bsnook

Last year, I bought Christmas stockings for each resident and hung them outside their door. Staff, Families, visitors and other residents had fun dropping things in these including things like; Christmas cards, candy, gum, small bottles of shampoo or lotion, pencils, pens, notepaper, oranges, hankies, etc. If anyone has other ideas of things to get I would love to know. I purchased battery operated "pop" on lights for residents to have on hand in case of power outages and they all loved them! (dollar store purchase!).

You can also change the print-out size in the Print Set-up window.

I am an Activity Director for an ALF. I won't even consider entertainment that charges over $50 as my budget for 55 residents is only $300/month (and I'm sure that is more than others get). Of this budget I must not only include entertainment costs but also: Supplies for parties/celebrations/holidays (ie: paper plates, utensils, cups, food and drink) Decorations for parties/celebrations/holidays (yes, I am still using decorations from previous holidays, however, still need new and replacement items) Supplies for Baking activities Supplies for Arts and Craft activities Purchase of video/dvd's for movie days Supplies for manicure day Vehicle charges to take residents on outings Bingo money 8 to 10 times a month Supplies for what I may need for the administrative part of my job (ie: general office supplies and specialty things such as books, forms, etc that are necessary for doing a good job) and, Subscriptions for things like this website for help and suggestions. Just today, a man offered me his flyer as an entertainer. He and his co-entertainer charge $150 for a 45 minute show. I politely told him that was too much for my small budget of $300/month, his reply... "well, we only charge half that" WOW, and for a WHOLE 45 MINUTES TOO! hummmmm... and what do you suggest I do for the residents for the remainder of the day and for the rest of the 29-30 days of the month on just $150?? I'm sorry, but I just can't sympthize with an entertainer that can't find it in their heart to donate their time and talent, or at least charge just enough to cover their transportation costs, to help bring happiness into the lives of all our fraile and slowly dying elderly. Some day, you may be one of these residents. And Yes, I do donate of myself when I can... for Mother's Day I made 48 beaded necklaces for all my women on my own time and with my own money.

What is your name? B Snook What is your occupation? Activity Director •What are you listening to right now? the quietness of our facility • What was the last thing you ate? Honey Nut Cherios •Do you wish on stars? nah •If you were a crayon, what color would you be? whichever one does not get used! •How is the weather right now? warm & sunny soon to get hot •Last person you spoke to on the phone? my daughter •How old are you today? 52 •Favorite drink? coke classic •Favorite sport(s) to watch? none •Have you ever dyed your hair? Only my hairdresser knows for sure! •Do you wear contacts or glasses? glasses •Pets? 2 horses, dog, 2 cats, 2 cows, & apparently the bee's that have adopted our porch as their home •Favorite month? don't have one •Favorite food? corn on the cob •What was the last movie you watched? I don't remember •Favorite day of the year? geez, can't think of one in particular •Fall or Spring? Both, when not raining •When was the last time you cried? gave that up years ago What did you do last night? slept •What inspires you? to do what? there are so many things that inspire me to do different things. •What are you afraid of? dying before I can enjoy retirement •Favorite car? '64 Galaxy 500XL w/390 & a 4 barrel carb •Favorite dog breed? Wolf/lab •How many years at your current job? 1 & 1/2 •How many states have you lived in? 1 •How many cities/towns have you lived in? aw, geez... since I was a Kid?? 4 I guess I have lived my whole life in Oregon's Willamette Valley. I have a dry sense of humor and I like to play with the English language as it is one of the hardest for a non-native speaker to learn. I really enjoy my job as an Activity Director. It is something I have not done before, however, this is the job I really want at this point in my life.

Yes, I can e-mail it to you. I will attach 2 Excel Workbooks: one is a blank one and the other one is my current 2008 calendar workbook. Feel free to use information from it. If you are not familiar with the “comment” tool in excel, let me know. You will see on my 2008 calendar that I use the comment tool to remind me of things I need to do. Be sure to save the blank workbook, then save it again as the one you will use (such as “2008 Calendar” ) then you will always have the blank one to fall back on.

Hello there, I use excell and have my full year of calendars in one workbook containing 12 spreadsheets. I print it on legal size paper by adjusting the papersize in the page setup. All 12 of my sheets are set up and layed out. All I have to do in plug in the activities. I can e-mail it to anyone who wants one. I keep a blank copy on my computer and when I start a new year I open it, click "save as" and save it as "07calendar," "08calendar" and so on. I have been looking for a way to make these spreadsheets protected templates to avoid loosing or messing up the form.

I have made an Excel spreadsheet that covers all 12 months for the 2008 year. I am able to go back a month or so to see what was done and I can go to a future month to plug in information. I can't find a way to upload this for everyone to access. If you e-mail me, I would be happy to send it to you as a attachment. It saves me a lot of time to be able to have my entire year of activity calendars handy at the same time with only one program and item open on my computer. It is not a protected form (don't know how to do this in Excel yet) so I suggest after opening it you save it under another name and keep the orginial as a blank template. This is done on legal size (8&1/2 x 14) paper in the landscape layout. It works out pretty well for most of our seniors. For those seniors that can't see well enough to read it, I usually go over it during our monthly Resident Meeting. bsnook@marianestates.com Sublimity Oregon