The Tinker Family - Week 1

Welcome to No. 32, Eagle Lane in Bluewater Village, part of Pleasantview in my game. This spacious house with a neat shed and large garden is home to the Tinkers. According to Maxis, "Wanda and Stephen hoped their toy shop would be in the family for generations to come, but their daughter seems to have other plans. Can Melody follow her own dreams and still keep her parents happy?"<Snapshot>

The first of their pre-made pictures shows a toddler (is it supposed to be Melody?) being scared by an evil jack-in-the-box, which might explain her dislike of toys and refusal to take over her parents' toy shop one day. 

Here we see Stephen and Wanda quietly talking to each other, while Melody, now a teenager, looks unhappily at what is apparently the box containing the evil clown that scared her when she was little. 

In fact, Maxis have written that she "... was seemingly born grown up. It’s hard to imagine how an offspring of Stephen and Wanda could be so serious and brooding." 

Quite fittingly, she has the Knowledge aspiration and dreams of becoming a Mad Scientist. Her only friend outside the family is Dustin Broke, but she has no romantic interest in him (or anyone else) - yet.

Next, Stephen is shown tinkering away at his work bench, creating toys for the shop. Unfortunately, his lifetime want has nothing to do with toys or shops - he wishes to be Captain Hero, which is typical for a Family Sim like him. But with only 11 days left until elderhood, he has his work cut out for him and can't really afford to spend time making toys or running a shop. He is said to be "... very likable but somewhat bumbling. He was the mascot for his college’s football team." 

His wife Wanda is only two years younger, which makes her lifetime want of marrying off six children hard, but not impossible. In fact, both of them being typical Family Sims, one of their biggest wishes upon entering the lot is to have a baby; also, they can of course adopt children to speed up the entire process. 

Wanda's bio reads: "Warm, playful and caring, Wanda was born to be a mother." This was the last of the Maxis-made picture. The parents don't look very happy here, but we'll see how things play out when they all get a chance to pursue their lifetime wants.

The house - sorry for the slightly "veiled" pictures, it was raining when I took them! - is spacious enough but all that space can be used better than it is right now, especially if there should be five more children. 

On the ground floor, the front door leads to a large hall with nothing but a piano in it. A breakfast bar with only two seats forms the border to the open-plan kitchen. Ther is also a small bathroom tucked away in the upper right corner. To the right of the entrance hall is a large living room with TV, book shelf and chess table. A dining room for four is in the upper left corner - very impractical to have it so far away from the kitchen. A narrow staircase leads to the upper floor.

There, we find a relatively spacious landing with a telescope (indoors?!). The doors from the landing lead to the master bedroom (where, if you look closely, you can see Wanda and Stephen working at Wanda's lifetime want), a fitness room, a long and narrow bathroom and Melody's room. 

I will make some changes as the week progresses; right now, the family have only 4,800 Simoleons on their bank account, but as Stephen is hopefully going to get a job in Law Enforcement, there will be a regular income. Also, I am going to sell the toy-making equipment.

On this Monday, Stephen does not find a job in Law Enforcement. But since selling the contents of the shed, there are over 7,700 Simoleons in cash, and so there is no immediate financial worry. When Melody returns from school, he helps her with her homework, something all young Knowledge Sims appreciate. 

Meanwhile, Wanda is in the kitchen, making a batch of vegetable stew for the three members of the welcome committee: Mortimer Goth and his grown-up daughter Cassandra, who must have come straight from work, as well as Christian Love, who moved to Pleasantview not long ago. 

Later, mother and daughter watch TV together, and Wanda (whose dowdy hat I have banned from the house) makes an effort to talk to her bookish daughter. 

On Tuesday morning, Stephen finds employment as a Security Guard. His first shift will only start at 8:00 pm, and so he takes advantage of his free time during the day to gain some all-important body skill. 

Wanda announces her pregnancy, much to Stephen's delight.

She has a nap (she is sooo tired all the time!) when Melody returns from school, so it is just sandwiches for her and her Dad, which is perfectly fine by them. 

With Stephen gone to work and Melody in bed, Wanda watches the cooking channel and thinks that she should make a call to the adoption service rather sooner than later. 

Wednesday is a busy day for all the Tinkers. First, Stephen returns from his night shift with a promotion to Cadet. 

He snatches a couple of hours of sleep and has breakfast with Wanda before going back to work. Wanda tells him of her ideas for a nursery upstairs, once her baby and their adopted child will be here. 

She knows that her growing family will take up all of her attention, time and energy, with things like gardening having to take a back seat. With Stephen's regular income and more than one promotion bonus to be expected, the Tinkers can well afford a gardener, and Wanda tips her generously.

Melody has been studying hard and is proudly waving her A+ report.

Stephen has been promoted yet again and is now a Patrol Officer.

It is raining this afternoon, but that does not deter some Sims to go for a walk in the neighbourhood. Chester Gieke appears on the Tinkers' porch, and Stephen cordially asks him in.

Melody has made dinner for everyone, and Wanda sits next to Chester at the breakfast bar, talking about her baby being due very soon, and the adopted child arriving tomorrow.

If I thought Wednesday was busy, Thursday is even more remarkable. Before school, Melody has a game of chess with her Dad, and the two become best friends.

Before Stephen leaves for work, he shares a moment of tenderness with his wife.

At 10:00 am, the Social Worker is here - and so is the newest addition to the Tinker family, a boy named Alon.

He is off to school right away, and so Wanda is all alone when she goes into labour.

Meet Ron Tinker, named after Wanda's father Ron Zarubin.

Since Melody is home from school at 1:00 pm, she has already finished her homework by the time her new younger brother returns, and she gladly helps him with his. Alon's room used to be the gym room on the upper floor, behind the master bedroom. 

The workout devices have been put into Stephen's inventory for now; he might want them at some stage to gain body skill for his career. 

Alon and his new big sister get along well and bond further over a game of chess. 

Late that evening, Stephen returns from work with a promotion to Desk Sergeant.

Although Stephen can't be home with his children all day, he is a good and caring father and takes over nappy-changing duty before he leaves for work on Friday morning. 

At 10:00 am, the Social Worker's car pulls up in front of the house for the second time this week. A girl called Brittany is now part of the family. 

This is what upstairs looks like now: The former gym room is Alon's room; the master bedroom hold's baby Ron's crib and changing table, and Melody now shares her completely made-over room with Brittany.

Stephen returns from work at the same time as the younger kids are dropped off by the school bus. He is very happy to see them and considers himself lucky to have such a great family.

Melody tells her younger siblings about their Dad's job, and how he has already been promoted to Desk Sergeant.

On Saturday morning, Brittany greets her new big sister with a big smile: "Morning, Sis!" 

The gardener is here again, and the exterminator had to be called as well; a stray dog kept going over the bin, and from the rubbish on the ground resulted an infestation of bugs.

For the third and last time, the Social Worker's car pulls up at 10:00 am. Another boy is adopted by the Tinkers; unfortunately, the game's name generator assigned him "Alon", just like the first boy who joned the family earlier this week. This I will have to change, of course. Also, this second Alon is wearing a bobble hat that looks rather out of place.

The short dreadlocks look much better on him, and that's not just my opinion; he jumps and shouts triumphantly when he sees himself in the mirror. 

The breakfast bar is dismantled, and since the dining table in the formal dining room has become way too small for the large (and still expanding) family, a new, long dining table with enough chairs for everyone is set up in the spacious hallway, the heart and centre of the house. 

Wanda announces that this was her last call to the adopting agency, since she is expecting again, making the half dozen complete. 

Sunday is off to a wet start for Stephen when he discovers that someone (it was Wanda, I saw her!) broke the tap at the sink in the upstairs bathroom. Well, gaining some mechanical skill won't harm, and he has enough time today since he's not working this weekend. 

The kids enjoy doing whatever they want today, too. For Alon (the first one), this means jumping on his bed while outside, snow flakes are slowly beginning to fall. 

After I don't know how many unsuccessful attempts, little Ron is finally "helped with birthday" by his Mum. Doesn't he look a great little guy, all radiant and happy? One thing is for sure, with so many brothers and sisters, he'll never lack someone to play with! 

His oldest sister, however, may not be around that much longer. Over plates of spaghetti with meatballs, she tells her Dad that she plans to pack her things and leave for college rather sooner than later. Not that she doesn't enjoy the bustling house full of younger siblings, but she is a Knowledge Sim after all. ]

This was a VERY busy week, but one I enjoyed greatly - if only my game didn't keep crashing. I have become quite paranoid about saving now, so that I don't need to re-play more than a few hours at a time. 

The second Alon still needs renaming, but I am waiting for the last Tinker baby to be born before doing that. If the new baby will be a boy, he will be named after Stephen's father Damion, and a different name will have to be found for the "double" Alon. If the baby is a girl, Alon will become Damion, and their youngest daughter will be named after either Wanda's or Stephen's mother.

Melody will be off to college soon - not only because she really wants to go, but also because a) this will speed up her growing up and eventually getting married to help her Mum's lifetime want, and b) make things a little easier to manage with "only" five children instead of six.

Next are the Traveller family.