Bewitched Berries Epilogue: An Embarrassment of...Berries [Completed 14 Mar '23]

[Granny Lawlor]

Wow! 4 toddlers all at once? You're going to be soooo busy! Cute names.
Thanks for explaining the IVF mod. I was thinking that I'd totally missed an option somewhere.
What a good idea getting painter extraordinaire to write the romance novels. I've been using the buckets for Willie's mood, lol! Maybe it's time to catch up with her story...

[oshizu]

Concurrently raising four toddlers won't be bad (she says naively). If Cerise uses all her vacation days, there will be four adults helping out four toddlers.
Or she can go to work on a day when the toddlers focus on the fantastical tent and slides.  It will work out, haha.

Ever since reaching Best-Selling Author's last milestone, Cerise has had no luck writing best-sellers. It always works out this way!
I was thinking Painter Extraordinaire's Expressionistic trait would let her write romance novels while inspired, thus possibly raising her chance to write best-sellers.

Willie, your Gen7 NSB heir? Have you been waiting for me to catch up with your NSB progress?  You are a sweetheart!

[PeregrineTook]

Hahaha, you suckered us all so hard with the whole cross couple baby making thing!!!  Turns out it was just a pregnancy clinic mod.  Oh man, you really got us!  Congrats  :=)
I'm so excited to see if baby Momo is just as lovely as her mommy and Auntie Cara!!!  Oh, and I guess the boy's important too  ;=)  And yes, if he resembles Djavan, I'm pretty sure I know who the Watcher will choose as the next heir  ;=)
The crew trying to sort out the tiny house conditions in their cramped hallway of a dining room was a delightful choice of locations for the conversation about adding a spacious patio!  Excellent work in conveying how cramped they were in that and some of the other shots like the bathroom shot.  And kudos for actually framing a good shot despite those restraints  ;=)
And the degree to which Cerise doesn't want to work on her garden and is trying so hard to pawn it off on everyone else was just delightful!

[oshizu]

Hahaha, you suckered us all so hard with the whole cross couple baby making thing!!!  Turns out it was just a pregnancy clinic mod.  Oh man, you really got us!  Congrats  :=)
I'm so excited to see if baby Momo is just as lovely as her mommy and Auntie Cara!!!  Oh, and I guess the boy's important too  ;=)  And yes, if he resembles Djavan, I'm pretty sure I know who the Watcher will choose as the next heir  ;=)
The crew trying to sort out the tiny house conditions in their cramped hallway of a dining room was a delightful choice of locations for the conversation about adding a spacious patio!  Excellent work in conveying how cramped they were in that and some of the other shots like the bathroom shot.  And kudos for actually framing a good shot despite those restraints  ;=)
And the degree to which Cerise doesn't want to work on her garden and is trying so hard to pawn it off on everyone else was just delightful!

Honestly, it was not my intention to "sucker" anyone into anything.
I was excited about Lumpinou's amazing Woohoo Wellness mod (it's really fantastic and so much more than "just a pregnancy clinic mod") and had a story I wanted to tell.
Then you and Granny got curious about how the babies would happen.
I'd started out with a very different storyline, giving Djavan the personality traits of a cad (self-absorbed romantic). I didn't expect Ren to be immediately attracted to him.

LOL, it's been awhile since I've played a household in a Tiny Home and, dang, is it tiny!
As for the garden, the rule's wording is "Have a well-maintained garden," not "Maintain a well-tended garden," so Cerise figures hiring a gardener is fine. ;p

I played the household yesterday until the bassinet burritos transformed into adorable toddlers, then stopped.
Today, I'm off to Coral Island, haha.

[GlazeyLady]

I am finally caught up on your story, and I am loving it! Every generation is fun and beautiful and entertaining.
I learn a lot reading your stories. Once I get my story caught up and get back to playing, two teens will be thanking you for educating their Watcher on how High School actually works. 
I really like how you're moving everyone around and sharing info about your lots - the ones you've created and the ones you've downloaded.
And the interludes with you and Pippin are great! Such a good add to the story.
About Coral Island . . . I might just have to try that sometime. You mentioned multi-player . . . it would be fun to play with you again - something NOT dark and violent. 

[oshizu]

I am finally caught up on your story, and I am loving it! Every generation is fun and beautiful and entertaining.
I learn a lot reading your stories. Once I get my story caught up and get back to playing, two teens will be thanking you for educating their Watcher on how High School actually works. 
I really like how you're moving everyone around and sharing info about your lots - the ones you've created and the ones you've downloaded.
And the interludes with you and Pippin are great! Such a good add to the story.
About Coral Island . . . I might just have to try that sometime. You mentioned multi-player . . . it would be fun to play with you again - something NOT dark and violent. 

I feel very flattered that you took the time to binge-read the 40-odd chapters of my silly NSB story. 
I've tended to spill more ink on some generations than others, depending of course on how their heir requirements shape their story arc.
Whenever I play a new pack, i love exploring all of its features so I'm glad you've found that journey somewhat useful.
As moving multiple times each generation, some heirs are required to change residences but other times I move the heir to complete a bonus collection more easily.

I'm not a builder but I'm deeply interested in the notion of "the optimal floorplan" for gameplay, haha.
For Gen3, I downloaded a Gallery house and, after my sims took the trouble to move there, discovered that the only way to get upstairs was by ladders.  Grrrr.
Is it just me, or does anyone else believe that a non-Tiny house should have staircases? Lol

I've been completely obsessed with Coral Island lately--I don't even read much anymore, haha. That's how bad it is!
Its full release won't happen until next year, but there's still lots to do!

[oshizu]

Woodblock Printing in Early Modern Japan

Nobody commented on the "Scene from the Folk Tale Momotaro" by Harunobu Suzuki which I shared in my previous update.
I'm posting it below again because it's so awesome.

When you saw it the first time, did you realize that it's not a painting but a multi-color woodblock print?
What that means is that the artist created a separate woodblock for each color, including one for the black outline.
Then, the separate shades were applied using separately inked woodblocks to a single sheet of paper by lining up marks made outside the image's border in advance.

The work below is a triptych, meaning that it consists of three different panels.  It required an incredible amount of creativity, diligence, imagination, and skill.


If you're unfamiliar with the process of woodblock printing, the artist creates the image while other parts of the process are assigned to specialized artisans.
Here's a portion of a mid-19th century triptych (also a woodblock print) by Utagawa Kunisada, in which the artist depicts the woodblock printing process but replaces the typically male artisans with beautiful courtesans (you can tell by their hairstyle and hair ornaments).
You can see them moistening the paper in preparation for applying the inked woodblocks, hanging the inked sheets to dry, preliminary rough carving (like removing larger background areas), and finer, detailed carving.


Have you ever made a stamp using a potato?  It's like making a five-color stamp by carving five different potatos, haha.
Well, except more labor-intensive and time-consuming.

My apologies if this is more than you wanted to know about the Momotaro tryptich.
Since nobody commented on it, I'd assumed that you believed it was a painting rather than a polychromatic print.

And, yes, I'm currently in the thick of toddler skilling!

[PeregrineTook]

Wow!  That is really awesome!  I'm really tempted to go do a multi-potato picture now just to see how hard and intricate it really is  ;=)
Thanks for including this little bit in addition to the rest of the story.  It definitely gave me, at least, a whole new respect for that artwork!

[Granny Lawlor]

It's an amazing art form. Especially the skill involved in lining up the prints!

I always enjoyed potato printing and then I upped the stakes and got our girls to each carve a design on a polystyrene tiles, rolled one with cerise ink and one with purple ink and used them to print the walls in the downstairs loo. It was fun but not as much fun as when their friends came round and did white hand prints all over the chimney breast in one of their rooms. Once they realised I really was giving them permission, they went crazy and did footprints too! It wasn't art but it was wonderful!

[GlazeyLady]

And here I found lining up my Cricut cuts for the girls T-shirts to be a challenge!

[Rhoxi]

Whew! That's so many toddlers. I just did three and that was *plenty*! Still, this will provide plenty of wonderful heir options so I am FOR IT. As for the best seller aspiration, I had the same problem with Loario. He wrote 12-15 books in a row without a best seller, but then after that he wrote 3 in like 5. And that was with the creative visionary reward! I too was confused about the clinic until you explained it was a mod. I looked it up and it seems pretty interesting. Maybe it's time that I start doing more with mods . . . Any other recommendations?

Edit to add: I appreciate the little art history lesson, even if I don't have much to add about it. Let's leeeeaarn!

[oshizu]

Whew! That's so many toddlers. I just did three and that was *plenty*! Still, this will provide plenty of wonderful heir options so I am FOR IT. As for the best seller aspiration, I had the same problem with Loario. He wrote 12-15 books in a row without a best seller, but then after that he wrote 3 in like 5. And that was with the creative visionary reward! I too was confused about the clinic until you explained it was a mod. I looked it up and it seems pretty interesting. Maybe it's time that I start doing more with mods . . . Any other recommendations?

Edit to add: I appreciate the little art history lesson, even if I don't have much to add about it. Let's leeeeaarn!

@Rhoxi

Sorry! I didn't mean to confuse folks by using Lumpinou's Woohoo Wellness mod, but I was hoping it would be a bit of a surprise!
About script mods, I enjoy using MC Command Center because it adds some convenience to simming.
"Auto Bill Pay" just auto-pays the bills each week when they arrive, "Pause on Zone" pauses the game whenever my sims load on the current or new lot, so I don't have to sit and wait while the game goes through a loading screen.  I can go get a snack or take a bio break or whatever.  I like "Disable Emotional Deaths" because hysteria occurs excessively to my sims.
The auto-marriage and auto-pregnancy features are nice, because I can limit the no. of births per household.

Other script mods seem popular on Youtube, especially the ones that let your sim choose their dormmates or choose which teens attend high school.
There are also a lot of mods out there for careers that TS4 doesn't offer, like modeling, dancing, daycare professional, and so on.  I've never tried them.
I watched a Youtuber giving CAS makeovers to her two pre-teens. She has that life stage due to a pre-teen mod. I've never tried that one either.
James Turner recently showcased Carl's new Dine Out mod, which looked really fantastic!

I think it really depends on what kind of story you have in mind for your sims.  Decide on that then google to see if there's a mod that will enhance your narrative vision.

[oshizu]

7.35: The Diaper Quartet


Week 35, Sunday (3rd week of spring, Y3)
Cerise: Last night, Sango and I had twins with Ren and Djavan, respectively, by IVF.
Please ignore the fact that we seem to be standing in our fourth nooboo's bassinet.
That child is safe, trust us.  From left to right:
Brother Ren, me, my wife Sango, and Ren's husband Djavan.


I've decided to embrace my stubborn desire to write romance novels.
But first, I need to paint one last masterpieces to become a Painter Extraordinaire!
(I'd started painting last week while I waffled between writing romance or mystery novels.)
If only I could write bestsellers as readily as I can paint masterpieces…


I'm on a roll! Since becoming a Painter Extraordinaire today, I've written two best-sellers!
Time to visit the family museum to display my Postcard and Message in Bottle collections!



Monday
I'm so grateful to my housemates who help out so I can devote my free time to writing!
This morning before work, I finish writing my third best-selling romance novel!
After writing all weekend, I'm ready to meet our toddlers tonight!


I've been working my Business job and publishing novels.
Sango is an aspiring Master Chef who sells our garden produce.
But the brunt of our income comes from the ever diligent Ren and Djavan.
Now that they've both found Inner Peace (!), they've switched from woodworking to painting.

The four of us started out poor but we're nearly millionaires now! Thanks so much, you two!


We age up all four bassinet burritos at the same time.
Taro has brown hair like his father Djavan, while Momo has white hair like me.
Santos and Selena are both redheads like their mother Sango.


We change Taro's hair to a lighter color that's slightly more fitting for the Peach heir.
Momo ages up with that hat for one of her outfits, so we add it to her other outfits.
Taro inherits my lilac eyes, but Momo has grey eyes like Djavan.
I like that the twins are a mix of both parents.


Not so with Santos and Selena.
They both have red hair and green eyes, just like their mother Sango.
I wonder if Santos will resemble his father Ren as he grows older.


Our toddlers learn so quickly, we parents don't even need to be a well-oiled machine!
I've taken tomorrow off, but I'm thinking I'll go back to work on Wednesday.



Tuesday
First, Sango and Djavan read to a pair of twins for two hours each.
Later, while Ren and I are reading to the toddlers, they all max their Imagination.

We'd planned for the next heir to be a Top-Notch Toddlers and the others to be Happy Toddlers.
At this rate, though, we might as well raise four Top-Notch Toddlers. Tiny House ftw!


In the afternoon, Momo wakes up before the others.
She maxes her Thinking skill while the other toddlers are still sleeping.


Djavan dotes on Taro.  Do you think Taro will grow up to look like his father?
I guess it's still too early to tell.
But he's definitely got Djavan's smile.



Wednesday
By the time I leave for work, Momo and then Taro have already aged up.
Little Santo is not far behind.
I'd planned to do a comparison of learning Movement on the slide versus the ball pit.
But the kids leveled Movement so quickly, I didn't have the chance.


As a toddler, Selena has the same hairstyle as her mother Sango.
Isn't she precious?
She ages up to a child not long after her brother Santos.


What a surprise awaits me when I return from work!
Besides our children all aged up, we've moved into a larger house!
You can't see the fishing pond and greenhouse in the top left and right corners.
Also, Ren made an executive decision in my absence.
The kids' bedrooms moved downstairs to make space for skilling areas.



Thursday
Ren: The kids will definitely bring home B grades tomorrow!
This week, they're better off focusing on scouting rather than school grades.
That's why we didn't advise them to do a second school project last night.


Cerise: Our little Outdoor Adventurers, fishing on our home lot.



Friday
Sango: Ren and Djavan have both become Bodybuilders recently to increase their longevity.
Ren suggests that I become one, too, and even mentors me in Fitness.


We've come to the Spice Festival!
Taro's excited to meet both his great-grandfathers here.
We'll have to invite them over to the house soon.

Taro and Santos earn their last badge, Sociability, while socializing at the festival.


Momo and Selena also earn their Sociability badges here but they still need the Keep Fit badge.
We should go home now so they can continue working on that badge.
Hey, notice who is tonight's Spice Champion?  It's my first win ever!



Saturday
The kids have been hopping around among aspirations to earn their scout badges first.
But today, they're determined to become full-fledged Rambunctious Scamps.


Nothing especially extraordinary happened this past week.
Raising four toddlers at once then helping them earn their scout badges is a lot of work!
We also moved into a larger but empty home.
We didn't have much energy to spare for any surprises or plot twists this week. Sorry!


Watcher: Gah, I took on way too much this sim-week! The toddlers and scout badges x4 were enough.
I should have saved moving into an unfurnished house  for next week, lol!
That house was originally built for three grown ups and twin children, so required some restructuring.
I feel like I did a lot of heavy lifting this sim-week. I deserve a short vacay to Coral Island!



Gallery Download:
*"All Collection Plaques" room by DeathOnAVespa
  Ever completed a collection without receiving its plaque? Frustrating, right?
  My museum currently contains 15 collection but is missing 3 collection plaques.
  So I download that room with all collection plaques up to the Werewolves pack.
 
  Bah, I learn that no plaque is awarded for Decorative Eggs, Geodes, Feathers, or Plushies.
  Lol, I wasn't missing any plaques after all.  I'm an idiot. *blushes

Progress: End of Week 35

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Residence: Celebrazioni d'Amore, Porto Luminoso (Tartosa)

Cerise (Gen7 heir) - YA (16 days to Adult)
Traits: Neat, Unflirty, Creative
Spouse: Sango; Children (with Djavan): Taro & Momo
Remaining tasks
Career: Business/Investor  7/10 (for entire YA life)
✔️Aspiration: Best-Selling Author
Bonus aspirations: Inner Peace 0/1

Ren (Gen7 spare) - YA (13 days to Adult)
Traits: Cheerful, Geek, Materialistic
Spouse: Djavan (Costa); Children (with Sango): Santos & Selena

Sango DuBois (Gen7 spouse): YA (16 days to Adult)
Traits: Loves the Outdoors, Loyal, Proper
Spouse: Cerise; Children (with Ren): Santos & Selena

Djavan Costa (Gen7 cadet spouse) - YA (13 days to Adult)
Traits: Romantic, Self-Absorbed, Family-Oriented
Spouse: Ren; Children (with Cerise): Taro & Momo

Taro (Gen8 heir) - Child (10 days to Teen)
Traits: Inquisitive; Goofball
Skills: Comedy 0, Gourmet Cooking 0
✔️Must play an instrument: Piano 5

Rest of Gen8 - Children (10 days to Teen)
*Momo (Gen8 spare) - Inquisitive: Perfectionist
*Santos (Gen8 cadet kid): Inquisitive: Adventurous
*Selena (Gen8 cadet kid): Inquisitive; Proper

Notes
*Best-Selling Author: Besides the Creative Visionary trait, I also use the Home Studio lot trait.
 By coincidence, Cerise produced three best-sellers soon after maxing Painter Extraordinaire.
 Her in-progress mystery novel and 2 of her 3 romance novels turned out best-sellers. Lucky!

*Top-Notch Toddlers: I've become used to raising toddlers in regular residences.
  Trying that hard but in a 64-tile tiny house made toddler skilling went by so quickly.

[Granny Lawlor]

4 Top-Notch Toddlers and Llama Scouts in one episode! Well done, Watcher! And Cerise has nearly completed her tasks.
Thanks for the info on the collection plaques. I've occasionally wondered if I've misplaced one and now that explains it.

[PeregrineTook]

Momo is soooooo cute!!!  I loved the hat look on her during the toddler years.  And the fun buns?  Outstanding!  She's easily my favorite of the quartet.
You got so many great shots of the kiddos learning and skilling and such, but I particularly enjoyed the ones with all four learning to potty at the same time and then the double storytime shot with two kiddos per couch/adult.  Totally adorable  :=)
And yes, you have, for sure, earned that Coral Island time!