NEW ICK UNLOCKED!

Welcome to the Car Fool podcast with Kelly.

It was the easiest thing I've ever done in my life.

It was, it's actually idiot-proof.

Actually, if it wasn't for the open flame,

George could do it.

And Liz.

If we're out of beer, Maddie will take a seltzer.

But like, he's always, and I'm just like,

guys, come on, drink the beer.

The beer's for you, the seltzers are for the girls.

I don't know what else to tell you.

Your mom time off starts now.

Welcome back to the Car Fool podcast with Kelly.

And Liz.

Happy Friday.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

Happy start of summer.

At least for some of us.

Summer, summer, summer.

It's summertime, I guess.

It doesn't change my life at all.

But for some of you, it totally changes your life.

It takes my world and puts it upside down.

And I do, even if it didn't,

I'm just choosing to mark it as an event,

as a change of season.

I'm transitioning.

Totally.

And it is such a change for your children.

And it's always so exciting.

And like, you want to match that energy for your kids.

Yes.

I'm so worried about just like the wear and tear

my home is going to take this summer.

And you know, like, yeah, I mean, I like a neat house.

I like things clean.

I mean, I've got white couches.

Like, and I know that's like my cross to bear

and like I'm insane for that.

But I'm just a little worried about what four kids

at home all day looks like.

Yeah.

And see, last year, the little kids were still in daycare.

So like the little kid, the big kids were home.

But the little kids were gone.

I'll have four kids all the time at home.

That's like so crazy.

I know.

Lots of outdoor activities.

Well, and I'm telling you like our reps

is really going well.

Good.

And there's just, I feel like I've really taken

my power back with my children.

And I was talking to one of my cousins

and she kind of like gave me this advice.

She's like, I don't really care

if my kids have an attitude about some things,

but they still have to do the things.

She's like, so like if they're sassy about it

or like if they roll their eyes at me,

like I'm not going to pick that fight

because ultimately it is getting done.

And I think there's a time and the place for everything.

But I don't need them.

It's taken a lot of pressure off me.

It's like, I don't need them to enjoy doing their reps.

You're doing them or you're not watching TV.

It's just like it's a very simple.

It's very simple.

Life is about doing things you don't want to do.

And your attitude towards things is important,

but that can be learned when you like

can regulate your emotions better.

Right.

And also that's up to you.

The rule is you don't have,

my rule for the reps is you don't have to have

a good attitude about it.

You just have to do it or you don't have to do it,

but they don't get to watch TV.

You know, Hattie blows through it.

Hattie wakes up every day.

Can I start cleaning mom?

Yeah.

And then George, he's just like, hates it.

Which is so funny.

Cause it's like, Hattie probably likes watching TV

more than George even does.

It's just like so funny.

They're just funny.

She might just like having like a boundary.

Yes.

And like an expectation.

Hattie likes the structure

and I think George is a little bit more like,

you know, I can't really explain them.

But we'll just see how it goes.

It's funny how they're all different, yeah.

Ultimately we'll see how it goes,

but I am excited for summer.

But even before that, I'm excited to sit down

on the mic with you

because we have so much to talk about.

Yeah, we do.

We've got to catch up on.

I had my glucose test this morning.

So hopefully hear back on a negative on that.

And just chug it along on this pregnancy,

third trimester energy.

I love that.

Let's just do it.

Let's get it over with.

It's gonna be a long, hot summer.

It always is.

It always is for me, it seems.

We were talking, I think, you know,

there's always new science and new products

hitting the market where it's like,

oh, that's a good time to be pregnant.

I am happy for you that you were pregnant

in a time where mocktails are like everywhere.

Yeah, they are, they are.

And there's just so many more fun drinks out there.

Like I just saw your Instagram stories about the bubblers.

I would rather drink, even on when I can drink,

I'd rather drink a bubbler over a white claw.

You're not gonna catch me drinking a white claw

for the rest of my life.

Like what, like so, such an average drink.

I know. Not enjoyable.

I had a white claw at the wedding

that I was at last weekend and I'm just,

I'm not with you, I'm not the biggest seltzer person.

I actually did enjoy it more than I was expecting to.

I like a high noon.

I explicitly don't like, I don't mind seltzers.

I explicitly, white claw used to be the thing

cause it was the only one on the market.

And now it's like, if I'm gonna drink a seltzer,

it's gonna be a high noon.

And I'm sure that the technology has evolved even since then.

When I was on this wedding,

oh, I have a note about weddings.

We got on the party bus and like,

there's all these seltzers I've never seen before

or these like canned cocktails maybe.

So I'm excited to get back into that.

But they ran out of seltzers

and we ran out of seltzers on my party bus

on my wedding as well.

And you know, I'm looking around

at all the people drinking seltzers

and all these boys have a seltzer in their hand.

The beer frit, the beer cooler is full.

I'm like, if you boys weren't all drinking multiple seltzers,

there would still be some available.

You need to drink a beer, like I'm sorry.

I have, I'm sorry.

Ick unlocked a man choosing a seltzer over a beer.

Sorry, Ick.

I, I kind of agree.

Sorry, I'm sorry.

If, if, if we're out of beer, Maddie will take a seltzer.

But like, he's always drink, and I'm just like,

guys, come on, drink the beer.

The beer's for you.

The seltzers are for the girls.

I don't know what else to tell you.

We don't make the rules.

Those are the rules.

Bears are for boys.

Seltzers are for girls.

And I also wouldn't care if they didn't run out.

But what, you're going to expect these girls

to pick up a miller light after they just had like

a refreshing strawberry lemonade?

Boys are so unself-aware.

Cause some guy, I literally bet some guys like,

oh, cool, I got the last seltzer.

Like what an insane, like that's what he thought.

No, literally I, the day of my mat,

the day of my wedding,

I did not have a sip of alcohol before

because I was like, did not want,

like I was so mad at anyone

if they tried to drink before my wedding.

I'm like, we're going, it's a Catholic service.

Like we're not having any alcohol before.

I was so high strung.

Finally, Maddie and I take pictures.

Everyone's on the bus, like starting to drink.

I'm finally ready to have my seltzer.

They're gone.

My sister-in-law had like just opened her.

Is it taking like three sips?

She just like answered me.

I'm like, thank you.

Like, and it just, it begs the question.

I'm like, did I not have enough seltzers

or were the boys drinking the seltzers

when it wasn't for them?

Boys only, girls only.

We need coolers.

That's insane.

It's so funny we're talking about seltzers

because we're planning like for the auto show

and for the VIP night and you know, we're big note takers.

And like on our notes, we said, buy more seltzers,

buy less wine.

Because we're thinking this is like an,

like we ran out of seltzers and we had,

I am still drinking the wine from the leftover VIP night

of the auto show two years ago.

No, Kelly, I took half the wine too.

No, I like, we had so much wine

and we had no seltzers.

I do think at the auto show,

I will only let women drink seltzers.

We're not gonna do that.

But just be self aware.

Again, I don't care if a boy drinks a seltzer.

I just care when there's a limited quantity.

I do think that you should not.

Okay, so this is something that I had happen also recently

because you know, I'm not pregnant.

Like yeah, I'm drinking like crazy.

Whoa.

And I was drinking, yes, I'm with you.

Like there's all these new beverages on the market

now that I haven't been aware of.

And something you have to be aware of

is the alcohol count in some of these.

Yeah.

Because I was sipping on a cut water, 12%.

That's like three seltzers.

I was like, what just happened?

Yeah.

You gotta be careful with those.

That's so true, yeah.

Interesting.

I don't even know what's out there.

So that's my take on that.

And so back to you.

So for your third trimester though,

you have, you know, you've got the ollie pops,

the poppies, the bubblers, the blooms.

The blooms.

Like there's just so many more fun beverages

than ever before.

Like when I was pregnant, way back when,

it was like soda bust, soda water, soda or water.

Yeah, no, it's really nice.

It's been good for the mocktail space.

Very, very blessed.

Cause I love something in the afternoon.

Well, something on my summer bucket list.

I want to do a whole summer bucket list episode with you.

I'm not ready today.

Okay.

But I've seen this all over my Instagram.

They're these deli container cocktails.

Have you seen these?

Yeah, I've seen this girl.

Guess who has deli containers?

Me?

I've got deli containers because I bought them

to take soups to friends, which I've never done.

But I could take a friend, a deli container cocktail mocktail.

I saw this girl who makes the mocktails

in the deli container looks amazing.

So fun with a lid.

It's just a fun thing to bring.

Yeah.

To take or to make whatever your adventure is.

I'm pretty sure about that.

Okay.

So something, can I, may I?

Please.

You may have the mic.

Okay.

I want to kind of go on like kind of a rant with you.

Okay.

And I think it's really important that at every,

that I just want everyone to take a deep breath

and I want you to not center yourself.

Oh gosh.

Because this isn't going to apply to everyone.

And it's more just a,

it's more just a broader conversation

that I got a lot of interesting feedback on.

So my mother-in-law Barb came over Monday

to help watch the kids.

And something that Barb does really well

is she finds the most random things

to clean in my house.

It's like in the past,

she's like taken apart my laundry,

my washing machine and like cleaned apart

that I had, that's never seen the light of day.

I didn't even know it existed.

You know, she's done things like,

sometimes she'll like,

I think one time she brought over stuff

to deep clean my dishwasher with.

Wow.

This past week,

she deep cleaned all the kids' crocs,

like took them all from the garage,

scraped all the mud off, washed them all.

Wow.

And I always appreciate it

because she's always like going deep

and like finding things that I haven't done.

And I had several mother-in-law,

and I share that to my Instagram

and I had several mother-in-laws message me

and they were like,

I love that you appreciate her.

When I try to do this with my daughter-in-law,

she just thinks I'm like coming at her

for not taking care of her family

or like I don't have pure intentions when I do it.

So nice to see you appreciate her.

And someone was like, yeah,

mother-in-laws don't get enough love sometimes.

And I do think there's too many people in this world

who maybe take their mother-in-law's intentions

for what they aren't.

And like, maybe this woman's just trying to help you.

Like maybe it's not an attack on your motherhood

or your wifehood that your kids' crocs were dirty.

Like she was just trying to,

like my kids' crocs are dirty.

I hear that and I see someone who remembers

what it's like to have young kids and remember,

like it's like the weeds.

Like I'm gonna have weeds

because I can't get around to cleaning them.

And she's like, she has a lot on her plate.

She's not gonna get around to scrubbing the crocs down.

I will take this off her plate.

Like I see that as someone looking for the things that

you're not gonna do.

And then she's also not stepping on your toes

because she's not trying to put your laundry away

or fold your underwear.

Oh, no, she doesn't.

No, she doesn't.

That's fine.

That might be overstepping for some people,

but she's like, she's not trying to,

I feel like she's not getting too close in your space

by finding something kind of outside of your regular rotation

but so not throwing off your schedule.

Yeah, I'm just, I just want to say

and like as a future mother-in-law myself,

like I don't, do you know what I'm saying?

Do you find that sometimes it's just a little...

I do find,

I think that there's a lot of stuff on the internet

just about like, oh, crazy mother-in-law, is this and that?

And so people sometimes think like if their mother-in-law

does something for them or does something in a different way,

they're like, oh, I must have one of those

and something not everyone has a crazy mother-in-law.

Yeah.

And even if you and your mother-in-law aren't,

even if you don't have a barb

or even if you're not super close,

even if you don't like your mother-in-law,

at the end of the day,

she raised the man that you decided to commit your life to.

Right.

So she's doing something,

she did some things in her life right

and you need to honor that and you need to respect that.

And at the end of the day,

she's your kid's grandparents, grandma.

And like she does,

and not that she shouldn't respect your,

I don't know, I'm with you.

I just, do I think some mother-in-laws are toxic?

Sure.

Do I think some deserve hate? Yes.

I am just not going to be a part of,

I have a great mother-in-law

and I plan on being a great mother-in-law

and I just think sometimes we need to,

I think sometimes some people don't look at their intentions

as pure or like just trying to be helpful.

You know, it is a tricky place to be,

I feel like in the mother-in-law space.

I was talking to mom the other day

because she was like thinking about finding a dress

for Craig and Charlotte's wedding

and she was like,

I just feel like I have to tone down

what I would have done for your girl's wedding

because like I'm the mother-in-law now.

Like I'm not the mom

where she can like go and like do her big whole thing.

And I'm like, actually mom,

I do think Charlotte wants you to be yourself

and like wants you to be your fabulous authentic self.

So I do think you are lucky there

and the fact that Charlotte wants that for you.

But I didn't realize like how much insecurity she had

about the way she's approaching Craig and Charlotte's wedding

versus how she approaches our wedding.

Yeah, it is, it's very interesting.

And my mom and Charlotte have a great relationship.

Yeah, it's very interesting.

Just like, yeah, just the differences.

The differences, yeah.

So, I don't know.

And I also agree, it is different than your mom.

Yeah.

You know, at the end of the day,

here's where I'm gonna plant my flag on it.

Intention matters.

People's intentions behind things 100% matter.

So sometimes their intentions might be the way that

people were saying like,

they're just like nitpicking my motherhood.

And also just like have expectations for people.

If someone acts a certain way,

they're gonna act that way for the rest of their life,

especially by the time they're in their 50s and 60s, you know,

by the time like,

so you just have to have your expectations set for them

and they're gonna act that way and you can,

like that's just what it's gonna be.

So buckle up.

Appreciate what you can out of them.

Appreciate what you can and look past what you can.

Yeah, I'm just saying,

I had a lot of mother-in-laws DMing me

saying like they're trying to do this

and their daughter-in-laws are being sassy about it.

Surely not my followers, but I'm just saying, some people.

Interesting.

I'm very intrigued to hear it from the mother-in-laws perspective

because I only feel like I see things

from the daughter-in-laws perspective.

Yeah.

So that's interesting.

It is interesting, but anyway, here,

well, I guess it is here and there.

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This is kind of ditch the drive through.

I'll save it for that.

What else do you have?

Go to our shared note,

because I've been blowing up our shared note lately.

Well, you had mother-in-law, so I just checked that off.

And then you have two things that I think,

you have granola and popcorn on there.

Is that your ditch the drive through?

No, it's actually not.

It's shaved beef that you have on there,

your ditch the drive through?

So we can do granola and popcorn first.

I think I've been gaslit into thinking

some things are harder than they are.

Actually, I'm pissed,

I'm actually pissed at the world

for this popcorn thing.

Okay, so,

mom's, so like microwaveable popcorn,

like I've heard the rumblings that it's bad.

It's also, I'm always burning it

and like I just think it tastes kind of chemically.

And what's so interesting is our au pair,

she one time like bought just popcorn kernels

and I'm like, what do you do with them?

I don't have a popcorn maker.

And she's like, I'm gonna make popcorn on the stove.

And I'm like, I don't think it works like that.

Maybe the popcorn's different here.

She's like, no.

And so she makes popcorn all the time on the stove.

And the other day I was like,

I'm gonna try my hand at this.

The kids wanted popcorn.

It was the easiest thing I've ever done in my life.

It was, it's actually idiot proof.

Actually, if it wasn't for the open flame,

George could do it.

So first of all,

why is that not the default way to make popcorn?

At least not for me.

Why is microwavable popcorn selling so much?

And even worse than that,

I can honestly wrap my head around microwavable popcorn

because you don't get a dish dirty.

So I can at least kind of understand that

to have a separate tool to make popcorn

is an insane use of consumerism.

And when I posted that I was making this,

so many were like, you've got to get the popcorn machine.

I'm like, why I just made popcorn?

Did you not see it?

The popcorn, I made popcorn in my Dutch oven.

Okay, so first of all,

walk me through how you make popcorn in your Dutch oven.

Okay, so I use my Dutch oven

and I put enough vegetable oil

in just to like fill the bottom of it.

Okay.

And then you just throw like two or three test kernels in there.

Turn it on medium heat.

How long are you putting the,

how long is the oil sitting before you put a kernel?

No, right away.

Okay, right away.

Because as soon as the kernels pop, the oil's hot enough.

It's kind of the point.

Okay, okay, gotcha.

Those are to tell you when you can do it.

See, I don't know the science.

And I just, I think it's just, it's,

there is no science.

It's so easy.

Okay.

So just enough to like line the bottom of it.

Put some three test kernels in there.

One popped.

And I was like, okay, game time.

So I took a third, a cup of popcorn kernels

enough to just kind of like also fill the bottom of the pan.

Put the lid on.

Kind of cracked the lid.

So it'll get a little airflow.

I hear.

I wait till the pops like kind of stopped.

Open the lid.

I had popcorn.

I'm like looking around like, are you kidding?

So why did we, why did popcorn makers ever become existed?

No, I don't know.

And it was so easy.

The kids thought it was fun.

I'm like making popcorn on the stove.

And now you feel like farmed a table somehow.

Cause you're making some in your Dutch oven.

Literally a Dutch, my Dutch oven.

Amazing.

And then, you know, I made every kid their own little bowl

and I put, you know, you could like make them yourself.

Like someone wanted cinnamon sugar on there.

Someone just wanted butter and salt.

And I'm like making my kids all their own popcorn.

I wrote it down on my like good party or good lake

slash farm foods for the summer.

It's like, you just bring a thing of popcorn

and you're like, let's pop some popcorn tonight.

I'm like so frustrated at how easy it is.

And I just can't believe they're like selling things

that are probably so hard to clean.

So hard to clean.

You have to store them somewhere else.

This is blowing.

Just store them.

This has blown my mind because I wanted a popcorn maker

because I wanted to move away from the microwave of popcorn.

But I was like, oh, what popcorn maker do I get?

Oh, wow.

This one, you know, that looks like it has microplastics in it.

I'm like so frustrated.

I'm like, my mind is blown.

I mean, and like if you are going to say, no, no, no,

you have to get a popcorn maker.

Pleased in what world would it be better than just using

what I already have?

Like I don't understand it.

Yeah, I don't either.

And the next thing I was like, what if I made granola?

Okay.

File that under the easiest thing in the world to make.

Okay.

How do you make granola?

I got some oats, some pumpkin seeds and some walnuts.

Melted a little coconut oil, vanilla, maple syrup, cinnamon.

Put it on the mixture, spread it out on a cookie sheet,

put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 300.

Let it cool.

I had granola.

Homemade granola.

It's so good.

And so I told you last episode, I liked the idea of doing like

bringing like a yogurt parfait to a mom.

Sure.

But what I'm going to do instead is now that it's like summer,

I'm going to text some of my mom friends and say,

parfait is in the park this morning.

And I'm just going to, we're all going to meet at the playground

at like 830 in the morning because all of our kids are awake.

And I'm going to bring yogurt, my homemade granola, some berries.

We're going to have parfaits in the park.

Isn't that cute?

It's very cute.

I love parfaits in the park.

Have you seen the girls who bring like fixings to make like ice coffees

for their playground play dates?

That's adorable.

I'm going to work on that too.

Ooh, that could be a good thing for me to work on.

Cause then you just get like some iced coffee and then they had cream

and like they had, you know, caramel or flavors or whatever.

Like you can do as much or as little, um, but then they just made like fun

iced coffees for the girls.

And I like, and I think that's a really fun thing too.

You're not even at your house.

So like imagine sending this text this summer.

Hey guys, just made a huge batch of granola.

Like first of all, they're like, oh my gosh, she makes granola.

What's the recipe?

Anyone want to meet me at the park tomorrow for parfaits and let the kids run

around?

Mm hmm.

It's giving, like you're now, now you're part of the village.

And then you know what?

Then you send home everyone with a little bit of extra granola.

I really want to have, I don't know if my friends would be down for this

because it does seem like a lot of work for the season of the life that we're

in, but have you heard of those like farmer market, farmers market parties?

No.

Okay.

So you like invite, you know, whatever, 10 girls and everyone brings

something that they made.

Okay.

Yeah.

And then everyone gets to bring home 10 things like someone could bring like,

you know, some sourdough, some granola, some pickles.

Yeah.

If you make like a body scrubs or lotion or something.

Something like that.

You know how to really make it, I guess it could just be like, you know, but

then it's like a farmer, it's like your farmer's market with your friends.

I think it sounds fun.

I saw this one.

And this is, I think for actually less for women with families, unless

you're like, I guess you do it for lunch, but it was like five girls and they

all made a different dish and then put it into five different meal prep

containers and then they handed everyone, everyone got one.

So then you had like five meals for the rest of the week, which they were

like individual containers.

So I do think that would be really cute for like, you know, maybe your

coworkers or something.

Not so much for like your family because that's too much.

But that was like, I thought that was kind of a fun idea.

Yeah.

I love that.

So anyway, friends who friends, if you're listening and you want to have

a farmer's market party, let me know.

You know, I hate to like ask, Hey guys, I'm having a party.

Everyone has to bring 10 things.

That seems kind of crazy.

Yeah.

Maybe you can't have like 10 people then.

Maybe it has to be less people.

I don't think it's the number.

I think it's just the act because what's the difference between five or 10?

Because I'm making five loaves of sourdough, not 10 loaves of sourdough.

Okay.

Well, you're right.

See, I would make granola cause that's or popcorn.

Or popcorn.

It depends.

And I'm like, Oh, I could make a loaf, but that would be a lot to make 10.

Maybe do half loaves.

Sure.

I could do a half loaf.

So anyway, I'm just excited about those things in my life right now.

And also all my Amazon disposable products came in.

So I'm ready to start meal prepping and serving others and serving others.

And really after the auto show, I'm really going to get into it.

Okay.

Good.

Yeah.

I really think after the auto show, our life is just going to open up.

That's what I keep telling myself.

I know.

And, you know, I see, um, like I'm starting to see people on Instagram who are due around

the same time as me with their first and like their nurseries getting ready and all this

stuff.

And I'm like, I'm like, it's so weird because creating like a nursery is so reserved for

your first child and like curating your nursery and having everything like set up.

It's like so exciting.

And I loved that time of my pregnancy with James.

And this is like, you don't get that with your third.

Like I still don't know where everyone's going to sleep.

I don't know where her dresser is going to be.

Like we don't have enough, um, bedrooms.

Um, we do, but I use one as an office.

So I'm like, she's just going to live in the room in my room for a while.

And I don't even like know what all, like what all I need to get out.

I'm like, I can't think about it until after the auto show when we will figure it out because

we do have everything.

I just like sort through it all.

Yeah.

But it's like, it's so funny how you just don't get those same experiences with, with your

subsequent children.

No, you don't get that nursery.

So beautiful.

Anyway, I'm going to shove another dresser in Sloane's room.

I'm going to get another six cube organizer from Target and hope it changes my life.

Literally.

I just do that about once a quarter.

I'm like, hold on.

This is going to really get my life together.

I know.

Solidarity.

I mean, my kids rooms are still not really done.

You know what?

I'm really excited to like do my kids rooms when they are older and I have maybe more of

a disposable income to do that.

And also like they can be involved and then I can do like a stunning fun room readers.

And I'm not really interested in doing it at this age.

I'm not either.

And I'm also of the mindset.

And this is like kind of a hot take that I have.

I don't also think kids need like super amazing elaborate bedrooms.

Like I'm not really looking for my kids to spend any much more time in their bedroom than

needed because I like communal family space.

Don't you remember looking through the PB team magazine?

Yeah.

And it just like being the most fun.

Yeah.

And I had friends who had like amazing rooms and had like TVs in their rooms and like,

I don't know.

And we had good, I mean, of course like we had good rooms too, but I don't know.

I just don't always like an emphasis, especially for you.

I mean, I think it's different even when you're like a teen and maybe you like need some space

to like be crabby because maybe like I don't want your attitude around me.

But for right now, I just like a lot of communal family spaces.

No.

And that's what I mean.

Like right now I don't think it, it matters so much.

But I think it'll be more exciting when like they have a opinion and a say in it and whatever.

I don't have the time for it.

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Anyway, Kel, we have some advice questions to get to.

And we don't say this enough, but if you want to write in to get your own advice,

you can write to helloatthekarmamafficial.com.

You know what else, hold on, before you go there,

you know what I've been thinking about also and just like this crazy macember?

What?

All the people who are going through macember while playing the spring sport.

Sorry, couldn't be me.

Kel, I'm not going there again with you.

I'm just saying, I'm like, I don't know how you're doing all of this anti-ball.

It sounds insane.

I know.

It's, I don't know, they make it work.

Okay, hi, Kelly and Liz.

I was loosely beginning to consider what an all-girl education would look like for my daughter one day.

Would you be willing to share your experiences going to an all-girl school?

Regardless of the face perspective, I'm so intrigued by the confidence-building leadership skills

and never once considered until now.

I thought this was a good question because we haven't really talked too much about our all-girl school experience.

It was wonderful.

St. Louis is like, I think really unique because there are so many all-girl or all-girl or all-boy schools.

Like it's like fraternities and sororities in high school.

Like there's probably, off the top of my head, maybe seven of each.

Yeah.

I really loved my all-girls school experience.

I felt like, so up until eighth grade, we went to co-ed schools and then freshman year through senior year,

we went to an all-girls school and I felt immediately like when I was just in a classroom with all girls,

I wasn't as insecure about raising my hand and getting questions wrong.

Kelly and I both were the presidents of our class.

Not sure I would have had the confidence to do that if there were boys around.

There was no distractions.

There was no, how do I look before I leave?

First of all, you had your uniform, which I just think schools in general should have uniforms

because it puts everyone on the same plane field.

There's no one that person's wearing lululemon, this.

Uniforms make things easier.

And so there was no, you didn't wear makeup, you weren't worried about anything.

The only trade-off that I think you're getting, one of the big trade-offs with the all-girls experience

is there's no Friday night lights, football team, cheerleader.

The cheerleading thing is not, there were cheerleaders, but it wasn't like it is at a co-ed school.

And we would go to the all-boy school football games for the social aspect,

but there was not that same Friday night lights feel that you would maybe get out of co-ed school.

Yeah, I did know everything you said.

I think that it did so much for our confidence because I wasn't this,

I even remember like my freshman year, I wasn't this tall, lanky girl the boys made fun of.

I was just like, you know, with other girls.

It was just, it was, it was really beautiful.

And I think we actually had a lot less drama because we all like met boys because, you know,

like you said, we would go to like football teams where people like had friends from their great school

they stayed in touch with, but there wasn't that drama like rarely ever came into school, you know.

And there was no like, oh, you break up and then you see, I'm like, how do you do that?

How do you focus? focus at school?

If you're like ex-boyfriend or the boy who like teach you whatever is like sitting next to you.

Also, the cell phones weren't, I think like at the end of my senior year,

like computers and cell phones were kind of like coming into the school.

So there was just like, there was really no distractions and it was great.

And it's the approach that I would like to take for my children,

living in St. Louis.

We probably won't take that approach because we love just really far from the schools.

Yeah.

But it'll be fun.

But so, you know, I would say if I, but I would, if we live closer, I would probably do it

because I think it was really fun for the kids.

I can't speak to like what boys would say, but I feel like boys would have the same.

I was thinking about that when I was, when I picked this question,

I'm like, I'd be so curious to know like a boys opinion on the schools,

but obviously they're just really big in St. Louis.

And I think everyone has a positive experience and like we did have prom and we did have homecomings.

It's just like you would go to the all boys schools homecomings

and the boys would come to the all girls homecomings.

Like it was just, I don't know, that's just how it worked.

So I loved it.

Yeah.

So fun.

Okay.

And our next advice question is going to be car related.

Mitty Van or no.

Hey Kelly and Liz.

I have the typical third baby dilemma and need some expert slash practical advice.

I currently drive a 2023 Subaru Ascent and love it.

I bought it new and I'm still making payments, but I believe it's still worth more than what I owe.

I have two kids.

They are five forward facing three rear facing rotating car seat and now baby number three on the way a bit sooner than expected.

Do you think it's worth it to part with my ascent even though I really love it to get a minivan?

I would get something used so that I can lower or possibly even get rid of my car payment.

So financially, it's probably a good move.

But the hassle of finding the right van and making the switch doesn't seem worth it to me and I'm worried I'll be sad and miss my ascent.

I'm like Kelly and just prefer to drive an SUV, but we can't afford a full size.

Is a minivan really going to give me that much more convenience than my ascent as far as space and car seat setup?

What would you do?

Good question.

Girlfriend or girlfriend?

Like I'm just going to level with you.

Can I a little more info?

My ascent has captains chairs.

So I was planning to move my three year old forward facing when the baby comes and put both those forward facing car seats in the third row.

So that would make my trunk space pretty tight.

Okay.

Like just not as the car mom.

Just like as like a girl you would just call on the phone or as the car mom.

I don't think you'll miss your ascent at all.

To be honest with you.

I think and I actually think even though you might like be downgrading like by year, by mileage, even by features, you are going to upgrade so majorly in convenience and space.

You're going to feel like you won the lottery.

Like so you're saying that there's a world that I don't have all the numbers, but there's you obviously could maybe you have some equity, maybe you have some cash like let's say you could.

If there's a world where you could lower your payment slash get rid of your payment and get more room like what am I, why would you not do that?

And just like my bird's eye view with minivans, here's the thing I want to point out about minivans.

If you're on a budget and you're looking for a minivan, my advice, you can try to find a used Sienna.

Those are very hard to find and they're still very expensive and you can't get the bench seat like rarely you can find a bench seat and it's only on the lowest trim.

I would go after the oldest, best maintained Honda Odyssey you can find.

Thing with the Honda Odyssey, they changed it in 17 and they haven't been bothered to change its sense.

And I just saw an article that also said they're not planning on changing it for a very long time.

They did like an update in 25 and they didn't.

If you put a 25 and a 24 in front of me and I had a magnifying glass, I would not even be able to tell you the differences between the two.

So that being said, go find the oldest, best maintained, lowest mileage, highest trim Odyssey in your budget and buy that and get rid of the ascent and you will be happy.

End of story.

It just changes your life.

It really does.

End of story.

And just, I also do want to say, I like an expedition, but I am by no means anti-minivan.

Like I actually do really like minivans.

Well, you know, something that I'm kind of getting a little bit nervous for with my minivan and having three kids is, you know, like, I think I'm going to put James in the third row.

So my third row is going to be up the whole time.

And now my trunk is just going to be really deep and I'm a little bit nervous for not having like a flat trunk.

But I guess if I take that seat out of, then I'll have more space inside the cabin.

So like I'm thinking like on the go potties, like diaper changes and stuff like that.

I think I can do that within the cabin if I remove that outboard seat.

And I think what trunk space, like kind of my hot take with trunk space is I think you'll use what you have.

And I think some people, when they have all this trunk space, they use all this trunk space.

But like if you didn't have it, you're still going to live your life.

You just like will, you know, empty your car instead of stacking more stuff out of it.

You'll actually probably be more organized.

Yeah, no, for sure.

Because you'll have to be.

Because right now your trunk does just kind of get to be an abyss because it's so big.

Yeah, that's true.

But you'll get kind of more strategic.

I am very curious to see what I think about going from the max to the standard wheelbase.

Uh-huh, me too.

Again, personally, I think it's, I think I'm going to really enjoy it.

But stay tuned.

I'm like dying for an update on my expedition.

I haven't gotten a VIN number.

I haven't gotten nothing.

When is it supposed to be ready?

No idea.

I haven't gotten anything.

But I'm very excited for it.

I'm very excited for you.

Okay, are you ready for ditch the drive?

Yes.

We'll give you an easy dinner recipe to mix it up to get you out of your dinner rut.

Shaved beef.

Okay, yeah, back to the shaved beef.

Talk to me about it.

Do you know what shaved beef is?

Like you can just buy it.

Yeah, see, no, like I know it's like at a restaurant, but I would never think I can just go buy it.

In the same way I can pop popcorn in my Dutch oven.

Right, there's just like all of these things.

That's like taboo.

It's all like so how you were grown up too.

Like I remember, I love our mother, but I remember being married and being like, wait, I can just put salmon in the oven.

Making salmon for the first time when I was like 25, blew my mind.

Because mom just like never made salmon.

Pork chops all the time.

Yeah, too many.

Flank steak chicken?

Yeah, too many, too many as we had pork chops.

I guess mom's just not a fish person, which is, she kind of is now, but growing up, she just like, I didn't know you could just make.

I'm sorry, yeah, giving five kids, like assuming five kids are all going to eat salmon, so like not totally worth it.

Like we just probably weren't eating it.

My four kids do, so.

Okay, well, you're a better mom.

What can I say?

Anyway, back to Shade Beef.

So I was just like perusing my grocery store.

And first of all, if you're not, another thing that I just like forget you can do is like talk to your, the butcher at the grocery store.

Do you know what I mean?

And they are, every experience I've had with a butcher is they are genuinely so happy to just help.

Have you ever had this, have you talked to a butcher in the last 90 days?

No.

Okay.

So I was at the grocery store and I was looking for ground pork and I asked the butcher, I'm like, do you have ground pork?

He's like, oh, I don't know, let me just, let me just do some for you really fast.

He like took a pork loin or something and just ground me a pound of pork.

Like such a gentleman.

So anyway, I was perusing just like my local section and they had some shaved beef.

And I was like, oh, this would be fun for like fajitas or stir fry or like steak and eggs.

It's shaved like pretty paper thin.

It cooks in five seconds.

You put it on a hot pan, you pull it off.

And it's such a fun, quick, weeknight meal.

So what I did is I kept it simple.

I chopped up a zucchini and a yellow squash and an onion.

The onion was already chopped up just for, just for people now.

I sauteed it for a bit, put the beef in, sauteed it, served it with some leftover rice.

Do I have a meal?

Some of the kids added nothing to it.

Some of the kids added that like, or that Japanese barbecue sauce to it.

I just added some salt.

Cooked in five seconds.

I'm imagining it like on a hoagie or something.

You could imagine it on a hoagie.

You could imagine it in a stir fry, a fried rice.

It's very versatile and it's very quick.

It's a good weeknight meal, rotation.

Okay.

That's so good to know.

Sounds quick too.

Okay, so shaved beef.

Talk to your butcher.

Get some shaved beef.

Make popcorn this week.

Yeah.

That's sort of what's on the agenda for everyone.

I think so.

And let me know any other like, you know, mind blowing.

I'm just kind of looking to kind of stretch myself culinary, culinary wise this summer.

I just want to really continue to be the mom who always says the snacks,

always says the meals, can throw dinner on the table.

Like, you know the Ella Langley song, I just want to be her so bad.

That's so bad.

I want to be her.

I want to be the mom who's like, oh yeah, I just like prepped with this fruit in the beginning.

Let's meet at the park.

I'll bring a bunch of fruit.

Oh, you need a meal.

Hold on.

I have like all the containers ready to go.

Mm-hmm.

You know.

So just like such a good Instagram story too, like for your friends.

Like, oh, like, look at how cool we are at the park.

Having parfaits.

Yeah.

Kelly made homemade granola and people think I'm doing the most.

Yeah.

I like it.

I also want to try doing outdoor movie night.

Mm-hmm.

And just like, I have a projector because I put it on my garage.

Mm-hmm.

The thing that's heard about an outboard door in a movie night in summer though,

it doesn't get dark till like 9 p.m.

No, that is the problem.

So it kind of is like a fall activity.

A fall activity.

Then you get blankets.

Yeah.

Don't ever forget during COVID, Matt, he had to get really creative with our date nights.

And so he surprised us on the top of his parking garage, his apartment.

He put, he and his friend carried a couch out of their apartment, put it in the bed of his

truck.

I don't know.

I guess to move it.

And then we sat in the bed of his truck and he projected a movie on this like wall that

was at the top of the parking.

Oh, my gosh.

I love dating.

I know.

It's so cute.

And he has said, we were actually just talking, we're like, we need, this will be, we need

to redo that like with the kids.

But it's hard because it doesn't get very dark.

Another fun thing that Maddie did.

Why does it have to be dark?

Or can you do it?

No, it does have to be dark.

You can't see anything.

Okay, fair.

Another cute thing that Maddie did was we were supposed to go to Cabo and then our trip

got canceled because of like COVID had just hit.

So he filled his truck bed with sand.

And at this time in COVID, they were like doing to go alcohol because restaurants were

trying to like stay alive.

So we got to go Margaritas and a kiddie pool and sand and beach chairs and put it in the

bed of his truck.

That sounds so fun.

I know.

It's so cute.

Speaking of dates, Tyler and I, this is a prize for Tyler, but he doesn't listen to the

podcast.

So I don't think he'll hear this, but please no one tell him.

But I'm taking Tyler on a surprise.

So we were going to Vegas for one night because I got invited by Ford to do this like off.

I don't know why I'm whispering.

I think I kind of like it.

It kind of makes us feel more like we're in a little team.

So I got invited to go to this baronco off-roading course, but I'm still going to surprise him.

So like I told him, I'm like, Hey, I have to go to Vegas for a work thing.

He doesn't know what we're doing though.

That's so fun.

He'll love that.

I think I'm going to keep it a secret till like we get, I mean, I'm not going to be like,

okay, blindfold.

We're going to Vegas, but it's a surprise.

And he's probably going to think it's just like a concert, but then we're going to like

go to this like four hour off-roading thing, which I know.

That's good.

You need, you need, we both need, but you can have, you can carry the experience like

a true off-roading experience because I feel like we hate on off-roading stuff all the

time.

And like, I really want to know what like a true off-roading course is like.

I'd like to see a skid plate in action.

You know what I'm saying?

Like I want to see, use those features.

Yeah.

And I think it'll be a fun, like I love that it's a, it's an experience and they have

these courses like all over the country.

So like for some people, they don't have one in Missouri, but like they're in like five

or six states and you could just like go kind of a fun, like date night experience.

Like I love an experience.

I love it.

I love any memory.

I know it'll be a memory.

Like going out to dinner doesn't always make a memory.

Well, I just gave two memories of dates that Maddie and I had and it was like, and I like

couldn't tell you about the time we went bowling, you know, and it's because

if I have any date nights with Tyler, I can't really think of literally any.

I mean, you guys like literally haven't been dating for like so long.

Like you've just had kids for like seven years.

You think something would stand out?

He just surprised me a lot actually in college.

Like he used to just show up sometimes and that was like always really fun.

Yeah.

Or like, tell me he couldn't come and then like just walk into the restaurant.

Yeah.

And I'm with my friends.

He used to do that.

That was fun.

Yeah, that's cute.

OK, well, that's our episode.

All right.

Well, I hope everyone has a fun and safe Memorial weekend.

Happy summer.

And I'll see you guys on Wednesday.

Thanks for listening to the episode.

Bye.

Thank you for listening to the carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz.

Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode.

And if you enjoyed riding with us, tell everybody, you know,

there's room in the car for everyone.

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About this episode

2023 Subaru Ascent

forward facing car seat

rear facing rotating car seat

captains chairs

third row car-seat fit vs trunk space

bench seat

Honda Odyssey

Ford Expedition

flat trunk

off-roading course

skid plate

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