Liberated Cows

Reblog if you're a writer who re-reads their own work for funsies.

Scottish New Year

We all know around the world that the Scottish New Year is highly significant and steeped in traditions. Mostly stemming from pagan and even Norse traditions and customs, they are ingrained in us, well us old folk anyway. You all know this because our song 'Auld Lang Syne' (times long past), by Robert Burns, is used all over the world, which has always surprised me. There are many traditions at New Year but I'll stick to the ones I know about and practiced through my life. Auld Lang Syne, do it properly. You should be in a circle around the dancefloor to sing it, holding hands in the normal way, at the last verse you cross your arms over your chest and take hands with those on either side of you again, I see foreigners crossing the arms all through and that's wrong. When the song ends everyone should run onto the dance floor still linked together, then you all have to twist under your arms without letting go so that you face outward from the circle.

Haud Hogmanay

Hogmanay is our biggest night, the above is how to say Happy Hogmanay in Scots. This happens on 31st December as midnight approaches. Major preparations are in place for this event and right now people are scurrying about making sure their houses are absolutely spotless, Redding the House, that all the dirt from the old year is out. You should have all debts paid before the bells too but this is nigh on impossible in todays economic climate. We also call this 'The Bells' When the bells ring at midnight you should be doing several things. Here where I live we do still have the horns from the shipyards going off at midnight but usually you hear church bells too. As they ring you should be spotlessly clean, house clean, food ready for guests, you should be holding a drink in one hand and food in the other, you must have money in your pocket. This is to ensure food will be there all year long. Whatever you are doing at the bells is what your year will bring. Once the bells have rung out, signifying the start of the new year, you should open a window to let the old year out and the new year in. This is when people step out of their homes and go 'first footing'. Also as soon as the bells ring you must turn your calendar over to the new one. My new one is currently on the wall under the old one, I will remove the old one when the bells ring.

First Footing

Your first foot is the first person who will cross your threshold in the new year, it is hoped that this person will be dark haired, I wasn't allowed out of the door until we had a first foot because I was blonde, just in case I came back before a first foot, a dark haired person brings luck, a male is preferred. Obviously in old times dark haired people were few and far between in Scotland and the Norse areas, which favoured blondes and red heads. Now this person is also charged with traditions and they must have 3 things. Food, drink and a piece of coal. It is also lucky if they bring a coin with them. This is them bringing prosperity to your home. Never turn up at a Scots house in the week after New Year empty handed, on the off chance you are their first foot.

Food for Hogmanay

Many things are traditional, cock a leekie soup, even Cullen skink (fish soup, yuck), Haggis Neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes), most commonly steak pie is made for the bells. This came from a time when Hogmanay wasn't a holiday (it still isn't) and there was no time for food prep so often the steak pie was bought from the butchers. A meal will be enjoyed with the family and there should be enough for any unexpected guests, never run out of food or drink at New Year, yes we do have a whisky. Shortbread of course and my favourite 'bun', this is a type of cake, we have Madeira (plain), sultana or my favourite, which I just had, cherry bun. Clooty dumpling is also very much a part of it all, the leftovers from this can be fried in the morning for breakfast, I don't think many people make the dumpling from scratch now but I do remember my gran and mum doing it. The dumpling would have a coin in it , wrapped in greaseproof paper, it was considered lucky to find the coin. For some odd reason as a kid I always got the bit with the coin from my grannies clooty dumpling, I was the first grandchild, it was rigged. At that time it was a sixpence, which I called a wee shilling, if you don't get that, you never will.

Bonfires, yes we did but not sure this still happens, old pagan thing. Fireworks are loud just as the bells ring and they go on for too long in my opinion.

The celebrations can go on for a full 3 days and sometimes still do, people in a family pick a day they will host, we always did the 2nd when I was a kid. I remember in the morning waking up and finding the living room full of sleeping people while my mum would be in the kitchen making French toast for them all, along with some of that fried leftover clooty dumpling. It's not as busy at New Year as it was back then, with many people just staying up to hear the bells and just going to bed, like I'll be doing tonight, don't worry I do have my cherry bun and a wee dram of Jura Whisky to 'bring in the Bells'.

Ramblings and memories of an old Scottish Woman.

Translation of above Scots

May the best you've ever seen be the worst you'll ever see. May a mouse never leave your (pantry, larder, food cupboard) with a tear in his eye, May you be healthy and strong until you're old enough to die. May you always be as happy as we wish you to be.

I'm seeing a lotta cute posepacks ( ts3 ) lately that aren't pose list compatible?

Is this bc y'all prefer using codes ??? Or bc y'all don't know how ???

gofundme.com

Donate to Help me get Pineal Cyst Removal Surgery!, organized by Ella Collis

Hi there, my name is Ella, and I have had a constant headache for 14 years. I am … Ella Collis needs your support for Help me get Pineal Cys

Hi there, my name is Ella, and I have had a constant headache for 14 years. I am 26 years old. Painkillers do not work.

The pain is caused by a Pineal Cyst. Pineal cysts are relatively common, 1-2% of the population has one, but it is not common that they cause symptoms. Few doctors on this planet even believe they do cause symptoms.

I need Pineal Cyst Removal Surgery if I am ever to experience a pain free day again. The only hospital that offers this surgery in my country, England, is deciding whether it wants to bear the risk of offering this surgery after I was on the waiting list for 6 months. I have found two European surgeons who can perform this surgery and believe I am a good candidate for it.

Needless to say, I, being a disabled unemployed person, cannot afford the surgery. I should be able to have it free on the NHS but it is not routinely offered so they won't fund me getting it abroad.

I am suicidally depressed because of my chronic pain. Doctors don't care about this cyst because it's not a threat to my life. Anti-depressants can only dull the pain so much.

Can people please reblog this, no matter how small your blog is, so that it can get traction?

what i haven't seen the sims community here talk about yet is the current state of ea. it's not good, to put it plainly. ea's biggest cash cow ea sports has severely underperformed. veilguard was a critical failure. ea's stock is iirc at a 5 year low, and it fell overnight after their latest report. the value of ea plunged something like 6 billion dollars. it's insane. as we're speaking we're getting news from studios like bioware being gutted with huge layoffs (trick weekes has been laid off btw).

i do think it's important to consider the yet to be confirmed ts1 and ts2 re-release in this context. i think it's ea's hail mary that they can put out with relatively little effort because well, the games are already made. i don't think ea will meaningfully improve compatibility with newer systems and that it will probably be on par with what you get with osab's installers (which for ts2 easily installs the whole collection for you, together with graphics rules maker which you need to get more resolutions, recognize your graphics card, etc., and lazyduchess' launcher which has many small improvements of its own, including 4gb ram patch).

i'm not going to try to tell you that playing these old games is an easy plug and play solution. it isn't. no old game is as the march of time and technological progress often times leaves old games unplayable without community effort. the ts2 community has been wonderful at keeping the game alive. the current biggest hurdles to accessibility such as pink flashing may not be fixed in this re-release. i just hope that people consider that this is a desperate cash grab of a company that will probably soon be going down the path of ubisoft.

Hi! 

Yesterday an anon asked me if I had a list of my hair retextures so you can better see which hair is which. 

I didn’t, but I know it’s been a pain in the ass to download any of my hairs without pictures, so I’ve compiled every single hair I’ve done into this google spreadsheet. 

The hairs have been sorted alphabetically by creator and color coded according to gender. 

I hope this is useful!

► View: GOOGLE DOCS

Fruit Trees - Download!

Round 4 -

Cherries!

Peaches!

Pears!

Plums!

Y'all enjoy having more trees in your game! Sorry for the quick download dump, I'm on a trip and didn't have much time. Love all of y'all! <3

Say Cheese! Collection 📸

My current sim is a photographer and I was disappointed by the lack of options for cameras in game, so I converted some more! Three of the cameras are from The Sims 4: Get Famous, one is from The Sims 4: Moschino Stuff, and the last is the Simmify Instant Camera by myshunosun. All of the cameras require The Sims 3: World Adventures to function.

The camera tripod and photography shelf are both by Around The Sims 3 here, and the wallpaper is by pixelfrogslegs here.

Electronics -> Misc Electronics

More Choices Pro Camera [edited by twinsimming]: non-CAStable | §575 |

Some Choices Base Model Camera [edited by twinsimming]: two channels | §300 |

Simmify Instant Camera [by mushunosun]: four channels | §150 |

ClickShot P10 Mirrorless Camera: two channels | §2300 |

Paparazzi Camera: non- CAStable | §2565 |

| All TS4 presets included |

Credit: meshes by EA, The Sims 4, Sims4Studio, TSRW, Blender, Milkshape, Photoshop, and Gimp.

Download (SFS, package) | Mirror (MEGA, package)

If you like my work, please consider tipping me on Ko-fi.

Experiencing issues with my conversions? Inbox me. Enjoy! 💙

Most of The Sims games from the 2000s are quickly becoming abandonware! Here’s where you can find them! Because FUCK Article 13! Dedicated to ANYONE who might be affected. (Updated NOV ‘19!)

Just to add onto @uglytownie ‘s post about The Sims 2, I know there are some of you out there that would also like rarer titles from The Sims’ massive back catalog. 

If anything happens to this blog because of this post: My NEW twitter handle is @nostalgiasim, my discord is SimWorld (this link never expires), and my personal Neocities page is myonlinepityparty.neocities.org.

PC Games:

The Sims 1 + All EPs

The Sims Life Stories 

The Sims Castaway

The Sims: Pet Stories

The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection

If any of these links do not work for any reason, whether you need technical help or those files are no longer available, you can also find these abandonware games at Games4TheWorld. However, The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 can also be found on that site and I do not publically condone piracy. G4TW world also has an extensive forum for getting these older games to work. You can look for help there. :)

All of the following games are emulator ROMS found on Vimm’s, a trusted website that has been around since the ‘90s. 

GameCube:

Bustin’ Out

The Sims

The Sims 2

The Sims 2 Pets

Urbz, Sims in the City

Gameboy Advance:

Bustin’ Out

The Sims 2

Urbz, The Sims in the City

The Sims 2: Pets

PlayStation 2:

Urbz, Sims in the City

The Sims

The Sims Castaway

Bustin’ Out

The Sims 2 

The Sims 2: Pets

Wii 

The Sims 3

The Sims 2 Pets

The Sims Castaway

Prima Guides

ALL Games - The Sims + All EPs, The Sims 2 + All EPS, The Sims 3 + Almost all EPs, Bustin’ out, Castaway, Medieval, etc. 

Extras (Updated!)

The Sims 3 Store (ALL CONTENT)

The Sims 2 Store

(Rare!) The Sims 2 Preorder gifts and Maxis Gifts from the now deleted TS2 Website!

Literally, if ANYTHING on this list goes down, message me. I’m not hosting any of it but I’ll absolutely put out another updated post!

Reblog for others! If don’t want it someone else might!