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

April | One Line a Day

May 1, 2024 by GmasPhoto 4 Comments

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!

1. 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.

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

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

4. 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.

5. Finally Friday, virtual walk with Linda.

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

7. My grand daughter had gotten a phone on her birthday this year. I got a text today with this picture!

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

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

9. 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 inside house temperature was at 62. This weekend the outside weather 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, along with a whistle. 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 thru 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

Wamego Tulip Festival | 101 in 1001

April 24, 2024 by GmasPhoto 3 Comments

Wamego Tulip Festival | 101 in 1001

Hi, I am so excited. Two of my 101 in 1001 I can mark completed, #21 and #44.

#21 Drive to Wamego for the Tulip Festival.

Saturday, April 13, 2024 after my Weight Watchers meeting I met up with Linda and we drove to the tulip festival.

linda and deb — On our way to the Wamego Tulip Festival!

Meeting people is fun. While visiting Wamego, Jim was the person who greeted us as we went into the ‘Old Town’ area. He was in front of the communication building featuring the telephones. To see images of the antique telephones and other festival images, click here.

Ten years ago, there were just a few vendors, mainly informational. This year it was packed, vendors, food vendors and visitors! The main entrance took you thru the food court. Many different foods to pick. We arrived right at lunch time. For lunch we went to the tent where the Knights of Columbus grilled hamburgers, right side in picture. And on the way out we went to the Stumpy’s Smoked Cheese food truck on the left in the image. Oh my, the Mac and Cheese with bacon was delicious!

food trucks — #44, 101 in 1001. Eat at a food truck!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra