Crumb Day

Actually, it was Croissant Day, but all I was able to capture by picture were the crumbs.

For our taste test today I picked up four types of pastries from Panera and gave a small piece of each to the residents to taste and decide which was their favorite. The options were cheese, cherry, chocolate, and plain (cheese and cherry got the most votes).

We discussed the history of the croissant, much to the amusement of one British resident, "Everything has a history in America!" They descended from Kipferl and are distinguished by their cresent shape. They have many layers divided by butter and can filled or topped. Some people eat them for breakfast while others consider them purely a dessert. We discussed different preferences of countries and of the residents themselves.

Afterwards, I took my tray with me to tempt the male residents to come to Men's group. There we discussed Valentine's Day and wrote more letters to children.  The sweetest one so far was by a resident who told me Valentines Day, to him, meant nothing special for him and his late wife because for them every day was filled was sweetness and romance. They didn't need to single out one day to focus on that.

Sunflower State

Let's see if you can guess which state joined the Union on January 29th, 1861 (the 34th state)
1. President Eisenhower was born there
2. Amelia Earhart was born there
3. wheat is grown in great quantities
4. they have prairie dogs
5. meadowlark is the state bird
6. Bat Mastersen and Wyatt Earp got famous keeping law and order there
7. "Home on the Range"
8. "Get out of Dodge"
9. Topeka is the capital
10. there is a slightly famous movie about called "The Wizard of Oz"
11. one of it's cities, due to geographic location, is known as the belly button of the continental US

Today was one of those days where everything went well and I got a lot of residents out of their rooms.

One thing we did was make new table decorations. I was thoroughly excited about this and the results were better than I expected. For February I wanted something to do with Valentines day so we used a mix of red jar marbles, confetti, and paper folds to put into our table jars. Then we folded paper into cones and punched out hearts to tape on top. As always the residents made versions as unique as themselves and we are better for it. To sit the cones I had the inspiration (one night as I was trying to get to bed but unable to turn off my "activities" brain) to spear the small styrofoam balls we have with the flower picks so that the cones would sit at the right height.

Afterwards I encouraged the residents to rest while I cleaned up and then set up for tea. Once everyone had their cups I asked willing residents to write letters to children. This is my latest idea for a program to keep us in touch with the youth: we write letters telling them about our traditions of holidays and they write back to do the same. Many of the residents wrote that they didn't think of Valentines Day as a real holiday and didn't practice giving out candy or going on expensive dates. They are interested to hear how different it is for the second graders we write to. If this goes well we'll do it for St. Patricks and Easter.

Sears Shack

My favorite activities are free.

This morning we did "Flashbacks" where we discuss what growing up was like for the residents. I take notes and eventually would like to put together a small book for the residents to have and give to family members.

Today's topic for Flashbacks was inspired by Thomas Crapper's death anniversary. He made flush toilets popular before he died in 1910. Plus, his name is fun to say. To the residents I invited I said, "There is no better way to begin the day than with a chat about outhouses." We had a great turnout.

Highlights of our talk included many memories of visiting the outhouse in the cold. One woman remembered her father being the one who dug out a path in the snow. She also remembers the cold coming in through the cracks, so she wallpapered the outhouse when her mother had leftover paper. Another woman remembers the rooster chasing her to the door and being afraid of getting out lest he come at her with his spurs. One man remembered using a cornhusk for toilet paper. "Abrasive".

All the residents recalled taking the Sears catalog in with them and tearing out the pages they had read to wipe with.

This afternoon we made a visit to the memory care unit. Last week we made decorations for them for Valentine's day and much of our visit involved me taping and tying them to the room in which they do most of their activities. I think the residents in the memory care unit enjoy our visits and helping to decide where to put decorations. The residents from my unit enjoy seeing old friends. Everyone enjoys the pet visit at the end.

New Year for Trees

I invited the Jewish residents and anyone else who was interested to come discuss Tu B'Shevat yesterday and it went pretty well. I learned a lot about the "New Year for Trees" celebrated this time of year because in Israel the fruit bearing trees are beginning to bloom.

For those unfamiliar with the Holiday I laid out a plate of olives and said, "You may be wondering why I'm offering olives at 10:15 this morning..." Eating fruit singled out in the Torah (including grapes, figs, dates, pomegranates, and olives) is one custom for Tu B'Shevat. Another is planting trees or collecting money to send trees in Israel.

Some residents told of their family traditions on this day (which is celebrated not a specific day each year but according to the year's Jewish calendar) and we all discussed the novel concept that we recognize many new years throughout the calendar year such as a school year, the fiscal year for taxes, our birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

The Eyes Have It

Tuesday I turned into TwoEyesDay (you have to say it really, really, fast) and we began by using sight on funny pictures of kids and coming up with captions for them. I encouraged the residents to look at the picture and add a caption to it if they could but otherwise just read it and hand it to the next person. The pictures traveled around the table many times. They were enjoyed so much they got passed on all day and I ended up taping them to a resident's door because she didn't want them to be thrown away.

 Later we did some simple sewing. Using the case that came with my sunglasses as a template we cut out two pieces of felt, sewed them together, and turned it inside out.

I thought we might be able to use a little inspiration so I came up with a playlist for us to listen to while battling with needle and thread. It included:
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes -The Platters       
Hungry Eyes   -Eric Carmen   
Brown Eyed Girl  -Van Morrison       
Green-Eyed Lady  - Sugarloaf          
Cotten-Eyed Joe  -Burl Ives   
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling -Frank Patterson   
Bette Davis Eyes - Gwyneth Paltrow  
I'll Be Seeing You  - Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra Feat. Frank Sinatra  
I Only Have Eyes For You  -Kurt Elling           
Looking At The World Through Rose Colored Glasses  -Frank Sinatra & Count Basie  
I Only Have Eyes For You -Frank Sinatra & Count Basie          
The Way You Look Tonight  -Fred Astaire  
Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes -Johnny Cash  
I Can See Clearly Now  -Johnny Nash   

Thesaurus/ Synonyms Day

Not everyone believes in synonyms. Some people are even enraged at the way they cloud the precise meanings of things.

The residents who came to celebrate Thesaurus day do not fall into either of those categories. I began with a simple word like happy and asked for synonyms. When no new ideas came popping I took the last word in the list and began a new one. After we had several lists we looked back to see which words came up often and which were unique. We talked about the man who must have spent a great deal of time determining which words were related enough to count as synonyms.

It was an interesting activity and gave me a few ideas for opposite day.

Compliment my Complement

Next Thursday is National COMPliment Day and one activities person in particular is gung-ho about it. I decided to COMPly with her wishes and we decorated a board to collect nice things about each other. The residents used sticker letters which COMPlemented each other to spell what we thought was important in our board.

Snowman Toss

 There were styrofoam boards left over from a project and I like to decorate them once in a while for a special toss. The snowman I colored and cut was used with small marshmallows to determine the order we played Jeopardy on Monday night.

Jeopardy itself is a great activity. I use a dry erase board to write topics along the top and values along the side. I print the answers and questions and when a resident gets the correct answer I write his or her name in the proper place in the grid on the board. If no one guessed I draw an "X" and this has been the easiest way for me to keep score.

Maintaining Thanks

I read somewhere that January is a great month to show appreciation of Maintenance workers so a few weeks ago I sent out an email to the whole building (minus our three maintenance men) that I was collecting stories and kind words for them. On Tuesday I printed out all the responses and then went around to each resident to ask for more anecdotes and I got many. I took three cards from the greeting card club's stash and slipped the messages inside.

Then we made a snack I knew the maintenance director was fond of: chocolate pretzel candies. The residents lined up the pretzels, unwrapped the chocolate hugs, then smooshed down the candies when the hugs were warm from the oven (2 minutes at 350F). It wasn't easy to do in gloves, but the look of happy surprise when I called the maintenance number and gave him cards and food instead of a work request was worth it.

Christmas Card Craft

Every year I receive beautiful Christmas cards I hate to part with but don't know what to do with. I figured this also happened to the residents so I resolved to use them somehow and my idea was to cut cards into circles, hole punch them, and hang them from a ribbon to use as a banner next year.

We spent a while yesterday tracing circles onto the cards to capture the best image (I brought in old CDs for the tracing), hole punching, tying ribbon loops through each, and today we ordered them to look nice on a fancy Christmas ribbon.

The result was gorgeous, and I'm sorry I didn't take a picture before we rolled it up.

First Radio Broadcast

Flashbacks is an activity I use often to jog memories and bring up stories about what life used to be like for the residents. I take notes and hope someday to make a book version for them to gift to family members.

On Sunday we talked about the radio since it was the anniversary of the First Radio broadcast. I asked the residents to tell me what they remembered about the role radio played in their lives. They remembered three shows in particular and some characters and details of each. That came in handy when we did a crossword about it and the shows they mentioned came up a few times.

I took the opportunity to use my new ipad for the first time during this activity. On youtube I looked up the shows they mentioned and played excerpts from them much to the residents' amazement.

European Day

Yesterday we had a simple theme that went well. I wore my Italian scarf, striped shirt, and hair to the side.

We began the day with a chat about the places everyone had visited in Europe, favorite memories, and how it is different from America. This could have gone on for a while but a fitness instructor came in and I encouraged the residents to stay and participate in that.

Later on we had our monthly party and I printed European puzzles as well as pictures of European symbols. Not everyone wanted to paint, and for them I encouraged working together on the puzzles and word games. For those who were willing to make something to take away from the day, I asked them to pick their favorite symbols (a famous building, the shape of a country, a skyline, etc) and a flat piece of wood. If necessary I made an enlarged copy and then they cut it out and traced it onto the wood. Then they painted around it in black for a reverse silhouette.

Something everyone participated in at the party was smelling perfumes. Scents like that make me think of French women for some reason. I asked the residents to bring a perfume of choice and we sprayed it on a strip of paper I had left over from the caterpillar craft we did with the children.  I wrote names on the back and we passed the strips around discussing which were our favorites and reasons we wore perfume in the first place.

To stay hydrated we drank Swiss hot chocolate and talked about German food. It was a lovely day.

Birthday Pins

Over a year ago I began making birthday pins with the residents and occasionally we replenish our stash. Our greeting card club not only makes these, cards for illnesses or injuries, but also now makes birthday cards for employees. They have such giving spirits.

Eric Carl

Our last visit to the daycare was the most fun one I've yet experienced. I divided the kids into two groups and one group drew on white paper a "home" while the other made a caterpillar out of strips of paper the residents cut yesterday. Then they switched. In the end they each had a caterpillar (with face and name) and a home for the caterpillar. They chatted about caterpillar food and butterflies and pretended their caterpillars were crawling over the residents (to the residents' delight).

Anniversary of Elvis

The King of Rock and Roll was born on this day many moons ago. Yesterday we took the snowman off the fridge and exchanged him for some hip swaying new decorations.

 Today we celebrated further with Elvis smoothies (peanut butter, banana, and bacon bits) which went really well with the cupcakes made by the kitchen.

Coffee Taste Test

There are so many things to love about coffee and we got to discuss them in earnest on Wednesday. It's warm on a cold day, gives you a caffeine boost, and is just a nice routine to have to start the day. You have to wait for it to brew and then wait for it to cool which may allow relaxation and there are so many ways to "take it" that it can be a new experience every time.

The residents and I talked about memories they have of drinking coffee and what ways they like to consume it. We also talked about how it was part of their routine with their families and finally I asked if they know of anyone who is a coffee snob.

Before and while we were talking I was brewing and getting ready the coffee taste test. I had their normal coffee, normal decaf, name brand coffee, name brand decaf, and name brand coffee brewed at half strength as per the instructions. One person at a time I brought them two thimble sized cups, told them what they both were but not which was which, and let them try them to see if they could tell the difference.

The results we mixed since most of the residents are not black coffee drinkers in general and would have preferred sweetened or dairy-fied versions of what I was offering. However, most often they could not tell the difference between the type they are normally served and name brand. Also, few had luck telling the difference between decaf and regular. Most often they could tell which was full strength and half, but they often knew before drinking it because they could see it was lighter in color.

My opinion that coffee is more about the experience than the intricacies of taste was left unshaken and of course as a "spy" for the kitchen I told them I would be passing along the message that they could not tell the difference between their regular coffee and name brand.

Zany

 To celebrate the first day of the first month, we paid a lot of attention to the last letter of the alphabet. We tried to come up with a long list of Z words then did some word puzzles that revolved around "Zed".

The very first thing we did on New Year's Day was to walk around and give everyone a door hanger and wish them a great year. The door hanger reminded them of the motto we chose: "Squeaky Clean in 2013".

As for me, I had a goal for 2013 to include making monthly table decorations. It was something the residents did in the past and mention occasionally and so we began with January ice blooms out of styrofoam, garden stakes, q-tips, ribbon, food coloring, and flat marbles in a glass jar. The residents seemed really pleased to have something new on the table, and by the time they get tired of them we will whip up new ones for February.