Welcome the cutest little Jenni! Happy Birthday Grace! You're so close to finishing this, are you proud?
Whether this attempt succeeds or fails I am proud for a couple of reasons. I had only played TS3 (and never played any other Sims games except on Nintendo DS many years ago - but those don't even compare to the complexity, freedom and fun of TS3) for about a month when I started the dynasty, so even getting this far is a real accomplishment for me. I'm proud of and humbled by everyone's gracious encouragement and support on this forum. You are all so incredibly creative and talented, and being welcomed into the community means more than you can imagine. Being so close to finishing is making me excited, nervous, proud and sad all at the same time, but I'm already planning my next dynasty for after Generations comes out - house is designed and founder is created, all I need is the EP.
Many thanks to lilygirl for suggesting the name Carmen in honor of Carmelo. I was so stuck in my thoughts about using names starting with 'J' that it never even occurred to me. I was super excited that Jenni got Grace's blonde hair and, upon closer inspection, her eye color comes from Jamie (I thought his eyes were more gray, but up close they are definitely grayish-amber). I'm unnaturally attached to her - I think because it was touch and go as to whether she would even be born to Grace and Jamie. It bothers me that she will likely lose her mom as a child or teen, so that makes her story even more poignant. It also has given me some ideas for the story line...
Lastly, I don't want to include this in a story update but I feel I need to tell you about it in the interest of full disclosure - particularly if I succeed and make the Hall of Fame. The nectar making challenge Vizard of the Vine (make nectar from 400 bunches of homegrown grapes) appears to be bugged. Initially Jamie made nectar from over 400 grapes that Jeremey planted and harvested in gen 3 and set aside for my nectar making heir - the challenge did not register as complete. I thought perhaps the grapes had to be homegrown during the nectar maker's lifetime, so I had Jackson plant and he and Jamie harvest more than 400 grapes. More nectar but the challenge still wasn't showing as complete.
Last night I had Jamie create a locked garden that only he could get into in order to ensure that no one other than him even touched his grape plants. He planted, fertilized, tended, harvested and made nectar with at least 500 grapes he grew himself and still the challenge is not complete. All together he has crushed 2000 fruits - about 300-400 of which were not homegrown grapes. I asked Metro if I could consider the challenge complete at this point even though it is not showing as such in my game and he agreed that I could. I'm happy to report Jamie has now supermaxed his nectar making skill (and I NEVER want to play another nectar maker for a very, very long time!)
