Honestly, half of the interest for me comes from our little community of players. If it weren't for Mop it up and Maxi especially I would have abandoned the game months ago. It's hard to find time to play it and play other games, so I understand where you are coming from.
Ditto, plus the desire to "finish" what i've started; ie paying off that damn debt and getting some of those bonuses like the Fountain and Windmill/lighthouse. I'm ALMOST done paying off the final debt from the house, and from there I can start trying to get the fountain, etc. It'll be a long while before I manage all this, and when I do it'll be a long while before I go back to playing the game.
Since we're on the subject of our lil AC community, I'd like to thank Mop_it_up once more (but this time in front of an audience) for helping clean up all the weeds in my town after 6 months of neglect, as well as planting some trees and even donating some fossils to my museum!