As senior home care givers and grandparents we stay plenty busy. Except during those white hot crisis times, many of us do have time for reading, crafts, and hobbies. We may also have lots of down time waiting. Waiting at the doctors’ offices, waiting at the dentists’ offices, waiting at the hair salon, waiting by a bedside, etc. Magazines have often been a great lifeline to keep me up-to-date on what’s going on plus get fun new ideas for projects to share with grandkids or aging parents. They are especially easy to pick up and put down.

I just discovered a new-to-me magazine that I really enjoyed and it’s one that is especially good for those of us in the Sandwich Generation. It has articles of interest for all ages. When I’m done with it, I’ll be passing it on to my adult daughters and my senior mom, while enjoying some of the fun activities with my grandkids. It’s full of home-style crafts, organic gardening ideas and tips for making meals interesting (when I have the time! ).

MaryJanesFarm, the American Organic Original, refers to itself as “The Everyday Organic Lifestyle Magazine.” I found an older issue, February-March 2009, in a friend’s magazine basket. Some of the headlines included:

• 18 Organic Honey Recipes
• Bee Mine Homemade Valentines
• Kitchy Embroidery Patterns
• My favorite – No Knead Artisan Breads in Minutes a Day – Doesn’t that sound yummy! And do-able even for a busy senior home care giver and grandma. And think how much our aging parents and grandkids would love to help us eat it!

A more recent issue, August-September 2009, also has plenty of interesting articles for a wide variety of Sandwich Generation issues. I especially enjoyed the “Grandma’s Wisdom” column, Cooking with Cast Iron. All about Barbie cabbages, it has a terrific and fun suggestion for encouraging our grandkids to eat a less popular but very healthy vegetable. You and your senior parents will get a good chuckle from it as well!

For the crafty Sandwich Gen group, there were knitting and crocheting patterns including some really cute “Mary Jane” style slippers and several great looking projects using twisted sisal twine, including a gorgeous, easily crocheted up-cycled market bag, that could easily double as a beach bag, grandkids’ diaper bag, etc. If any of our senior parents enjoy handwork, they’ll probably want to borrow your magazine as soon as you are done!

With tips for those in homeschooling programs, down-on-the-farm articles such as Bringing Home Your First Horse (your grandkids would LOVE you even more for that!), and some green recipes for a variety of cleaning products including carpet deodorizer, toilet bowl cleaner, and laundry softener which is great for all ages, this issue is full of wonderfully useful and delightful-to-read articles and ideas!

I’ve found it at the bigger book stores in my area or you can subscribe to it by calling 1-800-476-4611. Of course, a gift subscription for your senior parents might be a great idea as well.