Surprise Announcement!

Since our story for today is honestly really sad and really unplanned I'm going to add two extra posts to the weekend and we can do a weekend-long post. Every day from July 31, 2020, to August 3, 2020, I'll be having a blog post at noon like normal. I'm only really adding two bonus posts but there is a lot going on in these 4 posts to help with the heartbreak that is about to come in the next half an hour! I love these characters so much and when the Sims actually works with my story and throws me curveballs I love it which is another reason why we have so much content coming out over the weekend. The things that happen were just so long that it broke down into three separate parts and then the fourth part will be checking in on our resident lothario Adam! If you've been on my Plum Tree lately you may have had a little spoiler as to what I'm talking about! If you don't want the spoiler then just hold off until Sunday to look at it. Adam's story isn't messing with our family tree. We did not have another wedding but there are birthdays, deaths, babies, and lots of Adam's craziness. So let's start with the heartbreak, which is the first story coming out today as normally scheduled. This honestly can be seen in the next few posts but isn't really touched on so it had to be the first story coming out. 

A Couple More Things

Two more things that I wanted to announce since I'm already doing a little announcement post. 1. I did start a new job a couple weeks ago so as of right now I'm not thinking about changing the publishing schedule yet. I think I can keep up with doing three posts a week like I'm doing now. But when school starts and if I start to get overwhelmed I think we may turn Friday into an occasional post and not every week one. If I do that I will definitely give you all a heads up for that. But my goal is to continue as normal. 2. I may have been going really overboard with the Instagram posts and I'm sorry if they have been really overwhelming. I'm trying really hard to get them caught up in our story. Ideally, I want the pictures and the story to coincide with one another instead of one being the way, way ahead of each other. So as soon as they get caught up I promise I won't post as much UNLESS if you prefer a lot of content coming at you like it is right now, just caught up with the story. Just let me know because it is definitely doable. I don't have a set schedule for Instagram they just come out whenever I remember to post them and I try to leave at least an hour between posts. Another thing you may have noticed is that I'm trying to get my Instagram to be more cohesive so we now have these little bubbles/stories at the top of my profile and there you will be able to see generation goals, main characters, side characters, plumtree information, and I'm thinking about adding a family tree to the plum tree tab, just a lot of fun little information that can get lost among all of the posts to help new people get caught up with the story since we have officially hit over 300 posts. If there are any other things you would like for me to do or do differently please let me know! I'm going to try to get my blog to match the same colors that I use on my Instagram so it will look like it all goes together. 

As you saw I updated the blog's look too. I never liked the original one's look I felt like it didn't represent my content or even me so I've always been wanting to update it but I've really been more concerned about getting content out instead of the look. However, I had enough of it and really wanted it to represent both my Simstagram and the family tree page. On my Instagram, I don't have a set aesthetic to it but the bubbles/stories do and they all start with the same title page and format so I wanted that to be represented on my page for sure and we really get that from the header with all the bright colors and how it looks. Then for the background, I really had a lot of issues with it mostly because I could not figure out how to get a single picture there. Well, I finally got it figured out, and even then I ended up changing it a couple times. I'm really happy with how it looks and feels like it is a little bit easier to navigate and read. If you all need me to change something or have any suggestions let me know and I'll work on it, but for now, this is what I got. I also realized that the comment section wasn't working properly so hopefully now it will allow people with and without accounts to comment on it all. 

Insane Date Night! + A Little Real Life Update

Even though Aubrey and Orange are now married they are still really young, I mean Aubrey just graduated and started her job not too long ago, so they really like to go out and have as much fun as they can before they have children, if they have children at all! I honestly think Aubrey wants to have kids and create a stable, loving family and the same goes for Orange. I mean really got to see how he is pretty much raising Daryl. Even though they no longer live together Daryl is always at their house, he even has his own bedroom. 

Anyways let's get back to our story for today! 

So one day after work Orange called Aubrey at home and asked her if she wanted to go out on a little date, and man did this date get weird! 

Orange in hair and makeup getting ready for his gig

Aubrey said of course and met him on set after he was finished for the day. She asked where they were going but Orange said it is a surprise, but it's going to be a laid back date.  

The happy newlyweds ended up going to the bar to spend some time together. They even had a lot of fun, but of course, the paparazzi showed up. Now that Orange is a global superstar it is extremely hard for them to go anywhere without the paparazzi being close by. 

Orange even got Aubrey a present! It turns out that Orange got a brand new drone and a camera! Aubrey has really started getting into filming videos and she has always been really into photography. Aubrey really loved these gifts and Orange loves making her smile!

But as soon as Orange gave her the present the paparazzi and fans got so thick that they just had to run for it. They ended up at a gym not too far away from the bar that they were at, but it was quiet and away from all of the watching eyes. They even ran into Vanessa, one of Orange's coworkers, and Kassandra, Aubrey's sister. While they were there Orange decided to practice his acting skills and show Aubrey how good he has gotten. Plus his next required him to practice his romance scenes! He first performed it with Vanessa so that Aubrey could watch him, and then he performed it with Aubrey.

If that wasn't weird and already a really long date the couple then went to a festival in San Myshuno for a little bit. These two know how to have fun and bounce around a lot! Like I said they want to ensure that they have has much fun as possible whenever the opportunity arises, and I love it. It's just really exhausting jumping around so much. 

Sidenote

I'm thinking once our Neverland story gets up and running, we will also be getting ready for Adam's story, plus Steve and Maleficent since we have been having a pretty steady stream of posts I think we will start organizing it to where we focus on one sim a week or one sim each post. Kind of like we are doing now, but more of rotation since we are going to have some really big stories coming at us I don't want to get bogged down with one and miss out on seeing other people, kind of like when Maleficent was starting her spellcasting and that was all we have seen while the rest of the family was kind of left in the dust. This is just an idea that I've been thinking about and I think we are going to start doing that, especially when the other three stories are up and running. I'm also really working hard on getting Instagram caught up in our story. In an ideal world, I will be able to post all of the pictures (plus bonus content) over on Instagram the same day if not the same week as content comes out here. I noticed how far behind Insta is while I was putting Neverland together and decided to make that my main focal point so I've been rushing to get all of these stories written up so it can just auto-publish while I work on it. I also hope to be starting a brand new job soon and if that is the case I'm not sure if it will affect our publishing schedule yet or not, but that will be a bridge we will cross when it happens, I just hope it is soon! I think that is all of the news I've been wanting to tell you all so as always if you have any questions please leave a comment or message me on Insta at ShayKays_Sims! 

Posting Schedule

Checking-In

I wanted to take a moment to give everyone a heads up that I'm working on a more concrete posting schedule, and right now where I'm homebound I think it will work out best to get this ball rolling. I know ever since I got this blog up and running there really hasn't been a lot of continuity it was either posting a whole lot all at once or sporadically over time, and that was because of life. I really want it to be more structured and predictable. But I'm definitely a mood player, and just like everyone else, there are times that I can get into Sims and play nonstop and then there are days that I just don't want to play at all. So there are moments where I need to just step back from the game and do something else like reading or working on a puzzle. Looking back it always seems that I have a cycle where I play Sims until I get burnt out on it then swap over to reading until I get burnt out on it and so on. But because I'm working on a legacy challenge I'm determined to play at least for an hour a week, if not more. Just playing an hour to work on story progression gets so much done and still get content out for you all.

Plus due to the Coronavirus that is going around my classes are currently shut down. We are switching to an online system for the rest of the semester which means I literally have nowhere to go until I get a new job so if I cannot stick to a publishing schedule something is just wrong with me. It's definitely been a learning curve for me that I've been figuring out as I go because I'm used to my book blog where I start a post one week and then a week or two later I update that post, and then another week or two then that post is finally done and then published. But on here I have tons of content and my issue really is a backlog and keeping Instagram from getting ahead of the story over here. So I'm going from this long-drawn-out process to having so much content that it is getting all tangled up! This is why sometimes stories come out faster on Instagram, but I think I've finally figured out a process that works best for me to where the stories will come here first and then over there, this caused a short hiatus from Instagram but we are back up and rolling.

I try to post at least one picture a day, but right now we have definitely been doing 3 or more pictures sporadically throughout the day. As of right now, that will definitely stay how it is and not have any set publishing dates. Sometimes I will post a story here then immediately post it over there to announce there's something new over here, but right now I suck at adding links to my posts on Instagram and it is driving me nuts! That is my next issue to figure out. I want it to look pretty and bring you right to the story and it looks like a bunch of messy letters.

For the most current up to date information on my Disney family, I think it would be Plumtree. I really do try to keep that as accurate as possible, and sometimes over there I'll have information out before it gets posted anywhere else. I just love how it's set up. The only downfall is you don't get a whole lot of information other than the picture of who it is along with their traits. I'm so curious about this app and really can't wait to follow the lines as far as we can go! I know right now I have updated all of their pictures except for Maleficent so you can already see what Aubrey looks like as a teen even though I haven't posted her birthday story yet, it just happened so it will be coming out next week or week after that.

About Me

It's come to my attention that I've not really done a formal introduction to myself on here or on Instagram so I'm going to give it a go. I try not to talk about my personal life too much because the whole purpose of this blog is my Sims family so I try to leave it there, but I'm going to give you all a little information about me.

I'm almost twenty-six years old and I've played Sims for as long as I can remember, but I think the earliest memory of the game is around fifth grade, and it is Sims 2 playing with the Capulets and Montagues! I loved these two families and I played it as much as possible, and really what pulled me into gaming. Up until this point I played console games like Mario Karts but really gaming wasn't all that important to me at that point in my life. I really became an avid player during Sims 3. I remember using all my birthday money, holiday money, and just begging for all of the expansion and stuff packs for the Sims 3. This is when I really started using custom content and just expanding my Sim knowledge. I just fell in love with the game.

Since Sims 4 came out I've typically always had a job so I spoiled myself by making sure I have every expansion/stuff pack that comes out because I've never had that. Sims 3 I came really close and on Sims 2 I didn't even know this stuff existed outside of what was on the one little disc that I had.  Plus I knew nothing about custom content or cheats! Out of all of this time of playing the Sims I've never had a huge legacy! I usually spend hours if not days building up a house to fit what I need for my Sim that I wanted to play out and then play for a few weeks/months then start all over. I always had more enjoyment in setting the game up than actually playing the game. Even when my Sims' lifespan is on the lowest tier I will only get to the third/fourth generation then start all over. As for the challenges I just learned about them not too long ago, about a year or two ago, and I've played with 100 children challenge, but again I got to about 15 kids and ended it. But I am determined you guys do this huge Disney legacy that I have mapped out! Is it too ambitious? Definitely! But we're doing it! I spent way too many days making my layout for this family we are not going anywhere until we hit at least generation 25! Hopefully past there because I have so many different side characters that I would love to play too, but I couldn't fit them into my story that I have laid out.

Outside of the Sims, I'm a college student, currently working on my Masters in Public Administration. It's been a lot of fun and I'm currently projected to graduate a semester early, but with school going to all virtual for the rest of the semester I'm not sure if it will affect my graduation date yet or not. I'm a doggy mom I have two crazy doggies that are my best friends most of the time. I'll insert a picture below! They definitely help add to the chaos of my life. Another huge thing that is currently going on in my life right now is that I'm supposed to be getting married this year. I've spent the last two years planning it down to the T but it all went up in smoke this past week so I really couldn't tell you when it is going to happen. I'm determined to still get married on my wedding date, just with a whole lot fewer people and probably in my dining room over a live stream. I've been working out this mess all week, another reason why I needed Sims in my life! Whenever everything seems to be just spinning out of control I need to be able to be in control of my Sims family to just calm me down some.

As you can tell above I don't have a job at the moment. I've been looking very hard but then the whole corona thing happened and now my state is under a government shutdown, West Virginia, so it is going to get a lot rougher before it gets any easier. But we will get through it!

Plans for Sims

So far my plans are to do this Disney challenge. But where this is ShayKay's Sims I could eventually branch out into more stories. I would love to do a 100 Baby Challenge after we get to at least generation 25, Disney is definitely my main concern right now. Another thing that I'm dying to do is Bitlife controls my game because I've been obsessed with it ever since the updates that they have done, plus Clare on YouTube has been playing it and it looks like so much fun. It could be something short and a break away from the Disney's if I need something to break it up. But again I don't have a whole lot of time where I can just sit down and play Sims anymore so when I do have the time I'm going to focus on the Disney family, and for now, I'm totally okay with it! I love this concept and this family I have going on so far. This is only generation 1 & 2, and gen 2 are still kids, so we have tons of time to branch out if we can or want too but for now I'm getting so much content from just Disney that I'm not worried yet. 

My biggest issue that I've run into so far is feeling like I'm rushing things in the game yet at the same time feeling like I'm going too slow! When I'm in the game I feel like I'm so far behind because my sim kids are still kids and toddlers but their stories might be done at that stage or haven't even started yet, but something is holding the process up and I can't age one up yet because I need to do something with another Sim first. A great example is my toddlers, I know toddlers are one of the shortest life stages in the Sims but I have auto-aging off on my played Sims and then on my townies, they are all on the longest life settings. I also have notifications on so I know when a townie has baby, gets married, moves, or even dies. I like using the notifications to help gauge where the kids should be. Adam and Steve have literally maxed out everything and that is from my bare minimal help and if this was any other sim family I would've already aged them up into kids, but I haven't. I wanted them to wait become kids because in my head I wanted the birthdays to all to go in the same order: Aubrey, Maleficent, the twins, and then Mickey and Dina. The only one in this whole house that hasn't aged up at all is Pluto. Pluto came into the game already an adult dog, and I think after Maleficent ages up into a teen Pluto's going to age up as well.

Anyways I did age up Dina and Mickey, but then I also aged up the boys. My game was literally at a standstill because I was ready for everyone to age up except for Aubrey which meant I couldn't age up any of the other kids until she became a teenager. But then I came to the realization that the twins should age up into children before she's a teenager because toddlers are a short life span no matter what duration your life settings are, they will always be one of the shortest stages. So my boys are now children and I've been having so much fun with Steve's scout badges. It's a hot mess, and probably not as big of an issue as it is in my head. I just don't want the game to seem rush, yet when I look at the story and Instagram I feel like we are right on track. I just know what's going on the game a little bit more than everyone else since I'm playing in the 'future.'

This was taken awhile ago and the Newfie is almost double that size now lol. Anyways here are my babies, Ranger and Kylo! They are inseparable and we also have a puppy running around named Dexter. Plus Blue the cat, but he only likes me when we are in separate rooms! 

The Gallery

For anyone that plays Sims, you know that there is a thing called the gallery. It is where we all post content that we made for everyone to be able to download and play. I hardly ever post anything in my gallery because I never make anything. Everything I use is something I download and then customize to meet what I need, and then I either save it to my library or that's as far as the creation lives is that game. I don't like reuploading other people's content even if I completely redesign it because I didn't build it and the same with sims if I change their personality and clothes I still don't upload them back onto the gallery. But since we are starting to get a little following I'm going to try to remember to upload my family, give everyone credit where it's due and so on. I'm trying to make it so everything I use in-game has either came from the game or I've made it myself, such as Mickey I completely designed him myself and Dina she came from the game she's actually one of the Caliente sisters.

So I added the whole family to the gallery right before Mickey and Dina aged up into adults. I wish I would've remembered to upload them back when it was just Mickey and Pluto. Now I did not make Pluto I did find him in the gallery, but I kept my Mickey that I created. Pluto was with a Mickey that the creator made and I listed their account over on my first post ever made on this channel. I'll also upload their house as soon as Maleficent ages up and starts using the new room that we made for her. I kind of wish it had its own entrance and I might look into seeing if I can do that after she starts actually using the room.

Since I'm going to start putting more updates on our Disneys on the gallery I'm going to include my gallery name: ShayKay26. Be sure to have your custom content box checked when searching for anything. I don't know why the two I have up so far are categorized as having CC when I'm pretty sure there isn't any. 

Just a Heads Up

I just wanted to let everyone know that sometimes it is hard for me to get content up as fast as I was doing. At the beginning of this blog I was posting almost every day! My love for this series has not changed and I have a lot of content coming I just haven't had the time this week to write it all up. I'm working on it now and the usual Sunday post will be up on time. I'll also have some premade posts so this upcoming week we will have some more posts coming out throughout the week, most likely on Tuesday and possibly Thursday. I'm not sure how long I can wait to post them once they're completely finished. 

I am currently working on my master's degree so school is in session and that boggs down my usual pace and I'm also working on a huge puzzle! When I say huge this thing is over 40,000 pieces! My goal is to have this puzzle done before my wedding in June so in order to do that, I'm going to have to work on it like it's my full-time job over the next few months because I really want to incorporate it into my wedding! So if you are really missing the story and want to try to get your fix you can always check out my Instagram. At the beginning of this expedition, I was trying to maintain my blog before posting pictures because I didn't want the pictures to spoil the posts but I've finally decided this week that I can't just wait to post these pictures because if I do I'll lose them, forget to post them, or never have any content coming out. So my Instagram is totally dedicated to this story as of right now and it will always have at least one post a day, usually in the evening. With a little update with the story because I always try to fit in at least an hour of gameplay in a day. I just got the puzzle a day ago so my sims have been neglected a little bit. But I'll figure out a better system in the future. I just wanted to touch base with everyone so you will know that I haven't forgotten to post anything and I haven't abandoned my project, at least yet. Just my adult/nerdy life is getting in the way a little bit!

As always if you have any questions or feedback please let me know and stay tuned for the next entry of the Disney family life! I have a lot of stuff so please don't hate me if it is a little rambly over the next few posts.