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Picture: Margaret Grorud and family make ice cream in a bag. Fun was had by all.

Greetings from “The Home” front …

It’s National Nursing Home Week and boy have we been celebrating at LMH! On Monday after newscurrents in the morning we had our Celebration of Women Tea. What a huge turnout we had – it was so nice to see so many family members bringing their Mother’s to this celebration. The theme was “Mothers are Like Buttons – They Hold Everything Together” and we enjoyed special music by Karen Siefert who played the violin. Besides National Chicken Dance Day on Tuesday it was also Wild West Day here at LMH. The residents made and decorated western vests and, in the afternoon, we had a country western party. Residents had a chance to have their picture taken and the boot piñata really brought out a competitive spirit. Special Thanks to Andrea Knudsen (and the sheriff’s dept) for securing Sheriff’s badges for all of our residents to wear on their vests! We had an indoor picnic on Wednesday with hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad and all the fixins. The theme was 50s,60s & 70s and many of the staff wore clothing from those eras. Chuck Fox was here in the afternoon to put on a great rock n roll performance while activities staff served malts to everyone in attendance. It was a Hawaiian.

Theme on Thursday. Pastor Diane was here for Bible Study in the morning and then the residents enjoyed a Hawaiian Luau in the afternoon. During the Luau several staff members were recognized for special achievements including being nominated for Caregiver of the Year and others for years of service. I will have their names in next week’s column as I had a Wednesday deadline for this week’s. May 17th as we all know is Sytendi Mai! There was mass and church in the morning followed by a Taste of Norway in the afternoon. The residents and staff enjoyed rommegot (thank you to Shirley Olson for making that yummy treat) , lefse and also pickled herring and crackers. Ya sure ya betcha it was a fun time for everyone! It’s Armed Forces Day on Saturday and we have coloring in the morning followed by bingo at 2 p.m. in the activity room. There is also Kaffee Hus from 2-3:30 in the dining room on both Saturday and Sunday. We are still looking for a Kaffee Hus attendant, so if you are interested please contact Lisa at 786-3401.

Next week we have newscurrents, cards and lemonade on the patio on Monday. We also hope to be able to plant flowers in the courtyard. Tuesday brings Sit & Be Fit in the morning and a special card making craft with resident Margaret Gunderson and her daughters. Nancy is here for Name That Tune Wednesday morning and then we have another special event in the afternoon. Mary and her quilting gang will present a quilt show in the chapel. The ladies did this last year and we had a wonderful turnout to see the various quilts that have been made by these talented ladies. I know this year’s program will be equally as fabulous! We have reading about the Good Old Days on Thursday morning and then the van is taking residents to Dollar General for some retail therapy. This is our first trip since last fall so there is much excitement and anticipation to see what is new in the store. We also have pretty nails and bingo. We must be getting close to the end of the month as the VFW/American Legion will be here for money bingo on Friday afternoon. Before that we will have mass and church in the morning.

We have two resident birthdays next week – Norman Grindeland on May 18th and LaVerne Burke on May 22nd. Also, five staff members are celebrating birthdays next week – Grace Lovro on May 21st, Briar Bahnmiller on May 23, Pam Sedler on May 23rd and Jessica Nelson and Olivia Becker on May 24th. Happy Birthday to all of you and enjoy your special day!

We were saddened by the passing of John (Johnny) Olson on May 10th. He enjoyed visiting with friends, family and staff, watching tv and reading the newspaper. Also, our on-call activity aide Denise Vaagene lost her father last week. Our sympathy goes out to both the family and friends of these two men.

Until next time … a thought for the week thanks to Will Rogers … The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces