SPEAKER_01: 0:27

Hey Caitlin.

SPEAKER_00: 0:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 0:29

Did you ever read the Babysitters Club books?

SPEAKER_00: 0:32

Yes, actually, I did read a few of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 0:34

Okay, so you know that like everyone in the Babysitters Club had like a little role?

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 0:39

Okay, so Christy was the president and Claudia was the vice president and Stacy was the treasurer. Yeah. Do you know that her favorite day was Does Day? Oh Lord.

SPEAKER_00: 0:51

Wow. Oh longest setup ever. But I love it. It's so dad jokeish, but like only for girls who read those books. Right? So good. I love it. Hilarious. Guys, we're so glad you're here today. We're halfway into November. We're thankful. We're thankful. Oh yes. Yes. We're thankful that you're here. We're halfway into November already. And somehow Thanksgiving is what? Like in a week and a half, a week and a half or something like that?

SPEAKER_01: 1:21

Yeah, it's very close. Oh my gosh. Because I love Thanksgiving. You do.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25

We realize this is a little early for a Thanksgiving episode. So here's the thought process. Okay. We're sharing 10 to 11-ish Thanksgiving activities to keep everyone entertained and out of your face, basically, for Thanksgiving, right? While you are busting your butt in the kitchen. Family is lovely. Yes? This is what we like about Thanksgiving. Family. However, family also brings the stress, right? Like they're just like major. Yes. So stick around. We've got that coming up for you. We're gonna keep your family out of your hair and keep them entertained on Thanksgiving Day. Yes. Love it. Love it. But first, yes.

SPEAKER_01: 2:09

Caitlin, new kids on the block, you know they're back together.

SPEAKER_00: 2:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 2:13

And they're like touring. They wrote a new Thanksgiving song just about you.

SPEAKER_00: 2:17

Ooh, I can't wait to hear what this is.

SPEAKER_01: 2:19

She's got the right stuff. Caitlin.

SPEAKER_02: 2:24

Yay!

SPEAKER_01: 2:25

Stephanie's my favorite. That's my favorite. I prepared for this episode in the shower, which is where, you know, you do your creative thinking. And I just let the wheels run wild.

SPEAKER_00: 2:38

I have decided that I need one of those in-shower notepads because I have the best arguments with all the people and the best ideas in the shower. Right? Like the best ones. And I'm like, why? Why did I not make the best argument? That's so good. The argument with the with all the people that you're like, if I could tell you the real truth about what I think about you and all the things, and you just like it all just flows. And then you can like rearrange it. Maybe I'm the only one who does this. I'm just gonna stop. Well, you are my bestie, and Jenny, I just adore you. So thank you for being here with me and for making me laugh this morning already because the Hot Mass Express has a picture on the side of it this morning, and it's me. I need it. So you cut out for a second.

SPEAKER_01: 3:30

I didn't hear what Leslie Nope had to say about me.

SPEAKER_00: 3:32

Well, she called you a gorgeous purebred poodle.

SPEAKER_01: 3:36

Oh please, like I want to have my little claws painted.

SPEAKER_00: 3:42

Yes, or like the and like the edges, like your your ends dyed pink.

SPEAKER_01: 3:46

Oh, yes, absolutely. That's it. And the little ball of fur on my tail.

SPEAKER_00: 3:51

Mm-hmm. So poof. I this is the time of year that I have to watch Best in Show.

unknown: 3:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 3:56

And I always think about Butch, the the poodle in Best and Show, and what would happen they are with that poodle and how like her weird haircut is and the pom-pom's keeping Butch's hip joints warm and all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So good. So good.

SPEAKER_01: 4:16

Oh man, I was watching some uh Guinness World Record videos. I know we're not talking about obsessions, but I might be a little obsessed with this right now. And anyway, like they show these like 30-second clips of people breaking records. There was one where this dude is solving Rubik's cubes while juggling them. No. But the thing that makes this connect to poodles is there was one where the guy makes balloon animals through his nose. Ew. And he like folded a poodle with the balloon coming out of his nose. The sale that people come up with.

SPEAKER_00: 4:54

Right?

SPEAKER_01: 4:55

Like he's got a plaque. He's got a plaque. I he's a world record holder for fastest balloon animal made in a nose. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 5:04

Oh, okay. I just don't even have words. I don't have words. I don't know what to say. It's just weird. Wow. Okay. So we are going to go ahead and get into it. Let's. This is already off the rails. That's how you can tell this hot mess express is interesting this morning. Okay, so we're talking about activities for you and your family to do, or for you to set up for your family, or someone else to set up for your family, so that you can keep everyone out of your hair, keep everyone happy, and and you know, have some fun along the way. My sources today are a Pure Wow article called 38 Thanksgiving Activities to Keep the Whole Family Entertained and Squabble Free by Once again Emma Singer, but she also I feel like you need to get an Emma Singer tattoo. I think I do. Yeah, I think I'm gonna get the the the heads of the podcast, and then I'm just gonna say, like, brought to you by Emma Singer. Like I'm love it, love it. Like, I need to just make sure that I'm following this woman on all the platforms so that I can. And if you're like not tagging her in her episodes, we need to. Oh, she shows up in all of our show notes, just putting that out there so that anytime someone searches for her, hopefully it comes up. But there's that. But she also has a co-writer on this one that's Stephanie Sengway. So Emma Singer, Stephanie Sangway, thank you for the inspiration. We are not obviously sharing all 38, but we do have a link to that article in the show notes for today. Absolutely. So Thanksgiving. We're talking about being thankful. Some of these activities have to be about gratitude. Absolutely. Yes. So we've got a couple here. One of them is the MM gratitude game. And if you're a teacher, especially if you teach math, you've probably seen some version of this game before, right? I think I saw this game when I was in college and it had something to do with drinks. Oh, there is that option too, yes. But when I've done it for math, it was everyone gets a little thing of MMs, and then we turn it into a bar graph of different colors of MMs, right? Right, right, right, right, right. This is every color of MM is assigned a gratitude topic. For example, red would be I'm thankful for a person. Orange is I'm thankful for something in nature. Yellow is I'm thankful for something in my house that's not a person, right? Like things like that. Whatever. Flip over a queen and the person to your right drinks. Oh, sure. Yes. Yes. Yes. So what you do is you open up the bag of MMs, everyone like picks up an MM, and then they just go around and say, Oh, this is a red one. I'm thankful for my mom. Done, right? Great. Yes. I love it because I don't know about you, but whenever someone's like, what are we thankful for? I get like anxious because I need structure in that. I want a sentence frame. I want someone to tell me, like, okay, are are we all talking about thankful for our health, which is a game that you guys have talked about at your family? Like everyone operates under that assumption, but I still feel like I need the sentence frame. So this provides those sentence frames for everyone who's playing the game. And it's it kind of goes back to that whole set everyone up for success when you're having small talk conversations or when you're just trying to get people to open up.

SPEAKER_01: 8:30

Dude, we love a good sentence starter on CK and GK. We really, really do.

SPEAKER_00: 8:35

Also, MMs are you love, Caitlin? Sentence starters. Yeah. I'd be right. There's also, just so you know, you don't have to make this up for yourself. Like if you're struggling to come up with the what the color should be, we've got a link to this exact activity in the blog post for this episode. And there's printables that you can just grab for yourself, but you could just make it up if you wanted to. That's fine. And MMs are always a good bribe for kids. So just putting that out there.

SPEAKER_01: 9:03

And depending on how old your group is, it might be fun for them to brainstorm what each color is gonna be. Totally. You know, if you've got a group of preteens, that might be fun for them too. Like, oh, I'm gonna say that red is something I'm thankful for online or whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 9:17

Oh, that's a great idea. I love that. Yeah. Okay. The other one about gratitude is a DIY family gratitude tree. Now, this requires a little bit of prep on your part. So just putting that out there. That's why we're doing this episode a week before Thanksgiving, so that you have time to prep it if you want. But what you're gonna do is you're gonna tape a like brown craft paper tree trunk. Go find a template online, trace it, don't worry about making it, whatever. You can do it with a cardboard that you have in the house because we all know I love to save a good box. You never know, you hit 35 and you start saving boxes for whatever reason. So you could use a box, paperback, oh, Caitlin. Doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_01: 9:58

You know, when we moved to Japan in the early 90s, my dad bought a piano before we even had a house. It's the same piano that he's been like watching his whole life and he's always wanted, whatever. So he buys this piano. And of course, my mom's like, what are we gonna do with the piano? We don't even have a house yet. She says, Oh, no, no, no, it'll get delivered once we have a house. And so the piano comes in this giant box that is like the size of a coffin.

SPEAKER_02: 10:20

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01: 10:21

My dad gifted me that piano when I bought my first home in 2008 in the box. Yeah. You gotta save the box. 17 years he kept this box.

SPEAKER_00: 10:39

This is why millennials have a problem throwing away iPhone boxes. Just put that out there. Oh, dude. Yeah. Yeah. So you're gonna make a brown or oh, that's right. We're making a turkey. Right, we're making a turkey. We're making a tree. And then just make some leaf cutouts. Also, you can make these out of you know you can just print out leaves from the inner webs and cut them out or whatever. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01: 11:03

I am hearing you say you can make this, you can make this, but I am replacing that pronoun with she, she, she, and passing it off to my 12-year-old.

unknown: 11:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 11:12

I'm saying, we're gonna do this tree.

SPEAKER_00: 11:14

Abigail, you need to make this tree and leaves for everyone. Oh, it's a really good hyperfixation project for ADHDers, too, putting that out there. So you're gonna have these leaf cutouts, you're gonna have your tree up on some place that you don't mind people taping to. And what you're gonna do, think like a wedding guest book. Everyone's gonna write something that they're thankful for on the leaves, and then they're gonna tape it to the tree. And it's gonna look like fall, and it's gonna be pretty and nice, and it's something you could take a picture of and save for another time. I used to do an activity similar to this with my students. I had this big, like kind of vinyl tree that I not vinyl, but like cardstock tree that I laminated so that I could put tape over it over and over and over again. And I had it on the the, I was in a corner classroom, like the end of the hallway. And so I wrapped the tree kind of around the corner wall. And then every like month or holiday or whatever it was, I would have these little, you know, icon designs things, and the kids would color them and then say one thing that they loved about that season. Dumb. Yeah. Stop for just a minute.

SPEAKER_01: 12:24

You made your hands into a heart, and a heart floated across the that was weird.

SPEAKER_00: 12:30

Is it gonna do it again? No way! Squad cast, that's rad.

unknown: 12:36

How does that happen?

SPEAKER_00: 12:37

I don't know, but squad cast, well done. That's super cool. If it happens again, you should take a picture of it. Okay. I used to do this with my students, it was super cute, and my administrators loved it. They absolutely loved it. At the end of your gathering, whatever you're doing for Thanksgiving, you'll have this tree that has all these like sweet memories or thankful items on it or whatever. You can you can make it be different prompts, just like the MM game, right? You can say, This color leaf is for a memory we have of this year, this color leaf is for a thankful thing, this color leaf is for something you're looking forward to in the coming year. Whatever you want to do. Oh, cool. But it could be really nice. And if you make it sturdy enough or you are hyper annoying like I am, and you laminate it or whatever, you could use it again and again and again and and change it throughout the year, just like I did in my classroom. So it's pretty cool. It's a fun idea. I love it. Yeah. Okay, another one. I have to admit that this is very the office circa season one when Michael Scott runs the diversity day episode. If you know what I'm talking about, nice, nice, yes, but less cringe, right? Less Lord help us all, right? So this is an easy game to play. All you need are some sticky notes and a pen. Got it? I have those. Yeah. You don't have to make a tree. Done. So here's how you play: you write the name of a famous person or a character on a sticky note, give one to each player. Characters can be dead or alive, fictional, non-fictional, doesn't matter. Make sure that the person who you assign the character to cannot see their name. So you make them stick the sticky note on their forehead, just like the episode of The Office. And players have to walk around the room and ask yes or no questions to figure out who they are. Now, the only issue I have with this game is if you have a teenager and you have uh people of much older generations, you might get some weird TikTok stars or whatever. So just maybe you write the name out in advance and you ask for some suggestions from everyone, right? But then you don't participate and you give everyone else a sticky note, and that way they're all doing it. You just get to laugh while you're making pies in the background. Right. There you go. Yes. Okay. That's a fun one. Really easy icebreaker. You give me one.

SPEAKER_01: 15:11

Okay. So I have one that's like, how well do you really know your family? Because at a lot of these holiday events, not just Thanksgiving, but you know, this, as we said last year or last week, the most wonderful time of the year, you might be getting together with people that you haven't gotten together with since maybe last holiday season. And it could be a little awkward, especially for your kids who don't necessarily remember these people.

SPEAKER_00: 15:38

Oh, I'm thinking like, oh, Christmas vacation when Audrey and Russ are like just cringing from their grandparents, like all over them, and just how uncomfortable they are. That's what I have in my head right now.

SPEAKER_01: 15:53

Yeah. Yes. So there is a card game called Do You Really Know Your Family? And has all kinds of silly challenges and like trivia questions that just stir up laughter from everyone and then teach you a few things that you didn't know about your family. We do a version of this at our kids' birthday parties. We will be like, who knows Kit best? And so I'll ask him some questions beforehand, and then everyone has to like answer questions about him. But again, that requires a lot of prep on my part. This is something that you can just like get in a box, which is why, again, we're telling you this in advance.

SPEAKER_00: 16:28

Right. All about the get in getting like as much done in advance kind of thing, but also like if I don't have to prep it, I can just I am very much a throw the money at the problem kind of person. So that sounds great. I love it. I actually I have a link to that game in the show notes if you wanted to take a look at it. You can find it on your favorite A-Z store. So easy easy. Love it. Okay, this one's for me. We all know I love a good puzzle. In fact, I love a puzzle so much. Oh my god, goodbye. These people. Guess whose pumpkin puzzle still isn't done? This girl's. Okay, so if you are looking for a low-key Thanksgiving activity, this is one where you set it up off to the side of your space and you just leave it there. Now, if you're me, you grab a glass of wine and you sit in front of the puzzle most of the day once the cooking is done. However, this could be a great way to wrap up your day too, right? So you just finish, put the puzzle on the coffee table, everyone's having their food coma, some people are watching football games, but it's a way to like kind of calm everyone down and you give someone something to do with their hands that isn't necessarily doom scrolling, although it is also a great way to keep people who cannot shop after Thanksgiving entertained, right?

SPEAKER_01: 17:53

So I will tell you, like, I am not a puzzle person. I'm not against puzzles, but like when I'm thinking of entertaining myself, I never like, oh, puzzle. But when there is a puzzle out, yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That's exactly what I'm talking about. It's the weirdest thing. It's the weirdest thing. Like it it does become social, and you're like, okay, let's all do this puzzle. Right. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_00: 18:15

Do it's like weird. Do you watch New Girl? Have you have you watched it before? I've not watched New Girl. Oh, okay. You need first of all, stop what you're doing. We're canceling this episode. Go watch New Girl. But there's a character named Winston who loves puzzles, and he's like, oh yeah, and he's like rubbing his hands together and he's so funny about puzzles. And that's how that's how I feel about them because for me it's a hyperfixation project, and I get intense dopamine rushes from putting chunks of pieces together. I don't know what it is aside from that. It's gotta be that. But if there it's uh chaos to order, right? And you also know I used to have one in my classroom that I would put out for the kids to do, and then they would just walk by and do a couple pieces.

SPEAKER_01: 18:57

Exactly. Weirdest thing. Weirdest thing because I am not, I am not a puzzle person. I'm just not. But then there's like this magnetism of, oh, there's a puzzle setup, I'll I'll do a few.

SPEAKER_00: 19:07

Right. Exactly. It's I don't get it, but it's super fun. And I'm actually thinking about bringing one to my in-laws for Thanksgiving this year because I think I think you should. Yeah, I think it'd be really fun. And there's tons of Thanksgiving ones. I have a link to one in the show notes that you can, or it's in our blog post. It's not in the show notes, go to the blog post. But I have a link there if you wanted like a very traditional, like turkey one. But there's tons of other just put out any old puzzle. Nobody cares. It's fine. Find one from your attic and throw it out there. People are gonna do it. Don't worry about it. I mean, it's super family friendly, low prep, again, keeps people out of your hair. Great way to zen.

SPEAKER_01: 19:41

And let me give a virtual high five to anyone who loves to light the world on fire, like me, and like puts pieces to a puzzle that doesn't belong on the table.

SPEAKER_00: 19:50

Oh Lord. Yeah, that stresses me out already. I just like felt my voice start to shake. Oh, I just started sweating. Jenny! Ah, you just made me sweat. I'm not kidding. Oh, okay. Sorry. I'm good. I swear. I this is depending on who you are. Right. I this is a hypothetical puzzle. I am not, there's no real danger here. Okay, so another one. Flag football.

unknown: 20:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 20:19

Need to get outside. No. I have been a turkey trout on Thanksgiving person one time, one time only. And it was big fun. But I am not that person. I am much more of a turn on the parade, probably cry during the parade because it makes me happy. And then watch the dog show while I cook. That's my morning, right? I, though, do love the opportunity to get outside on Thanksgiving Day because something about that fresh air just feels really, really good. So channel your inner season three friends and go work up an appetite with your family while playing flag football. Not tackle football. Flag football. No, no, no, no, no. Okay. Calorie burn, fresh air. Go find out how to play online real easy. It'll be great.

SPEAKER_01: 21:08

I told you, I love Thanksgiving. And there's like so many traditions around Thanksgiving and my family, and like a lot of them I've adopted into my own family. But playing football on Thanksgiving, like I did not make this up. My family did not make this up. This is like all American, right? Right. When we played growing up, my dad would be all-time quarterback. Oh. Because there were three kids. So one of us would be on offense with him, the other two would be on defense, and we would like rotate through. Cute. And so there was like no advantage. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 21:43

It's just because my dad's on offense the whole time. Right. It's just about also like getting outside, playing. Everyone gets a chance to like try to catch the ball, run the ball. Like, yeah, you might keep score, but like it doesn't really matter.

SPEAKER_01: 21:57

Now, let me tell you this. There's a little bit of sexism around football on Thanksgiving. Yes. Sometimes it's just the guys. Yes. I am going to plead if you are in a family where a male of the family has invited a date for Thanksgiving the first time and you happen to be female, go play flag football with her. She's going to have this weird obligation to go play football because she doesn't know the other people who are staying inside. So she's going to be the only girl on the field. Go do it. Or make an open invitation, like, hey, why don't you come? Like, all of us are going to go and, you know, do whatever it is that you're going to do that's not football.

SPEAKER_00: 22:46

Yeah. I yeah. The thing about, and I bet that a lot of women can relate to this. When the men get together, they often group up and talk about things that interest them. And then it kind of leaves the women in an awkward position where they have to figure out how to have a conversation with this new group of people, or this woman that they don't know when they really know the guy, or you know what I mean? It's it can get really uncomfortable. And as someone who has become very good friends with my husband's really good guy friends, that often has happened to me where like I get not for I don't want to sing hold right. Or I, or it sounds rude because it's not what they mean, but they ditch the girls and leave her with me because then I'm the one who's like supposed to vet them and and entertain them. And that's uncomfortable. Right. So just extend that invitation to her, have her come outside, and often like you'll see how much fun she really is. I think it'll be a really good opportunity for you. Also, now in my head, because I said the Friends episode, I have Monica Geller going, 42 to 21, like the turkey Ross is done. In my head, over episode. That episode is all about the sexism in football. Have you noticed that? It's a really good. Somewhere our dear friend Lauren is like, oh my gosh, you're so right. If she's listening. So, but it's a that's a great episode about all of that and why the girls need to be included. And it ends with them going, Isn't there a national football league? And they're like, Yeah. And he goes, Oh, they yeah, they they play on Monday nights. And then Rachel goes, Oh shoot, I work on Monday nights. Like that's the reason that she's yeah, unable to participate in that is also not available on Sundays. Right. She's she's terrible. She'll never make it. Okay. So those are mine. I those kind of encompass some of the personal ones I do too, but I think this year I'm gonna change it up and do one of those. Do you I know you love Thanksgiving so much, I feel like you have something to offer here that's not an art.

SPEAKER_01: 24:54

I love Thanksgiving so much. Okay, so we did already talk about like the gratitude thing. That is my number one reason I love Thanksgiving, is uh in my family and my extended family, right? Like we did it as a nuclear family, like my parents and my siblings and I, but it has expanded and now we're this big group and we still continue to do it. We sit around the table and we say what we're thankful for. And you know it's coming. Right. Right? Like you come in saying, okay, I'm gonna have to be thankful for something. And we do, like you said, we kind of have this like understood rule that like you don't have to say family or health or financial well-being. Like we we are very fortunate to have those things, and we all assume we're thankful for them. So you can go beyond that. I love that. I love the practicing of gratitude. I really enjoy the Thanksgiving season and like thinking about what I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_00: 25:45

Oh, that's so nice. I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:48

Again, it's like we're not being put on the spot. That's why I love that MM game because some of them can be frivolous. Like, what article of clothing are you thankful for this year? Exactly. Name like that.

unknown: 25:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 25:59

We always take a walk between dinner and dessert. We walk the dogs. It is a short walk. It is not like, oh, we're gonna go do a 5K. I have done the family 5K. I have done it many years. I have run it, I have walked it, we've done it. I've seen the memes that say, like, don't marry into a family that does a 5K on Thanksgiving. Like, I get it. It it's great. And when the weather is beautiful, it's a really cool way to st it to kick off the day. But this is this is a this is a very mellow walk. This is like trying to digest your food and make room for dessert. Dessert, which by the way, in my family, you can order a piece of pumpkin pie or a piece of raspberry pie or a piece of rum cake or whatever, or you can have the classic family order, the sampler. At which point my mom will give you a slice of every piece of dessert on your plate.

SPEAKER_00: 26:55

Can we talk about Raspberry Pi for a second? I have don't know why this never occurred to me. I have never heard of Raspberry Pi in my life. Is that a thing you guys normally do? Okay, yes.

SPEAKER_01: 27:05

So for those of you who like love computers, I know Raspberry Pi is like a thing. Okay, so we're moving that aside. We're not talking about computers, we're not talking about programming, we're talking about a dessert. My mom makes this raspberry pie that, oh my gosh, I'm closing my eyes, my mouth is watering, just thinking about it. It has a meringue crust that has like Ritz crackers in it. And I know that this is weird. Oh, the salt. Super crispy and chewy, yes. And then raspberries on top of that, and then whipped cream. Way. Oh my gosh. So it's not like a baked, is it a it's not a baked pie? No, it's like a cold. The crust is baked because it's like a meringue bag. Yes. Yes. And then the raspberries go on top and it like sits in the fridge for a little bit. So the meringue gets kind of soft and chewy on the top and then still crispy and delicious on the bottom.

SPEAKER_00: 27:51

Oh, I was I was picturing like a like a baked fruit pie, and I had never crust or whatever. Right, right. Raspberries are still soft and juicy. Yeah, yeah. I was like, how do you do that? So I'm also I'm not a the biggest pie person. Like I like something about the texture, I love the flavors, but the texture of the fruit really, really gets to me. So I've never been a big pie person. However, I do make like more custardy based pies. So I've like our dear friend Angela gave me a recipe for her chocolate pie that I make every year, and I use an Oreo crust, and that's really, really good. And then I also make a good, I make a pumpkin cheesecake usually, because pumpkin pie is not a big thing in our family. So I make a pumpkin cheesecake, but I also make a pecan pie, which is my absolute diehard favorite, but I put Heathbar bits in the mix. So it's like I have heard you say that. Oh, it is the best caramel. And it's already got like the base of pumpkin pie, or not pumpkin, I'm sorry, is of pecan pie is carrow syrup. So it is so sugary, but it's also got like it's oh, it's just got a good crunch to it, and it has that like toffee flavor that goes along. Oh, it's so good. Well, it doesn't, there's no chocolate bits, it's just the heath on the inside. Oh, the heath is just the inside. It's just the inside. Yeah, it's like breaking up candy bars. No, no, no, no. You can buy heath bits that are just the just the inside pieces, and it's like little crunched, yeah. They look like they kind of look like grape nuts in 2023 and you are living in 3020. Right? They look like grape nuts, that cereal. They're that they're about that size. I really did. 3023 minus, you know, a thousand and two hundred. A lot. Yeah. But that's really good. Now we've digressed again and we're once again off the rails. If anyone wants these recipes, will you please just DM us because I'm sure we will send them to you. Maybe I just make a separate blog post of like these are my recipes that I like.

SPEAKER_01: 30:01

Oh, I love it. I love it. I I will send you my yes, what we call sweet potatoes, but it's really like sweet potato pie filling as sweet potatoes.

SPEAKER_00: 30:11

Yeah, no, that sounds a person, but I would eat it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 30:15

Yeah. Yeah. We keep the dairy farmers in business at Thanksgiving on in my family. Okay.

unknown: 30:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 30:21

So they've got the sampler. So the other thing is this is like this is like my rule. I do Not do a kids table and really at any event I do not do a kids' table. I try instead to think about like who is gonna bond best, and and sometimes that might actually be kids, but sometimes it's not, and so I try and set up tables around the space that will allow for those natural groupings. Like, for example, in John's family, Abby is only coming to half the events, right? Like she splits her time between us and her dad's family. So when we go to John's extended family events, Abby's only there half the time. So imagine if you only see people every two years, like how distant that can feel. But there are a few people in that family with whom she's really bonded. Yeah. One of them is John's uncle. And it's like, okay, so we make sure that we sit at their table. Yeah, that's great. I love that. Because they have a good connection. So let's do away with the idea of kids' table and just set a lot of tables and kind of let people naturally decide where they're gonna be. And maybe it turns out that, like, oh, all you guys are four. You might want to all sit at the same table because you're four. But maybe this four-year-old is much older and really wants to hang out with the eight-year-old. Who knows? Love it. All right. And then the last one, this is not mine. This is something that I heard of from another family that I think is so cool. This matriarch has a tablecloth that they use every year at Thanksgiving. And when you sit at their Thanksgiving table, you get to sign your name where you sit. Oh, how sweet. Yes. And think about it like one of the things I love about Thanksgiving is it's not normally just family. Like you can bring friends or neighbors. You know, when I was growing up in the military, a lot of times we would have GIs who were single and didn't really have somewhere to go. And so we'd have like four or five guys come over for Oh, that's lovely. And so how cool is this to like over the years gather the names of everyone who's come to your Thanksgiving table?

SPEAKER_00: 32:27

I love that so much. I think that's really, really sweet. My and this is where my mind immediately went, as much as I love that idea. I would be so concerned. Thanksgiving is messy. Like, what if you can you wash it? Like, I would be concerned about how you do that. Maybe what you do is you have them write on N Sharpie, and then if you you get someone who knows how to sew and they embroider like the name over it or something of that start.

SPEAKER_01: 32:49

But or you do like me and you're totally classless and you just throw a plastic tablecloth over it.

SPEAKER_00: 32:54

After everyone's signed. There you go. That's a great idea. There you go.

SPEAKER_01: 32:59

But I'm the person who throws a blanket over the couch, so it's fine. I don't have plastic couch covers. I'm not that bad, but you come to my house, you're probably sitting on a blanket.

SPEAKER_00: 33:08

I have to we'll talk about this in another episode, but I have an obsession that's related to that. I got it.

SPEAKER_01: 33:13

Oh, okay. Yes. Okay. So speaking of obsessions, let's take a quick break and then we'll talk about them. Yes.

unknown: 33:19

Okay, we're back.

SPEAKER_01: 33:21

We're back. It's time for story time. You sit on the circle or on the carpet, crisscross applesauce. We're gonna tell stories. Time for the circle. Yay! First thing we're gonna do is talk about current obsessions, which mine already goes with what we've been talking about. If you haven't been listening to the first half of the episode, let me update you. I love Thanksgiving. And so we are deep into the Thanksgiving season. Yes, it is a thing uh season. It is not just a day. We do not start Christmas on November 1st, we start Thanksgiving. However, the day after Thanksgiving, please bring all the Christmas. It's totally fine with me. But my current obsession is asking people what their favorite Thanksgiving food is. You have probably heard me say this on the show before. I love doing this because number one, most families celebrate some version of Thanksgiving. Right? This is a pretty, as I can see it, inclusive holiday.

SPEAKER_00: 34:13

It's it's not a religious holiday. It is a like national holiday. It is an American holiday. That means that if you want to participate in it for whatever whatever your background is, you totally can. And I also love when expats go overseas and celebrate it there and then bring in people to talk about it. I just I I love it. Within the history of it, I understand the history is problematic. However, oh sure. But I I I do love it.

SPEAKER_01: 34:40

But if we if we can say like what Thanksgiving has become now. Yes, I love it. Generally inclusive. I can understand that if you are a Native American, it might not be your favorite holiday. Completely understand that. I do actually it does have kind of a dirty history.

SPEAKER_00: 34:54

Yes, I actually give to First Nations every year during the month of November because it's well, it's Native American History Month for one thing, but also because it does bother me. I it helps me right totally helping me feel better.

SPEAKER_01: 35:09

That's nice. Yes. That's okay. And you know what? That that is the way you help. For it doesn't matter what cause, right? You gotta open your wallet. A tweet doesn't work. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 35:18

Actually, you know what? I'm gonna put a I'm gonna put a link to them in this show notes so that you can do it too if you want, but this is the the one I will I go to. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 35:28

Anyhow, I love asking people what their Thanksgiving or their favorite Thanksgiving food is. You normally get like a whole body response. Like there's a little bit of a smile, they perk up a little bit, and they're gonna tell you a story. It's never like, oh, my favorite Thanksgiving food is green beans. They'll be like, oh man, my grandma she made these green beans, and she would like put a little bit of bacon in them, and then she would put them in the oven another time, and they're like, put those little onions on top. And I'm like, oh, I don't even like green, I don't even like green beans, but like how excited you are, and like, oh, that sounds great. And it's just it's this idea of like food is love. So asking that question, a lot of times you get a little story, and it's a chance for someone to share a Thanksgiving memory or something about their family. I just I really love that question. So that's my current obsession.

SPEAKER_00: 36:16

That's a great one. I also love that as like a it's a good icebreaker kind of question. It's a really good small talk question, right? Because it's like it is. It's like the are you close to your parents? You know, or like where'd you grow up? Or you know what I mean? It's like one of those things where you can use it as a default and people will really love it, especially this time of year. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 36:33

Mine is gonna say, like, it's also really fun to ask in March. Like so random.

SPEAKER_00: 36:39

Thanksgiving food. Wait, what? Yeah. Okay, yeah, I'll go with it. Sorry, I'm just already excited. I'm just still thinking about my own mashed potatoes, no big deal. Okay, so mine is not so much an obsession as it is, well, maybe it is, as a way it is that I have started to ease my anxiety during the day. So I feel like those of us who have anxiety might be able to use this. I took a cue from my dear, dear friend Elsie, who and and my other dear friend Alma, who I work with, and they have walking pads for their at-home office setups. And they are constantly walking during the day, like constantly walking. And I oh, this is like an underdust treadmill. Underdust treadmill, yep.

SPEAKER_01: 37:27

And I was thinking of like the power pad, like throwback from walking pad. I am so excited to know about this. No, no, clearly, fitness is like not in my wheelhouse.

SPEAKER_00: 37:43

Well, you have a job where you wouldn't know what that is, you're constantly walking around anyway. Teacher, this is true. My job involves walking. Right, like it's not a that's true. Okay. So I was for a while sitting at my desk too much, and I was having issues with my hamstrings and my glutes and my lower back, and it was causing pretty big problems. But the big issue was neck too, eh? Yeah, I had a little bit of that going. Looking down the whole time. Well, my computer setup is a little bit higher. So I tried to make it be even, but I still had some some of that issue. So now I have this this underdesk treadmill, this walking pad. And whenever I start to feel myself like get a little bit um like anxious, and I need I have this like excess energy, I just go and get the walking pad out and I will walk like as I'm working. And I have gotten myself up to like 10 miles a day. Now, I go for my walk in the morning too, right? So, like it's not just like I'm walking 10 miles for a treadmill, but I have really found that it's helping with my lower back issues and it's also just helping me get some of that anxious energy out. It's a really good coping mechanism for me. And if you are someone who sits at you work from home and you sit a lot, I would highly recommend getting some sort of desk riser and a way for yourself to walk during the day. Or take a, if you can, take a break and go for a walk. But it does really help that anxiety system. I know I have to be at my desk, but I'm still feeling like I have this anxious energy. I need to get out. Like you're moving. Yeah. That's good. I like it. I like it. And it's meditative, like there's something about the like the pace is the same. So you just there's like a, you know, a steady sound that goes with it. There's there's a lot to it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 39:31

You have a gem for okay. I do indeed have a gem. Okay, so last week I talked about this book that I had ordered only because of the review. The name of the book is The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic. And the review was Gilmore Girls Meets Practical Magic. Now, some of you know that I was in a Gilmore Girls watch party group in college. Every Tuesday we got together and like had a different theme, and we would watch the episode. When Rory turned 21, we had a birthday cake. Like this, we're big fans. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The name of the Facebook group to throw back to a time where you had a Facebook group for everything was Gilmore Girls Night Out.

SPEAKER_00: 40:17

It's kind of adorable. I'm picturing like bachelor parties, like bachelorette bachelor parties. You know what I mean? How girls would like get together and watch The Bachelor. That's what I'm picturing. Oh, how cute.

SPEAKER_01: 40:26

Yes, that that's exactly the same thing. I love it. And Practical Magic, one of my favorite movies of all time. I actually wrote a love spell when I was 13 and watched this movie for the first time.

SPEAKER_00: 40:38

We have also talked about this show when it's a spell. We talked about Practical Magic and how much we loved it when you were you were doing side like midnight dance parties with your daughter, and we did an episode where we talked about Stoke Channing a lot. And we talked about how much she shows up like four times in the episode. It's wild. But she well, we talked so that was like that's a throwback. That's almost like it's like episodes like three or four. It's so early. So if you want to hear us, yeah, it's way back practical magic and wax poetic about stalker chanting, then go listen.

SPEAKER_01: 41:11

That's really funny. Okay, so the book arrived and I've started reading it.

SPEAKER_00: 41:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 41:15

The book has recipes. What? For what? The main yes, the main character owns a bakery. And so at the end of every chapter, there's a recipe for whatever she was baking in that chapter.

SPEAKER_00: 41:30

Stop. That's amazing. Any good ones so far? Isn't it so great?

SPEAKER_01: 41:35

And oh, so there's one that's rum-soaked peach muffins, and I'm like gonna make it this way.

SPEAKER_00: 41:42

Oh, yeah. Oh man, that sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 41:45

And it's so funny because it like says what each ingredient is supposed to do for you. Like, oh, cinnamon is preservation or whatever. I don't know, but every single one of the ingredients also has some kind of magic to it.

SPEAKER_00: 41:58

That's amazing. I love it. How fun. Okay. This is entitled Why I Am Al Borland. Now, I know I just aged myself with that. I don't think I don't think so, Tim. Right. I am Al Borland. And here's why. Yesterday, and this is like this is fresh, right? You know how you're it's Thanksgiving, and that's when your garbage disposal chooses to crap out on you because of all the stuff you're putting down in the table. Oh, exactly. Yeah. Also, don't put oil down your garbage disposal. That idea. Freeze it and then throw it away. Or thank rocks. Oh, yes. So that's kind of what happened to our garbage disposal. I have plants on the windowsill above the sink. And I think somehow they got spilled a little bit, and there were like chunks of soil and those soil rocks in my drain, like in my garbage disposal. And so my husband is running the garbage disposal, and then it just like clearly hits something, and then it just stops. And he was like, Oh, oh no, gosh, the garbage disposal is not working. And he got pretty frustrated right away. And I was like, Okay, well, hold on. You know, I go get a glove and I start pulling things out of the drain to see if I can see what's in there and I can see the little like plant rocks. And I'm like, all right, well, it clearly got caught on something, and now we just have to figure out how to uncatch it. So I get everything out and it still won't turn on. And then like something occurred to me where I was like, you know how when you're when your vacuum is spinning and it gets stuck on something, like on a rug or whatever, or a piece of string and it like and it stops, and you just have to turn it off, pull that thing out. Maybe you have to unplug it and yeah, and then it kind of just resets itself. I was like, oh, I bet, well, is there a reset button? Like, let I bet we could reset it. And immediately my husband goes and finds like where it would be, and I push the button and my garbage disposal turns back on. And I feel like right. I feel like Al Borland because now I'm an expert at fixing the things. So if you ever need clear you ever need the little button on your garbage disposal. I am wearing a flannel shirt. I will give you my flannel shirt. You deserve it. Thank you. I do love a good flannel shirt. I I felt so smart. But a lot of people don't know that there's a reset button on their garbage disposal. So There is a reset button. If it's not working, but it's like it's just it won't even turn on. Like you like, it's not like it's stuck. It's just you and you've already got room handling there and started up and it's not doing anything. Like look underneath it. Look underneath the garbage. There's probably a little, it might be a little red button or like a little square button, a little black button. And if it's popped out, you just need to pop it back in. It's like your hairdryer when you hit the reset button. Yep. Or mine isn't underneath, mine's on the side. So it's just like with with your hair dryer. So just mine's on the side. Yes. So just find that button and see if that does it, because then you're saving yourself a$142 plumber consultation fee for them to come out and press the button for you, and you're like, great.

SPEAKER_01: 45:21

And I am telling you, if you are a plumber and all you've done is come out and press the button, please do something else to make it look like you did more than that. Don't just tell and then also say, like, oh hey, one of the things was I just pressed this button, but then also like, oh, but I also had to do all these other things. That's why it costs$142.

SPEAKER_00: 45:40

I'll warn right over here.

SPEAKER_01: 45:41

All right. So while you are thinking about Thanksgiving and all the things that you are thankful for, don't forget to be thankful for our show. And the way you can show us is that you are five stars thankful. Five stars thank all those five stars. Tell your friends when you're sharing your gratitude. Maybe this year the thing you're thankful for is our show. Probably not. But like if we made it to the top hundred, go ahead and say it.

SPEAKER_00: 46:06

And uh make good choices. It's Thanksgiving. I don't make good choices when it comes to what's in front of me on my plate. So I don't think so, Jen. Bye. Bye.