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POTATO SALAD TRAUMA
POTATO SALAD TRAUMA
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About this episode
A lively discussion unfolds as Kelly and Liz share personal stories about parenting, birthday celebrations, and a recent trip to Detroit where they interviewed Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors. The episode dives into the challenges of solo parenting, the art of making potato salad, and the joys of hosting. They also explore the importance of thoughtful gift-giving and how to find hobbies that bring joy. With a mix of humor and relatable anecdotes, this episode captures the ups and downs of family life and personal growth.
Topics:
solo parenting
birthday celebrations
interviewing executives
potato salad
gift ideas
hosting tips
seasonal changes
family dynamics
car seat safety
home renovation
Cars:
Ford Expedition
It feels like it’s been forever since it was just Kelly and Lizz and they have SO much to talk about… and not talk about. While Lizz has been solo parenting for two weeks (an experience that has changed her as a person), Kelly has been prepping for her birthday. Did you know that making the perfect potato salad could cause a lot of stress and discussion? A lot of tangible takeaways here from Kelly’s potato salad trauma. In the end it all turned out to be the perfect evening, including some lovely gifts from her family. This leads right into a tangible takeaway from Lizz on how to start the perfect gift tradition.
The potato salad stress might have been a bit exaggerated by a MASSIVE interview for the Car Mom. Kelly and Lizz traveled to Detroit to chat with GM CEO Mary Barra. They gave a little preview of the interview as well as talked about the friends they did not make in the car seat lab.
Another massive milestone happened in the Stumpe household as George headed off to school for the very first time. Kelly is so ready to be in her “mom of school kids” era and already planning her truck-or-treat decorations. Speaking of family time, Kelly is ready to introduce her kids to “Shark Boy and Lava Girl” in hopes that they will want to dress as them for Halloween. Is “Spy Kids” next? Both movies go perfect with a Ditch the Drive-Thru favorite: pulled pork bbq nachos!
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Ford Expedition
"So I just took their kids home, shout out to the expedition max could fit two extra kids. Love it."
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Welcome to the carpool podcast with Kelly.
I had a coat that I had since I was selling cars.
And like, it was just, it was an old coat.
But like, it's a coat.
And she goes, you are too successful
to continue to wear this coat.
And Liz.
So he was gone for two weeks.
I'm forever changed by that experience.
I'm not even sure I can get into that right now.
I think I need to internalize some of that trauma.
Your mom time off starts now.
Welcome back to the carpool podcast with Kelly.
And Liz.
It's like a Monday.
Oh, sorry, we're recording on a Monday.
But it's a Monday that feels like a Monday,
but in a good way.
You know what I mean?
Like kind of fresh start of the week.
The week is ahead of you.
You can get so much done.
Yeah, like I'm still optimistic.
Like I'm, it is just my older two are in school.
The younger two are in childcare this week.
And it's just, we have been flying by the seat of our pants.
I think we all, no matter what your child care situation
is in the summer, summer's just got to rock us all.
It does.
And you're hot, you're hot.
It gets dark late.
And I'm so the person, I don't know if you're like this.
First of all, I love that we live in Missouri
because we get all of the seasons.
We really do.
Like we are very blessed for that.
And I get so tired of the season.
Like I swear it off every single.
I, yeah, but then like I love them,
but like I'm not a summer forever person.
Like I'm so ready for winter.
I'm ready for winter.
Like fall will be great.
I want it to be winter, but then in winter
I'm like, I'm so ready for summer.
I can't wait for summer.
Can't wait for it to be 93.
I'll never complain again.
It's like, then I will complain.
Yeah, I know.
It's so true.
The only season that I actually never wish away is fall though.
Yeah.
Fall is a good one.
It's nice.
Fall is a good one.
But I don't like winter.
But yeah, it is.
We're in a heat wave.
It's a lot to handle, but kids are back to school.
Kelly, happy birthday.
Thank you.
I have so much I want to recap about my birthday on.
I know.
We haven't even talked about it.
So Maddie was gone in the field
is what they call it, I think in the Marines.
So he was gone for two weeks.
I'm forever changed by that experience.
I only have that to talk about.
I'm not even sure I can get into that right now.
I think I need to internalize some of that trauma before I...
Well, and you know what?
I kind of mentioned it on my stories.
I was like, yeah, I'm solo parenting.
And someone was like,
well, aren't you living at your parents' house?
So are you really solo parenting?
And first of all, actually makes it so much harder.
Also, our parents travel a lot.
So they're like not really here.
And also like not being in my house with my setup
and like my child-proofing,
it's actually so much harder.
So thank you.
Anyway, Maddie was gone for two weeks.
He came back on your birthday.
So I did not attend your birthday party
because like he was coming home and, you know, all that.
But I do want to hear all about your birthday.
So first of all, Elizabeth's a changed woman
and she went through a lot.
So don't, for some reasons, you have no idea.
Okay, first of all, they have no idea.
And that's fine because it's such the balance of like,
I mean, you just, you want to be, whatever,
I don't even really want to get,
I don't really want to tackle this topic today.
I'm going to move on to my birthday party
because it was such a wonderful night.
So I, we ordered ribs.
So this is kind of my hack.
I like to cater the meat.
And when I can, and we have like a really great place
in the town that I live in and I just ordered ribs.
And they were, I mean, they're cut,
like ribs are so good.
They're one of my favorite food.
I haven't had them all summer.
No, that's not true.
I had them one at a time in the summer.
And I'm like, I want to get ribs for my birthday.
And there's so many, everything goes with ribs.
Like every summer dish you'd ever want goes well with ribs.
You know what I mean?
So we had ribs.
And then mom cut up a watermelon
because I hate cutting up a watermelon.
So mom served me in that way.
Ate it.
Dad made margaritas, which I,
he served me in that way.
And then I went to town on salads.
I had three different types of salads
that you could choose from at this event.
And none of them had lettuce.
So let me break it down for you.
I started with a potato.
I've never made a potato salad.
You can ask Elizabeth, you would have thought
it's all I had going on.
Like every time I was called, I'd be like,
well, here's what I'm thinking with my potato salad.
And I was so stressed out about this freaking potato salad.
It's like combined ingredients, sister.
You are such a good cook.
You make such complicated things
that I would never even attempt.
And she talked to me cumulatively,
probably two hours about a potato salad.
So I think I've noticed something about myself.
When I get stressed about things,
which, you know, we had the Mary Barry interview,
which we can talk about that.
Like I was kind of recovering
from the stress of all that.
When I get stressed, I like to take all of the stress
I have about actual real like work problems
and put them onto things in my life,
like a potato salad.
That is how you cope.
It's interesting.
I would kind of like to explore that a little bit deeper
on just like what that is actually all about.
But you do this often where you want to make one new thing.
And it's never anything complicated, ever.
It's like with my cabbage soup,
like when I just couldn't like,
cabbage soup, it's a potato salad.
It's not, there's been other ones too.
What is that country or chicken fried steak
that I'm still never going to attempt?
You were just like, yeah,
I made chicken fried steak for the first time.
It was pretty good.
It was kind of complicated.
But combining ingredients in a potato salad,
it's freaking out.
I wanted to make a potato salad.
Our grandma had a great potato salad recipe.
And I got the recipe from our aunt.
Now grandma adds MSG,
which you can just apparently buy like a seasoning.
I don't even know what MSG is.
I just know that I'm not supposed to have it.
Mom says it makes the food more addicting.
And I was, oh, so is that what it was?
Is that why I was like so obsessed
with the potato salad?
Like it's a flavor enhancer that like makes food.
Let's just go do a quick, what is MSG?
But Logan always puts it in his cucumbers,
but he is eating cucumbers all the time.
It's the ability to intensify flavor.
But it's a subject of controversy.
I don't know.
Hmm, I don't know.
So anyway, I was like, well, I don't have MSG.
I went to Trader Joe's to like for,
you know, I did, what, it doesn't matter.
There's a lot of drama with,
let's not get sourced in the agreement.
We both have a little trauma.
For my potato salad,
but Trader Joe's didn't have MSG.
So I'm like, I'm not gonna do the MSG.
Like I'll just, you know,
I'm gonna do fresh herbs instead.
Like maybe just grandma didn't have access to dill
and chives as I do.
So I'm gonna do these fresh herbs instead.
Cause I said, I looked up an Aina Garden potato salad
recipe because I was just gonna do that one.
But the thing with Aina is it's a little too,
like I don't want a stone ground mustard.
I'm looking for a mayo base, you know?
I'm looking for like Aina kind of sometimes.
And this is no shade to Aina.
I'm gonna say something.
This is no shade to Aina.
But you have to remember about her recipes
is she doesn't have any kids,
which is totally fine.
Like she, I actually, Aunt Lizzie read her book
and she has like a really interesting reason
for not having kids that I want to spoil.
And I also don't know enough about it.
Why am I talking so much about this potato salad?
It's the guys for the record,
this has been my past week.
Anyway, so you just have to remember that sometimes
we're all looking at Aina's recipes.
Like they're just a little bit.
Sometimes I think unnecessarily complicated.
I'm just gonna say that.
Okay.
Anyway,
I made a potato salad.
Now here's the thing with a potato salad
that's freaking hard.
Let me just break this down for you.
They've got to be soft enough to like cut
without turning into mashed potatoes.
And that's an art.
And that's an art that I didn't have.
Now, since I've done research,
I learned that I should have done an ice bath with them.
I should have pulled them out
and put them in an ice bath.
I just let them cool naturally like an idiot.
So the flavor I thought was there.
I thought was delicious.
Dad goes, I don't know, Kel,
it's kind of missing something.
I said, well, it's missing MSG.
So, sorry.
But they were also like, it was,
they were a little bit,
it kind of, it was like cold mashed potatoes.
With mayonnaise, cause like it wasn't quite.
They were very mashy.
So that's the second place salad.
The third place salad,
I did a tomato cucumber mozzarella.
I didn't have fresh basil in it, showed.
And I was disappointed in myself.
I also had my proportions all out of whack.
I had too much cheese, too much cucumber,
not enough tomato, probably could have used more salt.
Probably should have let that one sit and marinate,
but I didn't.
That was the last place salad.
The first place salad was a last minute addition.
Because one thing about me is I love a broccoli salad.
People don't know this about me.
Did you know this about me?
I don't know.
I feel like broccoli's been a lot of your personality.
So.
A broccoli salad, like if I'm at a barbecue restaurant
and that's an option, like I'm ordering it.
Like I love a broccoli salad.
And my sister-in-law has a really good one,
but she was like traveling when she was coming in
so she couldn't make it.
So I was like, I can make a broccoli salad.
Like I just did a potato.
Like I was kind of, you know,
I was kind of on top of the world a little bit.
So me and chat GBT whipped up
the most amazing broccoli salad.
It was, it was the only salad that was,
there was none left in the bowl.
Wow.
What was that?
Okay, so you chopped some broccoli.
It's all about the chopping.
You chop some broccoli, you chop red onion.
And then you do mayo and honey
to kind of make the dressing
because you want it to kind of be like that.
Like that kind of a little sweet.
And then of course, apple cider vinegar
because it needs a little zing.
And then, I don't remember what else.
I told chat GBT to save the recipe though,
but me and her were just like a work in,
she's a sous chef.
We were working side by side
because she said, can you add sunflower seeds?
I said, I don't have sunflower seeds.
Do you, should I use pistachios or almonds?
And then she's like, hmm, let me think.
And she recommended pistachios.
That was smooth.
And they were delicious.
And then I had golden raisins,
which I love a broccoli salad with golden raisins.
And I randomly had those in my pantry.
So it all, it all came together.
It all came together.
And that was the highlight of my birthday.
My broccoli salad, truthfully.
I wanna talk about what you got for your birthday
because actually, I think I have a new approach to
when you need to come up with like,
what do you want for a gift?
And you're like, I don't know,
like I don't need anything, whatever.
I think I have a new approach.
So I wanna talk about that from you guys or from mom.
Well, actually from both.
So first of all,
what I like about maybe just having a podcast
is that you just talk about
everything going on in your life
and you're very much in your hosting era
and you just got your pool
and you just wanna be the house that everyone comes to.
So I told mom, I was like, you should get her hosting stuff.
And she really, really needs a utensil caddy.
So like kind of take that and run with it.
So mom took that and ran with it
and she got you a whole like hosting set,
like a nice tray, a utensil caddy,
a wine chiller that all goes together.
It was so nice.
It was so pretty.
And it's because you've got something going on.
What do you mean?
In the sense of you're trying to master something in your life
and that thing in your life is hosting.
So that, it's an interest.
You could call it a hobby.
I think women sometimes have a hard time having hobbies
because where do we find the time to fit in a hobby?
But you wanna host and so like
you really wanna master that craft.
So that was like a really nice jumping off point
for a gift.
Now the thing that I got you
or your siblings got you
is we got you a Mackenzie Childs teapot.
It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
It's art.
It's Kelly has wanted one for a while.
And for Christmas, she got a Mackenzie Childs,
what's a serving platter, but you use it for your fruit.
So I thought she loves her serving platter.
She's been talking about this kettle.
It was a splurge gift,
but like when you split it with four people
it really wasn't bad at all.
So that's what we got you.
And so what I kind of wanna do in my new home
is I wanna find my Mackenzie Childs.
Like I don't know if Mackenzie Childs is my vibe,
but like what is it from Creighton Barrel or William Snowman?
Like I wanna find a collection of kitchenware.
And then like for every Christmas, birthday, anniversary
it's like just get me a piece from that collection.
And it's a splurge and it's something I wouldn't buy myself
but it's something that's gonna bring me joy
and make me happy.
And over the years
I will eventually like collect this collection
because like William Snowman,
they keep the same collections for years and years and years.
Like it's not going anywhere.
So that's sort of my maybe my new approach.
I'm not sure what it's gonna be for me yet,
but I do feel like you've kind of got the,
well, I just like blue and white.
You like the Mackenzie Child
and you like the, you have your blue lecressé.
And so I also had looked into like getting you
like lecressé mugs or Mackenzie Childs mugs.
And it's just to continue to build your collection
and continue to build these little luxuries
that make you really happy.
So, yeah.
And it's like, I hope my kids fight over
my Mackenzie Child's pieces
because it's like that's so mom.
Like that's what I want them to say.
Like, oh, that was so mom.
So a couple of things.
Chris's gift knocks it out of the park
and she was the perfect person to buy me that.
Now we've kind of decided like
it's gonna be like my bar tray.
So like, first of all,
I can't wait to get rid of the baby brezza.
Like I'm looking down like three weeks left on that.
And then we're done with formula.
I'm very excited.
And then like where the baby brezza and the coffee pot are
like those have to go when I'm hosting a big party
and like that's where we set up the bar.
So like I feel good about that.
The utensil holder is gorgeous.
And I'm already like, was there a matching chips
and salsa bowl?
Because that is the missing link.
Well, we have to go look up the collection.
Because they were, yeah, it was stunning and gorgeous.
Mom also bought me.
Did you know what else she got for me?
Yes, yes.
Our mother, you might not think this is about her.
The woman is such a bargain hunter.
Like she likes nice things,
but not as much as she likes a deal.
And it was kind of like one of those gifts
where it was like, okay, like I didn't know
you thought I needed that so badly.
She bought me three pairs of shoes
from clearance from Marshalls.
Like they were all like 70% off.
And she's like, yeah, they were like,
she bought like three $19 pairs of shoes.
And she's like, you know,
cause you just like never have the right shoe.
And I'm like, oh, I don't, I don't.
No, I know, it's like kind of a dig.
But the shoes are cute.
And at the end of the day, it was kind of headspace.
Cause then she's right.
Cause you know what she's right.
I don't have a summer heel.
Well, for someone to be able to see that into your life
because maybe you're just like a little blind
from all of the sneakers that you have.
She sent me photos when she was there
and she also had sneakers pulled out.
And I was like, for the love of God
don't give this girl any sneakers.
Kind of hurtful, also kind of,
okay, so you think I need better shoes?
I'm happy someone's looking out for me.
Well, one time mom came into my closet
and I had like a coat,
you know what coat I'm talking about?
And she was like, I had a coat
that I had since I was selling cars.
And like it was just, it was an old coat,
but like it's a coat.
And she goes, you are too successful
to continue to wear this coat.
She took it out of my closet.
And I was like, no, our mom,
our mom is so hilarious.
I think she's right.
Well, we have been five different sizes
in the past two years, I mean, you even more,
just like up and down, having babies,
postpartum, whatever, you fluctuate so much.
Buying new clothes is not really
the most fun thing to do.
But when we get dressed or we're going to an event,
I'm like, I don't really know what to wear to this event.
I have jeans, what should I wear with it?
And she's like, well, don't you,
you know what, just throw on like a silk,
a purple silk button up with a bow on it.
And it's like, you think I just have that line around?
It's my favorite thing she does.
She's like, just grab a denim vest,
like a silk pant and like a leopard pump and like walk out.
And I'm like, okay.
So here's what I'm working with.
I've got a jean jacket.
I've got a jean jacket.
I think they may make silk pants in my height.
You're dreaming.
But she's also, she's always trying to help us grow.
No, she's trying to help us grow.
And I do, I do, you know,
you do need people like that in your life, you know,
how they say, like if your husband brings something to you,
like, hey, I see this in your life,
you should maybe you can improve on
if my husband ever said that to me.
Oh my God, I'd probably like kill him.
But you should really take seriously
what people who are so close to you in your life say
because they know you so truly.
And so when she's like, you need a summer heel,
chances are.
Chances are you need to summer heel.
And like when she looks at my crusty old coat
that I had since 2016, he goes, you need a new coat.
Like she was spot the lie.
Like it was just, she's right.
I need a new coat.
So.
Anyway, I love her.
Couldn't say enough things,
couldn't say enough good things about her.
Okay, then we went to Detroit.
This is a whole other thing.
Oh, then we went to Detroit.
Well, actually before my birthday, we went to Detroit.
For a whirlwind, 22 hours.
Mm-hmm.
We went to Detroit to interview Mary Barra.
Barra.
Oh my gosh.
I knew that.
Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors.
We had 30 minutes with her.
We had multiple Zoom calls.
Multiple Zoom calls with the team.
With like six people on it.
Yeah.
To go over this 30 minute meeting.
Like she is the biggest wig I've ever met.
Well, General Motors is one of the biggest car companies
and she's the CEO and she's a woman.
Like it's just all coming up.
Opportunity of a wise mom.
And she's a mom.
She was, now you guys got to understand.
Like there are things, I mean,
we had to get our questions approved.
Like it was, what is that noise?
Sorry, I accidentally hit a button.
It was chirping.
Yeah, I know, I'm sorry.
So we were nervous.
We had our questions prepared.
Like it was more just like,
I was looking at this as just like a really good opportunity
to meet her and to like just try to share
like what we're trying to do, you know?
Yeah.
She was so much warmer and delightful than I was expecting.
Don't you think?
Yeah.
So she's worked at GM for,
I don't know when she was 18.
She was an intern when she was 18.
And her dad worked at GM.
And her dad worked at GM and now she's the CEO,
which is like such, like that's crazy.
Engineer by degree.
She's worked a ton of jobs at General Motors.
And we did a lot of,
we listened to a lot of her other interviews before this
to kind of get a vibe check.
But all of the other interviews were very like serious
and like stockholders.
And it's like, what about the terrorists?
It's like so serious.
And so we were like kind of nervous,
like is she gonna be down to like make an Instagram reel
with us because that's kind of what we're after.
Anyway, she was,
and I think it was probably refreshing for her
to not have to talk like this such the heavy stuff.
No, and like I, here's the thing.
I did as good as I could have done,
but I am not, I don't,
like I'm not an expert interviewer.
And I actually think I get interviewed a lot.
And to me that's,
I'm way more comfortable answering the questions
than I am asking the questions.
Cause that's, that is a whole other art to,
it is hard.
It's very hard.
And we had 30 minutes and that included pleasantries.
So like this was not like sit down and get to know you.
But like one of my favorite things that she did Liz
was I forgot to introduce Elizabeth because sorry,
like who had, like I was just so stressed
and focused on my questions.
And as we started talking,
she's like, wait, in your Elizabeth, right?
Remember when she did that Liz, she knows your name.
Yeah.
She said, oh, and you're Kelly's sister, you're Liz.
And I'm like, yeah, I'm her.
It was, it was awesome.
It was awesome.
And it was, yeah, it was super, it was just super cool.
So interview should be out soon.
It's funny.
I didn't even tell you this, Cal,
but when I, my first job out of college,
I worked, I did digital marketing for dealerships.
I worked for a company that did it.
And I would have to go to Detroit
cause I had like a client there
and we, my client worked with GM.
So anyway, I had to go to GM.
I actually was in that waiting room that we were in, Cal.
You didn't tell me that.
Like many, many, many years ago.
Well, I know I didn't want to,
you were really stressed out.
I didn't want to bring it.
I didn't really think you would care.
It was just so crazy because I went there
so many years ago for my first job
and then we were there again, like meeting the CEO.
And it was just like a very cool moment of like, wow.
Wow.
Look at how far we've come.
Yeah.
So it was great.
I mean, I would love to have the opportunity
to do something like that again
or like talk to her again or just, you know,
oh, then I went to the Car Seat Safety Lab
and I made more enemies than friends there, I think.
No, not enemies.
No, I don't think so.
But I just, that's where I felt like I could be,
that's where I felt like I could advocate
for like change a lot more, you know?
Like I wasn't going to like waste my 30 minutes
with Mary to like dive into, I mean, that's just,
that's not, that's not what I wanted to ask her.
And like that's not what I thought
she would find interesting.
But then we got to go to the proving grounds
and meet in the Car Seat Safety Lab
and then I asked the hard,
I was like the Car Seat, the technician, engineer,
the girl who tests them all out.
And Kelly gave her, I mean, she just word vomited
every problem she has with every.
It was worse than the potato salad
conversation of earlier.
Yeah, I'm for sure.
No, but it was good.
I think she was really receptive to it
and that was really exciting to,
because sometimes Kelly will try
and talk about this stuff at PR events with.
Oh yeah, you're right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And they're like, yeah, I don't know like,
nor do they care, which sure,
like you're in it for PR and fun events.
You're not in it.
This girl is installing car seats
in these cars every day.
She cares.
The other people are respectfully,
they don't care and that's okay.
I guess.
Kelly brought everything up.
She did bring up, everyone's gonna ask
because the interview's gonna come out.
Kelly did not ask Mary Bear
about the third row middle head restraints.
She did talk to the car seat engineer about it.
And we did get an answer of their coming
in all the vehicles,
they're in all of the two vehicles right now.
So that's already a major improvement.
And besides that, I mean,
I did ask about the lower anchors
and this is like really granular.
So if you don't care about this,
maybe like skip forward 30 seconds.
But the lower anchor discussion,
I think is interesting because
I don't expect people to use lower anchors
in the third row for car seats
because a lot of the times children
who are in the third row
have outgrown the weight limit for lower anchors.
And you could always just do a seat belt installation.
So I get that.
But where I kind of wanted to just,
where I was trying to kind of advocate
for why I do think they should add lower anchors
into the third row is for the booster seats
that have latch attachments.
Because boosters with latch,
I'm seeing more and more of them hit the market
because they have benefits.
The benefit meaning it stays in the seat.
So it makes it easier for your child
to always be in the same seat and they're safer
because then when your child's not in it,
it doesn't become a projectile.
So, and again, that's one of those things
where it's like, yeah, you don't have to add it.
I'm like, yeah, it's fine,
but it doesn't hurt anything to add it, you know?
Yeah.
That could all end up being like a supply and demand thing though.
Like if more people are going that route, then, you know,
maybe they'll add it.
But yeah, besides that, I mean, it was very interesting.
I, we, I think we have the real of it list.
We should post that real.
But what I thought was interesting is, and again,
this is just like, you know,
these are these very granular things
when you don't realize how much goes into making a car.
And I didn't say granular one time in an interview
with Mary Barra.
And I don't think anyone's talking about that.
She did not say granular,
but she did say razzle dazzle to Mary Barra.
Barra, you keep saying Barra.
I just, at the, at the end of the interview,
Kelly comes out to me and she has,
you know, I had to sneak the razzle dazzle.
The razzle dazzle.
That's your new hyper fixation word.
Razzle dazzle.
Yeah, whenever we're on these like really different story.
What was I saying?
I'm all over the place today.
I have no idea.
Oh, so we were talking to her and tether anchors.
So on the back of the seats,
there's like the little emblem that has the tether anchors.
So legally, they only have to put the icon.
So the, but GM has decided to write the word tether anchor.
They've also decided to make it in white ink,
because again, legally all they have to do
is make the symbol and like,
what's the word emboss it onto the black plastic.
So like it could look a lot less noticeable,
but GM decided because they want it to be,
because that is a frequent misuse with families.
Like they just don't know what it's for sometimes.
So the fact that it says tether anchor,
it's black and white contrast.
It's way more visible than it,
than found in a lot of other cars.
I want to take a picture of my Ford, just like to compare.
No, I want to take a picture of my Carnival
because I looked at the owner's manual
just to confirm that it was the tether anchor
and not a cargo thing.
Like I was, you know, 99% positive,
but you know, it just, it wasn't clearly marked.
And you're a CPST.
And I'm a CPST.
Well, that's why I looked at my manual.
So I thought that was very interesting.
And the other interesting part was she's like, you know,
the design team doesn't like that
because they don't want me to be visible,
but like we fought for that.
And I'm like, okay.
All right, thank you.
And you know what I noticed the other,
since she pointed that out?
Whose car was it?
Maybe mom's car or something.
It was a BMW.
They have the exact, oh no, I was at the dealership.
I was at the BMW dealership.
And James wanted to get in the trunk of the car.
BMW has the same thing as, it says Tether Anchor.
It's contrast.
It's very clear.
Love to see it.
So shout out.
Love to see it.
Shout out.
Love to see it.
You got the same Stanley that I got?
Mm.
I did.
I'm looking at Kelly.
Did I influence you?
No, you didn't.
You didn't influence me.
Tell me what you think about the 40 ounce.
Okay.
So you guys know we've been at
30 ounce Iced flow stands for years.
Now here's the problem.
I don't work with, I'm like, I still use Stanley's every day.
I'm just like not working with them
in a professional capacity anymore.
So this doesn't even mean product.
And I've lost all but one of my Iced flows.
Are you serious?
I would get a lot and I would just
give them away to people, you know?
So like I was giving a lot away
and I was like, I don't need 10 Iced flows.
I was like, I've got the three.
I had a pink one with my name and a green one
and a blue one.
Where are my Iced flows?
I've left them at places.
No, press car.
I've just left them at places.
Like it's not that they're in my house.
They're gone.
So I have all but one.
Um, so I was like, I'm going to get another one
because sometimes that one's dirty.
And I like this one.
I need to drink more water.
As we all do.
As we all do.
But yeah, I got the same one as you.
And it's just day one of using it.
So I'm like not really ready to talk about it yet.
I haven't even put it in a car yet.
I can't even confirm what that looks like.
Okay. Well, I can confirm.
I'll be like so curious to hear your thoughts.
I have not touched my 30 ounce Iced flows
since I got this 40 ounce flip straw.
Yeah.
So anyway.
So anyway, that was our quick trip to Detroit.
We get back from Detroit and boom, first day of school.
Boom, first day of school in kindergarten.
Crazy Kelly, you know.
Yeah.
I wasn't that emotional.
I was fine.
We also did, like we did decide to hold George back a year
because he has like a late birthday
and that was just a personal decision we made
for our family at the time.
And I have no regrets doing that.
So I say that though, I felt like,
like he was definitely ready for kindergarten.
You know, like he's so ready for kindergarten.
And he was so excited.
Which that makes it so much easier on you though
to like not question if he is ready
and for him to be excited.
Like that just makes it easier.
Last year, when you held him back,
he didn't have a very good transition.
So I don't think he was ready.
I don't think he, I think it also just worked out
with like us moving and then going to a different school
and a meeting.
You know, I've talked to people at lengths about this
and like it's just totally a decision
that you have to make with your kid.
Yeah.
But I would also, I just liked the perspective of
I'm not just holding him back like from kindergarten
because like George would have been finding kindergarten.
But it's just like, it's just everything.
It's like the middle school.
It's the high school.
It's the going to college.
And I just think like having him
and I get him at home for one more year.
Like, okay, I'm the winner.
So he's going to live at home for one more extra year.
Yeah, it's your only opportunity to kind of like
slow things down a little bit.
Yeah, I'll take it.
So the way our all of our other kids' birthdays fall,
we won't do that.
But George just being like end of May,
we just decided that it was the better call for him.
So, and he's the oldest too.
So I kind of feel like when you're the oldest
like you aren't.
I don't want to say he's doing everything for the first time.
Like he doesn't have a sibling to walk him through
or to experience it.
Like he is navigating it for the first time in your family.
So it worked out really well for us.
And Tyler's mom did it with him too
because Tyler has a similar birthday to George
and Tyler had like liked it.
And I was always, I'm an August birthday.
So I was always the oldest in my class.
So I'm not sure you need to justify this.
Is this like a hot button issue?
Yeah, it is.
Yeah.
Oh.
Yeah, sometimes.
But that's okay.
But anyway, we had the first day of kindergarten.
So exciting.
I think you're, I think this is really
going to be your time to shine.
I mean, you've been such a good mom obviously,
but I really think that grade school
is going to be where you know, I agree.
I've been waiting for the grade school years.
I don't, I've said this before,
I'm not the biggest like baby person.
Like I love my babies.
Don't love anyone else's.
Don't love, not that's not true.
I love other people's babies,
but like I just, I think kids are so fun.
Like I think kids are so fun.
And we had a little back to school bash.
On the first day of school, it was a half day.
And then I said, and our pool was finally ready.
So I was like, what if I invited a bunch of people over?
And we had like, how many kids did we have?
Like 14, like young kids,
like kindergarteners and below at our house.
And you know, some of the moms had to work.
So I just took their kids home,
shout out to the expedition max could fit two extra kids.
Love it.
With my four kids, love to see it.
And it was just like,
I just think the grade school years are so, so fun.
I'm so looking forward to them.
Like I'm already so lathered up for trunk or tree.
Yeah.
And I told, I told how this this morning
because it's, it's a layup for content for me.
But like we need to be decorating our trunk.
We need to be going all out.
And like I need to be making content around the trunk
because we always do the like the March Madness style
who has the best trunk.
And I don't even have, I don't even have a dog in the fight.
I should have a dog in the fight.
Well, and after we've seen what Tyler can do
with a hay bale and some plywood, I mean, I'm sorry.
I'm expecting a lot.
We know he can paint.
We know he's creative, like bring it on.
So here's my initial plan that I'm thinking out right now.
So Hattie's birthday is October 14th.
I do think I'm just going to repurpose
Hattie's birthday decorations
and then give my car a little bit more razz-dazz
and make that theme.
So I do think my trunk or tree theme
will be Gabby's dollhouse.
Okay.
I think that's fine though.
Like I don't think what the theme is matters.
I just think it's like sometimes those are the best themes.
Like it's just like a random, like it's Gabby's dollhouse.
So we're going all out for Gabby's dollhouse.
It's never the spooky ones that when it's the target one.
It's the minions.
It's the candy land.
It's always something so random.
So I know.
So Hattie wants to have a Gabby's dollhouse birthday.
I'm like we'll repurpose.
And I love, sometimes I love this.
I love to do things sometimes for one of my kids
and like not the other ones, you know?
Like I don't want to do something that well, I'll enjoy.
It's like, no, we're doing Gabby's dollhouse.
Sorry, George.
We're not doing Minecraft or Pokemon or Reptile
or whatever you think you're into.
Yeah.
We're doing Gabby's dollhouse.
I think that's good for him.
Give him grit.
I just want to put this reminder out there
for everyone that four, Hattie's turning five.
Four is the time for the princesses
because I asked Hattie the other day
her favorite princess and I was like, oh, it's Elsa.
Isn't it?
She's like, no, I don't even like Elsa.
Yeah, I know.
And I think maybe Hattie's kind of a little bit
mature in that way too.
Oh my gosh.
And then guess what?
Hold on, guess what we're gonna do this week?
What?
Guess what movie we're gonna watch?
You're gonna die when I tell you.
Hold on, because I said the movie the other day
and you said, oh my God, we need to watch that.
Oh, Shark Boy and Lava Girl.
Shark Boy and Lava Girl.
Tyler didn't have cable growing up.
And first of all, it shows.
Don't know if it's show, a bit like.
I'm joking, I'm joking.
We just like didn't,
and Tyler was like the youngest with two older sisters
and I was the oldest with like four younger siblings.
So like, you know, he was like watching friends
and like rom-coms, like that's what he watched.
Okay, it does show.
No, it does show.
No, it shows for sure.
And I'm like, oh no, like we were watching,
we've talked about this Disney Channel until we were 15.
I didn't watch friends until I was an adult
and I felt guilty about it.
But we're gonna watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl tonight.
It's like, what a flex.
Where can you watch?
You have to rent it.
Okay, worth the rent.
Worth the $3.99.
Done.
And I think George and Heidi, and I'm really hoping-
You might wanna buy it, Cal.
You might have to buy it.
And I want George and Heidi
to be Shark Boy and Lava Girl for Halloween.
George would be such, that would be so cute.
Bring back Shark Boy and Lava Girl.
We need everyone to, if their kids are old enough,
to watch it because I need to see
some Shark Boy and Lava Girl costumes, like bring it back.
Yeah, so I'm trying to think about
how I can convince them to be Shark Boy and Lava Girl.
Well, they get to dye their hair, so that's exciting.
That's true.
And then you know what else we need to watch?
Spy Kids.
Yes.
I know.
I mean, there's what, four of them?
I am so excited for Spy Kids.
Oh my gosh, wow.
Now those are gonna be exciting to watch.
Those, I'm sad.
I'm sad.
I'm sad for Spy Kids.
Yeah, that's fun.
Oh my gosh, you're living such a fun life.
Well, speaking of kind of living fun lives,
my renovation is underway.
Cal, my cabinets were delivered this week.
I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
My timeline is hitting its mark.
We're close.
It's HGTV over there.
I'm so impressed.
I really am.
Thank you.
You've done a good job.
I'm very proud of you.
Thank you.
It's been very hard, and I really,
100% would never recommend this to anyone.
But it's coming right along.
I will be trick or treating in my neighborhood.
So that's exciting.
We'd love to see it.
Can't wait.
Can't wait for the real of the before and after,
because no offense, with the transformation things,
it's like people really only care about the before and after.
And that's why I haven't posted any reels,
because I know if someone's doing a home renovation,
oh my God, does anyone else see this girl
who's trying to take her bedroom into an 80s?
An 80s?
Oh, is that the girl with the columns?
Yes.
I do not follow her.
She's come across my desk too many times.
No, every now and then she'll come across my desk.
I'm like, girl, I've not checked in with you in months,
and you have no updates.
So to do it live is hard,
because I want to see the before and after.
It's hard to keep it interesting.
Nothing is worse than when you see a renovation video
that you're really excited to see how it turns out
and you go to click on their profile
and it says just posted that video that you just watched.
Yeah, nothing worse.
Yeah, no, and I'm not saying they can't be making content,
but it's hard to make that content interesting
and satisfying, because so much of renovation content,
I'm sorry, I need the before and after.
You know who does a really good job?
It's Kylie Katich.
No, I don't follow Kylie Katich.
She does a lot of DIYs, very, very cute.
She will post like, I think she has the project done
and then she starts posting it.
Like it's not a full re-renovation.
Like she'll do a room at a time
and every day she'll release a new video.
And she does it quick and she's DIYing,
so all of that kind of stuff helps,
but it's very satisfying to see.
I wish I could be a DIY girl, but I just can't.
I try, I try, I just, they work too hard.
They work too, they work, they work so hard
and it looks so easy when they post it
in the 30 second reel, and it's just, yeah.
Well, Liz, I think that's our episode.
Okay, what do you think?
Yeah, no, I feel good.
So when are we going back, Kel, it's like,
I think September or we're going back
to two episodes a week.
Yes, September, we're going back
to two episodes a week, so get excited, everyone.
So get excited.
I'm super excited and we're gonna, yeah.
Have a good, good.
I just can't wait for fall, September.
Like my, you wanna know my favorite ASMR right now?
What?
When it's like 45 days to this,
and it's the Sunday night football,
and it's like images of like it being cold outside,
and then like images of chili on the stove.
Like get me there.
And I'm gonna be, I'm gonna watch every Lions game.
I told, I've told all of this multiple times.
We're gonna watch the Lions games.
We're Lions fans.
Okay.
I like it.
It's, it's good to be a fan of something.
It's good to be part of something.
It's good to be part of something.
Next time you're in Detroit,
like we've got to catch a game.
I don't have to catch a game.
But if we just like went to the Lions games,
I'm actually liking Detroit.
I'm going back there in September.
So it's nice.
Is football going on in September?
Could you catch a game?
Could I catch a game?
Well, I was gonna catch one.
Pre-season right now.
Let's see.
So number fourth.
Will they be in town when you're there?
Let's see.
Detroit Lions schedule 2025.
Here we go.
Hold on.
Let's just invest in this.
We're all here.
Everyone just take a beat.
No.
Because I have a game.
I have a game.
They have a game.
We have a game.
We have a game.
September, I'll be there the 21st
through like the 23rd
and they're playing the 28th
and I'm not gonna stick around.
No, no, no, no.
But C. Cal, this is also
when it back to the birthday
and like Christmas gift things too.
It's like you just decided
to become a Detroit Lions fan.
So now it's like someone
can get you like a Detroit Lions hat.
You know, I'm just a girl with hobbies.
I'm so interested in that.
It's not even a hobby.
It's just like interest.
It's just like, let me just make this my interest.
Like I'm really inspired by you for that.
Thank you, Elizabeth,
because it's just like all coming up
like Potato Sal, Detroit's Lions,
Mackenzie Child, like Hosting's the Mostine.
Waits like into gardening or something.
I know.
That's gonna be crazy.
It's gonna be really crazy.
So I'm really inspired by you.
Elizabeth, that's so kind.
Everyone find your thing to talk about.
And it can be quite literally anything.
Just making your personality.
And I do think people,
like I like hearing those kinds of things.
Yeah, I do too.
And I think that's why sometimes people
like to listen to our podcast
because we're just talking about things.
Things and stuff.
It's just things and stuff.
And it's just like those conversations.
Like one of my favorite memes ever
is like, how you know you had a good girl's night.
And it's like, Hey, here's that recipe
to the same when I was telling you about.
Totally.
Like that's my, those are my friends.
That's what I'm up to.
Yeah.
And I think that's fun.
I think it's fun.
I like listening about it.
So, oh, we have it to drive.
There is it just Potato Salad.
Oh, no, let's come up with one.
Have I talked about it?
Go ahead.
Have I talked about my Crunchwrap Supremes?
I feel like I have.
See, that sounds like a lot,
a big thing for me to tackle.
This is how let me tell you.
I don't know if I could tell.
It's so easy.
Liz, you say that.
No, it is.
If I can do it.
First of all, if I can do something
and I know people say that,
oh, if I can do it, anyone can do it.
If I can do it, anyone can do it.
Anyone.
So you could do with your eyes closed
and one hand tied behind your back.
No, the folding you would need two hands for.
But it's very easy.
Okay.
Charlotte posted a reel.
I feel like I already made this
as a ditch to the drive through.
I think you did, too.
I'm making them for dinner tonight.
I'll try that.
Well, you know what?
I'm making for dinner tonight,
which is just kind of adjacent.
And this is one we've shared before, too.
But so we had ribs and Tyler's mom
made some pulled pork.
But we had a lot of leftover pork
because I got way too many ribs.
And like, why did I ask her to bring pulled pork
when I was bringing ribs?
Because then it was double pork.
But mom said that was good
to eat just like a lot of pork instead of like,
I don't know, the verdicts out on how that went.
Well, if you're going to ask someone to bring meat,
the meat to ask them to bring is pork.
It's the easiest thing to make.
And barbecue pork.
I don't know.
I got to get the recipe to what this woman did do it.
She brings in two crock pots
and she pulls oranges out of them.
They have a little like teriyaki zing doing,
but not in a way where you also
can't make them barbecue-y.
They were good.
So what am I going to make
with my leftover pulled pork tonight?
You're going to make nachos.
I'm going to make pulled pork nachos.
Yeah.
So good.
The best.
They're just incredible.
Incredible.
And I'm so excited.
Running through your toppings,
your ideal topping scenario.
Totally.
So first of all, you get a sheet pan.
I, the kids, I'm just going to like a la carte there
is like just give them some chips,
some cheese and some, I don't know.
Well, they're going to just kind of scavenge.
Now, are you doing shredded cheese
or are you eating queso?
I don't have queso,
so I'm just going to do shredded cheese.
But in a perfect world, I would do queso.
Maybe, I'm not the biggest queso person.
But from Tyler and I, I'm going to do it upright.
Like I'm going to treat this like,
like a borderline date night.
Like we're going to have fun with it.
Turn on Shark Boy and Lavagirl
and we're going to sit down and eat this.
Except not, because I'm going to probably bring these
to watch Shark Boy and Lavagirl.
Sheet pan, chips, pork, cheese,
shredded cheese in the oven or barbecue sauce
in the oven it goes.
Sweet baby rays.
It's got to be baby.
It's got to be baby rice.
It's got to be baby rice.
I screwed this up.
I thought I was getting like a nicer like Kansas City.
I'm going to do like an artisanal one.
No, no, that's not the recipe.
That's not everything else about this recipe
is do you, honey, boo,
Ms. Sweet Baby Races, a mandatory.
And then you're going to pull it out
and then you're going to do the sour cream, the salsa,
cut an avocado.
I like jalapenos.
So I'm going to put jalapenos on mine
and that's probably all.
Do you say onions?
I don't think I'm going to chop an onion for this.
I sometimes like to chop an onion.
I sometimes like to do cilantro, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't think it's worth me chopping an onion for.
I just, I try to avoid that in any recipe that I can, but.
Maybe.
Okay. Well, guys, that's going to be our episode.
So thank you so much.
Hope you could keep up with it.
Because we were all over the place.
We had a lot to say, a lot to dump.
It was just a dump.
Happy back to school.
And thank you so much for listening to The Carpal Podcast.
We will talk to you next time.
See you.
Thank you for listening to The Carpal 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.
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