May | One Line a Day

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may one line a day

May | One Line a Day

Hi, May Day brings back fun memories. Did you ever make May Day baskets, filled with flowers picked from the yard. My baskets were filled with grass and dandelions!! I would make my baskets using construction paper and glue. Then I would take one over to Mrs. Barkley. She was the elderly cool lady where all the neighbor kids would go and we would all be in her living room playing with many of her toys she had. I’d take this basket I made, hang it on her door. Then I would dash to hide. Mrs. Barkley would always come find me. Once found, I would go into her living room, talk and drink tea. Good times.

01. May 1st is my favorite Aunt’s birthday.

aunt Phyllis

02. Movie and Dinner night with Adam. Dinner was Ziti. The movie, The Great Wall. Adam did select the movie this time. I must admit, I really enjoy the time we spend together more each time.

03. While getting gas, I went into Casey’s to grab a cup of their Hershey Hot Chocolate. Some of the best right there!

04. Morning began with the weekly Weight Watcher meeting. After the meeting went to Hobby Lobby to pick up some items for my Happy 60th Birthday Party to me, party 🙂 Not only will I be 60 this year, I am celebrating 20 years cancer free!!!

05. I met with my good friend, Cris. Ate lunch at El Portro and then went to Michael’s to select the flowers in the bouquet she will be making for my birthday party.

06. Monday, back to work.

07. Tuesday, I was tired. Made for a long day at work.

08. Movie and dinner night with Adam. Tonights feature, the Peanut Butter Falcon. Dinner, ham quesadilla. Adam scored with this movie selection. Definitely a family friendly movie. I enjoyed it!

09. Visited the cows on lunch break. Beautiful day, sun shining.

cows fence row

10. It’s finally Friday. George Jones, It’s Finally Friday.

11. Erika and her family visited today. They even brought lunch for us! It’s always good to see the grand girls. They change so much.

12. It was a nice Mother’s Day. I visited my mom and dad. My mother does not like to. have her picture taken, so today was a picture less day. Once home, I finished working on the labels for my old age bottles. These will be the party favors for the ‘Happy Birthday to me’ party. This month I am celebrating my 60th, plus my 20 year cancer free (with God’s grace).

old age label
The party favor, M&Ms in a pharmacy bottle.

13. Monday, again. Back to work.

14. Tuesday, another typical day at work.

15. Dinner and movie night with Adam. Dinner, ham steaks and green beans. The movie, River Wild.

In my opinion, the classic The River Wild with Meryl Streep is best.

16. Overslept. Had to work late to make up my tardiness.

17. Renewed my driver’s license and baked birthday cakes.

118. Attended my ‘Happy Birthday to me’ party.

19. Relaxed. Started working on my thank you cards.

20. Finished writing my Thank You notes.

21. A typical Tuesday work day.

22. Attended my grand daughter’s 6th grade promotion.

23. It’s my mom’s birthday today. She’s now 78.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

24. My internet went out. Called the provider and it was reported as an area outage. I had to take unplanned PTO from work. Had dinner and movie night with Adam. We went to Subway for dinner. The movie, Rust Creek.

25. While Kevin went to mow at our past house (small house on 20 acres) his truck broke down and could not bring the mower home. I had to rescue him 🙂

26. Spent a quiet day at home.

27. Memorial Day. Worked on the blog and visited many other blogs with wonderful tributes to the people who sacrificed their life for our wonderful nation, me and my family.

28. Linda was not able to walk tonight, so I had a relaxing evening, working on my own blog.

29. Movie and dinner with Adam. I did not feel like cooking. We had our favorite Casey’s pizza! Movie, Luther: The Fallen Sun. Adam’s choice. Not a family movie. Save this one for parent’s night.

30. Typical Thursday work day. Virtual walk with Linda.

31. It’s Friday and after work I will be going to my grand girls house to spend the weekend with them while their folks are away!!

May was a fun filled month. Looking forward to what June brings!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

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My Journey Update

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healthy choice

My Journey Update

Hi, I have been visiting other blogs and see many recipes. Many of those recipes look and sound very delicious, however- I do not cook. My husband and I have different eating schedules. For me this will be a post on what works for me while on the Weight Watchers program.

During the week, I have 30 minutes for lunch break. Now my husband is retired and he is on his own schedule. I require quick and simple. The Healthy Choice dinners are very Weight Watcher (WW) friendly, either 5 or 6 points. Plus, the ones I have tried (see the above collage) are pretty tasty!

I am not limited to eating the frozen dinners. That is what I like most about the WW program. Nothing is off limits. The question is, ‘How do I want to eat my points?’.

What I discovered, is the individual portion sizes. This is perfect and very simple. The portion size has already been measured and points assigned. I have a healthy choice meal with a snack. Several snacks I found are pictured in the collage above. No need to measure or weigh. Fruits and vegetables are free, no point value.

The weekends are the challenge. This is the time my husband and I will eat our meals together. Those times are generally at a restaurant. Which is not easy to calculate point values. The WW app does have a list of the more popular restaurant menus and point values. However, Kevin’s favorite places to eat are the mom and pop locations. I stick with the vegetables, limiting bread. For protein, either egg, chicken, turkey or beans, my go-to’s.

reward

Weight Watchers will acknowledge and reward my milestones. I am working on my 20lb charm! 🙂

I enjoy stopping by my folks house for a visit after my Saturday WW meetings. Being a photographer, taking pictures with my family is important. Especially now that my parents are in their upper 70’s. Side note, I recommend getting family pictures, at minimum, every 5 years. Families with young children, every other year.

Weight Watchers does not pay me to write about their program. Simply, it is working for me. Anyone who has a question about the program, I will gladly share my opinion and what works for me. It is in my opinion, loosing weight in a healthy manner will most definitely make you feel better. And as a person who takes her ‘happy pills’, this is important!

My Journey
Follow Up

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -16lbs

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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Feel Real Good

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Feel Real Good

Hi, have you ever had a day where you just feel real good? Today was such a day for me. Nothing spectacular happened, just several nice things. First was my Weight Watchers meeting. I am truly enjoying this more with each passing week. Meeting new people. Now that I am working from home, I miss the socialization I once had. WW has given me a much needed outlet.

My blog has also been a blessing. While creating mine, I have found new blogging friends. One such friend is Dee with GrammysGrid.com. I say she is a friend because she has been a tremendous resource. She just makes me feel good by making me feel important, always answering any questions I may have about my website, software and such. Not to mention her prompt replies to the comments I add to her posts, that in itself makes me feel important.

As I have mentioned in prior posts, I had taken many senior portraits, family session, engagement pictures and weddings for 20 some years. I have since slowed down, only doing an occasional shoot here and there. This weekend was one of those here and there’s.

What lead up to this weekend was when I was on Facebook and saw a high school friend had just gotten engaged to another high school friend (Cris and Todd). Well, one of my 101 in 1001 goals (#99) is to be a wedding crasher. No bashfulness, I asked them when and where they were getting married. Does inviting yourself count as a wedding crasher? 🙂 I was flattered when they asked me if I would take their wedding pictures. Of course I said yes! We took a few engagement pictures this weekend.

Then I met my son, we filled his medicine pillbox, had lunch and then did grocery shopping. Our usual Saturday stuff. Always have a nice time with him. Then I drove home. As I was getting close to home, I had to pull the car over and take this picture.

feel real good home
“Home is not a place….it’s a feeling.”

Standing on the gravel road, looking at my husband’s and my home, I felt good. Still do when I look at this picture. My whole day was a feel good day. Driving down the road and seeing this, just made my day even better.

I have so much to be grateful for, and by the Grace of God, I can enjoy this for many more years with my husband. Amen!

May you enjoy a feel good day!

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -14lbs

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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Make a List

Posted on by Debra Leave a comment
make list

Make a List

Hi, have you ever gotten to the store, bought your things and once home you realized you forgot the item you specifically went to get? This is happening to me more than what I like to admit. And it’s not limited to just buying things at the store.

This week I had to run errands. While at the house I thought about all the things I needed to do. The car was on empty, get gas. I like going to Sonic to get a route 44 tea. Then into town to go to the Social Security office. I was prepared to be at the office most of the day. I remembered that line can be extremely long.

I got into the car to leave. My drive will take about 40 minutes. I stopped to get my Sonic route 44. Then as I left Sonic I began to think what I needed to do when I got to the social security office. About 10 minutes into my drive I remembered I needed gas. Uh-oh…..

empty gas tank

I had passed up the last gas station before I got to my destination. As you can see my tank is on empty! I took the picture and probably was not the smartest thing to do while driving. I had approximately 25 miles to go to get to town. Keeping fingers crossed, I did not run out of gas. The first gas station I came to, I stopped and filled up!

Luckily I did not run out of gas. That would not be fun. This has made me think about making a list, shopping and to do list. Which would make shopping easier. The need to remember would be eliminated with just looking at my list!

I must admit the older I get, I recognize changes I am experiencing. Memory loss being one of those. Of course I did Google about age and memory and was comforted to know this is normal for persons 50 and older. If my lists do not help me, I will definitely consult my doctor.

One source I visit often is the Mayo Clinic. This article mentioned misplacing keys, forgetting people’s names but remember them later. This describes me.

A short while ago I did add to my key ring an Apple AirTag. It’s already been helpful. I was at the doctors office and had set my keys down in the lobby. After my appointment I went to my car and could not unlock it. Used my phone to find my keys, worked like a charm!

key ring on chain

Remote Shutter
AirTag

This week’s WW meeting topic: Single Tasking. I have not heard of this before my meeting. Multi-tasking is a term I am familiar. Single tasking focuses on the moment. My list is multi-tasking. Each item on the list, a single task. Focus on one task at a time and not the whole list. The idea of a single task is to eliminate stress, focus on the moment and stop the squirrel like thoughts running in the mind. Allowing me to focus on the pleasures of the now, not be thinking of other things needing to be done and ruining the pleasures of the moment.

single task

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -11.6lbs

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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My Journey

Posted on by GmasPhoto Leave a comment

My Journey

Hi, I am just beginning to comprehend my weight loss will be a journey, a long journey. I never really thought about Weight Watchers. As I mentioned in the previous post it was a friend who returned to the program and that is what prompted me to join. Saturday I went to my meeting. The meetings are for support. And I have come to understand I need this support.

The first person I met at my meetings is sitting behind me in the bottom right picture, Patty. She has lost 85 pounds since she began the program. That was a year ago. At these meetings I was advised that during my journey I will loose some weight and there will be times I will gain. This past Saturday was a week I gained 1.4lbs. My all time weight tally to date, -3lbs.

my journey

Knowing my personality, this will need to be kept real simple. Measuring out my foods is not simple. I have been giving this some thought. Rather lots of thoughts. Here are a few ways I found to help me with measuring.

measuring

The jars are 8oz. I will be using this jar for all drinks, water will be the exception. Simple to measure, if only 4oz I can eyeball that pretty close! The clear cups are 2oz. This will be for food items like salad dressings and cheese. I am sure I will be able to use with other foods as well. When I order my deli meat, once sliced I request the clerk to show me how many slices is 4oz.

I was discouraged to say the least with my gain. With the encouragements from fellow members, I will continue to track my food, stay within my points. My journey is a work in progress.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

Looking My Best

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Looking My Best

Hi, I took the plunge and joined Weight Watchers. For the past year I have tried cutting back on calories and walking. Not much success. A friend, Linda, returned to the program. She had fabulous results and then waivered from the program. It was during one of our virtual walks she had mentioned her return.

Saturday I went to my first meeting and signed up with Weight Watchers. With Linda doing the program and our virtual walking, I feel like I have the needed support and accountability to be successful. I do want to mention that I am not being compensated, endorsed for this post. I am merely explaining what I am trying to do to meet a few of my 101 in 1001 goals, #’s 66, 68 and 69.

weight watchers Counting calories wasn’t working. One day using the tracking method with weight watchers I discovered is more convenient. The Weight Watchers app is very user friendly. The foods I thought I was eating that were ‘good’ was not. For example, I would eat yogurt with granola for breakfast (and still be hungry) for a calorie count of 300. On a 2000 calorie diet this isn’t bad. But that’s 8 points with Weight Watchers. My daily point count is 29. Even with tracking calories, the point method brings more light on weight loss. Most of what I was eating were high points. As long as I can stick with my daily points, I should see 1-2 pounds loss each week.

One thing I will need to do more of, drink water. I do not like the taste of water. Kind of funny, does water have a taste? 🙂
I do have a plan to conquer my dislike of water taste.flavor water

After my first Weight Watcher’s meeting, I did my grocery shopping. Kevin went with me and he did not complain about the time it was taking me to scan each item I placed into the cart. And I did, scan each item. Quite a few items I used to get, I had to choose an alternative. I expressed my concerns about the water with Kevin. We went to the water isle and it was here that Kevin pointed out the flavors. Some of the guys Kevin works with uses flavors in their water. I thought I’d give it a try. Water is 0 points and the flavor is 0 too! I selected the berry flavor this time.

One of my main concerns is how my diet for Crohn’s will work within my 29 daily points. I remember telling my doctor I could not be diabetic. All I can eat is potatoes, pasta and meat! I’ll give an update on what I discover for meals that work for me.

I’m embarrassed with my current weight. So I will not share. But, what I will share is my weight progress with you here. Another accountability measure to help keep me on track.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo