Halloween SPOOK-TACULAR!

Our Halloween was packed full of ghosts, goblins and scary things of every sort-but for everything that goes "Bump" in the night, we had a Raggedy Anne, Little Red Riding Hood, or Batman to save the day!

 

After a great lunch, we headed upstairs-It's time for the YMCA!

Smile, ladies!

DANCE!

During the Dance, we had our Halloween Costume Contest judged by Ted from Community First Trust and Pam from Bank of the Ozarks.  These are their picks for the best costumes of the day!

The whole kitchen staff got in on the Costume fun!

 

Cowgirl, you better be more careful about who you decide to dance with!

Now THAT is a scary group!

WATCH OUT, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD!!

Raggedy Anne and Andy were just too adorable!

The Grim Reaper found himself a cat!

Everyone sat back and waited for punch and cake.

ADORABLE!

Stacy didn't know it, but all the residents got together and threw a surprise Bridal Shower for her at the Halloween Party!   Sneaky, sneaky people!  

 

SECRETS DON'T MAKE FRIENDS!

 

:)

 

We all had a great time on Halloween!  



2012 Fall Foliage Run to Petit Jean Mountain

The leaves have been stunningly beautiful in Arkansas and we couldn't resist the opportunity to go on a Fall Foliage Run to enjoy the breathtaking views of Petit Jean Mountain.  We loaded the bus to full capacity and all 21 of us enjoyed the gorgeous 2 hour drive through mountain of breathtaking Arkansas Scenery.

 

Atop beautiful Petite Jean Mountain sits the newly redesigned Mather Lodge that offers stunning views and delicious meals.  This was our final destination.

The view was spectacular!

Even with reservations, we could not all sit together because our group was so large.  While we waited for tables, we took a moment to look over the menu and begin to plot our fantastic culinary adventure.

It's time to make your final lunch decisions!

Everybody Say "Cheese!"

This group of troublemakers was put in the corner.

(Nobody puts Baby in the Corner!)

Stacy & Laura before they placed their lunch order.

Ever wonder if you could pay for a lunch with Funny Money?

Us, too!

The answer is no.  Absolutely not.  And the waitress really doesn't even think it's funny.

But we did!

This view from the Lodge was something that none of us will ever forget.

You can see for miles!

Tom and Lynn took a moment to reenact the famous scene from Titanic.

"I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!"

 

Charles and Mildred found a nice, shady bench to enjoy the view.

Nancy took some time to explore the view.

 

 

All in all, we had a marvelous time!  The trip was amazing and none of us will ever forget it!



Managers-V-Residents Cheesecake Bakeoff

Here at CCV, we love a good cheesecake!  Out of curiosity, we had to ponder...who makes a better Cheesecake-a resident or a staff member?  

 

And thus began our strictly scientific journey.

 

Two residents slaved to make two delicious cheesecakes.   Two members of the CCV made cheesecakes, as well.  And just for good measure, we threw in one store-bought cake, just to see if anybody could tell the difference. 

 

Before we go any further, I should warn you, we did this as a labor of love-purely for scientific reasons.  We did not enjoy this process at all.  Not even in the tiniest bit.   Really. 

 

We took the five Cheesecakes and cut them into bite sized portions.  Every judge was given a plate with 5 samples of cheesecake, each with a different colored toothpick.   They were asked to rank the cheesecakes in order by their favorite to their least favorite and used the colored toothpicks to identify which was which.

 

 

Nancy helped cut up all the cheesecakes!

 

What's that, you see?  Looks like a Maintenance Man found his way into the judges' tables!   He was obviously concerned for how much sadness the judges were suffering at the hands of Cheesecake Testing.  

This really was a miserable experience, let me tell you.

 

Grandma Cheesecake says "I liked this one so much, I FELL INTO IT!"

 

 

After the plates were cleared and the judges' votes were cast, it was time to discover who made the better cheesecake.

 

 

The results were SHOCKING.  

 

The favorite cheesecake of the day belonged to...

 

THIS ONE!  It was made by our own Pastry Chef-Margie!  

 

Two cheesecakes actually tied for second place!   Both of the second place cheesecakes were made by residents-Mary and Jean!  

 

In third place was the delicious chocolate cheesecake made by Linda.

 

And in a very sad, distant, lonesome, fourth place....was the Store Bought Cheesecake.

 

HA!

 

Well, now that we have solved that mystery, the time has come to find another conundrum to pallet.  

 

I wonder who can make a better pumpkin pie?

 

hmmmm.



CCV Tai Chi

We stared off the week yesterday with a Tai Chi class presented by The Oaklawn Center on Aging.  The class we are learning is Tai Chi for Arthritis.   It is a slow, beautiful, zero impact exercise that is fun and easy to learn.

 

The pictures are a little dark-we turned off some of the light sin the room to make the environment more relaxing.

 

"Gathering Chi"

Lean against the Glass Wall and stetch!

"Toe, Heel, Weight, PUNCH!"

 

We LOVE Tai Chi!  We are so grateful to the ladies at The Oaklawn Center on Aging for taking the time out of their busy schedules to teach us this fantastic exercise!   Join us each Monday morning at 11am to get in on the fun!



Week in Review

We have been busy little beavers around CCV!  We kicked off October with BANG!   As we gather at the Cookie Monster Table to reflect over the week, we couldn't think of any better time to let the WORLD WIDE WEB know what we've been up to all week!

 

 

Monday's highlight was the kickoff of the new Tai Chi class that is being led by Kathy and Janet at the Oaklawn Center on Aging.  The class will continue each Monday at 11am.  We are focusing on Tai Chi for arthritis and the class can be completed from either a standing or a seated position.  Be sure to join us next Monday-you will be amazed by how well you feel afterwards!

 

Tuesday...oh, Tuesday...you were something special, weren't you?

 

We welcomed home Mr. Jeff Love.  Jeff was the Activity Director at CCV some 20-odd years ago.  He left CCV to become a professional Comedian.  He has worked on across the country on cruise ships, in comedy clubs and in casinos.  We were delighted to welcome him home!

 

Jeff was a riot!

He had us in stitches!

Who wouldn't want somebody to serenade them?  Well..you probably don't want a man in bright red lipstick and a pink feather boa singing to you if you WERE a man...but a serenade is a serenade!

Oh, my.

Mr. Art would have some explaining to do if Mrs. Irene had not been sitting right there!!

 

I wish that we had more pictures from Wednesday.  It was a GREAT day!  The Handbell Choir tried out two BRAND NEW songs-they were fabulous!  We are already plotting our Christmas Concert. 

 

After lunch we played our first round of LCR (Left, Center, Right).  Everyone brought a handful of nickels and we got to it!  We had 18 people playing!  JC was thrilled to walk away with a pot of over $3 in nickels! 

 

After LCR, the actors got together to practice the Resident's Play that will be hit the state on November 7th.  If you do not have plans, you should make it over the CCV!  That play will be an absolute riot! 

 

Then, we moved across the building to the Card Room to play a good ol' fashioned game of Pictionary!

Check out Lo's Dolly!

 

 

Thursday was our Senior Health Symposium. We spent the day focusing on our Health and Well Being.  

Chef Lee never fails to impress!  This was just a snack he made for us!   You should have seen the muffins!

Kim and Stacy had a smoothie bar running all morning.  We had all manner of Berries and Fruit-they were delicious!

Cheers!

Upstairs, Life Line Screening scanned over 76 Seniors with an ultrasound machine to check for any risk of blood clots or stroke.

 

We had health-focused vendors here, as well!  Mercy Hospital was even on hand to check blood pressure!

John from Gentiva was here!  We adore John!   Gentiva is a company that can assist with any in-home medical needs, everything from medication to therapy-IN YOUR HOME!  They are wonderful!

 

Friday just topped off the week!   We had exercise this morning, then played a good round of Bingo, headed downstairs for an amazing Catfish lunch, then went back upstairs to play The Price is Right!  Check out our big winners!

 

This week has just been wonderful.   We have all had so much fun!   And the best part is that it's not over yet!  Tomorrow, Mrs. Selma's grandson will be in town.  He hand carves wooden flutes and will be putting a concert right after lunch.  

 

Have a great weekend-we sure will!

 

 



Time to Vote!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we could not think of any more perfect way to gather canned good for needy family for Thanksgiving than to tie in with the 2012 President Election.   We are asking each resident to donate canned goods in boxes labeled for each of the 4 major Candidates.   A can of food is a vote!  The Candidate with the most food in their boxes on October 26th will the the CCV Presidential Nominee!

 

Our Polling Place is up and running!  The map shows where each of our Sister Properties are located.  They are each running similar programs and we will be able to see which candidates are popular across the country!

These are the food boxes.  One for the democrat vote, one for republican, one for the green party, and one for the libertarian party. 

Each resident is invited to leave a comment on why they are voting for their Candidate.   The comment cards will be shared with our sister properties around the country!

 

We are so excited to be able to donate food to those less fortunate.  We plan on donating every item of food to The Jackson House here in Hot Springs-regardless of which box it was donated to.  

 

Stay tuned, we will continue to update the blog on which Candidate is in the lead!