Fall BBQ Social

We just had a really fun social at our Y!  We had picnic tables, trees, a barbecue grill, great friends , delicious food and beautiful weather!

I brought the hamburger patties and they brought everything else!  The Y staff helped with set-up, cooking, and paper goods.

I set-up some games to play while they were waiting for lunch to cook.  I had volunteers to run the games.  When a participant played a game they were given a mark on the back of their hand with a permanent marker.  When they had played three games and had three marks,  they went to another volunteer who let them chose an award. I chose candy as an award because it is close to Halloween. This is what the awards looked like:
               

Finished Awards

              

Cut, staple & tape on candy

                                         

To make the awards, I cut a 30 inch piece of ribbon (Yes!  30 inch so it would fit over their heads!)  Then I stapled the ribbon and taped on the candy.  Really easy and they liked them!!









One of the games we played was kicking a beach ball through a hula hoop.  Here's what it looked like:

I took the staples out of an inexpensive hula hoop and opened it up.  Then I needed a way to stake it so that it would stay upright.  My husband came up with the idea to tape a screwdriver to each end like this:

It worked great!  I used a beach ball so that it would not be too easy.  The beach ball can go too high if they are not careful!!  We gave them each 5 tries.  Most got the ball through 3 times.  Only one got it through 4 times!

They threw golf balls into a basket and moved a marked cup from the top of a stack of 50 cups to the bottom.  They had one minute to see if they could move all the cups and get it back on top.  One person moved 47 cups.  She was just 3 away from getting the marked cup back on top!!

We gave prizes to the winners of each game.  A local pumpkin farm had donated some pumpkins to the Y and these made great prizes!

We also had a singing contest to see who could sing Glow Little Glow Worm the best.  I had given them the words a few weeks before the barbecue.  We had fun!!

Kindness Quotes

I've been thinking about kindness this week.  Kindness is a gift we can all give each other, no matter how rich or poor we are.  Kindness spreads to those around us as surely as a wildfire spreads during a drought.  Let's make the world a better place and spread some kindness among our groups!

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone...
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others."  ~Sam Levenson 

"I want to be the kind of person that kind people like and want to be like."  ~Jarod Kintz

"When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people."  ~Abraham Joshua Heschel

"The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines." ~Charles Kuralt

Great SilverSneakers Workshops with Patty Kettells

SilverSneakers held three workshops last week at One Life Fitness in Norfolk. Becky Stephens and her team were wonderful!  So was our instructor, Patty Kettells!  We all went away with so many great ideas!  I wish I could have written all of them down!

I am going to share the ones I can remember.  Please add the ones you can remember!

Gloria Siegel shared her great breathing cue: 

       "Smell the flowers and Blow out the birthday candles"

Great Moves:

Try having your class toss the ball up with one hand as they keep the other hand behind their back.

We often have participants use the tube to "Put their Coat On and Off'" also, have them keep it behind their back and "Dry their Back".  These are great cues for Activities of Daily Living which helps our participants go away knowing what they will be able to do better after attending class.

Seated with tubes under their feet.  Have them cross tubes and change hands.  Pull the handles to their hips. 

Step R slow

Step L slow

R fast 4x's

Step L fast 4x's

Repeat

Bow and Arrow Move with 3 Variations:

1.  Put bracelet on R wrist (Put R hand through handle of tube).  With L arm almost straight and holding handle, R arm is pulled back in bow and arrow position.  Pull R arm back 8x's like shooting arrow.  2. Then, in same position, bend L elbow and hand holding handle comes toward chest.  Repeat  8x's.  3. Then lift and straighten L hand holding handle and pull tube down with R hand. Repeat 8x's.

Now it's your turn!  Please leave your moves in the comment section or e-mail them to me and I will add them.  I look forward to remembering all these great moves!

Fun Joke - Buy a Husband at the Husband Store

A store that sells new husbands has just opened downtown, where women may go choose a husband.  Instructions for shoppers say:  "You may visit this store ONLY ONCE!  There are six floors and the number of products increase floor by floor.  Once you go up to the next floor, you cannot go back down, except to exit the building!"  


So a woman goes to the Husband floor to find a husband.  On the first floor the sign on the door reads: 

Floor 1 - These men Have Jobs.
Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.
Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids and are Extremely Good Looking

"Wow", she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.  She goes to the fourth floor and reads:

Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and Help with the Housework.

"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"  Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help with the Housework and Have a  Strong Romantic Streak.  She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the Sign reads:

Floor 6 - "You are visitor number 31,456,012 to this floor.  There are no men on this floor.  This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please.  Thank you for shopping at the New Husband Store."

To avoid gender bias charges the store's owner opened a New Wives Store just across the street.

Floor 1 - Has Wives That Love Sex
Floor 2 - Has wives That Love Sex and Have Money
Floor 3 - 6 - Have never been visited.

Youth by Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Thought you might enjoy sharing this:

Youth

     Youth is not a time of life.  It's a state of mind.  It's a test of the will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of emotions, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over love of ease.

     Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.  People grow old only by deserting their ideals.  Years wrinkle this skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.  Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair...these are the quick equivalents of the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

     Whether 70 or 16, there is, in every being's heart, the love of wonder, the sweet amazement of the star and the starlike things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for "What next?"

     You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt...as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear...as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

     So long as your heart receives messages of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man and from the infinite, so long are you young.

     When all the wires are down, and all the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old indeed...and may God have mercy on your soul.   by Gen. Douglas MacArthur

Rut Blocker

This is a great move for a warm-up or cool-down.  Hold R arm straight out, palm up (or you can hold ball).  Touch R shoulder, L hip and L knee (by lifting knee up).  Repeat 8x's on R and 8x's on L.

Begin The Day with Friendliness

Here are a couple of readings to inspire your class.  Enjoy!

Begin the Day with Friendliness      

by Frank B. Whitney

Begin the day with friendliness

And only friends you'll find.

Yes, greet the dawn with happiness;

Keep happy thoughts in mind.

Salute the day with peaceful thoughts,

And peace will fill your heart;

Begin the day with joyful soul,

And joy will be your part.

Begin the day with friendliness;

Keep friendly all day long;

Keep in your soul a friendly thought,

Your heart a friendly song.

Have in your mind a word of cheer

 And they will bless you too, in turn,

And wish you "Happy day!"

Begin each day with friendly thoughts,

And as the day goes on,

Keep friendly, loving, good, and kind,

Just as you were at dawn.

The day will be a friendly one,

And then at night you'll find

That you wee happy all day long

Through friendly thoughts in mind.

                                                                           A Smile

Author Unknown

                                                                             

A smile costs nothing, but gives much.

It enriches those who receive,

without making poorer those who give.

It takes but a moment,

but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.

None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it,

and none is so poor but that he can be made rich by it.

A smile creates happiness in the home, 

fosters good will in business

and is the countersign of friendship.

It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged

sunshine to the sad, and it is  nature's best antidote for trouble.

Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen,

for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.

Some people are too tired to give you a smile.

Give them one of yours, 

as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.