(Warning: This entry is long, rambly, and full of pics, since I played about three nights’ worth of the challenge before I got around to posting.)

It’s official — I hate Fortune Sims. Perhaps “hate” is too strong a word. They’re just a bit on the boring side. I was hoping that eventually they’d want to do things like write novels and paint masterpieces, but as my Legacy Challenge elders Nia and Sheldon near the ends of their lives, I have yet to see those wants pop up for either of them. Instead it’s like this: buy shrub, buy tree, buy flowerbed, talk to spouse, flirt with spouse, make out with spouse, woohoo with spouse, buy shrub, buy tree, buy flowerbed, etc. It’s getting really old. It’s also turning their backyard into a jungle.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. In my last update, the twins had become teens, and I had failed to get them into private school. It took two more tries, but eventually the headmaster deigned to enter the house and stay for dinner and a tour. Sheldon prepared his lobster thermidor — burning it for the first time ever (he must have been nervous) — while Nia gave the tour. The headmaster was so impressed that he accepted the girls into private school. Huzzah! I also had Sheldon become friends with him because you never know when you might need an NPC to marry into the family (not that he’d be my first choice — he’s so rude!).

While the girls adjusted to their new school, Sheldon and Nia became elders. At some point I actually answered a chance card correctly, and Nia received §5,000. Nothing spectacular, but every penny counts with these Fortune Sims. They also wanted to get promoted (because it means more money, naturally), so I worked on that.

Sheldon eventually made it to the top of his career and became Mayor, which means he acquired new threads and a helicopter for his carpool (would that make it a ‘helipool’?). Eventually Nia made it to the top of her career (Business Tycoon), so she got to ride in the chopper, too. They didn’t like how loud it was — even the gardener would cover his ears when it landed.

My family still wasn’t super rich — their net worth was around §58,000 by this point — so I didn’t have Nia and Sheldon retire right away. I figured I’d let them work until some kind of “Retire” want appeared in their Aspiration panel. It didn’t happen, though — they just wanted more money. I found myself wishing they could work on their days off so they could earn as much as possible — Nia had an Earn §62,000 want that I tried (and failed) to fulfill for her. I ended up creating a garden of money trees for her to water and harvest every 6 hours. One day I had forgotten to close off the fence around the garden and saw the gardener start to water the trees. I thought that was pretty cool until he started grabbing the money, too.

Well, having to maintain that garden grew rather tiresome, so I got rid of the money trees and started focusing on Nia’s other wants. I also had her call all of her old friends on a regular basis to maintain their family friend status so that my teens, once grown up and employed, would have an easier time getting promoted. Unfortunately, once Nia and Sheldon pass away, all of those family friendships will go poof as well.

Here’s Nia talking on the phone to one of the family friends. I took this shot to get a good pic of what she looks like as an elder. I gave her the cute hat because her other hairstyle just didn’t look very elder-y. In the background, Bree and Sheldon play chess.

Since Kiara, another Fortune Sim, wanted to earn some money, I had her get an after-school job in the athletics career. Even though she’s a bit of a lazy Sim (a score of 3 in that trait), she had no trouble raising her Body skill and getting promoted to the top of the teen career ladder, which was Team Mascot. In the meantime, her sister Bree, a Knowledge Sim, maxed out her Logic skill and started in on Cooking and Cleaning. Around this time I singled out the gardener, Leo Deppiesse, as her future spouse, so I had them become friends.

As elders, Nia and Sheldon no longer needed as much sleep, so they’d stay up late and play piano or just sit around and gab. Of course there’s also the woohoo, which they seemed to want on a regular basis, along with the aforementioned foliage. I also made them jump on the sofa just for kicks, and they seemed to have a good time.

Eventually the twins, both in platinum, made the transition to adulthood. Here’s the obligatory portrait of them on the sofa, while their dad plays piano madly in the background…

(Both girls were wearing their mom’s old outfit when they grew up, so I took them shopping and got them their own clothes. I also changed the hairstyles a bit and gave Bree a pair of glasses.)

Kiara continued on in the athletic field, working her way up to Starter. Bree had no desire to get a job, so I kept her home and worked on raising her skills. I also had her fall in love with Leo the Gardener, who moved in, bringing some money (around §1000, I believe) and a few maxed out skills. He had no job, but he was a Knowledge Sim (yay!) and wanted a career in Medicine or Science (I chose Medicine). He also liked to chat online for hours on end, causing the computer to suffer a meltdown. Thankfully Leo was sufficiently geeky — I mean, skilled — enough to be able to fix it.

Now that the family had more money, I could afford a lavish wedding for Bree and Leo. The jungle in the backyard came in handy for this, as it made a lovely backdrop for the ceremony. Unfortunately the bartender decided to offer drinks to the bride and groom while they were exchanging vows. D’oh! Talk about ruining the photo ops! When she ducked behind the arch, I snapped a pic, but you can still see her. Silly bartender.

And here we have the obligatory cake picture. Bree very delicately fed Leo a bite of cake on a fork, instead of shoving it into his mouth as most of my other Sims have done. Nia and Sheldon dance it up in the background.

After the party died down, Sheldon and the bartender had a scandalous tryst in Kiara’s bedroom…

“Would you like a drink, Mr. Mayor?”

OK, not really…he was just relaxing on Kiara’s bed and the bartender lady happened to walk into the room. Heehee. It would have been a fun story, though, no?

Speaking of Mr. Mayor, a “Quit Job” want appeared in his Aspiration panel, so I had him “Retire” from his job. Apparently “Retiring” isn’t considered “Quitting”, so he didn’t get the measly aspiration points, but oh well. He receives a daily pension of §375 from his old job and took a new job as a school crossing guard. From mailman to mayor to crossing guard…Sheldon’s had quite a life.

Meanwhile, Nia’s still working as a Business Tycoon and has reached the ripe old age of 68. I expect her to kick the bucket any day now, so I’m scrambling to keep her in Platinum. Bree and Leo returned from the honeymoon and promptly got pregnant. Bring on the third generation!