Welcome to SimBasic - a community legacy!

What happened next? Find out in the Greench Farm legacy!

4 couples stranded and founded a new community on Maccaroni Island. Currently the 3rd generation is about to start new families! This is a Sims3 community legacy that has been updated frequently for a full year, and contains about 100 chapters! Late July 2012 it came to an end and a new spin-off legacy focusing on just one of these households will bring the story forward, starting August 15, 2012.

The very first post is here, or use the Blog Archive to look back. Posts describing the project are tagged *. Please see the interactive map for household bios and family trees. Comments are welcome both here on the blog and on the SimBasic thread at the thesims3 forum. Even if there won't be more updates, I will still read your commnts.

Find all my stories and Sims projects gathered at my blog, Simmerville's Sims :)

I hope you will enjoy the read! :-)

January 14, 2012

Week 10 Day 2: Agnes' new life

Today's chapter features Agnes and Beetle, but there is also much more that needs our attention...

Early this morning at 4 Greench Farm, Greta Greench found her daughter Carie G. Peel (head of this household) busy in the kitchen. They both like cooking, Greta recently retired from her bistro, while Carie is now working there full time.


Carie's belly has grown quickly... She didn't tell her parents yet, I'm not quite sure why because Greta and Gabriel are both very tolerant and understanding.




For some reason, Carie isn't very eager to get married. It might be the main reason why she didn't inform the elders about the pregnancy.

Over at the Redward Ranch at 6 Redward Heights, Corinne had noticed that her husband Randal was up earlier than normal. Running the ranch took lots of work, and Randal also had community commitments elsewhere, but normally they would not start the day this early.


Randal had been over to the House of Law to make sure that all judges had approved the new laws. There is now a court consisting of judges Constance R. Hamming, Agnes Y. Jones, Cody G. Major and Alfonso Blumington. The existing Village Council is the 5th judge. All approved the laws, and the Maccaroni community finally had the base system needed for local justice.


But, Corinne had not yet been informed of Randal's plan.




Guess we need some more details from the Yea-Low heritage to understand Randal's plan.

The main issue for the trial is the value of the bank shares. When Corinne moved out on Week 7 Day 3, the 30 shares were valued §15.000 = §500 per share, and Corinne got 10 of them. When Yespar Yea-Low's remaining possessions were shared between Alex, Yoseph and Agnes on Week 9 Day 2, the remaining 20 bank shares were valued §36.000 = §1.800 per share. If the shares were valued the same back when Corinne got her forth, she should have 1/4 of the additional value, (30x 1800-500) 39.000/4= §9.750. There is of course no stock market, and the value rise was only based on Yvonne Yea-Low's work on valuing the bank's land possessions.

Therefore, Randal was now advising his wife to sue her siblings Alex, Yoseph and Agnes for §3.250 each.

A little later, they were all busy with everyday matters on the farm...




The old tree house at the now vacant original Redward lot, is still there. It naturally would tempt any kids to climb that ladder and play all kinds of wars. Good practice for a future head of the Redward clan? Randal was busy harvesting the grapes when Yamir and Rosanne appeared. Randal owns this lot, so the harvest is rightfully his.


For a very short second a slight spot of human softness filled Randal. The old tree house - it brought back memories from his own childhood. Or maybe he just thought - hey, children, that tree house is MINE!


Enough from the Redward Ranch for now. It's been a while since we checked on old Joe Hawk. Someone even wondered if he might be dead. He still resided in his shabby shed with his two Dooshee dogs and the parrot named after his long-gone girlfriend Emmy, just west of the village. Lately there were problems though. More wild dogs had moved closer to the village, and Joe's two dogs, both elderly by now, had become more aggressive. Joe knew they would be dangerous if they joined the wild Dooshee dogs.

It wasn't possible for poor Joe to live in his shed when all those wild animals kept attacking his garden and belongings.


He simply had to escape! So, these days he spent most of his time at the graveyard.



Everyone on Maccaroni Island had noticed how the wild dogs had moved closer to, not to say invaded, the village.


The black spot on Agnes' finger had not gone away, she still worried about it, because she had no idea where it came from.




That's right, Agnes had not told anyone about Beetle. Officially she lived alone in her new house. She wasn't quite comfortable with the situation; She simply worried that maybe others couldn't see Beetle, even if he grew up and became more like a regular person. She just didn't want to find out.


Yes, Agnes got herself a job at the graveyard. The community accepted that she will get a little paid for maintaining the graves, just a few hours most days. Today she had been looking in the crypt for Roger Redward's urn, but she couldn't find it. Was it still at his home where he died? Why didn't the heirs bother to bring it over to the graveyard where their mom already had a grave? Hum, managing the dead could obviously be quite a job even when there was no one to bury!

When Agnes was done for today, Joe was still there.


Things happen quickly at Maccaroni Island. Carie G. Peel already gave birth to a daughter! Greta was thrilled, although the baby wasn't named Astrantia this time either. It just didn't match the old Sim Nation naming traditions. Greta took care of little Blanca and allowed Carie to go telling her twin sister Beatrice, who lives with Yoseph at 5 Sunrise Valley.




You might remember that the 4 couples who stranded, were on their way to do a TV-show... That's so long ago, but was naturally told to the next generation.


Carie and Beatrice always came across as quite similar personalities, I think, but obviously they were different all along. And maybe they both overdo their point of view, but let's allow them to go with the flow...





Beatrice isn't really this focused on money. She is a farmer girl by hearth, nature is more important to her than having more values than others. But she also depends on having a solid and predictable foundation, also money wise. I wonder how she will react to a trial claiming Yoseph for §3.250...

Meanwhile, Yoseph Y. Hedgewood had walked over the Blumington Bridge, and was now at 3. Blumington Road. Alfonso Blumington has borrowed §26.450 from the bank, it's way too much!



Seems like Alfonso didn't really understand how he owes more money than he can possibly pay back. Every 7th simday interests of 10% is added, currently just interests representing §378 every single day!





Looks to be pretty tough times on Alfonso. This far his old mom Bianca had contributed to most of the household's income. She is now 105 simdays old and can't be around forever to help him...

Finally, let's stop by at Agnes' new house at 4 Yea-Low Ring. It's located near the graveyard, next to Bolan River. It's just a short walk up to the fishing spot, and from there to the old mine. Also, the house where she grew up is further down the Yea-Low Ring road. See the easter region map here.

Right now her dad Yespar Yea-Low had stopped by to inform on the upcoming trial.




Agnes made sure her dad was actually leaving the lot...


...  before she returned inside - to Beetle.



Poor Beetle... but he should be the first to know that Agnes had a wicked mind.



Agnes loved the ring! She didn't see it as an engagement though. They were already closely attacked, an engagement wasn't really needed. Sitting there with Beetle, it felt like a different energy spread from her hand, filling her head, affecting her mind...



Afterwards, Agnes felt dizzy. She wasn't afraid, just a little worried. Why could she no longer resist Beetle? She felt a little different, maybe that was totally expected after a first kiss? That night she tried again to wash away the black spot from her finger, she realized the new ring would be on her finger forever. The hand was itching slightly, but she would get used to it. Her face was itching, too.


Then she looked into the mirror...


What's going on? Lots of spots on her face!

She had some spots earlier, but never more than one at the time! Her mom used to think they were eggs, Agnes wasn't so sure. She squeezed one of them, it helped just a little. She didn't want to take a closer look at - the thing, just dropped it down the drain.


Agnes is supposed to be in court tomorrow, but if she gets even more spots during the night, will she refuse to go?

In about 3 days we might know...

January 10, 2012

Week 10 Day 1: Pregnant

It's finally the day when the Village Council has its regular meeting. On the first day of a new week, 5 Council  members get together to debate the development, needs, ideas and reports from the Maccaroni Island. The community is actually coming along pretty well, although there were surprises, and there already seems to be diversity.

While there are 4 busy households in the southern region, up north there are just two. And only the Black family had children. Alfonso Blumington at 3 Blumington Road is still single, living with his very old mom, the painting artist, Bianca. They have worked hard to raise money, because they owe much more to the bank than they are allowed to. Today the Council will probably react by telling them to sell the house or Alfonso's little Fish Park. Bianca has painted minimum 2 paintings daily, but today she realized that money isn't everything - she decided to paint Alfonso's portrait, to keep.


Up in the hill there is a small fishing spot. You can see the roof of their house in the background. Alfonso is a fisherman, he often walks up her to fish. From this spot there is a nice view down to Sunrise Valley, as well as a shortcut westwards to the graveyard.


Alfonso caught a few fish, but this morning he was even more excited that he finally got assistance from the cats!


The original wild Miozoo mine cats, Mio and Zoo, had learned to catch fish. This was the second time they joined Alfonso up here. Yesterday Mio caught a 16 kg Piranha, it was quite impressive!



Over at 3 Greench Farm, Bridgette and Archie did well, although they were facing tougher times financially. When Archie's brother Cody G. Major moved out to settle a few lots away, Archie had to take up a big loan to pay him out. It also means they will no longer get help from Cody harvesting. Luckily the oldest daughter is old enough to help with the crops.

Today Bridgette called her hubby into the nursery.



Both Bridgette and Archie has a strong wish of being surrounded by family, with 5 kids the chances would be good...

Bridgette's brother Albert had moved in with Archie's sister Carie at 4 Greench Farm. Yes, everyone on the island seems to be related somehow. Carie and Albert are not yet married, and they share the house with very elderly Greta (103) and Bertil Greench (102), who still do most of the gardening. Greta has retired, but Cari now works at Greta's Bistro. Greta never really owned the business, but perhaps Carie might buy the place one day. They had good money, and no debts, maybe Carie could even buy some new clothes at the Consignment store?






Carie is simply the type who would prefer not getting married. She loves Albert, they live together, and with kids they would be a good family. But would a marriage really change that? The Maccaroni community is so small, the marriage can't be that important... but anyway, although Greta had twice as many births as Dorothy, stopping by the Health Center would make it easier to keep everything quiet.


Not far from the Consignment store is the new House of Law. Christopher R. Black had been working there for a couple days to get the new laws ready on time. And today he got a surprise visitor...






Christopher was happy with his brother Randal's thoughts about the law affecting the past. It was the exact quote that Christopher would need to sue Randal!

30 minutes later the meeting started at the Village Hall. Randal took the lead from the start like he usually did, and Alex Yea-Low, Archie Greench, Bella B. Black and Yoseph Y. Hedgewall waited patiently.




This would be the first meeting where all 5 positions were legally taken.


Christopher was waiting in the hall, and entered the room to take a seat.


He read the entire text, because there wasn't any questions after each chapter. They probably needed to hear it all before they could know what was missing. But then, the debate took off...




There it was! Christopher had waited for this input from Randal, he almost worried that there would be no statement on the law's backwards effect, after all. While Christopher wanted to laugh and cheer, he tried hard to keep an innocent attitude.


Randal even took the honor of adding the mark to the laws...


Christopher was asked to leave the meeting. He had done his job, but was not supposed to join the further debate. So he walked back home, smiling. The others went on with the law discussions.




Bella sighed. Was there not even a single sign of goodness in that man? Well, she was happy for the positive vibe about the laws, and didn't want to disturb that feeling.



The new Maccaroni Law was approved, and the text can be found here! Randal realized that it was important to contact all the judges as soon as possible, because if they didn't approve the law before tomorrow noon, his wife Corinne would not be able to claim that heritage redone within the 7 simdays deadline.

Then the Council debated a few of the community builds and services, but no actions were taken. They agreed that a Bakery and some facilities on Maccaroni Beach should get priority. Randal also shared his wife Corinne's idea of beautifying the village with flowers, and that Cody G. Major was asked to produce plants.

Then Yoseph Y. Hedgewall reported the Maccaroni Bank situation, and it turned out that the total of the loans is smaller, but on fewer hands. 3 households even owed more than the §10.000 limit. Archie Greench owes §13.317, LaShawn Greench owes §17.328 and Alfonso Blumington owes shocking §26.450! How could that happen? Archie, sitting there, turned red (well, a mix of green and red), and said they would solve it within 3 simdays. He couldn't speak for his brother LaShawn, though. And nobody knew about Alfonso Blumington, so Yoseph was told to visit the Blumington house tomorrow.

The meeting ended, and Yoseph walked over to the Greench Market. Then he ran into LaShawn Greench.


How could it be that urgent? Maybe Yoseph should rather question this guy's finances?


Yoseph isn't a coward, but he often sees the bad in a situation. Right now he got a terrible feeling that something was wrong.


When Bella B. Black got back home, she found her hubby still smiling! They hugged and shared the moment.


So, right now Bella, Dorothy, Bridgette and Carie are all pregnant! Maybe there should be a Pregnant Mum's Club? No, at least not yet - but rather a Pet Club! Over at 3 Redward Heights there was a small get together, involving Constance R. Hamming, Graica Greench and Albert Blumington.




Didn't that sound sort of naive?



Albert got some good advice from Joe Hawk in the past, so he urged the two cats to have as many kittens as possible to save the Miozoo cat race.




Couple hours later the sun was setting. Albert was back home, and Carie returned from her job at Greta's Bistro. She had been to the Health Central just to find out that she IS pregnant. Still, she hesitated to tell her parents quite yet.


At the door her dad, Gabriel Greench, was being sniffed by a dog. But then the dog laid down to eat from the cat food bowl.


This chapter is way too long already... It got dark, and day ended... and tomorrow will be another day :-)

More from Maccaroni Island in 3 days!