ADVICE FROM AN OLD
TENNESSEE MOUNTAIN MAN

Your fences need to be
horse-high, pig-tight
and bull-strong.

Keep skunks
and bankers
and lawyers
at a distance.

Life is simpler
when you plow
around the stump.

A bumble bee
is considerably
faster than
a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak
into your ears
are whispered...
not yelled.

Meanness
don't jes'
happen
overnight.

Forgive your enemies.
It messes up
their heads.

Do not corner something
that you know is
meaner than you.

It don't take
a very big person
to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay
a cruel,
or unkind word.

Every path has
a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs,
expect to get dirty.

The best sermons
are lived,
not preached.

Most of the stuff
people worry about
ain't never gonna
happen anyway.

Don't judge folks
by their relatives.

Remember that silence
is sometimes
the best answer.

Live a good,
honorable life.
Then when you get older
and think back,
you'll enjoy it
a second time.

Don't interfere
with somethin'
that ain't botherin'
you none.

Timing has
a lot to do with
the outcome
of a rain dance.

If you find yourself
in a hole,
the first thing to do
is stop diggin'.

Sometimes you get,
and sometimes
you get got.

The biggest troublemaker
you'll probably ever
have to deal with,
watches you from
the mirror
every mornin'.

Always drink
upstream
from the herd.

Good judgment
comes from
experience,
and a lotta that
comes from
bad judgment.

Lettin' the cat
outta the bag
is a whole lot easier
than puttin' it back in.

If you get to thinkin'
you're a person
of some influence,
try orderin'
somebody else's
dog around.

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Leave the rest
up to God.

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.


What food might this contain? The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.


Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:
There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!


The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me."" I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"


The pig sympathized, but said, I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.


"Be assured you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"


The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."


So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.


The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital , and she returned home with a fever.


Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main Ingredient.


But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.


To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.


So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.


So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.


We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.


SEND THIS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER HELPED YOU OUT AND LET THEM KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE.


REMEMBER,,,,


EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY;


OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.


One of the best things to hold onto in this world is a friend

I read the vision quest story that I wrote for my freshman theology class and chuckled. It's pretty good and its based off actual traditions that I read about and studied. I've even added some humour. I could have been a writer.. :)

( Angry Bear - By Katie Williams for Theology Class )

I'm feeling unusually well today. My self-esteem seems to be a little more radiant than usual and my mood face just turned from gloom to SMILEY. Happy and Nice Katie is here.

It's Good To Be Alive - Got the countdown mix masters stuck in my head. I'd love to disco if I only knew how to and not to embarass myself. I once saw a picture of my dad with sideburns in a white disco 70's outfit and thought that was wild! I'd love to post it if he'd send me it hehe

Then I've been bouncing to T'Pau's Heart and Soul song repeatedly while cleaning the kitchen and then I danced with my cats to Vitamin C's SMILE song which was played multiple times. Both my cats loved it. They got to dance and bounce and purr excitedly. My laundry got put away and my bed got made.

My apartment is to my normal standard for now. I made a late dinner (8 pm ish) of tacos! Then I played my Sims2 game for about an hour

Let me tell you about my Sims2 family -

The Pleasant Family

Well in the original game there was a family called the Pleasant family living in Pleasantville and as pleasant as it may sound, they were an odd bunch with flaws that threatened the family bonds. The two teenage sisters Angela and Lilith fought all the time. Parents Daniel and Mary-Sue were the tightest couple of old folks in love, however Daniel's secret life aspirations of romance and playboy once tore them apart.. briefly. Mrs Pleasant laughed loudly and heartedly at the two and decided to pursue her secret aspiration - hitting her husband and family up style. She wanted luxurious paintings, sculptures, and more and more expensive items in her house. Her desire for money was running short.





Well Angela and Lilith the two daughters grew up and they hatred of each other grew stronger. Lilith became friends with this easy-going friendly guy named Tutrle. Turtle lived with a bunch of other European guys but that didn't scare Lillith. She wanted to hang with him more and he asked her to move in with him and his buds. Lilith took the opportunity to move the heck out of the house but Angela was accidently moved with her. So Lilith and Angela found themselves at the doorsteps of the Entourage family (Turtle's bachelor pad) with suitcase in hand. Turtle's house was not a house, but a Bevery Hills 4 star mansion. Turtle, having two million in the bank, made them both instantly rich. See, in the sim world, if you move in a with a rich sim, you get part of their fortune. Well folks, Angela did just that. She moved back into the Pleasant house and brought with her about 200,000 simoleans of fortunate and left her sister at Hollywood. Her mother was very proud of her accomplishment, but her father dearly missed his other daughter Lilith, fortunately, he was the only one.

With Lilith out of the house and the family once again in peace and happiness, Angela looked towards her future. She got a job in the athletic track, following in her father's footsteps while kindling a friendship rom her teenage years with a nice guy named Joe Broke. Joe came from a broken family and had to support himself on a minimum wage job while attending high school and living alone. His mother died of the worst kind of disaterous death.. sickness and negative aspiration. She died a slow and painful death. Angela supported Joe throughout the whole ordeal and visited him pretty much everyday. She was his best friend and they dated and went steady. Nothing else mattered to Joe but Angela. It was no surprise that when they became of age, Joe popped the very important question and Angela excitingly accepted. Since Joe had no family of his own (immediate family), he decided to move in with Angela.

The Pleasant family flourished. Joe continue to pursue his career in the medicine track. He worked his way up from orderly, to intern, to general practioner, and finally up to surgeon. Angela's still working her way up the athletic career but had to take some time away from work for family. Angela and Joe gave birth to Peter and they loved him dearly. Joe, with the aspiration of family bliss, could not wait for another child, and they adopted a boy named Robi while Angela was pregnant with Charming. After Charming was born Joe desired 20 children and Angela refused to birth any more. That was the end of the child rearing.

Mary-Sue pleasant or "grandma" died not long after Peter was born and grown into a toddler. Peter was best friends with his grandma and cried very much after her death. Mary-Sue's life aspirations were filled and she died a happy woman in platimum state of aspiration. The Grim Reaper greeted her with hula dancers and a party drink. Her tombstone was golden and it is in its special spot of the Pleasant property with a flowerbed, a reflection pond, and a chair to view and mourn the tombstone.





After his wife died, Daniel decided to further pursue his romantic intentions with multiple sims (as an elder no less). He made it out with Brandi, Lauren- the french maid, Andrea, and another girl whome I forgot now! Before he dies he wants to wooho with at least 5 different Sims and I'm sure that will like change to 10 once he reaches that goal. He's only got a few days of his golden years left. He's got his eyes on Emily and the soccer mom he's seen picking up the kids playing around Charming.




Robi and Peter grew into teenagers. They're both intent on getting their first kiss and they've been eyeing the same girl Meadow which may present a problem. The apple didn't fall too far from the tree in regards to taking after his grandfather. He's a lover boy at heart. Peter takes after his mom, and is actually best friends with her. He's a social butterfly with the primary objective of making as many friends and best friends as possible.

Angela did something naughty today for the first time in her marriage she cheated on her husband Joe while he was at work with that european stud E Entourage. They've become best friends in the past few days and Angela took a bold step of stealing a kiss and it lead to more than she bargained for...

What will happen to the Pleasant family? Will Daniel achieve his lifelong fantasy of whooing 5 different Sims and dying in a state of platinum aspiration only to be bured next to his wife Mary-Sue? Will Angela ever see E again and will she get caught in the act and ruin her long marriage to Joe? Will Joe be able to reach the top of his career before he becomes an elder? What drama will transpire between the two teenage boys Robi and Peter who adore the same girl, and what will their fate be and will young Charming live up to his parent's expectations of dazzling success???

Gotta play some more...

A Modern Parable

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company ( Ford ) decided
to have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams practiced long
and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big
day, the Japanese won by a mile. The Americans, very discouraged and
depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A
management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate
and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had
8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8
people steering and 1 person rowing.
Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a
consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second
opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the
boa t, while not enough people were rowing. Not sure of how to utilize
that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese,
the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4
steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant
superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance
system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to
work harder. It was called the "Rowing Team Quality First Program", with
meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of
getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for
practices and bonuses. The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor
performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and
canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was
distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's
racing team was out-sourced to India.

The End