May | One Line a Day

June 1, 2024 by Debra Leave a comment

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.

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.

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.

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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April | One Line a Day

May 1, 2024 by GmasPhoto Leave a comment

April One Line a Day

Hi, we are gearing up on getting the yard in shape for our summer activities. April already here and the mowing and dandelion season has already begun!

01. April Fools. Seeing many posts of people showing pretty flowers blooming. And when I walk out of my door, this is what I see blooming.

02. Work computer was down yesterday. Made today very busy. My head hurt at the end of my shift.

03. I sure enjoy my ‘ice cream’ aka frozen strawberries and banana smoothie!

04. Movie night with Adam. For dinner, Casey’s pizza, best pizza! Movie, Deepwater Horizon with Mark Walburg and Kurt Russell. Much better than last Thursday’s choice.

05. Finally Friday, virtual walk with Linda.

06. Saturday, Weight Watcher meeting, Adam errands and grocery shopping.

07. My grand daughter got a phone this year for her birthday. I got a text today with this picture!

my grand daughters selfie — My grand daughter’s selfie!

08. Monday, always busy. Call volume the highest in the week. Virtual walk with Linda (on our treadmills).

09. Rough day taking calls. Virtual walk with Linda (on our treadmills).

10. Spent the evening with Adam, our movie and dinner night. The movie tonight, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Could be a bit frightening for little children but not like the other movies Adam has selected!

11. Kevin fried a few mushrooms he found just a couple days ago. Every spring I look forward to having these!

12. It’s Friday! I look forward to the weekends. Tomorrow, going to the Tulip Festival!

13. Wamego, KS Tulip Festival! Very fun day spent with a friend, Linda. The weather was perfect!

14. Happy 36th birthday to my daughter! Kevin and I met her at the Waffle House for breakfast.

15. Last week, I was drinking hot chocolate. Our house temperature was at 62. This weekend it reached 80 degrees and then some. Kevin turned on the AC. We removed the pool cover. It’s time to start cleaning the pool and patio!

16. Enjoy the virtual walks with Linda.

17. Movie and Dinner night with Adam. Goulash for dinner. Real simple and plain recipe, hamburger (2lbs), I can tomato juice and 2 cups of elbow macaroni. Browned the hamburger then in a pot added all ingredients. Heated the goulash until the noodles were cooked. Done. Very good on a cold, rainy evening! The movie was the third in line, War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

18. Cold continues. Much needed rain. Lots of calls at work.

19. It’s Friday. My favorite part of the weekend is Friday at 5:30pm. My work shift has ended and the weekend has officially started!

20. Slept in. Horrible night sleeping. Did not go to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. Stayed home. Ordered my groceries thru the Walmart app to pick up tomorrow.

21. Met Erika and the girls at my folks house. Had Casey’s breakfast pizza. Adam came by too!

22. Kevin always finds things to do on the farm. He will go to the back forty or across the road. I had a question for him and tried calling him. His phone was in the house on the charger. So I reverted to calling his name really loud, Ke-vin, here Kevin, come. Not just one time, but several times repeatedly! 🙂 I thought it was funny. After several minutes, I heard him come into the house. His words, “So, you think you’re funny”. Looking into his eyes, “I thought it was darn funny!”

23. Experienced FaceTime issues. Not sure what caused the disruption. Ended up having to uninstall the app. Re-installed FaceTime and all was good. However, all this occurred during the time I was to virtual walk with Linda.

24. Good day. had hot chocolate. Was able to virtual walk with Linda, FaceTime now working.

25. Felt like Friday. Long day.

26. Dinner and movie night with Adam and a bonus. We went to Erika’s home for movie. Dinner was Golden Corral. The movie, Murder Mystery 2.

27. Spent the night with the kids. Saturday Shaune and Adam worked on taking out the bathtub from the grand girls bathroom. They got it out and even set in the new. Still need to work on the sheet rock. The hardest part is done.

28. When I left Erika and Shaune’s house, Shaune had the tub in place. He said the back part for the shower should be easier. The difficult part will be cutting the piece where the shower pipe will need to go thru the backing. I will be excited to see the remodel next weekend. And then after Erika has done her redecorating!

29. I had an exciting day. Adam called me this morning after he got off work. He had been in a bike wreck. Adam drives a Honda Grom. It’s bigger than a moped but not as big as a motorcycle. My heart sank. I live about 25 miles north of where Adam lives. I made it to town and Adam is okay. There was minimal damage, repairable. All is good.

30. Been in the process of opening the pool. Well, it’s official. Our pool will need attention. This summer we will need to limp it along. We have a drain that has a crack. It’s on the return side back to the pump. Kevin was concerned. He got one of those camera scopes to view the pipes. But the positive, Kevin said when he fixes the drain, we can replace the liner. Something I was excited to hear! 🙂

limp pool along for the summer. — Pool in need of loving care.

It will be necessary to drain all the water out before repairs can be made. This is the reason for trying to make the pool last thru the summer.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

Topeka, KS Capitol | 101 in 1001

April 8, 2024 by Debra Leave a comment

Topeka, KS Capitol | 101 in 1001

Hi, I had the fun experience while running an errand for my son. This errand took me to Topeka, KS. This city holds a special spot in my heart. First and foremost this is where my daughter and her family call home. Topeka is a city of history as well. #15 of my 101 in 1001 can be checked off!

While in Topeka I decided to visit the state capitol. The dome was my interest on this trip. For many years the dome was a lime green color. After the restoration, the dome is a dark brown. I wanted to get up close and see the changes.

This is how I remember it looking.

This is how it looks now.

Notable Kansans

Charles Curtis

Dwight D. Eisenhower

The images of Notable Kansans and of First Peoples were hanging on stone walls.

Briella, Brynlee and I were successful in climbing all 296 steps to the top of the dome!

To see images of us while climbing the steps to the dome and other pictures, click Kansas Capitol Gallery
We discovered after this climb, Brynlee is afraid of heights. Regardless, she was a trooper!

Take care and best wishes, Debra

My Journey Update

August 28, 2023 by GmasPhoto Leave a comment

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.

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

Another 101 in 1001 Done

August 14, 2023 by Debra Leave a comment

Another 101 in 1001 Done!

Hi, I am quite happy. This weekend was really fun! Spent Saturday with my folks, son, daughter and her family. After my morning WW meeting, went straight to my parents home. This is were the fun continued, visited, ate lunch (Freddy’s). We played a card game, Cover Your Assets.

Once the game was over, the grand girls wanted to dance. They brought mini disco lights, which I never got a picture, darn. Turned on some 1960’s music and we danced! Thanks to my daughter, I have this picture of me and my mom dancing. On the wall, you can see faint light reflections above my mom’s head from the disco balls.

My mom had fun. When I was a kid, one of my memories was mom playing albums and we would dance. I continued the tradition with my children. When they had friends spend the night, I’d play music. Me and my kids would dance and eventually their friends would start dancing too! And this weekend Me, my mom, daughter and grand girls all danced. Priceless memories!

My friend, Linda and I meet M-F to walk. Weekends I do not necessarily walk, just relying on me doing my grocery shopping and other weekend stuff to get my steps in. Well, the dancing was an added bonus! Since COVID I have been working from home. My activity level went way down with this transition of work environment.

As our time together was coming to an end, we started talking about the newer movies. Sound of Freedom was brought up. My mom wanted to see this. So I asked her if she wanted to go with me. The dancing wore her down. With her C.O.P.D, she exerted herself. I decided to go ahead and see it. Oh, I was able to take advantage of the senior ticket price!

Unplanned, I was able to check off another 101 in 1001 done! #37 – go to a movie by myself. I also remembered to take advantage of senior discount for the movie ticket – #88!

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -13.8lbs

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

Fun Weekend with Grand-Girls!

July 17, 2023 by Debra Leave a comment

Fun Weekend with Grand-Girls!

Hi, what a fun weekend I experienced with my grand-girls. My daughter and son-in-law went out of town with friends for a float trip. Which translates to me getting to spend the entire weekend with the girls, YES!!

I took the day Friday away from my work to do my weekend errands in the morning so I could drive to Topeka and get the girls picked up from summer camp by 4pm. That evening we went back to their house to take care of the pups, get dinner ready and then movie time. Grandma let the girls stay up later than their bedtime. Saturday morning Kevin came out to sat with the girls while I went to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. While I was away, Kevin took the girls to the Farmer’s Market. Upon my return the girls were excited to tell me, they got some honey sticks and already ate them. After Kevin left, we ate our lunch and decided to go to the Topeka Zoo.

After the zoo we stopped by the girls choice restaurant, McDonald’s. Brynlee likes the playground. We ate and then I watched the girls play for a bit. Then back to their house. Once back to the house we let the doggies out and fed them. By this time the weather had cooled down some. We went outside for some fun activities, hula hoop and jump rope. Here is a fun video of the girls trying to teach me how to hula hoop!

MacBook viewers: If the video does not appear, switch from Safari browser to Google.
The video will then appear.

The best part of the day for me was when the girls were getting ready for bed. Briella told me she had a fun day. This warmed my heart. My husband always asks me what memories did we make after I am with the grand girls. This is certainly a memory I will treasure.

Sunday was my last day to spend with the girls. The plan was to meet Shaune’s parents for them to take the girls to Branson. Our hand off was a success!

This weekend the grand girls and I completed two of my 101 in 1001. #13 Go to the Topeka Zoo and #89 Learn How to Hula Hoop. At least I tried! 🙂

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -8.8lbs 🙂

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

My Journey

June 27, 2023 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

Looking My Best

June 19, 2023 by GmasPhoto Leave a comment

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.

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

Fun at the Kansas City Zoo

May 29, 2023 by GmasPhoto Leave a comment

Fun at the Kansas City Zoo.

Hi, I had a fun birthday weekend with my family at the Kansas City Zoo. Happy birthday to me!

#14 Go the the Kansas City Zoo
and #38 visit the grand girls once a month

fun at the Kansas City zoo — Click image to see the images taken at the KC Zoo!

The morning began with eating breakfast out. I ordered a two egg omelet with cheese, bacon, green onion and tomato. After breakfast my daughter and her family picked me up to go to the zoo. It was for sure a fun birthday. It did make me realize a few things.

Firstly, I want to do better of taking pictures through out my adventures. There were things the grand girls did that I never took a picture. For example when they slid down the slide instead of using the stairs. I never took images of our lunch, what we ordered and the menu to show the high cost of ordering on zoo grounds. The thought of bringing a picnic lunch didn’t even come to mind until I saw the prices. One bottle of water was $5.00. Ouch, a family of 4 would be 20 bucks.

Secondly, my weight. My age, working from home, not getting out among other things I have been telling myself when I look in the mirror. This adventure to the zoo made me realize how my weight is affecting me. And it is not good. From this day forward, I will take more responsibility to do something for myself to improve my health. I want to be like my Aunt Phyllis was. When she was 80 she could keep up with my dancing when I was 50. She looked amazing. That is how I want to be when I am 80.

favorit aunt Phyllis — My inspiration in aging, my Aunt Phyllis.

#52 Walk two miles 3x a week.
#53 Do nightly excersizes 3x a week. Opposite nights from above walking goal.

These two will be a work in progress. And to keep a journal of progress, I will include a selfie of me each post. And hopefully this will show the change/progress of my efforts.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

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Fun at the Kansas City Zoo

Tag: goal

May | One Line a Day

May | One Line a Day

April | One Line a Day

April One Line a Day

Topeka, KS Capitol | 101 in 1001

Topeka, KS Capitol | 101 in 1001

My Journey Update

My Journey Update

Another 101 in 1001 Done

Another 101 in 1001 Done!

Fun Weekend with Grand-Girls!

My Journey

Looking My Best

Fun at the Kansas City Zoo

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