Matriarch in the Middle

I’ve been playing the Burrs like mad lately. It almost reminds me of the Shanley Legacy days, when I’d be glued to my computer almost every night, getting such a kick out of simulated people doing the most mundane things.

We left off with the Gen 2 kids, Belinda and Basil, growing into friendly, energetic, polite children. Just after that, my founder Azalea got pregnant again. At least, I thought she did. I heard the lullaby and saw her kneeling before the porcelain god at least once. But even after a couple of days, she still looked like this:

Burr Family
“Why yes, doctor, I’m quite sure I heard the lullaby chime after we…um…er…ahem.”

That is, she never got that little pregnancy bump, nor did she start walking like she was carrying an 80 lb. watermelon. I figured it was something with the maternity clothing hack and had her try to change into maternity clothes, but the option didn’t even show up. My next thought was that she had gotten buggy and had a miscarriage of sorts, but when I directed her to go to work, she refused, saying she needed rest because of her pregnancy. I was confuzzled.

At any rate, I let things proceed as normal thinking maybe when she turned elder, she’d be forced to pop out the baby. Hey, it could happen! Maybe? (It didn’t, but anyway…)

Life went on at Burr Cottage. With oodles of free time on her hands (since she couldn’t go to work) Azalea busied herself with interrogating young men to see if they’d be suitable husbands for Belinda. One of them appeared to be a freedom fighter in the French Resistance, and as such was about 70 years too early for this legacy.

Burr Family
“Oh…that’s unfortunate. I’ll come back later. Vive le Legacy!”

As with Roxy Descartes (a.k.a. Natalie Portman), I’ll have to put this dude’s name on file and hope he comes by again a few generations down the road…he’d be great as a beatnik in the ‘50s, too. I wouldn’t even have to change his clothes!

And here are the young’uns fast asleep in the unfinished bedroom…

Burr Family
*zzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzz*

I hadn’t bought a third bed yet, so they had to sleep in shifts. It wasn’t too tough, though, since their dad Vincentio was in constant skill-building mode and therefore using the Energizer to replenish his motives most of the time.

Burr Family
“See, Dad? While you’ve been busy wearing that ridiculous contraption on your head, I’ve become a teenager! And invented Jello.”

That’s right, Belinda became a teen. (Although in the Victorian era they probably would have called her a “young lady”.) I rolled Popularity for her and let her keep the random turn-ons and turn-off.

Burr Family
“Gracious, I look bored in this picture. I bet I was wishing we had a dog. A little pooch! Named Snapdragon!”

Her brother Basil was still a child for awhile yet, going off to school in his little blue suit.

Burr Family
“What about my little blue bowtie? You didn’t say anything about that.”

This is a totally random pic, but it kind of shows how popular that darned magazine is. People are reading it constantly, especially visitors. Not a bad thing, actually, since it means they’ll raise their Environment, Culture, or Political interests and have better conversations with the Burrs.

Burr Family
“Wow, I suddenly feel like hugging a tree. Have you ever hugged a tree, Mr. Burr?”

And of course you see Vinny working towards that “Max All Skills” Impossible Want. Even though I planned on going for points, I feel kind of bad about it sometimes. I mean, the man has no life whatsoever. It’s just read, read, read, energize, don a new thinking cap, and read, read, read some more. Life is too short for that, man! Get out there and enjoy yourself before you end up housed in a slab of platinum!

Then again, he IS a knowledge Sim – they thrive on that skill-building stuff. So I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad.

In my last update I mentioned that I finally finished a new room – you’re probably thinking it was the big bedroom, right? Well…alas and alack, it is not. I decided I was tired of having all four Sims share one tiny bathroom, so I built a new one.

Burr Family
“Bubbles!”

Little by little, it ended up being this:

Burr Family

Normally I wouldn’t be so excited over a bathroom, but having to build things in bits and pieces has made me really appreciate the look of a finished room.

This poor bedroom will NEVER be completed:

Burr Family

At least all the walls are up now. And I have a line of extra windows just sitting there, ready for another expansion. Notice, too, that I finally bought a third bed. Wooooo! See how excited I am over a ding-dang bed? Geez louise.

(continued on Page 2)

22 thoughts on “Matriarch in the Middle

  1. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*gasppantbreath*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! :D I love it!
    Hah, that blue and white dress Azalea’s wearing actually made my husband stop and go ‘ooo, pretty’ when he was walking by. I agree!
    Promise you’ll get the Burrs that little doggie when you get Pets! Snapdragon must liiiive! Something tiny and spoiled and bitey. :E
    The before and after shots of the bathroom get an A+ with a gold star. And where did you get that toilet?? That’s like the one they had in Sims 1!
    Man, Elder-Azalea looks right out of Dangerous Liasons. She’s intimidating, I mean that in a good way! She looks like she could be the grandma of my version of Malcolm Landgraab. =o
    …!!! XD ‘Responding to a 1043-2a Code 5’ for playing with a firetruck? Crazy Maxis! And another awesome picture!
    I swear Basil as a teen reminds me of one actor or another. He’s cuuuuute!
    And good golly miss Molly, Belinda didn’t turn out half bad either. Encore! Encore! :D

  2. Yay another Burr update! Belinda came out pretty! And you’re right, Basil does look like a Hobbit XD. I love the picture of them in their school uniforms though, too bad they don’t have more options for that outfit. (Isn’t that weird? Even in the core game, there’s like three uniform colors and they always choose blue as the default). Anyway, congrats on the house coming together! Seems painfully slow, but atleast it keeps you entertained! :D Can’t wait to see who Belinda is going to marry!

    ~J

  3. I love how you’re updating often again! I love all these updates, I get such a kick out of reading them. This one was so entertaining that I laughed out loud sometimes…

    The dresses you downloaded are GORGEOUS, where did you get them??

    I am very very shocked that both Basil and Belinda turned out to be great looking children. Basil is a hot sim (especially in that chess pic with the thinking cap… lol) and Belinda is absolutely gorgeous in the last pic with the new hair. Ah, I love this family!!

    Can’t WAIT for the 1880’s!

    leslie

  4. Wow! That is a LOT of horse carts! They must be horse breeders or something to afford all those ponies. ;)

    I think it’s really neat, the whole building thing. It seems to make you appreciate stuff you take for granted in the game. We’ve all had The Sims 2 for a long while now, and when was the last time you were happy over finishing a bathroom or purchasing another double bed? It makes me tempted to try it… but I don’t think I can hack another legacy!

    Keep’em coming, Jen. Gold as always! Good to see you are really enjoying it, too.

  5. Your sims always turn out to be so beautiful. I have very rarely seen a sim of yours that has turned out to be ugly or scary-lookin! And I am really enjoying watching this family..I can’t wait to see them move into all the different time periods! I also am very happy that you have once again found a family and story to fall in love with! Welcome back Jen!

  6. Jen that was a great update, I love all the comments you make throughout the story. The clothes are just beautiful and you are doing a great job with the “middle of nowhere” handicap (I don’t think I would ever have the patience for that one). I must say, you have some of the most interesting (and good-looking) townies I’ve ever seen in the game! I am looking forward to your next update!

  7. (Yes another NEW legacy, but this time I’m sticking with it, I promise! This is going to be a classic challenge, the base game only one)

    Okay commenting whilst I read: That sucks, I was wanting diff materinaty outfits, but I think I’ll just stick with the game ones, they are pretty nice.
    That townie is a cutie pie for sure. Belinda looks cute in her dress, she aged up nicely. Heh, Basil is such a cutie, he gets HUGE bonus points from me. Hey congrats on finishing a room, I could never do the middle of nowhere part of that challenge.

    That grocery delivery guy is pretty cute. Azaela looks good as an elder, ha ha! Playing with the fire truck, that is so funny. Ah yes that counter top space, I love it too.

    Swoons over Basil and his lovely red hair. I love that poodle skirt! For some reason it always screams Family Sim to me. Belinda!! That skirt is much to short for you! AAAA!! I love her dress as a young adult, and from what I can see Basil looks quite handsome.

  8. BASIL. I LOVE BASIL. Can I have him and hug him and kiss him and smother him with affection? He is ADORKABLE. And all Hobbit-y. XD I LOVE HIS HAIR. And Thatcher Defoe is gorgeous too. But.. didn’t they fix the NPCs Bringing Money thing with one of the expansions? I thought for sure they now DID bring money with them? Maybe I heard wrong.

    Anyway.. great update! I still love them Shanley’s, but these Burr’s are definately growing on me (BASIL!).

  9. The children look less…stern as teens, or is that just me? And Basil does look like a Hobbit, I wondered who he reminded me of! Great update, Jen.

  10. Okay, wow, where do I begin? First of all I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it. That’s love with 19 o’s. Sorry to hear that the baby was never born. I agree, all of your clothing and decorations and downlaods are simply GORGEOUS. Really, you know how to put together a whole look. Both of the children are GORGEOUS all grown up. I mean REALLY good looking. You are so lucky. I would love to see a dog in the Burr family. How cute would that be! A really lazy, big hunting dog. A big blood hound. I feel bad for Vicentio as well… I would love to hear more of him in the story, but I know you gotta go for those points. You make me crack up whenever I read an update. I am SO glad you’re updating frequently, and that you’ve found a family you really love. I completely know that feeling when you finish a room. Aah. I think we all take it for granted too often. Azalea is looks JUST the part as the elder matriarch of the legacy. Congrats on how well the Burrs are going!

  11. P.S. If this is a normal legacy, does that mean that it will only progress through the 1970’s? It’d be a pity not to see some ’80s stuff or the Burrs of today…

  12. I feel bad for posting so many comments but I have no other way to reach Kay…Hey Kay, just wanted to let you know I am an addicted reader of your blog, I just can’t comment because I’m not registered with wordpress…love the legacy!

  13. Aww, thank you Katie! :D If you want, you could register with Jenba’s SimScribes – there’s a forum there for advertising one’s blog, so people can reply to those if they want to give feedback. Thank you again! The comments from readers are what makes Sims storytelling so much fun!

  14. ummm….boy do I feel bad for posting again…I hope you don’t mind Jen, but I was wondering where I can find clothing and objects for each decade as you do. I want to do a progression over time type challenge but the only website I know if is all about style. Can you pass on the sites that you use? Sorry again for posting so much!

  15. Hey guys! long time, no see! I have been watching…Jen. And I think the Burrs are a unique family, I mostly think that about many victorian settings. I have a question though, why did you make the burrs a victorian theme? I love 50’s clothing! I dont know why! 50’s and 60’s sims are just to cool! I am curiouse to see a victorian college also I dont think I have ever seen one!

    I’m out!

  16. Vive le Legacy!!! Ok. Did I say I loved the last update? I REALLY LOVED this one!!! Wow! I think Basil is going to have a fan club. Wow, what a collection of buggies. There’s no cleanup with all those horses? They could have made the flower beds thrive. (sorry, couldn’t resist) I can see why you’re playing this family like mad. How completely fun, and obviously a challenge! Belinda and Basil in college together. Are the building rules for college the same? I’m so excited for them, and Azalea looks like a true founder/matriarch. Have you painted her picture? Awesome Jen. It’s funny, highly entertaining, and your pictures make me drool.

  17. Yay! I love this story! ^^
    And Jen, you do know that you can also ‘over-water’ your flowers, so that they die by beeing flooded?
    Because that might’ve gone wrong in your ‘Green Thumb’ handicap.
    Good luck with the lovely Burr’s! ^^