Meet the Sugroths

First, a quick story - while picking up groceries we ended up with a very friendly cashier.  He kept asking us in different ways if we had plans, or a nice event, or something great on the horizon.  Eventually, he wore down my resistance and I hazarded a 'We get to have brownies?' And he said, "Hey, that's great! You shouldn't make things out to be so bad." It was really adorable, and he was right.   We have brownies!

And my wrist isn't swollen, and hasn't been for a few days.  I could clean, but instead I'm drawing cats.

So. Sugroths - a minor success in my battle against the Sims 3.  I still have about 2/3rds of my CC removed, and I realized I lost all families from my Library.   Including a whole host of characters I'd made to toss into the Miliner mix.

So I remade the Sugroths, and now teen Sulenus looks a little like Jon Stewart.  All is well.

Father Helmutt, son Solenus, and Helmutt's sister Emily

You know? The blogspot image thingermabob really makes my images blurry. :/

SNWHAL: Inquiry Mordaunt

SNWHAL: Small Nose, Wearing Hat, Alien Lady

Ok, her nose isn't that small, and she's not wearing a hat.   But, um...I love her.  I do.  Just pictures are boring, so I'll put a story in.

"Umm....hello? I'm Inquiry, Inquiry Mordaunt."

Do you know what I love?

Long weekends.

Also, you guys.  Even the people who haven't commented yet.  I know you are there, being lovely.

And that I am almost done organizing all the screenshots.  I have organized all the screenshots. :D Which means I can start on the next update.  Finally!  I found a lot of pictures where I thought..."Whoo, I can't wait to share that one!"

I have a special surprise planned for after the update.  No, uh, not cake. :D

in progress: Twinbrook B&B (premade remade)

Edit to add: I've just been made aware that today is International Vulture Awareness Day.

I've almost finished tagging all my screenshots.  I realized...I miss actually doing that thing...what's it called?  Oh...playing the game.

So I got inspired by Wibs & the Sims to redecorate a premade lot.   I'm basically terrible at it, but it's still fun.   It's like meditation - my brain ends up totally, peacefully, empty.

Here is the victim lucky lot, It's called Nothin' But Deck, and it can be found in Twinbrook.   I figure after 3 or 4 generations in Twinbrook, some of the houses should evolve.  I thought the large deck looked like a nice dock for entertaining on, so that is how I arrived at Sneld's Bed and Breakfast.

So far I've revamped the outside, added a second floor, and decorated the boat house.  I still need to decorate inside and add some gardens.

Before

Progress so far

Macintosh Sneld, hopeful B&B owner

Click for more pictures :)

lilac breasted roller :D

Pets!

I'm not all that excited about cats (even though the Miliners have a badly drawn cat...I like him badly drawn...), or dogs, or horses, or a plague of unicorns.

But I am really thrilled about lilac breasted rollers.

Err...I think almost a decade (!!!) ago I was lucky enough to go to Tanzania with my family, the lilac breasted roller was a very thrilling bird to spot in the wild.  So flashy  beautiful and colorful..  It's not like I can go on Safari every year, or even every decade, so it would be fantastic to have that little reminder show up in game.

I'm surprised EA put in a bird that most Americans are not that used to, it's not like every Grandmother has a lilac breasted roller and a budgie.

Watch, now that I'm actually excited, they'll take it out or rename it.

I don't have any sim safari pictures.  So here's another picture of Glendalough.

streaked curly hair

So...I begged complete strangers for gifts.

And I got one: CLICK
(though, really, it's a gift for all.   ♥)

And thus I failed to learn a valuable lesson about begging and pandering.

Ari looks so fantastic in streaked hair.   She was made for it.   She also looks completely different from Maebe, it's hard to believe they have the same parents.

Wait until you see.  :)

Edit:   My next post will be #100!   What should I do for it?    Make some tattoos or a new custom cake?  A new sim?  Hold off on posting until the next Miliner installment is done?   Pretend I didn't notice and post like normal?

CHOICES!

Edit edit:

in progress...

Also, because I'm impulsively helpful, I volunteered to make a tattoo set for the GOS sims challenge.   Whenever I don't know what to draw, I default to cats.  Is that ok?  Also, it seems like very few people draw things, is it...taboo? or..?   But even if it sucks it's better then people winning nothing, right?  Er...right?  Edit Edit Edit: nope, they don't need 'em now.   Phew.

Editediteditedit:  Not going to be able to do exactly what I planned.   I pouted, and then made a video of a book from the future.   Moving on!  :D

Organize, Blather, the Danger of Knowledge

Do you know what I love?  Free trials.

So...the great Organize Screenshots Project has gone like this:

1.  realize I have a problem
2.  use the ancient (I say ancient, but it's really only 4 years old) and clunky software I have to try to fix the problem
3.  for about 3 hours
4.  and then I realize I've managed to tag 123  23 ( D:) screenshots
5.  realize I have a problem
6.  caved and downloaded the 30 day free trial of Adobe Lightroom
7.  ran away to the Bahamas with it because I love it that much
8.  resigned myself to a harsh, moderately spendy, reality 29 days from now :(

Oh sweet covetous pastry, this program is easy to love.   Adobe, you are evil and conniving and I love you.

In other news: supernatural creatures

To be honest, the only supernatural creatures I really don't mind are the mummies and the graveyard ghosts.   I know, I didn't expect that from me either!

I don't mind ghosts in the graveyard or mummies because I hardly ever see them.  So...that makes them more fun - the oh hey! something weird is going on! factor.  The bots are buggy, the vampires are like a mild mannered plague, and  the imaginary friends would be one of my favorite things if they were rare.   I mean, I do find them squee worthy and adorable, but not when they are everywhere.   I know there's mods to fix the vampires and the IF frequency and so on - but I didn't get the mods until after I was good and annoyed.

I would rather the supernatural creatures started off like meteor crashes - rare.   I've only had one space rock come rocketing towards the Miliner house, and in the end it was about puppy sized and it landed politely next to a tree.    I would have loved to have played in Bridgeport for a generation or two before spotting a vampire,  or played for several generations before getting an IF.   The instant gratification takes all the fun out of it, for me. 

Luckily, there's still the fun of pouting.

And, since I was thinking of meteor crashes, I appreciate how honest TS3 is about the pursuit of knowledge directly leading to death and dismay.   Not of that beating around the bush with the yuck factor or whatnot - just good old fashioned discovering of planets leads directly to burning hot rocks crashing on you.


Edit:   Look at how cute this new town looks.   I think even if I started moving the Miliners every generation, I still wouldn't make it to all the cute towns that are now available.    Sure, they run the gamut from merely adorable to jaw dropping - but even the merely adorable ones are worth playing for a generation or two.

How do you organize your pictures?

I now have a ludicrous amount of pictures to sort through for the next update.   It was ludicrous before, and I didn't know what to do with myself, so I went back in and took more screenshots.

The last time I tried to open them all it took about 20 minutes, and then my computer updated itself and restarted.   Now I have half the memory (the computer memory! meanies!), and I am afraid.

Photoshop came with some sort of image tagging system, but when I tried it I ended up filled with rage and fury.   I have a nagging suspicion that they make it clunky and aggravating as a way of marketing one of their other image cataloging systems.

I have this update, and 5 or 6 after it pre-written in at least skeleton form (I do let the Miliner's have a large amount of freedom, at least compared to other legacies with plots.   They roll their own traits, and they pick their own friends and romances.  Usually, they pick their own hobbies.   I love Alesha, but to be honest she's not who I would have chosen for Lynx, if I'd been choosing.  It was just luck that Ocelot fell for Cho.  So there are a lot of details I can't pre-write).   At this point it's the wading through the screenshots that's slowing me down, which is a bit on the aggravating side. 

ETA:  Giving the software I have another go. Even if I do qualify for an Educator's discount on some of the nicer software...er...I get paid what an Educator gets paid (less! since I'm an assistant).  Hee.    It probably would be helpful if I'd used it all along - I expect organizing to take 2 or 3 days.    It would go faster, but I have a touch of difficulty staying focused on any one project.  Plus, I do find it bulky and aggravating and need frequent sanity breaks.

Anyway, here's a picture of Daisy Malifa.   As you can see, she's hungry.  

back from vacation

We adventured! To Canada!  :)

Back home to our cat, and a lot of catching up to do.  Though I was able to snatch intermittent internet up there.

My PC broke itself while we were away.  Though I am avoiding delving in, taking a cue from Schrodinger's Cat, because as long as I don't look in the case the hope that it will be an easy fix lives on (as does the fear that it won't.).

How is everyone?

Edit, because I don't think I've done anything to warrant a whole new post:
Computer is fixed, though with less memory then before.
And the cute sci fi sim and widget posters are here.  I posted them during vacation, though very quickly because when faced with a scenic lake and a pile of books the internet loses a whole lot of it's appeal.

I'm about to raid that thread for some goodies, myself.   There's no shame in that, right?  Er, right?