Welcome welcome! This is Ruth’s (un)Officially Wacky Boolprop Challenge – you knew that; you can read – and with this chapter, we go back to our normal state of No Plot Whatsoever. In fact, since no heir has been chosen, there’s not even an inkling of a Future Plot that a sharp-eyed reader could pick up on. No, this chapter just contains jobs, babies, wrapping up loose ends, and babies. Oh, and proof that my game hates me. Did I mention babies?

Checking in briefly with Buttercup and Albert, we see that they have provided Ruth with not one but two grandchildren. The first born by a few minutes is Jo (short for Josephine), with the lighter skin and darker eyes. Her twin is Cecil (“SEE-sill”). Both children are named after joandsarah77, who wrote an excellent tutorial on how to make presentations like this one. When I asked if I could name Buttercup’s firstborn after her, she said yes, and asked how a boy would like being called “Crazy Cat Lady.” I didn’t think he would, but CCL is practically “Cecil,” which is nice. She also said she’s “rather ugg” on her full name, so I used Josephine instead.

But, as I believe I have mentioned, Myrna really wasn’t all that far behind Buttercup on the baby front.

And with the birth of Leila, the No Promotions bonus became a reality. Between Buttercup and Leila, nobody got promoted even once, and I still earned four career rewards towards Workaholics Anonymous. Leila is one of the fairies from Iolanthe, and, like all the fairies, she is a good dancer. She is also rather spoiled and childish – again, unfortunately, like all the fairies except the Fairy Queen and Iolanthe herself. Gilbert probably would not count as a feminist.

The subsequent birth of Lisa was simply icing on the cake, and possibly counts as proof positive that my game now hates me. Two sets of twins! Two! Lisa is named after an actress in The Grand Duke. (The plot involves a theater company – I didn’t start looking at cast lists.) Gilbert’s Lisa specializes in “soubrette” roles, which actually means flirty, saucy, pretty young women, but which always makes me think of ice cream.

Adam and Myrna promptly handed off the twins to their grandparents and went to work on the second pregnancy.

And speaking of working, Myrna wanted to Get A Job, so I let her take one in the Politics career, on the grounds that I didn’t have the career reward yet.

Myrna was able to jump in at a high enough level that she got the reward without going to work.

That was actually fortunate, because Myrna was put on maternity leave before she ever got a chance to make the car pool. I’ve left her in the career track because she gets paid while on maternity leave, and quite frankly, the family could use the money.

In addition to her maternity pay, Myrna contributes by making Toy Robots. There’s a ridiculously small profit margin on them, but there’s also a low initial outlay for materials. Myrna has had her Silver Robotics badge since forever, and should be earning her Gold badge any day now. Really.

The Tacky Flamingo does make money, and in fact is now at Level 5, but Adam only has time to make a flying visit every day. These flying visits are not long enough to accumulate any real cash. Level 5 star courtesy of Tirtha Couderc from Already in Progress.

The reason for the lack of time is that, in the Shankel household, childcare is a male responsibility. I believe the phrase Valerie used when establishing that rule was “I spent nine months hosting the little parasite – now it’s your turn.”

Housework is also the responsibility of the men, although in this case it’s more because the men are the ones with the ten Neat points. Ruth and Myrna would be just as happy even if you couldn’t eat your dinner off the floor, but Adam and Ryan would freak out.

Although the Drew Rule means that it’s all hands on deck when it comes to repairs.

And then there’s the stargazing. No alien baybeez yet, though. Of course there aren’t any. (sulkily) My game hates me.

Adam and Myrna have both developed a bad energizer habit. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure Myrna hasn’t slept at all this rotation…

Their habit is funded by frequent Dates, and it certainly doesn’t seem to do them any harm, but I do worry about what effect it will have on the baby. Of course, Ruth was on the bubbles all during her pregnancy with Buttercup, and she came out just fine. But I’m not sure you can really compare stimulants and depressants. It’s kind of an “apples and oranges” thing. And speaking of fruit reminds me…

Checking in briefly with Oakapple, you can see that he has acquired both a new wardrobe and a Silver Gardening badge.

Oh, and a fiancé.* Mustn’t forget that. Ruth is absolutely thrilled, and can’t wait for a) the wedding and b) grandbabies. She’s probably doomed to wait a very long time for the latter, though, since Oakapple is infertile and not really interested in much beyond grilled cheese and Oliver. Updates about Oakapple and Oliver can be found in Already in Progress beginning with Chapter 39, if you are interested. And since I am out of pictures and have engaged in shameless self-promotion twice now, I will leave you here. *Fiancé with one E denotes a man engaged to be married. Fiancée with two Es denotes a woman engaged to be married. Now you know.

Notes, disclaimers, and other trivia This chapter’s title comes from a song from The Sorcerer. It’s sung by a young woman who, under the influence of a love potion, finds she is madly in love with the village notary – even though he is eighty years old, deaf, and smells funny. (Alas, I could not find a video for it on YouTube.) I think it is equally appropriate to a Simmer who was thrown twins when she only wanted one baby, and had her fingers crossed for a boy, at that. Please join me next time, when we will see precisely how much my game hates me. Until then, Happy Simming!