Midlife Cry, Sis (Formerly known as The Bettys Podcast)

Salut, Bettys and Jacks! Welcome to Part Deux of our Les Misérables series (it’s not really a series, as much as it is we just had a LOT to say about it, and didn’t want the episode to be two hours long!). If you haven’t listened to episode 63, please do that first. Mary and Lexy spend at least the first 20 minutes of this episode talking about injuries, and some of the descriptions are a little g...

Bonjour, Bettys and Jacks. Our obsession with musicals continues, so you get not one, but TWO glorious episodes (“ah, ah, ah”) about one of our all-time favorites: Les Misérables . Mary was fortunate enough to see it when the U.S. tour came through Salt Lake City, but Lexy has never seen the stage production, and is a petit peu angry about it. After quite a lot of makeup talk (we highly recommend...

This hilarious episode gets derailed rather quickly into ‘hot tub conversation’ (Sting, Kama Sutra, and Joe Millionaire, anyone?), so you might want to keep this one away from littles. Or your mom. Or anyone who might get a little uncomfortable when we talk about S-E-X, baby. The logistics!   We also chat about social media, musicals, and self-service (wink, wink).    Please get in touch! Send us...

Greetings, Bettys and Jacks. This episode starts and ends with some heavy breathing (no, not that kind). Lexy tries to pep us up to begin, and to calm us down at the end. She is a pretty good hype-girl, even if she’s not great with parking (or directions).   Mary and Alexis talk about cognitive bias or the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon . Lexy seems to have been seeing and hearing a lot about finding p...

Hey, friends. This is not a Betty Byte–it’s Betty Bites. This episode is a little tough, because we talk about the tragedy of the Titan . We also talk about the live-action version of The Little Mermaid , which was released recently, and how some people are willing to risk everything and pay the ultimate price for an incredible experience. FYI, Lexy has major FOMO, and would probably jump off of t...

Hello there, Bettys and Jacks! Today we have a fascinating interview with our friend Melanny (who was driving, so the sound quality is not always the greatest). It’s also a rather niche conversation about Melanny’s faith journey, which led her away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormonism). There is some discussion about church history, including healing canes...

It’s our second Betty Byte! Thanks for joining us for this little girlfriend chat. We talk about being the Mom Uber Service, lizards, organized chaos, and Mary’s Father’s Day win.   Lex talks about one of her most embarrassing moments during a date auction, and Mary relates one of hers that happened during a snow-shoeing incident. But neither of those compare to Zeke’s issue at a church camp . . ....

  Greetings, Bettys and Jacks! Today we are talking about the one and only Miss Tina Turner , who passed away recently at the age of 83. Even Mama Ximena knew that everybody has problems and nobody is living a wonderful life. It’s easy to look at Tina’s successful solo career and think that she had it easy, but she definitely overcame a lot of obstacles.   Mary goes over Tina’s history, and how af...

Welcome to the first Betty Byte! We’re trying out a little different format for this episode: it’s basically Mary and Lexy recording themselves on a phone, so the sound quality isn’t great. Also, we’re sitting in a car with the windows down on a lovely spring evening, so there is some ambient noise, like wind and motorcycles (and possibly ghosts).   Lexy talks about the Weeping Widow in the Logan...

We have a treat for you today, friends. Our special guest for this episode is Dr. Jane Fjeldsted , who is currently director of choirs at Westminster College (University) in Salt Lake City. She directs numerous other choirs, and contracts professionally as a singer and conductor for films, video games, operas, concerts, and many other projects. Mary has been singing in her community choir, the Sal...

Happy Monday, Bettys and Jacks! We hope you want to listen to Mary and Alexis talk about random music, naming children, and pets. Lots of pets, including therapy dogs, and Lexy’s cat named Mary. Apparently she was a slut and had lots of kittens. Just remember–don’t mess with Vicky.   Mary refers to Firefly Lane, a Netflix series based on the book of the same name by Kristin Hannah . She also talks...

Oh my heck, Betty! Don’t sing Katy Perry in an inappropriate register! And don’t get hit on when you go to karaoke in a bar! This episode is a little woo-woo, and all over the place, but we hope it will get you thinking outside of your box.   Alexis and Mary talk about objective and subjective reality. One is unbiased, facts-only, and the other is all personal–seen only through your particular len...

CW: Mild swearing and some discussion of suicide   “ What’s happening, Hot Stuff ?!” We hope you are doing well on this fine Monday morning, and that this episode can help you to not take things so seriously. Mama Ximena definitely believes in karma, so be wise about what you say and do (like don’t play in wheelchairs!), but remember that there is life beyond whatever disappointments we have today...

Hey, Bettys and Jacks! We love it when the girls come out to play! Laughing is good, especially when it comes to Mama Ximena’s Words of Wisdom (“Turn on your lambada and clean your house!”). We talk about dancing, including Lexy’s breakdancing and Mary’s college ballroom dancing classes. And, because we always have to point out our segues, the dancing in  Bridgerton ; specifically Queen Charlotte...

CW: There is some talk of drug usage in this episode.   Today’s episode of the Bettys Podcast is a little all-over-the-place (shocking, we know). We had to restart this episode due to some technical difficulties, so we tried to recap Mary’s entertaining experience taking a caffeine pill. Both Alexis and Mary are a little delirious, and in need of a good laugh, so much of that comes in the form of...

Hello, hello, Bettys and Jacks!! Today we’re talking about a different musical. Or movie. Or movie-musical based on a movie. Anyway, we’re talking about Hairspray! Mary saw the Broadway touring company version of it recently, and watched the 2007 movie-musical version (with John Travolta) which is available to stream on Amazon Prime here (Mary and Alexis also talk about tsunamis and the 2014 maste...

Hello, rockstars! We spend a fair amount of time in this episode talking about music, concerts, and the Cache Theater Company production of School of Rock , a musical based on the 2003 film starring Jack Black . Because of this, we felt this episode needed a Spotify Playlist to go along with it! (And here's a great list of concerts coming to Utah this summer and fall!)   Mary and Lexy talk about r...

“Chug! Chug! Chug!” Yes, we believe that drinking water will help us with our happiness, but so do pink spandex shorts. Welcome to the Bettys podcast   Mary and Lexy talk about growing up ‘off-the-grid,’ and how there wasn’t a lot to do in Logan, Utah when we were growing up. Even though our kids may be super busy these days, we are very much fans of seatbelts and helmets. And Doritos.   Mary refe...

Hello, friends! Get out your notebooks and pens, because you’ll definitely want to take notes on this very special episode of The Bettys Podcast. Today we are joined by author Bonnie Gray to talk about her book Breathe: 21 Ways to Stress Less and Transform Chaos to Calm . Bonnie Gray is a Soul Care mentor and coach, and the author of several other books: Whispers of Rest, Finding Spiritual Whitesp...

Hi, friends. This episode was recorded a few weeks ago, before certain current events unfolded. We hope to be in actual Spring now, though it is still snowing in some places. Heaven help us, with roofs collapsing and flooding . . . we’ll just stick to the Bunny slope .   We talk a bit about Robin Williams , an American comedian who both Lexy and Mary adored.. He died by suicide in 2014, and we hop...

This episode is chock-full of wisdom that Alexis has been collecting from various sources and trainings. She cites Tony Robbins , Napoleon Hill , and even Sylvester Stallone as sources of inspiration. We hope to pass on some delicious tidbits to enlighten your beautiful minds.   Here are a few of those nuggets of wisdom that Lex is passing on to you, Bettys and Jacks: Energy is a habit. If you wan...

Hi, friends. Sorry we don't have a full episode for you today. The last couple of weeks have been really tough--including Spring Break and a trip to California for our sweet Grandmother's funeral. We'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming of 1-2 episodes per week as soon as possible.  Thanks for your patience and your continued listening. And we love you more.

“We’ve got wiggles!” This episode of the Bettys Podcast contains some spoilers . . . for The Fugitive (1993) . And some for season one of Succession (watch on HoboMax here , rated TV-MA for lots of language and mature content), and for season one of Shrinking (watch on AppleTV here , rated TV-MA for language and a lil’ bit of nudity). Be careful what you watch, though, because it can really affect...

No, the incredible Jamie Kern Lima is not a guest on this episode of the Bettys Podcast (though we’d be honored to have her!), but we are talking about her story, her book Believe It (2021), and we quote some of her very wise words. Mary and Lexy also talk about being ‘in the arena,’ which is a reference to this quote from Theodore Roosevelt :   “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who po...

For two people who know very little about Astrology, Alexis and Mary sure spend a lot of time talking about it! Lexy’s kids are obsessed with space, and there’s some discussion about planetary alignment and asteroids. But, “in other space news . . .”   Lexy has been thinking about our conversation about Rachel Hollis (listen to Episode 34 of the Bettys Podcast here! ), and how and why we ‘cancel’...