I had Max online today while I was trying (desperately) to get my daughter to take her nap. For the record she didn't and it's been a VERY long day LOL. Thankfully I had a very interesting glitch to cheer me up and make me giggle.

Check this out...

Freaky hey? That's actually two sims merged. It was at the picnic tables behind the diner there, and when I sent Max over to grab a plate as he was hungry, the guy already sitting scooched over to make room. And that was the result.

Once Max got around there the guy scooched back. And it's no wonder, check out this death glare!! OMG!

Yeah, that'd make me haul ass too. Speaking of ass...

ooooh yeah! Apparently it was worth the potential life loss to scooch back over to get a better look. Maybe Max has an admirer of a different kind...?

I've heard a few times of other players buying parts of business in town but had yet to see the option or do it myself. In fact, I didn't even know how to do it until the other night. Of course, it's as easy as selecting the option on the menu choices when it appears. I'm not sure if it appears after you reach level 10 in your career path, or perhaps how many times you visited that particular place because the first (and currently only) business that offered me part shares was the local diner - a place Max eats at every day.

I had no plans to buy into any of the businesses for Max. But when the opportunity was placed in front of him, I decided why not. After all, how many real life celebrities are involved in those Hard Rock Cafes? And ironically, this is a cafe. Also, as mentioned, Max has eaten there nearly every day of his life so far - it's only now that he's starting to eat at the more up market bistro as he's more aware of his figure and thinks that perhaps having everything deep fried or close may not the best for his figure. Because he's now the big star and no longer running around after them instead, he's not burning off as much calories. No one really likes a fat rock star...

He also feels like he knows the owners and it just felt like something he would like to be apart of. Plus... who can so no to passive income?

The only downside to buying in is that it used the last of my money (left me with $62) so I can't really get started on the house extensions that I had planned, but I figured Max can slum it for a bit longer.

I haven't decided if I'm going to buy out the other partners, although I am considering it. I just don't know if that means more work of responsibility for Max or not - like if he owns it and something goes wrong, will he be held responsible? I part hope so, but that also makes me hesitant to take that sort of responsibility on board.

I also haven't decided if I'll start buying into more business or not. I don't want to go buying up everything just because he can. I want them to have meaning in his life. I might buy into the theatre for example as he worked every day there and it seems like something he might be interested in. I could also buy into the grocery store because technically, they probably help supply the diner, so it would make sense there.

But for now, his little diner is keeping him more than happy...

*** Comment Highlight ***

Elizabeth said...

The option to become a partner comes up when your sim household has enough money. It will show up for most of the other venues once Max holds more concerts and autograph sessions ;-)

I've only had one sim household buy out the entire business. It was the bookshop. The extra options seemed to be renaming it (which I tried and it worked a charm) and hiring/firing employees, which I didn't try. It doesn't seem terribly interactive though, so I imagine there isn't too much hard work and not too many consequences.

Now, I've read somewhere (I can't remember where so I'm not sure if it's true) that when you switch active households you lose the deeds from your inventory and your sim no longer owns the business, effectively losing your money. I'm not sure if you can sell the business again to recoup your money, or put the deed somewhere on the lot so that it doesn't disappear, but watch out for that if you change households. I suppose the same thing holds true for rewards like the collection helper?

So many sim questions... I don't think I helped at all there! ;-)

Thankyou Elizabeth!!

While I am distracted all day wondering what to do about the Melani in Max's life, he's busy letting his mind wander elsewhere it seems...

The other night he was in town and, of his own accord, struck up a conversation with one of the local law enforcement. I'm used to Sims introducing themselves to one another, that happens fairly regularly. What I'm not used to however is Sims hitting it off, and I mean in a big way!

I kept seeing the little icon for this one Sim popping up, so decided to see what was going on. At the time I was busy scanning the town just to see what else was happening - you can sometimes see some really interesting interactions this way. As my camera landed back on Max, I saw this...

I've had a couple of run ins with the law in my time, and sure, I've flirted my way out of a few tickets (what woman hasn't?), but I've never been THAT obvious about it.

I watch a bit longer and it gets better...

The interesting part to all this was I was playing absolutely NO ROLE in it. Not once did I initiate any interaction! They went from introductions to caressing each others faces. That or they were squishing each others cheeks to make them do fishy faces. But looking at those shots? I'm going to think not...

I was so surprised (in a good way) to see Max take control like that!! Either fame has shot to his head and blown his brains out, or he's REALLY liking this sim. I know there's been a person or two I've gone simply ga-ga over in my time, so why can't sims experience the same jelly knee, word tripping sensations?

While I was busy zoomed right in, eyes bugging out of my head and silently clapping at what was unfolding in front of me, I hadn't realised what was happening just behind Max. Michelle Roberts is another sim Max has spent a bit of time chatting to in intimate ways. Michelle is actually a member of the very first household I created when I got the game. She was one of three females living together and, I think, looks really funky. I love her hair.

When Max caught up with her in town one day, they got along really well. She's also into music so I thought it would be good to see if I could get them to hook up. Plus, I wouldn't mind playing her again lol. I had a brief idea that they could end up together (a fan and her music idol mentor) and make very pretty kids. That was until I saw...

I have no idea what was happening, but there was some lengthy conversations, some touching and some very close encounters. The only thing I could gather was that Mc Fugly there was confessing his undying attraction and love for Michelle and she was shooting him down. I mean really, look at her and then look at him - they aint going to end up together. He might as well just accept it now and familiarise himself with the Gym and a Hair Stylist.

Still, even if Max and Michelle don't end up together, he's got other options right?

Max has the Discount Diner reward as, living true to his rock star ways, he'd much prefer to eat out than at home. Also, he can't cook lol. Because of this, he gets to eat free everywhere. But it doesn't stop there apparently, last night HE GOT PAID for eating out. LOL!

Eating out at Little Corsican's Bistro, I had this message pop up on my screen:

I figured most famous people, that is, people used to the lifestyle that money brings, wouldn't just sit and eat it like you or I might right? With that in mind, I promptly sent the meal back in a very huffy, don't you know who I am manner. The result?

ROFL! Awesome. So not only did I get a free meal, they paid me $500 hush money. C'mon, you don't actually think they were giving me money for being so honest? No way - they wanted to make sure I didn't go and announce the poor food at my next concert and send them out of business...

Although Max could perform concerts while he was working his way through the music career ranks, he never got paid for them. Until now! Given it's meant to be his main source of income I'm kinda glad about that lol. I recently read on another site that you can apparently make a few thousand per concert. With that (incorrect) knowledge, I had planned to only throw one concert on a Friday and a follow up on a Saturday.

Given it was a Saturday, I figured I'd throw one right off the bat.

It was actually right after my autograph session so I figured with that many Sims already out the front, it would be a good turn out. I've got no idea if the money you make is based off ticket sales, but in case it was, I might as well make use of the crowd.

I don't know where I read that you can make a few thousand, but I'm thinking I'm going to hunt the site back down and correct them. A few thousand? HA!!

Yeah... I hardly consider that enough to start phoning in the mansion makers. Given the concert only took an hour or so, I marched right back in and held another. I figured I'd just consider the gap intermission...

The second concert did a little better with Max earning $672.

Curious to know if the money earned was perhaps based on the number of concerts held and might in fact go up with each one, eventually reaching the rumoured 'few thousand', I quickly threw a third - after all, it was only 9pm lol. Unfortunately my thinking didn't work out as I only made a further $450... bugger.

I discovered a cool and very deserving bonus to being a rock star - autograph sessions! If the limo Max is now chauffeured around in isn't enough of a give away to his fame, the ability to get mobbed outside a venue with Sims clamouring for his signature and a touch of his hand certainly is. And the best part? I actually get to be INVOLVED!!

One of the biggest issues a lot of simmers have is that most of the work place community buildings are nothing more than rabbit holes. Your sim disappears into them leaving us standing outside just waiting for the end of the day with not much else to do. I think nearly everyone had high hopes that we'd actually be able to go inside with our Sims and see what they did in there. Even Max's recent investigation of the graveyard catacombs left me standing outside twiddling my thumbs...

Thankfully, autograph sessions are interactive. And bloody hectic LOL!

Ok, so unlike real life rock stars, Max has yet to be randomly approached for his autograph. Instead, in the Sims, you organise sessions at various venues around town. So far, the venues I can see that you can hold sessions at are:

1. Little Corsican Bistro
2. Hogan's Deep-Fried Diner
3. Ever Fresh Delights Supermarket
4. Divisadero Budget Books
5. and Sharma Day Spa

I don't actually remember hiring a publicist lol, but if they're going to take care of all the organisation I've got no problem with that. My limo arrived straight away and took me to my location, dropping me out the front. I chose the community theatre since that's where Max worked his way through the ranks and I kinda figured I owed it to them to have my first session there...

This is where it got confusing for me because there was NO message on what exactly I had to do. I just assumed Max would disappear inside and then reappear once it was all over. Wrong. It's up to YOU the player to actually sign the autographs. What you'll see is something similar to this:

While you're standing out the front, you have sims practically mob you - I don't remember seeing so many Sims in one place at one time before. To make it trickier, some fans bring friends along, so not everyone there is after your autograph. What you need to look for is the book symbol that appears above some of their heads. For those sims, you can left click and chose to either sign autograph or interestingly enough, refuse autograph. I guess even rock stars can get picky...

Once you get a few lined up the franticness of it all dies down. There was no time counter or any visual indication of how long I had left to sign, so I just aimed for as many as possible. (I didn't pay attention to what time I started, so didn't know when the 4 hours was up...) Adding to the difficulty of trying to click the right sims in amongst the crowd, is the option to end the session early. For everyone you click, you have the option to end the session, so if you're not paying attention, you can accidentally click that instead of sign.

I assume I must have clicked it without realising as the session ended very quickly and a few sims didn't appear to be too happy with it. But, overall, I still did quite well out of it. I certainly didn't expect to earn money from it... ok, well I was hoping I would, but wasn't banking on it lol.

Once you have held a session you have to wait (not sure how long yet) before you can do another. I guess with that much money involved, they don't want you to holding them too often. I'll be looking to hold these fairly regularly if that's the sort of money you can make - it's time Max upgraded his house from a little shack to something more 'rock starish'...

Check out Max's new ride!! This is what he now rides around as a Rock Star. Awesome!

I've mentioned before that I have a soft spot for Machinima, and I've also confessed that I have absolutely zero skill in making them. But, I'm more than happy to marvel in the creative geniuses of others, and give a bit of additional promotion to those deserving.

Black Widow Flower Garden is one such example. A dark comedy about greed, insanity and karma, it tickled my funny bone.

The good thing about not having to work a 9 - 5 job is you get a whole lotta free time. There's no need to make sure you're in bed on time for the following days work, which proves very useful in experiencing new things...

Max couldn't sleep last night as he's so used to the work routine of being at the theatre till all hours of the morning. Deciding he needed to burn off some energy, he went for a bit of a run. Given it was the middle of the night, I thought it might be a good time to have him run the long windy roads on the outskirts of town. No cars would be driving them (hopefully), and it would give him some fresh open air to clear his head.

Somehow, he ended up at the towns cemetery. Since Max has the Daredevil trait (we've all seen his wish to play with fire...), I figured he'd be brave enough to stick his head inside one of the catacombs there. I didn't even know you could go inside until I read it somewhere recently. And after I did, I couldn't wait for an excuse to try it out.

Frustratingly it's simply another rabbit hole building and you don't actually to get to see inside. Max just entered and I stared at the door way like a freaked out blond girl waiting the stupid male to come back out. It felt like one of those B Grade horror movies - "No Max, don't go in there... alone. The Zombies will get you...... Max?... Max are you there?"

I'm just SO glad my hubby was in the bedroom watching a movie. Because if he had of put his hand on my shoulder at that very moment, I would have woken the next door neighbours.

As I listened to the sounds of chains clanking, ghosts wooooo'ing (well how would you describe the sound ghosts make?) and the general scary sounds of a cemetery, I got an option pop up asking me if Max would like turn left or right. I thought that was kinda cool. I chose left and really wished I could of been seeing what he was. For something like that, EA could really turn things up a notch game wise by providing more movie scenes. They can make them to promote their expansions and game right? Surely they could give us a once off movie scene of my Sim creeping through the darkness.

Eventually, Max returned.

Hrm, he doesn't look so good does he? I was a bit confused by his blackened skin and lack of clothes. The hair I understood - everyones hair stands straight up when they get a fright. But I don't remember my clothes self combusting out of sheer terror. So either he managed to find some fire inside and tried to fulfill his fire bug wish on his own (doubtful), or there's a really nasty mummy in there who's carrying a torch.

Max decided it would be best to just go home. I agreed. I also figured I wouldn't try to make him finish his nightly jog as his knees were probably a little wobbly and I'm going to guess his mind was pretty cleared by then. A good fright can be draining, so I just sent him home and straight to bed...

I realise Max has the Daredevil trait, but this really is a bizarre wish to have...

Exactly how far should this wish be taken? Is it just a wish to see a fire and stick your hand in quickly. You know, like you do over a candle when you're young, stupid and are positive you're invincible? Or is this more of a walk over the hot coals, stand in the fire and feel the cleansing spirits of release flow over? Perhaps this is actually a bit of hari kari and he'd like to die while famous and... you know... go out in flames of glory. Yuckle Yuckle, I crack myself up.

Who knows, but it's not a wish I was expecting to see pop up. Not too sure how I'm going to fulfill that one either...

I had my first real awkward moment last night in The Sims. With Max's time now pretty much all free except for when he wants to work (I'm thinking concerts on Friday and Saturday nights to keep the income coming...) he's looking to other things to fill in his time. I figured music icons must spend a lot of time in the Gym if their bodies are anything to judge by. I was actually watching Pink in concert on TV yesterday and looking at her figure, there's no way she doesn't know what the inside of a Gym looks like.

So, in tyring to keep with a bit of realism, I hooked Max up to the pumpinator 1000 and started working on bulking him up. He's already nice and fit from all his jogging, but a few extra sit ups will keep his 6 pack nice and full.

Unfortunately, sending him to the Gym resulted in my first real awkward moment. Melani rocked up. Now remember this is a different Melani to my main one - I know this confused a couple of people recently. Max and my main Melani are in different cities. I've actually been wanting to find a way to change this Melani's name to something else to stop it being confusing. But I can't find any answers to changing the names of non-controlled Sims. I'd have her move away, but I feel really bad at the thought of booting her out of town LOL.

Anyway, when Max sat down at his station, Melani sat up at hers. Check out the close up of Max's face...

Now the reason for the awkwardness is because Max has been avoiding Melani. Mostly because it is confusing have her in two of my stories, and I'd like things to be a little less complicated. Actually, that's pretty much the only reason lol. That doesn't really explain the look on Max's face however. I can't tell what that is - perhaps a longing? Does he have feelings for her? Or maybe he's just feeling apologetic for treating her so bad? What about jealousy of her six pack lol? I'm really not sure...

If it wasn't the fact they have kids together, I'd have Max pay her moving costs and I would move her out of town. But, the kids... I feel really bad heh. That is, until I noticed this little factor...

Um, who's Eric?!

That's right, Melani in Sunset Valley is... married. I find this ironic since the Melani I play as my family (Rivervew) had the big issue of her partner Hal cheating and having kids with both her and another woman. And now, here's this Melani doing the exact same thing. Well, I don't know if she's got kids with Eric, but she's certainly cheating. And if she has got kids with Eric, then it is the same thing!! Either way, how has she explained to Eric where the kids have come from?!

So now I'm thinking I can use this to not feel so guilty about moving her away. I'm thinking something along the lines of Eric not being pleased with Melani being so close to Max - because clearly she has feelings for him. And in an attempt to reclaim his marriage, Eric needs to move Melani far away. Which would allow me to move this Melani out of the town and avoid some of the confusion that comes with having multiple "me's" in my cities lol.

For those who are confused....

• Family #1 - Max, who's had kids with the original Melani I placed there.
• Family #2 - My second Melani who I placed for some information, then ended up keeping around and playing full time. She has two kids to Hal who also had a child to some other woman.
• Family #3 - The Waters family, which most should be fairly well read up on about recently hehe
• Family #4 - Nicky Dees. My thief character and someone I play sporadically when I want something easy.

All four families are across separate towns. So I have four versions of the game saved that I jump around between... :)

I had some work I needed to make a start on tonight, so I loaded up Max to play beside me since he's one of my more... simpler families - what with no kids and all that. I also knew he was close to maxing out his music career and I was curious to see that happen.

It actually ended up being a double whammy as Max reached max Guitar skill earlier in the night as well:

I would like to see him use an electric guitar or something now. After all, he's a Rock Star, not a country music singer. I really can't stand that there's only one style of guitar available, and that it's a poxy one at that. But I'd feel pretty bad if he got a funky guitar before Piano's or at the least, keyboards were returned to the game. I'm sure I'd have a lynch mob after me if that happened.

It was very easy to max his career all things considered. Obviously it took a little longer than most others would because I jump around my families and have, currently, four different Sims I spread my time between. But, we got there in the end. Max is also the first of my Sims to reach the peak of his career, amusing since he was not one of my intended "main" families, instead created for a bit of fun on the side.

What I was really surprised at, and I have to say, very disappointed about, was the complete lack of fanfare when he finally reached rock stardom. I mean c'mon, he's a big enough star now to not have to work a 9 to 5 job and simply earns money for concerts he puts on, and this was all he got?

Yes. That's it. He walked out, got a wardrobe upgrade, adjusted his cuffs and then wandered off. What a let down! I was expecting at the very least some balloons, a bit of a cheer or an air punch. I had hoped for a movie scene showing girly fans all going weak at the knees, people clamoring to get his autograph, something.

All he did was go over and talk to Michelle Roberts (I think he has a thing for her). And, given the time (Max finishes work at 1am), I really don't think she cared. What do you think?

Max announcing his super stardom (I assume...)


And... Michelle's response. Perhaps like a "Big woopdie doo man!"

I dunno, the body language just doesn't scream super supportive to me. Then again, I'm not the friendliest person when I get tired lol.

But still, congratulations to Max for fulfilling his life time wish, becoming a Rock Star and peaking as a young adult. It's all down hill from here mate...

Completely random post - but, you can't tuck children into bed? Or am I missing something? I watched a YouTube video the other day where I'm sure I watched the Adult sim go around to each child's bed and give them a kiss on the forehead and "tuck them in" as it were. Yet, I was just trying to do that now to Seth (Checking in on Melani), and the only option I have is to wake up.

Seems a bit odd to me. I know kids like to be independent and all that, but surely they are still young enough for mum or dad to come and say goodnight? Seems really sad that they just toddle off to bed on their own without so much as a hug or kiss goodnight... :(

I realise this isn't a Sims related post, but it's just way too funny not to share LOL!

The garden that Adrian loved so much, the same one that gave Adrian and his father time together, is all but dead. I had planned to keep it going, but it's just too much work. I should have known because two Sims looking after it barely kept it weed free, I couldn't really expect Emily to do it on her own, let alone alone with two toddlers. I had tried to put a sprinkler down to at least cut out the watering time, but Adrian planted the garden down the side of the house, and a sprinkler doesn't fit.

I managed to get a couple of last harvests out of it, which is good because without that, I would have run out of money completely. But now they're all dead, there will be no more harvests. Emily can't quite bring herself to pull them all up yet... she keeps crying everything she goes outside. Perhaps it's still memories of Adrian working out there every day. One day, down the track, I might plant a small garden to replace it, in memory of Adrian.

While I really like the gardening in Sims 3, I do also miss the ability to hire gardeners from Sims 2. I want the nice garden, and I want to be able to potter around in it, but I don't necessarily want to spend every waking minute out there. I'd love to be able to hire a gardener to come say once a week, to play catch up on anything I've missed - or do it all if I'd had a busy week.

Or maybe, the ability to hire the town kids to water or weed it, so I can just harvest. Maybe that could even be a job our own Sim kids can do after school - to work on other people's gardens. And when they bring in a Seasons expansion (and they bloody better too), we'll have leaves falling - how many kids got pocket money for raking up leaves? That's something that could be incorporated into the gardening aspect.

Not to mention mowing the lawns... my grass stays very short for a game with no lawn mowers.

Without Adrian and Grandpa Sim, the Waters household is very, very quiet. Boringly so. Apart from the obvious lack of two additional Sims, poor Emily has so much on her plate now with two little toddlers that it doesn't leave her much time to do anything other than eat, sleep and look after the house. And she doesn't have any money to go into town because she quit her job.

She did pick up a part time job at the local grocery store, but I'm really questioning the point of that as a single mother. With no live in babysitter anymore, she has to shell out $75 to hire a townie. And for 3 hours of work, at $30 an hour, that only makes her $90 each day. $90 - $75 = $15. That's right, she works for $15! Hardly enough to live on.

I'm going to make her keep it for now though. It's a good way to stop her getting the "you never leave the house loser" moodlet as it gets her out and in town 5 times a week. I'm also hoping that it will allow her to meet other Sims, because at the moment, she doesn't really know any. While she did work in the Police Force and met some Sims there (Hal, really don't want another one of him in my live), she got pregnant so quickly that she's spent most of her life at home.

I decided, to help compensate the lack of money, to have Emily start writing some novels. I figure she has had enough drama in her life to be able to turn some sort of book out - after all, how many real life books are born out of life experiences? How far she takes it I haven't worked out yet. It could either be a temporary thing while she gets her life back on track, or it could turn out to be something she continues as a source of income. Maybe it's a hidden talent she didn't know she had because she has never done anything other then be a housewife.

The good thing about writing, is I can do it from home. Emily purchased the computer before all the drama, which turned out to be a lot more handy than she anticipated. At first she thought she could meet some new Sims online, perhaps play some games or do some grocery shopping. I'm getting very used to seeing the above image though.

Of course, the toddlers entertain themselves all day and only ever need to be attended to for food, nappy changes to clean them up (they're potty trained now thank goodness) and to put them in their crib. Because of course that's how real toddlers are right? I'm sitting here on my lap top with my toddler entertaining herself happily? Entertaining that doesn't involve trying to hit my keys, lick the monitor, ask for juice 10 times a minute, shoving her bear in my face or running laps around my chair squealing... right?

The Sims facebook page asked if you could take one thing from in game and make it real life recently - I'd take the toddlers please!! lol

I didn't get a chance to play last night as I had some work I needed to do, and while I normally let one of my families run on their own for a bit, I really wanted distraction free time. It was a good move as I got what I wanted done, which means I will be able to play tonight without the guilts! Yipee!

I figured, I might use this down time to make sure no one's missed any blog posts over the past few days. There sure has been a lot of them!! Two days I did 5 blog posts per day!! That's how much has been happening in my Sims lives recently. And oddly enough, all in the Waters household, which I find very ironic given they were a family I had no intention of actually "playing" as such.

It's also a little annoying as they were the family I was going to let run free and decide their own lives. To help with the "they are their own Sims" mentality, I also decided not to have any say in what they looked like, or how they dressed. (Which explains why Adrian used to wear a Tuxedo to bed...) I wanted them to really be their own selves, and as such, went with the default settings for everything. So now, my most interesting family is also the one that I can't stand looking at LOL!

I have a thought about that though. Since the family has moved away from autonomous play slightly, and become a family I am now controlling to a certain degree, coupled with all the recent tragedies, I'm thinking I can tweak looks a bit and incorporate it into the story line.

I'm of two minds. I could...

1. Take the recent events and have them make Emily stronger. Sort of like the "I am a survivor" kinda attitude and as a result, have Emily stand up, take control of her life and get it all fixed. Which could also include some plastic surgery (my excuse to change facial features) and get a new wardrobe. I mean really, she's not the prettiest Sim in town.
   
   or
   
   
2. I could leave her as is, deal with the fact not all Sims are born beautiful and continue playing the family as I have been. That is, letting Emily continue choosing her own life pattern and following what ever path she chooses. Even if that path leads right into the gutter.

• Bye Bye Adrian...
• Adrian's Funeral...
• Adrian's Burial Plot
• Thomas has a birthday...
• Bye Bye Grandpa...
• Susie Waters has her Birthday...
• Grandpa Waters gets buried...

I used to spend all my time building in The Sims 1 & 2. Of course, that's pretty much all I did and I got bored very quickly. With The Sims 3 however, the game play is so engaging, that I find myself not wanting to "waste time" by building. I'm sure I'll get there one day, but for now, I'm happy to slap together what ever I can and just get on it with it.

Because of that, I tend to find myself looking at other people's creations to place in my game. I figured I might start highlighting and giving a little extra publicity to the ones I really like. Like this one for example, the Stoney Point Lighthouse by fieryfemale.

There's not much room to play in it, but it's a very good lighthouse design, with a very fitting light house keeper. Just as I would expect a light house sim to be. There may be no boats (that we know of) in the Sims 3, but if and when there is, you know they'll be safe with Sid McDonald keeping an eye over everything.

~ Download Stoney Point Lighthouse here ~

Emily was in desperate need to get out of the house. With so much going on this past week, she didn't even realise she hadn't been outside her front door in days. She took a big leap and hired one of the town babysitters to look after Thomas and Susie, and, since the weather was so lovely, thought today would be a good day to go and place Grandpa's ashes down at the graveyard.

There isn't a lot of room left to place new headstones, especially as I'm completely unsure who there is buried in a casket and aren't about to go digging about to find out for myself. I really wish when you chose to "place headstone" you got the options as to where. Like when you're placing a new house or a new Sim family into the neighbourhood and get shown current available lots. Since the graveyard doesn't work that way, I went for safety and placed Grandpa beside Adrian under the big tree there.

It makes sense too, as they were always outside gardening, either together or on their own. So Grandpa will get just as much ghostly enjoyment for being so close to nature.

Emily took a moment to shed a few tears for Grandpa. She really wasn't comfortable leaving her children, the only things left in her life with some random, unknown townie. She didn't trust them, and from everything she had heard, had good reason not to. She missed Grandpa sim more than ever right at that moment...

Although every inch of her body was screaming to run back home to the kids, I knew Emily needed some time out on her own. To breath in fresh air, to connect with her fellow townsfolk, even if just to find a shoulder to cry on. She really wasn't coping with the past week, even my fellow Twitter friends have commented on it - Emily may be all pixels, but we can all see how she's just not ok with it all.

I wanted to take her to get some proper food as it can't be healthy for her to live on left over birthday cake or week old pancakes prepared by Grandpa Sim (she can't bring herself to throw them out, not matter how ill they make her feel). But looking at the family funds of a pathetic $48, and knowing there were bills waiting at home almost triple that amount, mouldy food would have to do.

Instead, I thought it was time to at least attempt to pick herself back and up and get on with her life by getting a job. Returning to the Police force wasn't really an option, even though I knew they would take her back without so much as a hesitation. No, Emily needed something a little easier to deal with. Something she could just go in, do what was required and not have to think. A part-time job at the local grocery store seemed very fitting...

It's no career, but it's some money coming into the house to help feed her and the kids. The garden that Adrian and Grandpa had spent so many hours working towards was wilting and withering quicker than Emily could handle. She should be working on it as it would be at least some income, but it just takes too much time. With herself to take care of, and two toddlers to chase after, it's impossible to maintain on her own. Hell, it was barely maintained with two Sims working on it. No, I think I'll just have to let that die off. I might keep the apple tree near the letter box as a reminder, but that's all.

So today begins Emily's new life. She's on her own, with two toddlers to look after and she simply can't sit around the house moping any longer. Time to get up, get dressed and get on with life. Starting with packing groceries for the annoyingly happy and chirpy townsfolk who whispered and gossiped about her beloved husband and his father.

Following two days behind her brother Thomas, baby Susie of the Waters household ages into a toddler. Thankfully both children are too young to realise the loss of both their father and grandfather this week, although I am sure they are wondering where they both are. If bloody EA would introduce prams (and tandem prams at that) I would take both of them down to the graveyard so they could perhaps try to understand. Or at least the park so they could get out hehe.

Susie's birthday went without a hitch thank goodness. I did have this absolute horrible feeling that the cake would burn the house down and kill someone else. There is that whole "everything happens in 3's" mantra afterall...

My first blog poll! Are you as excited as I am?! To christen the blog, the first poll is based on the unexpectedly exciting Waters family. If you've read the previous couple of days blog posts, you'll know that Adrian died, had a funeral and was buried. Emily couldn't hack Adrian's death and quit her job, Thomas had a birthday and then Grandpa sim died. Yes, all of this in under a week Sim time...

At Adrian's Funeral, Emily met Tom Shallow. She had an immediate desire to chat to him again, and because of this wish, he was present when Grandpa Sim died. He showed an evil side by laughing at it too!!

At first, I was thinking Emily should pursue a relationship with Tom, be it rebound fling or potential new husband. He looked like a very straight cut nice guy, someone that might suit Emily and give her the life she deserved. But now, after that evil cackle, I'm not so sure.

So, this story line is like one of those books where you make choices along the lines and, depending on the choice you make, the story takes different twists and turns.

It is with great shock that I have to announce, Grandpa Sim is... dead. In the space of 24 hours for me, and less than a week for the Waters family, we have lost two members. Ironically, both the INSANE members of the house hold, so what does that tell you? It doesn't pay to talk to yourself too much...

Wanting to help out Emily as much as he could since the loss of Adrian, Grandpa Sim jumped in to fix the dishwasher that had just broken. As mentioned earlier, Grandpa has been wanting to help a lot since Adrian's passing, constantly wanting to clean up around the house. And of course, he was always wanting to fix the TV when that broke, so I felt it was the best thing to let him have a go at the dishwasher. I felt like he needed to do this.

Perhaps I should have paid closer attention to that gut feeling however. While off putting Susie back into her crib for the night, I heard a very loud crackle come through my headphones. I immediately slammed down on the pause key, the thought of "OMG I know that sound!!!" came rushing into my head the same time my stomach flip flopped. Right clicking on Grandpa Sim's icon, my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw this:

Oh... my... gawd!! This can't be happening!! Not again?! What sort of electrical wiring does this house HAVE?! As I took off the pause, I immediately started recording. Adrian had been taken so quickly, and Grandpa was an older Sim, but Melani back in Sunset Valley had poked her laptop three times and lived to tell the tale. Unfortunately, Grandpa would follow in the footsteps of his son...

Did you notice the same things in that video as me? There's the OBVIOUS cackle that came from Tom Shallow, a guest of Emily's. Emily met him at Adrian's funeral of all places, and immediately after had a wish pop up to chat to him. Because she was a bit low on the fun meter after spending all day working on her novel (she so needs the money), I thought I would invite him over so she could have some fun. I had planned to see what would happen between the two of them, but after that evil display of hysteria at Grandpa's death... I'm not so sure.

Then again, if you watch closely right after Emily comes into the kitchen, you will notice she too laughs!! She has a the icon of the broken dishwasher above her head, so I can't tell if she's just happy she'll get to wash all the dishes by hand from now one (she is a neat freak), or if her plans to let Grandpa Sim fix the broken dishwasher turned out. Like, mwahaha it worked! The dishwasher got him!

It soon hits her however that she's just lost her live in babysitter and the tears begin. What WILL she do now?! Nothing like a good nights sleep to make you feel better though, so she puts Thomas back into his crib and falls crawls into bed herself.

Tom Shallow decides it might be a good idea to stick around. For what I'm not sure. Either to make sure poor Emily is ok being somewhat alone in a house that three adults resided in not this time last week. Or perhaps he's more evil than I give him credit for and he's seeing an easy, pre-made family ready for the picking...?

Thomas Waters became a toddler last night. In a day that was bitter sweet, he had a smallish party with people he didn't know, and who most likely, didn't even like him. His father wasn't there, but he was finally able to do more than just coo, caa and gurgle. Thankfully, there was no cake fire, I don't think the family could handle any more tragedies at the moment.

In a twist I wasn't expecting, Thomas is a BALD toddler! I didn't even realise you could have bald toddlers lol, but I guess what you can have in real life can be simulated in game. Poor bugger, doesn't do his cuteness levels any good. And it kinda makes him look a little feminine...

To make up for it, Emily splashed a bit of the family savings around and repainted the spare room Adrian was using into Thomas' new bedroom. A bit bare at the moment, unfortunately not much Emily can do since family funds were already fairly skint, Adrian didn't have life insurance, and Emily just quit her job. I'm hoping to fill it up with a few toys soon.

I'm very thankful to say that I've never had to experience the pain that comes from finding photographs of loved ones passed. Tonight however, I was going through the screenshots of the Waters family sorting them into "already posted" blog shots, and general interest photos. And in the pile, I found this...

That was taken just a few nights ago when Emily was trying to test the waters with Adrian's feelings. They had both been relaxing on the bed earlier, so when Adrian got up to go to the bathroom, I tested the waters by inviting him back to cuddle. As you can see from the shot, it was not happening.

Still, it was just a little bit wierd seeing that shot tonight. I had a momentary "Adrian's really gone..." feeling before I mentally slapped myself and remember it's just a game LOL.

After the Funeral, Emily decided to collect Adrian's ashes and place him in the town graveyard. She loved him dearly, but she didn't want his ghost loitering around the house scaring the children. Before she took his ashes down, she was given the option to engrave the headstone.

I ummed and aahed over this for a moment or two because I wasn't sure I was happy with the default text displayed above. I was torn between wanting to show a little of Emily's distress at the sudden marriage end, and wanting to do the "right" thing. Because Emily always does the right thing (too good for her own boots that one), and thinking of the children viewing it later on in life, she decided to leave the default message as is.

Because she is currently not thinking straight (the sudden job quitting helps back that up), she decided to go and pick a burial plot that night... ie in the dark, when ghosts come out. Perhaps she wanted the chance to see Adrian one last time? Who knows...

I chose a nice shady spot under a big tree as Adrian did love his garden. I figured he'd be happy being close to nature. Emily also seemed happy after she had buried him, walking away with a smiley face next to a thought of Adrian. Maybe he was in a better place now?

I found out tonight, that after someone has died, you get another option show when you wish to throw a party....

It makes sense, I just didn't think of it myself. I was actually wanting to throw a party for Thomas' birthday as it was today. Poor little mite, not his fault his father passed away the day before. Which of course, poor Adrian for not being able to see his babies age up into toddler hood and dying less than 24 hours earlier.

So Emily threw a funeral. It really didn't go as I expected either. Adrian didn't have a lot of friends, so she just invited everyone she knew, which wasn't a lot. Apparently Adrian really wasn't friendly with many of them as no one hugged or consoled Emily - I know this because I was following her around trying to capture a picture of it to include in the post. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not even a "you'll be ok dear" mandatory pat on the shoulders.

Emily actually spent most of her time standing outside looking in the windows. I kinda felt sorry for her because it's not her fault she had no friends. Of course, the people that were there were a bit nuts themselves because they all had the thought bubble of balloons over their head.

Now, I've not been to many funerals myself, but remembering back on the ones I have been to, I don't ever remember having to fight my way through masses of BALLOONS!! Crying people, wads of tissues but no, no balloons. That just brings a whole new meaning to 'celebrating their life' doesn't it?

Even sans the balloons, the party just scraped through as acceptable. Because that's your biggest concern when mourning the loss of a loved one right? That everyone has a good time.

Apparently it's all just too much for Emily to take. The marriage ending, Adrian's death, being stuck with an insane Elder who she doesn't even like and being left as a single mother to raise two young children. Without a single prompt from me, Emily quit her job!! I didn't even know Sims could make such big changes without our influence. All I noticed was the mobile phone icon and I wondered who she was calling. When I moused over it, I saw...

Given it was her wish, I clicked ok. Who am I to stand in the way of a life falling apart?

So now, Emily is not only without husband, she is also without job. Hopefully these two factors won't also make her without children!! There is now no income coming in for the house bar the few fruits and vegetables Grandpa will harvest and sell. Emily did take a writing class a week ago (she was looking for a hobby to replace the together time with Adrian) and had made a start on a fiction novel a few days ago, so perhaps she can take all these life experiences and write a best seller...?