Advorton Zoo goes Small Business

(Year 234, Spring) Mazaloom's only Zoo is located at Plaza Mariposa in Ciudad Enamorada. Mónica Lopéz is the manager, and she is assisted by her young adult son and teen daughter. Together they form a solid team tendiong to the animals, but also improving and changing the features of the zoo.

- It is important to us that repeat guests will both recognize the place and discover something new every year. With a mix of ages, preferred animals and not to mention unforseen events, it is quite a puzzle to make everyone happy - including the animals. Last year we got the Crow Advardo, but this year we ran into so many challenges that we desided that upgrading the zoo to Small Business would be enough.

Mónica welcomes us at the entrance. §29 per guest, please!

- In the past we had a couple sales tables, that one of us needed to tend during the opening hours. With the Small Business deal we just make sure to stock the goods before opening hours, and the one who used to tend the sales is now free to do something else. And believe me, at any zoo the chores never ends.

Advorton Zoo

(Year 233, Spring) At Plaza Mariposa in Ciudad Enamorada there is a Zoo! Well, it used to be a bit more exclusive, but it is still worth a visit. Because it is no longer accepted to keep wild animals in a cage, you will see neither tigers and elephants from Tomarang, nor apes and snakes from Selvadorada. Only a couple very rare species are kept in the name of science. Instead, Advorton Zoo offers visitors to meet with a large number of creatures, big and small. Families spend hours here - especially children find so much to enjoy.

Advorton Zoo has been around for a couple generations. Let's take a look at what they offer! But first - a few worlds about the zoo keepers: The López family.

Animals must be correctly named

(Year 232, Summer) You might have seen a foreign mini goat and wondered where it belongs? Many of us have. They might appear on your ranch, in your back court, or maybe by the photo booth outside the local recreation center. There might be a name tag telling its name, but not any last name giving a hint on who are the owners.

A mini goat visiting a photo booth in San Sequoia.

The Health & Welfare dept. has now received too many complaints to ignore this problem. Therefore, from next year it will be obligatory to include the owner's family name on that tag!

Groceries coming to Arena Shopping Mall

(Year 229) Just a quick note from the Arena Shopping Mall in Newcrest. Since a generation they offered clothes, gifts, baked goods, photo studio and much more. Now they are preparing a new section offering locally produced groceries!

Expanding your community lots

We all want more lots, more community lot settings and multi functional malls. So far this is all more or less restricted, but nobody can stop you adding features to your standard community lot.

The old library at Gibbs Hill in Britechester got some new features!

I often add one or more extra features that has little or nothing to do with the lot category. Those tiny corners might not attract the NPCs, but the point is to create more arenas for my active household to enjoy.

Our Brand New Farm Life - Part 3 of 3 (Fall)

(Year 227, Fall) In this mini series we'll follow Antoinette Morck and Salim Benali and their 5 kids moving from a tiny rented flat in San Myshino, to run the Moo-moo Cow Farm in Henford-on-Bagley. It's not only a long distance to travel, but even more an extreme change to how they live their lives. There are 3 parts each representing one week in a different seasons.

If you missed their first 2 weeks, you might like to start here.

*) This is a not-in-game thing.

3rd Week - day 1

I'm Antoinette Morck. Last two weeks taught me that faming is real hard work! 

I moved to Henford-on-Bagley with my patner Salim and our 5 kids, Mangela, Selinda, Joshua, Conny and Poblo, Four of the children go to school, and they are old enough to help out with our Moo-moo Cow Farm. The four cows Pinky, Princess, Klaira and Nameless need our daily attention, and we also grow just a little vegetables for our own consume. On top of this, recently the children got a kitten from their "aunt" Catarina Lynx in Brindleton Bay (my brother Ray lives with her). This week we'll try to make better profit and to optimize our routines.

Planning your Farm Produce

(Year 227, Cottage Living) I like my farmers to have different goals for their efforts and produce. Although most of them grow a little bit of everything for own consume, they often have a bigger amount of one or two selected species. This might be according to their Farm Rights, which force them to deliver a certain amount, or they might have specialized in specific products or markets, such as preserves or animal treats etc.

Does your farm have such a main goal?

Our Brand New Farm Life - Part 2 of 3 (Summer)

(Year 227, Summer) In a new mini series we'll follow Antoinette Morck and Salim Benali and their 5 kids moving from a tiny rented flat in San Myshino, to run the Moo-moo Cow Farm in Henford-on-Bagley. It's not only a long distance to travel, but even more an extreme change to how they live their lives. There will be 3 parts each representing one week.

If you missed their first week, you might like to start here.

*) This is a not-in-game thing.

2nd Week - day 1

I'm Antoinette Morck. Our first week as farmers started rough, but I think we gradually found a better routine. That was before we were forced to get the fourth cow, though...

When we bought Moo-moo Cow Farm we did not realize that we had to keep 4 cows for milk production. It was challenging enough for our household of 7 just moving from San Myshuno to Henford-on-Bagley. On the picture above our farm is centered, the Watson Chicken  Farm is our closest neighbor (right), and the Rossie Palace is up there on the hill across the River Bagley (left). It's a nice neighborhood, indeed.

When in Love with a Bicycle

Have you ever been in love with a bicycle? And even worse - a digital bicycle?

Whoever purchase the The Sims 4 expansion pack Cottage Living before September 2nd will get access to 3 extra items, including the cutest TS4 bicycle I ever saw. I think it will be perfect not only for Henford-on-Bagley residents - I also have a previous Duchess in mind :)

After 2 weeks of playing I'm thrilled with this pack, that released on July 22nd. Hoping what's left of Summer will be a chilly and rainy, with plenty of days and nights for gaming (j/k).

Our Brand New Farm Life - Week 1 of 3 (Spring)

(Year 227, Spring) In a new mini series we'll follow a family of 7 moving from a tiny rented flat in San Myshino, all the way to Henford-on-Bagley. It's not only a long distance to travel, but also an extreme change to how they live their lives. There will be 3 parts each representing one week, starting with the dreams & moving, then there will be improvement of farm and routines and blending into the local community, and finally a quick summing it all up.

OBS: The first part is a long read, come back with a cup of tea when you got the time needed, or prepare for just scrolling the pictures. The next two chapters will be shorter.

This Fall, head of the household will be guesting the HIP Studio show, that will return!

But first - let's get to know this big household!

Antoinette Morck (42) might ring a bell with many, well known from co-hosting the annual Reg12 NEWS. However, she is more of a private person, and never worked hard on building fame beyond the expected minimum. Not many knew that she lives together with Salim Benali (51), and that they over 6 years had a total of 5 kids!

Mugger Farm attends the Fair

(Year 227) Today the second Cottage Living special edition of my Screenshot Folder video series (phew) was released. Instead of the 3 remaining videos focusing on just 3 households, I chose to dedicate each of them to the households of each of the 3 hoods. So, today you will meet the residents at Shiningham Hall (Ross), Cracrow Cottage and Crumpleton Cracrow - all at Finchwick! Embedded video link at end of this article.

Here on the blog today's focus will be on Finchwich also, but not the households. A farmer from far outside of Henford brought her daughter (8) to enter the contests at the weekly Finchwick Fair!

Janet Mugger runs the family farm, Mugger farm, at Muggerdale in Gloomville (aka the poor hood of Willow Creek). She was a teenager when her parents were no longer around, and although her only brother had plans of moving to Brindleton Bay, he stayed with Janet until she was old enough to run the farm by her own.

Online Residents Registry Upgrade

(Y227) Cottage Living comes with lots of new animals and produce, and my online residents registry had to be upgraded with some of the new content. Farm Rights were updated (although the system is being looked into on request by the MIDDLE party), but even more interesting is that HOUSEHOLD INFO has been added to each personal bio-page.

Politician Fanny Silverbone has her hands full at home - 2 cows, chicken coop, and more than 30 produce plants.
Plenty of chores for herself and hubby George, and their 2 children, 3 dogs and 1 cat!

In the past each bio page was including personal stuff only, but now you will see all members of the household with name/age if you point at their mini icon, and link to their personal bio page for more info if you click the icon.

History of Henford-on-Bagley

(Year 227, Henford-on-Bagley) Right before TS4 Cottage Living expansion pack release, here's my take on the Henford history!

It's both fun and challenging trying to blend in a new world with my existing history of 227 years, not the least because Henford-on-Bagley is actually the main seat of one of my most prominent families and dukedoms; House of Ross. They held the Rossie dukedom since the very start, and throughout all these years they contributed to the development of this countryside community, not the least the trades of various farming crops.

Geographically Rossie is 3/5 of Region 2, located just outside my focused Region 12. Rossie covers the districts Henford-on-Bagley, Britechester and Hollow. This places the Rossie dukedom among the largest peerages of the entire Mazaloom, territorically. 

Llamas everywhere!

(Year 227, Oasis Springs) So, we are eagerly awaiting the Cottage Living pack and with llamas introduced, TS4 will take a giant step forward, for sure! It's funny how a game with the llama as a legendary cultural element from the very start took more than two decades to add the animal itself to the mix. We have all been waiting for this moment- the wait is not over until July 22nd, but at least we find ourselves counting days.

As long as I can remember, there were always numerous of small hints of the llama being an important element of the simmish culture. Llamas on t-shirts, naming the Sim City football team, and many of the popup text events featured a llama reference, also, even if we never ever saw a single llama or knew exactly how or when they were such a big deal to simkind. At the moment I'm accessing neither my game(s) nor the internet, so I won't dive into all those reference details.

Cottage Living - Farming is coming!

Farming is coming to The Sims 4 this Summer! July 22nd is release date for EP Cottage Living.

And I must admit I loved the trailer that released today! We finally get rural farming content, and it's on time our farmers can have more than just plants. This pack lacks animals like sheep and pigs, but there is still a great variety, I think. Enough to keep your farmers busy, and they can even make a living from different farm stuff.

These pictures are  from the trailer.  I captured them because I love exploring those details, and because I have  waited for a pack like this for so long, I'll share more screenies and facts than I normally do.

What are those circles in the left side of this landscape? And might the ruins offer a surprise?

We don't know much, but there is already some info on the new rural world. It's named Henford on Bagley, comes with 3 hoods with 4 lots each. I have been so worried for the lot sizes, because I already have plans for an upcoming world, where I will need to move an already built house to a 64x64 lot. But how rare are those huge lots these days? I nearly fell off my chair when it was confirmed that there is indeed a 64x64 lot in Henford!