Spring Teaser

Today we discussed a few things we have coming up for the spring season. Things are growing so our garden episodes will be in full swing. We are so excited to get back outside and make things grow. It is our hope our listeners will be making things grow too.

WE also have a few fun things coming down the pike. Did you hear our interview with the professional plumber? Check that out HERE. We are going to be continuing with our interview series. Our goal for the interviews is it give you knowledge to make you home more efficient and safer. Our upcoming interview will help you sleep better at night knowing your family is safe.

As you probably know, we love to eat. We will be doing a few episodes about summer meals that will be done so fast, you'll hardly remember you made them. That way, you can get back enjoying this fleeting season with your family.

Transcript

Recap

The hosts discuss the topics they hope to cover in the next few months, including seed starting, vacationing with kids, road trip food, budgeting, interviews with professionals, and easy summer recipes.

They mention upcoming episodes on trends and a 10 Things I Love series.

They reflect on the busyness of spring, including birthdays, end-of-school activities, and planting gardens.

The hosts offer tips for navigating the hectic season, such as planning ahead and prioritizing self-care.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Spring Topics

02:05 Upcoming Episodes: Trends and 10 Things I Love Series

03:23 Interviews with Professionals: Fire Safety in the Home

04:43 Easy Summer Recipes: Quick and Nourishing Meals

09:05 Exploring Trends: Sharing Thoughts and Opinions

10:24 10 Things I Love Series: Light and Fun Topics

11:05 Navigating the Busyness of Spring: Birthdays and End-of-School Activities

15:46 Planting Gardens: Tips and Advice

Music is by Oliver Massa. It is called Weekend Chores

Transcript

I don't know if you can tell where you live, but it's spring. Today, we're going to share some of the topics we hope to cover in the next few months and talk about some of the spring episodes of the past that we've already covered. Along with some of the things we look forward to in our non -podcast life. Let's go ahead and get right into it. We have already done a seed starting episode that for us is the very beginning of the gardening season. In fact, I just put my seeds in last week, I think it was. And I don't have anything up yet. 

Lauren (00:58.051)

Really?

I started at mine a long time ago.

Ellyn (01:04.908)

I know you're warmer than me. But go check that episode out. It is a really good just dip your toes into getting your own seeds started. We'll probably be revisiting that at least one more time when we start planting our seeds outside. But that one will just get you started on thinking about green leafy things.

Lauren (01:06.563)

I know.

Lauren (01:35.555)

Yep. All right, we do have one other episode that we did last year about vacationing or road tripping really with your kids. And that is our traveling with kids episode. It's episode three. This is a great one to listen to this time of year because it just gives a whole bunch of ideas of what to do with your traveling kids. So that one's a good one to go back to.

Ellyn (02:02.763)

Yep.

And we are going to be doing one other episode about vacationing with kids here coming up. And this one's going to focus more on road trip food and ways to save money while road tripping and how to save money on food. I will really dive a little bit deeper into that because I think that that is a great way to save money on vacation. It can be so expensive to eat out on vacation. And if you can find ways to Hold back a little bit of money here. You have more money for fun in other areas. So this is one that we'll do here coming up in the next probably month.

Lauren (02:46.499)

Mm -hmm. Some of our most listened to episodes are the ones that we did on budgeting. So if you guys have any other budgeting hacks that you'd be interested in sharing or hearing about, let us know. We'd love to hear from you. You can send us an email or you can leave us a comment on any social media platform that we're on.

Ellyn (03:16.011)

We'll see what we can do to work that into a future episode. We are always looking for new ideas.

Lauren (03:23.651)

Yep. We did an interview with our plumber, Jeff, a few weeks ago, and that was so much fun for us. And if you haven't gone to listen to that episode, I strongly suggest you do because Jeff is such a great guy. He's so funny and he shared so many great tips. But coming up, we're going to be doing at least one more interview in our episode that's kind of similar. So we're going to let this firefighter we know give a whole bunch of hints about fire safety in the home. And we're going to be doing that in the spring.

Ellyn (03:48.747)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn (04:10.091)

Yep. We’re really look forward to that. There's so many things you can do in your home to make it safer and to prepare your kids if the worst happens. And he is super knowledgeable and he actually teaches kids in the community how to do that, or kids and families in the community how to do this. And so we're really looking forward to this interview. So check back soon for that.

Lauren (04:43.267)

Alright, we have talked several times about food and how to make giant portions of food so that you don't have to work as hard later in the week. The thing about those is they're almost all casseroles or large amounts of sauce or large amounts of filler like burrito stuff, but we haven't really talked very much about more summery foods. I know that we've mentioned in episodes before that in the summer we actually, neither of us turn on our oven at all all summer long. And we also don't cook quite as much on the stovetop. For me, it keeps down my electric bill. And for Ellen, since she doesn't have air conditioning, it just keeps her from getting her house too hot.

Ellyn (05:40.267)

We live here in the dark ages where we don't have air conditioning.

Lauren (05:44.003)

Right. So we cook completely different in the summer than we do in the winter. And I think many of the recipes that we've shared before have been more winter food, which is really yummy. But this year we're going to also do some summer recipes and we'll be talking about how to make easy summer food in an episode.

Ellyn (06:11.915)

And by easy, we mean fast. I mean, and delicious, of course, too. But so often in the summertime, you're coming home from the beach or you're doing something in the evening. So you need super fast, easy meals. And so these meals are going to be mostly 30 minutes or less from getting the food out of the refrigerator to putting it on the table. These are really just super quick, easy meals, nourishing so that you can go out and do the next thing on your list or just sit in your own backyard and not do anything at all, which is my favorite way to spend the summer.

Lauren (06:55.683)

Mm -hmm. And I don't know, I feel like summer food lends to that so well.

Ellyn (07:03.787)

It really does. In fact, my favorite thing, honestly, to do in the summer is just a grilled meat, whatever it is, whatever is on sale or whatever I pulled out of the freezer and something from the garden, whether it be a garden salad or zucchini or cucumber, it doesn't matter. My youngest and I absolutely delight in going out in the late afternoon and picking what is just the best and ready. And she and I did it most days, most evenings last summer. It was just so much fun because she got as excited about it as I did. She would, oh, look, we've been watching this tomato and it's ready this cucumber. She never got excited about the zucchini because she doesn't like them, but she got excited about the other stuff.

Lauren (08:00.835)

But she eats them anyway, and so does everyone else in the neighborhood.

Ellyn (08:05.803)

That's right, you know, it's a commitment to have a zucchini plant and so we are all going to just do our part.

Ellyn (08:38.603)

So we've already done one of these, but this is a new series for us, the latest trends and what we think about them. So we're going to take on a trend. you guys might remember from our episode, recently we did what we, how we feel and what we think about the new tradwife trend. And we're going to take on a few other trends and just share our thoughts on it. And we, as always, would be very interested in our listeners' thoughts as well. Just let us know what you think. So we'll take on a few more trends over the next few months. 

Lauren (09:31.651)

I think it's gonna be really fun. I... There's so many trends that you just don't hear about until you happen to hear about it on a podcast or see it somewhere on social media. I'm really looking forward to this. I think it's gonna be fun.

Ellyn (09:52.171)

I think so too.

And then another series that we started recently was a 10 Things I Love series. And this one is another super fun one. It's just, it's light, we've got a few topics in the works that we're working on. And I'm really looking forward to diving deeper into this series as well. 

Lauren (11:02.051)

Okay.

So what is life like for you guys in the spring? Again, we would love to hear from you guys, especially on this episode about the things that you notice, you know, as you go through life that change for you guys in the spring. And I would say, I think it was probably about two years ago, I noticed that similar to Christmas, right before the kids get off on break, and in the spring, not long before they end school, it is a crazy hectic time. Like everything is having a fundraiser, like a final fundraiser for the year. They are planning all these different camps and stuff during the summer, but you have to sign up for it now. In fact, here, these camps, many of the summer camps, you had to sign up for those back in February in order to get in, in time. Thankfully, I, there's still several that, um,

that I can sign mine up for that are through their like there's a ballet camp and there's a they have one for their like Boy Scout it's not actually Boy Scouts but it's kind of like Boy Scouts they have a whole bunch of camps for that that I can still sign up for so that's good

Lauren (12:44.355)

it is just nuts. And I mean, you can tell me if you feel the same way about it, but it just feels like they really pile on stuff on you.

Ellyn (12:56.791)

everything has a closing program, everything has a party or I, it's for my family is particularly busy because all of our birthdays fall on this time of year also. From April to July, we have at least one birthday a month, which makes it feel even busier. And so for us, it is even more hectic, I feel like, than most families, which is still pretty darn hectic. But we are also cramming in a bunch of birthday parties and stuff. And I, some years are easy, but some years for me are really hard to find gifts for my kids that I know they'll love. As the teen years have gone on, it has gotten harder. My youngest is still pretty easy to shop for, but The teens are really hard and so that just adds another level of stress for me because you know during my relaxation time now I'm sitting there looking for gifts and things that they might enjoy and so it's just makes it even worse.

Lauren (14:11.427)

I don't know about you, but back several years ago, like when they were smaller, at times I would forget to buy presents until like two days beforehand and then make a quick trip to Walmart or the Dollar Tree. I'm just going to admit it. They were two and three. They don't need something that's amazing. So I, yeah, I would get all their stuff, which admittedly I also didn't buy them that many things like a day before, sometimes it was on the day of their birthday, cause we always celebrate the birthday. The birthday celebration for us always starts right after rest time in the afternoon. So it's at two or three in the afternoon. And then the shenanigans just keep going from there. You know, we go from present opening to favorite meal having to cake to bed.

Lauren (15:11.523)

Good night. And actually when they were really little, we did cake as soon as they woke up. This is how like, helicopter -y I guess we were. We did cake for snack because we didn't want them to be on a sugar high on the way to bed.

Ellyn (15:30.77)

You do what you got to. And that having it right after nap time too is a blessing for you guys as well because you had time to finish your shopping and your wrapping and your cake making and your special dinner making and that was a busy nap time.

Lauren (15:32.707)

Oh man, what have we gotten into?

Lauren (15:46.115)

all during that time. Yes.

Lauren (15:53.603)

Yeah, we have a number of birthdays in the... We have one that's in the spring. And actually, it's the fall that really hits us with the birthdays, because we've got one then another then another then another. And then in the spring, I also have to buy presents for other people in the family that have birthdays that I buy a present for. So that's something, you know else that you add on, but then you have like the final games of the season. And, and it's always like this. You're looking forward to the end, you know, to the summer break that really is a break for you too. Moms who drive their kids to school, you get me now with the getting your kid up, kids up and getting them ready for school and driving them to school.

Ellyn (16:40.144)

Mm -hmm.

Lauren (16:53.443)

And then you have like a finite amount of time until you have to go and get them again. Like there's no day where you just don't have anything going on until summer.

Ellyn (17:05.904)

Right. But to get to summer break, you have to navigate through this super messy, very hectic time. And you go, I really feel like you go from one thing to the next. Okay. I got through that. What's next? And because there's always something on the horizon in another day or two for this whole little season right here.

Lauren (17:08.963)

but they make you work for it.

Ellyn (17:35.44)

to get through. And so, but the end of it is summer vacation. So for me, at least that's what I always keep on my horizon. I'm gonna get to summer break and we'll be able to slow down. We're gonna go on vacation or we're just gonna sit like I said in the backyard and enjoy, you know, the quiet and, but first I have to do this and this and this and this.

Lauren (18:00.131)

Not to mention getting all the plants planted because well, you know, I'm actually in the area where I live. So all you gardeners out there that are thinking that you're really far behind, you're not really. Not unless you live in the extreme north because I have planted stuff a month late and it was still fine.

Ellyn (18:06.064)

Mm -hmm.

Lauren (18:28.867)

Everything is fine. If you have a long enough growing season and I don't live really far down south either. We live not even in the middle. We definitely still live in the north and it is fine. Most vegetables that you're going to plant are gonna, they're going to make it. You know, if you plant them by mid -June, late June depending on how far down south you live, just follow the package instructions and look up some videos on the internet. But I always err on the side of, well, I'm just going to do it if I have any question at all.

Ellyn (19:10.448)

Even here, I do that here too. And maybe your plants won't bear as much before the last frost date. And that is something we run into here. If I put my tomatoes in too late, I'm probably still going to get tomatoes unless we get a stupid early frost date. But if I get them in, I'm still going to get some produce out of it. I may not get as much as if I had gotten them in earlier, but it's still worth the effort of getting them in. You hardly even have to start thinking about it yet if you buy your plants. You can buy them really late because they have been planted since February. So you can buy them super late and they're going to catch up.

Lauren (19:52.323)

Yeah, definitely.

Lauren (19:59.523)

Oh yeah, yeah, that's true.

Ellyn (20:13.168)

Because they're going to be really root bound and you give your roots a little space to spread out and they are going to take off for you. garden plants are going to be really forgiving for the most.

Lauren (20:31.587)

Yeah, they really are. So if you have a Saturday when you thought you were going to plant and instead you have to spend all day at a ballet recital, it's okay. They can wait until next Saturday.

Ellyn (20:45.072)

As an example, perhaps.

Lauren (20:49.155)

Right, right. You know, not anything really specific, just, yeah.

Ellyn (20:57.296)

Yeah.

Lauren (21:00.259)

Well, I certainly hope you guys have a nice relaxing spring and, you know, I wouldn't wish, you know, a really hectic spring on anyone, but I'm probably gonna have one.

How about you?

Ellyn (21:18.576)

I am definitely going to have one. These kids throw stuff at me all the time. In fact, short, short story. We just got through, my oldest daughter is a competitive swimmer and the day after her three nights a week swim practice ended, she comes home and goes, so I'd really like to be in a play.

Lauren (21:46.787)

No.

Ellyn (21:47.824)

It's at least three nights a week practice. Oh no, there went my relaxing spring, but it's okay. She loves it and it's going to be great. We're going to have fun, but still deep breaths. So there went my relaxing.

Lauren (22:02.915)

Yes, this too shall pass. And someday in the spring, you'll be thinking back on this moment and wish that you had something more to do. Okay, you probably won't. You probably won't. I feel like no matter how much free time quote unquote you have, you somehow manage to fill it up with something. I mean, not you in specific, everyone. Everyone does this. 

Ellyn (22:14.064)

Someday. Probably not.

Ellyn (22:26.064)

Mm -hmm. It's very true.

Right. Very true.

Lauren (22:34.915)

Well, if you guys have an idea of a show you'd like to hear from us, please send us a message or an email to our website. And as always, we really appreciate you guys. Appreciate you guys listening, and I hope you're looking forward to the spring as much as we are. Until next time.