Phenomenal Woman

Vintage slip I bought at the Salvation Army

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Maya Angelou -

This poem was not about the men, but how I wish I could feel this confidence in myself: To know who I am; To be sure of myself; To accept myself and feel so comfortable in my skin.
I think over a period of time, the "World" tears you down with it's notions and misconceptions about who or what you should be, and through what you wear or look like. Society's goal seems to always make you feel self conscience of never measuring up.

I am not a size. I am me.

I am rising, and taking a stand to feel more like a Phenomenal Woman!

I wonder if I had felt more like a Phenomenal Woman and had been this kind of a role model for my daughter, if she wouldn't have taken some of these misconceptions that were so ingrained in me. I know that I have a role in her eating disorder. I take responsibility for that. My wish for women, children and men is to feel comfortable in their own skin and to be who they are. Love themselves. Embrace your true self. You are just right! You are beautiful!

My Mother's Advice

My mom is full of good advice, but there was one bit of advice she gave me that really made an impact. It was early in my marriage and Charlie and I were going through a rough patch. She knew I was at the end of my rope with him. She told me that marriage was not easy. It, in fact, would be one of the hardest things that I'd work on over a long period of my life, because it is ever-changing.


My mom told me to look at my marriage, if you will, like a garden. When it first starts, it is beautiful. You want to smell and admire every nook and corner.


Although, if you do not take care of your garden, it gets over grown with weeds and chokes out what you have planted. Weeds grow thickly where they are unwanted and choke out more desirable plants. You need to clear or remove weeds that become harmful to your garden. You need to get rid of these troublemakers. If you do not tend to it ...


You won't be able to admire the blooms...


You have to pull the dead blooms so that there will be new ones.


You may have to train vines to grow a certain way.


You would need to make sure that you fertilize to enrich your land.


Make sure there is adequate light for certain plants to grow or not to get burnt.


You would need to cultivate to encourage new growth or to improve and refine areas of your garden. And water just enough for proper growth. You water too much, it becomes waterlogged. Plants will become unmanageable or the roots will get rotten and you will lose what you have planted.


You would need to sow seed for new growth.


You would need to prune the unwanted parts so that areas would grow stronger.


You would have to use certain pesticide to get rid of unwanted pests safely.

I listen to my mom talk about this garden of marriage. We talked about how you can apply this to any relationship that you have. I have seen my mom work in her garden. She has come in with scrapes on her arms, dirt under her nails, sweat on her brow and sometimes out of breath. She has gotten up very early in the morning to tend to her garden by meeting the snails that would munch for breakfast. It is hard work. But when you've finished working, for the day, you can always sit in your garden and you appreciate the beauty in it so much more. Relationships of any kind do not come easy. You get out what you put into them.

I have told my children the advice my mom had given me.

Thank You Mom!

And the Winner is ...

Drum Roll Please ...



Yolanda!!!

Congratulations!

If you could e-mail me your address, I will mail your book to you. :)

Randomness

I have enjoyed seeing hummingbirds on my walks and in photo's that some blogs I visit have posted. I bought myself a hummingbird feeder, and planted some flowers that they are known to be drawn towards. Going outside and sitting quietly, while they hum by, has been one of my favorite ways to pass the time. I have found it relaxing, and I am making this treasured time a staple in my day.


Okay ladies, I am sharing a skin care product with you that I just love. It is philosophy. I use the microdelivery peel twice a week (sometimes once). It is gentle, smells wonderful... and it makes your face feel like a babies bottom. :)


I use this every day, twice a day. I love, love, love hope in a tube. It is a high density eye and lip cream. I think that if someone told me "Angela, you can only use ONE thing. You have to choose." This would be it!
Come on ladies and uh, men (I know times have changed, it isn't just women!). What are some things that you couldn't do with out that is a part of your skin regimen? Let's share!


I won this book from the ever so lovely Mary (BeadFluff). She asked that when I got done reading it, that I would pass it on to someone else. I thought that I would do the same as she did and pass it to a fellow blogger or who comments on blogs. So! If you leave a comment here on this post, you have to say that you want the book. I will then draw out of a hat and let the blogger ville know who the winner is in my next post. Follow the directions.


I just liked this photo.


This bee is just hangin'.


I liked how you could see this bee's detailed wings.


I know that this is not a clear shot of this bee. I felt this little bee had an attitude, I could hear Robert De Niro's voice saying, "Are you looking at me?"


I liked how you could see the shadow of this dragonfly? on the leaf.

School has started back here in Hughson, which means that I am back at work. I am trying to get back in the groove of a working atmosphere with a lot of women (in the kitchen... giggle). There have been so many changes; it has our heads spinning. We have a new site supervisor (our Billie retired this last year) and also a Food service rep. As they say "There is a new sheriff in town!" It is a little stressful and will take some time to iron out the wrinkles. I hope that it won't take too long. All of the ladies don't do really well with change, including myself.
They also say that "change is good," ... I am trying to keep that in mind.

:)

Old Churches

I have always loved old churches and stopped to take some pictures of two on one of my recent trips to Monterey that I have admired for some time now. The churches below are in a little town called Pacific Grove.


This is the Pacific Grove
Heritage House
St. Mary's
By the Sea
built in 1887




I do not have any information on this church, but I love how it resembles a castle.









May peace be with you

Blooms

My Neighbor Ruth across the street has this bush that blooms some beautiful flowers. They are humongous! They are interesting to watch. They come to bloom and then that is it. The next day they are gone. I met her in the street after getting our mail, and asked her what kind of flower bush that was. She told me it was a Hardy Perennial Hibiscus. They are a exotic, hardy, shrub like plant. They have 6-10" blooms in crimson red or rose pink dazzle from midsummer to frost. The bush grows 3-5' tall with similar spread.

Ruth is an 82 year old active woman who exercises everyday, bowls twice a week, and rides her bike on occasion. She's very involved in church. I can look out my window and I will see her pulling weeds in her big hat and long sleeve shirt to protect her from the sun.

My husband loves her and I have to say between the two of us, he has more of a friendship with her than I do. I don't know how many times I have went to see what is taking my husband so long to come in to find him sitting outside with her in a deep conversation. I will just watch to see them start busting up laughing. She goes out to dinner with us and we have plans to have dinner here at our home. We share our meals with each other when we have both made to much or want the other to try something new. Recently in one of our conversations about this and that she mentioned to me that Charlie needs to rest from work. Ruth sees for herself how Charlie will busy himself even on his days off. She will hear me get on to him, and knows what I am up against. She will often chime in to my defense. Charlie will then say, "Ruth! Are you ganging up on me?" She will giggle. She cares about him as much as he cares about her. Flowers aren't the only thing that's blooming!

Two Cute!

I had a chance to spend the day with two of my four grandson's (Ryan will be four this Monday and Caleb will be three this September). Let me tell you a little about our day. It all started when I picked them up. We went to my house and they watched a movie they brought with them called Shark Boy and Lava Girl. They got their cars out and played with them while they watched this movie. It's amazing how kids can multi-task at one time. While I was going through my mail, I kept hearing the oldest of these two, Ryan, saying something during the movie. I then realized, Ryan had this movie memorized. I was amazed.. and then I didn't know if I should be concerned. It was so cute to see the boys start laughing. I have always found it interesting how during cartoons or movies, young children will laugh at certain times. It tells you what they find funny, and you can see their personalities start to form. We then, had some lunch and then we headed for the park. They played on the jungle gym for a little while. They started to get bored. I told them, "Lets go to the car and see what Mimi brought with us to the park." This park is a base ball field, with a jungle gym. It also has a cement side walk going all around the park for people to walk. I have been walking the dogs in the morning so that they could get some exercise. As I was walking, I would notice the field just feeling so huge and green. I kept picturing the kids just running with balls. So knowing I was going to have them, I went to Wal-Mart and got the balls. I had to make sure they were the same color. Ryan thinks that every toy is his. I was trying to eliminate any problems with getting two different colors... Back to our day.
I opened the trunk, all you could hear is a "gasp" coming from both of them. They were so excited. We took the balls down to the field...


and just ran after them. They did that for about 45 minutes. They giggled the whole entire time! It was so sweet! Caleb kept saying as he was giggling "Hey! Come back here!" to the ball!

After playing with the balls Ryan just collapsed and said, "Mimi! I am tired!"


Caleb also liked to roll on the ball.


We went back to the jungle gym and rolled the balls down the slide.


We decided to go home get a snack and go swimming.

Ryan and Caleb playing peek-a-boo with me.

Whew! Mimi is tired!