While Colorado and other areas were wrapped in snow, my Sandwich Generation family has been blissfully exulting in off and on spring-like weather – much of it quite delightful.

We did get a hint of a storm the other day. (Check out this photo – shot with my easy to use digital camera in my iPhone and edited on my Mac with my latest of the fun photo editing apps, this time, though, for the Mac instead of the iPhone! It's called PaintBrush! It's not as easy to work with as Picnik.com but it's the easiest I've discovered so far, so I'm going to keep trying it. What do you think? I just resized the pictures and added the text. )

But all that came from those stormy looking clouds were a few sprinkles and then they were on their way, leaving my grandkids and me laughing with glee over ball tag and kickball in the MIDDLE OF WINTER.

Uh Oh, though. So many trees are sprouting too early. It will definitely be "interesting" for this Sandwich Generation granny nanny and senior mom to see what happens with gardening over the next few weeks and months. How about your weather – are you getting spring instead of winter too? Or even summer?  Don't forget, you can enjoy more fun photos at Sweet Shot Tuesday. Also, easy to use though they may be, if you have questions about your digital camera, she has a photo twitterchat coming up tomorrow. And… 

Kaye

Well! Who knew! That sad sad news about Picnik.com has turned into pretty good news for this Sandwich Generation granny nanny. It sent me off on a hunt for a replacement for an easy to use photo editor for my photos from each digital camera and in the process, I've discovered SEVERAL great new tools – most on my iPhone, but not all. And yes, I'd LOVE to share the cream of the crop with you over the next few weeks, starting with a fun new iPhone app, Wordfoto, that is $1.99.

I used it yesterday for my post, Verse By Verse Bible Studies “To Go” Are A Blessing for the Busy Sandwich Generation, to create this fun picture with encouraging Bible verses:

And here's another cute picture I whipped up in just a matter of minutes. All you have to do is:

• Open the Wordfoto app
• Press the 2nd icon at the top of the app
• Select your picture
• Select T from the bottom of the app
• Click on Add New Word set
• Type one word in each block, click return – you can enter up to 10 words – and words can be a max of 12 letters 
• When you are done entering the words, click on BACK at the top
• Select the word set you want 
• It then creates your Wordfoto and voila, you have your picture.

You can also crop your picture, do some fine tuning, and even change the shading like these:

It's a fun little app that you and your grandkids might have fun with - for example, how about using it for spelling words with a picture of your granddog?

Wouldn't they have fun looking for that spelling word? It would also be fun for easy handmade greetings cards crafts for grandkids and all us seniors. It's definitely one of those fun and useful little apps for the iPhone that are handy grandparents in the Sandwich Generation.

Kaye

Words With Friends - such a fun game for all ages and yes, that includes boomers like us AND many of our senior parents in our Sandwich Generation families.

My senior mom is NOT a "tech-happy" or "tech-interested" person, preferring books, long walks, and gardening any old time. But I have a few other tech-loving seniors in our family and, while not all have iPhones, there are a couple of other fun options for them like:

1. Apple iPad2. Yup! The Words With Friends game apps work on this handy-dandy and senior-friendly gizmo that also lets our senior parents enjoy fun and easy "Face-time" with grandkids, read books in type font that works well with their aging eyes, and even do fun and easy research projects online – like look up the recipe from today's Rachael Ray cooking show. I do not have one of these myself and have only occasionally test driven a friend's, but various reports keep indicating that these are much easier for seniors to use! So, if they have them, they can also enjoy exercising their brains with fun word game apps like Word With Friends.
2. Facebook. Another option that I have NOT tried, and probably won't as I'm quite happy playing on my iPhone. But for a couple of my sweet seniors who don't have iPhones but do have Facebook – this would be an great thing for them to test out, as I'm planning on telling them as soon as I finish typing this. They'll be able to enjoy a fun brain exercise with delightful social notes back and forth.; Definitely a double blessing for them both and others besides.

So how about you and your Sandwich Generation family? Have you tried Words With Friends on Facebook or an iPad? If so, we'd love to hear about it.

Kaye

Well, it's been over a month and it's now time to update you on the Sandwich Generation granny nanny's "test drive" of the Sirius XM Satellite radio app for my iPhone.

Kaye

Frosted roofs and window panes…Nope, tain't Christmas…yet. Thanksgiving comes first (and can you believe it's right around the corner!) But after many blissful weeks of reveling in autumn delights and colorful fall foliage, it is time for FROST in our neck of the woods and we have had a couple of nights with LOTS of frost. It was fun for the Sandwich Generation granny nanny and grandkids to see upon getting up in the morning – and bittersweet to find the rose bush with mixed up roses!

The early frost made sure that these are definitely gone for the year.

Yet on the same plant with the frozen and dead flowers – were some gorgeous and lovely late-blooming red roses, delightful for Rednesday!

I have so much fun with my easy to use Canon Powershot digital camera but these pictures were actually taken with my equally easy to use brand new AT&T iPhone 4S and I'm quite excited with the new photo-taking capabilities of it.

Aren't these red roses lovely for the "last hurrah" of autumn? 

And what's my favorite easy to use feature on this new digital camera? Be sure to check back next week AND, for right now, Sweet Shot Tuesday is back! Fun photos, contests, and tips for all of us in the Sandwich Generation to enjoy.

Kaye

It's been one of the crazy busy Sandwich Generation weeks for me! Helping an aging senior with her hospital stay for her total anterior hip replacement surgery and recovery, checking on fuzzy granddogs in between, and enjoying fun family chats with the grandkids. 

While feeding and spending time petting each granddog, I snapped this cute photo that my sweet senior loved – and I loved the smile on her face in the midst of all the shots, blood draws, and bed baths. 

Walking out to the car after a long day in the hospital, I spotted these lovely flowers that put a smile on my face. Grabbing my iPhone with the easy to use digital camera built in (perfect for the busy Sandwich Generation, that's for sure!), I juggled five things in one hand and snapped the flowers. Talk about wiggly. Later, while my relative snoozed, I used Picnik.com on my Netbook to "tidy up" the wavery picture just a bit. It definitely looks a bit on the funky side, but I have to say, I kind of like it. Almost looks like the fuzziness of a Monet picture or others from that era. What do you think?

And yes, God is DEFINITELY faithful as we work hard through this process to get her safe and snug in her very own bed at home – a favorite place of all the sweet aging senior citizens in my family.

Kaye

Paula, at Simply Sandwich – Survival Skills for Sandwich Generation Moms, is as big a fan of multitasking as I am. It's definitely a necessity for most of us in the Sandwich Generation, isn't it? I enjoyed reading her article, Patching Up Time Leaks, written just for those of us juggling all the Sandwich Generation issues of caring for elderly parents, while raising children (Paula) or babysitting grandchildren (me), with many suggestions for making the best use of those moments we are "wasting," including times standing in line, waiting on the phone, and waiting for an appointment.

Some of the great tools I use to help me in just those types of moments all start with three simple words – my AT&T iPhone! With this tool, combined with some of the most useful iPhone apps available, my "wasted" time turns into positive and productive time – talk about great news for all of us busy boomers and seniors!

• Kindle (free app)  – full of a ton of books – including many free Christian and business kindle books (I just downloaded a free copy of "When I Lay My Isaac Down: Unshakable Faith in Unthinkable Circumstances" by Carol J Kent. It's an awesome book on the surrendered life. Just be sure to check if it is still free – tho even if they're charging, it's well worth it! :) )
• Evernote – An AWESOME app that is totally free for your computer as well as "nearly every…phone and mobile device out there." In it, I have pdf files I need to read, my "to do list," favorite encouraging and comforting Bible verses, and the ability to add any kind of note I want! 
• Calendar
• Contacts
• Email
• Facebook
• Twitter
• PocketBible
• Internet browser
• reQall - to record spoken reminders to myself when I am driving – they are transcribed and sent to my email AND my Evernote
• Dragon Search – to help me find phone numbers and addresses for FREE instead of spending the $5-15 I used to spend on 411 calls
• Fun iPhone games for the kids and grandkids - like our latest two - Angry Birds and Farmville - perfect when the grandkids 
  
  are waiting with you in line and getting REALLY bored (or antsy)  :) 

Nowadays, when I find myself waiting anywhere, I whip out my AT&T iPhone, see what the latest great and not so great news is, catch up on my email, check out Facebook, update my to do list, or research eldercare info by surfing the web. When I get into the doctor or other appointments, I have the calendar with me to schedule new appointments. I'm telling you, smartphones are WONDERFUL for all of us in the Sandwich Generation - and yes, I'm DEFINITELY partial to my sweet iPhone! 

Kaye

 True confession time. I'm really good at many techy areas but when it came time to learn Facebook, I found it required a major learning curve, in spite of all the books I'd read about it! I still sometimes get lost over at my Kaye Swain profile page, which is actually called SandwichINK.

As a result, when Facebook first came out with Fan Pages, I thought it might be a good option for a SandwichINK page but it's taken me quite a while to figure it all out.

I still don't have as good a grip on it as I'd like but I"m getting better, having fun, and learning lots, while exercising my BRAIN – which will hopefully help stave off Alzheimers Disease with its dementia symptoms.

The SandwichINK.com page is up and running under the brand new personalized url of www.Facebook.com/SandwichINKforTheSandwichGeneration.com – whew! Quite a mouthful. It does beat the original one, though, which had a whole bunch of numbers.  For some reason, I couldn't do just SandwichINK.com. BUT it does show up if you search for SandwichINK.com or Kaye Swain or just click here. The joys of technology!  :)  And when it does, you'll see my cute grandma and grandkids clipart, as "we" sit in autumn leaves, reading a book. Speaking of which, I have a grandparents and grandchildren group going at Facebook to share extra ideas there, plus am part of a caregivers group. We'd love to have join in the conversation. 

You may also have noticed the brand new SandwichINK Facebook widget in the column to the right. It looks like this:

There you'll find also find extra information for all of us in the Sandwich Generation to help you as you are caring for elderly parents, raising children and/or babysitting grandchildren. So if you don't want to go to Facebook, or don't have time, you can get plenty of updates right here!  Perfect for all of us busy caregivers, don't you think? Got any suggestions? I'd love to hear them – hear OR there.  

P.S. If you have any problems accessing the pages directly – try typing it all in lowercase - www.facebook.com/sandwichinkforthesandwichgeneration – and THANK YOU to fellow grandparent Shayne Packer for his help to me in navigating the rough terrain of learning Facebook.

Kaye

Oh me, oh my, oh goodness gracious. It's been one of THOSE bad news tech weeks here for the boomers and seniors in my house. Well, OK, for me. I finally downloaded iTunes 10.3. I hadn't done it right away, so by the time I did it, they'd upgraded it to 10.3.1 due to issues with 10.3 and even that I waited on. Should have been safe, right? NOT!

I'm not sure WHAT happened but almost all my apps disappeared from my iPhone and won't load back on correctly. I re-installed it and that seemed to help a little. Now I can add them in MANUALLY – at the expense of VALUABLE TIME! Can you tell this Sandwich Generation granny nanny is feeling just. a. bit. FRAZZLED!

I tweeted it out the same day, as well as adding it to Facebook. And I wanted to be sure and let you know here, as well. I would highly recommend holding off a bit longer on the iTunes update. It will probably be fine, but then again, you might wind up with time wasting headaches like me. Whereas waiting a bit shouldn't hurt.  :)

In the meantime I took a few photos of my granddog to compare the iPhone 3gs vs. iPhone 4 and threw in the Canon Powershot camera as well. I used the built-in easy to use digital camera app that came with each iPhone for Sweet Shot Tuesday. I took the photos at the same time in the same room. And only cropped and rotated the pictures. What do you think of the difference?Or is there a difference?

The first photo is my fave digital camera  - my easy to use Canon Powershot digital camera. Next is my AT&T iPhone 3gs that is also quite easy to use. And last, but not least, is a friend's iPhone 4. I personally think the Canon wins, the iPhone 4 is second, but I'm still ok with the iPhone 3gs when I'm busy – at least until it dies and I have to replace it. But so far, other than upgrade glitches, it's working GREAT. So, granddog and Granny Nanny are still happy!

Kaye

It's time for a little more info about that easy to use digital camera app on my equally easy to use iPhone, namely Camera Zoom. Last week, I shared some of my favorite features in Seeing Red for the Sandwich Generation – from Easy To Use Digital Camera To Cute Granddog Toy!   On this Sweet Shot Tuesday, I thought we'd have fun learning more about it while also celebrating Rednesday AND Flag Day 2011 here in the USA! 

I took these photos with my AT&T iPhone digital camera at 8:15 p.m. – still light but definitely not bright, so I made good use of Picnik.com's tools to lighten these photos up a bit. I used the 7 bursts to take 7 photos in a row and learned that you can NOT change the zoom during the bursts. You have to change it once they've all shot. Good to know.

Here it is in its natural state other than being resized:

And here it is with the light exposure "auto-fixed," color saturation both at 14, and the sharpness adjusted to mid-way. 

On this one, here's the original - other than resizing it

Here, I let used Picnik.com's auto-fix on the exposure again and resized it and that's all

And, last but not least, here is a picture taken at 8:35 p.m. with my wonderful and very easy to use Canon Powershot digital camera, using the flash. The first is resized but no other changes.

And here it is after using the exposure auto-fix on Picnik.com

I must say, this was as enlightening for me as I hope it was for you. I will still keep my handy dandy easy-to-use AT&T iPhone close by for those times I need a digital camera in a hurry – but it's certainly not a match for my Canon Powershot digital camera! Although, my iPhone is a 3gs. I have a couple of kids with the newer iPhone 4. Hmmmm, guess we'll have to give that a try for the next "challenge." In the meantime, if you are interested in trying out the Camera Zoom, i've learned a couple of more interesting facts about it: 

• It has a preview option but that does NOT work with the burst option
• It has an auto save option with is good for forgetful boomers and seniors but it also does NOT work with the burst option
• It does give you the option to send email to friends and relatives. A great way to send your grandkid pictures and other family memories to your beloved aging parents.  Or perhaps send a fun photo to the grandkids.
• It has a grid line option – I have to admit, I'm not sure what that's for specifically, but I did find it handy to line things up, though I really don't think I'd use it normally.
• There is a status button at the bottom to show what exactly has been selected – another help for busy baby boomer granny nannies!

Yup, my Canon Powershot is still number one for me for a great choice of an easy to use digital camera, but I do like this Camera Zoom App. Very handy for a busy Sandwich Generation granny nanny! What do you think? Got another suggestion? We'd love to hear. And Happy Flag Day 2011!

Kaye