Juggling Five Balls

"Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you're keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls...are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered."  ~James Patterson

What a profound observation! Seniors know how true this quote is!  We've lived long enough to see the consequences of putting work before family and friends.  We've known friends who've grown old before their time because they've spent too much time sitting on the couch.  We've seen how someone letting down their guard for just an instant can impact their integrity for a lifetime.  

Each day, let's ask ourselves:  "What will change because of the choices I make today?"  Will I be more connected to people I care about?  Will my health be better?  Will I be the kind of person other people can respect? 

Let's find our balance and go play ball!

Mother's Day Gift and Quote

It's always a challenge to find fun, inexpensive gifts for our groups for Mother's Day.  This year I made Pretzel Flowers.

I put two pretzel flowers in a small ziplock bag and the quote.  They turned out really pretty and were delicious!  

Here's how I made the flowers:

I used mini pretzels and Bright White Candy Melts by Wilton (found at Michael's in the cake decorating section).  I, also, used M&M's with the M side down.

You can use the small square pretzels, too.  Put pretzels on a cookie sheet and center one candy melt  on each pretzel.  I put them in a 200 degree oven for 2 minutes.  You don't want the melts too soft or they will drip down through the pretzel.  When they come out of the oven, have fun decorating them with the M&M's to look like flowers!  So fun!!

Rut Blockers

Stand with legs out and arms straight and held out overhead - like the letter X.  Hold the ball in the L hand.  The R hand sweeps over the head toward the upheld ball -oblique stretch. Repeat 8x's and repeat on other side.

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.