More Awesome Than You!

I don't need help because I figured it out, but I thought I'd post the solution in case anyone else does anything this dumb.

I had a sim making a call on her cell phone.  When she went to put it away, she jumped.  It's always bad when they jump.  After some investigation I realized her cell phone was still in her hand.  After more investigation I realized the problem wasn't with her phone it was with her inventory.  I could no longer place items into anyone's inventory even on other lots.

My recent changes to the game were mostly adding clothing and a couple of minor hack tweaks, none of which should affect inventory.  I exited to game to revert to older versions and I noticed something.  SimPE was open to the neighborhood browser.  I tried closing that and going back into the game, and everything was fine.  Since SimPE was holding the neighborhood package open, the game couldn't make changes.  I guess inventory is kept in the neighborhood package rather than the character packages.

So the next time the game is being wonky, make sure SimPE isn't open.