The Nutty Simmer

Sims fans feel free to follow my new blog...

2010-06-23T20:15:00.001+10:00

I know there were a few people that enjoyed my random ramblings when I played the Sims a lot, so I thought I would make one final post for those that are interested, to follow my new blog: Oz Girl Gamer.

I still occassionally load up The Sims, although nowhere near what I used to. But, there is the occassional sims post that speaks in there. And of course I always love people actually reading what I drivel on about... =p

I have World Adventures

2009-11-19T21:15:00.002+11:00

So, I got it. World Adventures. Despite not being in the mood for Sims yesterday, I decided to pick up World Adventures today since I was 5 minutes from the shops as it was. And ironically, tonight, I'm in the mood to play. I think it's the "new shiny toy" factor to be honest.

I'm installing it on my PC as my PC will handle it better and has a bigger monitor. Which means, I will be starting over from scratch, with a new family. I could have just copied my files over from my laptop and continued with The Waters, The Banks and poor Max with his 6 babies. But at the moment I just don't have enough time to take care of 3 families.

Instead, I'm going to create a SINGLE family and play them through. So far I've not gotten to see any of my second generation from any of my families grow up, and I'd like to experience that. So, for now, I will create a new little sim to guide me along their journey.

I'm sure I'll still pop on later to see how the other families are doing, but for the time being, I need nice... easy... mindless... drama free! lol.

I've just finished installing both The Sims and World Adventures on the PC and am currently wrestling the with the torture that is the EA websites to redeem my simpoints, special items etc. IF I can get all that done, I might actually get to play tonight!

All good things must come to an end...

2009-11-03T10:02:00.000+11:00

I'm very sorry to tell you all, that I will no longer be blogging (often) about my Sims any longer. I know some of you won't be surprised by this announcement, I've hardly been consistent over the past couple of weeks.

While I LOVE my Sims dearly, I'm a MMORPG gamer at heart and Aion has latched it's addictive claws into me and won't let go. With an extremely active toddler who doesn't understand computer time (or nap time for that matter), work commitments (I work from home) and the glorious time that is Summer just around the corner, I just don't have enough time to play or blog about The Sims.

I wish I did, I really do. I really love what they've done with The Sims 3. And just as much as I want time to play The Sims, I want time to blog about it. Unfortunately, at the moment, I'm having to force myself to play just so I can get enough material to blog, and that's not how it should be. I blogged because I loved how much was happening to my sims and had to share with someone... anyone.

It's the whole "work to live, don't live to work" motto. Of course, different when talking about blogging and gaming lol, but still, the same thing. I should blog because I love playing, not play because I have to blog...

I will leave The Nutty Simmer here, and should/when I ever get time to jump on and see what my families are doing, I will update it. So please feel free to follow it, add it to your readers etc and keep an eye for when it does update. I'm not promising any dedicated time frames as I'm not even playing The Sims at the moment, so it will be a case of when the mood strikes. I'm sure once the expansion hits, I'll certainly log back in for a bit.

For now, I leave Max and Bella with their 6 children and The Waters Family coping and not doing too bad - Susie joined the Army and is doing really well. I'm not too sure on Melani and Hal as I've not checked in on them since houses merged... I'm sure their doing ok.

So for now, I wish you all happy gaming. I hope to find enough time to game and get everything I want done each day so I can load up my little sims every once in a while. For now, I'll just settle for at least 1 hour of play time of anything a day lol.

Happy Birthday x 6

2009-10-29T14:35:00.000+11:00

I have a confession to make - six babies is HARD!!! OMG it was crazy how much work was involved with children when they can't walk, can't talk and don't have too much problem being left in their cribs all day. With with six of them, it was full time work for the babysitters, something Max and Bella just couldn't live without.

I decided enough was enough with the crazy babies and aged them up - the first lot of twins were only a few days off anyway, and I sped the game up to speed 3 for a couple of weeks (game time weeks) so there was still some gap.

With six kids, I wasn't about to video record each one lol, so instead, here's the mug shots of each toddler!

I think Max is finally happy to have them age up and be able to crawl around on their own - he's developed a bit of a 'twitch'...

It seems his arm appears to be stuck in the "hold the baby" possition. But it gets worse... randomly over night, he keeps standing up in bed while holding an invisble baby. Poor guy LOL

Warning: Turn your sound down...

2009-10-26T10:40:00.001+11:00

Ever wanted to know what it sounds like to have 6 babies? Take a listen...

Max, Melani, Bella, Eric and a whole lotta kids!

2009-10-24T11:32:00.005+11:00

So, a VERY interesting proposition popped up on my screen when I returned to the sims after my recent break - something I was so not expecting to see...

Whaaaa? But... but... Melani and Max don't have anything to do with each other anymore? Melani is gone from his life, what is this? The only thing I could think of was that they still wanted to remain friends because of the kids...

I decided that if I could move Melani and the kids into Max's place, that I would do it. I could explain it away as Eric having finally had enough and leaving, which of course would devastate Melani and she'd have no where to go. Being that they are Max's kids, he'd take them in. It would also of course, make for very interesting watching.

Sadly though, not only was there no option to move them to Max's place, instead being forced into Melani's 2 bedroom house... and Eric was included in the package. Um, no thanks. Not wanting to leave Bella behind, that makes 4 adults... and of course, a whole lot more kids!! Sadly, to many for one household.

That was the end of that then. I wasn't about to leave Bella with 6 babies to look after, not to mention I really didn't want to play a Max/Melani/Eric family lol, that's just a little too bizarre for my liking. So, it was all called off. Max will stay with Bella, and Melani withe Eric.

Kinda a shame that I couldn't fit everyone under the same roof, would have been hectic, but very interesting LOL!

Updates coming soon!!

2009-10-22T08:51:00.000+11:00

SO Sorry for the lack of updates guys! My daughter turned 2 yesterday (Wed 21st) and I spent all the start of the week getting ready for our big day out at the Zoo. And of course her party is this Saturday, so been running around getting that all sorted.

I promise I'll get some updates up real soon! Which family do you want to know about first?

Good things come in pairs?

2009-10-16T13:27:00.001+11:00

When you have your first child, you blow a roll of film on their first poop. You record everything - their first outfit, first smile, the first time they try food. Their first attempt at crawling and of course first steps. Everything is new, fantastic and must be documented.

By the second child, you take photos of your first child holding the second, playing with the second etc. And you remember to capture their first steps, and their first birthday.

By the third... you capture their first birthday and any other shot they happen to be in with the other kids.

Now... what if your first child is actually a twin? And then what if your next birth is also twins? It has to be even worse, right? This is the only thing I can use to explain my complete lack of screenshot captures or video footage when Bella not only became pregnant again, but also went into labour for the third time. With 4 newborns to chase after already - which is not an easy feat let me tell you - I completely forgot to stop and celebrate Bella's third pregnancy. Sorry Bella.

Of course, with no "look at Bella - she's pregnant again" image, I have to jump in a bit late and mention that after Max and Bella's fight, they both returned home around the same time and had a good talk. Max appologised for his overreaction, and Bella explained that yes she had said no, but that was only until the other babies had grown up a bit.

After their talk, they both agreed to wait a little bit, but fate decided to step in because a few days later, poor Bella was throwing up every 5 minutes. Checking the age of the 4 babies already, there was no way they were going to age up to toddlers before the new arrival, so I purchase yet another cot.

Ta-da!! A little girl. Does the name look familiar at all? Unfortuantely when you have so many babies to look after, you don't have to time to get to know them very well, and I'm a little ashamed to say I wasn't keeping track of their names. This was the second Samantha baby to receive this name lol. I later sent Max down to the Town Hall to change her name to Kelly....

In what is becoming a bachelor tradition, the fun didn't stop there...

You've GOT to be kidding me??!! TWINS?! AGAIN?!!

Yes... twin girls. I was so not expecting this and compeltely freaked out for a moment or two lol. How the hell was I going to look after SIX BABIES?!

I'm so glad I discovered the random trait generator as there's just no way I could have through up yet more combinations after 6 babies lol.

Of course, the Nursery had to be redesigned - it was already hard enough walking from room to room with two sets of twins, I wasn't about to add on a third room for these two. With the existing nursery layout, I couldn't fit 4 cots into one room, which meant the new twins would have had to be seperated and I didn't want that either.

So instead, I knocked out the wall dividing the two rooms and put all 6 babies into the one massive room. I had to add doors at each end as it was impossible for everyone to get in and out with just the one.

With six babies, I now have a babysitter full time, so that's also a third sim that needs to get in and out... well, IN because the poor babysitter doesn't ever leave the room there's that much to do. What a cruel employer I am - no break, no toilet, no food LOL.

I really hate how you have to hire a babysitter everytime you need them and can't put them on any sort of schedule. I mean, I need them more than just when Max goes to work so it doesn't really matter at the moment, but still annoying. For now, I resign to calling for a babysitter just after midnight each night - a babysitter only lasts till the end of the day you call them, so calling them at 12:01am gives me 24 hours of assistance as they leave at midnight the following day.

If anyone is ever feeling bored with The Sims and wants to try something new - 6 babies. Trust me, you barely have enough time to blink and everyone gets pushed to their limits lol. Thankfully Max has pulled his socks right up, because there is NO WAY Bella could do this on her own... what a different life Max leads now...

Sims 2 Machinima - Ruska

2009-10-15T06:51:00.000+11:00

I have to interrupt the program viewing to share this absolutely wiked Machinima linked to me. I am seriously in aw of people who have the skills to create things like this...

Max and Bella's first fight...

2009-10-14T07:02:00.003+11:00

Max and Bella have had their first fight since their blissfully happy relationship began. And the reason behind the fight is just as surprising as the fight itself - and no, it has nothing to do with Melani.

Believe it or not, the disagreement was over Max wanting MORE babies!! I know... "whaaaaaat??"

But it's true. With four newborn babies already, plus how ever many he's had with Melani, the man who couldn't handle it has done a complete 180 and now wants another baby!! I think it's having boys honestly, I think what ever it was about having Seth and Max Junior has made Max want to do it all again.

Of course, poor Bella freaked out and told him no way. And Max, having never been told "no" before, didn't know how to react. Like all men, he stuffed it up big time. Throwing a tanty that would rival any toddlers, he stormed out of the house and, of course, ended up at Melani's.

Unfortunately that too was going to backfire in his face...

After telling Melani about the situation at home, she decided that Max was just far too much drama for what he was worth and told him to leave not long after this picture was taken. I mean, you can't blame her - she hasn't called or made contact of any sort, and here Max is putting all his problems on her, then leaning in for some comfort kissing. C'mon Max, get a clue.

Bella was more sensible with her reaction to Max's wish. After her initial "no way" response to the thought of having more babies so soon after TWO sets of twins, she decided to clear her head. Hiring a babysitter, something that was becoming a regular occurrence with 4 babies, Bella went for a run...

The fresh air did her head good and before she knew it, she was at central park - quite a run from their secluded mountain home.

Not quite ready to head back home straight away, Bella took some breathing time to sit on one of the park benches that overlooked the small pond to watch the fish swim. It was not long before the trance inducing fish allowed Bella's emotional and physical drain to catch up with her...

Poor Bella...

Double Trouble!

2009-10-13T07:18:00.001+11:00

With the wedding joy wearing off, the house of Max and Bella was beginning to return to normal. Max was back signing autographs, holding concerts and playing for tips to help pay for Bella's spending habbits. The twins already had the best cots available, and with a new bubba on the way, they would be treated equally as well.

Although Max was freaking out at the possibility of more children with Bella, which I find funny because he never freaked out with Melani's kids, since he didn't have to worry about taking care of them, I'm excited! I know Bella adores Max, and she's over the moon about being pregnant again, although we're both a little scared about having another baby so close after having the twins. Then again, it means they will all be friends as they grow up since they're only going to be like a week apart haha. Damn the sim pregnancy for only lasting 4 days, not very realistic...

Our excitement quickly changed however, when Bella didn't give birth to just one more baby... but ANOTHER set of twins!!

Crap! LOL. Oh well, at least these ones are boys, that's kinda cool - twin girls, then twin boys.

Remembering the random trait chooser, I happily made use of it to tell me what type of children these new additions were going to be...

Eek, an insane trait? Bugger lol. Then again, any child to a rock star is at risk of being just a little bit insane haha.

But two heavy sleepers? Cool! Hopefully that means they won't keep Bella and Max up too much haha. And yup, Max has been helping out which is a good thing - partly because he feels guilty for putting Bella into a situation of 4 babies so quickly in their relationship, but also because he's quite chuffed at having two boys of his own - one even named after him.

Regardless of the motives, I'm happy to see him stepping up his game a bit and helping out...

I do...

2009-10-12T07:49:00.000+11:00

With Bella being pregnant again, she decided to take the relationship matters into her own hands. She gave Max an ultimatum - marry her, or leave!! Yikes! Being brought up in a fairly old fashioned way, Bella didn't believe in kids before marriage but had let the first birth slide as she was terrified of Max leaving her at the time. Now, things were different, she wasn't afraid to go at it alone should be chose to run. Two pregnancies and a 3rd child on the way, it was time for Max to step up and do the right thing, or she'd find another man who could.

Thankfully Max is just as smitten with Bella as she is with him. I don't know why Max insists on still seeing Melani if he's so in love with Bella, but at least he's doing the right thing here. That, or he's doing what ever is necessary to keep her.

Now remember yesterday's blog showed Max having the wish to propose to Bella, and yet the video shows it the other way round? I didn't manage to get a screenshot for some odd reason (I'm sure I took one), but Bella also had the wish come up to ask Max for his hand in marriage. I figured this might be a bit more believable coming from her - how many of us would have trusted Max had he been the one doing the asking?

Even though Bella was already pregnant for the wedding, I had thought ahead enough to pre-plan her outfit, so she was able to wear a proper wedding gown. I'm still disappointed that poor Emily had to get married in a simple summer dress because you can't "plan outfits" when already pregnant. But you can change into one... so I just made sure Bella already had her wedding dress ready and waiting. I couldn't watch a sim as pretty as her get married in her house clothes.

And what a beautiful bride she made!!

Stunning!

I decided to have a simple home wedding as the twins were still just babies and they would either be left behind, or left on the ground! Neither of which was an acceptable option for me. They were just as much part of the family as Bella and Max and deserved to be present at the wedding, even if it was just in the Nursery. This is where I'd LOVE to have swings or bouncers in game as they could have been out with everyone else.

Max and Bella also have a big enough house to make a wedding there a possibility - a bonus side effect of the house being designed around lots of parties for Max.

Like all weddings, there were nerves and I will admit to watching Max like a hawk as I was really worried he might do a runner. He doesn't exactly depict the pillar of stability here does he?

Then again, neither does Bella... I just put it down to all nerves and hoped the wedding went without a hitch. It was an uncomfortable start to the day which wasn't helping my nerves any.

I'm still disappointed there is absolutely nothing special about a wedding - no cut scene, no ability to really "walk down the isle" etc. I realise Bella's dad is no longer with us, but perhaps Michael (her brother) could have given her away or something a bit more wedding like? Instead, they all just loitered around until rings were exchanged...

I have to give props to Max for not answering his phone. The whole time it was ringing I was waiting for him to answer it, and waiting for it to be Melani or something equally bad. Then again, she's not called Max at all since Eric had a go at him, nor has Max really had any new wishes come up to see her so who knows what's going on there.

The wedding went without a hitch, and without a wedding cake which is another pet peeve of mine. I mean c'mon EA - you KNOW this game is played by a majority female and gay audience, you KNOW we want to have dream weddings and you can't even give us a wedding cake? Poor form...

Still, cake or no cake, Max and Bella are now husband and wife. Because Bella asked Max, all surnames changed to "Bachelor" which bugged me as I didn't even have the option to choose which surname would be used, but I'll live with it. I could go down to town hall and change them all to Amillion which was Max's surname, but meh... not that worried lol.

Here's to a happy marriage!! *chink*

Oh Max!

2009-10-10T16:07:00.003+11:00

So I decided to load up my little simmies yesterday morning while I did some work on the other computer. Figuring Max had been left to his own devices for long enough, he would be the family I would check in on first.

All I can say... is I'm exhausted! Seriously! This post isn't even scratching the surface of everything that's happened in a few hours of game play (actually, I let them run all day and nearly all night), and it will all have to be spread over the next few days lol. That said, it was easy to leave them up to their own devices while I did other things, so I might just do that from now on. Let's me keep following their stories without actually having to designate "play" time for them...

Ok, so we left off last time with a Max > Melani > Bella love triangle... except of course, Bella didn't know about Melani so it's not really a "triangle" as much as it is Max being a cheating schmuck. Bella had just given birth to twins, who of course witnessed the "betrayal" that was Max and Melani making out in front of not only them, but also Melani's partner Eric as well as Bella's brother Michael.

I still don't know how Bella could have missed what was going on as she walked through the house while Melani and Max were arm in arm and oblivious to anyone except each other. But, she hadn't... Bella had no idea. Obviously her brother hasn't told her, although they appear to have had a falling out as they are no longer friends, and Eric either didn't care, or didn't want to see Bella hurt so soon after having her twins.

I kinda felt sorry for Bella, especially when I logged in to see three of Max's current wishes:

Oh Max... are you serious? You want to marry Bella (which is a good thing), yet still want to keep Melani on the side and now you want to meet someone new?! This is not the sim I created... actually, wait, it kinda is. Thinking back... when I wanted to see what the Rock Star career path was like, I had planned to make him sleep with all his groupies lol. I pictured him sleeping around with lots of women, who of course all worshiped the ground he walked on. Unfortunately what actually happens is different to what was portrayed by EA in their Sims 3 Videos of a rockstar and no one even knows who he is unless he holds an autograph signing session.

And of course now... there's kids involved. I never planned for any kids. Hearts will be broken, children scarred and families ruined.

I do and I don't feel bad. He is a rock star after all... none of us can be that surprised by his behaviour. How many rock stars do you know settle down straight away and stay that way? Not many. That said, it still surprises me every time I see a wish come up to call another female, or to see Melani. Max doesn't have the lifetime wish to be a heart breaker like Hal does in my other family does, who ironically, has basically settled down to play happy families with the other Melani LOL.

Regardless of who Max touches however... he's clearly one fertile sim. After playing for less than an hour yesterday, Bella announced that she was pregnant, again. As you can tell from the images below, Max seemed quite surprised by this news...

You understand his confusion when you realise he's been spending all his spare time somewhere else... can you guess where?

Yup, at Melani's. Both the children Max and Melani have together, as well as the kids Melani has with Eric, all hate Max. I can't blame them, they all see him as a home wrecker. I'm not even sure if Melani's told all the children who their father is, or if she's just allowed everyone involved to believe Eric is the father to all. Either way, Melani's kids want nothing to do with Max which apparently, suits him just fine.

I think having kids of his own, at home that is, has freaked him out as he's constantly had the wish to go out on the town pop up, along with catching up with Melani and chatting to every other sim other than Bella or his twin girls at home. Clearly he is a man scared and desperately wanting to hold onto his youthfull, carefree party ways.

Like all love rats however, your dirty deeds eventually get found out, and after Max was brazen enough to flirt with Melani out the front of her house, while Eric was home, it was time someone finally spoke up.

I'm not sure if the previous flirting, kissing and canoodling at Max's party was viewed as nothing more than a few too many drinks and Eric shrugged it off or not, but clearly there was no such reason for an excuse this time and Eric grew a back bone. Good on ya Eric!

What isn't apparent in the images though, is that Melani walks off when Eric confronts Max. She separated herself as far as she could and took to looking after the kids inside... interesting.

Not sure what to do...

2009-10-07T09:08:00.003+11:00

I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'm completely and utterly smitten with Aion at the moment, which is no surprise as MMORPG's have been a love of mine for the past 10 years almost. The problem however, is that I just don't have enough time to play The Sims constantly while also playing Aion, which currently I'm on every night, as well as maintain my sims blog and my Aion blog.

Originally I had planned to alternate one night in each game, but I find that harder and harder to do, especially as I now have friends playing Aion with me.

Then I decided to upgrade my PC so I could play Aion on there and leave Sims running on my laptop to continue their stories. The problem with that though is Sims still require a fair amount of interaction, and both games tend to suffer because of it.

So... I don't know what to do. I don't want to just dump my sims off, but I don't want to feel like I should be playing them just to blog either. I've been watching the google analytics numbers and the amount of readers hitting this blog has dropped every day - I'm not sure if that's due to the family I am currently writing about or if it's a sign that my updates are not enough to keep people interested. That said I never had a lot, only 50 or so a day, but it's now down to almost 10 lol.

While I won't remove the blog, I'm not playing the Sims a lot (some days at all) and that means updates are going to be far and few between - we're talking maybe a week or more. Then of course, I feel guilty for those loyal few who are addicted to my little families as much as I am and want to know what's happening...

What do I do? Does anyone have any solutions?

Susie's causing some concern...

2009-10-05T06:51:00.000+11:00

With all that's happened in the lives of The Waters family, it really isn't any huge surprise that the kids are going off the rails just a little bit. Thomas is hacking government agencies, building an alarming collection of gems, rocks and bugs as well as hanging out with the wrong age group in less than desirable locations. Until recently, Susie has just been 'existing'. Nothing has been too unusual - her school work has been less than stellar but that's to be expected since she skipped her entire primary school years. What's stood out the most is the fact that she not made any friends, which is surprising as a teenager, but she's a very withdrawn child.

If she's not in school or working her part time job, Susie spends all of her time inside, and most of it inside her room. Emily was starting to get concerned that Susie's next birthday was approaching fast and she felt that she really needed to get herself sorted if she was going to have any sort of career after school. Emily knew she wanted to join the military, but they usually require at least half way decent school grades as a start, something Susie can barely claim.

For the better part of the last week or so Susie has been particularly grumpy and sullen. Emily tried to talk to her about it, but like any typical teenager, she was in no mood to share feelings. Emily had suspicions it was to do with her part time job at the local spa, something that Susie used as an escape. Emily had over heard the gossip mongers at the local supermarket comment that she was not doing well and was barely holding onto her job at all.

With this knowledge under her belt, Emily went home and approached Susie once more, asking specifically how she was going at work. It was that prompting that caused Susie to break down... she began crying and sharing her fears that she was going to get fired.

Emily is a wonderful mother however, and immediately jumped into ensure Susie that everything would be ok, that she just needed to apply herself a bit more. After a good chat Susie appeared to perk up a little bit. And everything is fixed with a good hug from mum...

During their talk, Emily offered to give Susie her birthday presentv a couple of days early, in the hopes it would help boost her confidence. It was a full length mirror which Susie was extremely happy to receive and something every teenage girl needs - no more having to share the only mirror in the house in the bathroom. Emily was also hoping that if Susie made an extra effort with her appearance it would also help impress her employer.

Susie started to spend a lot of time checking herself out... a little more than the average teenage girl. Morning, noon and night Susie would check and double check she was looking ok, even when she never left the house.

Emily wondered if there was perhaps a boy behind the sudden interest in Susie caring about her appearance so much. Especially when the day of Susie's birthday occurred and she noticed her dressing a lot younger than her age.

While she stayed true to her grumpy attitude, her dress style went down a notch. Previously Susie dressed in pants, a t-shirt and a jacket, something Emily felt was a little old for her age bracket, but at least it wasn't the scampy shirts and dresses that a lot of the other teenage girls around town wore. Imagine Emily's surprise when Susie came out in one of those very same little dresses that Emily despises.

After Rainer had proved time and time again what a good guy he is, Emily didn't think twice to ask for his assistance with the matter. While yes, he hadn't known Susie for that long, perhaps he could shed some insight or at least help her understand the sudden shift. What he shared threw Emily more than she could ever had expected.

Susie had approached Rainer the other night after dinner, after Emily had gone to bed and asked for assistance with her homework.

At first Rainer thought nothing of it, but something kept niggling in the back of his mind. He didn't want to tell Emily at first as she was the last person he wanted to upset, especially when she was nearing the end of her pregnancy at the time it happened.

The other morning however, after Rainer had returned from his morning workout in the gym, Susie kept staring at him over breakfast. Not only was she staring, but she continually commented on his physique, asking him about his workouts, his muscles etc. Susie commented it on enough to make Rainer a little uncomfortable.

Emily was so confused. While she trusted Rainer explicitly, she also knew that both the children have been through so much so early in life, and poor Susie must be so confused with any emotions she might be having as she transcends from a teenager to a young adult. But then what if Rainer was wrong, what if it was nothing more than Susie being happy at having a stable father figure in her life, something she had never known.

Emily decided to approach Susie, albeit very gently. She had expected a reaction of some sorts, but she hadn't expected it to be Susie running out of the house at first mention. Displaying her first signs of rebellion, Susie broke into the backyard of one of the bigger houses in the town and had a swim in their pool... the occupants not even home. And apparently none too pleased when they did come home...

World crashing down or not... you don't swim in someone else's pool...

Here comes the baby!!

2009-10-04T07:52:00.000+11:00

Unlike Melani Banks who always goes into labour in the middle of the night, Emily was lucky enough to burst her waters not long after lunch - day time just makes it so much better. And no lost sleep!

Like all momentous occasions, Naturally I captured it all on film! Oh yes, pay special attention to the little girl lol...

Did you watch it? Did you hear that scream?! LOL the blood curdling scream from the little girl there? You would have thought someone was being murdered not born with the way she was acting. That was hilarious.

So what did Emily have? Do you have any bets? Are you hoping for a Boy or another Girl?

...

...

She had a girl!!

Then.... she had ANOTHER girl!!

Aaah lol, twins!! And without any improved fertilisation purchase too, awesome. For a woman that wants five kids, she's only got one left to go now lol. And what a great start for Rainer and Emily's relationship, that evens up the kid score - two to Adrian, two to Rainer. Sweet!

Picking traits for new babies is always the hardest for me. Because I like a more 'hands off' approach to simming, I also don't like to get too involved with the creation aspect either. When I first create the family, then yes I will happily pick everything down to the last strand of hair. But when it comes to two sims making babies, those are babies I haven't created and as such, I like them to tell me what they're personality's are.

Last night I discovered something wonderful!! There is a "random trait picker" option for new babies!! I don't have to pick anymore, I can let the game tell me what they kids are going to be like. OMG awesome!!

So what are these two new kidlets going to start off with?

Not too bad... certainly could have been worse.

Once the traits were picked it was time to head home. Of course, some of the furniture needed to be shuffled around to make room for two cribs in the bedroom. With two new kids coming in, who will eventually need their own room, I decided it was as good a time as any to begin house renovations to build a second level. Because of course right after you have two new babies is the perfect time to do massive renovations to your house lol... thankfully this is just The Sims and not real life. =p

Basically the lounge room got extended to include a desk area as the desk had to be moved to make way for the stairs. Once there is more money I will actually add on the second level. Big plans, just no money.

Back to the babies, I wanted to share a really quick video of when Emily announced the pregnancy to Rainer lol. I meant to share this earlier but forgot I took it.

LOL I just love that pat on the shoulder and the thumbs up response. Like, "hey, good for you chicky"... that's hysterical.

Thankfully Rainer has shown just how enthusiastic he is to be having his first children by doting on them hand of foot. He's so smitten with them, it's adorable. I can only assume one of the babies needed a nappy change by the look on his face in the first one though lol, something he's more than happy to do.

He even gets up in the middle of the night to let Emily sleep... Naaaaaw. This one is definitely a keeper! Like the comments I have received so far, I too am so happy that Emily has finally found a good guy...

Sims 3 World Adventures: You Can Go Inside Stores!!

2009-10-03T20:26:00.000+10:00

Now You Can Go Inside Stores: Finally! I hated sending my Sims off to shop and having to stare at the outsides of buildings for forever like I was playing a real-time strategy game and waiting for the battle to end. Naturally, the game also lets you build your own stores and fill it with whatever kind of junk you want to sell.

Quote courtesy of Sims 3 World Adventures: Chopsticks, Mummies & the French – Oh My!

Rainer hits the Gym

2009-10-03T07:06:00.000+10:00

For some reason I find myself focusing on Rainer at the moment - perhaps he's the new shiny toy? Or perhaps I am just waiting for him to slip up lol. He hasn't, not yet anyway.

When you concentrate on a sim as much as I am on Rainer, you start to notice minor... imperfections. Rainer isn't the most "buff" sim in town, and for some reason it was starting to bug me. He was also unemployed, but thankfully already had the desire to become a world class chef, and with encouragement from Emily, is on his way to making that goal happen. I'm sure that will make Emily happy, she can't stop eating at the moment. Lucky for Rainer, there is also a way to address his cuddly features, and it's called the Gym!

By the way he ran on the treadmill, he had clearly never seen the inside of one before lol. It was amusing if not a little pathetic. For the first time this week however, I had another sim distract me from Rainer - and it wasn't even a sim I control. Nope, it was this guy:

Bottom left hand corner, the dopey bugger looking longingly at the hot blond beside him. He spent his entire workout with those puppy dog eyes focusing on every piece of ass in there besides his own. I wonder if he's related to Max in any way?

That face didn't change, not once. As Rainer was leaving the Gym, this guy was heading back up the stairs, and once again, checking out the women.

Of course, I don't know any female that goes to the Gym dressed like that, especially as she's heading upstairs where the work out equipment is, and not the downstairs toilets to get changed. Either way, Mr Hot Stuff there clearly thinks she looks fine... is that a "till death do us part" image above his head? Or more a ... "drop dead" thought?

If anyones thinking someone should drop dead, I don't think it's him. Check out the face on her!!

Ouch!!

I got Rainer out of there pronto in case he got caught in the middle. I did notice when he got home (as he stopped past the letterbox to pay some bills, naaaaw) that the workout did seem to take affect already. I wish a 20 minute run on the treadmill helped me lose weight that quickly!

Rainer really proving his worth...

2009-10-02T07:59:00.003+10:00

At 2pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon, Emily and Rainer got married at the Gazebo in town. Friends and family gathered to watch the happy affair while I sat on the sidelines nervous for Emily's future. All I could do was cross my fingers that Rainer would turn out to be an ok guy and treat her well, or, if he doesn't, that he just makes it interesting enough to watch lol. I still can't move past the mooching for money on their first meeting, but Emily obviously knows something I don't, and she claims to love him.

I did video the ceremony, however it really wasn't that interesting lol. Poor Emily was already starting to show with her pregnancy so couldn't wear a wedding dress (you can't plan outfits when pregnant), however all her guests complimented her on how radiant she was regardless. While the compliments were genuine, the day wasn't without whispers on how big Emily was getting already... big enough for more than a couple of people to notice.

Rainer didn't care though, while waiting for all the guests to arrive he constantly stroked her belly and talked to his unborn child, his first. Even when Emily was up at 2am with cravings or eating them out of house and home, he continually commented on how beautiful she was.

The wedding itself went without a hitch. I'm really disappointed on just how uneventful something as big as a wedding is - all they do is swap rings, give a little kiss and that's it. I would have liked to see a cut scene of Emily walking "down the isle" so to speak, have the guests gather in more than just a huddle around the couple like they had mistaken them for a school yard fight. I mean, there wasn't even a minister - who says it's legit?!

Officially married or not, Emily and Rainer knew they were and it was time for Rainer to move in.

I hadn't realised that Rainer lived with other sims. He had never invited Emily over to his house, instead using excuses such as it was too messy, he was just heading out, or he was on his way over to Emily's anyway so she might as well just stay there for now. At first when I saw there were other people living with him I immediately got suspicious, but not long after he moved in with Emily, he lost his friendship with Larry Cooper, so I'm assuming there was just some living arrangement issues involved?

Of course, once Rainer was in and settled, I checked his profile just in case. I'm very happy to report this appears to be the most clean cut, good sim I've come across in a relationship so far. No children yet, no other mistresses, nothing. Rainer was starting to prove himself to me...

It seemed he moved in just in time too, Emily was getting very large and was spending more and more time with her feet up. Because Emily is such a fanatical cleaning sim, the state of the house was doing her head in - so much so she had a wish come up to hire a maid! For a woman who constantly cleans her house to sparkling, it was hard for her to watch another sim clean... especially when the work wasn't up to Emily's standards.

Rainer, wanting to do anything to keep his new wife happy, stepped up and re-cleaned some of the more important household items such as the toilet. And ladies, we all know a man that can do a good job cleaning the toilet is definitely a keeper!

The poor bugger cleaned and cleaned, and cleaned. Never did Emily criticize his work, instead, she was so blissfully happy for the first time in her life she didn't know what to do with herself. Never had she been treated so well by a man, it was all so new. Emily was sure to make Rainer know how appreciated he was - if he stopped for even a minute, she would kiss, cuddle and massage him. It was really quite cute to watch... sickly cute.

Rainer worked so hard in fact, that one morning Thomas got up to find the poor guy passed out on the kitchen floor.

Aaaaw, the poor guy lol.

The ultimate test for Rainer came the weekend after their marriage however - the TV was on the blink, the Dishwasher was leaking and Thomas fried the computer again with his hacking. That's three broken electrical items... Now remember, it was the TV that took Adrian, and the Dishwasher that took Grandpa. Would they claim a third life, or would it be the computer this time?

Although Rainer had the wishes to fix all three, Emily was nervous. She had told Rainer of her losses, but hadn't filled in all the details. Everything inside her wanted to tell him not to do it himself, yet secretly, she also felt like this would be the ultimate test on if he was really "the one" or not.

Holding her breath, she crossed her fingers and said a little prayer, she just hoped that she wouldn't have to raise yet another child alone...

Emily and Rainer... the next step.

2009-10-01T19:43:00.001+10:00

The first time we met Rainer, he showed he was extremely keen for Emily, and then undid all his positive points by begging for money. After that display, I was ready to write him off right then and there. Thankfully, Emily appears to give sims a bit more of a chance to prove themselves, and I'm glad. At first I couldn't help but curl my lip every time I was a wish involving Rainer pop up - call him, invite him over, hang out with him etc.

While I might not have been happy with her choice in men, I stand by my 'let me sims live their own lives' play style and followed the wishes Emily kept having. I used the "invite sim over" wish in conjunction with her birthday party which allowed me to put it down to just inviting Rainer along with everyone else and not specifically him alone. And of course, we all now know who stayed the longest out of the party guests...

Emily had her suspiciouns that she was pregnant and sent herself off to the Doctors. After it was confirmed that Emily was in fact pregnant with Rainer's child (there's a birthday present that's hard to beat), Emily decided she needed to take a huge risk...

Apart from the fact Rainer acted like a big bloody girl with his jumping around and excitement lol, it was very sweet. Oh yes, and it was Emily's wish to get married btw lol, I just forgot to screenshot that part as well - I was a bit distracted playing yesterday. Emily is a very old fashioned girl and couldn't possibly have the child without being married first - although she didn't know what she would do if Rainer said no.

Thankfully, he didn't. Oh yes, and the evil laugh you hear? That's courtesy of Thomas' new friend:

Thomas is in primary school, so why he is hanging around high school kids I can't not understand. I can only assume it's due to his less than clean reputation...

Emily Waters Catch Up...

2009-10-01T10:50:00.003+10:00

Needing a bit of a break from all the drama that Max is bringing to his world for a moment, I decided to pop on over to The Waters Family and see how they were doing. The last time I played them, Emily was picking herself back up by changing careers, trying desperately to meet a man and in the process met Rainer. It's good to see her moving on, I don't think Adrian will be too upset as we saw in Ghosts at Play...

Fast fowarding to now, I came in the day before Emily's birthday. I can't believe how quickly time has passed!! Taking her from young adult to an adult, it's now time to grow up. If I was to compare the sims to real life, I would put the young adult stage up to around 30, then the adult stage from 30 through to 50 where they then become an elder. So I look at Emily as an early 30's at the moment, which is still young enough to accomplish things... such as the rest of her family. (Her lifetime wish is to raise 5 children and she's 3 short...)

Since Adrian's passing, Emily has been coming out of her shell more, getting out in town and generally making more friends. This is a great thing as she really never left the house when Adrian and Grandpa were around, they didn't like her being anywhere other than at home doing her chores and making sure they were both looked after. Because she has been getting out though, there were lots of good friends and neighbours at her birthday party - the house was packed!

Emily is obviously one of those sims that just don't change all that much with age - lucky her. I really didn't see any difference in her looks... did you?

The video doesn't show it, but Rainer was present at her party. Emily and Rainer seem to have really hit it off and spent the majority of the night chatting to each other in the corner. Completely oblivious to what was going on around them, they seemed so smitten with each other and in their own little world. And the good news was there was no mooching for any money this time, good man Rainer.

One sim that was missing from the party however was Thomas. Noticing his absence I went searching for his wear abouts and was surprised to find him here...

What is a child doing in an abandoned warehouse? Especially sitting upstairs, alone? I honestly didn't know what to think when I saw this. I mean I know Thomas is weird, and he's not exactly the most honest kid in town, but this is just a little too bizarre...

Just as I was starting to run all sorts of scenarios through my head - like he was involved in some sort of drug smuggling ring - I realised was nothing more than kids being where they shouldn't. Thomas was not alone...

While it's good to know it's not more serious, it does give some insight into the sort of sim Thomas is growing up to be. I think he's going to follow in his father's footsteps of being evil and take it one step further by committing crimes. At least Adrian was just crazy and a little nasty, he never broke the law...

I watched them for a little while and they didn't really do much - just loitered. It reminded me of the annoying teenagers that hang out in car parks of McDonald's restaurants thinking they're really cool. This is just a younger version, I'm sure I'll find them hanging out outside the local diner when they age up a bit lol.

With the message popping up that it was past Thomas' curfew, I was surprised to see it already after 10pm and popped back to see how Emily's birthday party was going. Either they partied themselves out, or it was very boring... everyone was asleep. What was most interesting however, was that Rainer was asleep in Emily's bed. Ooooh

Frustratingly I didn't get a screenshot of it (bugger it), but I guess Emily got a birthday wish fulfilled? What makes me think this way? This!

A few mornings after her party, I couldn't but notice Emily kept touching her stomach all morning... are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Which family do you enjoy following the most?

2009-09-29T19:05:00.000+10:00

So, I have three main families now:

Melani Banks, my first "family" orientated sim. Has recently asked Hal to move in with her in an attempt to move past his cheating ways. Hal came coupled with his other love child Muhammad...
The Waters Family. Multiple deaths by electrocution took out both Evil family members, Emily had a mental break down, Susie age-warped past her entire childhood and Thomas is turning into a devious little boy.
Or Max and his recent love triangle between the Melani in his town and his new love Bella Bachelor.

Or of course you might love all three?

The reason I ask is I notice more readers hitting the blog on certain families, and numbers dropped off on one of them. While I'm not about to change my playing habits entirely to suit the readership, there are moments like now, where I've had enough of one family for a moment (Hal's stressing me out too much lol) and I want to check in on one of the others. I'm not real fussed which one, and if there was a particular favourite amongst my loyal fans, I'd be more than happy to allow that to influence my choices.

So, is there one family in particular you just can't wait to read more about? Perhaps two you follow and one you don't really care for? Or maybe you just like reading about all three - after all, there's more than one neighbour in Ramsey Street...

Aaaah!! Max, Melani and Bella in the same house!!

2009-09-29T07:04:00.000+10:00

Like sands through the hour glass... these are the days of Max's life. Scratch that - the hourglass is nothing more than a countdown until this love rat gets busted!! Have you been following the story line so far? How Melani was pregnant, then Bella was pregnant, then Max went over to Melani's house, made out with Melani while Bella made friends with the toilet bowl, etc etc?

Well... it gets worse.

Max had the wish pop up to throw a house party. Nothing unusual there, he's a party animal after all. I figured I'd just use it as a "welcome to our twin girls" kind of party. Bella had a wish pop up to get a massage, and really, who could blame the poor girl - twins on your first shot? Ouch. I decided to send Bella off for a massage and let Max get ready for the party while looking after the babies.

Bella also had an opportunity to teach an art class at the local school pop up a couple of days ago, so I decided to make her stop past to do that before then sending her on for a good rub down. Making sure she was getting from one place to the next safely, I switched back to Max to learn that the party was already getting started. That wasn't the shocker though... I right clicked Max's profile to zoom across town, landed straight on him, and this is what I saw!!

Um... what's Melani doing IN MAX'S HOUSE?! I didn't invite her, what the hell? Right at that moment, I actually gasped out loud, I was so surprised lol. I obviously made a loud enough noise that my daughter, happily destroying the room at the time, stopped and looked at me to make sure I was ok. How do you explain to a 2 year old that mummy is ok, a sim just surprised her and not cause irreputable damage requiring years of counselling later on?

After releasing the pause button and regaining my composure, I watched Melani reach into the crib and pick up one of the twins. Now, my problem is not that she's handling Max's new babies, the girl has more baby skills than any other sim in town with the rate she pops them out. My problem was with the fact they were not her babies!

I know it must be confusing for her, Max is there, a baby's there ... naturally she'd assume it was hers. I sat there, stunned, as I watched the two play happily families. It was quite unnerving how well they worked together as a team.

I kept flicking back between Bella and Max to make sure Bella was safely away from the house as I didn't know what would happen if she came home to see Melani mothering her new born. I mean, does Bella even know about Melani and Max's past? Does she know that Max already has children, and the mother of those children has rocked up, uninvited, to the party being thrown to celebrate her babies?

As I flicked back to Max, I heard a noise exit my mouth involuntarily. I didn't even realise what I had said until I heard my own little parrot behind me repeating it, "Noooooo... hehe... Noooooo... hehe". Apparently, judging by her volume, I must have yelled it quite loudly. What could cause me to scream at my computer?

This!!

GAH!! Oh my god!! Not only was there the shock that the two were locking lips, in Max's house, in front of the babies, but holy cow that's Eric standing in the background - that's Melani's husband!!! What is Melani thinking?!

I know what she's thinking, "the old fart of a husband has aged quicker than she has and the sims don't sport little blue pills"... that's what she's thinking. Regardless of what Melani is or isn't getting, she can't be doing this in Max's house!!

By this point I'm practically getting whiplash from swapping between Max and Bella. I was so freaking out that Bella would rock up home, Max would be caught out and everything would fall apart. I know from past experience (way back at the start) that the sim just has to be on the lot to witness a betrayal. Apparently sims can see through walls.

So long as Bella stayed at the beauty salon, I was safe. But the massage had to end eventually, and as soon as I saw her get in the car to come home, I raced back to Max to make him kick Melani out. Just when I thought it couldn't get anymore complicated... I saw this.

Bella's brother is standing there watching the whole thing!!! Aaaahh!! He now knows Max's little secret. What he will do with it I have no idea, but it's quite clear he is not happy about it. Crap!

The worst part? Every time I cancel an interaction between Max and Melani, another one pops straight up. Flirting, caressing, embracing, kissing, making out, I couldn't keep their hands off each other. The entire time I'm cancelling an interaction, zipping back to Bella, squealing as she gets closer and closer to home, zipping back to Max, prying him and Melani apart, back to Bella, back to Max, back to Bella... aaaah!

And then, it happens. Bella's home. Max and Melani are still in the nursery... touching.

....

....

I sit there, stunned. Silent. Mouth agape. I watch with baited breath as Bella, who is now not only dog tired from the new babies, but also extremely relaxed from her recent massage, walks a straight line from the front door to the bedroom and passes out as soon as her face hits the pillows.

I can not believe Max's luck. The main bedroom has a full glass wall that opens out onto the pond. On the other side of that pond is the Nursery, which also has a full glass wall. I checked Bella's moodlets, no betrayal. I check them again, nope, she definitely doesn't know. How she doesn't I have no idea, but I'm just happy to be breathing again.

Immediately I thank my lucky stays, mentally boot Max up the ass and tell everyone to go home. Party is over!! And I make sure Melani leaves the lot entirely...

Unfortunately, the whole sage was not without betrayal...

Of course, I really don't know how a 1 day old baby would be able to see well enough to witness the betrayal, let alone know what Max is doing isn't allowed. Smart cookies those kids...

I don't know if I can keep up with three drama families. Max, Melani and Bella. Poor Emily Waters, and then Melani and wanna be cheat Hal. Games shouldn't be this stressful lol!

Max is going to turn all my hair grey!!

2009-09-28T19:02:00.000+10:00

The life of Max has been related a day time soap opera by some of the blog readers lol. And I'm going to have to agree with them! I teased you all earlier in the day with the image of two empty cribs - twin cribs. For those savy enough to notice the background, and remember the shots I shared of when I started building Max's new mansion... that's his pond area in the background. Which means... yup, Bella had twins! Twin Girls!

Now, in real life, a woman carrying twins will often be larger than one carrying a single child. And unless your a celebrity, there is just no immediate bounce back from that - it takes time. Obviously, our sims share the same genes (and money) as celebrities as Bella bounced back into a perfect pre-pregnancy body. I have a new name for her and although it does begin with a B... it's not Bella.

One thing EA could do to bring even more realism into the game? Make your sims at the fattest end of the slider after birth and make us work it off again lol.

Unfortunately I can't see that happened. I wish it would though, because then I could explain away Max's wandering eye at least - you know, the hot new girlfriend got all fat and fugly so Max wants to cash in for a newer model. Instead, I have to look at how hot Bella looks and still deal with wishes like this:

What is wrong with this man?! He has Bella as a live in girlfriend, who is also completely smitten with him. He has Melani on the side who apparently drops what ever she is doing to make Max happy, and yet, he's STILL not happy?! I was lost for words at that wish...

A hint...

2009-09-28T10:42:00.003+10:00

Yes, it was Max's child!

2009-09-27T07:24:00.001+10:00

The other day I made a post: Max! Leave her alone!! Apart from the obvious "what are you two doing together" factor to it, I also mentioned how I wasn't 100% sure if the baby inside Melani was in fact Max's. I could only assume it was his because who goes around feeling and listening to other people's tummies just for fun? Also, as yumiki53 pointed out, it most likely is Max's baby because in the second screenshot I shared, Max had the wish to read a pregnancy book. Who would want to read a pregnancy book if they have no child on the way.

Not 5 minutes into gaming last night, I got the confirmation message. While Max slept peacefully in bed with his new love Bella, Melani went through the agony of childbirth and gave birth to Max's child, a baby girl. I can only hope that Eric was by her side...

Thankfully only one and not twins this time lol. Unfortunately, although I did screenshot the message as the name was really unusual, I stuffed up and saved another screenshot over it. Because the in game screen capture feature doesn't include the interface, I have to use the Print Screen button and then paste into a Paint or Photoshop. Of course, all those are then given the name of Untitled 1 or 2 or so on.

So I took the shot of the baby's name, saved as untitled 1 quickly and went back to the game. Later on I got another shot, went to save it and realised the name was also untitled 1, went to cancel and instead hit enter without thinking (hands moved faster than brain) and boom... first image gone.

But trust me, the kid is Max's lol.

You want to know what the second image was that saved over that first, oh so important image? This!

Yes, ironic huh? See the face of the sim that belongs too...?

Yup! Bella is pregnant! Clearly Max has very active swimmers... it must be from the boxers and not briefs (or nothing at all) this Rock star wears under his pants.

Watch where you park!

2009-09-26T19:22:00.000+10:00

LOL, how's this for a bit of a glitch?

Everyone was just way too excited at one of Max's autographs sessions and not watching who they ran over before they parked lol.

I don't think Bella and Max will make it...

2009-09-26T08:58:00.002+10:00

When I popped in to check on Max the other day, I thought it would very a very quick look in and then I would jump over to either Melani Banks, or The Waters Family. I should learn that what ever I think never turns out to my the case with my sims. I mean, I thought the Waters would be one family that I didn't end up playing and look how that turned out. I thought Melani Banks would be boring and play the suburban role of happy families, and look at her.

So why, when I look at Max, his maxed out career and easy going single life, did I think it would be boring? Did I honestly thing the game would let me lose interest in him? Because honestly, I was thinking along the lines of not bothering with him anymore and instead just concentrate on the two "family" sims. Nope, not going to happen.

While Max is off with Melani doing things he really shouldn't, it seems Bella has been busy making new "friends" of her own. During the middle of one of Max's concerts the other night, Bella decided to pop into town to pick up a few groceries... but that's not all she checked out.

Judging by that last image and the negative thoughts about Bella, she's either gotten around town a bit more before Max met her. Or, they're friends of Max and know that she should either be at the concert or at home. Either way... I can't see Bella and Max lasting long if their both going to let their eyes wander...

Ironically, not long after Bella got back home I had the following message pop up

Hrm... I wonder if there was anything behind that friendship break.

P.S. I don't even want to KNOW what is going on in the background behind Bella!!!

First “Sims 3 World Adventures” picture of Paris!

2009-09-25T15:49:00.001+10:00

BricaSims found the first picture of Paris in The Sims 3! You can see the Eiffle Tower in the background. I can’t wait to see what it looks like up close – hope it doesn’t disappoint!

Max! Leave her alone!!

2009-09-25T07:14:00.000+10:00

Max and Melani. I swear they are going to drive me batty. These two sims just can NOT stay away from each other!! I wrote just a few days ago how I was going to keep Max away since he's hitting it off so well with Bella right? Well, what am I meant to do with a wish like this?

First off, this tells me that Melani is pregnant... AGAIN! Is that woman a walking baby maker or what? I can't remember the last time I played Max what happened, so I've actually got no idea if this is Max's child or Erics. lol oops! I assume Max because of that request - I mean, what man wants to go and listen to a tummy containing someone elses offspring?

So fine. I figure I'll take Max over to Melanis (can't really have her over at Max's now that Bella is staying there can I?), inform her about Bella and end what ever relationship they have. I mean, their not boyfriend and girlfriend...

If Max can ask Melani to leave Eric, that means she's still with him, which means Max is nothing more than an affair. And affair... that has to stop! So I fulfill Max's wish... he goes over, he feels the tummy, he listens to the tummy...

So it should be a good time to say goodbye right? Wrong! Apparently my values and morals don't matter...

Max!! What are you doing.... no, no, remove your lips from hers!!

Oi, I don't know what to do lol. It gets worse. Oh I know, how could it get worse right?

Told you! Thankfully you can't woo hoo with such a pregnant sim, so I don't have to worry about that wish for now. I can hear what you're thinking - just don't let Max fulfill any wish to do with Melani right? Well see that's where the struggle between sim and player comes in. I prefer to play as an observer, I like my sims to live their own lives, make their own decisions and deal with any potentially manhood threatening outcomes. So how can I play that way, and not let Max dig a very deep hole for himself? I am but simply looking in through the windows of their worlds...

Speaking of looking in. Melani has what, five kids now? Where do they sleep?

The game will happily take care of their aging needs. Will marry them, make babies with them and then not give those babies anywhere to sleep? This was the original house I built back when I was in control of this Melani - back before I stuffed her life up. Of course, I laugh at that now... I barely rippled her world compared to the trouble she's getting herself into now. But that aside, where are the kids bedrooms? Hell where are the kids beds?

The game really needs to expand houses as families grow. I tried to. I tried to edit the town and fix the house for them, I figured it was the least I could do. Yet I can't. You can't edit houses already occupied by sims. Which means the kids will just have to continue sleeping on the floor.

Poor buggers.

Marriage Max? Really?

2009-09-24T14:56:00.000+10:00

So yes, the Bella/Max relationship has been going along swimmingly. They get along so well together, and apparently living with a female isn't as bad as Max first thought it might be. It seems he's finding it really fun as he had the following wish pop up today.:

I'm surprised to see this coming from the care-free rock star who had no plans to settle down and instead wanted to bed every woman he could! I guess he's just head over heals for Bella...

Fun Fact #67

2009-09-24T07:04:00.001+10:00

Here's something I didn't actually know... you can chat to sims, and invite them over from your friends panel! I've always used the phone, then called sim, invite over and then selected them from the list. Not sure if this way is much quicker, but it was still a cool find!

Bella moves in...

2009-09-23T19:31:00.000+10:00

Max and Bella have been practically inseparable since they met - the only other sims I've seen Max get along with so well are Melani and Blair. Although I am normally hands off as much as possible, I've decided to help this little relationship along a bit by making sure I fulfill Max's wishes to invite Bella over. If he doesn't have that wish, I've been sending him out into town to help him run into her lol. So far everything's been going really well - so much so, that Max had the wish pop up to ask Bella to move in!!

Not sure if I was quite ready for that drastic a change to Max's life just yet lol, I decided to follow the wish anyway and call it an "extended sleep over" - basically she's going to just crash there for a while. If I decide it's not working, I'll evict her and call it "sleep over over" lol. I mean, when I met my now partner, we practically breathed for each other for the first two weeks before realising I'd not been back to my place since we met and maybe we should take a step back for a couple of days. I'll just look at this in the same way.

Unfortunately, what I didn't realise was, Bella lived alone? I always thought the Bachelor family had like 5 members or something crazy, and that moving Bella into Max's for a bit wouldn't disrupt the town too much. But then, when I got the following option pop up, I realised that Bella moving out meant the Bachelor house would then be on the market!

I wasn't sure what to do when that happened, but then figured why not hey? I mean, I've got no plans to let Bella go back to what ever live was laid out for her, so what did it matter if the house went to someone else. I'm sure there's some avid story followers out there that are aiming rotten tomatoes at me right now for ruining the Bachelor story line lol. Sorry guys.

One of the good things that comes with moving a townie in with your own sims, is the learning game! First off I learned Bella wanted to be an Astronaut! That's some big ambitions she has there, especially for someone with the Virtuoso trait LOL.

Right after I got her signed up to the military career track, she had a wish to purchase a chess table (logic skill), do a work out (fitness skill), learn the guitar AND learn to garden! Geez Lois settle down woman!

I also learned that Bella is in fact an Adult which surprised me give how young she looks. I'm sure all the ladies around town are probably very jealous of that lol. Even in the sim world of perfection, Bella is extra perfect. Speaking of jealous ladies, check out who's a friend of Bellas!!

Oops! I wonder how she will feel when she finds out Bella now has Max.

Max and Bella Bachelor!

2009-09-23T07:06:00.000+10:00

As mentioned last night, Max and Bella Bachelor seemed to hit it off really well. After their connection, Max went home and immediately had the wish come up to invite Bella over. I figured it was a bit late that night, so sent him to bed to get a good nights sleep and invited her over the following night. Conveniently, that happened to be a Saturday night which meant there would be no need for her rush home... if you get my drift.

Apparently Max was already waaaaay ahead of me lol. As soon as she arrived, he was touching her, holding her, kissing and generally all over her. Think he had something on his mind? He could't have been more obvious if he opened the door naked lol.

I was trying not to pay too much attention to them as it just feels a little creepy to watch my sims grope each other, but I couldn't help but notice something a tad odd when I did glance over. Have a look at this image:

See the guy in the background? He rocked up right as Bella did. So either Bella is being followed (can that happen?) or Max's celebrity status means that the paparazzi wants to catch a photo of him with a new female in tow. I zoomed right over to see what he was doing, and give it's night time, he's not helping the suspicion factor by reading a newspaper... in the dark.

Something was really funky with that. I've not really felt unnerved by a sim before lol, it was a weird feeling. I didn't know what to do about it - send Max out to tell him to bugger off? Perhaps I should have. Instead Max just hit inside... well, some people call it hiding lol.

Yup, Bella and Max woo hooing it up. They hit it off REALLY well!

Getting back on track...

2009-09-22T19:07:00.000+10:00

I have a funny feeling that Aion is going to distract me quite a bit for a little while - the freshness that comes with a new game, the joy of being back in a MMORPG and all that. But I'm not going to be neglecting or forgetting my sims just yet. Even when I was playing Aion last night, I couldn't help but sit here wondering how Melani was going to cope with all those children. Or how Emily was going trying to find a man.

Of course, one sim who I haven't check in on in a while is Max. After he reached the max level of his music career and became a big pop star, there wasn't really much more for me to do with him. Sure I could raise his fitness levels and such, but where's the fun in just getting up and going to the gym each day, every day, all day. Of course, my husband is probably reading that right now going "Um... nothing?! What are you kidding me woman?!" lol. But I hate exercise enough as it is, I'm not going to sit here and watch my sims do it lol.

Of course, what makes a sim's live interesting? Families!! Girlfriends, wives, kids! All the things that cause mass amounts of chaos, and all the things I have purposely avoided with Max. I started wondering if I should just cave and let poor kid laden down Melani version 2 move in. Ironically, she has I think 5 kids now? 3 to Max and I think another two to her husband Eric lol. Clearly no matter where she's located, Melani is just a walking child machine.

When I consider hooking them up however, in comes that whole "I don't want to play two Melanis" factor. I mean, it gets confusing for me, I can't imagine what it does to you poor readers lol. No, I'm going to make Max stay away from the Melani in his town from now on I think. Just stick to playing one Melani for now. Which means... I need to find Max a new woman! All the ones he's been attracted to so far have out-aged him by two stages, so they are no longer eligible in my books. Young Adult and Elder? Yuck lol.

So I sent Max into town, to the Bistro which seemed to the gathering place of the evening and let him run loose talking to anyone and everyone. Remembering my theory - how some sims are just meant to be - I noticed he was getting along particularly well with one sim. I think Max has found his mate!!

That right there is Bella Bachelor lol! And they are hitting it off BIG TIME. I've never followed any of the PC controlled families before, but even I know that name and know that Max is stealing her away from some other guy in town haha. Awesome!

I don't think who ever it is will have much of a chance now that Max has worked his moves on her though - I think she's in luuuuuurve.

I'll be very interested to see where this goes now lol. I'm all excited that he's stealing someone elses woman - and in a good way, not like he did with Melani and Eric lol. I did make Max ask if Bella was single, and she still is currently. Which makes her fair game! I love the name Bella, I think the sim version is really pretty and of course, she's not an elder yet so she ticks all my approval boxes!!

Hrm, I might just have to stick around Max for a bit and see what happens next...

They're all dead!!

2009-09-21T19:33:00.002+10:00

No no, don't panic. My lack of updates has nothing to do with my poor little Sims heh. They're all alive and kicking... well crap, last time I checked on them they were! And even if they were all dead, that would mean an influx of posting, not lack of. =p

Nope, my uncharacteristically quiet patch is nothing more than time getting away from me. Saturday we had the in-laws here and even my little munchkin didn't get to bed till almost 10pm, oi! Then Sunday it was just too many things, not enough sleep and a decision to have an early night. So that's an entire weekend of no sims. Oh my gosh!

There will also be no simming for me tonight because Aion is out! It's here! The servers are live waahoo!! For those also following my @Velcro_Monkey twitter account, a new MMORPG called Aion is currently distracting me and will be sharing my gaming spotlight for a little while.

Unfortunately, my main PC is a little out dated now a days, so much so that the sims really couldn't run on it. That's why I play it on my laptop. And now, with Aion and it's oh so beautiful graphics, I've had to use my laptop for that as well. Sorry my helpless little sims, I can't play two games at once. I could if I upgraded my PC, I could have one running on that, the other on my laptop. But until money starts falling in my lap, then I will have to play swapsies - one night on Aion, one night on The Sims.

But that's ok, one night on the Waters family gives me about a weeks worth of blogging lol! And with Melani's recent arrival of twins, and the fact their household now has eight people, I'm sure they'll give me the same treatment. So there shouldn't really be any noticeable difference in the postings on here. And if you are into Aion, I also have a blog for that too! Check it out here: http://aionexperience.blogspot.com/

So yes, that's all. Everything's ok. Please just give me a night to experience Aion for the first time and I promise, there will be sim blogs galore up tomorrow!

Eeee, Eeeee, Breeeeath!

2009-09-20T19:20:00.000+10:00

Child number #3 on the way, and again, Melani goes into labour at night not long after crawling into bed. At 3am last night, it was all stations go as another family member was about to make their arrival. Notice the stereotypical uselessness of the male species as Hal ran on the spot, pulled a few hairs out and generally doesn't know what to do. Granted, he was never there for any of the other pregnancies lol, but that doesn't excuse him!

I'm not sure if it was because Melani had her last baby Ricky in the hospital, or if she knew something was different about this labour, but I didn't get the option to have a home birth. Instead, she just drove herself to the hospital without any interaction from me. Good one Hal - who lets their in labour partner drive?!

What's worse than letting the mother drive herself to the hospital while you ride shotgun? How about the part towards the end of the video where Hal gets out of the car, runs around to the hospital entrance and then stands directly in front of Melani blocking her path? I mean WHO DOES THAT?! I wanted to lurch through my computer monitor and shake him until his eyeballs spun. *mutters away about stupid men*

While Melani and Hal were inside delivering their third child together, I anxiously paced the footpath waiting to hear that everything was ok. I had sent Melani to the doctors during her pregnancy for a check up in the hopes of being able to find out the sex of the child she was having. I have been hoping for a girl what with two boys already and now the introduction of Muhammad. Unfortunately I got no such information and instead had to wait patiently to find out with everyone else. By the way, does anyone know how you do find out the sex of your unborn child?

After a few nerve racking minutes, the message pops up, I read over and it's...a.... boy. What the?! Nooo, I wanted a girl! Another boy, that makes FOUR BOYS?! oh my goodness!! Ok, so pick a name... a boy name... damnit I didn't have any boy names ready.

After racking my poor tired brain, I ended up using Patrick after Mr Swayze himself, my little tribute. I'm a female, therefor I love Ghosts and Dirty Dancing lol.

While I sat there wondering how long it would take Melani to get pregnant again since Hal is now living with her. I mean, when they weren't living together she ended up pregnant anytime he came over pretty much. And now he's there all the time. Hopefully my wish for a girl won't go unheard for too long.

As Melani exited the hospital doors, my game paused and I was confused when the request to name the baby popped up again. Huh? Didn't it save last time? What's going on..... oh wait a minute!! TWINS?? As I scanned across to the family member line up, I could see there already was one baby showing, so this was another baby!

Now I know why Melani rushed off to the hospital! She must have known something was going to be different with this birth. (I'm assuming perhaps you can't have twins at home?)

As I read over the text, and realised it wasn't just twins, but twin boys, I started to feel really sorry for Melani lol. That means she's got four boys to Hal, and Muhammad makes five boys in the house. Oh my GOD!!

Moments later Hal followed Melani out of the hospital carrying Michael. Together the family went home as I tried to work out how I'd fit two cots into the master bedroom. unfortunately, I can't. One of the poor babies will have to sleep in the hall tonight lol. I might look at rearranging something so either the twins share a room together, or I can somehow fit both cots in the main bedroom.

After all, they've just spent four days in the womb together lol, I can't separate them now...

Oh Hal...

2009-09-20T07:41:00.000+10:00

When you take over a previously game controlled sim, you get to learn a whole lot more about them. This is a good thing. Unfortunately they way in which you have to learn all these new things is not so good. And for Hal, it's down right almost painful!

I really thought he was going to pull his socks up and prove to Melani that she hadn't made the wrong decision in asking him to move in and really give their relationship a go. He had a wish come up to take a cooking class and I smiled thinking that he was going to pull his weight around the house - and besides cleaning, cooking is the best thing he can do to help. Especially since Melani already has a cleaner thanks to her generous doctors wage.

Late one night, Hal popped into town and made his way to the Bistro to take a cooking class. I figured if he was going to help cook, he might as well learn from the best chefs in town. A few hours later, as I was checking in on the kids and making sure they were all behaving, I noticed that Hal kept having an image of a female sim popping up. Obviously his cooking class was over, so who was he talking to...?

Scanning over, I got an unexpected surprise. Yes, there was another female sim involved, but it's not what you think. Have a look at the following sequence of images...

So, following those images, you can see that Hal informs Marilyn of his new living arrangements, and clearly, she's none too pleased. I think it would be safe to assume, given his lifetime wish and womanizing ways, that perhaps Marilyn is one of his many female flings? And we can only guess that she's really not happy that he's trying to settle down and play happy families...

I do have to laugh though, in that second last image you can see Hal running away. Literally. Check out when it says when you mouse over haha:

I didn't know sims did that LOL! Of course, I think it's pretty bad form for a man to get into a fist fight with a woman... tsk tsk. That said, if it's going to happen, I might as well get a video of it haha!

The next day, Melani sent Hal down to the Library with Muhammad who has been struggling in school so far. She also hoped it would build father-son relations having some quality time together away from the house. Unfortunately, Hal ran into another female sim, another fling I assume and, well...

I have a funny feeling that there's going to be some really pissed off women around town for a while. I'm almost scared to let Hal go out at this stage! Almost...

I wonder how this will affect Melani as well? Will the women know she's the one who is playing happy families with Hal? And if they do, will they take out their clear frustrations on her as well?

Braving the dark town alleys, Melani popped down to pick up the recipe for cookies as she was having cravings. It seems that even if Hal does turn out to be a rat, she'll be ok. Look at her chatting it up with some new fella... Go Melani!

So yes, with a deeply let down sigh, I have to wonder what's going to happen with Hal. While it's a good sign that he's informing people of his new relationship status, it is a worry that a) there appear to be quite a few women to inform, and b) he would rather do that than help his own child with homework. I do have to question if he's telling these women because he wants to keep seeing them, but of course can't have them saying anything to or around Melani?

I'll have to keep an eye on this one I think...

News: Create Your Own Tombs (Part I)

2009-09-19T18:53:00.004+10:00

The Sims 3 World Adventures Goes Underground

Written by: Mike Fahey

The Sims 3 expansion pack World Adventures brings with it a basement tool, which everyone will use to build tombs, and not underground Sim torture chambers.

The new basement tool allows The Sims 3 players to create underground structures up to four levels deep, and EA has plenty of new tomb objects in store in order to help facilitate the joy of exploration. Objects like the Fogger, which hides unexplored areas from the player's view, or hidden stairways, which help facilitate secret passages. Other important objects include that old staple the floor switch, and traps that shoot fire, steam, electricity, or darts. This is going to be so much fun. Toss in a couple Saw-inspired face bear traps and I'll be in heaven.

Check out the rather large list of tomb objects EA released today below, and start planning out your tomb so you can get building when the expansion arrives on November 17th.

And yes, I am already planning my underground Sim torture chamber, but don't you dare judge me, or you'll be right there with them.

Here is some of the dozens of Tomb Objects and Object Updates:

Tomb Object (Fogger): The tomb object is the cornerstone of tomb building and will often be placed in every room of the tomb. The Tomb Object is what creates the "fog" that hides non-explored rooms from the player. This lets you create a sense of discovery and suspense as your Sims explore new tombs. The "fog" will recede from a room when a player enters the room through a door, descends stairs into the room, enters a room that is connected to a fogged room with an arch, or if a Sim "Looks Through" a window that looks into a fogged room. Adding or Removing fog is also a potential Activated Behavior.

Floor Switch: The floor switch is a classic adventure game object. It is a small, 1 tile floor object on which Sims can stand or push statues. Stepping On and Off the switch are both Triggers that can connect to Activated behaviors. Floor Switches can also be set to Appear or Disappear.

Wall and Floor Trap: The traps are two different objects that can be placed on the wall or floor. These can be set to shoot fire, darts, steam, or electricity on unsuspecting Sims. They can have a variety of states, including hidden and dormant, armed and visible, hidden and armed, or hidden and firing. Each of these states can be activated by Sims walking over them or as an Activated Behavior. Traps can light Sims on fire or knock them out. However, there are multiple ways to handle traps. Sims can disarm them by tinkering with them, or push statues upon them to disarm. Water will disarm a fire trap, which makes a great puzzle element when paired with the steam trap…which creates water! Sims can walk with immunity through a fire trap when soaked. Experiment and come up with your own puzzles!

Dive Well: Dive Wells are one of the most exciting Tomb Objects. Sims can use them to become Soaked, which makes them immune to fire, or to put themselves out when already on fire. A Hidden Switch can be set at the bottom of dive wells as a Trigger. You can always place treasures at the bottom. Another fun element is that you can set the color of the water in the dive well, so fire tombs can have blood red water, whereas a tomb with a poison theme can have murky green water.

Dive Wells are most fun when they are set up as portals. Dive Wells set as Portals will connect to each other. Sims will go to the bottom, and then emerge from the closest dive well on the same floor. It's also possible to designate a Dive Well as an Uber Dive Well. Here, you designate a name so that you can define the precise point of origin and exit – even across multiple lots in the world. This lets you create one-of-a-kind entrances to island tombs and other inaccessible areas.

Treasure Chest: The biggest reason to explore anything is to find treasure at the end. Treasure Chests let you fill your tomb creations with various treasures, keys, garbage, or whatever you can imagine. Opening and Inserting a Keystone a treasure chest are also Triggers that can set Activated Behaviors.

Sarcophagus: The Sarcophagus can act as a large, ornate treasure chest, a place to hide, a place to sleep, and even a place to WooHoo. Most exciting, however, is its ability to spawn mummies. Mummies will patrol tombs in search of unsuspecting Sims to pummel and *gasp* curse! Mummies provide an element of danger and the unexpected to any tomb.

Torch Lever: The torch lever, like the Floor Switch, is an object for Sims to pull on to trigger Activated Behaviors. Some can be set to active, whereas others can be dummies, forcing players to carefully examine their surroundings. It's possible to define the colors of the torch light, which allows Tomb Designers to provide hints and clues on how to complete puzzles. Or, to simply set the ambience of a tomb!

Pushable Statues: Pushable Statues are another classic adventure game element. They can be pushed on top of traps to disarm them, or cleverly pushed through a maze to unveil a formerly blocked path. Their most common use is to be paired with a floor switch. Floor Switch triggers can be set so that they activate something when a Sim is on them, but deactivate as soon as a Sim steps off of them. This means a Sim must push a statue on top of them in order to keep the floor switch depressed. Pushable Statues can be set to be secretly pushable (they require inspection), visibly pushable (no inspection needed), or not pushable at all.

Hidden Stairways: Stairways from The Sims 3 can be set to Hidden now. This is an Activated Behavior, so that a Trigger can now Hide or Unhide the stairs. Hidden Stairways are a great way to surprise players. Just when it seems there's no way out, pulling a switch reveals a stairway!

Source: Kotaku.com

Two more World Adventures Screenshots

2009-09-19T12:32:00.000+10:00

Released today...

Checking in on The Banks

2009-09-19T07:24:00.000+10:00

After leaving Melani a few days ago to work out what to do about Hal after discovering more about him seconds after his furniture was placed, I decided it would be a good idea to stick my head back in and see how she was coping. I'm very happy to report that it all appears to be smooth sailing at the moment. Yay.

A house of 6 is quite a handful I must say. By the time I get through queueing up all the tasks for one sim and work my way down the list, it's time to go back up to the top and start again. The good thing is that both Seth and Ricky are at school, and Hal has a job (that's at least one plus), so during the middle of the days it's just Audrey (grandma) and new addition Muhammad at home. So really, not unlike when grandma was at home with baby Ricky. Nice and easy.

For a child that could have been made to feel neglected and unwanted, the entire family have shown their just how wonderful they can be and embraced him as one of their own. The boys happily include him in any suitable games they play, and although Melani has been preoccupied, she hasn't forgotten his arrival and makes time to get to know him. Audrey, as warm and loving as any grandma could be, happy takes care of him during the day, and even spends some time sitting down and watching his favourite cartoons on TV... naaaw.

The poor bugger though, a single day after he moved in, I had the message pop up that it was his birthday and he had already aged up. Normally you get a warning message a day or two before hand so you can organise a party, but because he wasn't part of my family until the day of his birthday, Melani got no such warning. Instead, I was just presented with the following:

My heart did break a little when I saw that due to his difficult upbringing his traits could not be chosen. While Melani refuses to take any blame as it was up to Hal to do the right thing, she can't help but look at the happy childhood her own children have had so far and feel it's unfair that Muhammad didn't experience the same. In that moment, she decided that she would throw a belated birthday party for Muhammad!!

I have a funny feeling he's going to have a very good life regardless of what's happened so far. Apart from the fact he's in a loving family now, he's a really good looking kid! He's going to drive the ladies wild!!

I did notice that there was no interaction between Hal and Muhammad when he aged. I thought that was a little odd for a father and child. I checked his relationship status and noticed that Muhammad in fact dislikes Hal. How sad!! I'll have to work at fixing that I think - Melani will nag Hal until he rectifies his relationship with him lol.

I also had to laugh when I noticed that Hal doesn't like Jebidiah haha!!

He has to be feeling pretty happy that he got the girl in the end though. And he appears to be openly showing his affections towards Melani as well as both Seth and Ricky, which makes me really pleased. Especially as he's never really spent any time with his two older boys before.

The entire family decided to take a trip into town as there was a cook-off happening and it sounded like a fun family outing. I'm not too sure how they all fit into Melani's Prias, but doesn't it make for a cute family shot?

The cook-off lasted well into the night, which was no problem as it was a weekend. Melani and Hal took some time to get close and comfy while the children ran around and played. I like the image of flowers above Hal's head!

And I had to laugh when I saw the thought bubble during one of their many kisses - it appears everything tastes like chicken... lol!

Muhammad also appears to be very accepting of Melani's impending pregnancy. Yes, the toilet bowl party was pregnancy related as I expected. Upon announcing it to Hal, he was very pleased, and of course both Seth and Ricky are excited at the possibility of having a little sister... with three boys already, I think everyone is hoping for a girl this time.

Then again, take a look at Muhammad's eyes in this shot. I didn't even realise he was standing in it when I captured it...

Maybe he's not so accepting of it all? Or maybe he's just turning evil with all that's happened so far in his life. What ever it is, it's creepy as hell!

Outside of that minor issue however, I'm VERY pleased to report that it's all happy families over at the Banks residence! Melani and Hal are getting along marvelously, while Grandma is still going strong and painting up a storm. Seth, Ricky and now Muhammad all appear to be coping at school, with Seth and Ricky excelling. And at the end of the day, while Melani cooks dinner and Hal makes his way home from work, the three kids sit down together and do what all good kids should do - their homework!

Such a blissful life...

Ghosts at Play...

2009-09-18T19:45:00.000+10:00

Very rarely do I loiter around the local graveyard, I just don't possess the Buffy ninja skills to fight anyone off. But recently, while trying to locate the Mysterious Mr. Gnome, I have been scanning past at night time to queue up the request to explore the catacombs for Thomas. I had forgotten that the Ghosts come out to play at night, and zoomed in a little closer when I noticed one wandering around.

This wasn't just any ghost however...

Yup, that right there is the ghost of Adrian Waters! I got really excited when I saw who it was haha. I had intended for Emily to try to find him back when he died, but then I got distracted with her emotional melt-down and all the drama that followed. And then I just plain forgot. I considered waking Emily up and bring her down there now, but who wants to be dragged out of bed in the middle of the night to be reminded of who isn't in your life anymore? No no, I let her sleep lol.

I was glad I did too! I didn't realise what ghosts get up to!! Oh my goodness! Not long after I found Adrian, he had the bed icon appear above his head - I didn't realise ghosts needed sleep lol.

As he started walking off I was going to leave, I assumed he was just going back to his grave to get some shut eye. I'm glad my curiosity to see him jump back into his grave made me hang around a bit longer and watch him, for my assumption of asleep was wrong! Oh he jumped into a grave alright, but it wasn't his!

At first I thought that perhaps it didn't matter what grave they jumped into, that the game might not make them jump into their actual grave. But that didn't really sit right with me. And the fact that the headstone was jumping around also had me confused. I REALLY wish I had of hit record, but I was too stunned when I realised what was going on. The headstone... was jumping... liiiiike the pillows in a bed being woo hoo'd in does...

Yeeees, now you're with me. Mr Adrian Waters was having a ghostly good time with Kiko Kimora there. Apart from the fact she sounds like a girl ready for a good time, this cracked me right up. I didn't even think ghosts could woo hoo haha!! I guess Adrian can't be too upset that Emily is off doing the hanky panky with other sims then LOL!

After a few seconds (yes sorry Adrian, you really weren't in there that long), he popped back up and started having a conversation with another fellow. I did take note of his name when I saw it him, but didn't think to write it down.

Previously, Max ran into a little girl who dripped water when she walked. Ghost sims reflect how they have died, and dripping water would be drowning. I noticed Adrian had periodic sparks flow through his body (electricity) and this guy, who glowed red, has obviously died in a fire of some sort.

I watched Adrian and this guy chat away for a good 10 minutes which was amusing. I shouldn't have been surprised given what I had just witnessed not a few minutes earlier, but I found it kinda cool that ghosts can appear to raise their reputation with other ghosts.

After their conversation ended, the fire man wandered off. I found it cool that perhaps Adrian could find the friends in death he never could in real life. Then again, maybe not...

I realise that the smell of burnt skin and hair probably isn't that tolerable for too long, but do you even have the use of your lungs to breath, let alone nostrils to smell when your dead? Then again, maybe the other guy farted? That'd be really bad if your ass is constantly on fire still...

Adrian just stood there for a while before wandering off with the following sim in his thoughts...

I can't quite make out if he's thinking about himself or not, it doesn't exactly look like Adrian. Who ever it is though, they look bloody scary!! And evil... which is why I wondered if he was thinking of himself.

As the night was ending and I noticed it was getting lighter, I watched Adrian walk over to the concrete bench in front of the catacomb entrance to lie down and fall asleep. No idea why he didn't go back to his grave, I'm sure his casket would be more comfy. You can also see his electricity sparks here which is cool. Took me ages to get that image as it happens really quickly - just like his passing lol.

I noticed by this time that Thomas was already out of bed and on his bike on the way to the graveyard. I got really excited at the thought that he might see Adrian given where he was lying! Unfortunately, it was not to happen as moments before Thomas arrived, Adrian... well... poofed!

Another day perhaps. Then again, I'd hate to have Thomas see his dad doing the horizontal tango with another ghost. That'd really mess you up!

Sims 3 Potty Toddler Race

2009-09-18T07:09:00.000+10:00

This video got shared by the official Sims 3 Twitter guys which I thought was pretty cool. I got a chuckle out of it, very creative...

Emily and Rainer...

2009-09-17T19:25:00.000+10:00

Emily really is a glutten for punishment. All last night she kept having the wish to hang out, chat with or invite Rainer over. I was trying to look out for her best interests and cancel them all - after all, the guy did beg for money, but like a teenager determined, Emily was hell bent on seeing him. So I stepped back, I let her go. It is her life after all, she has to learn for herself.

What did Emily learn not 10 minutes after his arrival though?

Gee, colour me surprised. *sigh*

Like long lost friends, these two have clicked so much it's scary. This is yet another example of my theory that there are sims out there that are just meant to be. Even if I don't want this to be an example of that theory, it just goes to show, it's all out of our control whether we like it or not.

Emily, clearly smitten, had all sorts of distrubring and stomach churning wishes come up. I really don't like Rainer's looks lol - I can't stand the stupid facial hair, he's a horrible dresser, looks a bit goofy and never takes that bloomin hat off. He's everything I don't go for in a man lol. But he's not for me is he? I have to keep reminding myself that Emily is the one interested not me. And there's no accounting for taste...

The first few wishes I could handle - a friendly hug, a general chat, etc. Then the first kiss wish came up, followed by the wish to make out. Gah...

Either this guy is a really good kisser, or Emily's just happy to finally found a man who is single, and interested - even if I think for the wrong reasons. The next wish to pop up made me want to pull her aside and slap her - she wanted to go steady. And of course, Rainer realising he would need to woo Emily a bit more to get any money out of her, agreed.

We've all seen the movies where the women gets done over by the perfect, charming, wonderful man that just happened to arive in town after a family tragedy left the heartbroken, lonely woman alone and sometimes with a huge pile of money right? He swoops in, wins her heart and then runs off with her money. Hell, even Neighbours had this story line recently (for the Aussie viewers). I've seen a few of these movies in my time and Rainer is following the exact same pattern. All the warning lights are going off. But Emily, blinded by happiness, can't see them.

I'm sorry to report, it all goes down hill after this. To celebrate their new relationship status, Rainer proves just how far he will go to pull the wool over Emily's eyes. Or in this case... the bed sheets.

I warn, keep scrolling at your own peril... *gags* Do take note of Emily's face in the first image - have we ever seen her so happy?

See that last image? That's four hands dissapearing under those blankets! Of course, we all know what happens next right?

One thing I have never seen before, is the wish to woo hoo pop up, right after a woo hoo. I was going to ignore it, but I gotta give Rainer credit, he was still awake lol. *ducks the man glares* So, fine, off they go, again. Of course, I accepted this wish before I took a good look at Rainer.... check out those manly slippers!

I do have to give him some credit though, he does look better without his beany on at least. And the body image isn't as bad as his clothes make him appear. So maybe there is hope? He's even starting to fool me with his act, check out his face when he realised he was going to get lucky twice in one night:

Clearly a man excited right there...

Just when I was starting to warm to Rainer and think that perhaps the money begging was a once off, that maybe he was just really broke and desperate (after all, Emily's been pretty close to needing to beg recently), he went and showed his true colours. As soon as he'd had his fun, he was off...

I did think he was going to leave and prove what a real scumbag he was, but he noticed the computer on his way to the front door. I chuckled at how fitting the football game seemed to him, and had to hold back thoughts of 'typical male' that goes off to game after he's had his fun and the woman's alseep lol...

The Hunt for the Mysterious Mr. Gnome!

2009-09-17T07:29:00.000+10:00

Chatting to Umi and Alter the other day, I learnt that there is a Mysterious Mr. Gnome in game - and he moves around! Umi, or Alter (I wasn't sure who I was talking to) have two of these little guys and shared an image of them frolicking in the garden. After seeing that image, I just had to get me one of these guys.

I did some investigating and discovered that the Mysterious Mr.Gnome is nameable which is kinda cool. He is dressed in a very trendy orange hat that has a yellow star shaped flower on it with a brown center. He also sports a long gray beard, blue button down shirt, red pants and shoes of an odd brown-tan colour. Clearly a trend setter this guy.

The Mysterious Mr.Gnome is kickable (lol!), like any good gnome should be. But unlike the regular garden gnome you can purchase, he cannot be cloned with the eyedropper tool. He also has the habit of sneaking around your house. How cool! Unnerving, but then aren't all garden gnomes?

Apparnetly you will never see the gnome sneaking around, instead, he just pops up in all sorts of places that you never put him in. If kicked, he falls in odd positions that you would never expect from a gnome and sometimes ends up with a plaster across the bridge of his nose (har har). When picked up, he is known to float on air, do hand stands and assume other theatrical positions.

Apparently, even if you build walls without a door around him, The Mysterious Mr. Gnome will still pop up anywhere outside. That's a little bit spooky if you ask me...

One cool thing to him though, is if you have a high level sim in the science career, you can perform a scientific experiment on him. LOL! Definately time to get me one of these guys!

I figured Thomas would be the best one to collect one as he's already building an unexplainable collection of butterflies, moths, precious gems and gold bars as recently discovered by his sister Susie the other day. Why not an odd little gnome as well? After a bit more research, I found the best way to find one is in the town Cemetery by exploring the catacombs. Oh joy, I remember the blackened, petrified sims that have emerged from there on previous visits.

Apparently you can also obtain a gnome from within Ore or Gems when you mail them to their respective refiners, through fishing, or as an 'acquisition' from being promoted in the thief career. The gems and ore might be a possibility for Thomas, but I didn't want to wait around that long. None of The Waters Family have fishing, or are yet to join the thief career - I have a funny feeling Thomas may eventually though... So yeah, pretty much the only way was via getting down and dirty with the town ghost folk.

The first time I sent him down at night thinking that it might have a higher change to be found - I dunno, maybe gnomes that move around don't like to be seen so only come out at night?

I didn't find any gnomes, but I did see something interesting. Does this surname look interesting?

I can't quite tell her age, but for memory Tom Shallow is married to a June yeah? So this must be his daughter! I resisted the urge to throw something at her. Feeling a bit protective of poor Emily at the moment lol. Outside of the Shallow run in, nothing was to come from the first trip down.

Since night time can conflict with the 10pm curfew that children have, I decided to start sending Thomas down early in the morning before school. I figured this would be better than in the afternoon as the morning's are quieter, so no visitors should be at the graveyard yet, and everyone at home should be getting ready for work, school and the like and be too distracted to notice him not there.

That said, I don't know how anyone didn't notice this:

Hello - door wide open?! Even if that went unnoticed, I can't believe that anyone could ignore Thomas riding to school 3 mornings in a row looking like this:

I guess there is a 'no question' policy in town or something. Or perhaps that even if there were questions, no one believed him...

It's a shame too, as he's got some pretty interesting tales to tell by the looks of things...

I also had to chuckle at some of the options that popped up for me. It was like reading one of those books where you get to decide the story line.

And all was not lost with his underground adventures, check out this beauty he can add to his collection!! Sweeeet.

Eventually, on this third trip in, Thomas found what he was looking for. Yay!

Now I'll have to wait and see what interesting places this little guy pops up. Personally, he gives me the creeps just a little bit...

She's a man eater...

2009-09-16T19:14:00.000+10:00

With Tom clearly out of the running to be Emily's new husband, the girl has been prowling the town looking for a better candidate. After stopping in at the local diner for diner one night (soup can only be eaten so many days in a row), she literally stopped every single male in the area, introduced herself and asked their marital status. If they were single, she stopped to talk. If they weren't, she walked away with barely a goodbye. This was a woman on a mission!

While in the middle of introducing herself to one of the men there, her attention was immediately grabbed by a Fabio look a like who had just walked up to the diner doors. I don't believe she even got the name of the sim she was currently standing in front of, for her jaw dropped when she realised this handsome god of a sim was wearing... a tool belt. Never before had she been so attracted to a sim other than Adrian. Good looks and he was handy?! She couldn't be that lucky...

And no, she wasn't. It seems Mr Fabio wanna-be there is already taken. I considered whispering in her ear that it didn't matter and to pursue it anyway, but Emily's a good girl. And he didn't really seem that interested lol.

After introducing herself to another five or so men, Emily was feeling deflated and questioning the gods if there were any eligible men left in town. It was at that moment, when she was about to hail a cab and just go home, that she met Rainer. Interestingly enough, Rainer introduced himself to her. The first man she didn't have to chase down to get their name lol. Tired, deflated and feeling very sorry for herself, she half-heartedly asked if he was single... he was!

Hearing that unexpected answer, her mood immediately picked up and she proceeded to introduce herself properly. Right away these two hit it off, with the conversation flowing and the body language saying it all.

Emily was clearly interested and liked what she saw as she kept having Rainer's image pop up with a smiley face beside it. Either that or she was just happy to finally found a sim that was worth talking to lol. I personally can't see what she might see in him, he's certainly not my type of sim. Thankfully though, I'm not the one needing the man...

Rainer liked being liked it seems, as every time Emily paused and "checked him out" as per the image above, Rainer would lean in real close and just smile.

All of a sudden, Emily had the image of a steak dinner pop up. Now, she had just eaten, so she couldn't be hungry. Perhaps she might be thinking she's happy she came here for dinner? But I don't remember the deep fried diner serving steak last time I went there. Maybe she's thinking that the two of them should go out to dinner? You think? Or maybe, just maybe, given her current mind set, she sees him as nothing more than a piece of meat?

Apparently though, Rainer is ok with this line of thought LOL!

Given how late it was getting, and the fact that she had two kids at home waiting for her, Emily decided she should call it a night and say goodbye. Feeling lucky, and having such success with Rainer so far, Emily approached a 'first kiss' to say goodnight...

Unfortunately for her, this was not on the cards so early in the game. Upset and feeling shut down, Emily hoped that perhaps this just meant Rainer was a gentleman? Then again... maybe not?

Right as she was leaving, Rainer stopped her and asked for money?! Shocked and taken by surprise, Emily didn't give him any, thankfully. But, what a scum bag! Oh the poor girl, suddenly I could see her questioning their interactions and how agreeable he was to all of her thoughts and interest. This man doesn't care about a relationship at all! He just wants to know how deep her pockets might run!

Well I hope you realise you just waisted your time barking up the wrong money tree Rainer, you couldn't have picked a poorer sim in town! Now bugger off scumbag!!

Oh poor Emily...

It's time to get back on track!

2009-09-16T07:49:00.000+10:00

With the kids appearing to be ok with all that's happened to them, and the house clearly in need of repairs (or upgrades), Emily has decided it's time to get her life back on track. Time to pick herself back up, get back out in the world and start living her life again, before she knows it, her life could well be over. She's approaching her adult years at a pace too quick her for comfort, she doesn't want to spend the rest of what she's got left mulling around the house and just surviving.

Adrian caused her heartache after heartache while he was alive, and his insane father made her life miserable. She survived all of that, so she knows she's a strong woman. She can do this on her own!

The first step she decided, was to get a better job. The Supermarket was fine for a bit of spare change, but when you're working beside teenagers the same age as your own child, it can make you feel a bit pathetic. Don't get me wrong, everyone was lovely and supportive, but Emily needed to find a proper career for her own self esteem.

Looking through the local jobs available, what would be more fitting than starting in the "Business Career" right?. Sure it was just as a coffee runner, but she's done nothing more than be a housewife, mother and shift a few groceries around, she can't expect to start in an executive office. Emily was happy to work her way up and was eager to give it her all. With no berating husband around to ruin her confidence, she would do everything it took to make it a real career.

Speaking of berating and evil husbands, Emily has also decided it's time to find herself a man! With all the appliances in the house breaking at every turn, she wants a man's man around the house to fix them. Or at least die trying lol.

Since Tom Shallow has been the only one to show interest in her at all since Adrian's passing, she figured she'd start there and see where it could go. During conversation over for dinner one night, she discovered another reason to pursue him:

Emily's no gold digger, but she the added lure of a man with money was something she couldn't resist. That very same night Emily decided to make her feelings very clear. Unfortunately for her, Tom wasn't reciprocating to her advances and jumped all over the place with his reactions. He attacked her child raising skills, then complimented her. Insulted her, then tried to kiss her. The poor girl's head was just about spinning.

Emily decided she was going to find out where she stood once and for all. She spoke to him about her family, her desires for more children, her concerns over finances and... she was cut off. Tom interrupted the conversation to accuse of her being after his money. After all, he did only reveal that fact earlier in the night, and even the kids could see the obvious switch in Emily when she found that out, I can see how he might jump to that conclusion.

Unfortunately, for Tom, this sent Emily over the edge. She went ballistic at him, accusing him of being evil, insulting him, and at one point even tried to fight him. This went on for a few minutes before Emily declared Tom her nemesis and told him to leave!

And that was the end of that relationship... lol. I can't say I'm too upset, he stole candy from her child for goodness sakes. She knew he was evil, what was she thinking? Really...

Ghosts in the Machines...

2009-09-15T19:50:00.002+10:00

Hopefully by now you've all seen the video of Susie's efforts at fixing the computer? She did an ok job. She survived and really, that's all I was worried about heh. The computer was broken in the first place when Thomas got caught hacking, but I'm starting to wonder if there's more to the broken appliances than an exploding virus. Take a look at the following image...

Right off the bat you can see the obviously broken kitchen sink right? But take a look at the dishwasher as well, that's smoke coming from the front. Two kitchen appliances broke within 5 minutes of each other, and that's the very same dishwasher that ended Grandpa's life when he tried to fix it.

At first I thought about giving Susie another roll of the Russian Roulette fix-it barrel and see if she could fix them, but I had a really uneasy feeling about it so decided against. I thought the sink would be fairly safe since it wasn't electric... but who knows, the sink could contain a garbage disposal and that could electrocute her.

Emily had just enough money in the family funds to be able to afford a repair man, I figured this would be a good idea. So would sending Emily out to find herself a repair man to marry at this point. I sent them all to bed with a note on the fridge to call the repair man in the morning.

During the shower process of everyone getting ready for bed, the shower broke!! That's three broken appliances in one night!! I was too scared to turn on the TV.

Something is definitely going on here, and I've got my suspicious it's the ghosts of Adrian or Grandpa! After all, Emily and Tom have been getting pretty cozy, maybe Adrian's upset she moved on so quick? Or maybe Grandpa is annoyed he didn't get a funeral (forgot his, oops)? I don't know what it is... but this can't be normal wear and tear.

Breakage Record

TV - 4 times total
Dishwasher - 3 times total
Computer - once
Shower - 3 times
Toilet - 2 times

That's a whole lot of breaking appliances... *makes ghost noises*

The Broken Computer...

2009-09-14T19:00:00.000+10:00

With all the luck the Waters family have had repairing broken electrical items themselves, I had an uneasy panic set in when I realised they didn't have enough money to call the repairman to fix the broken computer. The computer is the lifeblood of the house - Emily uses it to write her books, Thomas hacks other people's computers and Susie recently discovered the joys of trolling forums. I couldn't leave it broken.

I weighed up the household members to see who I would be willing to risk the most. All three of them had the exact same skill level when it comes to repairs - zero, so there was no weight with that. It basically came down to who I was willing to lose if the unthinkable occurred.

Emily was too large a risk. I had no idea if the kids would be able to continue without both parents given the eldest is only a teen and I don't believe you can begin a family with anything younger than a young adult. If Emily did follow in her husbands footsteps, the kids would most likely be shipped off to an orphanage. That could potentially end the Waters family as we know it and leave me unable to continue playing them. Too big a risk.

I considered making Thomas do it as he's the one that got it broken in the first place (due to his hacking), but he's also the only family member to not have had anything really major happen to him. I realise that loosing both your father and grandfather is traumatic, but he's not lost his life partner, and hasn't age-leaped ahead 10 or so years.

Which brings me to Susie, the other option. There wasn't really a lot going for her in the 'save' column which must have made her nervous. Then again, the poor girl's been through enough already, did we really want to inflict more pain and suffering on top of that?

My husband solved my dilemma pretty quickly, "Susie's already f#@ked as it is, use her." LOL! Thanks hunny. The poor girls lost her father, her grandfather, competely missed her childhood and because the only older-younger sister I know of. Yeah, the poor girl was pretty screwed up lol

So I chose Susie. I watched and waiting with baited breath to see if this would be the 3rd family member to die by electrocution while repairing a household item. You know they say everything happens in 3's right? Well...

Waahoo!!

Checking in on The Waters Family

2009-09-14T07:09:00.000+10:00

Last time I played The Waters family, Susie age-glitched into a teen, completely bypassing her childhood. After much internal debate on what to do, I decided to follow my gut feeling and just keep plowing ahead. Thankfully this matched the reader feedback so I wasn't at too much risk of pissing any of you off LOL. And thankyou everyone for your comments and suggestions!!

After decided to just go with the flow..., I was happy to see that it really didn't appear to be affecting anyone at all. In fact, it didn't even appear to be a blip on their radar of weirdness, which was of course, wierd!

Since Melani was having her own life drama, I decided to leave her to settle in with Hal for a bit and tonight, I stuck my head back in on the Waters to see if everything was still running smoothly. It was... scarily so.

Thomas was still doing well in school. Outside of school he was making friends and appeared to be doing ok. With all that's happened recently - Adrian and Richard (Grandpa) dying, Emily being unable to cope with it all, and Susie aging up too quickly, the poor boy has been feeling a bit pushed aside lately. I've not yet seen this wish come up...

After a quick hug and a chat to mum, the wish was granted. The poor bugger must have been feeling very ignored...

Emily has been staying out of his room for the past few days, which is not sitting well with her need to clean every room in the house... hourly. For some reason that she can not work out, Thomas has become very secretive about his room, and his computer time.

Susie is not so abiding by his requests for privacy and went in to grab a pen so she could finish her homework the other day. Thomas wasn't home, and Susie wasn't about to miss another day's homework and risk Emily finding out she's been slacking off and talking to the boys more than paying attention. Expecting nothing more than a messy boys room and perhaps some undesirable reading material, Susie was shocked to find it was much, much more.

Quickly filling Thomas' almost bare room were gems, butterflies, gold and iron bars. The butterflies she could explain away, boys always like to torture bugs. But the gems? The iron and gold bars?! These were not normal possessions for a young boy. Especially not a boy from a family barely able to afford food. Something was up here, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

For now, Susie decided she wasn't going to tell her mother. She wanted to find out what was going on first, she didn't see any point in upsetting Emily if there was no real reason to. Perhaps Thomas did have a believable excuse...

Susie herself was doing ok. Struggling with school work due to being dumped into high school with absolutely no primary school education what so ever, she's been frustrated and abandoning her homework for more enjoyable activities. She's been wanting to raise her logic skill in the hope it will help her succeed at school and has been begging Emily constantly for a telescope. Using the only current funds the household has, Emily caved and made the purchase.

Susie was ecstatic and ran outside to use it straight away. Five minutes later she returned inside (as she has "hates the outdoors" as one of her traits) to complain to Emily about the bugs, wind and bright sun. She immediately started asking for a chess table she could use inside instead. Emily could only sigh... it didn't bode well for her finances if Susie was going to be one of those children who constantly had their hand out.

Emily told her she could play chess on the computer and make do until she could afford a table of her own. With a sigh and a groan, Susie jumped online. The teenage frustration quickly changed however when Susie discovered there was more to the computer than 2D pixelated chess - there was the ability to chat to all her friends at school, browse the Internet and so much more.

Quickly, scanning her options, Susie discovered the pot of gold...

It didn't take her long to start poking fun at the members of the forum she visited. I couldn't quite make out what kind of forum she was on, but there was some shaking of fists and angry typing. I can only assume it was a gaming forum of some sort, I know they do my head in pretty quickly most times lol. Or perhaps it was a forum for teenagers to complain about their cheap, money hording parents? Who knows...

What ever forum she was on however, it caused enough of an impact for Susie to finally get a lifetime wish pop up. Obviously when you create a sim, you get to choose their lifetime goal before they even enter the world, but for children growing up, you have to pick them. Normally you chose when they transition from a toddler to a child, however Susie was only a child for approximately 15 minutes, so I never got the chance.

So far I've only had to choose a lifetime wish for two children - Seth and Ricky, Melani's boys. I'm still waiting for Thomas' wish to appear. So far I've had two author wishes come up, so was happy to see something different this time.

Um, Astronaut Susie? Really? That's reaching for the stars a bit isn't it? Oh, reaching for the stars... har har I crack myself up. *rolls eyes* All puns aside, that's a bit rich for a child who never attended primary school and is barely coping with high school. That will be an interesting life goal to accomplish. I guess I better make her quit her job at the local spa and start working a bit harder towards outer space huh?

With the kids appearing to be coping just fine, Emily has been busying herself with her book writing - a new found talent she is thoroughly enjoying. With her first Sci-Fi book hitting the shelves just days ago, she has begun working on another Drama novel. With the two deaths fuelling the first, it's Susie's age jump that is the inspiration for the follow up...

Working at the Grocery store is still going well - mind numbingly easy and suiting her just fine. Looking over the vegetables the other day, she had a wish come up to do a spot of gardening. Feeling the fond memories of Adrian welling up inside, she pocketed an apple seed to bring home and plant. After Adrian's hard work perished, she thought it fitting to chose that as her first seed to plant - Adrian always loved his apple trees.

Getting a sim to move in...

2009-09-13T19:08:00.000+10:00

Melani and Hal have always had a 'thing' for each other. I've blogged many a times about the fact these two just can't seem to stay apart. Or, more correctly, Melani can't seem to stay away from Hal. It doesn't seem to matter which city she's in, she gets really attached to her men! (The version in Max's city she's really attached to Max even though she's married there...)

I've been really good at keeping these two apart however. She's not called Hal, and not invited him to any of the parties except the children's birthday (after all, they are his kids). Instead, Melani's spent most of her time trying to find another suitable man to call her own, and waisting most of that effort on Jebidiah. Last night though, after Ricky's birthday party, she had a wish pop up...

This caused a momentary internal debate for me. I've always let my Sims tell me the story, yet, this is Hal... and Hal's a cheat that has kids all over town. Ok, one other child apart from Melani's... but still! "That Child" was conceived WHILE Melani was pregnant!! And that's a hard thing for a woman to move past. Ever.

But, it is her life, her story. Who am I to stand in her way? I would do my best to fulfill her wish.

A factor I wasn't aware of until after the wish had come up, is this little surprise.

Now remember, sims don't get the flu, they don't get stomach bugs, and even if the food they eat is so unevenly cooked that it gives them a negative moodelet, they never get food poisoning. So what is the ONLY reason a sim throws up? Yup... pregnancy.

My mind quickly scanned the previous few sim days trying to work out how this happened. Then it hit me. Remember the wild birthday party that Melani threw for Ricky? How it was so wild and so messy that the cleaner had a really big job the next day putting the house back together? That was it! See the party went until 3am in the morning and Hal... spent the night! It was too late to go home, he'd had a bit to much cake and he needed to crash there. And there was no couch sleeping involved.

I swear, all Melani has to do is touch Hal and she gets pregnant! Because of this tid bit of information, I figured there was more to her wish than I first realised. With two children already to this man, and another on the way, I can understand her fear of going at it alone and wanting to try to make it work with Hal. I would make this wish come true!

Frustratingly, the actual act of getting him to move in was a little trickier than I expected. I assumed, since they had children and a long standing on again off again relationship, that it would be a simple case of asking. Nope, no option. So I started doing romantic interaction after romantic interaction. I figured it had been a while since they got together, so perhaps she needed to show Hal she was still keen? After 15 minutes of this and still no 'move in' option, I was getting annoyed. I had the 'get married' option, but hold your horses! I want to see how it goes living with this guy before we take that big of a step.

After a bit of googling, I found out that the move in option is actually under the Friendly tab, not the romantic one. So I switched to a couple of friendly interactions and the option popped up pretty quickly. I'm not sure if their already high relationship status affected how quickly that became available or not, but it only took about 3 interactions.

Hal didn't even hesitate and before I even realised she's finished asking, I am presented with the following screen:

Now, this image actually threw a bit of a spanner in the works. See, I was asking Hal to move in, but as that screen indicates, there is also his "other child" Muhammad needing a home. This prompts me to realise that Muhammad's mother is no longer in the scene - either she moved away, abandoned the child to Hal or, perhaps, died. I didn't think to go and check the graveyard to check if the third option was true, I might have to do that, but for now I'll assume she discovered that Hal had fathered other children to Melani and left. A little less morbid possibility.

Which means... what do I do with Muhammad?

I can't very well leave him on his own, he's just a toddler by the looks of it. I can only assume that he'd be put into the orphanage if I didn't allow him to come with me. And, if I'm correct in my assumption that his mother left them, how could I then take his father as well? No, I knew deep down already that I would have to bring Muhammad over as well and allow him to live side by side with his half brothers. This wasn't ideal of course, but you make do with the situations life throws at you right?

So, over he comes with Hal and the house grows by two.

Muhammad is going to have to sleep in with Ricky for the time being as Melani doesn't have enough money to add on yet another room at this stage. I figured Ricky's room was a better option out of the two boys as he is younger so likely to get along better, and he's also a book worm so will be happy to just stick to himself. Seth is trying to write his own books and he's older, so he needs to be in his own room.

Once I clicked ok and everything shifted around a bit, I was pleasantly surprise to see that Hal brought some money over to the household which was nice. I would use that to provide a room for Muhammad. The happiness that money brings however, quickly ended. It was with a drop in my stomach that I moused over and saw Hal's lifetime wish...

All of a sudden everything made sense. And in that same instance, I started to wonder what the hell I had just done...

The Curse of the Mummy

2009-09-13T07:02:00.000+10:00

Beware of Mummies in The Sims 3 World Adventures!

In The Sims 3 World Adventures, you can accept challenges, find treasures, discover what’s lurking in hidden caves, tombs and more with the first ever adventure gameplay. While venturing to Egypt, one of three real-world inspired locations you can journey to, watch out for any sarcophagus in the tombs that may have an angry mummy just waiting to put a curse on you. Unless you are a master of the martial arts skill, the mummy will win in a fight and you’ll either be knocked out or cursed. When cursed, you can go to the Sphinx and plead before it in an attempt to find the soul peace statue, which removes the curse. If not, so long Sim!

What’s better than being chased by a mummy? Spend the night in a cursed sarcophagus and find out what it’s like to be a mummy! You will live longer, your energy and bladder motives won’t decay which means no bathroom breaks or sleeping. You’ll be strong, have unique mummy socials, have a longer lifespan, and more. But note, you’ll move more slowly and be prone to catching on fire more easily. But that’s ok, because you’d then be able to come back as a ghost mummy. Cool.

The Sims 3 World Adventures expansion pack will ship on November 17, 2009 for the PC and MAC.

Next week we’ll give you a lesson in building your own Tombs from simple to complex then we’re off to China.

Two New Screenshots for you!!

Baby Ricky has his third birthday!

2009-09-12T22:38:00.000+10:00

I find it really amusing that The Waters Family, who I created to be a simple side distraction while I worked, has not only turned into the most interesting family I have, but is making my other families, the ones I created to play properly seem.... well, boring. I've been playing "The Banks" family the past few nights (Melani) and have found them mundane, easy and, really boring!

One of the kids had a birthday, woop dee do! Of course, my own daughter is fast approaching her second birthday, but that will only make her two. In the sims however, a third birthday makes you a 'child' and looks to be around the age of about seven instead of three... Baby Ricky as I think he will always be affectionately known, had his third birthday and aged into, well, a bit of a nerdy child - he wears a tie!

I did get a bit worried when I saw him eating his birthday cake. The position of his wrist just doesn't look normal! So far that seems to be the only anomaly I've seen, so I'll just put it down to him getting used to his larger body.

Apart from that though, the party went without a hitch and nothing even remotely interesting happened.

*sigh*

The same day as the party Melani got another promotion. I've already mentioned how she's a "super sim" and all that, so it was no surprise. I didn't realise it was the max level of the medical career promotion though - it was so easy to get there. It's still impressive to see her as a World Renowned Surgeon given she's never had a day of medical training in her life. She was in the Police Force prior to being poached over to the hospital from her forensic science expertise.

Sorry, but being able to examine dead guys doesn't exactly qualify you to work on the living. Still, I can't argue with her income. $631 an hour? Yes please!

Then again, the new work outfit raised an eyebrow for me. I get the white coat... I don't get it needing to be buttoned up to her chin, but I get it. The Dr. Evil gloves and boots however make me a tad concerned...

Unfortunately, an odd outfit and a dislocated wrist doesn't really qualify as excitement or even that interesting anymore. I've experienced the thrills of watching my sims being electrocuted or time-warped with their age. I've danced with the grim-reaper, thrown funerals and quit my job out of utter trauma.

Rubber gloves? Please. I need more than that now...

One thing did cause me to sit up last night though. It seems I went a bit 'building crazy' after Ricky's birthday party. I expanded the upstairs area to include a new bedroom for him and decided to add the bathroom and living area while I was up there. The next morning however, I didn't have enough money left to pay the maid who had to come and clean up all the mess.

And we'd been messy too I tell you. I let everyone go nuts and there were plates and spoiled food all over the place. I understand being a tad ticked off at not being able to be paid after having to work that hard, but they should also know I'm good for it. I've been using the service for a while now.

Unfortunately, loyalty is not a word that the maid service seems to know too well. In order to pay for the cleaning job just completed, the maid was going to help himself to some of my possessions. Fine, I'll cop that.

But what does this low life take? Remembering there is an entire house full of items he could choose from, this scum bag goes upstairs and takes this....

That's right, the KID'S BLOCK TABLE! I'm sorry, I don't care how much money someone owes you, when you're in a house of someone who is clearly doing ok with her life, don't go and help yourself to a child's possession. That's beyond low!

For the first time in the past 2 days of checking on Melani and household, I got angry. Not impressed with that! Grrrr lol

To see a falling star...

2009-09-12T19:22:00.000+10:00

Melani discovered a new comet! Cool! I decided to name it after a store I have visited three times this past month lol. Plus, I had just finished renovating and moving lots of furniture around, so it was the first somewhat different name that came to my head. I mean, I'm not about to call it "Diet Coke"....

My first two story house!

2009-09-12T07:58:00.000+10:00

Melani decided last night to renovate her house. Baby Ricky is fast approaching his next birthday, in which he will move out of the cot in Melani's room and hopefully, into a room of his own. I considered making him share with Seth, but Seth's coming into his own and developing new friendships with Dr Evil's child, so will likely want his own space. Plus, Melani's rising through the Medical career line quite well and brings home enough money to afford the children their own rooms. So why not hey?

The renovation actually came about after a new purchase of Melanis - a bright red Prias! Although the neighboured is fantastic, you never know when a less than desirable might pass through town and she wasn't going to risk her car getting pinched. It needed a garage! Unfortunately, there was no room for a proper garage after she added on a bedroom when her Grandma moved in a while ago.

After umming and aahing for a bit, she decided to move the wall of Grandma's room to make way for the garage. This then made Grandma's room too small so she moved everything out, knocked out the wall between the lounge room/dining/bedroom and made it one large living area. Converting Seth's bedroom into Melani's personal bathroom was an easy decision to make, which meant the other bathroom was just a double up so it was torn down.

That left the household down two bedrooms and a bathroom for everyone else to use.

I considered extending out into the backyard, but Melani's lifetime wish is to raise at least 5 children, and kids need space to run. She figured it would be better to go up rather than back - leave the backyard for a swimming pool and other entertainment ideas. Or, just a place for the kids to go nuts. So last night, I started construction on my first two story home in The Sims 3!!

It's not finishes yet by any means, it seems that $9,000 doesn't go as far as I thought when it comes to renovations. But it's looking ok so far...

Ok, so images! First, we have the front and back views:

The newly renovated living area which was three rooms prior:

The new view of the kitchen. I have to say, I love that you can have double width stairs easily with The Sims 3. And that I can put them between two walls like I did, I really like how that looks! I just wish there was an easy way to have stairs with a bend in them. Oh well.

Going up the stairs, this is the upper area. Nothing to it at the moment because I ran out of money by this point lol. That will eventually extend to include a bathroom, another bedroom for Ricky, and another living area for the kids to go nuts in.

And lastly... Melani's new bathroom area. Check out how big it is!! I wish there were furniture items you could buy that resembled a walk in wardrobe, because I'd love to include one. Just something with a rail and clothes hanging off it. Hats to hand on the walls, shoes etc. Instead I'll just live with the ginormous bathroom!

Random Photo - Painted Picture

2009-09-12T05:42:00.000+10:00

Melani's Grandma is an awesome painter, and her skill just keeps improving with the free time that comes with retirement. So far she's painted some very sim like, but ok pictures. She keeps has this burning desire to decorate the house with all her attempts - she's currently trying to eye off 15 spots!! Melani's yet to see anything bar a kids painting she's happy to have shown off.

Last night though, I saw the coolest painting yet!! It was IMMEDIATELY hung on the wall above Melani's bed!

How cool is that?!

Just go with the flow...

2009-09-11T19:40:00.000+10:00

The Waters Family has already proven to the most interesting, dramatic families I play. We've had the insane sims, the double death by electrocution, two babies very close together and a fist fight between Emily and Grandpa... when he was alive, she didn't dig him up to have one last say or anything!

With all of this in mind, I've decided to just roll with the latest twist in the story and let Susie continue living as the older-youngest child. While it does make it feel like the family has jumped ahead and I've missed a huge chunk of their life, there will be plenty more chances to watch kids grow up in game. Melani already has a couple, and I have NO plans what so ever to stop playing The Waters either, so I'm sure there will be more sim babies to come. I'd like Emily to have some more since she has the "raise 5 babies to teenage" wish, and there's always grand-kids via Susie and Thomas and further generations.

So yes, for the time being, I will just continue playing along. If by some miracle a fix comes along that can revert her age, I'll deal with that then. But otherwise, I'm just going to mark it down as another one of those things this family has to deal with.

Of course, they are all taking it completely in their stride. There was a bit of confusion around bed arrangements as I still had Susie's cot in Emily's room, and no big girl bed for her to sleep in. Three in the bed isn't possible in the Sims, and Emily didn't really have any money to do anything about it. Thankfully after selling the cot and rearranging a few things, Emily was able to afford one single bed, which would go to Susie as she was now the oldest and needed to be sleeping on her own. Thomas is just going to have to endure the co-sleeping arrangement with Emily for the time being.

Thomas hasn't even batted an eyelid at the fact his little sister is now his older sister. Even when she walks around in nothing but her underwear and her, um, noticeably enlarged chest area.

When I realised that Emily was now at school, I thought perhaps she could help Thomas with his school work. But then I also remembered that she's missed her entire junior years and watched her struggle more. Perhaps the tutoring will be the other way round, how embarrassing.

Since Thomas finished his homework first, and he wasn't quite ready for bed, I let him jump on the computer for some free time. Emily was still at work so the kids kinda ran loose a bit - however, yay at no babysitter fees anymore! The household funds might actually start increasing shortly. Which will come in handy should a bail amount be set for Thomas...

Oopsie!

Random Photos

2009-09-11T13:35:00.000+10:00

Melani, needing to clear her head last night, decided to take a bit of a job around town. It drives me nuts that not only does a sim's body bounce back to perfect as they exit the hospital after giving birth, but the fact that unless they eat copious amounts of ice cream, they stay pretty perfect. If they are going to have perfect bodies, I'm going to make it believable and punish them with hour long runs around town!

Of course, in doing that, you get to see more of the town. Have you ever found little things that kind of made you go "wow" or, "hey look at that"? I did!!

The first was a bit of a wow moment. After all I can be riding my pushbike, have a car pass through me and come out with out a single scratch. Yet, it seems not all sims are model drivers...

Thought that was kinda cool that not only has a sim driven off the road, but that the car has just been left there. I mean, have you seen so much as a dropped candy wrapper on the streets of town? And all the random picnics that pop up and not one scrap of food or wrappers is left behind? I guess cars a bit hard to poof and disappear...

On the "hey look at that factor", I actually did a double take after running past the following statue...

Pretty cool huh?

Just some sights I thought I'd share...

Jebidiah...

2009-09-11T07:21:00.000+10:00

Although Melani has some weird pull towards Hal, she also can't seem to get past the cheating. She wants to give him another go, but she can't get the fact he has kids with other women out of her head. I think it's the muscles personally, clearly Hal knows what the inside of the Gym looks like...

It was not long after Seth was born than she met Jebidiah, a very handsome, respected Doctor. I'd hardly call him the Sims version of McDreamy, but he's certainly on the green side of the fugly meter. Now, Melani's been trying for months to win over Jebidiah's affections, with little result. Sure, he'll give her a bit of a pash, but as soon as she asks for anything more, the poor little Dr is "having a bad day"...

I'm sorry, but what man out there is having "too had a day" for a bit of woo hooing? Coz I don't know any myself...

Melani has the wish to woo hoo with him almost daily. It's driving me nuts. I understand a Dr's life can be stressful and full on, but even on his off days he's always in too bad a mood for it. If it wasn't for the fact he's right in there for a good game of tonsil hockey I'd put him in the gay category and move on. Regardless of his gender preference though, I've had enough of a man that doesn't know the word yes when it comes to the bedroom. I'm moving on and I'm dragging Melani kicking and screaming with me.

Of course, she's not coming quietly it seems. She brought Jebidiah home with her after work the other night. Or, looking at the photo below, did he just invite himself to be around another member of the household?

Now I know why he's not giving it up for Melani. She's too young!! *shudder*

Evil is just everywhere!

2009-09-10T20:09:00.001+10:00

With the recent Susie Waters predicament, I decided to take a bit of a break last night and stick my head in to see how Melani and family are doing. The last time I played this family, Melani was beating poor Seth with the football in a game of catch, so I was happy to see everyone getting along and being friendly when I logged in.

Unfortunately though, it appears the game of catch has left a bit of a scar as Seth is in the red and 'unfriendly' with Melani at the moment. I don't quite know what to do about this as I know that kids and parents fight all the time, but Seth really doesn't like Melani at all at the moment. Maybe he's going to be one of those kids that fights with their parents?

Then again, at least that would bring an interesting aspect to the family. After all that's happened with the Waters family, I found it really hard and boring with the 'everything is going fine' Banks household. Grandma is still alive, painting her little arms off and pitching in with the kids more than most grandparents do. Melani is rising through the ranks of the medical career and apart from cheater Hal (who's still very into her), hasn't had any men die on her. And of course both kids are doing well.

Of course, I don't remember anyone saying perfect is entertaining.

Back to the immediate issue at hand though, it was bugging me, especially when it appeared that nothing Melani did could improve his feelings. I did make her give a fairly good go at patching it up too, but at the end of the day, children can be pretty stubborn with their sulky episodes, so I had to walk away lol. Bodes well for my poor daughter using emotional blackmail on me huh?

Later in the day though, when Seth had a wish to have a sleep over and I chose his best friend, everything started to make sense. Check out the reaction to a "do you want to play tag?" request...

EVIL!! Evil, evil, evil!! In a completely different town to the Waters family and evil is still around! This does help explain Seth's sudden shift in attitude towards Melani. I mean I know the game of catch was pretty brutal, but to still hold a grudge after this long? Something else has to be coming into play there... and I think we know what's influencing it.

My collection is bigger than yours...

2009-09-10T14:25:00.002+10:00

That's the claim Whitetigerz is making over on the official sims 3 forums. And I have to say, I doubt anyone's going to be able to beat it!

Perfect of every fruit/veggie/special thing you can grow besides Omni plant stuff
Perfect Mounted Robot fish and Shark
A small meteorite
All 10 beetles from roach to rainbow beetle
Perfect Shark and Lobster in bowl
Crystal and Oval cut of every gem but pink diamond
Perfect Mounted Vampire, Swordfish, and Death fish
10 iron/gold/silver
large meteorite, 3 palladium/plutonium
Every gem cut for plummbob and brilliant cut gems except pink diamond
All 10 butterfly's
and the list goes on and on...

Check out his thread here to see all the pics. I think the first response summed it up nicely... "WOW.... "

OMG Glitch!!

2009-09-10T09:52:00.000+10:00

I announced last night that Susie had her birthday and aged from a happy toddler into a grumpy child right? Well apparently she had a fair bit to be grumpy about - she was not going to have a childhood!!

I had logged out during the middle of her party the other night after she aged up. I had seen all I needed to, so left the party in progress to get some much needed sleep. I logged back in tonight to the party still in progress. Not 30 seconds into play and my camera jumps from Emily over to Susie and I see everyone whirring the party things above their head. This brings on much confusion.

Confusion is quickly replaced by shock and bugged out eyes as Susie ages AGAIN! That's right, this is what I'm staring at right now...

That right there in the middle (in front of the fat sim looking looking to eat her) is dear little Susie. Oh. My. God!! What a bloody annoying glitch!!

What am I going to do?! I've googled till I can google no more and there is no real answer to rewind her age. There are mods I can install to do it, but from everything I've read of them, not only are they a bit tricky to install (and can override default files), but can also be tricky to use. I was hoping for some itty bitty little cheat to rewind it, but no such luck. Ironically, this glitch happens 24 hours after I had to use my first sim altering cheat ever (to set Thomas' trait I missed). Coincidence or Karma?!

I'm really stumped as how to continue with this. Susie is the baby of the two kids, the second born that now towers over Thomas. It's thrown everything out of whack!

I've got a couple of options that I can see...

Just go ahead and continue playing as is - that is with Susie now a teen and completely skipping her childhood. I could blame it on the trauma of half her family being zapped into oblivion and the need to grow up quickly. After all, she was only 2 days behind her brother in age anyway, so wouldn't be too hard to accept I guess.
I could use another cheat and age up Thomas as well. Completely skip their childhoods and continue playing from teenage years. Of course if I do that, then I've kinda got to age up Emily from young adult to adult them as it wouldn't really be realistic to have a young adult with two teenage children.

That of course brings in a snowball effect. One bad cheat doesn't deserve another...
I could kill of Susie... or at the very least move her out of the house. My gut feeling goes against this however. I don't like purposely killing off any sims, and aren't ready to just disown her yet....

So, what do I do? I need LOTS of help with this please lol.

Interesting Job...

2009-09-10T03:42:00.000+10:00

Emily's mood has been surprisingly uplifting the past few days and as a result, she's quickly rising through the ranks at the local grocery store. She earned herself a promotion last night to one of the more interesting jobs I've seen so far...

Now, I don't know how supermarkets work around the the rest of the world, but here where I live we don't have any DJ's. I've had to navigate around some really poorly thought out display stands, but no record booths...

Susie ages into a grumpy child...

2009-09-09T19:32:00.000+10:00

Following just a few days behind her brother Thomas, Susie has her birthday. And ages into a very grumpy child! Check out this face of the birthday girl...

I decided, with that face, that Grumpy would be her third trait lol. I mean c'mon Susie, you're holding cake and everything!

I did notice she has Emily's hair, that's a good thing. Thomas doesn't share any obvious facial features of either Emily or Adrian...

Birthday Video...

Tom really is evil!!

2009-09-09T13:19:00.000+10:00

We've already discovered that Tom has the Evil trait. But just in case we needed more proof, here is a nanny cam video captured while Emily was at work.

Yes, Tom just stole candy from Susie. Evil bastard doesn't even eat it either - he just pockets it. Talk about double cruelty. Here kid, I am going to take your candy, and I don't even want it! Ha!

What makes it worse for poor Susie is that the so called "baby sitter" who's meant to be there for her, walks right past her with nothing more than a passing glance at her tears to go talk to Tom. I think I need to have words with this babysitter...

Thankfully Susie seems to bounce back relatively quickly and I made sure Emily gave her lots of hugs when she got home from work. There needs to be a way to 'ring home' and abuse a babysitter though LOL!

Emily and Tom catch up...

2009-09-09T07:49:00.000+10:00

A while ago now I asked you, the readers (all 3 of you heh) for your input on a potentially new relationship for Emily. Tom Shallow (see his posts so far) came into Emily's life when Grandpa Sim electrocuted himself. At first he seemed to be very caring for Emily, staying well into the night when Grandpa died. Then again, he did cackle when the actual dying happened which raised some eyebrows. So I put to to you guys on what Emily should do. Most voted "just see what happened" so I left it alone.

Last night however, Emily had a wish to call Tom. I was curious to fulfill that wish so dropped what I was doing and jumped right on it lol. For the record, do not interrupt the emptying of a full potty!! So anyway, Tom arrives and this is the greeting she receives...

How's that for a hello?! I was actually quite shocked at that lol. Either he's just been biding his time waiting for enough to pass so he could make his move, or he's just a sleaze?

Emily, clearly thrown by the interaction lurches into five minutes of incessant rambling (game description not mine lol) and clearly Tom is wondering what the hell he's gotten into. I'm thinking more along the lines of "just a sleaze" with this face...

I had to jump in and stop Emily as she was starting to embarrass us both. I prompted her to ask Tom a few questions and get him talking - how was his day, favourite things, trait compatibility... that sort of thing. What did we learn?

That's right... Tom is EVIL! Poor Emily just seems attracted to the bad boys, and I don't mean the good kind of bad guy that rides a motorcycle and is a bit scruffy in the sexy kind of way. This is the bad kind of bad boy! I almost found it amusingly fitting when that info popped up... almost. Strangely enough it kind of makes me want to pursue the relationship a bit as it would be fitting to have Emily gravitate towards another Evil sim after the loss of Adrian.

That was until, this little tidbit of information popped up.

Makes you question that greeting now doesn't it? This guy is married... and greets other women with big smooches? That man is evil!!

Hacking for profits!

2009-09-08T19:18:00.000+10:00

I think my regret for not choosing the evil trait for Thomas might be justified. Although, I would never have known this without picking the Computer Whiz trait in the first place, so perhaps fate was helping out there? What I can see is the beginnings of a very interesting story Thomas is going to tell...

Rising at 4am in the morning, Thomas was the only sim awake. After polishing off some left over pancakes, he decided to jump onto the computer while it was free. Emily has been making use of it at night times in an attempt to finish her first book and get started on the next. The house hold finances are very tight (hello lack of enough beds) and she's desperately trying to hold on. It's the driving force she's been needing to move on from memories of the past.

When Thomas jumped on however, I discovered an interesting new option:

Hack? Hrm... Of course I have to click that!!

The computer screens that followed had me zooming in very quickly! The green command like box image was kinda cool, but when I noticed the image behind it, looking very government like, I kinda got a little nervous. I had these images flashing in my head of the house being bombarded with FBI like sims and little Thomas being halled away while Emily was woken from her sleep with no clue as to what was happening.

Thankfully nothing that drastic occurred, although time will tell if my images were more predictions than fears! I have to give it to the kid though - hacked in on his first attempt!!

The coolest thing (not that crime is ever cool kids!!) is that you can apparently make money as a hacker. I got a message pop up that Thomas had added $10 to the family funds. This made little dollar signs flash up in my own eyes lol, finally a second source of income. No matter how small, this was going to help out!

I can't decide if I will let Emily know of his little trick and have her play co-conspirator to his evil little ways, or if he will hide it and keep it a secret for now. I see the hiding and secret keeping as more of a teenager thing, and he's discovered this ability as a child, children can be more honest.

One thing I do know is that I will definitely have to give Thomas the evil trait next birthday. Perhaps it could be a male gene thing...?

Look at that - hacking completed all before the school bus has arrived!

Thomas gets his birthday wish...

2009-09-08T07:39:00.001+10:00

Kids age so quickly don't they? My daughter is turning two in October and I can't figure out where the time has gone. Emily must be feeling a bit the same way as Thomas has his second birthday and moves from being a toddler to a child. It feels like only last week he had his first birthday! Actually, it kinda was lol - August 23rd for us... I do have the life span setting on long for The Waters Family, where as I play on Epic on all my others, which is why it's come about so quick. I thought it might be interesting to have things churn a long a little quicker with this family and see what that's like.

I couldn't imagine having any shorter life span though, how do others even get to know their sims, let alone have them live long enough to achieve anything significant or tell a story?

Unfortunately, Emily couldn't afford any presents for Thomas. She is so broke at the moment, poor Thomas was going to have to test the comfortability of the sofa to sleep on, but thankfully a child and parent sim can share the same bed, so Thomas just has to sleep with his mum lol. His bed will have to be purchased after Emily's shift on Monday. Sorry Thomas.

The good thing though is Thomas FINALLY got some hair! Thank goodness for that. Two bald toddlers was bad enough, I didn't want to imagine a bald child as well. That said, he's still a very ugly sim LOL! The hair did not help his cause...

Like all my sims, I video record their milestones. The Waters family is no exception to that little luxury. Nothing really interesting happened for poor Thomas. In fact, nearly every guest had a go at the "stand in the way" game... grrr.

By the way, you'll notice a long silence gap at the end. I forgot that you can have the ability to pick the childs traits, and the window that popped up through me. I'm actually surprised I got to pick them for Thomas since he only learned to walk yesterday LOL, so Emily is hardly a model parent. I've also not read him any books and mostly left him to his own devices when it came to keeping himself entertained.

I also ended up stuffing up and exiting out of the window and didn't end up picking any trait at all. Another thing that surprised me - I didn't think you could have a child Sim with only two traits... Thankyou to @mcCutcheon on Twitter for helping me out with the testingCheatsEnabled true cheat that allowed me to pick Thomas his third trait: Computer Whiz. Although looking at his face, perhaps I should have followed in Adrian's footsteps and chosen Evil?

For those interested, here's the video of the "big day"... the big let down if you ask me. Poor guy.

It's time to dig it up...

2009-09-07T22:10:00.004+10:00

Emily decided it was time to finally dig up the extremely dead plants from the garden. Once loved by Adrian and Grandpa on a daily basis, Emily did not have the time, or the strength to tend to it herself. Instead, she watched it die slowly. Each dead leaf dropping like the tears from her face until there was nothing left by the memory of it's former glory. She held onto it for as long as she could. And when she couldn't hold onto it any longer, she tried to ignore it.

With her weekends clear of work, she decided Saturday morning that it was time to dig it up. Adrian was well and truly gone now, it was time to move on with her life.

Good to see sim children have realism...

2009-09-07T07:19:00.000+10:00

I've kind of had enough of Max's party life style for the time being and decided to check in on Emily Waters last night. It's been a while since I checked on her to make sure she was still managing to get up in the morning after all that happened to her. I'm happy to report that she is, and life is actually starting to get back on track slightly.

Still struggling with the complete lack of money, she is thankful that both Susie and Thomas are still happy to be bottle fed as she's not sure she can afford to feed them much else at the moment. Emily's diet has taken a bit of a turn as well, being forced to survive on jam sandwiches and tinned soup for the most part. At least she can't really comfort eat herself fat...

Life as a single mother with two toddlers is proving tiresome. Her days consist of feeding mouths, emptying the potty and changing bums when they don't make it in time, picking up the toys and trying to get some writing in here and there in the hopes it will keep the roof over her head. So far she has managed to keep the debt collectors at bay, barely. There were two days where she had to pay the babysitter with that day's earnings from work.

Thankfully though, with her ability to pick herself up and put on a very fake smile while at work, she managed to earn herself a small, but helpful promotion.

It's certainly not something to brag about, but it brings in some additional money - now only half her wage goes to the babysitter instead of all of it. It's a far cry from the Police force she was in prior to getting pregnant with Thomas, but she's happy that she doesn't have to think while she's there, or talk to anyone if she doesn't feel like it. No one seems to mind her quietness and they never ask any questions. She's happy with that for the time being.

Thankfully the kids seemed to have bounced back quite well. I'm going to assume their young age is going to help them with that - their memories rivaling a gold fish, they won't have that same sense of loss and emptiness that Emily feels on a daily basis. Susie even learned to walk the other day which, for the first time since the funerals for Adrian and Grandpa, Emily found herself completely forgetting all the sadness and was just happy for once. She was very proud of Susie, tossing her in the air so high there was almost a new skylight in the roof!

It's good to see that the sim children in game are quite similar to real life children... or perhaps at least my child. In an attempt tp keep the kids happy so Emily could write her novels, and being completely sick of the wish to purchase it showing, Emily splurged a bit and bought a doll house. Here Susie is playing with the doll house people... perhaps she's pretending she's Godzilla?

My own daughter is SO destructive, nothing really lasts around her. If there is a way to break it, remove a part or just tear it in two? She will find the way. Thankfully for the little man being beheaded by Susie, he will live to fight another day...

I did have to chuckle at Thomas too. He must have spent the better portion of an entire day inside the toy box lol. The entire time Emily was writing in the desk beside the box, he was happily playing inside... either that, or the daylight scares him?

So far the house hold appears to be holding up ok. Time will tell if there are any long term scars, but so far so good. I'll be keeping an eye on them for the next few days to make sure...

JK Wedding Entrance Dance

2009-09-06T19:46:00.000+10:00

Every now and then I like to sneak a non-Sim related blog post in. Some of you may have already seen it, but under my little rock I tend to get the news a little later than some. Stumbled across this last night and it's just so awesome I have to share!

Apparently it's upset Pauline day!

2009-09-06T07:39:00.000+10:00

Max was loitering around town the other day when I noticed a lot of red on the screen.

That's a lot of hate right there. Apparently it was upset Pauline Wan day as it was all directed at her. She was oblivious and having a conversation with the only sim that was happy with her presence while everyone behind her had some serious hate happening.

I've not yet seen this before. Even Max got in on the action with some upsetting of his own - completely without my involvement.

One sim was SO upset by Pauline being there that she could barely stand it...

As soon as Pauline left, everything went back to normal. It was so bizarre lol.

Max, not used to being intentionally nasty must have directed a few words the wrong way as I also got the following wish pop up.

I don't ever remember speaking to Jamie lol, but like all good men should, I simply apologized anyway! =p

Max and Melani rekindle their flame...

2009-09-05T19:42:00.001+10:00

I've said it so many times you're probably all sick of hearing it. My theory that there are certain Sims who are just meant to be together? I collected more evidence last night!

Before I jump into this new evidence however, let's quickly discuss Blair Wainwright again. Max and Blair hit it off very well as was obvious to anyone with in a 10 foot radius. I don't know if you read it in my last post, but she is now an Elder!! Town sims are just aging WAY too quickly it's unfair. I shared their first meeting, and followed that up with a screenshot how they were romantic interests to each other after that first 5 minute visit. Clearly meant to be together! And yet now, an age gap is keeping them apart. It's almost cruel really.

So far, everyone Max has found attractive is now too old. Everyone that is, except Melani. And of course who happened to gate crash Max's party last night? You guessed it. I didn't invite her, but I've noticed that invited sims can bring friends, or people just gate crash Max's parties as there are always way more people than I invited. Call it fate or just a coincidence, either way, Max wasn't going to waste this opportune meeting.

Warning: Lots of pictures incoming... well it does speak 1000 words.

When the party was starting to wind down, Max approached Melani to ask if she'd like to spend the night. Now remember, Melani is married to Eric who she has two children with... five if she has lied about the conception of the three she had with Max. I have no idea what she's told Eric, but if they're still together (as her info panel says they are), he's either a very understanding man, or being lied to. Either way, that's a lot of kids to be left at home with while Melani not only attends Max's party, but may or may not stay out for an entire night.

There may be a question mark above her head after Max asked, but the body language pretty much shows her answer...

Melani does agree to spend the night and I feel a sudden pang of guilt at poor Eric and the kids that are wondering when mummy is coming home. Still, she is the only sim that I can see Max luring into bed without worrying about brittle bones and my vomit reflex. Sorry super aging granny sims.

After all the party guests have left and the terrible two are left alone, it doesn't take long for them to... um, get down to business. It's quite clear what Melani is thinking of, but Max's thought confuses me a bit. He's either remembering the new kitchen and how shiny and new it is, or he's thinking that Melani makes for appealing decoration in his home. Not too sure on that one...

These next two images however, serve no confusion and are quite clear with their meaning.

There's those expressive facial features that my hubby has commented on in the past. Quite clear with his thoughts there, we don't even need the thought bubble.

Melani's feeling appear to be along the same line and it's not long before I'm taking screenshots of a different kind...

So I'm left wondering - is Melani, aka the "me" sim I created, just really easy? Or are Max and Melani so meant to be together that even after a lengthy break from contact, it only takes a few cheek strokes and a kiss to reignite the flame into a raging bond fire?

For the record, that was not the only time that night I had the opportunity to catch the torrid affair on camera... I'm just not that kind of gamer lol.

What was interesting however, was that Melani fell asleep at Max's place. I should clarify it wasn't surprising given the peep show I was given, poor girl must have been exhausted. But it was still interesting because she does have a husband and kids waiting at home.

I don't think my hubby would appreciate me staying over night somewhere... then again, I can't exactly see Melani ringing home to Eric and informing him of where she was planing on spending the night.

I did have to chuckle at the vacant spot in the bed as soon as dawn broke...

Nothing like an early sneak out to avoid the uncomfortable morning after haha.... well, I'd assume. =p

I am a bit torn when it comes to these two. Max had the option to ask Melani to leave Eric last night which got my mind thinking. I mean, they do have three kids together already, so Melani is more than just a groupie to him. But still, is Max ready to settle down? Especially into a pre-made family unit? Questions, questions...

I tell ya what though, if I do move her in, I'm changing her name! It's getting confusing for me seeing Melani in half my stories. I keep nearly saving the screenshots to the wrong family folder and attaching the wrong post tags when she's involved with Max.

Max is hit by the Repo Man...

2009-09-05T07:34:00.000+10:00

I feel pretty bad as this is all completely my fault, but Max got hit by the repo man last night. See, he had the money to pay the bills, that wasn't the problem. Instead of paying his bills though (I never pay attention to my sims mail boxes), I went and installed a new kitchen for him. Oops! Especially oops for a sim that doesn't even cook lol...

After the brand new cupboards, overhead storage, stove, fridge and garbage disposal, there wasn't enough left to pay his bills. With the "you have one day left" warning flashing, I sent him down to central park to play for some tips. He made enough to pay his bills, but unfortunately I have a memory that make fish jealous, so sent him straight to bed when he got home. Second oops for me...

The next day, Mr Repo man showed up.

I can't actually figure out what he took though. He went into the room of the invisible couch (remember - the movers lost it...) and did his little thing, only when I went in to check after he left, everything that I could see before was still there. The remaining orphaned couch, the TV and the game console was still there. Maybe he could see the couch I couldn't and took that? Which is kinda fine because I was going to have to replace it anyway lol.

Mr Repo man does have one thing though... a really nasty face. This is clearly a man who enjoys his job.

Max has moves!

2009-09-04T19:25:00.000+10:00

At a party that Max was throwing last night, I happened to glance over and noticed that Max has some moves. This boy can really dance!

Now Available! Exclusive New Sets at The Sims 3 Store.

2009-09-04T13:30:00.000+10:00

Celebrate the spooktacular with FREE Halloween Treats for the home! Be sure to check out the Regal Living, Steampunk, Jet Set Elders and the Victorian Fashions Set!

Browse The Store now !

Two more World Adventures Screenshots

2009-09-04T07:07:00.000+10:00

The Grim Reaper is not a fan...

2009-09-03T22:22:00.003+10:00

Death is in the air around Max's town and sims are dropping like flies! I mentioned recently that my town sims are aging way too fast - faster than Max is that's for sure. Still in the prime of his life as a young sim (although teetering on the brink of having to grow up into a adult), his recent encounters with Blair seem to have been too little too late. Blair is now an elder! :( I got quite annoyed at this as Melani, who I'm trying to move away from, appears to be aging at the same rate as Max, yet everyone else is not. I need to track her down when she's around Eric (her husband remember...) and see if he's the same age as her, or if he's an Elder too.

This really is quite annoying that everyone is aging so quick. Not only does it make relationships outside Max's household nearly impossible for any length of time, I'm continuously coming into contact with sims I've never even heard of before. I feel like every adventure into town is like his first. So many new faces...

Of course, in with the new can only mean one thing - out with the old. I'm not seeing any new houses popping up, and the younger sims need somewhere to live. Tonight, in the space of about 3 hours playing time, I witnessed two sims passing. Ironic since I got given this opportunity not five minutes into playing...

At first I thought I would take a trip up to the graveyard and borrow Ayesha. However now I'm thinking I'll just wait around a bit and pick up the remains of the next one to drop...

I managed to capture videos of the two sims that passed tonight, and I'm glad I did as I found the first one quite amusing. I've never seen a ghost beg for his life before hehe. That amusement was quickly replaced by surprise as a picnic rug was placed before the poor guys remains had settled lol!

I kinda hit the video key automatically as soon as I saw the poor guy sparkling. I knew something interesting was about to happen and, sadistically, assumed it was death lol. That same reaction came in very handy when townie number 2 passed away as it allowed me to discover and record that the Grim Reaper is apparently, not a fan. I'm surprised he's not into the rock n roll. I thought he would have been right into the hard rock, head banging, heavy metal scene. Perhaps he likes the calming sounds of classical instead? Who knows...

Tonight was also the first time I got to interact with the Grim Reaper which was cool. Poor Emily tried when Adrian died, hoping she could bargain (or beg) to have him brought back to life, but no such luck. Funny enough, she didn't try too hard when Grandpa sim died LOL. I tried with Max when the guy in the park died and got nothing, but this time I got one option - scare. How ironic that you can scare death.

Did I? Well you have to watch and see...

I LOVED the two thumbs down the Grim Reaper gives Max when he sees him lol (right before the scare), I thought that was hilarious. It also helped me justify scaring him haha. I got the option to scare twice (which you can see I did), and then I wasn't able to interact with him anymore. Interesting that I got those interaction options and then nothing. The chatting between the two was not controlled by me, I was simply a spectator. I had to laugh at the uncomfortable silence after haha, that was awesome!

So there you have it, the Grim Reaper doesn't think much of Max. That does not bode well for when it's his time to cross over...

Sims 3 World Adventures Cover Art

2009-09-03T07:57:00.000+10:00

Most of you have probably already seen this by now, but for those (like me) who enjoy their existence under a rock, EA have released the cover art for the first Sims 3 expansion - World Adventures.

Are you ready for it? Taa daa....

Max is moving up in the world...

2009-09-02T19:04:00.003+10:00

Max is the first of my sims to have money, and I have to say, it's a VERY nice feeling! As mentioned recently, he acquired enough savings to buy into his favourite diner. Last night he decided it was time to move house and start living the proper rock style life.

Like pretty much all my sims, Max started out in the trailer park when he first moved to town. I kind of consider them rental trailers - a simple roof over a sims head when they first move to town. After a while though, the neighbours were getting annoyed at the noise created by all his parties, and it was getting a bit too cramped to have good ones anyway. So Max moved...

At the time, I was moving him more out of necessity than desire. I've mentioned it a couple of times now, but I'm so enjoying the actual play aspect of the game, I'm not concerning myself with building like I used to in previous sims games. Instead, with number 3, I'm slapping together very simple houses that 'make do' and nothing much more. Melani has had her house expanded as needed - a room for her grandma, another for the kids etc, but that's pretty much the best I've done. I've actually considered seeking out player made houses to use simply because I don't want to spend the time doing it myself. And I've NEVER used a player house before... ever.

Not wanting to spend time looking for the right house lol, Max was treated like all my other sim building a house - I threw up four walls, a roof and made sure his bathroom had a door. I didn't mean to make it so square, I was simply after a lot of space - Max needs room to bust his moves. When I looked at the completed job (5 minutes after I started it), I shrugged, adopted it as an old shed, barn or perhaps vacant warehouse and resumed playing. That seemed rather rockstar-ish to me. It'd do...

Now that Max is making a bit of money however, it's time to improve his living conditions. I had actually completely forgot you could collect money from the town businesses that you own shares in until I clicked to go to the diner for something to eat and saw the "collect money" option. A very easy $820 landed right in Max's pocket. Sweet!

I had also held two concerts over the weekend at the local stadium and was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of money made from those was significantly more than the previous gigs at the theatre. I had actually hoped it would be given the size difference. Max made $1,245 at his Friday night concert, and $1,497 on his Saturday night. Very nice, and much better than the $400 - $700 from the theater!

Being on a bit of a roll that weekend, and noticing I could once again hold an autograph session, I decided to end Max's busy weekend with another signing. After all, the last one netted me almost $2000, and I'm pretty sure I accidentally ended that one early. Let's see if I could do better...

Veeeeery nice! Definitely time to upgrade his living quarters!

Instead of just renovating his existing house, I decided that I would do this right and move him to a bigger lot. Upon scanning the town I found the perfect place!

I remember seeing this lot ages ago when I was checking out the town. I had completely forgotten about it until last night. It was so perfect for a rock star! Not only is it the most prestige lot in the entire town (I think so), it allows me to build my house right up against that huge rock there, that just screams privacy and all things good. That lot was made for Max!

And check out his backyard view!!!

This house will be my first real attempt at building in The Sims 3, and I have to say, so far so good. It was all starting to cost more than I had expected, so the house is no where near completed yet. I've only worked on the two bedrooms and the garden that divides them last night. When I noticed I was really low on cash I quickly finished off the walls so I could at least put a roof on the house. Hence the small size and lackluster kitchen/dining area at the moment. Once I have more money, that's the first thing that will be expanded.

My absolute favourite part of the house so far, and the part that sapped all my house funds, is the pond and garden area that the main bedroom, spare bedroom and current dining area open up on to.

How awesome is that?! I'd LOVE to have something like that outside my bedroom window.

After the last piece of furniture was placed, Max was finally allowed to rest. Somehow the movers lost a couch which I am really annoyed at (just disappeared from the lot), but oh well, what can you do?

Time to go make some more money so I can keep building!!

Recognition!

2009-09-02T17:12:00.000+10:00

Cool...