@artsychic421 The oddly-colored thumbnail is pretty typical for 64-bit Sims 3. I'm not sure of the exact reasons it happens, but I believe it has to do with what time of day the game is saved. Regardless, I haven't found any evidence that it makes a save less likely to load or more likely to crash.
For the Appaloosa Plains save, it sounds like it might be somewhat glitched. You can probably still fix it if you're willing to use mods. Specifically, I'd recommend NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, and MasterController to start, and possibly others if those aren't enough. ET and OW clean up bad data and stuck situations with no player input; MC doesn't do anything unless you issue a command. They can all be removed whenever you want, although many of us would never play without them. You can find a bit more information on these mods here:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues-PC/Sims-3-Common-Game-Fixing-Mods-Hero-Approved/m-p/9838855#M244208
And of course a lot more information is available on the host site.
Anyway, if you're interested in trying, add the mods, load the save, let the game clock run for a few sim-minutes, click on City Hall, and select this:
NRaas > MasterController > Town Options > Reset Everything
The reset will take a bit of time to run and will let you know when it's finished. Afterwards, let the game clock run for a few more sim-minutes, then use "save as" to rename the save and see whether you can save your progress. If you can, great, you can keep playing forward. If not, let me know.