REVEALING THE TOP 4 FINALISTS FOR CAR OF THE YEAR

Welcome to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

You know, when I get that a marriage is like,

it's not 50%, it's both people giving 100.

But it is about who's right and who's wrong sometimes,

and he's wrong.

So I added it to the list,

and I like a little healthy friction.

It keeps things spicy.

And Liz.

I remember there was a time in my life,

how old was I?

I had to have been in like high school or college,

where like I considered getting a Victoria secret credit card.

Your mom time off starts now.

Welcome back to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

And Liz.

Hey everyone, happy Friday.

It feels good to be back into a routine.

Who's like loving a routine?

Yeah, yeah.

It was just like a little taste

of like what summer could bring.

Oh.

And I'm so unbelievably unprepared.

Yeah, OK, summer.

Yeah, I always forget that you have like school age kids

and that like throws a wrench into things.

Yeah, and like at some point

when you just have like the sheer number of children that I do

is like I could have three babysitters here

and I'm still going to get nothing done.

Like I just can't, my house can't take the wear and tear.

So you have to find places for the children to go

for everyone's sanity and sake.

Yeah.

I'm sorry, let's just like not that.

Let's focus on what we have when we have January,

which is going to just be a great month.

I, again, I'm not like doing a challenge.

Like I absolutely never, but this is my second day

in a row wearing a waistband with pants with buttons.

Uh-huh.

You know, for like no reason,

like I so didn't have to get dressed these past two days

but I chose to.

And so far I'm loving it.

You know, I hate to say it,

you get treated differently in public.

So I saw a reel and it says

that women who wear makeup make 30% more like money.

And it's not about being pretty.

It's not about being attractive.

It's about like having effort.

Being a person who like dresses up.

And so again, I'm on day two.

So like let me just level with you guys.

Like I'm not, I'm not asking anyone to join me in said challenge.

I'm not asking anyone.

I'm just sharing my challenge.

There's no challenge.

But I plan to get dressed tomorrow.

You know what I have found?

If you're not a jean person, like you're like,

I do think I could stand to expand out of like leggings

or yoga pants, like dress pants, like slacks.

Like I get them from Amazon or not Amazon, Abercrombie.

Yeah.

I'm wearing them right now because I had,

I wanted to look nice today.

I'll get into what I went to go do.

But I was like, oh, I don't want to wear jeans.

And so I just like threw these like black slacks

on with a sweater.

And I'm telling you, I go into the coffee shop,

people are treating me differently.

I've been treated differently today, for sure.

Yeah.

And I've treated myself differently, most importantly.

Yeah.

Anyway, so something I'm doing, because last time

on the podcast, I talked about how like I'm not

rotating my clothes anymore because I just haven't been.

And I like, for some reason, I've never

thought to live in a world where I can just

take clothes out of my closet but not get rid of them yet.

You know, like it just, I've been living

in a world of definites in terms of my clothing.

It's either like, keep it or get rid of it.

Keep it or get rid of it.

And I said, I'm just going to like,

as I'm getting dressed every day, if I try something on

and I'm like, oh, I don't want to wear this,

I'm putting it in a bin.

OK.

So I brought a bin up from my storage room.

It's just on the floor in my closet.

Like this is not here for aesthetics.

And my plan is just to kind of make like a purgatory, you know?

So I'm not even taking out the summer stuff

because like they have a spot.

But like I put on these pair of jeans

and I'm like, I don't like these jeans.

I like, I don't want to wear these today.

And I'm going in my head being like,

well, what if I get invited to a Hawaiian themed party

and these are the jeans that work with the shirt?

Like I'm doing like that game that we do with ourselves.

So I put them in the bin.

And my plan is what I'm doing is I go in my closet every day

and I'm going through all of my pants

because to me, I think my pants are the bigger issue

because the top is a top. Of course.

I'm so exhausted with the pants and the hems

and the waists and the shades and the rip.

Like there's so much variety in my pants.

And I find it exhausting.

So I am going through my jeans.

So yesterday I put on a pair of light washed,

made well jeans, forgot about them, haven't touched them.

I put them on, they button.

So it was already a good day.

And I was like, these are the jeans I'm styling today.

So that's what I did.

Today I'm wearing these like little wider leger,

little genies.

These are the ones I styled today.

Look, I have a loafer.

Oh wow.

I might throw on a heel.

Take it day tonight.

You could at this rate.

So tomorrow, I don't know what the next pair of jeans

will hold.

Is it a skinny?

Is it a flare?

Is it a ripped?

It doesn't matter.

That's the one I'm styling.

You know, I think that's wonderful.

And I love that.

And I think we could all maybe just stand to try our pants on.

I said in the last podcast how I wanted to make a video

about me going through my pre-baby clothes

that I saved three years ago at this point.

I found the box in my basement

because I was looking for something.

And I just like pulled out the first thing

that was sitting on top.

Size six faux leather express pants.

And I was like, these are worth holding on to.

And I can already tell you, like they're so dingy.

Express like, does Express even sell clothes anymore?

Like I cannot wait.

This is gonna be such good content.

I cannot wait to go through this box of clothes

that I was like, I gotta keep this stuff.

And at this point, you need to keep them another 10 years

because like it's just gonna get,

like we can do the real,

but let's not get rid of anything.

I wanna show these to our girls one day.

I'll just show them the real.

You say that you are such a throwaway.

Kelly, after I had James,

Kelly was like, I don't know why this was helpful.

She goes, I'm gonna come to your closet

and you're gonna try everything on

and we're gonna throw half your closet away.

Which is like such a crazy.

Donate.

Okay.

Get out of my life.

Which is just a crazy thing to do,

tell anyone to do when they're postpartum.

Anyway, we did it.

And I gave a lot of the clothes away to my sister-in-laws.

And now like they'll show up to a family event

in my old blue sweater.

And I'm like, well, I wish I would have kept

that stupid blue sweater because it's really cute.

Kelly told me to get rid of it

because like, oh, it didn't look good on me

too much postpartum.

Okay.

I don't remember doing that.

I'm not denying it.

You don't remember.

You sat in my bedroom

and made me try on every piece of clothing I wore.

Two months.

And I do think there was a level that is helpful

because it's also toxic to be postpartum

and look at all the clothes that don't fit you.

That's also, my intentions are pure.

It's just interesting to see

because I think you were really hasty then

and now you're like this weird like,

hey, let's not get rid of the faux leather express pants.

No, I'm sorry.

I take that back.

Let me stay consistent.

I take that back.

I get rid of it.

Can't even believe you kept it this long.

Anyway, speaking of things,

we thought on today's episode,

we have a lot coming at you.

We are going to be doing our last three transactions.

We are going to be doing industry news,

ditch the drive-through, general banters,

and I think that's kind of what's on the docket.

You know, it's Friday,

so we're not like trying to do too much,

but we're also trying to do enough.

Mm-hmm.

Totally.

So anyway, that's what I'm up to, close purgatory.

I plan to get dressed tomorrow.

And it's like my sister-in-law once told me,

you make better food decisions in jeans.

So if for nothing else,

you know, we're all on our New Year's diet.

And I double,

I just think differently

at a restaurant in a pair of jeans

and in a pair of leggings is all I'll say.

Yeah.

Just in like an awareness kind of way.

Like it's kind of like when people used to like tie a string

on their finger to remember something.

What?

Have you ever heard that?

No.

That's like an olden days thing.

They used to like tie string on their fingers.

They would remember to do something.

That's a good idea.

Yeah.

So I'm saying like that's me wearing jeans.

Okay.

It's like, just remember,

summer's coming.

Now that's so interesting.

I've never heard that.

Something that I did today was I went to a preschool tour,

which is like crazy to think that I'm even at the age

that I could have a kid in preschool.

And here's the thing.

Some people might be like, it's a little early.

He's two and a half.

Like enrollment is open and like there's wait lists

and all this stuff.

And like I've never done it.

So I went through the school.

I did cry when I was there because like I can.

I saw like boys playing like to get like the girls were

sitting in a corner playing together.

The boys were playing together.

I just can't believe I almost have a preschool aged kid.

And they were talking a lot about how they have to be

like ready for kindergarten.

And that's why we go to preschool is to cause this school

is like, you have to qualify to get into kindergarten.

And like these are the things you have to be able to do.

And I'm like, I felt, you know, when you become a mom

for the first time and you're like, who allowed me to like

take care of this thing?

Like who granted me permission to take care of this thing?

I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm like, who granted me permission to like teach a kid

how to recognize his name or like learn his letters

and numbers and shapes.

And I'm like, how am I going to do this?

I'm not a teacher.

And now I feel like now I feel like it's on me that I have

to teach him how to do all these things.

Okay.

Well, do you want me to sympathize with you or do you want me

to talk to you off a ledge?

No, I want you to talk me off a ledge.

There's nothing to sympathize with.

I just didn't know.

It's just like one of those things where I'm getting,

I'm getting the hang of this motherhood thing.

I can keep kids alive.

Well, not to.

So I think that's schools being a tad dramatic.

Kindergarten readiness is kind of like, you don't know this

because like you're not on the side of Instagram,

but like we could bring a busy toddler on to talk about it.

It's kind of like a hot button issue.

Like the term kindergarten readiness.

Okay.

And it gets like flushed out there to parents.

Like we're supposed to be doing something and they're fine.

You know, my daughter, Hattie, she's not even in kindergarten.

Like Hattie's not even in kindergarten.

Yeah.

Think about Hattie.

She is so mature.

Like she's ready for, I mean,

she will be ready for kindergarten,

but like she's not even there yet.

Yeah, that's true.

So I think it's like James is not going,

the James you know is not the one going to kindergarten.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's so true.

You know what I mean?

No.

Yeah.

And he's like so smart.

Like George is in kindergarten.

The difference between George and James.

I would like kill to have James be a George right now.

No, it's like so bad.

And I did nothing.

I did nothing.

Okay.

I think the most important things that I think the most important things you can do

is be a present mother.

And I think the chips will fall where they may.

And I think you're going to do what you need to do.

But no, I would not get out a flash card at age three.

I know that.

I was like, I had no idea.

It sounds like this preschool is trying to sell.

It's a sales pitch.

You're getting sold, which is fine.

Preschool is good.

I love preschool.

But like, of course, they're going to tell you all the things they're going to do to

prepare them for kindergarten.

Sure.

But like, okay, sounds like your job then.

Yeah.

I've never once ran through the ABCs with my kids.

They learned it at school.

Now they know them.

Okay.

But you know, and you read to them and like, sure you can like practice writing his name.

But again, all these things I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't, I didn't know.

And until you have, just again, I'll say it again.

Hattie's not even in kindergarten.

I know.

And Hattie can write her name.

She has her ABCs.

Yeah.

And all these things just kind of happened.

They do.

Happened naturally.

James can loosely sing his ABCs.

So like, I know it just like happens, but it just felt like a lot coming at me.

But anyway, that's what I did today.

Well, that's really exciting.

Hope that you can get them into a preschool.

I'm so excited because next year all my kids will be, or my three big kids will all be

in the same school.

They're so fun.

I know this wait list of it all too.

I'm like, oh my gosh, like.

Yeah.

Well, you can go back to the beginning.

We're just like trying, we're like trying to recruit.

Yeah, you guys are like, yeah, I know.

It's fine.

It'll be fine.

God's plan.

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Okay, Liz.

Well, are you ready to do last three transactions and we share our recent bank account subtractions?

I sure am.

Okay.

Let me tell you what I've been transacting.

So my first one is the one I'm the most excited about.

So my husband, I shared this on my stories briefly, but like my husband broke a butter

dish in my house.

Oh, yeah.

And he broke it for the most moronic reason.

So like we leave our butter on the counter.

I feel like you're, you're, you're, you either leave your butter in the counter or you leave

your butter in the fridge.

We grew up in a butter on counter household and I've carried that into my household.

So I have a nice butter dish that always stays out our butters at room temperature.

If you didn't know, you can do that.

You can do that.

So nice.

Cause you always have softened butter.

Are you a butter on counter household?

Of course.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, and at my husband is so, I guess it's anal the right word.

Is that the word I'm thinking of?

That's such a gross word.

I know.

I don't like that word.

No, but like that's what people say.

He's so particular.

And I always say like, you have so many rules.

Like why do you have all these rules?

He's had so many rules and systems and like he's so involved in things he shouldn't

know he's need to be involved in.

Do you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

So his rule has less opinions on things.

Like I'll get into it in a second.

But so his rule is once the butter runs out of the butter dish, let's wash the butter

dish every single time.

I'm over here being like, I'm just going to slap a new thing of butter on it and move

on about my day.

But his rule is you have to wash it.

Okay.

So we ran out of butter.

He washed the dish and then he was like, I'm going to stick this in the fridge so it

cools it down.

So the butter doesn't melt right away when we stick it on the butter dish.

What?

And I'm over here being like, the whole point is that the butter melts so it's softened.

Yeah.

That's what he said.

So he sticks the clean butter dish that he just washed when he ran out of butter into

the fridge.

But he like put it on top of the ketchup.

So then I come in, guns ablaze and trying to get some kids some freaking chocolate milk.

I open up my fridge, the butter just flies out at me and shatters on the ground.

I was like, who put the butter dish in the fridge?

On top of an unstable surface.

The whole thing was so stupid.

So now I have crying kids and I'm having to get the Dyson out because I don't have ceramic

butter dish all over my kitchen floor.

So to get him back, I first, I have a writing list on my phone titled things Tyler broke

because I just think it's really important to, you know, and I get that a marriage is

like, it's not 50%.

It's both people giving 100, but it is about who's right and who's wrong sometimes and

he's wrong.

So I added it to the list and I like a little healthy friction.

It keeps things spicy.

And then I bought the McKenzie towels blue check butter dish.

Yeah, I did.

Yeah.

So then I bought a hundred dollar butter dish.

So there you go.

Don't put that in the fridge.

Do not shatter it.

That was a free one that we registered for nine years ago when we got married.

Now we have this one.

There's so much that's crazy about that story.

Number one for me is that your husband would ever even know that the butter ran out to

then wash it.

Is he buttering toast?

Like Maddie doesn't, I don't, Maddie's, I don't think has ever used our butter dish.

So he likes to cook breakfast in the morning.

Tyler makes, I really hope he doesn't listen to this podcast, but I love him so much.

So Tyler makes eggs every morning.

He, yeah, he makes eggs every morning.

That's all.

Okay.

So he has to use the butter dish.

So that's what he's using the butter dish for.

So anyway, it arrives today.

Like I'm so thrilled and I know he's going to hate the butter dish too, which is just

the cherry on top of me because it's just like different.

Like if it was up to him, he would have ordered like six of the same butter dish

and like stuck him in our basement.

He's so weird.

Oh my gosh.

That's so funny.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well excited for your new bougie butter dish.

Something so boring that I bought that has been so great is I got a wifi extender.

Oh yeah, you did.

Kelly and I were having such issues recording the podcast, which is why like the last couple

of episodes we haven't been able to clip because like I, my wifi wasn't working.

So I just like went on Amazon and bought a wifi extender, which I didn't realize you

could do hooks up to my wifi and now I have great wifi and like the dead zone of my house.

Yeah.

So what's that about?

So does your wifi cost more?

No, I don't think so.

I mean, I think that the extender was like about like a hundred dollars.

Like, but I, you know, it's okay because I had to do it for the business.

Um, but it's like working now.

No, I understand, but I don't understand how it's working.

So it like, I don't know how it works either.

It's connected to my wifi and then I put it in my office.

So the extenders in my office and then I connect my computer to it's called like our wifi extension.

So it's kind of like a different wifi that it's connected to.

I don't know that it's really been great.

That's awesome.

Happy for you.

I thought I was going to have to call AT&T and like go through a whole thing,

but turns out I just had to buy one off Amazon.

Well, my next thing is twofold.

I recently, so Fred's birthday is coming up and you know, ever since like, you know,

one of my micro hobbies to the past year was my birthday banner.

Did you ever order one?

No.

You need to get one.

Okay.

Well, no one's birthday is coming up.

Okay.

I love my birthday till June.

So Fred's birthday is coming up and I saw on Amazon these Mary Posa number candle holder set

and I saw these in a boutique one time and I'm like, that is such an incredible gift.

Like if I had that, I would have it for forever.

Like then you, then you're always ready to go for anyone's birthday.

So I finally, I had an Amazon gift card, I pulled the trigger on it and I got these stunning

silver candle holder sets and I was so jazzed because I'm like, I can make any number now

because it comes with a zero through nine.

So I can do 10.

I can do 29.

I can do 34.

I can do 21.

I can do anything except 11, 22, 33, 44.

I was like, oh, I can't do that.

Someone put it on Instagram.

So I post that to my stories and then Mary Posa, the brand, reached out.

Oh, love.

No, they did not force me.

They did not force me.

What did they say?

They actually didn't do anything.

They said, yeah, we sell singles, but most people just buy a second set.

How much is it one set?

$60.

Oh gosh, it's expensive.

I know.

Well, that's especially for two sets.

Like for $60, I was like, okay, but like how much is a birthday candle?

$5 for like one of the number ones?

Maybe it's a little less.

I don't know.

I don't buy those.

I normally just use.

$2 maybe.

I've only ever had to get up to six.

So I've just always bought like the little birthday candles.

Yeah, but whatever.

Okay, so you bought two?

No.

So here's what I'm doing.

I think it's a good thing to just like add to, like I wish I would have asked for this

for Christmas from mom because it's a great gift.

So another birthday who's coming up as our brother.

And now, is this something that Craig would want?

No, but now that Craig's getting married, I can just like wrap him.

Now he's a household.

Uh-huh.

So now I can just get a household gift.

So I'm buying one.

Hopefully they were not listening for Craig for his birthday.

And then when George turns 11, I will borrow the one from Craig and Charlotte.

Well, now I think they're so cute.

And I think this is a good idea.

However, something that I do because we always celebrate the Marine Corps birthday every year

and I always buy candles for the year.

So it was like 250 was this year.

But the last several years was 249, 248.

So I bought those candle numbers at the grocery store.

And so then I had a two and a four and an eight.

And then I just had to go the next year and buy a nine.

And then the next year.

So now I have like multiple candle, like you can reuse those candle numbers, you know.

100%.

I just think it's like, what's your vibe?

Is your vibe like running silver with like white candles on top?

Or is your vibe like confetti candle?

Well, I'm not saying that I'm not going to go buy those as well because I think that's a good idea.

I'm just saying like, or alternatively.

Totally.

You can just reuse them.

I think you know me.

I'm always like one.

I'm always hope like trying to accumulate things that my kids will fight for one day.

Which like, I don't know where I get this from.

Because like, what are some things that we would fight for at mom's house?

Her jewelry.

Well, yeah, of course.

We have our, we all have our favorite pieces of that.

I know.

Great.

Some things she's getting one thing and she's like so dreaming.

We're going to do it like ladies and we're going to do pick for pick.

Yeah.

Like how like it's freaking Halloween candy when that time comes.

Um, no, but she's like, no, I think about like, I honestly can't think of like one

like sentimental thing.

Well, and you know what?

I think, I think it will actually like happen throughout the years.

Like you got her Halloween candy bowl and then you know what?

She just dropped off at my house like boxes of Christmas decorations.

She gave me that penguin countdown thing on the egg list.

Yeah.

She just gave it to me.

So now I have the penguin countdown.

Well, you know what I want is I want those Halloween trees with the eyes.

Oh yeah.

I want the tall nutcracker.

Okay.

Fine.

I want.

Let's not include our three other siblings.

No, I don't know.

It's just something funny because it's like, I can't, I don't, I can't think of, I mean,

I guess holiday stuff.

So maybe that's why it's so important to be investing in like holiday decor.

Not, not even expensive stuff, but just like, because that's the stuff that you'll

remember because like your tastes are going to change.

Like your kids aren't going to want like, you're like, you know, like your home goods

painting, you know?

Yeah, it's true.

It's true.

Like they're not going to want that.

Yeah.

But they might want our Halloween and Christmas and Easter stuff.

My Lennox cookie jar.

It's giving heirloom.

Okay.

So what were we doing?

Oh, we're doing last three.

Okay.

Sorry.

This next one that I bought is kind of personal.

But when I told you that I bought this, your reaction was unexpected.

So now I just like feel like I have to say it just so like I can be told I'm not crazy.

I told Kelly that I placed a Victoria's secret order because I like to get my underwear from

Victoria's secret because I've been buying the same like type since I've been in high

school.

And it's just like I've tried.

I do like skims.

I have like two pairs of skims.

But like my Victoria's secret is like so my tried and true.

And I just had no one is buying Victoria's secret underwear.

And I'm like, I feel like that's where everyone's buying underwear.

I hadn't heard the name in 10 years, five years, like Victoria's secret.

Like what is even the website look like anymore?

Like I was so same.

Right.

It looks like I was so shook to my core.

That you were buying Victoria's secret.

Well, and it doesn't come across my desk very often.

And I totally buy it for that.

Talk about a fall from grace.

I will never forget like, you know how they say like you remember where you were when

like certain things happen.

I remember where I was the day that Victoria's secret said we're going to stop selling

swimsuits and get into athleisure.

I remember where I was.

I was in my parking lot in college and we were doing the little thing because they used

to have those cute little ruffle butts.

Swim bottom.

The mix and match.

And we would spend hours mixing and matching hours.

There was a time in our life where the only place to buy a swimsuit targets are always

had like, okay, swimsuits, but like a good, nice swimsuit that you were going to spend

some coin on was Victoria's secret.

And when they said it was like, they opened the floodgates for every other any other brand

to come out beyond top.

And they lost, I have to imagine so much money.

Well, they just like stopped do they're like, no, we're going to go in on active wear.

That was the stupidest idea.

And I've never gone back since.

Yeah.

And then like the fashion show and just like truly such a fall from grace.

Like they were such.

I remember there was a time in my life.

How old was I?

I had to have been in like high school or college where like I considered getting a Victoria's

secret credit card.

And our dad is like, you can have one credit card.

But I was like, okay, but I could what if I had two credit cards because I would love

to get the point so I could redeem stuff at Victoria's secret.

Can you imagine the chokehold they had on us?

They had us for loungewear.

They had us for underwear.

They had us for beauty products.

They had us for those little pink dogs.

They had us for those pins.

You would get a coupon in the mail for a free underwear.

Do you remember those days?

Seven for 28.

I'm there.

Remember like their sale was like the biggest sale at the mall.

It's.

Insane.

You'll have to let us like wins.

But like is the quality the same?

You know what they were?

They were just delivered.

So it's I need to I need to try them out.

I kind of took a hiatus with trying other brands like just have hated them all.

Probably need to buy anywhere more regularly than I am personally maybe.

So right now they're doing a five for five for 32, which feels steep to me.

Yeah, you know, and like it was free to spend $100 and get free shipping.

So I'm like, well, I could probably use two bras too.

So like I just kind of committed because I knew I wasn't going to be

frequenting there again for a while.

That's so crazy.

I miss them.

Yeah, but you know what?

They're also like I was looking at some of their bras and I'm like, can you guys

just class it up a little bit like they have in the middle of the bra?

They have this like bedazzled vs.

And I'm like, who is wearing this buying the bedazzled vs.

Like you are a brand that matters.

And then I feel like the problem with Victoria's Secret is like, you know,

then they're like, OK, we're not going to touch up our models.

We're going to be more inclusive.

And it's like.

Well, it was just like a little too late, you know what I mean?

Because it was like they were the last ones to do it.

And it felt like you were just like doing it because you had to not because you

wanted to.

But it's just like that aesthetic doesn't match.

Like the vibe.

Like it's like you're supposed to say this is honestly, they might as well

start using AI models at this point.

Yeah, it's weird.

But I'll let you know that I've put it out there.

Now that I've aired my dirty laundry, I will give everyone an update on how

the quality is.

Thanks, Liz.

OK, OK, my last transaction was a good old fashioned Trader Joe's

Hall. That's right.

I went to TJ's for the first time in probably.

Six months.

I just haven't been frequenting a Trader Joe's.

I see this again.

If you live in St. Louis, to me, there's not one that's conveniently located.

Nothing's coming across my desk ever.

Like I'm always going from where I live to where they're located in St.

Louis.

I'm always going out of my way.

We need one in Baldwin.

That's what I need.

OK.

Baldwin, Ellisville would work well for me.

Town and country like that area.

I just think all the parking lots in those areas are like fine, though.

And so Trader Joe's doesn't really like to put locations where parking

lots are functional.

They're so crazy.

So I went to Trader Joe's and I'll be honest, it wasn't as good as I

remembered it being felt a little uninspired, felt a little complicated.

If I'm being honest, it's just like I'm looking for just ingredients and

like they're constantly throwing like a truffle oil on something.

It's like I'm just like looking for regular ingredients.

And like I didn't even I was kind of like so overwhelmed.

I couldn't even like go to like the five items or less Instagram account.

The things that I only spent $78, which feels really good.

And I bought six bags of the potatoes with peppers.

You really have to go in there knowing what you want because it can get really

overwhelming because you're reading so many labels and like trying to figure out

what something is.

And it feels like nothing was going together.

Like I'm like picking up a carnitas that's marinated in basil tie.

And then there's like red chili oil.

And then there's like it's just like what?

How do I make a meal out of all these items?

It's so weird.

Yeah, you really need to go in with a plan.

Like you really need to like go through five items.

Trader Joe's five items less Instagram or like her book.

Surely no one's doing like their weekly hauls there because like that's crazy.

I think if you had like a rotation like you of meals, you could because I used

to do that, but I also lived alone.

Yeah.

So maybe it was different.

But yeah, I've also lately found it to be just like kind of overwhelming and

hard to go there if you just like go on a win.

Like you really have to know what you're doing.

So that was my last transaction.

Last transaction that I did was I like James is in need of new jammies.

Um, it's been forever since I ordered him new jammies outside of like seasonal ones.

Um, and I've been like loving birds bees, but I was like, what patterns as little

sleepies have nothing new?

It's been forever since I've ordered anything.

A little sleepy says nothing new.

So I placed a pretty good order from Caden Lane.

Um, they have some really cute prints right now for boys, I think.

And, um, yeah, it's, it's so nice because he's just at this age, like the two teeth

be three T like they just last and close so much longer.

I know.

It's so nice.

So I'm like, okay, well, I'll just like place the haul and like, yeah, it's going

to be, you know, they were, they're all 20% off too.

But, um, you know, it's only like $100, but like he's going to be able to wear

these for like actually a year.

So I need to, I need to, I'm doing a bad crossroads with George because it's like,

when is he too old to wear like those tight little jammies?

And like, when does he just wear like T-shirt?

Ew.

Disgusting.

Yeah.

I don't know.

No one talks about that.

I have not seen any content on how sad it is.

Like I will be that mom when it's like, it's like trying to get like your three month

old back into their newborn outfit.

Like I'll be trying to get George.

I'm matching a little sleepy set.

I'm hoping one day it'll just wake up and give me the egg like men in pajamas

do and I'll just stop.

He might be ready to.

Maybe.

But not yet.

No, not yet.

But not yet.

But this is a reminder.

Like if you are like a holiday jammy person, like all the brands have their Easter out,

they have their St. Patrick's Day out.

There are some cute ones.

Okay.

So that was our last three transactions.

Now I have some future transactions that I'm hoping to make and I got like the best,

I found like the best tip ever.

Okay.

And this is like just a problem for me, but back to my husband being like so particular

about certain things.

He has such an opinion on like decorating the home.

That's the worst thing a man can have an opinion on.

It is.

It is so annoying.

Like the amount of opinions coming out of that man's mouth.

Like it's simply, oh my gosh.

He just like doesn't want to hang anything on the walls and like, you know, he completely

like redid the entire house.

Like he has so many man hours in here and he's like, it took so much time and money to

get these walls like patched and painted and repaired.

He's like, I don't want to go around like putting nails in them.

And I'm like, totally.

Like I understand we're going to take our time, but like at some point things need to

be hung pieces need to be bought.

Now it is a double edged sword because I wouldn't love to like admit this to him, but like

I am grateful because it has really made me take my time with things because I would have

just gone probably like gone pretty crazy and like gone to home, God's bought a bunch

of stuff.

There was a bunch of fun.

The walls and I'm like, oh, I don't really like that.

They're actually, yeah, my walls are stunning.

There's like four things hung on them.

But now I'm starting to like want to do more things and I'm like, Hey, maybe we should

like hang something here or like I might get like, you know, a sideboard for the foyer

or, you know, just like just thinking about home improvements.

I saw another funny reel and it goes, my wife's love language is acts of renovation.

Yeah.

And I'm like, that's me.

That's my love language.

So anyway, my new plan is I have like all these vision boards in my canvas, like how

I want to decorate this area, how I want to decorate that area.

And my new thing is I'm just going to print them out and hang them on the walls because

I want my guests to know like this is not what I want it to look like.

This is either like what I have the budget for at the moment or like why I'm so trying

to convince my husband to let me hang something up here.

And I'm just going to kind of like collage my home with, with, with my inspiration.

I think it's a good idea.

No.

And I think it will tell my guests like, Oh, this is a girl with plans.

This is like, there's, there's things happening here.

Even though they're just, you know, conversation starter.

That's what I thought.

Cause like out by the pool, I tried to tell Tyler, Hey, we should think about landscaping.

He's like, well, we're not going to get landscaping until the kids are old enough to pull weeds.

And I'm like, no, we absolutely are.

Also, I think they're old enough to pull weeds, but then it's like, I'm going to put it on.

There's people like, Oh, is this your plan for the pool?

I'm going to be like, yeah, we're on the wait list.

I don't know when they're going to be able to get us in.

And I'm just going to say that because I need to, I need to, I need some forward

motion in my life in that capacity.

Yeah. No, it's, it's, it's manifesting.

It's totally.

Yeah.

I like, I think that's a really good idea actually.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Okay. Do we have any industry news today where we spilled the hot tea going on in the auto

industry?

Yes, we did.

So it is time for industry news and that industry news is going to be the car mom car of the year.

We have our finalists.

We are ready to announce them and we are ready for you to go vote.

It was, let me just get this out of the way, a star studded year.

The four finalists, I, I love all of these cars.

Like I'm kind of sad these cars are all falling on the same year.

It's kind of like dancing with the stars.

Like it's such a bummer.

Like an Alex and a Robert should win.

It's an Alex Robert situation.

It really is.

Okay. So here's how this works.

We have selected the finalists.

Now to be a finalist, you have to have been redesigned and available for sale in the 2025 model year.

So for example, the Kia Telluride is not on here.

The, the Wagoneer is not on here because those cars are not available for sale.

The Toyota Grand Highlander is not on here because it did not get redesigned this year.

So like that's kind of how we do it.

So it's a small pool of cars that we choose from, which is why we select the finalists and then you guys and our team pick the winner.

Okay.

The finalists are in no particular order.

The Nissan Armada, the Honda Passport, the Ford Expedition and the Hyundai Palisade.

Tough.

What we're looking for, who got redesigned in a stunning way and in a family functionality way?

Who made changes that were worth making?

Yeah.

Who listened to the needs of families, who improved and also who do you like the looks of?

Which tech do you like?

Like it doesn't, it's not necessarily so family friendly forward because it is about just like the entirety of the car.

So I've done tours of all of these vehicles so you can go watch the tours, go review them and then please, please, please vote.

This is the third year we've done this.

And let me tell you something, the manufacturers are listening because like Chevy, the Chevy Traverse one at last year, they were so excited.

Like they like put it on their website, I don't know if they put it on their website, but I had heard.

It was somewhere in print.

It was somewhere that we saw it.

Yeah.

It was one of the things that really made us want to redesign the logo because once we were like, oh, like this is the car I'm in, this is a big deal.

This is motor trend.

We felt like our logo had to be able to compete.

Yeah.

So it was kind of our plan.

So I'm so excited.

So we'll put a link to vote.

I mean, it's going to be like all over the car moms Instagram and stuff, but we'll put it in the show notes.

Yeah.

And we're going to be doing some content next week about the four finalists.

Okay.

Great.

You know, who are they meet the finalists?

So that's like the biggest thing that's happening.

It's huge.

I'm so excited.

I love car of the year.

It's always so exciting.

And I can't wait to see what everyone votes for.

So the first year we did it was 2023.

And that was the Honda.

I'm sorry.

The Volkswagen Atlas last year, 24 was the Chevy Traverse.

And then this year will be one of those four finalists.

So exciting.

Love it.

Okay.

Well, are you ready for a ditch the drive through where we give you an easy dinner recipe to mix it up to get you out of your dinner?

I am.

Do you have one or am I bringing one?

Oh.

See this way.

I hate us because like we both had one last week and like we last episode and we both shared them.

Yeah.

Well, what could we be ditching the drive through with what am I making for dinner?

I'm really in my like musko era.

I'm kind of in my every once in something different some nights era and I'm fine with that.

Last night for dinner we had homemade pizza.

I like buying store bought pizza dough.

That's kind of been my new thing.

That's fun.

Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's has a great one.

All these has a great one.

Pillsbury's is great.

Like they're all better than like a frozen pizza, but like not as much work as like making your own dough.

So last night and I kind of like to make my own pizzas recently because George does not like cheese as everyone knows.

It's right up there with my husband.

I like hanging things on the wall like two very annoying things in my life right now.

So when I make the pizza, I can leave like, you know, a quarter of it cheese free for George.

And he just like sauce a lot of meat and lettuce on top.

How strange.

So that's what we had for supper last night.

We had a meat lovers pizza, no cheese for George.

I added a little hot honey because I'm a lady and it was delicious.

There's something fun and just like feels a little bit more homemade too about just like making it that way.

Yeah.

That was always the best night when mom would bring home pizza crust and we all got to make our own pizzas grown up.

I know that was so fun.

And I also love using the non, but I don't know sometimes I just like one like just one pizza.

And then we didn't have enough so then tell her to make a frozen pizza from downstairs.

I'm telling you we're scavenging.

We're scavenging this week.

I simply can't get every aspect of my life together in one week.

Like I'm wearing a waistband and I worked out two days in a row.

Like what else do you guys want for me?

Yeah.

And I have to make dinner.

Yeah.

I can't do it all.

It's too much for one person to do.

So I'm crawl.

That's what I'm saying.

I'm crawl walk running.

So like I got my life a little bit more together.

We're going to have fabulous dinners next week.

I can feel it.

Okay.

I'm happy for you.

And I love my kids having such opinions on food lately.

George, he's just, I can't, I really can't wait for you to have a six year old.

It is my favorite age.

I'm upset.

He's so fun right now.

And he goes, mom, if you were to make a choo-chee pie pie, I'd gobble it all up.

If you made poppy seed chicken, I'd gobble that all up too.

And you're like finally someone to freaking tell me what to make for dinner because you

asked your husband and he says, I don't care.

So I was like, let's go out tonight.

It's like, no, we're ditching the drive through.

I want to make my family a home cooked meal.

I just want someone to tell me what to make.

So anyway, George, and you know, I like how that was a huge milestone for me for my kids

to request chicken poppy.

Yeah.

I submit, I need to submit it.

We're churches doing a cookbook.

I need to submit my recipe.

Oh, that's so cute.

You should.

I know I need to.

Yeah.

That's good.

Okay.

So ours, I'm sorry.

It's not ours.

I'm sorry.

With pizza.

Transparenly tonight for last night, I made spaghetti and meatballs.

And tonight I'm door dashing like my friends coming over with her kid and we're going to

like door dash.

So you're always door dashing.

Can my rural, rural girls unite a door dash?

I could door dash if I wanted to.

Um, yeah, no, it's amazing.

I just live in a really wonderful area where like everything is like will be in my will

be at my front door within 20 minutes.

So I can't even like fathom.

It's, it's incredible.

We like just got two day Amazon delivery.

Yeah.

Well, so yeah, it sounds like we're not ditching the drive through tonight.

Um, trying to think if I have anything else that I could make.

What are we having tonight?

We're having bull and ace tonight.

Cause I bought the turkey bull and ace.

I bought bull and ace sauce at Trader Joe's.

Okay.

I was gonna say, how do you make bull and ace sauce?

But you just bought the sauce.

I bought the sauce.

Okay.

So.

Okay.

Well, we're kind of lame.

You know what?

Maybe you guys should write in.

I haven't seen a lot of submissions come through my desk lately.

If you want to submit your own digital drive through, you can write into hello at the

carmomofficial.com and maybe we'll start reading those.

And with that, that's going to be our episode.

So thank you so much for listening to the carpool podcast and we'll talk to you next

time.

Yeah.

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.

REVEALING THE TOP 4 FINALISTS FOR CAR OF THE YEAR

Hyundai Palisade

Honda Passport

Ford Expedition

Nissan Armada

About this episode

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