859janie The launcher doesn't do a thorough job of patching even when it reports a fully-updated game. Yours isn't close to updated no matter what the launcher says. In fact, EA created a Super Patch for exactly this reason. Here's a direct download link:
http://akamai.cdn.ea.com/eadownloads/u/f/sims/sims3/patches/TS3_1.67.2.0240xx_update.exe
Some browsers may flag or block the download because its URL starts with http rather than https, but you can see from the address that it points directly to EA servers.
Anyway, please run the Super Patch and try again to play, and let me know how it goes. I'm not saying this should fix the original issue, but it's a lot easier to troubleshoot with a fully-updated game, not to mention that an incomplete patch job from the launcher can add extra problems.