New Driftwood 1.4-2 Plus 2 Equals 4

An NPC Challenge 'Hood

2 Plus 2 Equals 4

Hello again, dear readers! What a wonderful week we've had here at the Archer household! I began the week with another promotion. I was asked to join the Lobbyists, and of course I agreed!
To celebrate, Laura and I sealed our own personal "deal" by having a private ceremony in our quaint little livingroom. We clean up nicely, wouldn't you say?
The both of us were so happy, though Laura couldn't contain her excitement and jumped into my arms!

And then we had our private celebration a bit later in the evening!

The next morning, when Shea stopped by with our daily newspaper, I asked him to join Laura and I in our ever expanding home. Of course he agreed. He was so excited to leave the orphanage and have a chance at a better education.

Shea Beana

Teen-Newspaper Deliverer

Fortune-Become City Planner

0 Cook, 10 Mech, 1 Char, 1 Bod, 7 Log, 4 Creat, 7 Clean

Scorpio-0 Badges

Laura began to have stomach problems, and had a feeling that she may be pregnant. She was hoping it was that rather than having the flu. We didn't have any medical experience in our home, and the closest hospital was over an hour away in Sim City.

To celebrate our marriage, the possibility of another Archer in the household, and Shea agreeing to leave the orphanage to have an opportunity at a higher education, I invited Brittany Baity over and had a long chat with her about New Driftwood. It would seem that Margaret had already done a lot of convincing with our mutual friend, so it didn't take much from me to get Brittany to move here.

Brittany Baity

Leading Lady

Popularity-Become Celebrity Chef

1 Cook, 0 Mech, 7 Char, 10 Bod, 4 Log, 5 Creat, 1 Clean

Aries-Bronze Register

When Brittany called the architect and hopped into the taxi, Laura had the idea that we should go shopping and get some new clothes. Not only for Shea, but for ourselves too. Afterall, it is getting rather chilly out there! This community lot, The One-Stop-Shop, was created by another regularly used architect, Meksle.

Shea stuck with his favorite colors, Blue and Yellow, when choosing his wardrobe. Laura also convinced him to pick up some summer clothes, as Spring was right around the corner!

Sometime later, Laura woke up in the middle of the night, incredibly hungry. She realized as she looked down at her belly, that she was indeed, pregnant! It took some convincing, but I finally got her to take some time off from work. That way should could get some rest, and work on the nursery like she'd been talking about for a few weeks.

I invited my good friend, Arcadia Straight to move to our neighborhood as well. I'm realizing now that the Architect may have had the right idea when she brought in the help of other well known architects.

Arcadia Straight

Douser

Family-Marry off 6 Children

3 Cook, 0 Mech, 3 Char, 1 Bod, 0 Log, 6 Creat, 3 Clean

Aquarius-Gold Sales Badge Shea came home his first day of public school with an A+ report card! We couldn't have been prouder of him! "Laura, do you think that you could help me with my homework tonight? I want to get into Private School someday, and I have to have the best grades ever for that"! Laura and I hoped to one day see Shea in Private School, but we couldn't make any promises.

But of course, Laura wasn't about to let Shea down. So, right there in the middle of our little living room, Shea was thoroughly explained about the mechanics of all things technical! (Editors note: you may notice the genie lamp in the background. I have no delusions about meeting the LTW of becoming the best friend of 20 pets. So, Adam has summoned the genie already!)

Sticking to his favorite colors, Shea and Laura involved the Architect and added on an expansion off the back of the house. It was added to accomodate Shea and eventually our little bundle of joy!

Working on his creativity skills, Shea painted this picture. He told Laura and I that rather than selling it, he had just the place for it. We really had no idea what he was talking about, but figured it would become obvious eventually.

Shea wanted to help out with the mission of befriending and inviting as many "unhappy" sims from the Big City as he could. Laura explained to him that this mission is for those sims who would never have had the chance had we not invited them. So, remembering some of his friends from the orphanage, he invited this young lady over one afternoon and hung out with her for a bit. Their friendship isn't high enough yet to allow her to become part of the family, but Shea's doing his best to befriend Arianna GilsCarbo.

Laura thought she'd try to surprise Shea one evening by inviting the Headmaster to one of the Private Schools over for dinner one evening. It ended in a dead flop. Shea wasn't feeling his best and ended up leaving the house unexpectedly, Laura passed out in her dinner plate from exhaustion, and I was too busy painting the nursery and skill building for the next promotion. So, needless to say, Leo Wheeler wasn't impressed. And he didn't hold back in telling Laura that our family was unfit for his school. Poor Laura ended the evening in tears! I don't think I'll be calling to speak with that guy anytime soon!

So many things became clear that same evening! What we thought was exhaustion and a bad case of indigestion ended up being Laura in labor!!

Please join me in welcoming our little girl, Braylin Archer! She is such a joy to all of us! Even Shea spends many hours rocking with her, and singing to her. I had no idea that Shea had such a great singing voice until our Braylin joined our family!

Here is her nursery. You'll notice that we discovered what Shea did with the painting he made some time back! It would seem that he was just as excited about the newest Archer as we were!

To make up for lost time, Laura planted herself outside while Braylin napped and greeted every sim that walked by, including this woman, Cara Monif. The two have become quick friends and find that their longterm friendship grows just as quickly as their daily friendship does!

Shea nearly gave up on the opposite sex, especially those that are closer in age to him, until he met this woman. I've heard him going on and on about her when talking to some of his friends from school. "Man, you should see this chick! She is H-O-T"! Well, I thought I'd better find out who she is before Shea ended up making a fool of himself and introduced myself to her. Kaylynn Schweber is from Sim City and was actually looking around as she'd heard about our community. She told Laura and I about how she was hoping to find a home there, but noticed that all the homes that are built are already inhabited. We told her that if she wants to move here, we would be more than happy to help her, though we needed to get to know her a bit first. She understood and left us with her phone number. Shea couldn't be happier!

I decided I probably ought to get on the ball like my wife and "adopted" son. So, after arriving home from work one night, I greeted this young lady, Phoebe Pai, as she walked by. After exchanging numbers, she turned and was on her way. I was talking to laura that night about all the sims we've met and realized that we have yet to see two sims with the same surname. I'd noticed this once before, but we've been here for quite a while now, and we would have thought we would have surely met another "GilsCarbo" or "Chan" etc., by now. But, nope, not a one.

Shea decided to get a part time job to help out with some of the expenses around the house. I really don't want to accept his simoleons, so we are going to put it all away and give it back to him when he moves out, whether it's college or on his own. Laura and I hate to take from him when he deserves to have something for himself. Anyway, he found a part time job in the Architectural Career Path, and we couldn't be happier for him. He nearly has all the skill points needed to become the City Planner as it is. I think our private Architect may have a run for her money with Shea!

Laura asked Shea and I to dress in our best one evening, and didn't give an explanation. All she would say is that she had a surprise for us, and wanted us to look nice for it. To our surprise, she'd invited Headmaster Connor Simpson over. He apparently replaced Mr. Wheeler about a year back and was excited to invite Shea to join the areas Private School! I definitely like this gentleman!

With all of us working, and a baby in the house, we finally decided to hire a maid. Laura was so happy when she met this young woman, though none of us thought to ask her what her name was! We were just so happy to not have to clean the toilet anymore!

Our beautiful little girl became a toddler before we knew it! With 10 Nice, Playful and Active points each, she's become such a pleasure for all of us! Her smile makes the entire room light up! Shea looks forward to playing with her after school every night. Laura and I take turns putting her to bed each night with a story and lots of lovin'!

With all of the good news about Shea getting into Private School, Braylin becoming such a sweet toddler, adding more sims to our growing community, I nearly forgot to mention that I've had 4 more promotions. I'm now a Congressperson! What had once been a laughable goal of becoming Mayor of New Driftwood is now not such a bad idea!

I was so excited about all of my promotions, that I sat with my baby girl and finished her training on the potty!

Laura put the finishing touches on teaching Braylin how to walk....

While I was excited to hear her call me "Daddy" for the first time! There's definitely something in that milk that we've been giving her!

One final addition to the neighborhood:

Brooke StallKamp

Congress Person

Popularity-Have 20 Simultaneous Best Friends

2 Cook, 0 Mech, 6 Char, 2 Bod, 4 Log, 3 Creat, 1 Clean

Aries-0 Badges

That's all for now folks. Oh! Laura suggested we show everyone how much our home is growing, what with our daughter and "adopted" son, Shea, we've had to expand a bit.

New Driftwood 1.3-The Contributions

An NPC Challenge 'Hood

The Contributions

Laura and I were talking the other night, and wondered how our friends who've moved to New Driftwood are doing. So, first off, with all of my connections that I've acquired while working in the Political field, I've asked a co-worker who dabbles in aviation to take me with him one afternoon so that I could get a few pictures of our growing neighborhood. It's not much, but we're getting there. Our home is at the top right. Well, onto our friends and how they are doing.

First off is my good friend Margaret Grove. She came to New Driftwood as a Get-A-Way Driver in the Criminal Career Path. She once told me that she never wanted to take that path, but with peer pressure back in Sim City, she felt she had no choice. Now that she lives in New Driftwood, she's excited to chase her dream of becoming a World Class Ballet Dancer. When sitting with the architect, she told them that she wanted a simple home, and this is what the two came up with when they put their heads together.

Nearly looking like a trailer, Margaret has all that she needs and wants. Her stats are as follows: 2 Cook, 2 Mech, 1 Char, 2 Bod, 0 Log, 4 Creat, 2 Clean. She's a Scorpio, with a gold badge in fishing. She's hoping to one day add a pond to her small back yard. Of course, one last bit of information, my dear Margaret is a Fortune Sim. One more reason I knew it would never work for us, and apparently so did she.

Margaret took her responsibilities to heart and quickly invited one of her friends from Sim State over for a meal, Brook Harris. Brook, at the time, was still a student at the University.

Brittany Baity also decided to drop in and visit while the two were visiting and joined them in a meal. Margaret, ever the hostess, didn't argue when the spaghetti was served. I'm beginning to think she may have been dropped into the wrong Aspiration!

It wasn't long, and with such little effort, that Margaret convinced her good friend to also move to New Driftwood. "Believe me, Brookie, dropping out of SSU won't be the wrong decision. New Driftwood has so much to offer all of us"! Margaret is definitely an asset to the community!

Brook transitioned into such a pretty adult, don't you think? She didn't stick around long, as she also had an appointment with the architect to begin coming up with the plans for her new home.

After her friends left, Margaret took a good look in the mirror and realized no self respecting sim would go looking for a job at any dance hall looking like "that". So, she made an appointment at a salon in Sim City, and had that mohawk removed! Thankfully the hairdresser had magic running through her hands! On her way home, she stopped at a dance hall, put her resume in, and when she returned home there was a message on her answering machine requesting she come in for an interview. Two days later, Margaret had a job in the field track of her dreams!

She hit the ballet barre immediately! She knew that if she wanted to prove herself, she better be prepared to show it. Not to mention, with only 2 skill points for body, she wasn't going to be much competition for the other dancers.

And it all paid off. It seemed like every night she was coming home with another promotion! She called my Laura each time, and I can tell you, it really did feel like we were hearing from Mag's almost every night!

With our growing neighborhood comes our next contribution. This cute little house can only belong to one sim.

Nice layout, if I do say so myself! I helped the happy home owner with the decorating and design of this home. Though the architect kept giving me looks like I should keep my nose out of it. I don't understand why I should, after all, I am the founder!

So, who lives in this home? No, not the young woman in black. That's Steffi Collin. No, the one living in this house is Nancy Raymond. She came to us as a Sea Lice Research Assistant. Feeling as though she were not appreciated, Laura and I helped her in getting all settled into her new home.

Nancy sat at her new table surrounded by all of her new possessions thinking about how she could repay us. First off, let's learn a little about Nancy. She's a Knowledge Sim who only wants to max out all 7 of her skill points. Currently, her stats are as follows: 2 cook, 1 Mech, 1 Char, 2 Bod, 0 Log, 1 Creat, 1 Cln. She's a Pisces and currently possess no badges.

Of course Nancy greets every Sim who walks by her door, but she already had a friendship going with Steffi Collin. So, the two sat down for some salad and Nancy told Steffi all there was to know about New Driftwood. "Did you know that Adam's Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather originally founded Driftwood? The very spot we are sitting right now, was the former Driftwood. Some catastrophe happened when Adam was a child and none of his family, or the inhabitants at the time, were heard from again"! Nancy sure knows how to tell it. Now, I have to dig deep in my memory and make sure she has the right number of "Greats" there!

Apparently, Steffi was impressed enough to join Nancy in New Driftwood! As a "Thank You" to Nancy for showing her the path to a happier life, she left Nancy with $3000!! See, Nancy doesn't work, so the simoleons will definitely help her to live a more comfortable life!

Steffi also didn't stick around long. She soon contacted the architect and began working on blueprints for her new home as well!

Laura had told me that she noticed Nancy had company the night she invited Steffi to move to New Driftwood, so I thought I'd swing by and welcome her to the neighborhood as well. Unfortunately, I arrived just as Steffi were leaving. Though, I had a wonderful visit with my old friend, Nancy!

What a cute home, no? I do believe this is the work of the ever infamous Meksle. With a few changes in the color and pattern, we find ourselves visiting....

Brook Harris! The first thing Brook did was fire up the easel! The Popularity Sim hopes to one day be the Best Friend of 20 Pets....good luck with that! Her stats are as follows: 2 Cook, 1 Mech, 2 Char, 2 Bod, 2 Log, 1 Creat, 2 Clean. No badges and under the sign of Aries, our Brookie better get to finding those pets! Not an easy Life Time Want, my friend!

Just across the street is another home by Meksle. Again, with a few changes in color and design, we find ourselves once again visiting with Steffi.

She had someone in mind already to invite to the new neighborhood, but first things first. Steffi came to us as a Supporting Player, but as a Family Sim, all she really hopes to accomplish in life is to marry off 6 children. The Aquarius has an interesting range of skills: o Cook, 1 Mech 5 Char, 5 Bod, 2 Log, 3 Creat, 1 Clean. She is not currently in possession of any badges.

Of course, the Welcome Wagon shows up, and with limited space, she tries to be the best host she can.

First, she makes sandwiches for everyone, then starts a conversation about none other than the weather in New Driftwood. "Did you know that when it snows in New Driftwood, it's so pretty! You can not say the same about Sim City"! Atta girl!

Of course, she didn't know any of those who stopped by, but she did know this chap. A student at SSU, Steffi had met him at a coffee shop outside the University a while back, but struck up a conversation with him and quickly became friends. Steffi gave Bill Chan the same speach that Margaret gave Brook. "Leaving SSU may very well be the best thing you ever do! I promise you, Bill, New Driftwood is the place to be"! I think I like these new inhabitants of New Driftwood!

Of course, Bill accepted! With the traditional hug, our Bill Chan is officially a new resident of New Driftwood!

Bil smiles and winks at the camera. Hmmm, I think we may have a Romance Sim in town. Lock up your wives, friends!

Well, that's it for now. We'll check in with Bill at a later time, and see what havoc he's causing. Laura tells me that she heard from Steffi that Bill once told her that his LTW (Life Time Want) is to have 20 Simultaneous Lovers. Well, if I could filter out the bad weeds, we wouldn't have a very interesting town, now would we?