A Free Gift for Your Grandchildren

Doesn’t it seem like the word “free” is overused today, especially on the ‘net? Don’t you hate it when you see the word “free” in an advertisement or headline, only for it to turn out you have to fulfill a convoluted series of steps just to get your free thing-a-ma-jig?

1. Purchase the product on a full moon in a month that includes the letter “u.”
2. Photocopy the UPC code.
3. Tattoo the UPC code to your forehead.
4. Kiss your social life good-bye.

And don’t you hate it when you’re lured to a Web site with the promise of something free, only to find out you’ve been subjected to lame, early morning humor?

Here is a refreshing antidote:

http://www.ourgrandchild.com/familystory/index.htm

This site sells products for grandparents who think that toys for kids today are junk (and they’re right). This includes stuff like wooden toys, wagons, and rocking toys. But they’ve also included a form that allows you to enter information about yourself and your life, questions like:

- What are some of your memories of your parents?
- What were your childhood hobbies?
- What were your holiday traditions?

After you fill out the form, click the “Create Story” button. Your story displays in a plain format, which you can either print or copy into a word processor.

This looks like a quick way to jot down your memories, but be careful – this isn’t a word processing program, so if your computer hiccups just as you’re typing the last sentence, you’ll lose all of your information. To avoid this, you can copy what you’re typing into Notepad or a word processor and save it as you work. (You may think this will never happen, but when it comes to computers, Murphy’s Law rules.)

Happy memory hunting!

~Mary Kaye