Kay Arthur is one of my favorite writers and I've enjoyed many of her books and Bible studies. Her latest, When the Hurt Runs Deep, deals directly and Biblically with the topic of great concern to everyone, including Christian caregivers and grandparents,  - pain and suffering! We see it in our newspapers, we watch it on TV, and we deal with it in our Sandwich Generation families – sometimes more than most since we are often helping many in our extended families. 

I found so much in the book to help me and others as we go through various trials, including the "valley of the shadow of death." One thing I wanted to spotlight today, as it is something I have found extremely valuable throughout my life, is:

"Don't continually revisit the details…you can't change what has already happened…God has it covered, and you need to leave it with Him…walk literally in the light of His truth, which will bring healing…one passage that is sufficient, although you will find many others as you nurture your soul on the bread of His Word…read it aloud. Post it on the mirror, the refrigerator…memorize it, and let its healing seep into the crevices of your soul."

…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9

I cannot agree with Ms. Arthur enough! These words of encouragement from Philippians, written by Paul, are such a good "prescription" for healing our hearts and our minds. When I've gone through my "darkest nights" I've found that reading and meditating on encouraging and comforting Bible verses along with soaking my heart in uplifting praise and worship music – many of which also have Bible verses written into the lyrics – have been such a source of inspiration and comfort to me. 

The Word of God is awesome and powerful! I pray you will be encouraged by this and by other uplifting pictures and Bible verses you will find on this Word-Filled Wednesday at Internet Cafe Devotions. I'm also linking up to Seeds of Faith today.

Kaye

Last week, as I was headed from the parking lot to my apartment, I noticed an adorable one-year-old tot climbing down the stairs from the second story, with no adult anywhere to be seen. Happily prattling away, she seemed quite unconcerned with the fact that she was all alone and getting ever closer to the parking lot where cars do tend to come around corners a tad faster than I might like.

I walked up the stairs to meet her and asked, “Hi Honey, where’s your mommy or daddy? She smiled at me cheerfully then looked up the stairs. I noticed an open door to the first apartment and took her hand, walking carefully up the stairs with her. When I got there, I could hear people talking normally. Having heard a little one’s voice from their apartment in the past, I nicely hollered out, “Hi, Is this your little one?”

Immediately the voices changed to sharp concern, and the mom cried out, “Nina, did you open the door?” She came running to the door, grabbed her precious daughter and hugged her close. It turned out Nina had figured out how to open the door to the apartment all on her own and left with no one noticing!

Her mom and I are very grateful for God sending me there just at that moment! Sadly, there are many news stories out right now of children injured or killed because there wasn’t someone at that moment.

As grandparents, it is so vital for us to be extra vigilant as we care for these precious little gifts from God. Right now, there is a grandfather and grandchild who desperately need our prayers. His little four-year-old grandson somehow got out on the lawn where the grandpa was mowing on his riding mower. Grandpa accidentally backed up onto the child who is now in the hospital in critical care! It’s a miracle he is still alive and only time will tell if he will ever totally heal. I can’t begin to imagine what that poor grandfather and his whole family are going through right now. It’s got to be a grandparent’s worst nightmare!

God never promised we wouldn’t have problems. In fact, He actually said we would have tribulation in this world! But He has promised never to leave us or forsake us! I cling to those promises while checking and double-checking and triple checking myself. Even so, as grandparents we are not only human, we are older than when we were parents. That means our reflexes do tend to be a bit slower. Fortunately, we are also a bit wiser so most of the time it tends to even out well. 

However, all of us need to remember to keep a close eye out, a close ear open, and do a lot of praying to keep these precious grandkids safe and sound to the best of our ability. I put this into practice to the max last week when I took my grandkids on a field trip as part of their home schooling program. I was counting heads non-stop, just like I used to do when my kids were young.  We did great, had a lovely time, and all came home safe and sound. But I do believe I was a bit more tired than I used to get.    Better extra tired though, and extra safe! So have fun, stay safe, and do, please, pray for that grandpa and his family!

“Arthritis is the number one cause of disability in the nation,” according to Thurston Arthritis Research Center. I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis around 1999. I am blessed to have it fairly mildly except for the occasional flare ups that aren’t so fun. Some of my worst flare ups include:

I was walking across a room just fine one minute, and the next my knee hurt so badly I could barely walk. That lasted for a few weeks. Wearing a knee brace did help.

My whole body ached for weeks. At the time I wasn’t that familiar with flare-ups and thought it was my bed mattress. I finally broke down and bought a new one, which did nothing, but eventually the aching eased. Later I realized it was a flare-up. Fortunately both mattresses have come in quite handy for my whole family over the years. 

My favorite incident, and the one that led to my diagnosis, was all in my finger. I was trying to open our front door with a key. I did nothing unusual but heard a weird pop and my finger started hurting like you wouldn’t believe. It got hot, swollen, and miserable. After a couple of days I finally broke down and went to the doctor’s, all the time wondering how opening a door could lead to a broken finger! It didn’t. It was my first known flare-up and quite a shock to have something I suspected I had be confirmed. It wasn’t the end of the world but it did hit hard. It made me realize I really wasn’t going to be sweet 16 my whole life! (You would think that, being in my mid-forties, I would have already realized that!) It was definitely outside the realm of my normal experiences. As I researched sites for this article, I discovered the term for the popping noise I heard – Crepitus . I must say, it’s an odd name for an odd sensation! I also discovered some other interesting facts and sites that were new to me that I wanted to share with you.

Did you know:

Arthritis pain may keep people with heart disease physically inactive . I can certainly understand this. I am very active, in large part due to my adorable grandkids. I also try to walk regularly with my senior mom. Some days I can exercise just fine. Other days, I play one day and pay the next with pain in one body part or another, which keeps me from doing much for a day or so. For those with complicating issues, such as heart disease, I am sure this all adds to the frustration level!

Arthritis isn’t just one disease . I t’s a complex disorder that comprises more than 100 distinct conditions and can affect people at any stage of life. Two of the most common forms are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis . I knew about the first two. I had no idea, though, that there were that many different and distinct conditions!

The burden and impact of Arthritis are greater among U.S.women than men . Very interesting! This site, along with it’s hour-long podcast (at the bottom of the site page), both look quite intriguing.

One of the signs of arthritis is extreme fatigue, lack of energy, weakness, or a feeling of malaise . Now that explains a lot about a handful of my days. Fortunately I’m generally so over-energetic it usually mitigates those symptoms, but sometimes… You can find more signs and symptoms along with links to a wide variety of screening quizzes at the About Arthritis site. Very handy.

Gout is part of the arthritis family.

The National Institute on Aging,  NIH , is a wealth of information, including plenty of very useful information about osteoarthritis and  rheumatoid arthritis , as well as many other diseases applicable specifically to Senior Citizens. Definitely a great site to bookmark.

There is a magazine called Arthritis which you can subscribe to at Arthritis.org You can also read articles from it there and subscribe to their free arthritis email newsletter.

Arthritis does not just impact adults . According to KidsHealth , " The most prevalent form of juvenile arthritis is juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, or JRA. It affects approximately 50,000 children in the United States. JRA also called juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) because it is very different from adult rheumatoid arthritis." The Arthritis Foundation has a special site just for those dealing with Juvenile Arthritis.

Sadly, there isn’t one great cure for all the different conditions in the Arthritis “family .” There are, however, many ways you can gain some pain relief. You can find many of those listed at Healthlink , including discussions about medications, heat and cold, joint protection (that’s one of my favorites), weight reduction (that’s one I have to work on continually, just to maintain), exercise, surgery, and alternative remedies. Of course, you would run any and all of these by your family doctor first. 

If you have an uncommon condition, you might find information for it at the National Organization for Rare Disorders , which has an extensive information library.

Now it’s your turn. Do you have a great site that discusses Arthritis ? Please share it with us in the comments section below.

Welcome to SandwichINK and Microblog Monday. This is the weekly recap of all the interesting and informative new links concerning the Sandwich Generation , including caregiving, grandparenting, grandkids, etc. that I’ve discovered on Twitter. Since the first item is the Swine Flu and I have several links for that, I’ll actually be doing this post in two parts, with part two posting tomorrow.

First up today is a bit of a warning. You’ve probably already heard, but if not, the US has declared a public health emergency because Swine flu has been discovered in Mexico and the U.S. According to MSNBC, as of Sunday at 5:30 p.m. EST, “Napolitano said the emergency declaration is a warning, not a notice of imminent danger, similar to preparing for a hurricane…Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, said that compared to cases in Mexico, ‘what we’re seeing in this country is mild disease,’ noting that the U.S. cases would not have been detected without increased surveillance.” The thing that concerns us, as caregivers, most, is that its impact is hardest on elderly adults and children such as our precious grandkids. There doesn’t appear to be any immunity but there are some medications that can help. Here are some good links to read, including some to save as resources:

MSNBC – Global race is on to contain swine flu outbreak

CDC – Swine Flu – “Infected people may be able to infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick. What should I do to keep from getting the flu? First and most important: wash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.” There is medication available that may be able to help. It would appear it needs to be started within the first two days of illness.

How to Track Swine Flu – Several Methods from Mashable

How to Track Swine Flu – HealthMap – The Mashable article suggests clicking in the left column in the DISEASES, last 30 days category box – select NONE first to clear all the checks, then only select INFLUENZA. This, of course, will show all forms of influenza including Swine Flu, so be prepared to see a lot of flags. [NOTE: This link worked fine when I first started working on this post at 7 p.m. At midnight, it’s trying to load but unsuccessfully. My guess is that it’s being overloaded with users. I’m going to leave the link here in the hopes they’ll be able to fix the problem in the next day or so and I think it is a useful tool. If it doesn’t work the first time you try it, you might come back to it later in the day.)

Swine Flu News Alerts on Twitter – (And yes, I’m definitely going to be following them)

MOST IMPORTANT, this information is provided for research and resource information only. If you have any cause for concern of any kind about the health of an aging parent, a grandkid, yourself, or anyone else you care for, please contact your doctor immediately. They are the best resource of all.

A merry heart does good, like medicine , so here’s a bit of medicine for us all.- A very easy way to return from a casino with a small fortune is to go there with a large fortune. Thank you for that chuckle to @ timbury and @ needmoneycom .

Good News! Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Ps34:19 "With deliverance comes blessing." @ heartofwisdom

That’s all for part 1. Be sure to check back tomorrow for part 2, with links of interest for grandkids and grandparents, caregivers, and more

TIPS TO HELP THE SANDWICH GENERATION RELAX:

Here’s a fun gift idea for Mother’s Day , or one of the myriad of showers coming up in the next few months. Smilebox has cute recipe e-cards that let you combine a favorite recipe with 0-8 photos, depending on which card design you select. Think how delighted your senior mom would be to get one her mom’s old recipes accompanied by photos of her grandchildren. Truly a sweet multi-generational gift. Or what about one of your favorite recipes accompanied by group photos of you and your family and the bride and/or groom as part of a shower gift! Or maybe use baby pictures of the bride and groom? I bet any of these ideas would be a big hit!

Having trouble deciding what movie to see? Relevant Magazine can help with a variety of reviews, including movie reviews. Here’s one for “ State of Play .” It sounds interesting. I may have to give it a try.   For other reviews, go to the menu at the top, select FEATURES, then select the last item, REVIEWS.

Does your church have a great choir? Verizon has a contest to find the top church choirs. Wouldn’t it be fun if your church won? Deadline is June 15, 2009

GRANDPARENTS & GRANDKIDS

Two of my many sweet grandkids are twins. How about you? Do any of you have kids/grandkids who are twins? If so, there is a website and a blog carnival of special interest for us! TwinHappy has a lot to offer including having a Twin Blog Carnival in May. In fact, if you’d like to have an article posted to it, they have already opened the registration for it. It sounds like a lot of fun!

“Children really brighten up a household. They never turn the lights off.” Heart of Wisdom

CAREGIVERS TRAVEL TIPS

Caregivers always seem to be short on time. So when we reserve a car, we expect that car to be there when we get to the reservations booth. What happens if the car you rented ISN’T there? Whether you rented directly through the company or used a third party, there are some options. Check out what one of my favorite travel experts, Christopher Elliott , has to say.

If you will be flying to and from Cincinnati between now and May 12, 2009 (maybe to visit grandkids or elderly parents?), Delta is offering you 25,000 bonus miles! Sounds like a sweet deal! Thank you to @ soultravelers3 for that frugal tip for caregivers!

CAREGIVING FOR AGING PARENTS AND THOSE WHO ARE ILL

Alzheimer’s Disease/Dementia:

Have you ever heard of the Medicare Donut Hole? Alzheimer’s Reading Room has a couple of interesting articles on the subject. The $4350 Medicare Donut Hole explains what it is. How We Saved $624.72 on Prescription Drugs explains how to save money in spite of it. Dementia Caregiving tip –To minimize confusion, adjust lighting to lessen shadows as they can be scary and confusing. Thanks for that info to both @ seniorlivingexp and @ PaulaFarris :

Cancer:

Here are some excellent tips for caregiving for cancer patients .

Parkinson’s Disease:

Sweet and interesting story of a wife and husband  and dealing with his Parkinson’s Disease . My mom and I had a few similar situations happen.

Another interesting article, this one about a gentleman with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease .

Speaking of Parkinson’s Disease, here is the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation .

Here’s an excellent resource from the NINDS Parkinson’s Disease Information Page – (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.)

Did you know that people with a family history of melanoma have twice the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease as those who didn’t have a parent and/or sibling with the cancer?

Funerals:

Here are some green and frugal options for funerals, thanks to @ CemeterySpot . Per the Bloomberg news : Cardboard Coffins…Prove Industry is Getting Greener. Also, if you opt for cremation and want to have a viewing before cremation, ask about renting a casket from the funeral home, which can save you quite a bit.

Other:

All of us who are involved in the Seniors and Boomers blog carnival want to invite you to participate. The next one is 4/21/09 and we would love for you to submit one or more blog articles relating to Senior Citizens and/or Baby Boomers.

Carebuzz has a new article, Grants Assist Low Income Seniors . There’s some very useful information in it.

Here’s another thing to monitor when we are overseeing our aging parents health care. Consumer Reports found that the high cost of prescription drugs leads to risky behaviors! Thank you to @ MrElderCare for that valuable tip.

Amy Gates has an excellent article on the dangerous overuse of antibiotics as well as several tips for healthy ways to deal with colds and flu.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR CAREGIVERS OF AGING PARENTS AND GRANDKIDS

"Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier." Mother Teresa

“He said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. The Lord is my helper…"

Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.

Hello to all of you in the Sandwich Generation. It’s time, again, to check out the resources I discovered for you this week at Twitter. Some are dealing with caregiving, some with grandparenting, some with tech info, and some are just plain random. For instance, did you know Marinara simply means ‘sailors style?’ Spanish sailors brought tomatoes to Europe in the 1500s. I personally had no idea that was the case.  Thank you for that interesting tidbit to my wonderful food resource @Foodimentary.

Here’s another reminder that this coming Wednesday is April 15 – tax day. Or if you’re like me, the deadline for filing a tax extension. If you or your aging parents haven’t sent your taxes in yet, and you are mailing them, be sure to get proof of the date of mailing from the post office. It will cost a little extra but it can save a LOT more than that. One year I mailed my tax payment in a week early. Two months later I got a notice it had been sent late and I had to pay a penalty of $25. I had no proof of when I mailed it, so I just had to pay it and was grateful it wasn’t much because I hadn’t owed much. I believe that the more you owe, the higher the late payment penalty is. So make sure you have proof of mailing, just in case.

Here are some encouraging words: When we, as Christians, die, we will discover that this world “has only been the cover and the title page.” In heaven, we will begin “Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better than the one before.” C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

“Midlife lesson I’ve learned: Donate some smiles today to the needy.” By @PerrieMenoPudge

WARNING: Even before I started blogging, I was always signing up for emails from sites that interested me. Sometimes two – four per day. Now I probably do three to four times that amount. Either way, it can sometimes be hard to keep track of them. Today I got an email asking me to confirm my request for a requested subscription. It was from the type of site that would have some interest to me. The only problem was, I hadn’t visited that type of site today. So even if I’d forgotten the name, I should have remembered the type (i.e. mommy blogger). Instead of clicking OK like I normally do, I copied the URL and pasted it into a window. I am so glad I did that! It was total spam. Probably my antivirus software would have protected me from any nefarious internet critters but still, it’s better to be safe than sorry! The moral of the story is, if you don’t know the name of an email asking for confirmation, tread carefully! It could be a fake!

Terrific laugh for today from one of my favorite sites, Knitting Doc .

I just discovered The Comfort Connection . This is an interesting site that has wonderful and caring gifts of sympathy for those who want a different way to express their thoughts.

Heart At Home has an article with 17 GREAT frugal tips !  Most of these were new to me and so good I am definitely saving them!

Do you like to use country clipart? One of my favorite sites is Prim Country Classics by Trina & Friends. The pictures are so cute, the prices are extremely reasonable, and the policies are the best I’ve seen! I use them for emails, letters, and fun grandkid projects.

The New York Times had an interesting and informative article for the Sandwich Generation, How to Make a Better Sandwich .

Caregiving.com has a great article about an upcoming special on HBO,  “The Alzheimer’s Project ” airing May 10-12.

More kids are now having to take diabetes and blood pressure medications .

Parentgiving has an excellent article for caregivers on how to help elderly parents manage swallowing problems.

Would you like some fun Contests & Giveaways. Moomette’s Magnificents has a whole page of fun.

“Sorrow looks back, Worry looks around, faith looks up! Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly and trust.” I thought this was such a good quote for caregivers! Thank you @LearnSolMary

Here’s an interesting article, Cost Effective Prosthesis for Landmine Victims , at VP Medical.

Kids bring joy to Alzheimer’s and Dementia Sufferer’s from Alzheimer’s Reading Room.

Yummy – I just discovered a delicious AND healthy cooking site, A Veggie Venture . We tried out their green bean casserole and it was delicious!

Finally, for those of you who are also on Twitter, here are some great resources for caregiving:  @ caregiving @ Seniors4Living @ daccarte @ natalietm @ Meals_on_Wheels Also, if you think there might be problems with Twitter, be sure to check out their Status updates .

As a caregiver, I spend a lot of time waiting. Whether it’s in a doctor’s office, therapist’s office, school pick-up line, or the post office line, it can get a little boring if there’s nothing to do. Most of the time you can find me writing, reading, or researching. Once in a while though, I enjoy playing solitaire on my cell phone. Occasionally I will put the UNDO button to good use to replay a card. Sometimes I’ll even replay a whole hand if I’m curious to see how big a difference it would make to play the cards differently.

I must admit, there are many times I wish I could do that with my real life. I would love to go back to different crossroads of time, push an UNDO button and see how things would change.

Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury. Or should I say fortunately. Just as in Solitaire, simply making a change or two wouldn’t necessarily make things better. In fact, many times it would make them worse. More importantly, I would then be putting myself in control instead of God and trust me, that is not a good thing!

Come to think of it, I’m very grateful for things just as God made them and will gladly leave the UNDO option for the Solitaire games.

O Lord of Hosts…You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth! 2 Kings 19:15

Did you know that Weather.com not only tells you the weather report? They have a flu report option as well. I just checked and, as you may have guessed, it’s not a pretty picture. Looking at the entire U.S. in a color code ranging from green to dark red, green means no flu activity and yellow is sporadic. The next three colors are all variations of red  to represent local, regional, and widespread cases of the influenza. Sadly, there is only one state that has the lightest shade of red meaning fewer cases. The rest of the U.S. currently is divided between regional and widespread. Other than one loved on in California, all of my friends and family join me in the darkest red – widespread influenza outbreaks.

I pretty much figured that’s what I would find, as we’ve been battling it ourselves off and on for the last couple of weeks. In fact, one of my beloveds is pretty sick and there was a possibility he would have to head for the hospital last nigh, which meant I would have spent the night there watching the others. In preparation for that possibility, I followed my own advice from an earlier article here at SandwichINK, and packed a bag. This morning, when I was blessed to discover he didn’t go in last night, I was thinking how handy the checklist was that accompanied that article. It’s even useful if you’re helping in someone’s home rather than going to the hospital. Since many of you may not have seen it, I thought I would repost it for you – Caregivers’ Hospital Preparation Checklist .

Hopefully you and your loved ones will all stay healthy and you won’t need to take anyone to the hospital, or babysit while someone else does. Just in case you do, I hope you will find that article of help to you, along with the companion article, Hospital Preparation for Caregivers. Also, if you’d like to see what the influenza report is for your area, just go to Weather.com’s Flu Report . They offer the U.S. map for influenza outbreaks. They also provide a variety of health information for things such as SAD and Aches and Pains for Europe and the United Kingdom. You can look for that by clicking on TYPE in Map Collections .

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Do you read every single piece of mail you get as soon as you get it? Even when you or a loved one are ill, just had a baby, are in the middle of a move, or are just plain overwhelmed with juggling everyone’s schedules? Be honest now.

I may be smiling, but I’m also very serious. Did you know that some, if not all, mortgage companies do NOT credit a payment you sent in if it is for less than the amount that is due! Apparently I forgot to look at the my normal monthly mortgage statement that came a month or so ago as I was in the throes of all of the above, except the new baby. I have a fixed rate mortgage, so my house payment never changes. Well, it never changes except when they do an annual adjustment for changes to property tax, insurance, etc. So I missed the minor detail that my March payment would be $40 more. $40!!!! Yesterday I got one of those not fun automated phone calls regarding my loan. Being well-versed in NEVER giving out information to phone calls I receive, even if they seem on the level, I hung up and called them back. As I did so, I quickly looked online and discovered to my horror that the March payment was now three weeks overdue! My first thought was that I had forgotten to pay it in the midst of all that was going on. When I looked at my online account and check book, however, I found I had paid it via computer e-pay.

I was in the middle of requesting that my bank research the missing payment when I finally got through all the button pushing to talk to a person. She explained that they had received the payment but because it was $40 short they had not credited my account for ANYTHING! Long story short, I immediately sent the rest of the payment, edited my budget to reflect the new amount, put a note on the calendar to call to see if the late fee could be waived, put another note on the calendar to check for mortgage payment amount adjustments monthly, and mentally yelled at myself up one side and down the other for not reading all my mail!

This morning, as I was praying, I was praising God for letting me catch it so quickly. Then my thoughts turned to all the people in our lives who might also not know about this, make the same mistake, and not catch the mistake once it happened. I was especially thinking of all of our elderly parents, who could be easily confused by this. I would encourage everyone to discuss this with your families. This is also good info for our young adult kids. It would probably be wise to touch base with our elderly parents over their financial issues at least quarterly. And to all of you, my fellow multi-generational caregiving jugglers, don’t follow my bad example. As busy as we are, we need to read all our mail as we receive it, then deal with it, file it, or toss it right then. It will save us time, energy and much aggravation in the long run.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Wait till you see the current edition of this useful and interesting collage of blog posts. Ageless-Sages is hosting it and they used the greatest pictures. Vintage photos! As you can probably guess from past posts here at SandwichINK, I LOVE vintage pictures. That alone is enough to make me run over.

But that’s not all. Once you get there you’ll discover a wealth of information wonderfully suited to all of us in the Sandwich Generation. There are several articles under the heading of Health & Wellness, including why it’s important to check your mouth regularly (believe me, after reading those facts and statistics, I did that ASAP) and information to help with the decision of whether a loved one has Alzheimer’s Disease or just normal aging.

Moving on to financial issues, I discovered several items of interest including Five Ways to Survive a Layoff. I’ll have to share that with some of my friends at home!

Under Senior Care/Caregiving, you’ll find tips for visiting elders, a good discussion on elder abuse, and an article from yours truly from a few weeks ago – can you spot it quickly?

Finishing up with the section on Boomer Trends, you’ll enjoy several items of interest. One in particular caught my eye tonight that I think impacts all of us – Understanding Elderspeak.  Hmmmmm. I think I’ll head over to read that right now and find out what they mean. How about you? Join me at Ageless-Sages . But first, HARK, what do I hear? Could it be trumpets making the sound of an announcement coming? I do believe it is because:

The Boomers & Seniors Blog Carnival is coming to SandwichINK on April 7, 2009! WOW! This will be my first time hosting it here. I’m really looking forward to it. So tell your friends and make sure you come visiting here on April 7 (not to mention every other day of the year ). If you’d like to submit an article for it, just click on Blog Carnival . It should take you to exactly where you need to be to sign up for  it.

Well now, let’s head over to Ageless-Sages , shall we?