• A sign of the economy: More Idahoans now qualify to get a refund of the grocery tax credit beginning with tax year 2008. While you may not live in Idaho, you may find that you qualify for something similar in your own state. It’s definitely worth checking out when working on your tax returns .
• Do you watch TV shows on Hulu ? If so, @rewebcoach suggests you look at http://getmiro.com/ to help you manage your shows. He does caution that if you do decide to try it, be patient when you start the Miro download as it’s a big file.
• Encouraging – God is my defense, my God of mercy.
• Do you have or know someone who has Parkinson’s Disease ? eChronicles writes, “According to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this month, people with advanced Parkinson’s Disease who received deep brain stimulation showed greater improvement in movement and quality of life after six months than those treated with medication…” Thanks to @nkbe for this link.
• “Beware of what you eat. You are on your own”, Sen Tom Harkin announces…in Senate Ag Hearing…after the Salmonella outbreak from peanut butter products.
• With all these food issues, it is encouraging to know that God is near ! – Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
• Now this kind of housing is right up a Sandwich Generation grandma’s alley! Housing for grandparents raising grandchildren. “It would be among a small but growing group of U.S. apartment developments that combine senior housing with grandkid-friendly features . The idea is to put children from broken homes into a stable environment…” Per @ShaynePacker and @Seniors4Living.
• Earlier this week, I wrote an article about the Silver Alert. I wrote that because I was busy praying for the friend of @PMKU who has Alzheimer’s Disease and had disappeared. I am so happy to report that he was safely found, 50 miles from home! Here is the article she wrote sharing the important lessons she learned from that dementia care experience. An excellent article to save for reference information for your family and your community.
• Bookworms, take notice! If you have an iPhone or an Android phone, Google now offers 1.5 million books to download FREE onto your mobile phone. While these are all older, out-of-copyright books, that’s pretty phenomenal and one of those great ways to save money! Thank you @stejules for letting us know.
• @Seniors4Living has an interesting article about Steve Gurney, 43. “On February 9th, at half the age of the average assisted living resident, Gurney will join Paul Spring Retirement Community in Alexandria, Virginia. After nearly 20 years of helping families and elders make these choices…he says, ‘I have never experienced the transition first hand as a resident.’” What a great idea and what an interesting article!
• The Online Age Gap Narrows (senior folks are finally here!!). Of course, we knew it all along! (eMarketer Research) Thanks for that tip – @Mike_Stelzner
• If you enjoy sports and the iPhone, here’s just the article for you, courtesy of @styletime. 100 Free Sports Apps for the iPhone .
• Encouragement – To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense , my God of mercy.
• If you are a pastor or ministry leader or know someone who is, check out Bill Reichart’s website for the article, “How to Help Those in Your Church Navigate Troubled Economic Waters”
• Excellent Author Alert: Brandilyn Collins has a new book coming out in May . It’s a suspense novel, “Exposure.” Don’t tell my sweet mom-in-law, but I’m thinking it would make an excellent birthday present
• If you have an elderly parent who suffers from memory loss going into the hospital , the National Institute of Aging has an excellent 18 page booklet with tips to help.
  
• If you’d like a good chuckle, here is part one of the World’s Weirdest Hotels, followed by part two of the World’s Weirdest Hotels. I have to admit I was intrigued by the dog hotel. Which was your favorite? Bet your senior parents would get a kick out of printouts of these.
  

I’ve got some excellent links for you that first appeared on my Twitter page. In fact, there are so many, I’m going to do half today and half tomorrow. Don’t forget, if you want them hot off the press, come join the conversation at http://twitter.com/SandwichINK .  Without further adieu…

Disaster/Emergency Links:

Here is a great site for disaster/emergency information – CBS News’ Disaster links – http://tinyurl.com/gdj4u

Encouragement – Jesus said…Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Salmonella Outbreak and Peanut Butter Recall:

A full list of peanut butter recalls: http://tinyurl.com/8vaywm Thanks to @FamilyDoctorMag  for finding it.

Here’s a definitive statement about the peanut butter and salmonella situation, issued by the FDA – http://budurl.com/CDCPeanut

Encouragement – Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day!

Small Business Information:

If you run a small business, or perhaps have an adult child or elderly parent who does, this is an excellent list of small businesses who use twitter: http://tinyurl.com/8kmvdq Written by Anita Campbell and found by @Donna606.

Speaking of small businesses, Daiv Rawks pointed out that if you use signs on your car to advertise your business, you’re more likely to get calls if the letters are easy to read in a quick second or two at freeway speeds, which many of the fancy curly fonts are not.

Encouragement – God is the strength of my heart & my portion forever.

Blogging/Tech Info:

If you are blogging or thinking of blogging and haven’t yet tried Microsoft’s Live Writer, here is the latest version  complete with the newest auto-complete tagging feature. I haven’t tried using that aspect but will try to give it a whirl in the next couple of weeks, after my life starts settling down from all the various colds, bugs, etc. we’ve had going on around here. http://tinyurl.com/wlwtags A big thank you, again, to Brandon Turner who does such a great job for Microsoft as part of the Live Write team!

Another quick note for all you bloggers. Did you know that WordPress 7 lets you drag and reorder your plugins, etc.? I didn’t until I read a note from Chris Brogan! I can’t wait to test drive that feature.

If any of you use Google gmail and other products such as Blogger, Feedburner, etc., please be extremely careful if you have to delete one of those accounts. Apparently it can be very easy to delete all the accounts when you only wanted to delete one account! And once they’re gone, it’s almost impossible to retrieve them even if you discover your error within a minute! A friend discovered this, and in researching options for her, I found several other sad recountings of similar happenings. Might even be best to make them private and not use them, but don’t delete them!

I loved this quote that buildthemup found: If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG. Bill Gates Isn’t that the truth!!!

If you use Photoshop, here’s an interesting article: 12 Common Photoshop Mistakes, Misuses & Abuses- http://is.gd/fodk – Thank you to Dawud Miracle for that good info

Hey hey hey, Baby Boomers. We’re the hot topic at computer tech shows! According to Marc Middleton at Growing Bolder, “This weekend, the [Consumer Electronic Show] CES hosted its first annual “Silvers Summit” to discuss how older Americans shop for and use consumer electronics. I’ve been using and loving computers since a year after they came out. I’m very pleased that they’ll continue to age well with me!

Have u ever heard of a warm mouse? I hadn’t but I learned. It sounds wonderful for those with arthritis or carpal tunnel. I haven’t tried it but thought I’d pass the info on for others who might be interested. [The site no longer has the information listed but you can go to http://www.warmmouse.com/ instead ] Two ideas for those conditions that I have tried successfully are to use an oversized mouse and to use a wrist brace. I personally love the glove that goes on with a built in pad made of tiny balls. The one I use most often is called a Smart Glove by IMAK

Encouragement – the gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here are some terrific Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes:

“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” Caregiving found that one.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Found by Copyblogger.

"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?" Found by Mr. ElderCare.

Encouragement – God’s Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.

Real Estate Information:

Is your city (or your elderly parent’s city) on the list of the top 10 worst foreclosure cities in 2008? http://budurl.com/10WorstForeclsCities

Several of my elderly relatives enjoy reading about Dubai. Some of yours might as well. Did you know that the world’s tallest home is in Dubai-2559 ft and 160 floors! You can fit a lot of grandkids in there http://budurl.com/TallestHomeIn Dubai

Encouragement – Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

That’s it for tonight. Check out Part 2 tomorrow, with links specific to health, elderly parents, grandkids, and more…

Yesterday I mentioned Twitter, explained it briefly, and invited y’all to join me there. Today it occurred to me to share a little more information. Specifically, why sign up for Twitter? There are actually several good reasons:

1. It’s useful and fun to find like-minded folks to share information, links, and other resources with. This could be business related, church related, caregiving related, charitable organization related, grandparent related, etc. For instance, in the group of people I twitter with, there are grandparents, elder caregivers, caregivers of children with special needs, along with business-oriented folk from the fields of real estate, marketing, blogging, and more. It’s interesting and informative.

2. It can be a great way for organizations such as churches, neighborhood watch groups, etc. to share information quickly and easily . There are several churches and youth groups that use it as an instant and constantly updated bulletin. It can be very handy to let the congregation know of an unexpected need for nursery workers, or a prayer request (not one that is confidential, of course), and more. I used to send out an email newsletter for our neighborhood watch group. If I was still doing it, I’d probably start a blog and couple it with Twitter to get crime alerts out quickly and easily, along with neighborhood goings-on, etc.

3. Families can use it with private accounts to keep each other apprised of get-togethers, prayer requests, family updates, etc. quickly and easily without having to fuss and fight with software. And by keeping it private, only those you invite in can see what others have written.

4. Speedy news for news junkies . I am signed up with a few news agencies who have discovered Twitter. CNN, the New York Times, and Reuters among others. As I mentioned yesterday, I found out about the earthquake on Twitter 1/2 hour before any of the major news sites carried it. In researching for this article, I just discovered they think they have found the cause of the Salmonella outbreak I wrote about yesterday. CNN has a story about the recall of King Nut Peanut Butter at http://budurl.com/PeanutButterRecall . I discovered this information at Twitter from a news site I just discovered, NerdNews.

You can learn more about Twitter and sign up for an account at http://twitter.com/sandwichink . Say a big hello if you do.

Here are the latest resources from my Twitter “microblog”. As you may recall, Twitter is a fun site that lets you share very short (140 characters maximum) messages with others. Those messages can range from “how’s the weather where you are” to “here’s a great recipe to try” to disaster information.  It’s been a great resource for senior home care giving resources, grandparenting fun tips, yummy recipes for our Sandwich Generation families, and even emergency information! I found out about the earthquake in Southern California last night 1/2 hour sooner through Twitter than I did from CNN, Drudge Report, or even the LA Times, thanks to Breaking News Online and others on Twitter.

Ways to Save Money on clothes for grandkids:  Target has kids’ clothes on sale for up to 75% off. This can be a good opportunity for grandparents to help their children stock up on clothes for the grandkids. You might also want to buy a few items to keep at your house for clothing accidents during a visit.

Encouragement – A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

I have to tell you, I was quite excited to “meet” an author I thoroughly enjoy online at Twitter. Brandilyn Collins has written several series including my two personal favorites, the Chelsea Adams series and the Hidden Faces series. I personally enjoy such TV crime shows as Criminal Minds, and these two series reminded me of a bit of that series, with a Christian mindset.

Ways to Save Money On Games – Battleship is an older game that’s still popular with today’s youth. Because it’s older, it’s easier to find used at yard sales and thrift stores. My grandson and I had a great time playing it this week.

Food~Fact: Some research seems to show that large amounts of garlic can shorten the duration of cold. Thanks to @Foodimentary for that great tip. My senior mom and I have to second that research. When my family started in on colds, I would head straight for the kitchen and make my dad’s Chicken Soup complete with tons of garlic, chili pepper, and red pepper. Just the smell of it made us feel better and the garlic was great at chasing away the germs!

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

Here’s a quick reminder to backup your computers, hard drives, email, etc. Good time, also, to run the defragmenter, virus checker, etc.

Got stanky laundry from messy grandkids? I loved the question and loved the advice even more. I’ll definitely be giving that combo a try!

There was another Salmonella outbreak. To be on the safe side, it’s probably wise to not eat unwashed food; raw or undercooked eggs, poultry, or meat; or raw or unpasteurized milk and dairy for the time being.

Another good tip from Foodimentary: To clean a messy bbq grill, use 1/2 of an onion to scrape off the grease and burnt-on food pieces. Use the onion like a scouring pad. I’m looking forward to giving that a try this spring!

Encouragement - In God’s Word I put my hope.

Real Estate Tweeter, OhioRealtor, had a warning for all renters. In this season of mass bankruptcies and foreclosures, watch out for fake landlords and rental scams! Be sure to pass this info on to your elderly parents if they are looking for a rental.

If you are an online entrepreneur or small business owner, you might find one or more ebooks of interest at Toren Brothers’ List of Top 10 Best EBOOKS for Online Entrepreneurs & Small Biz Owners. Many of them are free.

LookingFit.com has an interesting article discussing a study about Vitamin D being linked to the Alzheimer’s Gene. Thanks to Twitter-er Alzheimers98 for that info.

For all of us writers, Glenn Murray of the Divine Write blog, , tipped us off to 50 of the Best Websites for Writers from EduChoices.

Encouragement – The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.

If you do decide to give Twitter a try and also want to work on your personal finances, Bible Money Matters has a great list of 125 personal finance Twitterers to follow.

I learned a new Beef Stroganoff recipe to share with your whole family, from aging parents to the little grandkids, thanks to babyboomerdivas for linking to that. I must say, they find such yummy recipes!

Great goals for all senior home care givers, whether providing dementia care or general care for aging parents.

Well, that’s it. I hope you enjoyed the latest Sandwich Generation Senior Home Care Giver and Grandparent Twitter round up. There’s more to come in a week or so.