So what is new with Bette? The list is so long that I don’t know where to begin. As I go through my news, I will be interjecting a few little ditties. They are the first letters in some very familiar Christmas carols. For example: JBJBJATW would stand for Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle All the Way. Let’s see how smart you all are.
GGROBAR would describe how busy the last few weeks have been. Two weeks ago our church sponsored a wonderful mission. There was a huge music component to it, so I was swamped with rehearsals, grumpy choir members, and a ton of stress. Well the mission was a huge success, as was the music. This priest writes a lot of music and has an incredible voice. He was directing the choir and kept saying, “Stop being so catholic.” By the time the concert night arrived, we were looking and sounding more like a southern Baptist group than a midwestern Catholic choir.
The mission ended on a Tuesday night and I had to leave Thursday morning at 6:00 for a conference in Springfield. I was presenting a session at it on Thursday afternoon. I was grateful that I had done a lot of it earlier in the school year and even luckier that I’d saved my talk from last year on my desktop. When I got there, my computer didn’t want to jive with the projection hardware. Then my power point disappeared. Thankfully, I had last years’ talk and could use that. Needless to say I was a wreck before it even started. A few participants stopped up and thanked me for having such a relevant talk.

So what does GGROBAR stand for: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

Ella has had some rough nights with stomach problems. The next song would be AIAMNCFAB. She arches her back into a perfect back bend if she were doing gymnastics. We’ve put her back on the zantac and that seems to help.

ITMWT would describe this time of year. We spent Thanksgiving with Fred and Minnie. It was actually quieter than usual. Tony was on good behavior. Matt’s girls were not there, so there was less noise from kids. The food was fantastic. Nice day, but it sure would have been nicer with real family.

IDOAWC…NOT! We have had some wonderful weather this past week. I love it that you can go out with just a sweatshirt or sweater. I had Ella and Noah out the other day. We went on a great walk in the stroller, only to repeat the trip in the wagon. When we returned, they thought the little riding toys should come back down, so we headed out again. You don’t do that very often this time of year.

The next song should be DTHWBOH, but I have to change it to DTFWSOP, because of Noah’s newest trick. It seems that once he gets out of a warm bath and leaves the bathroom, he has to go potty. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always have a diaper on and thinks it is funny to stand by the railing and pee into the family room. We should never have laughed the first time, but alas we did, and now we have a big problem on our hands.

UOTHRP. Gene’s plans for tomorrow are to get some lights up on the house. John, of course, is all done and does such a great job that Gene has been backing off. I am not sure that is because John does such a bang-up job or because Gene is getting older. That leaves me with the inside. Hopefully by Monday morning, IBTLALLC.

I am not sure IBHFC, and IHABCWY, but hopefully everyone will HAHJC. With that I nominate Marlys.