(Year 227, Fall) In this mini series we'll follow Antoinette Morck and Salim Benali and their 5 kids moving from a tiny rented flat in San Myshino, to run the Moo-moo Cow Farm in Henford-on-Bagley. It's not only a long distance to travel, but even more an extreme change to how they live their lives. There are 3 parts each representing one week in a different seasons.
If you missed their first 2 weeks, you might like to start here.
*) This is a not-in-game thing.
3rd Week - day 1
I'm Antoinette Morck. Last two weeks taught me that faming is real hard work!
I moved to Henford-on-Bagley with my patner Salim and our 5 kids, Mangela, Selinda, Joshua, Conny and Poblo, Four of the children go to school, and they are old enough to help out with our Moo-moo Cow Farm. The four cows Pinky, Princess, Klaira and Nameless need our daily attention, and we also grow just a little vegetables for our own consume. On top of this, recently the children got a kitten from their "aunt" Catarina Lynx in Brindleton Bay (my brother Ray lives with her). This week we'll try to make better profit and to optimize our routines.
It's Fall, and we had a horrible night! A thunderstorm made it hard to get any sleep at all, and the children were afraid.
Their new kitten was named Llama, because the kids saw llamas for the first time at the village fair some weeks ago, and never stopped talking of them. Our Llama is a tiny fur ball though, not quite warmed up with our household yet.
Last night he explored the farm during the thunderstorm. Let's just hope cats know how to not be struck by lightning!
Sundays are the only days we can allow ourselves a late breakfast. In fact, it's the only day of the week when we all get seated together. It has become the time for any new information or plans regarding farm and family. The twins Mangela and Selinda get a little more involved than their younger twin brothers. Little Poblo needed more sleep, so he did not join us this morning.
I told them that now that each of them are dedicated to one cow, the work with the cows is so much easier. Every day I milk all four cows during the day, and the children clean the sheds in the evening. They might also refill feed and clean their cow, but I can also do that.
Only Salim is still not involved with the animals. I told him that he will need to write some well selling poems this week, or he get farm chores.
- But I told you all along that I will not have any contact with farm animals, he complained.
During the day there was an hour without rain, and I sent the kids outside. Conny and Joshua came running back in with a lovely blue gem that they found on our garden path! We called the Geo Council of SimNation, and they said the gem is rather valuable! The boys were thrilled, but it all fell apart when we were informed about the worth: §125. I told them we might send it away for cutting, and then it can decorate our living room.
Then I checked my social media followers. Unfortunately the system was down so I could not check how well my recent video is doing. "Farming Girl Fashion Tips" had a pleasant start and I hope it will last as we could need the extra money. I should come up with an idea for one more video this week.
Selinda proved to not be afraid of tough weather, which is good. She stayed in the cow yard while the thunderstorm returned.
I guess she was too busy with Llama to even notice. I had to call them both inside.
Llama has all their attention - that's fine on a Sunday, but might be a problem when I need them to help out at the farm.
Salim looked after Poblo for a few hours. They were in the kitchen while he waited for repair service to check on our broken fridge. I took the opportunity to work in the veggie garden. To my surprise Mangela offered to help weeding! There's not a lot growing at the moment and only Mushrooms to be harvested, but we got plenty of food in the fridge.
Tomorrow is another school day, and I really look forward to get the kids out of the way most o the day.
I sold her two days of milk produce, more than 40 bottles, and then bought some random groceries.
3rd Week - day 2
I said nothing about our finances yet. Well, we had to take up a bank loan* of §26,000 to buy the Moo-moo Cow Farm. The loan including 2% interest is due in 10 years. So far we make just enough money to make a living, but we'll need to earn more to pay the bank. My goal is to pay half within 5 years, then the rest won't be as bad.
Today our savings were §3,372 and then the mail delivery guy came...
Bills of §3,291 can be handled but there will be absolutely nothing left. We invested in some curtains and some stuff for the cow yard, and little Llama required some facilities, but other than that we don't exactly flush our cash.
Our main income comes from selling milk to Kim Goldberg. She expects me to deliver 5 milk bottles per cow every day. That will cover our bills and perhaps §5,000 for weekly shopping and saving. Now that we got well established we might need to shop less furniture, but we all could need more ways to raise our fun level. I'd love to buy some fun activity stuff for the kids. And I really want to surprise the entire family with a nice trip end of this week.
I wnt to Finchwick village square. The pub is always busy, we really should spend a night there, Salim and I. My partner never drinks nectar, but I'm sure they could serve him some tea. It would be nice meeting more of the locals! I'm not sure if that priest was heading for the pub, I rushed over to Kim's stall.
Afterwards I offered to run some errands, both for her and the delivery boy. I'm not sure I will find time for it, but I told them no exact date. My thought was that perhaps some of the kids would be allowed to run errands? Or maybe they must wait until they become teens? Salim is too introvert to socialize with all our neighbors.
Back home on the farm the kids had returned from school, Selinda was playing on one of the rocking chairs. She is the one talking a lot about the Rossie Palace, and the boys her age, residing there with the duke and duchess.
I found little Poblo in our pantry playing with Llama. It looks like real love, and I hope he won't harm the little creature. It's for sure a great way for him to get used to animals, in a few yeas he might enjoy helping with the cows.
Late at night the kids rushed over to clean the animal sheds. They still suggest to replacing the cows with real llamas, but I hope it is just a phase.
All in all this was a good day, but I keep thinking that I pay too little attention to the kids.
Tonight Selinda was in a sad mood, she said she is missing her friends in San Myshuno.
We still find it fun to watch a real celebrity autograph, and the most eager is of course Selinda. She keeps asking when we are joining that guided tour. I might need to pay the palace a visit tomorrow, to find out...*
But Mangela went strait to bed after eating, so I guess we'll do the school project tomorrow instead. And I did not mind an hour with nothing to do - well, besides getting to know little Llama.
And Salim was right, we don't even have enough dining chairs to invite them all.
3rd Week - day 3
I can't believe how quickly these days go. We are mid Fall, the weather is rather bad with rain and thunderstorms every other day. Nature is not totally golden yet, we are all all excited to see how Moo-moo Cow Farm will look in our very first Fall.
I told my partner Salim to achieve a break through with his poems, or start helping out at the farm. He is protesting, but I can tell it pushes him to work harder.
I don't really mind having my man writing poems all day instead of helping with the cows and crops. But we need more income, or we won't be able to pay our bank loan in 10 years. Also, the kids will need upgraded bedrooms when they reach teenagers. Salim brings in just some tiny royalties, which is not enough.
I start most days harvesting the crops. We normally don't sell them, so I made sure we grow only a limited plot. Today I took the time to do some research. It might be good for something - when I feel better educated I can probably raise the crops quality.
Then the thunderstorm returned, the entire Old New Henford got darker and the rain started again. Just as I planned to milk our four cows!
I don't really fancy tending the animals during a thunderstorm. But I think I learned something new today!
Some weeks ago I failed at milking when I got tense. During this sort of weather I get very tense! But I realize that the cows will allow me to milk them even if I am in a bad mood, as long as our relation is good. When we got started I hardly knew the cows and they did not know me. Now we are much closer, they recognize me and seems to enjoy my company more. I'd say our relations are about 33%, will the milk quality improve when our relations grow even better?
Perhaps I should spend more time on socializing with the cows? If it means better income, it will be worth it...
I also made a new routine for selling the milk. From now on I will only sell 5 bottles per cow per day, as required*. Milking one cow gives 6 bottles, not 5, and by saving up 4 bottles per day, I will be able to deliver milk all days Monday to Saturday even if there is a day when I can't milk them in time for Kim's grocery stall to be open.
I decided to talk a bit with locals. It was still raining lightly, but everything social works better after a storm. I ran into a woman I only heard about, Tulsa Cracrow. She resides the Cracrow Cottage here at finchwick, and they say she is a distant relative to the duke! I'm not sure what to think of her rumored profession, a Paranormal Investigator, but at least she had no clue regarding farming. A weird woman indeed, I don't think she could help me with my errands, either.
Then I stopped by "The Gnome's Arms". It was rather quiet this early on, but a well know local at least took the time to talk with me.
Angus Crumplebottom is the son of Agnes, one of the garden stall vendors. He is still single, living with his mom and her cousin, Agatha, here at Finchwick. They deliver apples to the Shiningham Hall next door, as part of the traditional local apple nectar production. Angus was grumpy though, no wonder he is single. He gave me nothing to help with my errands.
So, I returned back to the farm, then suggested that Mangela and Selinda could join me visiting the Olde Mill Farm. It's a rented farm that delivers half of its produce to the Rossie Palace.
Pivian Mox is the current renter, and we met only once before. He told me that he and his teenhood girlfriend plan to run this little farm together, to prepare to eventually take over her parents' farm at Willow Creek in Gloomville. His girlfriend is still working as the caretaker at Bon Voyage Retirement Home in Gloomville, but might join Pivian next year, already.
Mangela and Selinda was fascinated by the huge TV, we only have a small shoe box sized TV at Moo-moo Cow Farm. But we have so much more...
Poblo is still very busy with kitten Llama. I am a bit surprised that the older kids seem to ignore the cat already, at least they never protest when I direct them to do homework or clean the cow sheds. They are all B students, which I think is a very good achievement! Salim and I have no plan of pushing anyone to get the A. Building Motor might be more important to future farmers.
Before I hit the sack, a word about that old autograph I got from the Duke of Rossie previously. It's on the wall, and all household members admires it at least once daily!
3rd Week - day 4
It's mid week already, and my todo list for this week starts to stress me. I need to contact Simmerville Studio regarding my job for them on the Reg12 NEWS (videos). And, I must meet the leader of the MIDDLE Party's core group, to sort out my further engagement with the party.
Most of all I need to follow up on the children, didn't I promise them to visit the Rossie Palace? And those local errands - they might not get first priority, but I should at least make an effort.
I've stopped worrying about little Llama, the kitten. I realize that he will ge their attention on and off. Poblo might be the most dedicated, but I've noticed the others steal some cozy time with he furry on, one by one.
Talking about furry ones - we had a few days with fewer wild foxes stopping by, but now they seem to be back!
My new routine of selling only the required* amount of milk bottles, and store the rest, seems to work fine. I get paid daily about §440 from delivering 20 bottles. The stored leftovers will make it possible to deliver milk even if I don't find time for the milking. There is no delivery Sundays, so with the new strategy it will be enough milking the cows 5 days per week.
I found a new crystal thingy on our path. This one was black, and worth nearly §170. If this is caused by the thunderstorms I hope we'll get that sort of weather pretty often.
While Poblo helped me in the veggie garden, Salim was busy writing.
Later on he told me the great news:
- I submitted a great poems book to a publisher!
- Oh, I replied. - That is... brilliant!
- I think I got it right this time, hun. It might become a bestseller!
I gasped. What now? If Salim finally has his break through, he will continue writing instead of helping out on the farm. All thanks to my failed plan. I really did not expect him to complete his book, I thought he would need to become a farmer.
To calm my nerves I needed some relax stimuli.
We are doing fine even without Salim's assistance, but I was actually thinking of expanding with a couple more cows. Guess that will not happen now.
Good thing is that the kids are doing okay in school. They are all B students, and we did occasionally help them with their homework.
We ignored their projects though, and I think we should help with one project every day, starting with Mangela. She brought home a castle project - it's nice that the boxes are labelled.
3rd Week - day 5
This morning Salim was up long before the mail delivery. He was very excited about the royalties for his new poem book, "The Celestial Rabbit"
Well, he got around §250, which is not bad at all, but still behind what I make from my recent "Farming Girl Fashion Tips" video. Should my next video feature milk and milk recipes?
It was real hard milking all the cows today. I blame it on the kids, who forgot cleaning the cow sheds yesterday. Princess, the only brown cow, even warned me that she plan to move elsewhere. If we lose a cow we will need to buy another, which is technically no problem, but not as easy emotionally and financially.
But I had to put aside all my worries. After delivering the milk in the village, I started to cook a great meal to celebrate Harvest Fest.
I wanted to invite my old parents and my two brothers with their partners, but Salim stopped me.
- Antoinette, don't you think those others already planned and prepared their own turkey?
- Well, maybe mom, but I can't see Ray and Catarina doing so. Besides, they might like to see how Llama is doing.
- Some other time. We are already 7 at the table, isn't that enough?
It was our very first Harvest Fest here at Moo-moo Cow Farm. It felt like the start of a tradition.
My new sweater and nail polish made the night stand out. I never had the chance to visit a Spa for manicure, so I will need to fix these things myself. Besides, I can't grow long nails while I dig in the veggie garden and milk our cows.
3rd Week - day 6
This morning I decided to get one thing out of my list even before breakfast. I phoned the leader of the MIDDLE party's core group, Rebekah Stark.
So, with this out of the way, I saw the kids off to school and rushed out to tend Pinky, Princess, Clara and Nameless. I still want to expand with at least one more cow, but I guess it should wait until next year.
So, after delivering today's milk in the village, I decided to meet my REG12 NEWS colleague Paulo Caliente. I told Salim to take the kids to the Bramblewood when they return from school. Fall should be colorful up there even if we are already in second half of the season. Salim could search inspiration for his poems in the outdoors, and the kids would love exploring a new area of our district.
Kids forgot to clean the sheds yesterday, I can't blame them as it was Harvestfest.
I met Paulo in the café at Simmerville Studio in Gloomville. This building is where we recorded the REG12 NEWS, the annual news for Region 12. I did inform the production that I moved to a different region, and they should look for my replacement. I'm sure this job will be interesting to lots of journalists and even those aiming for fame. It's not a full time job, so it can easily be combined with other obligations.
Paulo told me he wants me to stay, but I have made my mind. And, it's better to hire someone from within Region 12 anyway. He told me the studio might get a face lift, and we walked up to 3rd floor. It's always strange visiting the studio set when nobody is working there. It's all quiet, and not even spots are lit.
On this floor there are several old and new sets, such as the doctor's office used for the As Sims Go By series. There is also a detective office and a hotel reception. And the REG12 NEWS desk.
I accepted to join them only for one more go, the news for the Year 227.
While I was away Salim took the kids to Bramblewood. Later, he told me they had a good few hours in the wild.
Trees no longer had colorful leaves, but the ground was covered. It inspired him to write a poem about life, later that night.
They all played in a pond, and the kids told me that Salim was the most eager, jumping about.
Then they played in a mysterious labyrinth. They got all dizzy when finally reaching a snail statue.
It was great knowing Salim spent so many hours with the kids today. And I should look around to see if any locals are into green environment, as well as start planning my outfit for the upcoming REG12 NEWS. I've put on some weight, I will need to go for something a tad more modest than in the past.
It ended good, but Joshua being a little shocked.
3rd Week - day 7
It's weekend. and we all woke up this morning to Joshua screaming downstairs. He was on fire! My hero Salim rushed down to save him from the flames. He had been sitting next to the fireplace to eat some cake, and then both Josua and the chair got on fire.
And I think he might not eat cake again in a few years...
Everyone was shortly back to their normal duties, that is we don 't deliver milk weekends, so I milked opur four cows but will not visit Kim's stall until Monday. I told the kids to clean their sheds and refill feed, and afterwards I had a surprise for them...
They eagerly did those chores, and I could finally announce our little tour - a trip back to the hood where we used to live in a tiny flat: Fashion District in San Myshuno!
To my surprise there was a romance festival going. Probably of little interest to the children, but they were thrilled seeing our old hood again. Especially the girls, as the boys had not yet started school when we moved to Henford.
- Oh, that's our old building!, Mangela sighed when she saw the tall rise building where we once rented.
- I don't even remember if we had a livingroom...?, Selinda stated.- We did not, said Salim. - We used the hallway.
He accepted, and the kids all cheered. But - naturally - he had some second thought:
- I think that is a splendid idea, dear, but let me make it clear that I will still not have anything to do with farm animals - and I want to keep my last name...
- Mom, said Selinda as we returned to Henford in the evening. - It's Leaf Burning Day! Can we burn the pile over there? Please?
- Sure, let's burn those leaves!
When I saw our Moo-moo Cow Farm I thought to myself that this is our home, our very own brand new home!
This diary series ends here, but the household lives on and any changes can be found on their bio pages:
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