SENIOR HOME CARE

Did you know cinnamon increases Cognitive Activity and helps ward off Alzheimer's Disease?

The BBC reports that brain radiotherapy used to treat brain tumors may lead to mental decline. Extreme caution is necessary!  Per @nerdnews

Delirium is an often overlooked condition in elderly patients, particularly during a hospital visit, yet it can increase the risk of death. Very interesting and informative article!  Per @daccarte

Check out the latest EldercareABC Blog Carnival with tips to help those taking care of elderly parents dealing with incontinence, an elderly care waiver program that sounds great, and more, including a link to yours truly.

Found some more interesting walking cane resources of interest.

 A Walking Cane is not just for walking. Think Cane-Fu. Per  @LongBeach_News

"Smart canes" use outdoor RFIDs to help blind navigate. Per @stevesilberman

OK – we have ALL got to really work on our cholesterol!  More Research Links Cardiovascular Health to Alzheimer's Disease! Per @GeriCareFinder

These cute pix of tired critters remind me of hardworking caregivers who are all tuckered out! I’m planning on adding them to my senior mom’s photo slide show along with the grandkids. What cute pix! 

And speaking of cute pix – here’s even more that should give any and all senior home care givers a “Merry Heart.” :)

Here's an interesting article about the book, Contented Dementia, due out September 22. As the UK Times Online puts it, “Dementia: A new way to treat it - A radical approach to dementia care has been invented by a grandmother who has no medical training. Now the professionals are taking notice”  Per Maddy at SandwichedGenes

Alzheimer's Caregiving: Home Safety Per @mike_gamble

Carol – @Carebuzz – found some great articles this week:

Great little brochure on emergency preparation for senior adults. Adult daughter rushes to ER where her senior mom has suffered a stroke and lapsed into a coma. They hadn’t followed the 40-70 rule so didn’t know what their aging mom wanted, what to do, etc. Have you followed the 40-70 rule? Inner ear disorders – often called vestibular disorders – are a common cause of dizziness in older adults.

GRANDPARENTS

This is one of those fun and easy kids coloring pages sites for our younger grandkids. It’s all done online so it’s also a great way to help them learn to use the computer.

This site provides free printables and resources of great interest for homeschooling programs. You can print out all sorts of interesting writing papers for your grandkids to enjoy using along with several other items of interest.

As I’ve written before, I do enjoy the contests online. I just won a fun personalized pillowcase from @toothfairycyber.  I’m looking forward to receiving it and telling you all about it. Should be grand fun for grandkids!

BABY BOOMER GENERATION

Looking for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe for your grandkids? Or the recipe for Olive Garden's Sam Remo Dip to tempt your aging dad’s taste buds? Check out Copycat Recipes!

7 days without Bible study makes 1 weak caregiver!     Here are some fresh new ways to study the Bible.

Another “plug” for my favorite roadside Knights – AAA. "Just got great service from AAA roadside service. Replaced my battery in 105 degree heat." Per @TomZiglar

It's important to be prepared for the Swine Flu. It's also good to keep a balanced sense of humor. The Secret Identity Of Swine Flu’s First Celebrity Victim!

One last chuckle – This restaurant is "made for caregivers." Hilarious sign!

Kaye

Can you believe it? It’s Valentine’s Day on Saturday! Seems like just yesterday my grandkids and I were singing Christmas carols. Another year is flying by. Holidays are a great time to make some special memories with our grandchildren as we create special craft projects, work on kids coloring pages, word puzzles and mazes, and play fun holiday games together. Here’s several links to some Valentine fun and games for all ages.

Amazing Moms has several adorable Valentine projects including a Hershey’s Kiss Mouse, a traditional Swedish heart basket, and even a cute Valentine made from leftover Christmas candy canes! How frugal is that one!

DLTK is always an excellent source of coloring pages to print, work papers for homeschooling programs, etc. and Valentine’s Day is no exception. From a “Bee My Valentine” Muffin Flower Card that the littlest grandchild can work on, to Valentine anagrams and mazes for the older set, you’ll find plenty of fun projects for you and your grandchildren to enjoy! There’s also plenty of school projects for regular classrooms or homeschool classes, as well. Your grandchild’s teacher will love you if you volunteer to bring some fun Valentine worksheets to the party this Friday!

Danielle’s Place has simple as well as simply adorable Valentines your grandkids can make for their parents, great-grandparents, and you! Who knows, they may even talk you into helping them make these for each of their classmates. They’re really cute. Being a teddy bear lover, I’m especially partial to the Paper Plate Valentine Bear Craft.

Grandparents.com has three interesting projects. A fairly simple Bucket of Love for the little grandkids using marshmallows, a somewhat simple one for the older grandchildren, making a mosaic out of eggshells, and a fairly complicated Heart Keepsake Box that is beautiful.

Family Fun is always an excellent resource. Here you’ll find projects, crafts, kids coloring pages, and even games for Valentine’s Day –

Speaking of games, whether to help with a party for the day, or just to enjoy on the next grandkid visit, here are a couple of other fun links. First head back to Amazing Moms – for a tower race using candy hearts, and a fun story game for the older grandkids.

Then pop over to About.com which also has some useful links for grandkid games and more.  They even have a fun online trivia game about Valentine’s Day. I took part 1 and got an 85! Then got a 95 on part 2. I decided I need to get back to writing this before I tried Part 3, but you can try all the parts and have lots of fun with those grandchildren as giggle and guess while working on the computer! If you take it, be sure to leave a comment and tell us what your score was

Well, time to set out the kids coloring pages, construction paper, and crayons. Let the Valentine games, and crafts, begin!

I hope and pray your day is full of God’s love, joy, and blessings. Whether our families are near or far or both, we can be blessed by knowing that our Heavenly Father is right here with us always! I am so thankful for that!

“I love You, O LORD, my strength.” The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-2

Here are some fun Thanksgiving links for you:

Crosswalk has an interesting article that includes the history of Thanksgiving.

Some Thanksgiving coloring pages to print out for the kids to work on while they wait to eat – Coloring Pages to Print 1 and Coloring Pages to Print 2.

Thanksgiving Troubleshooting Tips – I wish I’d had some of these available 20 years ago when I first tried to do Thanksgiving on my own!

Real Simple has a “Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet.”

More Turkey Help – Butterball’s website has plenty of information to help with turkey questions. They also have an 800 number where there are many options to select from for pre-recorded information. 1-800-BUTTERBALL.

Here’s another one I needed 20 years ago – troubleshooting gravy! Nowadays I just skip the gravy. It’s healthier that way. Ahhh, the joys of aging! For those of you who still enjoy indulging in it, What’s Cooking America has some great tips to help you.

Last, but not least, here is a Thanksgiving gift of a Fall Haiku that I am thankful I received and am thankful I can share with you this year!

Fall

Fall is so breezy

Fall is a wonderful season.

Fall walks are so cool.

Today would be a wonderful day for us all to take a fall walk after dinner to help all of us caregivers, grandparents, and Sandwich Generation–ers stay healthy!

Once again,  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Halloween can be a lot of fun. It can also be a little controversial among Christians. When my children were little, we did a a lot of research and praying. We chose to have fun with it by attending and helping with our church’s Harvest Party each year. The kids had fun dressing up, we’d always show them off in their cute costumes to our closest neighbors, and then we’d be off for an evening of fun, fellowship, and lots of candy.

Now that the kids are grown and the grandkids are here, we have a new custom that I enjoy just as much. We order pizza and pop, sometimes get to show the grandkids off to the neighbors, and have a great time handing out lots of yummy candy along with stickers, booklets, and coloring pages that tell the children of God’s love for them.

The local Christian bookstore usually has a nice supply of cute stickers that have Bible verses, cute pictures of the Nativity scene and other Bible stories, or positive sayings about God, such as “Stop and Pray,” “Smile – God loves you,” and “One Way – Jesus.” Those are very popular with the little ones. They often have fun tracts with jokes or word searches that the older ones seem to enjoy. I always make sure to give a good amount of candy with these, and have never had any complaints. In fact, I actually get quite a few comments like, “Hey, cool! Stickers.” and “A puzzle. Looks like fun!”

If you’re not able to get out to the store, or are looking for ways to save money, you can make your own surprises. Kids coloring pages are great for the little ones. You can give them by themselves or add a crayon with them. ChristianAnswers has a wide variety of Bible coloring pages that would work nicely.

For older children, CSAHM has a cute little poem, Our Trick, God’s Treat, written by Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos. You can print out several copies, perhaps combining it with various kids coloring pages, and hand them out with Tootsie Rolls. 

One other site I discovered while researching for this article, Tons of Sons, has a cute idea for decorating their pumpkins to share God’s love. I didn’t see that in time for this year. But I’m going to save it to try next year.

Have a wonderful day tomorrow, full of God’s love, power and joy. Join me in praying for safety and salvation for our nation. And enjoy sharing God’s love with others.