them young adults and free to move wherever funds allow.

Problem family: The Pleasants, of course.

Relatives and connections: the Oldies live in a four bedroom house and adopted teen Meadow Thayer, and are considering adopting another teen: one bedroom is devoted to Meadow's flower arranging hobby, one is still empty. The Burbs live in a two bedroom house, Jennifer is pregnant, and Lucy becomes a teen today. Kaylynn lives alone (for now, she's pregnant by Daniel) in Don Lothario's old house, and Don is a frequent visitor to their little love nest. The Brokes still live in their trailer, Brandi, Dustin, Beau, Bethie, and Brandi is pregnant with twins. The Dreamers: Darren has dated a couple women (Christy Straton and Brandi Broke) but has not settled on a new girlfriend, let alone a marriage, so it's just him and Dirk for the moment.

The Pleasants themselves.
Mary Sue is visibly pregnant with twins. Daniel is the father. (should give birth within a sim day)
Angela is visibly pregnant by Dustin Broke. (should give birth within a sim day)
Lilith is not yet showing pregnant by Dirk Dreamer, and is engaged to Dirk (Inteen delivered on the risky runaway for the first time ever in my game.)

Everyone is furious with Lilith. Lilith is furious with everyone. I think she marries Dirk and moves in with him and his father for now, until they can afford their own place. This was their plan when Dirk asked her to marry him in their junior year of high school, so now they've graduated and are expecting it's time for them to execute it. Dirk is in the Athletics career: there's plenty of room for Daniel, the head coach to sabotage him: the drama will continue. Lilith is in Journalism.

No one else is furious with Angela. She could move in with Dustin's family, but there's no place for another bed, let alone three more cribs, but there's no room for two more cribs either. They can't afford their own place, and Brandi really cannot manage without another adult or a teen in the house with that mob. (Brandi is seeing several men, but only wants to marry Herb Oldie.) Angela is in Journalism, Dustin is in Criminal.

Mary Sue and Daniel are mutually furious with each other. Mary Sue could move in with her parents, but there is not much room, especially once the twins are born, and her parents want to adopt again anyway (Coral has a six grandkids LTW and Herb doesn't mind kids and teens around, he's just not into babies and toddlers thank you very much). Daniel could move in with his sister, but again, there is no room at all. I think each will end up with half the value of the house in the divorce, and probably split custody of the new twins (which could go very badly indeed).

Should Mary Sue or Daniel stay in the current house with a hefty mortgage? Should either of them move in temporarily or permanently with family while looking for their own place? Should Daniel try to move in with Kaylynn, and if he succeeds, what will that do to her sweet little deal with Don?

What should Angela and Dustin do?

@Sunbee Did you make decisions on what to do yet? Sorry I didn't reply sooner! I think I would have sent Daniel off with Kaylynn (for maximum drama), let Mary-Sue have the house with the babies, and move Lilith in with Dirk and Darren. Then- I'd move Angela and Dustin in with the Oldies, I know Herb won't be pleased, but Dustin should get a job to save for a move-out to their own place. If the Oldies want to adopt again then Meadow would have to put her flower arranging out on the patio for a while! Once Angela and Dustin have saved a bit they should be able to get their own place, and maybe Coral could help her with the baby.

Thank you to everyone who gave advice on Micklethwaite, I played the Gooberdapples this week and made a decision to retire him.

Dot says- "Look, Micklethwaite, you've been a totally incendiary butler, but really I feel like two toddlers and a teen is a bit much for you. Here's a wad of money, why don't you retire?" (I love the mess in the background as she tells him this, he stood looking at an old newspaper a toddler was sitting on for 2 sim hours, before deciding to make a start on other things )





This household is the last on my rotation, so I'll see how he likes the place when it comes to his turn.

The Gooberdapple's house, around 45 minutes after they have dismissed Micklethwaite and hired a new butler (Higgins).

Whilst Higgins clears up the mess that Micklethwaite didn't, Micklethwaite turns up uninvited, and makes a chef salad.



Well, at least I should be grateful that he didn't attempt to use the oven!

Poor Micklethwaite is lonely. You'd better move some more people in with him!

Why am I remembering another pyromaniac butler who was sleeping with the Lady of the House?

That was Babbage in my other hood, Lacuna Delta. He had a robot replica too.

My idea is to move my elder playable sims in with Micklethwaite when my younger generations start their own families. So far, the eldest are teens so a little while to wait yet!

I've got a whole bunch (and I mean at least 30) sims that are going to age up to elders in a few rounds and I don't know what to do with them. Should they all stay in their own houses? Move into a retirement home with separate apartments? Combine their wealth and buy one massive building for everyone? What does everyone else do with their elders?