Merry Christmas to one and all!

Hi! Having finished the traditional holiday greetings,i.e., cards and letters, I just wanted to pass along the modern version and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and properous, we hope, New Year. As long as we keep our health and sense of humor, the rest will take care of itself.

I just finished reading the wedding book. What a fabulous treat. I'm sure it will be a keepsake for everyone involved.

Love to all,

Bob and Jan

Jan Boller is in!

OK. Now I'll go back and read the posts.....was frantically grading papers last week and missed this! Since then....grades posted and cards are in the mail!! Happy Holidays!

Announcement from the Younger Generation

At Shirley's family Christmas party the other night, we were told there was going to be an announcement. Sammy took the floor and announced that she wanted to be called Samantha from now on. She softened that rule a little when Shirley pointed out that there were no presents under the tree for Samantha, but a lot for Sammy.

Wes and Sandy suggested "the niece formerly known as," or just a wierd symbol, but Sammy, oops, Samantha stuck with her decision, at least until she announces otherwise.

So, from now on, Samantha it is!

Shirley to write a column in national journal

Just made arrangements with therapeutic humor colleague, Karyn Buxman, to write a regular column for the resurrected, Journal of Nursing Jocularity 2, that she is bringing back to life after an 18-year hiatus. The journal was wildly popular back in the 1980s and 90s, but was a labor of love that about bankrupted the editors. Karyn was one of them.

With technology now offering lots of publishing options, she's recreating it as an on-line journal, with one annual print copy. Parts of the journal will be delivered, electronically, to in-boxes around the world on a weekly basis, so each month will aggregate to a full issue.

The journal will focus on the value and use of humor in nursing and all of health care. My column will focus on humor's role in nursing education redesign. My work with Jan(et) has brought me into this work and I'm having a ball churning out articles, op ed pieces and conference presentations.

Thanks, JB! Do you want to co-author with me???

Adam turned 32 Monday -- in Yuma

Wayne has the first-hand information, but I'm pretty sure Adam was in Yuma -- going through pre-deployment training -- for his 32nd birthday. Wondered why I'd not heard from him, but that explains it. I think he gets deployed in January or February.

Family Directory

Just in time for the holidays, here is last year' s family directory listing. We'll keep the latest one posted here so everyone can have access to it when you need it! Here it is: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dmkct2g_0gqsmdxpw

Family Calendar

Here is a link to a calendar with birthdays and anniversaries. Email Evie with any updates/additions/changes and we'll keep it up to date!

December Special Days

OK, a bit late, but here is a list of special events in the family this month:

• December 6, Lauren's 3rd Birthday
• December 11, Aunt Donna's 84th Birthday!
• December 13, Sammy's 9th Birthday
• December 15, Adam's 32nd Birthday
• December 19, Max's 14th Birthday
• December 21, Nat & Gina's 6th Anniversary

I've been trying to figure out how to connect to a calendar, but I haven't mastered the technology yet.

When engineers own a dog

A friend of mine sent this to me. I think it's a hoot! SOB

Thought for the Day

I opened the Christmas letter from a friend of ours in San Diego today. She closed with this thought: "Life isn't about surving the storm, but how to dance in the rain."

Seems like words we should all strive to live by.

SOB

Music Critics in the Family

Today Shirley had her pew full of kids at church, with varying degrees of wiggling. In the choir, we were quite proud of today's anthem and thought we were performing beautifully. As we reached the last phrase, loud and dramatic, the sopranos (I stayed with the altos on this one) hit the high A at full force. I looked down to see Turner jump and turn around to look at us, and Truman duck and cover his ears. They're probably right, all of those fifty-something women should skip the high A's.

Super Nurse Update

Hi sibs,

Shirley sent me a note asking how things were going….be careful of what you ask…..Evie…if you want to blog this, fine to cut and paste.

Yesterday I facilitated an invitational “gathering of experts” from throughout California. It was a 2-day conference and our charge was to generate a set of bold, brilliant, breakthrough, pragmatic, immediately actionable (Yeah, right. No pressure) recommendations for resolving the nursing faculty shortage in California. It has been identified by many as the priority “crisis” behind the nursing shortage. Stephanie Leach, Assistant Director of Labor and Workforce Development for California, who is on the Governor’s Policy Task Force, has to submit our recommended action steps to the Policy Task Force next Tuesday. We had 40 in attendance, including Patricia Benner many nurse executives, deans and directors.

Overall it was a fantastic two days and one of the “highs” of my facilitating experiences. We had Play Dough and clay and artpads and things like that to stimulate creativity and used the World Café format, which impressed them. It was good to have Patricia there, because I sought her advice a couple of times and it was very helpful.

Today I’m catching up on the 7 remaining research papers I have to grade (each takes 1-2 hours), so that I can start on 41 more that have to be completed in a week, plus discussion boards to grade and comment on, plus a 20- report back to a graduate school program on Holistic Health Education that I reviewed, and provide my summary for the Governor’s Task Force, all of which are due today. Oh, yes, and the pressure is on to get the Christmas lights up on the cul-de-sac, because we’re the only dark home. (Time to move.)

This is not a way to live one’s life and can all be boiled to a simple, underlying root cause: Inability to say “no!!!”. From now on, I’m going to add one more word: “Hell no!”

It is all rich and gratifying work. Our meeting was held in the Shriner’s Hospital…which cares for seriously injured and burned children. So I just kept thinking of them and their families.

Thanks for asking. Here’s to “hell no!” in 2009!!

Evie, Bob laughed his heart out on your comment about your new tenant and her area of research. That is one for the memory books!!!

Love you so much!

jb

Happenings at Boller-haus

Well, here's the latest happenings from beautiful downtown Benicia. In the interest of microscopically improved frugalness, Bob has moved his office from downtown back to the spare bedroom at home. After 3 days of grunting and groaning, most everything is now is place except for the telephone service. They disconnected my office phone last Wednesday and I am still in that same state. Today they have dug up the sidewalk in two places on our street in an attempt to locate the problem. How long this will continue is anybody's guess. If and when they get it working, the number will be the same as before, (707) 747-1199.

As some of you may not know, Jan is now an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Nursing at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, CA. For those of you that are unfamiliar with CA geography, Pomona is one of the 100 or so small towns surrounding Los Angeles. It is located about 50 miles east of downtown LA along I-10. Originally, she was to be teaching primarily via Distance Learning (i.e., over the Internet) so she would work from home here in Benicia most of the time. However, she is also now director of a new program that will take nurses with AA degrees and move them directly to a Master's Degree. They expect to take their first students next fall. As a result, she expects to be down in the Pomona area about half time. To that end, she has rented a small, 1-bedroom apartment in the ever-lovely Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The current plan is for her to not get a telephone in the apartment, so continue to contact her on her cell phone - (707) 319-7299.

In conjunction with another of her recent projects, Jan is at a 2-day meeting in Sacramento which may be the pinnacle of bad timing. She spent most of last year as the lead author of a white paper that discusses way to redesign nursing education in CA. The current meeting in Sacramento is to develop strategy for getting the Governator to fund the project. With the current budget crises in CA (now projected to be a $7 billion deficit on top of an earlier $20 billion deficit), one might say "fat chance". But who knows. As Jan would say UDGWYDAF - You Don't Get What You Don't Ask For!

Well, that's enough ramling for today. More later.

SOB

Too Good Not to Share

So as we were listening to the Christmas CD that we created, I told Roger that if we weren't careful people were going to start thinking that he is a tree hugger. His reply, "Well, I am. I hug it and then I chop the fecker down."

Kindergarten Rumble

On Election Day, Truman came home from school to tell Erica about the rumble that had occurred among the kindergartners in the lunchroom. Evidently the McCain supporters asked everyone who they were "voting" for, and stuck out their tongues at the Obama supporters. A rumble of tongue sticking-outing ensued until the teachers restored order.

Kidisms

There were a couple of great quotes from Erica's kids this week. Here's one from Turner:

After returning from the Thanksgiving party, where he sold his Aunts and Uncles pet rocks, he held up a handful of change to Erica and said, "See Mom, an 8 year old CAN run a business!"

It was quite amazing as he sold the rocks with a list of personalized features (I got a girl rock, Roger got a cockroach rock). He has mastered the art of the upsell as we were offered the option of bed, clothing, and, of course, an ongoing subscription to food. All paid for at the time of order placement.

He also understands the "Best Customer" concept. In his sale to Shirley, he told her the price was $2.00, and to the rest of us he quoted 25 cents as the base price. Which, of course, got him a lecture from his Mother.

Tuesday he had all of the rocks lined up and ready for delivery. He saved $ on packaging costs AND saved the environment by using discarded packages from the recycling bin. Roger's came in a toothpaste tube, and mine came in a single-serving cereal box.

Ah, entrepreneurship!

Celestial Event

Did you get a chance to see this wonderful happening? The Moon, Venus and Jupiter were all visible in the early evening sky. Cathie called and alerted us to it, and it was fabulous!

Thanksgiving at the Bartlett House

We had a great time this Thanksgiving, topped off by a family Soup Supper Sunday. Check out the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/EvieBartlett/Thanksgiving2008#, they are too good to miss. The soup was great, and the fellowship was fabulous. Our first big test of a big party totally indoors. Worked out great, but how do we get people to leave the kitchen?