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

[Tynynounours]

Oh, cute little family, filled with redheads. The twins, and Leo's son seem cute.

Is it not to hard to juggle the breastfeeding and work hours?

[LenaLJ]

So cute with the red hair and dark skin.
And more on the way. I hope they can manage.

[BallerinaHippo]

I can see why you would want Jasmin, since you'd developed an attachment to her during the Wonder Child Project.
Makes for a great story that Liam worked so hard to be with her.
And you're right: the girls are as beautiful as their mother! I love their names, too!
Do they both have Liam's red hair? I find the combination of dark skin with red hair quite stunning.
I enjoyed Leo's backstory, too. Seema's traits were awful! Lucky for Leo and Solomon that she's gone!
Things are going great with this family! And Jasmin's looking a little pudgy. 

Faith kept her hair color pretty well hidden until childhood, but you'll finally get to see it in the next update.  I think you'll be pleased.  Of course, the teen retail career isn't cleared yet so I had to live with the outfits and hairstyles everyone aged-up with for the time being.

I am so glad you updated! The twins are adorable and it sounds like Jasmin is making great progress.

Jasmin is getting there, and I love her with Liam.  For some reason, I found the Mixology career to be slow going.  I don't really know why.

Awww, so cute! Solomon is better off without a mom like that and it's cute he looks like Liam ^^ Jasmine certainly is a trooper! Can't wait to see more babies!

More babies coming up!

Oh, cute little family, filled with redheads. The twins, and Leo's son seem cute.
Is it not to hard to juggle the breastfeeding and work hours?

I thought it would be harder to juggle breastfeeding, but it was not bad.  I timed the pregnancies so that Jasmin would give birth at the start of consecutive days off.  Thankfully, the Mixology branch worked really well for that.

So cute with the red hair and dark skin.
And more on the way. I hope they can manage.

The parents had their hands full for a while, but thankfully Liam had already maxed his career.  He hardly had to work and still made good money (which then got taken away every Monday).

[BallerinaHippo]

Thanks to everyone who is reading!  I really appreciate it!  The next update is kind of short, but I hope to get two up this weekend.   


Log 1.7

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to write so I have a lot to share.  In my last entry, Jasmin had just told me that she thought she was eating for two again.  Once more, I was captivated by my wife’s pregnant belly and she patiently let me feel the baby whenever I wanted.  I’m no doctor, but I started to suspect that Jasmin might be having twins again.
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Last time, if you recall, Jasmin asked me not to share a picture of her in labor.  This time, however, she said I could show you this one…
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…as long as I also shared this photo of me realizing that I’m about to become a father of four.  Fair enough, my dearest wife.  Fair enough.
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And here we are with our second set of twins.  I’m holding our son, Ernest, and Jasmin is holding our youngest child, Grace. 
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Jasmin is such an amazing wife and mother.  I know I’ve said this before, but I really am lucky.
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Ernest and Grace’s toddler birthday just happened to fall on the same day as Faith and Hope’s child birthday.  This led to a little bit of chaos for a few hours when we had four toddlers in the house. 
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Soon, Faith and Hope aged up, and order was restored. 

It was about this time that Jasmin and I realized that since we both had the “Professional Slacker” trait*, we were both exempt from the rule requiring us to never miss a day of work.  Duh!  So I started staying home on days that Jasmin worked to keep our kids from having to go to daycare. 
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Jasmin continued to work every shift because she had not yet maxed her career.  She always completed her daily task, too, even when she was feeling under the weather.
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Luckily, it was only a minor illness and nobody else got sick.  A miracle with four kids in the house!
 
And that brings me up to the present.  Our older girls, Faith and Hope, are both doing well in school and both are social butterflies.  As you can see, they are the best of friends.
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I did not intend to photobomb their special moment.  Here’s another picture of the two of them.  Faith is on the left, Hope on the right.
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Our younger set of twins, Ernest and Grace, are well on their way to becoming top notch toddlers.  They also appear to be the best of friends.
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Jasmin and I are as happy as ever.  Life may still be hard, but we’re in this together.
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*The AC rules specifically exempt Professional Slacker’s from the entire Business-Management restriction.  Meaning that they can be late for work, skip work, don’t have to work normal or work hard, don’t have to quit a job if they come home early, etc.  Since the restrictions for eSport gamer are still in place (which limits the use of the phone), I did not allow Liam to take vacation days or family leave.  I just let him cancel the command to go to work.   

[Shewolf13]

Awww, such a cute family!  And twins again.  That's great!  Of course, four toddlers, even for a little while is still chaotic. Oh, didn't even realize that about Professional Slacker!  That's pretty cool ^^

[oshizu]

So many little redheads running around! They're all so lovely!
You will laugh but I restarted my first Apocalypse Challenge attempt because I unintentionally bought a dresser and changed everyone's wardrobe.
Their clothes were driving me mad, though, and my mind just glossed over that career restriction. I'd only gotten to Gen2 or so, though, and had made other little planning errors.
Someone posted on my thread about my prioritizing that career unlock which they left until later---haha, every simmer is different.
Anywaaaaaaay....

Ooooh, you picked Mixologist for its work schedule rather than its career unlock. So interesting!
I love your little, um, big, family!
Lovely update! I'm looking forward to two more this weekend! hehe

[BallerinaHippo]

Awww, such a cute family!  And twins again.  That's great!  Of course, four toddlers, even for a little while is still chaotic. Oh, didn't even realize that about Professional Slacker!  That's pretty cool ^^

This is my first time using the Ley Line lot trait, and so far it's been good to me.    
That Professional Slacker exemption is a big one, and of course I forgot about it until the younger set of twins were toddlers.

So many little redheads running around! They're all so lovely!
You will laugh but I restarted my first Apocalypse Challenge attempt because I unintentionally bought a dresser and changed everyone's wardrobe.
Their clothes were driving me mad, though, and my mind just glossed over that career restriction. I'd only gotten to Gen2 or so, though, and had made other little planning errors.
Someone posted on my thread about my prioritizing that career unlock which they left until later---haha, every simmer is different.
Anywaaaaaaay....

Ooooh, you picked Mixologist for its work schedule rather than its career unlock. So interesting!
I love your little, um, big, family!
Lovely update! I'm looking forward to two more this weekend! hehe

I'm with you on the teen retail career being a top priority.  Not to spoil anything, but it's pretty high on my list, too. 
I mostly picked Mixologist for the story because drinkable water seemed important.  Well, in the real world it would be.  From a Sims perspective, I guess it really isn't.  The work schedule was a bonus.  I'd like to say I planned it, but it was really just a happy coincidence.  Also, they were driving me crazy trying to get drinks of water from the sinks so it was nice when I no longer had to worry about that. 

[BallerinaHippo]

Log 1.8


Well, Jasmin and I are both elders now, and this will probably be my final log entry.
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No, I don’t expect the Grim Reaper to come calling for me tomorrow or anything, but I’m planning on handing over the record keeping to one of my children soon. 

Speaking of my children, they’re not so little anymore.  It seems like only yesterday when my biggest worry was getting all four of them fed and in a focused mood before school.
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And now, I’ve got two young adults and two teenagers.  Where does the time go? I’m not even sure we could all fit in our little eating area anymore.   They usually eat their meals in the park these days.
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I would love to tell you more about them, but I’ve decided that I will let the second generation tell its own story.

Jasmin reached the top of the mixology career so now we can have drinks and brush our teeth.  I can’t tell you how great it felt to brush my teeth for the first time in ages.
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We can also drink reward potions and any future babies born in the house can be bottle fed if needed.

I quit my position as The Oracle and took a job as a writer instead.  I won’t reach the top of my new career, but it doesn’t matter because I can’t get credit for maxing a second career anyway.  I mainly took the job because the daily task is to write books.  That means that I can write skill books to help my kids and future generations.  Pretty clever, if I do say so myself.
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As our family has grown, we’ve made improvements to the house, or the bunker as we still call it.  We can’t change the footprint of the bunker beyond its 8x8 square so we’ve had to build both up and down.  We have a full second basement where we keep the exercise equipment, Jasmin’s bar, and some shelves for storage.  We also bought a few extra things that nobody really uses yet, like the garden pot, woodworking table, and microphone.  The mob takes all our extra money every Monday so we try to use up as much of it as we can.  Hopefully future generations will get some use out of those things.
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The original basement is pretty much the same as it was when I moved in—so much so that I neglected to take an updated picture.  The only real changes to that level are that the spare bedroom now has a double bed and we’ve updated some of the wallpaper and flooring.

The main floor is also largely unchanged.  The bassinets are on that level along with the easel and a child’s art desk.
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Going up a level, we have the toddler beds, kids and toddler toys, and a small living area.
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We also had to add a whole new level above that which currently has another bathroom and two more beds.  Eventually, we plan to put musical instruments and another desk up there.
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Finally, on the roof we have a rocket kit—just waiting for some future astronaut to build it.  Again, this was something that we spent our extra money on.  It’s the only thing we are allowed to have not covered by a roof.  No one in the current household has any plans to work on it, but we are thinking of the future.
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I do need to share some other very important news.  I was recently contacted by the WCP, or at least what remains of that organization.  Remember them?  The Wonder Child Project? The people responsible for sending me here?  I thought I was the only successful graduate of the program (in our simverse anyway), but it seems they scraped together the funds to sponsor one more Wonder Child.  Her name is Rosemary Baker, and she is about the same age as my kids.  Can you believe it?  They asked if Jasmin and I would be able to take Rosemary in when she became a young adult since the agency is officially out of money and can’t afford to set her up with her own place.  What could we say?   We can’t let the poor girl be homeless, and we could sure use the help of a highly skilled Wonder Child. 
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The only catch is, we can only move in one Sim per generation, and Rosemary will take up the Gen 2 spot.  I sure hope that she and Ernest hit it off because what’s done is done.   


Watcher’s note:  I realize that I’ve jumped ahead quite a bit since we had 2 children and 2 toddlers in the last entry, and now there are 2 YAs and 2 teens.  I’ve decided to write the story a little differently for Gen 2, however, and I think it will fill in the gaps nicely.  There will be toddler, child, and teen pictures of each Sim in Gen 2 (including Rosemary).

[Shewolf13]

Oooo!  Loved that! What a great send-off for Liam. Really looking forward to gen 2!

[HelenP]

Well done Liam & Jasmin, big welcome Rosemary.  Is her name a hint of her career? It suggests culinary.  The house is looking great.  I like the random pictures dotted around. 

[oshizu]

What great progress you've made!
I'm looking forward to your second generation taking the lead in your story.
Liam and Jasmin, you have worked long and hard! Well done!
Now you can relax and....write skill books and mentor!

Great seeing how the house is coming along!

[BallerinaHippo]

Oooo!  Loved that! What a great send-off for Liam. Really looking forward to gen 2!

Thanks!  I really hope you like the format for Gen 2.  It's a little different.

Well done Liam & Jasmin, big welcome Rosemary.  Is her name a hint of her career? It suggests culinary.  The house is looking great.  I like the random pictures dotted around. 

Rosemary's name is definitely a hint of her career.  You'll have to wait until her 'story' though. 
I like the paintings, too.  At this point, they are all over the walls.  I can't sell them, yet, so they either go on the wall or in family inventory.

What great progress you've made!
I'm looking forward to your second generation taking the lead in your story.
Liam and Jasmin, you have worked long and hard! Well done!
Now you can relax and....write skill books and mentor!

Great seeing how the house is coming along!

That's pretty much what Liam and Jasmin do- write skill books and mentor.  Oh, and discuss cognitive focusing methods and give mental relaxation tips.   

[BallerinaHippo]

Introduction: Generation 2

Hey there!  My name is Ernest Murray, and I’m a writer for the What Cheer Chronicle.  I will also be taking over as my family’s historian. 

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If you’ve read my dad’s logbook, then you know that life used to be pretty bleak in this town.  But my mom and dad saw potential, and they were determined to make a difference.  They got the ball rolling; and now it’s up to me, my sisters, and Rosemary to continue the work they started. 
 
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As a journalist, I really enjoy writing people’s life stories.  So that’s the approach I’m going to take with my family history as well.  It will be a little different from the way my dad did things, but he encouraged me to use my own voice. 

Mom always said, “age before beauty” so I’ll start with Faith’s story.  (Just kidding, sis. You know I think you’re beautiful, but you ARE the oldest.) 


The Story of Faith

The oldest of four children, Faith Murray was an independent toddler who loved to wear hats.
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Her parents say she never gave them any trouble, and they were not at all surprised when she acquired the Good trait as a child.
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As children, Faith and her twin sister, Grace, both aspired to be Social Butterflies.  The girls could often be found outside, chatting up the neighbors.  Faith’s older cousin, Solomon was a particularly good friend of hers.
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Faith was an “A” student throughout her school years, and a favorite of her teachers.
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However, as a Genius, Faith was often bored in high school.
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As a teen, Faith took a job as a babysitter and easily reached the top of that career path in only a few shifts.
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This was a significant achievement because it lifted the restriction requiring traits and aspirations to be randomly assigned.  Faith’s younger siblings and future generations would benefit greatly from her accomplishment. 

Since she had already cleared her career restriction as a teen, Faith chose not to work outside of the home as an adult.  Instead, she dedicated her life to helping others.  She could often be found picking up trash or cleaning the grill at the park.
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At home, she mentored her siblings in logic…
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… and she became quite good at fixing the plumbing.
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In her spare time, Faith took up the piano.  She was self-taught and found it to be a relaxing creative outlet.
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Even as an adult, Faith never lost her child-like sense of wonder. 
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And all the kids loved her because she was always willing to play sea monster for their pirate adventures.
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What more can one say about this wonderful lady?  She is a devoted sister, aunt, and friend; and she has found peace in a life well-lived.
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[Shewolf13]

Aww, loving Ernest's voice and how he's telling the story.  Historian fits so perfectly! Faith is awesome ^^

[oshizu]

What a great idea to have the journalist chronicle his siblings' stories!
One thing I really love about the Apocalypse Challenge is how it makes us grateful for all the various sim things we come to take for granted.
Delightful update.