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Spotlight On – Carlton July 13, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Twinbrook.
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Sofia Carlton

Twinbrook is the new Neighborhood which came with the Ambitions Expansion for Sims 3. I spotlight some of the familes in the EA neighborhoods in case you might have missed out on them or just wanted to learn more about the neighbors.

Sofia Carlton is a hip young adult with a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath mansion of her own but what will she do with it?  Sofia is a great kisser, dislikes children, a schmoozer, snob and lucky.  Her lifetime wish is to live in the lap of luxury and she has a good start on that if she can keep it. Her only skills are 2 points of charisma.  That’s not much to work with as she has that big house and the pink convertible to support.  Oddly, there is a pink playground in her front lawn that doesn’t make much sense since she doesn’t like children and isn’t childish.  Perhaps to allude that she grew up in the house is the reason?  There is a bookcase, office and bar on the third floor if you miss it on the first look through as I did.  No shortage of mirrors for this lass and she does get lots of use out of them! The kitchen is missing some wallcoverings and flooring so you will want to fix that up straight away and could give architects working in Twinbrook some headaches if working on a renovation at this house. 

Sofia is a friend of Amy Bull’s…no real surprise there as they have similar fashion sense and she has met her neighbor DeAndre Wolf but briefly. Enemies are Dilly and Milly Pidgin.  Sofia’s main problem is she has over 2000 simoleans in bills coming soon and no job.  She does start with a small nest egg though and hopefully that will see her through till she has an income coming in.  Thus first thing to do is get her skilled up and working.  I went the stylist route to try out that profession and see what it was like.  I learned that even though the job doesn’t start till the next day, you can go to the salon and offer makeovers that will make some simoleans and count towards that first promotion, so no need to wait or sit home on days off.  The easiest way might be to find her an ambitious husband to help share the bills or a room-mate as there is a second bedroom as well.  In my neighborhood, she eventually married and lost the dislikes children trait which is one of my least favorites of the sim traits.  Believe it or not..her sense of style improved too!  See what happens for you!  You can see the shock she gets when the first bills come in the mail (Below).

Toned Down Her Style

Gnome TV July 12, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Mysterious Gnomes.
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I Love To Turn On TVs

 

What was that?  You say your tv just turned on all by itself in the middle of the night?  That is a sure sign of a bored gnome in your house.  Do something more interesting, will you?  *sighs*

Spotlight On – Simolean Savers: Peddler – Pincher July 12, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Twinbrook.
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Simolean Savers

Twinbrook is the new Neighborhood which came with the Ambitions Expansion for Sims 3.  I spotlight some of the familes in the EA neighborhoods in case you might have missed out on them or just wanted to learn more about the neighbors. 

Note:  Ghosthunters in Twinbrook will want to eliminate that car on the platform before you start work in that town otherwise you stand a very good chance of getting trapped on that platform while doing a job at that household.

But now where were we?  Yes…Yes…Clark Peddler and Penny Pincher are best friends.  They are living together in a white two bedroom house, trimmed in a garnish lime green which is Clark’s favorite color.   Clark’s ex-wife Kat Hunter lives down the street with her much younger boyfriend Buck Green. 

Neither Clark nor Penny have any skills at all and are both working part-time jobs.  She at the Bookstore and he at the Grocery.  I would think by this time in their lives they would have learned something…anything but neither seems very motivated, perhaps that is why?  Clark is an adult and Penny a young adult. Clark Peddler is inappropriate, easily impressed, frugal, kleptomaniac, and evil.  That means he can rummage through trash cans,  steal and might be a good recruit for the crime career?  His Lifetime Want is Possession is 9/10ths of the Law. So expect to do some creeping around at night to fulfill that.  Clark is quite the snappy dresser, don’t you think?  (See Picture Below) Sort of dresses like a used car salesman on a bad day. 

Clark Peddler

Penny Pincher has hitched her wagon to Clark but that might have been a mistake especially if she thought she could sponge off him which seems like it just might be the case.  She is flirty, charismatic, a party animal, schmoozer and a heavy sleeper.  Penny seems to want to spend most of her time dancing to the small stereo that she seems to keep in her purse.  Her wish is to be super popular and she has a long way to go at it, as she is best friends with Clark but has only met DeAndre Wolf in Twinbrook.

When I stayed with them, as soon as Clark’s ex wife Kat broke up with her boyfriend  Kat moved back in with Clark thus leaving the couch to Penny.  Penny then moved in with Buck Green…Kat’s ex boyfriend.  Such complicated lives these sims lead…tsk…tsk. 

Anyway simoleans are tight in this household so some things you can do to fix that.  Their home is directly across the street from the Community Gardens so they can harvest goodies for sale or to eat or some of both.  Clark could ditch his part-time job and go full-time criminal.  His trashcan rummaging, coupon clipping and klepto skills can help make simoleans too.  You could sell the 2 cars or just one or two which will lower their bills and give a cushion of cash. 

Another option would be if Clark starts sharing a bedroom with either Penny or Kat, they could take in a border for the other bedroom.  How that works is you can merge a single sim to their household for a bit while they all work skills then move the single sim back out once they are more skilled and along further in their career.  I’m sure the extra income would be useful.  I also did some painting while Clark and Penny slept to remove some lime green and cleaned up the yard a bit. (Removed the balloons, tires and the silly platform that traps ghosthunters)  You might be in favor of that option too.  See what you can do with these two!

Gnomish Stories – Derrian DuPont July 10, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Mysterious Gnomes.
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Derrian DuPont

I wanted to share with you another of my gnomish stories, this one of the lad Derrian DuPont.  Quite an interesting lad he is…I met him down by the river one day fishing.  (Actually, he is a CAS sim I made to try out the new Ghosting Hunting Profession and write up a guide for it in the future.) Derrian is the eccentric black sheep of a wealthy family.  He left home one day with only the shirt on his back and a determination to make his own way in the world…more like wandered off aimlessly but it sounded better how he told it. 

Derrian is an unappropriate bookworm who is an eccentric handy genius.  What a personality yet…it works for him..yes…yes it does.  Let me explain, the lad had a hankering to become a ghost hunter after reading a book about it. 

So he moved to Twinbrook and bought a huge lot in the upper class neighborhood, why you ask?  I have no idea, I am just telling you what happened.  Now having few simoleans left after his big land purchase and a irrational fear of meteor strikes, he built a basement with just a wee wooden building on top to keep the rain from flowing down into his underground hole.  In his basement, the conditions were spartan but he could work with that.  After applying and being accepted at the Science Center to be a ghosthunter, his new job would start the next day but what to do till then?  

Derrian planted a small garden and fertilized it with cheap store bought minnows to give it a good start then began to wander the town.  Being an unappropriate lad he rummaged some trash cans and picked up a load of salvage from the junkyard after I suggested that he really could use the extra furniture which the repairman would of course fix up for him.  (See a post in Did You Know to see why I suggested that.)  After selling off all the rubber ducks, bubble bath, keeping the seeds for future use, sent the metals and gems off to be smelted and cut, and keeping all precious found books his nest egg had grown so he could afford some extras. 

Now the ghosthunter profession starts out slow or at least it did for him (In a newly started Twinbrook) only two jobs a night then he could return home to use his telescope he put atop the flat roof of the wooden building.  Eventually, he started overcoming some challenges as with a lifetime award..his unappropriateness no longer bothered other sims.  Thus while ghosthunting, he could repair sinks and clogged toilets after ridding the homes of spirits and have a warm shower or a meal from the fridge while he was there and the folks were so grateful for his help…they paid no mind to his unappropriate actions at all.  Derrian could do no wrong!  He took a class at the Science Center in inventing and eventually could afford a new workbench which he promptly used to make wigets to sell at the consignment store to further suppliment his income.  A real good use of all the scrap he has acquired by rummaging through trash cans as well!

Now Derrian is a Spirit Sweeper (level 4 ghost hunter) and doing quite well for himself having bought into the Science Center as a partner and bought the Bookstore of his dreams.  He even acquired a bride, a pretty young lass who was working as a maid at one of the houses with a particularly interesting trashcan he liked to visit on a regular basis. She had a bag of garbage to put in the trashcan and it was love at first sight..he really admired her trash technique!  She’s now in the cooking career which meshes well with the odd hours Derrian keeps as a ghost hunter. His house is growing…even the above ground story and he’s purchased cars for both he and his wife. He’s still ghosthunting yet now also waking the neighbors at 2AM when he runs his miner in the front lawn.  That is a great way to meet ALL the neighbors as they all woke up to come complain about the noise.  Ooops! 

I’m actually surprised at how well he’s done, this inappropriate black sheep.  (His mix of traits seems to make an ideal ghosthunter/inventor as he has been remarkably successful in a very short period of time.) We might revisit him later to see how he’s doing.  Tootle loo!

Ask Sim Gnome – Cooking Opportunities July 6, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Ask Sim Gnome.
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Sim Gnome

Dear Sim Gnome,

I’m all flustered as I have been asked to make cookies for a neighbor and yet I can’t do this at all.  I don’t know how to make cookies and not sure what to do now. 
B. Newbie

Now now..calm down, we can make this right yet.  First you will want to learn the recipe for cookies, you can purchase this recipe at the bookstore and read it or by watching the cooking channel on your tv if your tv has that channel available. (More expensive tvs have more channels available on them than the cheaper ones or a Handy sim with enough skill can upgrade your tv to get more channels.) Which recipes you learn from watching the cooking channel on the tv is just chance but you will learn more about cooking while doing so….you can’t loose.

Once you have the recipe read it if you bought it from the bookstore.  Now go to your fridgerator and choose Make Dessert and you should see Cookies as an option.  Once made you will want to carry them to the neighbor that wanted them.   Use the hand to then put the cookies into your inventory, now deliver them.  If the person you need to deliver the cookies to are unavailable, you can store the Cookies group meal in the fridge till you get that chance.  They will spoil if kept in  inventory long term.  Tootle loo!  Happy Cooking!

Sleeping Gnome McMulty July 6, 2010

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Sleeping Gnome McMulty

Chase Bayless hauled up this friend for me in Twinbrook.  He goes by the name of McMulty and is quite the snappy dresser in his dapper white suit and hat.  I ought to get me one of those!  He isn’t capable of the gnomish magic of teleportation but he does really look nice while guarding a porch or flower bed.  What do you think?

Spotlight – Bayless Family July 6, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Twinbrook.
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The Bayless Family

Twinbrook is the new Neighborhood which came with the Ambitions Expansion for Sims 3.  I spotlight some of the familes in the EA neighborhoods in case you might have missed out on them or just wanted to learn more about the neighbors.

One of the founding families of Twinbrook is the Bayless Family, Skeet’s father Fly owned the largest junkyard in Twinton at one time. They are quite the interesting family especially around the ears if you know what I mean.  *winks*

Skeet is Absent-Minded, Slob, Loves the Outdoors, Family-Oriented and an Angler.  He’s sort of a stay at home Dad with a part -time job at the Graveyard as an Epitaph Writer.  Yet he loves the graveyard for the afterwork fishing for deathfish which is more profitable for him then the actual job and rummaging or bear wrestling in the the catacomb. Mostly bear wrestling it seems.  He’s known to dabble in gardening and inventing as well.  (15 days from Elder) He’s a wiz at collecting salvage from the junkyard and turning it into extra cash.  (See an earlier “Did You Know?” post on just how that works.)

Gwayne is Brave, Loves the Outdoors, Daredevil, Family-Oriented and an Angler.  You can see what she and Skeet have in common.  She works in the Journalist career as a Free-lance writer (3) and has a laptop in her inventory which is pretty swanky and might have cost more than their house. Hehehehee!  Gwayne is known as a minor writer of novels in Twinbrook as well.  Dudley Racket might be the only one that has read her published works but heck she tries really hard.  I think she got into that profession mainly to rummage through the towns folks’ garbage but who knows?  (14 days from Elder)

The Bayless Swamp Shack

Chase is surprise surprise a teen-aged girl although a wee bit of a tom-boy.  She’s a Loner, Loves the Outdoors, Family-Oriented and an Angler much like her parents.  She has an on again off again romantic interest in Jeffrey Castor although she would rather go fishing than spend much time with him.

Chase’s little brother Tay Loves the Outdoors is Family-Oriented and an Angler too and often seen tagging along after his sister on fishing trips.  The poor lad had ears big enough he might be able to fly if he had a mind to.  Reminds me of a picture I caught once at the Sunset Valley Theater…a movie called Dumbo? Alas, ears tend to run in this family.  (The first night while the family slept I did a little bit of gnomish magic and docked some ears and fixed the “frog mouths” of Gwayne and Chase so they aren’t so bad now…still not beauty queens but quite good looking now by Twinton standards.  I used Twallan’s Super Computer ->Advanced->Edit in CAS to fix them up just a wee bit.)

The shack needs some improvements, well lots of improvements actually.  I sold the garage door in the kitchen for 600 simoleans and replaced it with a window.  Skeet salvaged a dryer from the junkyard and used it to replace the laundry line on the porch that was always leaving puddles behind.  As Skeet said he and Gwanye have plans to raise themselves up at least 5 youngins, you might need to make the upstairs loft into a full second story eventually for the extra space.  There are great fishing spots to the NE and SW of the shack and the kids often bring back jellyfish which although aren’t the best eating, except for maybe Peanut Butter and Jellyfish sandwiches. The jellyfish do make great fertilizer and you can plant a few items in the spot between the front and back porches pretty easily. Skeet added an inventors workbench after moving the wood stove over a bit on the main floor and I magically recovered the camo cushions in the livingroom rather quickly.  If you do also let him have an inventor’s workbench, I would recommend replacing the downstairs tub with a shower as inventors are known for catching themselves on fire on occasion and that way Skeet can put himself out with the shower if need be.  It could save his life!

The Ghost of Fly Bayless

In the master bedroom on the dresser is an urn from a man named Fly Bayless who I assume is Skeet’s father…there is a certain family ears present there.  He materializes at night on occasion and makes himself at home.  If you don’t like a good haunt, you can eliminate that urn first thing or keep it for shack flavor.  The ghost does seem pretty harmless thus far. The Bayless family does get along quite well and seem to have much in common so there isn’t much strife in this family, which is a good thing considering they live out in the middle of nowhere and only have the family Vorn truck for transportation.  If something went wrong out there in the swamp..it might turn out like “The Shining”….”Here’s Skeet!”  Keep the axes put away and all is well.  If the youngins are getting underfoot or Skeet and Gwanye are getting a bit stir crazy you can always send them fishing. I learned you can grow a pretty good apple even out in the swamp so give the Bayless Family a try!

Spotlight On – Joy Farm July 5, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Riverview.
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Elaine Joy Cooking

Norman and Elaine Joy live in Riverview (the neighborhood you can download for free from the EA Sims3 website after you register Sims 3).  If you have the Ambitions Expansion, the game drops the consignment shop right next to the Joy Farm so it’s convient for selling homemade items. 

Norman and his daughter Elaine are best friends so unlike some EA made families, they aren’t disfunctional at all.  Norman is a perfect farmer and the Joy Farm is well suited for him.  His lifetime want is a Perfect Garden.  He’s a Technophobe, Handy, Never Nude, Green Thumb and Frugal.  He loves clipping coupons from the daily newspaper and gets a boost from using them.  He tends the farm in the mornings, sits and clips his paper up then upgrades something around the farm or goes fishing at the river behind the farm for fertilizer.  It’s a simple life for him but it is what he wants. 

Daughter Elaine wishes to be a Culinary Librarian.  Is Over Emotional, Natural Cook, Good, Family-Orientated and also a Green Thumb.  She helps her father with the farm and works part-time at the grocery store as a Shopping Music DJ.  She likes to chat on the phone with her friend Ginny McDermott that lives on a nearby farm with her family. 

Norman Joy During Planting Season

Money is a bit tight when you begin with these two.  Their crops are all normal quality which I upgraded by disposing of those crops after the first harvest and replacing with Nice or Very Nice Quality plants.  Norman makes an ideal gardener and fishing for fertilizer helps him unwind.  Elaine working only part-time allows her to help with the family farm or she could join the Culinary Career. 

In my game, she stayed on the farm and painted after the farming was done for the day and before work.  They saved for a trip to France for Elaine and she brought back a husband very knowledgeable in the ways of nectar making.  A basement built under the barn, housed the new nectar making equipment and the farm expanded it’s grape crops planting more and different varieties.  Elaine’s husband is also a Private Investigator and works at that too for extra simoleans but not that seriously as the nectar comes first.  It’s been sucessful for them, Elaine has had some children and the little farm house has been added on to. 

With Norman’s handy skill he could also try inventing.  Really, lots of different ways you could work this family.  You could get them both jobs in town and keep a small number of crops as a part-time hobby farm or you can do what I did and really expand it into a successful business. Joy Farms Nectar is now famous in Riverview! 

A tip:  You can send Norman to collect seeds to really give his farm a boost.  A good place to collect seeds is behind Don Lothorio’s pond then move towards the Bagley farm till the fence, looking under the trees.  Behind the Mc Dermott farm are normally several seeds and quite often one or two of the coveted Special Seeds that are a real find.  About every two days or so…it’s good to pick up the seeds in that area.  Extras like the uncommons that you soon really have little use for you can use for fertilizer or sell at the consignment shop.  Selling seeds at the consignment shop is a good way to build up your rep at the shop fast so that your items there sell faster and for more simoleans.  Have fun!  Tootle Loo!

Elaine and Norman Working The Farm

Strange Occurance with French Romance July 2, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Mysterious Gnomes.
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I was staying with Dr. Jamie Jolina when I saw this odd occurance happen. The lass had gone on vacation to France and returned raving about this Frenchman she had met there.  She said she had met Andre Lefebvre and they had a whirlwind romance.  He had divorced his wife even and was coming to Sunset Valley the very next day to marry Jamie.  This was all too fast I thought and I tried to talk some sense into the lass but she wouldn’t listen to me…I’m not even sure she could hear me at all…at all. 

So the next day, Andre arrives from France and the two are quickly married and he moved in with Jamie.  As Andre has some skill with nectar making, the back yard was soon planted in grapes and he settled right in.  But then…it happened….on the second day since Andre arrived from France, Jamie and Andre get word that Andre’s ex wife and his young son have moved to Sunset Valley.  They followed him somehow. 

Andre started talking to his son daily by phone and then visits where we learned he and his mother had been struggling since they arrived in Sunset Valley.  The wee lad’s mother couldn’t find work and the bills were piling up fast.  So Andre and Jamie invited the young lad to live with them and Jamie arranged for her husband’s ex to be hired by a friend of hers in town.  Things improved somewhat for Andre’s ex wife, she was getting job promotions and even moved into a bigger house yet had gone through a string of boyfriends since the divorce.  Yet there wasn’t much more Andre could do as by then Jamie was expecting and the Nectary was beginning to take off.  He was settled. 

As if Andre’s ex wife and son following him to Sunset Valley wasn’t odd enough…it got still worse.  Andre had returned to France but for 3 days to bring back a second nectar machine and more grapes to plant when it got really crazy.  When Andre returned from his business trip to France…a second Andre came back with him and was added to the family. (The second Andre was an exact duplicate and it had even duplicated everything that was in Andre’s inventory.  That meant more grapes and another collection helper but what to do with the second Andre now?)  That smart Jamie was the one not to panic.  She swiftly opened her trusty laptop…this one specially made by NRass Industries and that brilliant scientist Twallan.  While Andre sent his clone down town for a change of first name and a stylist visit, Jamie was fixing it all on her super computer. 

Jamie severed the family ties of the clone and restablished new ones….now the clone was Andre’s brother Del and would be married to Andre’s ex wife.  Del was moved in with Andre’s ex and all was well.  He promptly got a job and the new family soon had a child on the way.  Also strange…a duplicate family by the same names still lives in France yet now minus Andre.  Yet it was all  fixed good enough by the super computer.  Thank you Twallan!  You can find his fine work here :  http://ts3.tscexchange.com/index.php?board=105.0  I can highly recommend the Super Computer and Story Progression Mods of his. 

Now I have seen other sims marry folks they have met in France, Egypt and in China or even tourists with no problems what so ever.  This was the only strange occurance that turned into a big mess for Dr.  Jamie to fix, as she did create it.  I have heard of no other stories quite as bizarre as this one turned out to be.  You long legs need to be more careful on your vacations!

(Update:  The kid grew up into a teenager that ran..never walked anywhere so I think that game is bugged in more than one way.  Going to just delete that save.)

Fish Farming Anyone? July 1, 2010

Posted by simgnome in Useful Game Mods.
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I found a useful mod over at  the Naughty Sims Asylum that makes fish farming possible.  I know Claire Ursine was very excited about this and I’m sure your Anglers will be too.  You need to have Sims 3 and the HELS Stuff Pack for it to work as it needs the large aquarium from the stuff pack but I really love this mod!  Lots of other goodies at that site and it is the home of the best story progression mod available, in my opinion.  It’s realistic and does keep your town population well managed over time.  More on story progression mods in another post but wanted to mention it but briefly.

Updated Link.  You now have to register at the Naughty Sims Asylum but once you do this link will take you right to the mod to download.

http://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php?/topic/2816-aquarium-60-fish/