The Gavigan Family: Week 7

For week 6, click here.

The Gavigan family home has had an extension added to it last round. It houses Nathan's third business out of the five he wishes to bring to top level: Gavigans' Garments. In this shop, the Gavigans sell home-sewn clothes and curtains.

Here is Nathan, busy at work at the sewing machine. The shop is at level 4. Nathan is 67.

His wife is the same age. Mary seems to feel the strain of constant work - either at the shop or at home - quite a lot. But she is on Permanent Platinum: Her lifetime want of having six grandchildren was more than fulfilled with seven of them!

Three are from her eldest child, Isaiah, who married Ariel Capp and gave her Caleb, Cataldo and Calogero. (Caleb tragically died some years ago.)

The other four grandchildren are from one of the couple's twin daughters, Gerlinde. With Sirius Swain, she has the twins Clarence and Helen, and another set of twins was born this round, Gavin and Gary.
       

All of Monday, Nathan and Mary are busy with the shop, house work and sewing. In between, Nathan manages to ring one of his grandsons, while Mary can only dream right now of being friends with her granddaughter Helen. In the evening, Gerlinde comes visiting her parents on her own initiative.
       

Tuesday morning, showering and getting dressed means quite an effort for Nathan, because he feels so unwell.
       

Mary is the same, but the couple still decide to open the shop.
       

It is a busy day, and Mary wonders when she will have time to visit her grandchildren again.
       

Well, she never will - at 6:00 pm, just as she is about to start on some restocking, a customer she has never seen before appears... it is Mr. Reaper, and he is NOT looking to buy a new outfit or curtains. Mary dies upon turning 69, witnessed by her husband and several customers.
       

They still want serving, though, and Nathan has a hard time ringing up their purchases. The business had only just reached rank 5 and is now down to 4.
       

Nathan feels closest to Mary when he is at the shop. It is as if she never left.
       

On Wednesday morning, he opens the shop as usual, but it is not easy keeping everything going all on his own, and he has to shut down after a few hours in order to restock.

It is Thursday morning, two days after Mary's death, and Nathan gets up... all alone.
       

This photo on the wall in the living room reminds him of happier times.
       

How good, then, that his other daughter, Gesine, comes visiting in the afternoon, just after he has decided to take a late lunch break from the shop, where he has been working hard all morning.
       

Gesine sits down with her Dad for a spot of telly and a chat and then does a few chores for him while he has a much-needed rest.
       

For Nathan, Friday begins with a session at his sewing machine. It is the first time since Mary's death that he feels his creativity coming back.
       

Then it is time to open the shop, and a busy day it is, too.
       

When he shuts down for a break, I discover one customer, townie Tiffany Young, has found her way into Nathan's bedroom, where she is playing with the toy robot. That is odd, since so far, everyone left when Nathan closed the business. Also, I was sure the door to the house was locked for anyone but the family, but apparently, I must have unlocked it at some stage.
       

On Saturday morning, this customer finally leaves. The business reaches rank 6 today.
       

In the afternoon, Nathan invites over his daughter Gerlinde (not pictured) and the man she lives with, Sirius Swain, with the older two of their four children, Helen and Clarence.
       

Nathan's son Isaiah and his wife Ariel Capp join them later for a meal of hamburgers.
       

There really is a chill in the air now of an evening, and Nathan lights the fire in the living room.
       

On Sunday, Nathan thinks "money is just that - money", and does not open the shop in the morning. Instead, he takes his car to...
       

...the Hills Community Centre, where he meets up with his two daughters and grandson Clarence. They skate together, have hot chocolate and generally enjoy a good time.
       

Other New Maximilianians do that, too. Here is Meike Riley, seemingly very impressed by Romeo Monty whom she has just met over a game of Myshuno.
       

When his family members go home, Nathan drives back to his house, too, and spends the rest of the day working at the shop. He is now 74 years old and should "technically" move to the Senior Residence - but for now, I am letting him stay at his house so that he can keep working in his shop.

How much longer will he be around? Is it likely for him to reach his lifetime want? Are any of his family going to take over the house once he is no longer here?

Gesine Gavigan: Week 1

The next name on the alphabetical list of New Maximiliania's residents after Gerlinde Gavigan is her twin sister Gesine. Gesine has finished uni at the same time as Gerlinde. Her Major was Biology, and she has graduated Magna Cum Laude. Now she wants to become a Space Pirate, a fitting life time want for a Fortune Sim.

Maybe you remember that during her uni years, Gerlinde was not the nicest of girls; she made some enemies (for no apparent reason) but also made some friends, for instance Lilo Landgraab, and even found herself a college sweetheart in Lilo's twin brother Lance.
I wonder whether she will roll any wants about Lance.

For now, she has moved into this small town house. Her budget upon moving in is 8.706 Simoleons. After buying some basic stuff she is down to 2.720 Simoleons - still no bed.

Georgia Newson, Gunnar Roque and Ripp Grunt (not pictured) make up her Welcome Committee.

Stacy Stacks walks by a little later and is invited to join Gesine for a piece of berry cake.

Prezioso Picaso (who went to uni with her, I think) rings and asks her to meet up with a bunch of people at "Games of Glory".

Tina Traveller is part of the group. Something happened there - Prezioso has just autonomously fallen in love with Lilo Landgraab, seen walking away.

Yes, they definitely are in love, snogging away while Gesine grills ribs for everyone.

Tuesday starts with a phone call from B'Elanna Beaker. The two ladies did not know each other until then, so I wonder why B'Elanna rang. For the rest of the week, she rings nearly every day.

Today, Gesine is as unlucky on the job-finding front as she was yesterday.

The only other thing worth mentioning about Tuesday is that she suffers a cold. Maybe she should think about getting some warmer clothes now that autumn has set in. But after buying some more things for the kitchen and a good bed, and after paying today's bills, her bank account is down to 316 Simoleons. So she better be careful about money.

Wednesday morning is here.

Gesine is still coughing and sneezing.

In spite of that, she has the wish to go jogging, so I send her for a run. When she returns, a succession of visitors comes by her house. First is Castanea Landgraab, the stepmother of her friends Lilo and Lance Landgraab...

...followed by Catherine Capp...

...and Christian Love. In between, Gesine has had time for a much needed bath.

Another bath follows first thing Thursday morning.

During the night, a stray dog with luminous eyes has been digging up Gesine's front yard.

She rolls the wish to have a date (unusual for autumn!), and since Lance Landgraab has been her love interest at uni, she asks him to meet her at Greaves Greener Gardens.

The date is very successful - Lance even rolls the wish to marry Gesine!

And look who's there! I have not seen Mrs. Crumplebottom in quite a while.

Friday morning, Lance leaves a single red rose with a love letter attached on Gesine's door step.

The stray dog is back.

In the afternoon, Gesine invites over her parents, brother Isaiah and his wife as well as her twin sister Gerlinde.

Her family are a bit taken aback when they realise Gesine is really struggling money-wise; upstairs, a bed, a computer desk and chair are the only furnishings.

She does not even have enough chairs for everyone, but the family still sit down together for a berry pie.

On Saturday morning, Gesine gets up before the sun is out.

For most of the day, she gives financial consulting, raising the contents of her bank account from 265 to 1.015 Simoleons. As she still has not found a job in her dream career, in spite of checking every day, I think this is a good way of keeping the repo man away.

It is definitely cold enough now for a coat and boots when she goes outside.

Sunday is here, and Gesine has invested some of her money gained by financial consulting in a cheap wardrobe in one corner of her sparsely furnished bedroom. She did not buy a new outfit; I found the jumper and trousers in her wardrobe when I checked for something more winter-like.

She does the crosswords, like almost every morning.

For the afternoon and evening, she invites over her siblings with their partners and children as well as her parents. Nearly all the Gavigan family is united, and Gesine is busy serving grilled cheese for lunch and later some berry cake. It is nice to see the children getting along with their cousins, and having a chance to meet their uncles, aunts and grandparents.

The week ends on a happy note, although there is still no job for Gesine. Will she be more successful next week? What about Lance - is she going to accept his marriage proposal, if he should indeed propose?