Hi everyone. I hope all is well.

After ignoring anything of The Sims for months, the urge of playing is back after watching @pleasantsims Sims 3 Pleasantview Series. I really don't have that much time to play, but this weekend I hope to squeeze in some time for Sims 2. The temptation of ignoring my work and playing all day is very strong right now.

That's series is so funny, it got me to start playing the Sims 3.

I don't actually know, I'm afraid. My Sims very rarely visit cemeteries, and tend to keep their pets' graves on the home lot, so I've only seen it when a new Sim ghost spawns on a lot that already has a ghost dog. I think it probably would happen in a cemetery, given that it's vanilla behaviour, but I can't say for sure.

Is there a reason you don't use Kibble of Life for pets?

Wait really? Kids can only chat with kids online? That's really cool

Yes! It's a great way for them to get relations started with some peers at an early age. If my child sim is at the computer, I usually check who is online and have them chat up every other playable child sim that is an option. Usually not so many on during early hours but the weekends and some weeknights between 6-9 there's usually a handful online.

I don't use the Elixir of Life or the agingoff cheat. I let my sims live out their Maxis lifespans so it would seem weird if the pets lived on and on as generations of sims come and go. If I ever play a vampire sim again, I might use Kibble of Life for its "vampire" pets--that would make sense to me in that situation.

Really, I've only had this EP for a couple of months and am still using a testing hood to get familiar with its mechanics, not any of my hoods that I care about. It might wind up not bothering me that the pets die of old age but I'll find out with Noodle Kat pretty soon. I wonder how upset Tara will be; she hasn't even rolled a fear of him dying.

There should be a "cancel" on loading screens.

Random musing about some things in my game. I have a family living in a townhouse, a mother/father/three sons. Both the parents wanted to have another kid so I let her get pregnant. I'm thinking, there's not going to be a lot of room but I don't want them to move. I'm also thinking, the father's brother lives on the farm, maybe he could take the eldest son in for the summer to help with crops in exchange for free room and board? That would be nice, to get some family bonding, learn gardening in the process. His uncle's partner also passed away unceremoniously so it might help the uncle feel not as depressed to have family around. I also have an option to move the eldest son in with his grandfather. The grandfather lives in a nice house but all by himself ever since the grandmother died, and if he ends up dying while his grandson is in residence, the eldest son gets a house with a pool he could throw a lot of parties at. So should I let him live on the farm to gain gardening badges and a bond with his uncle, or a potential party house that would wonders for his teen cred?

Another random thought, I really want to make a small roadside stand business that sells honey. I have the mod to get honey from bees. Would it be a residential lot or a community lot though? Random musings...

Tbh "Score, party time!" is a pretty horrifying way to react to the death of a grandparent. And I would think most teens actually understand that. Also I feel like there is no way this kids parents (or his uncle) realistically would let him live alone in his dead grandfather's house, especially if he was using it for inappropriately-timed parties.

I'd make it depend on the kids relationship with his grandfather and uncle. Also, maybe even more so, the parents relationship. And their personality as well. Who would the parents pick as a responsible caretaker? Does he show an interest in Nature/Gardening? Is your hood set up in a way that he has to learn gardening to survive?
Would the Grandpa die when he was still a teen or an adult? If he died while he was a Teen, would the parents leave him living there alone? Or send him off to the uncle after all?

I'd make selling honey a home business, I think.

This is a very random thought. I always wanted to be pretty active on tumblr, especially when I realised the huge simming community on there, but I never really got round to posting more than, like, two posts. Now that I’m finally working on a hood I am happy with, I’ve been posting non-stop and people have been taking notice. It’s been fun and I’ve found that people actually do like how my game looks!

Well he'd have some time to bond with his grandpa, who he hasn't lived with since he was a small child, and partying can be a form of coping with loss, more as a distraction, not in a celebratory way.



His parents are not strict and were party animals back in the day. The teen has a better relationship with his grandfather, since they all lived together when he was little and his grandparents took care of them while his parents were doing job things. He has like a 0 relationship with his uncle because the farm was so busy but it would be an opportune time to develop one. I'm not sure if he has an interest in nature, he's a city boy but a few seasons on the farm could change his life. My hood doesn't depend on gardening. Grandfather has a few days left so the teen would still be a teen and his parents would probably prefer him to not be alone at a sweet party house but they are just jealous they never got that opportunity as teens, because they would have totally taken advantage of that situation.

Thanks for your opinions on my musings!

When you first load up Pleasantview, Mortimer always has a want to flirt with Nina as well as Dina. I just find that interesting, but I'm curious if anyone interpreted it in any way, or better yet, if anyone followed through with it lol

I’m currently writing medieval bios for each premade family and I’m stuck on the Kims. Like, the only idea I’ve got is that they were stage actors, and that’s it. Can’t think of anything else.

I think if you want them to have a good reputation, stageplay might not be the way to go. I think actors back then weren't considered to be of good morals, and I've heard that certain travelling groups would also double as a... um... service. Also, I don't think actors could've made enough money for Cynthia to even think of having servants (maids).

Maybe descendants of a noble family who decided to specialize in the arts instead of agriculture or knighthood? Then they might afford Cynthia's dream of having staff, and Justin's nightmare could be becoming one of those spoilt, good-for-nothing noble kids who can't achieve anything special besides carrying the family name and fortune.

Just a random thought... So I enjoy playing the families that have a lot of drama and chaos going on and you never know what will happen, but the families and singles I really love are the ones who are chill and happy, the ones who have genuine affection for each other and love what they are doing in their lives. Maybe they aren't as interesting to play, but they win a place in my heart.

I agree, which is why I stuck to my favourite family in Veronaville for so long (and had to play the rotation of others connected with them).

I'm playing this game on my phone (Homescapes- like Candy Crush, but you also get to decorate a house as you complete levels) and a character goes, "Wow! I love watching things that are ugly and small turn into something big and beautiful."
I instantly thought of all of my toddlers in TS2.

It's amazing how many duplicates you find when you start recategorizing and cleaning up your folder. I've found 3 different conversions of the same TS3 laundry deco--and of course they all have slightly different recolors. I suspected I had two, but three? I'm finding duplicate conversions everywhere--I can't believe I've never noticed these. And then there are the exact duplicates; things by the same creator but in different folders or with different master folder names. Sheesh. I used to think I was organized.

I just had this random analogy (and Dune Reference) realization and I'm sharing it here:

CC is like...a really nice spice. You didn't realize how bland your food was (not that you felt it tasted bland, it was quite delicious!) but in comparison adding the spice of cc on your food is like 'BAM! POW! YIKES-IN-A-GOOD-WAY!' and you can hardly ever go back! Now you roam the spice markets of the internet looking for more variety to spice up your food, but be careful - some spices don't go well together, some are really old, past expiration dates, and if you get too much of it, your plate can overflow and make the food inedible.

Let the spice flow.
Sims 2 is the game that sustains us.

At the risk of sounding conceited, can I be the master chef who somehow makes delicious food with only like three ingredients, just to remind people that you don't need to fly halfway around the world to stock up on saffron and himalayan salt to cook well?

Absolutely! You can be chef in whatever restaurant you want with your cooking skills!

Well in that analogy then I'm the British Colonial Empire: invaded the entire world for spices then decided I don't like any of them.

First time I found out about CC I went on a binge and downloaded seventy million kimono, then realized I had no use for them. You can guess how old I was.

@yavannatw
Oh! When did you stop playing your Veronaville families? And may I ask why? I recall you were still playing them very recently. I remember that you deleted the pre-mades years ago when you first started to play the 'hood, but you'd been playing it successfully for so long that I thought you'd got away with it. (Or did you kill them?)

I didn't delete or kill the pre-mades when I started to play Veronaville; I just ignored them. Which meant I could easily integrate them into my game later. I know I'll never be able to stop playing my favourite CAS families in Veronaville. If the 'hood ever becomes unplayable I'd have to re-create them. Or, more likely, I'd just restore from a fairly recent backup and keep on playing. I can't live without Andrew and Gloria; I'm emotionally dependent on them. :lovestruc