Fitness Class - Learning Names

It's that time of year - Lots of new people coming to our classes!  I'm still struggling to remember some of the names.  Here's a fun activity that allows  us to learn while exercising:

     After our warm up and ROM stretches we got our weights.  Seated, I had everyone place the weights on their thighs and march in place while I explained this activity.  We were going to go around the room and when it was their turn, they would stand and say, "My name is ______" and then sit down.  Everyone else would then stand and say "Good morning ______" and then sit down and on to the next person.  

This may be too many squats.  If your class is large-you decide.  We had sixteen and it was fine and fun!

Our New Annual Senior Mental Acuity Test

This was just sent to me via e-mail.  I really don't know who wrote it, but I thank them!!  I have been using another test and it's always nice to have something new!

Your Annual Senior Mental Acuity Test 

1. Judy's mother had three children. The first child was named April.

The second child was named May.  What was the third child's name?

2. There is a counter clerk at the butcher shop, he is only five feet six inches tall, but he wears size 13 shoes.  What does he weigh?

3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

4. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?

5. What word in the English Language is always spelled incorrectly?

6. Billy was born on December 28th, yet his birthday is always in the summer.  How is this possible?

7. In California, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg.  Why not?

8. What was the President’s name in 1975?

9. If you were running a race, and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?

10. Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white" or “The yolk of the egg is white"?

OK, the answers are below, don’t look until you have answered ALL QUESTIONS above…..

Here are the Answers: (No peeking!)

1. Answer: Judy, of course. Her mother only had 3 children.

2. Answer: Meat.

3. Answer: Mt. Everest; it just wasn't discovered yet. 

4. Answer: There is no dirt in a hole, if there was it wouldn’t be a hole.

5. Answer: Incorrectly

6. Answer: Billy lives below the equator, in the Southern Hemisphere.

7. Answer: You can't take pictures with a wooden leg.  You need a camera to take pictures.

8. Answer: Same as is it now - Donald Trump 

9. Answer: You would be in 2nd.  Well, you passed the person in second place, not the one in first place.

10. Answer: Neither, the yolk of the egg is yellow 

Rut Blockers     

Dribble ball, alternating hands.  If you're seated, have legs wide and dribble the ball between legs.  Let them practice and then instruct them to listen and follow you.  Count the dribbles and randomly say, "Hold".  Like this:  "One, two, HOLD!  One, two, three, four, five, HOLD!"  It's fun and good practice reacting fast. Then call out one of their names and have them count and tell class when to HOLD!  I do this a few times.  We're working on learning names and having fun!

My Travel Plans for 2019

Here is an e-mail I just received.  If you know who the author is, please let me know so I can give them credit.  It's great!

My Travel Plans for 2019

I have been in many places, but I’ve never been in Kahoots.  Apparently, you can’t go alone.  You have to be in Kahoots with someone.

I’ve also never been in Cognito.  I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane.  They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there.  I have made several trips there, thanks to my children, friends, family and work.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump and I’m not too much on physical activity anymore.

I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I’m in Capable and I go there more often since I’m getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense!  It really gets the adrenaline flowing and pumps up the old heart!  At my age, I need all the stimuli I can get!

Remember:

"You don't stop laughing because you grow old.  You grow old because you stop laughing."  Michael Pritchard

Coordination Stretch

Here is a fun coordination and stretch move:

Seated bring R heel forward and R palm facing forward.

Then bring L heel forward and L palm facing forward.

Then bring the R foot back, pointing toes, and turning R hand back toward body and then the L foot back, pointing toes, and turn L hand toward body.  Repeat from beginning.

It looks like the ball is between calves but it's just under the chair.

A Senior's Version of Facebook

I don't know who wrote this, but it's great!

    " For those of my generation who do not, and cannot, comprehend why Facebook exists: I am trying to make friends outside of Facebook while applying the same principles.  Therefore, every day I walk down the street and tell passers-by what I have eaten, how I feel at the moment, what I have done the night before, what I will do later and with whom.  I give them pictures of my family, my dog and of me gardening, taking things apart in the garage, watering the lawn, standing in front of landmarks, driving around town, having lunch, and doing what anybody and everybody does every day.  I also listen to their conversations, give them "thumbs up" and tell them I "like" them.  And it works just like Facebook.  I already have 4 people following me: 2 police officers, a private investigator and a psychiatrist."

Enjoy!

Who Knew Clotheslines Had Rules?

Many of the participants in our classes know that clotheslines have rules.  This is a fun conversation starter!

Rules for Clotheslines

1.  Wash the clothesline before hanging the clothes by using a damp cloth and walking the entire length of each line.

2.  Hang the socks by the toes, not the top, and your shirts by the tails.

3.  Line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pegs, but shared one of the pegs with the next item.

4.  Hang clothes in the proper order- whites with whites, etc.

5.  Hang the sheets and towels on the OUTSIDE lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle.

6.  Never hang your laundry on a Sunday, for Heavens sake!

7.  Always gather the clothes pegs when taking down the dry clothes.

8.  Clothes off the line by dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket and ready to be ironed.

9.  IRONED?  Well, that's another story!

Clotheslines

A clothesline was a news forecast,

to neighbors passing by.

There were no secrets you could keep,

when clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link,

for neighbors always knew

if company had stopped by

to spend a night or two.

For then you'd see the "fancy sheets,"

and towels upon the line;

would see the "company tablecloths,"

with intricate designs.

The line announced a baby's birth,

from folks who lived inside,

as brand new infant clothes were hung,

so carefully with pride!

The ages of the children could,

so readily be known

by watching how the sizes changed,

you'd know how much they'd grown!

It also told when illness struck,

as extra sheets were hung;

then nightclothes, and a dressing gown, too,

haphazardly were strung.

It also said, "On holiday now,"

when lines hung limp and bare.

It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged

with not an inch to spare!

New folks in town were scorned upon

if wash was dingy and gray,

as neighbors carefully raised their brows,

and looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past,

for dryers make work much less.

Now what goes on inside a home,

is anybody's guess!

I really miss that way of life.

It was a friendly sign

when neighbors knew each other best...

by what hung on the line.

If you know who wrote this, please let me know.  Enjoy!

Grandpa's Christmas Message

It's the week before Christmas and wonder is all around!  I have been so blessed by the gifts my classes have given me.  I could never express how very much they all mean to me!
In the morning I am sharing Grandpa's Christmas Message by the Walton's.  I wrote out the words so they could take them home if they wanted.  Here they are for you:

                    Grandpa’s Christmas Message                                             (Read by Will Geer on "The Waltons' Christmas" Album)                                                                                                                                     What is Christmas? It is a time when some of your dreams come true.  Every year it rolls around and takes you by surprise some of the time, especially when you’re as close to 100 years old as I am.  You think…it can’t be time for another one, but there it is with all its hope and joy and the promise of the wishes granted.  I bet you wonder what I wish for.  What could an old man wish for?  Maybe you think I would wish to be young again.  I don’t want that.  Being young is a painful thing.  Being young and in love to boot, which most young people are, is even more agony.  I’ll tell you what I wish.  I’d wish for the power to return some of the love that’s been given me.  I’d wish the time and place for all that giving could be commemorated like the heart carved on the tree around your Grandmother’s and my initials.  I wish too for more days to my life.  Time…time to give to children some of the beauty of this Earth that has been revealed to me. 

A drop of water is a wondrous thing.  A spade full of earth is a kingdom in itself.  A cloud is worth watching as it passes from one horizon to another.  A bird building its nest is as wondrous as men building the Pyramids, and any green thing that grows is proof that God exists.  It all comes into focus at Christmas.  It is a tender time.  We grow cautious because we open ourselves to love.  We exchange gifts, but what those presents really say is “I love you.”  It makes some folks uncomfortable to say or hear these words.  Maybe it’s because they’ve never learned the secret of the giving heart.  There are more takers than givers in the world.  People, communities, even countries spending their time grubbing and rooting for the goods of this earth like pigs after acorns in the fall of the year.  This is a country with a giving heart and I pray it will always be so.  It’s a good country and it’s part of our strength, something that we brought with us as pioneers that we can share with the fellow who is down on his luck, with those who suffered calamities: with the loss of their homes or land or their hope.  

This is a family with a giving heart.  You children may squabble and bicker among yourselves but you’ve been taught to love and to give, and that’s the greatest present your Momma and Daddy could have given you.  So take pleasure in the trappings of Christmas.  Be merry, like the songs say.  Revel in the tinsel and the glitter and the sparkle and sing the old songs for all the joy that’s in them and the memories they bring back.  But to touch the real Christmas, to feel the true spirit of the season, look to your own heart and find all the secret treasures that are there to give. 

There is one wish that I make every year.  I never said it out loud before, but I’ll tell it to you now.  I wish for all the seasons I have known, endlessly to come and go; the dogwood spring, the watermelon summer, the russet and gold of autumn.  I wish for Christmas to come again and for each of us to be here again next year at this time…together, safe, warm and loved as we are at this moment.

Merry Christmas!