Mental Health Blog Day: Stigma & Seeking Mental Health Services

Tags

Counselor, Mental disorder, Mental health, Mental Health Blog Day, Mental illness, Psychologist, Stigma

May is Mental Health Month, and today is Mental Health Blog Day, so I thought I would post a bit about the stigma surrounding mental disorders and seeking mental health services. According to research by Pescosolido et al. published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior (Vol. 41, No. 2), 68 percent of Americans don’t want someone with a mental illness marrying into their family and 58 percent don’t want people with mental illness in their workplaces (1). This is disturbing, especially considering that the National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that that one in four American adults and one in 10 children experiences a mental health disorder every year, which is about 60 million Americans per year. That is a large section of the population to want shut out of your family and workplace.

Who of us has not been depressed at some point or another, or found ourselves being anxious, or gone back to check a lock or the stove even though we’re pretty sure we’ve locked the door and the stove is off? Many mental illnesses such as major depression, anxiety disorders, and obsessive compulsive disorder are exaggerations of things we have all done. The difference is that someone with a mental illness has symptoms that persist to the point they interfere with daily living and/or cause distress. Do people really want to add to that by closing themselves off to people who have mental illnesses?

And what if one day, as is statistically likely, it’s you being diagnosed with a mental illness? Would you want to be denied the support of family or shut out of the ability to work? What if I said people with cancer shouldn’t be able to marry or people with heart disease shouldn’t be allowed in the workplace? That would be ridiculous, right? So too with mental illnesses. One should look at mental illnesses and the people who have them no differently than we look at those with medical illnesses.

Similarly, one should look at seeking mental health services no differently than going to a doctor’s appointment. That goes for other people going and for going yourself. So many people avoid seeking mental health services because of fears because of stigma. If more people took the time to learn a little about mental illnesses, to be educated instead of afraid, it would help those who have already been diagnosed, and those who fear going for help because they might be diagnosed.

If you are looking for mental health services yourself and don’t know where to start, here are a few options. The American Counseling Association has a Find a Counselor section including the National Board of Certified Counselor’s CounselorFind and Psychology Today’s Therapy Directory. The American Psychological Association offers a Psychologist Locator.

If you are in the military or are the dependent of someone in the military, you can get short-term, non-medical counseling for free from a Military Family Life Consultant. You can generally ask about getting in touch with one through your local Army Community Services, Marine Corps Community Services, Navy Fleet and Family Support Centers or Airman and Family Readiness Centers. If you’re a civilian, check if your company has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP). A previous job had one offering a certain number of free counseling sessions.

There are many options for assistance. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health (and sometimes influences your physical health as well), so if you wouldn’t hesitate to see a medical doctor if you need one, please don’t hesitate to see a counselor or psychologist.

Reference:

(1) Pescosolido, B.A., Jensen, P.S., Martin, J.K., Perry, B.L., Olafsdottir, S., & Fettes, D. (2008). Public knowledge and assessment of child mental health problems: Findings from the national stigma study—children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47, 339–349.

 

Show & Tell: Remembering High School

Tags

Band, Broomball, High school, Theater

 

I found out about From Mrs. to Mama’s Show & Tell Monday: Remembering High School from Somewhere Over the Camo and thought it would be fun to participate. By this time in 2002, I was in my first semester of my last year of high school (which also happened to be my first semester taking college level classes, but more on that later). This year, I’m in my first semester of grad school. It’s crazy to think I’m that far out of high school (especially since people just now started thinking I’m in my early twenties instead of thinking I’m just out of high school), but since I am, my memory will probably be a bit fuzzy. Still, I’ll give it a go:

1. Tell us what kind of student you were in high school {popular, nerd, sport obsessed, choir, etc}.

I don’t think I could really put myself into one category since I was a part of so many different groups at once. I was part of the crew in theater, by which I mean, I literally worked backstage in the crew, not that I was one of the actors (although I did once play a small part), but it was one big theater family. I was also in band (marching and concert), which was another close-knit group, especially during marching season. I was on a broomball team, the Silver Sliders, which was another fun time. I was also part of the volunteer group Service Corps and German Club. I guess you could say I was a nerd. I was in Quiz Bowl and did most of my classes my senior year at the nearby college. I only went to the school my senior year for German class and extracurricular activities.

2. Share with us some high school pictures. We know you have them somewhere.

Back then, most of my pictures were taken on a film camera (Remember those?). I still have boxes of them, but I’m far too lazy right now to go through them and scan them. Instead, here are a couple I did have on the computer.

Me after a broomball game. The picture had been cut up to put in a collage at one point, hence the funky shape.

Posing before one of the high school dances. Picture taken from Meagen (pictured on the right)’s “Old Times” album.

Me and my Grandma P, after the play I had a little part in.

3. Tell us about your school. Private? Public? How many in graduating class? Mascots? School colors?

I attended a public school. I couldn’t tell you how many were in my graduating class and don’t have my yearbook right now to count. Our mascot was a horseman called “Rowdy the Rebel” and we were known as “The Rebels”. Yes, like the Confederate Army. Years before I went there, they also used the Confederate Flag and had “Dixie” as a fight song, but that was changed in the early 90s due to the (not surprising) controversy over their use. From this, you might wonder if I went to a school in the south. No, it was in Ohio, but it was located in the south of the city, which, as far as I have gathered, was the entire logic for the name. The colors were red and Columbia blue.

4. Tell us about some of your favorite memories of high school. Or what stands out the most? Any teachers? Specific classes?

I have so many memories in bits and pieces of fun: backstage with the theater group, football games with the marching band and going over the the opposing side for the drummers to face off while the rest of us danced, broomball games so late at night because we came after hockey, working in a haunted house, hanging out at Big Boy and the Plate of Doom, chilling at friend’s houses, Buffy Musical night, school dances (and before and after)…I could go on, but I think that’s enough of a picture for now.

5. Tell us a piece of advice you would pass on to your children or any child entering high school.

So many people talk about high school being the best years of life. They aren’t, or at least shouldn’t be. They can be great, and I hope they are for you, but it’s only four years of your life. Do the best you can in your classes, enjoy opportunities for fun outside of class, and then move on. The things that may seem important in high school (like popularity) fade in importance as you go on. Things people might look down on in school (like being “too smart”, which I don’t think one can be) become assets in the real world. I’m nearly ten years past high school, and I can look back fondly on much of it, but it’s not in a way that I wish I could ever go back, because so many great things have come my way since then, and I am sure there are many more to come. However high school goes, it goes, so enjoy it while you can. Then, when it’s over, get started enjoying the rest of your life.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip down memory lane. If you’re interested in sharing your own high school memories, go here. The linky list closes on 9/23/2012 11:59 PM North America – Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time.

 

Travel Confessions (& Some Tips)

Tags

Confession, Hotel, travel

A picture my husband took of me in our room at Army Lodging.

Katrin at Land of Candy Canes tagged me in her Travel Confessions post. Now, it’s my turn to confess.

Here’s how to participate:

1. Post a photo (or photos) and description(s) of your confession(s) in a new post.

2. Tweet your post with hashtag #TravelConfession and follow/tweet @Traveling9to5

3. Tag 3-5 other travelers you’d love to see confess and tag them on Twitter. (I’m going post on Twittter, but tag here and leave comments on my tagged people’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.)

Hotel Römer in Günzburg. We stayed in the hotel’s guest house to the right.

So, here we go: I used to work in a hotel, although you might already know that. Here are a few things I confess that I do when booking and staying in hotels, partially due to my previous work experience, along with some tips.

a) When booking, I almost always check online first because some chains have their lowest rates online. If I have to call in or stop at the desk, I ask for the rate first. If they ask if I have any discounts, I say no. This way, I get the highest rate they plan to give me. Then, I ask if they have a military discount. (Other rates you might qualify for are corporate rates and some group memberships like AAA). If the rate they give me is more than what I saw posted online, I mention this and they give it to me or I book online. In either case, it is usually best to book in advance because prices can and do go up. When I worked in a hotel on an event night, I could sell rooms for $90 ahead of time, $100 to walk-ins, and sell my last room of the night for $199, so if you know there is something going on in the area, book early.

The bed at Hotel Römer, which was very clean.

b) I usually complain if something isn’t right and give the opportunity for it to be fixed. Once, there was a spot of what could have been blood on the comforter in one hotel. (FYI, while the sheets are washed each time, some hotels do not wash the comforter every time, so if you do use it, I recommend never sitting naked on top of it and always using the sheets when under it). I told the staff. They had it washed and brought it back to me still warm from the dyer. Don’t be afraid to tell someone when the room is not up to quality standards. You’re paying for it, so it should be right.

View of the Art ‘otel in cologne

 

c) I fill out the survey when it’s sent to me. If the service was really bad, then someone needs to know. I know it isn’t good for them if corporate hears about the problem, so I do like to talk first to the staff, then management, and if my issue was resolved, I will applaud that they resolved it in the survey. On the other hand, if the service was great, someone needs to know that also. I make a point to let someone know in person and/or via the survey if the service was excellent, because that helps the hotel staff in general, and sometimes they will get specifically recognized for getting positive comments.

Our bed at the Art ‘otel Cologne, the best hotel I’ve stayed in in a long time.

d) As you have probably realized, since I started this blog, I also blog about my hotel experiences (although I am a few months behind). When I first started doing that, I didn’t imagine many would read it or read much into it besides just getting my experience. But when I wrote a two-part post about the problems I had with the Radisson in Charlston, a representative requested I email them, discussed the problems with me and then credited me several thousand points. That prompted me to pick another Carlson hotel when we went to Cologne (which was awesome and I plan to write glowing things about when I catch up).

So there you have some of my confessions. I’m not really sure if those were the type of confessions being sought, but hopefully they were interesting (and maybe even helpful) regardless. Now, I’d like to tag Anicka at Anickaworld, Laura German-American Abroad, Michelle at Full of Her Travels, Miss Lampa at Slathered in Sunscreen and Alex at Ifs & Butts. Let’s hear…er…read your confessions.

Photo a Day: August 27th-31st

Tags

pets, Photo a Day, Photograph, Photography

Once again I managed not to specifically take any pictures that went with the prompts for Photo a Day August, but I did take some pictures this week and last that happened to work out, one of which was even on the correct day. If you’re a fan of my min pin (or min pins in general), you’re in luck, because Apollo is in every one of the pictures this week. For now, I plan on this being my last Photo a Day post for awhile. Between working and starting classes, I haven’t been posting much, so I figure even if I only get a post a week out, it’s better if it’s to catch up on the type of posts that are the original purpose of this blog. If you’re interesting in participating in September though, here are the new challenges.

27. Tap

Apollo ‘tapping” me on the knee as he checks out Tim’s game table on the 27th as Gir walks out of the room.

28. Clock

I could swear I had a picture somewhere I haven’t already posted with a clock in it, but I couldn’t find it, so here’s another picture of Apollo, taken on the 23rd. My justification for this is that he is often my alarm clock, barking and one thing or another. In this picture, he seems to be saying that it’s time for a nap (now that he’s done chewing up my cup and a yogurt container he got a hold of).

29. Down

And here is Apollo a little while after the previous photo, down for his nap, although if you look closely you may be able to tell that he looked up at me as I was taking the picture in a way that seemed to say to leave him alone because he was trying to nap.

30. Card

Apollo watching Tim’s game on the 31st. If you look toward the top of the photo, you can see that there happens to be a playing card in the photo, although that obviously wasn’t the point of the picture.

31. Hidden

I didn’t have a picture illustrating “hidden” for this week and originally planned on using one for earlier in the month. But then I took this picture today of Apollo and Tim play fighting which I think illustrates that hidden inside our min pin is a full-size Doberman.

Well, that’s the end of Photo a Day August, and the end of my Photo a Day posts for now. I’ve enjoyed participating, but it’s time to go back to my original focus for awhile.

Photo a Day: August 15th-21st

Tags

Books, Cologne, pets, Photo a Day, Photograph, Photography, restaurant

This week’s of Photo a Day challenges were ready, food, faces, inside, hole, today, and cool. The only ones I took on the actual day were ready (although not intentionally for the prompt) and cool (which I did take for the prompt). Most of the rest of the pictures I took on the 21st with the prompts in mind, except food and hole. For those I used pictures from other days I haven’t shared yet that I think fit.

15. Ready

On the 15th, Gir was ready to rock her new shirt. It says “I’M THE MONSTER UNDER YOUR BED”. Even though Apollo is the one we call Monster (Gir we call Bear), Gir often likes to sleep under the bed.

16. Food

Our food from Latino Loco in Cologne on August 12th.

17. Faces

On the 21st I decided to get both my dogs’ faces in one picture. It took over a dozen attempts to get a few with both of them because they didn’t want to sit still. This was the first that turned out.

18. Inside

Apollo on the 21st, putting his head in my glass to try to steal my Coke.

19. Hole

On the Hohenzellern bridge in Cologne, many people put “love locks” on the fence along either side of the bridge. This one has a keyhole, partially visible, so I figure that is close enough to count for the prompt. I looked up the prison which is printed on the lock, and it turns out to be the prison mentioned in the movie Fargo.

20. Today

On the 20th, my textbook I’d been waiting on for over a month finally arrived, which happened to also be the first day of class. I forgot to take a picture though, so here is one from the 21st.

21. Cool

It’s been in the 90s this week and the only thing we have in the apartment to keep “cool” besides our couple barely moving ceiling fans is this desk fan.

That concludes this week of Photo a Day. There are ten prompts left for the month and I don’t want to do a post with just three so I may either do only 5 next time and the time after, or wait and do one at the end with all ten. In any case, the last ten will be: home, pair, path, fresh, dream, tap, clock, down, card, and hidden.

Photo a Day: August 8th-14th

Tags

Art 'otel, Chocolate, Cologne, pets, Photo a Day, Photograph, Polizei, Schokoladen Museum

The next seven prompts for the Photo a Day August challenge were glasses, messy, ring, purple, spoon, simple, and arrow. While I didn’t deliberately take any photos on the day of the prompt for the prompts, I did take some on different days with one of the prompts in mind, and some days I ended up taking  a photo that fit the prompt on the day without specifically trying to. In any case, all of the following photos were taken during the right week if not on the correct day or with the original intent of fulfilling the prompt.

8. Glasses

I didn’t take a picture of glasses on the 8th, but on the 12th I went to the Schokoladen (Chocolate) Museum in Cologneand got a picture of a poster of someone who wears glasses mixing chocolate.

9. Messy

I didn’t take a picture on the 9th of anything messy, but on the 11th I took a picture of the side of the hotel doorknob tag that indicates we want maid service, which even exclaims “messy!”.

10. Ring

I already showed a picture of my ring for the prompt for July 15th, so I didn’t take one on the 10th. I did take a picture on the 12th of a ring of Polizei around a group of protesters who we were told were Neo-Nazis.

11. Purple

This was taken on the 13th rather than the 11th, but it has some purple in it. I took this because one would likely not see a mannequin so posed in America. One would definitely not see what’s placed around it in a display that faces a public street.

12. Spoon

I forgot about “spoon” being a prompt, but actually managed three photos on this day with a spoon (or part of one). I already used the one with the full spoon for the 8th, so here is one with a partial spoon in my drink from the restaurant of the Chocolate Museum. The drink was chocolate with Belgian chocolate ice cream and whipped cream which was so good.

13. Simple

This was actually taken on the 13th although I didn’t plan it for the prompt. It’s simple because there’s not much distraction in the picture, but also because the dog seems to be pretty simple to handle. He is off his leash several feet behind his owner (who I only knew to be such because she was the only one walking around with a leash). I could trust Gir to do this (though she wouldn’t trail that far behind), but never Apollo.

14. Arrow

This was taken on the 11th of the view out our window in the Art ‘otel Cologne where you can see arrows on the pavement. I didn’t apply a yellow filter; the window is tinted yellow.

That’s it for this week in Photo a Day. Come back next week to see: ready, food, faces, inside, hole, today, and cool.

Photo a Day: August 1st-7th

Tags

Books, Nazi, Patrick Henry Village, Photo a Day, Photograph, Photography, Psychology, Reichspfennig, Stuttgart

It’s a new month and Fat Mum Slim has a new set of Photo a Day prompts for August. The first seven prompts for the month were outside, one, coin, somewhere you sat, logo, writing, and 8 o’clock.

1. Outside

I didn’t take a picture outside on the 1st, so here is a picture from June 16th of a storm brewing outside our apartment.

2. One

I forgot to take a picture for “one” on the 2nd, but the coin I was using for the prompt on the 3rd was 1 Reichspfennig, so here is the 1 side…

3. Coin

Someone gave this Nazi-era coin to my husband.

4. Somewhere You Sat

One place I sat on the 4th was next to the Eckensee at Stuttgart’s Sommerfest. The duck is over my shadow.

5. Logo

I actually took this picture on the 4th also where you can see the Mercedes logo on the top of the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof.

6. Writing

Since I am starting my grad school classes this month, I decided to go through the boxes in our basement to find the psychology-related books I’ve already read (or, in the case of a couple, have started). I have a couple others, Escape from Freedom and A Perfect Mess, which were already pictured in the post for Photo a Day: July 15th-22nd.

7. 8 ‘O Clock

I forgot to take a picture at 8 ‘o clock on the 7th. On the 8th at that time, everywhere on PHV for fast food had apparently closed. The guy at Anthony’s pizza was going to sell me the last two pieces of pre-made pizza. Unfortunately the other guy who worked there threw them in the trash instead of giving them to me. Disappointed, we walked back home with our puppies who had accompanied us, and I took this picture on the way.

That’s it for this week of Photo a Day. Next week I’ll post my photo responses for: glasses, messy, ring, purple, spoon, simple, and arrow.

“How I Make That Money Honey” Link Up: My Job Path From College to Today

Tags

Bowling Green State University, Education, Germany, Job, Mid-American Review, Work, writing

I wrote this post for the “How I Make That Money Honey” Link Up, hosted by Lindsey at The Bargain Blonde. As with the vlog link up I participated in, I found out about this link up on Handling With Grace. Unfortunately I thought the “midnight Friday” closing for posts meant midnight Friday night and not the midnight that starts Friday, so I missed officially adding myself to the linkup.  But I’ve already written the post, so here it is.

In Lindsey’s post, she talks about her career starting with college. I can’t say I’ve had a career since college so much as a variety of jobs, or what one interviewer called “an interesting path”. I’ll leave to you to decide how interesting it is, but I’ll start off with college as well and then work up to where I am today.

Reading one of my short stories, “When a Cherry Blossom Falls,” at my BFA thesis reading.

I actually started college as a senior in high school. The only class I took at my high school was German. The rest of my classes were taken at the University of Toledo through a post-secondary options program we had that paid for the courses and books as long as I passed the classes.

Completing those courses allowed me to enter Bowling Green State University as a sophomore and finish a degree three years after high school. My major at BGSU was creative writing, and my minor was art. While there, I was a fiction editor for the undergraduate literary magazine Prairie Margins, the copy chief for a multicultural magazine called Tint, and an intern at Mid-American Review.

By the time clock at the store

During high school and college, I worked as a cashier at a retail supercenter and stayed there until about half a year after graduating. I mostly worked at the register scanning groceries and general merchandise. I also occasionally manned the self-scan checkout and the booth for lottery tickets and cigarettes. I wrote a novelette inspired by some of the people and situations and set up a now-deleted blog to share the story. I plan to repost it here at some point but haven’t decided how to go about it.

This was Halloween at the hotel, dressed as Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

A couple months before leaving the store, I started working at the front desk of a hotel near the store. In addition to the regular duties you’d expect of working the front desk, since I worked the night shift I also did laundry, ran audit, and put out the breakfast. That breakfast is why I now refuse to make or eat sausage gravy and biscuits.

While the paychecks from working full-time at the hotel and remaining part-time with the store were nice, the fact I pretty much only worked, ate, and slept was not, so I resigned from the store. I switched to second shift and stayed at the hotel for about two years before I accepted a new job in Florida.  I have been asked to write a story inspired by working at the hotel, but I haven’t yet.

The new job was working as a customer support advisor in the collections department for a major credit card company. When I started, I worked on consumer accounts. As you can imagine, the majority of people I talked to in a day were not happy to hear from me, although some talked to me long enough to find out that we did have options to help people who couldn’t come current. About a year in, I moved over to business cards, which I enjoyed a lot better because I mostly talked to people in accounts payable.

Me at work in collections while I worked in business cards.

Shortly before resigning, I worked in a special department for high balance portfolios where I got to be the personal account manager for over 100 different people. It was a nice change because I got to develop more of a relationship with people to work toward helping them rather than being just one of many people to talk to them. In total, I spent three years with that company before resigning to move to Georgia with my husband.

I applied to jobs in Georgia and had some interviews, but my husband called me one day and told me to cancel my next one because we were moving to Germany. At first I’d thought he was kidding, but of course he wasn’t. Since we were moving within three months, I put looking for a job on hold until after we moved. Once we were settled in Germany, I applied to a variety of different jobs and interviewed for a few.

A couple pictures have been taken of me at work, but I don’t have copies of them, so here’s a picture of my name tag.

The job I accepted was Child and Youth Program Assistant (Teacher Assistant) at a daycare. While the daycare serves ages from infant to five years old, I mainly work with pre-toddlers and toddlers (one and a half to three years old). Some people shy away from the age group I work with and would rather work with the younger or older kids. While I am sure I could find things to love about any other group if circumstances dictated me switching, I enjoy where I’m at most of the time. If you’re interested to know more details about that job, I do eventually plan to post more about it at some point.

So, there you have my “interesting path”. While I have done things in most of the jobs like helping managers edit things or working on newsletters and I’ve done some outside-of-work writing and editing, you can see I haven’t officially used my degree in any of my jobs. That’s okay though because each job has taught me things and helped me develop skills that I’ve used in other jobs and even other areas of life. Perhaps what I’ve taken from each of the jobs I’ve done would be worth another post in the future. Speaking of the future, I will be starting graduate school classes in counseling psychology this month. It should be interesting to see what where my path leads from there.

Photo a Day: July 23rd-30th

Tags

Beach, Books, German, Photo a Day, Photograph, Photography, Wine

The last set of Photo a Day prompts for July were mirror, stranger, heart, sunshine, on the road, cup, last thing you bought, calm, and toothbrush. The only one I took on the correct date was one for calm, but at least half were taken within a few days of the prompts. I did decide to skip the last one.

23. Mirror

I didn’t take a picture on the 23rd in a mirror, and haven’t taken one in awhile. So, here’s one I took August 2nd of last year after I got my hair cut.

24. Stranger

I did take a picture of a letter from someone who is technically a stranger conditionally admitting me to graduate school on the 24th, but that doesn’t make a very interesting picture, so here is one I took of a stranger on Cocoa Beach on February 21st 2010.

25. Heart

I forgot about taking a picture of a heart for this day, so on the 30th I took a picture of the Germania bear my mom sent me since the tag is a heart.

26. Sunshine

I’m pretty sure it rained much of the day on the 26th. So, here’s a picture I took of the sunset on June 9th, across from the restaurant where we had our anniversary dinner.

27. On the Road

I wasn’t really on the road on the 27th, so here’s a picture from June 9th. This was my view out the passenger side as we drove along the Neckar.

28. Cup

I’d already taken pictures of flowers in a cup on the 26th, so rather than take another cup picture for the 28th I decided to share this one.

29. Last Thing You Bought

Technically the last thing I’d bought as of the 29th was a pair of jeans on eBay, but I’ll have to wait for it to arrive. Instead I took a picture on the 30th of the dual language German/English books I recently bought that arrived that day.

30. Calm

This is the only picture of this set that I actually took on the day of the prompt. I think it’s self-explanatory why this represents what was calm in my life this day.

That wraps up my photos for the Photo a Day July challenge. I will likely participate in the August challenge, but since I start graduate school classes toward the end of the month, I’m not sure if I’ll do it beyond that.

Photo a Day: July 15th-22nd

Tags

Books, Mannheim, pets, Photo a Day

The next eight prompts for Photo a Day July were finger, sign, your addiction, plate, animal/insect/pet, eyes, 9 o’clock, and upside down. Although I did take pictures specifically for a few of the prompts, most of them were taken on the 21st rather than on their assigned days.

15. Finger

I had scrapes on my fingers I didn’t want to photograph on the 15th, so here’s a picture I took of my wedding and engagement rings in the sun on June 10th of 2011.

16. Sign

I didn’t take a photo on the 16th of a sign, so here’s one I took on May 19th of a sign in a parking lot in Mannheim. “Hunde bitte anleinen” means please leash dogs. I think it’s obvious the sign below it means that your dog can’t poop there (the pole is in an area of grass and weeds), but sometimes such signs say “bitte keine tretminen” (please no mines).

17. Your Addiction

I have several shelves of “to read” books and several boxes of books in our basement storage. So, I think it’s safe to call books my “addiction.” I took this picture on the 21st of some of the books I’ve acquired this year through half.com and the book exchange at the library. I have a few more not pictured, and several more on the way. Out of this stack, I’m in progress on three: Junky, Escape From Freedom, and A Perfect Mess.

18. Plate

I didn’t take a picture of a plate for the 18th, but I took this one on the 21st of one of a few hand-painted plates I have that belonged to my paternal grandmother.

19. Animal/Insect/Pet

I didn’t take a picture on the 19th, but I took this one on the 21st. Apollo looks like he’s sticking his tongue out at me.

20. Eyes

I took this on the 17th of Gir eyeing my husband’s plate as he looked at her and Apollo looked at me.

21. 9 ‘o clock

At 9 ‘o clock on the 21st, I was in the theater on post watching The Avengers. But this was taken during the 9 ‘o clock hour (along with most of the other photos for this week).

22. Upside Down

I decided since I was already taking pictures on the 21st to go ahead and do the one for the 22nd also. I took this hanging upside down off the side of the bed of Apollo coming out of the bathroom when I called to him.

I hope you enjoyed this set of Photo a Day pictures for July. The last group of photo prompts is: mirror, stranger, heart, sunshine, on the road, cup, last thing you bought, calm, and toothbrush, although I may decide to skip that last prompt.