Apple Stamps

During a Flashbacks session (we're writing a book about what it was like to grow up in the past), we talked of making homemade beverages like root beer and apple cider. From recipes I've learned that true root beer can turn alcohol if left to ferment a bit longer and from the residents I've learned that apple cider can turn into vinegar if left too long. One woman described taking the apples to a press and coming home with a barrel and another made us laugh when she described a farm hand who "couldn't stay away from the family barrel".

For October decorations I knew I wanted apples and rather than investing in plastic molds I thought we'd just use some real fruit. As we went along I realized the cleanest way was to dip the halved apples in paint using forks. We also used some pears and by the end we all could have used cider and a trip to pick-your-own-farm.

Eat Your Favorite Small Item

A bit of the fun of my job is coming up with fun titles for activities. This is a mixed bag, as some residents treat their calendars as sacred and others never give them a glance. The thrill comes when someone who does read our schedule asks me a question like "just what do you mean by eat you favorite small item?" Then I get to say "That's a great question, and I'll show you if you come by at 3:30".

Today we tried making molds of small solid objects by pressing them into baking tins filled with brown sugar and then filling the "mold" with melted chocolate. I found that using cupcakes tins was more efficient that trays and allowed me to be more specific by saying "bring something that can fit into a cupcake tin". Also it would have been better if I had found melting chocolate made specifically for candies rather than the chocolate chips we had on hand. Still it worked okay and they were tasty if not perfect.

This was an example of something I got to try at my job that later I could apply to my own life. This makes my job special and I hope I never take it for granted. It can save money on expensive plastic trays for candy molds and make a personal chocolate by being able to replicate your own items.

Sunshine Basket

To celebrate the coming of Fall my work had an end of Summer bash and my section made a basket for the raffle all relating to "sunshine". I collected useful things all yellow in color, and the residents arranged the basket and made the paper sun decorations for it. I'm quite proud of what we ended up with.

The event involved the entire building and ran over 3 hours. We had musicians, catered food, a huge tent to sit under, and a moonbounce for the kids. The weather was perfect, and even more so because in the morning it looked as if it would rain.

Greeting Card Club

Today was the first meeting of the greeting card club. My reason for creating it was to have hand made cards available to send in case people got sick or got hurt. The card makers identified themselves on the back. When we send them (wouldn't it be nice never to have to use any?) we can all sign and leave small messages on the inside.

Besides making cards, club members will also be on the look out for uses for the cards. They will galvanize others when the time to sign comes. Then they will decide which one is best for the situation.

tissue boxes

If anyone needs one of these cards I hope they are reminded that we miss and care for them.

band-aids

Pearl and the Beard

Some of the best plans happen months in advance. Today I reaped the benefit of a search back in July for free concerts. With great September weather, pizza from our favorite place, bug-proof drinks, and musical talent we had a picnic style outing today. It always amazes me when I pull off something like this but we lucked out with parking, seats were available, and all the residents who signed up were in good spirits. I recommend the band that gave this post it's title, as well.

Fall Changes

A wonderful thing about my job is that it is always changing. I don't have repetitive days or ever have to complain that I'd like to shake things up.

A challenging thing about my job is that it is always changing. Just as soon as I find a good rhythm people leave their positions, rules change, or residents desire different things.

We've had a shift and I now work with three new people and the part-time activities postion is open. It's my nature to take care of logistics before spending time on creativity and therefore I've spent most of my planning these past few weeks adjusting the schedule to complement the recent changes in activities from my new team members. This is not my favorite part of the job but if I try to ignore it I am afraid I'll forget something important when creating the calendar.

Hopefully today my group had the last meeting and once I input them I can focus on doing fun things on "the floor" with residents rather than worry about room usage, vehicle reservations, and rotated responsibilties.

We visited our friends in the dementia unit again and this time we brought door decorations we made for them. They were just like the ones for our unit and the residents that gathered were asked to choose their favorite and decide how they'd like it to be placed on their door. Then I showed everyone the sugar glider. It went so well that I think that's what we'll do from now on. As a planning example, this means I'll change the schedule to have door decorating day one week and making door decorations for the dementia unit the next followed by our visit during the weekend. This gives us practice in making them and also gives me a chance to help someone make decorations who misses the first week. The visit has to be scheduled in between our church and their church times, so on.

There is going to be a bake sale tomorrow and I let our leaf door decorations inspire sugar cookies in fall shapes and in fall colors (well, colors I could manage from our food dye kit: red, orange, yellow, and green). We worked really hard and made a bunch. They turned out well and the picture doesn't do them much justice.