It felt good to get back to normal this week with our Monday Movers exercise group right away on Monday morning! After a week of staying in their rooms for most of each day due to illness, residents loved stretching and warming up those stiff muscles! We moved right along into our Singalong next and with Stacey at the piano, we enjoyed gathering again to make beautiful music together. Music is therapeutic for the soul and we were happy to share our voices and smiles! Once lunch arrived, it was such a joy to see all our residents enjoying a meal together again in the dining room. Once lunch was over and mail was passed out, it was time to let out our inner artists at Crafty Corner! This week’s project was painted spring flowers and now our “gallery wall” is blooming with tulips in every color of the rainbow. The afternoon fun continued with a lively game of Tic Tac Toss and we had almost a record number of participants! Judy Thorn was our fourth-place winner, Frances White and Penny Stafford took third place, and Milda Bautch came in second place. Linda Tollefson was the first-place winner this week! We capped off the busy day with a little supper and then Monday night Bingo; thank you to Marie Berger for helping set up, clean up and pass out candy prizes!

As Tuesday’s temperatures heated up, we opened the windows for the first time in months and some residents took advantage of the warm weather to sit outside and bask in the sunshine! What a welcome relief from the long winter! Folks enjoyed a peaceful Catholic mass in the morning after breakfast and once the afternoon arrived, it was time for Popcorn Social. Once all the delicious popcorn was gobbled up, we had some time to play several hands of Uno; everyone was in such a happy mood because of the warm, sunshine-y weather outside! Even though these temps aren’t going to last for long right now, we are thankful and take advantage of them when we can. Pastor Tom from Pepin Immanuel Lutheran Church stopped by for afternoon church and then before you knew it, it was time for supper. We ended the beautiful day with evening games with Aaliyah!

The sunshine and warm weather continued into Wednesday as we began our morning with bowling. We cheered each other on as Jeff Halverson came in fourth place, Milda Bautch nabbed third place and Alice Brantner scored second place! Kevin Bauer was the first-place winner this week! Folks also were outside soaking up the sunny morning as we waited for lunch. After a refreshing bite to eat, we got ready for Fruit Bingo. This week we welcomed volunteers Mary, Monica and Lana from the Catholic Financial Group; we appreciate all their help with set-up, clean-up and passing out prizes! Goldie Helwig was the blackout bingo champion this week! All that bowling and bingo in the summer-like heat sure put us in the mood for a cool treat. Our afternoon Strawberry Milkshake Social was just the thing to cool us off and satisfy our sweet tooth!

Kathy Shingledecker joined us Thursday morning to read the local news and share a cup of coffee with us! We always love seeing our volunteers stopping by for a visit and a chat. We relaxed until lunchtime and then it was an afternoon of pampering and puppies! Ladies lined up to get their manicures done for the week and nails dried just in time to cuddle and snuggle the wiggly puppies who came to see us. We never get tired of seeing these little bundles of energy playing and jumping all over the place; some are so tiny you can almost fit them in the palm of your hand! Unfortunately, they can’t stay forever and we are always sad when it’s time to say goodbye. But supper is right around the corner and then an evening filled with Pokeno fun with Aaliyah!

The heat outside finally broke come Friday morning but the competition was just heating up inside where residents gathered for Shuffleboard! Ivan Mason took the fourth-place spot, Judy Thorn came in third place and both Linda Tollefson and Kevin Bauer tied for second place. Alice Brantner was the first-place winner with a whopping 190 points! After lunch, we had many hands making light work of assembling ham and cheese roll ups at Snack Makers; they looked so good that it was hard to wait until Happy Hour to eat them! Luckily, Happy Hour came quickly and Craig Morton entertained us with live music until supper time. After our evening meal, we dimmed the lights and pulled the blinds to get ready for a Friday night movie! This week’s Friday flick was “Dennis the Menace.”. It has been a busy week, but it feels wonderful to be back to normal and we would love to see you visit when you get a chance!