Q & A - FIRST CARS, FAMILY BONDS AND THE FORD EXPLORER

Welcome to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

And then I drove a 2003 F-250 Powerstroke diesel,

and we named him Pony Boy.

And Liz.

I really feel like I cannot relate to it at all.

Unless we were going through this together,

you saying bone broth and lemon is such a sweet treat.

Have you tried sour punch straws?

I just cannot.

Your mom time off starts now.

Welcome back to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

And Liz.

Happy Friday.

What are you guys doing this weekend?

Are you talking to me or to our listeners?

To you.

We have our dinner auction.

Oh, first one of the season.

First one of the season.

So it's so fun.

Like me and all my sister-in-laws,

like all of our schools have dinner auctions.

Well, one of them, it doesn't have kids in school yet.

But we go to three.

And it's very much a game of like four weddings.

You know, because it's like, oh, they did a good job with this.

This, this, this one did good.

Like, oh, that item went for so much money.

Like we have, I have fun with that.

I don't know if anyone else does.

So my school's interaction is kind of insane though.

Like the decorating committee goes so hard.

I mean, I mean so hard.

And we just have it at our school's gym and they transform it.

So this year's theme is Clue, which I know it's kind of a fun theme.

It's unique.

Some people like will dress in theme.

Some people, I'm going for like theme inspired.

Like I think I might wear what I wore to that Merrick anthropology launch party.

Like the burgundy pants, like the green and burgundy velvet top,

just kind of like moody.

Clue, but not like emerald or a jewel tones.

Jewel tones.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm not going to dress as like Miss Scarlett with, I mean, I don't know.

I don't know.

I think like you could throw in like a neck scarf or something.

Sure.

I might.

I don't know.

I'm really, really excited though.

It's like a wild, I mean, it's a wild time.

Like it's just so, it's like all the parents getting together and like without the kids,

you know, so fun.

And like, I, I, I, I love a dinner auction.

Like get me in front of a silent auction.

Get me from the live auction.

I love a silent auction.

I'm going to be deadly because I'm telling you, no one will come between me and the

first row at the kindergarten concert tickets.

And I mean, no one.

Okay.

Do you have a limit in your mind of what you are?

Absolutely not.

The limit is that I will win because I don't like, like, you know,

I'm going to make a donation to the school regardless.

I don't need stuff.

Like I'm actually, we talked about this in the last episode.

I'm not trying to bring more things into my home.

Okay.

I'm trying to work on my experiences.

And my experiences would be, I would like first row seats to the kindergarten concert

because next year Hattie will be in kindergarten and I was in the back with Jordan.

I'm not happy about it.

Okay.

Actually, I mean, you've got four kids.

Like it's hard for you to get anywhere on time.

I actually love that for you.

Yeah.

No, I'm like really excited about it.

I think that's like a great hack.

Like save your donation for the auction when you can get like the premier parking or the

premier seating.

Yeah.

Like, I mean, I just don't need, and nothing is a deal at my school's interaction.

Like sometimes you go to one and like, you know, people aren't bidding.

So like sometimes you can get like, you know, at least of the ones I go to, like you can

get a Jimmy John's gift card for $25 that was really for 30 because like it's not even

that value.

That's not the case in my school's interaction.

Like everything goes for far more than what it's worth.

Yeah.

So all to say is I want that.

So that's what I had my heart set on.

Okay.

And the hardest part of the whole auction is going to be, I did volunteer to work the

dessert table.

Oh.

So the way that our dinner auction works is the caterer.

It's like dinner's provided with your ticket price, but the dessert is not provided.

And instead, all the church ladies and all the moms of the parish make a dessert and

then bring it on the table.

So like you have to pay for the dessert.

But like they are, I mean, and then, you know, they go for a lot, but like then you get

like an entire cheesecake that's homemade, like so good.

Yeah.

What do they go for?

Like what's a lot?

Like is it $100?

Is it $60?

So it depends.

So like at our schools, it's like things are just on a table.

So like, you know, it'll be like 25, 30.

It'll go up to probably 50.

Okay.

So that's just like you come up, you grab what you want.

But at my sister-in-law's dinner auction, theirs is a dessert auction.

So like it's a silent auction for the dessert.

So that gets wild.

And like my mother-in-law will bring like her carrot cake.

Like I've seen it go for like $300 before.

No way.

Like it is insane.

And like, oh, there's just going to be the best feeling in the world for Barb too.

Oh my God.

Like literally, I know.

I know.

So.

You guys imagine this, like I know we said this before, we're like Kelly's wedding.

Kelly did not have the vanilla with the lemon curd.

She did not have the chocolate with the raspberry.

Kelly and Tyler had like a cake they cut, like a decorative cake essentially.

And then it was like Barb's carrot cake was served.

And another, another cake, but I don't remember the carrot cake.

It's the best carrot cake in the world.

Yeah.

And I need to find the recipe because she's not, she's not one to not give the recipe.

The problem is her recipe is not comprehensive.

And she was like, just call me.

Or like, you know, it's kind of like a how it looks.

Not what, what the card says.

What's the vibes are, what, where the vibes are at.

Which I can respect because that's very much how my recipes are too.

I'm just, I'm not a baker.

So it's a lot harder for me.

But all's to say is I will not be participating in the consumption of the dessert,

but I do think I will enjoy just like the visual stimulation of looking at the desserts.

Like I think it'll be fun to interact with them in a way that doesn't mean consuming them.

Well, and you'll be working.

Like you're.

And I'm working.

You're serving.

No.

And like I'm everyone's worst nightmare.

Like I'm going to be like, really?

You like, I'm going to get, I'm going to get some people to bid up.

You know what I mean?

So you are a sales, you are a saleswoman to your core.

Do you remember this is like just speaking of dinner auctions.

I like vaguely remember that you might not have even actually been there because it was

in high school and I was working our high school's dinner auction and dad had agreed.

Now he had agreed to match people's donations in like a certain range.

So it was like anywhere from this amount to this amount, he will, he'll match their donations.

It was like a fund a need.

It was like the fund a need one.

So you literally are just like giving cash and I don't.

So let's say he was like, okay, anyone who does 500 to a thousand, like I will match what

they, what they do.

That's what he had agreed to.

So they're doing it.

They're getting donations, whatever.

He's like, he's, he said he's going to match it.

And then the auctioneers like literally the president of our school at the time or something

like that was like, okay, well now we're going to do, we're going to open up to this amount.

Craig, will you match that one too?

And like he had not agreed to that, but what is he going to say?

No.

So like, he's never heard this story.

It was so uncomfortable because it was like, it was already a lot like thousands of dollars

that he was matching on top of like, he bought some of the dinner auction, like he donated

to our school a lot and they literally like put him on the spot and was like, well now

do you want to match all these donations?

And so he's like, yeah, it was so awkward.

That is so awkward.

Now you have to know when not to push.

I'm a pusher, but I'm a pusher with self-awareness.

Well, and like you're pushing one person.

Right.

No, I'll push one person.

Like, for example, like at one of them, you know, if me and my brother-in-law are bidding,

like I'm going to let him win, but I'm going to push him.

Yeah, but don't push the person who's already matched.

100%.

That is not good.

You weren't there because I was working because it was my senior year and they were probably like,

we got to get this name for all he's worth because we're graduating.

They didn't know Sydney was coming through next.

Oh, that's awkward.

It was so awkward.

Okay.

Well, anyway, we've got like such a busy day.

It's the time of this recording is Ash Wednesday.

We're Ash.

I see that you got just like the thumbprint.

No, I'm like looking at myself in the monitor.

It almost looks like an eyeball.

I feel like I'm giving Cyclops right now and it's like really hard to look at myself in

the monitor right now.

It is really hard.

Mine is just like, mine's like wispy.

Mine's already coming off.

I will be removing mine for our filming today because it's like, it's not, it's not like

there enough.

Like it does just, mine does just look like dirt on my head.

Yeah.

You know, it was always the biggest flex in Catholic Great School to get like a perfect

cross.

I know.

And like they were, they're few and far between and like, I've never been an Ash just

Spencer before.

Like I cannot imagine it's that hard to just like give everyone a good cross.

Like I, I actually feel like you have to like go out of your way to like give people a bad

cross.

What I wonder if they do, you got to keep it interesting.

What does that say?

You know, what does it say about me?

Well, I'm on day three of my sugar fast as the rest as any.

So one of the reasons why I decided, like I said last episode to start two days early

is so that I can be more aligned with you when you're hearing this because I'm a woman

of the people and I want to support you.

So we are on day three and the cravings hit me really, really hard last night.

Like I literally just had to go to bed because like I wanted sugar so badly.

But here are the things that have been like really helping me.

I've like got two things that I would be sad without right now.

And the first is, is, is bone broth.

Like what do you know about bone broth?

Bone broth, beef from beef bone broth with lime chicken bone broth with lemon.

That is an incredible treat.

That has satiated me more than I can even begin to describe.

Like I'll make the whole carton.

First of all, it's like 19 grams of protein.

I can sip because like I think the problem with this is I'm just not finding myself.

I'm looking for food to take longer to consume because like I'm not snacking as much.

It's really delicious.

So I would not be here without bone broth.

Now, unfortunately today is Ash Wednesday and I'm not allowed to eat meat.

So that's really because I'm not going to do a vegetable broth.

That's insane.

So today is going to be a really tough day for me.

Like really tough bone broth.

Do you think counts as meat?

That's an excellent question.

I would say it counts as meat.

Do you not think it does?

I don't know.

I wouldn't, I wouldn't have like clocked that as like, oh, you're having meat.

Hmm.

Because it's a broth.

Sure, but I don't know.

We'll have to come back to that.

I think it's probably a no go.

And it's fine because today I'm prepped to avoid.

But anyway, that's been amazing.

And then my second thing, which is actually going to be like my base model luxury of the day is the true lime lemon orange grapefruit packets.

Now I, we used to be one of our first episodes of the Carpal podcast ever.

Oh, yeah.

We did a taste test of these true lime packets.

So like they look like a, it's like a stevia packet, like a little sugar packet, but it's just crystallized fruit.

There's no added sugar.

There's no nothing in it.

It's a little crystallized fruit.

They are so incredible to keep in your purse.

Like I always keep them in my car and I used to like add lemon to my, like add a true lemon to my Diet Coke.

Like so good.

Or like I'll always keep the lime ones in my purse when I'm going out to like a dinner auction.

Because one thing about dinner auction, like, I'm sorry, if it's in the gymnasium, like I can tell you right now, the limes are going to be dry.

Like it's just not, you know what I mean?

So I would always bring those to like add to my cocktails.

But now that I'm not doing artificial sugar, which, which is an update from my, from last episode, I decided to cut artificial sugar.

Those are really getting me through.

Okay.

Like a little true lemon in my water.

Like, of course you could just bring a thing, a lemon, but that's just not always, it's, it's, it's a convenience thing.

And it's an on the go thing, you know?

I really feel like I cannot relate to it all.

Like unless we were going through this together, like I like you saying like bone broth and lemon is like such a sweet treat.

Like have you tried sour punch straws?

Like I just cannot.

We are so.

I like, I just, I don't relate to you at all.

And I want you so bad.

I'm like, I want to like be here for your journey.

But like, I just don't understand.

Yeah, I get it.

I get it.

But I think I have seen a lot of people who are excited to join you.

And in a different world, I would be so excited to join you.

But maybe you will just have to do it again with me when I'm ready to try.

I don't think, I think I will eat low sugar the rest of my life.

Now, like I know I'm only day three in, but like I'm telling you, I cannot believe how much added sugar I was eating in a day without even having a sweet treat or like we're not even trying.

No, that's what's crazy.

Like it's just been really eye opening to be like, okay, for breakfast, like I would have like, you know, finished the kids.

I would have had like a big thing of orange juice and like I would have finished like one of the kids waffles and then like, I would have like gone to the doctor's office and like ate a Jolly Rancher and then I would like it's just like it all adds up.

And when I'm just like more aware that I'm not having like little bits of sugar throughout the day.

Right now I'm feeling really good.

Like people say day three is the worst as of this morning.

I feel really energized.

I already feel like less bloated and less coffee.

Um, but I do think I'll probably crash again this evening.

Okay.

I mean, last night was so rough.

I literally had to eat, which again, I'm keeping fruit for the first two weeks and then I'm going to reevaluate like the higher sugar fruit.

But last night I had to eat, I ate a banana and I dip it in cinnamon and I ate it.

Yeah.

And it was unbelievable.

This is the best thing I've ever had.

I'm really excited to hear your thoughts after after at all.

Yeah, me too.

Um,

Because you've never, you've never like obviously you've never been addicted to anything like hard, like the hard addictions.

But like this is an addiction.

So in your body does have to go through a withdrawal.

Like this is the closest thing you will get to finding out what that feels like.

And that's like very eye opening.

And what I really loving about a detox versus like a, and I'm doing air quotes here, a diet.

Is a detox does encourage you to like kind of go to the extreme because like you're trying to get it out of your system so you can get the benefits.

And I'm also again doing this to prove to God that I love him more than sugar.

Like there's just, there's so many reasons why I think this is going to be successful for me.

Um, because you know, in the past when I've tried to like be, you know, restrictive or mindful or whatever, it's been like, okay, well, if I cheat a little bit here, like that's okay because I'll do this and I'll do that.

But like, and then the cheating, like the, the cheating on it or the, you know, bites, little bites and tastes here, just snowball into like getting off track.

And I feel like when you're just detoxing, you're like, no, I can't even like finish that orange juice or like, no, I can't have that Gatorade or like, no, I can't have that Jolly Rancher because like I'm detoxing from sugar.

A detox is also, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Like there is a time where you will be done with it and a diet is like, when is this going to be like never it will be done.

Like a detox has very clear hard and fast rules.

Yes, but you know, it's interesting that acts of sourdough, like she went out to do, she's on Instagram and I found her 40 day sugar fast.

She read the same book and she's on day 47 and like she's like not quitting anytime soon.

Like she's just enjoying it.

So I don't think I will be this the way the rest of them.

Again, I'm also day three, like let's talk in a little bit, but I'm just saying like it's been a really eye opening experience for me so far.

And I've just never done like a health journey like this.

And I also can't believe I never thought to do like a health journey with God.

You know what I mean?

Cause like, no, like one thing I mean is like I'm a very like weak person.

Like of course I can't do it on my own.

I can't do anything on my own.

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Newly subscription clothing, Rachel, change your clothes.

Um, how is the decluttering going?

Did you forget?

It's actually great.

I like actually hate it when I pull a low number just right now because there's like so much I could get rid of.

But what has been really nice is I also ended up writing down 40 places in my home that could use decluttering and some of them are big and some of them are small.

Um, but the other day I was, um, like, well, I was kind of like locked in my bedroom because my kids were like getting dressed with their nanny and like they can't see me at a certain time of day.

Otherwise just whatever.

I was locked in my room and I was like, you know what, I know my nightstand is on my list of things that could use decluttering took me four minutes.

Decluttered my nightstand and now it's organized.

When I open my nightstand, I get a dopamine hit.

Uh, isn't that exciting.

So it's really, it's really exciting to write all the places down and like I wrote my dresser, but I broke my dresser up into two parts.

Side one, side two, because it's too much for me to try and sit down and do like my entire dresser.

Like when am I going to do that?

But I might have time to do like one side.

And I'm loving it.

I've already gotten rid of an entire, uh, an entire trash bag of things.

Um, and it just, it feels, it feels good.

I am, I'm really enjoying it.

But I also had a base model luxury kind of along with the things that we're giving up, which is the screen, which is the doom scrolling.

Um, we've talked with this before, but the New York Times puzzles.

Totally. This is a great base model luxury.

This is what I have been doing when, you know, maybe I'm rocking a kid, maybe I'm sitting with them while they've got their screen time going on.

Um, instead of doom scrolling on my phone, I'm like, let me do the New York Times puzzles.

They have an app.

It's free.

Oh, I didn't know they're up to an app now.

That's good to hear.

Yeah, they're up to an app.

Um, and there's like, I like to do the mini crossword.

I like to do the spelling bee.

I like to do connections and I like to do wordle.

It's good for your brain.

Again, I can just feel myself getting dumber with chat.

And I like need to work my brain.

You need mom.

Mom is always exercising her brain.

Yeah.

Like she's very disciplined about that.

It is.

Is it a muscle?

I would say your brain's a muscle.

Unsure.

But yeah, you need to be working it for sure.

Yeah.

Um, connections is the worst game though.

I've refused that game.

Oh, I love it.

I mean, sometimes it pisses me off because I'm like,

I don't know the world what I have gotten.

Every day, it pisses me off every day.

Hmm.

I, that's like one of my favorite ones.

No, I, I can understand wordle.

I find connections to be infuriating.

Oh, yeah.

It's sometimes they're like, wow, what a stretch, but.

Yeah.

So like basically between the new apps on our phones are

New York times, doolingo and Pinterest.

Have you been scrolling on Pinterest yet?

I did that the other day, but yeah, I'm with you.

It's like, I need the, I need the photos and not be so small.

Like I need them to be bigger, like a feed.

Oh, that's so interesting.

I wonder if there's a setting.

I can adjust.

There's a setting because they should do that.

Like it's just, it's too much to try and look at.

And you're right.

They're beautiful photos, but I want to see them more up close.

They're beautiful and I'm so inspired.

And I just feel like I'm not seeing that same content on

Instagram anymore.

Yeah.

Like why am I not seeing this refund Instagram?

Why am I not seeing this?

I'm telling you, I'm not seeing this stuff.

Instagram used to be a lot more about aesthetics and now it's a

lot more casual.

So I would say that's why.

Um, but Pinterest, if you only, only beautiful things will,

will be, will be shared.

Yeah.

It's just like such a good app.

Like I've just really enjoyed it.

Yeah.

Really enjoyed it.

Um, all right.

So anyway, I believe today we are doing a little Q and A.

Yes.

I, we did a little Q and A owner Instagram to see what everyone's,

anyone has a burning question.

We just like loved answering your question about like, we didn't

love, well, I mean, whatever we were unfazed by it.

Like people are just curious about like the finances.

Yeah.

And stuff like, which is interesting.

It's fun to pull back the curtain.

Um, and I'm like such a curious person too.

So I totally get it.

Well, here's a pullback, the curtain kind of what inspired you guys

to start a podcast?

So I've always loved podcasts.

Yeah.

Like I'm not like a music person and we've always been like really

mindful of like making sure like we are diverse as possible

because we always have just lived our lives.

Like, okay, like, you know, this is fun.

Like we're successful now.

Like we're making good income now, but like it could all go up in

flames tomorrow.

Like what if Instagram, Instagram gets deleted tomorrow?

Like we'll just have nothing.

So we've always prioritized diversity.

That's why we're on YouTube.

We have a lot of investment in the website.

Um, we like love the Facebook group and then the podcast.

So it was kind of like my driving factor.

And we wanted to bring Liz on in a less behind the scenes way and

a more like a in front of the camera kind of way.

Yeah.

I know it's funny.

Like when you started when we would do like Instagram lives and

like people would love it when I would come on the live and they

just like liked our banter.

So we, yeah, just had to do a podcast.

Um, how to facilitate good sibling bonds.

Your family seems so close and it's a goal for mine.

I have thought about this and we've talked, we've mentioned this

before in the podcast is this question comes up a lot.

I honestly think, well, first of all, our parents always told us

that family, you know, how important family is and you'll always be

close and you'll always make up and to have a world where you

like don't speak to one of your siblings.

That's just not the world we live in.

So they always said that.

Um, but I really think to facilitate the bonds is like to step away

and to let them get like our, my mom, we, they had five kids.

Like my mom could not spend a lot of quality time with all of us.

That meant Kelly and I were hanging out a lot.

That meant that Kelly and I were babysitting Sydney and Grayson a lot

or we were with Craig a lot.

Like we were just, and I, and they traveled a lot.

Like my dad, our dad really stretched our mom.

Like she did not like to leave as we all know,

like how much it sucks to leave when you have kids,

but my dad like really stretched her to leave and go on vacation

and they would do date night once a week and you know, thank goodness.

Now they have like a wonderful relationship, but that meant we were

alone with each other.

Like we only had, we didn't only have each other.

Like our parents were very present, but like you kind of have to like

step away and like let them play and let them figure it out

and let them build their own relationship.

Cause if you want your children to be close,

that means that like you're not a part of it.

Like that's their relationship.

I think another thing that our parents did really well,

and this is really going to rub some people the wrong way and that's fine.

You don't have to send it yourself in this,

but we had something called family season and family season meant

no one was allowed to play a spring sport.

Yeah.

Because spring and summer sports,

because like we wanted to do things as a family.

We wanted to go to the lake.

We wanted to go to the farm.

We wanted to go on trips.

We wanted to just like be together.

And my dad just like didn't want to live in a world where like,

you know, in the spring and summer,

like mom had to take two kids to a softball game and like Craig had

baseball games and like we weren't together.

So like we were allowed to play fall and winter sports.

We were not allowed to play summer sports.

And I love that.

Yeah.

And like I'm not like,

and I get like some of you are like, well, my kid loves baseball.

It's like, okay, well then fine.

Maybe you don't play fall sports.

Maybe you guys don't play winter sports.

Like I also don't think you need to have your kids in sports.

Three hundred, three, five days a year.

I think it's important to pick a season.

That's family time.

I mean, I really think like we just spent a lot of time together

as a family.

And I think some families don't do that.

Some families don't spend all their weekends together.

But like during the spring and summer we did.

Yeah.

None of us played.

First of all, our dad played football at Mizzou.

Like our dad was an incredible athlete.

So you would think that like the athletic genes could have been carried on.

Like if anyone was like, maybe my kids will get an athletic scholarship.

You know, maybe it could have been the D1 football player.

Being healthy, being fit was always a big priority.

The only one of our siblings who ended up being a D1 athlete

or got any sort of athletic scholarship was Sydney.

And she picked up rowing her sophomore year of high school.

So it's also just like,

I know that's not why I know a lot of people do it for the social reasons.

And we know we're so cute.

Like we're not in sports.

Like people are saying just do you wait girls and maybe just us wait.

Cause I don't know how it's going to be when James is like,

but my best friend is playing these sports and I got to do it.

You know, I don't know how I'm going to react to that.

But going into it with the best intentions,

I agree with you.

Like I would like to not have sports be such a big deal.

And sports have really liked cause I've had a lot of conversations with older

parents and older kids.

And the problem with sports now is they've gotten too competitive.

It used to be you could maybe play a little bit in grade school

and then you could make the high school team.

Now it's like, if you even want to dream of making the high school team,

like you better be in like select sports for,

by the time you're in the fourth grade up,

like the sports I'm telling you have gotten out of control.

Is that true?

They don't think they'll make a high school team if they don't do select?

Well, I mean, Liz, the problem is now everyone's doing select.

So like it's just, it's so much more competitive.

It's starting so much sooner.

Like we dippled on our grade school teams and like, you know,

you had practice once a week, it was like a eight week season and then it was over.

Now it's like travel, travel, travel.

And like, I know there are benefits to sports.

I'm not diminishing those,

but there's also benefits to not always doing sports and to spending time with your family.

Yeah.

As a family.

So we, I mean, right now George plays football and basketball.

He's not playing baseball and I don't like soccer.

Yeah.

Now if my kids begged me to play soccer, fine, but like I'm not,

we're not doing, we're doing football right now.

We're doing football and basketball and I'm going with it.

And I really will,

I don't see a world where we pick up spring sports.

And my kids aren't, again, my kids aren't asking.

And again, it's not because I'm lazy.

It's not because I want to take them somewhere.

It's because I want to prioritize all four of my kids together.

Mm hmm.

Yeah.

So that, I mean, that, that is a hot.

And I know people are like going to take this the wrong way, but.

Well, it was, it was a question and that's, that's true.

And Craig did not play baseball.

We did not play softball.

We did not play select sports.

Um, yeah, that's that.

Okay.

Sports are just like, okay, I'm done.

I've shot about sports.

I never, there's another question.

I never hear you talk about the Ford Explorer.

What are your thoughts on it?

Oh, so like there's just like a group of cars in my opinion that are

just so mid.

And I don't mean that they're bad.

I just mean they're not amazing at anything.

So I think just by default, they don't get talked about a lot.

And the Ford Explorer falls in that category.

Like it's a great car.

I think it's fine.

It's not the biggest.

It's not the highest tech.

It's not the safest.

It's not the most car safe.

It's not the most fuel efficient.

Like what do you want me to say?

It's mid.

It's fine.

If you have two kids, great.

If you have three kids, great.

Other mid cars I would describe as like, I'd say the Ford Explorer,

the Mazda CX90, the Subaru Ascent.

Um, those are just kind of like the mid ones, you know?

Yeah.

I know they just don't get talked about.

Like the same thing with like the Nissan Armada.

Like I find that to be a mid car.

Like it's just not the best at anything.

Like I couldn't tell you one thing.

The Ford Explorer is the best at except for being a cop car.

Yeah.

And that doesn't mean it's a bad car.

No, no, it's just, you're also always working with like,

within very, uh, like serious constraints of like this many kids,

this car seats, whatever.

So there's just cars that do it.

But also that's a fair critique.

I should get in front of one more because I do like it.

And they redesigned it for 25 and we really,

or was it 24?

I don't know.

24 to 25.

We did like it.

We really, really liked it.

Got to refresh.

Yeah.

That's what I'm saying.

Like two kids.

Fine.

It's a great option.

Okay.

Here's another question.

Favorite hybrid mid-sized SUV for two kids?

Well, I would love to say the Ford Explorer,

but they took away the hybrid.

So there you go.

It used to be a hybrid and then they're like, no, not anymore.

Okay.

Um, I think.

I mean, there's not a ton of options still.

I think the Grand Highlander is an amazing for the Lexus TX.

I mean, Toyota has incredible hybrids.

I'm really, really proud of them.

I mean, the Prius has been around since the nineties.

Like they just do hybrids really, really well.

So I'd probably say that one.

And the Telluride is coming out on a hybrid.

And the Telluride and Palisade.

Palisade is a hybrid.

The Telluride is coming out.

And those cars also make good electric vehicles.

I mean, they've been, I mean, they haven't been around as long,

but they are good cars.

Okay.

Now this person just says kind of jumping off the hybrid thing.

What does hybrid car even mean?

I'm so embarrassed.

I really don't know.

LOL.

Don't be embarrassed.

It's like such a blanket term.

Yeah.

So this is, this is important that everyone needs to learn this.

So there's like, there's like two kind of three main types of hybrid.

Okay.

There's the plug-in.

So the plug-in, you plug it into the wall and it gets some pure electric range.

It's normally like 15 miles of pure electric range.

After the battery runs out, the engine takes over.

So like it's good people who have shorter commutes because some of you might drive,

you know, 10 miles a day.

You could do your entire commute on electric.

Like that's really cool.

And then there's what's called an active hybrid, which doesn't plug in,

but it has a small battery and an engine and they work together to create fuel efficiencies.

So that would be like the Toyota Sienna.

That thing gets 36 miles per gallon.

You don't plug it in.

It just automatically does it.

But the two types of like active hybrids, there's some that's for a fuel economy and there's

some that go for performance.

So like people love to say like the Sequoia is a hybrid, which is a hybrid, but it's

not a hybrid.

It's a hybrid to give you more power, not to give you better fuel economy.

So like it still gets like, you know, 16 miles per gallon, maybe 19, probably not.

Like it's not going to give you, it's not that, it's not a fuel efficient hybrid as much.

Okay.

So most, most of the time when people say hybrids, well, I shouldn't say that.

It's either a hybrid or it's a plug-in hybrid, a Hever or a Phev.

Hever or Phev, hopefully that clears things up.

What is Liz's car seat plan in a similar boat as her?

Well, we plan to set, I mean, I plan to settle it up as followed.

We're going to get her back in the key of carnival.

Okay.

We're going to put James in the third row forward facing because he'll be, you know,

three and a half by the time the baby comes and I'm comfortable with it.

And yes, that means we're not maxing out rear-facing weight limits,

but it's really, really hard to do through rear-facing car seats.

So I think it's fine to put him in the third row forward facing.

And then we're going to remove one of the side seats of the carnival.

And then the seat, the seat we removed, that's where James is going to be.

So he's going to have like so much leg room and just be like,

you'll be able to like kneel there to like buckle him.

And then we're going to have Sloan in the middle seat rear-facing.

And then we're going to have the baby on the other side in a baseless,

or we might flip Sloan in the baby depending on what I decide to do.

And we'll make a lot of content around that.

Yeah.

I currently have, I mean, we kind of have like a lot of car seats because we also

have car seats in Maddie's truck.

I like the idea of a baseless because then we can really easily just clip

the baby in if we ever take Maddie's truck.

Not that we will, but his truck can definitely do three across.

So that's, now the James of the third row, I wasn't, I didn't,

I didn't know that was your plan.

I thought I was going to do three across, but.

No, I don't think we will.

I think we'll have more fun doing something else.

Well, with the minivan, it's like I can just like freaking stand in there.

Literally.

Yeah, it's going to be fun.

Okay. What were your first cars?

Did you always drive dealer cars?

We've always driven dealer cars and mine was a Hyundai Santa Fe.

Mine was an Nissan cube rip.

They don't make them anymore.

Love that car.

Look it up.

It had like a little shag carpet on the front.

I love that.

So cute.

It was like such a little toaster car.

I was like so jealous.

Such a, like I loved it.

Yeah.

So fun.

And another car that I used to drive all the time all throughout college

because I had a parallel park was the Kia Soul.

Like all my favorites, all my OGs are gone.

I know.

So it's X Tara gone.

X Tara.

I drove the X Tara all the time in high school.

No, I know.

It's like so sad.

I got, I wouldn't like, I don't know if people know this about me,

but like I went as like a really weird truck phase.

Oh, I don't think people know this about you.

You did.

It's just crazy.

Okay.

So I was like, I was like, I was a horse girl.

And I liked country people, country boys.

I like one of the country boys.

I liked country music.

I like was riding horses.

Well, you know, we were spending a lot of time at the farm.

I was like, I need to find me a good old country boy.

It's like, I want to start driving a pickup truck because like I want to be,

I was like a 17 year old girl driving a pickup truck.

Like I thought I was so cool.

Yeah.

Now we had the dealer cars.

So like we would get new cars very 5,000 miles.

Well, I didn't want a new car.

I don't want a new car.

So I would stock the trade ins, the cars that were going to auction.

And my two favorite trucks that I had was I drove a 1993 F 150.

Didn't have air conditioning.

Marshall was his name.

Loved Marshall.

And then I drove a 2003 F 250 power stroke diesel.

And we named him pony boy.

Oh my gosh.

Oh, I forgot their names.

That just like,

Dad was like, what are you doing?

I'm like, Dad, please.

I would like convince him like I kind of needed it for like the horses.

Like didn't at all.

Like wasn't hauling the dang thing.

But I just loved driving these diesel trucks.

Like I couldn't get enough of it.

And I think I liked the,

really I'd probably just like the attention I got.

For sure.

Sorry.

I did.

I've come a long way.

I'm telling you.

And yeah.

And meanwhile I'm just like,

beep beep.

It might need my cube.

No.

So like also listen,

and listen, I work close in high school.

We were not nearly as close as we are now though.

But we were kind of living different lives.

Yeah.

No, we were totally not close at all in college.

We were close in high school, but.

No college really didn't talk.

No, it was like, didn't talk.

And then we were just kind of in like a fight for like four years.

Um, maybe.

And that's another good note that like your kids might,

might go through seasons,

but it always comes back because also like when Grayson was a

teenager, like actually didn't like her at all.

Like she was so mean to me.

And now I love her and we have a wonderful relationship.

Yeah, totally.

It's just going to happen.

It's going to happen.

Can I tell the arrow story?

No.

Okay.

No, you cannot.

I think you've told the story.

I probably have.

This is like so of that time of your life.

Okay.

Fine.

Tell it quickly and tell it in the least embarrassing way possible.

So Kelly was an excellent archer actually.

No, I actually, I'm telling you.

I'm just, I'm going to be layered.

I don't, I'm gassing you up.

Like she was, she was an excellent archer and she had this arrow that had broken.

So it was just like, there was no point on it,

but it had like little, the little tails, little flags on the end.

And since she was after a country boy in her truck,

she wrote her name and then her phone number.

And the idea was if she saw a cute country boy,

she would throw her arrow into the back of his truck.

Honestly, genius.

You got me one for my 16th birthday.

Shut up.

I did.

You made me one.

Yeah.

And then my driving instructor was like,

that's really dangerous.

You should not have that on your dash.

That's a projectile.

Come on Kelly.

I know.

And then when her and Tyler started dating,

it was like a very symbolic, symbolic ceremonial thing.

Cause her and Tyler started dating was like, what, 17, 18?

18.

She gave Tyler her arrow and they've been together ever since.

She never had to throw it in the back of a truck.

It's a love story.

Yeah.

I hate that story.

I was embarrassing.

I was just a girl with phases.

I didn't know at the time,

but I had micro hobbies even back then.

You've always had micro.

You're always thinking of the next thing you're going to do that.

Like it's going to be groundbreaking.

Get you some attention.

You're always,

that's good.

I was like a little boy crazy back in like my high school days.

Like I just, because I think the problem was like,

if you want to like,

sure, like let's just talk about my pubescent ears.

Like literally.

This is so embarrassing.

But like between like sixth, seventh and eighth grade or sixth

and seventh and eighth grade, I was awkward.

I was five, 10.

I weighed a hundred pounds.

I had braces.

Like I was not cute.

And then between eighth grade and freshman year,

I had a major glow up.

No, Kelly was hot.

Kelly was like really hot in high school.

Like I finally had my glow up.

And now I was like,

Oh, now,

because my whole life people would tell me,

Oh, you look like a model.

You're so lucky to be telling like a model.

And I'm like, no, I don't.

All the boys are five, four.

I'm towering over them.

Like it was so horrible.

And then finally I came into myself.

The boys got taller and then they liked my height.

And that's what happened.

And then Tyler scooped me up at 18.

And my new joke with Tyler is like,

you know,

whenever he complains about me,

I really like,

you've really had custody of me since I was 18 years old.

Like in a couple of years,

you are going to have been with me more than you have been without me.

Like any issues I have, you raised me.

You need to take a good long look in the mirror.

You can't blame Craig for everything.

Like that's what I'm saying.

We started dating at 18.

So what when I'm 36,

I'm 30 should all be the halfway point.

Like at what point do you take the responsibility?

So that's he hates that joke, which is why.

So I'm really diving in with it lately.

Yeah, for sure.

I think like since we have found our way to the arrow story,

it's time to stop the Q&A.

I totally agree.

I'm so scared of what else could be there.

And that's why because I'm going to like totally 180 this combo,

because I've got some industry news where I spilled a hot tea

going on in the auto industry.

Okay.

And they're actually ironically two stories from Ford,

which is like also funny because we were talking about the Ford Explorer lately.

And I think it's just kind of a sign that like Ford.

I'm a little worried.

I mean, this was such love like as like someone who loves Ford,

but I do worry they're,

I don't say they're in their flop era,

but they've just been on like a really high because like that Bronco came out

and like it changed the auto industry.

Like when that Bronco came out,

like the expedition redesign has been amazing.

And now things are starting to be like,

well, what's happening to the lightning?

Like what are you doing here?

Yeah.

And now they're just,

why did you take away the X of the Explorer hybrid?

And like now we're just kind of all over the place.

So it says this is a story from car and driver.

It says,

Ford's new 2028 electric truck will be fully,

will be a fully modern EV for $30,000.

Okay.

It says after a string of EVs adapted from other projects,

Detroit's largest automaker is finally started with a clean sheet of paper.

Ford's new electric truck coming in 2027 could be named the Ranchero,

which first of all is a horrible name.

Yeah.

I don't like that.

What's the,

what's most important is that it's Ford's first vehicle on its new dedicated EV platform.

So they're calling it a universal electric,

it's going to be the first product on the universal electric vehicle platform,

or the UEV,

but it's going to be a midsize electric pickup truck.

This will be the first ever modern ground up dedicated EV.

No one's seen this midsize pickup truck.

First sales will come out in 2027.

So to me, this is kind of giving like,

have you heard of Slate Auto?

We've like talked about them a little bit.

They're like the Amazon backed brand.

And it's just like super cheap electric cars.

Like there's nothing to it.

So I think they're kind of trying to do that.

I just don't know why they're going for like the mini truck of it all.

Like that just feels like an interesting approach.

So anyway, I just think it's more like,

I'm fine for an electric,

I'm fine for an affordable electric car.

It's just think like, it's like,

why are we always going for trucks?

It feels like the last one to hit.

And like a small truck.

Like, and like if the lighting wasn't as successful,

like why would we go smaller?

Not as good just to be at a lower price point.

Like I just still don't think you're going to get a lot of biters on that one.

Now would not be my pick.

Okay, but then here they are on this is an article from the drive.

And it says Detroit automakers want to bring back sedans.

Will they last this time?

The big three seem to all be coming around small cars again at the same time.

But will they commit or will this be another passing fad?

So, and then they go on to say like,

so the big three is Stellantis,

General Motors and Ford.

So Farley, Jim Farley, who's the CEO of Ford says the sedan market is very vibrant.

It's not that there isn't a market there.

It's just we couldn't find a way to be complete and profitable.

But then they're saying that they're going to start investigating the segment.

Chrysler says after almost a decade from removing the Chrysler 200,

their CEO teased a sub $30,000 small car that would be beautiful and fun to drive.

And we've got something from General Motors.

General Motors president said that he would kill to have a hybrid electric sedan

and that GM is working on how to do that.

So do you think because if you are like not up on the market,

like manufacturers have been removing sedans left and right.

Like they're just not making them anymore.

Like Ford used to have the Taurus, the Focus, the Fiesta.

I think they're literally not making any of them at the moment.

Like I think there's actually not a new one to be made.

Chrysler's not making theirs.

General Motors used to have like the Malibu, which maybe they're still making.

Honda has the Accord and the Civic,

but like it used to be like every manufacturer would have like three sedans.

And like now it's just like sedans are so soft.

Everyone's the SUVs, but now everyone's affordable cars.

So it's just kind of interesting.

Where do I land on sedans?

Sydney loves a sedan.

She does.

I land on, I don't know the difference between like a small SUV and a sedan.

To me, like they just do the same thing.

And I would prefer to sit up a little bit more.

Yeah.

I think that SUVs are easier to get in and out of like a sedan one.

And they totally work.

But like a sedan is hard for like loading kids in and as people age,

like it's hard for them to plop down there.

So like it is.

Yeah.

I mean, depending on your height.

But I'm just like Nissan or even like Nissan Juke versus like Nissan Altima.

Like I'd probably rather have, maybe I don't know.

I would probably rather have a small SUV.

I agree.

I think the Juke's a bad example because the Juke's a small car, but like.

Yeah.

The Juke's a bad example.

Kia Soul.

Like I would rather have a Kia Soul than.

Totally.

A Kia Optima.

They don't even make either one of those anymore.

I don't think, but.

No, they don't.

So just kind of interesting.

So that's your industry news.

Let's just kind of all think about sedan.

I'd love to know where you guys are at.

Like do you want to see more sedans?

I'd rather see a sedan than a small electric pickup truck.

I'll say that.

Yeah.

I agree.

I don't know.

I don't think it's really going to come across like our desk.

I don't know.

I am so ingrained in the family market that like I can't really.

I do get a lot of requests to do sedans.

But I don't know how many are like die hard sedan people or how many just think.

Or how many aren't not aware of all the great small compact SUVs on the market.

Or like, yeah.

Okay.

You know.

Yeah.

Um, okay.

Well, are you ready for a ditch to the drive through where we give you an easy dinner

recipe to mix it up to get you out of your dinner rut?

I sure am.

Liz.

Here's what I'm making tonight for really me and Maddie and Sloan.

And like, well, James will probably get a quesadilla tonight.

It's kind of one of those, but it's a Lenton one.

It is a no meat, uh, very easy recipe.

I got this from Trader Joe's five items or less actually.

And it's like one of my favorite ones.

I haven't talked about her in so long.

You get the frozen Argentinian Argentina shrimp from Trader Joe's.

Uh, doesn't have a tail, but it's like cooked.

So all you have to do is like thaw it and then like heat it up essentially.

You get the everything but the alote seasoning from Trader Joe's.

You get the corn salsa from Trader Joe's.

You get tortillas.

If you like any other, it's, it's shrimp tacos.

If you are catching my drift, if you like any other toppings, get those.

You're going to thaw out your shrimp, just run it under some water for like a

few minutes and then it's ready to go.

You're going to put some olive oil on the shrimp, cover it in the everything

but the alote seasoning, pop it on the stove for a few minutes until it is done.

And then throw it in the tortilla and top it with the corn salsa.

It is so unbelievably good.

It's one of those things.

This is always how Trader Joe's five items or less works.

Like you're like, okay, how good can this really be?

And you're like, oh my gosh, that's amazing.

Yeah, I've had this before.

It is unbelievable that alote seasoning is like a must get.

I put it on everything.

Like if we're making corn on the cob, I'm doing, I'm using the alote seasoning.

I used it the other day on something.

Oh, I was just making like pulled pork nachos and I just like,

I did some corn on the side of the corn.

It's so tasty.

And their corn salsa has like a really great flavor to it.

It's very sweet.

This is not a spicy taco recipe by any means.

So, you know, do what you want with that.

Excellent.

It's what I will be making.

Yeah, that sounds tasty.

We're skipping the fish fry tonight because it's always the first one of

lunch is like it's a zoo and I just, I'm not, I'm not partaking.

We are going.

I still haven't eaten fish yet.

So I think I'm just going to pass on that for now.

Yeah.

I'm just going to eat before.

I don't know.

I'm just still having a lot of food anxiety around fish at the moment.

So I'm just going to like choosing my own adventure.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

It's just like, I just like don't want to like test that like with four kids

at like a, in like a parish center.

You know what I mean?

And I just like didn't get around to like testing it in a safer area.

Yeah.

Okay.

So all is good.

All is good.

All right guys.

Well, that's our episode.

That is our episode.

So thank you so much for listening to the carpool podcast.

Have a great weekend and we'll talk to you next time.

See ya.

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.

Bye.

Q & A - FIRST CARS, FAMILY BONDS AND THE FORD EXPLORER

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