The Sims 2 Presents: Foster's Valley!

[Cassini90125]

I didn't have any other choice. Let's leave it at that.

And now, back to the story...

Foster's Valley - The mystery deepens

Pity the Forum Administrator:



Sparky got summoned for Welcome Wagon duty again. I have no idea why the game keeps picking on her. Here we see her looking to the sky and you can almost hear her saying, "Sheesh, again?!?!", although at this point she might be saying something a trifle ruder. Making matters worse is that today's Welcome Wagon is at the McBride house, and the McBride and Forum adults aren't too fond of each other. On the bright side, Luanne does serve a dang good grilled cheese sandwich:



Also sentenced to selected for Welcome Wagon duty were Mac's mom and Louise's mom, two more people who don't get along too well. Seen above, Barbara is teasing Rhonda about her recent job loss; Rhonda got fired from her prestigious law firm the previous day and Barbara can't resist the urge to give her a little grief about it. Barbara usually gets the better of their encounters. Also present at the table are Travis and Luanne, along with their third son, Quentin, who I think I mentioned awhile back is the only really decent member of the family. Wants to become a doctor as I recall. After lunch it was time to crowd into the TV area, where Rhonda got a small measure of revenge:



Neal McBride chats with Sparky, who accidentally smacks Barbara in the face, and Rhonda applauds. In the background, Travis is also amused. Unlike the rest of my Sims, Travis is employed in a custom career I downloaded from MTS2. He wants to get into the "Criminal" career track but for now he is at level one in the "Scum Of Society" career, busily filching coins from mall fountains.

Sparky eventually got tired of watching TV while standing and sat at the dining table, where Rhonda joined her a few minutes later. The conversation was interesting:



"You don't want to be here, either, right?" asked Rhonda.
"I want to go home and soak in the tub for an hour," was Sparky's response. "I'm tired of Welcome Wagon duty. I want to soak, relax, eat whatever Lynnie's putting on the table tonight, and try to make sense of some things."
"Like what?" Rhonda smiled. "Maybe I can help?"
Sparky smiled in return. "Maybe you can. You see, I had a chat with Madame Foster yesterday, and she told me-"
Rhonda's smile vanished as she cut Sparky off "Hold it," she said. "I don't know what that old woman has been saying about me but I want to make this clear. I did not sell Bloo to her, I just rented him, okay? I needed to get him out of the house. Dammit, I needed a break! All the fighting, the horrendous messes, it was too much! I met her one day, I mentioned what a major hassle Bloo was, and when she told me about some deal she had with CN and offered me all that money to take him off my hands, it was too good to pass up! Besides, I did let him come back when the deal expired, right? I know it was wrong but everyone has a moment of weakness and I was at the breaking point. You've seen the show, well trust me, at the time he was worse. So don't judge me until you've walked a mile in my shoes, okay?" With that, Rhonda left the table and left a stunned Sparky with another mystery. Mac's mom and Madame Foster conspiring together before the show began? What did the grand old lady want with Bloo? She needed answers. And she still wanted everyone at Foster's to come to the Forum house.

(At that point in the game, the taxi showed up for the optional trip downtown. Travis got the call and I opted to go for it, despite the chance of another Community Lot game crash. But this time it didn't, and against very high odds the story took exactly the twist I needed...)

Sparky excused herself from the McBride house and went out for a cup of coffee. She opted for the 125 Cafe, the same place Travis and his friends were headed. While there, she spotted someone she'd never met but nonetheless knew, and decided that it was time to go over Madame Foster's head... or behind her back, depending on how you look at it:



Introductions took place, followed by small talk, mostly about how hard it is to keep a huge house like Foster's clean and running smoothly, and then, "So, tell me, Frankie, I've always been curious. What ever happened to baby Paco?"
"Eduardo still has him," Frankie smiled. "Still feeds him a bottle once a day, and... waitaminute, how do you know about baby Paco??"



"It's a long story," said Sparky. "But I'll tell you what. From what you've said it sounds like you and your whole family could use a day off. You're all newcomers to this area; my group's been here for a long time. Let us show you a little northwest Valley hospitality. What say you all pack up and hang out at our place for a day, let us take care of you for awhile. No cleaning, and Lynnie's a great cook. I'll tell you about how I heard about baby Paco, too, and maybe a few other things you'd like to know. Think of it as a vacation. How's, oh, Wednesday sound?" Frankie, always overworked, thought that it sounded great. "Wednesday it is," she smiled.

It's all going to hit the fan very soon. Stay tuned...

[Imaginary Light]

Yay! The Foster's gang is coming to the Forum house I'm excited!

[Sparky]

Wait so, did SimSparky supposedly make Baby Paco?

[Lynnie]

There's a plate with a sandwich on it on the floor in the table shot. Why? Not very hygienic. And I love that Rhonda is cheering for Sparky accidently smacking Barbara in the face, that cracks me up.

Yay, so everyone's coming over to the forum house? Including the Cassiman household? Oh yes, I'm sure Lynnie will be more than happy to cook for them all. Hmm, what to make, what to make.....

Btw, whenever I hear the "hit the fan" saying I think of the movie Ten Things I Hate about You with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. One of my favorite scenes is at the prom where one of their friends says in "Olde English" "The ****eth hath hitteth the faneth". I've loved that saying ever since.

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by Imaginary Light

Yay! The Foster's gang is coming to the Forum house I'm excited!

It promises to be an interesting day.

Originally Posted by Sparky

Wait so, did SimSparky supposedly make Baby Paco?

No. She mentioned it to pique Frankie's interest and give her more incentive to drag everyone over for a visit. Baby Paco is still from the Game Hive; you know about it from the show, but Frankie doesn't know that, so she's no doubt curious as to how you know about it. Madame Foster will not be pleased with you.

Originally Posted by Lynnie

There's a plate with a sandwich on it on the floor in the table shot. Why? Not very hygienic. And I love that Rhonda is cheering for Sparky accidently smacking Barbara in the face, that cracks me up.

Yay, so everyone's coming over to the forum house? Including the Cassiman household? Oh yes, I'm sure Lynnie will be more than happy to cook for them all. Hmm, what to make, what to make.....

Btw, whenever I hear the "hit the fan" saying I think of the movie Ten Things I Hate about You with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. One of my favorite scenes is at the prom where one of their friends says in "Olde English" "The ****eth hath hitteth the faneth". I've loved that saying ever since.

The plate is on the floor because the McBrides can't be bothered to wait until there's a clear path to the sink. Seems to happen more in that house than any other for some reason. The Cassimans won't be along, by the way; while that would certainly add to the fun (Bloo + Bendy + breakable items = major hilarity) the house will already be overcrowded and I don't want to push this crash-prone game any harder than I have to. As for the cooking, I may get you either a buffet table or a hack, otherwise you'll have no time for socialising.

First Sim born in the Valley:



Sarah Burnell, daughter of Robert and Linda Burnell, was born, or should I say reborn (thanks a lot, SecuROM), this morning at approximately 4:50 AM Eastern time. My congratulations to the exhausted parents.

[Lynnie]

Exhausted parents indeed. Especially the mother. Imagine, having the same baby twice. Uhm... no, no I can't imagine. I refuse to even try. Yes, congrats are in order.

Aw, so we won't get to meet Mac and Bloo? That's too bad, but I can see how it can't be helped. We don't want the house burned down because Bloo and Bendy are in the same house again. Or flooded, for that matter. And who'd clean up the mess afterward? Probably Lynnie, huh? Oh well, I look forward to meeting Frankie, Wilt and Ed.

[Cassini90125]

Originally Posted by Lynnie

Exhausted parents indeed. Especially the mother. Imagine, having the same baby twice. Uhm... no, no I can't imagine. I refuse to even try. Yes, congrats are in order.

Aw, so we won't get to meet Mac and Bloo? That's too bad, but I can see how it can't be helped. We don't want the house burned down because Bloo and Bendy are in the same house again. Or flooded, for that matter. And who'd clean up the mess afterward? Probably Lynnie, huh? Oh well, I look forward to meeting Frankie, Wilt and Ed.

Mac's family might make a separate appearance at the Forum house eventually. As for the house burning down, funny you should mention that...

A little free time before dinner:



It's around 3:00 in the afternoon in this pic. Linestra is doing her homework, Lynnie coaches her, and Sparky kills time before work with the dartboard. Fairly typical scene in the house, nothing too exciting. Jekylljuice and xxxClaire are already out of the house and at their jobs in the Slacker and Gamer careers, respectively; the rest are entertaining themselves in one way or another. About an hour later the carpool showed up and whisked Sparky away to her job; she works the drive-through window at a fast food joint that specializes in hot dogs, imaginatively called "The Dog House". (Not what I originally wanted to call it but the funnier choices were a little questionable. PM me if you really want to know.) It was late in the afternoon at that point and Lynnie opted to get dinner ready. Tonight's dish of choice: salmon with lemon-dill sauce, with garlic mashed potatoes and herbed zucchini on the side. Sounds pretty dang good. As it turned out, blackened catfish would've been a far better choice:



Here we see Lynnie and Linestra doing the ritual fire dance in perfect synch while Imaginary Light appears to be screaming at me. "Do something, Simmaster! Aaaaa!!!" I did do something; I installed a smoke detector before y'all moved in. Things then proceeded pretty much as they had at the McBride house the day before; the fire truck rolled up, the fireman put out the blaze, and everyone hit the showers. Fires tank a Sim's Hygiene meter. There was an additional problem this time, however; both Imaginary Light and Linestra had "Fire" in their respective Fear panels and their Aspiration meters plummeted. Never a good thing, and particularly bad for Imaginary Light, who's meter had been low to begin with. Now it was at rock bottom, and when that happens a Sim undergoes mental collapse and the Sim Shrink drops from the sky to administer psychological counseling. The Shrink is invisible to everyone but his patient, by the way, so while the distressed Sim undergoes therapy, the others point at him/her and think he/she is crazy. It's actually kind of funny to watch - I saw it exactly once, way back when I first started playing - but it's best avoided if possible. Other than exiting the lot without saving the game (and losing the entire day), there are only two ways to avoid the Sim Shrink:

1. Get some Aspiration Points immediately.
2. Game hacks.

I play an honest game so #1 was the way to go, if possible, and as it turned out there was a Want in Imaginary Light's Wants panel that was easy to fulfill, not too expensive, and carried a nice fat 1500 point bonus. Best of all, a couple other members of the house had the Want, too, and that's how you all became the proud owners of... A New Car!!!



The Smoogo Minima, in off-beige. The manufacturer's description:

We know you've got money problems. Here at Smoogo, we have them, too. Sure, other car companies think that throwing money away on things like genuine steel bolts and welding lessons for their employees is the way to do business, but at Smoogo we know that these things cost money. Thats why cutting corners is what we do best. The Smoogo Minima: You don't want to pay too much; we don't want to try too hard.

Um... yeah.

A few hours later Sparky returned home, reeking of hot dogs and fries, but with good news, sort of, as the text in the next pic shows:



So begins the long climb up the ladder of the Culinary Career track. Don't you just love that uniform? She looked briefly at the car, decided she didn't want to know what happened, and went inside for dinner. Everyone else ate the remains of the salmon; Sparky wanted nothing to do with it and instead whipped up a bowl of macaroni and cheese:



I think Lynnie was a trifle miffed as she walked by. "What, my salmon isn't good enough for you?"
"I'm supposed to limit my dietary intake of ash. Doctor's orders. Seriously."
Lynnie started to say something, thought better of it, and went and studied her cookbook. Good idea, too; after all, the private school Headmaster was coming the next day and he expected to be well fed. And the day after that... the Foster's cast. Stay tuned for pics from both events.

[Lynnie]

Well Lynnie, just burn the house down why don'cha? Oh dang, that's scary. I'm soo, soo, sooooo sorry IL and Linestra!! Thank you for installing a smoke detector, Cass. I'm sure that saved our lives. That meal sounded pretty darn good too. It's a shame it was burnt to ash.

Congrats to IL on the car and Sparky for now being a manager!

And, yes Lynnie, go read some more cookbooks. We don't want to start any more fires.

[Imaginary Light]

Oh, jeez, isn't that just classic?
But hey, I got a new car out of it, wooo!

And congrats to SimSparky for the spiffy promotion.

[xxxClaire]

A fire... that's hilarious!
And yay! A new car!