Randomness & Full Nest Frenzy: Packing Wars, Salt-Free Hell & Britney Over Trump (We Still at War?)

And tonight, we typed in to Grok to see what AI thinks of the episode... And, you know what, it gave a pretty darn good summary of how random and fun this episode was:

"This title nails the whole episode vibe in one punchy, curiosity-sparking line: the end of empty-nesting summer chaos, the Jen-vs-Chris packing showdown (snowflakes vs. survival skills), Chris’s brutal no-salt detox meltdown, the head-scratching national news priorities (weather and Britney over Trump and Iran), and that perfect 80s music tangent about why we all secretly miss those teenage-lust anthems—even if they kill the symbolism deep-dive. It’s fun, conversational, a little cheeky, and screams “hit play” without spoiling the laughs. "

Please follow, download, and enjoy!

#PlateAndPonder #Trump #Britney #Aha #TheBoss #FranklinTN #HighBloodPressure #Iran #Epstein #MKultra 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Why this?

SPEAKER_00 0:06

It is my Indiana Jones theme music. I've played it several times before.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Usually it's in relation to the movie. I'm not sure what this has to do with.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

This has to do with a yearning for the old 80s and the 90s. This is Plate and Ponder. Uh, empty nesting with Jen and Chris Benton. I did have a brain fart, I think.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Wait, Dylan's on the way to Casino, Montreal. Do you know that? I just got an Uber alert. He'll arrive there in 19 minutes. Should we text him and say, don't bet the house?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Um, we should just tell him, okay, you're done with finals. Um, this is no time to get crazy. We gotta He's got a pack. You got a pack, and we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about a lot of things today, because this is Plate and Ponder empty nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. We are everywhere, everywhere you listen to a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Have we gained a country?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

I haven't looked. I've been so darn busy this week um as of you, but I do believe we're at least in 71 countries, unless uh country something drops. That would be bad. That would that would be a sign that maybe we should stop with some of the tinfoil hat conspiracy stuff, I guess. Because let me tell you, over dinner, now keep in mind we just had dinner, and then we um decide to go into the home studio to do our Playton Ponder empty nesting with Jenna Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

I like how you say that. We go into our home studio.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

We go into our home studio, and by the way, download, engage, follow, do all that stuff, please, because we do um want to keep growing this podcast. It has been epic, and you guys have been great with your DMs.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

When can we get uh like a power bar or an energy bar uh sponsor?

SPEAKER_00 1:55

We've had some crypto sponsors uh approach us, which um we haven't they're not even for Bitcoin, I think they're for other shady things. Um we've had a handful of things that are like hemp and uh you know uh like does that work we haven't had Nike or Adidas?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

I'm not even I'm not even looking for that. I just want like a power bar.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I know. I would I would like a power bar too. I think we could probably get like a microdose power bar, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Ooh, that could be fun. A lot of people are microdosing right now, whether they're microdosing shrooms or microdosing GLP1s. There's a lot of micro dosing going on.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Well, I've noticed when you get scale and they start approaching you with ads, they tend to be the the ads that start coming first are the ones that are in the gray area of is that a cool thing to advertise, or is it uh so anyway, um we're avoiding that until the blue chippers come along. So anybody out there from one of those blue chip Fortune 500 companies that wants to um advertise with us will um we'll hear you out. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Oh, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yes, okay, so let's talk about um something that I have to veer away from as much as possible because I have had a couple people make comments about it. Like this is not a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory. Yes, there's a couple people that have.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Why don't I ever get these comments?

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Because you're not the one that goes down the rabbit hole. Although, let me tell you, I think with this MK Ultra conversation we were having at dinner earlier. We went down the rabbit hole. No, but you were about to. You were like, wait, we heard about this. Like, what is this?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

I swear I saw something recently on Netflix about MK Ultra. Like when you said it, it sounded very familiar, and I couldn't place it, but then we did a lookup, and I guess uh there's gonna be a show soon about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Oh, there's a show coming out?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Yes, by the uh the who did the Sopranos?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Oh, really? Um Chase? David Chase? Oh yeah, David Chase and um Terrence, I can't remember. Yeah, I think my old client, uh my former client John Patterson was the director of a lot of those. He passed away, RMP, a great sailor too.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

So David Chase is developing a new limited series for HBO titled MK Ultra, and it focuses on CIA's Cold War era, like control experiments, and it's based on a book called uh Project Mind Control. So it should be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Okay, so we're not gonna go down this rabbit hole, although I guess I should explain. I should explain what we were talking about, but there are a lot of first of all, the news is ridiculous, right? Like, does anybody remember we're in a war with Iran? I don't think so. I mean, if you watch the Dow Jones today, it was almost like um who cares if gas uh is as expensive as it as it is. I actually put 14 gallons of gas in my car today. It cost $107. 14 gallons.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

And did you use 87? Did you use the cheap?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

No, it well, my car takes more, like a higher thing, but like still, it was I I mean, it still would have been crazy expensive anyway. It was only 14 gallons, too. So um I just felt like, oh, I maybe should fill it up since it's at a quarter tank because I'm not a woman.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Uh you know what? I don't think you should generalize. I oh I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm not a vague. No, I'm not even saying that. I think that you were pointing that comment to me because I tend to drive with it on empty, knowing that there's 17 miles left, even though it says zero.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Yeah, once again, how do you know there's 17 miles left? Is there a triple A guy that um could validate that you tested it and he had to come with a canister of gas?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Maybe.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Probably. Um, anyway, our dog um really, really wants us to play with him.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

Well, he got a new toy. So my dad's girlfriend brought over a new toy.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yeah, shout out to Debbie.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Debbie, and Flynn has been obsessed with this toy since Sunday. It's really cute. I mean, every time I come home from work, he picks it up and he swings it, and he's really enjoying it. So if you hear some thumping, it's Flynn with his new toy.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, he is really thumping, and he's got a really extra long haircut today. Oh, so anyway.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Oh, are we going back to MK Ultra?

SPEAKER_00 6:06

So let's uh what are we we're gonna we're gonna talk about a couple things. And because the the show is about empty nesting, we're gonna probably spend a lot of time on the empty nesting front, which is oh, kids coming home from college. Uh, what is that whole process? Which by the way, we're doing it for the first time with two freshmen. Um, one actually is now officially a sophomore because he's done with his uh finals, right? And then and Kaylee finishes next week. Um, hey, Flynn, can you please stop with your plane of that?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Well, at least he's not eating his poop.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Oh, yeah. Well, that has happened, and we've talked about that. So, anyway, we're gonna talk about um it packing up and coming home and then leaving for internships. So that'll be one of them. Number two is we were trying to find our song uh that we're gonna analyze that brings us to that that amazing state of mind of wow, wouldn't it be great if it was still the 80s or the 90s?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

Um Well, right, but then okay, there's just so much let's just dive in.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Okay, well let's dive into the song. Let's go song first. Okay, so start off happy.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

We started off happy, and we are happy. We tried to find a song, and the first song we picked was The Promise.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

The Promise, which is what one of your favorite. Are they a one-hit wonder?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Do they have anything else? I think they might be.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

But it is one of your favorites.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Absolutely 100%. So we we looked up the lyrics, and the lyrics aren't that great.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

It's just essentially a guy that's I mean, my analysis of it is a guy who knows that women are are are crazy. That's what he thought. And that's it. Wow, wow.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Do you really want to say that to the perimenopausal woman who you live with?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

No, I not you. You're not uh one of those women, but I'm just saying he he he talks about how she's gonna be really tough on him and and yell and all that stuff, and he's like, just no, I'll still be there.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Okay, well, and that is a lovely sentiment.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

And I promise you, I promise you.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

I love that. That is a beautiful sentiment.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

So so he was just it it was a little too lovey-dovey. It turns out a lot of these 80s songs, I guess we gotta get into Morrissey and the Smiths or something, but a lot of the 80s songs are are are about being horny or or just love songs, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Okay, but here's here's then what happened. And I don't know if any of our listeners have the same issue. So Chris then suggested another song. I forget what it was. Do you even remember? Was it Take on Me by Aha? Oh, yeah. Okay, and I said no. And you're like, well, then why'd I even suggest it? And that led me to what happens almost every night, which is we have dinner, we go for a walk, we come back and we watch TV. And most often Chris gets on his computer and he does a few emails and he finishes up some work. So he says to me, Here you go, here are the remotes, put on what you want. So I then find something that I want. And I go down the rabbit hole, I watch a lot of bad TV, I acknowledge it, I like reality shows. And recently I've been watching Love Island, right? The after Love Island. So now that they've left the island.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Maybe recently, how many of episodes have you suffered through?

SPEAKER_01 9:12

I don't want to tell you because you might judge me. Okay, so so now it's after it's after the island, and they're living in Los Angeles and New York, and we're following what's going on with you know all of all of the people.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

This is pre-bartending and waiting tables at the Saddle Ranch.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Correct, they're not there yet.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Uh, it's an inside joke for anybody that understands what the normal trajectory is of a reality star.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

So I'm watching it, and Chris is like Chris is like, I don't want to watch that. Why are we watching that? Well, you told me I could watch whatever I wanted. And then he said he brought this is tonight, he brought it back. He's like, This happens when we go out to dinner. You say, I don't know what I want to eat. I then inevitably give a suggestion, meaning he gives a suggestion, and me, Jen, always says, no, I don't want that. And Chris is like, well, then why did I even give a suggestion? Why did you even ask me? So I think that it is just a normal thing in marriage.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Like Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_01 10:08

I think so.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Well, but I also, um, because you were watching it and I was uh, you know, overhearing it from the office, I You know it made me so happy. I ask I asked, I had to ask some questions about like what was going on because I couldn't see what was happening, but I could hear all these things.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

I want to be like, just watch. If you're so curious, just watch.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Don't but I don't know any of the characters, but they all it's amazing. If you don't know a reality show character or or the people that are actually those characters, if you're just hearing them, they actually sound the exact same way as they do on every other show. It's like you can sort of pick and choose like who the villain is and who the protagonist is and who are the like sort of ones that are gonna get fired the following season because they really don't do much. And and there was one guy that sounded just like James from Vanderpump Rules. Like is it's not the same guy, I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

No, it's not, but he is from London.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Okay, well, uh shout out to London for um having a very vintage type of uh Uraldy show English accent. Um, but yeah, so you were filling me in. Oh, now they're at some pool like swimming and yelling, and and now they're at a bar. And I was like, okay, that now I'm following this, and I'm actually following it as well as I probably would if I were just watching it. So thank you for that. I appreciate it. So, okay, so then we went to um we do it, we did Aha, Aha's song, Take on Me. The lyrics just didn't quite fit what we were trying to do as far as like bring back the excitement. Um I mean, it was about vulnerability, right? It was about uh personal connections.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Sure, but I think the best thing about that song is probably the video.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Yeah, the video is pretty cool where he goes from reality back to the comic book world. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

I don't remember that part, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Or maybe she drags him into it. Well, at the end, they both enter the um fake, the imaginary world.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Right, so the fantasy world.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Fantasy world. But but then we're like, well, what about um Bruce Springsteen? Because I I was like, um, I'm on fire, right? So that song is Hey Little Girl, is your daddy home? Did he go and leave you all alone? Uh uh I got a bad desire. Ooh, I'm on fire. And then every verse is essentially about how horny is.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

But it's a still good song.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

It's a great song, it's a great song, but it is about session, right? It's like a you know, there you go. Um anyway, then I brought up Pink Houses for Mel uh from John Cougar Mellencamp, or maybe John Cougar or John Mellencamp, I'm not sure. TBD, but I actually don't know that's or the artist formerly known as John Cougar.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

I don't think he ever went like that, like Prince.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

What about that weird shape uh question mark? It was all Prince. No one else did that?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

No. Okay, wait, but speaking speaking of singers on the news tonight.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Oh, the news, you mean the new the really important news that affects the nation.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Well, it did start with the number one. The number one story is I guess there was a stabbing, a school stabbing. No, this is no It's terrible. It's it's absolutely horrible, but they spent all of three minutes on it, and then they went right into the fact that Britney Spears.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

No, they went into like the weather, like a tornado or something.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Okay, fine. I I tune that out. But then they went into Britney Spears has been formally charged with drunk driving.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Like who I mean. What happened to the war?

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Are we not talking about this? What what happened to the assassination? Are we not talking about this? No, it's not or the attempted assassination.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Well, it's MK Ultra involved, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Well, but there's now new there's new video of him like bulldozing his way past the Secret Service with a gun. You actually see the moment that he shot the uh the agent. Uh there's also video footage of him walking the hotel the night before, sort of like scoping out the hallway where security is. So it's all a little sus, as the kids would say.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Well, yeah, I don't I mean it's just so hard to understand like what what the heck this guy like, you know, Caltech, he had a job. I mean not the greatest job, but he had a job, he had a house, he seemed to be relatively um o okay and relatively stable. I it just isn't. No, that's not true.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

That is not true. There are reports from family members that that he has said some questionable things, and apparently the family members had gone to the authorities before.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Oh, they did?

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Well, that's what that's what I heard.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

But I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Well, we did talk about it on the last episode that there's a lot of things that people say nowadays that I think ten years ago would have had them arrested, but now it doesn't. I don't know. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Oh, I thought you were gonna say there's a lot of things that people say that they don't mean. Like here, Jen, put what you want on, but you really don't mean that because you really want to watch what you want to watch and you don't want to watch what I want to watch.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Possibly. Or yeah, we can go anywhere to eat except that place. Well or that place.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

But that one's I mean, look, this is this is the age-old conversation in marriage where the wife's like, I'm hungry, I don't know what I want to eat, and the husband gives infinites, you know, infinite suggestions, and the wife's like, no, I don't like any of that, and ends up picking the place.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

I mean, it's the dance.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

So I okay okay, so let's go. If we talk about the, and I'm sorry that we're jumping around a lot, it's it's one of those wild weeks where I think we both had a lot going on, and on top of it, like I'm still I'm still trying to like I guess I'm having like a little bit of salt withdrawals because I'm trying to cut my salt down because I have a little bit of a blood pressure problem. It's not a big one, but it's just like ugh, I gotta watch what I eat, which for 55 years I never.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Can I tell you something? You look great.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Well, I did lose a few pounds, like a mate, actually, I lost like eight pounds not eating salt like I used to in two weeks, and I drink like a fish. Uh as far as like water. Yeah, you're not talking about hydration.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

You want to clarify that?

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Yeah, but it's interesting. Salt, salt has definitely not done my body that great, but boy, does it taste good on food. Um, and everything in moderation.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Like tonight, I did not cook a salt-free meal, I cooked a lower salt meal.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Right, but it it was vegetables and tofu and and cauliflower rice for everybody that thinks we uh dined on uh Kentucky fried chicken, it was not the case. Um, but it was very tasty. You actually know how to make healthy food really tasty.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

I know because it's how and I know how to make it.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

But tomorrow is my pizza cheat day, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Yeah, it is. But you know, like whenever we go to somebody's house and we offer to bring something, because that's what you do. Can I bring an appetizer? Can I bring a dessert? I am the salad girl without fail.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

You know, I can remember it. We're talking about the 80s. There was a uh Billy McIlvain who was actually a guest um on this show once from Florida. Uh, I remember there was a time when I thought, how cool would it be if I could down a whole large pizza myself? And this was like when we were 13 years old. And the idea of ever being able to eat a whole large pizza just seemed so outlandish.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

And um yeah, cut to tomorrow, it will be done.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Yeah, cut to tomorrow, it can be done. It's interesting, it was so much uh more pleasant back in the 80s when I was like, Was that because you didn't have a dog that barked with every bite you took? Yeah, that and the fact that literally I could eat whatever I wanted all the time. I remember JJ Muggs with endless fries and and and hamburgers and endless root beers. I probably would I probably have 10 root beers. Can you imagine how much sugar that was? I can't. Yet I literally had like 1% body fat. I could not lose it. Youth is well, I will say as a young person, I did have one heck of a ride. And I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Yes, but I think you appreciate, and I know you you always stand in a place of appreciation. You're really good about that. But I think you appreciate it even more being 55 and looking back.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

I think you do, but boy, does time move on a jet engine. I don't know if anybody has noticed it, but like stuff is moving fast. How is it a third it's a Thursday night? It's like how crazy is it?

SPEAKER_01 18:39

And Dylan comes home on Saturday. So this may be a good transition into the next subject. That we are no longer going to be empty nesters.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

We are not gonna be empty nesters.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

But I'm so excited. So today, first of all, I let me tell you, I got I called Dylan because he is hopefully packing up his dorm. That is the hope. He comes home Saturday, and he wanted to buy some extra duffel bags, and I was like, dude, you live in Canada. I'm not sure Amazon is gonna get you these duffel bags.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

I thought we got them a bunch, didn't we?

SPEAKER_01 19:12

I well, we did. I don't know if he remembers that they're under his bag. Did Hudson take them? I don't know. I don't I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

But Hudson Waldorf and his duck fromage, which you always always bring that up.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

So Dylan wants to Amazon these um duffel bags, which I do hope he gets in time considering the fact that he is leaving Saturday and this is now Thursday, and it is Thursday night where he is. So I I don't know how this is gonna work out. But he is packing up his room. I know, I mean, I think it's 50-50.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

By the way, he's pocket, he's packing up his room, and what's interesting is he he is we've signed a lease where he's gonna live for the next three years in this lacrosse house. So he knows where he's gonna be the next three years, which is very uncommon for that's what I did.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Yeah, well, you really yeah, I signed a lease my freshman year, and we lived at 219 Beige Block for three consecutive years.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Oh my god, I lived in a different building or house every year. It was and even in the summer I lived in the city.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Okay, well, here's my question. Did your parents move you out? My parents didn't. They moved me in, but they did not move me out. And that was actually I I still to this day remember, I called my mom as I was packing up my dorm room and I just said thank you so much. I did not realize how hard the move-in process was until I am now doing it on the flip side.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

But so I wonder if that's gonna happen with our kids. Are they gonna be able to pack up the rooms in time?

SPEAKER_00 20:42

I don't know, but I do know you got a text from Dylan saying, How am I gonna get all this stuff on the plane?

SPEAKER_01 20:48

I know, and I said you're gonna have to get one of those carts that you wheel in. I I don't know what to tell you. I'm not there.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

I mean, he's gonna keep some of his stuff up there, the stuff that you know could get stolen that we're not gonna get um super mad about. Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Like his super nice winter jacket is coming home.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Uh and but are we bad parents for not going up and helping? Because I do know that's a good thing. We're not raising snowflakes. I can name so many parents that are going up. Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Let's let them have snowflakes.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Well, I don't I think that's an unfair generalization.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Okay, most of them don't have twins doing it at the exact same time. And uh I think we are trying to, you know what? You left the nest. Now figure it out. Okay. What's the worst that happens for what is the thing?

SPEAKER_01 21:35

The worst that happens is we get fined, I guess, for leaving a d a room with stuff in it.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

The worst that happens, yeah, is or he his he's got so many bags the Uber can't fit 'em all.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

He did ask me, he said, Can I take like an Uber XL? I'm gonna need to.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yes. He yeah, we uh we have one kid that asks permission and the other that's like Oh, I didn't know I shouldn't take that kind of car. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Um, but I'm so excited he's coming home. And I'm gonna be equally excited when Kaylee comes home on Wednesday. Today I went to Trader Joe's and I stocked up everything he loves. Everything. So there's a lot of salted chips in the house, which we haven't had for the past few weeks. And I got him his dunkers, I got him his chocolate chocolate chip muffins, I got him his cookies, I got him the frozen hash browns that he's gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

He does have a crazy uh sweet tooth, which I don't have.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

Crazy sweet tooth. I also got him the hash browns that he makes with the eggs in the morning after he goes to the gym. I got more eggs, I got more juice, which you will inevitably drink from the container. He doesn't do it when Kaylee's home, or he does, and he does it kind of like um like that Gatorade bottle where he squeezes it in his mouth so his his lips and his germs don't get on the whole juice container.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

And that that beard or whatever he's growing. It's a mustache. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Maybe it will be gone by the time he comes to visit, but I think he's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Boy, that would be nice.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

But I think he's pretty proud of it.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Really?

SPEAKER_01 23:09

I think he's proud of it.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

Um does he need to shave that before his internship.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Um if he doesn't, I'll make sure the the guys he's living with do.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Like you know, is facial hair. I mean, is facial hair on a kid.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

I don't even think that qualifies as facial hair. It's like facial um facial whiskers.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

You know what? That's not fair. He's been growing this for a really long time.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

For you know me. If I were growing it for a long time, it would still be facial, however, you say that. Anyway, so um, yeah, so empty nesting is is coming to an end. We're pretty excited about it, although we have debated whether maybe we just rent them a house nearby and they, you know, don't live exactly here. Like we can do dinners with them, but we don't want them in the house all the time. Used to that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Can we schedule game nights? Do you think they'd go for that? I mean, I know Dylan likes Catan. I heard that.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Excuse me. That was my that was the um tofu. Um yeah, maybe. Maybe. But you gotta realize they're gonna wanna he's gonna want to hang out with his buddies.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

But nobody's home yet, so I feel like we should monopolize the time that we have because they're, I think, one of the early ones.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Are they? Well, let's let's monopolize it and let's take full advantage of it. And um, maybe they're coming home super homesick and they're dying to be snuggling with uh mom and hugged and you know, uh I could tickle their backs, we could do a tickle train. No, you could tickle train. Um you know, Flynn will be uh excited when they walk in the door and then he'll be back to his old dog self just looking for a place to sleep and get away from the chaos.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

You know what's really interesting? What do you know how many do you know how many um kids, young adults, if you will, who are ages 18 to like 29 live with their parents right now?

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Wait, up to 29?

SPEAKER_01 25:16

So eight yeah, so eighteen to twenty-nine, which I know is a really big demographic.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

It's gotta be like triple what it was when when I was growing up, I would think. I mean I don't know what it was then, but I can tell you what it is now. Up to twenty-nine. I'm gonna go with probably over fifty percent.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

No, it's thirty to fifty percent, but that's still thirty to fifty. Thirty-three zero to fifty-five zero. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

I mean, I think a lot of them moved out for college. I'm sure they probably returned after graduation. Maybe um some are moving in and saving money. I mean, it's it's called the boomerang effect.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

It's called the boomerang effect.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Well, it's also called the it's very expensive to live anywhere in a couple of years. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

The economy has to be driving this.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

And a lot of kids want to, and there's nothing wrong with it. A lot of kids want to like go be where they grew up because they enjoy that community, they enjoy the things that they're used to. I mean, not everybody's adventurous and wants to go somewhere else, um, especially if they live in a really nice place. And to say that, well, you know what, you should suck it up and move where you're, you know, best uh able to afford it, you know, I would argue that that that kind of theory, yes, and a true capitalistic instinct does make sense, but um, in a building community, making society stronger, like the idea of pushing people away from the communities that they feel safe in, they feel like comfortable in and secure in is you know, maybe something that that helps tear apart the fabric of of countries. Really? Yeah. I mean, if you're making everybody move like m like some people like myself, I wanted to like go 3,000 miles away. I just did.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

But were your parents as cool as us? Maybe I don't know. Like maybe there is this cultural shift.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Well, I was in Glastonbury, Connecticut, which no shout out to Glastonbury, great, great place. And by the way, you can live large there and and have uh a fantastic life, there's no doubt. And they have great schools and and the community is fantastic, but you know, the I I had this idea of this utopian existence moving out west. You know, it started with Colorado and then I eventually worked my way to California and never left because once you get here, it sort of sucks you in.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Well, right. And now, if you I mean, we live in a really cool town and we have a house that overlooks the ocean. And I think the stigma of like, oh, I'm moving back in with my parents that maybe existed when you graduated college. I just don't think that exists anymore.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Well, it's absolutely impossible to afford anything. I mean, the idea of maybe uh having a career and buying a house when you're a starter house when you're 30 years old in this town is is completely it's next to impossible.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

We've talked about that.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

It is impossible. But um, I will say there's a lot of places like I spent all last week in Franklin, Tennessee. That Franklin, Tennessee is a fantastic, it's almost like a Manhattan Beach type of community, beautiful downtown with all kinds of thriving shops.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

I mean, I saw some of the photos and it's beautiful. When do you take me?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Um, whenever you're available to go, you can come. You know, you always have work. Um I do work that easy. I do work full time, but you're welcome to come. And uh, you know, Delta, we like Delta that flies us there. Um, although it has gotten really expensive to just fly anywhere nowadays. So, um, which brings me back to the fact that does anybody remember? So, anyway, we're gonna come up with a song for the next episode. We gave you a couple ideas of songs that didn't quite get us to where we wanted to go for this, other than it seemed like everybody was a horny teenager back in the 80s, which is probably another reason why it was so fun back then, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Perhaps. I don't know. I was I was a child, I was born in 78, so I was a very young, young child in the 80s.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

I I longed for those days and I was definitely horny and could eat anything I I wanted to, which was really nice, and uh and I strive to eat a whole pizza too at one point. So, anyway, um if we talk about uh something serious, I will say that the Iran conflict is still ongoing. We have gas that uh is very expensive, which I experienced today. Um, and we have a stock market that's at all-time highs, and we seem to have a news cycle that sort of has forgotten about the fact that we have this conflict going on over there. I think the White House is completely content with everybody forgetting that it's going on. I I'm just not sure what to make of it all. Do you do you have a theory on this or how you feel about it?

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Well, we again we we've talked about this. The news is so forgetful and the longevity of stories is faster than ever. But now I'm gonna bring it back to you and something you love to talk about. When are we gonna hear about Jeffrey Epstein again?

SPEAKER_00 30:30

Well, we are gonna hear about Jeffrey Epstein, which is great because there is um a lawsuit going on with journalists that are demanding from the DOJ, based on the law that was passed by Rokana and Thomas Massey, that more files are released, and the DOJ blocking that is essentially breaking the law. So there's a big lawsuit that's coming out for that. There's various other lawsuits that are also in the works. There's also whatever the um um uh Avanca or not Avanca Trump Melania uh outburst that she had uh for Yeah, but that was that was forgotten about. No, but that has to do with another pending law case that's about to go into discovery, and that apparently she was trying to get out in front of it.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

So there is uh Oh, so now there's a reason we understand why she did it because we speculated.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Um I think there was uh I mean, I think a lot of people were theorizing that that was probably the case. I will say what's incredible is that she came out and brought it back to life, and then almost as fast as she brought it back to life, it disappeared again.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

So and it's gone.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah, so if you if you combine Jeffrey Epstein, which by the way, I have put into probably another 20 photos or so since the last episode. I love that so inappropriate. I love that. Although Grok is getting worse at replicating Jeffrey Epstein, you have to prompt it a few different times. I think it's getting in trouble for for it. Um, so you you act confused. Well, I think it's it should be one of the main priorities for Grok is to allow images of Jeffrey Epstein next to your closest friends and then surprise them with it, going, Oh my god, you were at this party with Jeffrey Epstein. I love it. Anyway, please say you're joking. Um, it's fun. Anyway, um MKUltra and Jeffrey Epstein. We're gonna wrap our heads around that a little bit before the next episode because we want to figure out if we can dance with that topic, with that sort of in the ether news without it going all tinfoil hat.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

I don't know if we can.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Well, I really would like to try because there's a lot of fodder there. There's more fodder than, say, some of the 80s songs that we dug up today. So, um, is there any last thing that you want to talk about before we move into a closing bit?

SPEAKER_01 33:01

I cannot wait to see my babies so soon. They're so, so soon. They're coming home to me.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Well, I'll play the rest of our Indiana Jones here because it is an adventure when the kids come back home after we empty nested for so long. Once again, we want to thank everybody in all 71 countries, maybe 72. I'll check on that. And uh, we appreciate you listening to Plate and Ponder Empty Nesting with Jen and Chris Fenton. We are on every podcast network you can find, so please download us, enjoy, follow, engage, tell everybody about us, and DM us if you have any ideas or criticisms. We're open to them. Bye. Bye bye.