The Murray Apocalypse Challenge: That's a Wrap (Completed Oct 15, 2018)

[commasplice]

You got this! So much progress!

Also, I love that you chose virtue names for your families.

[BallerinaHippo]

Nice! 2 teen careers and 7 adult careers aren't that much at all!
Looks like that generation of three sets of twins (wow!!!!) will be finishing up the Murray Apocalypse Challenge!
Loyal and Chance were cute as toddlers, but even cuter as children.
Haha, "only one sweater boy"!
Honor/Nobuya's kids are so balanced! Girl/boy twins, boy twins, then girl twins, lol!
I'm so curious to learn which one or two careers you save until last.

I'm surprised at just how balanced Honor and Nobuya's twins are (one set of each) since I didn't use any strawberries/carrots and radios are still locked. If I'd been trying to get that combo, it probably never would have worked!

You got this! So much progress!
Also, I love that you chose virtue names for your families.

Thanks!  I'm glad you like the virute names, and I hope none of the names are so similar that it's confusing.

To anyone who is still reading: 
Sorry for the long delay in the story.  I had no intention of taking a month-long break from the sims, but RL had other plans.  I'm back now and trying to get some updates together.  I hope to get something up tonight on this thread if I can get pictures edited. 

[BallerinaHippo]

Family Meeting

After our third and final set of twins were born, Nobuya and I called a very important family meeting to discuss the future.
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You see, we’d been doing the math and realized just how close we were to eliminating the remaining restrictions under which our town operates.  When my great-grandfather arrived many years ago, he identified 25 sets of restrictions.  Sixteen of those have since been lifted while nine remain.  Our children will clear six of those, and a gen 5 move-in will be able to clear a seventh.  The remaining careers could be tackled by future move-ins (once comedian is cleared) or by a sixth generation.   

As a family, we decided that Nobuya would go ahead and move out to make room for the 5th generation move-in.  But who should we invite to join the household?   

First, we considered Mercy’s good friend Armando. 
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Armando is already a young adult and would be able to start a career immediately.  However, Mercy informed us that his third trait is ‘jealous’ and she really wasn’t too keen to invite him to move in.

So instead we invited Justice’s friend, Carla Ladd, to join the household. 
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Carla is only a teen, but she has good traits (foodie and vegetarian).  She’s only a few days away from becoming a young adult, and she’s determined to gain skills and improve her grade in high school while she waits for her birthday.

Can you tell that I really like her?  Of course, it helps that Carla is a foodie.  Did you know that I am also a foodie?  I’ve never had anyone in the house who shared that interest so Carla and I have enjoyed many pleasant conversations.
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I miss having Nobuya here all the time, but we’ve been trying to make the best of it.  He comes over every day to help with the kids and usually stays the night.
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Felicity and Harmony soon aged-up into independent toddlers.  For some reason, they love taking their meals out to the stone bench in the cemetery.  Maybe they like it out there because it’s quiet.
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Chance completed social butterfly by becoming friends with his Aunt Patience and his Uncle Naoki.
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Loyal easily completed whiz kid and is now getting a head start on his logic skill.
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The other day, I came across this delightful scene.
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I’m so glad my kids enjoy playing with each other.

Loyal and Chance have even been known to listen while I’m reading a toddler story to their sisters.
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As for my oldest twins, they are very busy with work.  It seems like every time I see Mercy, she’s wearing a different uniform.
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Currently, she is at level 7 in the Professional Athlete career.

Justice is working his way up the corporate ladder in the business career.  He’s a level 7 Futures Trader.  He doesn’t let me take many pictures of him coming home from work.  He says pictures of him in a suit aren’t that interesting.  But he did let me take this photo of him on his first space flight.  He’s making great progress on the Nerd Brain aspiration.
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Carla celebrated her young adult birthday.  She is now cheerful along with being a vegetarian foodie.  Oh, and did I mention that we discovered her aspiration is Joke Star?  Carla has proven to be the perfect Gen 5 move-in.  She joined the Entertainer career.
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We also found out that Carla has a twin brother.  At least, we think he’s her twin because he became a young adult about a day after Carla (without the benefit of a birthday cake).  His name is Conrad.   
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After her birthday, Carla and Justice’s relationship turned into a romantic one which surprised absolutely no one. 
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I’m really quite happy for them.
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Finally, Loyal and Chance celebrated their teen birthday.
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Loyal is a cheerful genius who wants to be the Friend of the World.
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Chance is self-assured and creative.  He wants to be a Musical Genius.
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Nobuya and I helped the boys start their homework right away.  Their first day of high school is tomorrow.   
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Note:  I'll update the family tree through Gen 5 once Felicity and Harmony become teens (but I don't want to spoil what they look like!)
For now, I'll just list the current household members:
Honor- a few days from elder
Mercy, Justice, Carla- Young Adults
Loyal, Chance- teens
Felicity, Harmony- toddlers

[oshizu]

Welcome back!
Sometimes, an extended break from simming is just what we need to renew our enthusiasm!
Adorable shot of the four youngest playing with their toys together!
Carla turned out to be the perfect household addition--a fellow foodie, romantically interested in Justice, and a JokeStar to boot!
(Her brother is pretty cute, too!)
The Murrays have been a dedicated household through the generations and now the fates are really smiling on the Murrays!

[BallerinaHippo]

Welcome back!
Sometimes, an extended break from simming is just what we need to renew our enthusiasm!
Adorable shot of the four youngest playing with their toys together!
Carla turned out to be the perfect household addition--a fellow foodie, romantically interested in Justice, and a JokeStar to boot!
(Her brother is pretty cute, too!)
The Murrays have been a dedicated household through the generations and now the fates are really smiling on the Murrays!

I got lucky with both Carla (in this generation) and Nobuya (in the last generation) with their aspirations.  In both cases, I only knew their traits before moving them in, but they had aspirations that fit perfectly with a career. 

The Murrays thank you for your unwavering support as they push through to the end! 

[BallerinaHippo]

Passing the torch

I begin this update with a birthday—mine.  At this point in my life, I have no need to speed things up by blowing out candles.  I waited for my elder spin to come naturally and of course I had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning just to grow old. 
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I was grumpy and went straight back to bed.

The following day we celebrated Felicity and Harmony’s birthday and it was a much happier occasion.  Those girls do everything together.  They even earned the top-notch toddler trait within an hour of each other.
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It was therefore no surprise that they aged-up with the same trait and aspiration.  They are both creative and wish to be artistic prodigies.  They even dress similarly.  Felicity wears the blue sweater set and Harmony wears pink.
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After the girls’ birthday, I decided that it was time for me to move out.  There really isn’t any immediate need for a space in the house, but I’ve been away from Nobuya for long enough.  Besides, he’s older than I am and we don’t have much time left.  I invited Nobuya over to the house so that we could renew our wedding vows.  Then I moved in with him. 
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I leave the house in the care of three very capable and responsible young adults.  Mercy, Justice, and Carla will make me proud, I am sure.  Justice has kindly agreed to take over the job of family historian.

Justice here.  As Mom said, I agreed to continue these reports.  I’m not much of a writer.  I’m a businessman, really, but I’ll do my best.

Right after Mom left, the Humor and Hijinks festival came to San Myshuno.  My brothers wanted to go and work on their charisma so I took them.
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I was a little surprised to see Dad there without Mom.  I wonder if she sent him to check up on us?
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Carla joined us after she got off work.  She practiced her comedy skill with the jokesters, but she also got a little flirty with me.  I didn’t mind.
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Carla even talked my sister, Mercy, into joining us at the festival.  Normally, Mercy prefers sports to festivals, but she was glad she came.  Cousin Glory was there so Mercy spent most of the evening catching up with her. 
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We didn’t neglect our two younger sisters.  Felicity and Harmony tagged along with us and spent the evening at the Art Museum.  There was plenty of stuff for them to do over there.
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I hope I’m being a good guardian to my siblings.  Mostly Carla and I make sure everyone has enough to eat and does their homework.
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Loyal and Chance are both ‘A’ students.  They spend a lot of time at the park working on their charisma.  Mostly, that means they talk to girls.
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Hey, as long as they keep their grades up and actually improve their skills, I don’t care who they talk to.  Besides, they both know that either Mom or Dad is likely to be in the park, too. 

Just the other day, we saw Mom at the park.  Mercy, Loyal, Chance and I were at the picnic table.
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And Felicity and Harmony (who do everything together) were playing on the monkey bars.
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Mom said I should always give career updates in these reports so here goes:

Mercy was promoted to MVP.  She came home embarrassed that day because she bungled a play and expected to make the blooper reel on the evening sportscast.  None-the-less, she earned the level 9 promotion.
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I’m also at level 9 of my career.  I hate taking these pictures.  I’m smiling because I know I’ll only have to take one more.
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Carla is a level 6 solid storyteller in the Comedian career. 
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By the way, I asked Carla to marry me.  She said yes.
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We said our vows in the garden up on the 3rd floor.  It was just the two of us.
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All in all, I’d say we had a great week.

[oshizu]

What a surprise to see Honor age up to an elder, but then she does have two young adult children now.

What a great shot of Felicity and Harmony on the monkey bars!
They look so cute in their matching outfits with the plaid skirts, which color-coordinate with those monkey bars, hehe.

I cracked up at Justice's comment about Loyal and Chance chatting up the girls to raise their charisma.
Wow, he and Mercy have only one more promotion each in their careers?
I can't wait to find out if Mercy will move out and, if yes, how the household openings will be filled.

Congratulations to Justice and Carla on their marriage!
She's a really beautiful sim! Love her proud pose after her recent promotion, too.

[BallerinaHippo]

What a surprise to see Honor age up to an elder, but then she does have two young adult children now.
What a great shot of Felicity and Harmony on the monkey bars!
They look so cute in their matching outfits with the plaid skirts, which color-coordinate with those monkey bars, hehe.
I cracked up at Justice's comment about Loyal and Chance chatting up the girls to raise their charisma.
Wow, he and Mercy have only one more promotion each in their careers?
I can't wait to find out if Mercy will move out and, if yes, how the household openings will be filled.
Congratulations to Justice and Carla on their marriage!
She's a really beautiful sim! Love her proud pose after her recent promotion, too.

  With so many pregnancies, Honor enjoyed a longer life than most of the Murrays.  I would have kept her in the house, but I was feeling guilty about her being away from Nobuya.   
Plus, I've enjoyed writing from Justice's perspective as a sibling versus a parent.  It's a nice change of pace.

[BallerinaHippo]

Blue Baby Blue

Hey there.  Justice again.  When I first took over as head of the household, things were going well.  Mom and Dad left us in really good shape.  I remember stating in my last report that all I had to do for my siblings was keep them fed and help them with homework.  Famous last words, right?

Not long after I wrote that, we started getting the phone calls informing us that so-and-so had died (usually some random acquaintance).  We were getting two, sometimes three calls a day.  It was awful. 
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The worst part was that the phone calls usually came once everyone was already at school or work.  So even if we took a moodlet solver in the morning, we would still end up sad and blue later in the day when those phone calls started.  And there was nothing we could do about it in the middle of a work day.  Do you know how hard it is to get a career promotion when you’ve got +4 or even +6 in sad moodlets?  It’s almost impossible.
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This went on for almost an entire week.  It ended with the worst two phone calls of all—the calls informing us that Mom and Dad had passed away.  I tried to invite Mom and Dad over as much as possible in those last few days, but they still managed to slip away while we weren’t at home. 

They had been over to the house just a few hours before.  Dad mentored Chance on the piano, and Mom mentored Loyal in logic.
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I really don’t know how Mom and Dad passed away at the same time because Dad had his elder birthday long before Mom.  Something must have glitched when they moved out, but I’m glad that neither of them had to live without the other.  The task of recovering their urns fell to me.  I was also able to recover the urn of Aunt Patience. 
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Somehow we made it to the end of that awful week.  I hope we never have to experience anything like that ever again. 

Our recovery began with my final promotion to level 10 Angel Investor. 
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We can now sell objects in buy mode.  We can sell collected and harvested items.  We can send things to the Geo Council, publish books, write jingles, and license songs.

The next day, Mercy reached the top of the professional athlete career by being inducted into the Hall of Fame. 
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Thanks to her, we can now purchase reward traits with aspiration points.

Mercy and I would have received our promotions a few days earlier if not for all the sadness.  At least we finally made it.

We also celebrated some birthdays at the end of that terrible week.  First, Loyal and Chance had their young adult birthday.
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Chance is now a self-assured creative music-lover.  He joined the Entertainer career.
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Loyal is a cheerful, family-oriented genius.  He joined the Business career.
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Felicity and Harmony, being the youngest, were the least affected by all the death notices since they did not know as many elders as the rest of us.  They both completed the Artistic Prodigy aspiration and earned A’s in school.  Then, they worked on all the other childhood skills.  It’s a good thing they like doing everything together because the rest of us really couldn’t help them much that week.
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At the very end of the week (Saturday), the girls celebrated their teen birthday. 

Felicity is a creative art-lover with the Painter Extraordinaire aspiration.
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Harmony is a creative bookworm with the Bestselling Author aspiration.
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Even though it was the weekend, they both started their homework right away.  Aren’t they great? 
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Carla and I have taken up gardening together.  Now that we can sell harvested items, I’ve been cultivating our flowers and UFO plants.  Carla is a foodie and a vegetarian so she likes having fresh fruits and vegetables for cooking. 
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Speaking of my beautiful wife, I think Carla had the worst time during our week of sadness.  She did everything she could to advance in her career, but she only had three scheduled work days.  And as luck would have it, she got hit with sad moodlets during every one of those shifts.  The result is that she ended the week as a level 7 Rising Comedian when she really could have been a level or two ahead of that. 
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The silver lining is that Carla has maxed the comedy skill.  She’ll get her work promotions eventually, it’s just taking longer than she had hoped. 

Oh, and to cap off our week, Mercy was bitten by a vampire!  She says it’s her fault because she went jogging late at night and made the mistake of talking to a girl in the park who turned out to be a vampire. 
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I don’t know if that had anything to do with it or not.  The vampire who broke in wasn’t the girl Mercy talked to, but Count Vlad himself.  We saw him coming and tried to lock the door, but it was too late.  He went straight for Mercy.
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And that pretty much sums up our week.  Here’s hoping things improve from now on.

[oshizu]

The new mechanic of death notices is so debilitating and makes no sense!!!
Would it be too hard to restrict mourning to close family and good friends?!
Poor Carla!

The deaths of Honor and Nobuya surprised me. Do you have Auto-Ageing enabled for unplayed sims?
I'm sure you know this already but...:
To make a "played" household "unplayed," go to Manage Households and click the darker-green plumbob icon (on the left) of the target household, so the plumbob turns a faded green color.

Justice and Mercy finished their careers so quickly! May Chance and Loyal be so lucky!
Wow, you've been playing Hard mode, watcher! Never realized that your sims have been working in their careers without Connections and Entrepreneurial!
Hats off to your hard-working Murrays!

[Tynynounours]

You're really breezing through the careers, even with the accumulated grieving moodlets.

Carla seems to be a great addition to the house.

Didn't you had too many difficulties with not being able to sell things in buy mode? Bills must have been expensives.

[BallerinaHippo]

The new mechanic of death notices is so debilitating and makes no sense!!!
Would it be too hard to restrict mourning to close family and good friends?!
Poor Carla!
The deaths of Honor and Nobuya surprised me. Do you have Auto-Ageing enabled for unplayed sims?
I'm sure you know this already but...:
To make a "played" household "unplayed," go to Manage Households and click the darker-green plumbob icon (on the left) of the target household, so the plumbob turns a faded green color.
Justice and Mercy finished their careers so quickly! May Chance and Loyal be so lucky!
Wow, you've been playing Hard mode, watcher! Never realized that your sims have been working in their careers without Connections and Entrepreneurial!
Hats off to your hard-working Murrays!

I've had aging on for everyone throughout this challenge.  If I were to do this again, I'd probably start with different settings.  Live and learn!

All those sad moodlets (especially for Carla) put the Murray's about a week behind with career promotions which made me re-evaluate a few things right at the end.  Hence, the title of the next update, "Plan B."   

Until this challenge, I never realized how much I depended on Connections, Entrepreneurial, and clubs.  The Murrays make me realize how easy my other sims have it!

You're really breezing through the careers, even with the accumulated grieving moodlets.
Carla seems to be a great addition to the house.
Didn't you had too many difficulties with not being able to sell things in buy mode? Bills must have been expensives.

The bills were pretty high for a while, somewhere around $23000 a week.  That got better once the professional athlete career was completed.  Then, I had Justice buy the frugal reward trait which helped. 

[BallerinaHippo]

Plan B

I have so much to include in this report that I hardly know where to begin.  I guess I should start with Mercy since her story set everything else in motion. 

You see, my twin sister Mercy and Carla’s twin brother Conrad have been spending a lot of time together.
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After a while, things between them turned romantic.
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You might be thinking, “What about Mercy’s childhood friend, Armando?”   But Mercy and Armando are only friends.  When Armando aged up with the jealous trait, Mercy kind of lost interest in him. 

Conrad, on the other hand, is a self-assured geek.  Mercy likes his confidence.  And besides, he’s Carla’s twin. 
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His third trait is squeamish, but Mercy doesn’t mind that. 

When Mercy found out she was eating for two, Conrad was thrilled.  I told you he’s a nice guy.
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Mercy moved in with Conrad and my in-laws since they have plenty of space.  I knew Carla came from Willow Creek, but I actually didn’t know that her family owned such a nice house.  She said it just never occurred to her to mention it.  Anyway, Mercy and Conrad are doing well.
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After Mercy moved out, that left us with two empty spaces in our household.  The original plan was to move in two townies once Carla maxed the Comedian career.  However, the events of the previous week prevented Carla from moving up in her career as quickly as we had hoped.  So we went with Plan B.
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I gotta admit, plan B is a lot more fun.

And unlike plan A, plan B is working out perfectly.
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Not only do Carla and I get to start our own family, but now Carla is not under extreme pressure to max her career as soon as possible.  Instead of relying on move-ins to complete the last two careers, our own children will do it.
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I was thinking about that while I was painting Felicity and Harmony’s portraits for the gallery.  I’m glad that all of the career restrictions will be lifted by members of my own family.
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Speaking of my sisters, Felicity and Harmony are both doing well.  They both easily earned an A in high school.
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You can still find them together almost all the time even if they are doing different things.  Here you can see Felicity painting while Harmony writes:
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I still make sure they do their homework every day.  I don’t want their grades to slip.  Check out the look Harmony is giving me!
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My brothers are doing well, too.  Chance joined the Musician branch of the entertainment career.  He often comes home from work after the rest of us are already in bed.  That doesn’t bother him, though, because the ghosts are usually around to provide an audience while he practices.
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Loyal is a level 6 Senior Manager in the business career.  With his next promotion, he will be able to officially choose the Management branch.   
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Mercy still visits frequently even though she moved out.  She and Carla especially like to commiserate about pregnancy symptoms.
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Being pregnant provided Carla with a lot of material for her act.   We went to see her perform at the Solar Flare the other day.  She was really good, if I do say so myself.
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When Carla went into labor, I immediately rushed her off to the hospital.  I was hoping that a hospital birth would be faster than a home birth, but in retrospect I don’t know if it made a difference.  I do know that I spent almost the entire time at the hospital in panic mode.  First, I wasn’t sure we were in the right place.
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Then, it seemed like they were taking forever to admit Carla to a room so I had to run and find some help.
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Finally, I wasn’t sure the doctor knew what he was doing during the delivery.  In fact, I’m not even sure the guy was a doctor.
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In the end, we came home with two healthy baby boys, and that’s all that matters.  Allow me to introduce Noble, named for our family’s noble cause, and Freedom, who will hopefully free our town from the last of its restrictions.
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[oshizu]

Wow, Mercy really rode off into the sunset with her happily ever after, didn't she?
Nice husband, eating for two, classy house, nice neighborhood!

Carla is such a pretty sim and so are Felicity and Harmony!
Sorry to hear about the career setback but I'm happy to hear that we get to meet Justice & Carla's children!
Good for them, finishing the challenge with their own kids!
I was surprised at few working days in the Comedian career, even right after branching. Phooey!

Regarding your earlier response to my comment, I also chose to play without clubs.
But I lifted the restriction on reward traits early, if I remember correctly. You've been doing great!
The fastest birth would be "Go to hospital" alone, but then you would have missed out on all the great screenshots in this update.
Despite, all the mourning, the Murrays seem to have recovered their high spirits. Go Murrays!

[Tynynounours]

I really need to play closer to my sims, because I've never seen that look before, and it's perfect.

Thank you for the tip about the frugal reward, I didn't thought of it.

So, only 4 more careers to go? I'll miss your Murray family. At least Carla carreer's setback allows for a bit more of them.