Monday morning at the Davis house finds Juliette and Aldric going to work, while Almeric of course stays behind; there is plenty of work for him to do at home.
The dishwasher needs fixing, for instance.
Almeric really could have done without being electrocuted!
When his brother and sister-in-law return from work, all three of them sit down for a meal and talk about their day's events. Aldric tells them of how someone at the restaurant where he is Executive Chef wanted nothing but two eggs, sunny side up!
Later, Aldric prepares food for Almeric to sell. His pork chops are delicious and should sell really well.
Meanwhile, Almeric is taking care of some equally important paper work, such as paying the bills.
On Tuesday, Almeric opens the shop and receives his Silver Sales Badge.
His brother is still preparing food for the shop... and yet another kitchen fire interrupts his efforts.
When Juliette returns from work on that Tuesday, it is with a promotion to College Dean.
On Wednesday, she has the day off and uses it to prepare large quantities of Grandma's Comfort Soup, all in order to help Almeric's shop to become a success.
The gardener is here, and by the looks of it will be busy for the entire day!
Oh no - Juliette is not faring any better than her husband... she, too, manages to set the kitchen stove on fire after several hours of cooking.
Thursday sees Juliette make her lifetime want come true: she now is New Maximiliania's new Education Minister! At 12 days before she will reach elderhood, that's not bad.
With the onset of autumn on Friday, Almeric decides to start selling Christmas cookies. Even those Sims who show by their clothing that they still very much want summer to last, are drawn to the shop by this special offer.
Meanwhile, Aldric has started to produce some beautiful paintings that are also put up for sale downstairs in the shop. The paintings and Christmas cookies help raise the shop to rank 4, and Almeric makes his Golden Sales Badge.
One of the customers, Loki Beaker, takes pity on the condition of the yard and starts raking leaves without anyone having told him to do this.
The shop remains closed on Saturday and sees the Davis' preparing more food to sell; Aldric also works on the skills he needs for his next promotion. On Sunday, the shop is open yet again, and reaches rank 5 just as Almeric gets his Silver Badge for handling the cash register.
His twin brother's hard work pays off when he returns home, having been promoted to Restauranteur. If I am not very much mistaken, he is now one step away from reaching his lifetime want of being Celebrity Chef.
For Almeric, business is very slow, what with the constant need of making more food and ordering groceries. I am wondering whether I should have him start selling other things for now, while his brother and sister-in-law still work full time in their jobs and can't dedicate as much time and effort to the shop as they would like to. At this rate, he'll never reach his goal of owning five top-level businesses.
This Sim-week starts at this rather modest cottage in the older part of New Maximiliania - but it won't end here :-) Why not?
Well, we have Aldric Davis living here. He has just moved in after having graduated Summa Cum Laude in Physics; he won't stay here for long. Aldric is a Popularity Sim who dreams of becoming Celebrity Chef.
He has a twin brother, as you may remember: Almeric. Almeric moves in with his twin brother; he, too, has just graduated (Magna Cum Laude in Politics). He brings the exact amount of 20.001 Simoleons with him. And can you see the woman in the background, approaching the two brothers? That's Aldric's long-term college sweetheart Juliette Capp. She moves in as well, adding only 5.592 Simoleons - which is strange, since she comes from a very wealthy family. Juliette is a Family Sim who wants to become Education Minister. Now, with one couple and one single Sim, the cottage is too small, and so the three of them put all their money together and move...
...to this house which is certainly large enough! Do you remember who once used to live here?
Exactly, Betty Goldstein and Catherine Viejo. They were both already elderly ladies when the game begun and have long since died, both were on Platinum at the time of their deaths, so that their tombstones adorn the back garden. They did not live here on their own; Andrew Martin and his son Jacob were their "tenants", but they moved to a different place after the old ladies had died.
The house is huge and does not come cheap; so far, only one of the three new owners has a job, so they need to be a bit careful with their money. The furniture is therefore not top of the range. It is also important that they keep some money aside to help Almeric achieve his lifetime want of owning 5 top level businesses. "Maybe I should do something with food first," Almeric is making plans for his first business which is going to be a home business. Aldric, as an aspiring Celebrity Chef, likes the idea, and they decide to open "Davis' Delices" in the big front room, selling home-cooked food.
Meanwhile, Juliette changes her hair colour from red to brown and puts on glasses. Whatever for, you may wonder. Well, so far, she and her sweetheart Aldric have only 1 chemistry bolt between them, and she is making these changes in order to better suit his turn-ons.
Aldric, too, has changed - he is now wearing a formal suit, because this is what Juliette likes on a man. They have now two bolts for each other. "I hope we will be good friends," Juliette says to Almeric who she had not known at all before she moved in with the twin brothers.
It is still Monday when Juliette returns from work with a promotion to High School Principal.
On Tuesday, she is made College Senior Professor, and Chester Gieke is now one of her colleagues.
The shop is opening for the first time today. It still looks rather empty with just three food counters and two tables with chairs where the customers can, if they so wish, eat what they purchase.
Cassandra Roseland (nee Goth) is Almeric's first customer.
But he actually makes his first few Simoleons from Anthony Monty.
Aldric has found a job in the culinary career today and started as Prep Cook.
Catherine Viejo's ghost appears, obviously she is not happy about her old bed having been replaced by new furniture! But she never ventures upstairs, where the new owners of the house have their bedrooms, and so their sleep is not disturbed.
On Wednesday, Aldric is promoted to Sous Chef. He was lucky with a Chance Card, really.
Uh-oh... and you really think you'll be a Celebrity Chef one day, Aldric? :-)
The big garden is getting out of hand, with Juliette and Aldric being at work all day and Almeric, although being home, always busy with his shop. So they hire a gardener, although they'd rather keep the money and do the gardening themselves - but there simply isn't enough time.
Jacob Martin once lived here and has now come to the shop to have a good look at his former home.
It takes Almeric until Friday before his business even makes it to rank 1! If he keeps going at that pace, I doubt he will manage to get even one business to the top level - let alone five!! But he tries to make up for the first "lost" days of the week, when he was so busy with gardening that he hardly had time to prepare food for the shop, and on the same day his business reaches rank 2.
"I'll help you making food to sell," Aldric promises his brother. Indeed he makes some dishes Almeric can offer in his shop, and the reward is a rank 3 business on Saturday, and he finally gets a Bronze Badge for operating the cash register.
Aldric is now Executive Chef.
It is Sunday... and spring. That, together with the decorative balloons you can see here, can only mean one thing:
A wedding party! Juliette has invited some of her large family: Miranda (back) and Hermia Capp, whose pregnancy is clearly visible in her formal dress, as well as poor Uncle Cornwall, whose wife Regan so tragically died in the flames. Dirk Dreamer is a friend from her university days...
...as are Phineaus Furley and Emily Lee.
When it gets dark, the bride and groom get under the wedding arch, and minutes after this picture was taken, Juliette Capp becomes Juliette Davis.
The guests enjoy a delicious plate of pork chops and an equally delicious layer cake - both lovingly prepared by the future Celebrity Chef.
Juliette is happy that her brother Tybalt and her friend Tom Freshe could make it to the party, too.
The week is over, and a busy one it was! Will Almeric's fledgling business take off properly, enabling him to eventually reach his lifetime want? (None of my Sims have so far managed to have 5 top level businesses!) How long before Juliette and Aldric will reach their respective lifetime wants?
Note: This was one of the last few stories I was ever able to upload to the Sims2 Exchange; I just found out that it was almost to the day 2 years ago, on 28.10.2010. There are four more stories after this one that I managed to upload before the Sims2 Exchange was, sadly, abandoned by EA - somethiing I still very much regret!
- - - Update 26.10.2012 - - - The fourth week at the Delarosa / Curious household begins on Wednesday morning, with Florence studying mechanics...
...and Pascal fast asleep.
Not long, though, and he gets up. Since he is on Permanent Platinum, I rarely tell him what to do, and focus on Florence instead, who needs some more promotions before she will have reached her lifetime want of becoming Prestidigitator.
Pascal has made breakfast, but he is obviously feeling a bit under the weather; he has managed to burn the omelette. Florence pretends not to notice and still eats it.
Tank Grunt comes visiting; he is a friend of Pascal's.
It is Thursday. Do you remember how Pascal tried to ask the Genie to resurrect his daughter Carolina, who so tragically died in a fire at her dorm during her first year at uni? He tries again - and, just like the first time, he gets many names of deceased friends and neighbours to choose from, but not Carolina.
Monica Bratford walks by, and Pascal does not hesitate to greet her. The "influence to..." feature is something I like to use every now and then, and today, Pascal asks Monica to do some repairs for him.
She unclogs the toilet...
...while Pascal trims the hedge - he thought he'd escaped the eternal gardening chores when he moved out from the house he shared with his brothers!
Monica even tunes the piano before she calls it a day and leaves.
Friday passes without any event worth mentioning. On Saturday morning over breakfast (omelette again, but this time, he did not burn them), Pascal tells Florence he wants to invite his brothers over; he has not seem them in a while.
So, a little while later, Lazlo and Vidcund arrive. Dina Caliente, Lazlo's live-in love, has come along, too.
She instantly heads for the piano...
...while the brothers check out Florence's computer. Later, they all watch TV together, and then both Florence and Pascal have to go to work.
Pascal is the first one to return - and finds Mr. Reaper and his Hula Girls waiting for him. He is now 80, and although he is sad to leave Florence behind, he is looking forward to meet his daughter again, who has preceded him in the otherworld.
When Florence returns from work several hours later, the dicovery of Pascal's tombstone in front of her garden gate sends her into aspiration failure.
Good job the Shrink does not take long to arrive! (This is a very rare occurrance in my game, so I hope you don't mind me having taken pictures of it.)
Something I have never seen before: Florence, still in deep red aspiration level, is "taught" by Professor von Ball. Have you had this happen in your game?
As if Pascal's death wasn't enough for Florence to deal with, early on Sunday morning a burglar sneaks up to the house.
In cold blood, he enters Florence's bedroom and takes first one...
...and then the other wall rug. By that time, Florence is wide awake and runs out of the house in shock.
Once she is sure the burglar has left, she goes back inside where she breaks into tears - her entire life seems to be crumbling around her. On top of everything else, Pascal's death means she now needs four friends for her next promotion.
She rings some of her acquaintances every day for the rest of her week and manages indeed to make three friends out of them.
But look at her house... the once so beautiful yard gets regularly cared for by a paid gardener, but it certainly doesn't look it!
On Monday, her old friend John Burb comes visiting, offering his condolences.
When she is on her own, Florence reads the paper...
...and finds some solace in playing the piano.
The week ends on Tuesday night with the yard really being a mess of weeds, overgrown hedges and dead flower beds...
...and Florence being deeply unhappy about it, but unable to tackle the task at hand.
How is she going to cope next time we meet her? She is 64 now and needs one more friend for her next promotion.
Is she going to reach permanent platinum, and will she maybe find another man to love after Pascal's death?
(Interestingly enough, she has 3 bolts for Lazlo, Pascal's brother!)
