It's my birthday and I'll eat cake if I want to!

Forget the diet, at least for today, because I just turned 34 years old and what better way to celebrate than with a big slice of Tres Leches Cake?

I even have some for all of you, so go ahead and help yourselves to a slice :)

Wow, 34! Where did the time go?

Last year I had made a post about how my birthday was going to be like any other, a day that would not stick out in my memory for any reason, nothing major or important would happen but little did I know that within an hour of writing that entry, I would get a phone call with the news that my Uncle Carlos had just passed away.

So the days leading up to today have been a mixture of anticipation, excitement and sadness all rolled into one big ball of emotions. I woke up this morning determined to have a good day no matter what came my way, but then I checked my email and had a message from my youngest brother wishing me a Happy Birthday but also giving me some sad news. My sister in law Nadine (his wife) is 5 1/2 months pregnant with their second daughter, yesterday she started bleeding and having some stomach cramping, she's been admitted to the hospital and is still there. So again, Sandra's birthday coincides with another family struggle.

Nadine and Bruno

I'm asking you all to please say a prayer for Nadine and my little niece, they could use it right now, please pray that they are able to stabilize them both and that the baby will hold on until November to be born, or if it is God's will that she is born early, then that she will be strong enough to fight through this. I'm almost positive that she will be, she is after all a member of this amazing family and our love will pull her through.

But enough with sad things, I could sit back and think that it's becoming a pattern, every year on my birthday something happens to someone in the family, but I choose to believe otherwise. I choose to rather think of this as just a reminder of what a wonderful family I have, how much we love each other and how important each and every one of them is to me. They are my rock, all of them in their own special way!

So before I go and celebrate, I'll leave you with some fun facts about August 10, 1974!

Top News Headlines This Week:
Aug 10 - Judy Rankin wins LPGA Colgate-European American Golf Open Aug 11 - Head-on collision between two buses kills 21 (Ankara, Turkey) Aug 11 - Lee Trevino wins PGA championship Aug 11 - 56th PGA Championship: Lee Trevino shoots a 276 at Tanglewood NC Aug 11 - Coup in East-Timor under UDT Aug 12 - Nolan Ryan strikes-out 19 Red Sox


Top Songs for 1974

Billy, Don't Be a Hero by Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods	Seasons In the Sun by Terry Jacks
Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas	The Loco-Motion by Grand Funk
The Streak by Ray Stevens	The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand
TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) by MFSB with the Three Degrees	Having My Baby by Paul Anka
Annie's Song by John Denver	I Can Help by Billy Swan

US President
Gerald R. Ford

US Vice President
Nelson A. Rockefeller

Academy Award Winners
The Godfather Part I
Directed By Francis Ford Coppola

Best Actor: Art Carney
in Harry And Tonto

Best Actress: Ellen Burstyn
in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

1974 Prices
Bread: $0.28/loaf
Milk: $1.39/gal
Eggs: $1.24/doz
Car: $4,440
Gas: $0.53/gal
House: $38,900
Stamp: $0.10/ea
Avg Income: $14,711/yr
Min Wage: $2.00/hr
DOW Avg: 616

People born on August 10

1959 - Rosanna Arquette NYC, actress (Desperately Seeking Susan)

1947 - Ian Anderson Scotland, rocker (Jethro Tull-Bungle in the Jungle)

1874 - Herbert Clark Hoover, West Branch Iowa, (R) 31st Pres (1929-1933)

1928 - Jimmy Dean Tx, actor/singer (Jimmy Dean Show, Diamonds are Forever)

On TV in 1974
Emergency
The Bob Newhart Show
M*A*S*H
Little House on the Prairie
All in the Family
The Rockford Files
The Waltons
Happy Days
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Columbo


Hot New Toys in 1974

Connnect Four	Evel Knievel Dragster	Star Trek figures
Evel Knievel Stunt Stadium	Monchhichi	Planet of the Apes figures
Digger the Dog	Rubik's Cube	Sit 'N Spin

Top Books in 1974
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
The Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas

The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro Working by Studs Terkel