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Greetings from "The Home" front...

Well Mother Nature sure had a little surprise for us this week!!!  A shout out THANK YOU to the staff who came in early – stayed overnight and worked extra shifts to keep our nursing home running smoothly.  Your dedication is definitely appreciated by all of the residents.

We started out President’s Day weekend with Crosswords on Sunday afternoon (before the snow hit).  Some of the clues were harder than the New York Times infamous puzzles but our residents and staff persevered through and completed two puzzles. Who knows the name of the leaf of the talipot palm used in India for writing paper?? That was one of our clues!!!  By the way, the answer is Ollas. There was a Patriotic Sing-along on Monday morning followed by Presidential Trivia. What president worked as a model for Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1940s?? (Gerald Ford). Plus, there was Bingo in the evening.  After NewsCurrents on Tuesday, we enjoyed an old-fashioned ice cream social with several ice cream flavors and toppings. We had an Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday morning, thank you to Pastor Leon and Pastor Martin for joining us! In the afternoon we had Mystery Box Reminisce in which residents take an item out of a mystery box and try to identify its use. Chichi also went personal shopping for the residents. Pastor Deb was here for Bible Study Thursday morning and we had music by Lute and Elroy in the afternoon. The dining room was overflowing with residents listening to those two sing and play guitar. What a great performance!! The ladies also got their nails done later in day and we had bingo that night. A busy and fun filled day!  Pastor Deb was back for Church on Friday morning followed by another favorite activity – the American Legion/VFW Bingo party! We are so thankful to the men and women of the Legion/VFW who faithfully come the fourth Friday of every month to provide this activity for our residents. We always get a huge turnout!! One resident was so excited about the blackout game (winner gets $5) he told me about it all month long! There is Sit & Be Fit and Bingo on Saturday also. You can tell that Bingo is a popular game around here!!!

We start out next week with Wheel of Fortune on Sunday afternoon. Pat and Vanna have been invited but our cold weather might scare them away!  There is a “thinking” game on Monday morning when we play Words in Words. During Kitchen Capers in the afternoon, Lysa and ChiChi will be making and demonstrating aebelskivers, a fluffy Danish pancake ball. There is also Bingo in the evening. On Tuesday, after Newscurrents in the morning, it’s time for my favorite game – BUNCO!!!  It is probably our second most popular game and we get a good turnout for it – lots of laughter and fun! We also have a staff member bringing in her puppies for us to play with later in the afternoon! Can you believe that Wednesday is March 1st already???? We will have Name that Tune in the morning, do some fun craft projects and ChiChi will go shopping for our residents. Thursday brings us trivia, Pretty Nails, and a silly cow tipping game. There is Communion during Church on Friday.

We have one resident birthday to finish out the month of February – Malachi Larson on the 27th.  Staff member Sue Olson Edwardson also has her birthday on February 27th and Wanda Freadrich celebrates on March 1st – happy birthday to you all!

Until next time … a thought for the week …Progress has little to do with speed, but much to do with duration …