The Tuckers: Round 3 / Minus One, Plus Four

Martin has moved back into the family home after graduation. His LTW is to Become The Law.



No, Kimberly didn't move home too. She's just stopping by for a visit.



Catherine reached the top of her career as a Professional Party Guest.



Her LTW is the same as her father Sam's was: to Reach her Golden Anniversary.



Martin gets a promotion to Family Law Attorney.



I thought this was a good opportunity to show the Tucker house. There is not usually a flaming tree in the yard, but it adds interest.



Sam drinks another shot of the green juice. I let he and Natalya both have a sip in the last round.

A promotion for lending a book - cool! I wonder what the downside of this one could possibly be.

Sam is growing lots and lots of eggplants. I have a couple of reasons for this.



Corporate lawyer, eh? Moving up in the world in your pinstriped suit, aren't ya?



Natalya scowls at the chessboard like she hates it, however she continues to want to gain skills in chess. I make her play because...



She needed the aspiration points since her time was almost up.



Even though I was expecting the Grim Reaper might come for Natalya tonight, I always find it a bit surprising and creepy when he does show up. The hula girls, leis and the umbrella drink always add a festive touch, though. It's best when your sims die happy.



Thankfully, Natalya was as prepared for her final journey as any sim can be. She goes peacefully, and she rests in peace, because we don't see her again for quite awhile.



We won't say no to some nice insurance money.



Thanks to art and chess, she died happy and got her platinum grave.



This little guy came along one day, and Catherine made friends with him. His name is Izzie, and she decided to adopt him.

Izzie may be a doofus, but she's OK with that since he doesn't have to learn tricks or get a job. He's a very nice, friendly little dog.

Sometimes helping people in need is costly, but that's alright because Martin can afford the trip out of his own pocket.



Sam gets his arts and crafts plaque. He needs to stay busy since the death of his wife. As a family sim, all the man really wants is to fall in love and get married again.

Catherine is going to try to get to the top of a second career, so she chooses the Gamer career track.

Sam, did you spray too many eggplants? I see that growing all the eggplants without the ladybug houses greatly increased his chances of becoming a plant sim. I was actually hoping this would happen because...



I want to go for the plant sim generational bonus. I don't know... I may regret this later since plant sims can only earn that bonus and nothing else. I guess we'll see.



This little girl is named Aloe.



As a family sim of advanced age, Sam is surprised and happy to have another daughter.

Another book loan = another promotion for Martin! Should we start a public library?



So, which celebrity are you working for, Martin? Can you get us autographs?



Oh, why not? She's a cute little dog, and seems a perfect match for Izzie. Maybe they can have some puppies someday.

Well, Pooka's personality is very different from Izzie's, but they get along very well despite that.



As long as Sam remains a plant sim, I don't think he can add any points to the challenge. This is because plant sims have so few needs. He tries to call the Garden Club for some potion, but they are having some serious phone glitches. He calls the matchmaker in case she happens to carry the right potion, and thankfully she does. She has a lot of potions.



Sam is back to normal. Go put on some pants now, silly man. ;)



I had no idea what a flag capturer is, but good job, Catherine. I looked on Wikipedia, and it seems to have something to do with a mod for the game Half-Life 2. I'm clueless beyond that, as that's not my kind of game


Catherine wants to get fit - not for her job but because she wants to look good for men, or at least a man.



So, she gets the matchmaker to fix her up with this guy. He's a celebrity chef, and she has 2 bolts of attraction for him. I just don't know yet.



Izzie reluctantly got a bath after one escape attempt. He seems to get dirty very quickly and seems to to need a bath twice as often as Pooka does. We need a water wiggler so he can bathe himself. I just have to make sure that stupid kids don't play with it when it's cold or they could get taken by the social worker. That happened once in a Legacy I was playing after I installed Seasons.



I didn't know the term "gold farmer," but when I looked it up I recognized the idea of it. It's when people sell virtual goods for online games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life - for real money. There are actually sweatshops in places like China where people are employed collecting in-game items to sell.

Yes, please come help us! We are so lazy and messy, but we have money.



I believe this guy might have come home with Martin from work. I don't remember, but the pinstriped suit makes it seem quite possible. Catherine likes him too.



Zoe came by and just walked in and started watching TV. I kind of like a family member recognizes and feels at home where she grew up. I haven't seen that too much in my game.



She smustles herself stinky, and then gives her grandpa a piano lesson.

Sam buys Copper Ranch Retreat - a vacation home in Three Lakes. The Tuckers will be going on a vacation in the next post. :)



Look at all the Tuckers' hobby plaques! And there's also Martin's college diploma. I can't imagine how many we'll have by generation 5.



Huh?



Aloe loves to cuddle with Izzie. Aren't the toddler/pet interactions the best?



Catherine gets a hobby plaque for arts and crafts.



Martin got a hobby plaque for film and literature.



Another TV sample. The flat screen already on the wall was also a sample.



Here are the Tuckers on their first vacation. Initially, this was its own separate post, but then I realized that it wasn't going to work out that way for future posts, since some of the vacations are in the middle of a round. So, carry on...

The Tuckers arrive at their vacation home, Copper Ranch Retreat.



They really want to look for Bigfoot (not really - I want them to), so they immediately begin digging for a map. I noticed that Sam hadn't changed clothes since he was a plant, so I had him go change into his suit just to dig in the dirt and get filthy.



Catherine got struck by lightning, which made her completely useless to me by dropping all her needs down - requiring her to eat, bathe and rest.

Hooray, a treasure chest. Where are the pirates at Three Lakes?



The late Natalya was not at Three Lakes, but this woman looks a bit like her. Sam really, really likes her. Sorry Sam, you may enjoy her company on vacation, but you can't bring her home with you.



No one seems to notice Bigfoot at first.



I think Catherine found him, though. She's just pointing him out in case he is too well camouflaged for us to see him.



She wanted to make friends with him by playing catch. It wasn't going very quickly.



Sam didn't quite hold it long enough. Bigfoot doesn't have a bathroom, which makes you wonder what he does.



After the Bigfoot sighting, the Tuckers went back to the vacation home to recuperate for awhile. Catherine had the option of writing a restaurant guide, so I decided to let her give it a try.

Oh well, it didn't matter that it wasn't a good restaurant guide. It was quick to write, so she made pretty good money for the time she put into it.



Sam turns up the heat on his vacation relationship.



While Catherine has some relaxing instruction in massage.



Yeah, I don't really remember the name of the type of massage they learn at Three Lakes off the top of my head.



Martin got a lesson, too.



This is the lot in Three Lakes with the massages, hot springs and sauna.

I hate these tour chance cards. I think they are harder to get right than the other chance cards.



Catherine is not naturally coordinated.



But she did eventually manage to stay on the log longer than her son Martin.



And this one took forever for her to hit the bullseye. I almost let her leave without the vacation memory.



I thought it would be nice for the Tuckers to have a bunch of souvenirs from their trip to put on a shelf when they get home.



Yeah, we're bringing home Bigfoot. His name is Mark.



It seems like some glitch cut their vacation short and they had to rush to do everything, but it may have just been me. I may not have clicked on the 7 days.

On their return home, we get an updated family portrait.



I hope Mark will like living in Apple Grove. He is going to work his butt off since he really doesn't earn any points except for being part of the creatures bonus points. (+5 for having all the EP creatures in the neighborhood)



Sam earned the Music and Dance plaque when he got home.

Scoring: 1 point for Catherine reaching the top of the Slacker career, 1 point for Natalya's platinum grave, 1 point for Sam's Arts and Crafts plaque, 1 point for Sam's Music and Dance plaque, 1 point for Catherine's Arts and Crafts plaque, 1 point for Martin's Film and Literature plaque, and (eventually) 1 point for the plant sim Aloe if there are at least 3 directly related generations.