November 18, 2025 • 47 mins
Holiday hosting shouldn't feel like a traffic jam in your kitchen with chaos everywhere and you questioning all your life choices. You want everyone to have fun, make memories, and stay out of your way while you get the meal on the table. We're sharing 7 low-prep, high-joy Thanksgiving activities that keep everyone engaged so you can actually enjoy the day instead of just surviving it.
Stop letting Thanksgiving chaos steal your joy—hit subscribe and get easy activities that create connection without adding to your hosting stress.
Note: This is a re-aired episode with timeless Thanksgiving hosting tips. These activities work whether you're hosting 5 people or 25, and none of them require Pinterest-level planning.
- Click here for this episode’s blog post with links to sources and even more content.
- Stay connected: Subscribe to our newsletter!
—
Who Should Listen
This episode is for anyone hosting Thanksgiving who wants their guests entertained and connected (without needing a degree in event planning or losing their minds in the process).
—
What You Get In This Episode
- Two gratitude activities that work for shy guests and chatty ones alike (one involves candy, one becomes a keepsake)
- Quick icebreakers that get teens, grandparents, and new partners laughing together in minutes
- A clever setup trick that keeps people bonding without awkward small talk pressure
- Movement ideas that give everyone fresh air and reset energy between courses
- The seating strategy that ditches the kids' table and actually works better
- A tradition you can start this year that becomes a living record of everyone who's shared your table
- Bonus hosting hacks: cozy extras and a quick fix for your garbage disposal that'll save your sanity
—
Bios
Caitlin brings her signature blend of humor and practical advice to help overwhelmed moms navigate the challenges of hosting—including Thanksgiving dinners that don't end in tears (yours or theirs). With Jenny, who brings real talk about keeping your sanity while creating memories.
—
Sources & Mentions
- Check out the PureWow article on Thanksgiving activities by Emma Singer and Stephanie Sengwe
- Get the printable M&M Gratitude Game: Visit the blog post for this episode and click on the link to access the printables.
- Visit the blog post for more activities and the book that Jenny mentioned!
Donations
The best support is a rating and a share.
Love,
CK & GK
View our website at ckandgkpodcast.com. Find us on social media @ckandgkpodcast on
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Thanks, y'all!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Hey Caitlin.
SPEAKER_00 (00:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (00:29):
Did you ever read the Babysitters Club books?
SPEAKER_00 (00:32):
Yes, actually, I did read a few of them.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Okay, so you know that like everyone in the
Babysitters Club had like alittle role?
SPEAKER_00 (00:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (00:39):
Okay, so Christy was the president and Claudia was
the vice president and Stacy wasthe treasurer.
Yeah.
Do you know that her favoriteday was Does Day?
Oh Lord.
SPEAKER_00 (00:51):
Wow.
Oh longest setup ever.
But I love it.
It's so dad jokeish, but likeonly for girls who read those
books.
Right?
So good.
I love it.
Hilarious.
Guys, we're so glad you're heretoday.
We're halfway into November.
We're thankful.
We're thankful.
Oh yes.
(01:12):
Yes.
We're thankful that you're here.
We're halfway into Novemberalready.
And somehow Thanksgiving iswhat?
Like in a week and a half, aweek and a half or something
like that?
SPEAKER_01 (01:21):
Yeah, it's very close.
Oh my gosh.
Because I love Thanksgiving.
You do.
SPEAKER_00 (01:25):
We realize this is a little early for a Thanksgiving
episode.
So here's the thought process.
Okay.
We're sharing 10 to 11-ishThanksgiving activities to keep
everyone entertained and out ofyour face, basically, for
Thanksgiving, right?
While you are busting your buttin the kitchen.
Family is lovely.
(01:46):
Yes?
This is what we like aboutThanksgiving.
Family.
However, family also brings thestress, right?
Like they're just like major.
Yes.
So stick around.
We've got that coming up foryou.
We're gonna keep your family outof your hair and keep them
entertained on Thanksgiving Day.
Yes.
Love it.
(02:06):
Love it.
But first, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
Caitlin, new kids on the block, you know they're back
together.
SPEAKER_00 (02:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:13):
And they're like touring.
They wrote a new Thanksgivingsong just about you.
SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
Ooh, I can't wait to hear what this is.
SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
She's got the right stuff.
Caitlin.
SPEAKER_02 (02:24):
Yay!
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
Stephanie's my favorite.
That's my favorite.
I prepared for this episode inthe shower, which is where, you
know, you do your creativethinking.
And I just let the wheels runwild.
SPEAKER_00 (02:38):
I have decided that I need one of those in-shower
notepads because I have the bestarguments with all the people
and the best ideas in theshower.
Right?
Like the best ones.
And I'm like, why?
Why did I not make the bestargument?
That's so good.
The argument with the with allthe people that you're like, if
(03:00):
I could tell you the real truthabout what I think about you and
all the things, and you justlike it all just flows.
And then you can like rearrangeit.
Maybe I'm the only one who doesthis.
I'm just gonna stop.
Well, you are my bestie, andJenny, I just adore you.
So thank you for being here withme and for making me laugh this
(03:20):
morning already because the HotMass Express has a picture on
the side of it this morning, andit's me.
I need it.
So you cut out for a second.
SPEAKER_01 (03:30):
I didn't hear what Leslie Nope had to say about me.
SPEAKER_00 (03:32):
Well, she called you a gorgeous purebred poodle.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
Oh please, like I want to have my little claws
painted.
SPEAKER_00 (03:42):
Yes, or like the and like the edges, like your your
ends dyed pink.
SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
Oh, yes, absolutely.
That's it.
And the little ball of fur on mytail.
SPEAKER_00 (03:51):
Mm-hmm.
So poof.
I this is the time of year thatI have to watch Best in Show.
unknown (03:56):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (03:56):
And I always think about Butch, the the poodle in
Best and Show, and what wouldhappen they are with that poodle
and how like her weird haircutis and the pom-pom's keeping
Butch's hip joints warm and allthat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah.
So good.
So good.
SPEAKER_01 (04:16):
Oh man, I was watching some uh Guinness World
Record videos.
I know we're not talking aboutobsessions, but I might be a
little obsessed with this rightnow.
And anyway, like they show theselike 30-second clips of people
breaking records.
There was one where this dude issolving Rubik's cubes while
juggling them.
No.
(04:37):
But the thing that makes thisconnect to poodles is there was
one where the guy makes balloonanimals through his nose.
Ew.
And he like folded a poodle withthe balloon coming out of his
nose.
The sale that people come upwith.
SPEAKER_00 (04:54):
Right?
SPEAKER_01 (04:55):
Like he's got a plaque.
He's got a plaque.
I he's a world record holder forfastest balloon animal made in a
nose.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:04):
Oh, okay.
I just don't even have words.
I don't have words.
I don't know what to say.
It's just weird.
Wow.
Okay.
So we are going to go ahead andget into it.
Let's.
This is already off the rails.
That's how you can tell this hotmess express is interesting this
morning.
Okay, so we're talking aboutactivities for you and your
(05:28):
family to do, or for you to setup for your family, or someone
else to set up for your family,so that you can keep everyone
out of your hair, keep everyonehappy, and and you know, have
some fun along the way.
My sources today are a Pure Wowarticle called 38 Thanksgiving
Activities to Keep the WholeFamily Entertained and Squabble
(05:50):
Free by Once again Emma Singer,but she also I feel like you
need to get an Emma Singertattoo.
I think I do.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna get thethe the heads of the podcast,
and then I'm just gonna say,like, brought to you by Emma
Singer.
Like I'm love it, love it.
Like, I need to just make surethat I'm following this woman on
all the platforms so that I can.
(06:12):
And if you're like not taggingher in her episodes, we need to.
Oh, she shows up in all of ourshow notes, just putting that
out there so that anytimesomeone searches for her,
hopefully it comes up.
But there's that.
But she also has a co-writer onthis one that's Stephanie
Sengway.
So Emma Singer, StephanieSangway, thank you for the
inspiration.
We are not obviously sharing all38, but we do have a link to
that article in the show notesfor today.
(06:34):
Absolutely.
So Thanksgiving.
We're talking about beingthankful.
Some of these activities have tobe about gratitude.
Absolutely.
Yes.
So we've got a couple here.
One of them is the MM gratitudegame.
And if you're a teacher,especially if you teach math,
you've probably seen someversion of this game before,
(06:57):
right?
I think I saw this game when Iwas in college and it had
something to do with drinks.
Oh, there is that option too,yes.
But when I've done it for math,it was everyone gets a little
thing of MMs, and then we turnit into a bar graph of different
colors of MMs, right?
Right, right, right, right,right.
This is every color of MM isassigned a gratitude topic.
(07:23):
For example, red would be I'mthankful for a person.
Orange is I'm thankful forsomething in nature.
Yellow is I'm thankful forsomething in my house that's not
a person, right?
Like things like that.
Whatever.
Flip over a queen and the personto your right drinks.
Oh, sure.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
So what you do is you open upthe bag of MMs, everyone like
(07:46):
picks up an MM, and then theyjust go around and say, Oh, this
is a red one.
I'm thankful for my mom.
Done, right?
Great.
Yes.
I love it because I don't knowabout you, but whenever
someone's like, what are wethankful for?
I get like anxious because Ineed structure in that.
I want a sentence frame.
I want someone to tell me, like,okay, are are we all talking
(08:07):
about thankful for our health,which is a game that you guys
have talked about at yourfamily?
Like everyone operates underthat assumption, but I still
feel like I need the sentenceframe.
So this provides those sentenceframes for everyone who's
playing the game.
And it's it kind of goes back tothat whole set everyone up for
success when you're having smalltalk conversations or when
(08:28):
you're just trying to get peopleto open up.
SPEAKER_01 (08:30):
Dude, we love a good sentence starter on CK and GK.
We really, really do.
SPEAKER_00 (08:35):
Also, MMs are you love, Caitlin?
Sentence starters.
Yeah.
I'd be right.
There's also, just so you know,you don't have to make this up
for yourself.
Like if you're struggling tocome up with the what the color
should be, we've got a link tothis exact activity in the blog
post for this episode.
And there's printables that youcan just grab for yourself, but
(08:56):
you could just make it up if youwanted to.
That's fine.
And MMs are always a good bribefor kids.
So just putting that out there.
SPEAKER_01 (09:03):
And depending on how old your group is, it might be
fun for them to brainstorm whateach color is gonna be.
Totally.
You know, if you've got a groupof preteens, that might be fun
for them too.
Like, oh, I'm gonna say that redis something I'm thankful for
online or whatever.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:17):
Oh, that's a great idea.
I love that.
Yeah.
Okay.
The other one about gratitude isa DIY family gratitude tree.
Now, this requires a little bitof prep on your part.
So just putting that out there.
That's why we're doing thisepisode a week before
Thanksgiving, so that you havetime to prep it if you want.
But what you're gonna do isyou're gonna tape a like brown
(09:39):
craft paper tree trunk.
Go find a template online, traceit, don't worry about making it,
whatever.
You can do it with a cardboardthat you have in the house
because we all know I love tosave a good box.
You never know, you hit 35 andyou start saving boxes for
whatever reason.
So you could use a box,paperback, oh, Caitlin.
Doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01 (09:58):
You know, when we moved to Japan in the early 90s,
my dad bought a piano before weeven had a house.
It's the same piano that he'sbeen like watching his whole
life and he's always wanted,whatever.
So he buys this piano.
And of course, my mom's like,what are we gonna do with the
piano?
We don't even have a house yet.
She says, Oh, no, no, no, it'llget delivered once we have a
house.
And so the piano comes in thisgiant box that is like the size
(10:19):
of a coffin.
SPEAKER_02 (10:20):
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01 (10:21):
My dad gifted me that piano when I bought my
first home in 2008 in the box.
Yeah.
You gotta save the box.
17 years he kept this box.
SPEAKER_00 (10:39):
This is why millennials have a problem
throwing away iPhone boxes.
Just put that out there.
Oh, dude.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you're gonna make a brown oroh, that's right.
We're making a turkey.
Right, we're making a turkey.
We're making a tree.
And then just make some leafcutouts.
Also, you can make these out ofyou know you can just print out
leaves from the inner webs andcut them out or whatever.
(11:02):
It's fine.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
I am hearing you say you can make this, you can make
this, but I am replacing thatpronoun with she, she, she, and
passing it off to my12-year-old.
unknown (11:11):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
I'm saying, we're gonna do this tree.
SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
Abigail, you need to make this tree and leaves for
everyone.
Oh, it's a really goodhyperfixation project for
ADHDers, too, putting that outthere.
So you're gonna have these leafcutouts, you're gonna have your
tree up on some place that youdon't mind people taping to.
And what you're gonna do, thinklike a wedding guest book.
Everyone's gonna write somethingthat they're thankful for on the
(11:36):
leaves, and then they're gonnatape it to the tree.
And it's gonna look like fall,and it's gonna be pretty and
nice, and it's something youcould take a picture of and save
for another time.
I used to do an activity similarto this with my students.
I had this big, like kind ofvinyl tree that I not vinyl, but
like cardstock tree that Ilaminated so that I could put
(11:56):
tape over it over and over andover again.
And I had it on the the, I wasin a corner classroom, like the
end of the hallway.
And so I wrapped the tree kindof around the corner wall.
And then every like month orholiday or whatever it was, I
would have these little, youknow, icon designs things, and
(12:16):
the kids would color them andthen say one thing that they
loved about that season.
Dumb.
Yeah.
Stop for just a minute.
SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
You made your hands into a heart, and a heart
floated across the that wasweird.
SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
Is it gonna do it again?
No way! Squad cast, that's rad.
unknown (12:36):
How does that happen?
SPEAKER_00 (12:37):
I don't know, but squad cast, well done.
That's super cool.
If it happens again, you shouldtake a picture of it.
Okay.
I used to do this with mystudents, it was super cute, and
my administrators loved it.
They absolutely loved it.
At the end of your gathering,whatever you're doing for
Thanksgiving, you'll have thistree that has all these like
(12:58):
sweet memories or thankful itemson it or whatever.
You can you can make it bedifferent prompts, just like the
MM game, right?
You can say, This color leaf isfor a memory we have of this
year, this color leaf is for athankful thing, this color leaf
is for something you're lookingforward to in the coming year.
Whatever you want to do.
Oh, cool.
But it could be really nice.
And if you make it sturdy enoughor you are hyper annoying like I
(13:23):
am, and you laminate it orwhatever, you could use it again
and again and again and andchange it throughout the year,
just like I did in my classroom.
So it's pretty cool.
It's a fun idea.
I love it.
Yeah.
Okay, another one.
I have to admit that this isvery the office circa season one
when Michael Scott runs thediversity day episode.
(13:45):
If you know what I'm talkingabout, nice, nice, yes, but less
cringe, right?
Less Lord help us all, right?
So this is an easy game to play.
All you need are some stickynotes and a pen.
Got it?
I have those.
Yeah.
You don't have to make a tree.
Done.
So here's how you play (14:05):
you write the name of a famous
person or a character on asticky note, give one to each
player.
Characters can be dead or alive,fictional, non-fictional,
doesn't matter.
Make sure that the person whoyou assign the character to
cannot see their name.
So you make them stick thesticky note on their forehead,
just like the episode of TheOffice.
(14:26):
And players have to walk aroundthe room and ask yes or no
questions to figure out who theyare.
Now, the only issue I have withthis game is if you have a
teenager and you have uh peopleof much older generations, you
might get some weird TikTokstars or whatever.
(14:48):
So just maybe you write the nameout in advance and you ask for
some suggestions from everyone,right?
But then you don't participateand you give everyone else a
sticky note, and that waythey're all doing it.
You just get to laugh whileyou're making pies in the
background.
Right.
There you go.
Yes.
Okay.
That's a fun one.
Really easy icebreaker.
(15:10):
You give me one.
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Okay.
So I have one that's like, howwell do you really know your
family?
Because at a lot of theseholiday events, not just
Thanksgiving, but you know,this, as we said last year or
last week, the most wonderfultime of the year, you might be
getting together with peoplethat you haven't gotten together
with since maybe last holidayseason.
(15:31):
And it could be a littleawkward, especially for your
kids who don't necessarilyremember these people.
SPEAKER_00 (15:38):
Oh, I'm thinking like, oh, Christmas vacation
when Audrey and Russ are likejust cringing from their
grandparents, like all overthem, and just how uncomfortable
they are.
That's what I have in my headright now.
SPEAKER_01 (15:53):
Yeah.
Yes.
So there is a card game calledDo You Really Know Your Family?
And has all kinds of sillychallenges and like trivia
questions that just stir uplaughter from everyone and then
teach you a few things that youdidn't know about your family.
We do a version of this at ourkids' birthday parties.
We will be like, who knows Kitbest?
(16:15):
And so I'll ask him somequestions beforehand, and then
everyone has to like answerquestions about him.
But again, that requires a lotof prep on my part.
This is something that you canjust like get in a box, which is
why, again, we're telling youthis in advance.
SPEAKER_00 (16:28):
Right.
All about the get in gettinglike as much done in advance
kind of thing, but also like ifI don't have to prep it, I can
just I am very much a throw themoney at the problem kind of
person.
So that sounds great.
I love it.
I actually I have a link to thatgame in the show notes if you
wanted to take a look at it.
You can find it on your favoriteA-Z store.
(16:50):
So easy easy.
Love it.
Okay, this one's for me.
We all know I love a goodpuzzle.
In fact, I love a puzzle somuch.
Oh my god, goodbye.
These people.
Guess whose pumpkin puzzle stillisn't done?
This girl's.
Okay, so if you are looking fora low-key Thanksgiving activity,
(17:12):
this is one where you set it upoff to the side of your space
and you just leave it there.
Now, if you're me, you grab aglass of wine and you sit in
front of the puzzle most of theday once the cooking is done.
However, this could be a greatway to wrap up your day too,
right?
So you just finish, put thepuzzle on the coffee table,
(17:35):
everyone's having their foodcoma, some people are watching
football games, but it's a wayto like kind of calm everyone
down and you give someonesomething to do with their hands
that isn't necessarily doomscrolling, although it is also a
great way to keep people whocannot shop after Thanksgiving
entertained, right?
SPEAKER_01 (17:53):
So I will tell you, like, I am not a puzzle person.
I'm not against puzzles, butlike when I'm thinking of
entertaining myself, I neverlike, oh, puzzle.
But when there is a puzzle out,yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
That's exactly what I'm talkingabout.
It's the weirdest thing.
It's the weirdest thing.
Like it it does become social,and you're like, okay, let's all
do this puzzle.
(18:13):
Right.
I don't know why.
SPEAKER_00 (18:15):
Do it's like weird.
Do you watch New Girl?
Have you have you watched itbefore?
I've not watched New Girl.
Oh, okay.
You need first of all, stop whatyou're doing.
We're canceling this episode.
Go watch New Girl.
But there's a character namedWinston who loves puzzles, and
he's like, oh yeah, and he'slike rubbing his hands together
and he's so funny about puzzles.
And that's how that's how I feelabout them because for me it's a
(18:37):
hyperfixation project, and I getintense dopamine rushes from
putting chunks of piecestogether.
I don't know what it is asidefrom that.
It's gotta be that.
But if there it's uh chaos toorder, right?
And you also know I used to haveone in my classroom that I would
put out for the kids to do, andthen they would just walk by and
do a couple pieces.
SPEAKER_01 (18:57):
Exactly.
Weirdest thing.
Weirdest thing because I am not,I am not a puzzle person.
I'm just not.
But then there's like thismagnetism of, oh, there's a
puzzle setup, I'll I'll do afew.
SPEAKER_00 (19:07):
Right.
Exactly.
It's I don't get it, but it'ssuper fun.
And I'm actually thinking aboutbringing one to my in-laws for
Thanksgiving this year because Ithink I think you should.
Yeah, I think it'd be reallyfun.
And there's tons of Thanksgivingones.
I have a link to one in the shownotes that you can, or it's in
our blog post.
It's not in the show notes, goto the blog post.
But I have a link there if youwanted like a very traditional,
like turkey one.
But there's tons of other justput out any old puzzle.
(19:29):
Nobody cares.
It's fine.
Find one from your attic andthrow it out there.
People are gonna do it.
Don't worry about it.
I mean, it's super familyfriendly, low prep, again, keeps
people out of your hair.
Great way to zen.
SPEAKER_01 (19:41):
And let me give a virtual high five to anyone who
loves to light the world onfire, like me, and like puts
pieces to a puzzle that doesn'tbelong on the table.
SPEAKER_00 (19:50):
Oh Lord.
Yeah, that stresses me outalready.
I just like felt my voice startto shake.
Oh, I just started sweating.
Jenny! Ah, you just made mesweat.
I'm not kidding.
Oh, okay.
Sorry.
I'm good.
I swear.
I this is depending on who youare.
(20:10):
Right.
I this is a hypothetical puzzle.
I am not, there's no real dangerhere.
Okay, so another one.
Flag football.
unknown (20:19):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (20:19):
Need to get outside.
No.
I have been a turkey trout onThanksgiving person one time,
one time only.
And it was big fun.
But I am not that person.
I am much more of a turn on theparade, probably cry during the
parade because it makes mehappy.
And then watch the dog showwhile I cook.
That's my morning, right?
(20:42):
I, though, do love theopportunity to get outside on
Thanksgiving Day becausesomething about that fresh air
just feels really, really good.
So channel your inner seasonthree friends and go work up an
appetite with your family whileplaying flag football.
Not tackle football.
Flag football.
No, no, no, no, no.
Okay.
Calorie burn, fresh air.
(21:03):
Go find out how to play onlinereal easy.
It'll be great.
SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
I told you, I love Thanksgiving.
And there's like so manytraditions around Thanksgiving
and my family, and like a lot ofthem I've adopted into my own
family.
But playing football onThanksgiving, like I did not
make this up.
My family did not make this up.
This is like all American,right?
Right.
When we played growing up, mydad would be all-time
(21:29):
quarterback.
Oh.
Because there were three kids.
So one of us would be on offensewith him, the other two would be
on defense, and we would likerotate through.
Cute.
And so there was like noadvantage.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (21:43):
It's just because my dad's on offense the whole time.
Right.
It's just about also likegetting outside, playing.
Everyone gets a chance to liketry to catch the ball, run the
ball.
Like, yeah, you might keepscore, but like it doesn't
really matter.
SPEAKER_01 (21:57):
Now, let me tell you this.
There's a little bit of sexismaround football on Thanksgiving.
Yes.
Sometimes it's just the guys.
Yes.
I am going to plead if you arein a family where a male of the
family has invited a date forThanksgiving the first time and
(22:19):
you happen to be female, go playflag football with her.
She's going to have this weirdobligation to go play football
because she doesn't know theother people who are staying
inside.
So she's going to be the onlygirl on the field.
Go do it.
Or make an open invitation,like, hey, why don't you come?
(22:41):
Like, all of us are going to goand, you know, do whatever it is
that you're going to do that'snot football.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
Yeah.
I yeah.
The thing about, and I bet thata lot of women can relate to
this.
When the men get together, theyoften group up and talk about
things that interest them.
And then it kind of leaves thewomen in an awkward position
where they have to figure outhow to have a conversation with
(23:07):
this new group of people, orthis woman that they don't know
when they really know the guy,or you know what I mean?
It's it can get reallyuncomfortable.
And as someone who has becomevery good friends with my
husband's really good guyfriends, that often has happened
to me where like I get not for Idon't want to sing hold right.
Or I, or it sounds rude becauseit's not what they mean, but
(23:29):
they ditch the girls and leaveher with me because then I'm the
one who's like supposed to vetthem and and entertain them.
And that's uncomfortable.
Right.
So just extend that invitationto her, have her come outside,
and often like you'll see howmuch fun she really is.
I think it'll be a really goodopportunity for you.
Also, now in my head, because Isaid the Friends episode, I have
(23:52):
Monica Geller going, 42 to 21,like the turkey Ross is done.
In my head, over episode.
That episode is all about thesexism in football.
Have you noticed that?
It's a really good.
Somewhere our dear friend Laurenis like, oh my gosh, you're so
right.
If she's listening.
So, but it's a that's a greatepisode about all of that and
(24:14):
why the girls need to beincluded.
And it ends with them going,Isn't there a national football
league?
And they're like, Yeah.
And he goes, Oh, they yeah, theythey play on Monday nights.
And then Rachel goes, Oh shoot,I work on Monday nights.
Like that's the reason thatshe's yeah, unable to
participate in that is also notavailable on Sundays.
(24:37):
Right.
She's she's terrible.
She'll never make it.
Okay.
So those are mine.
I those kind of encompass someof the personal ones I do too,
but I think this year I'm gonnachange it up and do one of
those.
Do you I know you loveThanksgiving so much, I feel
like you have something to offerhere that's not an art.
SPEAKER_01 (24:54):
I love Thanksgiving so much.
Okay, so we did already talkabout like the gratitude thing.
That is my number one reason Ilove Thanksgiving, is uh in my
family and my extended family,right?
Like we did it as a nuclearfamily, like my parents and my
siblings and I, but it hasexpanded and now we're this big
group and we still continue todo it.
(25:15):
We sit around the table and wesay what we're thankful for.
And you know it's coming.
Right.
Right?
Like you come in saying, okay,I'm gonna have to be thankful
for something.
And we do, like you said, wekind of have this like
understood rule that like youdon't have to say family or
health or financial well-being.
Like we we are very fortunate tohave those things, and we all
assume we're thankful for them.
(25:35):
So you can go beyond that.
I love that.
I love the practicing ofgratitude.
I really enjoy the Thanksgivingseason and like thinking about
what I'm gonna say.
SPEAKER_00 (25:45):
Oh, that's so nice.
I love that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:48):
Again, it's like we're not being put on the spot.
That's why I love that MM gamebecause some of them can be
frivolous.
Like, what article of clothingare you thankful for this year?
Exactly.
Name like that.
unknown (25:58):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
We always take a walk between dinner and dessert.
We walk the dogs.
It is a short walk.
It is not like, oh, we're gonnago do a 5K.
I have done the family 5K.
I have done it many years.
I have run it, I have walked it,we've done it.
I've seen the memes that say,like, don't marry into a family
that does a 5K on Thanksgiving.
(26:19):
Like, I get it.
It it's great.
And when the weather isbeautiful, it's a really cool
way to st it to kick off theday.
But this is this is a this is avery mellow walk.
This is like trying to digestyour food and make room for
dessert.
Dessert, which by the way, in myfamily, you can order a piece of
(26:41):
pumpkin pie or a piece ofraspberry pie or a piece of rum
cake or whatever, or you canhave the classic family order,
the sampler.
At which point my mom will giveyou a slice of every piece of
dessert on your plate.
SPEAKER_00 (26:55):
Can we talk about Raspberry Pi for a second?
I have don't know why this neveroccurred to me.
I have never heard of RaspberryPi in my life.
Is that a thing you guysnormally do?
Okay, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (27:05):
So for those of you who like love computers, I know
Raspberry Pi is like a thing.
Okay, so we're moving thataside.
We're not talking aboutcomputers, we're not talking
about programming, we're talkingabout a dessert.
My mom makes this raspberry piethat, oh my gosh, I'm closing my
eyes, my mouth is watering, justthinking about it.
It has a meringue crust that haslike Ritz crackers in it.
And I know that this is weird.
(27:26):
Oh, the salt.
Super crispy and chewy, yes.
And then raspberries on top ofthat, and then whipped cream.
Way.
Oh my gosh.
So it's not like a baked, is ita it's not a baked pie?
No, it's like a cold.
The crust is baked because it'slike a meringue bag.
Yes.
Yes.
And then the raspberries go ontop and it like sits in the
fridge for a little bit.
(27:46):
So the meringue gets kind ofsoft and chewy on the top and
then still crispy and deliciouson the bottom.
SPEAKER_00 (27:51):
Oh, I was I was picturing like a like a baked
fruit pie, and I had never crustor whatever.
Right, right.
Raspberries are still soft andjuicy.
Yeah, yeah.
I was like, how do you do that?
So I'm also I'm not a thebiggest pie person.
Like I like something about thetexture, I love the flavors, but
the texture of the fruit really,really gets to me.
(28:13):
So I've never been a big pieperson.
However, I do make like morecustardy based pies.
So I've like our dear friendAngela gave me a recipe for her
chocolate pie that I make everyyear, and I use an Oreo crust,
and that's really, really good.
And then I also make a good, Imake a pumpkin cheesecake
usually, because pumpkin pie isnot a big thing in our family.
So I make a pumpkin cheesecake,but I also make a pecan pie,
(28:38):
which is my absolute diehardfavorite, but I put Heathbar
bits in the mix.
So it's like I have heard yousay that.
Oh, it is the best caramel.
And it's already got like thebase of pumpkin pie, or not
pumpkin, I'm sorry, is of pecanpie is carrow syrup.
(28:59):
So it is so sugary, but it'salso got like it's oh, it's just
got a good crunch to it, and ithas that like toffee flavor that
goes along.
Oh, it's so good.
Well, it doesn't, there's nochocolate bits, it's just the
heath on the inside.
Oh, the heath is just theinside.
It's just the inside.
Yeah, it's like breaking upcandy bars.
(29:22):
No, no, no, no.
You can buy heath bits that arejust the just the inside pieces,
and it's like little crunched,yeah.
They look like they kind of looklike grape nuts in 2023 and you
are living in 3020.
Right?
They look like grape nuts, thatcereal.
They're that they're about thatsize.
I really did.
3023 minus, you know, a thousandand two hundred.
(29:47):
A lot.
Yeah.
But that's really good.
Now we've digressed again andwe're once again off the rails.
If anyone wants these recipes,will you please just DM us
because I'm sure we will sendthem to you.
Maybe I just make a separateblog post of like these are my
recipes that I like.
SPEAKER_01 (30:01):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
I I will send you my yes, whatwe call sweet potatoes, but it's
really like sweet potato piefilling as sweet potatoes.
SPEAKER_00 (30:11):
Yeah, no, that sounds a person, but I would eat
it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (30:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We keep the dairy farmers inbusiness at Thanksgiving on in
my family.
Okay.
unknown (30:21):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (30:21):
So they've got the sampler.
So the other thing is this islike this is like my rule.
I do Not do a kids table andreally at any event I do not do
a kids' table.
I try instead to think aboutlike who is gonna bond best, and
and sometimes that mightactually be kids, but sometimes
it's not, and so I try and setup tables around the space that
(30:48):
will allow for those naturalgroupings.
Like, for example, in John'sfamily, Abby is only coming to
half the events, right?
Like she splits her time betweenus and her dad's family.
So when we go to John's extendedfamily events, Abby's only there
half the time.
So imagine if you only seepeople every two years, like how
(31:09):
distant that can feel.
But there are a few people inthat family with whom she's
really bonded.
Yeah.
One of them is John's uncle.
And it's like, okay, so we makesure that we sit at their table.
Yeah, that's great.
I love that.
Because they have a goodconnection.
So let's do away with the ideaof kids' table and just set a
lot of tables and kind of letpeople naturally decide where
(31:29):
they're gonna be.
And maybe it turns out that,like, oh, all you guys are four.
You might want to all sit at thesame table because you're four.
But maybe this four-year-old ismuch older and really wants to
hang out with theeight-year-old.
Who knows?
Love it.
All right.
And then the last one, this isnot mine.
This is something that I heardof from another family that I
think is so cool.
(31:51):
This matriarch has a tablecloththat they use every year at
Thanksgiving.
And when you sit at theirThanksgiving table, you get to
sign your name where you sit.
Oh, how sweet.
Yes.
And think about it like one ofthe things I love about
Thanksgiving is it's notnormally just family.
Like you can bring friends orneighbors.
You know, when I was growing upin the military, a lot of times
(32:14):
we would have GIs who weresingle and didn't really have
somewhere to go.
And so we'd have like four orfive guys come over for Oh,
that's lovely.
And so how cool is this to likeover the years gather the names
of everyone who's come to yourThanksgiving table?
SPEAKER_00 (32:27):
I love that so much.
I think that's really, reallysweet.
My and this is where my mindimmediately went, as much as I
love that idea.
I would be so concerned.
Thanksgiving is messy.
Like, what if you can you washit?
Like, I would be concerned abouthow you do that.
Maybe what you do is you havethem write on N Sharpie, and
then if you you get someone whoknows how to sew and they
embroider like the name over itor something of that start.
SPEAKER_01 (32:49):
But or you do like me and you're totally classless
and you just throw a plastictablecloth over it.
SPEAKER_00 (32:54):
After everyone's signed.
There you go.
That's a great idea.
There you go.
SPEAKER_01 (32:59):
But I'm the person who throws a blanket over the
couch, so it's fine.
I don't have plastic couchcovers.
I'm not that bad, but you cometo my house, you're probably
sitting on a blanket.
SPEAKER_00 (33:08):
I have to we'll talk about this in another episode,
but I have an obsession that'srelated to that.
I got it.
SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
Oh, okay.
Yes.
Okay.
So speaking of obsessions, let'stake a quick break and then
we'll talk about them.
Yes.
unknown (33:19):
Okay, we're back.
SPEAKER_01 (33:21):
We're back.
It's time for story time.
You sit on the circle or on thecarpet, crisscross applesauce.
We're gonna tell stories.
Time for the circle.
Yay! First thing we're gonna dois talk about current
obsessions, which mine alreadygoes with what we've been
talking about.
If you haven't been listening tothe first half of the episode,
let me update you.
I love Thanksgiving.
(33:41):
And so we are deep into theThanksgiving season.
Yes, it is a thing uh season.
It is not just a day.
We do not start Christmas onNovember 1st, we start
Thanksgiving.
However, the day afterThanksgiving, please bring all
the Christmas.
It's totally fine with me.
But my current obsession isasking people what their
favorite Thanksgiving food is.
You have probably heard me saythis on the show before.
(34:02):
I love doing this because numberone, most families celebrate
some version of Thanksgiving.
Right?
This is a pretty, as I can seeit, inclusive holiday.
SPEAKER_00 (34:13):
It's it's not a religious holiday.
It is a like national holiday.
It is an American holiday.
That means that if you want toparticipate in it for whatever
whatever your background is, youtotally can.
And I also love when expats gooverseas and celebrate it there
and then bring in people to talkabout it.
I just I I love it.
(34:34):
Within the history of it, Iunderstand the history is
problematic.
However, oh sure.
But I I I do love it.
SPEAKER_01 (34:40):
But if we if we can say like what Thanksgiving has
become now.
Yes, I love it.
Generally inclusive.
I can understand that if you area Native American, it might not
be your favorite holiday.
Completely understand that.
I do actually it does have kindof a dirty history.
SPEAKER_00 (34:54):
Yes, I actually give to First Nations every year
during the month of Novemberbecause it's well, it's Native
American History Month for onething, but also because it does
bother me.
I it helps me right totallyhelping me feel better.
SPEAKER_01 (35:09):
That's nice.
Yes.
That's okay.
And you know what?
That that is the way you help.
For it doesn't matter whatcause, right?
You gotta open your wallet.
A tweet doesn't work.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (35:18):
Actually, you know what?
I'm gonna put a I'm gonna put alink to them in this show notes
so that you can do it too if youwant, but this is the the one I
will I go to.
Okay.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (35:28):
Anyhow, I love asking people what their
Thanksgiving or their favoriteThanksgiving food is.
You normally get like a wholebody response.
Like there's a little bit of asmile, they perk up a little
bit, and they're gonna tell youa story.
It's never like, oh, my favoriteThanksgiving food is green
beans.
They'll be like, oh man, mygrandma she made these green
beans, and she would like put alittle bit of bacon in them, and
(35:48):
then she would put them in theoven another time, and they're
like, put those little onions ontop.
And I'm like, oh, I don't evenlike green, I don't even like
green beans, but like howexcited you are, and like, oh,
that sounds great.
And it's just it's this idea oflike food is love.
So asking that question, a lotof times you get a little story,
(36:08):
and it's a chance for someone toshare a Thanksgiving memory or
something about their family.
I just I really love thatquestion.
So that's my current obsession.
SPEAKER_00 (36:16):
That's a great one.
I also love that as like a it'sa good icebreaker kind of
question.
It's a really good small talkquestion, right?
Because it's like it is.
It's like the are you close toyour parents?
You know, or like where'd yougrow up?
Or you know what I mean?
It's like one of those thingswhere you can use it as a
default and people will reallylove it, especially this time of
year.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (36:33):
Mine is gonna say, like, it's also really fun to
ask in March.
Like so random.
SPEAKER_00 (36:39):
Thanksgiving food.
Wait, what?
Yeah.
Okay, yeah, I'll go with it.
Sorry, I'm just already excited.
I'm just still thinking about myown mashed potatoes, no big
deal.
Okay, so mine is not so much anobsession as it is, well, maybe
it is, as a way it is that Ihave started to ease my anxiety
during the day.
So I feel like those of us whohave anxiety might be able to
(37:02):
use this.
I took a cue from my dear, dearfriend Elsie, who and and my
other dear friend Alma, who Iwork with, and they have walking
pads for their at-home officesetups.
And they are constantly walkingduring the day, like constantly
(37:22):
walking.
And I oh, this is like anunderdust treadmill.
Underdust treadmill, yep.
SPEAKER_01 (37:27):
And I was thinking of like the power pad, like
throwback from walking pad.
I am so excited to know aboutthis.
No, no, clearly, fitness is likenot in my wheelhouse.
SPEAKER_00 (37:43):
Well, you have a job where you wouldn't know what
that is, you're constantlywalking around anyway.
Teacher, this is true.
My job involves walking.
Right, like it's not a that'strue.
Okay.
So I was for a while sitting atmy desk too much, and I was
having issues with my hamstringsand my glutes and my lower back,
and it was causing pretty bigproblems.
(38:04):
But the big issue was neck too,eh?
Yeah, I had a little bit of thatgoing.
Looking down the whole time.
Well, my computer setup is alittle bit higher.
So I tried to make it be even,but I still had some some of
that issue.
So now I have this thisunderdesk treadmill, this
walking pad.
And whenever I start to feelmyself like get a little bit um
(38:26):
like anxious, and I need I havethis like excess energy, I just
go and get the walking pad outand I will walk like as I'm
working.
And I have gotten myself up tolike 10 miles a day.
Now, I go for my walk in themorning too, right?
So, like it's not just like I'mwalking 10 miles for a
treadmill, but I have reallyfound that it's helping with my
(38:49):
lower back issues and it's alsojust helping me get some of that
anxious energy out.
It's a really good copingmechanism for me.
And if you are someone who sitsat you work from home and you
sit a lot, I would highlyrecommend getting some sort of
desk riser and a way foryourself to walk during the day.
Or take a, if you can, take abreak and go for a walk.
(39:10):
But it does really help thatanxiety system.
I know I have to be at my desk,but I'm still feeling like I
have this anxious energy.
I need to get out.
Like you're moving.
Yeah.
That's good.
I like it.
I like it.
And it's meditative, likethere's something about the like
the pace is the same.
So you just there's like a, youknow, a steady sound that goes
with it.
There's there's a lot to it.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (39:31):
You have a gem for okay.
I do indeed have a gem.
Okay, so last week I talkedabout this book that I had
ordered only because of thereview.
The name of the book is TheUnfortunate Side Effects of
Heartbreak and Magic.
And the review was Gilmore GirlsMeets Practical Magic.
Now, some of you know that I wasin a Gilmore Girls watch party
(39:55):
group in college.
Every Tuesday we got togetherand like had a different theme,
and we would watch the episode.
When Rory turned 21, we had abirthday cake.
Like this, we're big fans.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
The name of the Facebook groupto throw back to a time where
you had a Facebook group foreverything was Gilmore Girls
(40:16):
Night Out.
SPEAKER_00 (40:17):
It's kind of adorable.
I'm picturing like bachelorparties, like bachelorette
bachelor parties.
You know what I mean?
How girls would like gettogether and watch The Bachelor.
That's what I'm picturing.
Oh, how cute.
SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
Yes, that that's exactly the same thing.
I love it.
And Practical Magic, one of myfavorite movies of all time.
I actually wrote a love spellwhen I was 13 and watched this
movie for the first time.
SPEAKER_00 (40:38):
We have also talked about this show when it's a
spell.
We talked about Practical Magicand how much we loved it when
you were you were doing sidelike midnight dance parties with
your daughter, and we did anepisode where we talked about
Stoke Channing a lot.
And we talked about how much sheshows up like four times in the
episode.
It's wild.
But she well, we talked so thatwas like that's a throwback.
(41:02):
That's almost like it's likeepisodes like three or four.
It's so early.
So if you want to hear us, yeah,it's way back practical magic
and wax poetic about stalkerchanting, then go listen.
SPEAKER_01 (41:11):
That's really funny.
Okay, so the book arrived andI've started reading it.
SPEAKER_00 (41:15):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (41:15):
The book has recipes.
What?
For what?
The main yes, the main characterowns a bakery.
And so at the end of everychapter, there's a recipe for
whatever she was baking in thatchapter.
SPEAKER_00 (41:30):
Stop.
That's amazing.
Any good ones so far?
Isn't it so great?
SPEAKER_01 (41:35):
And oh, so there's one that's rum-soaked peach
muffins, and I'm like gonna makeit this way.
SPEAKER_00 (41:42):
Oh, yeah.
Oh man, that sounds amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (41:45):
And it's so funny because it like says what each
ingredient is supposed to do foryou.
Like, oh, cinnamon ispreservation or whatever.
I don't know, but every singleone of the ingredients also has
some kind of magic to it.
SPEAKER_00 (41:58):
That's amazing.
I love it.
How fun.
Okay.
This is entitled Why I Am AlBorland.
Now, I know I just aged myselfwith that.
I don't think I don't think so,Tim.
Right.
I am Al Borland.
(42:19):
And here's why.
Yesterday, and this is like thisis fresh, right?
You know how you're it'sThanksgiving, and that's when
your garbage disposal chooses tocrap out on you because of all
the stuff you're putting down inthe table.
Oh, exactly.
Yeah.
Also, don't put oil down yourgarbage disposal.
That idea.
Freeze it and then throw itaway.
Or thank rocks.
(42:39):
Oh, yes.
So that's kind of what happenedto our garbage disposal.
I have plants on the windowsillabove the sink.
And I think somehow they gotspilled a little bit, and there
were like chunks of soil andthose soil rocks in my drain,
(43:00):
like in my garbage disposal.
And so my husband is running thegarbage disposal, and then it
just like clearly hitssomething, and then it just
stops.
And he was like, Oh, oh no,gosh, the garbage disposal is
not working.
And he got pretty frustratedright away.
And I was like, Okay, well, holdon.
You know, I go get a glove and Istart pulling things out of the
drain to see if I can see what'sin there and I can see the
(43:23):
little like plant rocks.
And I'm like, all right, well,it clearly got caught on
something, and now we just haveto figure out how to uncatch it.
So I get everything out and itstill won't turn on.
And then like something occurredto me where I was like, you know
how when you're when your vacuumis spinning and it gets stuck on
something, like on a rug orwhatever, or a piece of string
and it like and it stops, andyou just have to turn it off,
(43:44):
pull that thing out.
Maybe you have to unplug it andyeah, and then it kind of just
resets itself.
I was like, oh, I bet, well, isthere a reset button?
Like, let I bet we could resetit.
And immediately my husband goesand finds like where it would
be, and I push the button and mygarbage disposal turns back on.
And I feel like right.
(44:06):
I feel like Al Borland becausenow I'm an expert at fixing the
things.
So if you ever need clear youever need the little button on
your garbage disposal.
I am wearing a flannel shirt.
I will give you my flannelshirt.
You deserve it.
Thank you.
I do love a good flannel shirt.
I I felt so smart.
(44:29):
But a lot of people don't knowthat there's a reset button on
their garbage disposal.
So There is a reset button.
If it's not working, but it'slike it's just it won't even
turn on.
Like you like, it's not likeit's stuck.
It's just you and you've alreadygot room handling there and
started up and it's not doinganything.
Like look underneath it.
Look underneath the garbage.
There's probably a little, itmight be a little red button or
(44:52):
like a little square button, alittle black button.
And if it's popped out, you justneed to pop it back in.
It's like your hairdryer whenyou hit the reset button.
Yep.
Or mine isn't underneath, mine'son the side.
So it's just like with with yourhair dryer.
So just mine's on the side.
Yes.
So just find that button and seeif that does it, because then
you're saving yourself a$142plumber consultation fee for
(45:17):
them to come out and press thebutton for you, and you're like,
great.
SPEAKER_01 (45:21):
And I am telling you, if you are a plumber and
all you've done is come out andpress the button, please do
something else to make it looklike you did more than that.
Don't just tell and then alsosay, like, oh hey, one of the
things was I just pressed thisbutton, but then also like, oh,
but I also had to do all theseother things.
That's why it costs$142.
SPEAKER_00 (45:40):
I'll warn right over here.
SPEAKER_01 (45:41):
All right.
So while you are thinking aboutThanksgiving and all the things
that you are thankful for, don'tforget to be thankful for our
show.
And the way you can show us isthat you are five stars
thankful.
Five stars thank all those fivestars.
Tell your friends when you'resharing your gratitude.
Maybe this year the thing you'rethankful for is our show.
(46:02):
Probably not.
But like if we made it to thetop hundred, go ahead and say
it.
SPEAKER_00 (46:06):
And uh make good choices.
It's Thanksgiving.
I don't make good choices whenit comes to what's in front of
me on my plate.
So I don't think so, Jen.
Bye.
Bye.
Hey Caitlin.
SPEAKER_00 (00:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (00:29):
Did you ever read the Babysitters Club books?
SPEAKER_00 (00:32):
Yes, actually, I did read a few of them.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (00:34):
Okay, so you know that like everyone in the
Babysitters Club had like alittle role?
SPEAKER_00 (00:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (00:39):
Okay, so Christy was the president and Claudia was
the vice president and Stacy wasthe treasurer.
Yeah.
Do you know that her favoriteday was Does Day?
Oh Lord.
SPEAKER_00 (00:51):
Wow.
Oh longest setup ever.
But I love it.
It's so dad jokeish, but likeonly for girls who read those
books.
Right?
So good.
I love it.
Hilarious.
Guys, we're so glad you're heretoday.
We're halfway into November.
We're thankful.
We're thankful.
Oh yes.
(01:12):
Yes.
We're thankful that you're here.
We're halfway into Novemberalready.
And somehow Thanksgiving iswhat?
Like in a week and a half, aweek and a half or something
like that?
SPEAKER_01 (01:21):
Yeah, it's very close.
Oh my gosh.
Because I love Thanksgiving.
You do.
SPEAKER_00 (01:25):
We realize this is a little early for a Thanksgiving
episode.
So here's the thought process.
Okay.
We're sharing 10 to 11-ishThanksgiving activities to keep
everyone entertained and out ofyour face, basically, for
Thanksgiving, right?
While you are busting your buttin the kitchen.
Family is lovely.
(01:46):
Yes?
This is what we like aboutThanksgiving.
Family.
However, family also brings thestress, right?
Like they're just like major.
Yes.
So stick around.
We've got that coming up foryou.
We're gonna keep your family outof your hair and keep them
entertained on Thanksgiving Day.
Yes.
Love it.
(02:06):
Love it.
But first, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (02:09):
Caitlin, new kids on the block, you know they're back
together.
SPEAKER_00 (02:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:13):
And they're like touring.
They wrote a new Thanksgivingsong just about you.
SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
Ooh, I can't wait to hear what this is.
SPEAKER_01 (02:19):
She's got the right stuff.
Caitlin.
SPEAKER_02 (02:24):
Yay!
SPEAKER_01 (02:25):
Stephanie's my favorite.
That's my favorite.
I prepared for this episode inthe shower, which is where, you
know, you do your creativethinking.
And I just let the wheels runwild.
SPEAKER_00 (02:38):
I have decided that I need one of those in-shower
notepads because I have the bestarguments with all the people
and the best ideas in theshower.
Right?
Like the best ones.
And I'm like, why?
Why did I not make the bestargument?
That's so good.
The argument with the with allthe people that you're like, if
(03:00):
I could tell you the real truthabout what I think about you and
all the things, and you justlike it all just flows.
And then you can like rearrangeit.
Maybe I'm the only one who doesthis.
I'm just gonna stop.
Well, you are my bestie, andJenny, I just adore you.
So thank you for being here withme and for making me laugh this
(03:20):
morning already because the HotMass Express has a picture on
the side of it this morning, andit's me.
I need it.
So you cut out for a second.
SPEAKER_01 (03:30):
I didn't hear what Leslie Nope had to say about me.
SPEAKER_00 (03:32):
Well, she called you a gorgeous purebred poodle.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
Oh please, like I want to have my little claws
painted.
SPEAKER_00 (03:42):
Yes, or like the and like the edges, like your your
ends dyed pink.
SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
Oh, yes, absolutely.
That's it.
And the little ball of fur on mytail.
SPEAKER_00 (03:51):
Mm-hmm.
So poof.
I this is the time of year thatI have to watch Best in Show.
unknown (03:56):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (03:56):
And I always think about Butch, the the poodle in
Best and Show, and what wouldhappen they are with that poodle
and how like her weird haircutis and the pom-pom's keeping
Butch's hip joints warm and allthat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah.
So good.
So good.
SPEAKER_01 (04:16):
Oh man, I was watching some uh Guinness World
Record videos.
I know we're not talking aboutobsessions, but I might be a
little obsessed with this rightnow.
And anyway, like they show theselike 30-second clips of people
breaking records.
There was one where this dude issolving Rubik's cubes while
juggling them.
No.
(04:37):
But the thing that makes thisconnect to poodles is there was
one where the guy makes balloonanimals through his nose.
Ew.
And he like folded a poodle withthe balloon coming out of his
nose.
The sale that people come upwith.
SPEAKER_00 (04:54):
Right?
SPEAKER_01 (04:55):
Like he's got a plaque.
He's got a plaque.
I he's a world record holder forfastest balloon animal made in a
nose.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:04):
Oh, okay.
I just don't even have words.
I don't have words.
I don't know what to say.
It's just weird.
Wow.
Okay.
So we are going to go ahead andget into it.
Let's.
This is already off the rails.
That's how you can tell this hotmess express is interesting this
morning.
Okay, so we're talking aboutactivities for you and your
(05:28):
family to do, or for you to setup for your family, or someone
else to set up for your family,so that you can keep everyone
out of your hair, keep everyonehappy, and and you know, have
some fun along the way.
My sources today are a Pure Wowarticle called 38 Thanksgiving
Activities to Keep the WholeFamily Entertained and Squabble
(05:50):
Free by Once again Emma Singer,but she also I feel like you
need to get an Emma Singertattoo.
I think I do.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna get thethe the heads of the podcast,
and then I'm just gonna say,like, brought to you by Emma
Singer.
Like I'm love it, love it.
Like, I need to just make surethat I'm following this woman on
all the platforms so that I can.
(06:12):
And if you're like not taggingher in her episodes, we need to.
Oh, she shows up in all of ourshow notes, just putting that
out there so that anytimesomeone searches for her,
hopefully it comes up.
But there's that.
But she also has a co-writer onthis one that's Stephanie
Sengway.
So Emma Singer, StephanieSangway, thank you for the
inspiration.
We are not obviously sharing all38, but we do have a link to
that article in the show notesfor today.
(06:34):
Absolutely.
So Thanksgiving.
We're talking about beingthankful.
Some of these activities have tobe about gratitude.
Absolutely.
Yes.
So we've got a couple here.
One of them is the MM gratitudegame.
And if you're a teacher,especially if you teach math,
you've probably seen someversion of this game before,
(06:57):
right?
I think I saw this game when Iwas in college and it had
something to do with drinks.
Oh, there is that option too,yes.
But when I've done it for math,it was everyone gets a little
thing of MMs, and then we turnit into a bar graph of different
colors of MMs, right?
Right, right, right, right,right.
This is every color of MM isassigned a gratitude topic.
(07:23):
For example, red would be I'mthankful for a person.
Orange is I'm thankful forsomething in nature.
Yellow is I'm thankful forsomething in my house that's not
a person, right?
Like things like that.
Whatever.
Flip over a queen and the personto your right drinks.
Oh, sure.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
So what you do is you open upthe bag of MMs, everyone like
(07:46):
picks up an MM, and then theyjust go around and say, Oh, this
is a red one.
I'm thankful for my mom.
Done, right?
Great.
Yes.
I love it because I don't knowabout you, but whenever
someone's like, what are wethankful for?
I get like anxious because Ineed structure in that.
I want a sentence frame.
I want someone to tell me, like,okay, are are we all talking
(08:07):
about thankful for our health,which is a game that you guys
have talked about at yourfamily?
Like everyone operates underthat assumption, but I still
feel like I need the sentenceframe.
So this provides those sentenceframes for everyone who's
playing the game.
And it's it kind of goes back tothat whole set everyone up for
success when you're having smalltalk conversations or when
(08:28):
you're just trying to get peopleto open up.
SPEAKER_01 (08:30):
Dude, we love a good sentence starter on CK and GK.
We really, really do.
SPEAKER_00 (08:35):
Also, MMs are you love, Caitlin?
Sentence starters.
Yeah.
I'd be right.
There's also, just so you know,you don't have to make this up
for yourself.
Like if you're struggling tocome up with the what the color
should be, we've got a link tothis exact activity in the blog
post for this episode.
And there's printables that youcan just grab for yourself, but
(08:56):
you could just make it up if youwanted to.
That's fine.
And MMs are always a good bribefor kids.
So just putting that out there.
SPEAKER_01 (09:03):
And depending on how old your group is, it might be
fun for them to brainstorm whateach color is gonna be.
Totally.
You know, if you've got a groupof preteens, that might be fun
for them too.
Like, oh, I'm gonna say that redis something I'm thankful for
online or whatever.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (09:17):
Oh, that's a great idea.
I love that.
Yeah.
Okay.
The other one about gratitude isa DIY family gratitude tree.
Now, this requires a little bitof prep on your part.
So just putting that out there.
That's why we're doing thisepisode a week before
Thanksgiving, so that you havetime to prep it if you want.
But what you're gonna do isyou're gonna tape a like brown
(09:39):
craft paper tree trunk.
Go find a template online, traceit, don't worry about making it,
whatever.
You can do it with a cardboardthat you have in the house
because we all know I love tosave a good box.
You never know, you hit 35 andyou start saving boxes for
whatever reason.
So you could use a box,paperback, oh, Caitlin.
Doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01 (09:58):
You know, when we moved to Japan in the early 90s,
my dad bought a piano before weeven had a house.
It's the same piano that he'sbeen like watching his whole
life and he's always wanted,whatever.
So he buys this piano.
And of course, my mom's like,what are we gonna do with the
piano?
We don't even have a house yet.
She says, Oh, no, no, no, it'llget delivered once we have a
house.
And so the piano comes in thisgiant box that is like the size
(10:19):
of a coffin.
SPEAKER_02 (10:20):
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01 (10:21):
My dad gifted me that piano when I bought my
first home in 2008 in the box.
Yeah.
You gotta save the box.
17 years he kept this box.
SPEAKER_00 (10:39):
This is why millennials have a problem
throwing away iPhone boxes.
Just put that out there.
Oh, dude.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you're gonna make a brown oroh, that's right.
We're making a turkey.
Right, we're making a turkey.
We're making a tree.
And then just make some leafcutouts.
Also, you can make these out ofyou know you can just print out
leaves from the inner webs andcut them out or whatever.
(11:02):
It's fine.
SPEAKER_01 (11:03):
I am hearing you say you can make this, you can make
this, but I am replacing thatpronoun with she, she, she, and
passing it off to my12-year-old.
unknown (11:11):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
I'm saying, we're gonna do this tree.
SPEAKER_00 (11:14):
Abigail, you need to make this tree and leaves for
everyone.
Oh, it's a really goodhyperfixation project for
ADHDers, too, putting that outthere.
So you're gonna have these leafcutouts, you're gonna have your
tree up on some place that youdon't mind people taping to.
And what you're gonna do, thinklike a wedding guest book.
Everyone's gonna write somethingthat they're thankful for on the
(11:36):
leaves, and then they're gonnatape it to the tree.
And it's gonna look like fall,and it's gonna be pretty and
nice, and it's something youcould take a picture of and save
for another time.
I used to do an activity similarto this with my students.
I had this big, like kind ofvinyl tree that I not vinyl, but
like cardstock tree that Ilaminated so that I could put
(11:56):
tape over it over and over andover again.
And I had it on the the, I wasin a corner classroom, like the
end of the hallway.
And so I wrapped the tree kindof around the corner wall.
And then every like month orholiday or whatever it was, I
would have these little, youknow, icon designs things, and
(12:16):
the kids would color them andthen say one thing that they
loved about that season.
Dumb.
Yeah.
Stop for just a minute.
SPEAKER_01 (12:24):
You made your hands into a heart, and a heart
floated across the that wasweird.
SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
Is it gonna do it again?
No way! Squad cast, that's rad.
unknown (12:36):
How does that happen?
SPEAKER_00 (12:37):
I don't know, but squad cast, well done.
That's super cool.
If it happens again, you shouldtake a picture of it.
Okay.
I used to do this with mystudents, it was super cute, and
my administrators loved it.
They absolutely loved it.
At the end of your gathering,whatever you're doing for
Thanksgiving, you'll have thistree that has all these like
(12:58):
sweet memories or thankful itemson it or whatever.
You can you can make it bedifferent prompts, just like the
MM game, right?
You can say, This color leaf isfor a memory we have of this
year, this color leaf is for athankful thing, this color leaf
is for something you're lookingforward to in the coming year.
Whatever you want to do.
Oh, cool.
But it could be really nice.
And if you make it sturdy enoughor you are hyper annoying like I
(13:23):
am, and you laminate it orwhatever, you could use it again
and again and again and andchange it throughout the year,
just like I did in my classroom.
So it's pretty cool.
It's a fun idea.
I love it.
Yeah.
Okay, another one.
I have to admit that this isvery the office circa season one
when Michael Scott runs thediversity day episode.
(13:45):
If you know what I'm talkingabout, nice, nice, yes, but less
cringe, right?
Less Lord help us all, right?
So this is an easy game to play.
All you need are some stickynotes and a pen.
Got it?
I have those.
Yeah.
You don't have to make a tree.
Done.
So here's how you play (14:05):
you write the name of a famous
person or a character on asticky note, give one to each
player.
Characters can be dead or alive,fictional, non-fictional,
doesn't matter.
Make sure that the person whoyou assign the character to
cannot see their name.
So you make them stick thesticky note on their forehead,
just like the episode of TheOffice.
(14:26):
And players have to walk aroundthe room and ask yes or no
questions to figure out who theyare.
Now, the only issue I have withthis game is if you have a
teenager and you have uh peopleof much older generations, you
might get some weird TikTokstars or whatever.
(14:48):
So just maybe you write the nameout in advance and you ask for
some suggestions from everyone,right?
But then you don't participateand you give everyone else a
sticky note, and that waythey're all doing it.
You just get to laugh whileyou're making pies in the
background.
Right.
There you go.
Yes.
Okay.
That's a fun one.
Really easy icebreaker.
(15:10):
You give me one.
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Okay.
So I have one that's like, howwell do you really know your
family?
Because at a lot of theseholiday events, not just
Thanksgiving, but you know,this, as we said last year or
last week, the most wonderfultime of the year, you might be
getting together with peoplethat you haven't gotten together
with since maybe last holidayseason.
(15:31):
And it could be a littleawkward, especially for your
kids who don't necessarilyremember these people.
SPEAKER_00 (15:38):
Oh, I'm thinking like, oh, Christmas vacation
when Audrey and Russ are likejust cringing from their
grandparents, like all overthem, and just how uncomfortable
they are.
That's what I have in my headright now.
SPEAKER_01 (15:53):
Yeah.
Yes.
So there is a card game calledDo You Really Know Your Family?
And has all kinds of sillychallenges and like trivia
questions that just stir uplaughter from everyone and then
teach you a few things that youdidn't know about your family.
We do a version of this at ourkids' birthday parties.
We will be like, who knows Kitbest?
(16:15):
And so I'll ask him somequestions beforehand, and then
everyone has to like answerquestions about him.
But again, that requires a lotof prep on my part.
This is something that you canjust like get in a box, which is
why, again, we're telling youthis in advance.
SPEAKER_00 (16:28):
Right.
All about the get in gettinglike as much done in advance
kind of thing, but also like ifI don't have to prep it, I can
just I am very much a throw themoney at the problem kind of
person.
So that sounds great.
I love it.
I actually I have a link to thatgame in the show notes if you
wanted to take a look at it.
You can find it on your favoriteA-Z store.
(16:50):
So easy easy.
Love it.
Okay, this one's for me.
We all know I love a goodpuzzle.
In fact, I love a puzzle somuch.
Oh my god, goodbye.
These people.
Guess whose pumpkin puzzle stillisn't done?
This girl's.
Okay, so if you are looking fora low-key Thanksgiving activity,
(17:12):
this is one where you set it upoff to the side of your space
and you just leave it there.
Now, if you're me, you grab aglass of wine and you sit in
front of the puzzle most of theday once the cooking is done.
However, this could be a greatway to wrap up your day too,
right?
So you just finish, put thepuzzle on the coffee table,
(17:35):
everyone's having their foodcoma, some people are watching
football games, but it's a wayto like kind of calm everyone
down and you give someonesomething to do with their hands
that isn't necessarily doomscrolling, although it is also a
great way to keep people whocannot shop after Thanksgiving
entertained, right?
SPEAKER_01 (17:53):
So I will tell you, like, I am not a puzzle person.
I'm not against puzzles, butlike when I'm thinking of
entertaining myself, I neverlike, oh, puzzle.
But when there is a puzzle out,yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
That's exactly what I'm talkingabout.
It's the weirdest thing.
It's the weirdest thing.
Like it it does become social,and you're like, okay, let's all
do this puzzle.
(18:13):
Right.
I don't know why.
SPEAKER_00 (18:15):
Do it's like weird.
Do you watch New Girl?
Have you have you watched itbefore?
I've not watched New Girl.
Oh, okay.
You need first of all, stop whatyou're doing.
We're canceling this episode.
Go watch New Girl.
But there's a character namedWinston who loves puzzles, and
he's like, oh yeah, and he'slike rubbing his hands together
and he's so funny about puzzles.
And that's how that's how I feelabout them because for me it's a
(18:37):
hyperfixation project, and I getintense dopamine rushes from
putting chunks of piecestogether.
I don't know what it is asidefrom that.
It's gotta be that.
But if there it's uh chaos toorder, right?
And you also know I used to haveone in my classroom that I would
put out for the kids to do, andthen they would just walk by and
do a couple pieces.
SPEAKER_01 (18:57):
Exactly.
Weirdest thing.
Weirdest thing because I am not,I am not a puzzle person.
I'm just not.
But then there's like thismagnetism of, oh, there's a
puzzle setup, I'll I'll do afew.
SPEAKER_00 (19:07):
Right.
Exactly.
It's I don't get it, but it'ssuper fun.
And I'm actually thinking aboutbringing one to my in-laws for
Thanksgiving this year because Ithink I think you should.
Yeah, I think it'd be reallyfun.
And there's tons of Thanksgivingones.
I have a link to one in the shownotes that you can, or it's in
our blog post.
It's not in the show notes, goto the blog post.
But I have a link there if youwanted like a very traditional,
like turkey one.
But there's tons of other justput out any old puzzle.
(19:29):
Nobody cares.
It's fine.
Find one from your attic andthrow it out there.
People are gonna do it.
Don't worry about it.
I mean, it's super familyfriendly, low prep, again, keeps
people out of your hair.
Great way to zen.
SPEAKER_01 (19:41):
And let me give a virtual high five to anyone who
loves to light the world onfire, like me, and like puts
pieces to a puzzle that doesn'tbelong on the table.
SPEAKER_00 (19:50):
Oh Lord.
Yeah, that stresses me outalready.
I just like felt my voice startto shake.
Oh, I just started sweating.
Jenny! Ah, you just made mesweat.
I'm not kidding.
Oh, okay.
Sorry.
I'm good.
I swear.
I this is depending on who youare.
(20:10):
Right.
I this is a hypothetical puzzle.
I am not, there's no real dangerhere.
Okay, so another one.
Flag football.
unknown (20:19):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (20:19):
Need to get outside.
No.
I have been a turkey trout onThanksgiving person one time,
one time only.
And it was big fun.
But I am not that person.
I am much more of a turn on theparade, probably cry during the
parade because it makes mehappy.
And then watch the dog showwhile I cook.
That's my morning, right?
(20:42):
I, though, do love theopportunity to get outside on
Thanksgiving Day becausesomething about that fresh air
just feels really, really good.
So channel your inner seasonthree friends and go work up an
appetite with your family whileplaying flag football.
Not tackle football.
Flag football.
No, no, no, no, no.
Okay.
Calorie burn, fresh air.
(21:03):
Go find out how to play onlinereal easy.
It'll be great.
SPEAKER_01 (21:08):
I told you, I love Thanksgiving.
And there's like so manytraditions around Thanksgiving
and my family, and like a lot ofthem I've adopted into my own
family.
But playing football onThanksgiving, like I did not
make this up.
My family did not make this up.
This is like all American,right?
Right.
When we played growing up, mydad would be all-time
(21:29):
quarterback.
Oh.
Because there were three kids.
So one of us would be on offensewith him, the other two would be
on defense, and we would likerotate through.
Cute.
And so there was like noadvantage.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (21:43):
It's just because my dad's on offense the whole time.
Right.
It's just about also likegetting outside, playing.
Everyone gets a chance to liketry to catch the ball, run the
ball.
Like, yeah, you might keepscore, but like it doesn't
really matter.
SPEAKER_01 (21:57):
Now, let me tell you this.
There's a little bit of sexismaround football on Thanksgiving.
Yes.
Sometimes it's just the guys.
Yes.
I am going to plead if you arein a family where a male of the
family has invited a date forThanksgiving the first time and
(22:19):
you happen to be female, go playflag football with her.
She's going to have this weirdobligation to go play football
because she doesn't know theother people who are staying
inside.
So she's going to be the onlygirl on the field.
Go do it.
Or make an open invitation,like, hey, why don't you come?
(22:41):
Like, all of us are going to goand, you know, do whatever it is
that you're going to do that'snot football.
SPEAKER_00 (22:46):
Yeah.
I yeah.
The thing about, and I bet thata lot of women can relate to
this.
When the men get together, theyoften group up and talk about
things that interest them.
And then it kind of leaves thewomen in an awkward position
where they have to figure outhow to have a conversation with
(23:07):
this new group of people, orthis woman that they don't know
when they really know the guy,or you know what I mean?
It's it can get reallyuncomfortable.
And as someone who has becomevery good friends with my
husband's really good guyfriends, that often has happened
to me where like I get not for Idon't want to sing hold right.
Or I, or it sounds rude becauseit's not what they mean, but
(23:29):
they ditch the girls and leaveher with me because then I'm the
one who's like supposed to vetthem and and entertain them.
And that's uncomfortable.
Right.
So just extend that invitationto her, have her come outside,
and often like you'll see howmuch fun she really is.
I think it'll be a really goodopportunity for you.
Also, now in my head, because Isaid the Friends episode, I have
(23:52):
Monica Geller going, 42 to 21,like the turkey Ross is done.
In my head, over episode.
That episode is all about thesexism in football.
Have you noticed that?
It's a really good.
Somewhere our dear friend Laurenis like, oh my gosh, you're so
right.
If she's listening.
So, but it's a that's a greatepisode about all of that and
(24:14):
why the girls need to beincluded.
And it ends with them going,Isn't there a national football
league?
And they're like, Yeah.
And he goes, Oh, they yeah, theythey play on Monday nights.
And then Rachel goes, Oh shoot,I work on Monday nights.
Like that's the reason thatshe's yeah, unable to
participate in that is also notavailable on Sundays.
(24:37):
Right.
She's she's terrible.
She'll never make it.
Okay.
So those are mine.
I those kind of encompass someof the personal ones I do too,
but I think this year I'm gonnachange it up and do one of
those.
Do you I know you loveThanksgiving so much, I feel
like you have something to offerhere that's not an art.
SPEAKER_01 (24:54):
I love Thanksgiving so much.
Okay, so we did already talkabout like the gratitude thing.
That is my number one reason Ilove Thanksgiving, is uh in my
family and my extended family,right?
Like we did it as a nuclearfamily, like my parents and my
siblings and I, but it hasexpanded and now we're this big
group and we still continue todo it.
(25:15):
We sit around the table and wesay what we're thankful for.
And you know it's coming.
Right.
Right?
Like you come in saying, okay,I'm gonna have to be thankful
for something.
And we do, like you said, wekind of have this like
understood rule that like youdon't have to say family or
health or financial well-being.
Like we we are very fortunate tohave those things, and we all
assume we're thankful for them.
(25:35):
So you can go beyond that.
I love that.
I love the practicing ofgratitude.
I really enjoy the Thanksgivingseason and like thinking about
what I'm gonna say.
SPEAKER_00 (25:45):
Oh, that's so nice.
I love that.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:48):
Again, it's like we're not being put on the spot.
That's why I love that MM gamebecause some of them can be
frivolous.
Like, what article of clothingare you thankful for this year?
Exactly.
Name like that.
unknown (25:58):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
We always take a walk between dinner and dessert.
We walk the dogs.
It is a short walk.
It is not like, oh, we're gonnago do a 5K.
I have done the family 5K.
I have done it many years.
I have run it, I have walked it,we've done it.
I've seen the memes that say,like, don't marry into a family
that does a 5K on Thanksgiving.
(26:19):
Like, I get it.
It it's great.
And when the weather isbeautiful, it's a really cool
way to st it to kick off theday.
But this is this is a this is avery mellow walk.
This is like trying to digestyour food and make room for
dessert.
Dessert, which by the way, in myfamily, you can order a piece of
(26:41):
pumpkin pie or a piece ofraspberry pie or a piece of rum
cake or whatever, or you canhave the classic family order,
the sampler.
At which point my mom will giveyou a slice of every piece of
dessert on your plate.
SPEAKER_00 (26:55):
Can we talk about Raspberry Pi for a second?
I have don't know why this neveroccurred to me.
I have never heard of RaspberryPi in my life.
Is that a thing you guysnormally do?
Okay, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (27:05):
So for those of you who like love computers, I know
Raspberry Pi is like a thing.
Okay, so we're moving thataside.
We're not talking aboutcomputers, we're not talking
about programming, we're talkingabout a dessert.
My mom makes this raspberry piethat, oh my gosh, I'm closing my
eyes, my mouth is watering, justthinking about it.
It has a meringue crust that haslike Ritz crackers in it.
And I know that this is weird.
(27:26):
Oh, the salt.
Super crispy and chewy, yes.
And then raspberries on top ofthat, and then whipped cream.
Way.
Oh my gosh.
So it's not like a baked, is ita it's not a baked pie?
No, it's like a cold.
The crust is baked because it'slike a meringue bag.
Yes.
Yes.
And then the raspberries go ontop and it like sits in the
fridge for a little bit.
(27:46):
So the meringue gets kind ofsoft and chewy on the top and
then still crispy and deliciouson the bottom.
SPEAKER_00 (27:51):
Oh, I was I was picturing like a like a baked
fruit pie, and I had never crustor whatever.
Right, right.
Raspberries are still soft andjuicy.
Yeah, yeah.
I was like, how do you do that?
So I'm also I'm not a thebiggest pie person.
Like I like something about thetexture, I love the flavors, but
the texture of the fruit really,really gets to me.
(28:13):
So I've never been a big pieperson.
However, I do make like morecustardy based pies.
So I've like our dear friendAngela gave me a recipe for her
chocolate pie that I make everyyear, and I use an Oreo crust,
and that's really, really good.
And then I also make a good, Imake a pumpkin cheesecake
usually, because pumpkin pie isnot a big thing in our family.
So I make a pumpkin cheesecake,but I also make a pecan pie,
(28:38):
which is my absolute diehardfavorite, but I put Heathbar
bits in the mix.
So it's like I have heard yousay that.
Oh, it is the best caramel.
And it's already got like thebase of pumpkin pie, or not
pumpkin, I'm sorry, is of pecanpie is carrow syrup.
(28:59):
So it is so sugary, but it'salso got like it's oh, it's just
got a good crunch to it, and ithas that like toffee flavor that
goes along.
Oh, it's so good.
Well, it doesn't, there's nochocolate bits, it's just the
heath on the inside.
Oh, the heath is just theinside.
It's just the inside.
Yeah, it's like breaking upcandy bars.
(29:22):
No, no, no, no.
You can buy heath bits that arejust the just the inside pieces,
and it's like little crunched,yeah.
They look like they kind of looklike grape nuts in 2023 and you
are living in 3020.
Right?
They look like grape nuts, thatcereal.
They're that they're about thatsize.
I really did.
3023 minus, you know, a thousandand two hundred.
(29:47):
A lot.
Yeah.
But that's really good.
Now we've digressed again andwe're once again off the rails.
If anyone wants these recipes,will you please just DM us
because I'm sure we will sendthem to you.
Maybe I just make a separateblog post of like these are my
recipes that I like.
SPEAKER_01 (30:01):
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
I I will send you my yes, whatwe call sweet potatoes, but it's
really like sweet potato piefilling as sweet potatoes.
SPEAKER_00 (30:11):
Yeah, no, that sounds a person, but I would eat
it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (30:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We keep the dairy farmers inbusiness at Thanksgiving on in
my family.
Okay.
unknown (30:21):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (30:21):
So they've got the sampler.
So the other thing is this islike this is like my rule.
I do Not do a kids table andreally at any event I do not do
a kids' table.
I try instead to think aboutlike who is gonna bond best, and
and sometimes that mightactually be kids, but sometimes
it's not, and so I try and setup tables around the space that
(30:48):
will allow for those naturalgroupings.
Like, for example, in John'sfamily, Abby is only coming to
half the events, right?
Like she splits her time betweenus and her dad's family.
So when we go to John's extendedfamily events, Abby's only there
half the time.
So imagine if you only seepeople every two years, like how
(31:09):
distant that can feel.
But there are a few people inthat family with whom she's
really bonded.
Yeah.
One of them is John's uncle.
And it's like, okay, so we makesure that we sit at their table.
Yeah, that's great.
I love that.
Because they have a goodconnection.
So let's do away with the ideaof kids' table and just set a
lot of tables and kind of letpeople naturally decide where
(31:29):
they're gonna be.
And maybe it turns out that,like, oh, all you guys are four.
You might want to all sit at thesame table because you're four.
But maybe this four-year-old ismuch older and really wants to
hang out with theeight-year-old.
Who knows?
Love it.
All right.
And then the last one, this isnot mine.
This is something that I heardof from another family that I
think is so cool.
(31:51):
This matriarch has a tablecloththat they use every year at
Thanksgiving.
And when you sit at theirThanksgiving table, you get to
sign your name where you sit.
Oh, how sweet.
Yes.
And think about it like one ofthe things I love about
Thanksgiving is it's notnormally just family.
Like you can bring friends orneighbors.
You know, when I was growing upin the military, a lot of times
(32:14):
we would have GIs who weresingle and didn't really have
somewhere to go.
And so we'd have like four orfive guys come over for Oh,
that's lovely.
And so how cool is this to likeover the years gather the names
of everyone who's come to yourThanksgiving table?
SPEAKER_00 (32:27):
I love that so much.
I think that's really, reallysweet.
My and this is where my mindimmediately went, as much as I
love that idea.
I would be so concerned.
Thanksgiving is messy.
Like, what if you can you washit?
Like, I would be concerned abouthow you do that.
Maybe what you do is you havethem write on N Sharpie, and
then if you you get someone whoknows how to sew and they
embroider like the name over itor something of that start.
SPEAKER_01 (32:49):
But or you do like me and you're totally classless
and you just throw a plastictablecloth over it.
SPEAKER_00 (32:54):
After everyone's signed.
There you go.
That's a great idea.
There you go.
SPEAKER_01 (32:59):
But I'm the person who throws a blanket over the
couch, so it's fine.
I don't have plastic couchcovers.
I'm not that bad, but you cometo my house, you're probably
sitting on a blanket.
SPEAKER_00 (33:08):
I have to we'll talk about this in another episode,
but I have an obsession that'srelated to that.
I got it.
SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
Oh, okay.
Yes.
Okay.
So speaking of obsessions, let'stake a quick break and then
we'll talk about them.
Yes.
unknown (33:19):
Okay, we're back.
SPEAKER_01 (33:21):
We're back.
It's time for story time.
You sit on the circle or on thecarpet, crisscross applesauce.
We're gonna tell stories.
Time for the circle.
Yay! First thing we're gonna dois talk about current
obsessions, which mine alreadygoes with what we've been
talking about.
If you haven't been listening tothe first half of the episode,
let me update you.
I love Thanksgiving.
(33:41):
And so we are deep into theThanksgiving season.
Yes, it is a thing uh season.
It is not just a day.
We do not start Christmas onNovember 1st, we start
Thanksgiving.
However, the day afterThanksgiving, please bring all
the Christmas.
It's totally fine with me.
But my current obsession isasking people what their
favorite Thanksgiving food is.
You have probably heard me saythis on the show before.
(34:02):
I love doing this because numberone, most families celebrate
some version of Thanksgiving.
Right?
This is a pretty, as I can seeit, inclusive holiday.
SPEAKER_00 (34:13):
It's it's not a religious holiday.
It is a like national holiday.
It is an American holiday.
That means that if you want toparticipate in it for whatever
whatever your background is, youtotally can.
And I also love when expats gooverseas and celebrate it there
and then bring in people to talkabout it.
I just I I love it.
(34:34):
Within the history of it, Iunderstand the history is
problematic.
However, oh sure.
But I I I do love it.
SPEAKER_01 (34:40):
But if we if we can say like what Thanksgiving has
become now.
Yes, I love it.
Generally inclusive.
I can understand that if you area Native American, it might not
be your favorite holiday.
Completely understand that.
I do actually it does have kindof a dirty history.
SPEAKER_00 (34:54):
Yes, I actually give to First Nations every year
during the month of Novemberbecause it's well, it's Native
American History Month for onething, but also because it does
bother me.
I it helps me right totallyhelping me feel better.
SPEAKER_01 (35:09):
That's nice.
Yes.
That's okay.
And you know what?
That that is the way you help.
For it doesn't matter whatcause, right?
You gotta open your wallet.
A tweet doesn't work.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (35:18):
Actually, you know what?
I'm gonna put a I'm gonna put alink to them in this show notes
so that you can do it too if youwant, but this is the the one I
will I go to.
Okay.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (35:28):
Anyhow, I love asking people what their
Thanksgiving or their favoriteThanksgiving food is.
You normally get like a wholebody response.
Like there's a little bit of asmile, they perk up a little
bit, and they're gonna tell youa story.
It's never like, oh, my favoriteThanksgiving food is green
beans.
They'll be like, oh man, mygrandma she made these green
beans, and she would like put alittle bit of bacon in them, and
(35:48):
then she would put them in theoven another time, and they're
like, put those little onions ontop.
And I'm like, oh, I don't evenlike green, I don't even like
green beans, but like howexcited you are, and like, oh,
that sounds great.
And it's just it's this idea oflike food is love.
So asking that question, a lotof times you get a little story,
(36:08):
and it's a chance for someone toshare a Thanksgiving memory or
something about their family.
I just I really love thatquestion.
So that's my current obsession.
SPEAKER_00 (36:16):
That's a great one.
I also love that as like a it'sa good icebreaker kind of
question.
It's a really good small talkquestion, right?
Because it's like it is.
It's like the are you close toyour parents?
You know, or like where'd yougrow up?
Or you know what I mean?
It's like one of those thingswhere you can use it as a
default and people will reallylove it, especially this time of
year.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (36:33):
Mine is gonna say, like, it's also really fun to
ask in March.
Like so random.
SPEAKER_00 (36:39):
Thanksgiving food.
Wait, what?
Yeah.
Okay, yeah, I'll go with it.
Sorry, I'm just already excited.
I'm just still thinking about myown mashed potatoes, no big
deal.
Okay, so mine is not so much anobsession as it is, well, maybe
it is, as a way it is that Ihave started to ease my anxiety
during the day.
So I feel like those of us whohave anxiety might be able to
(37:02):
use this.
I took a cue from my dear, dearfriend Elsie, who and and my
other dear friend Alma, who Iwork with, and they have walking
pads for their at-home officesetups.
And they are constantly walkingduring the day, like constantly
(37:22):
walking.
And I oh, this is like anunderdust treadmill.
Underdust treadmill, yep.
SPEAKER_01 (37:27):
And I was thinking of like the power pad, like
throwback from walking pad.
I am so excited to know aboutthis.
No, no, clearly, fitness is likenot in my wheelhouse.
SPEAKER_00 (37:43):
Well, you have a job where you wouldn't know what
that is, you're constantlywalking around anyway.
Teacher, this is true.
My job involves walking.
Right, like it's not a that'strue.
Okay.
So I was for a while sitting atmy desk too much, and I was
having issues with my hamstringsand my glutes and my lower back,
and it was causing pretty bigproblems.
(38:04):
But the big issue was neck too,eh?
Yeah, I had a little bit of thatgoing.
Looking down the whole time.
Well, my computer setup is alittle bit higher.
So I tried to make it be even,but I still had some some of
that issue.
So now I have this thisunderdesk treadmill, this
walking pad.
And whenever I start to feelmyself like get a little bit um
(38:26):
like anxious, and I need I havethis like excess energy, I just
go and get the walking pad outand I will walk like as I'm
working.
And I have gotten myself up tolike 10 miles a day.
Now, I go for my walk in themorning too, right?
So, like it's not just like I'mwalking 10 miles for a
treadmill, but I have reallyfound that it's helping with my
(38:49):
lower back issues and it's alsojust helping me get some of that
anxious energy out.
It's a really good copingmechanism for me.
And if you are someone who sitsat you work from home and you
sit a lot, I would highlyrecommend getting some sort of
desk riser and a way foryourself to walk during the day.
Or take a, if you can, take abreak and go for a walk.
(39:10):
But it does really help thatanxiety system.
I know I have to be at my desk,but I'm still feeling like I
have this anxious energy.
I need to get out.
Like you're moving.
Yeah.
That's good.
I like it.
I like it.
And it's meditative, likethere's something about the like
the pace is the same.
So you just there's like a, youknow, a steady sound that goes
with it.
There's there's a lot to it.
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (39:31):
You have a gem for okay.
I do indeed have a gem.
Okay, so last week I talkedabout this book that I had
ordered only because of thereview.
The name of the book is TheUnfortunate Side Effects of
Heartbreak and Magic.
And the review was Gilmore GirlsMeets Practical Magic.
Now, some of you know that I wasin a Gilmore Girls watch party
(39:55):
group in college.
Every Tuesday we got togetherand like had a different theme,
and we would watch the episode.
When Rory turned 21, we had abirthday cake.
Like this, we're big fans.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
The name of the Facebook groupto throw back to a time where
you had a Facebook group foreverything was Gilmore Girls
(40:16):
Night Out.
SPEAKER_00 (40:17):
It's kind of adorable.
I'm picturing like bachelorparties, like bachelorette
bachelor parties.
You know what I mean?
How girls would like gettogether and watch The Bachelor.
That's what I'm picturing.
Oh, how cute.
SPEAKER_01 (40:26):
Yes, that that's exactly the same thing.
I love it.
And Practical Magic, one of myfavorite movies of all time.
I actually wrote a love spellwhen I was 13 and watched this
movie for the first time.
SPEAKER_00 (40:38):
We have also talked about this show when it's a
spell.
We talked about Practical Magicand how much we loved it when
you were you were doing sidelike midnight dance parties with
your daughter, and we did anepisode where we talked about
Stoke Channing a lot.
And we talked about how much sheshows up like four times in the
episode.
It's wild.
But she well, we talked so thatwas like that's a throwback.
(41:02):
That's almost like it's likeepisodes like three or four.
It's so early.
So if you want to hear us, yeah,it's way back practical magic
and wax poetic about stalkerchanting, then go listen.
SPEAKER_01 (41:11):
That's really funny.
Okay, so the book arrived andI've started reading it.
SPEAKER_00 (41:15):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (41:15):
The book has recipes.
What?
For what?
The main yes, the main characterowns a bakery.
And so at the end of everychapter, there's a recipe for
whatever she was baking in thatchapter.
SPEAKER_00 (41:30):
Stop.
That's amazing.
Any good ones so far?
Isn't it so great?
SPEAKER_01 (41:35):
And oh, so there's one that's rum-soaked peach
muffins, and I'm like gonna makeit this way.
SPEAKER_00 (41:42):
Oh, yeah.
Oh man, that sounds amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (41:45):
And it's so funny because it like says what each
ingredient is supposed to do foryou.
Like, oh, cinnamon ispreservation or whatever.
I don't know, but every singleone of the ingredients also has
some kind of magic to it.
SPEAKER_00 (41:58):
That's amazing.
I love it.
How fun.
Okay.
This is entitled Why I Am AlBorland.
Now, I know I just aged myselfwith that.
I don't think I don't think so,Tim.
Right.
I am Al Borland.
(42:19):
And here's why.
Yesterday, and this is like thisis fresh, right?
You know how you're it'sThanksgiving, and that's when
your garbage disposal chooses tocrap out on you because of all
the stuff you're putting down inthe table.
Oh, exactly.
Yeah.
Also, don't put oil down yourgarbage disposal.
That idea.
Freeze it and then throw itaway.
Or thank rocks.
(42:39):
Oh, yes.
So that's kind of what happenedto our garbage disposal.
I have plants on the windowsillabove the sink.
And I think somehow they gotspilled a little bit, and there
were like chunks of soil andthose soil rocks in my drain,
(43:00):
like in my garbage disposal.
And so my husband is running thegarbage disposal, and then it
just like clearly hitssomething, and then it just
stops.
And he was like, Oh, oh no,gosh, the garbage disposal is
not working.
And he got pretty frustratedright away.
And I was like, Okay, well, holdon.
You know, I go get a glove and Istart pulling things out of the
drain to see if I can see what'sin there and I can see the
(43:23):
little like plant rocks.
And I'm like, all right, well,it clearly got caught on
something, and now we just haveto figure out how to uncatch it.
So I get everything out and itstill won't turn on.
And then like something occurredto me where I was like, you know
how when you're when your vacuumis spinning and it gets stuck on
something, like on a rug orwhatever, or a piece of string
and it like and it stops, andyou just have to turn it off,
(43:44):
pull that thing out.
Maybe you have to unplug it andyeah, and then it kind of just
resets itself.
I was like, oh, I bet, well, isthere a reset button?
Like, let I bet we could resetit.
And immediately my husband goesand finds like where it would
be, and I push the button and mygarbage disposal turns back on.
And I feel like right.
(44:06):
I feel like Al Borland becausenow I'm an expert at fixing the
things.
So if you ever need clear youever need the little button on
your garbage disposal.
I am wearing a flannel shirt.
I will give you my flannelshirt.
You deserve it.
Thank you.
I do love a good flannel shirt.
I I felt so smart.
(44:29):
But a lot of people don't knowthat there's a reset button on
their garbage disposal.
So There is a reset button.
If it's not working, but it'slike it's just it won't even
turn on.
Like you like, it's not likeit's stuck.
It's just you and you've alreadygot room handling there and
started up and it's not doinganything.
Like look underneath it.
Look underneath the garbage.
There's probably a little, itmight be a little red button or
(44:52):
like a little square button, alittle black button.
And if it's popped out, you justneed to pop it back in.
It's like your hairdryer whenyou hit the reset button.
Yep.
Or mine isn't underneath, mine'son the side.
So it's just like with with yourhair dryer.
So just mine's on the side.
Yes.
So just find that button and seeif that does it, because then
you're saving yourself a$142plumber consultation fee for
(45:17):
them to come out and press thebutton for you, and you're like,
great.
SPEAKER_01 (45:21):
And I am telling you, if you are a plumber and
all you've done is come out andpress the button, please do
something else to make it looklike you did more than that.
Don't just tell and then alsosay, like, oh hey, one of the
things was I just pressed thisbutton, but then also like, oh,
but I also had to do all theseother things.
That's why it costs$142.
SPEAKER_00 (45:40):
I'll warn right over here.
SPEAKER_01 (45:41):
All right.
So while you are thinking aboutThanksgiving and all the things
that you are thankful for, don'tforget to be thankful for our
show.
And the way you can show us isthat you are five stars
thankful.
Five stars thank all those fivestars.
Tell your friends when you'resharing your gratitude.
Maybe this year the thing you'rethankful for is our show.
(46:02):
Probably not.
But like if we made it to thetop hundred, go ahead and say
it.
SPEAKER_00 (46:06):
And uh make good choices.
It's Thanksgiving.
I don't make good choices whenit comes to what's in front of
me on my plate.
So I don't think so, Jen.
Bye.
Bye.
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