Good morning, dears! It’s Maude Berthiaume here. Are you surprised to see me? Not that you can see me, mind you, as I’m a bit ghostly (and particularly translucent at the moment) but are you surprised to hear from me, at least? I must say I’m a bit surprised myself. I thought good ol’ Maude was dead a second time what with Mt. Geneva going belly up and leaving poor me to float in the ether, wondering if I’d ever find another home. But I seem to have found a nice shady place to rest, and as long as no hooligans show up to ruffle the scene, I think I’ll be quite happy here.

But enough of that! I have a very important announcement to impart to you, dear readers. If you hadn’t noticed (which you probably hadn’t, being busy little bees yourselves), this week marks the two-year anniversary of Greetings from Mt. Geneva! And my, how it has changed in that time. It used to be just me blathering away about the Dobbinses and the Kilmans and whatnot (excuse me while I heave a sigh for dear Joey Kilman – I must confess I had a wee bit of a crush on the fellow) and now there are legacies here and there and thither and yon, and not a trace of the old denizens. But while there’s still a Maude, there will still be a Mt. Geneva, if only in this spectral, unbeating heart of mine.

Goodness, how I do go on. Anyhoo, to celebrate the two-year anniversary of Mt. Geneva, we’re having a competition! A scavenger hunt, to be exact. You see, even though it’s peaceful here in Shady Bluff, it’s also a tad dull — no one around to supply the juicy gossip that I crave from time to time. So I require your assistance — if you would like to participate, please amuse yours truly by finding snapshots of the following items (and please do read the rules below — they’re absolutely vital!):

1. Someone getting abducted by aliens
2. A little girl in a fairy costume
3. A zombie having a romantic interaction with someone
4. A Servo robot doing chores
5. The exterior view of a castle
6. A ghost scaring someone so badly they wet the floor
7. The Sim Shrink paying someone a visit
8. An elder about to pass away, holding a tiki drink
9. A vampire lurking
10. A kid getting onto a school bus, shot from the inside of the bus

Now for the rules! Very important!

1. You will be e-mailing me the links to the pics. Do NOT post the links in my Comments section. Otherwise everyone can just steal the links you worked so hard to find and post them as their own. So once you have all your links together, send them to jenblog @ gmail .com (without the spaces). Please put “Scavenger Hunt” in the subject line so I know you’re not a spammer. :-)

2. You don’t need to send me the pics themselves. I don’t want to steal anyone’s snapshots or bandwidth. Just send me a link to their homepage and state the name of the post where you found the pic. For example, “Pic #4, Somnium, http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/somnium/index.php, ‘Cornelius Fielding Dies By Cow Plant'”.

If the post has a permalink, then you can link directly to the post, like this –> Pic #4, Cornelius Fielding Dies By Cow Plant (if you know the html for linking)

Or this –> Pic #4, http://www.exlibrisbitsy.com/somnium/archives/2006/09/cornelius_field_1.php

3. All of the pictures must come from other Sims 2 story blogs or story sites. You can take them from my blog, your blog, or any of the blogs/sites listed in my sidebar. If in doubt whether a site qualifies or not, ask me first. Basically any site that posts Sims 2 stories will do (as long as the pics themselves are actually part of a story).

4. The snapshots must have been posted BEFORE October 2nd, 2006. So no, you can’t just boot up your game, take pics of the above, post them on your blog, and BAM! Done. Of course, you could be wily and backdate your post, but I think it’d be pretty obvious if you just happened to have all of the above pics in one post. You should have to hunt around for these pics, but hopefully not TOO much. And no, you won’t find all of these on my blog, so you do have to look elsewhere.

5. Now for the best part — the prize! What do you get for all of your hard work? Well, those who can point to all 10 snapshots will have their names put in a hat. I’ll draw two names at random. Those two people will be able to choose their prize from the following:

Prize Option #1: I’ll build a house to your specifications. Huge or tiny, simple or elaborate, whatever you wish, as long as it’s within my abilities as a builder. Although, I’m not averse to trying new things, so if you want a split level, let me know, and I’ll do my best. I can also furnish and decorate it if you so choose. This house will be only for YOU — no one else will be able to download it. Your own custom-made abode! (Keep in mind I have all expansions and stuff packs installed, so if you don’t have those, you might want to choose another option.) If you’d like a gander at a sample of houses I’ve built to see if this is worth your while, check out the posts in my Parade of Homes.

Prize Option #2: Create a family as small or large as you wish — one Sim or eight, it doesn’t matter. Put them on an empty lot and package them up — either send them to a file or to the Exchange. (If you send them to a file, you’ll then have to put them on a webspace somewhere so I can download them.) I’ll download the family and put them in the new neighborhood I’m building. I will integrate them into the story of that neighborhood. That’s right, I’ll write stories about your Sims! Who knows in what kinds of adventures they’ll get swept up?

Prize Option #3: If neither of the above sounds appealing, I’ll send you the extra Sims 2 Prima Guide I have sitting around (if I can find it…) Of course, if both of the winners want the Prima Guide, they might have to fight for it.

I’m posting this over at SimScribes as well, so if you guys want to chat about it with each other or help each other out, you can do so more easily.

Let the Scavenger Hunt begin!

UPDATE: The deadline of the contest will be midnight CST (GMT -5) on October 9th, 2006.

UPDATE #2: You are allowed to use pictures posted in stories on the Sims 2 Exchange. Just make sure they’re actually part of a story and not just screenshots.