We started the week with no large group activities due to illness still working its way through the care center. Noel spent Monday morning passing out March activity calendars, in the hopes that we can gather for fun and games soon! After lunch and mail pass, residents came to the dining room for Crafty Corner and decorated clothespin containers with paint, buttons and ribbons while seated at their own tables. In the afternoon, we were able have folks in the dining room to play a socially distanced game of Tic Tac Toss! Everyone was in fine form as LeRoy ‘Hank’ Hankinson claimed fourth place, Shirley Klinski and Dennis Fedie tied for third and Arlene Glaus tied with Dee Anderson for second. Milda Bautch was this week’s first place champion! Supper brought an end to the afternoon and afterward Marie and Joyce Berger were here for (one player per table) Monday night Bingo.   

Tuesday morning, Stacey went room to room with her guitar for a Hymn Sing Along with residents. Music always puts a smile on everyone’s faces and it was such a peaceful way to begin the day! Once lunch was served and mail delivered, Noel arrived to pop oodles of salty and delicious popcorn; she bagged it up and delivered the bags to residents in their rooms and then went down to the Seasons for more popcorn deliveries. Everyone was happy for their own bags of popcorn and the delicious smell lingered in the care center long after the last kernel was consumed! Pastor Phil from Plum City’s Evangelical Free Church was here for a socially distanced worship service later in the afternoon and after supper, Willow seated folks at their own tables for an evening game of Bingo.

We were met with an all-day blizzard on Ash Wednesday, but Terry Pelzel still braved the snow-covered roads for a socially distanced ashes service for our Catholic residents. We are so blessed with such dedicated community members and faith leaders! The snow kept falling as lunch was served and mail delivered; once the meal was enjoyed and the tables cleaned off it was time for Fruit Bingo. This week, with a small number of players seated at their own tables, the odds of winning Blackout were very high. Wanda Traynor was with this week’s big winner of the $1 prize! Afterwards, Noel passed out bowls of cheese doodles to folks for our Mid-Week Social in celebration of National Cheese Doodle Day.

With large group activities still cancelled on Thursday, our Local News and Coffee group did not meet this week, but the coffee was still flowing as Stacey went to everyone’s rooms, passing out steaming cups of joe (or cocoa)! Even though everyone’s belly was filled with coffee from the morning, there was still room for lunch. Once the noon meal was through and the mail passed out, Stacey brought out her cart of manicure supplies and visited each of our ladies to spruce up their nail polish! This week’s popular colors were a robin’s egg blue and a sparkly purple. The afternoon was filled with manicures and one-on-one visiting and then, after supper, Willow arrived for evening Pokeno, with each resident occupying their own table!

Unfortunately on Friday, activities were unable to resume again, but Noel was here to spend a peaceful day one-on-one with residents! There were plenty of card games to play, conversations to engage in and puzzles to do. After lunch, Noel and Chef Jeff mixed up a double batch of Cheerios Snack Mix, which were then portioned into bowls and brought room to room for residents to munch on! Even though there were no group games and activities to keep folks busy, one thing we had in spades were snacks. Lots and lots of snacks! After more visiting, supper was served and then Noel put up the big screen and dimmed the lights for the Friday night movie, “Flipped.”