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Invite the joy of The Sims into your life

I am currently in mourning for our PS3. It won’t start up for long without just cutting out. Obviously I am very bummed, not only because of the current game of The Sims I have going, but because of all the Tomb Raider saves on there and stuff. I’m hoping that if we vacuum out the vents or something it may improve, but who knows.

It’s a shame because there was so much good stuff going on, including the cat getting a high enough Hunting skill level to be able to exorcise ghosts, which it does with LASERS FROM ITS EYES.

I recently bought a cheap second-hand copy of the official strategy guide for The Sims 3: Pets because I wanted to learn more about the traits I could reinforce in my pets, and it has multi-page spreads on that sort of thing.

It also includes a lot of info about all the extra stuff you can do on the PC (including having horses!), and so when our PS3 became unusable (again, hopefully it’s temporary), I decided there was no better time than to try out all these PC perks! Will already had an Origin account with The Sims 3 on it anyway (which I stopped playing after his laptop died and was replaced with a desktop, perhaps because it took over my life).

I suggest you get some version of this game because it’s so good. I’ve heard that The Sims 4 is lacking some of the stuff that 3 has. Also I’m neither financially nor mentally ready to move onto it yet.

 

I rebuilt our house plan again, made us as adults, and our Sim kid as a young adult. Rather than making us husband and wife, I could only see the option to make us engaged, and our kid wasn’t allowed to officially be our kid, and was instead designated as “housemate.” I’m not sure how to fix that yet.

I decided that this house was further on in the future than the PS3 incarnation of it, so we had different pets. I made Cola, a chocolate-coloured curly-coated retriever. That’s pretty much what I want as my successor dog in real life, although most forms of retriever would do. Then I made Tzippi, another grey Oriental Shorthair. I later found out that I accidentally made her male, and again, am trying to figure out how to fix that.

Will thought it was hilarious that the neighbour dog on the PS3 version was named Austin. As a result, we wound up with a goldfish named “Fish Austin” and it became a running thing.

So, when I made a horse for our household, it was, of course, named HORSE AUSTIN. There was also Fish Austin again, Rat Austin, and an Iguana named . . . Terry.

 

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A successful pent roof! The downside is that the rest of it is technically on the inside of the upstairs floor.
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Placing the only vaguely-OK transom door.
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The availability of half-walls on PC make it easier to do stair banisters.
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I was gonna have this glorious fish window, but it wouldn’t let me put stuff up against it. Also this is the most beautiful fridge I’ve ever seen.
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Bonehilda’s coffin!
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I’m so happy about this. 
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A “haunted sunflower” on the left.

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Because it took so long to load, I didn’t pick anything other than the Sims’ everyday outfits at first, which is why Will’s Sim has this odd combination for sleepwear. Note something new in the background: a WASHING MACHINE.
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Busting some ghosts.
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Bonehilda making the bed.
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Chicks!
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Terry the lizard.
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Will excited about the prospect of going to bed, while we watch TV in the dining room.
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Watching the gardening channel. I haven’t started doing any gardening yet.
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Litterbox lasers.
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A high pile of laundry not too dissimilar to that in our real bedroom (to be fair, we don’t actually own a chest of drawers or anything yet).

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I think I took this screenshot because of a notice on screen about the Sim needing to vomit. It doesn’t show up in the screenshot. I uploaded it anyway?
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My beautiful horse.
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Dog rolling around in a puddle of pee it just made.
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Improved staircases are a definite benefit of being on PC, even if they aren’t quite actual U staircases.
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More ghost-fighting.
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These two took a liking to each other.
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That sweet fictional alphabet.
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Versions of Will in all universes like to pick up a guitar in idle moments.

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Erroneous horse riding.
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Hating the dishwasher.

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Bonehilda pretty much doesn’t stop wanting to teach the dog tricks, at the expense of actual cleaning.
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The PS3 version of this Sim was starting out in painting, so I tried to continue that here.
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High School Diploma.
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A ghost in a container on a desk, the world’s most foolproof idea. Also Bonehilda again.
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Building up that Logic skill for law enforcement work.
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Appealing ghost-shaped mirror. There is some furniture on The Sims that needs to become real furniture.
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They didn’t have any dog-related tattoo options when I created my Sim, so I just put a plumbob on my forearm.
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I discovered sleep masks were available as accessories for nightwear, and I had to use them because I have a bit of a propensity for them in real life.
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Walking through the house in a sleep mask.
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Going outside in a sleep mask.
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Giving the dog a belly rub, while not even being able to see the dog, because sleep mask.
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The kitchen floor seems to be the number one place for dog shenanigans.

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World’s most alarming clock (not a pun).
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Being chatted up in the middle of a ghost invasion.
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Such a sweet silly baby.
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It’s like the New Forest with all these wild horses running around. My Sim is in her ridiculous work outfit.
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House layout, ground floor.

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Upstairs. It’s basically this floorplan as much as can be recreated in something like The Sims.

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There’s a zombie outside my gate and I’m not happy about it.
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House from other side.

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You get the idea. Notice bobble on stairs ?.

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Christmas dog bed.
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Look at the lil’ ratty!
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Sleeping in swimwear.
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Improved work uniform came with promotion.

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Horse getting some love from the cleaner.
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I’m starting to remember why I was into riding as a kid; the horse mannerisms are very endearing.
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Maybe you’d be better at horse riding if you didn’t wear a sleep mask while doing it.
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Chaos.
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Exciting dinner conversation.
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Leave that horse alone, ghost!
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After the ghost above, I realised that Horse Austin’s box stall should be in an actual stable and not just in the garden. Here it is so far. I’ve forgotten windows but will add those at some point.
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Adding the roof to the stable changed the roof of our house though! But I’m OK with it because it has cool solar panels, plus the pent/ skirt roof did look ridiculous appearing inside the upstairs of the house.
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I’m too enamoured with this fictional cat.
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Look at me being all formal.
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Bonehilda again, doing anything but cleaning.
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Me riding my kid’s bike to buy alcohol.
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Having alcohol.
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In the background I’m staring at the horse’s butt.
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We got married on Spooky Day!
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Wedding cake, which we probably won’t have in real life in favour of general buffet.
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Stable interior.
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The absolute maximum limit of tastefulness for this lot.
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I wouldn’t need half as much land in real life, but if you want to build a jumping course you need to select one of the bigger lots.
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What are you doing.
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Terry died and I don’t know why. It bummed me out.
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WHY DID THIS HAPPEN. 
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That green chewy bone <3
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Realised I should place umbrellas over the speakers.
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If I’m not mistaken, that’s footage from SimAnimals! I got that as a valentine’s day present circa 2009.
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Just some leaves being raked by a skeleton.
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Litterbox of the future.
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Happy ratty.
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Then Rat Austin died and I, again, was bummed out.
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Of course I bought this.
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And this.
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And a weathervane.
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And placed some wildlife spawners.
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Definitely not tasteful.
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In real life I also enjoy being outside under a shelter during heavy rain.

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Playing with the chicks!
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Rolling around in the frost for some reason.
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A falcon in our garden.
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I don’t know where this fucking thing came from but it keeps moving itself around.
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Fishing in my pond. It’s not fenced off from the public because animals like drinking from it.
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Will’s Sim doesn’t looks quite right and I can’t figure out what I did wrong.
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A zombie being perplexed by a hedgehog.
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The babiest of babies.
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Another bloody zombie on my lot! At least I keep the gate locked.
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Snow house.
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Things as they are.

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Next I plan to put windows in the barn, progress careers to the point of having cars (which should mean I can put the police car in one of the three parking spaces), and figure out how to get the animals to go hunting in this version.

Some phone photos:

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A further demonstration of how Will doesn’t look quite right.
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The roof showing inside the upstairs floor.
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Family portrait.
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DEAR GOD.
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Neptune: A brief affair.

I was having trouble with Horse Austin’s social bar getting really low really quickly, and got a warning that the social worker might take our pets away. So, I went and bought another horse, named Neptune, which was already on my list of potential pet names, so I thought it was a sign. Despite moving Neptune in with Horse Austin, he still got bummed enough that the social worker came to take all the pets. So I just quit the game and loaded the previous save.

The second time around, I didn’t buy Neptune, but I did learn to use the cheat of shift-clicking on the mailbox and making everyone happy. I do hope to have a wild horse join the household anyway.

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I realised I accidentally made my Sim look like Moira from Schitt’s Creek.
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Spooky Time!!

 


 

Because I probably won’t feel like writing another post any time soon, here is some more stuff.

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My waist got a few inches smaller! Last month I started trimming a string to the circumference of my waist and putting it on the wall. It’s encouraging to see the inch loss measured out like that, even if the scale doesn’t quite catch up with it straight away.

I got a cheap fitness tracker to serve as a heart monitor because I’ve been having some issues recently. Not only is it cheap to begin with, there was also a lightning deal on it, so I just decided to go for it. It’s basically a Fitbit clone, but misses out some of the features. It’s an ID115 Plus HR.

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Showing dat resting bradycardia.
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And butchering my romantic messages.
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The first night’s sleep recorded.
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Apparently I get more deep sleep when napping on the sofa!
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