Did you ever work on a project that made you feel like you were wrestling alligators? I’ve had two of those today! One was writing an article on eHow. My computer froze, the account didn’t save correctly, and then I wound up going down a rabbit trail on yet another alligator wrestling match – figuring out Facebook. This here Sandwich Generation caregiver was ready to call it quits several times BUT I didn’t. The upshot is that my latest eHow post, How to Play Safe Now to Prevent Needing Skin Cancer Treatment Later, with good reminders about using plenty of sun block now to help prevent skin cancer treatment later, has gone up. UPDATE: This really was an alligator of an article. Somehow (probably my mistake but not sure) my article was deleted. Apparently when that happens, you are not allowed to put it back up because of duplicate content. So I rewrote it for Ezine Articles and will link to it when that is published. In the meantime, I wrote another article, How to Use Stress Balls to Relax at the Dentist. Can’t let those alligators win now, can we!

In addition, SandwichINK’s Facebook page is up and running and I would LOVE to have y’all come join me there. I have to tell you, I was so excited when my very first New Friend notification popped up to let me know that Heather from The Mogul Mom was accepting my friend request. Do y’all remember when AOL started out, and we all gave it a whirl? Remember the thrill that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan dramatized in that simple little phrase, “You’ve got mail!” That’s exactly how I felt today. It was really fun! So a big thank you to Heather, whose interesting site, The Mogul Mom, is such a valuable resource to all of us entrepreneur moms and grandmas!

I also want to give a big thank you to Gina LaGuardia from Seniors for Living for helping me figure out how different urls work on Facebook, as well as being my second “You’ve got a Facebook friend” mail. Gina is such a blessing to all of us for a variety of reasons, including organizing and maintaining the Boomers & Seniors: News You Can Use Blog Carnival. In fact, the latest issue is hot off the press TODAY. There are several interesting articles including how to be prepared before your elderly parent has to go into the hospital, an interview with a social security attorney, a child’s legal responsibilities with regard to aging parents, and the research that shows that poor sleep habits can lead to insulin resistance. You’ll find the current Boomers & Seniors Blog Carnival at Ageless-Sages, where I’m headed as soon as I post this so I can read it right along with you.

Don’t forget to come say howdy to SandwichINK at Facebook. I’m experimenting with the cute little box in the left column which will hopefully keep you updated. Let me know what you think of it. And watch out for those alligators!     

Summer vacation and grandkids just seem to go together like a horse and carriage, not to mention love and marriage. I’m looking forward to seeing my long distance grandkids later this summer, and my close up grandkids just got to visit with their long distance grandma. When I see my little cutie pies, we will eat a lot of meals at their house, but I’m also planning on treating them out a couple of times. It’s my way of saying thank you for their sweet hospitality, give my daughter and son a treat, and enjoy the Mongolian BBQ we don’t have locally. Fortunately, they love it too. It’s not a super cheap money saver, but sooooo worth it.

They live in a small town, so there’s not a huge amount of choices. However, thanks to a great article at MSN’s Delish page, I’m going to get to save money on another night. That’s because I discovered that Applebee’s has Monday Night Family Nights where kids eat free, 1 kid per adult. And if you have more than the three adults that will be going in my group (and we do ), extra kids are only a buck apiece. SWEET! Of course, I also made sure I read the small print that warns this money saver deal is good only at participating locations. I’m just hoping that will include my future location! I know the grandkids will be thrilled. They already love Applebee’s for their balloons. This grandma loves Applebee’s because of their delicious brownie desserts. Throw in  the free kids’ meals and I’m going to be an extra happy camper!

Whether the grandkids come to visit you, you go to visit the grandkids, or y’all decide to take a multi-generational family vacation, the odds are good you will all be eating out together at least once or twice this summer. So head on over to MSN’s Delish site to read Where Kids Eat Free from A-Z.     You’ll find 25 money saver restaurants, along with links to directions, reviews, and even some great recipes to cook at home! And Happy Eatin’ to you as well.

For more great Family Friday ideas, be sure to pop over to HomemakerBarbi’s!

Today is Current Events Thursday, when we normally discuss a news story of interest to those of us providing senior home care for aging parents as well as grandparents. I’m going to do something a little different this week. As I was scanning and reading different news stories, I noticed how many great news websites are available. I also noticed how many URLs led to sites that were, shall we say, less than newsworthy. I realized a list of great sites would be an excellent resource for all of us. Of course, it would be impossible to list everything, and we’d never have time to use them all. But a few good ones in each category would be quite useful and would save us all some time. For all of us Sandwich Generation caregivers, ways to save time are just as much a blessing as ways to save money! Without further adieu, I present to you:

Newspaper Sites – Great for doing research or contacting newspapers where your aging parents live, to set up newspaper subscriptions:

• DMOZ – United States Newspapers
• DMOZ – World Newspapers
• NewsLink – Major US Metro Newspapers
• OnlineNewspapers – Worldwide Newspapers

Radio News Sites:

• Foreign Internet Radio and Online News Radio – This site encourages you to listen to foreign language programs to help you learn a new language. A great way for us and our aging parents to help stave off Alzheimer’s Disease.
• RadioTower – Radio stations of all varieties, from music, to talk, to news. This page is the All Categories page. For news specifically, scroll down to both News and News Talk.
• Salem Radio Stations – Conservative, Christian

TV News Sites:

• BroadcastLive – Live TV news from around the world
• DMOZ – English Speaking TV sites

Combination Sites:

• NewsLink – World mix of news, magazines, radio and TV sites
• SeekGod.Org – Mix of newspapers, radio, TV, and other sources, both secular and Christian
• TownHall – Conservative mix of news headlines, radio podcasts, TV news, and more
• Voice of America – Eclectic mix of world news, podcasts, and more

Hurricane News:

For those of you who, like me, are in an area where you like to keep a close eye on hurricanes, or are helping with senior home care from a distance and your loved one lives in a hurricane area, here’s a couple of great sites:

• Weather.com – Always the first place I like to look –
• National Hurricane Center
• Weather Matrix – They cover more than hurricanes, and have 10,000 volunteers keeping their weather eyes open!

This should do a good job to keep us all up to speed on all the latest happenings. Then we’ll be better prepared to help our families – our grandkids, our aging parents, our adult kids, and other special people in our lives. Not only that, next time your grandkids need help with school homework or the research projects required by their homeschooling programs, you’ll be all ready with great resources at your fingertips! If you have more great sites, do let us know in the comments.

For more interesting current events news, be sure to check out The Surrendered Scribe. Today she discusses the importance of prayer for everyone in our lives, including celebrities along with their family and friends. These past two weeks, we have seen several pass away, many of whom were a part of our lives as we grew up.  This is especially true for those of us in the Baby Boomer Generation. Even though I didn’t know any of them personally, I knew of most of them and have spent much time over the last couple of weeks, praying for them and their family and friends. Losing someone is difficult no matter who you are. With all the publicity surrounding these families, I know it adds to the grief. I join with Julie in praying for them and encouraging y’all to pray for them as well.

We’re all in this Sandwich Generation together, right? So we can be honest with each other, right? Raise your hands if you were so busy taking care of grandkids, that you forgot to send Aunt Ethel a birthday card. Raise your hands if you were tied up at the hospital with your elderly dad and didn’t get that birthday present off to your son. Raise your hands if you woke up on Christmas morning and realized you’d been so busy running grandkids to a therapy appointment, aging parents to a dentist appointment and helping both with THEIR holiday shopping that you never got cards out and you still haven’t finished shopping for a couple of people. OK, I admit it, I’ve probably done all of those things and more! Fortunately, most  of my family and friends never knew and if you don’t tell on me, they never will. (Well, 3 of my sweet ones will, but they all know how much I love them and are ever so patient with me )

Why do most of my beloveds not know how behind I sometimes get? The power of E! E-cards, E-gifts, E-gift certificates! The power of E is a wonderful thing for busy Sandwich Generation caregivers and grandparents.

For last minute, day-of gifts, I have three great tools! As I’ve already written Amazon.com Gift Cardsare some of my favorite “secret weapons.” I just head over to Amazon, select the online greeting card of my choosing, and the amount I want to send, and voila, they will have their online gift certificate the same day. I even have a couple of special people who I like to try to surprise once in a while, so I will purposely wait til the “day of” to send the egreeting.

Another of my favorites is making Smilebox Photo Memory Books (or as many call them, Photo Scrapbooks) and Photo Email Cards. Once I start going through photos I have so much fun, I find it hard to quit!

Today, I just discovered that, even though my favorite e-card site was no longer available, I have a great new option, Dayspring! Yup, the same company that makes the lovely cards you can find in many places, including your local Christian gift and book store, has a website with free Christian e-cards (free is always my favorite money saver). So next time you are running behind, because caregiving duties are keeping you busy, you can send an ecard that will get there the same day! By the way, they have several other interesting items there as well, including:

• Several movie/videos of music, scenery, and Bible verses that you can send to a tech savvy senior citizen or download as a free screensaver
• Some fun and free little e-games for you and the grandkids to have fun with.
• An online store

All of these sites are great resources for the Sandwich Generation, and now you have them all in one place. It’s our own personal gift and greeting center, just waiting for the next birthday or holiday to come along! Now, when you are in the throes of providing elderly assistance to your mom and babysitting for your grandkids, you can also stay on top of giving, and even include them in the fun! 

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!

It’s summertime and “the livin’ is easy.” Until you try to fly out to visit grandkids or aging parents. Then you’ll discover the planes are full, the seats are squished, and the travel fees are climbing!

A friend was very upset as she told me about her first experience flying in about three years. “They charged me for both of my suitcases! If I had known that, I would have brought fewer clothes!”

Since many of us live long distances from several of our family members and will be visiting them this summer, I thought some information on this subject would be a big help to you. I know many of you are also looking for money saver helps, as am I. CNN has an excellent article showing all the different fees each airline charges for the first bag and the second bag, along with other fees for such things as:

• Wi-Fi – so you can use your computer on the airplane. I would use that except there is not enough room for me to comfortably manage the computer and the aging parent or grandkid that I usually have with me.
• Unaccompanied minors – that’s all those grandkids visiting grandma and grandpa.
• Telephone booking seat selection – as opposed to booking online.
• Pets – I have to admit, I’m keeping a close eye on the fact that more airlines are doing this. With extreme allergies a top priority in my own family, I could see where this might be a cause for concern for many. If you will be traveling with anyone with severe allergies, I would call the airline and look into this and what options you might have.
• Flight change – every time I fly I see someone trying to change their tickets to an earlier flight and get really upset that there is a charge.  Other people have their plans change – grandkids get sick, aging parents get sick, you get sick! For many airlines, there is a charge to change the tickets, even when there is a cheaper ticket available. Before you make any changes, make sure you know what will happen and what the charge will be.
• Seat selection – a friend just mentioned she had to pay to get the seat she wanted. And it wasn’t in first class!

There is a wide variety of fees among the various airlines, so be sure to check out CNN’s airline fee chart and print it out. Even if you don’t need it now, you might sooner than you think.

I have to tell you, it made me really appreciate Southwest Airline flights even more! They had the most free options, including your first suitcase (now that’s a GREAT money saver tip)! Couple all that with great service, great people, and their Rapid Rewards program and they keep me a happy flyer, even when it is crowded! They are a great airline, and that’s especially true for Sandwich Generation caregivers!

OK, grandkids, grandma’s coming soon!    

It’s HOT! At least where I’m at. And if it’s not hot where you’re at, just wait – SUMMER STARTS NEXT WEEK!  In the season of life I am currently enjoying, I prefer a tad bit cooler, however my grandkids are all THRILLED that summer is almost here. It’s been so warm, their mom has already pulled out the plastic swimming pool. They’ve been having a blast with it.

When I was babysitting last week, my grandkids decided they didn’t want any more paper airplanes. They wanted swimming pool toys instead! That was fine with me as my budget said, “Cheap Toys!” So back to the drawing board, errr computer, we went.

We decided to give paper boats a try. What would make better pool toys than paper boats! I was a bit leery, I have to admit. After the struggles I had with the paper airplanes, was I up to the challenges of the paper boats? Guess what? I was! I found a great site to share with you (see below), in case you’d like to make some of these fun pool toys!

The first site I went to had a great pattern. As I was folding it, Grand-Twin one commented it looked just like his paper hat we had made over the winter. Two folds later, he made the same comment. Four folds later, he repeated it. By this time, I was a bit panicked, but IT WORKED. I sent him out to the pool and started churning out the next hat.

By the time I finished the third hat, the first grandkid was back in saying his was “all shwedded up in the pool” (his first missing tooth ). Following him outside, we discovered he had been splashing it on top, underneath, and everywhere else he could get water. That led to a very entertaining and educational discussion about how to put a paper airplane in the water and make wind to blow it without splashing it too much. We even had a great mini-theological discussion about how we can’t see the wind, but we can see what it does. In the same way, we can’t see God, but we can see what He does – His Fruit. Which, of course, led us right back to our Fruit of the Spirit memory verses.

Eight boats, two discussions, and three memory verses later, we were ready to head in for nap. Well, I was ready. They weren’t ready, but cheerfully went in anyway. All in all, a hearty time was had by all, maties.

If you give these fun swimming pool toys a try, let us know what you think about them. And if you have any great sites with more ideas for cheap toys, we’d love to hear about those as well!

Directions for Fun Swimming Pool Toys – Paper Boats

For more fun summer ideas and tips, check out HomemakerBarbi’s Family Friday.