Samantha Hanson, LPC, ATR, Clini-Coach®

All posts by Sammi Jean

Pink bubbles of happiness

So, ladies and gentlemen, I kid you not.  Mary Kay is a giant pink bubble of happy!  Omgoodness!!  But we get free gifts and rewards, I’m now on target for a company car!  So excited!  However, I could use some help blog viewers.  This is what I need to be on target for a car (in case anyone’s interested hearing more, please contact me for a career chat)

4 months: 14 active team members (can be located anywhere, we have no territories)
                  60 career chats (find out more about you, and see if Mary Kay would be a good fit, we help each other change lives people)
                  About 4 parties a month and 6 one on one facials (at least)
If any of you live in the Milwaukee area, please contact me!  Otherwise, I’m hosting a virtual party to go with our event next week on fb, our Sunkist 4 summer event is next Wednesday in Brookfield, Wi, but my website is http://www.marykay.com/shanson, my fb page is Samantha Hanson, independent beauty consultant.  Now I want to ask you, is skincare important?  Mary Kay is number 9 in the world, for skincare alone.  Is color important? Depends on you, but who doesn’t love a splash of color?  Do you need to relax?  We have spa products!
We could do virtual parties. I do have skype and FaceTime. I could send out Togo kits of skin care and makeup samples and we could all skype together.  A party consists of at least 3 guests, and I’ve been trained in coaching the hostess so it’s all pampering for you, and as little stress as possible!  Plus. It’s free party, samples, what more could you ask for as this winter keeps dragging on?
Just so you know, there is a Mary Kay ECatalog app and a Mary Kay makeover app.  If you go do your makeover, upload an image, check out all the product, save your selection that you love, and it will list all the product and prices.  Send me this list and you’ll get a discount 🙂
I’m loving this job everyone. So excited to share these wonderful products with you!
New business venture

Hey fans, I have exciting news to announce.  I am a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant!  My website is http://www.marykay.com/shanson.  I also have a Facebook fan page!   (Samantha Hanson Mary Kay independent beauty consultant) more news to come later 🙂

I’m so excited, I got a text tonight saying I was chosen as one of two team members (out of all the team members) closest to red jacket status, to come to the special red jacket event tomorrow!   It’s normally closed to new people, but they wanted to meet new ladies in the business who are inspired and highly motivated to learn more about the business.

Anyone who would like to try Mary Kay products, please go to my link http://www.marykay.com/shanson and in any comments section offered put art therapy cancer blog, I’ll give u 15% off!   :). (Send me a message as well through here or the website just in case)

We have many new exciting spring products ladies, and hopefully you all know about skin care!  Cleanser and moisturizers are available, so are microdermabrasion, spa hand scrubbies (peach satin hands).   We of course offer makeup, eye creams, powders, primers, foundation, etc., and cologne (yes, we have a men’s line for bath, body, fragrances) and perfumes!  If you would like to first try some samples, please message me first through the website, I have a limited supply but I’m sure we can figure someone out 🙂

Anyhow, still on the lookout for Mr. right, thought I had a chance with one guy, and it didn’t turn out. Soo I’m focusing on my happy bubbly Mary Kay independent beauty consultant business!  If you would like to hear more about what I do, and want to schedule a career chat, just let me know :). I have FaceTime. Skype, and phone 🙂

Brrrr

Up here is good old Wisconsin, its deep freeze time!   My car almost wouldn’t start after work registering at -7, by the time I got home -11.  So glad my parents have a garage!    Unfortunately, it means I did cancel my residents outing this week, in case van breaks down or they get sick from cold. (It was to a magic show, but we have a magician coming next week)

Well, my new year’s resolution is getting back in shape, eat better and feel better.  I’m actually doing it so far!  I’ve been using my blender which turns into a portable mug, for fresh fruit smoothies (Wal-Mart, $20!), and this weekend I finally got on the bike, several times now!  I’m also drinking a lot of tea as I’ve been in between nonstop colds. (Discovered chamomile which helps a lot with head colds), and I have two awesome friends working at this with me, which helps so much.  We’re doing a point system, every 20 min of working out is 1 point. This last week I had 3 pts, we check-in Sundays at 8am, and my 3-month goal is to lose at least 15 pounds.  Our reward at that time if we hit our mark will be shopping and dancing!!  Will be fun to go out and dance with the ladies.  Sucks being an adult sometimes…lol it was so much easier to hang out back in college.  Oh well, we’ll make it work!

Andddd news! I tried eHarmony’s free weekend, was talking to someone but then not.  So, I got on plenty of fish instead! And I was talking to someone last night 🙂 not sure if were a good match but it could at least mean a new friend.

Yaaay for new year!!!

Winter wonderland

So pretty outside with the snow!   But drivers are crazy.  Last week in one day in an expressway near my house, there were three pile ups, one hundred cars, sixty cars and 30 cars! (Between a stretch of highway during the blizzard, one took 2 hours to clean up!)  Thank goodness I didn’t have to take that road that day.

Ugh this month has been icky, stomach flu, bad cold, hanging cough, food poisoning, and today I feel like a truck ran me over! I’ve taken Aleve, two naps, tea, chicken broth, and I’m still sore all over, even though the weather is clear! So in between the soreness I’ve been working on knitting, I’m making a blanket for my nephew, twin size and almost big enough!  Then I’m going to embroider a giant J, and if have time a border.  Only two afternoons off this week so who knows how much time I’ll get to work on it with how tired I am after work, plus our outings!

Work is iffy, still having issues with boss. But tomorrow is the holiday party, we have about 30ish family members coming for residents, we have Santa, which I have to pick up suit early morning, and we will have Carolers! (granted they waited till the last minute to confirm, it’s ok).  SOOO nervous.  Any Hoo, watching a sad hallmark movie (determined to sit through it, even though the person is dying of cancer, cause I’m sick of avoiding movies. Just keep telling myself, it’s a completely different situation!). And knitting and sipping on tea.

Where has the time gone?

My goodness, already the end of November, a day to be thankful!  Four years since I found out my pain was real and started chemotherapy (started the Friday before thanksgiving 2009).  I had gone to a doc who initially thought it was an old soccer injury, he had me go for an MRI cause the pain was in the wrong place.  A few days later, within hours of the MRI, he called me from his family vacation in Texas to tell me to get off the leg, and wait for a call, as he had scheduled all the necessary tests for us, and we just needed to confirm the dates and times it was one less thing for my family to worry about.   When I can find his name in all my records again, I plan to send him a bushel of thank you cards, for doing that, and checking in on me while I was going though treatment (even when the docs at the larger facility that he referred me to, wouldn’t communicate with him).

Any Hoo, at work this month we really haven’t done activities.  I had a banjo player, guitarists, singers, outings on scenic drives, visits to a famous cathedral in the area (holy hill). Longish ride, but totally worth it if you’re in the area!   This next month we have another greeting card workshop by Trisha Klowak, Crafty paws! Caricaturist, banjo, guitar/harmonica, and Mary Kay!  As well as Christmas light scenic drives, out to dinner, and a family Christmas party!  Busy busy. And I’m planning February’s and March calendar already!   (if you’re in the upper Midwest and have some sort of skill to share such as those listed above, contact me and we’ll have a chat!).
This week I made a big step.  I contacted cancermatch.com and made a profile.  It’s a free social networking / dating site for individuals with cancer, survival treatment post, recurrence etc.  I know it bothers me to think what if I fell in love and then we had to go through cancer all over again, watch them or them watch me suffer?  But I’m trying to think more positive, make some friends, have someone to vent to see what happens.  We could both be lucky and never experience it again until we are old and grey.  Until the old and grey part comes, I’m going to see where it goes.  I did mention this worry, as other people mentioned their worries.  It seems like no one really messages on this site… Pretty ghost townish, so we will see if anyone responds to the posts, I made in different areas.
Happy turkey day y’all 🙂
October office updates, part 1

This month has been fun! Not everything has gone as planned when I made my wonderful, themed calendar, but that’s ok.  With people who have dementia, it’s good to have a schedule, but at the same time be willing to change it if necessary.  Every day is different, moods can change quickly or slowly, or be set and not change. Fatigue can come on quickly or last all day.  With age comes aches, and with Wisconsin weather we have plenty of aches most of the year, especially if we are human barometers due to age or sickness.  Luckily, we had some nice days for pumpkin painting, but lately has been too cold to go outdoors so some activities had to be adapted into completely different activities!  As long as my residents are happy or willing to do what I recommend, the change works out :).  Every resident gets an activity schedule, and one is sent to their power of attorneys.  They don’t always remember they have a calendar, but that’s why we help them remember.  Some of my ladies are on top of me with what daily activities are, and others would rather sit in front of the news all day (we are working on finding a happy medium).  I have some residents who don’t care to join in activities, or arts and crafts, or bingo, so I’m trying to work with them to find a happy medium for us all to enjoy.  Many of my residents have stated that they have never done arts and crafts, except embroidery or possibly knitting in the past.  With each activity that we do I start out very simple and as weeks progress, I find activities that are more challenging to build up their stamina!

These photos are not in order:

Card workshop! as you can see, the tables were filled with supplies as my residents were building their cards.
This resident chose to do several “Happy Halloween” cards with spider stamps, crafty paws custom designs
Pumpkin Yahtzee! I will be adapting this game to make it easier for my residents, right here I used either a felt orange pumpkin, or a photocopy of a finished pumpkin, and felt pieces.  I will be adapting it by creating thicker pieces, and possibly magnetizing it like the Pinterest one or using Velcro.

Here we were painting wood objects, or paper to go towards bookmarks.  The end results will go towards our “bazaar” a facility fundraiser.

Pumpkins~ painted and foam applicated! the foam application pieces came from http://www.orientaltrading.com

as people finished making masquerade masks for our Halloween party (oriental trading.com), I introduced watercolor paints!
Expressive art therapy holiday card workshop- Togo!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331052639678?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Check this out y’all! My friend and I are hosting an expressive art therapy holiday card workshop next week, and since the internet world can’t all join us, here is the link to purchase a holiday card Togo kit! Enjoy crafting everybody, for the Art Therapy portion, while you work your mind is at ease which releases your bodies tension thereby reducing blood pressure and taking away daily stress!!!
Catching Up with office updates

I’m going through my September photos, and here are what I have found! Please excuse the horrible, pixelated images, I will get better with practice, until then technology and I don’t agree!

We used bubbles as a way to transition from the last day of summer, into fall! Bubbles, to reminisce of memories of the past.
God’s eyes! To hang in the windows, full of fall colors or give to the facility to sell at a fundraiser!
Here are images of some smaller god’s eyes, as well as some residents coloring in the leaf drawings.
Our entertainer played both harmonica and guitar simultaneously!
Finished leaf drawings, and god’s eyes. the leaf drawings are now on the resident’s apartment doors, and we have pumpkins for October!  The god’s eyes are in process of getting to the windows.
this resident chose to outline her leaf and color it in naturally, as nothing is perfect, not even nature.

October update soon to come!  will have to be in sections, as we still have one week to go!

Updates!

So, I’m running out of things to talk about myself!  And my experience with cancer, I know I could write about all the icky things I went through, or the bodily changes I experienced, or write about each treatment from my diary I kept back then, but as no one has asked any questions, I’m going to leave that a mystery for now!

Instead, I’m going to continue writing about different art projects and activities I do, as well as update about projects I do as a life enrichment specialist, aka art therapist, with my residents at work!   For HIPAA / confidentiality concerns, I will not include photos, or names of my residents, but just cropped photos of the activity.
Feel free to use my ideas, as I have received them from Pinterest! And will try to include all the links along with my adapted activity.  While I went to school to be an art therapist, I did learn about different activities, mostly how to adapt activities to the required population, and thinking outside the box to create our own activities.  (We were told it was perfectly acceptable to take other ideas and adapt them as needed).  We learned much more but, in this case, a life enrichment position with dementia is wonderful! I’m absolutely loving my job, and my residents are so sweet, and always trying new things! They like hands on activities, music, the outdoors, and bingo, and Yahtzee!  I’m trying to bring in a large variety of entertainers, so if any of y’all are southeastern Wi and have talent to share, please private message me or comment with your email!!!!
Being a life enrichment assistant, I get to plan activities, including arts and crafts, outings, parties, volunteer programs, a little bit of everything!  Quite overwhelming but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it, but there’s still something new every day. I was told the first year is the hardest in this position.  For my group, I try to plan movement-based activities twice a week, such as tossing a beach all back and forth to stretch and work our muscles, get the blood pumping and reminisce to relive stress!  We have chair yoga volunteer on Tuesdays, and Wednesday is arts and crafts day! We have decorated the kitchen calendar wall with colored leaf drawings, tissue paper pumpkins and masquerade masks for our upcoming Halloween party. Pumpkins were donated by a local business, and the residents painted one side, and used foam stickers to put fun faces on the other!   We also have had bingo about every other day and started doing Yahtzee in between.  We’ve also done ring toss, pumpkin bowling, and pumpkin Yahtzee!   Our place is full of Halloween now thanks to the residents’ hard work, and my coworkers setting up the outside decorations.
Some entertainers we have had are, crafty paws custom design cards, banjo bob, a guitar harmonica player, with more to come!  Even though I’ve only been working a month, I feel like it’s been forever, I have accomplished so much here!  My goal by Christmas is to bring in more volunteers :).  Pictures and descriptions will come soon, promise!
Activities outtings and crafts oh joy!

To start with, I did have to cut my temporary hours, so I am at my primary job 5 days a week every morning and two days a week in afternoon at temporary and every other week, one day at my internship.  I was scheduling entertainers and outings today and boy is my monthly planner filling up!   Somehow, I was able to find space in next two weeks to squeeze in a haircut and my massage (thank you momma and daddy for the welcome home /graduation gift!)

Soon though my budget will include money for massages on top of car, phone and loans, cause boy do they help with stress! This weekend mom and I are taking a break from watching my nephews and going to a local public museum, so excited! Going get Dominos after and watch a free on demand movie thanks to a coupon from time warner cable 🙂 (good luck again to all the hunters out there in the nasty forecasted weather) next weekend, I have work/internship Friday, work 9-5 sat and supervision Sunday 9-1 and crafting the rest of the day.  Totally excited to craft and prepare for the card workshop I’m co-leading but soooooo going to be tired.  May need naptime! Lol.  And to think I thought it was silly as a child.  Kids don’t know how good they have it.