Hello, and welcome back to Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge! Last time, Baby P was born, Baby R was conceived, and Adam was abducted. But since the house was full, there was no lullaby, which led to much cussing. Full and fair disclosure: between last chapter and this one, I downloaded the Director’s Cut from MATY and installed a quarter of the hacks. Most of them are invisible fixes. The “college clock” is not challenge-legal, and I will remove it when this crew is ready for Uni. And autoyak is of murky legality; I intend to use only the features that automatically do things I currently do by hand, so I think it falls under the heading of “saving clicks.” If there are authorities out there who disagree, please let me know. And now, on with the show story!

The bulk of the unpleasant work involved with raising the kids falls to Ryan and Ruth. I suppose that this is fair in the Karmic sense, since Valerie and Aren did most of the scut work involved with rearing their children, but it’s still hard.

The constant catering to the needs of others takes its toll, sometimes in painful and potentially embarrassing ways.

But never let it be said that I am not a benevolent player. A few temporary home modifications, and Ryan was back to his old self.

“Now hold on just a darn minute!” (I hear you cry.) “Wasn’t Myrna already heavily pregnant at the end of the last chapter?” Well, yes, she was.

Not that it slowed her down any. Myrna got her Gold Robotics Badge ages ago, but somebody whose initials are e.i. stupidly managed to miss the doodad again, so poor Myrna had to build a Servo to prove she got it.

And while Myrna did not do the honors for Phoebe’s age transition…

She did manage Potty Training. (And unlike Ruth, she did most of the work on this skill.)

Leila and Lisa Grew Up also, and moved into their own room. I’m not sure about the décor, but it’s frilly and Victorian-ish. For now, that’s good enough. After all, we have a Fairy and a Soubrette to work with – what décor could they possibly agree on?

And here is a closer look. Yes, Leila is wearing the same facepaint that Ruth wore as a little girl. In Ruth’s case, it was chosen randomly. For Leila the choice was deliberate: after all, if Fairy Queen Titania Summerdream wears it, it must be the look for fashionable fairies, right? Lisa looks as though she is heavily made up, but really all she’s wearing is a touch of bright red lipstick. It’s hard to figure how to portray a soubrette at this age, as soubrette roles call for double entendres and an implied easy familiarity with woohoo. On the other hand, Lisa is six. So for right now, I’m going with the lipstick and leaving it at that.

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget how I got here. Myrna was heavily pregnant.

At least until Rose was born. LISA: Yay, it’s a baby! Rose is named for Rose Maybud from Ruddigore, whose strict adherence to the rules set forth in her book of etiquette first keeps her from getting engaged at all and then results in four engagements in rapid succession (to three different men).

Now, I’m sure that I’ll get comments about how Rose is not a Wacky name. This is quite true. “Rose” is not even a little bit Wacky. On the other hand, here is a complete list of the female R names Gilbert used in all 14 of his operas. 1. Ruth 2. Rose …And I already used “Ruth.” On a different note, I’ve never seen a Sim as excited about a new baby as Lisa. LISA: It’s a sister! I have a little sister! Hooray! Hooray!

But with the birth of Rose, Ryan seems to have decided to make a statement about his feelings regarding being used as an unpaid, permanently-on-duty nanny.

Never let it be said that Adam can’t take a hint.

Myrna can too. And that’s all the Toddler skills taken care of until Rose transitions.

Which of course frees up Myrna and Adam to help with more advanced skilling. Ryan is of the opinion – and I think rightly – that since he helped children learn to study seven times already, he’s met his quota. Especially since he only has three children. The rebuild, remember?

Bedtime stories are the provenance of Adam, published poet. OLD ADAM: Gentle Jane was as good as gold, She always did as she was told; She never spoke when her mouth was full, Or caught bluebottles their legs to pull, Or spilt plum jam on her nice new frock, Or put white mice in the eight-day clock, Or vivisected her last new doll, Or fostered a passion for alcohol. And when she grew up she was given in marriage To a first-class earl who keeps his carriage!* *W. S. Gilbert, Patience, act 2, scene 12. Available from http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/patience/webop/pat12d.html; accessed 7 August 2011.

The girls like his poems, at any rate. LISA: Another one, Poppa!* LEILA: Pleeeeeeease, Poppa? Just one more? OLD ADAM: No, my loves, I am sorry. It is time for bed now. I shall read you another tomorrow at the same hour. LISA and LEILA: Yay! *Technically, the terms for Myrna and Adam should be spelled “Mama” and “Papa.” However, Adam uses the British pronunciations “muh-MAH” and “puh-PAH.” His daughters use the American pronunciations “MOM-ah” and “POP-ah.” I have therefore spelled their dialog differently to make things easier for you, my reader. All part of the service.

Adam also has special father-daughter outings with his girls. Admittedly, at the moment they’re largely to the Tacky Flamingo, but that’s a pretty kid-friendly place: it’s got bowling and flamingos and snack food – even hot tubs if Poppa isn’t too busy to lifeguard.

The Tacky Flamingo dropped back to Level 5 thanks to a poorly-timed lightning strike. It really was only one star away, and unfortunately that’s not a position that I like to be in. Oh well. According to my own personal schedule, as long as Adam gets the business to Level 7 before the next generation takes over, everything’s copacetic.* *copacetic, adjective: Very satisfactory. First known use: 1919, according to Merriam-Webster.

And anyway, we got back up to Level 6 in that same play session, courtesy of Adam’s cousin Edgar Miller.

I would have been willing to try to get the business a bit more solidly at that level, but the girls were getting pretty tired, and I needed to get them home.

The next day, Adam had to go to work, so Myrna went in to run the business instead. This was purely to obey the rules – Myrna has no Sales badges, no Business Perks, and no particularly outstanding skills. I figured she’d go in, keep the place open for an hour or two, and head back home. After opening the business, Myrna rolled the Want to go soak in the hot tub, and I decided to let her. That usually attracts customers to the hot tub, which is a good way to earn stars. Plus, the more aspiration points Myrna has, the better the chance for her to be able to use the Energizer.

I was struck dumb by this. Myrna doesn’t finger-gun or pull a Fonzie when she enters a room. She’s never peed on a bush, talked to one of the flamingos, or forgotten to get dressed. She’s not the designated neighborhood telescope slapper, and I’ve never noticed that her Social meter drops particularly quickly. But this is undeniably a naked Sim, and when I checked, she does indeed have 10 Outgoing points. I’m sure it’s just her natural warmth and interest in people that put the business firmly enough at Level 6 that another tree fire is no threat. Yeah, that’s it. Heh…

Adam is a Clam Wrangler, which has nothing to do with his LTW, and won’t bring in a career reward until he gets promoted at least once more, but there are no jobs available that he can just nab a reward in, so there it is. Apparently, being a Clam Wrangler does not require any special clothing.

Checking in with the rest of the family, Jo and Cecil are doing very well in school.

Oakapple and Oliver did color-code the girls. Nevertheless, they persisted in using the wrong names most of the time. Sally made good on her promise to come babysit.

Not that a sitter was needed for very long. The girls Grew Up Well in a flurry of leaves, and will go shopping just as soon as they can afford it. How are you supposed to tell one from the other when they’re both dressed in vegetation?

And what has Ruth been doing all this time? This, mostly. Painting a custom painting takes quite a while. Bonus: Can you recognize the Gilbert & Sullivan opera for which this is a poster?

Although she also has a tendency to revert to her childhood habits in her old age.

And in this case, it appears to be like grandmother, like granddaughter. Or granddaughters.

Of late, there’s been a fair amount of this kind of thing as well.

Because, unfortunately, this is what was coming up.

RUTH: You mean I’ll finally get to play Mad Margaret? GRIM REAPER: .f co..se, .rs. Sha….. .ey’v. .esco… th. .art ju.. .or .ou. RUTH: Cool!

Ruth Shankel, 70 years old. Ruth started out as a very dull Sim, but quickly became one of my favorites after she found her niche in life. Ruth was a professional contralto, and made a living portraying one “elderly, ugly lady” or another. Her favorite song to sing professionally was “Ye torrents roar, ye tempests howl,” which is technically part of the Act I finale of The Mikado and not a separate aria. Her favorite Gilbert & Sullivan song overall was “In enterprise of martial kind” from The Gondoliers. Goodbye, Ruth. Wherever you’re going, I hope you get many, many curtain calls.

Notes, disclaimers, and other trivia The title of this chapter is taken from HMS Pinafore, where it is sung by a sailor who is about to be imprisoned for daring to love the captain’s daughter. The song as a whole is an octet (a song written for eight singers), and is the first popular song ever to mention a telephone. Ruth’s painting is a poster for The Sorcerer. You can tell partly by the writing (assuming you can read Symbol; it has a fair number of cognates) and partly by the flames in the background. All the posters painted by anyone in this household will be of operas that you have already encountered in one form or another. (For example, The Mikado was a special feature, but The Sorcerer was folded into the Plot.)

The Grim Reaper said: Of course, Mrs. Shankel. They’ve rescored the part just for you. Don’t forget to vote in the heir poll, available now on a Simming forum near you, and I’ll meet you back here in a little bit to give you the results. Until then, Happy Simming!