Sidewalk Chalk Masterpiece | 101 in 1001

May 8, 2024 by GmasPhoto 10 Comments

Sidewalk Chalk Masterpiece | 101 in 1001

Hi, I’m so excited for this wonderful time with my daughter and grand daughter. We had planned to meeting up at my folks house today. Beautiful day outside. Erika brought some sidewalk chalk. It just happened that I was able to mark off #9 from my 101 in 1001 goal list.

Erika had Brynlee lay on the driveway and she drew around her, making an outline.

sidewalk chalk masterpiece — Making an outline of Brynlee.

Brynlee then drew my shadow’s outline. The image of me standing with arms up and out with the shadow, Brnlee took the picture. After drawing other art, I had Brnlee stand where I was standing with her shadow over my shadow’s outline. Couldn’t get her to understand the sun shifted. 🙂

The two horizontal images, Brynlee wanted us to draw rabbits. Top right, Erika’s art, bottom left mine is the face outline and Brynlee’s is above the flowers.

sidewalk chalk art — Fun creating sidewalk chalk masterpieces!

Memories made!

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

Thankful Thanksgiving 2023

November 27, 2023 by GmasPhoto 2 Comments

Thankful Thanksgiving 2023

Hi, I hope your Thanksgiving was family filled and joyous. Our Thanksgiving was for sure one to remember. Many wonderful memories made.

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday. Which was totally fine with me. Erika is an RN who worked Thursday evening. I was able to get the house cleaned, table set and food smoked and the baking done in not a rush.

Friday morning we went to one of our favorite restaurants for breakfast. It was decorated for Christmas! Year round the walls are decorated with local interests, local high schools, and all sorts of fun and interesting ‘stuff’. One in particular caught my eye. And after seeing it, I said, thank you God!

Later in the day, Shaune, our son-in-law, and Briella came to the house. Shaune had a deer tag and wanted to hunt. Brie wanted to go too. They spent Friday and Saturday nights with us. It is so nice to have them over. Erika and Brynlee came and spent Saturday all day with us. My folks and Adam joined us Saturday as well. One photo opportunity I missed was a picture of all of us. Not too many more Thanksgivings will we all be together. I pray Christmas we can get our group picture. My mom has COPD and we burn wood. She was experiencing some difficulties and next year our get together may need to be at my daughter’s home.

Shaune and Brie was successful deer hunting. While I was not with them when the deer was shot, it was fun to listen to them when they came back to the house. We ate breakfast and Kevin took Shaune and Brie down in the tractor to find the deer after it ran. Shaune was able to tag it and take a picture of Brie.

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -27.4lbs

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

Practicing Gratitude 15 of 31 | 101 in 1001

October 15, 2023 by GmasPhoto 13 Comments

Practicing Gratitude 15 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Hi, it’s my Day 15 in 31. Today I am grateful for a girls day out! Linda and I went to Powell Gardens.

This is an absolutely beautiful place. The collage above features the chapel that is part of Powell Gardens. The day we were there, the chapel was going to close to the public at 3pm for a wedding. And what a lovely, perfect day for the wedding and wedding pictures. Not too hot for the bride and groom/wedding party for outdoor pictures. And certainly warm enough for the guests to mingle outside for the reception. If I were not with Linda, I would truly have been a wedding crasher that evening! 🙂

Once we arrived, parked and bought our admission tickets, we headed to the chapel first. This was a good walk. Beautiful things to see the whole way. We came upon a young lady having her senior pictures taken. Unlike the bride and groom who more than likely would have many layers on, this high school senior had on a short summer dress. A cold day for that dress!

powell gardens senior picture — High School Senior Pictures

As we were walking, a maintenance worker was driving a golf course coming towards us. Well, I stuck my thumb out like a hitch hiker. He stopped. We asked for a ride back to the visitor building. He did better than that. He gave us a guided tour of the 45 acre botanical gardens!

To see more pictures taken click the link. More Images.

Take Care. Best wishes, Debra

October in review:

Practicing Gratitude 31 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 30 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 29 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 28 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 27 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 26 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Gratitude 25 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 24 of 31 frozen bananas

Practicing Gratitude 24 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 23 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 22 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 21 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 20 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 19 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 18 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 17 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 16 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 15 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 14 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 13 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 12 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 11 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 10 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 9 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 8 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 7 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 6 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 5 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 4 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 3 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 2 of 31 | 101 in 1001

Practicing Gratitude 1 of 31 | 101 in 1001

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

Fun Weekend with Grand-Girls!

July 17, 2023 by GmasPhoto 15 Comments

Fun Weekend with Grand-Girls!

Hi, what a fun weekend I experienced with my grand-girls. My daughter and son-in-law went out of town with friends for a float trip. Which translates to me getting to spend the entire weekend with the girls, YES!!

I took the day Friday away from my work to do my weekend errands in the morning so I could drive to Topeka and get the girls picked up from summer camp by 4pm. That evening we went back to their house to take care of the pups, get dinner ready and then movie time. Grandma let the girls stay up later than their bedtime. Saturday morning Kevin came out to sat with the girls while I went to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. While I was away, Kevin took the girls to the Farmer’s Market. Upon my return the girls were excited to tell me, they got some honey sticks and already ate them. After Kevin left, we ate our lunch and decided to go to the Topeka Zoo.

After the zoo we stopped by the girls choice restaurant, McDonald’s. Brynlee likes the playground. We ate and then I watched the girls play for a bit. Then back to their house. Once back to the house we let the doggies out and fed them. By this time the weather had cooled down some. We went outside for some fun activities, hula hoop and jump rope. Here is a fun video of the girls trying to teach me how to hula hoop!

MacBook viewers: If the video does not appear, switch from Safari browser to Google.
The video will then appear.

The best part of the day for me was when the girls were getting ready for bed. Briella told me she had a fun day. This warmed my heart. My husband always asks me what memories did we make after I am with the grand girls. This is certainly a memory I will treasure.

Sunday was my last day to spend with the girls. The plan was to meet Shaune’s parents for them to take the girls to Branson. Our hand off was a success!

This weekend the grand girls and I completed two of my 101 in 1001. #13 Go to the Topeka Zoo and #89 Learn How to Hula Hoop. At least I tried! 🙂

WW Update:
Since Start Date; -8.8lbs 🙂

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