At Home in Kimikura

Recently I drew a ROS for a family to live abroad for 3 years. Ok, that's a lie. The ROS was for the wife to leave the husband, but this couple are ALWAYS in the bed thanks to ACR and ALWAYS walking about in thier undies-even when the kids have friends over for dinner-a bit embarrassing if you ask me, but I digress. Since this couple is rock solid, I decided to chose another option in the ROS. The ROS is actually "Your family decreases" and it choses one of six options. So I chose the live abroad option. After brainstorming how and why the family would live aboard I then had the task of creating a dwelling place for them. The best part is that since the house is provided to them at a discounted cost I could spend a bit more than usual.

The spoiler for the ROS is that the family moves to Kimikura for thier time aboard. As an additional teaser, here's a preview of the home. Those who follow the Apple Valley families may be able to determine which family is moving away, but since the home is a traditional Kimikurian home and decorated in that sense, it may be a bit difficult.

Anyhoo, without further adieu, here's the tour of the new home.

Entrance of the home flanked by two statues rumored to bring good luck, health and blessings to the occupants of the home.

The foyer features space to put mail from family and friends back home in Apple Valley.

The kitchen/dining room is a cozy spot with bar, plenty of open shelving, bright green curtains and effecient kitchen layout (opps, I forgot the sink! Need to add that!)

The living area is sectioned into a comfortable seating arrangement for watching TV in Kimikurian (with simlish captions!) or chatting about the new culture. There is a desk area for emails, business reports and research, school work and basic bill paying and list making.

Upstairs are three bedrooms

one for each child. The oldest one insisted on plenty of room to study, especially with university so close, there isn't time for studies to go lacking.

The master suite has a private bath and balcony with room for a tea table and private tea ceremonies.

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Did you guess which family is going to leave Apple Valley for a little while?

Thank Goodness for Exit Without Saving!

I left my computer after I thought I turned off the game. Needless to say when I returned the next evening, I found that my computer hadn't "gone to sleep". Curiously I turned on the monitor and lo and behold (I always wanted to say that) the game was still running and it was on pause. The live mode was disabled.

Apparently my family died and the twins taken away. How? I have no clue. I thought they were on free will, but who knows. The tombstones were littered about the house (the parents were in the bedroom, one tombstone in the bathroom, the other tombstone in the other bedroom) and roaches were crawling about. So a bad case of the flu could have been to blame.

Thank goodness for exit without saving.

The Tiny Travel Center (aka Travel Corner) & Vacations

It's our 1st year anniversary and we're taking a short weekend trip. To celebrate I'm posting about how my simmies travel.
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Recently a few of my sims have been rolling in the simoleans. Even with expensive property taxes they have plenty of money. This is my fault. Most of them are business owners and I had all business owners sell thier lots (1x3) and purchase 3-1x1 lots for thier businesses. Of course, the construction and furnishing everything was cheaper. Then I had several of them sell off thier extra businesses and focus only on one business. Since I was beginning to not enjoy the OFB concept since so many of my sims had thier own business or had several business lots to tend. Thus, sims have tons of money. I had one commission an university building, which leaves two more families with excess funds. Well, the Warwick family told me :P that they wanted to spend thier simoleans on vacations. So I obligied and now here's a peek into vacations in my hood.

In my tiny travel center (actually it's more like a corner in the gift shop) located in the hood's administration office, I sell posters of different travel locales (in addition to the Bon Voyage posters, I also use the following posters from MTS2, I am currently creating similar vacation destinations to match).

If a sim purchases a poster, this is thier indication to me that they would like to travel to that location. The cost of the poster serves as thier deposit for the trip.

For example, if a sim buys poster #7, which is a ski vacation to Schatazweitzier Mountains (soon to be destined as a fall foliage vacation and the new Cusinaire Ridges (I'm a teacher :, all my other teachers will recognize the name) will become the winter vacation destination) , then once they get home, I book them for a vacation and allow them to stay in the ski resort. I only book the 3 day/2 night trip. It's the perfect amount of time to play in one play session and it syncs nicely with my one simday=one year aging in my hood. Of course, the sims can pretend that they were gone for longer :P

During thier vacation, I make sure they experience plenty of snow sports and snow ball fights.

Notice how tiny the terrain for Schatazweitzier Mountains is.

If a sim buys the same poster repeatedly, that serves as an indication that they would like to buy a vacation home there whenever possible.

This is what happened to the Warwicks. They went to Three Lakes (the precessor to Schatazweitzier Mountains) for thier honeymoon (http://thekentfamilyfujicourt.blogspot.com/2007/09/husband.html and http://sun-exchange-sandy-warwick.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-fotos.html). Then they took thier daughters there for a family vacation (http://thekentfamilyfujicourt.blogspot.com/2008/09/family-vacation.html and http://thekentfamilyfujicourt.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-family-vacation.html) and finally they rolled a want for buying a vacation home. They brought thier vacation home in none other than Schatazweitzier Mountains.

Some random vacation photo spam

Gypsy Clearing, home of the Glasha Clan in Schatazweitzier Mountains. This small campground is available for a small fee to sims who wish to live the life of a gypsy for a while. It's encouraged that appropiate attire and hairstyles are worn to experience the complete...experience :P




Tiny Residential Cabin, available in Schatazweitzier Mountains for a small fee of $25,653. It's located on a 1x1 lot, features one bath and one loft bedroom (with double and twin bed), tiny kitchen and living room and room outside for a small garden...if my sims decide to stay here for a long while.
Larger Cabin, available in Schatazweitzier Mountains for a modest fee of $73,096. It's located on a fairly large 2x2 lot, features three bath and four bedrooms, large kitchen and family room and large living room with fireplace. This is actually the vacation home of the Warwick family I was speaking of earlier.

Jah Sal Bazaar, downloaded from Parsimonious and renovated for my purposes. The Warwicks just returned from thier holiday here. Located in my Tiki Isles tropical vacation destination, the bazaar is my interpetation of Arabia. The small outdoor market, colorful tents that also serve as sleeping tents, bright colors and wonderful foodstuffs. To be honest, it's still a little bare. I'm experimenting with leaving the lots bare instead of filling them with crappy items/concepts. In this lot the far right lower building is empty waiting for a purpose. Same thing for the top two middle levels. I do have a restroom, a resturaunt, DJ booth and bar taking up space in the middle two sections, hot tub on the roof, random easels and chess sets, bubble blower, store that sells clothing and perfume and the camping tents.

So if you have suggestions for this lot, let me know.

Tour: Farmer's Market

Ever wonder what happens to all that natural organic produce the Grey family grows on thier farm?

It goes to The Farmer's Market, owned by the Grey family. The Farmer's market is next door to the farm, so Grex walks there everyday.

The Farmer's Market sells fresh organic produce. Grex doesn't use pesticides on his crops and until recently had been hand watering everything. Now he has a greenhouse with a sprinkler system so he can spend more time talking to the crops. Yes, he chats with the crops. He says it makes them happier and healthier.


Besides veggies and fruit, both crated and loose, the market sells fresh fish. Once a week there are fish sales called Fishy Fridays in which the loose fish is marked down for customers to buy. The market offers turkey dinners seasonally and orange blossom honey. The market is also host to the annual summer Food Expo and quarterly All Natural Cooking Contest in which participants bring dishes created from all natural organic produce and fish. There's even a popular spot to get married overlooking the boulders and silos.


Recently, Grex had the idea (to be honest, his mother-in-law told him to do it) to sell hand crafted items. Now there are handsewn potholders in the midst of fish and fruit and there are plans to add handcrafted quilts.

Grex recently promoted Jadhira from cashier to full time florist. The previous arrangement had Jadhira delivering batches of flower arrangements that she crafted in her freetime and manning the register. Now she is free to spend her working hours creating beautiful arrangements and she throws pottery, for the Herendez Gallery, in her freetime. The arrangement works a lot better now. There's a corner devoted to floral crafts inside the market and Jadhira is on hand for custom arrangements for parties and weddings, as well as general questions of 'which arrangement is best for a first date?'

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me???

That my pictures were crappy!

I was playing around with some of the ingame settings-since I hate printscreening and then cropping the images, no matter how crisp and large they look. When you have a full time teaching job (which is really a job and a half), husband, cat and social life, the time spent cropping each image adds up to a lot.

Anyhoo, I played around with the settings and now I can see lots of things! Paintings have details! There's a tweed jacket! Did you know sims had toes!!! TOES!!! I didn't!

With the new settings, it's like playing a brand new game! Can't wait to show off the new and improved photos!

Education in Apple Valley, Primary/Secondary

This is a little bit about how primary/secondary education work in Apple Valley.
Logisitics
Education in Apple Valley is very hands on. Currently, the education director owns the school. It is a community lot that stays closed. The director goes there whenever school is in session (he works in the education field as well, so right now we follow him to school M,W,F) and using Simlogical's Meeting Controller, calls the students and the other teacher to the school building.

The school day starts with the primary grades (K-5) working in a common room. They have to pass five skill exams with at least a one (have at least one skill point in five different skills, usually cleaning, cooking, mechanics, creativity and charisma). Since most of them come with the required skill points, they usually play and enjoy interacting with friends, drawing on the activity table or playing for recess. All students bring thier lunch from home (a single serving of a meal, usually lunch sandwiches, soups, or leftovers from dinner).

Junior high students work upstairs in thier room. They must pass seven skill exams with at least a one (at least one skill point in each skill). Any skill they are lacking they study on the computer, with lectures from the teacher (impart knowledge interaction) or interacting with different objects (painting for creativity, dancing for body, etc).

High school students must pass one skill exam with a score of six (six skill points in one skill), so most students chose an area to specialize in and then focus on building skills for that. Any skill they are lacking they study on the computer, with lectures from the teacher (impart knowledge interaction) or interacting with different objects (painting for creativity, dancing for body, etc). High school has two floors and a larger cafeteria with vending machines, for those who forgot thier lunch.

Grades and Skill Exams
Grades are assigned by rolls (11=A+, 10=A...3=C-, 2=D, 1=F), if a student doesn't pass a skill exam, then they fail by default. Students do not have to do homework, since there is no correlation to homework and grades. However, they are assigned projects thier last year of elementary/junior high/high school.

The skill exams are the bare minimum they need to pass to the next level. Of course, most high school students are going to try and have higher grades on thier skill exams in order to get into university (that's another post).

Classes and Field Trips
So what are the students doing if they're not working on skill points (since the requirements are so low) and are not doing assignments (like Simlogical's school hack). Well, they're exploring thier hobbies. Students take classes in different hobbies (painting, photography, pottery, etc) and even have field trips (the musuem for viewing art collections, the park for nature lessons and bird watching, etc).

I plan on having one of the play sessions being a field trip day, so that they can explore thier hobbies in more detail or get exposure. Some field trips planned include:

-Arts & Crafts: trip to the art musuem

-Film & Literature: Trip to the movies (an educational film of course), book discussions by local author

-Fitness: Trip to the park for a tai chi lesson or have a tai chi master come to the school for the lesson, trip to obstacle racing course for team building :P

-Music & Dance: Trip to the concert hall for behind the scenes of the dance company and orchestra

-Games: This is called recess :)

-Nature: Trip to the park for hiking, bird watching and bug collecting. Maybe even an overnight camping trip under the stars. Trip to the aquarium

-Cuisine: This is called lunch :)

-Science: Career Day at the medical center, trip to the observatory

-Sports: This is called recess :P

-Tinkering: Trip to the historical musuem

How does education work in your hood? Is it strictly MAXIS? MAXIS with a storytelling lot? Fully intergrated?

Aging and Celebrations

So in celebration of my birthday, let's talk about aging and other celebrations in Apple Valley.


Aging
One simday is equal to one year in the hood, so each age span is as follows:



infant-1 simday (0-1 year)
toddler-4 simdays (1-4 years)
children-5 simdays (5-10 years)
teen-7 simdays (11-18 years)


*young adult-4 simdays (19-22 years)
*if teen decides not to attend university, then they spend an additional 4 simdays as a teen*
adult-29 simdays (23-50 years)
elder-varies (51+)

Birthday Celebrations

I only celebrate the big birthdays in which the sims change life stages. These birthdays are the resident's rites of passages.


Birthdays are usually marked with cake and your family nearby (unless your family is full of workaholics who forgot your birthday causing you to grow up alone in your bedroom, but that's another story).

The 1st birthday includes cake and usually a family only event, unless your family is part of the movers and shakers crowd. The child birthday (5th) includes a guest list of local children so the birthday sim can meet new residents and start making friends. The young adult birthday has no fanfare as this is when the sim enters college, so to my sims, this isn't a big birthday celebration, though entering university is a rite of passage. The adult birthday also include cake, or in some cases a night out on the town with lots of bar hopping and drinking.

The teen birthday is a BIG rite of passage, marking when the child is on it's way to becoming an adult. Depending on the culture of the family it is similar to the Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah, Quinceañera, Seijin Shiki or a Sweet Sixteen party. Parents usually start having "the talk" with the teens, and the teens recieve thier own cellphone (from the hood for free-nice perk!). Of course, the financial status of the family will indicate if the celebration includes a large formal event or simply family members present when you grow up and your favorite meal.

Wedding Celebrations
Weddings are a BIG deal in Apple Valley. I create a custom gown created for the bride (usually I post the gowns at A.Pentragnani) to reflect thier personality and style of the wedding. Anything from African inspired gowns, to glamourous hollywood art deco gowns. Sometimes tuxedos, bridesmaids gowns and accessories like veils, flowers, hats, or purses are made.
Inspiration boards from Style Me Pretty are consulted for the theme of the wedding. These boards help give direction in terms of colors and textures for the reception, types of food, formality of the event and invitations. Yes, invitations. Since Apple Valley is a sim-to-sim hood, a lot of residents have families in other SUN hoods. They are invited to send thier sims to Apple Valley for the event and many times it's a large family reunion.
Sometimes bridal showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties are held depending on the sim and the urgency of the wedding.
Photographers are hired to snap photos of the event. This is a fairly simple process of inviting the photographer (currently Antonio Herendez) to the event and selecting him. He then snaps photos of the event with the personal camera and larger antique camera. These photos are then given to the family and he is then paid a nice fee for his services.
Like all weddings, the formality and expense varies from a large church wedding, to a modest backyard event, to a visit to the courthouse, depending on the sim.
Funerals

Funerals vary in formality from a simple mourning bewteen the family at the gravesite, to a full memorial service at the church or home with a guest list that rivals a wedding. Black and grey is worn, the mood is somber and snacks are laid out. At the memorial service, the urn of the deceased it displayed for all to mourn it, before it is moved to the cemetary. At the very least, the family has a chance to mourn the loved one.

Other Celebrations
Annivesaries, retirement parties, house warming parties, etc are held as well. This depends on the family and thier financial status. Sometimes a simple dinner out is enough, other times there is a full fledged party that is planned for years.

So, how do you celebrate life's events for your simmies?