Drooling over a sewing machine.....

Saturday I went shopping for a Lady Bug Mothers Day Tea at Joann's. I must say either the changed the store over night or I missed the remodel they had. We were going through rows and rows of fabric and ran into this machine Janome Memory Craft 11000 Special Addition Sewing Machine.
Now I normally would just walk by, but that machine was working by it self. I have sewn before but I have put all that kind of stuff on hold, well for the last 20 years, I Know I know it's crazy, but since I am new to blogging and seeing so many project I have been missing. It was incredible on what this thing can do, my friend actually reached over to close my mouth. I mind was turning and I had to have one- really -REALLY had to have one. So since there was no price, I had to guess maybe 600 -1000 max. Boy was I wrong this machine was .......wait for it ..........$5999.00!!!!!! My dreams were crushed in just one second when I have been watching the machine do it wonderful job for about 20 minutes....oh well maybe I can save my pennies.....I must say this new age of sewing is outstanding and I need to someday branch into, but for now I will keep with crafts on a budget....

Starting the New Year

Ok we are already into the New Year and I haven't posted since, hmmmm well OK it's been a while so I need to start blogging again. I have been working on my facebook page and that is doing well, but I need to start here then  transfer to faceebook. These are things I need to learn as being a new blogger and working on generating new ideas to Activity Directors so it makes every ones life a little less stressed.

Being an Activity Director there is so much to concentrate on, nursing homes Directors have so little time to plan. MDS, charting, new state guidelines, and all the meetings, care conferences, daily management meeting, Resident Council meetings and I can go on and on. It is like you are in a whirl wind of balancing daily hats to wear.... go home and come back and doing it the next day.

Assisted Living is well, is a little different. The older facilities have the personal and classic way of doing the activities. I mean we are hands on planning and working with the residents one on one. The buildings that are smaller have a "family atmosphere". The new buildings are becoming less personal, computer generated calendars that scroll through out the day .....I can't even keep track.
Along with these new buildings there are less contact and companies pay less for the Activity Director thinking it is all done for them as a template outlined by Corporate Directors that plan for company Activities for all buildings in there company. Ok well, yes they meet the standards for the Corporate world. So what about the resident's? That is a good question.....what does that mean?
Every resident has an individual care plan to meet there specific needs....so how do you do that with a corporate outline ......hmmmm do you put people in groups to what the corporate planners make up activities for generic purposes?

This is nothing new to any activity director, activity assistant, caregiver, nursing and even the executive directors ....... we all know because we work with them everyday and we listen so this system seems senseless. Listening is the most important part of our job and  planning is the hardest part of the Activity Directors job. All we want is a happy building ....right?

So we ask ourselves where do you begin? Well a good place to start is with the residents themselves after all it's all about what their needs and expectations. Holding meetings once a month to plan activities is fun and rewarding for the residents, they have a purpose and you find out what they want to do. I aways say that I can put on an activity about Gumby and Poky ( green bendable guy with his horse) and have the time of my life ....but it isn't going to make sense to them .....maybe or maybe not now you have to figure in the clients you have in your facility.

Activityconnection.com has a great planning sheet that has of special days for the month and great reading, trivia, puzzles and crafts to plan your month. I love this web site, it has great tools, however there is still the individual likes and now a wide range of age gaps, short stay needs, low budgets and whatever the life of an Activity Director throws at you.

So I hope by bringing this blog page bring a less stress life to all Activity Professionals... Linda

Food Art...... Acorns

These are so awesome to do with the residents......they have been really loving the food art thing, I mean like asking when the next time will we making something else. I love the sound of "when are we going to do this again" of course, thats what is all about!!!!
Linda

Fall Leaf Craft

I haven't posted in a while so this is my Fall Leaf  Project and it is so easy and fun. For right now I am going to post the pictures and I will come back tell how it was done..... =)

Granny Smith Frogs

Hello,
Today I did a couple of Activities with the seniors. I found this on activityconnection.com and what a blast we had making these. I found some of my residents had a hard time cutting the apples with pairing knives, but the others enjoyed making them. I had Carmel dip for the on lookers. this is what we came up with.

Every one had a wonderful time specially with the candy corn I made.
Happy Carving!
Linda

The Bucket List

I am so happy to come back from a great WSAAP conference at Warm Beach Christian Camp. It was truly camping but we made it through and my Executive Director was given the Administrator of the year award. The whole team came up to see her receive her reward she was completely surprised!!!!
Today we celebrated with all of the staff and had a surprised fiesta .....my job was to keep her busy until everything was set up. So I took her shopping and it was hard today, because she had so much to do that she kept wanting to get back to the building I even had a fake twisted foot .....oh boy!
Well all went well and so everyone had a great time!!! That is what is important!
OK to get to the meaning of this Bucket List. Everyone was headed to go to the the zip lines and obstacle course we I was a Little well allot heavier then the Activity Directors that were going. We all went on the test course and everyone passed even me, Yahoo!
Then came the real course this very big tree and very high so everyone went and it was my turn, I got two steps up and oh boy!, that was hard, so I came down as gracefully as I could, and said to the teacher "oh well, it's on my Bucket list but, I will get there someday. At that point he said without hesitation ..."Hey Crew we got a bucket list request and we are going to make this happen for her"

I was so surprise and scared at once .....I didn't know what was involved...... all of a sudden everything was in fun swing they work with people with special needs, so all these ropes and all the commotion for me....what if I froze and had to come down? Really I was getting nervous. Everyone was mostly gone at that point and a few watchers in our group were still there cheering everyone on. So with the help of those wonderful Activity Directors that stayed behind helped pull me up to the platform so I could Zip down.... this is me ...... Scared to death but with all they had done for me I had to go I have pictures fro another camera that showed me coming down ....so when I got to the top I had two wonderful women up top telling it's OK they told me to sit down on the platform it would be easier ...........Bless their hearts .....but I just jumped not even thinking I just went and it was amazing!!!!! I want to thank to Zip line Staff at Warm beach Christian Camp in Stanwood. Thank you for making the number 1 on my Bucket List h........Thank you!     

Activity Directors Conference

I am so excited to go to the 2012 Activity conference at Warm Beach in Stanford Washington details and pictures to come soon ......it's like going back to music camp I was in music camp well back in high school......we will see what happens =) I will see you in a few days