I would just like to say, ElanoreAlexandria, that you have the prettiest sim avatar! Was that a posed picture - it's just so cute! I'm "stealing" that color-pattern idea - very fetching.
As for CAW, I'm afraid to even try! I just know I'll get something cobbled together and I'll lose it all to a crash. I just recently redid an entire town to my liking (Roaring Heights - was really good) and then moved in my sim to play and BOOM! got a hard freeze. Wouldn't come out of it and I had to close the game. Lost everything (my progress not the world) - including some cute patterns. I don't know why it's so hard to remember to save. I just get caught up in the fun, I guess. I redid all my work on the town and it is so fun to play. Yes, I'm trying to remember to save more often.
But the absolute worst thing that ever happened to me was when I lost an entire world (not just a save) and couldn't get it back. It was in the same Roaring Heights world and my sim had made so much progress, and her house was so beautiful! I went to save the game and it stuck - then it just winked out! It was gone. That was on my old computer - Vista- yuck! Now I keep at least one old save ( I used to delete them). This game can break you.