Year of the Boar ~

Chinese Zodiac
Boar ~ 1947, 1959,1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019
Nobel and chivairous. Your friends will
be lifelong, yet you are prone to marital
strife. Avoid other Boars. Marry a Rabbit
or a Sheep. (My husband)

Snake ~1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013
Wise and intense with a tendency towards
physical beauty. Vain and high tempered.
The Boar is your enemy. The Cock or Ox
are your best signs. (Me)

When my Husband and I went away on our anniversary, we had dinner at our favorite Chinese Restaurant, "The Great Wall." We read our Zodiac paper place mats and have to laugh because he IS my enemy!

When we got done eating we enjoyed our fortune cookies with our hot tea. At my mom's request, whenever we get done reading the fortunes that we always add "in bed," at the end.

My husband's read: Work does not define a person; how one performs one's work does.
Mine read as: Be generous with your talent; your friends will become richer from it.

Then We REALLY laughed!

One time when my son was younger, our entire family went out for a Chinese meal to celebrate my Mom's birthday. We went around the table taking turns reading our fortunes and ending them with "in bed." Some of them were absolutely hilarious. Well, my son really thought that they ended that way. He was mortified and started begging us to leave at once! Which made us laugh even harder. He said to me "Mom, this place is not good. Can't you just feel it? Look at the way you guys are carrying on!!" When it was his turn, he opened up his cookie, popped the cookie into his mouth, refused to read his fortune, crumpled it up and threw it under the table! We all had to show him our fortunes and let him see that none of them ended with "in bed!" He wanted to know who's idea it was to do it that way. We all looked at my Mom and his eyes were as big as a dollar-piece coin. He then said in shock "Nana!"

You were the icing on my cake!

Well, let me first say Thank You to all who left the sweetest comments wishing me a Happy Birthday!! You were the icing on my cake!!

I work in a school cafeteria for grades 4Th - 8Th. One of the ladies have been out sick for some time, and the three of us left in the kitchen take turns covering her shift from week to week. Well, it was MY week. It does mean overtime for us who are working that week.... but, it also means we are extra tired and things start adding up at home. The last day of the week, we are really feeling it!

It started off with my son Rob calling me wishing me a "Happy Birthday!" Then my daughter came into where I work with Paris muffins (my Great Grams recipe which she had forever and is still a favorite with our family. My daughter even unknowingly made them in an old small muffin tin my Great Gram had given to me, so it felt like she was here with me.) and fresh coffee with a beautiful paper napkin.

Then the ladies surprised me with the BIG cup and saucer filled over the brim with flowers, chocolates, candles and a butterfly to hang on a pot I call garden eye candy! They made me this yummy chocolate cake! We had lunch and laughed through the day at work! The 7Th and 8Th grade boys came in the serving area and serenaded me with the "Happy Birthday" song! It was very sweet with their voices crackling with deep and high notes!

I came home and this little bird was waiting for me from a dear sweet friend! My husband got me the photo scanner for the computer!!!! I sure could have used that for my dad's picture!! I love it! He also made me an enchilada dinner and had my mom, step dad and little niece over also!

It was a fun filled day with many surprises with every corner I turned!

I am sharing my Great Gram's recipe with you!

Paris Muffins

1/3 cup Crisco
1/2 sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp.nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
Butter
Cinnamon & Sugar

Grease muffin pans (about) 12. Mix eggs, sugar, and Crisco. Mix dry ingredients. Add alternately with milk. Add the egg mixture. Bake for 25 min at 350 degrees. Melt butter and mix sugar and cinnamon together. Take out muffins and roll first in butter then the sugar mixture. Serve warm...or cold.

bunches of hugs to you ~ muah!

This is a picture of my dad in 1973. I was eight years old.


On my Birthday every year my Daddy was alive, He would always call me precisely at 12:00 a.m.. He wanted to be the first one to say, "Happy Birthday Baby!"

The last year he was with me..... we knew it was a time for us to say whatever that was on our mind and to ask questions. I asked him what stood out in his mind most about me. He said, without even having to think about it, while trying not to cry, "I knew that I wanted you so bad it hurt, before you were even conceived. When your momma told me she was pregnant with you, it was one of the happiest days of my life!"

After he past away, his friends shared with me that on my Birthday, he would still celebrate it with his friends if he wasn't with me. I know he is celebrating me today where he is now.

Everything is just Blooming!

Monday was Presidents Day, I had the day off. It was such a beautiful day out, I decided to take some time off from going through some things in my room and take a drive! I have decided that I can not go anywhere without my camera! Everything is just blooming!

The warm weather is so nice! I even slept with my bedroom window open!

What is blooming where you live?

A few of my favorite things ~

A sleepy Sea Lion basking in the sun

The same Sea Lion posing for me

Sea Anemones

(There is a very tiny fish next to this Sea Bat)

I love the ocean. I feel at home and I can spend the entire day here. You have to literally pull me away. I like to walk on the beach and feel the sand between my toes. I can sit just watching for hours and love to feel the coast wind blow a misty kiss on my face and how it makes my hair dance. I love the lullaby that the waves sing to me when I close my eyes to sleep. I like to to check out the tide pools and peak under rocks to see what is living down underneath. I will always walk away in awe and amazement in the beauty of how everything flows in this great big grand scheme of things and the wonder of it all.

Now, let me introduce you to my daughter Diandra. I love this girl with my whole heart and everything that I am, want to be and more. She amazes me and I find myself wondering... did she really come from me? I am so proud of her!

I love you my baby girl!!

I am Not a Mermaid ~

**NOTE: my dear friend Wanda had asked me to take a picture of a heart in the sand for her blog banner. She read Darlene's post about lemons and seen that I had almost drowned..... concerned, she wrote me an e-mail wanting to know what had happened.

Wanda ~
I did not want you to know... I am okay. I do not want you to feel bad. I just took the sea for granted. This is what happened....

It had rained off and on for three days. It started out really nice Monday morning. I knew that we were leaving first thing Tuesday morning, so as I was getting ready that Monday morning, I thought "I need to get the pictures this morning, it is perfect." As Charlie and I started out, I asked him first thing if we could stop at the beach where I took my Sweet Surrender pictures, to get the heart pictures I had previously told him about. He said "Sure!" He pulled in the parking lot and asked me if he could stay in the truck with the girls.. (our dogs) I said "Sure."

I started walking down the hill to the beach... and it dipped again... (didn't really think about it) Started to draw my heart in the sand. Well..... one side is perfect, and the other side not so perfect... I thought "I could do it better." So, I moved down and had my back to the ocean. All of a sudden I heard a Crash... shhhhhhhhhh. Next thing I know my feet are knocked out from under me, and I am on my back. I immediately think about my camera!!!! I am holding my arm straight up so the water does not get it. Well, the water is raising because, it is still coming in. (this all happened very fast) the water is now over my head and I'm raising up my arm. I am thinking... "This is it." It subsided. It didn't get my camera. I was alive. But I looked like a drowned cat. I stood up. I looked around to see who saw what had just happened. Nobody but three fisherman were on the beach. Obviously, not paying any attention to me drawing a heart in the sand. They were to busy watching there poles. I just stood there in shock. Then trying to regain my composure. I stood there watching the waves... wondering how in the world that happened. Well, as I was watching the waves. They were coming straight into the beach, but also to the right of me. Then, I realized where I was standing was basically on the ocean floor. The tide was out. That is why it had dipped way down. I then started thinking how powerful that wave was that hit me... I had to have more respect for this mighty ocean. I thought since I was there.. I had better draw the heart and get the pictures. I was cold and shivering. But I did get quite a few pictures.
I started walking back up the hill... got to the truck.. and Charlie was looking at me like he could not believe what he was seeing. He looked concerned and rolled down the window and said "Ange?" like he was not even sure it was me. I told him everything. He said I was very lucky.. I asked him to take me back to the trailer so I could take another shower. I had to wear some dirty pants.. and a camp shirt. I luckily had a long sweater and some more tennis shoes. Later that night It got cold and I had to put on another windbreaker over my sweater.
Charlie and I went to a restaurant on Cannery Road, then walked down to the end and got a Starbucks. On the way, I stopped to look at some pull over sweaters I have had my eye on. The clothes rack they were on were part in the store and part on the sidewalk. The man that worked there came running out so fast and then just stood next to me. I didn't think anything about it. Charlie was standing to the side of the store... I went over to him and hugged him.
He then says "Ange, did you see the way that man ran out."
I said "Yes?" He said, "He thought you were a homeless lady ready to take and run!"
We both started laughing because we really hadn't stopped to think about how I looked. We were just busy having fun and enjoying each other. Then it made me sad to think of how the homeless get treated.

Wanda mom, I am really okay. It was a learning lesson for me...... I am not a mermaid!

Blue Moon ~

Blue Moon ~

Blue moon

You saw me standing alone

Without a dream in my heart

Without a love of my own

Blue moon

You knew just what I was there for

You heard me saying a prayer for

Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me

The only one my arms will ever hold

I heard somebody whisper, "Please adore me"

And when I looked

The moon had turned to gold

Blue moon

Now I'm no longer alone

Without a dream in my heart

Without a love on my own

And then there suddenly appeared before me

The only one my arms will ever hold

I heard somebody whisper, "Please adore me"

And when I looked

the moon had turned to gold

Blue moon

Now I'm no longer alone

Without a dream in my heart

Without a love on my own

Without a love on my own

Without a love on my own

Now I've got a girl of my own