Lily's Sim Antics

* Not-so Master Thief

2011-12-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love the picture above - this game is in turn frustrating and delightful. You've probably already guessed from the red hair, that it's Claire Ursine from Sunset Valley - though she's almost unrecognisable from the person she was when I (and everyone else) first loaded this neighbourhood.... but I'm getting a bit ahead of myself... back to the beginning for Claire then...

You may remember from Saucy Sunset Valley, that Jamie found Claire in the garden, in the middle of the night in her swimsuit. She'd lost the plot having recently discovered she was pregnant by her ex-lover - Jared Frio... bit of a May to December relationship, that one - and I've no clue how they would ever have gotten past their first fight long enough to have woohooed and *tried for baby*...

... anyhoo, when playing Jamie Jolina, I got bored whilst she was sleeping... really bored (have you ever watched a sim sleep? You have? Dull. Ain't it), so I went next door and made Claire Ursine *Active* using Twallans MC mod and was just in time to see Claire leave the hospital with her new baby girl, Beth. I lucked in with that one, coz I got to name the baby (though I think I have Twallans SP set to allow me to do that... I have a vague memory of the Keatons having a baby boy and I got the chance to name him... Buster, of course).

After Claire went home by taxi, in the wee hours of the morning - I gave her a very slight makeover... just her hair and clothes (completely forgot those ominous eyebrows!!!!!). Then she phoned Jared Frio and invited him over, to tell him he had a daughter.

I don't really know what I was expecting to happen - I made Jared the active sim so that I could get him to pick up his baby girl and take some *doting dad* shots, but the game blocked me from doing that - he was in Claire's house, so interaction with the baby wasn't gonna happen - though I'm fairly sure that visiting sims can interact autonomously with babies - I dunno, though.

I got bored with Claire and it was nearly time for Jamie to wake up, so I left... the next time I saw Claire, Jamie had gone to the park for a bbq - and a slimmer Claire just happened to walk by. Took me a moment to recognise her - it was the eyebrows that give it away. She'd obviously discovered the Gym, all on her lonesome.

After chopping and changing my sims, every night when Jamie Jolina went to bed - I was starting to lose track of who was doing what, so I decided to adopt KarinL's approach to SV and visit with each sim (that I want to play - I don't like 'em all) for one week - so on Saturday night, at the end of my first week in SV - I left Jamie and moved over to Claire for a more permanent visit.

I have a huge soft spot for Claire Ursine - for whatever reason, EA decided to make her butt ugly and disfunctional on so many levels. And yet (once you fix her eyebrows) there's a genuine softness about her. I get the feeling that (in the world of sims) she's incredibly lonely, and that her little girl is going to make all the difference to her.

I don't know if she'll ever find a partner. I have the lifetime set to EPIC, so there's plenty of time to do the rounds of the other sims, and come back to Claire and see if she's met anyone interesting - I have SP set to allow romance and going steady, but not marriage or divorce.

Claire is always spinning a wish to learn the gardening skill, and this incarnation of Claire, lives in a house that was lived in by a previous Claire (from another SV (mine), about two years ago)... the other Claire had built up considerable gardening skills and not a few plants in her back yard - and although my Claire (as she is now) really does like to garden, after harvesting all of the other Claire's fruit and veg - I got rid of all but two plants... gardening is too time consuming for just one sim, and I'm not sure I want to reintroduce a mod that I had, that made it easier.

Shame really, she did rather enjoy it.

Though I have my game set to EPIC, I have a baby's lifespan set to only 3 days. Baby's bore me. Real ones and pixelated ones. When I decided to visit with Claire, Beth was already toddler and Claire seemed inclined to take her everywhere with her...

... well, not quite everywhere. Claire's current occupation is Getaway Driver, for a bunch of local criminals. I debated whether or not to go the *perfect mum* route, with Claire - but that would have been dull, and I'm always, always dull when it comes to playing this game - so I thought perhaps *doting mum with klepto tendencies* would be more fun.

Claire certainly thought so too... but I was forgetting one little thing...

... in all the times that I have played Claire (and it's been a few).... she's been an absolutely abysmal thief.

Every single time she goes to work - she gets arrested.

Every. Single. Time.

* KABOOM

2011-12-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

Jamie and Jared... sitting up a tree.... K.I.S.S.I.N.G...

...as you can see, these two are still *getting it on* - though they have had one or two moments when I thought perhaps they'd go their separate ways. Jared really is temperamental and I'd have given him his marching orders by now... but Jamie appears to like him...

... a lot! .

They have yet to woohoo, but they do date quite a bit - though their choices for a decent night out are some what limited by the fact that I have yet to build so much as a pub, in Sunset Valley. Jamie constantly spins a wish to visit a Lounge, but there ain't one. Yet.

This time around in Sunset Valley (yes, I have been here many, many times before), I'm experiencing a lot of *firsts*, and loving it. I've never played a sim that wanted to become a world renowned surgeon before - so when the option for Jamie to hold a free clinic at the cemetary popped up, I took it.

Rather a random location to heal people, but with my newly tweaked Relativity Mod - the time allowed was sufficient for Jamie to heal/scare the living daylights out of - five Sims... Whilst she was there, Jamie harvested the Death Flower plant... because she could. She then went home and decided to *search the galaxy* with her telescope - to increase her logic skill... Jamie wants a promotion.

At first, I had no real clue what was happening... the sky darkened and sims started turning up and pointing skywards.. so I had to look at the sky, just to check that what they were reacting to was actually there...

It was.

Suddenly, all the sims performed the *kiss your arse goodbye* manouver and..

...KABOOM! The back of Jamie's house exploded in a ball of fire - at this point, I started to panic. The first time in ages that I'd played my game and enjoyed it - and the sim I was concentrating on... had very possibly been blown to smithereens by a sodding meteor... TWO YEARS I've had this game... TWO SODDING YEARS and not... one...meteor.

When the smoke cleared, (the) Grim Reaper appeared above a crater in the ground, where Jamie had last been seen.

He worked a bit of voodoo and conjured mists and magic... and the ghost of Jamie Jolina... I suddenly remembered the Death Flower that Jamie had in her inventory and started clicking madly on Death, hoping for an interaction that would allow Jamie to give him the flower and maybe beg for her life. Nothing happened... I'm a gameplay novice, obviously.

Jamie's ghost wandered past the dustbin with a "Damn, forgot to empty the bins before getting annihilated" kind of folornness... then, when Grim came to stand in front of her, her ghost rose into the air... and she threw the death flower at him - to which he replied (genuinely) "Thankyou, I'll have to put this in water!" and Jamie suddenly became a solid mass of sim and landed on the floor...

She was ALIVE!

Disaster averted... happy, happy, happy....

...of course, she had to go inspect the damage and Grim followed her...

... I love this game.

* Saucy Sunset Valley!

2011-11-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

Jamie Jolina is my current sim of choice... like many Sunset Valley Residents, she has succumbed to the lure of the Ice Cream Truck... which tends to turn up in a sinister *chitty chitty bang bang, child snatcher* type fashion, outside the homes of our playable sims. I figured if I let her have an ice cream, that the truck would move off. It didn't. It sat there for hours. It reached a point where I was afraid to guide the camera past Jamie's front door and out into the open... in case it got me.

In case you don't recognise the name, or the sim, Jamie is a permanent EA resident in Sunset Valley... she had a bit of a makeover, and I moved her from House Plan B to Myrtle Bungalow.

She lives here now. Between the Goddards and Claire Ursine, on the sea front at SV.

Jamie is a girl of mixed traits... she's a party animal who likes to read books... and she seems to want to apply herself to absolutely everything, constantly spinning up wishes to do/learn something. Which certainly makes for a more interesting game than just "buy me something that costs more than 100 simoleons". She was quite happy and relaxed at the pool, and successfully made hot dogs, even though she needed to pee.

In fact, Jamie was starting to look like a regular Goody Two Shoes... and I'd begun to chill out and relax into playing her.

On her first night in her new home, she noticed Claire Ursine come out of her house, when most *good* people are in bed. She hadn't met her new neighbour yet, so made the effort to cross the back gardens and go introduce herself... and check that Claire was okay. Jamie works at the local hospital... and Claire looked a pickle short of a sandwich, standing in her garden in her swimsuit, in the dead of night.

It turned out that Claire was all of a dither, because she'd just discovered that she was pregnant by Jared Frio, her ex boyfriend - who happened to live across the road, just two doors down from Jamie. Jamie congratulated Claire, and talked her into going inside and back to bed, before returning home to grab a bite to eat before bed time.

Whilst she tossed pancakes, Jamie wondered about her new neighbours relationship, and was pretty curious to find out who Jared Frio was... Claire hadn't given Jamie the impression that she was easy going... the opposite, in fact - so Jamie couldn't help but wander what Jared was like... Jamie had never really seen herself as a busy body... but she reckoned she just might go meet her new neighbours that lived two doors down, in the morning, to see how the land lay.

She was up bright and early the following morning, and knocking on the Frio brothers door... bear in mind that it's actually been a little while since I revamped the Frios' home, and I was curious enough to refresh my memory as to what I'd done with it. I'd rotated it 180 degrees but couldn't remember beyond that, so while I was having a wander through the upstairs...

... this... was happening downstairs....

... I was so surprised that I just sat back and watched...

.... genuinely. just. watched. ... it was like something out of a Mills Boon Romance...

... and it was both of them... making the moves on each other. This has NEVER happened in my sims 3 game before. I have to work HARD to get relationships to happen... Bob and Betty took FOREVER to get it on. These two were like a couple of dogs on heat. All I kept thinking was "Poor Claire!" - I'd had plans to get Jared and Claire back together... did I hit *quit* or *save*???? What to do?

This sealed it. Autonomous skinny dipping in the Frio Brothers pool.... Jared was about to tell Jamie that she was behaving inappropriately... when he changed his mind and joined her.

What choice did I have? I mean, really... what would you have done?

I hit *save*.

* Riviera Pool

2011-11-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

Well.... Real Life was fun while it lasted. I'm avoiding painting my bedroom ceiling... and Christmas Shopping. I HATE Christmas Shopping - I'd far rather spend my money on me, than on everyone else. I know what I want, which makes shopping for me very easy... anyhoo... I've been using my game to avoid jobs. I'm re-addicted. Thought I'd take a mooch around Sunset valley with Jamie Jolina and see what cropped up...

The desperate need for a new public swimming pool occurred when Jamie hit up a wish to go swimming. There was no way that Le Petit Shark Pool was going to cut the mustard, and I've never revamped that particular lot before. So that's what I did, and I quite like the result. I also changed the name, because it no longer suited.

If you'd like Riviera Pool for your own game, you can download it HERE at Sims3Musketeers.

* Simply Betty - All the Right Moves - Part 7

2011-11-20T07:32:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks after Fatty and Vad had moved in with her, Betty managed to grab an evening out with Bob. Having her parents at home wasn't exactly a hindrance to romance, as they lived in the apartment above the garage, though there were times when Betty wondered if that were actually the case - Fatty was constantly raiding Betty's fridge and Vad was forever sat at the kitchen table, watching the TV - this particular night, Betty was hoping for a little more than a nice meal and a romantic walk...

She wasn't really sure what she was expecting, but Fatty had been leaving wedding magazines all over the house of late in an attempt to push Betty in a not so subtle direction. On one occasion she'd woken up in bed to discover at least eight magazines open on different pages, spread out all over her bed - as if she'd fallen asleep whilst reading them. Even Bob couldn't have failed to notice what Fatty was hinting at, especially as she appeared to be humming "Here comes the bride"... loudly... whenever he entered a room.

Betty hadn't bargained on Bob's obtuseness though. She had thought that just this once, he'd take matters into his own hands and... well... never mind. As they walked across the bridge to the cinema and paused a moment to enjoy the view and each other's company, Betty knew that this was just going to be an evening like any other. Bob was never going to be anything but... Bob.

When Bob dropped her home with a kiss goodnight on the doorstep, Betty wandered into the kitchen and found her father in his usual spot, watching the TV. She plonked herself down in front of him and waited...

10 minutes later Vad said...

"Oh hello dear, have you just come in?"

Betty fought the urge to roll her eyes, "Yes dad - just this minute."

"Did you want something? Only there's a documentary about bird poo coming on in a minute and... " Vad stopped talking when Betty started drumming her fingers on the table "Your mother does that when she's angry with me." He raised an eyebrow and waited.

Betty shoved her hands beneath her bottom to still them. "Does she?" she shrugged "I'm not angry with you dad, I just wanted your attention for a moment."

Vad turned off the TV and faced his daughter fully. "Well, now you have it. What gives?"

"Bob."

Vad fought his own urge to roll his eyes... what was it that that boy hadn't done now???? "You should probably talk to your mother about Bob, she knows more about these things than I do."

"What things?"

"I don't know..." he struggled, deciding right then and there to buy a TV for the apartment. "Boy, girl things??"

"Daaaaad!"

"Right then, it's my bed time, talk to your mother in the morning," he stood up and came round the table, and plopping a kiss on top of his daughter's head, Vad made his escape.

The following morning, whilst Betty was eating a left over salad, Fatty appeared in the kitchen and grabbed the last remaining plate of pancakes out of Betty's fridge.

"Your father says you want to talk me," she sat down at the kitchen table. "Shoot."

Between mouthfuls, Betty explained that she felt that her relationship with Bob wasn't really moving at a pace that suited her, and that Bob didn't seem inclined to move things along himself.

"What? Even though I've been humming that damn tune at him?!?" Fatty was less surprised than her voice suggested - that boy would sit at a red light all day if the car behind didn't toot him. Fatty didn't fight the urge to roll her eyes. "Betty, I know I'm not subtle about wanting you and Bob to tie the knot - "

"You're not kidding!"

"- BUT.... is it truly what you want? Or is it just because I've been hinting at it that you think it's what you want?"

"I want what you've got mum." Betty said quietly.

Fatty felt her heart pinch. What she and Vad had was pretty rare, and that Betty wanted the same for herself made her want to do battle with the devil himself to help her have it. She reached over and squeezed her daughter's hand... "Bob isn't going to be any different in 40 years, Betty - you're always going to be the one that has to make the moves. You just need to be sure that they're the right ones, and that what you think you want, is what's actually going to make you happy."

"I love him, mum."

"Despite the fact that you're going to have to do the asking?"

Betty sighed... "Probably because of it. There's nothing quite like choosing your own destiny, is there?" Betty was thinking back to a certain fortune teller and a pair of brand new knickers.

Fatty patted the hand she'd been squeezing "That's my girl."

Betty decided there was no time like the present, and after showering and getting dressed, she phoned Bob and asked him to come over. When he arrived she dragged him away from the watchful eyes of her parents - though Fatty attempted to follow along behind, Betty shut the living room door rather firmly in her face.

"Betty what's going on?" Bob laughed at Fatty's expression just before the door closed.

"Ummm, nothing Bob... everything Bob... ummmm... dammit!"

"What's wrong?"

"Just shut up and listen."

" 'k." Bob was more than used to Betty's manners (or lack thereof), and indulging her was always the quickest route to finding out what was on her mind.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Do you accept that I'm not the easiest person to live with? Because I accept you the way you are!"

"What way is that then, exactly?" Bob folded his arms in front of him, not quite sure if they were about to have a fight or not.

"Answer the question. Do you accept me the way that I am, warts and all? Because I really do love you and I want this to work."

"Betty, what's going on? I love you. I've always loved you... since we were two years old and you buried me up to my neck in a sandpit and did a war dance around my head!"

Betty blinked. He was as crazy as she was. He just kept it well hidden.

Mind made up, she dropped to one knee in front of him.

Bob's jaw hit the floor.

Betty produced a ring - sim fashion - from out of thin air.

"Bob.... errrr.... Bob... ?" her heart was beating so fast that the words wouldn't come.

Bob took her hands in his and pulled her up onto her feet and into his arms. Cupping her face in his hands he stared down into her eyes, knowing what he had to do... what he wanted to do...

"Betty. Will you marry me?"

"Oh God YES!" she sobbed. "YES."

One week later - Fatty could have achieved it in one day, but didn't want anyone to think that Betty HAD to get married - the scene was set. Riverview Chapel was about to host a wedding. The bride-to-be was tipsy from having had a champagne breakfast... the groom was quietly confident... the brides parents were flitting form "My baby" to " My God!" and the guests had assembled inside, and were waiting for proceedings to... proceed. They'd seen the cake, they were hungry.

As the music started to play, Bob turned to the Chapel entrance and watched as his future wife walked in, gingerly, with her father. Seeing him standing in front of the wedding arch - waiting for her with a huge grin on his face - Betty straightened up and looped her arm through Vad's.

"Ready?" her father asked.

She beamed up at him. "Ready."

With bubbles floating gently about them (no run of the mill confetti for Betty), Bob and Betty exchanged vows and rings.

"I love you Betty Newbie."

"I love you too, Bob Simovitch," she winked at him.

"Ah... I take it we're going to be having our first fight before we even leave the church?"

"Nah. I just wanted to see what you'd say," she grinned at him, and turned towards their waiting guests to accept their well wishes and congratulations.

Shaking his head and smiling, Bob followed after her..

The wedding reception was going at full throttle when Bob finally mananged to grab a moment with is father.

"You've done well, my boy!" said Rob behind bites of cake. "The girl has money as well as a beautiful mother!"

Bob frowned at his dad."I didn't marry her for her money, dad. I love her."

"Nothing wrong with marrying for money, my boy. After all, it's why I married your mother. Woman couldn't hold a candle to Fatima, oh no sir, but she had plenty of the green stuff." He nodded sagely, completely oblivious to his son's contempt and sudden understanding of his parents loveless relationship.

Glancing up, he saw his mum heading towards the table he sat at with his father... he got up and kissed her on the forehead before she could sit down and join them. He couldn't bear to be near Rob Newbie for a minute more. "I'll come join you later mum, enjoy your cake," and he moved away to watch Betty rev the party up another notch.

Betty was having the time of her life, someone had produced a guitar for her to borrow, and she joined in with band, adding to the already fantastic atmosphere and her guests enjoyment.

Dallas Shallow's little sister interrupted her just long enough to ask for her autograph... the day just couldn't get any better...

... then Mags Newbie approached her.

Betty took a calming breath and waited for her new mother-in-law to speak, expecting something vitriolic - Mags was well known for her acid tongue throughout the neighbourhood.

"Betty... my dear... " Mags paused, apparently searching for the right words... "Look after him," she said quietly. "He loves you very much. That's worth something, you know?"

Betty looked at Mags for what felt like the first time, and saw a very elegant, and very sad woman before her. She leaned forwards and pecked her on the check "I know, " she said "I love him too."

Mags suddenly seemed to realise that the facade had slipped, she took a step back and a disinterested expression replaced her previously sad countenance. "Good good." she said, and walked away.

Betty went in search of Bob, feeling a need for his company. They danced the rest of the night away, happy in each other's company. As the evening wore on, the guests started to leave in a slow and steady trickle, stopping first to thank the happy couple for a wonderful day and to wish them well for the future.

Finally, they were all alone... the last guests having left about five minutes before.

"So... Mrs Newbie, how's about that honeymoon in foreign lands that you've been promising me?"

"Where shall we go first, Mr Newbie? I have unfinished business in Al Simhara and Shang Simla... so perhaps a nice quiet sojourn to Champs les Sims?"

"Unfinished business?"

"Indiana Jones style stuff. Nothing to concern yourself with."

"Tomb raiding?"

"Tomb raiding."

Bob shook his head "What have I gotten myself into?"

Betty grinned up at him "The biggest sandpit you have ever seen!"

He laughed down at her and pulled her close. "I love you Mrs Newbie."

"I love you too."

... and then she kissed him.

* Ivy Hill Library

2011-11-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

I've not played my game in what feels like months - certainly since before the beginning of October, and I'm finding it hard to get back into it - not necessarily a bad thing, when you consider that my real life suffers when I can think of nothing but *the game*! I'm still on a one woman mission to completely revamp Twinbrook, before I get stuck in and play it - but my commitment to the project is wavering through sheer boredom. Not playing as I build, takes some of the fun out of it.... so I reckon I may take a break from Twinbrook and see what Betty is up to in Riverview, or have a mooch around Sunset Valley and see what comes up...

In the mean time...

I leave you with Ivy Hill Library, this one was bugging me so I made the effort and finished it. After a couple of months of staring blankly at the empty interior, it all came together quite nicely. Hopefully you'll like it as much as I do. You can find it on S3M - HERE.

* Sandy's Challenges

2011-09-29T06:44:00.000-07:00

We have two brand new challenges in The Sims Daily Forum! Both have been created for us by one of our favourite Simmers and forum members - Around The Sims Sandy. To know her is to love her ;) .

There are two participation prizes for Style My Sim. One for the *Client* - a vanity. And Two for the designer - His and Hers Dressers.

So come along and join in the fun!

* Red Oak Fire Station

2011-09-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

I found an image of this (or very similar) when googling firestations for inspiration to help me build one for Twinbrook - I fell completely in love with the romantic architecture and so I built it for the sims. I think it's one of my personal favourites, yet. If you'd like it for your own game, you'll find it HERE at S3M. Huge thankyou to Soil and Em for playtesting it for me *kiss*.

* Twinbrook and Twallan

2011-09-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

I've been so incredibly busy with our new forum The Sims Daily, that even though I finished this lot some time ago, I hadn't play tested it. Good job I did, as Sims were standing in the midst of a tree trunk to BBQ hotdogs, and there was an orderly queue forming around the one BBQ I'd bothered to add - this has all been rectified and it's now available HERE at S3M.

I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew with Twinbrook - I've decided to rebuild and remodel the entire neighbourhood, including all of the residential lots, some of which are already available at S3M.
I've already refurbed all of the Rabbit Holes. Some have been moved to other lots, in order to give me more space to build - there really isn't much in the way of choice when it comes to expanding Twinbrook, so I really have had to do some juggling. I've also built my very first firestation and my good friends, Soil and Em have offered there games to the sacrificial alter that is *play testing* - so far, Soil has reported in that all is well, but I need Em's thumbs up too, before I can share it with everyone else.

I've also been fine tuning Twallans Story progression Mod to suit my own gaming needs, along with Master Controller, Register, Overwatch and Traffic mods... there may well be more than that... oh yes, Relativity... there's also a Relativity mod in my game now *rolls eyes*. I wouldn't be having to learn any of these new things if it weren't for the influence of Jenba, ATS Sandy, Karin, ani_ and lll, all of whom have the most spectacular games I've ever come across. There's also Scout, who is building an amazingly grungy world. I could very possibly name the entire forum at Sims Daily for encouraging me to actually find a way to play my game, that I will enjoy.

During the fine tuning, many random things have occurred - The Curious Family got into debt, some lads arse caught on fire whilst he was buggering about with the inventors machine and Amy Bull got a makeover.

Luckily, budding fire fighter Blaise Kindle was there to alleviate the poor boy's pain. This was a huge deal for me, because one minute I'm with Amy Bull as she's cozying up in bed with Mark Brandt, getting ready for a first woohoo and suddenly the camera shoots across town to this scene. That does not happen without Twallans SP in my game!

I absolutely loved playing Amy, I even built her a brand new Salon (available soon) - she's quite the workaholic and once I've tuned the mods and built all of the lots (could be friggin years at the rate I'm going), I can get back to playing her all over again.

Above is a photo of Amy through the top floor window of the Salon that I built for her, she's in the tatoo parlour, which is completely separate from the Salon - the only issue I have with the Salon, is the constant invasion by Max Racket, a retired gangster I do believe, he wanders around the place with an air of ownership, giving my sims the most HORRENDOUS makeovers - I've decided to fine tune SP to not allow retirement or self employment (if it's possible), coz all of them turn up at the Salon on a daily basis, cluttering up the joint. It's like a window lickers day out for the Sunshine Variety Club, sans bus.

Amazingly, this young lady refused the offer of Amy's stylist services.

Almost lastly, I leave you with a pic of my entry into the Picture This... Challenge, that you can see the rest of HERE.

Last, but by no means least, you have got to visit this thread at Sims Daily. It's an absolute joy to be a part of this forum, and come across such unexpected naughtiness - Sunset aka Ninoo, is a very, very bad girl ;)

* Four New Challenges at The Sims Daily

2011-09-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

* River Junction Folly

2011-08-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

Twinbrook now has it's very own lighthouse. I couldn't leave the beach in it's original state, with a tiny pavillion/band hut and sod all on the beach but a couple of brollys and picnic blankets - so I built a lighthouse, in the middle of the swamp, on the river bend. It's a bit random, but call something a folly and you can build anything anywhere. There's a spiral staircase through the centre of it, all the way to the top floor, and the viewing platform is completely useable. The lot has been playtested. I've left the interior of the lighthouse bare, save for toilets. You can fill each level with whatever you choose, or nothing at all.

If you'd like it for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

I should add, the lighthouse itself was based on lighthouses built by my very good friend Nohan at Sims Crossing.

* End Of The Line Boxcar Diner

2011-08-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

I asked a question about Rabbit Holes at The Sims Daily , and the response was such that I thought I'd share some of mine. Urged on by Ninoo (Sunset) and her like of downloads that contain very little or no cc, it made me think that some of you might like what I've done with some of mine. If you don't, that's fine, but there's no need to tell me ;0)

This revamp is of the Boxcar Diner in Twinbrook, that's opposite the beach. It was pretty delapidated and unwelcoming to start with, but I've turned it into a bright and comfortable *eatery* with a park out the back. I've even added in some railway lines to give it a touch of authenticity... and because I could.

The lighthouse that you can see in the background is a new *lot* that's going to be available on S3M within the next day or so (if we ever get S3M fixed!). Also, I noticed when fiddling about with the place, that there's a little head stone/grave by the signal, at the back end of the boxcar, beside the road. I've left it there.

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* Our brand new forum!

2011-08-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

We'd like to cordially invite any and all sim players who love to chat about the game, post pictures, tell stories and generally share absolutely everything they do with their games... to come along to The Sims Daily forum, and join in!

We're an incredibly informal group of people, so you won't find too much in the way of rules and regulations - just somewhere comfy to pull up a chair and share your love of the Sims, with like minded people.

Your hosts/playmates/dogsbodies in this endeavour are Webbymom, Darkshines, Deelightful, Simcastic, Sebausten and ME!

The forum caters to Sims 2, Sims 3 and Sims Medieval... and we even have a pub... The Dog and Duck, where you can chat about your real lives whilst supping a *virtual* glass of wine or pint of Guiness, whatever suits your fancy (of course, we have no clue if you're actually imbibing and typing (or attempting to) at the same time, so dig out !).

We're just starting out, so come join in the fun and help to make our forum, your forum!

Lily xx

PS. The forum is the affiliate forum to Sims 3 Musketeers, just in case you're wondering :)

* Hydrangea House

2011-08-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

I'm very slowly rebuilding the whole of Twinbrook, in a similar fashion to the way I'm rebuilding Riverview. But there's more building than revamping going on in this one. My latest offering is a small starter home, only made possible because of the *wandHere* cheat that's part of Awesomemod. It drops the price of all objects etc, to the lowest *used* price, and makes a home more affordable for my/your sims.

I've lots more in the pipeline, but have been incredibly busy just recently, helping to create and organise a brand new sims forum, with five very good friends. You'll have to check back in for more information over the next couple of days, but we should be opening up shop on Tuesday at some point.

If you'd like this lot for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Magnolia Heights

2011-07-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

I'm on a roll... having a clear out... sorting my game files... I have cake to eat and no time to eat it.

This one's a bit like the tardis - bigger on the inside. It has 3-4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It's unfurnished as I haven't built it for any sim in particular, I just built it to fill a gap, and because I could.

If you'd like it for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Prudence Place

2011-07-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

Unbelievably, this is a new build! Yes - I do build residential lots from scratch too... occasionally. This one was for the Prudence family, from Twinbrook. I really didn't see the point of the lot they were in, big space, small house, bit crabby and dingy. I used the *wandhere* cheat that's a part of awesomemod, to lower the price of the place. If you want it for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

In a side note, don't feel you need to comment everywhere that I post this (Dee!), this is not the update... this is the update of the update and it points in the direction of the update whilst not being the update itself. However, if you feel the urge, comment all over the shot. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

* If I only had a heart...

2011-07-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

Meet Jed. You'll never see him again after this image, I deleted him. Jed was purchased by Fatty Simovitch with her reward points for going platinum on her lifetime wish (I forget what it was - a thousand best friends or something). I thought he might add an element of interest to my game. Jed survived long enough for me to build and decorate a room for him... eat some trash... attempt to sleep in Betty's bed... and visit the local junk yard.

Then I got bored.

This happens ALOT.

Two blog posts back - Triple Trouble Round One - I wanted to try my hand at the Livingsims contest. I made it to round two. Whoop Whoop (genuinely, very happy). Read the design theme for round two.... and my interest died a death.

Coastal.

Nice.

Already done it elsewhere. Can't be arsed to do it again. If you've seen one picture/ornament of a lighthouse.... you've seen them all. Still, to anyone who is entering round two of the contest, I wish you all a lot of love and luck and hope that your ideas for it are more original than mine would have been! I'm especially looking forwards to Jenba's entry - if you want a peek at her first round, look here.

* Riverview Chapel

2011-07-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Now that Generations has given us Wedding Arches, there's a gamut of Wedding Chapels out there. I thought I'd join in and build one for Riverview, that sits happily alongside the other Riverview Community Lots that I've built. It took at least five goes to get it functioning properly, as I forgot that when you give a sim more than one option of *purpose* on a lot - he'll pick any thing to do, other than the thing you want him to do.... in this case, at my first wedding, the entire party pissed off below stairs to the bar that I'd built... whilst the unhappy couple got married without an audience....

... at the second wedding, I didn't set it up properly and the groom got bored of waiting for his future wife to turn up... so HE pissed off downstairs to the bar.

I demolished the bar.

In fact, I demolished the entire basement and decided my little wedding chapel was simply going to have a buffet and the guests could provide their own entertainment with a bit of *jamming*, after the event. Someone always has a guitar in their pocket!

Third wedding. I forgot the cake.

Fourth wedding, bride, groom and guests were all where they were supposed to be.... but nobody was sitting down. They were all just standing around the benches I'd selected, looking a tad bored and ruining my photographs.... so I swapped the benches for chairs.

Fifth wedding... well... no spoilers, but the lot is finally available for downloading, so you work it out.

This lot has been FULLY play tested and is availabe HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Triple Trouble - Round 1

2011-07-09T01:57:00.000-07:00

The LivingSims Forum, currently has a contest running to decorate a pre-built home (downloadable for both Sims 2 and 3) and I thought I might have a go. I wouldn't usually, because there's a deadline. I'm a bit crap with deadlines. It's a personality defect that I must aim for just after a deadline, or not aim at all. Don't give me a deadline, and I'll get it done. Go figure...

Anyhoo, it's a contest that has been broken up into rounds... or rooms, so it's not like I have to get the whole house done all at once... plus - and this is the real reason why I've bothered - there's a *Just For Fun* thread, where you can just have a go and post your pictures without the fear of annihilation by everyone with much greater talent than you... and seeing as I don't do deadlines, if I can't meet a deadline, I can post in the *Just For Fun* thread... ya follow? No? Me neither.

The rules are all laid out in the Contest Thread - the requirements for Round 1 are in the... ummm... Round 1 thread. So far there are some absolutely amazing entries and I'm feeling slightly intimidated... not least because the majority have opted for English Country Cottage, and I've gone with a more Modern English Country - thankfully, the remit was for English Country, so I haven't got it wrong. But I'm thinking it does look a little odd against all the soft tones of the other rooms. Ah well, too late now... as my nan used to say "Shit or get off the pot!"

This very last picture (below) is where the inspiration for the above bedroom/bathroom came from. The website that hosts it is HERE... scroll down to the bottom.

* Simply Betty - Home Alone! - Part Six

2011-07-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

After a while, life began to settle into a pattern for Bob and Betty... an eratic pattern. Betty's unsociable work hours meant that they had very little time together. Bob's Architecture and Interior Design business was slowly taking off, and required a great deal of his attention too. So much so, that Betty abandoned her own home and took to spending more time at Bob's. Which was okay when his parents weren't around, but Betty got the distinct impression that Robert and Mags Newbie didn't think she was good enough for their *Darling Boy*.

Thankfully they had no idea what their *Darling Boy* got up to behind closed doors... or rather, they decided to pretend that Bobby Boy hadn't shacked up in his bedroom with Fatima Simovitch's daughter... he was simply entertaining a close friend and she occasionally stayed the night. Purely platonic, of course.

After a very short while it all started to wear a bit thin. Betty was either running late for work, having stayed home just a few minutes too long to see Bob when he finished for the day...

... or she was too damn tired to go home and cook and was living on a diet of fast food and milkshakes. Things were running out of control, and usually this would be where Betty took off for pastures new to have a little alone time and rethink where her life was heading...

...this time, she went to visit her parents in the brief hope that she could raid their fridge and take home something slightly more edible than the curled up at the corners PB & J sandwich that was currently sitting in her own fridge waiting for her to sign it's death warrant.

Betty had initially thought that Fatima would take pity on her and make her little girl an omlette, but Betty had forgotten (God alone knows how), that Fatima just wasn't that sort of mum. After making her own dinner, Betty slumped down at her parents kitchen table - face hovering bare inches above her meal - and promptly burst into tears.

Fatima nearly fell off of her own seat in shock. She grabbed for Vadim's hand and mouthed the words "What do we do?"

Vad mouthed back "What do you mean - 'What do we do?' - I don't know what we do! " He was as shocked as Fatima. Betty didn't *do* tears. Betty did tantrums. Fatima style tantrums. With knobs on.

Betty sniffed and wiped her face with her hand... "I can hear your lips smacking together, mum."

"That was your father."

"Fatty-!"

"- not now Vad." Fatima reached across the table and tilted her daughters chin up until she could look into her eyes. "You have snot on your chin."

"Wow, mum. That was deep."

Vad stepped in before Fatty could respond . "Don't be facetious young lady. We're worried about you. What's going on? Is it Bob? Is it your job? Do you need some money? Are you ill? My God you're not pregant are you??? When's it due? Is he going to marry you? I've got a shot gun somewhere..." Vad was positively frantic, having talked himself into becoming a loan shark, a nurse, a grandparent and a murderer in split seconds. He got up and stalked around the kitchen table muttering under his breath.

Betty saw the funny side and started to giggle. Vad stopped circling the table and sat back down, slightly sheepish but still trying to remember where he kept his bullets.

"I'm not pregnant, dad. Just worn out... and a bit lonely."

"But what about Bob? Are you not seeing him anymore?"

" I am, it's just a bit difficult with the hours that we keep." she sighed. "I'm exhausted all the time. I'm not eating or sleeping properly, and any time we spend together is at his parents house... and I don't think they like me."

"Huh!" Fatty snorted "More likely that Mags Newbie is just jealous. She never did like the fact that your father chose me."

"Beg pardon?" Betty sat up a little straighter. This was a story she hadn't heard. She threw a questioning look at her father, who waved a resigned hand in her mothers direction.

"Well, go on then Fatty. Tell her."

"Nothing to tell, really... your father had taken Mags out on a couple of dates. Then he met me, and the rest is history. " Fatty shrugged a smug shrug. "She married that jumped up little fart, Robert Newbie on the rebound." Fatty patted her hair and preened a little. Then turned to Vad and smiled a smile of deep and abiding affection.

It was then that Betty knew what had really brought her to her parents house. It wasn't food. It was them. She missed them...

That night, Betty took home far more than a slightly soggy omlette, wrapped up in grease proof paper. She asked her parents if perhaps they'd like to come stay for a while, just for a change of scenery, of course. They smiled a knowing smile, and said yes.

It wasn't long after her parents had moved in *cough*... come to stay for a very short while... that Fatty broached the subject of retirement with Vadim. Betty nearly chocked on her pancakes. It was all very well having them to come home to, but she'd never considered what it would be like to have either one of them underfoot permanently. They'd always been quite active people, with either their jobs or their various friends and hobbies. Betty really wasn't sure that her father should stop clocking in at work, not just yet.

Thankfully, Vad agreed.

But Fatty had had a reason for bringing the subject up in the first place...

... she spent the rest of that morning checking for wrinkles. She pulled her hair tight against her head and stretched her skin to the point where her eyes were slits and she could barely see her own reflection... though her skin did appear a little smoother. She poked her tongue out at herself and briefly considered looking for a hairbrush to sing into... then she rested her forehead against the cool surface of the mirror in resigned defeat... "It's no good Fatty, " she said to the empty room. "You can't escape what day it is today."

Suddenly she realised what a sad figure she must cut, all limp and lonesome and talking to herself, so straightening her shoulders, she fluffed her hair, blew herself a kiss and headed out the door to work... "Not bad though, Fatty.... not bad at all."

Later that same evening, just before 6pm - Fatty checked the house to make sure that Vad was otherwise occupied and that Betty had yet to return from work... then she removed the Birthday Cake that she'd purchased from it's box. She knew that if she just hung on a little longer, that the Birthday Sparkles would happen without the cake... but Fatty wasn't the type of person that life just happened to. Fatty happened to life, and life just had to live with it.

"Okay... lets do this... " Fatty lit the candles, took a deep breath... closed her eyes and wishing for eternal youth, she leant forwards and blew...

When the sparkles had finished, Vadim stepped into the room from where he'd been standing in the entranceway, quietly watching his wife's battle with the thought of becoming an elder.

Fatty stood with her eyes still shut, but she must have heard him come in because she held out a hand in his general direction. He grasped it and moved to stand in front of her.

"How bad is it?" she asked in barely a whisper.

Vad struggled to keep his calm composure... "Oh, it's... it's... ummm..." a noise somewhere between a whistle and a whimper escaped him "... terrible. MMhhmmmvvvmm..."

Fatty opened her eyes and poked him in the chest. Hard. "Are you laughing at me?"

"I'm trying very hard not to, my love, " he snorted.

"You are! You're laughing at me! Why is this funny? I don't want to be old! Old is for... is for... it's for the elderly. I am NOT elderly!"

Vad enfolded both of her hands in his, before she took another swipe at him. "You'll never be old, Fatty." He kissed each of her palms in turn. "I wasn't laughing at how you look, I was enjoying who you are... and you're beautiful."

Fatty sent him a coy look from under her lashes then leaned across and kissed him. "I knew I married you for more than your thick head of hair," she teased. Then releasing her hands from his she strolled from the room, pausing only long enough to throw an invitation over her shoulder. "Are you coming or not? I feel the need to relive my wedding night!"

Vad didn't need asking twice.

Being an Elder suited Fatty more than she'd expected - though neither her nor Vad retired from work immediately. They'd discussed it briefly, but both were of the opinion that they'd get bored rather quickly at the moment. There was time enough for slowing down, when their bodies were no longer up to the pace.

Betty absolutely loved the quiet evenings spent with her parents. Her job was all noise and music and she looked forwards to these moments when she could wind down before bed. Her relationship with Bob had slowed down a little - they saw each other on the weekends and spoke every day on the phone. It suited them both for the time being...

... neither of them were aware that Fatty had a sudden yen for grandchildren, and that a little gentle scheming was going on in the background...

"Fatty... tell me again why we're sitting in the churchyard, at night, getting wet bums and very possibly piles."

"We're stargazing, Vad."

"No, the bit before the stargazing... tell me that bit again."

"We're planning a wedding."

"Couldn't we have done that at home?"

"No dear, we needed to see if this would be an appropriate venue for our daughter to get married in."

"I'm sure there are brochures..."

"Yes, but Betty would have seen them."

"But it's Betty's wedding, "Vad was genuinely confused. "Surely she should pick her own venue.. and besides, Bob hasn't asked her to marry him yet!"

"No, and he's never likely to. That boy needs a bloody good kick up the backside when it comes to making the first move."

"So why are we planning a wedding for them?"

"Grandchildren."

"Grandchildren???" he scratched at his bald spot and wandered if Fatty was a pickle short of a sandwich. " I don't follow."

Fatty reached across and patted his hand in sympathy. "You will dear. You will."

To be Continued

* Betty's Kitchen

2011-07-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

You wouldn't believe how many photos I've taken of this kitchen. Literally HUNDREDS. For the life of me, I couldn't work out why I didn't really like any of them - turns out, I'd left the walls a plain white colour and had had a major brain fart that thought I'd finished the room when I hadn't. This kind of shit happens to me all the time, only in real life. Which is much more fun... but slightly more costly.

I'm still not sure if I like the finished article, it's all a bit blue. But I reckon that as Betty's life changes (and we get new SPs and EPs) her home will too. I've had to draw a line under the kitchen and move on, or Betty's next chapter will never be told...

Yes... I haven't forgotten that Betty actually has a story to tell you, though she has been gathering dust for a few months now. There was a very brief incident with Mary Kay Shallow that the game introduced when I installed Generations... thankfully it was one that Bob does not remember as I didn't save the game... though I do have pictures if the little sod ever steps out of line again.

I was going through a bit of a French Country phase when I did this kitchen, and have done another (very similar) that you can see HERE, if you're inclined to press the button.

* Sunset Valley Central Park

2011-06-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to revamp this park since day one, and just never got round to it until recently. I think this may be because originally I wanted it to be so very different that you'd hardly recognise it - and yet couldn't find the inspiration to do that.

However, one I admitted that I quite liked the general layout of the place, it was fairly easy to get on with.... even if it did take until I'd nearly finished the revamp to work out that whoever built it orginally - had built it *off centre*. That would usually have derailed the whole project and made me start from scratch... I dunno why it didn't this time. It just didn't. Go me.

The picnic blankets are all still there, as are the picnic boxes on the tables... I genuinely don't understand why only the sims that you aren't playing, are able to access either of these things... and only then can your playable sim join the meal. Still, they ARE there... I swear. I've also restocked the pond and kept all the original spawners (seeds, bugs and butterflies), in case it's key to gameplay.

If you'd like this lot for your own game, you can download it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Twinbrook Community Gardens

2011-06-13T04:25:00.000-07:00

I've never really played Twinbrook. It's always seemed like quite a depressing little neighbourhood with severe architectural issues.... and the resident Sims have never really taken my interest....

however, if you've been here before - you already know I have the attention span of a rabid gnat... and have now abandoned (temporarily), several other ongoing projects in favour of making Twinbrook slightly more aesthetically pleasing. There may even be a story to go along with the revamps, as I'm playing a couple of home made sims at the same time - thus the need for the revamp.

If you'd like to download this lot for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims3Musketeers... along with a few more pictures. I've play tested it, and the only thing that bugs me is the sims disappearing into the shed as soon as they arrive - only way to prevent that, is to delete the door... then the stupid sods would probably head into the greenhouse instead. Go figure.

* The Riverview Institute of Art

2011-05-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

I completed this one a few weeks back, all except for the top floor because I just plain ran out of steam. It's rather larger than I had at first intended, but seeing as I couldn't actually turn it into a tardis (bigger on the inside) - I had to stretch it a bit - to fit everything into it. I've used quite a few paintings from the store, and haven't bothered to list them because it would have taken forever. I figure that if you find an empty space, you can fill it with whatever art you choose - you probably would anyway!

If you'd like the Art Gallery for your own game, you can download it HERE at Sims3Musketeers.

* Riverview Central

2011-05-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

Just recently I've neglected Riverview in favour of Sunset Valley and Twinbrooks, not that you'd know that - it's not like I've been inundating you with info or downloads just recently. Anyhoo, this morning I decided it was time to knock a couple of things on the head, so that I can get back to whatever I damn well please without worrying about stuff that ain't finished... coz I do... worry... about stuff.

As you probably know, I'm not overly fussed by rabbit hole cc, so have opted to stick with the EA version of several community lots, and have instead of building new, dressed up the old, to match with the new... still with me? Yes? You brave little soul!!!

Even if I do say so myself, I absolutely love how this part of Riverview has turned out, and the Four Bridges Park revamp - through the centre of it - is what's tied it all together.

I built this a couple of months back and just never got round to photographing it because the Art Gallery had yet to be built and the gaping hole left by the old gallery, spoilt any attempt I made to take pictures. So really, I couldn't upload this one for you, until I'd built the gallery...... which I now have, and below is a sneaky peaky.

If you'd like to download the Four Bridges Park for your own game, you'll find it HERE at S3M... I'm afraid you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the Art Gallery... I'm supposed to be cooking a roast dinner right now - I hope they aren't too disappointed when I put Fried Egg Sandwiches on the table instead!!!

* Betty's Living Room

2011-05-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

I've not loaded my game and played it, for almost a month. I have loaded it... but got no further than the saved games screen before thinking "Ugh, bored now" and turning it off again. Even now, I've only played it long enough for Riverview to hit daylight hours so that I could take a few pictures of Betty's home.

As you could probably tell from the title, this is Betty's Living Room or Lounge , depending on whether or not you were dragged up... or brought up. I was dragged up. I gave them no choice.

I wish I could show you the whole thing, and not just one room - but it's not finished. Betty still has a lot of travelling and living to do, and though the basic structure is complete (for now), I don't want to share pics of a place that's incomplete. However, as each room get's furnished/finished, my OCD dictates that I MUST share it and keep my pictures folder nice and tidy.... plus it reminds you lot that I ain't actually dead... just a tad distracted by real life... and zumba.

I genuinely loved creating and decorating this room, probably because for the first time in ages, I was decorating for a sim that I know (if that's at all possible). I think Betty is an adventurer, but a bit of a tradionalist at heart. I wanted her to be able to travel the world (that's available to her) and come home to somewhere that was welcoming and inviting, and hers. Hopefully I've achieved that.

The only thing that pisses me off about this room, is the fact that the furniture is just a little too low for the cushions. It's from the LN EP and I honestly couldn't find anything else in game that fit the bill (still using very little cc) that had higher seat pads.

At this point I'll apologise if you're popping in and out, waiting for a Betty update... it'll be here, eventually.

* Project Mojo.

2011-04-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

I am trying very hard to lure my mojo back - and not with deep fried doughnuts. I figured I should probably have a go at something I haven't done before and maybe it'd spark my interest in the game again and my real life could go play with the traffic. So I thought I'd have a go at building on a slope. Honestly, I didn't think it would be that hard - but my dyspraxia kicked in big style to a point where I couldn't follow a video tute that I found... at all!

It all went incredibly wrong whilst I leveled this and straightened that and lowered the bit over there and raised the bit over here... if you know me at all.... you know that although I have the attention span of a rabid gnat - I'm also incredibly stubborn and don't understand the meaning of the word "can't".

But I really couldn't...

...to start with.

I was on the verge of sleep one night last week when I had one of those *Eureka* moments (actually these moments are usually an "OMG I did WHAT in the pub last night???!!?!" just as my head hits the pillow) that only occur when you can't do anything about them. I had to wait until getting home from work the following day before I could put into practice the fact that I finally realised where I'd been going wrong... I'd explain, but this ain't a tute.

I roughly followed a house plan I found and liked and managed to get everything in good working order (or so I thought - thank the God Of Sims for the iddy biddy stage tool - getting into the house would have been very interesting without it!)... okay, maybe just working order - then it was time to start decorating and gardening. Of course, as per bloody usual I built waaaay more house than I intended on a plot that's just a tad too small for my liking. I'm still in the midst of an argument with myself, over whether or not to put a pool in - thus the unfinished exterior pictures.

In the Sims 2 I used to love to create alpine gardens - graveled and sparsely planted areas with lots of rocks and succulents. They don't look out of place in either beach or wooded settings. So I did one for this house. I hadn't intended to use any cc of any description, but there wasn't a suitable terrain paint available within the game so I had to go looking for one. Then I just floated into the idea that it might be nice to use cc in this neighbourhood, but pop it into the mods folder as I went, and not start out with a shed load of the stuff that would leave me umming and aahing for weeks over what to put where.

I also decided not to lay out all of the rooms ahead of time, but to wall in a room and then furnish/decorate it to see if I could come up with something a little more organic then box rooms and boring furniture placement. Thus the lack of an overhead view. So far I've almost finished the master bedroom, but feel the need for cushions and Sim_man123's Hillside Coffee Table (box with blanket) at the end of the bed.

I don't want to fill the place up with stuff, just for the sake of it. I've seen some really lovely sims 3 homes just recently that have been killed with overcrowding clutter. I want to be able to play anything that I build with ease, and I imagine when I put them up for downloading, that anyone that wants them wants the same thing.

I will eventually put this one up on Sims 3 Musketeers, but currently have no name for either it, nor the naked Sunset Valley neighbourhood that I've built it in. Any suggestions are welcome :o)

* Has anyone seen my mojo?

2011-04-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

I think I may have lost it (my mojo)... if I ever had it. I'm bored shitless with my game at the moment and have not loaded it since before I purchased Sims Medieval... haven't loaded that either - so it's not a distracted by another game thing... more of an oh f*ck, what now? thing. I don't want to build, don't want to decorate and don't want to play... and yet... I want to do all three.

I've considered going through my custom content files and adding more to my game, just to give me something different to look at whilst playing/building/decorating... but that would require more effort than I currently have in my one remaining brain cell - so that's currently a *no no*.

I even downloaded and installed Mat - Matous - Matouskee??? Mat...bugger... a cc world by the blokey that created Mariner's Reach... that got deleted almost instantly. No reason, other than my mild OCD kicked in and said "Oh My F*cking God... How Many Trees??????"

So... I'm at a complete loss. If anyone should find my mojo (it's pink with purple spots and has a tendency to yell random swear words at passing strangers... yes... my mojo has no colour co-ordination and verbal tourettes) could you please return it to me - here. Oh, and be careful not to put your fingers near it's mouth - the little bastard bites.

* Everybody's Doing It...

2011-04-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

...playing Sims Medieval, that is. Me... notsomuch.... then all the time... then notsomuch. I honestly can't decide if I love it or hate it. The graphics are to die for, just looking at the game is a pleasure. The gameplay is very similar to Sims 3, but this one is all about the RPG... and that's where I come unstuck.

Originally, I wanted this game because it was supposed to be different to Sims 3 - a change is as good as a rest yadayadayada. It is different. Just not different enough. I cannot help but make constant comparisons because of the similarities, there's just no way to seperate the two so completely that I can accept this as a stand alone game. I find I keep thinking things like "If only we had this in Sims 3" or "The Sims 3 camera movement is much better than this" and even "I wish I could design an actual building for this one"... the list goes on.

I'm a true glass is half full person (as opposed to half empty), so I'm not overly happy with my own grumpiness and thought I'd attempt to take the edge off by sharing a few images from my game. I'm not going to explain how to play it - that's what the offical site is for - The Sims Medieval - and it does explain it very well. But I can tell you a bit about what's going on in my own game etc...

Above, is Queen Lillith LeCochon of Lildonia (yes my ego knows no boundaries) and she's my very first Monarch in my very first Ambition - New Beginnings. She's eloquent and adventurous... and bloodthirsty. She's constantly starting fights and then has to apologise for them (sound familiar???). Within two days of beginning her new kingdom, she had married the minstrel and had a daughter by him - Princess Polly (I was tired and a bit bored when it came to naming her). Lillith is currently only a level 7 Monarch.

She went out and killed a bear for that leg joint she's carrying (sounds far more interesting than it actually was - a lot of this game is *rabbit hole* based... so she wandered off into the woods whilst I waited for her to return... made a cup of coffee, baked a cake kinda thing). Sadly, the beast that lives in the pit, decided to be invisible (glitch, not gameplay) for this scene. He did, however...

... show up for this shot. Scared the living daylights out of my Knight - Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (Last King Of Wales if you're wondering about the name) whilst being totally ignored by the executioner and a little boy, deep in conversation about what one should feed a beast that lives in a pit... cauliflower, bear or Knight???!!!.

Above are a band of brigands (sounds good doesn't it) that appeared for one quest and questioning and then disappeared when the quest was complete. Very possibly eaten by a bear that lives in a rabbit hole.

Of course, Sims still do some things in the exact same way as in other incarnations of this game. The only difference being the colour and opacity of the little love hearts.... oh yes, and the surprise pregnancy that arose from this bit of impromptu woohoo. Apparently, Sims were far more fertile in medieval times and never opted to *try for baby* - there was no need. One thing I genuinely like about this game, is the speed at which social interactions are offered. It's a lot less like hard work to kindle a romance, or a friendship.

You can, quite genuinely, never get bored with looking at this game (even though - apparently - every single Ambition has the exact same kingdom). You have to remember here, that I've not exactly played it to death yet - it could get boring to look at... it just ain't yet. The above photo is of the Clinic and the Wizards Tower at night. The wizard herself (Morgana Pendragon - no explanation needed for this name (I hope)) is in the first picture of this post, creating a concoction.

This is her, below too...

... alongside my merchant John Fortin. I think someone from EA described the new appearance of the sims as Painterly - it fits. They are. CAS is very similar to Sims 3, but without the endless options that can trap you there for days, creating the perfect sim... only for your game to crash unexpectedly... deleting the perfect sim because YOU DIDN'T BLOODY SAVE HIM!

Once you've worked out how to use the camera - you can desert your sim and wander the terrain of your kingdom. There are hidden gems to discover everywhere. I imagine photographing every thing in sight could get tiresome eventually - especially as there are only so many things to see - but currently, I'm still happy with that aspect of the game. I can see that it'd be great for story telling - but I don't think that's a route I'll take with this one.

I have many, MANY more photos to share of this game, but I reckon this'll do for now - don't want you snoring on your keyboards.

* Simply Betty - Moving On! - Part Five

2011-03-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

It had taken several weeks and all of her cash - but the builders had finally finished renovating Betty's newly purchased house and had moved on to pastures new. It was time for Betty to leave her childhood home and move on with her own life... she stood staring up at her new home, surrounded by her worldly belongings (two suitcases and a bag of jellybeans) and suddenly felt very alone - a completely unfamiliar feeling... still, she'd made a few decisions whilst on her last adventure in China - and she intended to stick to them...

After she'd dragged her luggage indoors, she slipped her cell phone from her back pocket and keyed in Dallas Shallow's number. He appeared pleased to hear from her and immediately agreed to meet her at the Diner - completely oblivious to the lack of enthusiasm in Betty's own voice.

They met outside, as arranged and when Dallas moved in for a tactile greeting, Betty took a step back and held her hands up in her front of her, warding him off - though she was suddenly unsure that she'd made the right decision - because out of his party gear Dallas was still pretty damn gorgeous!

"What's wrong, Betty Boo?"

"Ugh... I'm sorry Dallas, perhaps I should have just done this on the phone."

He immediately understood why she'd held back from him. "You're dumping me?" he was astonished. "You can't dump me - I'm a Shallow! Nobody dumps a Shallow, Betty Simovitch - least of all someone like you!"

"Excuse me? Someone like me???" her voice went up an octave and Dallas, not knowing Betty as well as he thought - did not heed the warning signs.

"You come from poor stock, Betty Simovitch," he sneered. "You'll never amount to anything. I was doing you a favour even turning up today!"

Betty leaned forwards very slowly, reached a hand up equally slowly and wrapped his scarf around her fist. Dallas, thinking she was going to beg him to stay - let her. When Betty tugged him forwards until they were nose to nose, Dallas grinned - triumphant. He should have looked her in the eye. He'd have seen it coming.

Betty broke his nose.

With her forehead.

She walked away from Dallas then, without a backward glance. She'd made the right decision - Dallas was a jerk. A good looking jerk. She sighed with regret - they'd have made beautiful babies. Never mind... she had bigger fish to fry.

Betty flipped her phone open and made the call that she'd been most nervous about... Bob almost didn't answer his phone when he saw Betty's name come up. Almost. She asked to meet him somewhere in town, and he was already at the library with his dad - so he reluctantly agreed to wait around and meet her there.

When Betty arrived it only took her a moment to spot him - mucking about on a desktop. He looked up and her heart missed a beat when his eyes met hers across the shelves of books... he'd changed whilst she'd been away. He'd grown up. He was gorgeous! When she was finally standing in front of him, all of her bravado deserted her. Everything she'd rehearsed just disappeared from her mind... he really was gorgeous... Bob was gorgeous... Gorgeous Bob... Bob the Yummy One... Gorgeous yummy Bob... Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob.

"Hello?" Bob waved his hands in front of her face... "Betty? You in there?"

"Huh?"

"Betty are you okay?" he was starting to get a little alarmed - Betty didn't do vacant.

"Bob? You growed.. I mean, you're yum- ... you're gorge- " she cut herself off and bit down hard on her tongue. She took a deep breath and started again... "Bob, you're ummm... taller." Waaay to go, Betty!

He raised one eyebrow and bent to look her in the eye . "Have you been drinking?" he sniffed her breath.

"Cut it out! No. I have not been drinking, you just - you've changed is all. I suppose I expected you to still be the same. Stupid really"

"It's been months Betty. Time moves on, regardless of who's around to see it."

Betty had hoped that he wouldn't still be pissed at her for the way she'd behaved on their last meeting. Or for the fact that she'd disappeared without a word. Apparently she was out of luck. Best to start the rest of this conversation with an apology then..."Bob. I'm sorry. Sorry for the way I reacted when you told me you loved me. Sorry for thinking Dallas Shallow wasn't shallow. Sorry for possibly ruining the best friendship I've ever had. Sorry for always being a pain in the arse. Sorry for being -"

"- you?" he cut in.

Betty shrugged sheepishly and risked a quick look to see if he was softening... "Yeah - mostly for that."

Bob reached down and took her hands in his "Don't be," he said softly. "Being your best friend has always been the very best thing in my life... hardest thing too - you're no picnic Betty Simovitch."

Betty stood quietly, scanning his face with her eyes - looking for some sign of the young boy that had declared his love for her... do it now Bob... kiss me now... come on.... kiss me, kiss me, kiss me... no, no, no - moment is passing... sod it... not again !

She took matters into her own hands, closed her eyes, leaned forwards... and pressed her lips to his... nothing happened. Bob didn't pull away from her - but neither did he return the kiss. Then just as suddenly as she'd kissed him, he was kissing her back... and it was heaven.

After a moment or two - Bob was the first to slow things down.

"Betty?" he murmered against her lips.

"Mmmm????"

"You realise we're making out in the middle of the library.. and that my dad is sitting behind me?"

"Mmmm - Oh!" she gave an embarassed grin. " Sorry!"

"I'm not." he grinned back. Unashamed.

There was an awkard silence, then they both broke into smiles again. Bob smoothed Betty's hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "You wanna spend the rest of the day together? I have *goof off* time saved up."

"That'd be nice, " she smiled, suddenly a little shy.

Bob's heart melted.

Just like that.

Betty really was hard work, but worth every ounce of effort.

They spent the following two weeks together, whenever they got the chance. Bob was slowly building a reputation as a designer/architect and Betty finally applied for a job in the music field. When they weren't working, they spent every waking moment together and even though Betty had left her family home to give her parents some time alone - when she wasn't with Bob, she was visiting with Vad and Fatty. She missed them terribly.

All too soon, Betty's small reserve of cash dwindled - and it was time to go adventuring again. Even though she was in full time employment there just wasn't enough money to live the lifestyle she wanted and furnish her new home . Bob was understandably upset that she was leaving again so soon - but equally understanding of Betty's need for a life away from Riverview. They said their goodbyes at the airport, and Betty headed off to Champs Les Sims.

She had a yearning to make her own nectar. It would be a great way to use the produce that her father grew and earn herself a little cash on the side - so she took some advice and experimented with flavours until she finally came up with something that was drinkable. It took a few goes though, and for some reason, she was garnering a fair amount of attention from the local paparazzi - not something she wanted, but she managed to ignore them for the most part.

In between learning how to make nectar, Betty made time to go on several archeological digs and managed to find quite a few saleworthy relics.

There was - of course - the usual tomb raiding and treasure hunting...

... and the prerequisite dead body. All in a days work.

Betty had planned on staying in Champs Les Sims a little longer than she normally would - but one evening when she was supposed to be enjoying a little local flavour in the Catania Cafe - a feeling of acute loneliness overcame her. She could have been at a movie with Bob, or eating dinner with her parents... this just wasn't as much fun as it should have been... she really wasn't enjoying this trip like she normally would.

It was time to head home.

Bob was busy working on a set of blueprints for the McDermotts when Betty phoned him, having come home early - the first thing she'd done after she'd unpacked, was key in his number and hope he wasn't too busy to answer. He wasn't.

10 minutes later he was standing outside her house. Blueprints abandoned.

"Hi," Betty scuffed her feet across the path. Now that he was here, yet again she was clueless as to what to do next.

"Hi," Bob smiled inwardly. Betty may have travelled the world, seen and done things he could never possibly imagine - but she was a complete novice when it came to relationships. So was he, but her shyness brought out the man in him. "I missed you, Betty."

She looked up at him and smiled, "I came home early."

" Is that you saying that you missed me too?" he chuckled. " Shall we go inside, or would you like me to kiss the living daylights out of you on the front porch?"

"Inside is good!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him up the front steps and into the house.

After he'd kissed her senseless, Bob framed her face in his hands and asked the question that was begging to be asked, but that neither of them had ever given voice to... "Would you like to go upstairs?" he'd felt so brave a few moments ago, and suddenly wondered if perhaps it was all too fast "Of course, we don't have to - we can go out to eat or maybe we could stay in and have sandwi-"

"Let's go upstairs, " Betty cut him off and kissed him softly on the lips. "I'd like to."

They were both very nervous initially. Neither of them ever having had a relationship that had progressed this far before. There was a lot of fumbling and giggling... then they forgot to worry... forgot to think... forgot that they were two people... and became one.

It was magical... if a little... ummm... quick!

Bob swore blind he saw little red love hearts at one point... and though Betty thought she did too, she teased him mercilessly about it. They snuggled and chatted into the night, only leaving the bed to raid the fridge for a midnight feast. They'd been apart for little more than a week, and yet it had felt like forever.

Eventually, they slept and in the morning, when Betty finally left the bed to take a shower... Bob just couldn't help himself...

He made sure he could hear the shower running, then leapt from the bed and did a little joyful strut around the room... "Go B-ob, go B-ob!" he sang as swung his arms and did a little dance.

"WHAT?" Betty yelled from the bathroom. "Bob... did you say something?"

"Ummm... NO!" he sniggered a snot bubble... then continued in a whisper "Go B-ob, Go B-ob!" ... still dancing.

To Be Continued...

* Riverview Library

2011-03-15T02:32:00.000-07:00

I actually attempted a revamp of the original lot "Wrights Reading Room" (I think that's what it was called???? - never mind, don't actually care). But it was just so boring and I'd already built a fairly modern swimming pool for Riverview a while back - so I figured I may as well carry on in the same vain... traditional and pretty is all well and good, but I do like to build the odd modern lot... I'm a sucker for a few bright colours and straight lines.

I often get creators block (myyyy that sounds so very egotistical) when faced with a blank lot, but that didn't happen this time and I'm actually pretty pleased with the end result - even though it does - now - stick out like a chocolate eclair in a doughnut factory. I'll just have to make the surrounding lots blend in with it... whilst I bunk off of work and drink copious amounts of coffee and try to keep away from the fridge (which I occasionally find myself standing in front of with the door wide open... and no memory of how I got there... or why the cheese has teeth marks in it).

I've yet to try custom rabbitholes, and find them a tad superfluous unless you're really going to be taking millions of photos and are using a gazillion mods to make your game *Just So* because that's how you like it (Yes Jenba, I mean you ;o) ). Originally, I absolutely hated that EA had built our community lots for us and we weren't going to be able to see what went on inside them. When I played Sims 2 , it was community lots that I loved to build above any other. So it kinda felt like they'd stolen something from me - however, I never played the game as much as I do now and I appreciate not having to dodge various queues just to buy an egg. Still - it'd be cool if we could customise the Community Buildings that we do have. Just to be able to change the colours on them would suit me.

Back to the library... it's got plenty of scope for a few decent photos, there are reading areas dotted about and a colourful little kids corner - plus the prerequisite desks and computers... and toilet facilities for the sim that can't cross his legs. Hopefully you'll like this one as much as I enjoyed building it.

If you'd like to download this lot for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Champs Les Sims Nectary

2011-03-14T04:35:00.000-07:00

Finally, after several game implosions and what feels like an endurance test -The Nectary is finished. Never thought I'd revamp this place sooooo many bloody times. Third times the charm... apparently. I was able to use the images from my Original Post to yet again recreate the interior, then it was basically a free for all with the exterior because that's nothing I've ever touched before - the lot is so vast that I had no clue what I could put in it - and have in fact left large spaces as lawn.

In my own game - but not in the version you'll be getting if you download it - I have added seed, bug and rock spawners, to the lawns, using *buydebug* - that part you can do yourselves, if you choose. Plus - I confess that after a few days with this one - I was BORED SHITLESS! So you'll probably want to add the odd chess table and maybe an easel here and there. When your sims are waiting for nectar to finish fermenting, they really need more to do than *drink nectar* and *read book*... or *take nap*.

Anything and everything below ground.. HAS NOT BEEN TOUCHED. This was because I did not want to interfere with any adventures already set within the WA game. If you do have any issues, please let me know and I'll see what I can do to rectify them, if they are my fault.

Finally, a huge thankyou to LemonJelly and Portia for taking a chance and placing this in their own games to test it for me - I couldn't have shared this one, without them.

If you'd like to download this lot for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Jardin de Champs Les Sims

2011-03-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

This Champs Les Sims Park is a brand new one - brought into existence by the Challenge me to Garden 3.0... Challenge... at Living Sims - Sebausten challenged me to create a garden in the style of *Jardin à la Française* and using these three gardens and Wikipedia as inspiration - what you see before you, is the end result. I had SO MUCH FUN doing this! It appealed in immeasurable ways to my OCD tendencies, and to how I play my game. I truly hate to build something that I cannot use for my little simmies to visit - and this ticked all the boxes.

I'd truly love to volunteer for another challenge, but I'm afraid I won't enjoy any as much as this - although I did do a challenge for this same theme, a few months back - it was nowhere near as enjoyable. I think that's because it was less specific - I'm afraid I often think like a man and benefit from direct instructions rather than *do what you like*... coz I don't always know what I like - unless I'm eating it.

I've uploaded this one for Hollywood, Lemonjelly and RD - who said they'd like it... and for all of you that might like it too, the link is at the bottom of the page.

If you'd like to download this lot for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims3Musketeers.

* Chyandour

2011-02-26T03:13:00.000-08:00

So here it is, as promised - a revamp of my own build from the *Start Somewhere* Challenge at Living Sims. Chyandour may seem an odd name but it's a real one... it's Cornish for House By The Water - Chy an dowr in old language. It seemed fitting because that's where I live, Cornwall... and this house has a pond... and it's built in Riverview.

I have used an absolute shed load of store content in this one because I got a bit carried away and you really do need the Outdoor Living Stuff (Stuff Pack), but of course, it will install without any EPs or SPs, you'll just be missing all the good stuff. I honestly couldn't recommend the OLS pack highly enough, it's got some real gems in it, as well as the usual weird shit that you'll never find a use for.

Hopefully you'll like this one as much as I do, it really was fun to landscape and furnish, and that's usually the bit where my boredom threshold starts screaming "ENOUGH!" at me. You'll find a link to the download and even more pictures, at the bottom of the page.

If you'd like to download this lot for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Magasin Général de Goncalves

2011-02-24T03:27:00.000-08:00

This is the last revamp from Champs Les Sims that I currently want to share - I've revamped the bookstore (this isn't it), but it's a bit shit so I'll probably have another go and see if I like it enough to face any critiscism. This one is the General Store - and this one - I like. It's a bit more glam than the original and now has a garden centre, ladies department store (all purely aesthetic) and coffee shop (not aesthetic), as well as luggage and camping gear. It's been play tested and is fully functional and fits in with the rest of village square.

You can download it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Les Reliques d'Alexis

2011-02-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

This one's another revamp of a Champs Les Sims lot. This time it's the Relics Store. It's a bit more stream lined than the original, with a larger variety of antique looking thingies, rather than row upon row of the same thing. It looks better in game too (well of course it does, or I wouldn't have bothered to revamp it, would I!). As usual, there's a spare building to the left, that has been left.... spare. You can do what you want with it, but I find that the more that sims can do on a lot, the less they do what you actually intended. So I've kept it simple.

You can download it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Start Somewhere

2011-02-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

Yes... I know... "WTF is that Lily????"

It's a house. A very empty, very unstyled, very *don't got no plants* house... I built it for the Start Somewhere Challenge at Living Sims. A very simple, but extremely challenging challenge, to create a starter home with no (or hardly any) third party custom content - and come in under a specific budget - that budget depending on how many bedrooms and whether they were singles or doubles. I managed it. Just.

Other people managed to furnish theirs, rather beautifully - and that pissed me off enough to make me refurb this one completely... OVER BUDGET.... way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over budget :)

It's all finished, and as much as I wanted to include pictures of it and a link to the download in this post - I have yet to make sure that I've managed to get a complete list of any premium content from the store, that has ended up in it. However, I will offer you a sneaky peeky at the bottom of this page, along with the link to the download of the naked house that you currently see before you.

If you'd like this naked shell of a house for your own game, you'll find it HERE.

Sneaky Peeky of the revamped version...

We're Back!!

2011-02-19T04:32:00.000-08:00

Sims 3 Musketeers is back up and running! We still have quite a bit to re-upload to the new version of the site, but felt we had just enough to get us going again. Thankyou again for everyone's support since the *hacking* - we hope you stop by the new website and let us know what you think (good or bad). Anything that's missing from the site now should be back up within the next little while, however - if it isn't - it's because we either no longer have the files, they're broken, or we just didn't like them!!!

L xx

Hacked!

2011-02-12T05:01:00.000-08:00

As some of you are already aware, Sims 3 Musketeers has been hacked. As far as we can tell, it occurred on the 9th Feburary when we had our backs turned. Sadly, I don't believe we had recently backed up the site, so there is a chance that we may have to start again, or not. We're still sorting a few things out in the background, and as the three of us - Melissa, Webbymom and I, all live in different countries - the process is going to take a little longer than if we could all sit around the same kitchen table with a mug of coffee and lots and lots of cake.

In the mean time, I'm going to attempt to place all of the downloads featured on this blog, elsewhere. It'll take a bit of time (not much, thankfully I've not been that busy here!!!!), but if you continue to click on the links to the downloads that say that you can find them *HERE at Sims3Musketeers* - you should be lead to somewhere like mediafire instead, just for the time being. If you should still be lead to S3M via those links, please try again later. I'm afraid that even though I'm a woman, and therefore a professional multi tasker... sadly, I'm not God (don't tell my family, I've convinced them that I am!), and I have to move at mundane human pace.

Currently, the only file I do not have anywhere, is Tudor Rose. But I ain't fussed by that one, so I don't reckon you'll miss it either!

Thanks to everyone throughout the community for your support since this has happened. You're a wonderful bunch of people and I'm happy to be a part of it all.

L xx

* La Place Du Village

2011-01-31T13:01:00.000-08:00

Many, many moons ago, when I was a little girl - my family and I camped in the midst of the vineyards in St Emilion in France, a village famous for it's wine. The village square was very charming and everything was set out in an appealing fashion. If I remember correctly, the centre of the village square was where the restaurant had laid out it's tables for customers to eat, and surrounding it were little cafe tables and chairs. There were vines and climbing plants and a general atmosphere of bonhomie. It was wonderful.

I returned, years later as a young woman, to discover that St Emilion had gone to the dogs. The village square was untidy and unkempt. There was no bonhomie. That's kind of how Champs Les Sims feels, especially when you're photographing your sims wandering around. So I decided to change more than just The Catania Cafe and the actual village square was next on my list. It's not hugely different, my playable makeovers never are because I do them for me, and share them with you. However, it really does take a lovely photo and feels far more like the village square from my childhood than the latter one.

I think I've only used one item of store content - the champagne bottle and glasses, other than that, the rest is from various EPs.

If you'd like to download La Place Du Village, you'll find it HERE at Sims3Musketeers.

* Vale Vista

2011-01-16T06:58:00.000-08:00

I figured that if Bob Newbie is going to feature in Betty's life at all, that his family home needed a revamp... however - upon closer inspection the whole place killed any desire I had to change it and it dried up any creative juices to a mere mud puddle - so I bulldozed the bugger and built a slightly more pleasing, modern home for the family to live in. It was modeled roughly around a plan I found, but altered to suit the family that are going to live in it.

The whole thing is open plan living except for the bedrooms and bathrooms, each of which there are two. The bedrooms both have walk in closets that you can convert into more bedroom/bathroom space if you choose. The ground floor has a large space for living, dining and a kitchen. The first floor has a large mezzanine that's perfect for a bar/games room. There's an integral single garage, a courtyard styled patio/pool area and an annex type study area. I've left the entire thing unfurnished, because I want to use a fair old whack of store stuff to decorate, and I really can't be arsed to draw up a list. As it is, the building already contains a few build items from the store.

I think the only thing that's missing, is a forty foot fence to keep the sodding paparazzi out. That particular aspect of Late Night is absolutely doing my head in. I really am not overly keen on all of my sims randomly becoming celebrities - it lends a whole new direction to the meaning of the word communism. Even Vadim Simovitch has a two start celeb rating, and it's seriously put Fatty's nose out of joint as she's currently only mooning about with one. It happened when I wasn't looking.

If you'd like to download this unfurnished home for your game, you'll find it HERE at Sims3Musketeers.

* The Catania Café

2011-01-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

It probably looks very familiar, but it really is very different. This is the cafe in Champs Les Sims... but I've *had at it*. I figure that if Betty is going to continue to travel the world, then I'd like the settings/visuals to be a tad more aesthetically pleasing than they currently are. This one has taken forever to do, because bloody Christmas got in the way of all the fun!

I finally took delivery of my new desktop, just two days before Christmas. The game loads and plays like a dream on it and it's becoming increasingly difficult to turn the damn thing off. I often forget how totally addictive this game can be when I'm *in love* with it. Sadly, I lost quite a lot of stuff in the changeover, because I'd already borked my game. So I'm going to have to redo the nectary and a few other lots.. I won't bore you with more pictures of the nectary, unless I finally do decide to refurbish it's exterior too.

If you like what you see (picture spam ahead) you'll find a link to the download at the bottom of the page.

I've not used any custom content, but have used maybe 10 store items. I've bulldozed the buildings that were previously taking up space at the rear, and replaced them with a colourful courtyard garden. The interior is completely different too. I hope you like it.

If you'd like to download this lot - The Catania Café - you'll find it HERE at Sims3Musketeers.

* Simply Betty - Changes - Part Four

2010-12-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

Betty waited for her parents to leave the kitchen before slinking out of her bedroom with her breakfast dishes. It was pointless sulking - there was no one to sulk in front of. She couldn't quite believe that her parents had forgotten her birthday...

Betty knew that she'd spent a lot of time away from home recently, but forgetting her birthday just wasn't something that her annaly retentive mother would do. Still, she needed cheering up so decided to do what all girls do in these situations.... shop.

As soon as Betty left the house, or rather... flounced out of it - Fatima snuck into her daughter's bedroom to read her diary. This was something that Fatima only did once a year, around the time of Betty's birthday... she had no good reason to do it, but managed to contain herself for the rest of the time - so decided that she was doing Betty a favour by only invading her privacy in this way on one day each year... she was fairly sure that other mothers read their daughter's diaries on a daily basis - by this reasoning, she figured that Betty was lucky to have her - Fatima - for a mum.

Fatima discovered that although she hadn't seen him around for a while, Betty was still in touch with Bob Newbie and was now quite happy that they were just friends. She also shed a tear over her daughter's heartbreak at discovering that Dallas Shallow had outgrown her. When she read of her daughter's daring deeds abroad, Fatima had no clue whether to lock Betty up for her own safety and throw away the key, or to tell her daughter how very proud of her she was!

Finally, several engrossed hours later and counting her lucky stars that Betty hadn't come home and discovered her mothers perfidy - Fatima decided to phone Bob Newbie and enlist his help in surprising Betty with a Birthday Party.

Bob was more than happy to oblige Fatima, having developed a slight crush on her - and later on that day he phoned Betty and asked her to meet him outside her house with her Glad Rags on. Having nothing better to do, and wanting to tell at least one person that her parents obviously didn't love her anymore - Betty agreed.

"Ummmm... you look really nice, Betty" Bob managed, before becoming a little tongue tied. He wasn't used to seeing Betty in anything but jeans.

"Thanks, Bob" she did a quick twirl "I went shopping today - you like?"

"Errrr... "

Betty laughed "It's okay, Bob - I'll take that as a yes. You look pretty dapper yourself, are we going anywhere special? Only it's my -"

"WALK" he suddenly blurted out as if he'd been shot - having spied Fatima at the living room window waving frantically and mouthing the words "BUGGER OFF NOW!" at him."Yes, lets g-go f-for a walk!"

Betty took a step back and stared at him a moment, lips pursed. She was just about to ask him what was going on when he grabbed her hand and all but dragged her down the street. Surprised - and now more than a little curious - Betty went with him at break neck speed until he calmed down and started to stroll rather than run. She figured he'd eventually tell her what was going on - Bob couldn't keep a secret if his life depended upon it - unknowing that this time it actually did.

They did a slow circuitous route around the town, making small talk. All the while Betty getting more and more fidgety at Bob's lack of forthcoming and Bob looking more and more like a tomato that was going to explode.

Eventually they arrived back in front of Betty's house.

"Right then... " she said, trying to keep the question from her voice.

"Yes, well, errr... that was nice".

Betty couldn't help herself "Is that it then? Just a quick walk round the bloody village then home again?" she huffed at him. "Is that what I put my new outfit on for? Mmmm? Is it?"

"Blimey Betty, you don't half sound like your mum!" Bob gawped at her, momentarily fascinated by the similarities... he suddenly remembered his mission, and just how much trouble he would be in if he didn't carry it through - to the letter. "No actually, that's not it. Turn around, I'm going to blind fold you!"

"I beg your pardon?" It was Betty's turn to look shocked. "You are NOT!"

"For gods sake Betty! For once in your life will you just shutup and do as you're told! Now TURN AROUND!"

She was so shocked at his sudden metamorphosis from mouse to man, that she did.

Bob gently tied one of her mothers scarves across her face (which instantly rang alarm bells... what had her mother got to do with this?), then linked her arm through his and gently lead her up the garden path. She could hear lots of muffled noises around her and finally began to suspect what was happening. Bob pulled the blind fold off and...

"SURPRISE!" Everyone chorused together.

Betty found herself standing in front of her birthday cake, surrounded by friends and family, singing Happy Birthday to her, popping party poppers and blowing kazoos. She should have known that her parents wouldn't forget her birthday, and felt a tad sheepish. Betty caught her mother's eye as she smiled at the crowd of well wishers. Fatima winked at her and carried on singing.

"Make a wish!" someone shouted as Betty bent towards the candles.

She could feel the birthday sparkles rushing through her body... quickly she closed her eyes, made a silent wish and blew out the candles... just before everything around her exploded in a rainbow of fireworks and sunbeams. Betty felt her body lifting, swirling and changing...

Then it was all over.

Her feet firmly on the floor, her a legs a little longer and her boobs a little bigger... Betty was a young adult... and if she wasn't mistaken - Dallas Shallow had come to her party and although he was dressed like a Duran Duran reject - Betty was incredibly happy to see him.

Bob Newbie stood in the background, suddenly at a loss, rattling his rattler and wishing the ground would swallow him whole... Betty was suddenly out of his league and he hadn't even known until today just how much he'd wish she wasn't.

A few hours into the celebration, Betty grabbed five minutes with her dad and a slice of cake. Everyone was having a wonderful time and quite a few had over imbibed the *happy juice* that her mother pulled out of the cupboard on special occasions. Vad had drunk more than was normal for him, he'd had such a good time - and it was starting to show.

"Dad?"

"Yesh?"

"Do you think you could stop staring at the lady?"

"But ah dunno who she ish?" he replied, nonplussed "Who ish she?"

"I thought she was one of mum's friends?"

"Your mer -hum hash frendsh?" Vad found himself very funny and giggled, then hiccupped "Whoopsh. Betty my der-haling daucher... help your dad inshide will yah? Doan wan your mer-hum to shee me luk thish... nefer hir the hend of hit.... Fatty go BANG she will!"

Betty stifled a laugh and shook her head affectionately at her father, apologised to her mum's friend and helped her dad into the house.

She left him lying face down on his bed and heard the first rumble of a snore as she shut the bedroom door and headed into the kitchen.

Dallas was there, and surprised Betty by pulling her into his arms for a warm hug.

"Happy Birthday, Betty Boo."

Betty pulled back and looked up at him, still within the circle of his arms and suddenly unable to think of a single thing to say to him. So she just smiled instead.

"I was wondering, now that you're all grown up - if you'd like to go out somewhere tomorrow?" he asked.

"I'd like that."

He grinned down at her "Okay, how about I meet you at the pub? We can have a quick drink there then go out for dinner at the Bistro."

"I'll be there."

"Great! Six o'clock? Smashing!" and he was gone.

The party wound down soon after Dallas's quick exit and it was time for bed. Betty thanked Fatima for a wonderful birthday party and helped to clear up the remaining glasses before hiting the sack.

The following morning, Betty was up bright and early and was taking a moment to moon over Dallas in her head - when her mother catapulted into the kitchen and threw a birthday cake onto the kitchen table.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!" Fatima exclaimed whilst rummaging through kitchen drawers, parafernalia being scattered everywhere. "Where the hell did I put the candles?"

"What's going on?"

"Bakery delivery this morning. Birthday Cake. Dad's Birthday. Forgot. Shit!"

"Shit!" Betty exclaimed, just to see if her mother noticed.

"Don't swear, Betty - it's unbecoming... and go find something to blow on. I think there's a kazoo in the livingroom, left from last night."

Betty entered the living room just as her father surfaced looking a little worse for wear from the bedroom.

"Morning dad." she said as she found the kazoo on the coffee table. She waved it at him and said "Happy Birthday!"

"Morning Betty... thankyou." They wandered toward the kitchen together "I take it the cakes just been delivered and she's got her knickers in a twist?"

"Yup."

He shook his head and shared an affectionate grin with his daughter "It's the same every year. Did she actually remember to put her nighty on this year - or did you and the delivery man get treated to a view of your mother in her birthday suit again?"

"Nighty, thank God. I think the bakery said they'd sue for emotional trauma if it happened again. It would have been the third year running."

They stopped by unspoken mutual agreement, just outside the kitchen door. Vad put his ear to it and listened for a moment. "All's quiet - she must have found the candles by now. Ready?"

Betty nodded "I'll go in first, count to twenty - then you come in. She'll have the candles lit by then."

Vad watched his daughter enter the kitchen, counted to twenty and followed in after her.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" his wife and daughter shouted as he opened the door and made his way to the cake that was sat in the middle of the kitchen table in all it's newly delivered glory, candles glowing, wish beckoning. Fatima and Betty cheered and whistled in the background as Vadim bent to his candles to blow them out and make a wish before the birthday sparkles began.

A gentle array of colours and light sparkled up through his toes and out through his fingers, gently lifting, turning and depositing him back on the floor. He felt a little shorter than before, and his back was very slightly stooped.

"YES!" Fatima high fived the air "You can retire now, my darling! We can go abroad, visit my family in Sunset Valley, paint the town Mauve!"

"Mauve?"

"Well you're too old for red now, dear," she replied, tongue in cheek.

Vad chased his giggling wife from the room in the general direction of their bedroom "Old? I'll show you old!"

Betty cringed slightly, as all kids do, no matter their age when their parents get fruity. Then tidied up the flotsam and jetsom of her mother's annual candle rampage before heading towards the bathroom for a nice long shower and bit of piece and quiet.

Just after six o'clock that evening, Betty walked into the pub and found Dallas standing at the bar, waiting for her. He ordered her a drink without asking what she wanted, which took her aback a little - but she forgave him when he took her hands in his.

"You're looking very lovely this evening, Betty Boo," he pulled her close and murmered into her ear.

"Umm.. thanks - so do you!" she had no idea why she blurted that out, other than being at a complete loss as to how to reply to such an overt compliment... plus, he didn't look lovely - he was still looking like a Simon Le Bon lookylikey without the 1980's to back him up... "Nice suit."

He smiled confidently at her "I was thinking of maybe getting a medallion to sit in the neck. What do you think?"

Betty had no clue if he was serious or not... a medallion???? Surely not! "Errr... well... it'd definitely go with the suit, Dallas, " she replied as earnestly as she could without giving in to the urge to laugh. Betty relaxed and her confidence returned. Dallas was slightly stranger than she remembered, and perhaps just a touch overconfident and full of himself - but Betty was more than his equal. She'd travelled the world, escaped unscathed from many (mis)adventures, and was very probably quite wealthy (if she ever emptied her knapsack and sold the contents, she'd be worth a small fortune!) in her own right. Dallas was suddenly just the good looking guy that she'd gone to school with.

As the evening progressed, Betty was having a wonderful time dancing, drinking and exchanging stories of *daring do* with Dallas, when she noticed Bob Newbie in the background, trying to get her attention.

"Betty, can I have a word?" he glanced at Dallas "In private?"

Dallas sneered at Bob "Sure Betty, go see what the kid wants. I'll get us another drink."

Betty frowned at Dallas, disliking his attitude towards her best friend, but decided that he was probably a bit put out by the interruption, so she let it slide and followed Bob to the end of the bar.

"What's the matter Bob? Everything okay?"

"Yeah... I mean... I think... shit " Bob tripped over his words and Betty, knowing Bob, waited for him to find his voice. He rubbed at his forehead with his hand, looking more than a little confused and very slightly nervous. He took a deep breath and said "I think I love you."

"Whodawhatnow? Bob? But we're-"

"I know, Betty, " he cut her off. "We're friends, the best of friends... and until yesterday I never saw that changing - but you were standing there hollering at me and refusing to wear that stupid blind fold that your mother gave me, and it hit me. It just hit me. I love you."

Betty went almost incandescent with rage... "You're telling me this NOW?" she hurled at him "I. AM. ON. A. DATE!" she spat. "Your timing is positively shitty, Bob Newbie. Positively. Shitty!"

"Whoa, Betty what-"

"Your jealous, Bob. That's all it is, you're just jealous," Betty's voice started to break. She had no idea who she was trying to convince more, Bob, or herself. His friendship meant everything to her, and although she'd chased him (with the aid of her mother) a while back, Bob hadn't noticed and Betty had been glad because she'd only been testing the waters. She'd never wanted anything from Bob, but his friendship. "You've seen me here with Dallas and you're getting your feelings all mixed up. That's what it is."

Bob shook his head and smiled sadly at her. "I'm not. But you're right - my timing is off. I'll leave you to your..." he paused pointedly " ...company. " He straightened his shoulders and walked away without a backwards glance.

Betty stood stock still. Dazed and disorientated by the conversation. She turned towards Dallas, who was waiting, watchful, at the other end of the bar. He raised his glass and gestured to the drink he'd bought for her. Betty wanted nothing more than to go home and hide under her duvet - but she was on a date with Dreamy Dallas. Misery would have to wait.

Though distracted throughout the rest of the evening, Betty put on as interested a face as she possibly could and Dallas, after giving up on asking what Bob had wanted - was a wonderfully attentive date. So attentive, that he started to get on Betty's nerves. Which never took much.

They ended the evening with a meal at the Bistro, the conversation had become a touch stilted in the bar, but began to flow again with the good food and wine. Yet for all the conversation she was having with Dallas, Betty was having her own conversation, with herself, in her head, throught the remainder of their date.

When it finally came to an end, Dallas walked her home and asked if he could see her again. Betty surprised herself when she didn't jump at the chance, but instead said she was going to be away for a while and would get in touch when she got home.

She didn't realise that she'd made the decision to go away again, until she spoke the words to Dallas. It wasn't running away, Betty convinced herself as she packed her bags and phoned for details of the next flight to China. It was taking time out. Time out to think about all that was going on around her, and to work out what it was that she actually wanted at this stage in her life. She'd chosen China as her destination because this was the place that bought her the most peace. Though Egypt was the home of her heart.

She left a brief note for her parents, on the kitchen table where they'd find it in the morning - and took off for the airport immediately.

As soon as she arrived, Betty knew that she'd made the right decision, and the right choice. China was the place to get her head on straight. After a brief investigation into the most beneficial local custom to aid her on her quest for peace of mind and control of her thoughts, she decided to learn martial arts.

Her first class began that morning, and involved beating the living crap out of a strategically placed log. All well and good but the log won the first three fights.

As she progressed through the stages, Betty had very little time to consider her life back home in Riverview - and even succumbed on more than one occasion - to eyeing up the local talent.

She spent many an evening, mullering planks of wood with an intense ferocity that often sapped her of all energy, and she slept the sleep of the dead.

Eventually, Betty felt confident enough to enter sparring matches. She lost more often than she won, but it taught her grace and humility... and finally... finally...

... she learnt to meditate. That amazing state of mind when one knew nothing of the outside world and felt as if one's bum was no longer touching one's floor.

China was beautiful, peaceful, restful... and it was almost time to go home. Betty had learnt all that she could on this trip, and as time began to run out on her visa, she decided to spend a night in the hills, overlooking the city Shang Sim La. She'd found an old shack to spend the night in, away from the rest of the world and all it's worries.

Tonight she was going to give herself the time she needed to make a few decisons about her life back home. As she roasted a piece of fish over an open flame, she contemplated the people in her life and what they meant to her. Did she really need to have them all catalogued neatly as Best Friend, Boyfriend, Mother, Father etc.... after all, wasn't her mum also her friend? Was Dallas really what she wanted, now that she too was able to choose for herself what path she wanted her life to take? Or was it the idea of Dallas - the image she had of him inside her head not necessarily being who Dallas actually was. Was Bob just her friend, or could he be more?

Betty knew that only time would tell, and she currently had plenty of that.

She felt an urge to play her guitar for the first time in months. The moment her fingers thrummed over the strings and she felt the instrument hum gently to life beneath her finger tips, she knew that she had at least made one decision - music was the path that she wanted her career to take - it always had been, and she'd lost sight of that in recent times. Pushing against her mother's wishes for her future had become more a habit, than what she actually wanted. Betty wanted a life filled with music and so much more.

Before she bid her goodbyes to China, Betty made one final, life altering decision... it was time to let her parents spend some time alone together...

... so when she returned to Riverview. Betty bought a house.

To Be Continued...

* "El" Dor Ado

2010-11-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

I'm currently waiting for a brand spanking new desktop to arrive, so don't really feel I can get on and actually *play* the game at the moment, in case it's a waste of time and I'm unable to transfer all of my saved files over to Windows 7... these things never go according to plan, do they? So, instead of playing, I've been revamping various homes throughout my game and this is my latest offering...

...previously known as "El" Urban Sprawl, a rather utilitarian looking home thingy in Sunset Valley that truly left my sims shuddering when jogging past - it's had an overhaul of it's floor plan and been spruced up outside, to make any sim believe they're actually holidaying somewhere near the Mediterranean Sea (at least that was what I was aiming for).

I've only added a few blocks of foundation to the rear of the property, but have built *up* on this one, it really needed it. It now has the potential for 3 to 4 bedrooms, but the upstairs space would probablybe better used as a study and den - I've left it up to you, this one is unfurnished... inside. However, I've gone a little mad with the garden - even included a kitchen sink! It now has a sunken patio/bar area, pool plus lounge chairs and a smashing little BBQ/Dinner party area... plus two decks, one to the first floor, and a fountain thingy.

I've not used any third party cc, but have used maybe 6 items of store content - all listed at the download.

If you like what you see, you'll find a link to the download at the bottom of the page.

Below is a shot of *before*... see what I mean? Nasty.

If you'd like to download the revamped version of this lot - El Dor Ado, you'll find it HERE at Sims3Musketeers.

* Asilomar

2010-11-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

This one is an EA Makeover of the rather hideous and tasteless three bedroom home of *The Single Moms*. It took me aaaaages to do because I furnished it... which bored me shitless, so don't expect another furnished one any time soon - I have a life.

I only used a couple of items from the store and one third party cc (a replacement texture).... I don't why I didn't use more store content, I have it and had planned to use it but wanted this to be as downloader friendly as possible - which is probably why I didn't enjoy doing this one after the intial spurt of creativity. I got bogged down with what *you* want, instead of what *I* want... I'm basically a very selfish person so don't expect such consideration again - it's just no fun :P

I've altered the interior floor plan completely, and the building itself had only a minor adjustment front and rear. It still has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, but now also has a utility room, open plan living, a pool, patios, bbq area etc. There's a neat little driveway to the side with a 4 by 4 and a couple of bicycles, and I've made sure to include all the necessary requirements for *The Single Moms* to move right back in... however, the house is now waaaay out of their price range, so you'll have to use the FreeRealEstate Cheat.

If you like what you see, there's a link to the download at the bottom of this page.

Below is a shot of *before*, to refresh any calcified memories :D

If you'd like to download Asilomar for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims3Musketeers.

* Simply Betty Abroad! Part Three

2010-11-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

Betty felt like she had won a million simoleons on the lottery when her parents told her that they'd happily fund her trips abroad. They didn't explain their decision and Betty didn't ask - in case they changed their minds. Instead, she wasted no time at all and booked a flight to China, to a place called Shang Simla....

packed her bags, hailed a passing taxi and set off. Poor Vadim and Fatima were left choking on her dust.

No sooner had she arrived, than Betty checked the local advertisement board for *help wanted* ads. This is how the fun had begun back in Champs Les Sims, and though she answered several ads for help and was rewarded for her efforts - China wasn't as exciting as she'd first hoped. Still, now that she was here, it seemed a waste not to take a look around and see what delights the country held.

Betty found this country to be incredibly beautiful, and amazingly it brought a little peace to heart and her restless feet. The more she investigated, the more she discovered that China was a land of mystery and secrets...

... breath taking vistas...

...with a hint of danger thrown in for good measure.

Betty often found herself wishing she'd taken a bigger bag out and about with her. One that would carry a towel and a change of clothes.

She even took the time to travel into the outer reaches of the region where she discovered a wealth of culture and traditions... and had the ever loving crap scared out of her when she ventured into a crypt!

It took two days and copious amounts of Prawn Fried Rice and Chicken Chow Mein to still her beating heart. Then all too soon it was time to go home again.

Vadim and Fatima were pleased to see their daughter come home, and noticed the difference in her state of mind almost immediately. It was as though Betty had found a gentleness and inner peace that hadn't existed before. When she wasn't at school she spent a great deal of time on her own, happy to be in her own company.

When Betty had been home for a while, she decided that seeing as she hadn't seen Dallas Shallow at school, she'd invite him over for dinner and cook him a meal. She asked her parents to make sure they had "an elsewhere to be" so that she could have a little privacy. Vadim grumbled about not being allowed to spend an evening in his own home - but Fatima thought it was incredibly sweet and booked them a night at the movies... *Attack of the Killer Cabbage* was showing and it had received rave reviews in the newspaper that week.

The moment that Dallas showed up at the door, Betty knew why she hadn't seen him in school. He'd grown up when she wasn't looking and suddenly she felt like a gawky teenager instead of the courageous and confident young woman she was when she was away from home. To give Dallas his due, he behaved as though nothing was different between them, but he didn't interact with her on a personal level and that left Betty feeling as though the bubble of calm that she had existed in these past few weeks - had burst.

As Dallas shoveled his food down, Betty lost all appetite and couldn't wait for the evening to be over. She made as much small talk as she was able, than almost shoved him out the front door in her haste to be alone.

Suddenly restless again, there was only one cure...

... and this time it was Egypt. Al Simhara to be precise.... and it was love at first sight - the heat wrapped itself around her body like a giant hug and Betty thought right then, that she never wanted to go home.

It was possibly the strangest, most exciting place she had ever been.... the pyramids had absolutely MASSIVE front doors... and try as she might, Betty couldn't find a wooden knocker or a doorbell anywhere. Even "Open Sesame" didn't work, so she had to employ a little intelligence to find her way in...

... and it was always worth it.

Al Simhara held a wealth of riches and intrigue, located in the most curious of places.

The longer Betty spent in Al Simhara, the more money she made. This country was full to brimming with hidden treasures and relics that would fetch a fortune back home in Riverview.

Betty's adventures took her into the depths of tombs in search of scripts and treasured fruits, and most of the time she was highly successful...

... but some of the time... not so much.

The stark beauty of the country cured all evils and Betty spent many a night gazing up at the stars, waiting for tomorrow to come.

She found beauty and wonder in every corner of the land... but knew that for her, it was transient - and she would have to go home.

Betty had been home for about a week when the morning of her birthday arrived...

... "Quick - look busy!" Fatima whispered loudly to Vadim as her daughter came into the kitchen to get herself some breakfast.
Vadim stared - confused - at his wife and gestured to the spoon in his hand that was heaped with cereals - " I am busy!"
Fatima pretended to read the book in her hand as Betty expectantly approached the kitchen table with her breakfast in hand, and waited a moment for her parents to wish her a Happy Birthday. Vadim began to turn towards her "Hap-Owch!" he rubbed at his ankle where Fatima had kicked him. Even in her bare feet the woman could do serious damage.
Betty harrumphed at the lack of good wishes, and assuming that her parents had forgotten her birthday - she stormed from the room into her bedroom to cry into her cornflakes.
"What was that for? And why can't I wish her a Happy Birthday?" Vadim demanded as soon he heard Betty's bedroom door slam.
"We're having a surprise party for her, Vad!" Fatima spoke as if talking to the mentally deficient "You can't wish her a Happy Birthday if it's going to be a surprise!"
"Why ever not? She already knows it's her birthday." Vad stated the obvious.
"Because that's not how it works, Vad." Assuming the subject was closed, she continued to read her book.
Vadim knew that it was pointless asking any more questions. Fatima had made a decree and that was that.
"Err... Fatty?"
"What now?" Fatima was losing patience with her husband.
"Your book's upside down."

To Be Continued...

* Living Sims Issue 19 is out!

2010-11-07T04:45:00.000-08:00

Living Sims has issued it's 19th edition and I have a whole two page spread from my Small Quarters 3.0 entry! I AM FAMOUS! You'll find the article here - though it contains nothing that isn't already on this blog. I just had to share, it's a personality defect. Like it or lump it.

To go straight to the first page of the magazine, just click on the image above... and enjoy :D

* Smash & Grab

2010-11-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

I've caved.... I can't do the *no CC* thing any... more. I am currently in the midst of copying and pasting urls from TSR so that I can do a smash and grab tomorrow on a 24 hour downloading spree (I have Kudos points and I'm not afraid to use them). I'm going to slither through Sims Lulamai.... mash my way through MangoSims and annihilate ATS3... to name but a few.

Should you come across a gibbering wreck muttering "Mine all mine" or even, predictably - "My precioussssssssssssssssss"... just save us both any embarassment and look away.

I will be wearing my big pants (knickers to you) in case I run out of pockets.

* Simply Betty - Part Deux

2010-10-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

After a couple of days settling into life in Champs Les Sims, Betty was already bored. It was all very well sampling the local food, drinking the locally grown nectar and getting to know the locals... but it was all just a bit... local.

So she hired a scooter for the remainder of her stay - it took the majority of what was left of her cash, and she knew it would only be a matter of days before she either had to find some other form of finance for her impromptu trip... or return home to her parents.

Having the scooter meant that Betty could travel a little further afield than the village square and she checked the village notice board to see if there were any adverts for places of interest. She'd just decided to go visit the Art Museum or something equally dull, when she spotted a small note pinned to the board - asking for help... with the promise of a reward. Of course, Betty saw what she thought was a quick and easy way to earn a few simoleons and do something vaguely more interesting than oohing and aahing over various works of art... so she got in touch with the merchant who had posted the notice...

... and just a few short hours later, found herself stepping into the depths of a burial mound in search of a lucky baseball. Perhaps this hadn't been one of her brighter ideas. Maybe she should just turn around and go visit the bloody museum? Seriously... who was stupid enough to take a prized possesion into a burial mound? In fact - who was stupid enough to go into a burial mound in the first place?!!? Weren't these places supposed to be filled with... buried people? Weren't buried people... dead?!!? She really, really hoped so! And weren't dead people just a tad more scary than her mother was going to be when she got home???

Ah well... in for a penny.

It took Betty almost two days to find the baseball. Two days where she dug her way through piles of rubble...

... muscled her way around various strategically placed obstacles...

... investigated wall holeage...

... and floor holeage... but eventually she was able to return to the village and collect her reward.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (in the non literal sense of the word)... Fatima was unable to sleep. Her daughter was off on her own galivanting around the world, doing God knows what with God knows who! There'd been one hurried, garbled phonecall from France in the middle of the night a couple of days back to say "Don't worry mum, I'm fine. I'm in France. Be home soon. Rented a scooter. No time for postcard. Love you, bye!"

Not particularly reassuring under the circumstances - Fatima still believed that Betty was nursing a broken heart and therefore not in any state of mind to make sensible decisions... or decisions of any kind at all.

Vadim did his best to comfort his wife... "She'll be fine, Fatty - Betty know's how to look after herself. She'll be home before you know it!"

But there was no one to reassure Vadim. Fatima had always been a fairly self involved individual, and was completely unaware that her husband was suffering too. Vad began to spend his evenings in the pub, instead of at home with Fatima. Privately, Vad felt that Betty was very much like her mother... a born survivor - she'd be fine. She'd sail the fleeting wind of excitement, then she'd come home.... it wasn't an empty house that Vad was avoiding... it was his melodramatic wife.

Back in France, completely unaware of her parents concern (as most teenagers are), Betty's time was running out. Her visa was due to expire and she was going to have to return to a life that suddenly seemed so very far away... in more than just miles.

She spent her final day in the hills, fishing at a beautiful spot that she'd discovered when she'd first arrived - contemplating what her next move would be. This had all been quite an adventure (if a short one), and returning to the urbane mundanity that was her real life, held little appeal.

... still... regardless of what she wished could be - it was time to say goodbye to Champs Les Sims, and return home. To Riverview. She spent one more night under a European Sky, then flew home the next morning.

Vadim could hardly believe his eyes when he walked in the door on Betty's heels that evening. After much hugging and enthusing over his daughter's safe return, he phoned Fatima at work and told her to come home - that there was a surprise waiting for her!

Fatima took one look at her daughter, hugged her painfully tight... then spent the next three hours injecting the words "young lady" in a scornful affronted tone - into sentence after sentence, with much finger wagging, harrumphing and "Why do we bother?"... there was also the odd "How could you?" thrown in... you get the gist, we've all been teenagers (if not pixelated ones).

Of course, Betty's whole response was fairly "Whoa... Chill, mum". Which only made the flame that was Fatima burn brighter, hotter and longer. So Betty shut up and took her dues until her phone rang...

Dallas Shallow had finally gotten over the whole "Your half naked dad offered me a hot dog" incident and had phoned Betty to ask why she hadn't been in school for a while.

In an attempt to escape her mother's wrath - Betty invited him over and arranged to meet him out the front of her house, away from the prying eyes and snorting dragon that Fatima was impersonating so well.

"I think I missed you." He muttered, slightly embarrassed after he released her.

"Oh - errr yeah. Me too!" Betty stood, suddenly painfully shy, twisting her hands together.

Dallas took pity on her and reached out for her hands to still them. "So... Betty Boo, where ya been?"

And just as suddenly as it had arrived, her awkwardness disappeared as she told him of her recent adventures abroad. He listened and laughed attentively, then bid his goodbyes before his curfew came in to force.

Betty went back indoors to her parents, with a spring in her step and a smile in her heart.

It didn't take long for life to settle back into a pattern of normality. Regardless of Betty's foray into new pastures... old pastures were pretty much the same. Life plodded on in Riverview. Betty's routine at home remained unaltered... school, home, work, home, homework, bed. It all left very little time for anything new and exciting. After the initial warmth she'd felt from Dallas on her return home, she'd hardly seen him. Which left her feeling a little deflated initially, but you could never keep Betty down for long. Not even when the washing machine overheated and boiled her favourite jeans. C'est la vie.

Fatima could sense that, even though Betty had settled back down into life in Riverview with very little protest... that her daughter wasn't happy. She remembered her own teenage years and the longing for something more. Though she loved Vadim deeply, Fatima couldn't help but wonder what if? If only she'd had an iota of the courage that her daughter had displayed, she may well have had a little more adventure and excitement in her own life.

Things came to a head when Vad set fire to the kitchen. He'd been working such long hours that he'd fallen asleep at the kitchen table and left waffles to burn in the oven. He was too exhausted to do much more than panic...

... Betty had been in bed until she heard her father yelling and swearing. When she got up to find out what all the fuss was about, half the kitchen had already been consumed in the flames... using the quick thinking that had gotten her out of a couple of scrapes in the burial mound in France... she grabbed the fire extinguisher from the garage and hosed down the flames before the fire brigade could arrive. Job done, she wandered back into her bedroom and climbed under the covers whilst her father dealt with the firemen who'd arrived too late to help. It was the most excitement she'd had in weeks and the thought depressed her.

That afternoon, whilst sharing a quiet moment with Vlad at Plum Tree Park - Fatima bought up the issue of Betty's unhappiness.

"Vad, I have no clue how to help her. She's so terribly unhappy."

Vadim smiled gently at his wife and said "Of course you know what to do, Fatty...what we have to do. Do you think I don't know that you have regrets over marrying me instead of spreading your wings?"

Fatima's face crumpled with guilt "I'm so sor -"

"Don't be. I understand, and it's part of why I love you - you gave up on your dream for a life with me. I'm sorry it's not as exciting as you'd envisioned." He smiled sadly down at the chess set before him and picked up his queen, "You don't think I gave up on a few dreams too? I did. I was going to become a chess champion when we met... was well on my way to being the best in the county... but then you came along and blew my world apart..." Fatima sat quietly and waited for her husband to finish "Fatty, I love you and I honestly wouldn't change a thing and I know that deep down you wouldn't either... but Betty isn't us. Betty is never going to settle for anything less than everything she wants, and as her parents we have to do our damnedest to help her get it."

"What are you saying, Vad? That we need to buy her a new guitar? Because I don't think that's going to work!"

"No, silly..." he chuckled "that was your dream. Betty wants to travel - for now - see something of the world outside of this village and I think that whilst we can afford it, we should help her... who knows, maybe she'll get so damned rich that she'll look after us in our old age!" He suddenly appeared to remember the chess piece that he'd been holding and he showed it to his wife... "This used to be my queen, my world... but you are all that and more to me." He gently placed the piece on the chess board... "Checkmate, my love. Checkmate."

To Be Continued ...

* The Riverview Arms

2010-10-11T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yes. I know. It doesn't look particlarly interesting - but if you bother to read on, you'll see that it's a vast improvement on it's previous incarnation as The Watering Hole Juice Bar in Riverview. This one has been revamped for me, but I'm sharing it with you :D

It's been play tested and it all runs quite smoothly, I think it's possible to substitute the bbq on the balcony for a *food register* if you have WA - something I might do myself if the locals get sick of Hot Dogs.

It has very little in the way of CC or store content. Sadly, although I've used the K2 Ivy from the store (free content), I can't locate a link for it :( Hopefully you'll enjoy the picture spam enough to click on the link at the bottom of the page - and go download it :D By all means, leave a comment if you like it - it does help me to work out what's worth sharing and what isn't!

Sales Pitch... it now has a large open bar with juice and coffee facilities, a games room, a small beer garden, seating inside and out, music, a first floor balcony and BBQ area, and a *cozy* room to the first floot mezzanine with a lovely fire place and seating area.

Lastly, I've included a *before* picture, for those of you that are having difficulty locating a memory that this place even exists... nasty, isn't it.

If you'd like to download The Riverview Arms, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* The Nectary

2010-10-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

I've been working on revamping the Champs Les Sims Nectary since I first decided to send Betty Simovitch *adventuring*. Not just because of aesthetics (although that's always going to be part of the reason) - but mainly because the Nectary was so poorly designed by EA for gameplay in it's initial stages.
They'd placed tables and chairs in the Grape Pressing Cellar/Room - and sims would automatically gravitate to these whenever they had food or drink.... and sims really don't move fast - if your mind wanders during gameplay and you expect them to be doing the next queued item when you *come to* - you're bound to be disappointed by the fact that they have only just lifted their spoons or raised their glasses after the arduous trek from the nectary kitchen to the GPC/R!

So far, I've just redecorated the interior. Moved a wall, filled in a doorway and refurnished the place. I've not yet play tested it (my bad, but it ain't up for download (yet) so no biggie on the doodoo front), patience is only a virtue in the sleeping (or the dead now they have all the time in the world) - and I wanted to test out a few different tweaks in my paint program as well as make a *look what I did* post on my blog. Not sure about the tweaks, the pictures may be a tad over sharpened - feel free to let me know what you think.

I'm still trying to keep the use of CC to a minimum - I've only used an open book, a tea set, a pair of glasses, one plant and some cushions (so far) - also, I've not touched the MASSIVE tomb below The Nectary - I don't want to fubar my gameplay. If I ever bother with the exterior (I'm getting bored with this one now, so who knows), you can be sure that I'll share the pictures. I won't be able to help myself.

* Simply Betty!

2010-10-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

I'd like you to meet Betty Simovitch. I imagine you already know her - either as Betty Newbie, wife of Bob and mother of Brandi, or simply as a young Betty Simovich embarking on a new relationship with Bob, her beau... well... this isn't that Betty. This is Parallel Betty.

This Betty has been to see a clairvoyant by the name of Wilf Truscott - he shuffled her cards, told her she needed to buy new underwear and stop swearing... and that she was going to marry her best friend Bob Newbie, get old, boring and grey with him, and have a daughter who she would name after an alcoholic beverage - but she'd manage to spell it wrong because she wasn't going to do very well at school and no... she was NOT going to become a Rock Star.

Betty wasn't too keen on these predictions, and decided that a few changes needed to be made if she was going to fulfill her dreams. Her pushy mum - Fatima Simovitch - had not succeeded in her own ambitions to become famous and had been niggling and nagging at Betty her entire short life to *be somebody*. Betty already thought she was *somebody* - without the fame and fortune that her mother craved. However, though she'd never admit it, she did wish to make music a career and not just a hobby. So having had her cards read by Wilf, she took action to ensure that at least some of his dire ditherings did not come true.

So she spent more time with her parents. Betty knew that her father, Vadim, was wrapped around her mother's little finger - but he wasn't quite wrapped around hers. She figured if she spent more time with him, he'd lend a hand with her homework and help her to get her grades up... if she got her grades up Fatima would allow her a bit more free time and Betty would be able to discover if her currently platonic feelings towards Bob Newbie - were in fact going to change into something a little more amorous. As a side effect of all this gentle scheming, she decided that she actually quite liked her dad.

So after a few days of hard work, knuckling down at school and all the family lovey doveyness... Betty finally had a moment alone with Bob at his house. The moment arrived. That one moment when everything could change for better or worse (quite literally if Wilf was right)... she closed her eyes and leaned forwards... just a little... and... and...

...nothing happened! Bob had closed is own eyes too and expected Betty to do the rest. They both stood there like a couple of space age idiots, waiting for the other to make that final move. Now even though Betty wasn't sure of her feelings towards Bob, she was also exceptionally stubborn and once her mind had set on a particular path, there was no getting her off it... so maybe Wilf Truscott had been right about more than just the need for new knickers!

Betty spent the next few days observing the relationship between her peculiarly unsuited parents... Fatima was an outrageous flirt, always on the lookout for the next victim to test her fluttering eyelashes upon. She was fairly outgoing, hardly ever home and very demanding when she was.

Vadim was almost her complete opposite. He was quite happy to potter around the home and could often be found tending his little vegetable plot in his underwear (Betty was always keen to make sure her father was fully dressed when bringing friends home from school - Dallas Shallow was still ignoring her phonecalls after being offered a hotdog by her near naked, barbequeing father). Vadim was also in the midst of a love affair... with the TV. Something her mother had been battling with since the day she met him... and yet...

... they were obviously very much in love. Something about their off beat relationship worked!

Betty reckoned that meeting her dynamic mother, might make Bob see her in a new light. So she arranged for them all to meet at Plum Tree Park for a picnic. Fatima was her usual charming self...

"Oh... you're unemployed Bob... how, errr.... nice for you."

Obviously unimpressed with her daughter's choice of prospective beau - Fatima still agreed to play a little music so that Betty and Bob could have a random and slightly embarrassing dance together in the park - little Travis Dermott took one look at the pair boogying on down by the climbing frame and had run for his mother. Even Fatima was starting to worry for her daughter's mental health...

... especially when Betty got her own guitar out and serenaded a singularily uninterested Bob. What was wrong with the boy????? Couldn't he see that her daughter was deeply in love with him, and had done everything she could to convince him but take all of her clothes off and run naked round the park screaming "I LOVE YOU BOB!"

Fatima stayed with the pair and shared an uncomfortable picnic, unwilling to leave her daughter in case she really lost her marbles... and completely unaware that in fact - Betty was NOT in love with Bob and having worn herself out being overtly friendly, had accepted that theirs was a relationship that was destined to remain platonic.

Later that same day, whilst her parents were out for dinner - Betty visited the local swimming baths on her own. This was something that she did fairly often when trying to sort her thoughts out. Even full of other swimmers splashing and shouting, Betty found that swimming lengths was the perfect way to shut the world out and the chaos with it. As she left the pool, her thoughts finally in order - Betty felt a little sad for the Betty That Might Have Been - but her resolve hardened with each step.

Betty had a plan.

Fatima had no clue that Betty was already on a completely different path to the one that she had observed earlier that day, and she spent her entire *date night* with Vadim, convincing him to take them all away on a family holiday... but she needn't have bothered...

...because Betty was no longer in Riverview, and in no need of a holiday. She had caught a late flight out and was already welcoming a new morning... in France.

* Small Quarters 3.0

2010-09-30T07:59:00.000-07:00

It has taken almost as long to organise the photos and cc list for this, as it did to bloody build it. It's enough to put me off for life... or until next time at the very least. This is Crystal Springs Vista, a small but tall cabin in Sunset Valley, built overlooking the Crystal Springs Lake. I built it for the Small Quarters 3.0 Challenge at LivingSims. Stupidly, I decided to offer it up for download at Sims 3 Musketeers, which has involved scouring the web to put together a detailed list of Store and Custom Content... and where to get it from. Also, for whatever reason, blogger decided that "No" today it was not going to upload my photographs - took me ages to work out I could do it via Picassa... I'm slow, not stoopid. Honest.

I've also worked out how to use the *Insert Jump Break*, so you will no longer be subjected to row upon row of pictures on the first page unless given a direct link to it - instead, I'm going to make you press a button and come find the rest of the 'em - easy peasy. See, you made it here already with very little effort :)

Back to the challenge... you can find my entry for it HERE. But of course, I just had to take more than the fifteen alloted pictures, so prepare to be spammed... I should point out that I have genuinely tried to use as little cc as humanly possible (yes, even though the list at the download seems to prove otherwise), and I'm still getting the hang of this whole imagination lark... so if it looks like I could have done better, do please keep it to yourselves. I'm delicate.

Here's the floor plan for those of you that aren't going to bother clicking my link to LS.

Ground floor kitchen/breakfast room with balcony

First floor living space and half bath (ridiculous thing to call it... half bath.. there's no bath!)

Second floor Bedroom, bathroom, writing space and balcony.

Isobel Barnes eating alone whilst hubby - Teddy - slaves over his latest Novella.

Teddy slaving over Novella.... "Ted's Half Adventure" - a bit like a half bath really, what with there being no Bill... and no adventure.

The Kitchen, Isobels lonely domain.

Isobels Favourite spot.

The Half Bath... and NO, there are not two plant pots - I used a large mirror in both of the bathrooms to give the illusion of space - it does work, but it's bloody hard to take a decent picture and show you - use your imaginations!

The Living Space - I used transparent curtains because the windows needed something, but solid curtains would have spoiled the illusion of a beautful view... you have to face the other way to the picture to appreciate it :P

The bedroom and balcony.

(Isobels Car *Booty*)

If you'd like to download this lot, you'll find it HERE.

* Holly's Bedroom

2010-09-26T05:32:00.000-07:00

Real Life has kept me fairly of busy late. I've been redecorating and refurnishing my own home, instead of my sims - far for more costly and there's no click of a button to paint the walls with - just an old fashioned roller and tray! We've got a few finishing touches to add, but I've finally found a bit of time (and inclination) to load up my game and play.

I'm still trying very hard not to use too much custom content (if any), because it does slow my game down when I play it - plus, with a bit of imagination there's really no need to fill the spaces up with junk, just for the sake of a few pretty pictures. Although I am using what I refer to in my head as key pieces - those cc items that really can't be found in the game - mostly things like cushions and blankets, and the odd flower display... and sometimes an item of furniture, but not often.

I've just decorated a bedroom in Abington Court, for Holly Alto - The Alto's teenage daughter. It's ended up a tad cottagey, but I can find no reason not to keep it. I like it. I'm unsure whether or not to offer it up as a download on Sims 3 Musketeers though, but if anyone takes the time to ask for it - I'll consider it then.

* Altos Alternative

2010-08-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

I mentioned yesterday, that I was building an abode for the Altos that was slightly less austentatious than their present home... I lied. It is autentatious, it also has delusions of grandeur - thus the rather grand name, Abington Court. It is, however, a lot less *tacky*. Though I've yet to furnish it for them (and I will, even if simply to find out if it is possible to furnish something so damn big without giving in to impatience and poor taste (and CC)), I'm hoping to make the interior elegant, but with obvious signs of new money... so no dusty old furnishings this time - I'm saving that for the Landgraabs!

I really enjoyed building this, but it's original exterior made it look like something a footballers wife would call home - so I calmed it down a little and replaced the original pink brick that I'd chosen with roughened stone. I also managed not to use CC in the actual building of this one, and although I tried out a white trimmed roof - it didn't look quite right.

I have, however, used one store item in the garden - the Beijing Incense Burner - it looks fab with roses spilling over it's edges - and it even looks good with some of the taller shrubs in it too.

By the time I'd finished fiddling with the interior floor plan, it had - 3/4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, excercise rm, family/games rm, kitchen breakfast rm, dining rm, study, utility rm, great rm, 3 integral garages, a deck to the rear, a large pool area... but no kitchen sink! Enjoy the picture spam, a couple of them are simply because I liked them, and not to *sell* the house (though I hope they will!). You'll find floor plan images at the download itself. There'll be a link to the download at the bottom of the page.

If you'd like to download Abington Court for your own game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Sunnydale

2010-08-14T04:44:00.000-07:00

I've just built this house for the Sekemotos of Sunset Valley to move into - but even unfurnished it's now out of their price range, so *oh me oh my* I'll just have to build them another one. Have to confess that not using CC on it, was fairly easy. I didn't feel the need to hunt down specific doors and windows.... but I haven't furnished it yet - that's where my will power will most likely desert me. If I furnish it at all - my attention has already been drawn away and I'm in the midst of building a home for the Altos, one that's slightly less austentatious than their current abode. Whether they like it or not - my Sunset Valley Altos are going to be given a lesson in class!

If you'd like to download Sunnydale for your game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Losing The Battle

2010-08-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

I've just built another little cottage, similar to Lavender Cottage, but fully furnished throughout. I don't know how the interior ended up quite like it did - possibly influenced by all the matchy matchness that is Galaad - what I do know, is that I am losing the battle with my CC addiction... I know... it was only yesterday (or the day before) that I mentioned maybe getting rid of all of my CC - but I made the fatal mistake of taking a peek at older sims 3 photos taken with a fair whack of CC - and they were so much more lively than what I've been doing!

I'm completely stumped. On the one hand I want to be able to actually play my game without the stuttering that CC creates (it's not major, but it's there), and on the other hand - I want my game to look exactly how I want my game to look! What to do? I've already got all third party CC compressed from many and smaller .package files into less and larger .packages - I even wrote an entire bloody tutorial, months ago, to help my friends do the same.

It fascinates me how people can even begin to play their games with the copious amounts of CC they have. Do they, in fact, play their games? Or do they just decorate and build? I want to do both and I'm getting a bit pissed off with having to fine tune everything all the time to make it possible.

I honestly can't decide. The pictures below are without CC, but with some store content, and nice though the store stuff is - it lacks a certain vitality... or maybe it's me that lacks the vitality and I'm blaming the *virtual visuals*.

Harrumph.

You can download Juniper Cottage for your own game HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* 477 Sunnyside Boulevard

2010-08-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

I've just built this for the Summer Lovin Theme at Sims 3 Musketeers. I've named it, very imaginitively - 477 Sunnyside Boulevard.

It's quite a bit larger than my usual homes, I have no idea if I'll actually play it or leave it to stand empty, and the layout inside is slightly quirky - though for once, I did remember to include bathrooms as more than just an afterthought. Usually, I build an entire home and then think "Oh shit - where are they gonna shit?" - and have to squeeze a bathroom into a random corner somewhere - this baby has five of the buggers. It also has four bedrooms, two sleeping decks, a car port, a dining room, a sitting room to the first floor, a kitchen/living room (don't know how that happened but it did) and three access points. I've not furnished it, I may or may not do that at a later date (for me, not you) - my interest in it is already waning.

It's situated in Sunset Valley, beside 455 Sunnyside Boulevard, facing out over the ocean, so it doesn't need much in the way of a garden - and it hasn't really got one! If you download it and decide you want to grow vegetables, you'll either have to relocate your sim or demolish one of the porches.

If you'd like to download 477 Sunnyside Boulevard for your game, you'll find it HERE at Sims 3 Musketeers.

* Another Fresh Start

2010-08-07T06:23:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying revamping Riverview without custom content - much more than I'd imagined I would. It makes everything that much faster (because I don't have as much to choose from), and I'm trying a little harder to be more inventive with both my design layouts and my use of patterns.... in fact, I'm on the verge of ridding myself completely of all my Custom Content, because I've also decided to do the same thing with Sunset Valley (pictured above)... revamp it without using CC.

I think with SV though, I'll play it and revamp as I go along. I've already partially given up on playing Galaad - simple as it first seemed... because it really requires far too much effort to make it playable to my own tastes. It had waaaaaay too many trees, both on lots and throughout the neighbourhood, and I now have to populate it, to play it.... boring. I also had to place spawnable items (other than French Butterflies, of which there were many) on every community lot - the only place to gather fruit and veg was the little Fishermans Garden, so I also had to plant a few trees etc throughout. Though I'm not prepared to bomb it, just yet. It can sit there a while longer until I decide what to do. Having the attention span of a gnat isn't conducive to it ever been used though.

Back to SV... sorry, I tend to ramble along and verbally tread a different path to the one that I've set myself. But stick with me and I'll try not to send you to sleep.

SV... again. Dammit... now I've completely lost my train of thought and whatever awe inspiring thing I was going to divulge, has disappeared with French Butterflies and Fisherman's Gardens... and even if I do remember what I was going to say - it'll seem dull and disappointing now! Instead, I'll give you a sneaky peeky at the back of a house I've just built for the Summer Lovin' Theme at Sims 3 Musketeers. It'll be available tomorrow (I think).