The Thomas-Bubbler Household: Week 7

Sam Thomas and Ty Bubbler are in for another very busy week. Their lifetime wants have not changed; Ty still wants to own 5 top level businesses (he has managed 3 so far), and Sam has reached hers when she became General seven days before turning into an Elder.
The two of them are now 67, and currently working on Ty's fourth business: Bubbler's Bakery.

They always take turns in doing the baking...

...and manning the shop.

On Monday morning, Sam maxes out her Cooking skill.

The top floor of the bakery is a cosy little cafè, but so far, nobody has really been using it. Customers go upstairs, have a quick look around, maybe use the toilet, and that's it.

Ty is still pleased how his bakery is doing. It is now on rank 5.

The two of them always make sure not to neglect each other. They fell in love autonomously at college, but neither ever rolled the wish to get married, and so they are still Ty Bubbler and Sam Thomas.

They live here: To the left is their house, to the right the bakery. Of course, the doors to their home are not open to their customers, just to themselves and their hired helps (Gardener and Maid).

Today, the gardener is here. As soon as they were able to afford it, Sam decided she and Ty should use all their time and energy for Ty's business and not have to deal with household and other chores as well. The couple ar very generous employers and always give the highest amount of tips possible.

 

Tuesday is Baked Alaska Day.

Ty begins the day by ordering groceries - an almost daily task.

The delivery van is a frequent sight here!

For lunch, Ty and Sam share a bowl of chili con carne. Ty is glad that the two of them cooperate so well on all levels. Sam is enormously proud of Ty but worries about his health sometimes; he really works very hard.

In the afternoon, he thinks maybe all his customers need to start using the café is the enticement of a free cup of espresso. But he ends up being the only one to have one.

Only when I finally have the idea of letting Sam serve a berry pie do the customers flock upstairs. Of course, nobody pays for the pie, but Sam and Ty don't mind - their business is doing so well that they can easily afford giving out free samples of their products. 

Downstairs, Gunnar Roque and Roxie Sharpe fall in love. I think they had an affair years ago (of course, this was only to help Gunnar with his LTW), and it looks like they are trying to rekindle the old flame.

Sam jons the customers for a cup of hot chocolate. "I am so glad I thought of serving free samples," she tells Jasmine Rai and Francis Worthington.

Wednesday is declared Berry Pie Day, and the pies are sold out quicker than Sam and Ty can make them. The bakery is now on rank 6.

To give Ty a bit of a rest, Sam takes over the till.

Thursday morning, over breakfast Ty tells Sam of a new recipe he has thought of trying.

The repairman is called to fix the broken bathtub. Ty is happy that he can afford to be so generous now!

More berry pies need to be made, and for a few hours, the couple close the bakery and work together in their kitchen.

With all those activities and past and present businesses, the collection of awards, deeds and plaques on the living room wall is growing.

You can see how busy the bakery is! Some mornings, the cakes are sold out before 9.00! That day, the reward for all their hard work is rank 7.

The café upstairs is thriving now, too. "A bit of music up here would be nice, too, wouldn't it," Roxie remarks.

Ty is not thinking about Woohoo with the Gardener. His mind is just wandering back to the exciting "nap" he has enjoyed with Sam before going downstairs again to greet and tip the Gardener and then head back to the bakery.

Uh-oh! Once again, everything is gone way faster than it could be replaced, much to Tank Capp's (formerly Grunt) disappointment.

Unfortunately, Sam was in such a hurry to make more cakes that she did not pay attention properly and put the kitchen stove on fire. Fortunately, this is the only fire all week, and there is a fire alarm installed.

With a wintery chill now in the air, Ty is glad for the fireplace in their home, where he has a short rest before helping Sam again to replenish their stock of cookies and cakes.

Friday morning sees Ty at his usual task of ordering more groceries.

The shop is decorated in line with the season. It is Layer Cake Day.

An exhausted Ty sinks onto the settee with a bowl of chili con carne at lunch time.

After the Layer Cake has sold out, the couple decide on offering Christmas Cookies in the afternoon.

The cookies are a bit hit!

Sadly, things take a bad turn for a little while. Ty was too slow to reach the till, where a queue of angry customers was waiting for him - they were all impatient to get home with their cakes and cookies. It made the bakery lose favour and go back down to rank 6.

Saturday morning sees Sam up early again, mixing up batter. I think she should have cleaned the kitchen counter first.

Good job the reporter who has come to write a review about "Bubbler's Bakery" today does not ask to be shown the kitchen! The review turns out to be a very good one, drawing even more customers to the bakery.

The sink in the café toilet has broken down. The repair service was called to fix it, but the mess needs to be cleaned up, too. Sam gives their cleaner a hand, before any of the customers come upstairs.

On Sunday morning, Sam and Ty light the fire before sitting down for breakfast. It may be the weekend for other Sims, but these two are going to work just as hard today as they've been doing all week. Still, they enjoy this quiet time with each other, and have made sure to add a festive touch to their home with some Christmas decorations.

The gardener has turned up in vain today - the thick layer of snow means she can not really do anything.

With a sale of Baked Alaska to Georgia Newson, the bakery reaches rank 8.

Appropriately, the week ends Sunday evening with a look at the customers in the café. Why appropriately? Because one of them is Stephen Tinker, and that is the next name on my list.

I really enjoyed playing this week much more than I had expected, especially once I got the café going. The narrow stair case and not much room on the landing made for some traffic jams, but usually, things went well enough (except for that time when Ty took too long to get behind the counter to ring up his customers - thanks to one of those traffic jams!).
There is a good chance Ty will see his fourth business reaching top level, but I seriously doubt he will live long enough to push yet another, fifth business up to the top.