Caitlin K: 0:28

Uh, hello and welcome to you. Know that episode of uh Parks and Rec where it's the painting episode and she's like, and welcome to the painting Like. That's where I was just giving. Uh, hi, everyone, we're so glad you're here. Welcome to the podcast. Uh, this is how to be a grownup. This is the how to show that gives you advice on being a grown-up, with hosts who are always here for a little downward social comparison and I'm Caitlin. With me today, covering for Jenny as she recovers from her knee surgery is Arielle Amante, my author, friend of Roots in Ink, and she's a sparkling fountain of wisdom and glitter.

Caitlin K: 1:09

Oh thank you. Yeah, you're so welcome because, glittering this, and also because we record virtually and not in person, that glitter stays far away from my house, which is excellent, right.

Ariella Monti: 1:22

It's probably the leftover glitter from when some got dumped on me in 10th grade.

Caitlin K: 1:27

It never goes away, never goes away. What's the line from Karen Walker? I inhaled so much glitter, my boogers look like disco balls, so good. Okay, we are continuing our Spring Into Self-Care series this week with reading for self-care, and I think we sort of touched on this a little bit with hobbies, but I'm going to trust my author friend here to help us do a deep dive into how reading is catharsis and good for your self-care.

Ariella Monti: 1:59

Yes, you know I love a deep dive. It's the reporter in me. I love to unpack stuff.

Caitlin K: 2:08

There's a few words that are coming out in a lot of like marketing lingo words, and unlock and unpack are two words that I'm seeing all the time. I refuse to use unlock in my titles because I'm like, if I see that word anymore, but unpack I'm fine with. So let's unpack it, let's do it, yeah.

Ariella Monti: 2:26

We're going to unpack it. Let's unpack this so, as my brain completely goes blank.

Caitlin K: 2:32

Well, okay, so then let me, let me do this. I will give you a little bit of backstory of why I'm so excited about this. Um, because I'm trying not to talk badly about myself, so I'm going to say this in a, in a, in a way, that's is a spin, it's my teacher's spin.

Caitlin K: 2:50

I have reading challenges in that I can read like I'm literate. I often, though, read so fast that I miss things and have to go back and reread, or don't know that I miss things and don't understand what I've read. The other thing that I have an issue with is if I read, if I don't read too fast, I'm reading too slowly, and I'm taking notes on everything, and it feels tedious, so it stops being fun, um, and so, for that reason, I don't read as often as I should, and I'd really really like to get back into it because it feels good. It's just one of those things that I want to get back to, and I I saw this and thought, okay, I'm really making a concentrated effort to put self-care first, and this is something. This is a topic I want to talk about, so let's start there.

Ariella Monti: 3:46

How do I get back into this? From seeing that in some of my smaller moms groups where people were voracious readers at one point in their life and then life happens and they get out of reading and they want to get back into it. So this is geared toward those types of readers. It's for people who you know used to be big readers, maybe when they were kids, when they were teens, in their 20s, and then for one reason or another, got out of it and kind of want to get back into it. Sure.

Caitlin K: 4:23

Yeah, that makes sense.

Ariella Monti: 4:24

So some of these are just kind of ideas that I kind of pulled from the ether, have either, you know, worked for me or have worked for other parents that I've spoken to. Many of these tips were also crowdsourced by a statistically insignificant number of people.

Caitlin K: 4:46

I love a good crowdsourcing, Like that's really all. Reddit is right. I love that. That's great.

Ariella Monti: 4:51

Yeah, most of these came from one particular group of moms who are about our age. They have kids kind of mostly, for the most part kind of under, you know, 15 and under. So they are our peers in this and there were a couple of different things that kind of came up over and over and over again.

Caitlin K: 5:14

Yeah.

Ariella Monti: 5:15

So the first one and it was sort of the biggest one that came up was audiobooks. Instead of using a physical, you know, paperback, or even an e-reader, going straight to audiobooks, sitting and reading, might not be realistic right now, but audiobooks let you multitask, which is when a lot of these parents said that they were reading was when they were doing something else, when they were doing laundry or cleaning or commuting. Just the ability to kind of pop their earbuds in and listen to a book has helped them kind of get back into consuming storytelling.

Caitlin K: 6:02

This is a really interesting thing for me because I need to shake that idea that like an audiobook isn't reading. That's a very ableist opinion, right Like there are plenty of people who cannot see who are reading using other materials, like audiobooks. We wouldn't tell them that they're not reading. But I do sort of have that for myself. It's like I'm very aware that audiobooks are reading but for whatever reason, it doesn't feel like that's what I'm doing when I listen. But I have just, on Jenny's recommendation, which I will get to later just started using audio books as a means for myself to get back towards books and I listen to it on my walk. So I appreciate this recommendation. This is absolutely a great way to just enjoy books again.

Ariella Monti: 6:55

Yeah, absolutely, and personally, audiobooks don't work for me. They work for a lot of ADHD people. They do not work for me because my mind tends to wander like a lot. So unless I'm in the car or someplace where the only thing that I'm really doing is listening, I'm not going to be able to grasp what is happening in the story. But I think that audiobooks deliver a very valuable type of storytelling, which is oral storytelling, which is the oldest kind of storytelling in you know humanity. Right, exactly, we had oral storytelling before. We had written storytelling and you've got a lot of really great narrators out there. They have different kinds of production. So you've got, you know, your basic, like one narrator reads the entire book and then sometimes you have two narrators and then you have these like thematic, you know theatric ones with that are more like a radio play or something, and I think that is a way to really kind of help people dive back into storytelling and something that you know if you have a background in being read to as a child

Ariella Monti: 8:25

it kind of harkens back to that. So, even though it's not good for me personally, I still tell, like everybody to dive into it and to kind of segue and kind of connect that if you are a person who does like to physically read a book but you have, you know, certain kinds of processing disorders like that are really common with people who have ADHD or autism or dyslexia. A few people have said that reading the book and following along while they listen to the audiobook has been a game changer for them. So they are hearing it and then they're reading it and it is just allowing them to process the story in a way that using one or the other medium alone won't do. And this does require, you know, the ability to sit still for a while yeah.

Ariella Monti: 9:28

Yeah, it's you know, but some people kind of do it. They'll do it, maybe like before bed no-transcript.

Caitlin K: 10:00

Log in and play the version that's being read to them so, like it would, you could look at the pictures, watch the words and and also follow along. We know it's beneficial for comprehension. Just because it's beneficial for children doesn't mean it's not beneficial for an adult, so if that's something that you have the ability to do, I would highly recommend.

Ariella Monti: 10:22

Okay, yes, yeah, definitely, and kind of. I had this a little bit later in sort of my in my notes, but it's a good segue to e-readers, because e-readers allow you to change the typeface. Yes, and you can change the typeface to something that is a lot more comfortable for you to read. So, like I know, you and I are big fans of Open Dyslexic on the Kindle and that has. I can't even tell you how that has changed reading for me when I read on my Kindle. It has made it so much easier.

Caitlin K: 11:03

There is something about that for me that makes a big difference. And then I also adjust the background settings so that it's not white. It's white font on a black screen and it makes it easier for my eyes as well.

Ariella Monti: 11:15

Yeah, absolutely so. Along with all the other benefits of e-readers the ability to change the settings to make reading more accessible and accommodate any challenges that you have processing challenges that you have it makes reading less frustrating.

Caitlin K: 11:34

Right, or vision challenges, change the font size, like all of that. It's so much easier on an e-reader and I'm one of those people who loves like the smell of a book. Sounds like a weird one of those things. But you know, when you go to the library and there's like definite smell and sometimes the books stink, right, but sometimes there's like a real library smell and like that crinkle of the plastic when you open the library. I love that. So I miss that part of having a book in my hand. But it's just easier. It's just so much easier for me using my e-reader.

Ariella Monti: 12:06

Yeah, and there's a lot of different e-readers on the market right now. You know, for a little while it was really just like the Kindle and the Nook and like that's it, but now there are a few different options and this way you can you basically can read, you know, like anywhere that you can get an ebook, so you can get. You know, get them from Libby, you can get them from Kindle Unlimited. You can subscribe to Kobo Plus, which is just the Kobo version of Kindle Unlimited. Bookshoporg carries ebooks and you can download all of these apps to this one device.

Caitlin K: 12:45

Even like your local library, may have a partnership so that they'll send it to your Kindle account and then you can read it that way. The other thing that I will point out is that if you don't have an e-reader, but you would like the benefit of an e-reader, you can download these apps to your phone or tablet. If you have Apple tablet devices, then you can do that, because I use the Kindle app on my phone sometimes when I don't have my e-reader with me, and they do like think up the progress between the books and stuff like that Exactly.

Ariella Monti: 13:19

And that's the great thing about using e-books and using an e-reader or using the apps is that now you can read anywhere without having to carry a big, heavy book with you. A big heavy book with you, you can read a chapter or two in the waiting room. You can do it while your kids are in bed, which is kind of where I do the bulk of my reading now is because my son still wants somebody to sit with him while he falls asleep. That's when I do a lot of my reading and I, you know I have a book light and stuff, but it's nice to also have the Kindle. That doesn't shine really brightly and it's really. It doesn't mess with my sleep and everything.

Ariella Monti: 14:00

So, yeah, I really like a physical bus too, but yeah, it's a great option. It makes reading a lot more accessible in a lot of different ways.

Caitlin K: 14:07

Right, Okay, so we've talked about accessibility features like audio books and e-readers, but what about like? What do I read? Like? I like thrillers, but specifically like true crime based thrillers. I'm not like a Grisham, you know. Like spy novels I can read, but they're not really my thing. Um. So how do I know what to read? What do I do?

Ariella Monti: 14:39

so you can start by the stuff that you, you know, used to read before, like before the season of non-reading, and you know you can start start with that or start with, like, the types of movies that you like watching and the types of podcasts that you like listening to, like kind of start there and use that as just like a jumping off point. You might find that sort of depending on where your season of life you can't do. Maybe you used to read thrillers and now you can't read thrillers. Yeah, you know, maybe right now and that was one of the things that popped up a lot in in when I was crowdsourcing this was that a lot of these parents wanted easy, cozy reads that tend to be low conflict, they're not emotionally taxing, they're enjoyable, but they don't require a lot of emotional labor to kind of get through them.

Caitlin K: 15:43

Yeah, you know.

Ariella Monti: 15:44

Yeah, and that just might be like the season that you're in. Like, you know, when I was younger, I would read a lot of horror, and I can't read horror. Now I like almost exclusively read romance because I need a happy ending. Sure, I need to know that like everything's going to turn out okay, even if there's like murder and mayhem. Like I need to know that like everything's going to be all right, because that's kind of where I am in life. Welcome to the 2025 times. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, read to escape, right. Other things could be reading novellas or short stories. So novellas, they're a complete story and there is a lot of debate over how long a novella is, but typically you're going to find them and they're going to be under like 150 pages, ish. Oh, so they're longer than a short story, sure, and shorter than A traditional novel, the average.

Ariella Monti: 16:47

Yeah, the average novel now is much longer than it used to be. So, yeah, and the good thing about these is that they're an entire story in a much smaller package. So if you pick up a novella and it's only say like 100 pages, you know you could potentially finish that in a night, in an hour.

Caitlin K: 17:10

If you're reading 100 pages in an hour. Dude, I have friends who read very quickly.

Ariella Monti: 17:15

Can I read 100 pages in an hour? Dude, I have, I have friends who read very quickly. Can I read a hundred pages in an hour?

Caitlin K: 17:18

absolutely not, I can pretend to read a hundred pages again. I will read it and then be like what did I just read, right?

Ariella Monti: 17:25

when did that?

Caitlin K: 17:25

happen in the story. Don't bring me to book club because I don't know.

Ariella Monti: 17:28

Yeah oh yeah, like depending, so I have. I have a friend, and you know this is a plug, but it's also not a plug.

Ariella Monti: 17:35

Um, she calls my novellas that I write bathtub reads, because she reads them in the bath and they're that short that she can almost finish it yeah, she's also a very fast reader, but yes, they are short enough that you know if you're not finishing in one, you'll probably finish it in the other. Like they are just that, and you can do the same with short stories. So if you get like an anthology, you know an anthology of short stories might be like a real beefy book, but you're looking at like maybe 10 short stories in this and those short stories or those essays, they might only take you, like you know, 30 minutes to read and you're you're getting the sense of accomplishment, of like having read something of having read something.

Ariella Monti: 18:26

It's not like oh, I I spent x amount of time reading this and now I still have like a thousand more pages left. It's like no, I like sat down and.

Caitlin K: 18:37

I like that's. The other piece of this that I like is the sense of accomplishment. I read your novellas. I think it took me a few hours, but that's because I was like stopping and getting up and moving around because I needed to life. Yeah, life right, but yeah, I, I. A novella is a great way to go. I have this in my head that, like I, I have to read a novel, I have to read a whole book. But who says a whole book needs to be longer than 100 pages?

Ariella Monti: 19:01

No, it doesn't need to be at all. It is a whole book. You read the whole thing.

Caitlin K: 19:05

How is that not a whole?

Ariella Monti: 19:06

book Right right and novellas tend to be what I call cozy reads, so they tend to be really low conflict and if you are just kind of looking for something that doesn't have a lot of emotional labor kind of attached to it like, novellas are a really good option.

Ariella Monti: 19:34

There's a ton of them, especially in contemporary romance, which is it tends to be how I read that particular genre, and this is the other great thing about novellas and short stories is, if you're trying to find authors or genres that you want to read but you don't want to commit to an entire novel, you can read a novella from an author, get a really good sense of their writing style yeah, exactly. And then you can, you know, read something a little bit longer. So it ends up being kind of like this Gateway book Sample.

Caitlin K: 20:05

Yeah, it ends up being like a gateway book I read.

Ariella Monti: 20:08

Abby Jimenez and Christina Lauren are two really big contemporary romance authors and I read some really great novellas from them. But contemporary romance is not typically a genre that I like to read. A whole novel of Sure.

Caitlin K: 20:28

So yeah, you do. You just got it that way. Yeah, that's great. Okay, cozy Reads, I'm into. What else do you recommend for getting this back in my life?

Ariella Monti: 20:40

So one that I had not thought of was fan fiction. I didn't think of fan fiction because I kind of missed the boat on fan fiction. But fan fiction is great when you want to read something but you don't have the bandwidth to kind of get to know new characters. So you read fan fiction for the familiarity, for the familiarity, and now they're going to be new stories, which is kind of the point of fan fiction. You can explore these characters kind of in different ways but you don't have to get to know them like you already know them, and really good fanfic writers will kind of keep true to the core characters. So you don't have to like like if you're already emotionally attached to steve rogers, like I am.

Ariella Monti: 21:39

You know like, I don't have to like, like if you're already emotionally attached to Steve Rogers, like I am, like I don't have to take the time to like get to know like Steve Rogers as a character style, so each chapter is more like an episode of a TV series as opposed to a chapter in a book. Okay, so think about having like a whole complete episode in kind of one sitting, and then you get the other one and then, like you you know, there's sort of this like dopamine rush, of like wanting the next one and the next one, and the next one.

Caitlin K: 22:20

Yeah, it's like binging right. I am also thinking about for small children, younger children who are committed to characters they've seen in movies or tv shows or games. Um, this might be a good way to get them excited about reading. Uh, if you have a minecraft child in your life, like I do, the game night 999 series these are written by mark sheverton. They are unofficial minecraft adventures, um, and it's game night like a, like a knight with a sword, yeah, yeah, yeah, game night 999.

Caitlin K: 23:00

My son has been listening to those audiobooks before he goes to sleep at night and he's way into them and, for whatever reason, I'm the one who's in there listening with him at the same time and I don't hate these stories, right. There's some, you know, moments that I'm like I don't know what that is, creeper, okay, like I just don't get it. But he gets it and he's really into it. So fanfic might be a really good way to get yourself and your child kind of into reading together. We've talked about doing these self-care things with your child definitely highly recommend reading alongside your child oh, absolutely With your child to your child, next to your child. Each of you have your own book. I'm going to try and do the thing where, if my son is reading in the living room, I'm going to try and grab a book and sit so that he sees us doing it too.

Ariella Monti: 23:48

I will say for fan fiction be careful where you get that content. Yes, thank you. So you know if you're going, there's platforms like Wattpad and AO3. And a lot of that content is not necessarily child friendly. No, it is not safe for work, kind of stuff I am referring to, like the.

Caitlin K: 24:17

I'm talking about stories you might find out of the book.

Ariella Monti: 24:19

Oh sure, no, totally, no, totally I just want to make sure, because there's going to be somebody out there who's like listen, look at the romance writers telling children to read smut.

Caitlin K: 24:30

No, no, no no, we are not doing that at all, no no, no, no, no, Right no no, no, okay, I need body doubles and accountability buddies to make me do anything, including laundry chores, paying bills, work, anything. So would you recommend that as a way for me to get back into reading Totally?

Ariella Monti: 24:55

I think joining a book club, while it is kind of the most time consuming option so you do have to have the time in your schedule for it it is going to be the one that holds you the most accountable. You know, because you're going to pick a book with a group of people. Maybe you suggested the book and you show up to book club and you haven't read it.

Caitlin K: 25:18

Yeah, I have been in a book club where the where a lot of it did not get read. That said, I am such a like goody goody in some ways that I was like, oh my God, it's my homework, I didn't do my homework and I would like read like a maniac, you know, in the days upcoming or days prior to book club. So, yeah, that is one way to get your book club Right.

Ariella Monti: 25:38

Sometimes it's like one of those. Yeah, Sometimes you just need to like light the fire under your butt you know Right, give me a deadline, otherwise I'm not doing it Exactly.

Ariella Monti: 25:46

Exactly. Virtual book clubs are helpful because you can still block off the time but you don't have to travel anywhere, right, you know. So that kind of makes it a little bit more accessible and then you don't have to just be in a book club like in your immediate community. But book clubs is. It's how I got back into a regular reading habit joining a book club in my neighborhood, reading habit, joining a book club in my neighborhood. Then if you are the kind of person if you're, if you're like me, where you don't want to be told what to read because I'm a slow reader, like I, because don't tell me what to do, right, that's why a?

Ariella Monti: 26:32

don't tell me what to do, as if you want me to do something, tell me not to do it. Tell me not to do right, that's why a don't tell me what to do, as if you want me to do something, tell me not to do it tell me not to do it because I'll do it, and the opposite, so don't tell me what to read.

Ariella Monti: 26:44

And also, I am a slow reader. And because I am a slow reader, if I have to read something for a book club, that's going to be the only thing that I read you know that month, like I don't, I don't have the time to read more than that.

Ariella Monti: 27:00

So if you're, if you're one of those people, a lot of small bookstores and possibly libraries but I've seen it mostly done at small like independent bookstores are doing silent book club, where it's a night, or an evening rather, and you go and there maybe there is a little bit of chatting or anything, but you just go and read with a whole bunch of other people and you can't be distracted by other people doing stuff, because everybody's sitting there reading Right and for body doubling, that's a really good way to end it Exactly.

Ariella Monti: 27:38

I have yet to go to one of these things. There are a couple of bookstores in my area that have been doing them and they just have not worked out for my schedule. But yeah, it ends up being like okay, well, I know that X Bookstore hosts Silent Book Club every other Tuesday, and then you could go every other Tuesday and you'll just go, and the whole idea is to just go and read with a whole bunch of other book nerds.

Caitlin K: 28:06

Oh my gosh, that sounds amazing. That feels like a treat yourself kind of moment right.

Caitlin K: 28:10

Like, I go to the bookstore, I get the beverage that I want. I get myself comfortable in some sort of adult beanbag chair it has to be an adult one, because otherwise I can't get up and then I just sit and read my book and it's quiet. Hopefully it's raining outside and I can hear it. I'm just painting a little picture in my head for myself. I hope you're enjoying it too. Anyway, so all of these, I think, are super helpful. At least one or two of these are things that I actually have the time and can do and will help me explore a different kind of reading, because there's only so many times I can read the story of the girl on the train who then gets murdered by or sees a murder. Was that there was actually a book called the Girl on the Train?

Ariella Monti: 28:58

Who Then Gets Murdered by or Sees a Murder. There was actually a book called the Girl on the Train. The Girl on the Train and I did read it.

Caitlin K: 29:01

I read it in a book club, yeah, I actually. You know, there's only so many times I can read that, yeah, but they're always interesting to me, but anyway. Anyway, so, speaking of things that we are reading now, I thought I would spin this back in that self-care direction, because I have again just started reading through audiobooks and I wanted to share a few books that are helping people dig into various topics related to self-care for themselves. Some of these are recommended by friends and family. Some of these I found on Reddit, so I'm going to tell you that I have not read all of these, but all of them have a four star or better rating on that A to Z website where you can log all the books that you want to read and that are on your shelf and stuff.

Caitlin K: 29:50

So one of them is the More or Less Definitive Guide to Self Care from A to Z by Anna Borges, b-o-r-g-e-s. I don't know if it's Borges or Borges, but I'm sorry Anna, she's not listening. The next one is Get Out of your Mind and Into your Life the New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Stephen Hayes and Spencer Smith, and this one has lots of really great reviews and people saying it's been absolutely game changing for them with this particular type of therapy. That is, research backed this one. I can't vouch for the book, but I can vouch for the author. This is how to Keep House Well, drowning by KC Davis, kc the letters and C like and the sunshine band. So again, this book is infested, but her podcast is.

Ariella Monti: 30:40

I can vouch for how to Keep.

Caitlin K: 30:42

Housewell.

Ariella Monti: 30:42

Drowning. Okay, how to Keep Housewell Drowning. Yes, yes, I have it. I have read it. Kc Davis is my lord and savior. She's phenomenal, and so I can vouch for this one.

Caitlin K: 30:54

Yeah, I, I really again, she has an amazing podcast. Just search for Casey Davis, you'll find it. It'll come right up, um, and then come back in here and listen here, because I need you to um and and um. Uh, she's a board certified counselor, yeah, and she started sharing her ideas on TikTok and her TikTok account was wildly popular for just being incredibly validating. And she has ADHD and she has a history that she's not necessarily the proudest of and she's turned her life around and she's a mom and there's a lot about her that, uh, is just absolutely relatable in every way and she's funny. So I highly highly recommend anything Casey Davis for self-care.

Caitlin K: 31:38

This one has a lot of great recommendations and a lot of people mentioned it is Tiny Habits, the Small Changes that Change Everything, which has been one that I've heard of and I just have it on my want to read and haven't done it. This one is the one that I like need to move to the top of my want to read list, but it's called Burnout the Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, by Emily and Amelia Nagoski. They're sisters. Emily is a PhD, amelia, I think, is an MBA. I'm not positive about that, but I think she is. This book is written especially for women. It came out in like 2019, 2020, somewhere in there. For women. It came out in like 2019, 2020, somewhere in there, and it's all about how women specifically handle stress and burnout and how to fix that. This one Set Boundaries and Find Peace A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself, by Nedra Glover Tawwab.

Caitlin K: 32:29

A Redditor said that his therapist recommended this one, and if a man is in therapy, bless you. First of all, you all need it. Second of all, you actually read the book. Uh, I'm going to, and he said it was really important to him. So I'm going to go ahead and say, yes, it has a great rating, and someone actually vetted for it, who might be the kind of person that I want to associate myself with. So there you go, and then this is one that I am listening to right now. It's called Self-Compassion the Proven Power of being Kind to Yourself, by Kristen Neff.

Caitlin K: 33:04

Jenny recommended this book to me just the other day and told me to listen to it on my walks, which I am doing. Thank you, jenny, and yes, I don't like being told what to do, but I am doing it, and this is probably my biggest area of struggle when it comes to self-care is self-compassion, so it's been helpful. There are a few things in that that I've been like. She's kind of made a comment or two about anxiety medications and depression medications that I kind of was like, hey now, but then she sort of walked it back and said it in a way that was more accepting. So if you hear that and you get turned off by it, just know she understands and she's turning it around. So yeah, so we've got how to get back into reading and then a few books that if you want to explore self-care more, those are some recommendations that we have for you. We'll be right back after a short break For links to resources mentioned in this episode.

Caitlin K: 34:00

Head on over to ckandgkpodcastcom to find everything you need and be sure to follow us on social media. Head over to your favorite social media network and find us at CKandGK Podcast. And now back to the show. We are back and I need to know what you're obsessed with right now.

Ariella Monti: 34:24

I'm obsessed with the character art that I commissioned for my book.

Caitlin K: 34:31

Oh my goodness, it's not inappropriate.

Ariella Monti: 34:35

No, I've seen it.

Caitlin K: 34:36

It's not inappropriate.

Ariella Monti: 34:37

No, but.

Caitlin K: 34:39

I have to say.

Ariella Monti: 34:40

That's the next commission I pay for. Well, we won't put that on my website.

Caitlin K: 34:41

You can put it on yours. No, but I have to say that's the next commission I pay for. Well, we won't put that on my website?

Ariella Monti: 34:44

No, no, you can put it on yours.

Caitlin K: 34:45

No, I'll link to it but I'm not going to.

Ariella Monti: 34:49

But yeah, so I had this art commissioned. I don't have the final product yet, but I've been seeing like updates and stuff and I'm just like so freaking thrilled with it dates and stuff and I'm just like so freaking thrilled with it and I understand now why so many authors have character art commissions.

Ariella Monti: 35:09

Yeah, it's a very specific kind of dopamine hit. To see your like, the characters you have like in your brain on a piece of paper. Yeah, especially if you don't like. I don't have any sort of drawing talent, so to like to see it is phenomenal, so yeah, that's so special congratulations.

Caitlin K: 35:34

I love like I love all these updates. They just make me happy.

Ariella Monti: 35:38

Um, my obsession is really lame compared to yours it's pop chips okay, so these are so pop, these are the like, the little like crispy, like little circles.

Caitlin K: 35:52

They look like. They look like tiny um like, like rice cakes.

Ariella Monti: 35:58

Yes, thank you, they look like tiny rice cakes. Okay, so fun, funny story. The founder of that company is from I believe it's from, like, the Rockville Center area and I did a story when she launched those chips and interviewed her.

Caitlin K: 36:18

Are you going to ruin my snack for me right now? No, no, oh, no, oh, okay I was waiting for you to be like, and the so-and-so is not the kind of person that you want.

Ariella Monti: 36:32

Oh no, she was very nice. I'm sure she's lovely. Yeah, no, she was just very nice. She brought like bags of of these chips and Yum.

Caitlin K: 36:35

Yeah, I cannot stop. They're so good and they're low calorie and they satisfy my need for salt and something crunchy, and I'm obsessed.

Ariella Monti: 36:44

I'll have to try them again.

Caitlin K: 36:46

Yeah, one of the rules in my house is I need snackies, and my snackies always need to be replenished, and so that's the snack that has to be available in the house.

Ariella Monti: 36:57

I'll have to try them again. I wasn't a huge fan at the time because of course they brought samples and stuff, but it has been like 15 years.

Caitlin K: 37:08

Yeah, they're so good, even just the plain salt ones. I love them. Doesn't matter, I'll eat all the flavors, but I had like she has like a sour cream and chive, which is one of my favorite. Anything sour cream, something, I'm going to eat it. So, anyway, that's not as cool as yours, but it's the thing I can't stop, so there you go.

Ariella Monti: 37:32

It makes you happy. What are your?

Caitlin K: 37:33

gems. It does make me happy. Self-care.

Ariella Monti: 37:35

Pop chips. So my gem happened this morning. So we've discussed the rooster, right, my rooster Steve Rogers. Yeah, I changed his name, it's not Steve Rogers anymore, it's just Rogers, because I've seen some behavior from this rooster that Steve Rogers would never so, oh dear, I can't even say like. He's like little and scrappy and stuff and like like how pre-serum Steve was, he's. He's just like, he's a chicken, chicken Like but in any case.

Ariella Monti: 38:14

So that's not my gym but like I guess it could be my job. But so this morning kid comes downstairs and he's sitting at the table and he's getting his you know medication and stuff. And we look out the window and there is Rougers, our rooster, and Yelena, one of our other hens, and the rooster did what rooster and hens do and my kid was like huh, and I was just like well, that's how you get fertilized eggs? Oh, okay, I'm like that's how baby chicks are made. And then he goes. I thought he was, was, I thought he would do that with the other chicken and I'm like why? And he's like because he's always following her around. And so then I had to explain the difference between like monogamous birds and polyamorous birds, oh, parenthood.

Caitlin K: 39:23

These are the things you don't expect to be talking about.

Ariella Monti: 39:27

No no.

Caitlin K: 39:28

But you know, but he's hearing the real bit of it from you.

Ariella Monti: 39:34

Yes, so there we go, right, don't complain.

Caitlin K: 39:36

Yeah, well, my gem is courtesy of Jenny, who is feeling much more like herself. She's not. She's probably still doing too much before she, you know, is allowed to be Shocking. Yeah, yeah, I know right, she never stops moving. But she honored my birthday in a very amazing way.

Caitlin K: 40:02

So I got two gifts. One of them is being made, and I'm not sponsored by this company. It's a local Austin company. They make really amazing belts and the belt sales are going to benefit a place where she and I went to go see a comedy show together and they're really, really beautiful. There's like weaving on them and they're different colors and all that and it's absolutely stunning, but it's being made, so I can't have it yet.

Caitlin K: 40:32

So, in order to honor my birthday and hand me something because I like presents and she knows that she bought me what she has lovingly called the most ridiculous thing on the internet and she's not wrong, okay, so I'm gonna paint a little picture for our listeners and I'm gonna get you're gonna get to see it and I'm gonna put a picture of it on our website.

Caitlin K: 40:52

So make sure you head over to the website for a head, the rock's head and fists at the end of the tentacles, and the tentacles can move what it is? A rocktopus, and I need you to understand how ridiculous we're actually talking here. It's like the rock's eyebrow is lifted up, it's pink and the ends are a fist like. This is this, is the? It is easily the most ridiculous thing on the internet and when I opened it I cackled like to the, to the point where I couldn't breathe. When I was describing it later to my boss, marla, and I and she was like someone now on the internet thinks that it's okay to make these you understand, like now they know they have a market I was like first of all, I didn't buy it. Second of all, good, because this is hysterical and it's on my desk and it's just sitting there like cracking me up regularly it is the most ridiculous thing.

Caitlin K: 42:06

It's so weird. Who's thinking of this stuff?

Ariella Monti: 42:16

Why lately? But the fact that we have the technology to bring this, these ideas, to life is just so amazing to me. Like somebody was like I need to make this and make it a reality, and they did, and I'm just so thankful and other people are using that same technology to create things like prosthetic limbs or houses for people, and we have a rocked apartment.

Caitlin K: 42:49

It just made me so happy and, at the same time, so. Jenny's daughter and husband were there with her while she dropped this off with me and you could just see it on her 13 old daughter's face of like my mom is so weird, like my mom is so weird, and only my mom's best friend would understand what this is and why this is amazing, right, and I, oh my god, I just I just looked at her and I was like your mom is the best, like, yes, she's weird, but she's yours and she's the best. So, anyways, that's my, that's my gem, is my, my rock to puss. He's he's so weird and he looks at me every day while I'm working. It's really funny. Anyway, that's my little moment of self-care, is a little moment of laughter with my rock to puss. Right, perfect, okay. So we're going to wrap this no-transcript.