Back at the Ranch

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Not long after the birth of Cornelius, Belinda is released from the quarantine room. Huzzah! The very first thing she does is take out the trash. Gee, I know that’s what I’d be dying to do after spending a week in total isolation. Get some imagination, woman!

Burr Family
“But I missed cleaning house. It’s the Burr way!”

For no real reason, I decided to give Belinda her blond hair back. She cheered for the return of her golden locks.

Burr Family
“I look like myself again!”

After that, she wandered into the kitchen, giving the sink a thumbs-up as she did so. (Actually, she was saying hi to Basil, but she wasn’t looking in his direction, so it appeared as though she were greeting the kitchen. I never get tired of goofy crap like that.)

Burr Family
“Heyyy, the sink! Nice to know things haven’t changed around here.”

Finally, in a no-frills ceremony beneath two lovely Japanese maples, Belinda and her fiancé Farley Dahl tied the knot.

Burr Family
“Thank you for waiting for me, dear.”

But they couldn’t try for a baby because I had gotten Roxy pregnant again – with her impending child, that would be 8 people in the house. So I had Basil move out with Cornelius – that way if Belinda died during pregnancy or some crazy thing, Roxy’s next child could still be the third-gen heir. What I probably should have done is left Cornelius there and had Roxy and Basil move out, freeing up three spaces instead of two, but I wasn’t thinking, and in the end, it didn’t really matter. Sometimes working all that stuff out just makes my brain hurt.

Burr Family
“I’m moving into a finished house, you say? Splendid!”

Now Belinda and Farley could try for a baby.

Burr Family
“Hey, Farley, could you take your sock suspenders off first? They’re making me giggle.”

It took them FIVE tries before I finally heard the baby chime. Good grief. Also, woohoo is bad for you. I have proof:

Burr Family

It’s unnatural, I tell ya!

Random picture of Farley going to work, since I haven’t posted a close-up of him yet. You can see how he has the Robi face template but with slightly softened features due to the “surgery” I gave him in college. I have no idea if that will carry over genetically.

Burr Family

As an aside, check out Vincentio in the background vrooming down the road. I seriously crack up every time I see those wagons scooting down the road, making engine noises, with the horses’ legs not moving at all.

Here’s the birth of Azalea’s second grandchild, Roxy’s second baby Cole (which means “cabbage farmer”, oddly enough). I forgot to do the random Sim thang, so he’s basically a clone of his brother Cornelius.

Burr Family
“Oh, nooboo.”

The very next day Belinda suffered through her first childbirth…

Burr Family
“What do you mean “first”?? I’M NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN!!!”

…and it’s a girl! Meet Camellia Burr. She looks just like her cousins Cornelius and Cole. Dangnabbit. But her black hair might turn blonde when she grows up, like Belinda’s did (if she inherited Azalea’s custom hair).

Burr Family
“Plus I’m way cuter, don’t you think?”

Meanwhile I had Roxy and Cole move out and join Basil and Cornelius. They now live down the street in my Country Gothic house. So now it’s just Azalea, Vincentio, Belinda, Farley, and Camellia. Azalea, sadly, is only a couple of days away from meeting ol’ Grimmy. I’m hoping she’ll have 6 grandchildren before that happens, putting her in permaplat and ensuring that she dies happy.

Burr Family
“Take good care of my legacy, little Camellia.”

(That’s it for tonight. Sorry I’m so darned wordy. I going to shoot for a shorter episode next time. :roll: Happy Simming!)

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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.