The Orphanage Renovacy

Edith Earnshaw-Smythe had had a vision. Childless herself, she had wanted her wealth to be used to provide homes for children without any homes. The orphanages she saw in the cities and towns depressed her – tall, ugly buildings, where the children were called by number rather than name, and no effort was made to get to know then individually. So she bought a parcel of land, in the country, and set about fulfilling her vision. She built a series of cottages on the land, each one designed to house some four or five children, and each house was to have a house-mother. The children would all have an education, but they would all learn as many practical skills as well, which would fit them for life on their own later on. And brothers and sisters were to be kept together, not separated as they were in the large institutions she had visited. They would be encouraged to be self-sufficient as well – there was a vegetable garden, and fishing too. Anything they didn’t eat, they could sell. Jenny Linton was one of the housemothers at the first orphanage Edith built. Widowed at an early age, she still had a heart full of love to give to someone – and she found children who needed that love. By the time she was forty, she was Mother Linton to a dozen children and more, and her grief was no longer so unbearable. When she was sixty, Edith (by now a very old lady!) asked her if she’d go and be head house-mother at the latest orphanage she was building, and Jenny said yes. The last orphanage was, as usual, in beautiful surroundings. But Edith died part-way through its construction, and suddenly money was very tight. The trustees did their best to fulfil Edith’s last wishes, but there was a limit to what they could manage. The other house mothers who came didn’t stay long, and eventually Mother Linton was there with the last four children. It was nearly fifty years since she had gone to the first of Edith’s orphanages, as the junior housemother there, and Jenny was growing old now, and tired. But her heart was still as full of love for the children in her care as it had always been. And every Christmas, and birthday, cards arrived that told her how much her love had been appreciated. The work was beginning to get too much for her – she could no longer manage the vegetable garden, and it had become overgrown with weeds - but she loved the children who were still here, and couldn’t bear to leave them. Nick was the oldest, left to the care of the orphanage with a small legacy “because the children here are happy.” His legacy had helped pay for the major repairs they had had to do after the winter storms one year. Vijay, Hanako and Rose had all been survivors from the wreck of the Sarah Jane in those same winter storms. Only one lifeboat had made it to the shore, and those three children had remained unclaimed by any relatives or friends. The town orphanage at the time had been full, and so they had come to Mother Linton, and been welcomed and cared for. Jenny reckoned, with a bit of luck, that she might last just long enough to see these four through into adulthood, and then the orphanage would just have to close. The income from Edith’s estate just hadn’t kept up with inflation at all, and the place was getting steadily shabbier – though they still kept it as clean as they could. Then Bianca and Paolo arrived. Their uncle handed them over to Jenny, obviously distraught at having to leave them.
“But my sister, she die. First their papa, and now their mama. I am sailor – I can not-a keep them on ship. The captain, he say no. I look in town, but they say they don’t-a keep them together. You keep them together, yes? You don’t-a separate them? To separate twins – that is-a very bad for them.”
The man had been in tears, and Jenny’s heart had ruled her head. The children were lovely – obviously much loved and cared for. They snuggled trustingly into Nick and Jenny’s arms.
“But what are we going to do?” Nick asked. He knew how short they were of money, and he could see how tired Mother Linton was getting these days. “If we send them to the town orphanage, they’ll be separated. Boys one side, girls the other.” Nick had seen the town orphanage once. It was clean, shiny, hygienic – and sterile. Every room was just the same, and it sometimes seemed as though each child was supposed to be just the same as the next one as well. He’d been there just before a meal, and had seen the rows of regimented tables and chairs – all spotlessly clean and shiny, admittedly – and then had seen the children file in, collecting their nutritiously balanced meals from a counter, and sit and eat in uncanny silence. He had compared it to their lively, talkative meals at home, and shuddered inside, and blessed the legacy which had meant he’d been able to stay with Mother Linton. “There’s only one thing for it then,” Nick said with determination. “They’ll have to stay here with us. We’ll all have to help look after them.”
“As long as the inspector doesn’t hear about them. I got their uncle to fill in all the right paperwork, but if the inspector hears about them and comes to look at this place…” Her voice trailed away, and Nick looked around him. It did look pretty shabby, he supposed – but the roofs didn’t leak, and they were all happy here.
“Well then, we’ll have to find some ways of making enough money to spruce this place up a bit,” he said. But Mother Linton had another worry on her mind, besides a possible visit from the inspector. She knew she was getting older – she suddenly felt it. What would happen to the children when she was no longer here? Nick was nearly old enough to make his own way, but Hanako, Rose and Vijay weren’t – though Nick would always look out for them. But now she had Bianca and Paolo to worry about. Nick was sitting helping Rose with her homework, thinking something pretty similar.
“But no matter what happens, I’m going to keep us all together, if I possibly can,” he thought.
A fierce tide of protective love washed over him. He wasn’t going to let Rose, Hanako and Vijay be swallowed up by that vast, impersonal machine that was the town orphanage. This was his family, and it was staying that way! Hanako came and asked Nick if she could do her homework at the table with him.
“It helps me to think better, being near you. Your brain tells mine to work as well.” So they sat there together, in the shabby room, working companionably in the late afternoon, while Mother Linton prepared tea for everyone, and Vijay and Rose kept an eye on Bianca and Paolo.
And afterwards it was another happy mealtime. Mother Linton was busy putting the two little ones to bed, so Nick was in charge of seeing that everyone ate neatly, and took their turn at cleaning up. The talk was all of the two little ones who had just arrived – everyone thought they were very sweet.
“Bianca laughs and laughs if you play peek-a-boo with her,” Rose said.
“And then Paolo laughs too, and he falls over and laughs some more,” Vijay added. Mother Linton had breakfast on the table for them the next morning – Nick thought that she must have got up very early. She was getting the two little ones up, washed, dressed and fed, so Nick made sure that Hanako, Rose and Vijay were also up, washed, dressed in their school uniforms and fed before it was time to leave for school. He could see that having the twins here was going to be a challenge for them all – “but we can do it,” he thought.
The big question was: could they raise enough money to not only keep the bills paid, but also smarten up the place a bit, and keep the inspector from shutting them down?

This is a renovation challenge! The aim is to bring this orphanage up to date, and get it looking good again. Here are the rules.
No money cheats allowed.
You can’t sell what’s on the walls or floors – you have to paper over it, and floor over it. You can sell anything they own or find, or make, catch or grow.
If you want to customise anything that’s already there, you have to pay 25 simoleons for doing it – donate on the mailbox to “spend” the money. If you buy something new, you can customise it any way you want.
On the “Aging” part of the option menu, set the age for Elderly to 8 days.
You can set the ages for the others at any length you like, but I went for 12 days for childhood and 21 for teens.
Mother Linton doesn’t go out to work.
Download the family and building here:
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=5212857