Sisters-in-Law Spill: Postpartum Body Struggles, Worst Dates EVER & V-Day Gift Ideas

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things that people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit Progressive.com to see what you can save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. This episode is brought to you by PayPal. You know how a mom's bag has everything? Sunscreen. Snacks. A stapler. The new PayPal app is like that, but for your money. Shop, pay, manage your account, and earn rewards all in one place. And with purchase protection on eligible items, biometric security, and pass keys, you're protected at every step. Download the new PayPal app to get started. See PayPal.com slash protection terms. I've just been really struggling with body image. Saying it out loud, I'm like, I feel so dumb. I just had a baby four months ago. I remember feeling like scared to put on my clothes. Totally. And they don't fit still. Let's go shopping. Sunday. Really sexy too, a car wash subscription. Honestly, I want that. When they have their unlimited free vacuums and their unlimited air tire pressure pump wrappers. Yes, sign him up. I took Matt to a comedy show. The one that Matt got called up for was like being stuck in Blockbuster with diarrhea. Oh my gosh. And the whole thing has like fart sounds going on. He had to act it out. Honestly, I feel like my brain is protecting me from this. welcome back to always here we're your hosts abby howard abby howard we got it yeah we got it welcome back sister thanks glad to be here glad to be here i keep coughing it's because i did a cardio workout and every time i do cardio i can't stop coughing the rest of the day why i have bad lungs i didn't know that yeah no if i run i'll cough the rest of the day really i thought it was just like a heart rate thing like you got a heart of a rabbit yeah i do what's your heart rate at right now over 100 you're kidding you're kidding not kidding that's insane 105 what's your resting my average is 66 that's your average resting heart rate yeah oh my gosh i think that's pretty good i think that's good i think mine's like 48 okay runner girl i mean quit bragging gosh no i'm not bragging that's just no i'm just kidding i googled it one time and i was like why is my heart rate so high and then they're like it's usually related to obesity okay perfect no problem okay wait a normal resting heart rate is between 60 to 100s so no highly trained athletes may have closer to 40 okay let's not like i'm gonna i don't know i do have a name tag for the rest of my life i do have a theory that uh that short girls do have higher heart rates and it's literally just because my other friends that are short or shorter than me also have high heart rates because the blood's just flying through your body because like my doctor's like maybe you're just like a little bunny and i was like that doesn't sound medical i think she's trying to make you feel better oh i kind of like that they did they did say they could refer me to a cardiologist oh you're like well okay the concerning point is if you feel faint when your heart rate gets up or it can't recover quickly which that's never been a just hacking a lot just scoffing constantly well i wanted to um give you your christmas gift thank you not me last time being like you never gave me that gift i know i did put it in the first bag that was on top so it says baby love beautiful i'm just impressed that you wrapped it yeah i honestly thought about it twice so the backstory on this is that it's custom made it's just like a little cute thing but it's from kilby matt's family friend carly she started a quilting business okay sorry i'm giving the gift away and you haven't even looked at it this is so cute she made that and i thought it'd be cute to put your books in and your journals your kindle your studies and then inside is the original gift that i wanted to get you they are covers for your sourdough bowls i almost put this on my head i thought you're kidding no so you don't have to use shower caps anymore this is so cute and i thought it looked small remember when i was a kid i was like oh my god this is so cute when i said i think i got the wrong size it does fit over a kitchenaid bowl does it yes wow i tested it on mine so when you're rising your bread you don't have these are adorable this is such a good gift abby you're like it's nothing much i like love this so much she did a really good job so she if you guys can't see it she quilted it and it has a little star and it's in the always here colors and then she hand embroidered always here i love and then the inside she did blue which was really thoughtful yeah that is so sweet i actually have like a just a cheap one from amazon of these this is like it's very useful yeah this is perfect and now this would fit a lot more too yeah it's it's a good size i didn't tell her specifically what size i said just no it's a perfect size a pouch a large pouch i like this so much both of these very useful very thoughtful good very personalized if anyone is in the um well i should tell carly this but like on etsy i was trying to find cute customized bowl covers for bread rising and i couldn't find anything that was customized or even remotely attractive looking so that's i reached out to carly when i saw she was making stuff so that there's a gap in the market ladies if you're looking for a little side hustle yeah and honestly i love using like something that sticks rather than a towel it just fits so nicely and i also think it keeps it more contained yeah this is perfect thank you so much i love this man i like really really love this oh good merry christmas hey really quick it would mean so much to us hey how about a little valentine's day gift to us right now and give us five stars writer of the review if you feel so inclined we really really appreciate it subscribe to our show share it like it do all the things and we'll just give you a couple seconds to do that oh thank you you're the best i knew you were i knew you were gonna do it that's my love we're feeling it share the love and now we can go back to the episode my hope is i'm getting to give that to you i'm just kidding also we're hosting a super bowl party this weekend oh yeah we planned it last night so today's wednesday the party's on sunday and i think it's gonna be fun and low-key that's a plenty of time there's plenty of time yeah that'll be fun yeah we have we've actually we hosted last year because caleb's two favorite teams are the chiefs and the eagles and you're i don't even know who's in the super bowl i i know the first team it's the patriots but who's the other team addy the seahawks seahawks i didn't have to look that up just so everyone knows i'm gonna root for the seahawks i hear about the lifts i am excited for the seahawks as well i have no other reason i don't even know where they come from yeah seattle seattle patriots where do they come from new england i'm honestly impressed you do that i don't i honestly new england's always eluded me it's in america okay next episode i'm gonna quiz you guys it's a region nfl teams and where they're from i actually would be really good at the caleb quizzes me sometimes and i could even tell you some of the announcers names oh yeah i'm not good at that well i know joe bug because i'm from st louis oh yeah um i'm trying to think of the other guy's name scott van pell sbp people don't like what's his name another one of them there's a lot of controversial ones might be joe buck yeah i we should i feel like that's one fun thing as a girl it's like getting a football or like a sport yes you know what i mean maybe it's for girls who their spouses like sports matt would be like why are you getting into sports you like live sports have you got into the x games abby he's not even really into it though he's into participating in these things but he does not he's not a fan of the like sports necessarily maybe that wouldn't like make him want to be into the x games and you guys could take x games trips what is x games is it skateboarding yeah and biking he would like that he would like that or like the winter olympics are coming up to start studying of all these snowboarders and you should do a video of that where you could like look at all the big snowboarders and then you're like oh matt look at this guy's trick and then he would be very very like what i wish i was like that kind of cool wife who like knew this stuff but you know no maybe maybe in another life that's anyway that's my hope i'm excited to host a party that'll be fun i'm excited to come yeah last year you're supposed to come but you got sick really well the boys were sick yeah that honestly kills me when that happens i know i was bummed too i was there last year you guys came yeah and i already told her i'm not going to be there this year i'm not flaking i have told her i'm not coming i respect you guys have a busy schedule this week we do have a busy schedule yeah i'm maxed out on blake's activities yeah and he loves football so he wants to be focused yeah i was telling my mom i said basically i'll be hosting the party and caleb will be on the couch just watching the game yeah i'm like unless there's a label by my friends that says blake this is where he can sit yeah yeah no one interrupt him exactly anti-social yeah what about you what's your hope this week uh honestly my hope is i just love my life wow i don't know i've just been thinking about this a lot i'm like wow i just i just enjoy the things that are happening like i just i have i feel like okay so we intentionally made february like jam-packed i feel like i always love having plans i feel like we know that i talk about that all the time but like february is like absolutely jam-packed and that like i like love that makes me feel so happy and some could say i'm distracting myself love that tactic thank you personally thank you and so i have like i have so much to look forward to i think that's part of it and also just like the weather is beautiful like i truly like enjoy my kids actually this is something i've been thinking about a lot i think it's really important this is such a side tangent i think about it a lot i tell like our kids my kids a lot because i first of all i totally mean this but i think it's really important that my kids know that i like enjoy being their mom so much totally and I like enjoy being a mom in general so much I want them to know that I think growing up I always knew my mom like loved being a mom and that does something I think for kids like you just feel like just your presence around your parents is just like it's so pleasing to them yeah and I feel like that's really important so all the time I'm like I love being your mom and then now they mirror back they're like I love being your kid and so I just like I don't know when I was driving the other day I was like gosh things are so good and so yes I say this because when I hear other people like say that they like love their life that's obviously so dramatic like a weird way of saying it but like they're happy with their life circumstances or like they're having a good time like that makes me look at my own life like in a posture of gratitude and thankfulness and it doesn't make me like oh I wish I had their life sure so sometimes I'm like oh I don't want to say that I'm just like so happy with how things are going but um but that's not how it works because it feels boastful but it's like i feel like in like most people then reflect on their own life in a positive way more so also i think like you guys are going through a hard season you've been going through a hard season and so it's like to see the positive side of it too where it's like you can go through hard things and still feel happy yeah enjoy and like grateful is i think important for people to see yeah i think that's great thank you i love that i love that yeah i don't know i started telling cj like two weeks ago or a couple weeks ago i've always been very like affectionate towards cj and tell him all the time like i love you with all my heart i love you you know but i started telling him recently i just love hanging out with you i love hanging out with you so much cj and the immediate like the you can see in his posture he just like feels so comforted by that so now i've been saying it more often but you saying that i'm like oh my gosh i just started telling cj how i feel about you and i'm like oh my gosh i just started telling cj how i feel about you and i'm like oh my gosh i just started telling cj how i feel about you and i'm like oh my gosh i just how much i love just spending time with him i think it's really important uh-huh because they also don't necessarily understand like okay why is mom like emptying out the dishwasher why is she you know doing all these things and it's like i want them to know that like the times that i am like i have to do these things but the times i enjoy the most are like with you yeah yeah a hundred percent fun for hards what was yours lighter heavy i actually didn't have one that's a lot of heavy so we're just gonna lighten it up i actually really don't have one okay good well we're just running on the i love your life okay yeah should i skip my hard no is your love my life too no i mean it's not really i think it's relatable okay addy and i were talking about this today just like i feel like i'm at the four or five four and a half months postpartum i've just been really struggling with body image and i hate to say that because even saying it out loud i'm like i feel so dumb saying that because i just had a baby four months ago but i think in my head and i feel like i kind of talked this about this with my schedule and feeling overwhelmed you get to a point where you start to feel good and like feel normal again and then it's like oh then i should then i feel like i've arrived or i'm back to my normal or whatever but then i put my clothes on and they don't fit still and then it's just every time i remember feeling this a little bit after cj like scared to put on my clothes totally because i'm like i don't want to put them on in fear of feeling like the reminder that they don't fit still um which i have like a small section of my closet that is for like this postpartum season and my pregnancy season and to be honest i'm so sick of those clothes yeah i like hate them right now i'm like these pants again let's go shopping but then i don't want to buy new stuff because at the same time your body changes so much not just buy the stuff i know just buy the stuff let's go shopping sunday okay put on the calendar let's go shopping no seriously i do think that helps i think you sharing that is honestly probably speaking to so many women listening to this because there's this not to over talk on your no talk about it but like there's like this narrative that is very it's not even a narrative this is just true like it is amazing what our bodies do and the changes that come with it it's we still you can hold both like i'm so grateful that like my body grew and stretched and all these different things and there's evidence of that reflected in my postpartum body but then you can also be like okay i kind of miss my closet i gotta miss my clothes i kind of miss like you know looking this certain way in this swimsuit or things like how they were you can have both you can have gratitude for your kid and what your body did and also be like well here we are here we are yeah like you're allowed to have both and i remember i think everyone feels that way yeah and like i also will say i feel like each kid that like you can't hold yourself to different things standard as your first kid totally because you're entering into a different your body's doing a whole different thing kind of i mean it's the same thing but if you know now having two pregnancies like it's different yeah things happen differently and so i think this the sentiment i hear is usually like with each kid gets a little bit harder and like that's just part of it and so it's like being honest with that also gives you freedom like it's like yeah like this is a struggle and it gives other women freedom so yeah i'm i'm glad you shared that yeah thanks and i feel like i see online all the time which is like people are like don't complain about or don't be hard on yourself but sometimes you just are hard on yourself sometimes you are then i feel bad that i'm being hard on myself and i'm like dang but then i'm like okay don't be hard on yourself yeah i told i told abby before because i saw it on her sheet that she was going to talk about i'm like oh finally someone else who also is insecure about their postpartum body i mean everyone is but everyone's like don't you worked so hard i'm like but i want i want it back like i want to get back in shape and it's hard sometimes and i was telling her when we were just on vacation i put my swimsuit on and i was like i wanted to post something and be like okay postpartum ladies if you're putting your swimsuit on for the first time i see you it's hard but i'm like also i don't see you i don't notice i don't look at other women and be like oh she's postpartum or she looks i see her stretch marks like i don't see you like in that way and so i was like trying to like okay no one sees me no one sees me it's just me you're okay well it's even crazy hearing you guys both share that because i think you guys look amazing like i really do and i know i can say that a million times and it's not gonna necessarily metabolize into like your own identity but i think you guys look amazing so i'm surprised to hear that but i'm also like it makes sense i've been there too and like you know i know i always want to share it too because then it's like am i being am i just being vain am i just being self you know are these thoughts like not good thoughts to have which they aren't to be like to be picky about those things and so that's why i also wanted to talk about it or like voice it out loud because sometimes when i say i'm out loud then i'm like this is silly and not something that i should be it's not of important like it's not of big importance it's just a body so let's go shopping this episode is brought to you by progressive insurance you chose to hit play on this podcast today smart choice make another smart choice with auto quote explorer to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies all at once try it at progressive.com progressive insurance and affiliates not available in all states and situations prices may vary on how you buy this episode is brought to you by paypal you know how a mom's bag has everything sunscreen snacks a stapler the new paypal app is like that but for your money shop pay manage your account and earn rewards all in one place and with purchase protection on eligible items biometric security and pass keys you're protected at every step download the new pay pal app to get started see paypal.com protection terms okay problem solved or we can just go to the kitchen and make tangulu and it's healthy segue um people are commenting about that that i think it's funny like i don't know how to segue that we're trying to like segue we can go shopping or we can go eat some desserts okay so my latest obsession has been making tangulu which is a traditional chinese snack i think it's actually traditionally eaten also more around this time of year because it's like the new year the chinese new year lunar new year oh it's one of their desserts i think it's one of their i don't know if it's specifically tied to the new year but i think it is because at disneyland it's like a stand like around their chinese new year oh that's fun um it's candied fruit and traditionally they use sugar and i don't know if it's specifically tied to the new year but i think it is because strawberries clementines and oranges we got a little crazy with it the other night and i think they do other things too but uh we got a little we took some liberties we did we were like what can we tangulu in this house it's so fun okay so you literally just melt sugar and water and then dip your fruit in it i'm sorry i called you out for that the other night and you just milk do you hear it too i didn't hear it did you hear milk i say milk and i know that it's wrong you actually say that when i'm talking fast yes okay but you know it's not sorry melt melt i almost feel like i would have to stay at slower and in deeper tone to say it right milk i'm melted i'm not it is deeply connected to chinese new year as a symbol of joy family reunion and good luck i could say i felt all those things eating it it was very it was amazing and so i i actually was like going back and forth at disneyland i was like this is ridiculous because it's ten dollars for three strawberries but i was like oh no kind of fun vacation and um plus i don't love like overly sweet desserts uh the funny thing is it's very sweet i was almost like wow you need water and i love overly sweet it's not rich but it's very sweet and so it's just you just dip uh your fruit in sugar and water dip it in ice and it makes this like perfect thin crunchy shell and you bite into it and it's like juicy fruit on the inside it's so good really good and i was like abby you're gonna love this we gotta try this and it was like 10 p.m our kids are like running amok still awake we're just in the kitchen dipping my kids don't get tired like literally don't get caught tired especially when they're playing with their cousin they're just kind of like they just keep burning up yeah totally and so we were happy we were revving up as well we were we stuck broccoli in there we stuck nerds clusters in there nerd clusters are probably good it was so good the broccoli so gross gross i was about to say if you're about to say it was good i yacked it up no yeah we will spit it out you should cook the broccoli if you're gonna do it but even then don't do it don't do it don't do it don't do it blackberries they were good they originally were from hawthorn berries is what they were where they originated from and now it's mostly with strawberries tangerines kiwis and apricots kiwis would be so good oh that would be good i've never had a fresh apricot i've never heard of a hawthorn berry what about a pineapple oh that would have been good oh you can't do it i don't think it would work anything that is wet it doesn't stick to it we should have tongue glued a bread tangula that bread no i saw miki giovanni tangula croissant a cinnamon roll oh oh it's logistically difficult but we can make it happen we should do a whole youtube video let's just try we keep talking about it literally no they exist because i was i was going down that rabbit hole let's start the hole let's enter the rabbit hole i always say phrases wrong and i just say i'm with so much confidence uh oh i've been saying that tangulu wrong for this ever since you mentioned it no i'm talking about phrases like i don't know i still to this day don't know if it's a whole bowl of wax or ball of wax how can you use the saying in a sentence you've never heard of it i don't think so i'm like wax hannah have you heard of this what you're like the whole ball of wax or bowl of wax i've never heard okay i spent a lot of time with the grandparents growing up okay i know a lot of phrases that i shouldn't oh i say who shot john that one is unique i've never heard that yeah i mean i feel like my grandpa when you're saying it fast i'm like slow down who shot john that's some who shot john when someone is saying something that they're just like that's a lie it's a lie or they're like very over exaggerating it or they're making up a story i always use it for blake because i feel like blake is always saying some who shot my brother but he's a little brother you know so you're not really it's nice i'm like you don't know that's a who shot john is it kind of similar to like hoopla like that's a hoopla yeah similar hoopla it makes me feel like excitement okay yeah this is the whole ball of black ball of wax yeah and it's mean is the entire amount everything the whole thing yeah it's like you got pots pans food and cooking utensils i forgot again it's never gonna stick never gonna stay no or people are saying you said jiminy cricket okay they're saying that comes from people saying like to not say the lord's name in vain is where like the j well that's what g's comes from right probably but they're all saying it's jiminy christmas is what some people are saying i say that too so just mix them in there's some of the c word love that yeah i just say weird things caleb's always like i don't like when like christians replace cuss words with fake cuss words like i'll say frick i know i'm like he's like that just sounds so cheesy just don't say anything at all i i sometimes say f sometimes yeah sometimes like e f f what's the cuss word that you say in your head but won't say out loud i say the s word a lot in my head a lot that's the one that comes out when you stub your toe yeah something's about to happen it's the impulse one it is and when something impulsive happens and i don't say it out loud and i'm like oh good job abby that's the one that matt thinks is okay to say and i'm like it's not still okay like when he's driving that's when he like thinks it's okay and i'm like yeah no still not my dad gave me permission when i turned 14 that i could say the d word and now i'm like that's a bad one we shouldn't be saying that such an adult one yeah i'm like i'm not gonna say it on your birthday like when you said 14 or maybe it was 15 i don't know but when i turned my mom still hates when i say pissed i say that all the time she hates it and she's like i cannot believe that your friends say this too yeah was that it does that used to be a bad word i think people think it's a bad word i don't see it i mean when you're a kid you're not allowed to say it so i feel like it just like when you get older they're like still because i would say it all the time and then our mother-in-law i asked her one time i was like is that a bad word and she goes i would think it is oh i don't think it's a cuss word i i think a lot of people think that and i never thought that until i need to work on it i'll change it to peeved peeved i feel like he owed what are the other options i feel like saying i'm ticked pissed off sounds worse than saying i took a piss oh like saying it that way that sounds worse i think saying i took that sounds worse yeah yeah yeah yeah that's what i'm saying like a male obviously saying that i prefer i say whiz okay next segment is what are the cuss words that we say that aren't cuss words that's crazy wow you guys wow we have a great episode you guys we've been a lot of time with children we wanted to do because last week was the galentine's episode this one we wanted to make for the the love bugs the lovers for the lovers the lovers of the of we're talking about your hubbies your boyfriends fiancee yes that's pretty much it pretty much it do you know when we tell the kids that we're going to go on a date griffin will be like i'm taking augie on a date oh like they get like competitive with us about and i'm like do it good show treat each other treat yourself this episode is brought to you by paypal you know how a mom's bag has everything sunscreen snacks a stapler the new paypal app is like that but for your money shop pay manage your account and earn rewards all in one place and with purchase protection on eligible items biometric security and pass keys you're protected at every step download the new paypal app to get started see paypal.com slash protection terms i thought it'd be funny if we started with our worst date stories that's funny uh-huh i like this i guess we thought it'd be funny not me we thought it'd be funny if we started with our worst your stories are with caleb right yes okay yeah i don't have any recollection of dates really other than with matt so yeah i feel like my other boyfriends were in high school so it wasn't anything like i didn't really go on dates until i started dating caleb because i also couldn't drive so my mom's not gonna draw me off on a date wait oh yeah we would just hang out at each other's home yeah yeah so yeah they're all with caleb wait when was your first boyfriend well like the first one that counts i had a lot of boyfriends in middle school okay yeah that were like two weeks or whatever but my first i would say sophomore year of high school okay was when i first started dating i only had maybe three or four they like called my boyfriend i'm just already anticipating this as a parent now uh-huh like going into this i'm like i don't need to worry about that yet yeah we need to cross that bridge we get there we were gonna think about that later um yeah okay worst dates you'd share one first okay this one's just kind of silly we were in college it was valentine's day so very fitting for valentine's episode and we were you know we're broke college kids we didn't have a lot of money and we were planning about what we wanted to do for our date and i saw a flyer that our restaurant in town was doing it said fifty dollars for a three-course meal i was like that's a great price like we can spend fifty dollars and go get three-course dinner so we make the reservation we get dressed like nice wait a flyer yeah it was like some pamphlet remember this was the dark ages this was two thousand fifteen wait at school you saw a pamphlet or just yeah i saw like a fly like an advertisement cute okay the internet wasn't what it is now and um so yeah we show up to the restaurant and you never heard of the restaurant i had heard of it but i've never eaten before but it was like in the town so we could walk there from our yeah from our apartments which was really fun so we got all dressed up went the waiters waitress were you married no this was in college okay you said college yeah i wasn't i'm not like you lady i didn't get married till after college yeah so we sit down and we look at the menu and it's fifty dollars per person and kill when i look at each other oh yeah i would have assumed that as well we didn't assume that we assumed fifty dollars total oh wow right that's just tell you like what we spent on meals was usually like twelve dollars a person okay we were like wow fifty bucks is a nice thing um so we kind of look at each other we start panicking and realize that we can't afford this dinner we're seated at the table we've gotten waters brought to us and caleb is like we can't stay we can't pay for this and it was the only it was the only menu like you couldn't order any other things Okay, yeah, I'm back. So Caleb's just looking down at his shoes. And I look at the waitress and I go, excuse me. We can't afford this. They're like, it's our special. Yeah, I go, we're going to have to leave. So we had to get up and leave. That was very honest of you. I probably would have just fled the scene. I think Caleb wanted to. For some reason, I felt like we had to tell the waitress because she had already come over. And I was like, she can't just disappear. And we were both very embarrassed about that. Yeah, it kind of scarred us for a little bit. That was a bad date. What did you end up doing? Do you remember? I think we just went to Chipotle or something really inexpensive. And it kind of just put a bummer on the rest of the night because we were so, we were a little embarrassed. You're like all dressed up. Yeah, we read this wrong. We read that wrong. Yeah, dang it. That was a bad date. No, good for you though for being honest. I mean, we didn't have credit cards. And staying like, you're like, we can't afford this. I probably would have stayed and paid for it, even though we couldn't afford it. I just, well, I mean, Caleb was going to pay for it and he didn't have the money. So what are we going to do? So put it on my dad's credit card. Sorry, dad. We wanted to do something fun. Yeah, we just went on a nice night. Oh, that's sweet though. Yeah. My story is kind of similar, but it happened a little bit more recently. We happened upon, due to unusual circumstances, a restaurant had been picked for us. And we had never been to this restaurant, but we knew it was like a little bit like fancier. We knew it was like a little bit like fancier. Okay, so at this table, we only offer our five course option. And then he just like looks at us. And we're like, we'll take that one. We'll do that one, please. That one we will do. I don't know why that table or like maybe it was the night and I misremember it, but I'm pretty sure he was like, here, outside, we do this. Oh, wow. And I was like, all right. Okay. Sign us up. And then we start getting these plates out. First of all, there's like an hour between every course. Wait, why? I don't know. I don't know. An hour? I will tell you, it was really spaced out. And I'm telling you the food, I realized I was like, I don't like fine dining. I like big portions of relative, like flavorful, but like relatively normal foods. In the grand scheme of things. I don't like, we were eating duck, bone marrow, other stuff that was scary, eggs of some sort. No, the bone marrow, you literally had to scrape it out. There's something I do not like a fancy egg. Oh, like a duck egg? Freaky. Oh. There was so many weird things. And we are, we had a one-year-old at this point. And we were like, we gotta, it has been, we're on course three and it had been three hours. Oh my gosh. And so we're like, surely it's about to wrap up. And the reason we thought it was going to wrap, first of all, we're like eating things. And I, I pride myself on like, I'm not very picky. Yeah. I felt the need to like spit it out. And I felt washed. We were the only people. We were the only people out here. I felt like literally, it was spooky. I felt being like, we were being washed. I started spitting things in the fireplace. I was like, I have to get rid of the evidence. And so there was like a lot of pressure. They kept coming and they were like, they wanted to talk about the food. They wanted to be like. Oh, kind of educate. They want, yeah. They want to educate a lot. They want to see us try it. They wanted to like, and I was, it was just so much pressure. And then Matt and I were like, we have to leave. Like, it's so. And so eventually we're like about to, we're like, and then he's like, now we're like, now it's time for your tour of the kitchen. And we're like, what? And so they take us to the back and we like do this tour of the kitchen. It's like Ratatouille. I mean, everyone's like got their own thing going on. Wow. And I was like, lift up your hat. And I was like, it was like very like impressive kitchen. Yeah. And then we sit back down. They bring out sorbets, which is apparently like a very like fine dining experience. You do sorbets and between as a palate cleanser sometimes between other courses. I thought this was like. This was the dessert. Right. Of course. In my head, I'm like. We're done. Wrapping it up with dessert, with sorbet. They bring out another savory dish. And I was like, so I was like, Matt, we have to tell them. That's the last thing I want to do. That is the last thing I want to do. But I was like, we have to get our kid. It is nighttime now. Their babysitter was not planning on being there that long. I was like, hey, I'm so sorry. Like, we have a little one. We did not plan accordingly. Can we wrap this up? They were like very offended. I was like, whatever last course, like, we just maybe box it up. They were very offended because it's like a whole experience, you know, thing. And I was like, I'm sorry. You can't hold people hostage if they have to leave. I know. I was like, but we really need to leave. Yeah. So then the best part is we got the bill. Oh, six hundred dollars. Oh, my God. No alcohol. Oh, no alcohol. What we didn't realize was that every time we got water, which we were drinking a lot of water because I was like every bottle of every water they were filling from a glass, like fancy water. We paid like ten bucks per thing of water. What? They never told you? Never told us anything. We didn't ever see a menu, you guys. This is America. Because they were like, this is our option. Water is free. This is our option. And we didn't get any alcohol and it was six hundred dollars. Oh, my God. And I remember like Matt like opening his like, oh, and we were mortified because we were also starving. Yeah. We were so hungry. So we went in and out and then picked up Griffin and we were just like, oh, my God. Neither one of us planned it. And so neither one of we both felt free to be like, wow, what is that? And so I learned I am not as classy as I would have thought before. I'm not classy. No, I like I was like, I like chilies. Sure. I like chilies. I like take me to Chili's any day over that. Wow. Like. Cheesecake Factory. Gosh, if we want to be fancy, if we want to be fancy, let's do Cheesecake Factory. Let's not do Michelin star. Anyway, so I just I just know now where I rank. That's a bad dining experience. I was literally spitting into the fire. I was like, that's insane. Six hundred dollars. Can you? I didn't know that existed. I did not know that existed. Oh, I literally can't imagine. I'm like, what would I eat for six hundred dollars? Nothing. Not one thing. Yeah. I can't think of anything. I'm like, that's worth it. There's plenty of delicious things for for twenty. Fifteen. Fifteen even. Ten probably. Probably. No, I just know now that I'm not I'm not that classy. Well, you know what? You you tried it. We tried it. And it was so funny because we actually knew other people that had eaten there. And we're like, what did you think about? Right. And they were like, it was so bad. And I was like, oh, I'm glad we agreed. Yeah. OK, funny. So funny. I love it. I love that for people that love that. And I also do think very highly of them if they enjoy that. Yeah. Well, also, it's impressive the chefs can do that. But yes. Yeah. If that's not what you're planning on and you're not planning to spend that. I need to be prepped more. You need to be mentally prepared for an experience. Maybe the people that do this often, like they know what they're doing. Oh, for sure. People there like I was like, everyone's a regular in a part of this club that we are not a part of. It is. I think it is a different world. It was kind of like the wine world is very like, you know, you can't just like dip your toes in. Oh, that's how I feel about exactly how. I feel about wine. Yeah. You enjoy that. That's awesome. Classy. I'm going to pretend to like people are like clubs and know all about it. You know, it's like, wow, you're on another level off to you. Yes. Good on you, sir. Good on you. OK, speaking of Cheesecake Factory, that's where my second bad date's at. Stop. Don't say that. No, it wasn't because of the food. OK. So we lived in Kansas City. We lived on an area called an area called the Plaza, which is a really nice like shopping district. They have some nice restaurants. Great Cheesecake Factory. And Caleb and I, one night we lived there. We could walk to it. And so like, let's just go on a date night. Let's just go have fun, go on a little get a good dinner and some cake. So we walk in. It's winter time to set the scene. So football season is over or you know what? I set the scene and I don't remember now. I think we might have been in football season. Anyway, we walk to our table and immediately Caleb just becomes a statue. I'm like, what is wrong with you? Do they both do this? Like, Caleb gets so stiff in his body and immediately I can tell in his face like his mind is just running a mile a minute. I'm like, what is wrong, Caleb? Like, why did you just get so weird? He is sitting back to back with Tyree Kill. Oh. If you know who that is. He's like, he was at the time the best player on the Chiefs and Caleb immediately started just going on his phone like, is this really Tyree Kill? Is that really him? He was on a date with a lady. So I was like, can you just chill? Because you're not going to talk to him at dinner. I love that he went to Cheesecake Factory. Yeah, I know. He took her on a date to Cheesecake Factory. He's so rich. And he took a lady to Cheesecake Factory. Hey, it's fine dining. It's fine dining. And the whole dinner we sat there. We must have just been sat right after them because we were there at the exact amount of time and the entire time that we were sitting there, Caleb did not. Did they get cheesecake? I couldn't tell because we were in booths. So back to back booths. I feel like Caleb could tell me. He probably remembers everything. didn't speak a word. to me that entire dinner i i literally was it was a silent dinner he was just listening he was he was listening and he was just like i knew in his head he was thinking what could i say to tyra kill oh how is this gonna play out i don't want to be weird i don't be a fan what can i say what can i do but i want to like say something so i'm looking at him and i'm just frustrated and like this is the worst date of all time yeah literally i wanted to like connect and now you're literally a brick wall as we pay the bill they're also paying the bill they get up we also get up to leave we start walking out at the same time we're all on we're on an upstairs level we start going down the stairs at the same pace i'm like kill just say something this is your opportunity i'm kind of like hitting him like just say hey like good luck in your game or great season just say anything tyric opens the door for us as we leave okay we start walking out together caleb's like he keeps stuttering over his words and he's saying nothing and then tyric starts to walk the other way we are we need to walk the opposite direction caleb starts to follow him okay we're not gonna follow him to his car i grabbed caleb said you missed your shot buddy you missed your shot and caleb did not speak the rest of the night it was the worst day ever i was like you're so starstruck and you did nothing about it and i'm mad at you for that you did nothing about it he opened the door for us like you could have said thank you so much like by the way big fan oh my god goofy that's funny that is just classic so tyree kill ruined your date tyree kill ruined our date that is so funny and i learned that kill gets really shy i happened to blake once we were in the airport line in greece and we he saw like a golfer that he likes like that did youtube and stuff and they're right next to us and he wouldn't say anything so i went up and i said i husband's a really big fan can you get a picture with you oh yeah thank you addy i stood up yes i was like you're just gonna go back home and tell all your friends that you met him and that you saw him and you didn't say anything my dad did the same thing matt would always say something i feel like yeah um my dad saw like a famous like wrestler in the airport one time and he was like that's so that's so and so i was like go say hi i love it he's like no he's like an old school wrestler like okay maybe just let him i remember that he might like yeah my dad just couldn't stop thinking about it though yes that's funny yeah um okay my second bad date story was also somewhat recently still feels fresh at times um i planned this one this one's on me and i took matt to a comedy show because i was like oh this is like so different from normal um walk in i love this story um really small venue it from the get-go i was like this is an experience right cool um not cool is that they hand everyone a name as we're walking in like a card a card with a name on it and i'm and mine is something about like oh was it something goblin it was something goblin it was ass goblin no it wasn't no gosh no oh it's off my head wait that was a tattoo someone had in high school no way no way from high school had that on his on his butt sorry it was something something goblin now i can't think of it right now i'm sorry it's gonna really bother me i'll have to ask matt mine was something goblin and matt said shy fry b word i was like what is this what are we well my word and that then i'm like these are references that i don't get right therefore comedy is probably not gonna land and i'm gonna feel awkward okay so everyone's sitting down and they're like okay so look closely at your name because people in the audience you get to participate tonight no in the show and right in my head i'm like gosh i really hope i because at this point i'm i'm very pregnant with augie i'm wearing a dress that looks like a first grade teacher like i don't look like someone that is like a first grade teacher i'm wearing a dress that looks like a first grade teacher like down for crude jokes right right right and i could already kind of get the atmosphere like kind of get the vibe that i was like maybe not gonna be clean it wasn't your craft wasn't my crowd how many people were there uh i'm gonna say less than less than 50 for sure oh my gosh okay intimate wow and but there were a lot more seats right but we're all like close to the front they had like had everyone move down and so i off the top of my head i'm like matt's gonna get called because that is just literally how he is like he is going that's just going to happen sure enough he's called on stage i'm like i'm so sorry so he goes on stage and this whole thing is like a comedy show but there's also like a video game aspect and if there's anything i don't know anything about is probably video games and like the one that matt got called up for was something about having like being stuck in blockbusters with diarrhea oh my gosh and you had to get out and the whole thing has like fart sounds going on you had to act it out i don't like honestly i feel like my brain is protecting me from this because i was like what's going on why is he on stage and yeah it just like lasted a while and i was like please do not because at this point my ratio my odds of getting called on stage are so high really high i did not get called that's good matt was on stage for a decent amount during doing something humiliating and i was like well you know we tried something new you went to be entertained the whole venue smelled like cigarettes and like people were drinking a lot and which is all fine but it was just not what i had pictured right and it was very i didn't understand like i was so like i'm so sorry that i am not your crowd and i am here like i i'm here and i shouldn't be basically yeah the whole time i was like it's just i'm not the right audience for this and respect what you do because i'm sure there was like a lot of like technical aspects to these like they were literally coding video games for this show wow but um just went over my head totally and it was so just it was so funny how out of our element we were and it was all my fault and matt's such a good sport but afterwards we're like what do you think did you have a lot of fun and it was just really really oh my god because also people knew that we were going to this and they're like how was it was like oh you know a little silly it was a little different it was different it was new but it's funny that's great i love that i love hearing bad date stories i know we all got them i thought well i'm gonna stop saying i thought because we thought we thought our podcast um we thought we could share our worst dates and then also give some good maybe last minute date ideas yes considering tomorrow is valentine's day how do you do valentine's day like in your marriage we've always celebrated on the 15th because i don't know we just always it's cheaper to do that yeah so we always call it howard's day and we would go on a date to a restaurant and kill beginning flowers that are like a little dead and candy that's on sale and it's just been special that's sweet it's just been really special we do valentine's day not necessarily always on the day but we take turns every year planning the date oh that's fun yeah i like that idea yeah it's fun because i don't know i think it's good to both do it like but so we've had some like really funny ones especially like early on like low budget like fun date nights at home that are like really special like we still talk about to this day like all the time so yeah that's just how we do we take turns i like that i i should pitch that to caleb and see if he'd be down for it because it is it's you know i like treating caleb and planning things for him so it's kind of fun to switch off and then also when you feel like a little personal responsibility for doing it i feel like you do a little bit more rather than it's like we're both going on a date like i don't know it makes it like a little bit more like intentional totally yeah i like that this episode is brought to you by paypal you know how a mom's bag has everything sunscreen snacks a stapler the new paypal app is like that but for your money shop pay manage your account and earn rewards all in one place and with purchase protection on eligible items biometric security and pass keys you're protected at every step download the new paypal app to get started see paypal.com protection terms i thought we i'm sorry we thought it's fine just a tick i think at this point we could do last minute ideas and then last minute gift ideas i love it do you want to go with your first date yes so this one's actually already planned it and we're doing it this weekend and i was gonna invite ladies um so he planned he texted me the other day he's like oh um and the email don't look at this top email and then later on that day he was like okay i just have to tell you because we do need to find child care but um we are i planned a ballroom dance class lesson with you and then now it has since evolved to like he has now booked a private one and so all of our friends and like their spouses can come fine and so i was like that would be really fun we've never shockingly enough we've never done a partner dance class together Yeah. That's really cool. It'd be really fun. And I think for certain husbands would be totally outside their comfort zone. Blake, I think Blake would never come. Yeah. We have something else going on, but that's fine. Cause he would never come. Um, but I kind of think that's like the point of it. I think it's fun to like do things that are first of all memorable because you it's memorable cause you don't do it often. And then it's also like obviously connecting and it's not serious. So it's like fun and touch and yeah. So it'll be fun. Yeah. Romantic out of your comfort zone. It's an activity. I feel like guys really like activities. Yeah. Face to face. Yeah. There's no phones involved. That's the opposite of what they like. Don't they like, don't they say guys like side to side? I think you're right. I love the line dancing. You can do that. Like literally any dance class. And also it's good because you're probably going to be supporting a local business too doing that. And it's really like, it's a good way to just actually talk, look each other in the eye and touch. What does Arthur Brooks say? You have to look in the eye, make eye contact and touch. It bonds you. I always send Caleb any Arthur Brooks clips. So he talks about eye contact because I'm like, I think we both just run through the day. And sometimes I'm like, what do you look like today? I looked in your eyes once. No, it's easy to do. I did a ballroom dance class with my dad once. Not once. We took classes cause he was going to surprise my mom at prom, like our prom cause they were chaperoning and dance with her. Like I did them with him so he could learn the steps. That is so sweet. That's so sweet. Right? Oh my gosh. That's a great idea. But it wouldn't be a ballroom. We could do tango. We could do cha-cha. Ooh, a little spicy. We could do anything. Salsa. I think that'd be fun. That'd be really fun. That's a really good idea. Yeah. My first. Also all of those are, are ballroom. Okay. Yeah. Maybe your class will just be a mix of all of it. Or do you know what type? Maybe we do a little shimmies in there. What? Is it a waltz? What kind of class is it? Do you know? What do you mean? Those are all types of ballroom dances. I get you now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, what do you mean? Do you know what the type is? Is it a waltz? Yeah. What type of dance is it? A waltz is a type of dance. I don't think it's going to be a waltz. A waltz. That's a three, three, one, two, three. I think so. Yeah. No, I don't know. I feel like that'd be a difficult one to start with. Probably a little salsa. I really think you guys are just doing this. You could try to get on dancing with the stars. I think I said that last time you mentioned ballroom dancing. I mentioned this already. Um, I think so. Cause she did, she did say that. I don't know when, but. Did I talk about this on the podcast? Should I come up with it? You just kind of mentioned that you guys were going to do it. Oh yeah. Yeah. But these are the details. She, well, this is a date idea. It's okay. It's a date idea. That sounds fun. Abby, you can't beg your, sorry to all the audio listeners. Abby is smacking her head on the mic. You will for sure. Okay. My first date is ice skating. I was just thinking what's something easy, breezy, last minute. Like in St. Louis, there's a really beautiful outdoor ice rink called Steinberg's and it's so romantic. It's, you know, chilly, cold. You can get hot chocolate. You hold hands. If you're a bad skater like me, your husband basically holds you up the whole time. So lots. Lots of touch. Lots of touch. And it's just, you know, you can talk while you skate. It's just like, I think it's good to be outside a little bit. You get fresh air. Just a little something different than going to a restaurant, you know? That's fun. So yeah. If your town has something cute like that, ice skating. Some Bass Pro Shops have it. I don't know if the ones out here do, but. They have ice skating rinks? Probably not. In the parking lot. Oh yes. Yeah. Yeah. Oh. And it's like, and they have like little fires. It's like really cute. Cute. Do you think that's still a thing right now? Maybe we're actually, now that I think about it. Ice skating? Yeah. I feel like a lot of America is actually frozen right now. Yeah. You know what? You're right about that. This category was art and you got to know your husband for these because I have dragged Matt to a couple art ones. Surprisingly enough, he doesn't love them. Really? He's happy that I'm having fun, but he does not love them. But I have one that I think most men would like more. For one, we did like a sip and paint. I think there's a lot. There's probably one in your area. There's a lot. This is like kind of a popular thing now. I like it because it's like, it's creative, but it's structured. Like they have, they walk you through how to do it. You're going to get a decent painting. Like not that you're necessarily going to save it and put it up on your wall, but it's fun to just like, it's casual. You get to talk and like do something fun. Those are really fun. Yeah. It's a really fun thing. And then if you're sipping on wine, it's like a little bit more elevated too. Not that was, that didn't land great with Matt. Oh, he didn't like that? He didn't like it. No, I think. I think he also doesn't like being told like what to paint. Oh, and also I don't think he cares to paint at all, actually. So I don't want to put words in his mouth. I think he's just, he really doesn't like to paint. He doesn't really like crafts. Okay. Never liked crafts. But one that is really fun and is a little bit more niche is blown glass. We did this for a date and that I feel like guys, Caleb would be. That is Caleb's dream date. Caleb would be upset. That's his dream date. There's places out here that do it. I know. He was really jealous that you guys did that. Oh. It's really, it's a really good thing. It's a really fun thing to do. And I feel like it does, it's a little bit more masculine. Sure. And it's not easy like to do. And it's really kind of fun and cool. And then you get to take like a art piece home. Like we use the glasses that we made there. And we also made like a paperweight and a vase. So it's like things that you're going to use and you just kind of have like a little thing to remember it by. And I also just have so much appreciation now for people that do this. I was like, that was not, it seems easy. I was like, that was a lot of air pressure. Yeah. I'm like, dang, you have glass with everything. Everything's glass. And then you watch how they make it. And you're like, they do this for every single cup in my kitchen. No, they don't think they blow, all of them are not blown glass. Oh, what are they? I don't know. I think they just made me form it. Oh, but I'm confused. Is that the only way that you can make glass? No, I don't think so. Oh, but it's just a technique. You know, glass is sand, right? I feel like I did know that a long time ago. And I forgot until you just told me. Isn't that crazy? You know, that is crazy. That's crazy. No, there's got to be an easier way. There's no way that this is all blown glass. I just got to say this. It'll be a million dollars. Yeah. I'm telling you, it's a lot of work. But if you can't blow up a balloon, you're not going to be able to blow up some glass. But maybe your husband could. Your husband probably could. And it's really funny. And it's cool. And you kind of, you get close because you have to spin it. And I'm like, I can't do it by myself. And it's like, you're spinning it together. It's fun. And it's something that's a little different. You get a little memento to take back with you. That's cute. They're either made from pressing a mold into the hot glass or blowing air into the glass. Wow. Those Amazon glasses I have are molds. I was going to say about the painting. I did that once with Blake for our one year anniversary. So when he was still into doing different things that aren't necessarily. But we did it. It was also during COVID. So we did it at home. I don't know if they still do them, but you get sent home. You go pick up all the things you need. You can do it at home. And there's a video that you follow to make the painting. So if you don't want to go out. That's a good idea. Yeah. Something you can do at home. I like that. This is another at home idea. So I actually did this for Caleb. I've done it a couple of times throughout our dating and marriage. I've done a themed movie night. And I'm not just saying like light on the theme, heavy on the theme. I did a Harry Potter. We did a Harry Potter marathon in college and I made Slytherin soup. Like I made all these different foods and dips. And huge spread. And I gave everything place cards that were designed and that I wrote in Harry Potter handwriting with different like Harry Potter names. We watched the movie. I decorated the apartment kind of Harry Potter theme. I made us butter beer. I just went all out. It was really fun. It was so memorable. Like we still talk about it. Another one that we did was when we watched The Last Dance. It was the NBA documentary about Michael Jordan. Do you know that my dad has a hyper fixation on that and he has watched it a thousand times? It's an amazing movie. I watched it a thousand times. Really? Well, maybe your mom should do it. It just has to be playing. I love that. I love that. It's just always on the background. My dad's hyper fixation is The Last Dance. Oh my God. He's there like, does anyone want to watch The Last Dance? We're like, no. No. Sorry. Fun fact about my father. I didn't know that. It's not an exaggeration at all. It's not an exaggeration. I didn't know that. That's funny. He's sick. I mean, it's a great docuseries, but we did it where we went to the store and we each picked out like concession stand appetizers, eggs and pizza and all kinds of things. And we went home and we just played the Space Jam theme music while we ate it. Why did we do the same thing? We watched it. We watched the Suns game at home and I got Wetzel's pretzels and we made like a basketball fruit pizza and played Space Jam. It's so funny. Basketball. You have to. You have to. So that's something really fun. If you didn't want to go out to spend money, you went like an at-home date night, just go all out and pick a theme. I think I said it last time, but the other one I did was a high tea and that one didn't quite land the same. Did Caleb put his pinky up? Yeah, he was such a good sport, but I was like, this is maybe for the ladies. Did you make like cucumber sandwiches? We were watching Great British Baking Show at the time. So we were really into British culture. So, you know, just doing, let's take it to a theme. That's cute. Yeah. It's so memorable. That's fun. You're a good wife. Thank you. It's a lot of work. Yeah, but it's so fun. That is fun. It's fun. My last one we haven't done, but I have wanted to do, and this multiple times, so I really need to make it happen. I want to go to just do a classic arcade date. Oh, cute. That would be really fun, I feel like. And like, I just think about Dave and Buster's because it's more of like a semi-adult one, but you could go to any random arcade in a mall. Do they still have those though? What are the ones that are really big, the new chain that's going in everywhere? Oh, Fat Cats? No, no, no. It's, oh my gosh, it's going to drive me nuts. Fat Cats would be fun. It has a bowling alley in it and an arcade and laser tag. Fat Cats. - Oh, there is a main, yeah, main is huge. - Those are going in everywhere. Yeah, and that's a great one. There's, like, a race car track in there. I think that would be fun. They're so fun. Especially if you've been married for, like, six, seven years. Like, just do something fun that you wouldn't necessarily do. Like, something silly and, like, light. It would be really fun. That would be really, that's a good idea. A little competition. Like, laser tag. That would be really fun and just silly. One time we also did, like, in a similar, like, building to, like, Fat Cat's main event. Some of them have these, like, VR, like, experiences. And we did this zombie one one time. Okay. I did almost throw up. It made me very motion sick. You're literally, it's so funny if you take your goggles off because you are just in an empty room. But I was, like, tiptoeing because I thought I was going to, like, fall off this edge. And there's, like, zombies. I was terrified. But it was, like, cute and fun that we, like, it wasn't cute. But it was fun to do it together. Yeah. That would be a good double date option, too, because, like, you have teams. Yeah, that is fun. But I'm, like, I just want to do something, like, cheesy, like, that you see, like, in a romantic comedy. Yeah, there's a reason to try to. It's fun. It's so fun. I want to do it. I want to win, like, a little prize. Yeah, you go to, like, this, you're cashing your tickets to pick a gift. I think it would be fun. I think we'll probably go to Fat Cats. Gosh. Okay. Happy Valentine's Day. We took the kids to Fat Cats for Halloween this year. I've never heard of this place. Yeah. You surely have. Some may be better than others. Okay. We talk about it a lot because, thank goodness, my kids are two and three. We went and there's a chase from Paw Patrol. No, it was Marshall. Not that it really matters. Of course. As the most budget costume I've ever seen in my life. His head's falling off. He's not even wearing shoes. He has socks on. His hands are. This is a guy dressed up like this? Some high school kid. And Griffin and I were like, Marshall. Marshall? I was cracking up because I was like, yes. Yes. Get a picture. Have you seen those videos? You probably have it of girls dressing up as Spider-Man for their next. Birthday party. Comments are like, whoa, I didn't know Spider-Man had all of that. That's funny. I've seen dads like dress up as stuff for their kids' birthday party. Yeah, it's like curvy. Oh, well. Lady curves, you know, on Spider-Man. That's funny. That's hilarious. I love them. That's a good idea. It'd be like an arcade. Cute and fun classic. I need to do that. That'd be fun. That's a great one. My last one. I actually, a girl that we were friends with did this for her husband in Kansas City. She went on Turo and rented. He had a sports car for the day. This is such a good idea. Okay. He had like a dream car. So if your man has got a dream car, go on Turo. See if you can rent it for the day and just take it for a joyride. I rented a Kia Carnival for the day. It was amazing. That's a different vibe. You're testing out mom cars. We're testing out sports cars. Either one. Either one can be fun. I even, I think she actually got a photographer to go like, wow. They did pictures with the car. That's fun. I know. It's just like a little different, creative. Like he's a car guy. Yeah. They're a car guy. Go out on town. Go like, one time Caleb did that for me in college. He borrowed his friend's Mustang. It was like a really cool car. And I was like, whoa, baby. You know, it's just kind of different. That's fun. And we went out to dinner and had a good meal and then drove around in the car and it was so fun. That's cool. Yeah. So that's my last idea. That's a good idea. Thank you. For the car guys out there. For the car guys. Okay. Sunscreen. Snacks. A stapler. Let's do some gift ideas. Matt and I both are terrible gift givers. I have to say that. But we do give tiny amount. Really? I'm not a bad gift giver. Specifically talking about with each other. Oh, sure. We really don't do much. Sure. But we do give Valentine's Day gifts. What? Okay. So a free one. Okay. Oh, oh, oh. Well, nevermind. Children? No. No? It's not bad. We do this every Valentine's Day. Maybe we can cut this. What? I know what it is. I'm reading it, but. No, that's not even the one. Oh, you changed it. No, this is a free one that I didn't put on here. Okay. But we do do this every year. And I actually thought this year might be a pass. But then Matt brought it up. What? We do a lingerie photo shoot. Oh. Or not photo shoot. Oh my gosh. Like a runway. Oh my gosh. Like a runway shoot. Oh my gosh. Like three. We don't even know. Not a photo shoot. But like I, like Will, like he'll, yeah. Oh my gosh. You can try on spicy outfits. And you know what? They don't need anything, honestly. They just want to see you. And just a little, uh, not photo shoot. What's the word I'm looking for? Like a runway. Like, yeah. Yeah. A show. Yeah. The last time I did that, it was at my bachelorette party. Oh, I think. Yeah. Yeah. We do it every Valentine's Day. That's sweet. I'm sorry. A photo shoot. I would have passed away. I'd be like, you have to cut that. I can't say. But we have to keep it. I can't say photos are never taken. Okay. Matt and Ivy's camera roll is not safe. We, okay. Which is why Matt got us safe. So mine's also. I am not kidding. We're going to talk about this. I need to know later. Okay. Mine. First one. This is the $1 sign. Really sexy too. A car wash subscription. Isn't that a great gift idea? Men are so practical. And it's the gift that keeps on giving. Every month you're going to pay your 20 to $40. Quick quack car wash. Yes, exactly. And they're going to go get a nice car wash. They're going to get a nice shiny car. They're going to vacuum the inside. They're going to be like, my wife is the best. They're going to vacuum it. They're going to think that. And think they're a lovely wife. Every month when they have their unlimited car washes and their unlimited free vacuums and their unlimited air tire pressure pump wrappers. Yes. Yes. Sign him up. Sign him up. Sign him up. And then you get a clean car out of it. And maybe he'll take your car too. And it's the gift that literally keeps on giving. That's a good idea. Thanks. Okay. My actual $1 sign one. Conversation decks. Oh. You can get them on Amazon. So it's last minute. Look it up. They have an intimacy deck and like a deck for couples. But we love these. And I'm not saying intimacy and like, okay, well, that's my other second one. Of course. You could get a sexy deck if you want. The adventure challenge book sexy edition. That too. Yeah. I'm talking about like a 52 card. Oh. Just pull one out randomly. You could do that one. Or I'm talking about the conversation ones really because this is PG. PG 13. Um, they're great. They're really great for date nights for the rest of the year. Like when you're not doing like big planned, unique dates. Like it's fun to like have one to like, I don't know, spark conversation. A rule we have for date nights is that we try to follow is not to talk about the kids or work. And so sometimes, gosh, we're like, I know we have a lot to talk about. We need to kind of spark something else. Cause this is all I'm thinking about right now is kids and work. And so this is a good thing to like, kind of. Spark and you're not going to just like sit there and read those cards the whole night, but it will like spark more fun conversation or you can do a sexy deck too. Just do both. Do both of that. Okay. My next gift. This is the $2 sign is a leather good. I got Caleb a journal. It's like a refillable journal, so you can reuse it. And, um, obviously it's leather and I had his initials stamped in it and then his favorite Bible verse on it. And he's used that since I think he's used that for maybe eight years. Oh, wow. And it just gets. It's better looking over time. It's like kind of rugged, masculine. They're not that expensive and it's something that he's going to use forever. And every time he looks at it, I hope he thinks of me a little bit. That was top fill. Yeah. And I thought that or a wallet, a wallet is a good one. Do you have that on your list? Yeah. Okay. The last time I thought this was a funny story. Um, I bought Caleb a wallet like 10 years ago when we were in college. And I remember I went into Macy's. I never shopped at Macy's and I went in there. I was like, okay, I'm getting this wallet. The lady asks me, do you want to sign up to get a discount? And I said, sure. So I'm going through the. You got a credit card? She goes, what's your social security number? It's always that one. I go, wait, why do you need that for my email address? To give me an email, like sign me up for your email list. She goes, no, you're honey, you're opening up a credit card. I go, oh, I did not want to do that. So I call it myself, but I almost opened up a Macy's credit card. But a wallet. He still uses it to this day. Oh, that's awesome. Time for probably to give him a new one. That was actually my $3 sign one. A leather wallet. Like a leather wallet. I was thinking of like. Sorry, it's ours. It's ours. No, you didn't steal it. That was a good idea. Thanks. Men are hard to shop for. They really are. My $2 sign one was fancy boxers. Like Tommy John's. Yeah. Like they're not going to buy themselves nice underwear, but let's be real. They need some new ones. You know who buys Caleb all of his underwear? My mom. My mom. Abby, that's crazy. No, she's just like, I went to Lululemon and I got these on sale. And she'll just pick a pack of the boxers for everybody. Whoa. For everybody. She has no sons. Right, exactly. There are sons and lots in my dad. Well, that's funny. Yeah. Yeah. So get your men some undies. Yeah. Like Tommy John's are actually, they're very expensive, but they're really nice. And every time Matt is like, I like, I really like. They're his favorite. These are so much better than other ones. They're really nice. Yeah. Good quality stuff. It's the stuff you only, it's all that you reach for when you have it. Yeah. And it feels like an appropriate Valentine's Day gift. Yeah. Maybe my head's in the gutter always. Gosh. - My last one, and maybe we can go on this one together. An NBA or NHL ticket. And then get them a jersey or a hat or something fun to wear to the game. And if their favorite team is out of state, plan a trip. Ooh, fun. Ooh, that's $3 signs, baby. Well, I was going to say, you could go to the Suns game for $8. Are they bad this year? Just depending on who they play. They traded away all their, like, good guys. Oh, their stars. So it could be a $1 sign. But depending on where you're going. Get them a jersey then, too. Yeah, that would be way more than the ticket. Totally. And your nachos would be more than the ticket. Gosh dang. Surely. I mean, what a night. Yeah, he almost took the boys. I think they were playing the Kings. Oh, my gosh, fun. I don't know, is that a football, is that a baseball team? Yeah. Okay, yeah. That's what you're talking about. Not that popular, apparently. The Kings. The Kings is a team. LA Kings. Wait, that's hockey. Wait. Wait. I pride myself on knowing sports, and I don't know this. The Sacramento Kings. Okay. Basketball is really fun to watch, and I don't even like sports. So fun. Live basketball, even if it's not, like, NBA. Oh, it's a circus. It's fun to watch. But NBA especially is like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Uh-huh. So fun. That's a good idea. They have pomp music. They have, every second that the clock stops, they have people out there doing a performance. Oh, yeah. It's a full show. It's a show. There's no downtime. No, it's really fun. The mascots are also hilarious a lot of the time. The son's one is hilarious. The ape. Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot about that. What's his name? He's funny. Look it up, Annie. They do a good job. Yeah. You can be in the nosebleeds, and it's so fun. He gets paid well. Really? Yes, we looked it up. I actually knew someone that was a professional mascot. This is the son's gorilla. The son's gorilla. Is that all it is? Gorilla. Okay, well, let's talk to the marketing team about a more creative name. The name, the gorilla. Or, go the gorilla. Oh. His name, Go. Okay, maybe that. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. Great. Yeah, I hope this gave you guys some inspo. Yeah. Yeah. That's fun. Last minute. Last minute. Love your last minute girlies like the Abbeys. These are some of your ideas. I forgot to talk about, well, there are two things we forgot to mention at the beginning. One, we're not wearing our sweatsuits, so we're mixing it up, people. We're mixing it up. We're mixing it up. I really got to get some more pink and red in my wardrobe. Same. Actually, I was thinking about that. I was going to my closet. Let's go shopping. Okay. And then also, people, I was reading the comments from last episode. They like the Always Homies. I did see that. People love it. There were some other good suggestions. Oh, also, my book club. My book is delayed, so I haven't started it yet. You need a Kindle. Yeah. People were saying that, too. Like, it's on back order and things like that. So, they were saying maybe mix in a new release and then like a non. Like, next month do it. It's also supposed to be free on Audible. Yeah. If you have an Audible subscription. You can just call the listeners Abbey, too. Oh, hello, Abbeys. Abbeys. Oh, Blabbers or the Abblers. The Always Honeys? That's what it was. The Always Honeys. That's cute. That's really cute. That's cute, too. Okay. Well, between Always Homies. Put it on the Instagram. Always Homies or Always Honeys. Because those are real. I feel like one is masculine and one is feminine. That's true. Everyone who commented Always Homies did the peace sign with it. It has to have that. Always Homies. We asked on Friday night. I asked Caleb and Matt which one of, which Abbey was girlier. Because I did not know what they were going to say. Right. But they said me. Yeah. I think so, too. Which is. It does. We were talking about this on our call. But I have a theory that all girl households can be the grossest. Right. Like, because maybe they feel like someone has to be, like, a little bit more. I shouldn't say grossest. But, like. No, we were gross. They are maybe more masculine than you think. Right. Than, like, in a household with boy and girl. Like, you, like, fall more into the feminine. Yeah. Like. Uh-huh. You can't have three really, really girly girls in a house. It probably happens. At least in our house. At some point. You need to have a balance of. No. That was all the all-girl families I knew. They kind of sway this way. Totally. Ask. Ask. Ask. Abbey. Hey, guys. I love watching your show and listening. I was just curious how you and your husband, like, decide who's going to, like, do this special thing for Valentine's Day each year. Do you have, like, a process of you do it one year, your husband does another year? Just wondering. Love you, guys. Yeah. Cute. That's a good question. Yeah. We kind of touched on that. Like, we take turns on years because it is fun to, like, plan a date, but it's also fun to, like, be surprised. Yeah. And I think being clear is also good because then you don't, like, go into it like, I thought you were going to do something. I don't think it has to always be the husband planning it. Right. For the wife for Valentine's Day. Yeah. I agree. Caleb knows that I definitely want flowers and I'll be sad if he doesn't give me flowers. That's, like, the one thing that I'm like, Caleb, you have to. But a lot of times we end up planning the date together. Like, that restaurant sounds good. Let's do that. It's more of a conversation. But I like the switch off, switch on idea. Hi, Abby and Abby. I love your show. My cute Valentine's Day story is that when I first started dating my now fiance over seven years ago, we had dinner in, like, his college apartment and he made me spaghetti and meatballs and, like, bought a dessert and then later we were talking about something and I looked at him and I was like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. And his top Google search was how to make spaghetti and meatballs fancy, which was the cutest, sweetest moment ever. So now we always have spaghetti and meatballs for Valentine's Day. Oh, that's cute. Oh, my gosh. It's so sweet. He's like, what do I need? Spaghetti and meatballs. The effort is amazing. That's sweet. Yeah, it's just the effort. It's like, it could have been the nastiest spaghetti and meatballs of all time, but then seeing that Google search, you're like, this is the best meal I've ever had. He's like, I'm going to learn from you, babe. Yes. That's cute. That's amazing. And I love that you carried that tradition out to, like, future Valentine's Day. Yeah, that's amazing. Hey, y'all. I really enjoy listening to y'all's podcasts, so thank you so much. One question I have for you is, where is some of the best places you have ever traveled to? Tropical, mountains, abroad, in the U.S.? What are your best travel recommendations? Thank you. I feel like my answer is so different. Like, pre-kids and post-kids. Like, after kids, it's very different. Like, you're experiencing locations in a very different way. Oh, that's true. I mean, we had a really fun trip to Nashville last year. Was that last year? When you stayed there over the summer? Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, Nashville would be a really great place for either pre- or post-kids. Sure. Like, it has both there. That was really, really fun. And I feel like you could do it fairly inexpensively. Yeah. Or you could do. Like, go all out. Like, you could go to Broadway and, like, see all the lights and the shows and all the people. Or you could also have, like, go outside to, like, Franklin and have, like, a really sweet, like, brunch experience. And it's also just beautiful and nice weather and everyone's very friendly. Oh, fun. So, I feel like that was a really fun place to travel that I didn't necessarily. I know Nashville's, like, booming, but I didn't necessarily think of it as, like, a travel destination for some reason. Yeah. I guess. I feel like when we grew up in St. Louis. It was so close that people would go, like, on the weekends a lot. But I never really went. I've only been once. Like, people here fly to Nashville. Yeah. Yeah. I think Caleb and I would really enjoy it and go and have a fun trip. I think for. I'm going to do one domestic and then do you want to do one international? Sure. Okay. I loved when we went to Oregon. Oh, that was so fun. The Oregon coast is really beautiful. And I wish we had more time there because they have got national parks and the beaches are so beautiful. And I feel like it feels just so unique within America. Yes. It's just such a. It's such a unique landscape. Specifically the coast. The coast. Yeah. Oh, I want to go back. Because we flew into Portland and I was like, I don't know much about Portland. I don't either. And we drove to the night. We didn't even see anything. Yeah. Don't do that. That was actually horrifying. We were going to die. We, like, we landed really late and the driver was just. I kept watching him. I was trying like this. I thought we were going to die. I could not close my eyes. The fog. You couldn't see feet in front of the car. It was going so foggy fast. He was barreling down this road and he was just drinking coffee. It was like three in the morning. I'm like, this dude's falling asleep. I was so scared. That's a really good one. Yeah. That's so unique. And good food and. Oh, the chowder. It's unexpected. It's. I feel like for me, like, that was a really unexpected one. Me too. That was really good. That was really great. Okay. International. You do your international one first. I was just going to say Italy. Caleb and I are on our honeymoon. We went to. We did a couple different spots in Europe and obviously the Amalfi Coast was the most gorgeous place ever. And it's so walkable. It was not that expensive. It was just amazing. We stayed in a little town called Atrani, which is connected to Amalfi by a tunnel. So you could walk to the big cities and you could take the little water boats to all the little coastal cities along the Amalfi Coast. It was so amazing. We did a cooking class. I mean, there were just so many. We hiked one day. It was a little bit of everything. Beach, mountain, city all in one. It was insane. I want to go back. We haven't done like a ton of international travel together, but. I was going to say Croatia because I was surprised by like how much fun we had in Croatia. And obviously anywhere in Europe, there is a ton of history. And so, and I'm not, I wouldn't consider myself a history buff, but that is, there's something. You're in it. It's good when you travel to like learn about the history of like where you're going. And it's just also so outside of the normal of what you're used to seeing in America that it is like very interesting and beautiful. But I'm actually going to say Mexico. We love going to Mexico. And I feel like you can get. You can get a lot of different things there. Also a lot of history, but then also like you can hike, you can go in the ocean, you can have amazing cuisine. And honestly, it's fairly inexpensive. and um yeah i think it's close it's close i mean that's the other thing too is i think like it's a two-hour flight oh wow to yeah to cabo what part of mexico do you go to we've gone to puerto vallarta which is further a lot further yeah like a lot further which is a mexican was huge i was gonna say we went to the east side it was really far no from cabo it's two hours to cabo okay yeah wow okay so that's really nice if it's like you don't want to get go too far from the kids but you want to do a little i mean you're literally international travel yay baby hi abby's my name is ellen and this is my first time calling into a podcast i'm so excited but i have a just kind of for funsies question i know y'all have been talking about books that you love starting the book club soon so my question is if you could act in one of your favorite books um I thought of one ellen what a fun question that is so fun immediately i thought of one too one okay which one what what is this spicy the clickbooks no i'm just kidding i'm not kidding but as an adult probably my favorite book was the nightingale i don't necessarily want to act out the book but i'm just kidding i'm not kidding i don't necessarily want to act out that movie um but to be the girl that was the nightingale and acted out would be insane yeah what a fun and hard role i think they're making a movie of that one right so i didn't get picked for the part dang it um you just made me think when you said click i was like oh my gosh my dream as a kid would have been nancy drew and i loved that movie but i was also terrified of that movie when she looked up into or when the guy driving the car looked up into the rearview mirror and had the two different eyes i remember just like gripping my seat like we're both terrified that was such a good movie i actually did audition for the click movie you're kidding no they had like mail-in mail-in tapes no no no i don't even think i like mailed in my tape but i spent all day filming my like self-tape click movie and i don't think my mom ever sent it dang it that was your chance that was your chance but i tried you did um i immediately thought of the click movie and i was like oh my gosh i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't the bodyguard by katherine center because i remember reading that character and i was like i feel like i'm her like she's very like clumsy and like she doesn't take herself very seriously and but she is also kind of awkward like i don't know and so basically it's like she gets hired to be this bodyguard of this like celebrity and she's not like she's like we're not like the big buff bodyguard men she's like our job is to go like think of everything in advance so it doesn't come to that and so she's like smart and like but anyway her character is just so funny i love that that book it's actually getting made into i just looked it up it's getting made into a movie and they have already casted it do you know who layton meester is oh my gosh fun yeah she's gonna be the main character she was in gossip girl do i look like her no no and then jared i feel like she has to be a short and then jared maybe i don't know who layton is you wouldn't recognize her if you saw her she's been in a ton of stuff okay she's not who i pictured i pictured like a short you picture yourself she also he doesn't look like he's gonna be that big of a bodyguard well he's a celebrity oh you're right she's the bodyguard that's not what i pictured in my head hmm um addy what would you say gosh i would have to literally nothing came to mind because i'm like i'm more so if i just think about like books that i want to be adapted into movies is more every single book that i read i'm like ah i want to see this as a movie um the patience getting made into a movie i would not want to act in that no no i don't even i fell for an ai um trailer i hate that i fell for an ai i fell for an ai disney like movie like poster keep it for the men ai please seriously don't please save it for the men keep it for the men okay what have i i'm trying to think through i'm like i said the nightingale because i just feel like i haven't read that abby have you ever finished daisy jones in the six i'm gonna be honest you don't like it i like it but i'm not like flying through it okay the first one that came to my head was the perfect marriage okay you wouldn't be good at that she's a lawyer huh she's a lawyer and she would be good at that i could see that why is that the first one that came what movie could you see me being in i was gonna say maybe daisy jones in the six that would be really fun that makes sense okay i actually have my answers it'd be yours truly by abby menace that's my favorite book i read it it was so good she was a doctor they like love story but they write each other letter cute yeah that's a fun question it's a really fun question and um thanks for calling in call in again you got creative questions awesome well thanks guys so much for sending in your questions and like we said a couple times we have a book club now yeah um we already have members so that's very very exciting our book this month is my husband's wife and we're just gonna read it in the month of february by alice feeney there's by alice feeney it's surprising that there's more than one i know um have you guys started yet no my hasn't even arrived i need to finish the book i'm on okay it's taking me a hot minute don't worry i'll buckle down i will finish it by the 28th for sure hey and also if there's something in there that you're like oh well i can't believe we haven't read it that's kind of the whole point yeah yeah i want to have fun too blind um so yeah thank you to everyone who wrote in who's joined the book club and also thank you to those of you who have engaged with our podcast in really any capacity but especially those of you that have actually rated us five stars and written reviews i want to read a review right now this one says proud to be an always homie i think you gotta use that oh is that gonna stick i think it might stick thank you caleb um i she gave us five stars and she said i'm loving always here it literally feels like i'm on the couch with you guys i appreciate the transparency and vulnerability you guys bring to the podcast making it feel relatable and authentic proud to be an always homie thank you so cute so thank you so so much um yeah if you also feel so inclined to write a review it would make us very very happy yeah that username is agw7000 i wish i knew this person's name yeah but um thank you guys so much yes okay if you guys want to leave a voicemail a question it could be a cute story a funny story a question for us advice whatever it may be you guys can call 602-456-9690 and leave your questions there thank you guys so much for doing that comment down below any other date night ideas you better hurry because it's tomorrow tomorrow so um heads up prime your gift amazon prime your gift a lot of these are on prime so just hurry up on that i think that's it remember we're always here you this episode is brought to you by netflix's new series east of eden a bold reimagining of john steinbeck's masterpiece following generations of the trask family through love betrayal and the choices that shape humanity starring mike feist and christopher abbott as the trask brothers and florence pew as kathy ames the complex anti-heroine determined to build the life she wants no matter the cost watch east of eden october 1st only on netflix on any journey using uber it helps to know you're getting into the right car pin verification adds an extra step to make sure your ride is your ride before the trip begins your app gives you a unique pin just tell it to your driver and they'll enter it in their app before the ride can start hey what's your pin 2538 that way you know you're in the right car taking the right trip and your driver knows you're the right 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