Hello! Welcome back to Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge! I’d recap for you, but I’m terrible at recaps, and anyway the new Plot hasn’t Officially started yet. But as a refresher, last time around the last child (a girl) was born, and we had an heir poll. I would now like to Officially announce the heiress: Lisa Shankel! Let’s give her a big hand, ladies and gentlemen! (Announcing the heiress will not spoil the Plot, which could be considered a hint for those of you playing along at home.)

Now, I’m sure your first question is: Who is that other brunette on the cover, and why doesn’t she look at all Wacky? To answer your first question: that brunette is the same as this one, and I’m sure you can recognize Phoebe here.

Here is a picture of her just after she transitioned to Child. The hair-through-the-cheek had to go, but her basic look is otherwise unchanged. The lack of makeup is mostly an oversight on my part, and I’ll probably fix it next time I play the household. In the meantime, I’d be obliged if you didn’t tell the authorities… To answer your second question, Phoebe’s brand of Wacky doesn’t show up much in pictures, and even less so when she is wearing the private school uniform.

I’d like to back up a bit, if I may, and explain the uniforms. You see, Adam is very much a Knowledge Sim, and he wanted his daughters to get into private school. For most parents, this is a phase. For Adam, it was not. Myrna agreed to send the girls to private school after seeing Lisa’s report card. Not that it was a terrible one: Cs are perfectly respectable grades. But both Myrna and Adam carried 4.0s all the way through school, and the thought of their children being C students was perhaps not the most appealing one. So Myrna called the headmaster and invited him to come for a visit.

The visit did not get off to the best start. When the headmaster arrived, Phoebe was whining about being tired, Adam was complaining about being uncomfortable, and just about everyone was either trailing green clouds or was on the verge of doing so. Here you can see some of Phoebe’s version of Wacky: stripes, as in prison stripes. Also acceptable: prison jumpsuits or prison orange.

(I don’t know why being a Clam Wrangler would make Adam’s Comfort meter drop as much as it does, but this is why Phoebe is always tired. Instead of sleeping, this is what she does. All night.)

The headmaster was suitably impressed with the family’s Victorian décor. He also enjoyed Ryan’s pork chops and Myrna’s sparkling conversation. In fact, the evening was an all-around success.

Adam even got 8,000 aspiration points for Falling Asleep In His Dinner! Oh, and the girls were admitted to private school with a score of 128 out of 90.

Adam has taken up a new hobby. Not only is it fun, but it also carries a chance of alien abduction and it provides Body points. As Adam is having no luck being promoted far enough to receive the Natural Science career reward, I have no objection to him job-hopping. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the poaching qualifications for any of the careers I’m short a reward for.

And if he keeps this up, he never will.

Adam has proved much more capable at running the Tacky Flamingo. The business is now at Level Seven, courtesy of Uncle Tim.* *Ryan’s older brother; more about him can be found in Already in Progress.

And yet another Reporter showed up. This time, I made sure that Adam completely ignored her, and she gave the business a Good Review! You have no idea just how much I cackled when I saw the pop-up.

Adam is even starting to make friends with some of the regulars. LEONID SANDERS: My wife is sayink this is good place for havink fun. I am wantink to check it out. Is possible I will be bringink my son here in a few years. Do you do private parties? For birthdays or somethinks? OLD ADAM: Of course. We are most pleased to work with private parties, and I myself bring my daughters here with great frequency. How old is your son? Do you have any particular requests? LEONID SANDERS: Oh, my son has not yet learned potty trainink. How old are your daughters? OLD ADAM: Lisa and Leila are eleven, Phoebe is eight, and Rose is almost four.

LEONID SANDERS: Four girls! Is very many – I am sorry for you when they become teenagers. OLD ADAM: I would hope that my girls would have the sense and the decorum to behave in a becoming manner. However, I am not looking forward to when they are of age to marry. For of course I will need to dower them all, and then there is the problem of finding them respectable, eligible young gentlemen. LEONID SANDERS: Is funny – I am already worried about findink my Dmitri nice girl to marry. Perhaps we can be talking about this more, da? OLD ADAM: I say, sir, I do like the way you think!

Rose’s age is a bit tricky, as I have never been able to come up with a day-to-year ratio that works for all ages. However, as the rotation ends she is close to Child, which I figure is round about six or seven. Unlike Dmitri, she has learned Potty Training and Talking. She may even know how to Walk, but I don’t remember for sure.

It’s somewhat embarrassing to admit it, but this is how she spent a fair amount of her time this rotation.

Myrna and Ryan were occupied with repairs, cleaning, completing paintings, serving meals…

…setting fires…

It’s really no wonder they lined up for the Energizer.

In other news, Ryan is a frequent visitor at the Buttercup and Albert Shankel household. Josephine is particularly fond of him. (My apologies for the cranky-face. Somebody brought up a topic Ryan doesn’t like and his face glitched for the rest of the visit.)

The twins Grew Up Well – and in perfect sync yet again.

They now look like this, but I think they will need new wardrobes just as soon as Buttercup harvests her next crop.

Fantine and Saigon went shopping and color-coded themselves again, using the same colors they used before they Grew Up. They are scrupulously consistent in their dress, but their fathers have given up on trying to trick them into admitting who’s who. Oliver calls them both “Fantine” when they are well-behaved, and calls them both “Saigon” when they aren’t. Since the girls have one Nice point between them, they’re mostly called “Saigon.” Oakapple just calls them “Green” and “Yellow.”

And since I am out of pictures once again, that seems like as good a place as any to stop. I leave you with this final picture of the girls practicing Synchronized Yelling At A Thief – although whether the theft was of a gnome or a newspaper, I couldn’t tell you.

Notes, disclaimers, and other trivia The title of this chapter is taken from The Mikado, and it’s one of Gilbert & Sullivan’s most popular tunes. I might possibly maybe have gotten the girls into private school just so I could use it as a chapter title… Ryan’s painting is a poster for Trial By Jury. Hopefully, you will have picked up on this even if you couldn’t read the title. Myrna also completed two paintings, one for each daughter. Leila has Fairy Queen Titania Summerdream, and Lisa has Marilyn Monroe. (You can tell because she’s a blonde in a bright pink dress.) Alert reader amylu1988 read a short involving Oliver and the girls and was instantly able to pinpoint the reasoning behind which name he uses when. (A link to the short appears in the Boolprop thread for this story.) Thanks for the insight, Amy! Until next time, Happy Simming!