Pauline's Paintings - Summer challenge 2024, update 1

[katrisims]

Why hello there. It's been a while. What is this you ask, may this be a new challenge? Well yes, it is. Katri the perpetual challenge starter has started another one.

It's summer again, meaning that Boolprop is hosting another Summer Sims Challenge, and I felt compelled. Medals, you see.
So this should be short and simple, to be able to complete this over the summer. Last time I did the Boolprop Olympic Challenge it was a lot of fun, so I'll be redoing it with a different activity.

Meet Pauline Abrahams, our foundress and competing sim. She's a 9/2/6/3/5 Libra, and a Fortune/Knowledge sim with the LTW to earn 100,000 simoleans. For our Pride twist, she's ace. (Yes, I'm quite proud for finding those flag colors for her to wear.) I think we'll be going the aroace route, so she won't be looking for a romantic partner, but she will be raising a family, one way or another. The activity of choice? Completing 25 paintings.



As this is not a legacy and we don't need to buy a huge lot, Pauline could afford a small house for herself. Shall we have a tour?


The kitchen/living room. Yes, there's flag colors present in the house too.


The bathroom.


And the bedroom. For now, the house is tiny, so that's all!


Pauline has the Want to get a job in the Business Career, so her first order of business is looking for a job.



She gets lucky, as Business is available on the first day. So she snags the job.


The carpool won't come as it's immediately time for work, but Pauline gets there by walking.


In the afternoon, Pauline is happy to have made some money. It's not much yet, and we have work to do for the first promotion, but it's a start.


After work, Pauline watched some Yummy channel to both raise her fun motive and learn some cooking, to hopefully avoid fires.


After that, it was time for a lunch meat sandwich, that thankfully doesn't require using the stove.

Pauline: "You don't trust my mad cooking skills?"

Sorry, but no.


Charisma is needed for the first promotion, so we got started on that.


Practising speech was interrupted when there was a walkby on the sideway. Pauline went to greet the new sim, Brian Akagi.



Apparently Brian works for a furnishing store, so we're getting a discount. That's nice, since we're definitely going to expand on the house sooner or later.


Pauline doesn't have much in the way of entertainment, so the two of them watched some tv together.


Also Pauline managed to make them some mac and cheese without burning the house, so altogether a successful evening.


In the morning, Pauline got a nice meal of cereal before work.


The remaining time was spent at the mirror, as charisma is quite important in Pauline's line of work.


Off to work you go!


And, as we hoped, Pauline came back with her first promotion in the bag!


As this challenge is about paintings, we got started with the first one.


Painting work was interrupted as I noticed a walkby outside. Pauline could always use more friends, so she went ahead and greeted Katelyn Hanby.


Pauline and Katelyn hung out for a bit, they seemed to get along well.


After Katelyn left, Pauline still had time to snag a charisma skill point before bed. Great, for both her job and her aspiration level.


Another day, another bowl of cereal.



There's a little bit of time before work, so Pauline spends it painting.


And today it's time for another promotion. Well done Pauline!


In the afternoon, Pauline gets to work on her first painting more.


And in fact, she finishes it! Woo, one down, 24 to go. It'll have to sit on the easel for a bit, as I have a plan that we can't afford yet.

Pauline: "We're not selling it?"

No, although I admit it's kind of tempting for your LTW. But I want to be able to keep track of the paintings easily, so I want them on walls.


It's still light out, so Pauline gets to head out to and do some digging, so that we might have those walls for the paintings.


Pauline: "Eek! Water pipe! Water pipe!"

Yep, the inevitable of course happens. Stop panicking and just fill in the hole. Like, that's totally how you fix a burst water pipe, right?


The digging is also interrupted by a phone call from Brian. But it's all good, because Pauline needs a boost on her social meter too.


There, not bad for a single session of digging. I think after tomorrow at work, we might be able to afford those extra walls.

Pauline: "Too bad selling this stuff won't count as my earnings."

Yeah, that's too bad. Although, I may have an idea, for later.


After all that hard work, Pauline gets to soak in a well-deserved bubble bath.


A little bit of skilling in the morning makes Pauline platinum for work.


And as we hoped, that works for her next promotion. Congrats, Pauline!


Now, here we go for those extra walls! This is a small "gallery" I built just for Pauline's paintings.


If I counted correctly, the inside should have exactly 25 slots on the walls for the paintings, so when the walls are full, we're done with the challenge. There's the first one sitting on the wall.


It's time for another mac and cheese dinner. Thankfully no house fires.


Hey look, it's Sim Katri! Let's go say hi.


The first thing she did was head up straight to the easel, which was now free because Pauline's first painting has been moved to the gallery.

Sorry me, that one's getting scrapped, as it's Pauline's paintings that count here!


Some tv was watched, how else.


Hey, what's that, Sim Katri! You're supposed to have way too many Nice Points for just randomly annoying sims!

Dunno what's up with that. Although I have seen Sim Katri act out of character before, like finger gunning with two outgoing points. She's a mystery.

Anyway, it was getting late and Pauline asked her to leave soon after.



Morning brought more chess before work for Pauline.


Unfortunately no promotion today, but well, that's to be expected.


Pauline is going to have a day off from work, so she went ahead and got started on the second painting.


Pauline must be pretty sick of mac and cheese by now, but we're taking it slow with the cooking.


The fire alarm wasn't needed today, but it looks like the burglar alarm will be!


Burglar: "Now, what to take, what to take... what's that noise?"


Police officer: "I'm right here, you know?"


There was a brief fight, but the law enforcement won, Pauline got some insurance money and could go back to bed.


In the morning, it was back to the mirror for Pauline, as charisma is ever important.


Pauline: "Why am I digging?"

Because we'll turn those treasures you find into earnings for you!


A needs and social break was in order, and while on the phone, Pauline made a new friend too.


She also spent some time on her second painting.


Actually, scratch that, she completed it. That's two down!


The painting promptly went in the gallery.


The rest of the evening was spent in front of the mirror, as tomorrow is a working day.




And indeed, the work pays off, in the form of another promotion. Level 5 already, good, good. The plan is to work on Pauline's career so she can concentrate on other things later. And when she takes days off, for family reasons and so, they'll have a nice high salary.


Another day, another walkby. Arcadia Terrill was on the yard and got greeted.


Again with the tv. Fortunately sims don't mind, it's actually decently effective for getting to know someone.

Oh, and having Pauline watch a lot of tv has shown me something fun: she channel surfs, a lot! I don't think I've seen anyone change channels as much. I suppose sims don't really mind, but in real life she'd be annoying to watch tv with.


It seems that Pauline now tends to run off painting if my attention is elsewhere. I guess she doesn't mind the challenge then.


Regardless of any distractions, Pauline and Arcadia were quite friendly by the end of the night.


A little bit time for some chess before bed. Always working on skills. By this point, Pauline's Knowledge side is pretty much overwhelming the primary Fortune aspiration, as she rolls mostly Wants for the various skill points. Oh well, I suppose that was inevitable, and in this situation it's kind of useful too. Maybe I'll see some more Fortune Wants later on.


It's another working day, and the carpool is getting fancier.


It's snowing by the time Pauline gets home. We remembered to pay the bills again, so no repoman Fear for Pauline.


Sim Katri came over and not very surprisingly, the two of them watched tv together. Apparently Pauline wants to talk about crime.


What's even better is apparently gossiping about the burglar who robbed her.


The evening ended with some phone time to keep up with some other friends.



In the morning, it's time for another bowl of cereal, and after that, work.


Well done Pauline, another promotion in the bag!


The tub broke, so Pauline had to get to work there. She doesn't have any mechanical skill, so she had to try a few times and get the water on her before succeeding.




Pauline's chess practice was interrupted when we noticed that there was a walkby on the yard. Because friends are good to have and necessary for Pauline's career too, he got greeted. His name was River Gray.



The activities are pretty limited, so Pauline and River watched some tv together before River got sent home, as it was Pauline's bedtime.




In the morning, Pauline has a bit of time for chess before work. Not enough for a promotion today, but every little bit helps.


After work it was phone time. Pauline and River didn't quite have time to make friends last night, so now was a good time for that.


After that, Pauline spent time on the next painting. The Knowledge secondary aspiration comes in handy here, as she got a nice boost on her aspiration too.


The next day, Pauline not only brought home a promotion (level 7 already, yay!), but also a new sim, Leo Gonzaga.




As per the usual, tv was watched and sandwiches were eaten.


As her guest decided to play some chess and the chessboard currently only has space for one chair, Pauline snuck off to paint, and managed to finish her painting.


Painting #3 joined the others in the gallery, and apparently it's hard to get pictures in such a small space with extra walls.




They chatted some more about work and Pauline's new promotion, and then it was time to say good night to Leo.


Mostly so that Pauline could hog the chessboard for herself for a while before bed.


Pauline has the next two days off, and we have a bunch of stuff to do. First though, as she's safely in gold, she gets a couple of sips of elixir. She's not in a rush yet, but giving her extra time to do all she needs to seems like a good idea.


First of all, there was more chess, as logic is needed for the next promotion.


Second of all, more digging of treasures was in order.


The digging was interrupted by a phone call, but that just provided a welcome break.


After all that hard work, a well-deserved bubble bath was in order.


And then it was dinnertime.

Pauline: "And I'm not eating mac and cheese!"

That too. She's learned to cook enough that I trust her to make spaghetti now.


Then a little bit of tv. As Pauline lives alone, she can channel surf as much as she likes.


But more importantly, she got started on painting #4 in the evening.




She did some more work on it in the morning, and actually finished it too!


So painting #4 joined the others in the gallery.

Otherwise the day consisted mostly of phone time...

... and more digging.



More spaghetti was also cooked.



And the fifth painting also got started. Conveniently, Pauline had the Want for more creativity skill, so she got to boost her aspiration while she was at it.



There was a thunderstorm in the night, and Pauline was kind of conflicted about it. Her Knowledge side would kind of want to know how it feels to be hit by a lightning, while her Fortune side would really rather not.

Don't worry, I'm not risking it, there's not even anyone to plead if it were to go all wrong.

Conflicting Wants are fun.






In the morning, it was time for some toaster pastries, and then rushing to work in the midst of all the puddles left by the storm.



Pauline comes home with a wide smile, and no wonder, she's made it to level 8 of her career! Congrats Pauline! She also comes home with a coworker, Tammy Shaw.







Pauline and Tammy spent most of the evening together, and in the end, considered each other friends.



There was some time left for chess before bed yet.



The next day was another day off. In the morning, Pauline felt like some toaster pastries, so that was breakfast, then.





Skilling was in order, because the next promotion was quite close.





Of course, there was time for digging and painting too.



The painting is quite far along the next morning, but not quite there yet. It's time for a toaster pastry and then work.



And another successful day at work! Pauline is now at level 9, so her career is doing quite well.



Also she's now one quarter of the way to her LTW, earning 100,000 simoleans.




Now that Pauline has a fair sum of money, it's time we expanded on the house a bit. Let's look around shall we?





The living room got larger, there's now more room for our stuff, a bigger tv, a better couch and a Don't Wake the Llama game for entertaining guests.



A separate kitchen and dining room.



And this room will be the nursery in time. The rest of the rooms are the same, only I moved them to make space for the living room.



How's the new kitchen Pauline?

Pauline: "I like it. It makes the mac and cheese better somehow."





The evening activities were the usual, skilling and phone time.



And finally, Pauline had some time to work on the fifth painting again.



Now that she did, the painting was also completed that night.



And into the gallery it went. With that, five paintings down and we're a fifth of the way through, and I think it's a good place to wrap up this update.

Yes, it's been slow-going, as I wanted to work on Pauline's career first, before getting too far into the paintings, or founding a family. But we'll see how things continue to develop next time.

Until then, happy simming!