Busy as a Bee

Hey everyone,

This week is going to be a little different; I've decided to work about ten hours a day for twelve consecutive days over this week and next week....takes away from my "Simming time", but that's what happens when you're freelance - you work your fanny off during the busy seasons and hoard those bucks during the slow ones. :( But no worries! I'll be getting back on track with my whole one-lot-submission-a-week trend by submitting two lots a week until I'm caught up. Catch ya later, and enjoy the fall weather!

Ready For Retirement

My next lot, which should be available this Friday or Saturday, is a retirement home that took a LOT of work. I feel like I need to mention it here, because I'm curious as to whether or not the things I worked hardest on will appear as they should in other people's games. In this lot, I chose to fully stock both the garden AND the fishing pond (with the exception of the money tree and omni plant). I deleted my copy of the lot in the game, downloaded it from TSR through my upload bin in the submission section, reinstalled the lot into a whole different neighborhood and lot, and all the fruits/meat/veggies/fish appeared for me as they should. I feel pretty confident the lot will appear fully stocked for you, as well. However, since it took so long (particularly the stocking-the-pond part), I'd like to know if it did indeed work for you before I decide to spend that much time on future lots. ;) As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, and thank you all for your help!

*Note: WHY did I choose not to include the money tree and omni plant, you ask? Because a) people who are trying to avoid money cheats might not appreciate the temptation of free money without putting in their own hard work towards the gardening skill, and b) the omni plant is used for so many different things for so many people, I wasn't sure what people would want to use their omni plant for the most, so build up that gardening skill to get that lovely plant full of possibility. :)

Asian Lot Coming Soon

I don't know if anyone's noticed or not, but my uploads over the past month have been available on Fridays. This week is different, since I noticed a tiny glitch in my next lot that I had to fix at the last minute. It has been resubmitted with everything now working perfectly, so hopefully (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully) it will be approved with Saturday being the publication date. This next one is another micro that was built with an Asian style in mind. I know the game doesn't come with much in that style at the moment, so I challenged myself to make something as Asian as possible with the little we have in the base game (with the exception of the front door, which is the same door I used in La Pêche and had purchased from the EA store). So far, my Sims love it. Hopefully, yours will, too! 

Ohhhhh yeah!!!

I'm probably jinxing myself by saying this, but as of today, I have published one item a week for about a month now. One of my goals is to publish at least one item a week for the next year. Eleven more months to go!

And It Begins.....

It's official! As of today, I am officially a Sims 3 content submitter on TSR with the publication of the Riverview Mayor's Abode. This one took a lot of work - since I've been trying to focus on homes that are actually affordable for my Sims in order to avoid cheating in my game as much as possible (goal: most lots under 20,000 simoleans), I haven't made very many lots this big. Took a long time to furnish in comparison to my other Sims 3 lots, but I really wanted to add a lot in downtown Riverview that my Sims could live in without having to do much driving to reach the hot spots, as well as give that area even more personality. I hope you like it!

Sims 3 Stuff!

Good news, guys.....

I've been playing my game to death and trying to figure out what to make for TSR as the start of my Sims 3 submissions. Although my plan, ultimately, is to be more of a pattern artist, my first several submissions are going to be lots, since I've been working so hard on trying to make my new sims comfortable right from the start, and I have a LOT of characters to house! Once everyone has a home, I'll have more time to work on patterns to really give my game a new feel. 

I have one home that I am ready to upload any day, as well as at least four others I've been playing that need to be tweaked a little bit before I share them with other people. Hopefully, if all goes well and I get through my first attempt at the Sims 3 lot submission process, my first Sims 3 lot will be up in one to two weeks from now. :)

I hope everyone has been enjoying themselves with the Sims 3!

Stupid scratched disk......

Hello everyone. Just reporting here to share my troubles with my copy of the second disk of the Sims 2 base game. Unfortunately, when I went to reinstall my game, it had trouble with Disk 2 (who am I kidding? It's BEEN having trouble with this disk!). Since it has been giving me such a headache and has been hurting some objects in my game, I'm considering just waiting until the release of The Sims 3 to create and upload anything new here, since it's coming out in about three weeks anyway. This makes me sad, because I wanted to be able to actually play through generations JUST ONCE in the Sims 2, which I've never brought myself to do. Whenever the Sim representing myself dies, I get depressed and think of a new storyline, then just start myself and everyone else all over again, instead of playing the generation game. Sad! But that's going to be my new mission with the Sims 3 - play the game through and expand my town, and make more custom content in the process! So stay tuned for some custom content when the new game comes out and us creators have figured out the new nuances to building custom content with the new game. I'm also excited to hear how your own playing goes. Take care, everyone, and thanks for bearing with me!

The Slow Boat to TSR.....And YES, I am referencing a Jimmy Buffett song.

Hello everyone!

I know, I know....it's been forever. Here's why:

1) Moved into a new apartment.

2) Reformatted the computer in order to install Windows 7 beta (which is AWESOME so far, by the way). As a result, I'm having to reinstall my game, which is taking an eternity.

3) I went from having "bunny ears" in the old apartment to having actual cable TV in the new one, so please excuse my frequent breaks from "simming" in order to catch episodes of A Baby Story, What Not to Wear, and Jon and Kate Plus 8.

I have sooooo many plans. I've been sketching some new lots on graphing paper while the computer has been down. Sad, I know. Thanks SO MUCH to those of you who have left comments and guest book entries in my absence. It has not gone unnoticed - I will be thanking you individually here in the very near future. I do hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the spring (or fall, if you're south of the equator)!

Ready-to-Harvest Garden in Greenwich Arboretum?!

My next three lots will be published tomorrow, 2/26, and I have a request from those of you who will be downloading the Greenwich Arboretum. I tried to make the lot in such a way that the garden is already in bloom - all plants are in a "thriving" condition and ready to be harvested. In addition, I prestocked both juicers, and you should be able to make eight different juices. I'm just curious if the lot really does appear this way for you, or if you're having to start at the beginning when entering the lot and plant everything yourself. 

HOW I DID IT:

Since you're able to save in play mode when you send a Sim to a secret society lot, I changed the lot zoning to a secret society, maxed out the gardening skill of the Sim sent there, and played the lot until all the plants were in bloom. Once I had the garden how I wanted it, I saved it, sent the Sim home, reentered the lot in build mode, and changed the lot zoning back to community. Note: I was able to reenter the lot without a Sim because I never placed the lot in the lot bin, which would have caused the lot to disappear as a secret society should if I had put it back in the neighborhood. Happily, when testing in my own game, everything was still harvest-ready, with the juicers fully stocked. After harvesting, leaving the lot (remember - this is as a community lot now), and reentering the lot later, the plants were still in bloom and I was able to harvest the same plants a second time. Never had to replant anything, since you can't save while playing your Sim in a community lot - just left and went back. :) Sims had veggies and fruit in their inventory upon arriving home. I really, really hope it works out that way for you all as well! 

WHY I DID IT:

Although you could easily live at the arboretum for a little while, since there are tents, grills, and a shower, you could theoretically stay on the lot throughout an entire planting season if you were to start a garden there from the beginning. However, since it is, after all, a community lot, and your Sims probably have things/people to take care of on their home lots, you might not want to keep your Sim there through an entire cycle just to get some produce. Basically, I did it this way so you can access produce quickly and easily, not only so you can reap the benefits of having "mouth-watering" produce in your home juicers without the effort of gardening, but also as a way to quickly obtain something sellable for a little extra Simoleons in your Sims' pockets.

DID IT WORK FOR YOU????

Let me know! And if it didn't, let me know that, too! If it didn't work out that way, I am very, very sorry to get everyone all hyped up and then be disappointed. :( But can you blame me for trying? ;P Hopefully, all is well. Regardless, I hope you enjoy everything the Greenwich Arboretum has to offer as it is. Happy Gardening!

Apologies...

VERY SORRY for the delay in publication of the next three lots mentioned in my previous blog post. I had to pull them temporarily before being officially published at the last minute, since I realized I had packaged the lots without emptying my downloads folder first. In addition to that, I had to go out of town and couldn't fix everything until I got back yesterday. Naughty, naughty, Canuckdiva! But all has been fixed. I repackaged the lots properly and they have been resubmitted for approval. With luck, they should be published this week. Keep your fingers crossed, and check back soon!