CAREGIVERS:

Caregivers, here’s a great tip to help you take care of yourself. Another way to make sure you get your exercise is to take someone along on a walk with you. No one around? Use your cell phone. I now walk almost every day for 30-60 minutes and barely notice it since I am happily chatting away with kids and grandkids! I stay healthy physically and emotionally!

Deciding between in-home health care and assisted living? Read what other boomers have to say at Seniors for Living.

Check Out Flying With Disability Before Flying with aging parents or others with disabilities.

Those dealing with Alzheimer’s Care: Cognitive tests are the ‘first step’ towards an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Elderly adults being readmitted to the Hospital is a Medicare Issue. One that is becoming more and more common!

Excellent advice from ElderCareRN: Avoid monochromatic color scheme in a seniors home to reduce risk of falling and/or injury. Also, avoid clutter and have good light.

Check out the EldercareABC Blog Carnival for more excellent information to help you provide great elderly assistance to your aging parents.

GRANDPARENTS:

More fun 4th of July activities and printables for your grandkids at your family celebration.

Make some interesting popsicles for your grandkids and be the hit of the neighborhood.

SANDWICH GENERATION/BABY BOOMER GENERATION

With all the high-profile sudden deaths it’s time for an important reminder – are you ready to die? Are you taking care of your health property? Have you planned for your families? Including your elderly parents? Have you made a will or living trust? Most important of all, is your relationship right with God? Death can come at any moment with little or no warning. Don’t put off any of the hugs, kisses, and loving notes til tomorrow that you can do today! 

Good news from Prevention with yummy , healthy, and low-cal BBQ recipes

My home warranty company reminds us to use the dollar bill test on our refrigerators. Close the door on the dollar bill. Try to pull it out. If it pulls through easily, we may need to adjust the door or replace gaskets. Now isn’t that a fun money saver idea!

Moomettes Magnificents has her all new and updated contest and giveaway list up and running. Check it out if you are in the market for some fun and free goodies. 

Very Good News – The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock in Whom I take refuge!

For all of us Baby Boomers – Johnny Depp Wants to do a cameo in the 21 Jump Street Movie.

7 Refreshing Summer Salads at Homemaker Barbi’s. Yummy!

Google has created a new search portal where you can go to find out about community service and volunteer options and events.

The BBC is reporting that there is a strain of the Swine flu that “shows drug resistance” to Tamiflu. With this news and the fact that it isn’t going away as quickly as they hoped, we need to be extra careful as we monitor our aging parents and young grandkids!

As families continue to scatter across the US and further, more women and men in the Baby Boomer Generation and older are flying all over, often alone. Not only that, for many of them it’s the first time they’ve flown alone. It may even be the first time they’ve ever flown at all.

I had a few trips under my belt before I started having to travel so much, thanks to my parents. My dad and mom gave me a great gift when I was 30. I had never flown before. Southwest and America West had both just started and were offering fantastic deals. For about $7 per ticket, my dad took my mom, my three kids, and myself from Southern California to the Phoenix Zoo. We flew there and back the same day. Back then, smoking was allowed and I was in misery in the back smoking row, but it was still thrilling. They even had seats that faced backwards, which made me rather queasy. I’m so glad they all face forwards now!

I was able to fly with my whole family a couple of times after that. The first time I had to fly alone (well, not alone, but as the only adult with three kids under 9!), it was a tough day, made harder by several prolonged delays due to mechanical difficulties. I was nervous and on edge, but I did great, because of the past experience. Being in my 30s helped a lot too.

A dear friend of mine needed to go on her very first plane trip ever. As a member of the Baby Boomer Generation, and two years away from being an official Senior Citizen, she was very nervous about the whole process. I could certainly understand. If my first trip had been in my 50s instead of my 30s, with my eyesight not as great and my arthritis slowing me down just a bit, it would have been a much more difficult trip.

She was able to combine plans with another friend who had traveled alone several times. They traveled together, which made it much easier for her first time. Her next couple of trips were by herself but her husband could drop her off, her son could pick her up and she had no layovers. She was scared at first but thrilled at her accomplishment when the trip was completed. Then the big day came when, due to a family crisis, she had to make reservations quickly, fly by herself with two plane changes, and return home in time for a vital appointment. She did GREAT! Can you imagine how that trip might have gone if she hadn’t had the earlier ones? Just like anything in life, practice makes perfect, or at least closer to perfect than when you started.

If you, or a special senior in your life, have never taken a plane trip anywhere, or if you have flown but never by yourself, I would encourage you to watch the sales, and take a plane trip or two somewhere close, just for fun. It would make a nice little getaway, which always helps ease caregiver stress , and it would give you a chance to practice doing something you’ve never done before.

You may wind up with just some great memories and never need to use the experience you’ve gathered. Then again, senior health care or grandkids’ needs may spring an emergency on you out of the blue. As you sit in that plane, praying hard for the beloved you are headed to visit, you will be so grateful for the experience that is helping to make this trip just a little bit easier.

1. Bring an empty water bottle to fill up at the airport, after you pass security. That can save you a bundle. Be aware, however, that a few airports have poor quality water. So tuck in a few extra dollars for a water bottle, just in case.

2. Bring your own pillow . It’s cleaner, more comfy, and you’re guaranteed to get a pillow. I love the Therma-Rest compressible pillow I bought at outdoor recreation store, REI. It goes from big and fluffy to tightly wrapped and relatively small in just a minute or so and has a strap that makes it easy to carry on your carry-on. http://budurl.com/REItravelpillow

3. Bring a blanket or plan ahead to get one from the overhead compartment as you head for your seat. If you forget, you’ll be stuck going back through the throngs of on-loading passengers, giving you the feel of a salmon swimming upstream. If you wait until the flight has started, there’s a good chance there won’t be any available.

4. Rare are the flights that provide meals on the plane . If your flight is longer than two hours, I would suggest you eat right before flying, or bring a meal with you. I like to buy a sandwich at the airport, but you can bring outside food as well.

5. Liquids are still limited to 3 ounces per bottle and only as many containers as can fit into a quart-size bag . Make sure you put it on the top of your carry-on so you can find it easily when going through security, That bag, your laptop, and any big electronic items all have to be removed and put into separate containers to be scanned.

6. If you are traveling with grandchildren, don’t bring playdoh or other types of clay . They might let you bring it on, but you will probably have to have an extra-close security check and they might actually confiscate it. It’s easier to not even bother with it.

7. Diaper wipes are a handy idea I learned from my mom. They make cleanup a breeze, even in tight spaces.

8. If you do a lot of texting or emailing with your cell phone, you may wind up with lots of messages you no longer need . If you put your cell phone in flight mode before take off, you’re allowed to turn it on when other electronic equipment is allowed on. This can give you a quiet, uninterrupted opportunity to read, delete, clean and organize your text messages.

9. If you aren’t traveling with young children or anyone needing special assistance, you might enjoy sitting in the emergency exit row . It has the most space of all the seats and has a tray.

10. Be sure to drink lots of water and try to get up at least once or twice on long flights . It’s healthier and you’ll feel better, even if it does require contortions to get in and out. If you, like me, deal with those occasional arthritis twinges, taking a pain reliever like ibuprofen or acetaminophen (per your doctor’s instructions, of course), can help you feel more comfortable. This is especially true on longer flights.

Over the hills and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go… During the holidays many adult children go home for Christmas. Parents and grandparents also may leave home to visit their adult children. I’ve enjoyed both these types of visits. In November, I wrote some tips for “taking home with you” as you travel, perhaps on business or even pleasure – http://www.sandwichink.com/take-a-bit-of-home-on-your-travels . Here are more travel tips for those times when you are traveling to visit family or friends you see often, or vice versa.

When I first went to visit my daughters’ homes, I bought a big plastic tote (like ones made by Rubbermaid or Sterilite). I filled it with items I normally use, such as shampoo, conditioner, a bath sponge, hand soap, and other toiletry items. There are small bottles of my vitamins, pain relievers for headaches, etc. I have coloring books, crayons, and a couple of favorite children’s Bible song CDs in there for a special time with my grandchildren. I also packed a copy of my favorite study Bible. Now when I go to visit them, they pop that tote out from storage and I have all my favorite items without having to run to the store. We all use different soaps due to allergies, dry skin, etc., so it makes it really easy to visit them without adding to their busy schedules or mine. Trust me, when I’m visiting, I’m constantly moving, because there’s so much to enjoy and so little time to do it . This also results in lighter luggage and fewer headaches in the security line at the airport. We even bought one extra booster seat for my visits with the grandkids. That way I can take one grandchild at a time with me on errands for some one-on-one visiting, and their parents don’t get stuck without a car seat when we forget it’s in the back seat.

When regular guests, including grandchildren, visit me, I have the same type of tote waiting for them as well. I have filled this tote with a special sponge, a wash cloth, slippers, a bathrobe, favorite lotions, manicure goodies for the gals, and aftershave for the guys that we purchased together at various times. The day they arrive, I put the tote out on their bed, along with a fresh towel, new box of tissue, and a bottle of water for each.

Some other ideas for welcoming guests can include:

Stocking up on breakfast items they enjoy, like cereal, fruit, milk, and yogurt

Putting a few books and magazines you know they’ll enjoy into their room

Providing an alarm clock and making sure there are enough available outlets for their needs, including cell phones, laptop computers, etc.

They say you can never go home again. That’s not true, for which I’m quite grateful. But it is certainly different. These ideas help to make it seem less different and more “at home and homey."