A while ago, Miranda received an opportunity to increase her logic skill and report to the science lab. After days of practicing chess and reading skill books, she succeeds and receives about 600 simoleons from the science lab. That means a lot for the household!
Her first investment is a TV. Now Gary can watch the Cooking Channel and increase both his cooking and his fun meter before he goes to work in the afternoon.
The three immediately watch it together and bond over commenting on the recipes.
Thanks to the TV, Gary's next promotion and bonus come soon, and Miranda can finally have her first nectar-making machine!
Autumn rains have watered the crops, and the second harvest comes without much effort.
Miranda uses her new machine for the first time.
In the evening, while Gary is still working, Miranda and Stevie go to the pub. Townie Luke McDermott is ordering some onion rings at the bar.
Stevie has an idea.
"You should go and try to flirt with him, Miranda! I've seen how you look at Gary, but you're afraid to approach him. Practice will make you feel more confident!"
"I don't know... when I feel under pressure, I always say something wrong."
But Stevie is insistent, so Miranda walks up to Luke.
"Hello! Don't be alarmed if I smell of grapes. I may still have some under my toenails."
Luke is so put off that he walks away from his onion rings, although he's very hungry.
Miranda feels a little guilty, but she doesn't want to let a perfectly good plate of food go to waste.
When Luke returns, Stevie decides to show Miranda how it's done.
"Oh my, you're muscular! Do you work out?"
But Luke is married (to Ginny, the nectar merchant) and just as uninterested in Stevie's pick-up lines as in Miranda's. Stevie's advice may be good, but it isn't infallible!
The next day, another long-awaited improvement is made to the household: instead of the cheapest beds in which they slept very badly, they get still affordable, but more comfortable ones.
It's Spooky Day! The household decides to host a costume party. Gary prepares ratatouille from their homegrown vegetables...
... and the girls serve some orange-and-lemon nectar, from their least valuable batch.
They scrub the house clean, because they know Penny and Tilly won't refrain from criticism.
Party time! I kept the costumes the game gave everyone: Miranda and Stevie are princesses, Tilly is a firefighter and Gary is a hot dog.
Penny is a cheerleader, Don is a chef, and the lady on the left is also a chef but I don't think she's wearing a costume - she's one of Gary's coworkers, an actual chef.
Tilly notices that Miranda's business must be going well, because she seems happy and confident.
In fact, she feels so confident she actually gives Gary a compliment.
"You are a really cute hot dog, Gary. I could just eat you up. (Oh God, that just sounds wrong.)
But Gary seems genuinely pleased.
And Stevie is surprised Miranda actually went for it!
Everything is going well - Penny hasn't even found anything bad to say about the house.
And judging by Zebra Guy's expression, the nectar is not bad either! It seems the household is truly out of the woods.
Wow, What a party!
Miranda's remarks are really funny. I could sense it wouldn't work with Luke. XD
Oh and congrats for the new beds! You'll see they'll be much more energetic from now on.
Thanks, @thuggishsplicer ! The TV version of Miranda says things like "I have a pimple on my bottom that looks like a spaniel!" when she's nervous. I wanted her to say something equally embarrassing, but connected to the Sim world.
Now that Gary has access to the Cooking Channel, he watches it every morning before work. Miranda usually joins him after taking care of the garden.
"You know, cooking is actually a lot like nuclear physics," he says.
"Yeah, I agree completely!"
"I would have agreed with anything he said," she thinks.
The last evening of autumn is foggy and dark.
It changes into a clear, but frosty night.
Miranda has received a skill opportunity to work on tax returns at the business office. That's the kind of serious and boring job her mother would like her to do for a living. The 600 simoleons she got will come in handy, though!
The first snow of the year begins to paint the town white.
On her way home, Miranda stops to pick up an uncommon seed.
She has raised her gardening skill high enough to plant one.
Upon returning home she decorates the house with Christmas lights.
Then she enlarges the nectar cellar and buys four additional planters. One is for the uncommon seed, two for ordinary grapes, and one for Renoit grapes.
And the final touch for their home: a mistletoe.
Heavy snowfall continues until late into the night.
By the morning the new plants have sprouted, but the mystery plant is still a mystery.
Miranda stands hopefully near the mistletoe, pretending to admire the wallpaper. Will Gary suggest a kiss? She isn't confident enough to suggest it herself.
As it turns out, neither is Gary, who has the coward trait.
He feels like he's going to die, but he still suggests a kiss...
There! That wasn't so bad, was it?
Stevie, in the meantime, makes a snowman outside the house.
The winter has made Riverview look fairytale-like.
It's time for another awkward dinner! Tilly and her vampire fiance are visiting.
But before dinner is even served, Tilly receives an important call from work. There is a problem with a client she must deal with immediately.
Gary is still at work, and the girls are feeling uneasy about being left alone with Don. Don, on the other hand, seems delighted.
The last time he was their guest for dinner, he was checking out Miranda's mother. Now he seems to be fixated on Stevie, who is distinctly unimpressed.
"I can tell you're a woman who has broken many hearts," he says.
""If only I wasn't engaged. I would let you break mine too!"
Stevie decides to laugh it off as a joke, but she's not sure that's what it was. Is Tilly sure she's making the right decision?
Thanks, @thuggishsplicer ! I needed Tilly to have a cheating fiance, because that's what happens in the original story, and I could trust Don Lothario to behave like that all by himself, without me needing to control him or set up anything!
Oh, the kiss was absolutely adorable! I'm hoping their love wins out in the end
And the town is beautiful! I haven't played it in a while, but it seems like I should-your photos are really amazing, they make the town seem magical...
This is so awesome! I really enjoyed playing catch up and learning about your sims and the nectar making too
And Riverview is so pretty, I almost forgot how pretty it looks in snow
Chuckled at the flirt practice session... mainly when it didn't work for Stevie either. Nice to know there are still faithful guys running around Riverview.
Miranda is still as adorably awkward as ever, but managed to get a mistletoe smooch from Gary so all seems to be progressing nice (and slow) between them. Hopefully Don got the hint and won't start calling Stevie to ask her out on dates... although since he's not married, he probably wouldn't consider it cheating. Tilly might have snagged a handsome guy and is living quite comfortably, but time will tell whether she is living the dream or finding herself stuck in a nightmare.
Tilly might have snagged a handsome guy and is living quite comfortably, but time will tell whether she is living the dream or finding herself stuck in a nightmare.
It's the middle of winter and snow is falling every day.
The mystery seed Miranda has planted turns out to be a pumpkin.
Although it's the wrong season for it, she carves one of the pumpkins because she rolled a wish to do so. The rest will be for sale.
Nectar making has its ups and downs. Luckily, there is usually no one around in the cellar to see the downs.
The two weekdays when Gary doesn't have to go to work at the Bistro are here. Over breakfast, he teases Miranda about what she said to him when she asked him to move in.
"Remember that you said we'll be able to see Nessie if she swims by?"
"We may still see her someday, Gary!"
After breakfast they visit the winter festival. Miranda's mother suggested that they do so.
She is working there as a food merchant, and she has some motherly advice to offer.
"Listen to me, Miranda. Go to the skating rink and wait there. When you see a single man skating by, just slip and fall into his arms. You fall all the time anyway, no one will think you did it on purpose."
No falling into arms happens, but all three skate for a while and earn some valuable festival tickets.
The next day they visit the nectary to harvest from the greenhouse.
The vegetables will be sold, the fruit used for nectar.
Afterwards they warm themselves with a well-earned glass of nectar.
Snowflake Day arrives. Miranda's mother is throwing a gift-giving party.
Penny certainly knows how to deck the halls...
... but, at least for Miranda, all nice things she does come with a price.
"Listen, Miranda, I've invited a lot of single men to the gift-giving party. Don't disappoint me! Remember: smile a lot, talk about the weather, and try not to eat the whole turkey. I'm hoping for a nice spring wedding!"
"Oh, Mum. Must you always do this?"
Another thing that's worrying Miranda is the vampire Don Lothario, the fiance of her friend Tilly. In the past she's seen him eyeing her mother and making inappropriate remarks to her other friend, Stevie. Now he seems to be following Miranda like a shadow.
The other guests have arrived, and Penny is in full battle mode.
"Let me introduce you to my daughter. She is still single and a little desperate. Would you like her telephone number?"
Miranda doesn't want to listen to this, so she escapes to the kitchen to make some coffee. But once again, Don Lothario appears behind her like a shadow.
"Are you avoiding me, Miranda?"
"I can't fight this any longer. I find you delicious in more ways than one."
"Ugh! Stop it, please! You're engaged to my friend."
"What can I do? I have a hunger only you can satisfy."
"I don't want to know about your hunger. Go away!"
Meanwhile, the gift-giving ceremony is already starting. Penny is thinking:
"Any man in this room could be a potential son-in-law. Except for the little boy, of course. But I wouldn't dismiss the elder."
Tilly looks happy, completely oblivious about her fiance's behaviour. Miranda is unsure what to do. Should she say something? Will Tilly believe her?
These thoughts are casting a shadow on what would otherwise be a storybook Snowflake Day.
Oh, poor Miranda. Everyone in her life seems to be causing so much drama. The poor girl is just trying to run a nectary! Hopefully everything picks up in the future for Miranda.
Thank you, @ADWilson, @Kandy and @thuggishsplicer ! Thuggishsplicer, I agree, being a vampire suits Don very well! And so does, I think, a Christmas sweater.
After the dramatic Snowflake Day party, the household spends a peaceful day doing chores...
... tasting delicious treats prepared by Gary on the Grapes of Nectary stove, one of their most valuable possessions...
... and tending the small winter garden. It only consists of six planters, but it has been very helpful through the winter. Miranda now has "great" or "very nice" samples of four kinds of grapes put aside for future planting.
Their large, snow-covered lawn is waiting to be turned into a vineyard!
In the evening Miranda gets a phone call.
"Oh, hi, Tilly! How are you?"
Tilly is feeling wonderful, and wants Miranda to help her choose a wedding dress.
"What shall I do, Stevie? She told me she wants a spring wedding. Spring starts in two days, her fiance is a massive creep, and I can't tell her that because she won't believe me!"
"Why do you even care?" Stevie asks. "She is pretty horrible to you."
"I know but, you see, we were part of a group of friends at boarding school."
"Bunty, Stinky, Milly, Tilly, and ... me. Queen Kong."
"When you've spent seven years sharing a dormitory with someone, you bond with them whether you want it or not."
"We would always help one another get out of trouble."
"But in this case I don't know how to do it!" Miranda says.
Stevie seems thoughtful. "No, you can't just tell her about Don. She will only believe it if she sees for herself."
***
Miranda goes to meet Tilly at the Salon.
Tilly is full of enthusiasm, talking about all the details of her upcoming wedding.
Then she starts trying on wedding dresses.
She likes this one...
... but this one is even better.
"Queen Kong, I've never felt so beautiful in my life! You should try one on too! It's marvelous for your self-esteem!"
That's the last thing Miranda wants to do, but it's difficult to say no to Tilly.
Actually, once she puts on a dress she likes, she begins to enjoy it a little...
... but who should walk into the Salon at that moment but her mother Penny, on a quest for a new hat!
"Miranda! Is it possible? Finally!"
Penny is too overwhelmed to remain conscious.
"Why is all this happening?" Miranda is thinking. "I just want to tend my vineyard in peace!"
So... is the Grapes of Nectary stove a valuable possession because of the delicious dishes that Gary can create or because of the fact that he wears boxers while doing so?
That last scene was funny, but I feel even sorrier for Miranda now because her mom has just been given even stronger incentive to push, push, push her daughter at eligible bachelors. And shhh... don't tell Tilly but I think Miranda is a prettier bride.
Comments
Her first investment is a TV. Now Gary can watch the Cooking Channel and increase both his cooking and his fun meter before he goes to work in the afternoon.
The three immediately watch it together and bond over commenting on the recipes.
Thanks to the TV, Gary's next promotion and bonus come soon, and Miranda can finally have her first nectar-making machine!
Autumn rains have watered the crops, and the second harvest comes without much effort.
Miranda uses her new machine for the first time.
In the evening, while Gary is still working, Miranda and Stevie go to the pub. Townie Luke McDermott is ordering some onion rings at the bar.
Stevie has an idea.
"You should go and try to flirt with him, Miranda! I've seen how you look at Gary, but you're afraid to approach him. Practice will make you feel more confident!"
"I don't know... when I feel under pressure, I always say something wrong."
But Stevie is insistent, so Miranda walks up to Luke.
"Hello! Don't be alarmed if I smell of grapes. I may still have some under my toenails."
Luke is so put off that he walks away from his onion rings, although he's very hungry.
Miranda feels a little guilty, but she doesn't want to let a perfectly good plate of food go to waste.
When Luke returns, Stevie decides to show Miranda how it's done.
"Oh my, you're muscular! Do you work out?"
But Luke is married (to Ginny, the nectar merchant) and just as uninterested in Stevie's pick-up lines as in Miranda's. Stevie's advice may be good, but it isn't infallible!
The next day, another long-awaited improvement is made to the household: instead of the cheapest beds in which they slept very badly, they get still affordable, but more comfortable ones.
It's Spooky Day! The household decides to host a costume party. Gary prepares ratatouille from their homegrown vegetables...
... and the girls serve some orange-and-lemon nectar, from their least valuable batch.
They scrub the house clean, because they know Penny and Tilly won't refrain from criticism.
Party time! I kept the costumes the game gave everyone: Miranda and Stevie are princesses, Tilly is a firefighter and Gary is a hot dog.
Penny is a cheerleader, Don is a chef, and the lady on the left is also a chef but I don't think she's wearing a costume - she's one of Gary's coworkers, an actual chef.
Tilly notices that Miranda's business must be going well, because she seems happy and confident.
In fact, she feels so confident she actually gives Gary a compliment.
"You are a really cute hot dog, Gary. I could just eat you up. (Oh God, that just sounds wrong.)
But Gary seems genuinely pleased.
And Stevie is surprised Miranda actually went for it!
Everything is going well - Penny hasn't even found anything bad to say about the house.
And judging by Zebra Guy's expression, the nectar is not bad either! It seems the household is truly out of the woods.
Miranda's remarks are really funny. I could sense it wouldn't work with Luke. XD
Oh and congrats for the new beds! You'll see they'll be much more energetic from now on.
"You know, cooking is actually a lot like nuclear physics," he says.
"Yeah, I agree completely!"
"I would have agreed with anything he said," she thinks.
The last evening of autumn is foggy and dark.
It changes into a clear, but frosty night.
Miranda has received a skill opportunity to work on tax returns at the business office. That's the kind of serious and boring job her mother would like her to do for a living. The 600 simoleons she got will come in handy, though!
The first snow of the year begins to paint the town white.
On her way home, Miranda stops to pick up an uncommon seed.
She has raised her gardening skill high enough to plant one.
Upon returning home she decorates the house with Christmas lights.
Then she enlarges the nectar cellar and buys four additional planters. One is for the uncommon seed, two for ordinary grapes, and one for Renoit grapes.
And the final touch for their home: a mistletoe.
Heavy snowfall continues until late into the night.
By the morning the new plants have sprouted, but the mystery plant is still a mystery.
Miranda stands hopefully near the mistletoe, pretending to admire the wallpaper. Will Gary suggest a kiss? She isn't confident enough to suggest it herself.
As it turns out, neither is Gary, who has the coward trait.
He feels like he's going to die, but he still suggests a kiss...
There! That wasn't so bad, was it?
Stevie, in the meantime, makes a snowman outside the house.
The winter has made Riverview look fairytale-like.
It's time for another awkward dinner! Tilly and her vampire fiance are visiting.
But before dinner is even served, Tilly receives an important call from work. There is a problem with a client she must deal with immediately.
Gary is still at work, and the girls are feeling uneasy about being left alone with Don. Don, on the other hand, seems delighted.
The last time he was their guest for dinner, he was checking out Miranda's mother. Now he seems to be fixated on Stevie, who is distinctly unimpressed.
"I can tell you're a woman who has broken many hearts," he says.
""If only I wasn't engaged. I would let you break mine too!"
Stevie decides to laugh it off as a joke, but she's not sure that's what it was. Is Tilly sure she's making the right decision?
I was really happy to see that Miranda and their kiss.
And the town is beautiful! I haven't played it in a while, but it seems like I should-your photos are really amazing, they make the town seem magical...
And Riverview is so pretty, I almost forgot how pretty it looks in snow
Chuckled at the flirt practice session... mainly when it didn't work for Stevie either. Nice to know there are still faithful guys running around Riverview.
Miranda is still as adorably awkward as ever, but managed to get a mistletoe smooch from Gary so all seems to be progressing nice (and slow) between them. Hopefully Don got the hint and won't start calling Stevie to ask her out on dates... although since he's not married, he probably wouldn't consider it cheating. Tilly might have snagged a handsome guy and is living quite comfortably, but time will tell whether she is living the dream or finding herself stuck in a nightmare.
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Yes, exactly!
The mystery seed Miranda has planted turns out to be a pumpkin.
Although it's the wrong season for it, she carves one of the pumpkins because she rolled a wish to do so. The rest will be for sale.
Nectar making has its ups and downs. Luckily, there is usually no one around in the cellar to see the downs.
The two weekdays when Gary doesn't have to go to work at the Bistro are here. Over breakfast, he teases Miranda about what she said to him when she asked him to move in.
"Remember that you said we'll be able to see Nessie if she swims by?"
"We may still see her someday, Gary!"
After breakfast they visit the winter festival. Miranda's mother suggested that they do so.
She is working there as a food merchant, and she has some motherly advice to offer.
"Listen to me, Miranda. Go to the skating rink and wait there. When you see a single man skating by, just slip and fall into his arms. You fall all the time anyway, no one will think you did it on purpose."
No falling into arms happens, but all three skate for a while and earn some valuable festival tickets.
The next day they visit the nectary to harvest from the greenhouse.
The vegetables will be sold, the fruit used for nectar.
Afterwards they warm themselves with a well-earned glass of nectar.
Snowflake Day arrives. Miranda's mother is throwing a gift-giving party.
Penny certainly knows how to deck the halls...
... but, at least for Miranda, all nice things she does come with a price.
"Listen, Miranda, I've invited a lot of single men to the gift-giving party. Don't disappoint me! Remember: smile a lot, talk about the weather, and try not to eat the whole turkey. I'm hoping for a nice spring wedding!"
"Oh, Mum. Must you always do this?"
Another thing that's worrying Miranda is the vampire Don Lothario, the fiance of her friend Tilly. In the past she's seen him eyeing her mother and making inappropriate remarks to her other friend, Stevie. Now he seems to be following Miranda like a shadow.
The other guests have arrived, and Penny is in full battle mode.
"Let me introduce you to my daughter. She is still single and a little desperate. Would you like her telephone number?"
Miranda doesn't want to listen to this, so she escapes to the kitchen to make some coffee. But once again, Don Lothario appears behind her like a shadow.
"Are you avoiding me, Miranda?"
"I can't fight this any longer. I find you delicious in more ways than one."
"Ugh! Stop it, please! You're engaged to my friend."
"What can I do? I have a hunger only you can satisfy."
"I don't want to know about your hunger. Go away!"
Meanwhile, the gift-giving ceremony is already starting. Penny is thinking:
"Any man in this room could be a potential son-in-law. Except for the little boy, of course. But I wouldn't dismiss the elder."
Tilly looks happy, completely oblivious about her fiance's behaviour. Miranda is unsure what to do. Should she say something? Will Tilly believe her?
These thoughts are casting a shadow on what would otherwise be a storybook Snowflake Day.
As always, looking forward to reading more!
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It's great that she's faced him. I wonder what comes next!
... tasting delicious treats prepared by Gary on the Grapes of Nectary stove, one of their most valuable possessions...
... and tending the small winter garden. It only consists of six planters, but it has been very helpful through the winter. Miranda now has "great" or "very nice" samples of four kinds of grapes put aside for future planting.
Their large, snow-covered lawn is waiting to be turned into a vineyard!
In the evening Miranda gets a phone call.
"Oh, hi, Tilly! How are you?"
Tilly is feeling wonderful, and wants Miranda to help her choose a wedding dress.
"What shall I do, Stevie? She told me she wants a spring wedding. Spring starts in two days, her fiance is a massive creep, and I can't tell her that because she won't believe me!"
"Why do you even care?" Stevie asks. "She is pretty horrible to you."
"I know but, you see, we were part of a group of friends at boarding school."
"Bunty, Stinky, Milly, Tilly, and ... me. Queen Kong."
"When you've spent seven years sharing a dormitory with someone, you bond with them whether you want it or not."
"We would always help one another get out of trouble."
"But in this case I don't know how to do it!" Miranda says.
Stevie seems thoughtful. "No, you can't just tell her about Don. She will only believe it if she sees for herself."
***
Miranda goes to meet Tilly at the Salon.
Tilly is full of enthusiasm, talking about all the details of her upcoming wedding.
Then she starts trying on wedding dresses.
She likes this one...
... but this one is even better.
"Queen Kong, I've never felt so beautiful in my life! You should try one on too! It's marvelous for your self-esteem!"
That's the last thing Miranda wants to do, but it's difficult to say no to Tilly.
Actually, once she puts on a dress she likes, she begins to enjoy it a little...
... but who should walk into the Salon at that moment but her mother Penny, on a quest for a new hat!
"Miranda! Is it possible? Finally!"
Penny is too overwhelmed to remain conscious.
"Why is all this happening?" Miranda is thinking. "I just want to tend my vineyard in peace!"
That last scene was funny, but I feel even sorrier for Miranda now because her mom has just been given even stronger incentive to push, push, push her daughter at eligible bachelors. And shhh... don't tell Tilly but I think Miranda is a prettier bride.
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