Cargiver Self-Care

From Intel & GE - Quiet Care to monitor your aging pouse or parent

Ever wish you could let your age parent stay in their home alone but have a way to check on them and keep them safe? Thanks to Intel and GE - now you can.

The new Quiet Care system can be used in an Assisted Living facility or a home and will monitor them for changes in their behavior and send an alert if a potentially urgent situation occurs.

For more information click here

Caregiver Burnout

Vitamin D - Amazing Benefits

Intel Reader - Great for Low Vision

The Intel® Reader converts text to speech and can open—or reopen—a world of magazines, newspapers, books, greeting cards, and even menus for people almost anywhere. Perfect for those who want a mobile, easy-to-use reading solution with buttons instead of a touch screen, the Intel Reader converts text to speech by taking a picture.

A complete point-shoot-listen device, the Intel Reader needs no additional equipment, networking, or special software.

Buy it on Amazon.com

Migraines - what happens to your brain

How to freeze fresh basil

I LOVE fresh basil......... this link will take you to the Fat and Happy Blog posting that explains how to freeze your garden fresh basil.

Enjoy.
http://www.fatandhappyblog.com/2011/10/basil-cubes-how-to-freeze-fresh-basil.html

And this blog has some great recipes for fresh basil

Migraine Headache - Causes and Treatments

Some foods bring on migrane headaches, like chocolate and cheese....

Finishing Salt

Packaged in a small jar with a label, it makes a great shower favor or small gift.

3 48 ounce boxes of Morton's Kosher Coarse Salt

6 ounces of organic no-salt mixed spice

Dump it all into a giant bowl. Mixed it up with a large spoon. Filled the jars with a funnel and labeled them with round stickers. On one side I wrote what it was that was in the jar, on the other " Bridal Shower" and the date. Then we screwed the lids on the jars and that was it! Everyone took theirs and everyone commented on how excited they were to use it.

Remember. Finishing salt is tossed on when the cooking is done and the serving is about to begin. Grill a steak...finish with a nice pinch of finishing salt. Grill a piece of chicken, fish. Same thing. Cut little slabs of unsalted butter...put them on a plate, sprinkle with some salt. Done.

We chose a mixed spice mix but you could also use garlic flakes, onion flakes, whatever you might like. Easy, inexpensive (about a dollar each including the jar), nice.

World's Best Tzatziki Sauce Recipe

Tzatziki Sauce is a classic Greek Sauce often served on Gyro Sandwiches. I love it on top of many different meats and as a salad dressing or veggie dip.

Try it on chicken or pork chops ... or better yet, make Katlyn's recipe for Souvlaki...and top it with Tzatziki sauce!

Kalyn's Souvlaki
(Makes 4 -6 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

Ingredients:
4 - 6 thick boneless pork chops -cut into six pieces

Or use boneless chicken breasts

Marinade Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T dried oregano (if you have fresh oregano, even better, use 2 T of fresh)
1 T finely minced garlic

Cut pork chops into cubes about 1 1/2" - 2" square and place in zip loc bag. Combine marinade ingredients and pour over meat. Marinate in refrigerator for 6-24 hours.

Preheat grill to high and let meat come to room temperature. Thread on to skewers, putting a piece of a veggie or cherry tomato between them. (Double skewers are great if you can find them.)

When grill is hot, place Souvlaki skewers on grill and reduce heat to medium-high. Grill until Cooked through.

Click here for the Tzatziki Sauce recipe and photos

Gardensoxx.com

Gardening is the number one hobby in the United States. More and more people are growing their own food.
With Gardensoxx you can garden anywhere... patios, backyards, etc with no need to prepare the ground. If you want to grow organic, you can do that too.

Simple to plant... you can buy just the mesh sock and fill it yourself or buy the organic compound to fill it.
It can also be used to create borders and interest in the garden.

Visit their website Gardensoxx.com

Grilled Flat Bread Pizzas

The photos and recipe is from the FatandHappy Blog

A flat bread is a thinner, crispier dough that does not require yeast and sports less amounts of topping while a pizza tends to have a thicker base with much more toppings and usually covered in cheese. Flat breads are not laden in heavy, greasy cheese so you don't feel weighted down after eating them.

You can top them with about anything. One of my favorite is a basil, chicken, mushrooms and feta cheese.

Below you will find a link to the Fat and Happy Blog so you can try all her recipes for grilled flat bread pizzas. Make them for a light meal or to impress your guests. They make great appetizers too.

Tips and Techniques: Make the dough and pre-grill the flat breads up to 2 days prior to your event; store the stack in the fridge wrapped in tin foil. Make the toppings ahead of time too. Then just add the toppings to the flat breads and grill; this will leave you time to enjoy your guests and your party. Cut into squares, do not cut into triangles.

Flat Bread

2 cups flour
1 cup semolina flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water

Mix all the dry ingredients together with a fork, slowly add the water. Depending on the humidity that day you may need more or less water. Only mix this until it just comes together, careful not to over mix and do not knead it.
Divide the dough in half, half again and again until you have about 12 small balls of dough. Cover them with plastic wrap and and a warm, wet kitchen towel. Rest for 20 minutes.

Roll each dough out, you will need a little flour for the rolling surface, into a thin flat bread, place on the grill for about 2 minutes. Flip and grill on the other side - just until the dough holds its shape. Remove and cool if not using immediately or top with toppings and place back on the grill until crispy and melty..

Click here to visit the FatandHappy Blog and see her recipe for toppings.

Recipe - Fat and Happy's Pizza Breadsticks

This photo and recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs, Fat and Happy. She had a recipe swap and this recipe was submitted to her and she shared it on her web site. The goal of the swap was to create something new a simple a variation of a pizza but have the essence of pizza. She wanted something that did not require a yeast crust Fat and Happy with no assembling and proofing time.

What if the toppings were inside the dough itself like a pizza bread? Or a pizza stick. A bread stick filled with pizza toppings. It could work!

Her pizza breadstick is somewhere between a bruschetta and a grissini (breadstick.) It's perfect to complete a salad or as an addition to an hors d'oeuvres table.

Fat and Happy Food Blog Tips and Techniques: Make hundreds of variations on this recipe by changing the cheese, herb and other ingredients. Roll them long and thin or short and fat, just depends on your preference.

Fat and Happy's Pizza Breadsticks

3/4 cup white flour
1/4 cup wheat flour
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tbls fresh oregano
2 sun-dried tomatoes (4 halves)
4 olives
4 tbls olive oil
1/4 cup ice water (amount may vary)
Salt for top of breadsticks
4 thin slices of prosciutto ( optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Place the flour, salt, baking powder, oregano, sun dried tomatoes and olives in the food processor; pulse to combine and cut up the ingredients. Pulse while drizzling in the olive oil. Continue to pulse while slowly adding small spoons of water in, be careful to not dump in all the water. The dough will combine into a ball, only add enough water for this to happen. Pulse the dough a bit after each water addition to see if it comes together before adding more. The dough will be somewhat moist.

Place the dough on the counter, cut it into equal parts and roll each section out on a lightly floured surface. You should be able to get 12 breadsticks, depending on how long you roll them out.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Wrapping a thin slice of prosciutto around the bread stick is optional at this point but it's so damn delicious when it bakes into a crunch bite. Carefully hold up one end of the rolled stick and lightly wrap a thin piece of prosciutto around it the best you can.

Bake until the the bread sticks become slightly browned; for a crunchy breadstick this took 25 minutes in my oven. For a softer pizza breadstick remove them at about 22 minutes. Allow to cool slightly on the pan then enjoy.

An Introduction to Straw Bale Gardening

This is simply another form of container gardening and is great for those who can't bend much, or have limited space.

This link will take to you to a web site that will explain the How to's in detail.
Click here.

Please follow them on Facebook.

Click here

Save $$ Make Not Buy Your Own Sun Tea .. stop buying it bottled

Sun tea in mason jars, brewed by nature. Photo by unintonsachabrauerei.blogspot.com.

Tea is Second only to water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage around the world. I am NOT a tea fan but I know tons of people who are and they often buy it already bottled.

Sun Tea is easy to make and fun and kids and grandkids love making it...and it only takes about 2 hours on hot sunny day. Add lemon or sweetner (or lemonade if you're making an Arnold Palmer -1/2 tea, 1/2 lemonade.... add vodka, regular or flavored and it becomes a Jon Daly) Put the tea in in your own drink container or drink it out of mason jars.

Because it is not boiled, many suggest you only make enough for a day and refrigerate it once it's brewed.

Wash your container well.. add water and your favorite tea (and washed herbs if you so desire) ...seal and set in the sun.

National Tea Day Is June 10th

ScareCrow Motion Activated Sprinker

Protect your yard, fruit trees, vegetables, flowers and water features from hungry or destructive animal intruders. The ScareCrow® motion-activated sprinkler automatically detects deer, raccoons, heron, dogs and more as they approach, and repels them with a short but startling burst of water. The sudden noise, movement and spray scares animals away, teaching them to avoid the area in future.
The ScareCrow:

works day and night without chemicals or unsightly barriers
can be linked to other ScareCrows to form an effective water barrier
conserves water - uses just 2 to 3 cups per deterrence
operates for up to six months on a single nine-volt battery
one scarecrow covers approximately 1000 sq. ft.

They are hard to find but you should be able to order one by clicking on this link

Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler

Know what's in your supplements!

For many years, I was one of those folks who look for the cheapest vitamins and supplements, convinced that they were basically about the same.

NOT SO. Magnesium Stearate is an additive you DO NOT WANT in your supplement.

Don't throw your money away by buying supplements with ingredients that actually inhibit the absorption of the very nutrient or vitamin you think you're getting.

Watch the video.

Atrial Fibrillation: The Latest Management Strategies - Get info and know the risks

We are fortunate to live in the age of technology and instant downloads! This is good, in-depth information from one of the nation's most trusted research hospitals....If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with Atrial Fib, get the information you need in one place... from a trusted source!

A new report from one of the nation’s leading cardiology research centers --

Introducing:

Atrial Fibrillation: The Latest Management Strategies

Straightforward, informed answers to your most important questions about living with atrial fibrillation - the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. Written by Hugh G. Calkins, M.D., Director of the Arrhythmia Service and Electrophysiology Lab at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Ronald Berger, M.D., Ph.D., an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias.

If you’ve ever run up a flight of stairs, chased a tennis ball across the court, or reacted in fright at a scary movie, you know what a pounding heart feels like . . .
But for the 2.3 million Americans who suffer from atrial fibrillation (AF or AFib), a racing heart is a way of life. Simple tasks like getting out of bed in the morning or rising from a chair can cause dizziness, weakness, shortness of breath, or heart palpitations. For these people, AF severely impairs quality of life - and even when symptoms stemming from AF are mild, the disorder can seriously impact health, increasing the risk of stroke and heart failure.
AF can be a debilitating even deadly condition. Fortunately, it can be successfully managed - but there are various approaches for treating AF or preventing a recurrence. How do you and your doctor choose which approach is right for you?
If you or a loved one has AF, there are so many questions: Do I need an anticoagulant . . . should I be taking medication to control my heart rate . . . will my symptoms respond to cardioversion . . . if I need an antiarrhythmic drug to control AF episodes, which one should I take . . . when is an ablation procedure appropriate . . . and more.

It’s critically important to learn everything you can now -- so you can partner with your doctor effectively, ask the right questions, and understand the answers.

To help you, we asked two eminent experts at Johns Hopkins to share their expertise and hands-on experience with arrhythmia patients in an important new report, Atrial Fibrillation: The Latest Management Strategies.
Dr. Hugh Calkins and Dr. Ronald Berger are ideally positioned to help you understand and manage your AF. Together with their colleagues at Johns Hopkins, they perform approximately 2,000 electrophysiology procedures and 200 pulmonary vein isolation procedures for atrial fibrillation each year.

Hugh Calkins, M.D. is the Nicholas J. Fortuin, M.D. Professor of Cardiology, Professor of Pediatrics, and Director of the Arrhythmia Service, the Electrophysiology Lab, and the Tilt Table Diagnostic Lab at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has clinical and research interests in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias with catheter ablation, the role of device therapy for treating ventricular arrhythmias, the evaluation and management of syncope, and the study of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia.
Ronald Berger, M.D., Ph.D., a Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins, is Director of the Electrophysiology Fellowship Program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He serves on the editorial board for two major journals in the cardiovascular field and has written and coauthored more than 100 articles and book chapters.

Atrial Fibrillation: The Latest Management Strategies is available to you instantly in a digital PDF download. Simply click the order button below, and in a few moments you can begin reading this important report!

"I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest . . . "

An arrhythmia is an abnormality in the timing or pattern of the heartbeat, causing the heart to beat too rapidly, too slowly, or irregularly. Sounds pretty straightforward, but there’s a lot we don’t know about why the heart rhythm goes awry . . . or the best way to treat it.
In Atrial Fibrillation: The Latest Management Strategies, we focus on what we DO know. In page after page of this comprehensive report, we address your most serious concerns about living with AF, such as:

I don’t have any symptoms. Is my problem definitely AF?
Can drinking alcohol trigger or worsen AF? What about extra weight?
Is every person who has AF at risk for a stroke?
If my doctor suspects AF, will I have to wear an implantable or event monitor to be sure?
Why does AF often show up later in life?
What would you recommend to the older patient - 75 and older - who has AF but no bothersome symptoms?
What do you recommend for the person with longstanding persistent AF?
Is the AF experienced by an otherwise healthy person different from that of a person with underlying heart disease or other health issues?
What are the differences among: paroxysmal AF, persistent AF, and longstanding persistent AF?
What is the "pill-in-the-pocket" approach to AF?

Anticoagulation Therapy: What You Should Know

While AF is generally not life threatening, for some patients it can increase the likelihood of blood clots forming in the heart. And if a clot travels to the brain, a stroke will result. Anticoagulation therapy is used to prevent blood clot formation in people with AF . . .
ptom Control: The Art of Rate and Rhythm Control For many patients and their doctors, it’s difficult to achieve and maintain heart rhythm. Two key management strategies are used: heart rate and heart rhythm control. In Atrial Fibrillation: The Latest Management Strategies, you’ll read an in-depth discussion of the benefits of rate versus rhythm control for AF:

What have we learned from the AFFIRM study, and how has this knowledge affected the management of AF?
What is catheter ablation of the AV (atrioventricular) node?
Why is cardioversion needed?
Are there different types of cardioversion?
What is chemical cardioversion? What is electrical cardioversion?
Can medication be used to convert the heart back to normal sinus rhythm?
Which antiarrhythimic drugs are used to treat AF?
How is catheter ablation for AF performed?
What is pulmonary vein antrum isolation (PVAI) and how is it performed?
Who are the best candidates for PVAI?

There’s more to Atrial Fibrillation: The Latest Management Strategies, much more.

We explain surgical ablation of AF, a procedure performed through small incisions in the chest wall . . . discuss when it’s appropriate to seek a second opinion . . . take a close look at strokes and explain the warning signs and differences among ischemic, thrombotic, embolic, and hemorrhagic strokes . . . and provide an arrhythmia glossary of key AF terms used by electrophysiologists and cardiologists.

Direct to You From Johns Hopkins - America’s #1 Hospital

Atrial Fibrillation: The Latest Management Strategies is designed to give you unprecedented access to the expertise of the hospital ranked #1 of America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. You simply won’t find a more knowledgeable and trustworthy source of the medical information you require. A tradition of discovery and medical innovation is the hallmark of Johns Hopkins research. Since its founding in 1889, The Johns Hopkins Hospital has led the way transferring the discoveries made in the laboratory to the administration of effective patient care. No one institution has done more to earn the trust of the millions of men and women diagnosed with AF and other cardiovascular conditions.

For more information and for how to order your report, click here

Sitting Tai Chi (wheelchair or chair)

Simple Qigong Exercises - Seated Qigong Introduction

Cheyne Towers introduces some simple qigong exercises that can be done in a seated position. If you would like to learn more, please visit Cheyne's website http://www.HeartMindTherapies.com

This is a very soothing video- filmed in nature, birds are chirping... I think you'll like it. I do.

Simple Qigong Exercises - Arm waves seated.m4v

Senior Journal