The Broke Brothers: Week 6

Click here for the previous week at this household.

The McGreggor farm has not changed since we last were here. Let me briefly update you on its history: Originally, the farm belonged to its sole resident, Leod McGreggor. He met, fell in love with and married young widow Brandi Broke, who by then had four boys to look after. Dustin, her firstborn, was already a teenager when the game began, and Beau was a toddler. Her twins, Brent and Benvenuto, were not yet born.

The boys spent a happy, healthy childhood on the farm, where Leod made his lifetime want of having six pets reach the top of their careers come true, and eventually turned into a PlantSim from all the work in this orchard and on the vegetable patch. Dustin went to university, where he met Emily Lee. The two of them got married and became famous City Planners, running an architectural office from their own home and raising Dustin's half-Alien son Lee together. Sadly, the whole Broke-Lee family perished in a fire caused by a burning pile of leaves in their yard. 
Brent married Sandra Roth, because the two of them shared the LTW of raising 20 puppies and kittens.
Eventually, Leod and Brandi died peacefully of old age. Beau and Benvenuto inherited the farm and still live here, together with the three remaining dogs Abby, Toto and Goldy.

Beau has reached his LTW of becoming World Class Ballet Dancer and is not controlled much by me anymore. His younger brother Benvenuto (this means, by the way, "welcome" in Italian and sums up Brandi's feelings towards her youngest children, in spite of having to raise them as a widow at first) is still working on his LTW of becoming Media Magnate.

On Saturday morning, Beau wakes up feeling unwell. (Ever since the game started, the week at the farm has always begun on a Saturday.)

There is - for now - only one Sim in all of New Maximiliania who is able to make the water wiggler: Alexander Goth. He made as many as he could last round, and I had him give them to as many of his friends and neighbours as possible. One ended up here, and it is very useful with the three dogs, who instantly start using it. That saves the near-daily task of washing dogs!

Benvenuto greets Jessica Peterson who still sports the pink hairstyle she got after a makeover from Charlie Cho (Etsu Cho's son).

Toto turns into an elderly dog that day.

Beau is one of those neat Sims who often do the cleaning without being told.

Ben is demoted to Obituary Writer because of the wrong decision he took with a chance card. By the way, he gets several chance cards during the week, none of which I have ever seen before! After his demotion, he heads straight back to work, hoping to get his old job back.

Meanwhile, Beau greets Cherry Capp, one of Tybalt Capp's six PlantChildren.

Ben's plan worked - he got his old job back indeed and is now a Horoscope Writer once more.

On Sunday morning, he makes his Gold Badge for Gardening. From when he was a little boy, he loved working on the farm with his adoptive father, Leod McGreggor.

Beau is a little more reluctant to get up that day. He is, after all, a ballet dancer and not a farm hand.

Both brothers show the wish of throwing a party, and so I have Ben invite a bunch of friends over. One of them is Pauline Aspir. Ben wishes to dance with someone, and so I send him over to the barn where Pauline was playing with Toto. I always forget that the "classic dance" action results in two Sims falling in love nearly every time!

Ben's twin brother Brent is part of the party, too. Beau has not seen Brent in a while, and the two are glad for the chance of catching up.

Brent's marrying into the Roth family seems to be still fresh on Beau's mind. Ben serves a meal while Pauline glances up at him adoringly.

Such a happy gathering of friends and brothers calls for champagne, doesn't it! Do you recognize all of the guests?

Then I grow reckless and suddenly decide I want to see a surprise engagement - I have not had one in the game in a very long time! (And never in real life, he he)

Pauline happily accepts the diamond ring so unexpectedly presented by Ben. Only afterwards do I remember that she already has a sweetheart from her uni days - Marcus Baldwin. But neither she nor Marcus have shown any wants about each other during the weeks I played their households... so maybe she is ready to move on.

On Monday, newly engaged Ben is promoted to Sports Columnist. Again, he heads straight back to work. (Can you see the bit on the grass behind the car, looking like part of a tree or something? This is just one of the many graphics bugs I have been experiencing with New Max lately.)

Usually, I do not tell my PermaPlat Sims what to do, but it seems rather unfair on Benvenuto to have him do ALL the farm work while he still has to focus on his career. Therefore, Beau has to do his share as well.

Ben returns late at night with his second promotion of the day: he now is an Investigatory Journalist.

After he has changed out of his cream suit into his everyday jeans and shirt, he cleans one of the dog houses and makes the round of all the dog dishes. Only then does he go to bed.

Beau does some more dog house cleaning on Tuesday morning.

I then ask him to do some gardening. He sometimes does that on his own accord, too.

It is another gathering of friends that afternoon, this time with Gabrielle Newson as an extra guest (she happened to walk by and was, of course, invited in). Ben tells his friends of how sad it always is when a beloved pet dies, something every pet owner knows about.

Early on Wednesday morning, Ben is still up - he has only come in from work an hour or so ago - and makes a huge breakfast of salmon.

Beau greets Kent Capp.

Ben is promoted to Magazine Editor. He is not very far off now from reaching his LTW, I think.

Abby, the slim dog next to the mailbox, has just turned into an elderly dog. She and Toto were waiting for the mail carrier. They are good friends with him and nearly always receive a friendly pat on the back from him.

On Thursday, the brothers work the vegetable patch together when Beau makes his Silver Gardening badge. As you can tell, Ben can now talk to the plants to make them thrive.

The last day of the week at the farm, Friday, starts off with Beau cleaning the upstairs bathroom on his own accord.

He decides to prepare stuffed rainbow trout for lunch.

Later, he plays with Goldy in the kitchen.

The brothers end the week having a cosy chat after Beau returns from one of his ballet performances late at night. "You should have seen how my make-up artist had me go on stage tongiht," Beau laughs.

This was fun, but took a long time to play, because I had to make sure the dogs and the farm were always well cared for - not easy with two Sims working full time!

How is the romance between Pauline and Ben going to develop? What about Beau's life - will there ever be a lady (or gentleman) for him to share his life with?