112 Day Challenge ~ Kathy Ragsdale

Spring Arrived - The Plot

A challenge can always wear on a challenger ... But Kathy's challenge was driving her nuts. Questionable weather is always a factor, while it still shouldn't stall all growth and production. Kathy was starting to wonder if that silly Bucktoothed Bunny gnome staring at her life fruit plants wasn't part of the problem. 

Kathy had kept the plants through the Winter, and they had almost gotten to production in late Fall after she had finally found a life fruit seed. But with no regard to whether or not the plants were dormant, they indicated they were ready to harvest without ever having produce. 

Kathy was worried something was wrong and that she could fail the challenge ... So, she went and found more seeds and planted 5 plants. One was a money tree, two were plasma fruit, one was a death flower (she will keep) and the one a was a life fruit plant. She was able to harvest the plant grown from a new seed, while all the plants she had kept through Winter never produced again. She disposed of all the plants after she harvested what she needed to finish the challenge.

Kathy wrapped up her Community Service Hours upgrading bathrooms and raking leaves. She has now completed all the requirements of the challenge except prepare the last meal which she does have the ingredients for.

Most challengers I have run work on Painting skills. the rain was relentless at times and Kathy would go to Meadow Beach and practice the guitar when the weather was too bad. She decided to steer more towards Street Art and eventually found that the tips were the best outside the Police Station.

However, I did mention that Kathy was nervous about the life fruit. In attempts to find anything that would help, she drove into alchemy as well. She eventually learned the Witches Brew elixir recipe and was prepared to use it herself if it could help.

Then she started plotting ... 😆🤣😂

Kathy being the first challenger I have run to advance in Science, recognized she could combine Science with Magic if things didn't work out. It takes time to grow and collect the necessary ingredients for elixirs ... Unless of course you are a pro at cloning what you need. With a moonstone and light bug to clone ... And enough toadstools to catch all the toads she would need ... Lathy figured that if things didn't go her way, she would turn the whole town of Hidden Springs into a bunch of Witches ... 😬

Luckily ... Before she lost her mind and started throwing Witch's Brew elixirs, she was able to harvest a life fruit. She actually ended up making 114 Vials of Bliss ... And has been throwing them at everyone she comes across.

She is about to start the last week of her challenge with almost nothing else required ... She might just hang out, have some fun, and relax for a while. She still has a few more elixirs to throw ... And she might start a Gardening Protest at City Hall ... 🤣

Happy Simming ... 💖

The Last Week of Spring - No Regrets

All Kidding aside, Kathy was ready to make her move as soon as she harvested a life fruit. Having sworn off any serious attempts at making more simoleons, meeting all the challenge requirements, and pretty flush with skills ... There wasn't much else to conquer. She did spend Sunday brightening the day of townsfolks tossing all her remaining Vials of Bliss around ... 🤣

After her traditional roasted apple and checking the mail on Monday morning ... Kathy checked her Real Estate Investments. She collected the standard weekly 158,950 simoleons. Since the Challenge would be over before the next payout of dividends ... She then sold all of her Real Estate for 2,216,396 simoleons.

Kathy spent a good portion of the following week doing extra Community Service Hours across town. It tended to keep her mind busy and paying back to the community is part of the challenge.

She also stayed in shape working out regularly at the gym before relaxing in the hot tub. The gym was busy most of the time, but Kathy would stay later than most before jogging home for the night.

It wasn't all work or working out. Kathy played few games of horseshoes in the park on occasion with the townsfolk. She also made a few more pumpkin pies at parties when invited. All in all, it was not a stressful week, leaving plenty of time for Kathy to dream about her adventures to come.

Happy Simming ... 💖

The Final Count

Kathy finished the challenge at the same place she started the challenge. Shortly after waking up around 09:00 on Saturday morning, she walked a short distance to Nicholas Riverhawk's house carrying the ingredients for Ambrosia.

Kathy ate the Ambrosia as required ... Then was nice enough fix Nicholas' dishwasher. It's only fair seeing as she had to use his kitchen to cook her challenge meal anyway ... 🤣

Kathy then returned to camp ... And cleaned out her storage. She ended up keeping a Deathflower (grown), a Collection Helper (earned), and two uncut very precious stones (usually against the rules). The purpose of the challenge is prepare the Sim ... The Rule generally requires everything is sold to push as much money into the Sim as possible, and to keep the Saved Sim Household clean and small. However, Kathy made the case the two gems were no less important towards securing her future than anything else she had gained during the challenge ... And keeping the request small in size and nature, she was able to make a convincing argument.

Career Requirement

Kathy didn't set any records in this category. Most of my challengers complete two careers and the record is four. Kathy only pursued the Angler Career because it was accessible early the challenge and dovetailed with her activities. Writer is also a common career chosen by challengers ... But Kathy only took it to Level 8 considering she halted almost all forms of making more money by mid-Winter.

Household Funds Requirement

Which brings us to the money. Kathy set the all-time record for money earned during a challenge with a total actually just over 5.4 million once she sold the last few items and the challenge lot. That's roughly 2 million more than the previous record holder, Chris Harper.

Lifetime Rewards Requirement

Kathy set a record for Lifetime Reward Points earned and spent with over half a million earned and spent during the challenge. As per challenge requirements ... Kathy spent all but 715 Lifetime Reward Points, because it isn't enough to purchase anything else. Her Lifetime Wish is Seasoned Traveler and there is no way she could have accidentally broken the rules and completed it during her challenge.

Skills Requirement

Kathy successfully met all challenge skill requirements. She also set records for number of skills explored, number of skills maxed, and total skill levels gained combined.

I have to say that some other previous challenges have been more exciting in ways. Most remarkable, Kathy is the first challenger to not entertain a romance during the challenge. Short of her insecurities regarding growing a life fruit, Kathy made her challenge look like a walk in the park ... Good for Kathy. I do think that Kathy might stay in Hidden Springs ... And she may start my first Legacy Family.

Happy Simming ... 💖

Well ... Kathy just packed her bags as she successfully completed her 112 Day Challenge. She broke records in two of the four categories ... Surpassing the Highest Simoleons Earner previous record by a little under 2 million simoleons. That may seem like a lot to players that have not done a challenge, but it is more the result of learning new things in each challenge.

Also ... Community Lots are key to steady progress with a challenger. Each challenger I have run during the last 10 challenges has purchased and upgraded one community lot as part of their challenge. I keep those lots and put them in my challenge town/save. A fully upgraded community lot is a good investment, and they pay better returns weekly than investing in the standard rabbithole businesses. The challenger does have to earn the money necessary to purchase and upgrade the lot first though ... 🤣😂

Chris Harper was the previous challenger and one of the easiest challenges I have run. He was little on the goofy side, didn't stress about much, made friends easily, and started the tradition of making pies at every party he attended. He did have a romance during his challenge with a consignment store specialist, but it didn't last past the challenge. He has played a part in a Bridgeport save as well as been part of the backstory in other saves.

Which gets to the point of the 112 Day Challenge ... I save and use all of my challengers ... 🏆

I have just under 20 successful challengers, and I may choose to populate an entire town with past challengers when I have around 35. Who knows what I'll do ... Maybe I will combine challenges and start Legacy 112 Day Challenges with new and/or revised rules. Plus ... Each challenger has their own story.

Lonny Lovelace was my first challenger, and he taught me how to get started. He also had a wild streak of romances during his challenge. He was an outsider in Sunset Valley where his challenge took place. New to the challenge and the town, he went hog wild. The Sims 3 gods paid him back when he spent too much time romancing all the women around town and destroyed his tent with a random meteor. He is one of two challengers I have had lose their tent ... Napping on benches or couches on community lots if you cannot build an igloo to sleep in can really cramp your challenge.

Lauren Mattes was my second challenger, and the point is you can learn something new in every challenge. Where both Lauren and Lonny barely cleared a million in their challenges, they taught me a few valuable lessons. Lauren's greatest difficulty was that she planted too big of a garden and tried to make it her primary source of income. Gardening took too much time out of her day, and she could not focus as much on other aspects of the challenge. She became pressed for time in completing simple tasks like Community Service and the extra skills she gained were limited.

All subsequent challengers have the benefit of knowing how the previous challengers struggled and can avoid pitfalls ... If that is what they desire in their challenge ... And that is how previous records are always broken.

Happy Simming ... 💖