Running poorly

I constantly have to pause so that the game can catch up to the cued actions. It does this with only 1 sim in the household with a small, not overly decorated lot. I will tell him to do something, and then he will stand there for 10 min in game before I pause it and have to wait. Then unpause and he will do it. Also the options for clicking on others and the laptops takes multiple seconds to appear, if they appear at all.