Squee ... Bunnies!

Hope you have a fun and restful Easter holiday ... full of lots of fluffy bunny goodness!

It's another chance to eat lots of chocolate (like anyone really needs an excuse) ... with the added attraction of hot cross buns.  Actually, hot cross buns have been in the shops here since February, so we're a bit over them already.  

We follow the pagan tradition of celebrating spring with plenty of bunnies and eggs and so on ... even if it is actually autumn here!  Apparently you're supposed to hang the hot cross buns up to ward off evil spirits (which comes in handy for when you just can't eat another one). 

We're having a quiet Easter at home ... indulging in the obligatory chocolate treats ... and enjoying our favourite movies for this time of year ... Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Chocolat ... with more than enough chocolate and Johnny Depp in both of them to keep the whole family entertained.

Yes, Johnny Depp is a bit creepy as Willy Wonka but at least he's nowhere near as creepy as Gene Wilder in the earlier version.

Yes! We Have No Bananas!

Australia has pretty restrictive food import rules so they can protect the local producers ... which means that, when a natural disaster hits Queensland, bananas become very scarce. 

Just over 4 years ago, a cyclone damaged a lot of banana plantations ... which saw the price of bananas rise to $7 a kilo for a couple of months (normally around $2 a kilo).

The recent Queensland floods and cyclone have had a much greater impact on the supply of bananas. For the last couple of months, bananas have been around $14 a kilo and prices are expected to remain high for some time.

Unlike last time, pretty much anything that contains bananas (like smoothies, cakes and banoffee pie) is becoming more and more expensive. Most things just aren't available or use dried bananas (now also more expensive).

The price of bananas is a bit of a running joke in my family as my parents in NZ can get bananas for $1 a kilo.  With no local industry to protect, bananas are always cheap and plentiful over there.

If you really like bananas, Australia is not the place to visit right now!

How Do We Solve A Problem Like Claire Ursine?

Poor Claire ... she's not exactly Sunset Valley's model mum, is she?  When a new game starts, she is Jared Frio's ex and little does she know but she has a surprise on the way ... in my current game, a little girl named Latonya. 

Busy making her way in the criminal career from her start as a getaway driver, she doesn't have time to care for poor little Latonya ... only pausing briefly to stick a pin randomly in a gossip mag in order to find a name for her new baby ... and then leaving her on the back doorstep each night when she leaves for work. 

Luckily for Claire, the social workers don't seem to take much notice of NPC parenting so she still had Latonya when I changed to her household.  Normally, when I am playing the Frio household, I would get Jared to kidnap the baby from the back doorstep and add her to his family.

In my latest game, I thought I'd try something different.

Fortunately, a baby sitter turned up the first night as Claire was due to leave for work ... so I added her to the household to look after the baby on a more permanent basis.  Then with the help of a mod I made the Candy the babysitter .... into Candy, Claire's little sister.

This change was followed by a long makeover session ... using a mod to edit the sims in CAS so I could change more than just their hair and clothes.  Claire needed major work but I didn't want to make her too un-Claire so I kept the criminal career, the tomboy clothes and the short, red hair.  The basics are there but now she's just that little bit more stylish.

And I kept the basic yellow theme for the house but updated the nasty green trim and tacky red furniture ... and provided a crib so that the newly re-christened baby Heidi wouldn't have to sleep on the floor.

Finally, Candy (with the guitar) and Heidi (now aged-up to a child) received hair and features to match Claire's new look (centre) to make them all look recognisably like one family. 

So ... how did I do?