The Fidget Chicks donated over 90 Fidget Mats this week. Our best week ever! Rosie and I went to a Fabulous Event last night in Ft Worth, Texas. The Courtyards at River Park had “Painting with a Twist” and “Free Massage” for guests. Those guests were from Harbor Hospice, Encompass Home Health, Compassionate Healthcare, Renaissance Park, Comfort Keepers and Senior Living Specialists. This week the Fidget Chicks donated more than 90 fidget mats and we established great connections for the future.

Follow us on Facebook and let us know about your experience with these wonderful Sensory Mats. The purpose of posting our Fidget Chick Mission is to create groups of people making these Sensory Mats all across the Nation and get Feedback. To date I am aware of the “Fidget Friends” of Ft Worth. A new group started in Iowa, Washington State, Upper New York, Michigan and Oregon. Please meet with your local churches and clubs. Share our Mission by simply sharing it on Facebook and help us help those in need. These Fidget Mats change lives. Be a part of something wonderful. Join us.

Love and Peace to you.

Li Cross 

The Fidget Chicks make sensory mats for Dementia Patients. We call them Fidget Mats. First we purchase cloth place mats and supplies. Some of the supplies are donated by neighbors and the community.

Next – We gather up these supplies and fill tote bags with goodies. We take these supplies home and sew the objects onto the mats. Then we sew a tag on the mat that reads: “Made with Love by a Fidget Chick”. 

Every Tuesday we meet and share our ideas. We laugh and marvel at the designs each Fidget Chick created. Then we do a Quality Control check on each mat, and bag them in packages of 10. We load them in our cars and deliver them to local Nursing Homes throughout North Texas. We also mail these Fidget Mats to individuals who want them. We ask that the recipient pay postage as it gets expensive to mail them. A 10 pack can cost $13 to $18 to mail.

These photos are approved by the families and much appreciated also. The smile on their face when they see a Fidget Mat is priceless. Sometimes the patient will speak (even after being silent for months). Sensory Mats similar to these are sold elsewhere for upwards of $40 each. The Fidget Chicks donate ours. We know the family is already suffering. We cannot charge a fee for the love we put into them. We do accept cash donations to help purchase supplies. We also accept donations of cloth place mats, zippers, beanie babies, doll clothes and gadgets of all sorts. We don’t put keys on the mats because they make the patient want to go home. We never place sharp objects on them and give each mat a stress test before bagging them.

Visit our facebook page: (Fidget Chicks) for comments and updates. Read more about Fidget Mats in this eMagazine. It is my mission for women all across America to see this idea and share it. Let’s fill every Nursing Home with Fidget Mats for the patients who just sit in a wheelchair and stare into space. Let’s bring them a smile and a memory. Donations to help our Mission are much appreciated. 

Bubble Bread (Sticky Buns with Pecans)

Rhodes Frozen Yeast Rolls

1 Stick Butter

1 Butterscotch Pudding (Cooked kind)

1 TBS. Cinnamon

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans

Spray two round cake pans/baking dishes with cooking spray. Partially thaw frozen rolls (30 minutes or so) in the bag. Pour half of the chopped pecans in each baking dish. Spread around. Take kitchen scissors and cut the rolls into quarters and place in the baking dishes on top the pecans. Set aside. In medium sauce pan: Melt butter then add all dry ingredients to pan. (Pudding mix (dry), cinnamon and sugar.) Remove from heat while stirring and pour over the rolls in each dish. You can bake them today or first thing in the morning.

For same day rolls, place on a Heating Pad on low for 3 to 4 hours with Foil tented over it to keep the heat in. Then bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

For Next Morning Rolls: Simply cover the dish with foil and set in the fridge overnight. In the morning bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

I love to prep these Christmas Eve, then just bake them Christmas Morning.

The Fidget Mat Mission is growing and God is all over it. This week some of us Fidget Chicks were able to meet with the Christian Women’s Connection in Arlington Texas. As we arrived, I noticed a table full of “Fidget Mats.”  Looking closely, I realized that our group didn’t make these. They were hand made by a sister group called “Fidget Friends.” Linda Dunson was visiting Granbury and happened to see my Presentation on my Fidget Mat Mission. She went home and contacted ladies in her area and started a sister Fidget Mat Group. This is what God intended when we started this mission. I hope that pods of Fidget Mat Makers pop up all over the Country.

Do you want to change lives? Clean out your craft closet, your junk drawer, and make some of these wonderful mats. Contact men or women you know that have a sewing machine and form Fidget Groups in your town. We meet once a week to exchange ideas, gadgets and socialize. Then a couple times a month we go to Goodwill or other Thrift Stores, Garage Sales and neighbors’ Craft Rooms. This Hobby is very rewarding for the creator of the Mats and the recipients. Once you have 10 or 20 mats made up, take them to your local Nursing Homes or Assisted Living. Give them to the Activity Director or Speech Therapist. They will fall in love with the mats and then give them to the residents (patients.) The blessing I receive is beyond anything I’ve ever done in charity work. These mats bring back memories, give a sense of touch, and bring a smile to a loved one who probably hasn’t smiled in months. I don’t charge for these mats. I donate them. If I need to ship them across the state or country I ask for a monitary donation to help with costs of shipping. We use a “Nextdoor” social media site to encourage neighbors to donate gadgets and cloth place mats and more than half of our supplies come from these donations. Your local YMCA or Community Center may allow you to place a bin in their lobby to collect gadgets for the mission. 

I encourage you to give this some serious thought. Share this story with friends, meet with friends and give your group a name. Then start making a difference in your town. My mom and I started this mission one fidget mat at a time. We’ve now donated over 2,000 Fidget Mats in Texas, Washington and Michigan.

Feel free to contact me for more information. li@licross.com.

Follow us on Facebook. “Fidget Chicks” Granbury, Texas. 

Left photo is the Fidget Friends of Fort Worth, Texas.

Right photo is the Fidget Chicks of Granbury, Texas.

The Fidget Chicks recently reached over 1000 Fidget Mats delivered since March of 2017. Most of the supplies for these wonderful mats are donated by local residents. The rest are purchased by the Chicks. The reason we keep making them, the Patients Love them. Watching someone with Dementia or Alzheimer’s is difficult at best, but when you place one of these Fidget Mats in front of them, they often smile or speak for the first time in months. They play with the zippers, buttons and pulls. These sensory mats are great for hand-eye coordination and brain stimulation. We make them here in Granbury, Texas. One mat at a time. For more information, Contact:  Li@licross.com (The Original Fidget Chick)

On a cold day there is nothing like Home-Made Soup to warm you up. Today I created a new recipe that quickly became my favorite. Using the ingredients for Stuffed Cabbage and enhancing it with Heart-Healthy Veggies, I came up with this Delicious Soup.

Brown 1 lb. of Grass Fed Beef (or bison) plus 1/2 lb. of sweet Italian Sausage, crumbled.

John recently had his blood work done and his glucose (sugar) was off the charts. He remembered eating birthday cake and drinking a Mountain Dew the day before his test. So he took the blood test again a week later. It was still really high. The nurse told him he was Diabetic and must come in right away.  This is serious and should not be taken lightly. John immediately took action and stopped eating and drinking sugar. I prepared the healthy food and he ate it. He chose to eat an apple a day in lieu of his “candy bar” at the 9th hole turn. (Golf). He lost 10 pounds in 5 days and kept it off. 

Over the past two weeks, John stuck with his new Blood Glucose Diet and reduced his blood sugar level to a new range from 85 up to 126. The diet and discipline worked.  I have posted the chicken salad and the broccoli salad in this eMagazine at the tab to the right.  I hope you will try this diet for two weeks and let me know how it lowers your blood glucose. It should result in weight loss too. 

Here is the Meal Plan: (Click on it to open)

My Blood Glucose Diet

My Broccoli Salad is light and healthy. Each ingredient supplies nutrients we need while complimenting most any meal. Here is the recipe:    

1 Bunch of Fresh Broccoli

1/4 Cup Chopped Red Onion

1/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts

1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries

1/4 Cup Newman’s Own Raspberry Walnut Dressing

Wash and drain broccoli. Chop into small bite-size pieces. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a large spoon. Refrigerate until ready to serve. These ingredients are great for lowering blood pressure, blood sugars and weight loss. 

My Grand-Dogs absolutely love these Healthy Treats. Simple to make any time of year. Here is the recipe:

3/4 Cup applesauce

1/3 Cup vegetable oil

½ Cup purified water

1 Egg beaten

1 Tablespoon of brown sugar

2-1/2 Cups whole wheat flour

½ Cup corn meal

Slightly beat the egg, oil and applesauce in a large bowl. Add water and all dry ingredients. Mix with a big spoon until it looks like cookie dough. 

On a clean-hard surface, Roll out ½ the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. then using a favorite cookie cutter, cut out the treats and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake at 325 for 35 to 40 minutes. Turn oven off and let them set in the oven for 30 minutes to get crisp.   When cool, store in an air tight container.