The Liebster Award - Maisie's questions

Here's the third and last part of my Liebster Award answers, these questions are by Maisie at Millwood.

1. What is your favorite part of your sims & your neighborhood?
How it's all connected. All my households know each other in some way. I also like the genetic diversity in my hood although I went a little overboard with redheads when I was creating the first sims.

2. What are you really good at, be in regards to the game, real life, work, anything?
This is a really difficult question because I'm used to thinking that I'm not good at anything. I'd like to think that I'm a good listener when a friend needs someone to talk to. I also think I'm pretty good at my job although I often say that a monkey could do what we do and for a smaller salary LOL. The last time I sang karaoke a complete stranger came up to my table afterwards and told me I have a really good voice so I guess I'm at least a decent singer.

3. How do you relax or unwind after a trying day?
Netflix and naps. It works every time. Taking a walk in the forest also helps but I'm too scared to go there nowadays because we've had sightings of bears!

4. Favorite vacation or vacation you’d love to take?
Probably visiting Rome, Italy with my mom a few years ago. She'd always wanted to go there so I'm happy that I got to fulfill that dream.

5. What projects do you have planned or hope to accomplish for your game?
I would really like to finish my university building project some day. That's my main goal at the moment. That and to actually play and update my blog...

6. How large is your sims CC folder?
3.81 GB. I had no idea it was that big because I'm kind of picky nowadays when it comes to adding stuff to my game.

7. What is your blogging and playing process? (Write first, plan, play first…)
Something in between. Sometimes I plan ahead a lot and sometimes I just let my sims run rampant and sit back to see what happens. Completely unplanned play sessions have become a rarity though because I usually have at least a vague idea of what the update will be about.

8. What is your favorite family tradition ether now, or from childhood?
Picking a Christmas tree with my dad when I was a kid. We have a little forest next to our house and we sometimes walked for hours before we found the perfect one. Then we decorated it together in the morning of December 24th while my mom was making rice pudding.

9. Where do you find your inspiration for buildings (community/residential) that you build/decorate?
I often look for inspiration online. For residential buildings I often use an existing floor plan as a base to help me get started. With community lots I just look at pictures of similar buildings to get ideas. Sometimes I buy gardening magazines in hopes that I'll actually do landscaping some day - either in game or in real life!

10. Favorite pizza toppings?
Ground beef, ham and pineapple.

11. What’s your favorite season in real life and in the sims game?
Probably spring for both. Although I find it really hard to pick a favourite in real life because I love the four seasons we have in Finland.

The Liebster Award - Fini's questions

Here's the second part of my Liebster Award answers, these questions are by Fini at Newtopia Heights.

1. Who is your greatest writing inspiration? (it doesn’t have to be a sim writer)
I am constantly inspired by other sim bloggers but the two people who inspired me to start writing anything at all were my Finnish teachers in high school.

2. What made you start blogging?
I answered this in my answers to Carla's questions.

3. What are your favorite things to do other than simming?
I love watching movies and tv shows either on tv or on Netflix. I've had Netflix for a few months and it has taken over my life LOL. I also like doing crafts, knitting mostly. I live in the countryside and I love going on long walks in the forest.

4. What influences your writing style?
Mostly the household I'm writing about and especially the sim whose POV I write the update from.

5. Which sims game is your favorite?
TS2 without a doubt. I haven't touched TS1 since TS2 was released, I've only briefly played TS3 and I haven't tried TS4 yet. TS2 has been around for so long and I've built up my game with mods and other CC so it's exactly how I like it to be.

6. Are any of your sims based on someone in real life?
Not really. I do take some tips about how teenagers behave by watching my nieces.

7. When did you start playing?
The Sims when the first game came out. Video games in general, I can't even remember... probably around the time I was 5-6 or something and me and my brother got our first Commodore 64. :)

8. When did you start blogging?
In December 2008.

9. What inspiration have you had from other blogs?
I have gotten a lot of the rules in Wellington from other blogs, either I use them as they are or adapt them to fit Wellington. Often reading other sim blogs also gets me in the mood to play and blog especially if I'm going through a dry spell.

10. Are there any activities in the sims you haven’t gotten to yet?
The whole supernatural world! I've toyed with the idea of a fantasy hood from time to time but I've never gotten around to do it. I doubt I ever will as I don't have enough time to play Wellington let alone adding another hood to play.

11. Where would you live if you could live anywhere?
I'd probably still live where I live now, in a small village in a small town in the northern Finland. But if I had a lot of money I'd renovate our house completely, build a stable and buy a pony! I'm a country girl at heart and can't really see myself living in a big city.

The Liebster Award

I was nominated for a Liebster Award by three amazing bloggers: Carla at Sullivan, Fini at Newtopia Heights and Maisie at Millwood. This was such a lovely surprise and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

It's a pay-it-forward sort of thing, so nominees are supposed to nominate others in turn. These are the rules.

1. Put the award on your blog
2. Thank the blogger who nominated you
3. Nominate 5 to 11 other blogs
4. Answer the 11 questions that were asked
5. Then ask the people you nominate, 11 questions.

Firework

Round 16: March 2026

Aaron Hayes, Emily Midlock and Frieda Robinson are 18.

(Tina is 38.)

Narrated by Emily.

Aaron, Frieda and I managed to get into the same dorm and Frieda and I even share a room. It makes it easier to live with a bunch of strangers when there's two people I've known since I was a kid.

For real

Round 16: February 2026

Kaitlyn Brennan and Stephen Marlowe are 25.

(Zach is 22.)

Narrated by Kaitlyn.

Stephen and I have been living together for a few months now and it's going really well - partly because we don't spend enough time together to fight a lot. I'm on my second year in my doctorate studies and the work load is pretty much insane. I was prepared for it and made a working schedule for myself so it's going alright. There are days when I wonder why I decided to put myself through this but I try to keep my focus on the big prize at the end.

Happy Birthday, February 2026

Eve Midlock has pretty much come to terms with the idea of becoming a mother in a few months. Her roommate Lilly is ok with living with an infant so Eve has decided to stay put and not make any decisions about the future before the birth of her child.

Janelle Patterson celebrates her first birthday and has turned out to be the spitting image of her father Tom.

Aged-down pictures of Janelle's parents Dixie and Tom. I think Janelle might have Dixie's eyebrow shape but other than that she is Tom's girly mini-me.


Notes:

• Eve's third trimester update comes a month early but it seemed reasonable to combine these two short updates into one. I decided to keep Eve living in the apartment with Lilly for now. I'll promote Gabriel (baby daddy) to a playable NPC but I honestly don't know what to do with these two yet.
• I don't care that Janelle looks exactly like Tom because she looks so cute anyway. I always find it hard to choose a hairstyle for a toddler because very long and full hair doesn't seem too realistic for a 1-year-old but I've thrown caution to the wind and just choose whatever I like.

Rivers and roads

Round 16: January 2026

Jack Robinson is 43, Paige is 42, Todd is 14 and Emma is 5.

(Grace is 43 and Skye is 14.)

Narrated by Jack.

I had to hire a new worker because the cashier I had at Farmer's Market wasn't so thrilled at working on the farm. I'm quite happy about the change though because Paula really seems to enjoy working here and that's always a plus. It's much nicer to work with someone who doesn't complain about getting dirt under their nails or having to stay outside all day. She comes by the farm two or three times a week. We always invite her inside for breakfast first before heading out to the greenhouse.