14 Awesome Classroom Valentines To Give Out (That Other Parents Won't Hate)

00:00:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Welcome back. It's Tuesday. Oh, my gosh. It's been a hot minute since we've done this.

00:00:07 - Jenny GK
Yeah, we have taken some time, which we needed, but we are back.

00:00:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Welcome back to CK and GK. This is the podcast for adults who need a grown up sometimes including us. Oh, we're so glad you're here. This week we are sharing ideas for classroom Valentine gifts that aren't candy and that aren't crap because Valentine's Day is next week and you have just enough time to prime these things to your house.

00:00:43 - Jenny GK
Oh, my gosh. I just read an article that was entitled why is Valentine's the Second Christmas? And I was like, yes.

00:00:51 - Caitlin Kindred
It doesn't need to be.

00:00:52 - Jenny GK
It does not need to be. We will get there. But first, in honor of Valentine's Day, she is so sweet. She could put Hershey's out of business. It's Caitlin.

00:01:04 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, there's not one of these that I don't love. You do this, right?

00:01:09 - Jenny GK
Every week.

00:01:09 - Caitlin Kindred
I love it.

00:01:09 - Jenny GK
I mean, I just googled Valentine's Day pickup lines and then found one that was pg.

00:01:17 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, you can hit on me anytime because you are my funny Valentine and my wild, majestic unicorn. That's Jenny over there, guys. That's good. Oh, my got. Let's just go ahead and get to it because it's been a little while and we're just going to go for it. Okay. So again, Valentine's gifts that aren't candy. Now, I'm going to be incredibly upfront about this. I hate the little gifts that come home in the Valentine collection shoebox that I do, too, my son brings home every year. I hate them because it's the same.

00:02:00 - Jenny GK
Thing that is in party goodie bags.

00:02:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? And it looks like it's most of the time, like, knockoff oriental trading items.

00:02:11 - Jenny GK
Which oriental trading itself is.

00:02:13 - Caitlin Kindred
I don't talk about that. I'm not going to diss on oriental trading. It's been there in. But I'm just saying, anything that you.

00:02:20 - Jenny GK
Can buy by the gross, let's be real, right?

00:02:23 - Caitlin Kindred
For less than $20, if it's 100 pieces, it better be a piece of candy. And we're talking about things that are not candy, so. Yeah. Anyway, they're all things that make noise or break immediately or it's stamps that you lose the top of. I just can't with it.

00:02:40 - Jenny GK
Right.

00:02:41 - Caitlin Kindred
I'd rather get candy. I'd rather my kid get candy because then I at least know I can either eat it or he can eat it or I can throw it away. And I don't get the question of what happened to my heart stamp that had sunglasses on it. It's just like, right. So that said, bringing candy to school for Valentine's Day is just not the right thing to do anymore. Between my child's orthodontia and other children's orthodontia food allergies, which are a real issue, and angering other parents because you gave their kids sugar, it's just not worth it. So you're going to need to do something other than candy to stuff into those cheap little Valentine envelopes. Yes, right. Along the lines of what you just said about Valentine's Day being the new Christmas. No, we're not doing that because this podcast doesn't make any money right now. And because, you know the other thing, it's like, I don't want to be the parent that other parents are. Like, why did you do this? Right? Because now I don't want to blow expectations out of the water. We're not doing that. Okay? This is just a fun little thing to help everyone feel included, and that's all it needs to be. So don't break the bank and don't buy an expensive gift for every child in your kids class. Just grab some heart erasers and some stickers. You're probably set. Like, you really don't need to do anything more than that. But if you hate plastic, easily breakable junk like I do, and stickers are just not your jam or whatever, you want to do something a little bit more than that. I have a list of ideas.

00:04:26 - Jenny GK
Love it.

00:04:26 - Caitlin Kindred
So I've got 14 ideas here in honor of the 14th of Gotcha.

00:04:35 - Jenny GK
See what you did there?

00:04:36 - Caitlin Kindred
This does come. Oh, thank you. This does come from an article, so I can't take the credit.

00:04:42 - Jenny GK
You can take the credit for counting 14 of them.

00:04:45 - Caitlin Kindred
I can, and I filtered down because I was like, that's a hard pass. So the article is called 22 Valentine's. Sorry, excuse me, 22 classroom Valentine's Day treats that aren't candy but are still sweet by Karen Johnson for Motherly. I'm going to add the article to the show notes because she's got links to all the items here. Again, I filtered because I did not care for all of the 22 options. And I've had some success with some of these items and not with others. So this is a combination of my ideas plus their ideas, Motherly's ideas.

00:05:20 - Jenny GK
Also, how about me not knowing that motherly was a thing?

00:05:24 - Caitlin Kindred
Mother Lee. It's a great website, actually, it's kind of, like, scary mommy along with.

00:05:31 - Jenny GK
I know about fatherly.

00:05:32 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, yeah.

00:05:33 - Jenny GK
John really likes to read it.

00:05:34 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:05:35 - Jenny GK
They're the ones who said Disney's currency is magic and the exchange rate is.

00:05:43 - Caitlin Kindred
That's. Yeah, it's the same idea. But I like motherly. It's a good one. If you don't subscribe to that one, if you don't mind getting, like, emagazines in your inbox all the time. It's a good one, right? Yeah.

00:05:54 - Jenny GK
No, please.

00:05:55 - Caitlin Kindred
And they don't oversell. They don't oversell. Yeah. All right.

00:06:00 - Jenny GK
Promo from Motherly, right? Tag them.

00:06:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Listen, she's giving me content. I'll tag them. So.

00:06:06 - Jenny GK
Okay.

00:06:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Plastic zoo animals.

00:06:09 - Jenny GK
Love it.

00:06:09 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Real like, especially if you know that the kids are studying a certain theme in science.

00:06:15 - Jenny GK
There you go.

00:06:16 - Caitlin Kindred
You could go along with that idea, too. Slap bracelets, themed ring.

00:06:22 - Jenny GK
I don't know.

00:06:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Slap bracelets are a thing right now. They're showing up in goodie bags. Yeah. So themed rings. The website that motherly has included some insect ones, which I thought were kind of gross but awesome at the same time. Bonus points.

00:06:36 - Jenny GK
Allah, Halloween, you got your spider ring.

00:06:39 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? But these are like, insect. Yeah. Bonus points. If these theme rings or slap braces. Glow in the dark. Anything that glows in the dark or lights up, you're going to get bonus.

00:06:51 - Jenny GK
Big deal.

00:06:52 - Caitlin Kindred
And speaking of.

00:06:53 - Jenny GK
So in that case, maybe even just glow sticks.

00:06:56 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes. That's now 15 things. Heart shaped sunglasses or party glasses. You know, like those. Remember the Kanye glasses that basically look like blinds across your face?

00:07:10 - Jenny GK
Yes.

00:07:10 - Caitlin Kindred
I got hearts for Sam's class a few years ago, and those were a hit. Everybody really liked them. And the class pictures that came back with all the kids in their glasses were so cute. Totally worth it.

00:07:20 - Jenny GK
That is cute.

00:07:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Stackable crayons or highlighters. And I'm talking about, like, stackable meaning. Do you remember when we were kids and there would be those pencils where you pull out. It's like a tube. Yeah. You pull out the lead at the bottom when it's not sharp enough, and then you put it in the top and then another lead pops out the bottom. It's like that, except they aren't useless when you lose one of the pieces because they all just connect together and they're all different colors.

00:07:48 - Jenny GK
So much better.

00:07:49 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, there's a chunk that's red and a chunk that's green and a chunk that's yellow. And they're cute. If you can't send food, but food is your jam.

00:07:57 - Jenny GK
Get it?

00:07:57 - Caitlin Kindred
Food is your jam, scratch and sniff Valentine anything. Right? Like valentine cards. You could do stickers if you want to. Those are a cute way to go. Smelly markers. Just put a smelly marker in every kid's little.

00:08:12 - Jenny GK
Oh, my gosh.

00:08:13 - Caitlin Kindred
Done.

00:08:14 - Jenny GK
That's amazing.

00:08:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:08:15 - Jenny GK
Think about it. If they come in a ten pack, you just pick up three packs.

00:08:19 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. And just give every kid a smelly.

00:08:20 - Jenny GK
And just put one marker in. Oh, my gosh. That's amazing.

00:08:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, it's fine. He came home with one smelly marker fairly recently. It was like, the other week, and I was like, cool. He loves the one smelly marker. He's down, so whatever.

00:08:34 - Jenny GK
Well, and if there's less than 30 kids in the class, you don't have to give away the licorice one.

00:08:39 - Caitlin Kindred
Nobody wants it, which I love.

00:08:41 - Jenny GK
Licorice. But not as.

00:08:42 - Caitlin Kindred
Not the marker. No crazy straws. I loved that idea. I thought that was super fun. They don't even have to be like, valentine. Just get a bunch of red, like, right. Easy. Plastic valentine cups to go along with the crazy straws. There's those, like, little party cups.

00:09:02 - Jenny GK
My gosh.

00:09:03 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. The little plastic ones. You can get ones that change color if the temperature is warm or cold. Like, you can go all out if you want. Or you can just go to party city and grab a pack of 24 valentine plastic cups and then you put. Okay, so a little card inside, and that's it. Done.

00:09:19 - Jenny GK
Everybody get two bird 1 st. This?

00:09:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah.

00:09:22 - Jenny GK
Your kid is having a Valentine party. Sign up for cups and then the valentine tree cups with the card inside and be like, okay, I brought cups.

00:09:33 - Caitlin Kindred
Right, done.

00:09:34 - Jenny GK
Okay, check.

00:09:37 - Caitlin Kindred
I love that one.

00:09:39 - Jenny GK
Also, I always sign up for cups or paper products.

00:09:42 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Or I'll even send chips if I can shove it in his backpack.

00:09:48 - Jenny GK
Chips. Yeah, I'll do chips.

00:09:50 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. Done. Okay.

00:09:52 - Jenny GK
This mom ain't signing up for cupcakes.

00:09:54 - Caitlin Kindred
No. Anything I have to drop off that morning, I will ruin it. So I'm not doing it. Yeah. Mini notepads. Now, I don't love these because a lot of the times, they're the ones, again, like, very knockoff oriental trading, where it's like a tiny little thing that has, like, four pieces of paper in it.

00:10:14 - Jenny GK
I don't love that.

00:10:16 - Caitlin Kindred
However, there are some cute ones that are shaped like a heart and they have lines on the inside. Okay, that's fine. And if they have more than three pieces of paper, sometimes they're good for, like, restaurant activity, something or other. So you put them in for that. Right.

00:10:33 - Jenny GK
Okay, cool.

00:10:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Along that line novelty pencils, like those with a little shape on the end. They have the regular pencil, but then on the edge where the eraser is, it's a heart. Or you get them a pencil with a cute themed eraser on the end. Fine. I see. Yeah. I also like poppet keychains or fidgets.

00:10:58 - Jenny GK
People are loving these fidgets.

00:10:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. If you just go. You search fidgets on your favorite overnight express store.

00:11:06 - Jenny GK
Maybe the one that sells everything from a to z. Yeah.

00:11:08 - Caitlin Kindred
Or also the one that's owned by that really wealthy family that starts with a w. Either one of those, and they can overnight it to your house. Why not?

00:11:18 - Jenny GK
I know that they can deliver things within hours, too. So.

00:11:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Just saying. So fidgets are fun. The poppet keychains are fun and they're small and they can fit in an envelope. Or if they can't, then you just tape it to the outside of the envelope and say, here you go, coloring bookmarks. I thought this was a cute idea. Like little bookmarks that kids can color and customize and make their own.

00:11:39 - Jenny GK
I like it.

00:11:40 - Caitlin Kindred
Works really well with school, too. For reading time. Drop everything in.

00:11:43 - Jenny GK
Okay, I read ahead. This next one, I think, is my favorite yet.

00:11:46 - Caitlin Kindred
Superhero masks. Come on. Yes. It's so cool. Okay.

00:11:50 - Jenny GK
That's better than sunglasses. That's funny.

00:11:52 - Caitlin Kindred
It's funny. I think it's great. Everybody gets it. That is really funny. If you have a little one who loves superheroes and that's their Valentine's as little superheroes, then you just have them all superhero masks.

00:12:02 - Jenny GK
Like, they don't even need to be branded. It could just be. No, just be like, generic.

00:12:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Like the incredibles. Just the black thing. Yeah, totally. Done.

00:12:10 - Jenny GK
I mean, that is funny.

00:12:12 - Caitlin Kindred
It's so cute. Yeah. Great. I also liked this one. This one does feel a little bit more extra. But inexpensive books are fun. Sometimes you can buy bears in bulk or something like that, and you can get them for like a buck apiece. So if that happens, I was just.

00:12:31 - Jenny GK
Going to say, I know of a grocery store in the state of Texas that usually has a book bin for a dollar each.

00:12:37 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, exactly. If that's something you want to do and you can find some that is kind of universally loved. There's nothing wrong with doing that. I think it's a great one. And then you just give them, like, the Valentine is a bookmark and here you go. Or just have them right on the inside of the COVID Happy Valentine's Day. Done.

00:12:55 - Jenny GK
Right.

00:12:57 - Caitlin Kindred
My last idea. This is number 14. I guess it's 15.

00:13:00 - Jenny GK
Hang on. Just a second.

00:13:01 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. You guys are too loud. Kit, you're too loud.

00:13:09 - Jenny GK
Sorry.

00:13:11 - Caitlin Kindred
I'm good. Okay, so I kind of mentioned this already with the poppets, but this is a tiny bit different in my mind because I was thinking poppet and fidget kind of go together, but you can also just do, like, keychains, like cute, fun keychains that are inexpensive. Okay.

00:13:31 - Jenny GK
You know, keychains on the backpack are back.

00:13:33 - Caitlin Kindred
My son has like 15 of them. Oh, yeah. Right.

00:13:36 - Jenny GK
When I was in 6th grade, which when I lived in Washington state, 6th grade was in elementary school. Right. Our bus driver had a rule that you couldn't have keychains on your backpack anymore because people had these long collection of keychains and they would whack her as they turned to get to their seats.

00:13:57 - Caitlin Kindred
No, his has, like, you either had.

00:14:00 - Jenny GK
To have your hand around your backpack holding your keychains or you had to take them off.

00:14:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Why would you let it be that long that it hangs off?

00:14:10 - Jenny GK
Oh, my gosh. No.

00:14:11 - Caitlin Kindred
And the kids at my school right.

00:14:12 - Jenny GK
Now, they're putting keychains on their backpacks again.

00:14:15 - Caitlin Kindred
What? Yeah. My son's backpack has a strap that's sort of secured partly all the way down, so there's like little loops on it. So that's where we. For him. So I've seen tiny little plushies on a keychain. Like, super teeny tiny ones. My son has a bat one and I love. It's so cute. It's like a little baby bat. It's precious. You could do trendy characters this year. Our Valentine's are Pokemon. So all of the kids are going to get a little Pokemon keychain that goes along with the valentine. And it was like, I don't know, I think I spent like $20 on a pack of 24 and there's 23 kids in the class and it's perfect.

00:15:00 - Jenny GK
Okay, so how about me realizing right now that I didn't do Valentine's yet?

00:15:06 - Caitlin Kindred
Well, I mean, Valentine's Day is a week away. You got time. Yes.

00:15:10 - Jenny GK
Well, this is kids first year in were.

00:15:13 - Caitlin Kindred
You didn't have to worry about it, Miss Deborah's house.

00:15:15 - Jenny GK
I never did Valentine's. And there were parents who did. And I was like, no, there's only five kids here. I'm just going to be like. And then Abby's old enough that we don't do Valentine's with her anymore. Oh, wow. So now I am realizing, oh, I probably need to get on that. This whole list is so great.

00:15:34 - Caitlin Kindred
Thanks.

00:15:35 - Jenny GK
All of these things, they're super useful. It reminds me of John and I went to a country on our honeymoon that was a non tipping country. Right. There were still, like, a couple of services that tipped, but for the most part, you didn't tip. It was included in the price of whatever you were doing.

00:15:51 - Caitlin Kindred
Sure.

00:15:52 - Jenny GK
And we didn't want to not recognize people's service, and it was weird to us. So we bought a bunch of Texas shaped stick on tattoos and passed those out to anyone who was in the service industry. So I also want to add to this list, stick on tattoos.

00:16:18 - Caitlin Kindred
Temporary tattoos are always a good time. The only issue becomes when you go on a chartered dolphin boat and the captain puts the tattoo on your child's forehead while you are not paying attention because you're looking.

00:16:39 - Jenny GK
Oh, my gosh.

00:16:40 - Caitlin Kindred
So just be aware that your kid could come home with a home with.

00:16:44 - Jenny GK
A tattoo on their face.

00:16:45 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, that's great. It's fine. They're temporary. Not a big deal. But it starts to look a little nasty after.

00:16:51 - Jenny GK
Yeah.

00:16:55 - Caitlin Kindred
Yikes. Okay, so 14 ideas. I'll put the whole list up on the blog post for this week, but also you can check out the article on motherly by Karen Johnson. She's got additional ideas. Again, I filtered through. There's some I liked and some I didn't. I took out the best ones and put in the episode. So feel free to share this with any other parents who are needing ideas for Valentine's Day and don't want to.

00:17:19 - Jenny GK
Be too extra about it.

00:17:22 - Caitlin Kindred
Let's take a break.

00:17:24 - Jenny GK
Let's take a break. During this break, I'm going to be thinking about what I'm going to do for Valentine's Day. But now I have 14 ideas.

00:17:31 - Caitlin Kindred
Yay. Are we back?

00:17:34 - Jenny GK
We are back. So I have not made a decision about Valentine's Day. It was just too many wonderful choices. But I'm sure Kit will have something to give to his classmates.

00:17:45 - Caitlin Kindred
Down with those superhero masks. I can picture a bunch of.

00:17:48 - Jenny GK
I kind of feel like the masks are going to happen.

00:17:50 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, you have to do it.

00:17:51 - Jenny GK
I think it's funny.

00:17:53 - Caitlin Kindred
It is funny.

00:17:54 - Jenny GK
Yeah. And I feel like his teacher will appreciate it. She has a pretty great sense of humor.

00:17:59 - Caitlin Kindred
Love it.

00:18:00 - Jenny GK
Okay, so let's talk about what we're obsessed with. Yeah.

00:18:02 - Caitlin Kindred
It's been a while. I want to hear it.

00:18:04 - Jenny GK
I have a product. Oh, it's like the third time ever in history.

00:18:10 - Caitlin Kindred
No, it's like the third time this year.

00:18:14 - Jenny GK
Yeah.

00:18:15 - Caitlin Kindred
We've only done three.

00:18:18 - Jenny GK
I don't even know if I've said I'm obsessed with these. Before red Aspen nails.

00:18:22 - Caitlin Kindred
No. What are those?

00:18:24 - Jenny GK
Okay, so they are a pyramid. I mean, mlm.

00:18:31 - Caitlin Kindred
I used to think it was an oh. I didn't know it was an l. I was like, oh, yeah, it's one of those mom things. Mom. It kind of sounds like that. And then someone told me what it was, and I was like, did I tell you the story better?

00:18:46 - Jenny GK
When I was in college, I thought the drink was a roman coke.

00:18:49 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes, you did.

00:18:52 - Jenny GK
Wasn't until I was, like, 22 years old that someone was like, no, it's rum and coke. The name of the drink is the recipe.

00:18:59 - Caitlin Kindred
I think my response.

00:19:00 - Jenny GK
It's not from Rome.

00:19:01 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. I think my response to you was after the poison.

00:19:11 - Jenny GK
Okay, so this is a home based business. I am not a representative, nor will I ever be. I have been in one pyramid, and I'll never be in another one.

00:19:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:19:22 - Jenny GK
I sold electricity. Not kidding. Welcome to Texas, where made water.

00:19:35 - Caitlin Kindred
All right, tell me about these nails.

00:19:38 - Jenny GK
Okay, so they're press on nails, right? Like you would buy at target or grocery store, drugstore, whatever. They have, like, 952 different colors. But the thing that's really cool about them is they are sized.

00:19:57 - Caitlin Kindred
What do you mean by sized?

00:19:59 - Jenny GK
This is it. When you get a box, the nails have a number on the underside.

00:20:06 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:20:07 - Jenny GK
So only one time do you have to go through the process of figuring out which nails go on which finger, and then you just write that down. So I know I'm like, seven and a half on my index finger or whatever. I have it written down. I don't remember, but that way, I just dig through the box and find the numbers and put them on. They call them nail dashes. You put them on in a dash. It's so fast. There's no sizing. I love it.

00:20:34 - Caitlin Kindred
So it's not a sticker. It's like an actual hard.

00:20:37 - Jenny GK
It's like an actual hard. Put it on with nail glue, which everyone knows is just super glue. So your nails are a little wrecked underneath, but they look.

00:20:48 - Caitlin Kindred
Not. If you soak them off properly, they'll be okay. Right?

00:20:50 - Jenny GK
Take them off, and cuticle oil breaks down the glue really nicely.

00:20:55 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, good.

00:20:56 - Jenny GK
But they look great, and they stay on for, like, a week.

00:21:02 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, that's.

00:21:02 - Jenny GK
And I just keep a little nail glue in my handbag in case one does pop off. But for the most part, they look fantastic. And my five year old may or may not be wearing some right now, and they have not fallen off him yet.

00:21:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Perfect.

00:21:15 - Jenny GK
That's great.

00:21:17 - Caitlin Kindred
Olive and June does a similar thing where everything's numbered and you can just dig through and find your numbers every time. That's perfect. That is a game changer. To be able to just know your numbers makes it so right.

00:21:29 - Jenny GK
Oh, my gosh. I do not want to sit there and play with that and try and figure. Okay, does this one really fit my thumb?

00:21:35 - Caitlin Kindred
I don't know. Yeah, no, that's annoying.

00:21:38 - Jenny GK
Okay.

00:21:39 - Caitlin Kindred
All right. Mine is our updated website with our new tagline on it.

00:21:46 - Jenny GK
So great.

00:21:47 - Caitlin Kindred
I spent so much time on it over the Christmas holiday.

00:21:53 - Jenny GK
So evident.

00:21:54 - Caitlin Kindred
Looks really nice and much cleaner. Hopefully it loads quickly. I'd love for y'all to get on there and take a look at it because I'm just really into it. I think it looks awesome.

00:22:08 - Jenny GK
And here's the thing. If you search CK and GK podcast, the website comes up, y'all. It's like we're a thing. Like you can find us.

00:22:19 - Caitlin Kindred
We're like official and mean. The funny part is that we've had this website for, of course, the better part of a year now, but it pops up so fast. It works. I don't know. I really like, the colors are fabulous. I have played a lot with that. The testimonial page looks so good. Yeah, I consolidated some of the pages. I just think it's really fun and you should go check it out. It's really awesome.

00:22:51 - Jenny GK
And there's even like a place where you can contact us and stuff.

00:22:54 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah. And if you would like to be part of our email list, you can be on that. And I highly encourage you to sign up for it because who knows, maybe you'll be able to get some previews of content and stuff. There you go. All right, what else?

00:23:13 - Jenny GK
So here's my favorite part of the show. The gem of the week. Right? This is when we can tell you something that will either make you laugh or say, so this one is going to make you say, oh, my gosh.

00:23:27 - Caitlin Kindred
I'm doing that nice.

00:23:29 - Jenny GK
Or maybe not, but I think it's cool. Anyway, so I work at a school that has a very small faculty. We have about 14 people on staff. And so to highlight everyone's skill set and also award people for doing something great for the Community, everybody has a set of job titles and they hang up in our break room with a picture of each teacher and then all of their jobs underneath. And the deal is they're just written in Sharpie on a piece of brown paper. It's not fancy, it's not printed up, like, whatever. And as you perform a new task or do something else, people can just go in and add to your job title. So, for example, we have a science teacher who taught a bird unit, and everyone on campus got obsessed with birding to the point that even the leader of the school is taking a master birder class now. And people are, like, texting each other when they see something. We had a peregrine falcon in our backyard, and I am trying to send these grainy pictures that I'm taking from my window because I don't want to disturb it by going outside. And it's like lighting up the chat. Oh, my gosh. Peregrine falcon. So he's the ornithology department chair for our micro school.

00:24:57 - Caitlin Kindred
Love it.

00:24:58 - Jenny GK
But the reason I bring this up, number one, you can do this in any circle that you are a part of. You can make funny job titles for each other and just let them live in a space where people can add to it as they want.

00:25:09 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay.

00:25:10 - Jenny GK
But as you know, I recently had a birthday. A milestone, which I celebrated for 41 days. I had 40 days of Jenny's birthday and then the actual birthday, because my birthday was day zero, not day one.

00:25:26 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? Yeah.

00:25:30 - Jenny GK
But on my actual birthday, I wore a t shirt dress that was completely covered in sequins and spelled out birthday girl in sequins.

00:25:41 - Caitlin Kindred
It's actually like a nightgown for, like, a five year old, but wearing it.

00:25:48 - Jenny GK
Yes, that's exactly it.

00:25:54 - Caitlin Kindred
There's, like, minnie Mouse. It's like a Minnie mouse tag on the inside. Yes.

00:26:01 - Jenny GK
If we're talking about that store that starts with a w, it's a grannimals brand, right?

00:26:06 - Caitlin Kindred
Yes, it is.

00:26:08 - Jenny GK
Clearly not for someone who is starting 40. But in honor of that outfit, I was named queen of bling, which I'm telling you, I might get that. Put on a t shirt.

00:26:19 - Caitlin Kindred
That's pretty awesome. And you have to make sure it's like the whole either sequins, where you can swipe the sequins and it reveals the message, or it just spells it out in rhinestones.

00:26:31 - Jenny GK
And, you know, I'm adding it to my email signature. Nobody reads those.

00:26:38 - Caitlin Kindred
Some people read those. Mine has a message in it. Mine says that I answered this email during my working hours. I don't expect you to answer it until it's your working hours.

00:26:51 - Jenny GK
Do it when you can.

00:26:52 - Caitlin Kindred
Yeah, it's like that. I saw it. One. I can't take credit for it, but I saw it, and I was like, this is really smart. I work remotely. I'm a parent. Sometimes I can't get back to your email. Sometimes I forgot to check my email, so I just am like, it is what it is. But if I'm not going to be timely. You don't have to be. But I guess you could put in your email signature. Some people do read them, but it would be funny.

00:27:18 - Jenny GK
It would be funny. Or maybe I add it to my.

00:27:24 - Caitlin Kindred
You. If you added to your email signature, you would need to say, like, it's like voted queen of bling by my colleague. You know what I mean? You'd have to make it sound as professional as you could. But you could do. Right.

00:27:36 - Jenny GK
Right.

00:27:37 - Caitlin Kindred
You can't put, like, Jenny GK, math teacher, queen of can't.

00:27:44 - Jenny GK
I mean, excuse me. It does not say math teacher, it says math content leader.

00:27:49 - Caitlin Kindred
Oh, forgive me. My sincerest apology to the queen, teachers and children.

00:27:58 - Jenny GK
You're right. So math content leader, queen of Bling.

00:28:04 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. My apologies.

00:28:05 - Jenny GK
Faculty voted your queen of Bling.

00:28:07 - Caitlin Kindred
Right, there you go.

00:28:08 - Jenny GK
Faculty elected queen of Bling. All right, what about you?

00:28:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Okay, so I told you this a while ago, but it's been about three months since I told you, so I figured I'd give you an update. About three months ago, I went in for my quarterly botox injections. Oh, my gosh. That. You say it like, what?

00:28:37 - Jenny GK
Yes. You're going to go make a tax payment.

00:28:41 - Caitlin Kindred
It's just my quarterly quarterly tax payment. It's my quarterly botox. Again.

00:28:49 - Jenny GK
Maintenance.

00:28:50 - Caitlin Kindred
It's like getting your nails done, right. You just got to maintain yourself. So I go in and my regular dermatologist is not there because she's on maternity leave. And this woman who's there to see me just kind of takes one look at me and she waves her hand in front of my face like wax on, wax off style.

00:29:12 - Jenny GK
And she's Mr. Miyagi vibes.

00:29:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Exactly right. She's like, what are we doing about your rosacea? And I was, like, in the middle of a terrible breakout, to the point where I was, like, hiding myself. Didn't want to go outside wearing hats all the time and it wouldn't go away. I could not get it to stop. It wasn't like one of those things where you could pop it and the pimple goes away. It was like, right, there was no end to what was happening to my face. And I've dealt with breakouts for my whole life since I was like twelve. And they just got worse as I got older, which was really frustrating because you're supposed to phase out of that at some point.

00:30:00 - Jenny GK
Yeah, that's what they say.

00:30:01 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? But that doesn't happen to everybody. And I just looked at her and I went, I don't know what you're talking about. My rosacea.

00:30:08 - Jenny GK
What?

00:30:09 - Caitlin Kindred
Say that one more time. And she was like, yeah, what are we doing about your rosacea? And I was like, what are you talking about? Tell me what you're saying. And she's like, you don't know that you have rosacea? And I was like, no. And she goes, no. Oh, honey, that's what this is. And she points this whole thing out and she's like, all the spots on my face. And she's like, yeah. She's like, what? You're like, 38, 39? She's like, yeah, that's what that is. And I just was like, are you telling me that this is acne rosacea that I've had? And she's like, yeah, you've probably had it since what you were like in your twenty s? And I was like, yeah. And she's like, some people would call that 15 to 20 years, right? So some people would. My forehead would not, but some people would. My forehead is not that old. Neither are my eleven s. And if you have eleven s, you know what I'm talking about. So she was like, well, this isn't a medical appointment, so I can tell you this, but do you want to change your appointment? And I was like, yes. Combined. Can you put all the things in my forehead and tell me what the heck is going on? And she did. And I walked out of there with a prescription to treat my acne rosacea, topically, orally, and with a face wash. That's amazing. It was incredible. And I also walked out of there incredibly angry that I have been to several dermatologists over the past ten or 15 years saying, what's going on with this? And I was to the point of considering accutane, which, if you're a woman, is incredibly difficult and taxing to get yourself onto it does cause remission have.

00:31:51 - Jenny GK
To go in every 30 days.

00:31:54 - Caitlin Kindred
I know it's a process. If you've ever been on accutane, you understand the process. But if you haven't considering. Right. But as a 40 year old, nobody.

00:32:04 - Jenny GK
Got time for that.

00:32:05 - Caitlin Kindred
Nobody's got time for this. And if you're not sure what that process is, it's like, go in, have a pregnancy test via two methods. I think it's like a blood draw and a hormonal urinary. Right.

00:32:18 - Jenny GK
And you have to be on two methods of birth control.

00:32:21 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. So then after 30 days, they test you again. Those two methods of testing you for pregnancy. Then they give you the prescription, and then you still have to go in. You have to be on two methods of birth control, and you still have to go in all the time and ensure that you're not pregnant because it's so dangerous for a fetus.

00:32:41 - Jenny GK
There are category a, b, and c medications that you can take while you are pregnant, right. A is like tylenol, right? Like, you can take it according to the dosage and it's safe.

00:32:53 - Caitlin Kindred
Right.

00:32:54 - Jenny GK
C is like, you should not take this unless you really, really need to. Right. X is the category that this is, like, accutaneous in. Literally. It is a fourth category that is not even in order of the Alphabet.

00:33:09 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. Absolutely.

00:33:10 - Jenny GK
You cannot, because it 100% does cause birth defects.

00:33:15 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. We know that. And it also causes physical problems for the mother as well. So there's, like, a whole host of reasons not to. So anyway, that's the point I was at. That's the road I was on, is I was like, I had made the to do list that said, call the doctor about this. I had carved out certain days of my schedule so I could go into the doctor and start the accutane process. And then she was like, oh, no, we don't need to do that. And I walked out of there with those restrictions, and it's been three months now, and I have nothing. It's all gone. All of it's gone. I haven't had a breakout like that. Oh, my God.

00:33:54 - Jenny GK
So is there, like, a maintenance medication?

00:33:57 - Caitlin Kindred
There is. I stay on an antibiotic. It's a really low dose antibiotic that I'm on every day, but I also have a topical cream that I put on at night. And there's, like, a sulfur based face wash. Doesn't really smell that great, but I don't really care because of what it's doing. It doesn't smell while it's off. It only smells while I'm washing my face, and then we rinse it off.

00:34:22 - Jenny GK
But I still use it to clean my bathroom.

00:34:23 - Caitlin Kindred
Right, exactly. Fine. So, yeah, that's all it is. And I haven't had an issue since. So she was like, well, let's test it for three months. And she goes, I don't really want to steal you as my patient, so I'll tell your other doctor what's going on, but I was thinking, like, no offense to my regular doctor, but she didn't catch it. And I have been seeing her for my, again, quarterly for a couple of years. So how did she not? Yeah, so I'm very much considering a real switch. But I haven't had switching hairdressers.

00:34:58 - Jenny GK
I do not think it's the same thing.

00:34:59 - Caitlin Kindred
No, I don't think so either.

00:35:01 - Jenny GK
I think if you are switching doctors at the same practice, that's fine.

00:35:04 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? And I could just say, well, I just made it. She won't even.

00:35:08 - Jenny GK
We just made a connection.

00:35:09 - Caitlin Kindred
Right? It's fine. Right?

00:35:10 - Jenny GK
It's not like I don't like the way I look when you're treating me.

00:35:14 - Caitlin Kindred
No.

00:35:15 - Jenny GK
A hairdresser. You're like, I don't like my haircut.

00:35:17 - Caitlin Kindred
Right. And then you just have a better.

00:35:19 - Jenny GK
Relationship with this person. That's totally fine.

00:35:21 - Caitlin Kindred
The hairdresser thing, you probably can't step face in that salon ever again either.

00:35:25 - Jenny GK
Oh, no. If you switch hairdressers, you have to switch salons, right?

00:35:29 - Caitlin Kindred
You can't. Yeah.

00:35:31 - Jenny GK
Now someone, if you are a stylist and you have a different opinion about this, please light us up on social media.

00:35:38 - Caitlin Kindred
I want to hear it. Right?

00:35:39 - Jenny GK
Are we wrong?

00:35:40 - Caitlin Kindred
I don't think so.

00:35:42 - Jenny GK
I don't know. I would not go see someone else at Letty's place.

00:35:45 - Caitlin Kindred
No.

00:35:46 - Jenny GK
Just saying.

00:35:47 - Caitlin Kindred
No. Can't do it. I will not.

00:35:50 - Jenny GK
Okay, well, congrats.

00:35:52 - Caitlin Kindred
My update. Thank you.

00:35:53 - Jenny GK
Happy three month anniversary.

00:35:54 - Caitlin Kindred
Thanks. I'm so happy. I get a new prescription coming up real soon. It's going to be awesome.

00:36:00 - Jenny GK
Okay, well, when you are putting together Valentine gifts for your child's class, you have 14 good choices to make. So make a says.

00:36:15 - Caitlin Kindred
And if you can't think of something to give kids for Valentine's Day, please don't give them anything. Like, I'd rather have nothing than anything that's not on this list. Or you can give me candy. That's fine, too.

00:36:34 - Jenny GK
Happy Valentine's Day.

00:36:35 - Caitlin Kindred
Happy Valentine's Day, everybody. Okay, bye.