May | One Line a Day

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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?

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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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Practicing Gratitude 24 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Posted on by GmasPhoto 2 Comments
Practicing Gratitude 24 of 31 frozen bananas

Practicing Gratitude 24 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Hi, I am amazed at how many new foods I have tried. Not all new, but new ways of preparing foods. This is all because of Weight Watchers. One example is the simple banana.🍌 NEVER did it occur to me to eat frozen bananas until I was introduced to delicious smoothies! For sure, today I am grateful for discovering how delicious frozen bananas taste.

Freezing bananas is really simple.


My freezer is not large so I used a regular dinner plate. Peeled the bananas and cut into chunks. Stood the chunks on end on the plate. Set the plate in the freezer for 1 – 2 hours. Placed the banana chunks into a zip lock baggie. As I was sealing the bag shut, pushed as much air from the bag as possible. These will not last long in the freezer!!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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October in review:


Practicing Gratitude 16 of 31 | 101 in 1001

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Practicing Gratitude 16 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 16 of 31 | 101 in 1001

grooming nail care kit
Nail tools, a necessity!
Hi, today I am grateful for my nail/grooming kit. These small items I have taken for granted. I have started to carry a set in my purse for anytime I may need to use them. Not much is worse than when a nail breaks and the rough edge snags on clothes. Nice to be able to clip, trim or file the nail smooth.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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October in review:


Practicing Gratitude 13 of 31 | 101 in 1001

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Practicing Gratitude 13 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 13 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Hi, it’s my Day 13 of practicing gratitude. Today I am grateful for a freshly brushed set of teeth! I feel so much better after doing this morning ritual. Love how my breath feels cool.

crest cinnamon tooth paste
Grateful for the feeling of freshly brushed teeth!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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October in review:

Practicing Gratitude 8 of 31 | 101 in 1001

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practicing gratitude 8 of 31

Practicing Gratitude 8 of 31 | 101 in 1001

My beautiful blond hair!
Hi, today I am grateful for the cancer I experienced. Wait, did I really say that?! Would I ever want to experience cancer again? Absolutely not! However, good things did happen because of the cancer. Let me explain.

My children were in daycare at 6 weeks old. Both me and my husband worked full time. His income paid for the house, utilities and all property taxes. My income paid for groceries, daycare and health insurance. We never had the newest home nor vehicles. Kevin worked then and still does in construction. The possibility of Kevin getting laid off was great. If Kevin was laid off, he would have the kids and the daycare payment would then be applied to the house payment. Fast forward to June 2003.

I was working for our family business my father started, mom and pop restaurant. Dad was taking more time off. Many evenings I worked late because some 16 year old kid did not show for work. Our children were in 9th grade and Senior year. I had just turned 39. With activities I was winded. Just thought I was getting older and out of shape was the reason.

I had an immense amount of pressure on my chest. My asthma began to bother me. I had woke up one Tuesday morning with chest pain. I made an appointment to go to the doctor. The appointment was for the next day, Wednesday. Tuesday late afternoon I had called Kevin and asked him to come straight home. Once he got home I asked him to take me to the hospital. That was the beginning of my cancer journey.

My parents and I sold the business. I worked but went to being a receptionist part time. And it was a Monday thru Friday job, 8am to noon, holidays off. I was up at the school house every afternoon to attend the school activities the kids were involved with. Did not miss a single one!

So the reason I am grateful for my cancer, I spent the whole school year and the following summer with my kids. Something I would not have done if I was working full time like my whole adult life until that June 2003.

About the doll: I lost all of my hair during chemo. My hair dresser, Nancy, told me when it was time to let her know. She had me come in before hours, locked the door and shut the blinds. We cut all my hair off. My mom was with me and she requested to keep my hair. Later mom found someone who stitched my hair onto this doll. Mom later said she wished she got a doll with blue eyes to match me!

I did not like the doll for the longest time. Brought too many negative thoughts to my mind. It represented pain. Well fast forward to about 3 months ago. Mom has gotten in the mood to get rid of many of her things. The doll came up. She was going to get rid of her. I told mom I was ready to take her. Yes, I still remember the pain, but I have so many wonderful memories with my kids I would not have had if it were not for the cancer.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra
Gma’s photo

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October in review: