Tara Kat: Week 1

We're still in Desiderata Valley, where I have decided to place the Maxis-made "Cozy Kitten Condo".

In contrast to the house's appearance, only the ground floor is habitable. 

The front door leads into a hallway with a chessboard and one chair. To the left is the kitchen with a small dining table and one chair. Next is the bathroom with relative expensive toilet and cheap shower, followed by a bedroom holding a single bed and no wardrobe. The "bay window" part of the ground floor is taken up by a lounge area with a blue colour scheme, holding a settee, armchair, two pet beds and a scratching post. 

It is of course Tara Kat's house. According to her Maxis-written household biography, "For generations, Tara’s family has always felt a special link with the feline species. Now Tara happily lives with the two cats left to her by her mother and one of her own. How do her cats feel about the newest addition to their family?"

Her personal bio says: "Tara is so comfortable living with her cats, that she believes every Sim should have several special kitties in their lives as well. She dreams of starting a home business where she can raise kittens every day and send them out into the big Sim world."

Unusual for a Family Sim, she dreams of maxing out all her skills. Tara is unemployed and has 2,500 Simoleons in cash.

Mickey (back) and Samantha (front) are the two cats she inherited from her mother (even though she does not have a family tree).

Faline is the kitten she must have adopted just now. 

Right away, Mickey and Samantha set to destroying Tara's furniture - Samantha succeeds (the armchair is gone by the time she's finished. Mickey is told off by Tara before the settee is for the scrap heap, too. 

Trent Traveller, Natasha Una and Cyd Roseland turn up on this Monday to welcome Tara to the neighbourhood - I believe this is Trent's and Cyd's first appearance.

Tara is a reasonably good cook and makes burgers for everyone. When she turns her back for a moment, Samantha jumps up on the counter and helps herself to one - much to Tara's embarrassment. Interestingly, later Cyd is the only one to grab a plate - as a fellow pet owner, maybe he is less bothered by the cat having been at the food than the other two guests! 

Tara gets the chair from the dining table and sits down with Cyd for a game of chess. She has two bolts for him (but for Trent, too - and he's married). One by one, her guests leave, and Tara is alone with her cats again.

Not having a job means Tara can sleep as long as she likes. By the way, although she is a redhead herself, red hair is her turn-off.

She is pleased to note Mickey looking after little Faline.

Tuesday's bills want paying, bringing Tara's account down to 2,352 Simoleons. Something will have to be done soon - either she'll need a proper job or invest in an easel and sell paintings.

Ginger Newson has been walking by and was of course greeted. Like Tara's guests on Monday, she seems to be more interested in the cats than in her hostess.

Tara's cats are well known by the paper boy, who plays with Mickey after having delivered the paper on this sunny Wednesday morning.

Cynthia Kim rings (she is almost friends with Tara), and Tara tells her about her idea of painting for an income.

An easel is bought and placed where the unfortunate armchair used to be, and Tara sets to work straight away.

Her guests for today are Elizabeth Aspir and Julien Cooke. Because of the lack of chairs, they all eat standing in the kitchen.

The toilet is clogged on Thursday morning, and of course unclogging it has a double positive aspect for Tara: She saves a bit of money otherwise spent on the repair service, and it helps towards gaining mechanical skill. 

Trisha Traveller walks by just as it begins to rain, and Tara kindly asks her in. "Do come out of the rain, please - we can have a game of chess while you wait for it to clear up." 

Friday is the first day with no visitors. Most of what Tara does involves her cats, her skilling or her own physical needs, but she can't put off gardening any longer unless she wishes her house being surrounded by weeds, overgrown shrubs and dead flowerbeds.

Faline grows up on Saturday.

Cynthia Kim comes visiting on her own accord and arrives just as the first snow flakes begin to fall - it is late autumn, but cold enough for Tara to wear a fake fur-lined jacket and boots when she leaves the house.

Tara has not yet been to a community lot this week, plus she needs to stock up on groceries. To send her to Gustave's Groceries on Sunday is therefore the obvious thing to do; besides, it is quite a good community lot with not only plenty to buy, but also a model railway upstairs, a basketball hoop at one side of the building and a grill, table and chairs at the other side.

Free (slightly overdone) burgers, courtesy by Luis Aspir, are eaten with Robert Kim, her friend Cynthia's husband.

She then observes a small group of townies shooting hoops, and discovers that she has three bolts for one of them, a man by the name of Gabe Steele.

Three bolts are hard to ignore, and Tara being a Family Sim has been wishing to flirt and have her very first kiss all week, even though it is autumn. Here she is, having quickly changed into her sports outfit to join the others for some basketball practice, and more ;-) 

Back home (on her own), the groceries are almost instantly used to make herself another bowl of comfort soup, the ideal food in this cold weather. The rest of the evening is spent painting, playing with her cats - and making a phone call to Gabe.

Tara's house was easy to play, but she was kept VERY busy with looking after the cats, skilling, and taking care of her own needs - a cheap bed, shower and kitchen equipment meant it took longer for her to get enough sleep and keep clean, and her meals were not as nutritious as they could be.

Money is still an issue, but she just does not seem the type to hold down a regular job (and never rolled the wish for one). Also, it is very likely that Gabe Steele will join her next time I play this house, and he can help financially and with house work :-)