Wow..impressive. You wrote this at 4:19 am in my Monday...lol
I should start building.

For this round I settled on James Evans, training for the Olympics.

Some flowers for you - I actually picked them myself in RL over the weekend

Thank you for the positive comments!

yavannatw. Mr. Evans has quite the sleek, modern dwelling! I can imagine many. many people would really like a place like that. I think I wouldn't have minded staying in that sort of place back when I was a single young thing!

Justpetro, such pretty flowers!

AndrewGloria ... Cassie works from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. There is a slight period before and after when Molly would be unsupervised. Cassie hired a nanny for an hour in the morning to make sure Molly gets to school. Molly is unsupervised for an hour before Cassie returns, but Molly is a responsible person and usually just takes a nap. If there is a problem, her cousin Joanne Newman is right next door. (I turned off the viewable neighbors feature because those buildings are really distracting in the pictures.) If this was real life, I could imagine Cassie simply going over there to play with the animals until Mom returns. In the story in my mind, Joanne has guardianship of the child should something happen to Cassie. (When my kids were young, arranging guardianship was that issue that scared the crap out of me, but had to be done. You have to make sure your kiddos are in good hands should something happen.)

Cassie is not seeking promotion at the time because she wants her hours to be as close to Molly's as possible. Both live frugally.

I did give Cassie a little more than the 50,000 Simoleons at the start because in real life, you usually don't spend every penny on a house. However, the little extra I gave them would have run out in a couple of weeks if Cassie didn't get a job.

I've been seeing that while my pictures are within the guidelines for the size, I can use a slightly larger size. I might do that for the price picture before I leave. It will be a little larger than the other pics, but on my testing machine, that price is TINY! "Sall right with the host and judges? I don't think they judge picture uniformity!

I was going to say I have a problem but then I noticed other lots say 30x30 when the lot size is 30x20. Yay~ No problem now. XD

....added...
@NatteryakToad - Fabulous treehouse =D

@whoward69 - So Cute =D

@MystAngel - So interesting to look at O.O

@yavannatw - I Love you modern look =]

@gazania - Your Dutch Colonial is adorable =D

They are, aren't they? Friend of mine grows them in the mountains (well, proteas grow by themselves, really) and the florists buy them from her - but she asked us to come and pick, there are too many (?) and they are too far open for the florists. Not an invite to turn down !

Getting ready for our Judgement Party! Drinks and cupcakes (made by my daughter!) for all Inspired by a profile pic around here somewhere...

My lot is finished too. I don't know if I should post it, or playtest some more. During this week I'll have other stuff on my mind, so I'll spend less time playing. I also don't think I will be able to actively participate in discussion these days, but I'll make sure to log in regularly; if nothing else, than to share a little love to your entries.

I think I'll wait for discussion to expand at least to the next page; there are already two entries on this page, so maybe I should give more space to those entries and not bury them with new one. Edit: Aaaaad I started the new page.

Gazania, the canopy/pavilion totally stole the show! Absolutely love it! :lovestruc And the building style is pretty credible, but I wouldn't expect otherwise considering how thoroughly you approach each round.
Yavannatw, especially love the shape of a bathroom downstairs, stairs and how the couch lies beneath them (suppose it's fully usable like that?).

Thanks, Sweet Mystre.

Thanks, @whoward69 -I never looked at the lot size there, just the price. XD

I am all done with my entry, but way too tired to take pictures now. Tomorrow will have to do.

I've written about my hippies and their house enough. Too much, actually ! I was truly inspired and really managed to connect with the family, which I think was pretty obvious from my enthusiasm in the last few days. So, this time, I won't bore you with an excessive description, I'll let pictures speak for themselves. I hope everyone will have as much fun as I did! :lovestruc

NOT the official contest entry, This was my alternate. I also did the Lamberts; partially as a backup in case I misread the bit about the separate foundation with the Elliotts, and partly because darn it ... I did roll the Lamberts first before I really got a good look at the foundation!. Because it's not official, I'm doing what others have done in this situation and am putting just a small picture in the attachments below, with the rest under a SPOILER tag. No elaborate story this time. Had I used this, the story was going to be told from the POV of the Goth girl who is trying to find a quiet place among the madness of eight family members. Everywhere she goes, there seems to be a family member or a visitor! Finally, the parents let her exit through their room to sit on that bench on the second floor. Only she and her sister are allowed to do this outside of the parents. The girls find that occasional place to get away from the chaos refreshing, and everyone lives (more) happily ever after. Song ... what else ... "Our House" by Madness. And yes, I do know that in the actual song, the singer wants to get AWAY from everyone, and the brothers are older. I didn't have as much time on this entry ... what can I say?

Strange that whoward should mention a cantilevered house. This house was mostly based on a cantilevered building plan. I had a time with the roof. The original plan was a V-roof with the roof forming a V on top of the house. But structurally, unless there is a really, really good drainage system, that would be a disaster in real life. I knew of a building where, because of a builder mess-up, the roof formed a very slight V. It didn't last long. Water pooled in the middle of the roof and the owner had serious structural problems in no time. The owner took the builder to court for it and won ... that's how serious it was.

A flat roof looked .... flat ... with the boxy structure, so I went with a slanted roof. I tried slanting on the other side, but it looked odd. I would have had to research further whether the roof I used would have been OK with a cantilevered building. But I have to quit almost all building after this now until Round 4. I just have too much to do. I do see a slanted roof here: http://homedesignlover.com/architec...levered-houses/ I might have gone with a flat roof at the end.

If I get something in the judges' comments that I can easily fix today or Sunday with the Elliotts, I will do that, but otherwise, I'll have to hope they won't be too, too hard on me in Round 3.

This building is a little incomplete. I'd put this at around 92% ready. I probably would have used a custom ceiling. No major routing issues, except for those in normal real-life ones when three people want to use the shower at the same time and there are only two bathrooms with showers. I did test routing pretty thoroughly. No time for paintings and photos for the walls; hence, no paintings and photos. There would have been had I just a few more days.

The Lamberts (Unofficial Round 3 entry) ... the rest of the pictures. I am still keeping this in here in case I did something wrong with the Elliott lot.



And MystAngel ... I was hoping to see more of the inside of your Rhodes house before I left, and I was not disappointed! Cool house!

All the lots are very special and pretty, fellow contestants - I really hope to be able to download them all (including somebody's really cute alternative above here ) I may well start a new hood with them.

Round Three - The Elliott’s (No CC)
....Insert backstory full of witty and cute snippets of the family.....

Modified A-frame: 2 story, 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath, outdoors workshop, large garden, pond, and swing for a child; large closet turned into office for work at home mother.... locked and with a "do not enter: sign; Smoke detector, burglar alarm, 2 phones... required chair in office and all that good stuff.

Really fascinating lines on the cabin, and you avoided that wood, wood and more wood look that cabins can sometimes have. And gardens, gardens everywhere!

Two Elliott families ... two entirely different ... and we're talking really different ... approaches!

But who is that mystery dude? Hope to see the story soon!

Thanks - @gazania :D
I was trying to think outside the box with an eye to Realistic and Playable. So I tore down the Cupcake house I was building and did this one. XD
If I can think of a story (I'm not a writer in the least) I hope to fill in that missing insert spot. :blush:

Judges and joandsarah77 ... I didn't realize that Cassie was supposed to be a web designer. I should have read the requirements more carefully I will change her occupation right away to a slacker. Since she's trying to move up the levels as quickly as she can, slacking is the LAST thing she's doing. Fortunately, in real life, people DO change jobs.

@MystAngel, Thanks. Yes the couch is fully usable. I had James' stand-in test it out and he sat there happily.

Just to say I am at last making visible progress with the Lamberts' house:


For a long time I was stuck with just an empty shell, and couldn't think how to continue. But now I've got the internal walls all built, and I've built a tree-house -- using bits from Phaenoh's playground set. I think I've also bought most of the essential furniture. There's still a lot to add including stairs, internal and external doors, and about half the windows, but the cost so far is still under §26K, so I have high hopes I can complete it within budget.

Getting there guys, slowly.

Also about the 'bikes' I used that word so you could decide if the parent was a biker (motorcycles) or a bicyclist enthusiast.

And yes a web designer, which is why that computer is off limits to the child. She is meant to work from home.

@gazania, the Elliott parent is supposed to work from home. I simulated him working on a website design by getting him to write a novel on the computer. It means he's in the office for hours every day working on it. I suppose a web designer would use the mouse more and the keyboard less than a novelist, but I think that's splitting hairs. In both cases the pay-cheque comes when the job is completed. Hopefully Cassie has saved some of the money she earned in her job, and can survive till she gets paid for her first website. Working from home means there are no childcare problems. But the six hours when Molly is at school is a good time to work uninterrupted. In my game Joe Elliott worked solidly on the computer from Tuesday to Friday and finished the job very late on Friday night. He then got paid §2,035, which I think compares well with most Maxis starting grade jobs. Of course it needs self discipline to work from home (which is why I'm not rich -- I'd rather play The Sims than work myself!) But all in all I think it makes more sense than scrabbling around trying to get rapid promotion in the slacker career, which has some very un-child-friendly shifts. And Jo does say in the spec, that he/she "works from home as a web designer."

P.S. I was waiting for someone else to post to avoid a double-post. Jo's post touches on the same subject, but, in that mine offers a way round the issue, I don't think my post is totally redundant. So I'm posting it anyway!

POSTING! .. eh well that was all I had to say

I really need to get to work putting the finishing touches into my lot and get pictures, but my sister brought some kind of cold home and now I can't bring myelf to do anything that requires sitting up hopefully tomorrow, since seeing everyone else's beautiful homes is just making me want to get back to mine

I interpreted that somewhat differently. Since the game does have a Freelance Web Designer job in the Slacker career, after realizing that Web Designer has to fit in there somewhere, I imagined Cassie bringing work home. Another option would be for Cassie to take one of the lowest-level jobs to help make ends meet. In that case, some of the off hours of the lower-end Slacker jobs would actually help. She could work as a convenience store clerk at night, take on web design assignments during the day. I know of more than a few people who work two or more jobs. They can get as tired as anything, but they can do it.

But I can change the story to fit the contest. Cassie also has enough experience to paint masterpieces at this point, so she could probably do that as part-time work.

I didn't even know that gazania. It's be ages since I had a sim take slacker.

Lots of my Sims are slackers.

I edited my story to be much more open to interpretation. She could be a freelance web designer taking work home. She could be working from home and working part-time elsewhere. (Something Sims 3 has that Sims 2 doesn't ... part-time jobs.) In that case, I need to watch her hours to make sure she WOULD have time to work on website design. While I know of people working two full-time jobs, it's really not the greatest for their health. I would work double shifts at my job sometimes years ago. Really not recommended unless you have to.

Or she could be working full-time at home with no part-time job. The reader can decide.