Gma’sPhoto | ge•ner•ic Linkup Party #53

generic

Gma’sPhoto | ge•ner•ic Linkup Party #53

Hi, welcome to Gma’sPhoto ge•ner•ic Linkup Party #53!

This week’s feature will be on two different linked posts. The first is simply because this looks so delicious, healthy and easy to make! The second feature is one I truly believe in and wanted to share. Enjoy.

Gma’sPhoto ge•ner•ic Party spotlight is on:

Keto Egg Muffins with Broccoli & Cheese | Esme Salon

keto egg muffins with broccoli cheese
Click image for the Keto Egg Muffins with Broccoli & Cheese recipe.

This Party’s Theme is Generic.

Each Friday a new ge•ner•ic Linkup Party will open and end the following Thursday. Link up any family friendly post, health, diy, recipes, home decor, parenting, wordless, crafts, sewing, you get the idea.

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.
-Those leaving post entry numbers are eligible to be featured at the next party!
-Be sure to visit other links and leave a kind comment for each link you post.
-Party opens Friday and ends Thursday.
-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 ge•ner•ic Linkup Party #53!

kindess

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


Semi Retired

painted rocks

Semi Retired | My Sunday Snapshot #32

Hi, welcome to My Sunday Snapshot! I am finding more and more things to do now that I am semi retired. Going from 40 hour work week to 20 hours is giving me so much more time to do as I wish and not because I have to. After my morning bus route, I stopped into the public library to work on my site and seen this poster.

semi retired

Heck, yes. I am so doing this. I chose to paint a rock. This rock!

rock

The evening was an absolute blast. I met new friends. Laughed. Laughed a lot! And best of all, I have the rocks as keep sakes of a fabulous memory. What was even better, it was free!

Are you retired or at the semi stage, same as me? What are some of the things you enjoy the most with your added personal/home time?

Have a wonderful week!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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my Sunday snapshot
Pictures can produce so many different emotions and feelings. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! Share your fun and interesting image from the past week.

My Sunday Snapshot 32

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


Men’s Mental Illness

men's mental illness

Men’s Mental Illness

Hi, welcome to Gma’sPhoto! This post was inspired by our trip to St. Joseph, MO for our summer party fireworks purchase. On our drive, we always stop into one particular Chinese restaurant. It was here, in May 2011 our journey with men’s mental illness began. I call it our dark days.

Thank God, I am being totally sincere. Not at all saying HIS name in vain. We are out of the dark (as long as our son is taking his meds). Occasionally, there may be a cloudy day, metaphorically. For this I am very grateful.

I want to share our experience as parents of a young male adult child at his onset of mental illness. I had felt like I missed something when he was growing up. The what if’s consumed me. This is the beginning of our story, Kevin and Debra’s story.

men's mental illness
One of my favorite photos with me and Adam.

Telling the story now, I have the hindsight. Just wish what I know now, I had known earlier when Adam was still in middle and high school. Adam tended to be more emotional than our daughter. While Adam was in his senior year in high school he worked on the senior slide show for the class graduation. Adam and a couple other guys were part of the group. One of Adam’s comments was that this other kid was getting all the credit. He mentioned it several different times. According to Adam, Adam was doing most of the work. Okay, nothing too unordinary right? On with my story.

Graduation comes and goes. Summertime is here. Adam was getting nose bleeds. Not too uncommon, especially when he experiences allergies. He goes off to college. All is going great. His grades are better than when he was in high school. He was able to focus on his interest, arts. First year of college was fabulous. Summer rolled around. Adam wanted to live in Lawrence for the summer. Grandma and Grandpa said it was okay that he stay with them, with conditions. Those conditions were he could not smoke, do drugs and stay out late. No problem.

Age of onset of mental disorders. Roughly half of all lifetime mental disorders in most studies start by the mid-teens and three quarters by the mid-20s. Later onsets are mostly secondary conditions. Severe disorders are typically preceded by less severe disorders that are seldom brought to clinical attention.”

source one

Our son was graduating from community college May 2011. We were proud, are still proud parents. We invited family to attend the ceremony and after for dinner to celebrate. Kevin and I had drove North to Hiawatha where Adam attended community college. When we got there, Adam was no where to be found. One of his roommates said he had already left. We were confused. We called Adam and he said he did not want to go to graduation. He was driving back to Lawrence to my parents home where he was going to stay for the summer.

We called Kevin’s parents, Kevin’s sister and her husband, our daughter and her family. My parents already knew so we did not need to call them. Luckily no one else drove the whole way to the graduation. We had them meet us at the Chinese resturaunt. What an evening.

During the summer Adam became more paranoid. My parents had Adam go to the doctor office for drug tests, on more than one occasion. Each were random. Every time the tests would come back negative. One night Adam’s behavior was such that my parents called the police. Adam was taken to the hospital. Erika had gone to the hospital to be with Adam. Upon his release from hospital, Kevin and I had to acknowledge we would be responsible for Adam and that he would be in our care. This is when we observed his behaviors we only heard of from my parents.

Adam had many different behaviors. More than I can recall. Just that his behavior was not right. Adam did tell us he had been taking drugs and knew which ones helped him to concentrate and stay focused. Adam’s doctor is the same doctor I went to and the one my parents went to. This was a major factor in the help we received for Adam. Kevin and I went to this doctor. The doctor said drugs was not the concern at this time, it was his mental state. A few recommendations for the best doctor for Adam were given to us.

Adam began his treatment. I had previously sought legal advice about guardianship. The attorney asked if we had doctor statement that this would be in Adam’s best interest. At this time we did not have this and the attorney said it would be very hard to get guardianship granted.

Eventually, Adam had a ‘team’ that consisted of his Case Worker and therapist. Adam made a few poor decisions that resulted in his therapist to refer Adam to a psychologist. The psychologist (Dr.J) did an intensive session with Adam and ultimately she provided a letter stating it would be in Adam’s best interest to have a guardian. Once we had her letter, the family doctor also wrote a letter supporting the guardianship. Adam’s therapist wrote her letter supporting guardianship. The psychologist (Dr.E) who prescribes Adam’s medicines wrote his supporting letter. With the four letters Kevin and I hired a family law attorney. We are now Adam’s Co-conservator, Co-Guardians.

This story is not complete, however this is where I will end my post. Eventually I will return with more of the story. I wanted to share in case someone else may be going through a similar struggle. If so and you have questions, I would be willing to go more in depth with you in a one to one conversation. Send me a message using my contact form.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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June | One Line a Day

day with grand girls

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?

McDonald's

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!

chesters chicken
Delicious.

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.

fireworks shopping

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.

meeting parents at grocery store

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
Gma’s photo

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May | One Line a Day

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
Adam and 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.

steer lined up at fence

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.

ks dept of motor vehicles

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

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

thank you

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.

78 birthday
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
Gma’s photo

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Did I Hear Pancakes?

did I hear pan cakes

Pancakes sounded so good this morning.



I had a craving for pancakes. When Kevin took me to this restaurant, one of my local favorite, I was trying to decide on getting the one pancake, short stack (2) or the Kid’s menu pancake with slice of bacon. I had no idea the size of the pancakes the would be. So when the waitress came to take our order, I asked how big one pancake was. “Pretty big” was her answer. I chose the one pancake, $3.25- because I am trying to be a good Weight Watcher member! Water is what I ordered to drink. Note, I really wanted orange juice. After a few moments, our breakfast was delivered.

Oh, my- my pancake was huge. You can see in the image above the one pancake was the size of the plate. The image below will show just how thick it was!

thick pancakes
A thick pancake!

I ate the whole thing!

delicious pancake
The pancake was delicious!

Of all the places to eat, my favorites are the home town, small town local restaurants.

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -25.8lbs

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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