SENIOR HOME CARE:

Infections may lead to faster memory loss in Alzheimer’s Disease. Per @ALZHEIMERSread

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is September 14-20. Invisible Illness Week’s site has plenty of great information such as an article on handicapped parking spots and @invisibleillwk is sending out tweets to help us help aging relatives and others dealing with Invisible Chronic Illness, such as “Consider yourself a friend for the journey, not a physician or savior”  and “What she could do yesterday may not be possible today.”

Alzheimer’s Reading Room: Dementia and the Eight Types of Dementia

Being There & Far Away – Adult children living far from aging parents have many of the hardships and few of the rewards of near-by senior home care givers.   Per @matthewbjohnson

Caregiving.com has several fun contests going on all through September:  September Summer Send-Off: You Can Win! In fact, I just won a $25 Visa gift card! How about you? Let us know if you win. I’d love to announce your name as a winner for this contest! 

How To Get Assistance For Your Prescription Medication.  Per @ParkinsonsInfo

Loss of Taste in the Elderly.  Per @PattyGrace

GRANDPARENTS:

This economy can be hard on our grandkids as well as adults. Sesame Street has a special coming up dealing with that very subject, all about Elmo’s mom losing her job. The Sesame Street special airs 8 p.m. Sept. 9 on most PBS stations including #Detroit & #Toledo which have both been hard hit.   Thank you to @MonroeOnABudget for letting us know.

WOW! A great HANNAH MONTANA wardrobe contest  from And Freebies for All. Terrific fun for our granddaughters, this contest is open for entries from 9/1/09 through 9/19/09 at 11:59pm PST. Be sure to leave a valid email address in your comment.

Grandparents Day is September 13, 2009. You can find lots of fun family activities to help you and your family celebrate by clicking the link.

@Carebuzz has some sweet quotes about Grandparents for Grandparents Day! Great for making homemade cards and gifts.

SANDWICH GENERATION:

More fun contests:

Enjoy a night out with a great meal from @PFChangs by winning a $100 gift certificate from @lkwhtmomfound…and Dad too!   I have to tell you, I LOVE PF Changs.  Their food is healthy and delicious. They even offer you a choice of white or brown rice. Yummy!

Awesome giveaway from @Moomettes.  Enter by November 15 to win a brand new GE kitchen appliance!

Enter to win a @storkcraft Classic Wooden Rocking Horse. It’s a beautiful gift for grandkids! Hurry! This giveaway will end September 10th, 2009 at 11:59 PM EST.

Not only did I win a prize from @Caregiving, I also won a prize from @TwinHappyJen – a gift certificate from @happypandababy. Thank you @TwinHappyJen and @happypandababy!

Autumn is almost here! A fun outing with aging parents and/or grandkids – enjoy fall leaves with a ride to mountains or parks. While you are out, collect leaves for craft projects. Thanks to @SrHelpersNEOH & @SeniorHomeCare for that great tip.

Grand encouragement for the Sandwich Generation: I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.“ Ps 91:2 (NIV)

Social Networking Safety for the Baby Boomer Generation.

30 fascinating and bizarre ads to leave you with a big smile as you go about your Sandwich Generation caregiving. Per @Journeywoman @Inia_Bergamot @MLTGroup

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!

This week Twitter had several links of interest for us in the Sandwich Generation :

Caregivers:

As the economy continues to struggle, elder abuse cases are on the rise. If your aging parent is being cared for by an outside party, it’s always vital to monitor the situation closely.

Encouragement – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!

Grandparents:

“You acquire much of the thinking, mannerisms, and characteristics of people you are around.” Zig Ziglar. What a great reminder to us grandparents of the importance of the examples we set . Each day we have new opportunities to help build that very vital spiritual heritage in our grandkids.

Of course, a heritage of good memories is also great. Here is a recipe for some wonderfully awesome gooey fun for you and your grandkids . I’ve enjoyed playing with this goop when helping with my grandkids at vacation Bible school and it is really neat. Very easy too.

Janice and Susan of 5 Minutes for Mom have an interesting post about Janice’s article that was recently published in Guideposts . “Did your journey of building a family take tears, tantrums and begging? Ours did…”

If any of your grandkids are homeschooled, Heart of Wisdom’s home school book store is having a sale and you can save up to 50%!

Sandwich Generation/Baby Boomers:

I really enjoyed the “tongue-in-cheek” article,  This Old House , about growing older, by Lynn Mosher. I hope you do, too.

With fire season getting closer, we can never have too many reminders to pay extra attention to fire prevention – for your own home, your aging parents’ homes, and don’t forget to share the info with your kids and grandkids as well.

Elizabeth Blake (whose blog had the wonderfully gooey recipe above) shared some great links for sunscreen clothing . If you or an aging parent suffer from skin cancer, or if you are trying to protect your grandkids tender skin, you might want to check out Sun-Togs and Coolibar for extra protection from the summer sun.

Questions and concerns about 401k and IRAs? Pop over to ChristianPF and read up on 401K Questions Answered and Retirement Plans. It’s never too early or too late for those of us in the Sandwich Generation to start saving smartly.

Need a fun break from caregiving and grandparenting? Moomette has some fun contest and giveaway links. A couple have expired but most are still available for you to enter to win all sorts of fun goodies.

Just wanted to remind you that SandwichINK will be hosting the Boomer & Senior Blog Carnival on May 27. There’s still plenty of time to submit a post for it.

With the downturn in the economy, we in the Sandwich Generation are getting more and more company.

Encouragement – Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.

If you are one of the growing number of Baby Boomers and Caregivers on Facebook, check out Seniors For Living’s brand new Facebook page.

That’s it for today. Enjoy your Sandwich Generation surfing!

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 .

Hot diggety dog. There are some great sites for you to check out on Twitter and I’ve got some of them right here:

Check out Penny Raine’s site for her new eBooks including some yummy recipes that are free. One has LOTS of chocolate. She is limiting the amount of free downloads so it would be best to check it out as soon as possible

Oh my, Amazon has five MP3 albums on sale for $5. There were two in particular that I really liked. I love the praise and worship style of the David Crowder Band and their album, Remedy, is on sale. If you prefer classical, you can find Mendelssohn pieces by Anne-Sophie Mutter. It’s important to note that an MP3 album means that you download all the music. You won’t get a CD or other type of physical music media. You should be able to play it on your computer, copy it onto your MP3 player, or burn it to your own cd using something like iTunes or Windows Media Player.

Frugal Business Twip – A lot of Baby Boomers and others in the Sandwich Generation are self-employed. Most of us probably work from home but if you are starting to outgrow the house or various family members (elderly parents, adult children, grandchildren, etc.) have moved in and there’s no longer room for a home office, have you considered sharing/renting space from another company’s offices? This is quite popular with lawyers and I’m sure it would easily work with other businesses as well.

Here’s a fun Friday story from Seniors for Living . Would you believe a 73 year old who is back in college and playing basketball for his school! Wow! No wonder 50 is the new 30. 75 is apparently the new 35! I like that!

For anyone in the US with little or no insurance, Walgreens has a great prescription savings plan for only $20 a year.  @SaraCH writes that she earned back the $20 fee on her first purchase! Now that sounds like a great frugal option.

Good news – Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.

If you have a Maytag Refrigerator, many of them are under a recall. You can get the details from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission .

If you are struggling with making your mortgage payment, watch out! News10 in California writes about scam artists who are targeting struggling homeowners.I doubt that it’s only Californians who are dealing with that kind of scam. Make sure you always carefully check out anyone you do business with and keep close tabs on your elderly parents. It’s especially easy for them to fall prey to something like this.

Farmers made a fascinating discovery of a monastery beneath Israeli soil – per CNN , via @NerdNews, two of my favorite sources of news.

If you’re in the mood for a contest, you’ll find a fun one at Our 7 Qtpies , the blog of a fellow Sandwich Generation writer. She is busy raising kids, helping her mom, loving life, and having contests. This one ends March 20 and you’ll learn about a great new product for cleaning the bathroom. Frankly, even if I don’t win, I feel like I did, because I really like the sounds of the cleaner. Great if you have family members with allergy issues!

“I read the Bible everyday and the newspaper everyday. That way I know what both sides are up to!” Zig Ziglar

“DNA proves all the Russian czar’s kids died: One of the most enduring mysteries of the 20th century.” Per CNN , via @NerdNews. Does this mean the grandkids won’t want to watch Disney’s Anastasia anymore?

The Grocery Game is a great way to save time AND money at the grocery store.

Great news – In You, O Lord, do I take refuge…For You are my rock and my fortress; and for Your name’s sake You lead me and guide me.

If you use iTunes and find the print is too small, there is an easy solution! Read Rick Broida’s article at PC World and you will find several things you can do to make using iTunes even better including increasing the size of the print. I don’t know about y’all, but it seems like the print on everything is getting smaller and smaller, just as my eyesight is getting worser and worser. It’s nice to be given an option.

Debt-Proof Living has been one of my favorite frugal sites for years. Her current article has some frugal tips including a creative way to make good use of your grandchildren’s works of art. It’s titled “Creative Preservation.”

Here’s some food tips from my favorite foodie site, @Foodimentary. I wish I’d learned this YEARS ago! Cleaning a grater after shredding cheese can be made easy by grating a potato afterward. It clears the gummy cheese out. Also, if you drop an egg on the floor, cover it with salt and leave it for a couple of minutes. Cleaning will be much easier!

Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

Well, that’s it for this week. Did you find an idea you  really liked? We’d love it if you’d let us know by leaving a comment.