To help with the lot size question, there is a tool called Lot Adjuster that allows unoccupied lots to be made larger or smaller, you can also download empty lots of various sizes.

Woah.... really? I think you just blew my mind, I have been wanting that for a long time. Do you have any links to any?

I'm pretty sure I've seen some on here for 1X1 lots but its been a while so I can't say for sure

Found them!

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=250096

I quit. Not from playing the game. Not from this forum (sorry). But from trying to make the Uni Cook (Inge's mod) and the housekeeper behave themselves.

The housekeeper freezes constantly when near the Uni cook. I wish to remove the UNI cook and make a small restaurant. A little ritzy for a B&B, but it's better than seeing that housekeeper just standing there. Or I might just put the fridge and counters in there for Sims to make cereal and instant meals and give that housekeeper something to do besides freeze.

Is it safe to yank a Uni cook out of a dorm by removing the stove? I would think so. It's not like one of these lives at a lot. I would think if you can yank one out of a dorm, you can yank one out of a hotel. Am I correct?

I've never had any problems with yanking Uni cooks. When I plopped down one of the stoves in another lot she just turned up there.

Is there really any difference between "practice romance" and "practice speech" at the mirror? I never really saw the point of having both, since they both give charisma points.

The simlogical schools - does it work on unowned community lots?

My education minister is collecting a lot of money in tuition from university, and I'd like to add one or two schools to town with the funds, but then donate the lots to the community instead of having him run them. If it won't work, I'll have other teachers own the lots, but I'd love to have at least one be unowned so that anyone could come and teach a class without having to buy the lot.

this is really stupid but...
Can I move a family from one hood to another without cloning them?

No. That would damage the hood they moved from and the hood they moved to.

You could, but you'd corrupt both hoods in the process. Not good.

No, to make simlogical schools the lot must be owned (residential or community lot). My school is on a community lot.

Not unless you plan to play them until both hoods blow up and are happy to throw them in the trash. If you wish to keep your hoods for any length of time then no don't ever do that. Extract with simPE, clone and delete the extracted sim using the clone in the new hood.

I removed the Uni cook in the B&B. I added extra sinks and bathrooms, since my Sims seemed to love the one non-hotel-room bathroom, kept congregating in that one, and made the housekeeper freeze. And what does that wretched housekeeper do? Freeze in my SIM'S room. And for some reason I can't figure out, she does great on the first day and freezes on the days after that.

At this point, I can only presume it's the layout of the B&B house that's creating a problem. The housekeeper works far better in my two boxier hotels, and so far, appears to be working in the somewhat-boxy one. Fine. As I look through the hotels on this site (not as many as I originally thought, but I can see why!), I notice that at least 70% of them have a basic and/or boxier layout. I fully understand why this is a good idea now. Even the Maxis hotels lean toward basic and boxy.

Nevertheless, my former B&B might make a nice vacation home instead. Except for the housekeeper, other Sims seem to like it! It would be a large house, but it might do for larger families or groups. I'll bulldoze the current hotel lot, re-load my community lot template and get rid of the Solidity doors and concierge podium. But from what I'm reading, changing lot zoning from community to residential ain't as simple as it used to be. (It's been a very long time since I've done this!) Is this the correct procedure?

http://thesims2.livejournal.com/7061586.html

Or should I stick with community and make it a kinda-hotel? Any tips on how to do that, from those who have gone this route? I have the community-lot-sleeping mode already. How would I keep Sims from milling in others' rooms, for instance? Myne doors?

My Sims simply lock their doors.
There is always room service in hotels even if there are no sign of a kitchen or a cook anywhere! Just a phone in the hotel room needed. And if all is locked out (including housekeeper) room service waiter can still get in. So actually, you do not need any cook stove, kitchen or restaurant at all on the lot.

What I can do is to try to lock the housekeeper out ... though I'm not sure I can lock it out of rooms my Sims aren't taking. And I'm not sure if that's going to fix the problem. I am revising, re-trying and re-routing like mad, and nothing is working with that housekeeper. Why the concierge is perfectly fine with everything and the housekeeper isn't is a good question. It's worth one more try to attempt to lock all the room doors, though. Those lazy Sims can clean their OWN rooms, as others have written.

But I can also place the community lot a second time and rezone it as a residence as well. Just remember to give it an entirely different name. I truly like this house. I know there's a use for it ... somehow!

And this is why it's a good idea to package SOME sort of version of a lot, just in case.

I have not seen her really going into unused rooms in my game - she hangs around in the foyer or sometimes outside, so she does not bother the playable Sims. (Yes, my Sims clean their own rooms. Their own homes too. And they do their own gardening. Only nannies allowed for help).
I actually like the idea of them making their own food when they want to - re the kitchen - no idea if it will work, though. What will the housekeeper do? I have not seen her in hotels with restaurants trying to clean in the restaurant - the waiters seem to do that. (Have been playing a number of Maxi hotels in a testing way for the building competition because a hotel seems to be coming up next). But we know a BBQ works, if all else fails

I still like the Box hotel

With the SImlogical mod that lets you put the Uni cook anywhere, she had this obsessive need to clean just around where he was working, and just luved, luved, luved the Shinytime stove. The freezing might have been due to two routing reasons, actually, and that definitely had to do with one of them. However, she froze elsewhere once I removed him.

I'll try locking the door on the hotel lot version sometime in the next couple of days. I was seeing if I did the mailbox and trashcan correctly for a residential lot.

I did try putting the fridge and a couple of counters for the Sims to make a light meal. The housekeeper still froze. But again, I think that might be the layout. This lot much more house-like than hotel-like, and the hallways are narrower. That might be a problem. Normal Sims have no difficulties, but the housekeeper is not a normal Sim.

On a note that made me smile, when I rezoned the B&B to residential (yes ... I still have that community lot prototype! ) and moved in one of the Sims with whom I've been testing to the point of exhausting her (poor thing ... she went on many, many a community vacation lot excursion ... I thought she should have at least a nice place to live for all her trouble!), she was really comfortable with the place, and it got Garden Club membership right away, without my even doing anything to the grounds. So far, so good as a residential lot. It does make me feel better that in a worse-case scenario, I at least have a serviceable converted saltbox house for my richer Sims to enjoy. It's got a small barn, a windmill, and a place for a chicken coop as well! Speaking of which ... I can put the chickens and geese back on there now! No thieving housekeeper!

I find the housekeeper's liking for the stove entertaining - if she was not a stupid object, one might have discovered a Sim with a LTW to be a celebrity chef there! Or maybe she just liked to be close to the Uni cook

The thought has occurred to me if the lot could work as a (very nice) apartment - seems one can put a shared kitchen in one (but then there will probably be a multitude of new problems).

I am so happy that the box lot survived

I totally do not understand what Gazania is building. Are you forced to have housekeeper? Maybe replace it with this one who disappears (until needed) when is done.

She is building a hotel - and the NPC housekeeper in the hotel is the problematic one - I don't know if the one above will replace her at all - hahaha - if you (can) add the above one, and she actually shows up at the hotel - I would love to see what the housekeeper does - will she freeze even more?

Thank you guys for the answer!!!!

I haven't had a problem with the housekeeper since I installed Paladin's hacks. I'd check HCDU to make sure that there isn't anything clashing with them.

Yes there are differences: the more serious sims are most likely to use the "Practice Speech" variation, whereas the playful sims will most likely choose "Practice Romance". And there is also the cosmetic aspect: you can hear and see from their way of acting and speaking at the mirror, which choice they've made.

I had a sim fist pump when I told him to go 'practice romance'. I think he was a romance sim though .. lol.