Alzheimer's Disease is well-known to the general public, and yet still so much of a mystery to the doctors and researchers working tirelessly for a cure to it. It has impacted beloved senior relatives and friends of mine, as have other types of dementia that are similar, but different.  One online friend, Dr. David Thomas, MD, has a particularly frustrating disease, called Lewy Body Dementia Disease.

According to the Alzheimer Society, "'Related dementias' resemble Alzheimer's disease in that they also involve a progressive degeneration of brain cells that is currently irreversible. They include the dementia associated with Vascular Dementia (the second most common dementia after Alzheimer's disease), Frontotemporal Dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Lewy body Dementia Disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington disease. Sometimes a person may have symptoms such as sudden onset of memory loss, behaviour changes, or difficulties with speech and movement. These symptoms may suggest a dementia other than Alzheimer's disease. Lewy Body Dementia Disease is one of these dementias. In any event a person should always seek a thorough medical assessment if any of these symptoms are present.

Regardless of the type of dementia, individuals are encouraged to obtain information and support from the Alzheimer Society.

In spite of his disease, David has maintained a very useful and interesting website, writing many of the articles himself until recently. I am holding him in prayer often, as he has started to relate the way this degenerative disease is getting much worse.

I was very interested to note that his site was updated this week, with some very useful news for our beloved seniors who may be dealing with this. It's also quite useful, of course, for those who are caring for the elderly parents who have received this diagnosis.

"Nearly 80% of people with Lewy body dementias (LBD) received a diagnosis for a different cognitive, movement or psychiatric disorder before ultimately learning they had LBD, according to the Lewy Body Dementia Association’s Caregiver Burden in Lewy Body Dementias, released today…

…Half of people seeking a diagnosis saw 3 or more doctors for 10 visits over the course of a year before they were diagnosed with LBD, and diagnosis required more than two years from the onset of symptoms for 31% of cases."

Although prognosis varies among individuals, LBD is often a more rapidly progressive disease than Alzheimer’s disease, and early diagnosis provides families an opportunity to plan for expected decline in cognition, function and behavior" To read more, head on over to the Knitting Doc site  .

In case you are wondering about the name of his site, David is a physician who specialized in psychiatry and was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia Disease (LBD) in October, 2007. His website's name reflects that he also is an expert at knitting – the Manly art. With dear family and friends and, yes, men who love to knit, that definitely caught my eye many months ago. I was so glad to discover that he is also a brother in Christ! 

His site does cover some knitting, but primarily news and information about Lewy Body Dementia Disease and, since there are several posts written that explain what he's feeling as he deals with it, it's particularly useful to caregivers for their senior parents.

If you or a beloved senior are looking for information about the various types of dementia that exist, or specifically Lewy Body Dementia Disease, I would highly recommend this site as a useful resource. And while you're visiting, do be sure to be praying for David, his sweet wife, and their family.

I did find two resource books that might interest any of you who are looking into Lewy Body Dementia Disease or are in the throes of it already. The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Dementia with Lewy Bodies has been out since 2002 and the cover states it has been updated to include the internet. A Caregiver's Guide to Lewy Body Dementia, on the other hand, just came out in October, 2010. If you'd like to take a look at them, just click on either book's picture.

Also, if you discover other good resources to help with the Sandwich Generation issues of caring for elderly parents dealing with dementia symptoms, I'd love it if you'd let us know in the comments…

P.S. I found one more useful resource – this one is for men who knit. Just click here to find out more about it. Knitting is definitely a great stress reliever, a good way to exercise your hands, and even an excellent and healthy brain activity! 

Kaye

I just returned from a trip to visit relatives and was so tickled to see how great the Sunflower House is doing. I couldn't wait to take some photos with my easy to use digital camera. Sadly, though, I couldn't use my favorite Canon Powershot a1100is digital camera in the morning. That sweet and silver camera that makes me look so good had pulled a disappearing act, due to all the Sandwich Generation juggling I've been doing recently. Fortunately my trusty AT&T iPhone makes a nice substitute camera so I used it for these A.M. pix.

Aren't those two nice shots? Although, not quite as sharp as I like. I especially love the not-traditional, almost autumnal, one in the second photo.  :)

I am happy to report, though, that by the late afternoon I found my camera, HOORAY!   Would you believe it was in the same place I'd looked THREE times. It had fallen out of my bag onto the back seat floor of my car and was hiding partially under the seat. I had lifted that seat earlier but somehow missed it. I immediately swapped out my Canon Digital Powershot camera from the black case that was hard to see for one of those cute bright pink cases to make it easier for these hate-to-admit-to-aging baby boomers generation eyes to find.

Now that I had my favorite easy to use digital camera, it was time for more photos of The Sunflower House and its Sunflowers:

Isn't it cool the way they all face the same direction. From what I understand, Sunflowers follow the sun throughout the day, just as we should be following the Son of God throughout our days.

Notice how much crisper these three pictures are than the two above. I especially noticed the difference in the two shots of the maroonish sunflower.

I really appreciate my Canon Powershot A1100IS, though I also enjoyed using my friend's Canon Powershot SD1100 IS ELPH digital camera last week. Both are definitely easy to use and very SWEET digital cameras!

I'm also appreciating my senior mom, who made the whole Sunflower House a gardening priority. She watered it daily even when I was gone and it was sooooo hot. I really appreciate her for doing that, as do our grandkids. The Sunflower House activities for grandparents and their grandchildren are in full swing, as you might imagine. In fact, they're coming by tomorrow so I'm hoping to get more sweet and adorable shots then. I can't wait to show them all the blooms, along with the ones, like this one, that are just getting ready to bloom. 

And while I'm on a roll of appreciation, I also really appreciate the great tips and ideas we get from Sweet Shot Tuesday at My 3 Boybarians to help us with our digital camera. They may be easy to use, but with the Sweet Shot tips, they'll be even easier! You'll love the ideas that can help you get even sweeter photos to save and savor your family memories for decades to come. 

I have to tell you, this Sandwich Generation grandmother is SO happy today! It's almost the end of July! I've seen "Christmas in July" blog posts, chatter about Halloween and Harvest items in the stores, have started to shop for cute new pumpkin and autumn leaves clipart, AND my grandchildren's school schedules are starting to show up. I am SO happy because all of that means that AUTUMN – my VERY FAVORITE SEASON, is getting closer. I'm actually hoping that, since summer started early and HOT, maybe, just maybe, AUTUMN will come early too!!!

Of course, with autumn and school getting closer, so is our Awana Bible Memory verses program for the grand children. Thus it's a good thing we're getting close to the end of our Love Is – 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 and 13 summer Bible memorization activities for grandparents and their grandchildren! Only a few more weeks to go and this week's is VERY short!

Love never fails.

1 Corinthains 13: 8a

How cute!!! But, while the photo of these scrunched little critters may be adorable, this is definitely one of those inspirational Bible verses that is VERY serious, VERY short and yet, VERY full!

Full of God's love for us that, truly, never fails! Full of the need for us to remember that – no matter how frustrated we may feel, how difficult the Sandwich Generation issues of life may be, or how scrunched we may feel – we need to rest in our Lord and ask HIM to fill US with a love that never fails. Full of the need to set that example for all our beloveds in our lives – especially those sweet little grandkids who are watching us!   NOT easy, yet SO worthwhile!

For more encouraging Bible verses and lovely photos to encourage and inspire all of us in the never-aging Baby Boomers Generation, caring for elderly parents and granny nanny-ing and pappy-ing grandchildren, be sure to visit Internet Cafe Devotions for Word-Filled Wednesday. Also be sure to check out the sweet stories and examples of love in our families at OneSoBlessed.

And…

Enjoying a pleasant visit with a dear friend in the nursing home where she lives, we were chatting away when one of the women in charge of fun activities for the elderly residents there came to get her for a word game. She invited me to come and join in, so off we went.

I was really glad for the opportunity to play a game with her and see a little more of her residence. They played one of their fun memory  games where the leader picked a letter and asked us to think of words that started with that letter. Some of the residents came up with a lot of words, some didn't try at all, and  others worked hard to come up with a handful. The daughter of one resident played for her senior mom and my friend and I enjoyed a lot of kibitzing as well.

As we were playing, I realized it would make for fun activities for grandparents and their grandchildren. I know that if one of my three oldest grandkids had been there, they would have thoroughly enjoyed playing with them. (And just think, it does double duty as being one of the phonics resources tools we can use if we are teaching a grand child to read! )

It can sometimes be difficult for older grandparents / great-grandparents and their grandchildren to find things to talk about. If your family is dealing with this or if you'd just like to enjoy some fun group activities for the elderly and not so elderly relatives in your family, this would be a good place to start. I'm planning on adding this to our list of car games, especially when we're traveling with their great-grandmothers! 

Interesting mental activities for the whole family – from the the senior citizens to the young grandkids, done in such a way as to make it comfortable and understandable for all ages, including the elderly relatives even if they may be at a season in life when they tend to get confused easily, are a great way to help each generation exercise their brains and add to your fun family memories. That's definitely a win-win for the Sandwich Generation issues of life.

P.S. If you'd like more fun mental activities for your senior parents, Alzheimer's Association Presents The Big Brain Puzzle Book , Just click here.

Webkinz game-playing activities for grandparents and their grandchildren are so much fun. I enjoy doing it with my up-close grandkids AND we’ve discovered it also makes for fun ideas ideas for grandparents to stay in touch and close to many of our grandchildren when living far away, depending on their ages and abilities.

Last week, I detailed buying buying your own Webkinz stuffed animals along with a Webkinz for each of your grandchildren and suggested getting them to match the "Love is" Bible Memory verses series we’ve been working on. Combining 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 and 13 – Love is patient and kind and… – with a fun time of playing with the grandkids, near and far, can be a terrific way of “sealing” in those inspirational Bible verses. I already have the Webkinz elephant to help us remember Love…it does not keep a record of wrongs. For my next stuffed animal, I’m thinking of a cute Webkinz Penguin to help us remember Love is Kind!

Today, we are going to discuss how to play Webkinz tournament games with our grandkids – near and far, step by step. If your grandchild is new to Webkinz also, tell them what to do as you are doing it. Make sure to keep reminding them, "don’t get ahead of me, sweetie. Do JUST what I tell you to do." If they push the wrong button, it can mean having to leave Webkinz and starting over, just to keep from being to confusing. And that can be a tad frustrating to some. I have been able to do this successfully with my six and seven year old granddaughters. Different grandchildren have different skill levels. We just have to experiment with each to see when they are ready to try this. When you and they are:

1.     Open Webkinz and log in.

2.     Determine which zone they are in, and get in the same zone.

3.     Click on things to do.

4.  In the middle column, under ARCADE, click on tournament arena.

5.  In the left column, click on PVP play.

6.  Click on the game you want to play.

7.  Scroll down on the LEFT column and select the game you want. My older grandkids love checkers. For the younger ones, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Webkinz SuperModel, or Chef Challenge work well. For the most part, if you don’t know how to play a specific game, don’t worry. Once in the game, they almost all have very easy directions, with a couple of exceptions. One exception is Goober's Atomicolicious. It's not only HARD to spell, I just couldn't figure out how to play it even after reading the directions twice. The really sad part – my 7 year old granddaughter can play it just fine! Switcherooz was tough for me to understand because the directions didn't show clearly. The funny part is that my granddaughter again understood it ok and I was able to kind of figure it out and even won. Go figure.

8.  You should see your grandchild’s name on the right side – and it should look something like this:

If not, you aren't in the same zone and you will need to go back to last week’s directions in Webkinz Stuffed and Virtual Animals – Activities for Grandparents and Their Grandchildren – Part 1 for getting in the right zone.

(Basically, at that point, click the cell phone at the bottom, have your grandchild click zone, tell you what color their phone is (if they say grey, tell them to hit power)  then you click on zone and select the same color. )

9.  Assuming you ARE seeing their name and it’s ready for play, your grandchild should then see a notice you have invited them to play. IF they have waited patiently (good to remind them that Love is patient), they can then click on the button to accept and you’ll both be “put into” the game. IF they forgot and clicked too soon, they may find they are playing someone else (an anonymous player) not you. I have one sweetie that happens to a lot, she just gets so excited.  If that happens, tell them to click the x in the top right box. If they absolutely can’t find that, they sometimes have to log out and then log back in. Then just go through the steps again.

10.  Play the game and have fun. When one of you wins, you'll see a screen similar to this with the Webkinz money each of you won.

The first few times, like most everything else in life, are the hardest. After a while it gets quite easy and a lot of fun. You might want to set up a regular weekly or monthly time to do this. Or just play it by ear. Sometimes they will call and I have to explain I’m not home, or I can’t play right now, and they are fine with that. But when you can, it’s definitely worth learning all this! You should have heard the giggles from my little granddaughter this morning. (My senior mom and I had to chuckle though. This cute little grandchild called my mom later in the day and asked if Great-grandma would like to play a game. She was so puzzled when Great-grandma explained she did not have a computer and did not want one. "But Grandma, we could have so much fun playing games together," she said. Great-grandma wisely pointed out they would save the computer games for Grandma Kaye and they would enjoy other things like talking about stickers. )

After you are all done playing, if you stay on the phone, you might want to encourage them to learn how to earn Webkinz money by working through some of the daily activities with them. For more on that, check out Webkinz Stuffed and Virtual Animals Activities for Grandparents and Their Grandchildren – Part 3, and I'll show you those fun activities for Sandwich Generation grandparents and their grandchildren in more detail. Then, you and your grandkids will have a grand time making your own fun family Webkinz memories together!

P.S. Would you like me to make buying a Webkinz stuffed animal for your own grandkids and yourself ultra easy. Just click here for a very cute Webkinz Pug who looks quite patient and kind.

Our Bible memory verses project from the Love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 and 13 is going well for us. I hope and pray that if it is one of the summer activities for grandparents and their grandchildren that you are also enjoying, that it's going great for you too!

Yesterday my grandsons and I had such a fun time making our own little Love Bunch (my term – can you recognize the never-aging Baby Boomers Generation tip of the hat to the Brady Bunch? ), or as my younger, hipper seven year old grandson prefers, the Love Group.

They gathered all their Webkinz and other stuffed animals together and we went through each of the lines in this Bible passage, 1 Corinthians, starting with "Love is." They then decided which of their animals had a "personality" to match that particular line. They had so much fun thinking it through, followed by a lovely hour or so of playing with the stuffed animals – some of which had been hiding in the bottom of the closet for months. (Have you ever discovered that if you keep different toys in boxes and rotate the boxes in and out, it's like brand new toys each time a different box comes out? ).

We talked about love that is patient and, since they had no snail toy – don't laugh, they do make them – like this cute snail toy from Russ Berrie.

Aren't those eyes cute!  Anyway, since they don't have one of these, they decided to go with their stuffed alligator. Alligators are famous for their patience as they wait for their "dinner."

For love is kind, they chose one of their beloved teddy bears – a cute Panda – and not just any Panda. For this they did have a favorite Webkinz Panda.

So much fun, and so much positive focusing on God's Word in 1 Corinthians 13! I love that, when they again play with their Webkinz and other stuffed animals, they might be reminded of God's Word. And, since I'd already decided to get them each a Webkinz each Christmas to make sure their accounts stay up-to-date, I'm already looking forward to buying them with these verses in mind in order to "fill in the gaps." Fun for them AND fun for us, don't you think?

I'll be posting the rest of the photos from our Love Bunch, errr Group, for you and your grandkids (and VBS or Sunday School) pleasure on Tuesday for Sweet Shots Tuesday. Be sure to check back for the fun! If you don't want to forget, just sign up for the free SandwichINK updates in the top right column with the lightbulb and you'll get all the updates easily in your very own email box.

Today, we were having fun singing some of the songs we've been using throughout this series. So far, our favorites are I Will Boast in the Lord and  The Golden Rule by Rob Evans the Donut Man. You should have seen my oldest grandson and me in the car, with our arms "dancing" to the Donut Man Song, kind of like that old Dance Like An Egyptian song. I even made up some simple and fun hand movements for I Will Boast:

• Wise man – point to brain
• Strong man – Bend arms and put them up to show off muscles
• Rich man – rub your fingers together to symbolize money
• Humble – bow your head
• Remainder of lyrics – Put hands to mouth like microphone or megaphone – or just have fun dancing, which is what my grandkids did.

Speaking of the Donut Man, I found two more of his songs that work well with this series. God Lives In Us from The Donut Man Bible Songs Volume 2 (which also has The Golden Rule) and from The Donut Man Bible Songs Volume 1 is This Is My Command both by Rob Evans the Donut Man. My oldest grandson is thrilled. He has been asking for a Donut Man CD or DVD since we started listening to the Golden Rule so I think I'll get one, but for the time being, I downloaded the MP3s of each of these songs so you can enjoy them as well. You'll find one in the Smilebox below and the second will be in next Friday's Smilebox – just for you and your sweet grandkids.

P.S. Smilebox is great for fun activities for grandparents and their grandchildren! And don't forget…

Do any of you in the never-aging Baby Boomers Generation remember the POG craze – those silly little milk bottle caps that kids loved to collect, trade, or play with? It hit about the time my girls were tweens and we had those cute milk caps coming out of our ears.

Or how about those adorable Russ Berrie Trolls Dolls from our own youth. I just LOVED each little troll toy I had way back then.

Now there's a new craze and our grandkids (mine anyway, plus tons of others based on what I saw at the mall yesterday and read online tonight) are loving them to pieces. They have a variety of names, including Shaped Rubber Bands or Silly Bandz. They are basically rubber bands that come in a huge variety of shapes. There are animal shaped rubber bands,

musical instrument rubber band bracelets,

dinosaur shaped rubber band bracelets

pretty princess silly bandz bracelets

and so many more. I bought a Wild West set of shaped rubber bands yesterday

to add to the collection of my local grandkids. Aren't they cute? Apparently these rubber band bracelets are all very popular for trading so the more the merrier.

We first discovered them at the airport where they run about $5 for a dozen. It was better at the mall – $4 for a dozen. When I went on a hunt for where to get the cheapest shaped rubber bands/silly bandz bracelets, I found that Amazon seems to have the best price – 72 total in 6 varieties of the Shaped Rubber Bands – Silly Bandz  for $8.76 and free shipping. However, the review says these are smaller than the originals. Good for little ones or just trading.

Even though most of my granddaughters are pretty tiny, I think I'm going to "splurge" on Walmart's silly bandz princess set – 48 for $10.99 – for my long distance grandprincesses. 

They're not available in the stores, but can be shipped to their local Walmart for free or very inexpensively to their home. They'd be happy with either but the princess collection would be ultra-special. I love fun and inexpensive ideas for grandparents to stay in touch and close to grandchildren when living far away and this will definitely be a cute one.

Some caveats do come with these fun little shaped rubber bands. Aside from the expected warning - not for under 5 years old - you need to monitor them on the child's wrists. Especially if they put several on. One of my grandkids did a bunch, and the arm started changing colors. Needless to say we got them off quickly, and now limit how many go on, and for how long. And never let them wear them to bed.

Also, some schools are now banning these silly bandz bracelets as the kids love to trade them, sometimes in class, and they can be a real distraction. I would suggest calling your school before your grandchild takes any silly bandz bracelets there. Still, they're a silly and fun new craze and I bet they'd be great for making 3d craft projects with.

Have your grandkids discovered these Silly Bandz yet? What do they think of them? Have you found better resources for purchasing them? We'd love to hear.

Kaye

This tiger picture has really resonated with us and our grandkids to help us remember that – Love…it is not easily angered! So fun for our 1 Corinthians 13 – Love is always patient and kind series. That doesn't mean, of course, that those angel grandkids of ours don't sometimes forget and have a temper flare up. To be honest, if you are driving with me and someone cuts me off, I'm afraid I'd have to confess I don't usually sit there with a sweet smile on my face and a halo over my head. I'm really working on that though – for both them and me. And hopefully, this fun photo and some of the activities for grandparents and their grandchildren that are following, will help you and me both!

It's hot right now. In fact, where I live, it's REALLLLLLY HOT right now! That means tempers are even more likely to spark and we all have less energy to work on fun projects, even with the air conditioning cranked up high! BUT now is the perfect time to do it, for all those reasons, so I thought I'd look for easier and cooler projects for us this week, starting with a couple of movies. We can sit and cuddle, watch a cute show or two, and enjoy ice water, chips, and each other's company.

For the younger grand-set, I always love the Christian childrens Hermie and Friends DVDs. Antonio Meets His Match and To Share or Nut To Share are both good ones for watching and seeing how to – and NOT to – deal with anger.

The Karate Kid is one of the hot new movies right now. I am, personally, NOT recommending this movie for young children. A friend and I went to see it. We did enjoy it over all, however we both agreed it was quite intense. I was actually surprised to discover it is rated PG instead of PG-13! The first half hour + has several graphic scenes of bullying older children beating up the young, 12 year old star – a lot! However, that being said, I know many of our grandkids will see it. If they have, it can be used as an excellent tool for discussing anger, how to be angry and not sin, how to deal with problems with friends, etc. If they have seen and liked the original Karate Kid, the same is true for that and they might enjoy watching it again. (Such is my Karate Kid review )

With the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Programs activities for grandparents and their grandchildren, reading a book together that brings this up can be a great "multi-tasking" option for us. Educational, character-building, and earning a new book. Terrific! Little Women and Little Men are classics that both have opportunities to point the way to dealing with anger appropriately vs. inappropriately. 

For younger children, there is a gorgeously illustrated book, Bible Verse ABC's with the CobbleKids, that puts a Bible verse to the different letters of the alphabet. It is all positive character traits so it doesn't mention anger directly but points to the positives including:

• Roman 13:3 Do what is good
• James 1:2 Consider it all joy
• 1 Corinthians 13: 4 Love is patient, love is kind
• Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit

Speaking of this summer's Bible memory verses series, Love is, and last summer's, The Fruit of the Spirit, here's another song for children (and all us granny nannies and pappies who love fun camp-style songs!!! ) And yes, this is definitely one of those special and fun Christian songs my grand children and I absolutely loved singing together! It focuses on the fruit of the Spirit but since both sets of Bible verses are excellent for children and overlap wonderfully, I think it's also quite appropriate for this series. 

Gary Strickland – a talented musician, actor, singer, author, and more – who's almost in the never-aging Baby Boomers Generation, wrote it for his church's summer camp and we're so glad he did. And, be sure to read his story about his elderly mother. It brought sweet tears to my eyes as I saw his goals so wonderfully matched ours – to make every moment of our life count as we deal with the Sandwich Generation issues of life, caring for elderly parents and doing fun activities like these with our grandkids!

Kaye

Happy Father's Day to the Sandwich Generation caring for elderly parents and staying busy with the grandkids. I hope today is relaxed and fun for you. But even if it's full of the Sandwich Generation issues we know so well, stop and take just a moment to enjoy one of my Smilebox ecards playing one of the Amy Grant songs from Legacy Hymns & Faith, "This is my Father's World," which is a lovely hymn song of old that is just as beautiful today. I do love timeless praise and worship music, don't you?

For those of us with fathers who have gone ahead of us to heaven, I pray today will be a day full of rich memories of them, as we are busy making new memories in various activities for grandparents and their grandchildren along. Have a blessed day!

My oldest grand-tween will shortly become a grand-teen. We're enjoying little previews of that as we watch one friend after another celebrating their own teen-ship this spring and summer. I even got to enjoy a birthday gift shopping expedition with her this week for one of her friends. In the process I discovered it's much harder shopping for teens and tweens than it is for the little ones. For the most part though, it does seem like shopping for a brand new teen is pretty much like shopping for a tween, making it easier this year. I suspect that will start to change over the next year or so but this granny nanny will enjoy it while it lasts.

I pretty much just followed her around as she compared one item to another to another. She has great taste and a much better sense of what her age likes, so that just made sense. I did, however, jot down notes in case you are also looking for gifts for tweens OR, like us, brand new teenagers – (mostly tween or teen girls).

Grandma and Grand-Tween's Top Ten Gifts for Tweens and Young Teenagers (mostly girl gifts – tho 1 and 10 are great for boys, too) :

1. Bouncy Balls Kit - this enables them to make their own balls
2. One Year Diary
   
3. Bead jewelry kit - one that comes with lots of letters
4. CDs, such as Britt Nicole or Jonas Brothers music
5. Nail Polish
   
6. Manicure accessories
7. Cute and colorful socks
   
8. Jewelry – BFF (best friend forever) are very popular although I, personally, avoid those as they can lead to hurt feelings. Smiley faces and peace signs are all the rage again – making those of us grandparents who are also part of the never-aging the Baby Boomers Generation smile a lot!
9. Lip Gloss and Lip Smackers
10. Gift Certificate – my favorites are from Target as they have many fun choices that are almost as much fun to play with as to spend!

We had a great time, and my foot didn't hurt too bad by the end of it. I would suggest, though, that you head for the Dollar Store to stock up on cute bags, gift wrap, cards, and tissue. I spent $6 on one bag, one card, and some tissue! If my dear sweet 5th metatarsal fracture had been cooperating better, I'd have saved about $3. Over the course of the year, that can really add up! I'd much rather spend the money on more gift and less wrap. I'm already planning on a trip there in the next couple of weeks with my senior mom. We'll just have to have fun stocking up on several options so we are prepared the next time this happens. Preparation is a vital part of the Sandwich Generation, don't you think?