Christmas time means a lot of things for me, but most recently, as in the last 7-10 years or so, it means a TON of cooking. Wife and I got nice and broke for a while and we pulled out her Betty Crocker's Ultimate Cookie Book and decided to make cookies and distribute them as presents for everyone. It was an instant hit and therefore became a regular tradition. We had standard cookies that we would make, but then there'd be some others we'd mix in and see what the family liked. My Grandfather for instance, loved the Ginger Short Bread cookies and suggested putting more ginger into them, so I would usually make him one large round cookie each year. Wife's family loved the Lemon Bars (as did we!) and her Grandfather began to get one large batch of chocolate chip cookies all to himself.
The last few years since we moved to Florida has been hard for me because the cookies are not quite as appreciated with this side of the family so we've been trying to do the "gift buying" thing, which gets expensive and is harder each year. The first year we did cookies, taking over my father's kitchen for days to do so. This year though we have our own kitchen and for the first time in four years I feel like Christmas is really here, and everything feels just about right. I got my niece and nephew involved in the cookies this first day, which was SO VERY long! Wife and I napped after the first batch of cookies stuff and then woke up to do the crayons. Today marks day two of the cookie making, so there's lots of pictures!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Christmas
I can't believe it's only going to be one week until Christmas. Where did December go? Where did November for that matter? I find as I get older I tend to get completely lost in the bustle of life and forget about the simple things, like the holiday. I notice that people are commenting about it on FaceBook, I see that people notice the holiday is approaching, but I feel like there's so many things I have to do before the holiday, and I am often left thinking, "What? What do you mean Christmas is in one week? You *MUST* be joking."
I suspect that part of this is the, "I am getting older so time passes quicker for me than it did when I was a child." thing. Each day has less of an impact on my life because they are worth less than they were worth when I was young. Since this is true, and I still have the thought pattern that there is always tomorrow to finish up what I can't complete today, the time goes by so quickly that I hardly get a chance to stop and pause, notice things like the lights on houses, or the crisp scent of winter in the air.
It's probably also somewhat related to the fact that I live in Florida, and although they definitely have a winter, it is not the same as seeing snow on the ground, heralding in the season and the reminder that soon there will be this great big holiday where everyone gets together and gives each other presents. Although I am a self proclaimed snow hater, it does a fantastic job of pointing out the season I'm in and telling me to get cracking on the gift decisions. I don't want to go back to the land of snow, ice and sludge, but once I'm there, I'll know what season it is because of the clothes I have to wear, not because of the date on the calendar. I'm still in shorts and t-shirts with fans and ac running. Up north I'm sure people don't leave the house without coats, and possibly two or three layers of clothes, and most likely mittens and scarves. It might not be snowing, but there is cold, and although it's cold down here, it's simply not that cold. So far this season I haven't had to put on long sleeves. Go tropical weather. I love it, but I have noticed a much harder time knowing what season it is simply by walking outside. Never had that problem in Ohio.
Please don't get me wrong and think that I want to go back to the snow, because I don't, I'm just pointing out the difference and realizing that may be part of the reason why the holidays creep up on me. Yule is in 4 days and I've just pulled out my yuletide music. Come December 1st I used to listen to that album again and again until the date (and sometimes afterwards) but now it's like I hardly get the chance to listen to the music before the holiday is up. It's sad, because I love it. Oh, and if anyone knows of any pagan/yule albums other than MotherTongue's This Winter's Night, let me know, because I am totally interested in good, pleasant music for the season.
I'm excited to be doing the cooking of cookies this year, because I think that there will be some actual interest in them. I bake several different kinds and use them as presents. There are sugar cookies, lemon bars, ginger shortbread, thumbprints, sometimes chocolate chip, and then something else that we decide to make. Years ago we baked a whole batch of chocolate chip for Grandpa (Wife's side) and I'd make a ginger shortbread batch completely for my Grp, and then we'd mix the rest. We always made a batch of Anise cookies for Carol (Wife's mother), and we had just begun to make tea cookies (thank you Mom for the recipe!) on a regular basis. My sister loves those. I love doing that, making the cookies, decorating them, cutting them out and having a house that smells so much like cookies and cookie dough that you can't walk in without thinking about it. This year I have my own kitchen, and I'm going to be so involved in cooking I'm going to be busy.
And you know what? I'm starting to get excited, really excited, about this. Cookies, holiday, wrapping paper, decorations... I want to put everything up, I want to have garland all over, and I want to remember how fantastic the holiday is. Hey, it's about family, and caring, and enjoying each others company. That's good, right? I can get into that.
I suspect that part of this is the, "I am getting older so time passes quicker for me than it did when I was a child." thing. Each day has less of an impact on my life because they are worth less than they were worth when I was young. Since this is true, and I still have the thought pattern that there is always tomorrow to finish up what I can't complete today, the time goes by so quickly that I hardly get a chance to stop and pause, notice things like the lights on houses, or the crisp scent of winter in the air.
It's probably also somewhat related to the fact that I live in Florida, and although they definitely have a winter, it is not the same as seeing snow on the ground, heralding in the season and the reminder that soon there will be this great big holiday where everyone gets together and gives each other presents. Although I am a self proclaimed snow hater, it does a fantastic job of pointing out the season I'm in and telling me to get cracking on the gift decisions. I don't want to go back to the land of snow, ice and sludge, but once I'm there, I'll know what season it is because of the clothes I have to wear, not because of the date on the calendar. I'm still in shorts and t-shirts with fans and ac running. Up north I'm sure people don't leave the house without coats, and possibly two or three layers of clothes, and most likely mittens and scarves. It might not be snowing, but there is cold, and although it's cold down here, it's simply not that cold. So far this season I haven't had to put on long sleeves. Go tropical weather. I love it, but I have noticed a much harder time knowing what season it is simply by walking outside. Never had that problem in Ohio.
Please don't get me wrong and think that I want to go back to the snow, because I don't, I'm just pointing out the difference and realizing that may be part of the reason why the holidays creep up on me. Yule is in 4 days and I've just pulled out my yuletide music. Come December 1st I used to listen to that album again and again until the date (and sometimes afterwards) but now it's like I hardly get the chance to listen to the music before the holiday is up. It's sad, because I love it. Oh, and if anyone knows of any pagan/yule albums other than MotherTongue's This Winter's Night, let me know, because I am totally interested in good, pleasant music for the season.
I'm excited to be doing the cooking of cookies this year, because I think that there will be some actual interest in them. I bake several different kinds and use them as presents. There are sugar cookies, lemon bars, ginger shortbread, thumbprints, sometimes chocolate chip, and then something else that we decide to make. Years ago we baked a whole batch of chocolate chip for Grandpa (Wife's side) and I'd make a ginger shortbread batch completely for my Grp, and then we'd mix the rest. We always made a batch of Anise cookies for Carol (Wife's mother), and we had just begun to make tea cookies (thank you Mom for the recipe!) on a regular basis. My sister loves those. I love doing that, making the cookies, decorating them, cutting them out and having a house that smells so much like cookies and cookie dough that you can't walk in without thinking about it. This year I have my own kitchen, and I'm going to be so involved in cooking I'm going to be busy.
And you know what? I'm starting to get excited, really excited, about this. Cookies, holiday, wrapping paper, decorations... I want to put everything up, I want to have garland all over, and I want to remember how fantastic the holiday is. Hey, it's about family, and caring, and enjoying each others company. That's good, right? I can get into that.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Transcribing
So years ago when the world was still green and flowers smelled like something, the wife and I decided we would start recording the games we did so we could write them out later. This is basically like recording a play happening, with tapes that aren't film so you don't get the motions, you just have to guess what exactly is happening. And it probably sounds cornier than it really is.
Anyway, it's been years since we did this. Over ten in fact, and eventually we stopped taping, but now we have containers and containers of tapes that are recordings of stories never written with characters neither one of us really remember. Which is probably a good thing because now I can laugh at myself.
Anyway, it's been years since we did this. Over ten in fact, and eventually we stopped taping, but now we have containers and containers of tapes that are recordings of stories never written with characters neither one of us really remember. Which is probably a good thing because now I can laugh at myself.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Returning to the Blog!
I'm back!
Just thought I'd mention. I know NaNo pretty much ate up November, but it's December and if I procrastinate and say the holidays are here, then I'm likely to keep doing it and so I won't. So here I am, mid-month and returning to my blog. Did you miss me?
I spent half of November writing on my original story with the Wife. We whipped out almost our whole NaNo word count on one book. Which is amazing because we really hadn't planned for that. However once it's edited and worked on it's bound to be over 100k words. Then we started a second novel but only got partway through it before we were sick (and I wanted soup to eat) and we ended up going to a restaurant where we sat down with a notebook. She couldn't think of anything to write, so I stole it and started a Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter crossover that we continued to write on through the end of November. She didn't know I was making the story a crossover until I used the name Spike, and then she was irritated with me because she hadn't planned for a crossover, only then she was too interested in what was going on for her to stop.
For the record, the Wife has never seen the BtVS show, except she is officially watching it now. However she hadn't when we began writing, which was kind of actually good since she was writing Harry. So he gets to ask all those questions people who have seen BtVS don't ask because they already know. It was kind of neat to realize how twisted and soap opera like the show is, as I tried to explain things to Harry. It's very true that things are crazy and twisted as the story continues.
Anyway, that was the end of the month. Oh, and between all of this there was Skyrim, my dad sawed his fingers, and he went on a three week cruise with my grandmother. I missed Thanksgiving with my family because I was sick and the Wife was working very early. However I got foods so it's all good. I called and wished happy Thanksgiving the night before. <3
Now we are in December and I'm thinking of all the things I want/need to do before I make the long trip back up North at the beginning of next year. Oh, yes, the Wife and I made the decision to move back up to Ohio. Which sucks because they have snow. But is okay, because they have family. Well, actually, the main reason is because of money and Grandpa. Her grandfather, who has been a grandfather to me as well, has been getting sick, and has Alzheimer's I believe, and really needs a caregiver. I will be doing that for him, and getting out to work for her mother at least once a week.
I do miss the family though. Ohio doesn't just have the close nit family of blood but it also has the family of friends and past roommates that I miss so much as I struggle to come to terms with the family I have down here in FL. I love all of my family, but this side is so different from how I was raised, and it makes communication and understanding hard. I miss the ease at which I used to have with my people. Honestly if it wasn't for Rachel and her family, I might have lost my mind a long time ago.
That's assuming I still have a mind to lose, I suppose.
*waves at Ra and her family* Thank you for the sanity and support, I don't know that I could have lived here without you. I don't want to leave, and I'll come back. We'll have Chestnut Stuffing again, promise!
I suspect the novelty of being around my people will wear as the snow settles in and I get stuck driving in sludge and I hate the way my car looks because of the salt and I have to snow blow the huge driveway, and maybe have to mow the lawn in the spring and summer. Of course, if I say we need to get together to rake leaves or clean out the garage or something that is really too big of a deal for one person, then I know that Carol and Karl will help us with that. It's one of those things where there's so many good points, and so many bad ones and it's a toss up how I'll feel after a few years (or months!).
Anyhow, so I'm back, and I'll be trying to update regularly again, and maybe will return to my Sims even! *gasp* We'll see, since I have to pack, organize, clean and label like crazy. We have to go through not only our stuff, but our big furniture and decide what we're keeping and what we're not because there is limited space to get our things up north. I suspect there will be sadness, and things won't fit when I feel they ought to, but what can I do? Just keep looking forward, just keep moving, just keep doing the best I can.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming.
Just thought I'd mention. I know NaNo pretty much ate up November, but it's December and if I procrastinate and say the holidays are here, then I'm likely to keep doing it and so I won't. So here I am, mid-month and returning to my blog. Did you miss me?
I spent half of November writing on my original story with the Wife. We whipped out almost our whole NaNo word count on one book. Which is amazing because we really hadn't planned for that. However once it's edited and worked on it's bound to be over 100k words. Then we started a second novel but only got partway through it before we were sick (and I wanted soup to eat) and we ended up going to a restaurant where we sat down with a notebook. She couldn't think of anything to write, so I stole it and started a Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter crossover that we continued to write on through the end of November. She didn't know I was making the story a crossover until I used the name Spike, and then she was irritated with me because she hadn't planned for a crossover, only then she was too interested in what was going on for her to stop.
For the record, the Wife has never seen the BtVS show, except she is officially watching it now. However she hadn't when we began writing, which was kind of actually good since she was writing Harry. So he gets to ask all those questions people who have seen BtVS don't ask because they already know. It was kind of neat to realize how twisted and soap opera like the show is, as I tried to explain things to Harry. It's very true that things are crazy and twisted as the story continues.
Anyway, that was the end of the month. Oh, and between all of this there was Skyrim, my dad sawed his fingers, and he went on a three week cruise with my grandmother. I missed Thanksgiving with my family because I was sick and the Wife was working very early. However I got foods so it's all good. I called and wished happy Thanksgiving the night before. <3
Now we are in December and I'm thinking of all the things I want/need to do before I make the long trip back up North at the beginning of next year. Oh, yes, the Wife and I made the decision to move back up to Ohio. Which sucks because they have snow. But is okay, because they have family. Well, actually, the main reason is because of money and Grandpa. Her grandfather, who has been a grandfather to me as well, has been getting sick, and has Alzheimer's I believe, and really needs a caregiver. I will be doing that for him, and getting out to work for her mother at least once a week.
I do miss the family though. Ohio doesn't just have the close nit family of blood but it also has the family of friends and past roommates that I miss so much as I struggle to come to terms with the family I have down here in FL. I love all of my family, but this side is so different from how I was raised, and it makes communication and understanding hard. I miss the ease at which I used to have with my people. Honestly if it wasn't for Rachel and her family, I might have lost my mind a long time ago.
That's assuming I still have a mind to lose, I suppose.
*waves at Ra and her family* Thank you for the sanity and support, I don't know that I could have lived here without you. I don't want to leave, and I'll come back. We'll have Chestnut Stuffing again, promise!
I suspect the novelty of being around my people will wear as the snow settles in and I get stuck driving in sludge and I hate the way my car looks because of the salt and I have to snow blow the huge driveway, and maybe have to mow the lawn in the spring and summer. Of course, if I say we need to get together to rake leaves or clean out the garage or something that is really too big of a deal for one person, then I know that Carol and Karl will help us with that. It's one of those things where there's so many good points, and so many bad ones and it's a toss up how I'll feel after a few years (or months!).
Anyhow, so I'm back, and I'll be trying to update regularly again, and maybe will return to my Sims even! *gasp* We'll see, since I have to pack, organize, clean and label like crazy. We have to go through not only our stuff, but our big furniture and decide what we're keeping and what we're not because there is limited space to get our things up north. I suspect there will be sadness, and things won't fit when I feel they ought to, but what can I do? Just keep looking forward, just keep moving, just keep doing the best I can.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Skyrim and Sawed Fingers
Okay, you've got to be wondering what Skyrim and sawed fingers have in common. Lucky you, I'm going to explain! :D
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
RKC: Royalty: Kershaw: Week Two
Ready for week two madness? I was so excited to get to the second week because I knew toddlers were going to grow up and I had already decided to change the house my royal family lived in. What a hassle that was, but over all it was alright, because they have a much more spacious place to live in now.
So, without further ado, the Kershaw family for week two:
So, without further ado, the Kershaw family for week two:
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
RKC: Peasantry: Merlotte
Last family of my RKC! Welcome to the end of the first week of my RKC. I was really looking forward to the next week with my families and although I enjoyed the Merlotte family a part of me couldn't wait to return to my Royalty. So, here we go!
Monday, October 31, 2011
NaNoWriMo 2011
It's that time of the year again. National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. For those of you who know what that means, congrats and I hope you get your novels done this year! For those that don't, well, let's just say I'm about to be a writing junkie for a month.
NaNo's goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This may seem like an impossible thing to do, but hundreds, no, thousands, of people do it every year. I enjoy the madness of it all and really enjoy the accomplishment. I am going to be writing almost nonstop now and it should be lots of fun.
I'll try to get my RKC up when I can, to keep you all up to date. I might take sims breaks in between writing marathons.
This year I'm going to be writing with the wife again ( I like writing with her) and our first novel will be set in a criminal reform school for children across several planets. I'm looking forward to it, and can't wait to see where it goes! Good luck me!
NaNo's goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This may seem like an impossible thing to do, but hundreds, no, thousands, of people do it every year. I enjoy the madness of it all and really enjoy the accomplishment. I am going to be writing almost nonstop now and it should be lots of fun.
I'll try to get my RKC up when I can, to keep you all up to date. I might take sims breaks in between writing marathons.
This year I'm going to be writing with the wife again ( I like writing with her) and our first novel will be set in a criminal reform school for children across several planets. I'm looking forward to it, and can't wait to see where it goes! Good luck me!
Pumpkin Carving
This year wife and I decided to take our niece to pick pumpkins for carving. She had never done this before so it was a fantastic thing I got to do with her. I can still remember the first time I ever carved pumpkins, I felt like I'd been transported to a new world where I was allowed to do the things other children got to do all the time. I think I was... maybe 20? Maybe a little younger than that, but not by a whole lot, I'm pretty sure I was out of HS though.
It was such fun, and such a mess and my face looked all lopsided, but it was a liberating experience. Halloween has been my favorite holiday ever since I was aware of what my personal tastes in things were. I love black and lace and skeletons and vampires and all those creepy things and most of my favorite music is haunting. When I was finally able to embrace it I found that I simply loved the decorations, the cobwebs, the fantastic colors of purple and black and blood splatters all over the place. Simply the best, really.
It was such fun, and such a mess and my face looked all lopsided, but it was a liberating experience. Halloween has been my favorite holiday ever since I was aware of what my personal tastes in things were. I love black and lace and skeletons and vampires and all those creepy things and most of my favorite music is haunting. When I was finally able to embrace it I found that I simply loved the decorations, the cobwebs, the fantastic colors of purple and black and blood splatters all over the place. Simply the best, really.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Sick
I've been sick for several days so I haven't really been doing anything that requires brain power, except for tutoring my niece, and that hasn't gone very well. :D This one seems to be an achy body, headache, stomach upset, sore throat sort of thing, and the rain tonight should make things much more interesting for the weekend. Wife is sick with it as well, and the poor dear needs to do a patrol out in it once an hour all night long. *love* to her, I hope she makes it out alright. Oh... I should take some emergen-c and cross my fingers.
Anyway, because of this I haven't blogged, haven't looked at anything on the internet, haven't written, you know, been a lazy sack of crap pretty much. So I'm sorry to everyone who's been following me and my RCK. I'm going to go in and see about possibly typing up the stories for the last house and then maybe begin typing in week two of some of them. At least then I'd be part way to the final project.
If I'm really feeling up to it tonight (ha ha) then I'm going to start putting the blogs into Blogger for future posting. I don't think I'm going to feel up to it though, and will likely just play tonight before I take a nap. Napping is good. Food, not so much.
Anyway, because of this I haven't blogged, haven't looked at anything on the internet, haven't written, you know, been a lazy sack of crap pretty much. So I'm sorry to everyone who's been following me and my RCK. I'm going to go in and see about possibly typing up the stories for the last house and then maybe begin typing in week two of some of them. At least then I'd be part way to the final project.
If I'm really feeling up to it tonight (ha ha) then I'm going to start putting the blogs into Blogger for future posting. I don't think I'm going to feel up to it though, and will likely just play tonight before I take a nap. Napping is good. Food, not so much.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Random Product Endorsement
It's been a while since I've done one of these so I think it's past time. Today's Random Product Endorsement is ChapStick's 100% Naturals Botanical Medley chap stick.
I wear chapstick all the time, lip gloss or some variety of such because my lips get dry no matter if it's winter or summer. I don't wear lipstick so I wear something else. It used to be you wouldn't find me without some form of Lip Smackers, but as I've gotten older I've found those to be too waxy and they go bad more quickly than I remember. Then one winter in FL I was having a weird thing going on around the edges of my lips, it was like they were super chapped so I went and got Carmex.
For the record, I now hate Carmex. I used it all the time, every time my lips went chappy, in between and sometimes put it on in the middle of the night. Only my lips didn't get better, and the edges broke out in little bumps that were painful and like blisters. Then I tried something else (can't remember what) and the wife felt horrible because Carmex works on her and she'd suggested it to me. (I quite happily gave her the stick of Carmex and told her she could make up for it by using the stuff.) Then she made it her goal to bring home every kind of chapstick she could find, one container at a time.
I don't know how many discarded things I have at this point, but the first time I put the naturals on my lips they practically sighed. It felt fantastic! The naturals aren't heavy and sticky, it's a smooth glide and they don't melt really badly in the pocket. (Not that they don't melt, all chapstick melts, but it's not like you get a drippy mess on accident if you dared to have it in your pocket while you were exercising.) Besides all of that though, after having it for about a half a week the bumps started going away and at the end of the week my lips looked fantastic.
Also amazing and wonderful is the fact that since I've been using them, I don't put on chapstick as much as I used to and I still have great feeling, unchapped lips. It used to be I couldn't go more than an hour or so without putting more on, but these days I only really use it a few times a day. I don't feel like I'm getting it all over everything, even when it marks the edges of cups, because it wipes right off without leaving a huge slime mark behind. (Anyone who's used lip smackers know's what I'm talking about.)
So, for the last couple of years, ChapStick's 100% Naturals Botanical Medley has been my chapstick of choice. Mostly I find it at Walgreen's.
Label:
As found on their website: ChapStick Naturals
Last note, I tried their medicated stuff. Made the bumps worse, naturals fixed the problem.
I wear chapstick all the time, lip gloss or some variety of such because my lips get dry no matter if it's winter or summer. I don't wear lipstick so I wear something else. It used to be you wouldn't find me without some form of Lip Smackers, but as I've gotten older I've found those to be too waxy and they go bad more quickly than I remember. Then one winter in FL I was having a weird thing going on around the edges of my lips, it was like they were super chapped so I went and got Carmex.
For the record, I now hate Carmex. I used it all the time, every time my lips went chappy, in between and sometimes put it on in the middle of the night. Only my lips didn't get better, and the edges broke out in little bumps that were painful and like blisters. Then I tried something else (can't remember what) and the wife felt horrible because Carmex works on her and she'd suggested it to me. (I quite happily gave her the stick of Carmex and told her she could make up for it by using the stuff.) Then she made it her goal to bring home every kind of chapstick she could find, one container at a time.
I don't know how many discarded things I have at this point, but the first time I put the naturals on my lips they practically sighed. It felt fantastic! The naturals aren't heavy and sticky, it's a smooth glide and they don't melt really badly in the pocket. (Not that they don't melt, all chapstick melts, but it's not like you get a drippy mess on accident if you dared to have it in your pocket while you were exercising.) Besides all of that though, after having it for about a half a week the bumps started going away and at the end of the week my lips looked fantastic.
Also amazing and wonderful is the fact that since I've been using them, I don't put on chapstick as much as I used to and I still have great feeling, unchapped lips. It used to be I couldn't go more than an hour or so without putting more on, but these days I only really use it a few times a day. I don't feel like I'm getting it all over everything, even when it marks the edges of cups, because it wipes right off without leaving a huge slime mark behind. (Anyone who's used lip smackers know's what I'm talking about.)
So, for the last couple of years, ChapStick's 100% Naturals Botanical Medley has been my chapstick of choice. Mostly I find it at Walgreen's.
Label:
Chapstick® Naturals Botanical Medley
This is the most current labeling information, and may differ from labels on product packaging. If there are any differences between this website labeling and product package labeling, this website labeling should be regarded as the most current.| Ingredients | |
| Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Jojoba Esters, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Beeswax, Natural Flavors, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Extract, Tocopherol | |
| Other information | |
| store at 20-25°C (68-77°F) | |
| Questions or comments call weekdays from 9 AM to 5 PM EST at 1-877-227-3421 |
As found on their website: ChapStick Naturals
Last note, I tried their medicated stuff. Made the bumps worse, naturals fixed the problem.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
RKC: Merchantry: Potter
It seems as though my RKC stuff is popular. Either that or I rather enjoy posting about them. It's kind of funny because I had not specifically intended to blog about them, but I like doing so. It is possible that when I get to the point where I am moving children out into new homes and marrying them off and such I will move the RKC somewhere else and just do highlights here. This is bound to become a very large thing with many pictures and tons of tales.
Also I've been rather irritated with the goals and desires of my under noble status sims. While I understand that there are certain things that merchants and peasants didn't have, they had other things to make up for it. For instance, although they didn't have minstrels and bards inside their homes, they would go to festivals and hear music there. While they didn't specifically have "paintings" and artwork in their homes they had something to decorate with, right? I've been told that the point of the RKC in a lot of ways is to make sims miserable, because peasants were miserable, but I have a hard time with that. I mean, because of the way the sims work if they get none of their wants and desires then they get what... into the red and have the shrink come out to them. (This has happened in week two of one of my homes now.) I had a LOT of randomly rolled pleasure and romance sims. I know that I don't get to choose their LTW and if it's out of their means then I simply can't do it, and I'm okay with that, but what about their daily wants?
What do people do to counteract this? It's actually making it so I'm not having a lot of fun overall. I don't want to add a bunch of stuff to my game, and I've already made the decision that I'm not going to overly worry about the decorations (or every single one of my sims family homes will look the same, at this point you must have noticed that I have 2 tubs, 2 toilets and 3 sinks or something like that) when it comes to Noble and Royal homes. I have a lot of beautiful stuff in my game and I'd like to use them. (elven arches and windows created using the ideas from LotR movies. There's a whole bedroom set and I think some bathroom stuff too.)
I have been enjoying the game, and the idea, but when I have a sim and he's barely in the green and all he wants is to: buy electronic equipment, buy a stereo, buy a painting worth 1,000, buy a television, then I get really irritated. I can't buy him any of that stuff, he's almost in the red and the wants don't flip quickly enough. Maybe I should just wait and see how the next generation goes.
Okay, so we're finally on to the actual update on the RKC. Let's welcome the Potters:
Also I've been rather irritated with the goals and desires of my under noble status sims. While I understand that there are certain things that merchants and peasants didn't have, they had other things to make up for it. For instance, although they didn't have minstrels and bards inside their homes, they would go to festivals and hear music there. While they didn't specifically have "paintings" and artwork in their homes they had something to decorate with, right? I've been told that the point of the RKC in a lot of ways is to make sims miserable, because peasants were miserable, but I have a hard time with that. I mean, because of the way the sims work if they get none of their wants and desires then they get what... into the red and have the shrink come out to them. (This has happened in week two of one of my homes now.) I had a LOT of randomly rolled pleasure and romance sims. I know that I don't get to choose their LTW and if it's out of their means then I simply can't do it, and I'm okay with that, but what about their daily wants?
What do people do to counteract this? It's actually making it so I'm not having a lot of fun overall. I don't want to add a bunch of stuff to my game, and I've already made the decision that I'm not going to overly worry about the decorations (or every single one of my sims family homes will look the same, at this point you must have noticed that I have 2 tubs, 2 toilets and 3 sinks or something like that) when it comes to Noble and Royal homes. I have a lot of beautiful stuff in my game and I'd like to use them. (elven arches and windows created using the ideas from LotR movies. There's a whole bedroom set and I think some bathroom stuff too.)
I have been enjoying the game, and the idea, but when I have a sim and he's barely in the green and all he wants is to: buy electronic equipment, buy a stereo, buy a painting worth 1,000, buy a television, then I get really irritated. I can't buy him any of that stuff, he's almost in the red and the wants don't flip quickly enough. Maybe I should just wait and see how the next generation goes.
Okay, so we're finally on to the actual update on the RKC. Let's welcome the Potters:
Saturday, October 22, 2011
RKC: Nobility: Luminate
Two updates both of the Sims? Well, yes. This is because I can't think of anything else to talk about right now as I'm trying desperately to get a job and my brain feels rather fried. Also because I'm ahead of my blog by a whole family right now and I feel like at the very least I need to catch up. So, we get to the last noble family in my RKC, the Luminate's. I wanted a last name that sounded pompous, and this is what I came up with. I probably should have gone ahead and looked up a real name online, but that would have taken too long. I'm definitely a "Need to PLAY NOW," type of person.
So, for the family:
So, for the family:
RKC: Peasantry: Farmer
Alright, back on the Sims 2 challenge. This family had much more interesting of a life, and therefore I have a TON of pictures from them. Because of this, I had to wade through a certain amount of their history to form a full picture because I took notes, but nearly so detailed as what I'm doing now.
Here we go:
Here we go:
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
RKC: Merchantry: Smith
Like the Hengre's before them I don't have many pictures of the first week of the Smith family. I have almost as much to tell about them as I have pictures. I suspect I was keeping generic notes because I didn't know I was going to be posting stories of them. My next week notes are much more detailed and I have a TON more pictures. Just need to get through the first week of these guys. :D
Monday, October 17, 2011
Lost
Just spent a half hour pounding words out on a post that I'm not sure I'm going to use. Perhaps I will read it over in a few days and I'll know where I was going and be able to finish it, but now after staring at the last few lines for a while I'm a bit confused. I hate it when that happens.
I originally started this blog as a way for me to ramble without worrying about what anyone thought about my words, and possibly so others who felt similarly might find a place where they could read thoughts they might understand or have had a hard time articulating themselves. Besides that I'm broke, and I was planning on putting ads up in the hopes that I might make a buck or two off of it.
For the record I'm probably going to put ads up at some time, if I can get off my ass long enough to find out if AdSense will really take me or not, I can get pretty adult at times.
Anyway, I began posting my RKC stuff and then I felt like I needed to keep up on that and even began to wonder if I should be posting anything personal at all anymore because I get a lot of hits when I post RKC stuff. Well, I do advertise my RKC posts, and rarely advertise the other ones. That's my bad really. However I think I'm going through that place in a person's mind where they are so uncertain of themselves they don't really know if they're doing the right thing.
But see, that's ultimately the problem, isn't it? What is the right thing? Isn't that different depending on who you are? For instance, it might be right for me personally to write whatever the heck I want to on this blog and not care about anything other than that. For someone else, they might have created a blog just to promote things they created. That would be what was right for them. Nothing is easy and I know this, but it's easier to worry about doing the right thing than it is to do something that might not be right and be wrong about it.
We've become such a cautious society that it rubs off on everyone, even those who usually would jump at every opportunity that is available to them to do something that they enjoy or find interesting. We start worrying if we're doing the "best" thing, or the "right" thing, or the "correct" thing and instead we do nothing.
I've been given this opportunity to do all kind of things, to try to create a web page with stories that I write on them and instead of working towards that by making a web page I cringe behind the fear that I won't do it right or the belief that someone else would do it better than I could ever. But there are things out there for people who aren't good at coding, and I could look them up and try to figure things out, only I don't. Instead I look at advertising places and try to get a "feel" for how they work and what I would find least irritating if I were at a web page like what I want to create. Or I look up rules for paying taxes and shit like that.
If I never do anything then I will never accomplish anything. I am pressured to do something and instead of moving I'm digging my heels in and doing nothing. What on earth is wrong with me? Where did the getting up and going version of myself go? Have I become such a weakling that I can't do anything without being instructed on how to do it? I COMPLAIN about people like that, but I'm behaving the same way. If I'm not told the right way to do it I don't. If I don't feel like what I'm doing is correct than I don't. I get terrified that I'm not going to succeed and so I don't.
I've started letting other people determine what I want to do with myself, I've put myself into positions where I *want* other people to make decisions for me, but then I rebel against the things that I really don't like and blame them, even if it's only in my mind, for "making" me do those things I hate.
It's not their fault if I can't do the right thing, it's not their fault if they want something and I've been practically begging them to tell me what it is I need to do. I used to be so headstrong I would tear down any wall that came in front of me. I'm a freekin' Aries for crying out loud. Where's my gumption? Have my horns gotten so worn down that I don't think they'll stand up to anything? I am my own person, aren't I? Why aren't I taking control of my life?
Somehow, it's like I'm lost in a forest, and instead of walking around to find out how to get out, I'm sitting down on the moss and figuring someone will come find me and take me out. If I don't like my heroine to behave like that, then why do I allow myself to be like that?
I originally started this blog as a way for me to ramble without worrying about what anyone thought about my words, and possibly so others who felt similarly might find a place where they could read thoughts they might understand or have had a hard time articulating themselves. Besides that I'm broke, and I was planning on putting ads up in the hopes that I might make a buck or two off of it.
For the record I'm probably going to put ads up at some time, if I can get off my ass long enough to find out if AdSense will really take me or not, I can get pretty adult at times.
Anyway, I began posting my RKC stuff and then I felt like I needed to keep up on that and even began to wonder if I should be posting anything personal at all anymore because I get a lot of hits when I post RKC stuff. Well, I do advertise my RKC posts, and rarely advertise the other ones. That's my bad really. However I think I'm going through that place in a person's mind where they are so uncertain of themselves they don't really know if they're doing the right thing.
But see, that's ultimately the problem, isn't it? What is the right thing? Isn't that different depending on who you are? For instance, it might be right for me personally to write whatever the heck I want to on this blog and not care about anything other than that. For someone else, they might have created a blog just to promote things they created. That would be what was right for them. Nothing is easy and I know this, but it's easier to worry about doing the right thing than it is to do something that might not be right and be wrong about it.
We've become such a cautious society that it rubs off on everyone, even those who usually would jump at every opportunity that is available to them to do something that they enjoy or find interesting. We start worrying if we're doing the "best" thing, or the "right" thing, or the "correct" thing and instead we do nothing.
I've been given this opportunity to do all kind of things, to try to create a web page with stories that I write on them and instead of working towards that by making a web page I cringe behind the fear that I won't do it right or the belief that someone else would do it better than I could ever. But there are things out there for people who aren't good at coding, and I could look them up and try to figure things out, only I don't. Instead I look at advertising places and try to get a "feel" for how they work and what I would find least irritating if I were at a web page like what I want to create. Or I look up rules for paying taxes and shit like that.
If I never do anything then I will never accomplish anything. I am pressured to do something and instead of moving I'm digging my heels in and doing nothing. What on earth is wrong with me? Where did the getting up and going version of myself go? Have I become such a weakling that I can't do anything without being instructed on how to do it? I COMPLAIN about people like that, but I'm behaving the same way. If I'm not told the right way to do it I don't. If I don't feel like what I'm doing is correct than I don't. I get terrified that I'm not going to succeed and so I don't.
I've started letting other people determine what I want to do with myself, I've put myself into positions where I *want* other people to make decisions for me, but then I rebel against the things that I really don't like and blame them, even if it's only in my mind, for "making" me do those things I hate.
It's not their fault if I can't do the right thing, it's not their fault if they want something and I've been practically begging them to tell me what it is I need to do. I used to be so headstrong I would tear down any wall that came in front of me. I'm a freekin' Aries for crying out loud. Where's my gumption? Have my horns gotten so worn down that I don't think they'll stand up to anything? I am my own person, aren't I? Why aren't I taking control of my life?
Somehow, it's like I'm lost in a forest, and instead of walking around to find out how to get out, I'm sitting down on the moss and figuring someone will come find me and take me out. If I don't like my heroine to behave like that, then why do I allow myself to be like that?
ZombieCon 2011
Last night I had a fantastic time at ZombieCon 2011. This is a huge deal because they were trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records for most zombies in one place. I was registered for it, so if we made it then my name is down. I think that at least half the fun of the event was the getting ready for it event.
There were five of us in an apartment all trying to get ready at the same time. Make up was everywhere, I chased a little kitten, and a happy go lucky dog kept jumping around us. There was blood all over the shower and one of the participants even scared the crap out of his neighbor.
For those that don't know, ZombieCon is a newer event, I think this was the fifth year of it and they had unofficially broken the record last year, so they were certain they'd do it this year. Camera crews were out and taking film of all of us crammed like sardines in the street. I have been kicked, stepped on, pushed, poked, elbowed and knocked into more times in this single night than I have in the rest of my 31 years.
There were several people walking around with megaphones, but I would like to suggest to them that next year they either get better one's or invest in a speaker system because no one could hear what was said, even when they walked so close you could touch them. Much of the event was standing around in the Red Zone waiting for something to happen. Several booths were open and there was also shops for people to go to, thank you to the pie place with the fabulous Cuban sandwiches, I will never forget you!
ZombieCon Website
I arrived at the apartment a little after 6 or so and it took until about 8 maybe for us to actually all be done and leaving. Then we registered, mingled, took pictures and waited. Finally the wait was over and we ate, mingled some more, took more pictures, mourned our loss of pictures (voodoo man I'm still thinking of you) and finally left. There was not a whole lot to do if you didn't have money or if you didn't want to drink. I think however that the event will get bigger as the years go by, if the amount of people and smiling faces are anything to go by.
My whole picture list is here: My Zombie Pics But I'll do some highlights.
There were five of us in an apartment all trying to get ready at the same time. Make up was everywhere, I chased a little kitten, and a happy go lucky dog kept jumping around us. There was blood all over the shower and one of the participants even scared the crap out of his neighbor.
For those that don't know, ZombieCon is a newer event, I think this was the fifth year of it and they had unofficially broken the record last year, so they were certain they'd do it this year. Camera crews were out and taking film of all of us crammed like sardines in the street. I have been kicked, stepped on, pushed, poked, elbowed and knocked into more times in this single night than I have in the rest of my 31 years.
There were several people walking around with megaphones, but I would like to suggest to them that next year they either get better one's or invest in a speaker system because no one could hear what was said, even when they walked so close you could touch them. Much of the event was standing around in the Red Zone waiting for something to happen. Several booths were open and there was also shops for people to go to, thank you to the pie place with the fabulous Cuban sandwiches, I will never forget you!
ZombieCon Website
I arrived at the apartment a little after 6 or so and it took until about 8 maybe for us to actually all be done and leaving. Then we registered, mingled, took pictures and waited. Finally the wait was over and we ate, mingled some more, took more pictures, mourned our loss of pictures (voodoo man I'm still thinking of you) and finally left. There was not a whole lot to do if you didn't have money or if you didn't want to drink. I think however that the event will get bigger as the years go by, if the amount of people and smiling faces are anything to go by.
My whole picture list is here: My Zombie Pics But I'll do some highlights.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
RKC: Nobility: Hengre
Apparently I didn't really take very many notes or pictures of this family. As I mentioned before I went from my royalty to my nobility and then proceeded to play all three houses of nobility before moving on. I also didn't make all my houses for all my people, as I thought I'd make them when I went in to play their house. This means that my nobles didn't get phones until I played with them. . .
I know that people didn't have phones back then, but really the only way in the Sims 2 to keep any kind of relationship with anyone is to meet them somewhere randomly, or to call them. So I decided what I would do was a string of phone calls every so many days or something and figure that was the sim going out "for the day" to visit friends or to go to a ball or something. I mean, you can't even write letters. So I decided that I would put in phones.
If anyone has a solution to this, I'm up for hearing about it. It's not very realistic, but at the same time you just can't be too realistic in the sims, so I just kind of wing it and let my imagination take me away.
Anyway, I wasn't very pleased to be playing another family that didn't have any real issues, and I couldn't really do much towards their life time wants. I mean, the one wants 50 first dates, and the other wants to be a celebrity chef (it's a female, they can't have jobs) so since they have plenty of money, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them yet. Therefore I didn't actually make too many decisions as I spent my first week kind of getting the hang of who my sims were. Oh, and the 50 first dates? I should have looked at that again, because it's actually 50 dream dates, he can do that with his wife so I'm not as irritated as I had been with his LTW.
So, without further ado, this is the Hengre family's first week story, what I can give you:
Meet Jessica and James Hengre. Don't they look cute?
So here we go. On Monday the Queen and a noble came to vist. Not even sure who since I didn't write it down.
On Tuesday the only thing I seemed to think was note worthy was their bills. They had $152.
Wednesday they had roaches somewhere, and Jessica made a friend with someone. Don't know who, don't know anything else about it.
Thursday came complete with two interesting things. Jessica showed so I must have managed to get her pregnant on Wednesday. Besides that, their bills were $110. Wow I was really interested in them, weren't I?
On Friday something hilarious happened. I remember that I wasn't paying much attention to Jessica. Then I remember looking over at her and saying, "Why is she in the bath? Her hygeine is full." So when I went over to her, she was playing pirates in the bathtub.
It actually made me laugh outloud. So here's this pregnant noble, swimming, rowing and "Arg maties!" in the bath. How hilarious!
One more for the road. :D
On Saturday Jessica gives birth to a beautiful baby boy named Judgement. For those who know me, this name should be familiar. Born of Jessica (of course) with purple eyes, little Judgement. As soon as I had him and I saw those eyes I said, "Uh oh, he's going to have a little brother. I wonder how long that's going to take me."
And on Sunday I litterally have nothing written down. How fantastic. When I came back to the house for week two I found out that Mr. James had managed to rake up the logic skill. He was at eight. Guess he played a lot of chess.
So there you have it, week one of Hengre. I promise week two will be more interesting and informative.
Also, for those who don't know, this is a Royal Kingdom Challenge with the Sims 2. Page link for the rules for it is: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/royal_kingdom_challenge/
Sims Website is: http://thesims2.ea.com/
Some of my favorite places to get extra content for the sims are:
http://www.parsimonious.org/
http://www.mirkwood-sims.de/
http://www.peggyzone.com/Index.html (If you don't know Peggy's hairs... you are in for a surprise! Her make up and such are good too, and her clothes... I always end up with more stuff than I can handle in my game when I go to her site.)
http://www.medievalsims.com/
http://sites.estvideo.net/bipsouille.sims/
http://avenidasims.com/index.html
http://www.geocities.jp/garapon9/garasim2index.html
and modthesims which I'm having a terrible time getting a link for right now, will try to again later.
I could probably paste more links as well, and if I ever get a comprehensive list I'll do just that, but for now, those are really some of my favorites. I don't have a lot of custom content in my game currently because I had to reinstall it when I got my new computer (long story) and I decided not to put a lot of stuff in it so I couldn't find what I was looking for if things crashed. However I've got stuff from all those places in my game at this point, and I love their stuff. <3
I know that people didn't have phones back then, but really the only way in the Sims 2 to keep any kind of relationship with anyone is to meet them somewhere randomly, or to call them. So I decided what I would do was a string of phone calls every so many days or something and figure that was the sim going out "for the day" to visit friends or to go to a ball or something. I mean, you can't even write letters. So I decided that I would put in phones.
If anyone has a solution to this, I'm up for hearing about it. It's not very realistic, but at the same time you just can't be too realistic in the sims, so I just kind of wing it and let my imagination take me away.
Anyway, I wasn't very pleased to be playing another family that didn't have any real issues, and I couldn't really do much towards their life time wants. I mean, the one wants 50 first dates, and the other wants to be a celebrity chef (it's a female, they can't have jobs) so since they have plenty of money, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them yet. Therefore I didn't actually make too many decisions as I spent my first week kind of getting the hang of who my sims were. Oh, and the 50 first dates? I should have looked at that again, because it's actually 50 dream dates, he can do that with his wife so I'm not as irritated as I had been with his LTW.
So, without further ado, this is the Hengre family's first week story, what I can give you:
Meet Jessica and James Hengre. Don't they look cute?
So here we go. On Monday the Queen and a noble came to vist. Not even sure who since I didn't write it down.
On Tuesday the only thing I seemed to think was note worthy was their bills. They had $152.
Wednesday they had roaches somewhere, and Jessica made a friend with someone. Don't know who, don't know anything else about it.
Thursday came complete with two interesting things. Jessica showed so I must have managed to get her pregnant on Wednesday. Besides that, their bills were $110. Wow I was really interested in them, weren't I?
On Friday something hilarious happened. I remember that I wasn't paying much attention to Jessica. Then I remember looking over at her and saying, "Why is she in the bath? Her hygeine is full." So when I went over to her, she was playing pirates in the bathtub.
It actually made me laugh outloud. So here's this pregnant noble, swimming, rowing and "Arg maties!" in the bath. How hilarious!
One more for the road. :D
On Saturday Jessica gives birth to a beautiful baby boy named Judgement. For those who know me, this name should be familiar. Born of Jessica (of course) with purple eyes, little Judgement. As soon as I had him and I saw those eyes I said, "Uh oh, he's going to have a little brother. I wonder how long that's going to take me."
And on Sunday I litterally have nothing written down. How fantastic. When I came back to the house for week two I found out that Mr. James had managed to rake up the logic skill. He was at eight. Guess he played a lot of chess.
So there you have it, week one of Hengre. I promise week two will be more interesting and informative.
Also, for those who don't know, this is a Royal Kingdom Challenge with the Sims 2. Page link for the rules for it is: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/royal_kingdom_challenge/
Sims Website is: http://thesims2.ea.com/
Some of my favorite places to get extra content for the sims are:
http://www.parsimonious.org/
http://www.mirkwood-sims.de/
http://www.peggyzone.com/Index.html (If you don't know Peggy's hairs... you are in for a surprise! Her make up and such are good too, and her clothes... I always end up with more stuff than I can handle in my game when I go to her site.)
http://www.medievalsims.com/
http://sites.estvideo.net/bipsouille.sims/
http://avenidasims.com/index.html
http://www.geocities.jp/garapon9/garasim2index.html
and modthesims which I'm having a terrible time getting a link for right now, will try to again later.
I could probably paste more links as well, and if I ever get a comprehensive list I'll do just that, but for now, those are really some of my favorites. I don't have a lot of custom content in my game currently because I had to reinstall it when I got my new computer (long story) and I decided not to put a lot of stuff in it so I couldn't find what I was looking for if things crashed. However I've got stuff from all those places in my game at this point, and I love their stuff. <3
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