Friday, August 30, 2019

Hiatus Notification

Hello to all of my loyal readers!!!  This is a notice to let you know that Clovercrest is going on hiatus for a little while.  I have loved these families, and have every intention of coming back to them, but already having a prosperitiy in Breeze Point I want to try and mix it up a little more in my playing!

I sincerly have every intention of coming back and enjoying these sims again in the future. I have, however, discovered that I am beginning to really feel "burned out" with this style of play, as it is the style/rules that I use across 3 different hoods (of the 4 I have in sims 2). With that in mind, I will continue to play and update Breeze Point and Megalahood, and then am making plans to start something new that is a completely different playstyle. I am also putting Fellowship One on hiatus as well.

I truly want to continue being able to make fun, engaging, intereting content for years to come in all versions of the game (that I can play) and the best way I can see doing that is to give myself the ability to play around with different rules, different challenges, and keep things fresh for myself, as well as for you.  I have greatly appreciated your readership and hope to see you again in the future!  In the meantime, look for a new sims 2 challenge coming your way, that I plan on scheduling for Friday postings, as well as a new sims 4 challenge showing up on Sundays.

I do want to stress that I sincerly plan on coming back to these families in the future (I really want to see Zaria and Ash's kids :) ) and I hope I can continue to count on your readership on my other content. I do not want this hood, these sims, or these stories to disappear or go untold, but I want to be able to finish up a prosperity (Breeze Point) as I've been working on it for years and as I wrap up a few more stories I will feed these back in.  That you for your understanding and readership!!!

Friday, August 16, 2019

Season 5: The Mimoza Family 2

Mimoza Family
Bob Mimoza: Male Adult | Popularity | Aries | Have 20 Simultaneous Pet Best Friends
Carla Mimoza: Female Adule | Popularity | Leo | Have 20 Simultaneous Best Friends
Luke Mimoza: Male Toddler | Leo

Last time: When we visited the Mimoza's last season Carla was pregnant and gave birth to a little boy named Luke. Later in the round, a birthday party was held for Luke and he grew up into a toddler. Toddler skilling ensued. Parties were had, some promotions were achieved and that was about it.  

So when we first open the game and pull up this family the family portrait is the same as it was at the start of last round...as in Carla still shows as pregnant and toddler Luke is nowhere to be seen.  Worried that I had somehow not saved this house after having already blogged about it I hesitantly went into the house.  There stood Carla, not pregnant but in different clothes than I had given her before, Bob looking like normal, and Luke sitting outside in the front yard.

I scan the house and discovery no crib, no changing table, no rabbit head, no potty chair, and no easel are anywhere to be found.  It's like anything associated with the last update was gone, except for the sims themselves.  Then I notice the season is showing the start of summer, which I'm also 100% sure was the season it was last time.  This should be the 3rd season in this house, making it winter. Everything else looks normal.  LTW's are correct, aspirations are correct, jobs are correct...so I am not sure what happened but we will keep a close eye out on this. This consequently means pictures were lacking slightly because I was checking out everything, a lot.

We start out with an obviously not pregnant Carla sitting down to finish teaching little Luke how to talk.  He is resistant to learning and that makes him mom very sad.




 It's Saturday, somehow, again it's like a whole season was lost, but they don't go to the lake.  I'm too scared to leave the house.  So instead I just have Carla leave.  I've decided she and Bob need cell phones, so out she heads to the "mall" and grabs the phones, then some groceries and comes right back. Everything seems normal, but Carla shouldn't be in this green top (although I do like it.)




Bob, anxious to get started on his LTW since he is 8 days from being an elder, greats Cymmi who wants Bob to play.  Bob plays with Cymmi, feeds the dog treats and makes very good friends with Cymmi, who is adopted into the family that very afternoon.




Later that night another dog, Roxi, comes by.  This is a female dog to Cymmi's male and I think it's possible they could make cute puppies together.  So Bob is out making friends but didn't get high enough to adopt Roxi yet.  They are friends though.



 Bob's brother and sister-in-law, Todd and Tess come over and spend time with Bob.  Tess works in the same career as Bob and she is over all the time anyway.  They discuss kids (remember Todd and Tess have a little girl that just grew into a child during this season) and enjoy dinner.



Cymmi checks out the youngest member of this family, Luke, and seems to like him.  Luke feels the same way and reaches out to Cymmi.  Cymmi does oblige and nuzzles Luke a little making both of them happy indeed.



As I was getting Luke ready for his birthday and preparing his parents to call over family and friends Luke decides he doesn't want a big party for his birthday and would rather grow up, alone, in his room.  I didn't even realize it was late enough for this to happen to him. Luckily TS2 sims don't consider it a "missed" birthday.  He's a cute little boy, taking more after the Mimoza side of the family then his mom's.



Luke really wants to make a friend, and since his aunt Tess is over he talks to her and talks to her.  Sadly they never do become friends even though on Luke's side the relationship is up over 70 points.  What had Tess so upset with Luke about?  He was a baby.



After school the next day Luke watches some TV while he waits for his dad to come home.  Sure enough, Bob had Tess in tow once again, it makes sense they would carpool, she does live right across the street, and while Tess entertains herself Bob helps Luke with his homework.



The dog, Cymmi, is starting to smell and put everyone off so we have Carla bathe him when she gets home, and we buy a new bathtub/shower combo for the purpose of washing the dog.  Funny thing I noticed randomly throughout this play is Carla typically acts normally, but on random occasions, she waddles as though she is still pregnant.  After the bath everyone continues to complain about Cymmi's smell too, even though his hygiene is showing as normal.



Both Carla and Bob manage a single promotion this season, which brings in so much needed money.  Especially if Bob is going to make a run for it on getting those pet friends soon.  Time will tell if he makes it. Luke wanted some skill points, and he was hungry so we had him start working on cooking with the kid stove.  He isn't doing great yet.



As the season draws to a close we find Tess once again came home with Bob and she and Carla sit and catch up.  Carla is the one in the knight's armor, she will need to get some more skills before she gets another promotion, same with Bob.  They started working on them, but it was slow going this season.

Looking at the other houses, and the university round I had just finished, everything else looks completely normal.  Seasons are all correct, sims are with their correct families, in their correct clothing, and while I didn't go into any of the houses specifically, I saw nothing to give me pause that any other house had a weird occurrence like this one.  I guess we will see when I get back to the start of the round after a final university update coming next.


RUNNING SCORE:
Previous Points: +88
----------------------

NEW SCORE: +88
(This score doesn't include any of the finishing scores so we can keep a running tab.)

Friday, August 9, 2019

University Season 4

Sim State Dormitory
Brennan Mimoza: Male YA| Knowledge | Gemini | Become Space Pirate | Major: Literature
Frankie Mimoza: Male YA | Fortune | Scorpio | Become Criminal Mastermind | Major: Mathematics
Marvin Mimoza: Male YA | Knowledge | Leo | Become Educational Minister | Major: Biology
Tosha Pratt: Female YA | Knowledge | Virgo | Become World Class Ballet Dancer | Major: Drama
Allegra Gorey: Female YA | Knowledge | Pisces | Become Space Pirate | Major: Literature

Hunter Gray: Male YA | Knowledge | Pisces | Become Chief of Staff | Major: Biology

Last Time: Eugene and Jaiden graduated with honors and moved back to the hood to start their family. Arnav made it into the secret society, as did Marvin Mimoza, Brennan, Hunter, Frankie, Tosha, and Allegra in the dorms.  The kids skilled, studied, gained hobby points, and then Arnav and Opal got engaged. The last few members of the dorms who weren't already in the Greek House made it in. We noticed a fun phenomenon with our dorm residents where boys sit on the floor to do homework and girls sit in the cafeteria.

We are back at university for the first university update of this round. If you remember we split university into 2 sections, playing a full year each visit. I was thinking of starting with the Greek House, however, in the interest of not jumping back and forth in the blog like I did while playing we are going to start in the dorms. Here we have 6 kids, which will drop to four once two of them move to the Greek House after the first semester.

We begin with a couple of days in progress.  Marvin and Allegra are very much in love and were a 2-bolt couple when they met, but are now down to 1-bolt.  Since her turn-ons are skill-based it's likely due to that and will be back to 2-bolts later, or it will stay as 1 and they will be happy none the less. Hunter and Frankie are also very much in love now and make a very handsome couple.


After dates are finished it is time to skill.  I was a bit more of a slave driver than I tend to be, and even reading the past university entry I mention I was fairly hands-off, but not so this round.  So Frankie and Hunter sit down and start working on skills.


On the other loveseat in this small little study room on the upper floor of the dorm, we see two other students are also studying hard. Allegra and Marvin also finished up their date and began to study as well.  We currently are having them work on whatever their lowest skills are.


The next day works much the same, only now the dormies appear to be getting in on the study action.  One thing I have noticed and that drives me a little crazy is, I put their helmets on their respective desks in their rooms.  When they take them off, however, most walk downstairs into the lower floor study area to put them on the desks down there. 


Not to worry, even though we haven't seen her yet, Tosha is still here and doing well and gets into the skilling spirt as well.  In fact, while she was busy skilling the coach came in and yelled at her to work out.  After she finishes studying I let her workout for a bit, but then have her stop after she gets one body skill point.


Brennan loves to play chess and throws the wish to do it all the time.  So if I don't catch him and direct him elsewhere he will almost always sneak away to the chess table. Due to that fact, he as managed to fully max out his logic skills.


Allegra really needed to work on her body skill, and since she had not learned physiology yet we had her study that.  I believe she also threw a wish for it, but I can't remember if it was her, or someone else this round. Still, it was completed and now body skills will be much faster for Allegra to get.


The garden is also still thriving and we have made some minor adjustments to it to allow for all the different types of veggies we need for the most important juices for college. So to that end, we have a tomato, cucumber, pepper, and pole bean plant, then 2 strawberry plants and the rest are eggplants. Today Brennan and Tosha were available to work on the garden.


This ended the first semester for the group and Allegra and Marvin moved to the greek house, leaving Tosha, Brennan, Hunter, and Frankie here in the dorm until additional students graduate from the Greek House. So far, the boys all have 4.0's, but Tosha and Allegra, for some reason, have dropped below a 4.0, and while I don't remember them having anything but A+'s this whole time we will have to mark them off the ability to get honors.

Anyway, continuing with the dorm we have additional skilling.  I swear these kids did more than skill, in fact, the dorm has been decked out with all hobby benches, and the kids started working on hobby plaques for a little while.  Still, we did additional skilling.


The garden also continues to grow and be tended to as well. Additionally, these kids are working on their relationships with other students and each other, trying to reach that Big Sim on Campus title, but so far none of them have enough quite yet.


That brings us to the end of the dorms for this year.  While it wasn't the most exciting update, a lot of skilling, the kids are doing really well in school and continue to get their A's. Now we move onto the Greek House.

Var-Oresha-Fruhm Greek House
Arnav Morpheus: Male YA | Popularity | Aquarius | Become Celebrity Chef | Major: Art
Opal Raymond: Female YA | Fortune | Capricorn | Become Criminal Mastermind | Major: Mathematics
Zaria Yerazig: Female YA | Fortune | Virgo | Become The Law | Major: Political Science
Ash Shaikh: Male YA | Fortune | Gemini | Become Chief of Staff | Major: Physics

We will start with the Greek House before Allegra and Marin moved in. Here we were also a bit slave driver-ish, and we'll see how many more pictures of skilling we can fit into this update. However, we start with Ash working on his homework, which apparently has him a bit stumped.


While Ash works on his homework Arnav and Opal are told to work on their respective skills.  Again, we are plopping them down to work on their lowest skill and pretty much leave them until it's either time to go to class, or they have a need that gets too low, or they have just done it for hours and I decide to give them a break.


Zaria loves science and it is her OTH, so when given the chance she looks out the telescope.  Since this also builds her logic level we let her. The Greek House's garden can be seen behind her and is doing really well.


In fact, speaking of the garden, Zaria and Arnav appear to be the ones tasked with working in the garden the next morning.  Both of them are up to a gold gardening badge and make the plants very happy.


Zaria also loves nature.  She may be a science girl by heart but after all the time in the garden, she also has an interest in nature.  Today she works on catching some bugs to put on her bug board. Zariah, to me, is one of the prettiest sims I've ever made in CAS.  I cannot wait to see her genes passed.


This has turned a bit into a Zaria update, but we will see the others again soon, I promise.  In the meantime, Zaria works on her logic and science plaque again by staring out into the heavens.


So, moving on, as I said I would, we visit Arnav, who is also working on a hobby plaque.  The Greek House has always been outfitted with most hobby benches, the only one missing, I believe, being the robotics bench. It's not that we don't want that one, but the Greek House isn't rolling in money yet, so we held off on that one for the time being.  Still, Arnav tries his hand a toy making, and while he doesn't quite reach that bronze badge yet, with more time he will.


Ash, the sports lover he always has been, wants to play soccer most days.  That net has been the best investment for him and he wishes for it near daily. Late in the evening, he is playing, by himself, I might add, and cheers for himself when making his goals. He looks so happy in this picture.


Zaria remembers her great aunt sewing at home, and so when the sewing machine is purchased she quickly rolls wishes for it.  It does not take her long to reach a bronze badge, having started the process at home.  She starts making curtains to hand in the rooms later. It is at this moment, I believe when Zaria gets up from the sewing machine and rolls a wish to purchase a sewing machine. Silly sims, you just got up from one, and you have one at home.  I promise, Zaria, you do not need a sewing machine for every room.


Ash is trying his hand at flower arranging.  I would love to start getting some snapdragons around the hood, but so far Ash hasn't reached a bronze yet, but this is truly closer to what the dorms looked like, lots of skilling, but also lots of hobby work. :)


Sticking with Ash, it was his turn to work on the garden. He's only at a silver badge in gardening and can use the "practice" in case we give him and Zaria a garden when we get home. It looks like the pole beans were ready to be picked.


It was time to write term papers, but then we realize that the computers were broken.  Luckily Arnav and Zaria are pretty high in mechanical so we decide to give them the change to fix them.  Arnav takes a couple of tries, but Zaria finishes hers on the first go and then they are both able to get term papers done.


Thus ends the 1st half of the year and we now see Allegra and Marvin moving into the extra bedroom that has been empty since Jaiden and Eugene graduated.


With it being a new semester the students are back to skilling all the time.  This time Zaria and Allegra are the ones sitting on the couch with their helmets hitting the books. A lot of eggplant juice is served regularly as well. Allegra was shocked by whatever it was she was learning.


Someone wants to throw a toga party, and the kids needed to gain some relationship points with each other, so we threw a party and then got as many as possible hanging out.  Why they decided to do it on this weird corner of the kitchen I don't know, but that's sims for you.


The Myshuno game hasn't gotten near the use that it has in the past during this update, but it is still here and great for parties.  The students enjoy it and it gives some good friendship points as well.


After multiple days pass we notice the Allegra has two-bolts of attraction with Ash now. Obviously, we are not messing up Ash and Zaria as we love them together, but Ash has been studying the thing Allegra likes, so I need to work on Marvin's points. However the friendship between that couple and Allegra is not strong, so they play kicky bag for a bit.


Opal is here, and here is a picture to prove it.  She is doing well in school and also spends time skilling. Here she is serving up a platter of eggplant juice, which lets each of the kids get a glass and a free skill point.


Martin is actually still here as well. I know we haven't seen him since the move-in picture, but he is here and working on his creativity.  I find this particular creative object to be one of the better ones.  It doesn't have quite the draw the other instruments have, and it doesn't "run out" like the easel when the painting is complete.


Arnav has been practicing his fishing and even though I missed it, he now has a bronze medal in fishing.


Ash manages to earn money somehow, my guess is it was through the completion of his semester of school, but I'm not 100% sure.  Still, he's happy to have earned the money.


Opal shows her face again and is working very hard on pottery.  She has not yet reached a medal of any kind, but she is on her way.


Kicky ball and hanging out are very popular past times to try and reach higher friendship levels across all of these students. Opal has managed to get BSOC this year as did both Zaria and Ash. Allegra also has joined the ranks of this title, and Marvin is very very close.  I believe he needs 1 more friend.


 We end this update with another look of skilling kids in the Greek House.  During the next university update, which will happen after we finish the second Mimoza house and the new house with Jaiden and Eugene, we will have 4 sims graduating and everyone else moving into the Greek House again.


RUNNING SCORE: 
Previous Points: +80
Music and Dance Plaque (Marvin): +1
BSOC (Opal, Zaria, Ash, Allegra) +4
TOI (Opal, Zaria, Ash) +3
----------------------

NEW SCORE: +88
(This score doesn't include any of the finishing scores so we can keep a running tab.)