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I know ... LOTS of SIMS lately (and more I'm sure coming) -- I've been having too much fun building reference homes ... and original homes (like the lake house). It's been great to find some that are a little more challenging than the last one (like my latest build which I'll post tonight or tomorrow when I'm done--it has an infinity pool!).

Work
But yeah, IRL work has been quite busy.. with all the crap I've done in the new database, they assume I'm some kind of pro at databases and now want me working for Development in keeping their database clean and cleaning out a bunch of crap that has been enterend erroneously throughout the last 30+ years (though focusing on those we come across more recently, thank the goddess).

So that has been keeping me pretty busy as well as admissions work as this is when they start to flood in ... so yeah, busy is good. Plus with summer hours (Friday's off), the weeks fly. I just have to get through the rest of this one and next week then I'm off for two weeks.

Not that we can really do MUCH due to COVID, but we can go to the more secluded type of parks like the reservoir, and parks I know rarely have folks going to. Our backyard is pretty nice to so can lazy around out there catching some rays. It's times like these I wish we had a pool ... that would be all the outdoor entertainment I'd need, but pools require a lot of maintenance which none of us have the patience for.

Weekend Plans/Amalia

Of course, being the psycho auntie/godmomma that I am, I do have another 15(ish) vidoes of her playing with the chair throughout the day, but I'll save people's sanity and not share them lol. So yeah... glad she loved it! Now I have to buy one for each house. I think I'll get a different character just to keep her entertained.

Reading
FINALLY read a couple of books (3 in the last weekish), so that makes me happy. Also, my good friend Ani told me that Kim Harrison has broght back Rachel Morgan and the Hollows series!!! I don't know how many more books she plans, but I got the latest one (American Demon), and am so freakin' happy to be reading it right now. I'm trying not to fly through it so I can savor it, but I have a feeling that's going to be difficult.

Also, part of the three I read were 2 of a different series I enjoy, the Stormwalker series by Allyson James. The ending to the latest book tells me more is coming, but they're not out yet... which means I'm back to the pool of uncertainty that is my Kindle Library after the Harrison book. I tend to get a LOT of books free from Bookbub or when I see them as recommended, so I have a lot of unknowns lurking in the pool. Often I'm pleasantly surprised and find a good one in the murk--but most times I struggle through 3-4 books before I finaly hit a good one (and good in my opinion--my tastes may suck :D).

Wrap-up
So yeah, other than a SHITE TON of SIMS 4 and building (which passes the late night hours so quickly--its 2am before I even realize it!) ... and work keeping me swamped during the day, life is good. We watch Amalia every Friday and she's such a pooper but in a good way--she constantly makes us laugh with her antics (which we try not to laugh at so she doesn't make them habits).  It's great I have Friday's off for the summer cuz I can help my mom out with her as she really is a handful. The weekends are either spent relaxing or hanging out with the brothers/sis-in-law... so overall, balanced and healthy.

The only thing missing from my usual routine is Warcraft. I haven't touched it in weeks and haven't really had any desire to either. I do miss my guildies, but half of them don't come around either, most of the time, and the ones that do are often off in mythic +'s and I just don't really want to level anything right now (I think I burnt myself out) ... so yeah. It's still deactivated. I'll see what ends up happening with Covenants for the newest Shadowlands expansion, but if it all seems too grindy I may not come back.

I like a difficult game, but I don't like one where I sit there and waste 40 hours a week doing the exact SAME thing ... to get something I need for something else that will take another 40 hours of the same type of thing. Theyre not very good at mixing shit up, and keeping it story-driven/engaging. It's "Heres the same 10 world quests. Have fun and good luck".  There is a tower coming in Shadowlands, but I can see that getting dull by the 108th run of it too. Sooooo yeah. It's like, give us stuff in piece-meal -- every few patches, add a new storyline (short or long), that really enagages and then it adds 2-3 more dailies to the pool...etc.etc.  But nope... same ole shit, different day. Guess I shall see.

Spent the day today working on a lakehouse. I didn't want a lot that was too large in case folks wanted something smaller, but after making this I am thinking I WILL make a different one on a larger lot so I can make the actual lake bigger. This is more like a Pondhouse LOL BUT... name stays. Again, a bunch of screenshots to show it off a bit. Two of the rooms aren't built out as I am leaving them blank for folks to do as they wish with them (either two more bedrooms or whatever their hearts desire). The stairs and fishing spot took me a while to get working right, but I am really happy with how this game out. The 'lake' (used losely), is swimmable and fishable so YAY.

If you'd like to download it, the ID is: iMarSeeYa and it's "The Lakehouse Trudeux". Enjoy!

Most of these screenshots are night shots just because stuff looks nice at night, but the outside has day shots at the very end as well.

So I worked on a nightclub today and I'm pretty damn happy with how this sucker came out. I took wayyyyyy too many screenshots so I'm going to post them all here. I'll upload it in a little while. The club is called "BLUE Nightclub" -- and my ID is: iMarSeeYa. If you click the images below, you can see the original size.

I actually built this home yesterday. If you like it, it's "15 Twin Oracle Point" on the SIM4 Gallery. ID: iMarSeeYa.

This was a reference that a friend sent me. The middle of the home is a little longer than in the reference pic but I still like how mine came out. Considering SIMS doesn't have things that exactly match, I again had to be creative and use things that I felt were close enough or would get 'the job done'. I really am pleased with how the outside came out (and the inside, but that was not a reference, that just my own designing.  There were two more rooms I didn't SS because I uploaded this for folks to use and left them bare for them to decide if they wanted another two bedrooms or another bedroom and toddler room, etc.

This was the reference.

So my plan for this weekend was to read, play games and relax. I did all of those, so not a total waste. My other plan had been to forget about work/people ... that wasn't so successful. Saturday morning L text me to say that the head honcho had written to me to confirm I'd be helping him out while L is on vacation the next two weeks. I had to hop onto work email and confirm that, "sure! I'd be happy to..."  I get it though, it IS two whole weeks and he's got a lot going on so it makes sense. But it could have waited until tomorrow? Oii.

But yeah, I actually read this weekend! Almost the entire book (have about 50 pages left of the 342 pages). It's a series I enjoy, so that is probably why. Hopefully, I'll finish it tonight if I don't fall asleep in the next hour.

I also played a lot of video games. Mostly Dawn of Man yesterday and today Surviving Mars and SIMS 4. I decided to go looking for a reference to try to make in the game, and I found this image:

Here is what I attempted and am pretty happy with how it came out. I had to use some of my own creativity for certain pieces (like the garage doors since SIMS 4 does not have cars or garages--real bummer btw)... and the pink on the awnings is quite dark in my version mostly because the game didn't have a much lighter option for the pink stripes--and I don't like using custom content so I never download it.  Considering all of that ... I'm pretty happy with how it came out!

I just finished watching The Old Guard on Netflix. It stars Charlize Theron, whom I really enjoy watching so this movie was something I was looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. It was really good--full of action, story and a little bit of myth. I love myths <3  So yeah, quite a fun film.

We all went over to Nelson's house for dinner to commemorate dad's birthday, which was the 8th. Spent some time with the little munchkin. She's too damn much and is constantly making us laugh with her antics. Her favorite word now is, "no" so you can imagine how often she uses it lol. She also loves to test our limits and continues to do stuff when we tell not to... it's just all too much.

She came by earlier so we could watch her while my brother did some work around the house and Trisha got caught up on some chores. She does things that at her age I didn't think she'd be able to, but constantly impresses me with her intelligence. I know, I'm gushing but she's my niece/goddaughter and I can't help it. I have some photos I'll share at the end of the post in a cut.

Work
So I was 'promoted' at work, but it didn't come with much of a raise. I will now be helping out 5 different departments instead of just two.... so that will be fun /sarcasm. I just have a feeling 'some' of those I'll be working for won't find it easy to share, and I just do NOT want to deal with their shit. With T, I've basically been doing her work for the last two months and I get nowhere near her salary, and I just cannot take it anymore. She was supposed to be doing a whole crap ton of work in this new system we're going be using come August 1st, and she's done NOTHING! I've had to do work on it just so we can be ready for LIVE and it's been driving me and the system admin absolutely crazy.

So yeah, even though I'm still working from home, there's still all the headaches and frustrations because its the PEOPLE, not the work that make me nuts. It's the double standard, where I have to always be on top of my work and productive, but certain folks at the top don't and are never reprimanded and it is so fucking annoying.

At least I have two weeks coming up off, and I'm going to enjoy them, even if I cannot go anywhere... just to get away from these people will be enough.

Games
My Warcraft subscription ended, and normally I would I have quickly signed back up, but I just have not been feeling the game these last few weeks (and it's been more off than on the last year). I bought a few new games on the Steam Summer Sale, one being Dawn of Man which I've been playing constantly for the last three days. It's a survival game and I'm addicted. I only have two gripes with it: 1) I can't zoom out or zoom in enough and it drives me bonkers. I like to get in nice and close to see the details and it doesn't allow it, and sometimes I like to see the whole big area and it doesn't allow that. AND 2) my 'early settlers' aren't the brightest bulbs. They'll be in town, with PLENTY of food and access to it, and I get a notification that they've died of starvation. Really? HOW?! Lol ... yeah, those are my only two gripes and considering video games, that's not too bad.

I've also been playing my Surviving Mars a bit and Farm Together. I redownloaded Assassins Creed Origins and gonna try that out tomorrow. I've also been playing Planet Zoo quite a bit. The graphics in this game are absolutely breathtaking and the depth of play takes hours to learn (I did the training videos which took 4 hours and I didn't even fully finish lol). So yeah, definitely a game that one can dump HOURS into.

I haven't been building the last couple of weeks in SIMS. Mostly because I want to play some of these newer games I bought, but I'm sure I'll be back to it in no time. Speaking of, I love watching videos by this simmer, Deligracy. She makes some amazing homes, does some fun challenges, and inspires me all the time. If interested, definitely check out her YouTube Channel.

Reading
I have royally sucked ASS with my reading this year. One would think that being home, I'd have all the time between work ... I used to read at work all the time during lulls, but right now I can't seem to get into it. I have a feeling it's because I have games at home and I'd rather play a game than read a book, which yeah. Also, I think I've been reading books that just haven't spiced up my desire to read them (this last one took me a month to finish). I need to stop wanting to be a completionist and just put the book aside and move on when they get like that.

Weekend
My only plans this weekend is to sleep... I haven't been sleeping well due to how humid and gross it's been this week (even the AC has been struggling to keep the room cool). I also HOPE to do some reading, but realistically, probably won't happen. I just want to relax and not 'think' about anything. I also want to finish Once Upon a Time. I'm on Season 6--and just read that most of the cast isn't even in Season 7 so like WTF?! Not really looking forward to Season 7 but I have enjoyed the show up to this point. I think the next show I'm going to give a try and catch up on (saw 2 seasons), is Agents of Shield.  Netflix has SO many of it's own movies/shows now on here that I want to watch quite a few of them but it's gonna take a while to wade through and pick out the ones I definitely want to spend time watching.


Anywho, some photos of my lovely niece <3

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So I just made a wedding venue for my town and was hoping to upload it but it seems the SIMS 4 gallery is currently down. Eventually though, Oceanside Wedding Venue" will be uploaded to the gallery whenever they get it fixed. But here are some screenshots. Pretty happy with how it came out considering it's a small lot. I'll probably make a more elaborate one on a bigger lot (with waterfalls, etcetc.). First I'll have to figure out how to make waterfalls :P (Love YouTube for that very reason--thank you super creative folk!).

Okay, I guess I am on a roll. I decided to make another pool park since folks liked my other one. This one has a deck that goes out into the pool. It's a shame you cannot jump from here into the pool but it still looks pretty amazeballs. I really love how this came out. I originally had the stairs coming down from the pavilion onto that smaller deck, but my SIM couldn't get to the items on it, so I had to add stairs off on the side which doesn't look as nice but at least makes it functional...which is what we really want.

So yeah... really happy with how this one came out and gave me some ideas for my legacy SIM once I actually start to play her (she's the ICON).  Again, if you like this (as with the stuff in the previous post), ID: iMarSeeYa. Enjoy!