Sims 4 Overthinking: Getting to Work

By Bay Posted Friday Feb 24, 2023

Filed under: Epilogue, The Sims Overthinking 13 comments

The first order of business this week is scraping off wallpaper. Lorretta has help in the form of her oldest daughter, and the two of them spend a weekend taking the wallpaper down and out of the living room. They start working on the entryway before her daughter has to return to university, leaving Lorretta fully alone. Lorretta is in her fifties, and realizing very quickly that she hasn’t been entirely alone for more than a few days, ever. She’d moved right from her parents house into her married life of husband and children, and now she has a big open house to herself.

Some moments it’s nice, some it’s not, she’s conflicted on the subject.

She finishes taking the wallpaper down and out of the entryway, and debates back and forth hiring a professional.  On one hand, the work is hard and she’s doing it alone. A contractor would have the same job done in half the time and twice as good. On the other hand, though, Jimbo told Lorretta about the water damage upstairs, and she’s trying to save her budget for fixing that.

So far the only money she’s had to spend was for the moving truck, turning on the utilities, and some scrapers for the wallpaper. In her head that means she should be down about $300, but according to the bank she’s down $500. Wait, what? She panics and checks what she’s spent, before laughing at herself. Her daughter had been staying with her, she’d bought them take-out almost every night she’d been there, given her cash for the ride back to campus, and paid for a dozen little necessities along the way. Not fraud, just a parental fugue-state.

A relief, but the hiccup reminds her that she does need to budget, and maybe get a job…Without her husband’s income, her money was going to run out, no matter how well she spends it. The thought makes her heart sink, not because she doesn’t want to work, but because, in divorcing her husband, she’s basically given up on any sort of proper retirement. Fine. She gets a job at the local grocery store, and begins juggling renovating the house and going to work.

The walls are easy enough, once the wallpaper is down and out of the downstairs, she just has to buy the paint and get to work. Luckily for her, the wallpaper only covered the living room and entryway, and the only issue with the dining room is the horrible beige color, which she can paint over. She figures if she leaves the carpets for last, she doesn’t even need to put down a drop cloth, since she doesn’t care about ruining them. They’re awful.

At the hardware store, she realizes suddenly that she, for better or worse, can pick anything she wants for the colors. She considers painting an entire room black just to fully appreciate that freedom, but ultimately decides against it.  She does, however, buy a half gallon of black to do the trim in, as well as some much more reasonable wall colors.

She only realizes after she’s done that she doesn’t love the sage green in the dining room, but she figures it’s fine for now. If she has budget later, she might fix it, but really, pulling out the carpet might change her mind.

Pulling out the carpet is a horrible, nasty job that makes her frequently consider asking her ex-husband for help. Even gloves and a mask can’t fully protect her from flying particulates and bits of the insulating layer just getting everywhere. She starts in the dining room, pleasantly surprised to see still-intact and beautiful hardwood underneath. It’ll need sanded and refinished from years sitting under abused carpet, but she can see the potential.

Her work is stalled, however, by a call from her youngest daughter, Kelly. Kelly is calling to casually let her know that she’s coming home from university and moving back in with her dad. ‘Coming home’ quickly and clearly means ‘dropping out’, and Lorretta is blindsided. The conversation escalates and Lorretta feels she isn’t getting the whole truth, until it’s revealed that no, she wasn’t. Kelly is pregnant.

Lorretta goes quickly through dozens of emotions, and tries to suggest that Kelly stay with her instead. But Kelly aptly points out that Lorretta’s house reeks of paint fumes and smoke.

Of course, Lorretta knows that’s very sensible, but also that Kelly had always preferred her father, and was likely glad for the excuse.

“The thing is…” Kelly adds softly, leading up to something. “Dad won’t let Michael stay with us.”

Lorretta sighs, shaking her head even though she’s on the phone. She doesn’t know who ‘Michael’ is, but she can guess from context pretty easily. “Kelly, you know damned well I can’t change his mind.”

“No, no, I wasn’t asking you to.” Kelly replies. “I was…hoping he could stay with you.”

Oh.

Kelly goes off into all the reasons she thinks it’s a good idea. He could help with the house, he’s a hard worker, he doesn’t have family in the area, but Lorretta isn’t truly listening.  All she knows is she’s about to have her daughter’s baby-daddy staying with her, a boy she’s never met, but can only assume for the moment, is an idiot.

 


From The Archives:
 

13 thoughts on “Sims 4 Overthinking: Getting to Work

  1. Fizban says:

    This story just keeps going. And the parallels to what has gone on around me and these houses my whole life continue to be not exact, but close enough. I think I’ll add “sounds like a literal tale of generational woe told through Sims 4 fanfiction” to my list of ways to crush people with my ultimate sadboy routine.

    Please do continue. I await revelation on the new baby daddy: is he just an idiot as expected, secretly a gem in the rough who will turn things around, or yet another festering wound to lay them low? Stay tuned!

  2. Dreadjaws says:

    This has all the markings of a sitcom idea, but being played entirely for drama. It’s crazy, but I love it.

    One question, though. Are all those humidity, half painted and cardboard textures shown in these pictures of the house in repair actually part of the game? 3 was the last Sims I played, but I don’t remember it having this sort of thing, at least not in the base package.

    1. Philadelphus says:

      I was just wondering about that myself.

    2. Bay says:

      Yes and no. I am not using any mod content whatsoever in my build, however, I do have every single package released for the Sims 4. The stained carpets are part of the game and used as intended. They are technically ‘area rugs’ which you can put down to achieve different states of disrepair. The cardboard is actually a ‘dance floor’ as provided by the City pack, it’s for breakdancing but I often use it for garages and such. The half painted wall is the result of dozens on identical graffiti decals which I put on top of one another to achieve the look. So yes, they are all part of the game, but many of the things I’ve used have actually had other intended purposes.

  3. Ivellius says:

    Ah! More drama to come.

    In an unrelated note that I’ve just been curious about since the series started…I just imagine the person in the header image is a stand-in for you, yes? I don’t know why or if it would matter.

    1. Bay says:

      Ha, yes, it’s a sim version of myself. It’s a bit out of date since I dye and change my hair so frequently, but I figured if this was going to be a series it should have a consistent header. That poor sim had to stand outside making chairs for days till I got a good screenshot.

  4. Octal says:

    At the hardware store, she realizes suddenly that she, for better or worse, can pick anything she wants for the colors. She considers painting an entire room black just to fully appreciate that freedom, but ultimately decides against it. She does, however, buy a half gallon of black to do the trim in, as well as some much more reasonable wall colors.

    Man, this bit really got me. The walls look nice, too! I bet the sage will go nicely with the wood floors, once those are visible.

    Can’t wait to meet this “Michael” guy… I, too, turn a skeptical eye to Kelly’s claims about how helpful he’s going to be. But maybe he’ll surprise us!

    1. Joshua says:

      I was a bit confused, because down here in Texas I only ever tend to see white trim on the baseboards, crown moulding, door frames, etc. But here’s what it looks like I guess. Not bad.
      https://www.houzz.com/magazine/8-reasons-to-paint-your-interior-trim-black-stsetivw-vs~33297593

  5. Tuck says:

    I had the realisation while reading this that it’s basically the reverse process of my job as an archaeologist — I’d have to start with the last stage of the house and work backward through time to figure out what happened. I wonder what stories you’d come up with if I presented you the step by step changes that appear in the prehistoric sites I work on!

  6. Sleeping Dragon says:

    I realise it’s been said before here but like those other commenters I’m getting really invested in this family and I really want them to just catch a break. But at the same time I don’t want to feel like the author (you) just decided to magic the problems away to give them a happy ending out of the goodnes of their heart. It’s almost like making up a good story is hard.

    Also, I think I get now why I’ve started numerous playthrough of various iterations of Sims but generally haven’t kept with them for more than half a generation. It’s about the time that’s needed for the novelty of the mechanics to wear off and to ensure not even stability but steady growth at which point the game just lacks any real tensions. I totally understand people who enjoy the chill nature of it but the kind of story we have here is something that’s missing for me to keep myself engaged.

  7. thecyborganizer says:

    It’ll need sanded and refinished

    As someone who lived in Pittsburgh for five years, I am delighted to see this Pittsburgh-ese turn of phrase in your writing!

  8. MelTorefas says:

    Poor Loretta. I hope Michael turns out to be awesome, buuuut not really expecting it at this point.

  9. She considers painting an entire room black just to fully appreciate that freedom, but ultimately decides against it.

    Smart lady. In my first apartment, I painted my walls a chocolate brown because I thought it would make the place feel more “relaxed” (I get antsy in bright rooms). The result felt more like a dark cave and the series of lamps and lights I bought could barely pierce through the gloom. I lived with it for several years until I finally got the whole place repainted.

Thanks for joining the discussion. Be nice, don't post angry, and enjoy yourself. This is supposed to be fun. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked*

You can enclose spoilers in <strike> tags like so:
<strike>Darth Vader is Luke's father!</strike>

You can make things italics like this:
Can you imagine having Darth Vader as your <i>father</i>?

You can make things bold like this:
I'm <b>very</b> glad Darth Vader isn't my father.

You can make links like this:
I'm reading about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darth_Vader">Darth Vader</a> on Wikipedia!

You can quote someone like this:
Darth Vader said <blockquote>Luke, I am your father.</blockquote>

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.