TS2 - Legacy Cove - Week Five, And Everyone Is Still Alive

The Sims 2

Week Five, And Everyone Is Still Alive

     I am itching to play again but I'm trying to balance work and play.  I also won't let myself get lost in my sims again until I have the prior week documented so everything is fairly fresh in my mind still.  Time to sit down, focus, and blog it up.  

     We are going to open up the week with... as always... a birthday.  But we are finally out of the toddler days and moving on to the big kid stuff!  Let's toss that lil' Zayna up and do this!  

     Note:  this picture is the only one I have of the whole family together.  Isn't it so sweet though.  This family is really going to give me a toothache.   

     Zayna somehow had already flagged science as her hobby.  This is super exciting to me as she is only the second born-in-game sim that has had science as their hobby!  Holy astronauts, batman!  Her stats are 10 (neat) - 6 (outgoing) - 5 (active) - 4 (serious) - and 6 (nice).  So glad all these kids are nice.  I mean, I LIKE the evil snowmen in the winter.  But not all the other naughty things some of the grumpy sims do.  

     Oh, right.  You want to see pictures of the kid.  Here she is, and her spartan room. 

     I also have some sickening pictures of the sisters hugging.  This family likes each other.  It's so weird.  Not like real families at all!

     Ah... this interruption is brought to you by my sim-self, Carissa Pepper, and Zayna's ant farm.  Can we pretend I am not this weird?  I mean, I am.  But we are pretending.  I don't think I've ever bought a sim the ant farm before so all of these faces being made are totally new to me. 

    It wouldn't be the Archer family if we didn't have some back-to-back birthdays, so Tuesday rolls around and Zamaris takes a turn at blowing out the candles.  Make a wish!!  I hope she's wishing for some more friends her age.  So hard to have all of these adults around all the time, I'm sure!

    You may be wondering who that blonde guy is on the left.  Who are we kidding, you didn't even pay attention!!!  But as I outlined in a previous blog, one of the problems I face with having two daughters to marry off into the world is the low selection of male suitors.  Let me introduce you to the five new guys in town.

     The first gentleman is Rob Panda, who is our newest Twink.  I did a horrible job creating a sim for him as he's lacking sufficient pictures of facebook for me to stalk.  But he has blonde hair and blue eyes and is a family sim so I think I got the important stuff right.  

     The gentleman in the black shirt is Arturo Ashe.  He's a romancer.  And sexy.  Next up, the red head is fortune sim Chase Banque (thank you Gandy for the name).  And the other blonde guy is the new knowledge sim, Nicholas Newton.  

     Where was I...?  OH!  Zamaris's birthday!  So Zamaris is a family sim also, she wants to marry off 6 kids (WHY!  I mean... WHY!!!!!!???).  I think by now she's had sufficient time to pick out an outfit and doll herself up in the mirror so let's check on her. 

     Yup, still cute.  You like how she has on a plaid shirt just like her daddy?  That's right.  She's a daddy's girl for sure.  But she's a tinkerer like her brother.  So when the weekend rolls around, I'll let the two older kids work out whether they want a car to repair or a train table.  

     So the next day that I was playing my daughter comes home from school and talks to me as we watched Julie Jaz playing fetch with Astro.  She asked me if I was worried about Astro getting hit by a car.  I turned my back to the screen and said to her, "Not really.  I mean, first of all, they live on a dead end street.  There's not really any traffic other than foot traffic.  They don't even have a maid or gardener.  And secondly, they are the only family so there's not a lot of traffic in general in the neighborhood."

     She says to me, "This conversation is so weird."  WHATEVER!  Then, before I could retort, she tells me, "There's the bus."  Wh... *swivel* ... WHAT!  NO!  ASTRO!  I squealed like a girl!  

   

     At this point, my daughter cackled and left me alone to save Astro.  BRAT!  Julie kept playing fetch with the dog and I couldn't cancel it out!  NO!  OUR PUPPY!  Do you know what happened?  DO YOU?  The bus eventually faded out.  It couldn't exit the lot normally.  So after some long moments of horror, it just disappeared.  If you think I've been overreacting, remember this is AMARIS in my family.  Stranger things COULD HAPPEN.  We are death-free up to this point.  I don't know how long I can keep all these sims alive!  

     Okay.  Whew.  Moving on.  The other thing going on this week is a bit of a love triangle.  Zachariah has crushed and finally fallen in loooooove with Raven Lawson.  But then he turned his eyes on Antoinette Mellon.  So far he is just stalking her.. but his want panel speaks for itself.  I have used his situation to explain to my daughter why teenage boys are not to be trusted.

     In a bitter sweet turn of events, the girls are becoming friends... I can't decide if I want Zach's dirty two-timing dreams to be discovered or if I'm with him on praying he can juggle two girls if things move forward with Antoinette.  Sigh.  

     

     Once the weekend rolled around, the kids spent some cash.  Zach went to the brand new pet store to buy Astro a collar in case he tries to run off when Zach goes to college in a few days.  Zamaris went along for the ride.. and she got a little something for herself.  

     Why not, right?  I like how the dog gets to ride in the front seat with Zach.  Already showing Zamaris who's boss.  Her name is Anabelle, and since we are done having more kids in this generation and the house will start to empty out with kids going off to college, I thought some puppies will be fun.  Turns out that Astro is a schnoodle.  Schnoodle puppies ought to be fun.  Just say it.  Schnoodle.  How can we NOT want to do this?

    Also.. THIS HAPPENED AS THE KIDS CAME HOME:

     ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL ASTRO OR WHAT?  QUIT PLAYING FETCH ON THE STREET!  The point has been proven!  The street is not safe!

     I also want to show everyone the clerks working at the pet store.  I'm pretty sure they are sisters.  But... yikes!

     The kids decided on getting the fixer-upper car.  I think when it's ready, we'll give it to Zamaris to take to her new house after she graduates college.  Right now though... it needs some work.  *cough*

    Some other things happened before the weekend was over.  I sighed, and allowed them.  Zach had some VERY specific wants.  That involved a specific blonde girl.  He's going to Sim State in a few days.  We can handle this for 5 days right?  Just 5 more days.  

     They look good together, don't they?  Now, as long as both girls aren't on the lot at the same time... 

     That's right, Amaris.  Keep washing the windows.  Mind your business!  He's got to make these mistakes now while he's young and stupid.  

Status Report

Progress Report

     I know I've been blogging a lot about my Sims.  But I have been doing a little bit of jewelry work, too!  Not as much as I need to be, but I ran hard on working on it leading up to a festival then needed a week to pull back so I didn't burn out.

    If you are local to Barboursville, West Virginia then you may have seen me at the Fall Fest on September 20th!  We had an amazing booth with great placement in the middle of the crafters, not too far or too close to the band and food court.  I was the jewelry lady with her foot in a bright green cast and a whiny teenager.  I'm sure you remember me now right?  Ha!

     Leading up to the Fall Fest, I was in a frenzy making a lot of new items and wow, I even impressed myself on a few.  Lots of skulls, two new triple wraps, and I made extra copies of a few popular items like the dragonfly bracelet & my Marshall University wraps.  

     The Fearless bracelet is one of my absolute favorites!  It sold pretty quickly at the Fall Fest and without any haggling.  That always makes me feel great!  Pricing handmade items is a stress that most of us crafters go through!

    So after the Fall Fest I (obviously) spent some time playing my sims, watching some deer that came into my parents' back yard, and catching up on some Netflix.

     This past weekend, my sister conned me into joining her in a booth at my niece's cheer competition and I had my doubts.  The crowd would be smaller than what we see at craft fairs and festivals and we had to smush her bows and my jewelry products onto one table... but I will be darned if I didn't do better at that cheer competition than I did at the festival the weekend before!  It helped that I was the only jewelry vendor and we were last to pack up so we got all the last minute business, too.

     A few ladies asked if we would be at the next competition or the big regional one in a few weeks.  We are looking into it!  Neither my sister or I have heard where we can get into the regional (the next one is outdoor and I don't think we are going to do that), but we are trying to track down the appropriate people.

     My to-do list for the next couple of days includes doing some repairs for some friends' items (and one that I made, I stand by my work!), getting a product ready to do a fundraiser for the local rescue, and I may be suckered in to helping my sisters and mom at the West Virginia Pumpkin Festival this weekend.  Unless there's a last minute cancellation, I won't have a booth.  We'll see what happens!

    Oh, I did buy some new pretty buttons last night!  Aren't these just so cute?  There's koalas and owls, timepiece buttons with roman numerals, and the Horde for the WoW fans.  I'm excited on what I can do with all of these! 

    I'll also be working on getting pictures of all my new products now that I've unearthed my camera from the boxes remaining from the move and checking out a new social media to start promoting my items.  Pinterest or Twitter?  Hmmm...

    Oh, and hey, check me out on Wanelo!!  I'm totally pleased with the activity I'm seeing there!  If you are a fellow crafter and haven't added your items to Wanelo it's totally easy and worth it!


Best,

Carissa
The Crafty Warrior

TS2 - Legacy Cove - Week Four in the Cove

The Sims 2

Week Four in the Cove

     I am REALLY supposed to be working on some jewelry items.  Doing some repairs for friends, taking pictures of the other stuff I've made, and creating new... But *whistles innocently*  I stayed up late instead binge playing my sims.  The moral of this is that I am not capable of making adult decisions lately.  

     In any matter, we are starting off the week with a new bump.  She scared me a little at first, because she stood up waving her arm around.  I panicked, thinking, "OH NO!  Is today baby day?"  Whew.  Just the last bump.  Panic averted.  

     I really want to thank Silia for making herself available for helping with the house cleaning.  Really makes up for her being a piss ant to all the other sims.  

She even gets into an argument with her good friend Lindsay! 

     Today isn't baby day but there is a birthday party!  Every day, seems like there's a birthday or new baby being born.  It's crazy up in this house!  It's time for little Zamaris to move out of the toddler stage though.  Let's roll!

     One last picture of Zamaris, then party time!  Isn't she soooooo adorable?  I'm so happy with all the pretty babies Zane and Amaris have!

     I'm pleased that everyone is starting to understand that this is a cut-throat competition for my blessings.  I see more of the visitors showing some spirit at the celebrations.  Good.  Excellent.  

     Except... there's always a few trouble makers still... Sigh.  No idea what caused this but I'm noticing a trend here, *cough* SILIA *cough*

     I always get so happy when I have two kids in the house because *Squeeeeee* my favorite pictures are the kids hugging.  I also get to examine any differences in physical traits, of which this family seems to not have despite my running the randomizer before each new birth. 

     
     Gotta update another room upstairs... It's a good thing this family lucked into a little cash early on and THANK WRIGHT Zane married a townie with a deep pocket instead of the NPC Professor.  Anyhoo, I gave Zamaris a nicely pinked out room.  It's pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

     So.. Silia is at least nice to the kids.  I'll let her keep hanging around, but there's a price to pay still for all the negative interactions she has with the other adult sims.  Mmhmmm.

     So that's Monday.  Seriously, all that was one day.  Tuesday dawned a nice, bright and sunny day.  Julie walked by and Amaris went out to greet her.  Then hey, there's Bobbi, too!  Let's go to the edge of the lot to greet her.. and then.... what th.... seriously?  Of all the places....

     It's times like this I am REALLY glad there aren't any neighbors around.  I would like to call to attention Julie's hustle in the 2nd picture.  Ya'll see that?  Good work, Julie.  

     Anyway, we have another girl.  I'm a bit put out by this for a few reasons.  First, I want lots of boys to keep the Archer name going strong.  In my last 'hood, my main house started out predominately with girls and after a few generations it was ONLY girls.  The family name got wiped out.  It was a sad day when the last girl was married and the name was gone forever.  *wipes tear*.

     The second reason is that the balance of available females really tips the scales.  After the end of this week, I'm going to have to go make some new male townies and I am really terrible at making new sims.  ANYWAY...

    Presenting.... Miss Zayna Archer.  Looks just like the other two kids with Momma's brown hair and dad's custom eyes.  We'll just fast-forward through her infant pics.  

     The family was saving up and trying to hit the $20k in cash milestone again before buying a car.  But SOMEONE missed the school bus and pushed the need for a car into the here and now.  So now they have a car and nice big garage to park it in.  There's plenty of room for the two little tinkerers to get a car to work on also.  

     And of course, after school on Wednesday we are due for another birthday.  See how this goes?  Birthday, new baby, birthday... it's something every day around here!  This time it's a milestone and made me sad though.  Our little Zachariah is turning into a teenager.  *sniff*  They really do grow up so fast!  

     He's still such a handsome lil' guy!  And hey, a perk of having a hot teenager in the house is all these girls coming by now!  Free baby care!!  Frees up Amaris's time for the important stuff

     How often do you know of a mother of three that gets time to poop alone?  Thanks to Sheridan Mellon for keeping the baby and Zach busy!!  Hahah!

    Thursday rolled along, and what do you know!  Birthday time again!  Every day, man.  Every day.  Amaris goes to work maybe one day a week.  Thank goodness for all those vacation days.  But someone has to be around to organize all this.  

     Zayna is so beautiful!  She does look just like her older siblings but I can't get over how lucky I've been.  I highly recommend Amaris for anyone else starting a legacy.  Good genes right there!  HAVE ALL THE BABIES!

     You know who really loves this little girl?  Her big brother Zach.  I have to beat him away with a stick to let her just sleep!  He always wants to feed her, bathe her (and upstairs of course.  There's a perfectly good bath tub downstairs on the nursery level but NO let's take the kid up the stairs!  Argh!)

     In my efforts to distract him and help the family keep fit, I bought a trampoline for the back yard.  Zach is getting totally ripped on it, but the downside is that thing has a waiting list for who gets on it next!  Here's a picture of Lisa hogging it and getting all smelly!

    Oh, and you are probably all wondering about Zach growing up to a teenager and what aspiration he rolled.  I couldn't find my stupid dice.  So Silia gave me a random number which translated to ROMANCE!  Oh, ho ho!  What a change this will be from the current era of family sim goodness!!  He thankfully rolled up "Professional Party Guest" as his Lifetime Want.  None of that 50 whoohoo nonsense.  Seriously, he'd be cutting a path through all the Twinkie gals and chaos would reign!  So Professional Party Guest is good.

     Zach wanted his first kiss and I locked that down for him.  We spent a few days scouring through the available girls.  The family funds are down enough that I don't want to buy the crystal ball, even if I could just resell it after I'm done and get their money back.  So we did this the good ol' fashioned way and checked out every teen girl that came by.  He finally settled on Raven Lawson.  She is quite the cutie!

   While I had Zach preoccupied, Zamaris had her chance to show off what a good big sister she is!  This whole house is oozing with family wholesomeness and cute crap that should make me sick.  

     Finally though, a break from all the birthdays and babies!  They had a nice family weekend, and you see that blonde standing up in this next picture?  

     That, my friends, is Antoinette Mellon.  She was the latest heiress of the old neighborhood.  I think I'll be sending her off to Sim State with Zach when he's ready to go.  It would be so sweet for my old heiress to be part of the founding family of the new neighborhood.  Like, things would feel like they came full circle.  There's always three-bolt Raven though if things aren't working out so hot with Antoinette.  And who knows what Twinkie might catch his eye!  He's a romancer, don't forget, so watch out Legacy Cove!!

     Now.  I'm off to build a pet store so they can buy little Astro a collar and maybe a girlfriend.  Now that the kids are skyrocketing into the teens it's time to cut off the baby making for Zane and Amaris and let them work a little more on themselves.  So maybe we should aim for some puppies.  Yes... puppies.  Muwhahahah!

    Also on my to-do list is to make a few male townies to make sure the girls have appropriate suitors when they are ready to move out to start their own houses.

    Stay tuned for more adventures on Coves of our Lives.


-Carissa