Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Yasiu and his Siblings.

Monday morning, Derek and Yulia made and stockpiled more mac and cheese frozen entrees.

ScreenShot002

Yevgenya bowled before school,

ScreenShot001

while keeping an eye on Yedrek, who was boogying away to the stereo in the bowling alley.

ScreenShot003

Yed even got some attention from the customers!

ScreenShot004

Genya left for school, and every now and then Yulia had to fish one of her toddlers out of the snow,

ScreenShot005

but otherwise they happily played with their Charisma bunnies all day.

ScreenShot006

ScreenShot007

Mid-afternoon, Genya arrived home from school, and told anyone who would listen about her excellent grades.

ScreenShot009

She played with Yana, then taught her a nursery rhyme,

ScreenShot010

before grabbing a nap (and figuring she could do her homework later).

ScreenShot013

Derek did his best to keep a smustle going out back in the bowling alley.

ScreenShot011

ScreenShot012

Yulia went to bed early, and just as she was about to lie down, the home sports venue reached Rank 8.

ScreenShot014

She woke up in the middle of the night and, as soon as she did, she went into labor.

ScreenShot015

The couple had their 4th child, their 2nd son, and named him “Yasiu”.

ScreenShot016

Yevgenya greeted her new little brother with enthusiasm.

ScreenShot018

Yulia fed her new baby,

ScreenShot019

and put him into Yedrek’s crib.

ScreenShot020

Yed went to sleep on the toddler blanket near his new little brother,

ScreenShot021

and Yulia thought, with a tinge of guilt, ‘I really should do something about decorating this room for the boys. I just didn’t think we were all going to be in this house for so long. Or that there would be so many of us!’

_____________________________________

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR:

Here’s what annoys the crap out of me about this game:

ScreenShot008

Not only had Derek invited Daisy over to the home sports venue earlier that afternoon, he hugged her twice when she arrived!

Raising the rank of this home sports venue seems to be taking soooooo long. It’s possible that it’s just my perception, because I tend to play the home lot at normal speed (because I have to keep an eye on all 5 family members, AND the butler, who often seems to engage in counter-productive behavior, such as interfering with the toddlers sleeping on the blankets and trying to put them in the cribs), whereas I play Yulia’s Emporium at triple speed.

I got “Yasiu” from “Jasiu”, a Polish diminutive of “Jan” (so, “John”). It’s pronounced “Yah-shoo”, and my brother John’s nickname was “Yosh” all through highschool.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

On the Homefront.

While Yulia was away at her store all day Sunday, Derek taught Yanastasia to walk,

ScreenShot026

and to talk.

ScreenShot028

Then he made smart milk for Yedrek,

ScreenShot029

and started potty-training the boy.

ScreenShot030

Yana played with her bunny,

ScreenShot032

as her sister sat nearby, reading a cookbook.

ScreenShot031

Derek taught his son to walk,

ScreenShot033

ScreenShot035

then finished potty-training Yana.

ScreenShot037

The little girl went to sleep on the toddler blanket in her big sister’s room.

ScreenShot034

Genya maxed out her cooking skill, changed into her pajamas, climbed into bed, and gazed at her sleeping sister. ‘She’s okay,’ Genya thought. ‘Maybe when Mommy has her new baby, Yana can move into my room.’

ScreenShot002

___________________________________

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR:

Look—Yana is talking about money! What a mommy’s girl!!!

ScreenShot027

I’m amazed at how quickly all the kids are learning skills. In Genya’s case, I thought it was just because it was Fall. But it’s been winter now for a couple of days, and the toddlers are learning lickety-split. Sure, Derek’s using smart milk, and a thinking cap, but I’ve done that lots of times before and don’t remember kids learning this fast. Could it have something to do with Derek having Level 10 in all skills?

Monday, February 27, 2012

Good Day Turns to Bad.

Sunday morning, Derek made smart milk for Yanastasia, then taught her to walk.

ScreenShot001

Yulia headed over to her store for the day, determined to raise its rank before she had her next baby.

ScreenShot002

She made hot dogs for anyone who wanted them,

ScreenShot003

and did “Sales – May I Help You?” with confused customers,

ScreenShot005

and Yulia’s Emporium reached Rank 7 within an hour of her arrival.

ScreenShot004

Around noon, she received another Best of the Best award,

ScreenShot007

and the customers started pouring in, making it difficult for even a Silver restocker like Troy to keep up with the inventory. Yulia helped out as best she could, but it was too tiring for her,

ScreenShot008

so she decided to give Bruce a try at restocking.

ScreenShot009

Bruce turned out to be pretty good at restocking, especially for a beginner,

ScreenShot010

and Yulia did “Talk – Motivational Speech” with him, which temporarily raised his skill level.

ScreenShot011

Exhausted, she climbed into one of the tents,

ScreenShot012

and Troy and Bruce soon had the store completely restocked and were managing to keep up with demand,

ScreenShot013

and the store reached Rank 8 by late afternoon.

ScreenShot014

Shelby gained a Gold register badge,

ScreenShot016

and Troy gained a Gold restocking badge.

ScreenShot019

Yulia gave each of them a raise.

ScreenShot017

Bruce was too tired to continue with his new assignment, so Yulia sent him home for the day.

ScreenShot015

Because Troy had had a Want to get a Gold restocking badge, he was able to use Yulia’s Energizer!

ScreenShot020

Shelby, though, was also tired, so Yulia sent her home, and took over the register duties herself.

ScreenShot021

This turned out to be a mistake, because the steady pace of business was too much for Yulia’s cashier skills, and even too much for Troy to restock the store by himself.

ScreenShot022

The floor was soon littered with shopping bags whose owners had flung them down in disgust.

ScreenShot023

Troy finished ringing up the last few customers who had remained in line, Yulia cleaned up the mess,

ScreenShot024

and closed the store for the day. ‘I really should have closed it earlier—when Bruce had to go home.’ She resolved to be more reasonable in the future.

_________________________

NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR:

Why don’t pregnant women have outerwear???

It’s always safe for your owner to take a nap right after she gets a Best of the Best award—nothing’s going to go wrong for a while.

I think this is the first time I’ve been able to get an employee to use the Energizer! Yippee!!! It never occurred to me that could happen.

I should have been paying attention to Shelby's wants, and trying to satisfy them, so that she could be gold or platinum and use the Energizer, too. Then, she could have stayed at work, and the day at the store wouldn't have had such a messy end.