I see. Thank you.

Yes BlueSoup and simsample, deleting the thumbnails did help with that other problem, thanks. But I still cannot figure out why these three sims absolutely refuse to show up in CAS. I tried cloning them, I tried modifying them, I even tried removing the Downloads folder, restarting/exiting BodyShop, then replacing the Downloads into the newly created empty folder and restarting the game, but nothing I do seems to work at all. I really don't understand why these three in particular are fighting with me. 

Pardon me for asking, but does anyone know where i might download the original outfit?

Please forgive me if this is a really stupid question, but seeing as how I got absolutely no help at MTS2, I figured I may at least get pointed in the right direction by asking here.

I have about three sims that I had downloaded a long time ago and had installed them as per usual. They appeared (and still do) just fine in BodyShop, but when I went to find them in Create A Sim, they didn't appear at all. I had tried the obvious (namely, making sure they are of the correct age group; packaging them up and placing them into the Saved Sims folder), but nothing that I did seemed to fix this little snafu. Any ideas as to what could be wrong, and/or how I could fix it?

Also as a side note (although this really doesn't trouble me all that much), I occasionally have sims of the opposite gender showing up in CAS, but when I click on them, the sim appears as a different sim altogether (as the 'correct' gender). Could this also play a part in the problem I'm having?

Yup, it's meant to be hack-free and to have absolutely no intervention on your part at all (not even to remove burnt food from the stoves). That's why I'm just doing it with the beds in as a test run. Now that I've personally learned a few things, I may be ready to try it as it was intended. I'm just considering which sims I would like to use as my guinea pigs.

Well, they certainly need you to a). get a job, b). be a lot happier, c). make friends/enemies a lot quicker. So don't despair; you are a needed entity in their sim-like lives.

Well, I decided to go back to my initial lot and see how well I would fare if I tried to get them to ten hours. Not very well, I must say. With less than an hour to go, I am down to three sims (five having died and the toddler having been taken by the social worker just after he became a child). Can I at least end up with one live sim?!

Using the lovebed really screws with relationships, I can tell you that much. 

I've tried two test runs on this, and I've come to a couple 'discoveries':
1). Do not add a poker table. They'll do nothing to work on their skills.
2). Have at least two single beds so that if there are people lounging in the doubles that a sim hates, they won't have to pass out because they won't sleep with them.
3). Sprinklers help with fires, and they can help increase sims' cleaning skills.
4). There is no such thing as too many easels.
5). Everybody loves Brynne, including Brad Pitt.

Yeah I know about the rules. This one is just a test run, not only for the challenge itself but for my newly installed autonomous woohoo beds. So far, it's a very learning experience. After this run is over (in about 90 minutes), I'll take what I've learned and start the challenge for real. I like it, though.

Good to know invites will eventually cancel themselves out.

It appears for the moment that by sim who had the baby may actually be starting to fill her hunger needs so she may not expire quite so soon after all. It's really a shame that psychiatrist visits are not recorded in their memories though, as hte only way I'll be able to tell if they happened was if I chanced to be looking.

Go figure: the sim to get pregnant was the only romance sim on the lot.

I guess, in retrospect, having a married romance sim was NOT such a good idea (especially with autonomous woohoo beds). 

ETA: I guess the only thing I see wrong with it is if someone calls you up out of the blue to invite you somewhere (or your sim has a baby). Does the option eventually cancel itself, or does it require a response from you before the game will continue? I guess these issues could be solved by a). not having a phone, and b). making it so Sims cannot get pregnant, but where's the fun in that?

I figured this might be the place to post this. If it's not appropriate, feel free to ignore or delete it.

I came across a link to this challenge the other day: The Free Will Hostel: Hands Off Challenge. I thought it was quite interesting. As a matter of fact, I'm in the middle of playing an altered version of it as we speak.

Basically the premise is that you enter 8 sims into a lot (there must be two married couples and a couple siblings in these), and furnish the lot however you'd like with a budget of 250,000 simoleans and then walk away and let them manage themselves for 5 or ten Real Time hours. You can save and resume the game later on, but the gist of it is to see how well you can plan your home so that your sims can at least keep themselves alive.

I must say it's interesting flicking back and forth from the game to other things and then coming back to find one of one's sims pregnant with no knowledge of who the 'father' was. It makes it a little more dramatic and exciting.

ETA: It's similar to the Sit-On-Your-Hands Challenge, just a little more extreme.
ETA2: Duh. I didn't even notice that this challenge was linked to in the previously mentioned challenge thread.  Oops.

It's very pretty! It kind of reminds me of Princess Fiona's dress from Shrek.

Am I the only one who thought of 'artificial insemination' when they saw sex with robots? 

As for what's next, I'm surprised you couldn't figure it out on your own: Beastiality, of course. We have yet to get werewolves.