Did you ever work on a project that made you feel like you were wrestling alligators? I’ve had two of those today! One was writing an article on eHow. My computer froze, the account didn’t save correctly, and then I wound up going down a rabbit trail on yet another alligator wrestling match – figuring out Facebook. This here Sandwich Generation caregiver was ready to call it quits several times BUT I didn’t. The upshot is that my latest eHow post, How to Play Safe Now to Prevent Needing Skin Cancer Treatment Later, with good reminders about using plenty of sun block now to help prevent skin cancer treatment later, has gone up. UPDATE: This really was an alligator of an article. Somehow (probably my mistake but not sure) my article was deleted. Apparently when that happens, you are not allowed to put it back up because of duplicate content. So I rewrote it for Ezine Articles and will link to it when that is published. In the meantime, I wrote another article, How to Use Stress Balls to Relax at the Dentist. Can’t let those alligators win now, can we!

In addition, SandwichINK’s Facebook page is up and running and I would LOVE to have y’all come join me there. I have to tell you, I was so excited when my very first New Friend notification popped up to let me know that Heather from The Mogul Mom was accepting my friend request. Do y’all remember when AOL started out, and we all gave it a whirl? Remember the thrill that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan dramatized in that simple little phrase, “You’ve got mail!” That’s exactly how I felt today. It was really fun! So a big thank you to Heather, whose interesting site, The Mogul Mom, is such a valuable resource to all of us entrepreneur moms and grandmas!

I also want to give a big thank you to Gina LaGuardia from Seniors for Living for helping me figure out how different urls work on Facebook, as well as being my second “You’ve got a Facebook friend” mail. Gina is such a blessing to all of us for a variety of reasons, including organizing and maintaining the Boomers & Seniors: News You Can Use Blog Carnival. In fact, the latest issue is hot off the press TODAY. There are several interesting articles including how to be prepared before your elderly parent has to go into the hospital, an interview with a social security attorney, a child’s legal responsibilities with regard to aging parents, and the research that shows that poor sleep habits can lead to insulin resistance. You’ll find the current Boomers & Seniors Blog Carnival at Ageless-Sages, where I’m headed as soon as I post this so I can read it right along with you.

Don’t forget to come say howdy to SandwichINK at Facebook. I’m experimenting with the cute little box in the left column which will hopefully keep you updated. Let me know what you think of it. And watch out for those alligators!     

News of interest to you in the Sandwich Generation: Caregivers, Grandparents, Baby Boomer generation, and more. That’s what Thursday’s SandwichINK tends to focus on and this Thursday is no exception.

But today’s news is special. Rather than pulling a news story from the headlines, SandwichINK is making its own headlines. As you may recall, we had our first ever contest, featuring a WalkerWonder banner for aging parents and others who use walkers or rolling walkers. I want to thank everyone for participating! AND I want to thank Kathleen LeRoy and WalkerWonder for this high quality and special walker banner for dads! The contest is over and the winner has won!

And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Drum roll please!

The winner is:

Mary from EldercareABC

CONGRATULATIONS MARY!

I will be collecting contact information from Mary and mailing off her banner by this weekend. Once again, thank you to all who participated! We appreciate you ALL! 

Has it hit your household yet? The motorcycle bug, I mean? Yes, my friends, part of the joys of the Baby Boomer Generation is all those wonderful men of ours finally getting to have their ultimate dream, a gorgeous Harley Davidson motorcycle. My husband, who is safely tucked away in heaven, got his when he was in his mid-40s. He loved it! It gave him a wonderful de-stressor to hit the roads and let the wind blow the frustrations of the day out of his mind. Me? I loved him! Since our kids were grown, only one grandkid had so far appeared, and I had a flexible schedule (I wasn’t yet caregiving), I figured if he was on his motorcycle, that’s where God wanted me as well! He was very sweet and picked out a bike that I could be as comfortable on as he was. He even bought the extended back seat with arms since the backless seat that came with the bike killed my back!

We both had fun picking out our Harley Davidson helmets, our Harley Davidson leather jackets, and our Harley Davidson boots. We looked so cool! Well, truth be told, our kids looked much cooler in the jacket we picked out for them to share. Only one could ride at a time so they only needed one – and my comfy jacket was decidedly uncool to them.  But that’s OK. We had fun!

I enjoyed commingling my interests with his very consuming motorcycle focus. Since I was taking college classes at the time, I learned to do homework on our rides. Yup, that was me, reading a large history book propped up against his back, as we were cruising through the country. I went through two textbooks that semester AND got an A in the class. I was blessed that my sweet husband thought it was all quite adorable.

I love Harley Davidson T-Shirts. They are so comfy, well-made, and I love the different designs. We started collecting them from every city we traveled to. Boy, did we have a terrific T-shirt collection!

One great thing about our Harley Davidson motorcycle is that it made gift-giving occasions so easy. Take Father’s Day, for example, since it’s right around the corner. I would head to one of my favorite Harley Davidson stores and spend an hour or so and come home with the greatest gifts, often on sale. They always had a sales table with a constant variety of intriguing surprises to entice me with their terrific prices!

Of course, since we collected them, I always checked for any new Harley Davidson T-Shirt designs. Those are always great gifts for anyone. I could even justify getting myself a matching one as part of the gift. Too cool! There were plenty of other fun things there as well. Even if they weren’t on sale, I was always impressed with the great quality of the Harley products. And if there was absolutely nothing that caught my attention, I knew it was time to head for the gift cards. He could ALWAYS find something he loved with one of those. By the way, if I’ve whet your appetite for some motorcycle madness shopping, Check out the Closeouts at Motorcycle Superstore!
It’s a great way for caregivers to shop online when they don’t have much time. That way, you can save your precious free time for the actual joy of riding!

We come from a long line of motorcycle lovers. His parents each had their own bike and went cross-country on them several times. My little ones loved it when their motorcycle grandma and grandpa would ride up on their bikes, each with a cute little poodle in its own special home on the back of a bike. With a brother who is an expert at repairing them, and two sons who each love their own, I suspect that line will continue on, ad infinitum. Hmmm, maybe it’s time to buy another Harley Davidson T-Shirt? Do you suppose they finally got one in that says, “I’m a bike-riding member of the Baby Boomer Generation and proud of it!” Or how about, “Caregiving’s my name, and riding’s my game!” 

Welcome to Monday Micro-Blog at SandwichINK. Here are some interesting and useful links for the Sandwich Generation , courtesy of Twitter.

Caregivers:

It’s not just the U.S. Per Canada.com, Canada will soon face a serious crisis in caring for the elderly unless policy-makers act now to head it off, says a Carleton University researcher.

Becoming the ‘parent of your parent’ is an emotionally wrenching process. Mindy Fetterman of USA TODAY wrote an interesting article about a subject near and dear to the hearts of the Sandwich Generation.

Encouragement – May God be gracious to us and bless us amd make His face shine upon us…May the peoples praise You, O God!

According to La Prensa, Ohio & Michigan’s Oldest and Largest Latino/Hispanic Newspaper Since 1989, “ Triglycerides may be implicated in diabetes nerve loss .” A recent study suggests, “ Doctors should monitor levels of an easily measured blood fat as closely as they do blood sugar to stall progress of neuropathy.”

Seniors For Living has a great article about Safety Tips for Boomers and Seniors written by Michelle Seitzer. This would definitely be a good one to share with your aging parents.

“How Does Partial Knee Replacement Surgery Differ From Total Knee Replacement ? ” per Medical News Today. Good information for anyone from the Baby Boomer Generation and up!

Did you get to see HBO’s, The Alzheimer’s Project ? If not, David Lindberg of the Pittsburgh Elder Care Examiner has a good review of the show.

Encouragement – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of ALL comfort!

Grandkids:

Here’s a hilarious story with a good moral for grandparents . A toddler bought an earthmover online for $12,000.00! Make sure you keep a close eye on those grandkids!!! 

Sandwich Generation:

Find a current list of fun contests, with prizes of interest for the Baby Boomer Generation, including goodies for grandkids, all at Moomette’s Magnificents Reviews

Are you a writer, whether professional or for your own personal diary? How about an aging parent who wants to recount their life story? Habakkuk has wonderful words of wisdom, via the Living Bible, “Write My answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others.”

Perhaps your creativity goes more towards design? Here are 18 Search Engines For Designers .

Thanks for joining SandwichINK for Micro-blog Monday. Have fun checking out the links of interest to you!

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that,

A North Carolina woman reportedly dumped an elderly relative at a shelter in Bradenton on the way to Walt Disney World. Beverly Edwards is said to have dropped her aunt, Ruth Smith, at a Salvation Army homeless shelter Sunday evening — while indicating that she would not be returning to pick up the 96-year-old. Edwards, who told staff at the shelter that she could no longer care for the elderly woman…

Shocking and sad news that has left many asking, “Why?” At first glance it is so easy for us to pass judgment on this family. “How dare they do this to that sweet old lady?” However, it is important for us to stop and think it through.

For one thing, we need to remember that just because something is in the newspaper it isn’t necessarily totally true or accurate. We can probably all think of one or two important news stories in the past year or so where the facts proved that the reporters embellished or just plain made up all or part of the story.

I saw that in action 20 years ago when the church I was attending bought a quaint old building for their church home. Because of the uniqueness of the building, more newspaper stories were written about our church move than the norm. It was fascinating reading those articles as an “insider.” Names, dates, and activities – you name it, there were plenty of things that needed correcting!

I learned from that to take everything I read with a grain of salt and to find plenty of corroborating information before believing a lot of that. One of my goals for SandwichINK is to verify information as much as possible before sharing it, even when I’m just passing on links And if you ever find something here that needs correcting, do let me know. I appreciate the “extra eyes.”

Another side of this multi-faceted story is the sweet old lady. I am blessed with several senior citizens in my life and they are all wonderful and truly sweet. I have known some elderly people, though, who are anything but sweet. Not only that, dementia or heavy doses of necessary medications can turn a sweet adult into someone no one would want to be around. I saw that happen to a dear friend of mine.  For two weeks I thought I would never have my friend back again. Then the doctor finally found a medication that she could tolerate and it was like night and day. She was once again sweet and caring, and I can’t tell you how happy I was!

For many families dealing with a patient who is in the fog of dementia, they may never see their beloved get better. It only gets worse. Dealing with an elderly parent with dementia year after year is so very difficult, physically and emotionally. My parents cared for an elderly aunt for several years. I have always had the greatest admiration for them and the wonderful attitude they had in dealing with her. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t perfect. They got discouraged, frustrated, and depressed. But they kept on going, and set an example for me that I continue to strive to copy to this day. As a teenager, I’m afraid I wasn’t that much help to them then. I’m grateful I got a second chance with them and am happy to report I’m doing much better, though I’m not perfect either. Not by a long shot! Come to think of it, no one is, except our precious Lord Jesus! 

We don’t know much about this family. We don’t know if they were struggling with their circumstances, if they were feeling alone and depressed, if the aunt was in more need than they could provide, or if they really were as heartless as the newspaper reports make them appear.

What we do know and what I would encourage you to think about today, is that caregivers need to be proactive about taking steps to avoid burnout. For the sake of the patient AND for the sake of the caregiver.

It’s important for each of us to make sure we build a network of people who can help us in our elder care-giving journey. Relatives, friends, and people from our church can all do little things that can help make our burden lighter if we let them. I was so blessed when my dad was on hospice. My daughters and sons-in-law all helped wonderfully. They ran errands, helped with giving medications, and even took turns spending the night when we needed extra assistance.

Not everyone has extended family close by and it is sometimes hard to build and maintain relationships when your caregiving duties are keeping you extremely busy. This is especially true for the Sandwich Generation! Often we are dealing with the care of our elderly parents AND with kids or grandkids AND with work AND with spouses… It can really be overwhelming.

I always encourage people to start with their church home. Many of the larger churches have a full-on senior citizen ministry. Some offer help for repairs around the house as a ministry to the elderly. If money is extra tight due to all the added medical bills, they might even be able to help out with canned goods or a small grant.

Senior citizen nonprofit groups can be found in many cities. They, too, can be a great resource to help families. In this economy, it is getting harder. There may be more forms and longer waits. It can be worth it though. It’s certainly worth checking into.

Meals on Wheels can be a wonderful help to both the elderly parent and the Senior caregiver. They provide a full and healthy meal once a day and the cost is very low. If money is an issue, there may even be an option for a grant. Many aging parents are eating less and find that one meal fills them up twice a day. Not only that, if your aging parent lives alone, it gives you the comfort of knowing someone else is checking on them once a day.

The internet certainly is a big help in providing friends for caregivers who can’t get out very much. There are many excellent sites who specialize in helping caregivers with counseling, resources, and links to other great info. You can find many great resources here at SandwichINK, starting with yesterday’s Boomers & Seniors Blog Carnival.

Make sure you are taking good care of yourself physically and emotionally! Walking daily can be a great way to exercise, as well as lower your cholesterol, blood pressure, and stress levels. Prayer and meditation has been proven to be very helpful at keeping stress at bay. God is good and His Word is overflowing with His love, comfort and promises. Chewing on a verse or two daily can really help drive away anger, fear, and depression.

Caregiving is not the easiest job in the world. It can, however, be extremely rewarding. Just be sure that you are getting plenty of help, availing yourself of the resources that are out there, and taking good care of yourself, so that you can keep taking good care of your beloved elderly parents. And when you’re praying and meditating on God’s Word, pray for the family in the newspaper and for caregivers everywhere. We can always use extra prayer! 

My grandkids and I are still working on the Fruit of the Spirit that is called LOVE. We’ve continued memorizing the Fruit of the Spirit verse and we’ve done a lot of talking about love. God’s love for us and our love for each other.

As I was praying about God’s love this morning, He reminded me of the passage in 1 Corinthians that talks about love:

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;

love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly;

it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails…But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Isn’t that a wonderful prescription for caregiving? It doesn’t matter whether you are taking care of an aging parent, an adorable but precocious grandkid, or for that matter, dealing with a sweet but but occasionally recalcitrant spouse. Perhaps it’s a cute but capricious teen? How about a boss or coworker who sometimes makes you want to scream. Let’s face it, no one is perfect. And as caregivers, we sometimes see our loved ones in worse moods than anyone else because they don’t feel well. Focusing on and following God’s prescription to love them no matter what really does make a difference.

It’s not enough, though, to read this once, think how nice it is and promptly forget it. I have it posted in my bathroom and pray through a different verse from it each day. Over the last few years. I must have prayed through it more than one hundred times. You’d think I’d have it totally memorized, but my brain just doesn’t work that way anymore. The Holy Spirit does though. It astounds me how often I will be in the midst of a difficult situation, start feeling a little hot around the collar, and all of a sudden one of the verses from this passage pops into my brain. I wish I could tell you how perfect I am at following it all the time. I’m not. I’m learning, though. Step by step and prayer by prayer. It really does help me though. And when I’m working with the grandkids and teaching them, it’s awesome to see God using it there as well.

It’s time for me to reprint my copy as the shower humidity has crinkled my old one up. If I were really on top of things, I’d grab a roll of clear plastic contact paper, encase a printout of the verses in that, and hang it up. Then it would stay much nicer, much longer. I’d add some pretty pictures too. Simple works for me, though. How about you? If simple is good, just join me by printing out the verses as is and hanging it where you’ll see it often. For fancier, copy them into Word or another program and have a blast. If you’d like to share your handiwork, we’d love to see it.

Have a blessed day!

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for SandwichINK’s free email newsletter (see sign-up box over to the right) , delivering daily articles and, sometimes some extra tid-bits of interest, exclusively for newsletter readers. When you do, head straight to SandwichINK’s very first contest – scroll to the bottom and let us know you signed up for the email and you’ll get a free entry to win a WalkerWonder, a lovely banner for a walker/rollater which would make a great gift for an aging parent or grandparent.

Memorial Day is Monday, May 25! It’s a time to stop and remember all those who have given their lives for the freedom we are blessed to enjoy.

For many of us who are caregivers to our grandkids, it may actually start today. One of my grandkids gets out of school early, at noon. This is a fun opportunity to work on some holiday crafts and projects, and at the same time teach our grandkids what this holiday is all about. Be sure to check your local newspaper each day for parades, memorial activities, and other community offerings of interest for this family holiday.

Kids Coloring  and Activity Pages

Always a favorite of mine, the first thing I always look for are coloring and activity pages and other fun kid’s crafts for one and all.

Coloring Book Fun has some good coloring pages to print .

Apples 4 the Teacher offers coloring pages to print OR that the kids can color online.

SunnieBunniezz has a fun Memorial Day Word Search.

About has several printable workpapers including word search and kids coloring pages and even a door hanger.

While we’re all working on these projects with our grandkids, how about some patriotic music to sing together?

I Love Wavs has a delightful mix of patriotic songs including those by and for kids.

Most Freebies has several free patriotic songs – both instrumental and voice – in mp3 format.

NIEHS (National Institutes of Health, Department of Health & Human Services) has a great mix as well!

I noticed that the last two sites have one or more songs that don’t work, but if you run into that, just try another one. Many of them do work and the music is grand!

Picnic Fun

What’s your favorite menu for Memorial Day picnics? We love to grill, whether it’s burgers and hot dogs, or the occasional steak, it’s all yummy. I like to combine grilled meat with fresh veges like broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and celery. Trader Joe’s has some yummy flaxseed tortilla chips that are actually a wee bit on the healthy side. They taste delicious with Pace Picante Sauce. My husband’s favorite for dessert was always fresh strawberries, angel food cake, and whipped cream or ice cream – or both! Add a few blueberries and you have a lovely dessert in Red, White, and Blue! Healthy, delicious, and downright easy, making it a holiday gift for grandma!

Thank you!

THANK YOU to all who have served or are serving in the military on our behalf. THANK YOU too to those who have been wounded for us, and to the families of those who have given their lives that we may live in this blessed nation. God bless you all! God bless America!

To all of you, wherever you live, have a wonderful family holiday!

Do you remember your childhood vacations? I sure do. I have wonderful Baby Boomer memories of sunny days at our local beach. Whether I was playing in the water, running in the sand, climbing the rocky pier. I doubt today’s kids are allowed to do that anymore!

Those delightful memories are combined with some not so wonderful memories of getting totally and completely fried on more than one occasion! As a child, I know we used sun lotion, but if they had an SPF rating we didn’t know it back then. Not only that, those lotions washed right off the instant you got in the water. For a beach baby like me, that meant all day without much lotion coupled with a miserable night of Noxzema to try to cool the fiery skin, at least the first couple of days of the vacation. Never stopped me though. I loved that beach too much!

Once I hit the teen years I started using that ever-wonderful and efficient sun screen called BABY OIL!  Oh my. That only lasted a few times as those burns were much worse. Then I started having children and didn’t want them to get burnt. About the same time, they started coming out with great sun lotions that actually stayed on in water and had SPFs of 15 or more.

Why am I telling you all this? Because this month I’ve been helping an aging uncle with his skin cancer treatments. Two weeks ago he was miserable from having several basal cell carcinomas burned off his face and shoulders. Today he is again miserable, after having a quarter size patch of skin and tissue removed from his nose, then a flap sewed over to cover the area. Again, basal cell carcinoma was the culprit. He’s been dealing with these skin cancer treatments for over twenty years. The first few seemed like no big deal. Then he was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma. That was definitely a bigger deal. That was also the first actual mini-operation, as we call them. Today was his third. Each time he stresses about it beforehand and suffers through it during and after. It’s just not fun at all!

Back when he first started having these show up, I did some research on it all. It was somewhat hard to find much then. Not to mention hard to trek to the library and research deeply with young kids. Nowadays, it took me 15 minutes to dig up some interesting news to share with you for today’s Current Events meme.

Skin cancer doesn’t usually make the news headlines. Breast cancer is what you usually read about, and rightly so. That’s a nasty disease that kills many. Guess what, skin cancer is also a nasty disease that kills many. It needs to be in the news more often!

SKIN CANCER FACTS

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , (CDC),

• 53,792 people were diagnosed with melanomas of the skin in 2005.
• 8,345 people died from melanomas of the skin in 2005.
• Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States.
• Epidemiologic data suggest that most skin cancers can be prevented if children, adolescents, and adults are protected from UV radiation.
• The two most common types of skin cancer—basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas—are highly curable.
• Melanoma, the third most common skin cancer, is more dangerous, especially among young people.
• Approximately 65%–90% of melanomas are caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light or sunlight.
• Tanning beds and sunlamps emit ultraviolet rays that are as dangerous as those from the sun and, therefore, should be avoided.

You’ve probably heard that melanoma is the deadly skin cancer, but did you know that, “very few people die of basal cell carcinomas, but squamous cell carcinoma of the skin is much more deadly and must be treated with considerable skill and care.” If I had known that way back when my aging Uncle had his removed, I would have been much more concerned for him. But he did get it treated in time and is still doing fine, other than these regular treatments.

Does this mean that our grandchildren can no longer frolic along the ocean or busily build sandcastles at the beach? No. It does mean that the days of baby oil should, hopefully, be long gone. Good quality, high SPF sun lotion (at least 15 if not more) should be regularly and often applied. Between 10 am and 4 pm, when UV rays are at their worst, a shady umbrella makes a great investment, as do sun hats and sunglasses.

Nowadays, I would just as soon we all wear t-shirts and shorts except when we are actually in the water. I also make sure all my grandkids and I wear my personal favorite, Coppertone Water Babies Sunscreen Lotion ,  which now comes in SPF 50.

I started using it when my babies were young as it is hypoallergenic and has a non-irritating formula. I would put theirs on, then put on my grown-up lotion, only to discover that one caused my eyes to be miserable. I still wash my hands after using the Water Babies, but even if I can’t, I don’t have nearly the problem. It was gentle for them, it’s gentle for me, AND now that my babies are in their late 20s it’s still gentle for my grandbabies.  I personally consider it one of the best tanning products out there! My sweet elderly uncle can use it as well, to hopefully stave off the next round of skin cancer treatments. Even if it only delays it for a couple of months, he greatly appreciates that!  Now that’s good news to my ears!

For more current event and news updates, you can visit The Surrendered Scribe. In the meantime, be sure to remind your aging parents AND your grandkids to put on their hats and their sunscreen. And don’t forget your own!

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for SandwichINK’s free email newsletter , delivering daily articles and ocasionally interesting tid-bits exclusive to newsletter readers. When you do, head straight to SandwichINK’s very first contest – scroll to the bottom and let us know you signed up for the email and you’ll get a free entry to win a great gift for an aging parent or grandparent.

When my dad’s Parkinson’s Disease started to progress more dramatically, his doctor finally told him he needed to use a walker rollator to protect him from falls. We were able to get him a very nice looking red walker on wheels and he continued to enjoy his mall walks pushing his walker ahead of him, and sitting on its little seat when he needed to rest. It was very practical and spiffy, though not necessarily the most stylish thing in the mall. When I broke a leg and was stuck on crutches for several weeks I bought a really cute little tote bag that stuck on to my crutches through the use of small patches of Velcro. The goal was to give me something to carry the different things I needed to tote around with me without having to use my hands, while looking at least a little stylish. It looked cute but, sadly, didn’t work very well. It just kept falling off, which drove me nuts, and eventually I gave up on it. WalkerWonder has come up with a stylish, practical product for a walker or walker rollator that takes the best of both those products and makes them much better. The company was founded with the desire to brighten the lives of those who depend on mobility aids, and from the looks of the sample they sent me, along with a close look at their website, I would say they are doing a great job at it.

When I opened their box, I discovered a well-made, sturdy, brightly colored, heavy fabric banner that is custom made to fit snugly on the front of a walker, whether the traditional lifting type, or the more contemporary rolling style (the walker rollator). In addition, there are four “bumpers” that fit on each of the legs of the traditional, non-wheeled walker to add even more color. All of these products use very secure Velcro to stay put. They even tuck in a sheet of cute stickers to add even more opportunity for your aging parent to customize their “wheels.” I asked if you could use these banners on walkers with baskets. Kathleen LeRoy, President of WalkerWonder, wrote, “if a person wants to use a basket in conjunction with the banner, it depends on the configuration of the walker or rollator.  Our website lists the brands of walkers and rollators that the banners will work with and it also provides diagrams to show how the banners fit.” Not only that, they also offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee if you find that you order a product that does not fit to your satisfaction. As a matter of fact, their goal is your 100% satisfaction.  “Within 30 days of your purchase you may return your WalkerWonder product for any reason whatsoever.  You can choose either a refund or a replacement.” In addition, their products also come with a one-year warranty. That’s better than half the products in my house!

The banners have all sorts of cute sayings, from Christian Bible verses, such as “With God, all things are possible,” to cute sayings like my dad and I always enjoyed, “The Cat’s Meow,” to special greetings for parents on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, to patriotic flag styles. That would have been my dad’s first choice! If your elderly parents love to show off photos of the grandkids, they have a banner for that. If they prefer a personalized one with their own name, they’ve got that too!

When I reviewed their website, I discovered that they’re not just good looking and sturdy, they are also practical. The banners and bumpers have been pre-treated for stain resistance. They are hand washable, and line dryable, though if your washer has a delicate setting, they say you can use that as well, though carefully and rarely. Walkers are wonderful blessings to our aging parents,when they need them, but they are not the most attractive items. Even my dad’s, which I thought looked quite spiffy, still looked like a walker. WalkerWonders gives them a nice sense of personality. As someone who loves the occasional bumper sticker to give my car that touch of personality, I really like that. Particularly with the more sterile-looking traditional silver walkers. These would make a terrific gift for grandma and grandpa on each of their birthdays, Mother’s and Father’s Day, or Christmas. At a base price of $59 (even less for the walker rollator cover as they don’t use the bumpers), they would make a great gift for all the grandkids to chip in on. If your senior parents are like mine, they are often saying, “I have no room for more presents.” These would not only not take up more room, they’d brighten your parents’ room! You can order the banners yourself or get a gift certificate so your elderly parent can pick out their own style. You can learn more about these spiffy looking walker banners at WalkerWonder . They have complete assembly directions for both walkers and rollators, and even an interesting blog. I think you’ll find them a delightful gift to share with an aging parent to help them enjoy their walker in a more personal way. Now I have a very fun announcement to make. WalkerWonder is sponsoring a fun giveaway for SandwichINK readers, offering one lucky reader a special "One in a Million" banner set for someone's special Senior Father! This is coming just in time for a special Father’s Day gift or as a delightful gift for any birthday.

It’s also a great way to inaugurate my brand new email service! I have just started using Feedblitz and, in exchange for celebrating that milestone with me, YOU get a chance to win this terrific gift for that special Senior in your life. In order to be entered in the random drawing, just sign up to receive SandwichINK free in your email each day. You can fill out the form below or up in the top right corner. They both work the same.    Then leave me a comment below and be sure to include your email or other contact information so I can notify you if your name is drawn. The recipient of this special giveaway will be picked in a random drawing. If you’d like more ways to enter to win this special Father’s WalkerWonder, in addition to signing up for the free email subscription to SandwichINK which must be the first step, they can include:

• Signing up for SandwichINK's RSS feed (in addition to the email subscription)
• Blogging about it on your blog
• Adding SandwichINK to your blogroll or linking to SandwichINK on your blog
• Tweeting about SandwichINK and the contest on Twitter
• Telling friends at Facebook

For each of the above items, you must leave a separate comment with the link to the item (a link is not necessary for the RSS feed). If you are already doing one or more of these, just leave a separate comment for each explaining that and leaving the link (again, a link is not necessary for the RSS feed). Each comment counts as one entry. Please note that you must continue the subscription for the entire length of the giveaway. Please see SandwichINK’s Policies Page for complete rules and more information. The giveway for this walker / walker rollator banner will end at midnight May 29, 2009 . Have fun

I am very excited to announce that FeedBlitz will be handling the email newsletter updates for SandwichINK. You will notice a long note and a small sign-up form in the far-right column. If you are wondering about the contest, be sure to check out tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) post that actually gets posted in about 3.5 hours . There you will discover SandwichINK’s FIRST GIVEAWAY! This is definitely a big step forward for my site and myself (a big learning curve too! ).

FeedBlitz has asked me to let you know that if you are a subscriber to SandwichINK, we will be moving your email subscription over from FeedBurner to FeedBlitz in the next day or so. Hopefully you won’t see too much of a difference other than in the general design of the newsletter. They do recommend that you:

• Add feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com to your address books or email whitelists immediately.
• Only unsubscribe using the links they provide in each email, and not your ISP’s spam or abuse buttons.
• Look out for the message from FeedBlitz advising you that the change has taken place.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we would love to send you each day’s updates for free – just fill in your email in the spot on the far right, after the very long explanation, or at the bottom of this post  . It’s totally free, generally only once a day, and periodically the email newsletter will contain added information of value to you that you won’t find on the website.

I am also planning on adding some E-Books of interest to the Sandwich Generation – both for caregivers and grandparents. I will be working on these over the summer and look forward to sharing them with you through the email process.

Thank you for your support. As always, SandwichINK is here to provide you with information and encouragement and this is another way for us to do that.