Making the Most

The next morning, Chris comes up with a new wish: Visit the Park. This wish makes perfect sense in the context of his Loves the Outdoors trait. Not only will sending him to the park fulfill the wish, but he will also get the benefit of the Beautiful Park and One With Nature moodlets.

Plus, while he’s at the park, Chris can meet new Sims and be sociable. Since he is a Schmoozer, he can use the socials associated with that trait to start some nice friendly relationships.

Meanwhile, Catherine is back at the computer. I promised her the Reach Level 5 of Writing Skill wish and I want the 1,500 Lifetime Happiness points that go along with it.

As a bonus, completing this wish opens up a promised wish slot I can put a new wish into, such as Write a Romance Novel. (By level 5 of the Writing skill, Sims can pen romance novels, which are the most lucrative genre. They also take the longest to write, though.)

Chris had a good day at work. He got a promotion! Now he’s a Snack Hawker. The promotion came with a one-time bonus of §158 and a raise to §25 an hour. At home, I put him on the treadmill to keep on his Athletic skill before he grabs a quick bite, takes a bath, and goes to sleep.

When Catherine gets up in the morning and goes to the bathroom, she gets the Dirty Surroundings moodlet. The tub and toilet are filthy. To remove the problem and prevent Chris from suffering the same negative moodlet when he gets up, I task Catherine with cleaning the bathroom.

And the hits just keep on coming. After putting dishes in the dishwasher, the object pushes water all over the floor. Left-click on the puddle to mop it up.

The wishes are getting a little more varied now. Catherine wants to Buy a Cookbook, which is attached to her Bookworm trait and her recently acquired Cooking skill. (She got it while making waffles in the morning.) I sent Catherine to Divisadero Budget Books to buy a cookbook.

Since her Cooking skill is only level 1, I have to buy a recipe she is capable of making. I settle on Ratatouille. As soon as she checks out, the wish is fulfilled.

While Catherine is out, I also send her down to the supermarket to buy some groceries. Along the way, she meets some people on the street. Now she has some acquaintances. I don’t engage her in too much conversation, though, because I want her to get home.

Alright, Catherine is ready to start her first book. There is a choice to be made here: What genre? I opted for romance because I know she has the time to work on it. And while writing such a lengthy novel, she will also develop her Writing skill at the same time. When it’s all done, she’ll have a good money-maker plus an advanced skill set.

While writing, I noticed sparks coming out of the dishwasher following cleaning up after the morning meal. Catherine takes a short break to call the Repair Technician, which costs §50. If she had any degree of the Handiness skill, I’d consider just having her tinker with it herself. But as a total novice, she risks injury.

When Chris comes home from work, I plop him down in the living room and open his personal inventory via the Inventory panel. By left-clicking on the book his boss gave him as part of the opportunity, I automatically command Chris to start reading.

The meter over his head shows me how far into the task he is. Chris is not a Bookworm like Catherine, so it takes him longer to read a book than it takes her.

When Chris finishes the book, he is not done with the opportunity. He still needs to report back to work. That’s when his boss recognizes that he has completed the opportunity and issues the corresponding reward.

The next morning, I make another investment in Chris. One of his wishes is to Do a Strength Workout, so I buy the Exercise Queen, which will not only help him with his Athletic skill, but also keep his stress down while he uses it.

I move the treadmill to another wall and install the weight resistance machine right in the living room. As soon as Chris starts working out on the Exercise Queen, the promised wish is fulfilled and he banks 450 Lifetime Happiness points.

While Chris works out, his cell phone rings. When he answers it, he gets another opportunity: Muscle Showdown. This is a skill opportunity—and it’s a timed one. He needs to report to the stadium during his personal time before 11:58 on Sunday to participate in a competition.

Aren’t they cute, reading on the couch together?

Soon, Catherine gets a phone call. Word of her being a budding author has spread because she submits a few completed chapters of her book every few days for a small stipend. The call leads to the opportunity It’s a Living.

Here Catherine must write enough books so that she gets §500 a week in royalty checks. If she does, Connor Frio will hook her up with a publisher to increase the size of those checks.

Here’s where the decision to write the romance novel pays off. This novel will be worth §500 a week in royalties because it’s the most lucrative genre. As soon as that book is finished, the opportunity will be fulfilled, too.

Not too long after accepting the opportunity, Catherine hit me up with the Learn Painting Skill wish. I accepted the wish and immediately set about fulfilling it because that helps on the other half of the Illustrious Author Lifetime Wish.

Both the Writing and Painting skills must be mastered up to level 10. Catherine is at level 6 on Writing skill now. There’s no better time than the present to start learning the Painting skill. The next day, I’ll send Catherine to the Community School for the Gifted to take the class. But I’ll do something first that might help with the tuition...

As a result of finishing the book related to the career opportunity, Chris got a promotion at work. It’s a good day for our family. While Chris comes home, Catherine makes dinner so both will have a Good Meal and she can boost her Cooking skill a little bit.

After dinner, I make sure Chris and Catherine have some time alone. I use Catherine’s Hopeless Romantic socials to love up on Chris and in turn, use Chris’s Schmoozer socials to flatter Catherine. Everybody is happy. Catherine turns in and I send Chris to take a bath so he doesn’t stink up the place overnight.

While Chris is bathing, he comes up with a new wish: Buy Something Worth At Least §100. That’s an easy wish to fulfill, so I left-click on it to promise it to Chris. Then, while Chris soaks with the duckie and works on his Duck Time moodlet, I bring up Buy Mode and look for something sensible to buy that meets the wish requirement.

I chose the Tigervine Plant to give the home a nice little environment boost of +2. Adding this bit of decor actually helps with closing in on another easy-to-get moodlet that helps with overall mood: Decorated. A nicely furnished home with enough objects that raise the Environment rating past a certain point results in the Decorated moodlet, which is worth +10 mood.