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 .

Are you looking for easy, affordable dinners that can be interspersed with caregiving duties? I know the feeling well. This week I decided to see what recipes were out there for cooking a roast and in the process, discovered some interesting new cooking sites along with a variety of recipes. I thought I’d share some of them with you.

Corduroyorange.com – http://corduroyorange.com/ – is, to quote the author, “The Only Food Blog Written by Jesse Sharrard. Jesse Sharrard is a classically trained chef with an English degree—unless he’s a literary scholar with a culinary arts degree; you decide.” Being an avid reader as well as an avid blogger, and in need of some cooking guidance, this definitely caught my eye. At the point I found this site, I was specifically looking for help in how to Julienne onions, and he had that info for me, complete with pictures. http://corduroyorange.com/?p=31 I enjoyed spending time reading his site. There is a lot of humor mixed in with some great information. I didn’t find a roast recipe, but enjoyed the great “taco debate” at http://budurl.com/CorduroyOrangeTacos . My personal favorite for tacos is corn tortillas,  filled with shredded beef or ground beef, followed by lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and finally the salsa on top.

Continuing with my hunt for a good roast recipe, I discovered Simply Recipes – http://budurl.com/SimplyRecipesRoast . There I found a delicious Tri-Tip Roast recipe (my favorite cut of meat for both roast or steak). Marinated Tri-Tip Roast with Mushrooms and Garlic! Sounds delicious and doesn’t look too hard. Simply Recipes has a variety of recipes on their site. They also go the extra step we caregivers appreciate, and offer an email option so you can have new recipes sent to your email regularly. “Simply Recipes was noted in Time Magazine’s 50 Coolest Websites of 2006 as being a ‘great resource for cooks’” and I have to agree that it is, indeed, an excellent resource.

Returning to my quest, I arrived at Cooks Recipes – http://budurl.com/CooksRecipesRoast . Since I love rosemary, this is another recipe I bookmarked. It looks pretty easy and low maintenance – two more of my favorite cooking requirements.

As easy as these all were, I wanted something with even less work required for this particularly busy day. Ah ha, a crockpot recipe might be the thing. I then discovered About.Com’s Southern Food website where I found an old favorite, Crock Pot Roast with Onion Soup Mix. http://budurl.com/SouthernFoodCPRoast . It’s an easy-to-make recipe that you can start in the morning, leave cooking all day, and enjoy whenever you want to eat in the evening. This is especially nice if you have the grandchildren all day. My only concern with this recipe is the high salt content in the onion soup mix. I did use the low salt/low fat Cream of Mushroom soup, but for those of us who like to eat healthier or who have elderly parents with high blood pressure, this still wasn’t a great option in spite of its ease.

There is a good solution for that at my last site for today. Low Sodium Cooking http://budurl.com/LowSodiumOnionSoup has a recipe for a low sodium home-made onion soup mix and it’s quick and easy to make as well. I didn’t get to try it today but it’s on my list to try later this month and I’ll let you know how it tastes. In the meantime, if you give it a try, let us know how you liked it.

One of the fun “jobs” that writing this blog requires is to peruse dozens of different websites, blogs, magazines, etc. to find great information to share with you. One site that I’ve discovered and enjoy is The Lean Green Family, http://suddenlyfrugal.blogspot.com/2008/10/five-frugal-meal-planning-tips-for-busy.html . Recently she wrote a post entitled Five Frugal Meal-Planning Tips for Busy People. That definitely includes us caregivers! Her suggestions were great.  I loved her idea for how to save on pizza (perfect for grandkids! ), and she also introduced me, and now you, to another very interesting site -A Year of Crockpotting, http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ !

One of her posts,  http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/10/save-money-by-using-your-crockpot-slow.html , explains how we can save money by using the crockpot more often. Just as important, it’s a wonderful time saver. I can start a meal in the morning, then ignore it until I’m ready to eat at night! So when I’m staying busy running errands, playing tag with grandkids, or working, I can still enjoy a delicious hot meal. I have to confess, I haven’t used a crockpot in quite a while. I’d forgotten how handy they can be. But after looking at her recipes, I’m going to go find it and give some of them a try. I think I’ll start with the Crockpot Bacon-Wrapped Cornish Game Hens. They sound delicious!

Two great sites with lots of time and money saving ideas! Happy cooking!

DID YOU KNOW? Amazon has a Christian Book “Store”. It is NOT easy to find. It’s not listed with their regular stores. It’s not listed in their menus. But it’s there. It pops up as an option every so often and now it’s URL will be on this blog for you to learn about and us to never lose again!

http://www.amazon.com/Christianity-Religion-Spirituality-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=12290  

As caregivers, we don’t always have the luxury of time to run to a Christian bookstore. Amazon has always saved the day for me, if I knew the title, but sometimes I just want to browse. Now that I know where to find their Christian bookstore, I can browse at home in between making chicken soup and changing diapers. And you can too! Enjoy!