Back at the Ranch

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Speaking of Vincentio, he finally attained his lifelong dream of becoming a scary dude in a white lab coat with a mechanical arm. That is, a Mad Scientist. I hope Mao won’t mind if I borrow her cool idea of taking a screenshot of the LTW moment of achievement while putting the Sim in a funny or at least more interesting pose:

Burr Family
“Look, Ma! I’m a Mad Scientist!”

The next day he maxed all of his skills, gaining me one point for achieving an Impossible Want. Woohoo! (I missed the “maxed all skills” icon above his head but caught the “maxed a skill” one)

Burr Family
“Look, Ma! I’m a mad contortionist!”

Here’s a random pic of a townie that someone brought home. I wanted to remember this guy, because he has one of the best names ever: Gimli Bettelheim. He MUST marry into the Burr family at some point. I want a Gimli Bettelheim-Burr!

Burr Family
“Shouldn’t I be shorter, bearded, and swinging a huge axe around?”

With very little hoopla, Vincentio became an elder. Wearing a Hawaiian shirt. His pointy sideburns didn’t match anymore, either.

Burr Family
“All that yoga did a numbar on my lumbar.”

He looked much more era-appropriate after his makeover. I have to say, he makes a very grouchy-looking elder.

Burr Family
“You’d look grouchy, too, if you had to wear a purple bow around your neck.”

I finally got rid of Roxy’s hat and gave her the same hairdo as Belinda, only in black. I had to shorten her forehead a bit, though, so she wouldn’t look frightening. Basil finally proposed to her (I don’t know what took me so long – must have been crazy schedules again).

Burr Family
“OK, but I get the biggest carriage.”

Man, I can’t wait to get the floor finished in that room. It drives me batty.

Burr Family
“You think you’re batty – I’m marrying into this crazy house!”

You know, Roxy is reminding me less of Natalie Portman and more of a Disney cartoon character. But I don’t know who. Jasmine from Aladdin?

But I digress…since I couldn’t buy a wedding arch, Basil and Roxy had a simple wedding out by the willow tree.

Burr Family
“I, Basil, take thee, Roxy, in sickness and in health, in platinum and in red, until hula dancers do us part.”

The ceremony was followed immediately by much wooing and hooing until I heard the sweet lullaby sound. While Roxy meditated through her pregnancy, I had Basil paint a picture of Azalea. Pictures of heirs (and your founder) are each worth half a point now. But I’d have them painted anyway, because it’s cool to have them hanging up around the house.

Burr Family
“You mean I can’t sell this one? Oh, dash.”

Vincentio doesn’t seem think the fledgling Burr gallery is so cool. Now that he has absolutely nothing to do, he goes around viewing the paintings and either poo-pooing them or laughing uproariously at them.

Burr Family
“Bwahahahah!”

Since I had all kinds of money sitting in the family coffer gathering dust, I decided to buy another community lot for Basil and have him sell it again. By doing so, he achieved his LTW of earning §100,000. Here’s the Mao-inspired pic, though I didn’t put him in a goofy pose because he actually looked happy about it, instead of staring dead-eyed into space like most Sims do.

Burr Family
“Bully for me!”

He celebrated his attainment of permaplat by…playing with the fire engine? What’s up with that? My Sims cannot stay away from that thing.

Burr Family
“That’s because it flies. Wheee!

And just because we haven’t seen Azalea in awhile (aside from her painting), here she is reaching the top of the Medical career track. It wasn’t a LTW for her, but she was happy about it nonetheless.

Burr Family
“I am the queen of everything!”

She was extra-special happy when her first grandchild was born. Keeping with the plants/trees/flowers/nature theme, I named him Cornelius, which means “cornel tree”.

Burr Family
“I do believe I’ve just soiled myself.”

Basil was a proud papa.

Burr Family
“Dad, your nose is as big as my head!”

(continued on Page 4)

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22 thoughts on “Back at the Ranch”

  1. Great post! I just read all about the Burrs and they have turned out absolutely fantastic! Great job!

  2. !!! Update! *reads like a maniac* Re: sick sims starving because they’re locked in a room without a fridge, Jenba? I use the inventories. If you stick food in there it’ll keep forever, so if you have another Sim make a group meal and put it in the sick Sim’s inventory, the sick Sim can live on it for days and days. I had one turkey that lasted for thirteen days that way in the game. Otherwise I just make group meals and move the platter to the isolated Sim’s room when everyone else have gotten their share. Storywise I pretend the healthy Sims squeeze it under the door/toss it through a window/whatever is applicable. XD
    With the genetics, plastic surgery won’t alter the DNA *but* — you can make it so! :D There’s a tutorial here (unfortunately the pics aren’t working, but I think the text tells you all you need to know): http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=56241
    It doesn’t count as a cheat in the legacy challenge since all you’re doing is changing the appearance of the sim in question.
    And aww, I’ll miss Basil! Promise we’ll get updates from the ‘offshoot’ house as well? I can already tell Cammellia is going to be lovely! What long lashes. :D

  3. Great update! I loved it! And if it were me, I’d go play Basil’s house and have him and Roxy have some more kids if you think Azaela is only a couple of days away from going.

  4. Josh – Hi there, thanks for your comment! Hope you visit again soon!

    Kay – You can put food in inventories?? I’ve never heard of that. Man, I’ve been out of the loop for so long. Heh. I thought about just placing a platter of food in there, but it felt like cheating. Then again, so did buying and selling deeds to get Basil his LTW. Hehe. I have no idea if that’s really “legal”. Anyway, thanks for the info!

    Marcie – Hey Marcie! Yeah, that’s probably what I’ll do, since I’m not sure Azalea will live long enough to see Belinda’s second child be born.

  5. Jenba – You can! :D It’s a great way to keep food from spoiling. I guess Sim pockets come with instant freezedry? xD Harvey’s still got her wedding cake saved away through that, I’m going to have her and Philip finish it off when they have their Golden Anniversary. No worries, it’s perfectly within the rules! Just think of it as the food version of moving furniture/doors/deleting baby bottles/books/etc. :D

  6. Yay! Update! Oh sickness! Nooooooo! I HATE it when Sims get sick. I’m forced to turn freewill off and force them to sit in bed; and they ALWAYS need to use the bathroom when it happens. Sigh. So frustrating for you especially with the Hypochondriac Handicap. But atleast you’re entertained! :D Camellia is very cute. Are you going in alphabetical order with the names along with the herb/flower theme? Good luck with the 6 grandchildren want!

    ~J

  8. That was awesome, Jen! I loved the LTW shots! I can’t believe you had to put Belinda in quarantine… at least you had Basil to keep things interesting. Poor girl, she looked so distressed watching Basil have all the fun through her window. I’m glad there’s nothing like that for ISBI… my family has been passing the flu around like crazy due to Sirus being in aspiration desperation and constantly kicking over the trashbin, sigh.

    I never noticed the massive cranium on the funky kimono chick before. I will have to keep an eye out for it! Maybe that’s why they gave her the bob. Is it really that hard for Maxis folks to make a non-disfigured sim? Cartoony is one thing, but wow, some of the things they come up with… just yikes!

    It’s funny that we’re both tackling the 6 grandkids LTW at the same time. Can’t wait to see more! Gotta see all the little kiddos these Burrs spit out. ;D

  10. Wow. o_o I’d written this huge long comment, but it seems it got eaten. Quick recap..

    Love Basil. The picture of him and the baby is SO CUTE. And the money from selling deeds counts towards the $100,000?! I wish I had known that earlier today. I spent all day having Grayson sell everyone’s paintings to make sure he reached his $100,000. But I’ll have to keep that in mind for Ryven and Linda, who are both Fortune as well.

    Poor Belinda being sick! And in quarantine for a whole week! But some of the pictures you have of her are very amusing.

    Your Gimli looks a lot like my Marcel (Cecily’s husband). Not quite identical.. but close!

    As for Disney characters that Roxy resembles.. I say the Wicked Stepmother from Cinderella! http://www.biology.duke.edu/cunningham/figures/tremaine1.jpg

    Great update, as usual. :D Can’t wait for the next one.

  12. Thanks Jen, I just have a quick question, what do you mean by “Random Sim thing”? I had my 2nd Generation Heiress have 5 children and 3/5 came out clones of the eldest, Michelle. Thanks!

  14. Hey jen, awesome update! I’m acctually really interested to see how Cornelius and Cole turn out. I always thought that Roxy the downtownie looked a bit asian, because of her eyes and her hair… do you think so too? I’m always interested in different genetics mixing like Basil and Roxy, because Roxy looks so unique. Are you ever going to do a side story on Basil and Roxy? That would be so much fun!

    Great update, Jen! I can’t wait for the next one!

  16. Jadice – Yep, I’m going in alphabetical order with the names — no real reason for that, except I’ve never done it before and it makes it easier to come up with names. It also might help people keep track of people generation-wise, but it all gets mished-mashed when you add in spouses, so…well, that was a wordy explanation! Sorry. ;-) And yes, Roxy reminds me of a Disney character looks-wise. Still not sure. Jane from Tarzan? Could be, could be…

    Mao – Haha, I think they just made her face short without making the forehead proportional to it. Hence the uber-high forehead. But yeah, you don’t notice it when she has bangs. I do wish Maxis would include some different face templates or something with their future expansions. I’m sick of seeing the same old faces!

    Audrey – You updated! I gots to check it out. And the Wicked Stepmother from Cinderella? LOL. Now THAT would be a fun Sim to attempt…

    Kay – She does look a lot like Meg! But someone else, too…can’t quite place my figner on it. I think she just has those Disney eyes, ya know? And I absolutely LURVE your update!

    Josh – If you want to avoid clone-children, you can do the following: just before your Sim is about to give birth, save and go back to the Neighborhood view. Go into “Create a Family” and generate a random Sim (I usually click on the “dice” a few times). Give the Sim an aspiration/name/turn-ons, etc. (otherwise it won’t let you save), save him/her, and go back to the Neighborhood. Leave the random sim in the Sim bin for deletion later. Go back into your Legacy house, and proceed with the birth as per usual. Sometimes you still end up with very similar kids (especially if the genetic pool isn’t too deep yet), but it is highly unlikely that they’ll be exact clones. Good luck!

    Leslie – I agree, Roxy looks a bit Asian to me, too. I might do a little side update on Basil and Roxy, though I haven’t been doing much with them, just playing in double and triple-speed so I can get their kids grown up. Heh. They ended up having five little ones. Four boys and a girl. I feel sorry for that girl.

  17. I’ve only had a sick sim once untill now, and that was because the stupid man ruined the medicine I let him create. But as his mood was good enough, he just relaxed on the bed for hours, sometimes runnig to the toilet to throw up, and then just going back after I directed him.
    He was better in a day.
    And I LOVE Kay’s idea of keeping wedding cake untill the golden anniversary. ^^

    And Audrey, did you make the heart? the (3, only then with a pointy (? Because that takes away everything that comes after that thing.

  18. You know, I probably did, Ilse. It’s second nature to me pretty much anymore to use the emoticon things all over the place (except in places I already know it’ll mess up HTML code).. I probably didn’t even think about it as I typed. Thanks!

  19. Thanks, Jen! I thought that was it, but it’ probably because the gene pool is VERY shallow, so you are probably right. Thanks!

  20. Hey, Jen? I’ve been trying to find something and I recall you might’ve had it: do you know where to find a computer remade to look like a piece of paper with a fountain pen or a quill?

  21. I missed the party AGAIN??? The Middle of Nowhere is simply too far from Legacy Land! Jen! I loved it! AGAIN! Wow. First, I love your dialect-appropriate-for-the-period writing style. Basil cracks me up “Oh dash!” It all fits so well and it’s so believeable. I find myself getting lost in the middle of nowhere. I am so impressed with the patience you’re having with the house, knowing what a builder you are. You are showing great patience and restraint to build a piece at a time – but it obviously holds your interest. Anything to keep you writing! I am overjoyed with the arrival of Gen 3! They are truly beautiful children and I can’t wait to watch them grow up. I approve of Farley, and what a patient man he was to wait for Belinda while she was in isolation. I remain riveted on the edge of my seat.