First experiences with The Sims (20th birthday)

I picked up all of the Sims on sale soon after my husband got out of the hospital with a serious illness. I lost 2 Sims in a fire, and after that I had my Sims read the cookbook before they did anything else. I got a cat for the first Sim I created, but couldn't figure out how to feed it -- there wasn't any food at the pet store. Luckily, when Grim came to take the cat, he gave in to my Sim's pleading, and then I discovered there was a whole section on pets. To this day, my husband teases me about killing the cat.