University: Round 5 / University of Applebama

And now it's time to see what the college kids are doing.  The former Académie Le Tour has been renamed University of Applebama.  It's always been just 20 miles from Apple Grove, but now it's lost it's fancy French name.

The Browns: Round 5 / The Secret's in the Sauce

Contessa Hailey is wishing for Peace of Mind.  Me too.  I wish it were this easy to make my plumbbob platinum.  As a matter of fact, she's lucky I played this round a year ago or she wouldn't be making wishes without being taxed out the wazoo. 

The Hamiltons: Round 5 / The Great State of Applebama

It's now time to revisit the Hamilton family, where six cats outnumber the four humans living there.

The Bauers: Round 5 / Delusional Days (Years)

I just realized as I was writing this that I must have quit choosing random scenarios for my sims.  I guess I hate the idea of choosing bad things to happen to my sims, even if it does make the story more interesting.  It's funny, because I'm not opposed to choosing punishments for my sims that tick me off.  When I actually get to start playing again (I'm an entire round behind on my blogging) I think I'll go back to random scenarios again, but I'll have to give it more thought and maybe weed out the scarier possibilities.  I think I'll just post my list of the possible random scenarios soon.  I found many ideas that others have used, plus I've thought of a few fun ones of my own.

Additionally, I want to start focusing more on building up some more neighborhood businesses for more realism and less focus on earning points.  I'll have to wait to get caught up on the story again to actually change anything.  I want to have actual business hours for my businesses, and have my sims who don't have LTW careers work for neighborhood businesses.  I think that could be fun, along with having more financial restrictions to make things a little more challenging.

And now, we return to the continuing story of Apple Grove.  We are back to the Bauers this chapter.



Morgan and Cassandra have a first kiss.

The Webbs: Round 5 / I'm Holding Out For A Hero

Wow, it's been over a year since I blogged about Apple Grove's inhabitants. According to the properties of these photos, it's also been over a year since I took these pictures of the Webb family. Hopefully, I can put together a relatively coherent update despite how long it's been. I'm going to make myself get caught up again on blogging before I play any more families, even though I'm dying to play them again. I've actually played over halfway through round 6, but I will blog it all before I continue playing. That should really motivate me to get caught up quickly.

And now we will catch up with the Webb family again.  At the moment they have a nearly empty nest, with the older kids grown up or at college, and only Washington still living at home.

I'm back, finally

It's been an inexcusably long time since I blogged, but lightning took out my satellite internet last year.  That left me with dial-up service for quite awhile, which was very frustrating.  I just don't have the patience to try to upload pictures on dial-up.  Now I have have DSL and no excuses.  I'm missing my Apple Grove sims so much, and even if no one reads Sims 2 blogs anymore, my heart is still with TS2.

The Fletchers: Round 5 / Lady In Red

If you read my last update of the Tuckers, you may remember that Martin gave Charles this puppy named Swift. She is cute - for now at least.

The Tuckers: Round 5 / Martin Marries & More

I lost my satellite internet since my last update due to some crazy lightning that defied surge protectors. After some scary moments of crackling inside my house, I'm just thankful to still have my computer, which happened to be on. Anyway, we could have paid for replacement of the fried equipment (not really keen on exact technological terms for what fried - the box with the flashy blue lights, lol). But anyway, we have been so unhappy with Hughes.net for so long, that this seemed like a sign to get out and save ourselves some money. Dial-up is cheap, although slower and less reliable. Blogger hates my dial-up more than it hated Hughes.net. But, I will just deal with it. The good news is that DSL may be coming to my area sometime this year.

So, Apple Grove updates may have to get a little smaller for now. I cut out half the pictures this time, which actually is probably better anyway. You don't really have to see every promotion and aging spin, do you? LOL These type pictures are boring, but I'm in the habit of taking them. I can still take them as reminders to myself, but the updates might be more interesting without some of the more typical event photos.

Here we are at the beginning of Round 5! I'm always glad to see the Tuckers again.

The Sims 3: My Opinion

First of all, let me say that Apple Grove is not in any current danger from TS3. I hadn't even planned on buying it until I lost some more weight as an incentive to myself, and even then I wasn't sure I wanted it. I was going to wait and see and read what others had to say before deciding. But, it arrived in the mail anyway! It was a birthday present from my oldest child Jason, which was very, very sweet of him.

Rose and Violet Hamilton: Round 4 / Nuts and Fruits

It took me over a month to update - sorry. I don't know why I just didn't make it happen sooner. Since this is the end of Round 4, I'm hoping Round 5 will capture my interest more than the last few families have. I also have some plans of adding a few things to spice it up a little. So yeah, hopefully another update will be coming soon.

Last time we saw the Hamilton girls, they were at University. If you remember, Rose wore a wedding veil all through college. She still very much wants to get married to a rich sim, but is maybe trying to look less desperate and crazy.



Hmm... This doesn't look furnished even though Rose and Violet paid extra for it to be furnished. This was formerly the Brown's house, a miniature townhouse. The man who bought it, Adrian Mendoza, built 3 more houses like it and made them into rental units.

The Fanceys: Round 4 / Do You Have Any Coupons?

Do you remember the Fanceys? When we last left them, Lara Fletcher had traveled to Takemizu Village and met Heath Fancey. As a fortune sim, she had really wanted to marry a rich sim. He said he was rich, but he had lied and only had §3000 when they got married. Anyway, his goal is to become a World Class Ballet Dancer. Lara wants to be a Space Pirate. These are two very silly sims - who are about to bring a little one into the world.



Oh yeah, and they moved out of their apartment and into this nice, affordable home. As fortune sims, I'm sure they wish they could have taken out a large mortgage on a huge house, but I decided that in these trying economic times that they should be realistic and buy a house they could afford.

Fletcher 2: Round 4 / Where's the Beef?

Sims don't really need 12-step programs. If you remember, Rudy is addicted to old ladies. But he has no need to fear because he does have a higher power, and she will make him powerless to chase them anymore. He does notice that his wife Zoe, while not an old lady, does have some nice smooth skin. Don't feel bad, Rudy. One day Zoe will be old, and then you can be happy.