My Journey Update

August 28, 2023 by GmasPhoto 15 Comments

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’, feeling better is important!

The following links are prequels to My Journey Update.
My Journey
Follow Up

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -16lbs

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

Gma’sPhoto LinkUp Party #4

August 24, 2023 by GmasPhoto 13 Comments

Gma’sPhoto LinkUp Party #4

Hi, welcome to Gma’sPhoto 4th LinkUp Party!

Wednesday I had an unexpected fun time. I had gone to the library and had seen the accouncement of movie and dinner sign up. The library was hosting a memorial for the 46th anniversary of Elvis Presley passing with Viva Las Vegas and dinner! That sounded like fun, so I added my name to the list.

dinner and movie — Elvis’ favorite meal, grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich!

It was rather funny, I had no idea who would show up. Fifteen names were on the list. When I walked into the room, it was all older women and I was one of them! It was a fun night.

Gma’sPhoto LinkUp Party #3 spotlight is on:

It’s Playtime with the Kids. | Penny’s Passion
There’s Really No Place Like Home! | GrammysGrid
Gma’sPhoto LinkUp Party #3 | Gma’sPhoto

This week’s theme is Party LinkUps. Yes, please link up your party here! Recipes, DIY, Home, Pets, Photography, Fashion, Health, all family friendly parties are welcome.

Important things to know:
-You may add up to three family friendly blog post links linked to specific blog posts.
-Please say hi & add your link post number when commenting below.
-Be sure to visit other links and leave a kind comment for each post added.
-Thank you for participating. Have fun!

By linking to Gma’sPhoto Party LinkUp, you give permission to share your post and images on Gma’sPhoto blog and social media. Proper credit with a photo and link back will be provided.

Let’s begin the fun at Gma’sPhoto LinkUp Party #4!

Feel Real Good

August 21, 2023 by GmasPhoto 26 Comments

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

Follow Up Post

August 2, 2023 by GmasPhoto 6 Comments

Follow Up Post

Hi, generally I schedule my posts for Monday’s. However, this week I wanted to have a post with a follow up to a few of my ongoing goals. And in doing so, I will be able to provide a photography tip I discovered just this weekend and would love sharing with you! Let’s begin with the photography tip.

It was while working with the picture to the left. It could be the image at the top if you are reading this on your phone. It is my selfie taken in the grocery store! 🙂

The following screen shots were taken on my iPhone 14 ProMax. The Portrait Mode is available on the iPhone 11 and up. I am not sure about models before the 11. I recommend the Portrait Mode in your camera for selfies or when your subject is two to eight feet in front of you. The Portrait Mode is available in the built-in camera app. Once you have the camera open and the Portrait Mode selected, frame the subject to take the shot. When the camera screen displays Natural Light, you can then take the picture.

Notice the background on both pictures. In Portrait Mode, the background is blurred. Looks pretty nice doesn’t it! The Portrait Mode is one way to emphasize the subject. This is especially handy when your background is busy or unattractive. There is more to the photography tip I wanted to share.

Let’s say after you take the picture, you decide you do want to see more details of the background. You can change the background to see more detail. Yes, you heard me correctly. The background can be edited after the image was taken. Let me show you how.

Open the picture you want to see more details in the background. Click the Edit button.

At the top center you will see the word Portrait that is highlighted yellow. Click it. When it is no longer highlighted, the background will not be blurred. Click the word Portrait again, and the background goes back to blurred. Pretty nifty!

Remember the rule of thirds as well. Both of these tips will make your images look better!

Ok, now for the follow up 🙂 This picture is the whole reason for the post today! I have now been an active Weight Watchers member for seven weeks. And yes, I am loosing weight, yippee! However no one seems to have noticed. I notice small changes like today getting in and out of my husband’s truck is easier. My rings seem to be spinning more on my fingers and it is hot outside!

After getting home from the grocery store, I was looking thru some of my past selfies. And lo and behold, I ran across a picture taken just this past May. It was the day I went to the KC Zoo with my daughter and her family. Visit the KC Zoo here!

My very first week, I had signed up for Weight Watchers (WW) in the phone app. The service I selected was the online option. Any classes I wanted to take would require me to upgrade services. And eventually I did just that. The meetings have been very instrumental for me. After seeing the two pictures above side by side, I wonder how much weight I lost that very first week. I never weigh myself at home. My weight was only checked when I went to the doctor and now at my weekly WW meeting. In the post, Looking my Best tells the story of my WW discovery.

And with my WW journey I am successfully implementing #69 of my 101 in 1001 goals, avoid or eat less junk food. That’s a win, win for me!

Loosing weight is not easy. Never has been for me. However, the WW point system and the ability to scan bar codes while at the grocery store makes this process for me easy. I will continue with Weight Watchers and post my progress, good or not good here. I need accountability!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

My Cell Phone is more than Just a Phone

July 24, 2023 by GmasPhoto 10 Comments

My Cell Phone is more than Just a Phone.

Hi, everyone now days has a cell phone. I remember back in the day when no one had them. And once upon a time, when someone did have one and it rang in public, it was considered rude!

How do you use your cell phone? In this post I would like to share how I use mine. Most of the apps I use are the free version. There are a few applications that I upgrade to the pro or premium. I will notate as I go which app is the paid version. Safety is huge, be sure to use applications wisely. One safety practice I use is not connecting to public wifi.

Now days our smartphones are just that, smart. I have heard we should consider them a computer in our pocket. Like most, I use my phone for calls, regular and by video; social media; taking pictures. In addition to the norms: I edit my pictures; track my steps; calendar to schedule appointments; banking, check balances, transfers and pay bills.

Smartphones are not cheap. Because of this I am trying to utilize my smartphone more. The app Adobe Scan has been a wonderful find. I no longer use my scanner that is connected to my PC. Using my phone now to scan simplifies my life. Just take a picture in the app to generate the pdf file. This can be saved right to my phone and I am able to email as needed.

Apps I can not live without

Project Life (standard)

PicTapGo (this is a yearly subscription)

Calendar (standard calendar on phone)

Weight Watchers (active member)

Bublup (free)

Maps (standard on phone)

Sonic (half price drinks all the time!)

Pedometer (Basic)

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -10.6lbs 🙂

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

To Face the Sun, or Not

July 10, 2023 by GmasPhoto 8 Comments

To Face the Sun, or not.

Hi, have you ever thought about the position of the sun when you take your picture? Should the subject be facing the sun or looking away from the sun? This is a question I have been asked more than once. I have taken a few ‘selfies’ to demonstrate the different positions of the sun.

Let’s begin with the sun behind the subject.

The image on the left is straight out of the phone’s camera. No edits. The image on the right was edited. As you can see the image was lightened so that my facial features are more visible.

The next set of pictures, the sun is in the West. The left picture I have turned my face so the sun is shining on the left side of my face. The right picture I turned my face to the right.

Both of these images were right out the phone’s camera. No edits were made to the pictures.

This next picture I was facing the sun.

It’s important to know that when these series of images was taken, it was in the golden hour; approximately 45 minutes before sunset. As you can see all the images look nice with little to no editing needing to be done. Another prime outdoor photography time is in the morning the first hour of sunrise. The sun is softer in the morning and just before the sun sets. If I need to shoot in the middle of the day I look for shaded areas. This next set of pictures was taken in the shaded area of my yard.

silly pictures in the shade — Silly pictures in the shade.

There is no correct way to take an image. Photography is an art. Trying to make the image look nice is the main point to focus on. How to make your image look its best. As long as you are pleased with the result, it is a good picture!

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -6lbs

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra