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I bring another update. :)







Welcome back to Mesa Vista and the Carl Homeless household!



When we last left Carl, the worst of Winter was over, but without any form of shelter beyond his tent, the Spring rains weren't much of an improvement.



After two weeks of playing, Carl was at Level 3 in the Homeless career; a Soup Kitchen Scrounger who worked seven days a week from 10am to 8pm, which gave him exactly three hours of daylight each day for skilling and other pursuits.



Pursuits such as the never-ending battle to keep his Environment motive out of the ditch.
"Gol durn dogs."



For most of Carl's life, though, he was quite literally in the dark.



In addition to his grueling work schedule and just trying to survive, he also had to gain three more Creativity points for his next promotion. However, it was becoming more and more apparent that there literally weren't enough hours in the day, and he began to despair that he would never be able to start a family and have a child attend University.



You could say he was quite literally running himself into the ground...



"Oh, m'back," he groaned.
He rose, his joints stiff from the cold, unyielding ground, and folded the tent before putting it in his backpack.



Yep, if it was one thing he had learned from being a Park Bench Squatter, those park benches were mighty comfortable.



It worked wonders on his sore back, and he began to reassess his strategy for achieving his goal.



Things were bad, but not all bad. He did derive some pleasure from nature-related activities, and in fact was coping fairly well with the harsh living conditions. It was the loneliness more'n anything that was beating him down, and getting worse with each passing day.



"By gol', I feel trapped, no differ'nt'n you little buggers."



"Go on, git now."
Since his little epiphany, Carl's focus would no longer be on striving for the next promotion. It was Spring, and we all know what Spring was for...



That's right, it was for finding that special someone willing to become Mrs. Homeless.
After several elderly women walk-bys, Gretchen Chin graced his lot with her lovely presence.
"Like water balloon fights?"
"Love 'em!"



The carpool showed up right in the middle of their delightful exchange, and Carl waited until the very last second before regretfully telling Gretchen he had to go to work.

(Rule: Can't cancel the carpool. Dammit!)



But he wasn't stopping there, and after going to bed (tent) without touching the easel, he set the next step in motion:



Going to the new Mesa Vista Public Library (earned NPC lot I built, based on a Google image of a "small modern library").



Not only did the new library contain the usual library-type stuff...



As an added draw, it was the only place in town where one could buy cell phones as well as other aspiration-boosting products.



Might as well earn some tips while he waited...
By now it was 6:30am and the clock was ticking. Carl could spend up to twelve hours once a week on a community lot before the authorities would run him off.



Ramin Johnston was definitely in the shirtless-is-hawt camp and enjoyed Carl's freestyle show, but he didn't put his money where his heart-farting was.



Madeleine Dallas was digging the show too.



Enough of that, he had more pressing matters to attend to. He looked in his tip jar and nodded his thanks to the teen.



Carl entered *her* number on his new cell phone, and paused when Madeleine asked, "Where'd you get that?"
"Here."
"Inside?"
"Yup."
"Woot!" As she ran into the building, it appeared inevitable Ramin was going to be parting with his cash one way or the other...



"Real glad you could make it."



"Thanks for inviting me."



What followed was an exercise in frenzied dating, because Carl had to fall in love and get his relationship with Gretchen up to 100/100 before he could ask her to move in.



"Excuse me, do you know what a library is for?"
"Beat it, we're busy, gramps."
"Hmph!"



They reached a Dream Date easily, but Carl was allowed only one Dream Date per week.



Take all these romantic interactions and multiply them by at 4 or 5, and I got six RL minutes which translated to hours of Dream Dating fun...



And sure enough, that lifetime score inched ever higher...



In fact, it got all the way up to 98 before the witching hour struck. I was shocked.



"Time fer me to skedaddle."
"Aww, do you have to?"



"'Fraid so. I want you t'know you put the dream in Dream Date, baby."



The plan had been to get his daily score with Gretchen to 100 and let the lifetime build over the week. He had never expected to get so close to moving her in with just one Dream Date! Now he was all fired up and ready to the grab the bull... no, Gretchen was nothing like a bull, more like a swan with that graceful neck of hers, but he winced at the mental picture of his big gloved hands grabbing her slender neck...



Enough wasting time with stupid metaphors! The carpool would be there in two hours. Could he..? Would she..?



"Can you come over, like right quick?"
"Just let me gussy up and I'll be right over."
Carl took a sweeping look around his lot...












"Gol durn dogs..."
"Carl, it's okay. You sounded like it was urgent."
He patted the last mound of dirt in the hole and tossed the shovel out of the way, and then wiping his hands on the pockets of his coat, he said, "It is."



Then he was on one knee and presenting the small black box he had dug out of his favorite dumpster on the way home.
"Wow, it's... it's..."
"A Cracker Jack ring. Box is real, though."
"This... Carl, this is all so sudden..." Gretchen said, a quiver of excitement in her voice, and then she giggled nervously. "We just met yesterday!"
"Couldn't help fallin' in love with you kinda sudden, Gretchen."
"Wow!" she repeated, but didn't take the ring.
He withdrew the box, but he was not giving up!



"M'life s'far has been nothin' but hard work 'n struggle, 'n all I've got t'show for it is gittin' nowhere fast."
" *Sniff* Oh, Carl..."
"'Tis, until yesterday when I met Gretchen Chin. She gives me a reason to keep fightin'."
"Oh!" Tentatively she reach out her hand and said, "... Lemme see it again?"









"How did you know I love Cracker Jacks?" she whispered.



"So, when are we going to..?" She nodded toward the tent.
For the first time, Carl considered the effect the Homeless lifestyle would have on her. "Not gonna lie, conditions're harsh here."
"Try me."


















Welcome to the Homeless Challenge, Gretchen.
As much as I love Carl, I love Gretchen for loving him too, and I felt a little guilty for making her the unfortunate Mrs. Homeless.



"Y're a homeless man's dream come true."
"Exactly what I was aimin' for."



But you know what? Gretchen didn't bat an eye.
Per the rules, she had to give up her job as a Hostess, and was cheated into the Homeless career.
"Don't overdo it," Carl warned from the car.
"Take it easy, hon."



I've had that CC top for years and never used it until now. Boy, was I thrilled when I saw the fingernails that came with it!



One of these days they might even have a counter to prepare the fish they caught.



These two were fast becoming one of my favorite couples, and playing the Homeless lot went from depressing to fun!



The first harvest of tomatoes was a poor one, but under the circumstances, Carl did good to get any at all.



One midsummer night they decided to go on a hike together, since they were always rolling wants for it.
I like that it looks like they're holding hands here. :)



The hike pretty much turned into a midsummer night's nightmare. Gretchen came back bright red, so I put the toilet in her inventory and placed a sink for her to grab a drink from.
You can barely see that Carl also arrived home, in the same spot.



Where he collapsed with heat exhaustion. And he wasn't overheated to begin with, unlike Gretchen.



Gretchen drank and drank, and while it didn't get her back to normal, it did get her out of heatstroke range.



Yeah. Seriously, this girl is like superwoman or something!



Carl had a bronze gardening badge, but with him passed out, Gretchen also took over tending their new batch of tomatoes. I think she's awesome. :)



"Wha...what happened?"
He was out cold for almost 24 hours. The motive drain was slow, but over that long a period I was getting worried. I had thought Gretchen could revive him by throwing a glass of water on him, but no such luck. Much more realistic to pull out a hair dryer outside in the snow...
"Quit that yammerin'. Oh, m'head..."

*quietly makes a mental note for hiking in the winter...*



Houston, we have a pregnancy morph problem!



Gretchen had cheated once and left the lot to buy a more fitting homeless outfit and was prepared to do it again.



But she found something in the dresser that looked much better. Or, as good as it'll ever look on a Homeless lot...



"This baby is our ticket out of this hell hole. Promise to take it a little easier."
"I promise. By the way, when were you planning to make an honest woman of me? You do want a Homeless baby, right?"
"Why didn't you r'mind me?"
"I just did."



Do you, Carl and Gretchen, take each other to be your lawfully wedded spouse, in sickness and for poorer, as long as this #$@%in' challenge shall last?
"We do!"



For Carl, Gretchen was the gift that kept on giving.



As for Gretchen, she'd like to say "likewise."



"Oh yeah, my baby's hot."



Now maybe we can start working on getting some promotions...
"Go away, we're busy..."
...
That does it for the Homeless household! Gretchen moved in with 14000 simoleons, and I can't find anywhere in the rules that they have to give it up, so they'll be using it to start paying taxes.

If you're interested in the details of Callista's Homeless Challenge for TS2, you can find them and the link to her custom Homeless career at:
http://boolprop.prophpbb.com/topic1878.html

BaCC quick stats:
Sim count + graves: 39 (+ 1 on the way *eeeeeeee!*)
Sim multiplier: 19
Population: 741

Thanks for reading!

Date: 2013-02-04 05:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joandsarah.livejournal.com
I enjoy seeing your homeless sims. Oh you're so game, a baby already. How are you going to keep it from getting hot/cold? Or are you allowed to build a hut now? I haven't looked at calista's rules in awhile. I just play my homeless family my own way now so I added a run down park type bathroom area. Gretchen seems like a trooper, can't wait to see how pregnancy, baby and toddlerhood goes there.

Date: 2013-02-04 06:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorinsv60.livejournal.com
Turns out my timing with the seasons was terrible. They're one day into Fall (it says there's five days left, but I thought seasons were only 4 days long, so I don't know if I have a mod that I forgot about or what...). Winter is coming up next, BUT the rules only say you have to play one Winter and one Summer, so my thinking is use the Weathernaught to postpone winter and get the baby/toddler grown ASAP. The first kid might not be able to do it. Eek. I don't know how children cope in Winter without shelter either. I hope a tent and the wood-burning stove/fireplace thing will be enough, though I don't know if "warm self" is available for kids. I'm also trying to stock up on tomatoes, since tomato juice warms as well. I don't know - we'll see. I may have to tweak the rules a bit myself.

Date: 2013-02-04 07:07 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joandsarah.livejournal.com
Babies and toddlers have to have some place inside. I had two babies outside in the autumn and got the cold pop up social working warning only 2 hours after they were born.(twins oh yeah -_-)A bath will warm a toddler up a little, but I can't think of anything else. Depending on the winter my sims get very cold but not blue in the tent. If you can buy a bed you can get kids to jump to keep warm which is even better then tomato juice as they gain fun too. I don’t think bland ones will work. I know eggplants have to be at least healthy to give a skill point so I think the same would be for tomato warming. I can't remember about kids and the fire as mine don't have one, just a 7 by 4 toilet/shower block. The weather reward is a great idea, I hadn't thought of that.

Date: 2013-02-04 01:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorinsv60.livejournal.com
One thing I learned was you can take others along on a hike, so I wonder if kids can go with their parents, and if it warms them up in the winter? I might go into a playtest hood and try to find something or a combination of things that work. Thanks for the jumping on the bed tip!

For the summer, toddler Ynez in my Broken Challenge didn't have a problem with heat, but they had a roof on stilts after a couple of days. I don't know if the canopied crib helped when they didn't have any shelter, and if it did, would it help in winter.

The new batch of tomatoes are much healthier than the first. Juice for the kids will probably be key in getting the 10 scholarships.

ETA: *lightbulb* Elixir for teens if they need more time to get their scholarships. Normally there's not much reason to extend the teen years, but for this challenge it could work!
Edited Date: 2013-02-04 03:44 pm (UTC)

Date: 2013-02-04 09:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joandsarah.livejournal.com
Kids can go on hikes. I used that a lot for the WYD challenge.

I've decided to try the challenge again, so I might put up a few pictures. I'm going to tweak the rules a bit because with harder skills/badges and longer life It's even harder. My guy has lived a week and a half and doesn't even have his first body skill point yet. I decided to start in winter and set it to day one to get that out of the way. My thoughts are that if it's winter from the start it might not get as cold. Of course it would have helped if I had remembered to use his free time perks...


Edited Date: 2013-02-04 09:19 pm (UTC)

Date: 2013-02-04 07:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] susannag.livejournal.com
Children can "warm self," by the way.

Date: 2013-02-04 09:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorinsv60.livejournal.com
Thanks! With that being the case, I'm not as worried now.

Date: 2013-02-05 01:24 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joandsarah.livejournal.com
The fireplace isn't part of the 3 items since it's from build mode, is that right? I could have bought Ralph one and I was thinking I couldn't due to the 3 item limit. He went through winter with nothing. *face palm*

Date: 2013-02-05 01:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorinsv60.livejournal.com
Yes, the fireplace is in build mode so I didn't count it. Just like the composter and lady bug house for gardening, which I see you used as well.

Date: 2013-02-06 03:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com
Impressive progress! That cc top is perfect (especially the nails). And yay for a baby on the way! :D

Date: 2013-02-07 04:36 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorinsv60.livejournal.com
Thanks! I'm happy about the baby, but a little worried too.

Date: 2013-02-06 11:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] inujadesims.livejournal.com
Awesome! :D Gretchin is a great addition to the household.

Also, OMG, I do not envy you with the heat/jogging thing. That sounds so stressful to play!

Date: 2013-02-07 04:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorinsv60.livejournal.com
Gretchen is such a trooper, I couldn't be happier with her. :D I've dealt with heatstroke before in my Apocalypse, so I knew Carl would eventually snap out of it, but it's still weird when they're completely uncontrollable.

Date: 2013-03-02 08:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] katrisims.livejournal.com
Hi Lorin! *waves* New reader signing up! Just wanted to drop you a note that I just managed to catch up with your BaCC, and I'm enjoying it very much. :) All the different families and sub-challenges are lots of fun, and I'll definitely be following this from now on!

Date: 2013-03-03 05:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lorinsv60.livejournal.com
Hi Katri! *waves back* Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it!

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