Mama Needs A Minute
"Mama Needs a Minute" is your go-to podcast for a candid and comedic look at the rollercoaster of motherhood. Hosted by Ellie and Emily, two postpartum nurses and moms, this show offers a blend of heartfelt stories and laugh-out-loud moments. Tune in to hear about the ups and downs of parenting, the importance of taking a breather, and why every mom deserves a minute to herself. Perfect for anyone seeking connection and a good laugh.
Mama Needs A Minute
SIMPLIFYING YOUR SCHOOL ROUTINE
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This week, the mamas are diving in to all of your hacks on making the school routine simple! They share listener submissions and read some of their own easy ways to make the week simple!
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Hello, mamas.
SPEAKER_01I'm Emily. And I'm Ellie. And this is Mama Needs a Minute. I have to tell you what Noe and I did. I have to confess. I have to confess. Give me five Hail Marys and three lashings. I'm not Catholic, but I have to tell you what Noe and I did. What? It's actually not bad at all. I'm making it sound like we like committed a felony. Some people could look at it as creepy. I'm on the edge of my seat. Okay. So Julius heard kindergarten last week, as you recall.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And he is loving kindergarten. And I remember I was like, he almost loves it a little too much. Like he just is so happy to go to school and be picked up and he talks about his day and he just loves it. But there was one aspect that he was kind of sad about. He is very, well, one, he's sensitive, like mommy. So he gets his feelings hurt really easily. But two, he is like so friendly. I don't know. He just is very much like, do you want to play together? Do you want to play? And I know not a lot of kids are like that because they're kindergartners and they're six and they're just like poke and then they run away. Yeah. I get that. Or the stare. Yeah. Or they're just like doing like the gym Z stare. Yeah. Whatever their generation is. But he is not. And I think, I mean, he went to preschool, he went to the gym, daycare a lot. He's just used to being around people he doesn't know and being like, you want to play together? And so, but his first couple days, I think the first day was fine because he saw a friend that he knew from preschool in another class. But then the next couple days, he came home sad about recess time because he knows nobody in his class. And now I'm getting word from a six-year-old. So things could be skewed. But he did come home and say that he was really sad because nobody would play with him. Is this when you're texting me? Yes. And I was like, come back. Yes. Immediately when he's like, I'm sad. I he's like, I asked everybody if they wanted to play with me. And nobody did. First of all, I'm bawling. I'm sobbing myself to sleep over this because I'm picturing him just like kicking a rock on the side while everyone else is playing some fun game. Yeah. And he's like, this one kid. I will not say names, but I know it. This one kid was playing a really fun game and he wouldn't let me play, but he let another kid play. Oh, he's on my list now. Yeah. Watch your back, six-year-old. Yeah. And all jokes and games. I was sad for him. Because I was like, I'm just picturing him being so sad at recess. And nobody knowing him. And beat up that kid. Well, have you seen? No, but have you seen This Is 40? No. With um Paul Rudd and the funny, she's in everything, and she's so funny. That was that reminded me of that. There's a similar situation. Her six-year-old was getting bullied by this little boy, and the mom showed up outside the school. No. I'll show you later. You know what it reminds me of? Remember that movie Daddy Daycare? Yes. When he goes, see you tomorrow, Chris Bin. I'm like, I don't know you, six-year-old, but you're on my list. I'm just like, you're the cynical. We were like, okay. And then I said, you know what? Let's just find somebody else that's nice to play with that will want to play with you. Six-year-olds are shy. Maybe they just don't, maybe they're saying no because they're scared or they feel shy and they don't really know how to play with each other yet. Maybe they didn't go to preschool and they don't know how to just play with somebody they don't know. So he was like, okay. So then the next day he came home and he was excited again because he said he played a game with a couple friends. And I was so excited, but I was still nervous because I was like, okay, what if this was just a one-time thing? This one kid randomly played with him and he's back to kicking rocks and I'm crying my eyes out. So Noe and I, I know when his recess time is because I know their schedule. We parked across the street from the school during recess time in this like church parking lot. And Noah has the newest iPhone. So the zoom, like you can zoom in like 20 times 24 or whatever. Why didn't you just bring binoculars? We don't have binoculars, we aren't binoculated people. But we zoomed. So we zoomed in times 24 on my phone, on his phone, and stalked him that way through re through the phone. That's actually kind of fun. And he was doing so good. He was playing with these two friends and they were running around and he looked so happy. And we were like, oh my god, he's doing fine. It was just that couple days when he didn't know anybody. No, one once. Okay. Yeah, he was playing with this one little boy, and they were playing zombies, he said. And then I said, When he I knew he was playing with another little girl, but obviously I didn't tell him we were stalking him because I'm not like weird. Also, if he goes to school, he's gonna tell the teacher. Or if he starts jerking around for you and says, Yeah, there's my mommy and daddy over there in that car watching. No, we didn't tell him. Well, this is what I did tell Ellie because when she was texting me and was like, Oh my gosh, we have to pull Julian out of public school because one kid said he didn't want to play that game, he wanted to play another game. And I was like, Whoa. I was thinking about it and I was like, I wonder if it just seems like a lot of like kids, little boys, play differently if they have a house full of boys or if they're the only child compared to like if they have a sister. Yeah, they just play differently a hundred percent. Yeah, and he is still very like, don't get me wrong, he likes football, he likes baseball and basketball and soccer. He loves playing sports and he loves watching soccer with his dad and what yada yada. But he's very much still like uh let's pretend to be Pokemon, let's pretend to be zombies, yeah. Let's like play make-believe. He's still in like his dinosaur Pokemon era. And I feel like a lot of boys his age are like kind of into other stuff that he's not really, he doesn't really want to play that. Yeah, and so he'd rather play like dinosaurs with his sister than throw a football. So it gets hard. I get that. Yeah, everyone plays differently, but in my head, I was like, great, this is horrible. The sadness thing though, like, I mean, I I even remember in like fifth grade being like, I don't really want to go to school. You do you remember that? Yeah. I mean, you just have to be like, bye. Even Nora got sad like the second Monday. Yeah, she got a little teary. Yeah, but like it does get easier because like you know more people. So like her friends saw her and they're like, Come on, Nora, let's go walk in together. And that is easier than kindergarten, but I mean, there's always like some bad days. And then there was like another day where he was like, I couldn't find my classroom, and he was like trying to find his classroom, and I'm like, okay, again, now I'm picturing him just lost in the school. Oh my god, holding his little backpack that's like two times his size. People are pushing him to the ground because they're stuffing him in a locker they found. But in reality, he probably took one wrong turn. Yeah, and he's like, But he's also so like emo and dramatic like me. And I can't even fault him for that. I'm the same way, but he literally, I can picture him turning the corner being like, Well, I'm not going to school now because I'm lost in the hallway and nobody cares. Yeah. Like literally, he is zero to a hundred like that. Now, Mila, my my three-year-old, no, I have no, she has won't have no issues like that. Yeah. I mean, if she can't find her way, she would probably like find the intercom and announce it overhead. Ellie and I are in my dining room right now. We've never recorded in my dining room before, and it feels very formal. It does. I feel I feel like Barbara Walters on 60 Minutes. Okay, which some people will get what I'm saying. Because I was telling her when she said that at first, I said, Oh, in the untraceable accent. It's untraceable. Like untraceable, like nobody knows where she came from, or nobody knows how she developed this accent. That's half British, but also like American and also kind of Australian, and uh it just is just untraceable. Do you think she's interviewed so many people that she's just like confusing her own language at this point? She picked up on a bunch of different yes. You know how you know British people come to America to be like actors or something, they kind of lose their accent, vice versa. Maybe she's not real because she has to be 127. Well, let's see. What's her name? Barbara Hold. We just said it. It's so bad lately. You're like, who are we talking about again? Oh my god, she died. She did win. Oh my god, she's dead. Is she rest in peace? Four years ago. Oh no. Oh my god. She died. She was on New Year's Eve Eve. She was old. Wow. Wow, what a life. Yeah, this. Yeah, she was old. She's so pretty. Um and we'll read to that. Another one bites the dust. Wow. Bummer. Oh my god. Damn. Okay. Anyways, speaking of Hayden. Are you okay? Are you? That's sad. So sad. I just think of her in Remember the Titans. Okay, that's funny that that's your iconic memory of her because that shows our like five-year age gap. Mine, I remember her as the Ice Princess. Oh wow. Yeah. Ice Princess movie. Which her scene partner, her co-star, what was her name? Michelle Trindenberg also passed away like a year or two ago. And I think also from like a an overdose. Is that what they've officially labeled it? They're calling it an overdose. They said that they found Narcan in her apartment, and the police audio has come out, like the 911 audio, and they said like possible overdose on it. So that's what they're saying. She was sober, supposedly, because she was just on a tour, like a podcast tour. She had just come out with a memoir. She did J Shetty. Yes, Jay Shetty. And so seemingly she was sober. So this is kind of That's really sad. Yeah. Yeah, I hate that. And bring it on. Did you watch her crump it up? Yeah. People have been grief crumping. Yeah, but I not grief crumping. What do you mean? They've just been doing the dances. You know what the crumping was on bring it on? Remind me. Crumping was something that she did. It was so cringy in the movie. But it was when she was crump, it was a type of dance that she did with her the guy she liked. Do you remember?
SPEAKER_00And it was like called crumping.
SPEAKER_01So now people on TikTok have been grief crumping for her. Imagine trying to explain this to like your great-grandmother. No, but if I died and everyone was grief-crumping for me, honestly, I'd be honored because just the fat, the cringiness of a crump, and you're doing it for me on the internet. If you could know your death date, would you know it? No. Me either. Me neither. But some people would. I mean, I would love to know it if it was like when I'm like 97. And then I just would know, oh my God, yay. I've got this whole life now ahead of me. I don't have to worry about death because I do, I'm one of those that like has anxiety about death really, really bad. So to know I like lived in 97. But then that could be bad because now I'm like jumping out of planes and shit. And I'm fearless because I'm like, I ain't dying until I'm 97. So what does it matter what I do? Well, that's and then does that alter my death date if I do that? Have I altered the timeline? You know what saying I hate? Live every day like it's your last. Well, who's gonna do the fucking laundry? Yeah. If I'm busy jumping out of plane. I think this exact thought all the time. Especially if you have like a, you know, like a bad day with your kids or something, and you're like, great, like I could get in a car accident tomorrow, and my last day with my kids was me yelling, do the fucking dishes. I don't yell like that at my kids, but maybe my husband. Do kids do the dishes? No, no, neither, but maybe they should be. That was just my first thought. Mela likes to help me load the dishwasher. You know what though? Nora did, you know, we got those bad storms here, and um, we had a lot of sticks in our yard. And I said, if you go out and help daddy for an hour pick up sticks, and she was hoofing it. Really? Yeah. And what was the if if you could she got five okay, money? Yeah, yeah. And then some sweet friend of hers took her to the state fair. Their listeners shout out because you weren't going. I ain't going. You weren't going. I we are thinking about going on the very last day. I figured like the the crowds will be died down. Sure. It's the last day. Yeah. Number two is still had this idea. Yeah, yeah, no. I'm the original thought of this idea. And number two, it's only supposed to be like 77 and cloudy. Yeah, no one will be there. Yeah. Yeah. I am the smartest woman alive. And nobody else will have this thought. You're like, everybody else is probably going when it's 103. Yes. Because that's when they're going to be most comfortable. 100%. Yeah. But like nobody wants a corn dog when it's 77. Wow. They only want one. When's the last Sunday? Yes. Okay. Wow. And also school. It's like last year we could go anytime. Now we can't go on a Wednesday night. Yeah. And that brings me to the next thing I was going to tell you. I am nesting like a motherfucker right now. Yeah. So bad. But not nesting. Kind of early. Yeah. But I knew I was nesting when last night at 9 38 p.m. I had a paper towel and I was on my hands and knees, individually scraping at the floorboards in the bathroom, and I was like washing each little individual section with a paper towel and myself on the ground, like Cinderella. And I was like, I literally stopped, checked my phone, and was like, it is 9.38. Yeah, that's crazy. This is crazy work. I must be nesting. Is maybe coming early? God, I hope not. I hope not either. Today when this airs, I'll be 27 weeks or 28. This is very early. Well, I don't know what to tell you. But did you know me to scrape the floorboards before pregnancy? Uh no. Maybe it's also because both the kids went to school. Yeah, and I have to keep myself. Well, it was 9 38, they were home, but yeah. Also, maybe I'm like keeping your. But I have been like insane with home projects because I'm like, I have, I don't want to just like sit here. I have the urge to get everything done. And for some reason, this baby's gonna come out of my cooch and be like, let me see the bathroom remodel. Show me the floorboards now. I want to make sure everything's spotless. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It'll be like, let me see the new curtains. Like wearing a white glove and they're gonna walk around and like wipe everything. So I have been doing so many home projects. All these things on my Pinterest board that I've been like neglecting because we moved in and then we just had littles. Yeah. Couldn't get anything done. And I'm like going through it all. And I hope by the time the baby comes, I've finished all my home projects because then I'm not gonna wanna do anything. Yeah. Oh yeah. No. And then I'll just be sitting in my house for three months, like, I love it here. Yeah. So it's been fun. I just did the kids' bathroom and we created, I had no place for backpack drop-off.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you know how you have your little, it's like um they can put their little hooks. Yeah, they can put their backpack. And yes, and you have the little bench, yeah, right when you walk in. I don't have anything like that. So last year for Julian for preschool, the bag was just getting thrown or it was getting left in the car, and then my husband was calling me, where's the backpack? And I'm like, fuck, it's in my car. He's not going with a backpack today. Can't do that shit in kindergarten. No, this is serious. This is serious business. Scholarships are on the list. They're six now. So, and Mila's in preschool too. She's got a backpack and shit. So we created a little area by the garage. It's got hooks, they're level, so they can come and hang their own backpacks. It's got a shoe bench. Oh. They can put their school shoes. Yeah. It's perfect. Which kind of is like exactly what we're talking about today, but yes, hacks. Hacks. Of course. Let's hack her up. What's your hat? Okay, don't look at my phone. Always. I'm not, I'm looking at honey. Coffee's settling. Give it our screen. That's not my coffee. That is, I think, the honey. I stopped at this coffee shop before coming here because my husband's a coffee snob, so he needs fresh whole bean coffee. And so you have such a convenient location. You're nearby so many cute little coffee shops. So I stopped at one. And I got their summer. It was called like the summer latte. It's honey, vanilla, and macadamia nut milk. Oh. And then she put some kind of colesbum on top, but that's the honey that has settled in the bottom. Wait, this is one of my hacks. What? Get a honey stirrer? No. I just got a coffee, a new coffee. I needed a new coffee maker. Mine was like this very, it was, it was not making good coffee. I cleaned it, did all the things. It was like a $10 coffee machine. And guess what it has on it? What? A timer. I knew you were gonna say that right when it came in the back. And then I also got a little grinder to grind my beans because I You're also a coffee snob. Yeah. I've gotten a little snobby. But I that is one of my hacks. It's to get a coffee. Get everything ready the night before. Yeah. Like I get my coffee maker ready to so it goes off in the morning, which is so nice to get out of bed and you can smell the coffee. Yes. So that'll really wake you up. Yes. We have been, Ellie, I think I've talked about this before, and Ellie knows this. I put my house to bed anyways. But Marco and I are sick of getting up, and there's like 10 minutes worth of dishes to put away sitting in the dryer. Yeah. We've been putting them away the night before. Okay. We have been doing everything the night before. Lunches are packed the night before. So that in the morning it's just like one less thing. Get my breakfast made the night before. Like I'll do like overnight oats or something ready to go. That's more because I neglect myself a lot in the mornings. Like I give enough time for them, and then I'm like, I didn't give myself enough time to even eat myself. Yes. Yeah. No, I get, and I've also the last couple Sundays, I've spent like an hour getting a few meals ready because the evenings are so busy lately. So I'm like, it's one less thing. And then we're not like, oh, well, let's just go to Chick-fil-A or something. Yes. It's one less thing to have to do in the evening. And my gosh. It's almost like, remember that old Disney movie where the house was like a robot and just do everything for you. That's what it feels like. It feels like my house got my coffee ready. Yes. Like I'm like, oh, thank you. I need, yeah, I need everything to come with a timer. Like somehow the crock pot turns on by itself. And the chicken's already in there, but for some somehow, it doesn't go bad. I have not used my crock pot lately, and I need to. Oh my god, the crock pot. Or just like Matilda, where you just can walk around the kitchen in the morning and just be pointing at stuff and it just starts. Remember? No, but yeah, I want to do that. No, I don't remember it though. I've been putting my I haven't been putting my house to bed, but I I've been I've been pre-waking my house up. Is this a pack? No. But I've just been I'm just agreeing with you. We never did that before, made lunches before, set out stuff before. We were very like, let's wake up and rush for 35 minutes. No. It's a horrible way to start the day. It is a horrible way. So now that both of them are school, I was like, hell no. So we've started the night before. We set out outfits. Yes. Oh, the outfits, yes. We didn't do that before. And like Mila, no problem. Again, she's three. She doesn't really have that many opinions on her outfit yet. But Julian likes to pick out his outfits and he has a specific outfit he's got in mind. And so it takes so long for him to pick out his outfit in the morning sometimes. So we set it out the night before, and you've already given his head of approval. You know it's not like they're gonna come down in a whack-a-doodle outlet. It'll be funny though for you, like once Julian is at school more. Because you'll start to see what the fashion trends are for like the second graders. Because at least I did last year with Nora because she started like first of all, tucking her shirts in tight. So I was like, why are we tucking in all of our t-shirts? And then I would see like the second, third, fourth graders walking in like they want to be like the big kids. Yeah. She also in the cooler months was wearing shorts over leggings, and I was like, what are we doing? Yeah. But I also was like, she's dressed, it's appropriate, she's covered, right? The pants are long enough, so I don't even care. But then I started seeing older kids coming in with shorts over their pants. And I was like, I got it. Okay. It's like Regina George wear army pants and flip-flops. So I wore army pants and flip-flops. Yes. Um, I was just thinking about that thought, exactly that thought, when I was pulling out of school pickup today because, or drop-off, because I saw a little boy, probably fourth or fifth grade, head to toe, like Nike down to like the shoes. And I was thinking, I wonder, and of course I made it sad a hundred percent. Yeah, immediately. I was like, there's gonna come a day where I'm like, look, Julian, you want this like dinosaur shirt or this Spider-Man shirt? And he'll be like, No, I want Under Armour. And I'm like, huh? You got Under Armour money? Yeah, right. You got a job. Then we gotta go to TJ Maxx, babe. I have a vivid mind. But like, you know what I mean? Like, they're just gonna stop. Yeah. Wearing it's okay. I'll be so sound. I that reminded me of when but every Friday night, I can't believe my parents had the energy for this. Every Friday night they went to the grocery store without fail. And I'm like, I don't understand. They worked Monday through Friday as teachers, and then we would go to Walmart to get groceries. Friday night. Because they didn't want to do it on the weekend, probably. Yeah, but like that's insane to me. I mean, when do you do your grocery shopping? When Walmart delivers it together. Yeah, I know, I know. I do Instacart, so I get that. So I'm just like, that is so crazy. Like, that probably took so much energy. But my sister and I would be like, oh, can we come because we thought it was fun? And I have a memory in my head of being like, yay, life cereal and Reese Puffs. And my parents being like, let's just pick out a bagged cereal. And we were like, dun, dun, dun. We were like, the off brand? What do you mean? Are we always mommy? Are we poor? Did you lose your job? Like, we were like so like taken aback by this. Yeah, yeah. We we were Aldi. We were an Aldi fam. I'm an Aldi fam now. They have such great vines. But we would go to Aldi a lot, and our parents would always let us pick out like one. Like we need to pick out one grocery item. Yeah, oh yeah. And then we had to shut our traps about the rest of it. Yeah, but shut up. Yeah. I would always pick like cookies or something, and my sister would always pick something like so random that wouldn't make sense at all. Like, I'm gonna get this asparagus. Here's Cami again.
SPEAKER_00I know!
SPEAKER_01She just would always do weird shit like that. She's like, I want mangoes. Well, I'm like, what the fuck? Have we ever recorded an episode without talking about camera? I don't know, but I don't even know. She never mentions it. So maybe she's not a true listener anymore. Here's my hacks. I got two. And I'm new to the school world. So these are just things that have helped me in the last two weeks, and I'm now gonna continue.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Number one school drop off and pickup are now on my list. Well, next to the kid that won't let Julian play with them is school drop-off and pickup. I've heard this. I mean, it takes forever. Like, how long? Whether you're the first person in because I people are religious about like they they get there like an hour before, and I only know that because sometimes I've had to get there an hour before, which I'll tell you about in a minute. But they're like there an hour before, like front of the line every day. I'm like, you're waiting the same amount of time as me in the back of the line. Yeah. You just waited a whole hour. If I have to wait a whole hour to be in the back of the line, but she's gonna get out faster. I get that. No, but also I have a theory, I think that those people who get there at that time are work from home people and they bring their laptop and like work done while they're just sitting there. Well, in the morning, it's not as bad because I have to drop off Mila at the same time, anyways. But in the afternoon, she gets out an hour before Julian does. So if I drive home, stupid, stupid, I'm gonna be home for 20 minutes, just sitting there, shaking my leg, anxious, just to be like, all right, let's get back in the car. Now Mila's pissed. Yeah. Because she just got cozy at home. Yeah. Can't do that. So we have to go right from her school to his school. Yeah. And a couple of times now we've stopped at like the library on the way because it's right, you know, near there. So we can just like hit that up. But most of the time we're sitting in that car rider lane, and it is ridiculous. And I hate it for her and I hate it for me. Like we're both bored as hell in this car rider line. But I know eventually it'll get faster because it's only like the second week of school, and I think things will go faster. In general, it's just it's and it's not their fault that I have to be there an hour early. It's just the way it has to be. But one thing I've done to help, which is probably so obvious when everybody's probably like, duh, we've done this forever. Is I bought these two little tote bags. They were like clear tote bags. They were like $12 for a two bag out Aldi. Aldi. In the Aldi finds. And I put coloring books in their tote bags, crowns, crowns, in their tote bags, markers, books, a couple books, and they're like little drawing pad things that they have in there. So now we're on the car rider lane. I can like pull stuff out and give it to her. Yeah. And I keep everything together in their own individual totes because they'll know if the marker was theirs or they somehow know. They like check for fingerprints. And so I can keep everything separate, everything's together. They each have their little tote. Yeah, I love that. And I kept seeing people say, pick them up with a snack. Don't pick them up empty-handed. Always bring like a snack. So I was doing that, and they kept like refusing my snack. And then I think Julian was like, Why the hell do you keep offering me a snack? Because he finally was like, Why? When I was like, Do you want a snack? He's like, Why? I'm like, I don't know. Are you hungry? No. Okay. Well, never mind then. Really? Yes. I feel like Nora's ravenous when she gets help. I kept bringing snacks and I kept like trying to, I'm like, eat the snack. Never like he was like, Why do you keep doing this? Stop. Yeah, like I thought you'd be hungry. My second hack, and I just learned this, and I've I was waiting until I had used it for a couple weeks to check the authenticity of it. And it works so well. If you have a daughter or son that you're putting those tiny little rubber bands in their hair, you know, the ones that hurt, like hell pulling out. Yeah. I didn't want her to be scared. I wanted to do her hair more now that school started because I like it out of her face. So she's not like throwing her hair out of her face all day. Yeah. And I like doing her hair. It's fun. It's I like doing it. But I didn't want her to start getting annoyed with the hair because of the tiny little rubber bands that you have to yank out of their hair at the end of the day and just not want to do it eventually. So I was looking everywhere for a hack for this, like how to get these rubber bands. Like, how are people doing this? You go on TikTok or Pinterest, and people are putting 25 rubber bands in their daughter's hair, and you're like, now how the hell are you pulling those out at the end of the day? There ain't no way. So when she was little and I first thought of this, I got one of those hooks. It looks like Maui's hook, but in the inside of the Maui. Yes. It's the only way you can describe it. Or a J, I guess. And in that J part, like the bottom of her, is a little razor, like kind of like uh just so yeah. And you're supposed to hook that hook into the rubber band. Yeah. Okay, I don't recommend that at all because that is just there is no forgiveness at all. You get a little tiny piece of hair in with that hairband, it's coming out too. And what did I do? I cut a chunk of her hair out at like two years old. Oh no. Yes. Because I hooked it in there, but I didn't, I had there was hair stuck in there too, and it just all comes together. There's no wiggle room. Yeah. I don't recommend that. So then what'd you do? So then this year I tried this her hair thing came with little scissors, and I tried that too, but you're still having to like pull up a piece of it to get the little scissors in to cut it. She's pissed off again because I'm yanking her hair up and she's like, leave me alone. I looked everywhere. A lot of moms online said to do this, and I've been doing this new thing. And oh my gosh, magical. It's lemon like oil, like lemon oil. It's an essential oil. It's like $5 at Walmart. Yeah. Not lemon juice like you'd buy in the cooking aisle. A little thing of lemon essential oil. You put it on the rubber band. You can either use a Q-tip if you want to be like really direct about where you put it, or I just literally dab a dot of it on the rubber band and it disintegrates the rubber band and breaks it open. It is magic. It is magic. So at the end of the day, I just dot, dot, dot, dot, and they all break apart. And then you can just pull them out of her hair. It is magical. And I was worried because lemon, I'm like, is it gonna dye her hair or mess with her scalp? It hasn't done none of that. And also, she gets her hair, she gets her hair wet every night in the bathtub. We don't wash it every night, but she's getting her hair wet every night in the bath. So I've not like done it and then woken up the next day and like it would probably be greasy. She's not good for her scalp. But yeah, I saw a lot of people using rubbing alcohol too or acetone. And I was like, no, I don't want that on her scalp. But the lemon oil, essential oil. What? And now and she does not mind it at all. It doesn't smell bad to her. Obviously, it smells like lemons. And she just says, Well, like, can you take my rubber bands out? Like, she doesn't care anymore. Beautiful hack if you have little little people that you're putting rubber bands in there. That's mine. I love that idea. Yeah. So if you if you try it out, let me know. Great idea. Yeah, I know. What did other people say? Someone said, I pray to the morning gods that both kids wake up on the right side of the bed. That's the hack. Yeah, that's hilarious. That's a funny hack. One word, crock pot. That's what we were just talking about. I need more crock pot meals because I only know like, I really only know like fall. I really only pull the crock pot out for fall meals, like chili or you know? Yeah, I do use it a lot in the fall and the winter. But you know what we used to do all the time, and it was so easy and so delicious. We did chicken and a jar of salsa, and then we'd throw in like corn, and then you just leave it all day and it shreds up, and you can put it on tacos, on rice. Yummy. And it makes a lot, but guess what? This is when we both worked normal office hours out of the house. The power went out. Chicken ruined. Natty. That's so gross. They should like it, should have a thing where it calls you at work. And it's like, this is your crock pot speaking. We better get home. What would I have done then? I don't know. And I think I knew. I was like, I bet our power went out at home. I need more crock pot meals because like they're both starting soccer next month. So I need more because again, then we get home at like eight o'clock and we're like, crap, we still haven't even eaten dinner. It's gonna be chicken fries. No, and I feel like every crock pot meal makes literally enough for the entire week. Yeah, that's nice. Yeah. I like to meal prep something that's gonna last me quite a few days. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I can answer emails and do other family planning while playing hide and seek with my younger kids. I'm doing that as I type this. Oh my god, that's so funny. You're like, I'll find you in one minute. Answering an email. Gosh, you guys are so good at this game. Oh, I still can't find you if she hides. Yeah, and then you never find her spot that keeps him busy for a while. Oh, that's hilarious. And you can hear them. Yeah. So you know they're safe. They're just looking for you. Yeah, that's funny. That's so funny. Type A mom here. Ah, hello. Unite. Sundays are our reset days. We pick out outfits for the week, fold them, put them in a basket in the kids' bathroom. There are five shirts, five shorts, five undies, five socks. All interchangeable. It's something so small that has helped speed up our mornings. I like that they're interchangeable. What a great idea. Oh, like she can wear Mondays on Wednesdays or she can like wear a Monday shirt with Wednesdays bottoms. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that is a good idea. I love the idea of picking one day a week that you reset your entire life. Love, love that idea. I work night shift and my schedule changes every week. That never ever could work for me. Because if I work setting out at night, now what? Like I'm gonna be sleeping half the day. Am I just supposed to leave it up to Noah to have to reset the whole house? That doesn't seem nice. Yeah. But maybe it's just little reset. Yeah. No, I get that. Are you shaking your leg? Yes. Oh my god. I was like, why is it shaking? I thought the dog was shaking. I do that. Oh my gosh, a leg shaker disorder. Stop it. Anxiety disorder. Okay. This is something I adapted from my mom growing up, but pick two or three, if needed, days a week, and those days are the days you do all the laundry. Yes, wash, dry, and put away. It makes it so much more manageable for me. So she just picks two specific days. Like Mondays and Wednesdays are my laundry days. And now I do everything. I feel like every day is my laundry day. I know. You just never, you can just never get rid of it. Yeah. Yeah. But I had a friend growing up who would do that. They didn't have like laundry baskets. And so they just threw their laundry in the laundry room. And by like Sunday, it was a mountain of laundry. And then they had different loads for every color. That's how much laundry they have. Yeah. So it was like red, orange, yellow, green, blue. Yeah. I keep mine separate for my kids because I don't like to sift through my stuff to try and find theirs. Yeah. If I'm missing something, I'll know it's either in their dirty laundry, their clean laundry, or in their like room. Yeah. We have our stuff, towels, and their stuff. Yeah, I do separate towels. Yeah. And I separate whites. Yeah. I don't do light and dark. No, it's it's that's an outdated term. Yeah. It's for past. It's 2026. No, I do not do that. No. And again, that would be hard for me because I work different days every week. Yeah. The older kids have a routine chart. They mark off with things like getting dressed, brush teeth, fill their school water bottle, and feed the dog. I keep a spray bottle of water and comb by the door to fix hair, and I pick their clothes out for the week ahead of time. The picking the clothes out. Yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah, and Nora is it is nice when they're at the age where it's like, okay, get dressed. Yeah. Tidy up your bedroom. Like, or at least your bed. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's a teen changer. They may act like they don't. They love a routine. I love a routine. Okay. I love those routines and those hacks to make life so much easier. I knew somebody was gonna talk about a crock pot. I just knew that was gonna be in there. I forgot the crock. Yeah. I need a I don't even know how we would portray this, but I need an episode where people just send me in all their recipes and then I just keep them. I don't even need to air them. I'll just like text you guys. You know what I saw? Um, I don't know. I ended up on the weird side of the internet. Have you heard of this? That people who are like hikers and go on like 13-mile hikes that they have it's like this bag that you put on the inside of your shorts. It's called a crotch pot. And it warms it up from the heat of your crotch. Disgusting. This girl put chicken in her crotch pot. So we're at in the crotch. Is it like a panty liner? Or is it like on the thigh? No, it was like on the front of her panties. So weird. So not like under the chicken. It's like towards the I had a lot of follow-up questions. It was a video where somebody was making fun of her as they should. Yes. I mean, like, what are we doing? That's disgusting. So I'm gonna go ahead and say it was pre-cooked chicken that she was trying to rehearse. Warm up with the her own heat of her crotch. Crotch pie. And why crotch? Could we have done like a boob pot? I hate the word crotch. I hate the word crotch too. Crotch. Or like a neck pot. My neck gets sweaty. Right. Yeah. Or like a belly pot. Yeah. And just strap it to your belly. Like everywhere is sweating when you're on a 13-mile hike. Why did somebody think, you know, would be a really good place for this? It's probably the hottest part. My cooch. I don't know. Crotch pot is clever. Because I get some back sweat, like no other. Yeah. We could have done back pot. And the person that was making fun of her was like, now she's just gonna eat her chicken crotch pie, which I did think that was funny.
SPEAKER_00Chicken crotch pie. Her crotch noodle soup. So bad. Her crotchos, like tacos. Yeah. Her nachos. So gross. Her tater crotch.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna pass out. Okay. Next week's advice. I hope everybody sent in all their questions because we have the best advice you could ever find this area of the Midwest. Yay! Undoubtedly. I love it. Have a great weekend. See you in a minute.