Sandwich Generation Resources

Taking care of children and parents at the same time?  we’re not alone 

10 other people wrote books about it. Check them out here:

1. The Complete Eldercare Planner, Second Edition: Where to Start, Which Questions to Ask, and How to Find Help
2. Unwrapping the Sandwich Generation. Life Vignettes about Seniors & Their Adult Boomer Children
3. The Sandwich Generation:Caught Between Growing Children and Aging Parents (free e-book!)
4. The Hard Questions For Adult Children And Their Aging Parents: 100 Essential Questions For Facing The Future Together, with Courage and Compassion
5. Navigating the Journey of Aging Parents: What Care Receivers Want
6. Caring for Your Aging Parents: A Common-Sense Guide for Transforming a Difficult Time Into a Loving, Cooperative Relationship
7. Caring for Your Parents: The Complete AARP Guide
8. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Long-Term Care Planning
9. Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents
10. Kiplinger’s Financial Solutions for the Sandwich Generation: Ensuring You Have Enough for You, Your Children, and Your Parents

A Message from Damon Dash on following your dreams. http://ping.fm/4Tz9X

LOL@ SNL’s Rachel Maddow, interviews Charlie Rangel, Nancy Pelosi & John Boehner http://ping.fm/xvH3b

Kanye West – “MBDTF” (The Samples) http://ping.fm/e3HQu

老男孩 / "Old Boy" (Internet Film) …check it out. http://ping.fm/p6fjT

@CornelWest decodes “Decoded” with Jay-Z & The Oprah Effect http://ping.fm/rC9yF

Jamie Foxx- Foxxhole Radio 11/05/2010 http://ping.fm/t8rwj

Managing Lonely http://ping.fm/cyphD

Epiphany

I had a moment of clarity last week at a vespers service at St. James chapel in Chicago. Now... I don't really go to church a lot, in fact hardly ever. But this service was particularly nice. The choir's voices were absolutely, unimaginably perfect.

A moment during the service it occurred to me that God really is Love. That God is present whenever there is Love present. Love for Life. Love for the earth. Love for each other.

In the definition of Love. you can replace the word God in every place. And everything God stands for is Love.
It was a nice realization.

Maybe I'll go to church again sometime.  

so much to do, not enough time!

Dad has had two doctor appointments this week, and one next week. My daughter is starting school the next week. I have a doctor appointment next week too. Not to mention work, play dates and general daily things that need to get done. I haven't done laundry in two weeks, it's piling up. I get home at the end of the day and have to make dinner, make sure chicabella gets showered, and into bed at an early enough time to get up so i can get to whatever the first appointment of the day is. My garden is getting overgrown.

I need an assistant. Someone to help me get everything done. I wish I could find someone to take Dad to his appointments. And take copious notes, so i know what's going on. Dad doesn't hear it all. He only hears what he wants to hear, so I am never sure what the doctor needs to happen. Sometimes he just stops medicine if he doesn't like the side effects. It's hard. I want to keep him healthy and safe while he's living with me.
I thought it was difficult taking care of a child, he's more willful and disregarding. I don't want to take his dignity away, AND I want to make sure he does what he needs to do, and doesn't just stop taking some med that he doesn't like.

I come to work, and here, I can think. I try to focus on *work* instead of him. But some days I am just not able to.

There is too much to get done,  I can't keep up with it all.

Fundraising Secret #92: Take time for yourself weekly http://ping.fm/h1J5e

Are coin-mailing charities stupid and wasteful? http://ping.fm/A0nnY

The REAL Marcus Welby, M.D. http://ping.fm/OYkQp

Air Canada Ignores Dying Boy Til He Goes Viral http://ping.fm/Hj4oe

Another Cool Tool To Optimize Your Site Loading Speed http://ping.fm/z8Hk7

New label?

Single. Suburban. Mom. now... Sandwich.
I am now taking care of my dad as well as my child.

Overwhelmed?

gotta get the house ready for my dad moving in. need to get new tires on the car. have to shift all the furniture and have a yard sale to get rid of things. goodwill!

chicabella, my daughter is going through a growth spurt or something and has some serous defiance experiments cooking.

would it be so much to ask for a couple of stress free days?
jeeze.

I do my best as a parent

I say this to myself everyday. I hear her cry about something I have no control over, i give her a hug and sooth her anxiety anyway I can. I keep her healthy, safe and sheltered. I make sure she eats good healthy food and keep her active with friends and family (as much as I can since we live so far from everyone.)

I do my best.

My best isn't always great, perfect or AWESOME!
But it's Good. It's predictable and it's what I can do.
And its okay.

Accept uncertainty.

Don't regret, even if it was a failure... or you will end up second guessing yourself for always and forever.

I am going to work on the accept uncertainty. I worry a lot about decisions I make. Especially ones for my child. I never thought i regretted decisions I've made, but then why would i be second guessing and worrying about new decisions I have to make?

Anxiety and fear must not rule my everyday life. Yet, the balance between making informed and calculated decisions with taking chances and being open to new experiences must be made.

That balance is the hard part.

decisions

as a single mom, i think the power to make decisions is the most difficult. it's great i can be the ONE to decide. no one argues with me, well, except the kid. but also, being the one on whose shoulders the failure falls if its a bad decision.... is simply awful.

i panic sometimes over a decision when it's a tough one that will have ramifications for many years. sometimes i need to bounce ideas off friends and their families to see if when i'm thinking isn't simply crazy.

i just wish there were someone for whom my daughter's welfare was a priority as much as it is for me.

I wish....

there were more to life than oil spills, war, republicans vs. the democrats and recession. i wish the news would tell us about the kid who won the spelling bee, or a mom who got a special present from her kid, or how great the gardens are doing now that it isn't raining every other day. Wouldn't it be nice to have ONE day of only good news????

wish i had someone to share her with

that's it. she does all this amazing stuff. says really funny and deep things and no one knows but me. there isn't anyone who cares as much as i do about her. And it makes me sad to think this, because what if something happens to me?

Oh there is family. My brother who would care for her. And there is her godmother, who would love her... but no one really has that significant bond besides me.

The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. — Mahatma Gandhi http://ping.fm/akgxt

Every Sitcom Uses The Same Newspaper http://ping.fm/bHedm

new csjp website - care of creation http://ping.fm/K4Uo2

What Works: Enjoy the Silence http://ping.fm/37XxX

California Bans Plastic Bags http://ping.fm/nTkhu

Apple's no-donation policy for apps is a cop-out

Apple's no-donation policy for apps is a cop-out

New Media reporting on the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty NUKETWEETS www.nuketweets.net :: pls RT :)

It has been over 135 years since J. Sterling Morton founded Arbor Day. His simple idea of setting aside a special day for tree planting is now more important than ever. http://ping.fm/kYcKE

May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the secret love and warmth of your heart. – John O’Donohue

There are altogether too many pin-#s and passwords in life. When did we become a society of secret codes? Has humanity ALWAY been like this?

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

contemplating mortality. sadness. hoping tomorrow will be better.

No magic solutions to challenges. BUT Millions of people work each day to improve the lives of others. http://www.jumo.com/

Room to Read :: soon opening 10,000th library! Help fill its shelves. Each RT provides 1 kids book in mother tongue! #tweet4books TweetAway!

I love this! http://ping.fm/MVv1R

Life is frustrating. there is so much i want to do and find it hard to keep it all in line.

It's hard to not be be trapped by that nagging curiosity: How others do it? How do they find life a partner? How can they own a home? Who earns enough to be debt free? Really? Does anyone? And the ever present one.... HOW do people keep their houses tidy and neat with a five year old running around? I know htat last one should be easy to let go of, but i cannot.

I struggle to decide everyday.... Today, what will I not do because there are simply not enough hours in the day.

And oh by the way... which dream should I shelve today? because there are just too many that don't come true, and it's easy for me to get dejected. And which ones are worth pursuing fearlessly. not easy to be fearless. And the more you pursue like that and fail, the less likely you are to feel confident about trying again with a different dream.

It so easy to forget it's all not really real.

Perspectives and subjective.

Frustration. Grouchy and a bit sad.

RT @AmiDar: OK, here we go. This is the "Help save Idealist.org" email we'll start sending out now - http://bit.ly/9phxne (expand) -...

2hrs getting a root canal redone feels like someone punched me in the jaw repeatedly.

Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. http://ow.ly/VagR

RT @mashable: In case u missed it: "Sharing Your Bra Color Is the New 25 Things on Facebook" - http://bit.ly/6dPK1W