I Need Happy Pills, or not

March 18, 2025 by GmasPhoto Leave a comment

I Need Happy Pills

Hi, welcome to Gma’sPhoto. Working on my 101 in 1001 list #49. Back when I went to the doctor’s for my wellness check, I had mentioned I needed my dose of happy pills increased.

**I am writing about my own personal experience. Nothing on this website should be considered medical advice. Always consult a doctor before making any changes to your diet, medical plan, or exercise routine. Refer to the full disclaimer here.

A few years back my daughter mentioned she thought I had attention deficient disorder. I spoke to the doctor about this as well. During our discussion, I elected to not increase my Lexapro (happy pill). Instead the doctor gave me a packet of paperwork, one set for me to complete and a second set for my husband to complete. Because Erika had mentioned the A.D.D, I made a copy of the paperwork for her to complete as well. Erika and Kevin paperwork, both were similar.

During my follow up appointment with my doctor, the doctor wanted to treat me for the Inattentive ADD. It was explained to me that the depression I am experiencing can be a symptom of the ADD. We decided to keep the Lexapro at the same dose but add Wellbutrin. After taking the added medicine, I am to return for another follow up appointment in four weeks.

It’s been two weeks and this is what I have noticed so far:

Less emotional moments. I was tearing up more and this was the reason for asking to increase my happy pill.
In my head/mind, I am not talking to myself near as much.
Being less tired.
Housework not feeling daunting. I still need to make myself do the housework, but not the same struggle I had been experiencing. Who likes doing housework anyway? 🙂
I have noticed my Crohn’s is less active. May be too soon to know, however will report this at follow-up appointment.

All these 60 years, I believed what my parents said about me when I was a kid; lazy. After revealing this to the doctor, she said, not at all. Back in the day, the hyper A D D child was dealt with. However, the inattentive child did not disrupt the group/class. Therefore, those children slipped through the cracks so to say. I am aware that I still need to ‘clean’ the house. But the rolling thoughts of EVERYTHING that needs to be done going from one to the next will diminish. Eliminating the exhaustion before I even begin.

I am looking forward to the next couple weeks. The anticipation of new experiences I will have, is exciting! Does anyone else have a similar experience? I am interested if you have.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

25 Things I Like About Myself | 101 in 1001

March 12, 2025 by GmasPhoto 2 Comments

25 Things I Like About Myself

Hi, welcome to Gma’sPhoto. It’s time to get back to my 101 in 1001 goals. I’ve decided to work on the list of 25 things I like about myself, #59.

25 Things I Like About Myself

1. I like being a grandma.

2. The fact I am getter older.

3. I enjoying being a ‘happy’ person.

4. Driving a bus!

5. I like that I am still enjoying technical gadgets, ability to learn new things.

6. A postive person.

7. I treat others the way I want to be treated.

8. Treat others fairly, not forgetting to be fair to myself.

9. I am honest.

10. I am a Christian.

11. I am grateful.

12. I am a tough person who made it through tough times.

13. I love photography and enjoy photographing people.

14. Being a social butterfly and conversing with people.

15. I have dreams.

16. I am affectionate.

17. I am responsible.

18. Getting older.

19. I’m friendly.

20. Was a good mother and still a good mother.

21. My long hair.

22. My hands.

23. My family, husband, daughter her family and my son. Our relationship we have.

24. I like who I am right now, while working to make myself better.

25. I’m always searching for things that I like about myself 🙂

Wow, that took me time to create the list. Have you ever asked yourself what you like about you? Give it a try. You just might be surprised with what you add to your list.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

September | One Line a Day

September 30, 2024 by GmasPhoto 4 Comments

September | One Line a Day

Hi, it’s September. Just 3 months until Christmas. But first Autumn!

01. Sunday. I really enjoy this season. The first sign of Autumn was just this morning, the fog. This image was taken while I was on my way to the grocery store. Erika and her family will be coming over to spend the day with me and Kevin!

02. Monday. I delivered the senior session images to Cresinda.

03. Tuesday. Worked my last day with the Kansas child support services.

04. Wednesday. My first day working for the school district! What a day it was. The bus would not start in the morning. Jumped the bus and still did not start. Ended up the bus needed a new battery.

05. Thursday. Getting up at 4:30 am comes pretty quick!

06. Friday. Getting up at 4:30 am is not the best part of this new job.

07. Saturday. Slept in till 7:00 am. Took a nap, much needed.

08. Sunday. Kevin surprised me once again. Went to morning mass!

09. Monday. This is my first full week working at the school district.

10. Tuesday. Went to my brother in law’s mother’s service. Living in a small town, everyone knows everyone. Her service was packed with many of her family and dear friends.

11. Wednesday. Stayed up much too late last evening. Overslept, not good. Had to rush to work. All good, but still got my heart racing.

12. Thursday. Still settling into my new daily routine, I came home and did some housework. Now that I am working part time, there should be no reason for my house not to be clean. 🙂

13. Friday. Oh boy, Friday the thirteenth. A high schooler ran into the bus I was riding on this morning’s route. The student was fine. Car a bit dinged. Bus ok, nothing.

14. Saturday. Spent the afternoon with my parents. Erika and her family was there too. Kentucky Fried Chicken was on the menu for dinner!

15. Sunday. On the drive home, stopped by the Grinter’s Sunflower Farm. This is really growing. Not so much the fields of flowers but the farmer’s wife opened a general store a couple years ago and the place was a hoppin’ place today.

16. Monday. The library was having an Adult Crafting Night. I went and painted some rocks!

17. Tuesday. Returned to the library to fax some paperwork needed for Adam’s insurance.

18. Wednesday. Drove into Lawrence for Bible Study and to fill Adam’s pillbox. Wednesday is early release for the school kids. Needed to get back to the bus so the Lawrence trip was a quickie.

19. Thursday. Finally, some rain. Craved ice cream. So I made myself a frozen cherry smoothie!

20. Friday. At the school there is a large transportation break room. Nice. Spent the time between morning route and afternoon route there.

21. Saturday. Kevin took me to Ashli’s Family Diner for breakfast. Pancakes sounded good. The only option on the menu was the ‘giant pancake’. The waitress asked me if I wanted the ‘giant’ pancake. Sure!

22. Sunday. Kevin and I went to church, early mass. Went to Lawrence to fill Adam’s pillbox. Bought groceries. Spent the afternoon at home. Watched the Chiefs play football in the evening. Go Chiefs!! Chiefs won.

23. Monday. A fellow bus driver called in sick. Her route was split between two other buses. I was on one of those and was able to get in some additional hours.

24. Tuesday. Studying for the written CDL test. Getting anxious.

25. Wednesday. Attended a defensive driving class. Was shown how to park in a parking space correctly. Learned other useful tips/information.

26. Thursday. Completed the defensive driving class and received my certificate. Supposedly I can provide this to my insurance company and possibly get a discount on the rate. We will see.

27. Friday. I passed the written CDL test. Next I will be training on a real bus, the driving part 🙂

28. Saturday. I was tired. Passing the CDL test was really stressful. More stressful than I had realized.

29. Sunday. Kevin and I went to Sunday Mass. This is becoming our new Sunday norm! Watched the Chiefs play.

30. Monday. Between the morning route and afternoon run, I went into Lawrence to visit with my folks. Also filled Adam’s pillbox. On my drive thru Lawrence, I had happened to see this wreck. Pretty scary. All involved seemed to be okay, out of vehicles and standing waiting for the emergency personnel.

September went way too quick. Looking forward to October. The leaves will be changing colors and the weather getting cooler. Sweater weather 🙂

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

August | One Line a Day

September 1, 2024 by GmasPhoto Leave a comment

August | One Line a Day

Hi, welcome to Gma’sPhoto! August did not start favorably. The stomach bug landed and hit me hard. I was out from work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I am now on the mends and back to my regular schedule and activities.

01. Thursday. Went to see the doctor. Wanted to make sure I had the stomach bug and not more to do with my Crohn’s. Needed note to return to work.

02. Friday. Back to work.

03. Saturday. Met my daughter for a brief moment before she left for a Branson, MO vacation. Drove into Lawrence to meet my son and do grocery shopping. Studying for my CDL. This will be a fun story. I will post about this later.

04. Sunday. Took a nap. Felt good to catch up on much needed rest.

05. Monday. Long day Monday.

06. Tuesday. Took the day off from work to attend a meeting for the school bus position. Safety meeting and CPR class.

07. Wednesday. Back to work.

08. Thursday. Work day was good. Virtual walk in the evening with Linda.

09. Friday. Prepping cameral for Saturday’s photo session with Cresinda.

10. Saturday. Had a wonderful time taking senior portraits!

11. Sunday.

12. Monday. Contacted HR and my first day to report to my new position will be Sept 4th.

13. Tuesday. Typically work day.

14. Wednesday. Had my DOT physical. All went good except one minor thing, CPAP and the lack of use.

15. Thursday.

16. Friday. I have not given my two weeks yet. Wanted to see how PTO not used would be paid out. I will need to use it. Monday, I will put in for the time off, then give the notice once time is approved!

17. Saturday. Lunch date with Cris. We meet half way at Legends. It’s a mall, not the typical mall you would think of. All the stores are outside. Let me clarify that. Imagine you are in the mall and you are standing in the center in front of each store. That area I would describe a huge hall between the two rows of stores. Well, at Legends that hall is outside. The stores are buildings but once you leave a store you go outside to the next store. Each store is connected like in a typical mall. We ate lunch and then shopped!

18. Sunday.

19. Monday. Put in my request for days off. I will need to take the time off or loose my paid PTO time.

20. Tuesday. Turned in my two week’s notice 🙂

21. Wednesday. Work as usual and virtual walk with Linda.

22. Thursday. Dinner and movie night at the Tonganoxie library. I had fun last year and did not want to miss seeing Elvis this year!

23. Friday. A night at Starlight watching Westside Story! The time I was invited to see Little Mermaid inspired me to want to come back to Starlight. Knowing Kevin wouldn’t be interested, I invited Linda to go with me.

24. Saturday. Spent the day working on Cresinda’s senior images. Downloading to computer and editing.

25. Sunday. We went to church! I was so excited about this. Last night, Kevin, asked if I want to go to church. Yes, I said. The sermon was for me. Amazing. The Good Lord knew I needed to hear it!

26. Monday. My last week of working for child care. 🙂

27. Tuesday. Went in to take the CDL test. That did not go as planned. I will need to retake the test.

28. Wednesday. Busy day at work.

29. Thursday. Another busy day at work.

30. Friday. Spent the night over at my folks house. Dad went on a motorcycle trip to Springfield, IL to see motorcycle races. Mom and I binge watched the YellowStone marathon.

31. Saturday. Ended up staying a second night with my mom, still watching YellowStone!

Once again another month has come and gone. There’s not time for regrets. Looking forward to September!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

June | One Line a Day

July 1, 2024 by GmasPhoto 4 Comments

June | One Line a Day

Hi, another month has passed by too quick. The month started out perfect. The whole weekend spent with my grand girls. Can’t get much better than that! 🙂

01. The grand girls and I had a fun time. We slept in from our late Friday night tradition. Went to McDonald’s for lunch. Then we visited the Evel Knevel Museum. Do you know/remember Evel?

02. The girls and I stayed in house. Each grand daughter practiced the piano. Listen to Brie play here.

03. Got to sleep in my own bed!

04. Movie and Dinner night with Adam. Movie, The Mother. Dinner, Chinese.

05. Crazy dreams all night.

06. Nice day at work. Cleaned the pool and virtual walk with Linda.

07. Date with Kevin to watch Pat Sajak’s last night to host the Wheel of Fortune game show.

08. Weight Watchers. Fish fry.

09. Sunday.

10. Monday.

11. Movie and Dinner night with Adam. Dinner, pulled pork with Mac and Cheese. The movie was actually a Netflix Series, The Night Agent. We had a bingeful evening.

12. The day was long. Stayed up way too late. Virtual walk with Linda.

13. Worked the morning shift at work.

14. Worked the morning shift at work.

15. Weight Watchers meeting. Visited my Dad for Father’s Day.

16. Father’s Day. Kevin and I had lunch at our local grocery store deli. They serve Chester’s Chicken. Have you tried Chester’s Chicken? Trust me, it’s good!

17. Monday’s are always busy at work.

18. It’s Tuesday but like Friday. We get June 19 off, a paid holiday.

19.June tenth. Enjoyed sleeping in a bit. I needed to be working on cleaning the pool. The rain all day squashed that plan.

20. It was like a Monday. The day after a holiday is always busy.

21. Friday! Ready for the weekend.

22. Kevin and I drove into St. Joseph today. Kevin’s favorite holiday is 4th of July. We bought fireworks for our summer party.

23. Stayed home during the morning. In the afternoon I drove into town to get groceries. While shopping in Walmart, I ran into my parents, a total unexpected pleasure.

24. Typical Monday at work, busy. Every Monday is busy. Linda is not able to virtual walk in the evenings for next couple weeks.

25. Movie and Dinner night with Adam. White House Down and Casey’s pizza.

26. Wednesday.

27. Thursday.

28. It’s finally Friday!

29. Erika and family came over to swim and assist getting ready for the July Summer party.

30. A day with Kevin, shopping for our July Summer party!

Another month has flashed by. We are just 6 months from Christmas!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

May | One Line a Day

June 1, 2024 by GmasPhoto 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.

18. Attended my ‘Happy Birthday to me‘ party.

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

20. Finished writing my Thank You notes. I sent each guest a thank you letter and a printed 4×6 of our selfie.

21. A typical Tuesday work day.

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

6 grade promotion — Briella wanted to celebrate at Sonic for ice cream!

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