Two Noras and a Mic
Oh hello! We’re Nora and Nora and we’re glad you’re here!
From parenting and local faves to current trends and recipes, we are two Noras discussing it all with a whole lot of laughter along the way. As we raise our families in the west suburbs of Chicago we invite you to listen weekly as we dish about all the highs and lows and ridiculous amount of tomfoolery that ensue on this journey. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts as we check out new local spots, interview all sorts of interesting people, and catch up with each other! It’s like inviting two friends over to visit and catch up with without all the hassle of getting ready for company. Leave the entertaining to us and be sure to tune in for a new episode each Monday.
Two Noras and a Mic
The Lunchtime Chronicles
Ever wonder why some conversations just flow while others feel like pulling teeth? We kick off this episode exploring a fascinating New York Times study that reveals the secret to meaningful connections isn't finding similarities—it's creating shared moments through "riffing." This simple technique transforms small talk into genuine connection, whether with new acquaintances or longtime friends.
The legendary Pumpkin Spice Latte makes its seasonal appearance in our studio as we conduct a live taste test with surprising results. Despite its cult following and massive popularity, we're left questioning what all the fuss is about when the drink tastes more like "melted vanilla ice cream" than anything resembling pumpkin. Our honest reactions might make you reconsider your next coffee order!
Fashion trends take center stage as we discuss how Gen Z has officially declared leggings "out" while embracing track pants reminiscent of 90s hip hop dancers. We navigate the practical implications of this style shift (spoiler: some activities still require leggings) and share a personal shopping experience that confirms the trend. Plus, we mourn the discontinuation of the beloved s'mores Girl Scout cookie while questioning the confusing name of its replacement.
Throughout our conversation, we explore lunch traditions from around the world—from Japanese bento boxes to Danish open-faced herring sandwiches—while reflecting on our own midday meal preferences and the challenges of packing school lunches. The episode wraps with heartwarming highs and lows, including forgotten groceries, word game archives, and a touching moment when a daughter stepped up to help her tired mom.
Join our casual, authentic conversation that feels like catching up with friends over coffee (preferably not a PSL). Subscribe now and become part of our growing community of listeners who appreciate honest talk and unexpected insights about everyday life!
We really are recording a podcast. Hi, thanks for joining us today. It's Nora and Nora, did I jump the gun? Well, you did ask should we record a podcast? I had consent.
Speaker 2:You know you're being recorded right.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, because I saw the timer go. Yeah, welcome to all our listeners, old and new. Glad you're here.
Speaker 2:We are and Nora, we had a big response from our episode last week on turtlenecks.
Speaker 1:We sure did. I thought you were going to say we had a big response with our hairdos. Oh, but no, turtlenecks, turtlenecks People can really relate. Yeah, people weighed in.
Speaker 2:And I was surprised. Our friend and marketing whiz banged Jessica. She was like yes, I remember wearing turtlenecks for family photos. I was like in Arizona.
Speaker 1:They were a thing you should have said. My friend Nora wore fringe on her shoulder, pads and fruit on her shirt.
Speaker 2:I still need to see a picture of this shirt.
Speaker 1:It's hard to imagine.
Speaker 2:There's not a lot of proof of my childhood, oh no, I mean it's there, it's there In family photos, you know, yearly photos, but yeah, not a lot of spontaneous kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:You wonder if my parents had a camera. I'm just kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Speaker 2:Kevin likes to do this thing totally going off track, where when he's going to bed it's like can we look at pictures? And he'll pick a year and a month, and then we just look at pictures from that year and that month before he goes to bed.
Speaker 2:I like it for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons is I delete all my screenshots and like pictures of things you know, like in your mom life, where you're like I can't forget this or I'm going to take a picture of this so it helps me weed out nonsense. But then we have found some really funny videos and pictures and I highly recommend it. It's really funny.
Speaker 1:My dad had a video camera growing up and I feel like our generation of raising kids really doesn't have too much of that, Maybe when our kids were younger but like the older they get. We just have those like quick videos.
Speaker 2:Well, and I think there are companies out there that if you send them all your videos, they would compile them, but then would you put them in like a shared drive.
Speaker 1:It would just be fun like set it and forget it Christmas morning on a tripod.
Speaker 2:I'll usually take a video of my kids coming down the stairs. Oh, that would be cute.
Speaker 1:Every year, every year, I do have that. If you had that compiled To compile them.
Speaker 2:But yeah, the turtlenecks continue to be a conversation starter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if you're at a cocktail party and you're at a loss of what to discuss, may I?
Speaker 2:suggest turtlenecks. I'm like oh, it's getting chilly, you don't keep me warm.
Speaker 1:I wish I had something for my neck. It is getting chilly and I do have something that would keep you warm. Last week, we talked about the pumpkin spice latte, indeed, and Nora mentioned that it was originally named the Fall Harvest Latte, but Starbucks wanted to jump on board with everything pumpkin, so I picked one up for us. You haven't tried it yet no. I haven't tried it. I did order it with outwood cream.
Speaker 2:Great, I hope you don't mind. I was even thinking like, oh, she gets like a skinny one, I'm good with that.
Speaker 1:I almost did, but then I wanted to be like fruit with that.
Speaker 2:Oh, oh, there, nutmeg.
Speaker 1:Oh, nutmeg, cinnamon, I don't know, I bet nutmeg.
Speaker 2:You give it a whiff. Oh, smell it, it smells good, it smells like fall, fall harvest yeah, okay, it has kind of an unsettling color, but I guess that's from the pumpkin.
Speaker 1:Or the latte, yeah, coffee, and what is it? Oh, I asked him.
Speaker 2:So it's. I'm glad Espresso, 2% milk and pumpkin syrup Essence of pumpkin and you've put out such beautiful cups for us to try it in. It has a bit of a cheese color to it.
Speaker 1:Now I know why people drink it with the top.
Speaker 2:With the top on. Yeah, I mean, everything's always better with the top. It looks like I kind of want to. I'm just going to smell it again.
Speaker 1:Okay, cheers.
Speaker 2:Okay, cheers. Oh, it's very sugary, that's I was going to say. It doesn't taste like pumpkin. To me, it just tastes like sugar.
Speaker 1:It tastes like fall sugar.
Speaker 2:Just tastes like coffee sugar. These are all the rage Because sometimes I, if I'm really tired, tired I'll get a caramel macchiato but that at least I get a tall, skinny caramel macchiato in that. You get that sometimes too, oh, and that you can taste the.
Speaker 1:That is not as sweet as this this just tastes like sugar, water, sugar, milk sugar milk.
Speaker 2:yeah, I don't even taste the coffee. Why would you? Yeah, I don't even taste the coffee. Why would you drink this? I don't even taste pumpkin. You just taste sugar. Because I like pumpkin, I like to make pumpkin bread, I like pumpkin pie.
Speaker 1:But you can't taste like the nutmeg or the anything.
Speaker 2:No, that comes with pumpkin and we poured ours out, so it should all be mixed in. Hmm, I don't know. I mean, I'm happy for them that it's so successful and that people really like it, but I'm not. I don't taste the pumpkin Same. I was worried it was going to be like pump too much pumpkin. Yes, yes, I'm missing. There's not enough pumpkin. No, I'm so surprised. This is like a dessert. I was also. It's like soup, it's like sweet, it's like melted ice cream. There you go, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:That's kind of, but it's not pumpkin ice cream. No. It's not melted pumpkin, it's just vanilla ice cream. Yeah, it's melted vanilla ice cream. Yeah, warmed up.
Speaker 2:Hmm, huh, warmed up.
Speaker 1:Hmm, I mean it's sweet, yeah, yeah, but if I was going to get something just to be sweet, I would rather get a hot chocolate, I would rather get the caramel macchiato. Yeah.
Speaker 2:This is less. This is more sweet, I would say, than a hot chocolate.
Speaker 1:This just tastes like sugar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, well, bummer, okay, I wonder if other people like do you know people in our real life?
Speaker 1:that are on the.
Speaker 2:PSL.
Speaker 1:LOL, idk, idk, okay, tbd.
Speaker 2:Okay, brb. Do they BRB Some other kind of flavor news? Girl Scouts are getting rid of one of my favorite cookies. What is it? I really like the s'more Girl Scout cookie. I've never had a s'more cookie.
Speaker 1:It's great. Well, you're out of luck now.
Speaker 2:You never know. The ship has sailed. I'm so sorry, it was a graham cracker cookie and then the inside filling, so it was a sandwich cookie. The inside filling was half chocolate, like an Oreo. Yes filling, so it's a sandwich cookie.
Speaker 1:The inside filling was half chocolate like an oreo, yes half, chocolate half marshmallow. I love that for them. Oh, it was the best. Maybe oreo will come out with this more. That would be nice. I think they did, or we've tried so many everything but they're, so they're getting rid of that.
Speaker 2:and then another cookie called the Toast Yay, which I say good, I'm on board for that, because I don't even know. I'm imagining those like small little pieces of toast that they put off for like cocktail hours. But anyways, the new cookie is called an Explore Mors, but it's deceiving because it's actually a Rocky Road ice cream flavor.
Speaker 1:Oh, it sounds like s'mores. Yes, this is poor marketing. I'm flavor. Oh, it sounds like s'mores. Yes, it's for marketing. I'm like no, just keep the s'mores. Yeah, no, it was a little I like a thin mint.
Speaker 2:That's staying. I think if they got rid of that people would go to war with the Girl Scouts. They'd be protesting about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hey, speaking of trends and things you are so in, I am. Yeah, I read an article that said all the it women are dressed like 90s hip hop dancers. Leggings are lagging. When I called you to ask you about my pants, they're on point. Gen Z is like leggings are out. Yeah, adios, leggings. You look like boomers, oh, and if you are attending workout classes, they're all in, give your legs some room to breathe.
Speaker 2:So, listeners, I called Nora the other day and you were like, oh, are you calling about something? I said, no, I need to ask you about my pants Because I bought a pair of. I mean you really you have to call them track pants. Yeah, you do. They're track pants. They're like that plastic swishy material. It was the perfect way to describe it. Okay, yes and so, but then I was confused because it felt old to wear them. But actually, what's old is new again? Yeah, it felt like a throwback, yes, but I have to say really enjoyed wearing them so comfortable, they looked so cute on you and you had an option of like a straight leg, or you could pull the elastic at the bottom and cinch them Like a bubble, Like a bubble, like genie pants.
Speaker 1:They were darling. Oh well, thank you. So I will say I can switch to those for like athleisure wear, but I'm going to have to hold on to the leggings for running because I can't.
Speaker 2:Well, even I was thinking for Peloton. I think your pant legs would get stuck in the bike gears. I think you're right. Also, I don't know how comfortable it would be to sweat in those pants.
Speaker 1:So from a functionality point of view, I'll hold on to the leggings, yes, but for running to the grocery store I'll have to switch.
Speaker 2:Yes For casual kind of athleisure. Yeah, I highly recommend them. Yeah, they're very cute.
Speaker 1:I don't shop online. And they're waterproof, so I didn't order them, so hopefully they have them in store. Yes, hey, I was reading a story, yes, about this Texas family. Okay, stop me, if you've heard this, maybe I know them that's expecting their first baby girl in the family in 108 years.
Speaker 2:No way.
Speaker 1:Yes, the last time a girl was born in the family was 1917.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Isn't that crazy, that's wild, I know so like boys on boys on boys.
Speaker 2:All the boy, cousins and uncles and all the women who have married into that family.
Speaker 1:It's just a whole bunch of in-laws, outlaws, whatever laws.
Speaker 2:Just a lot of boys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, that's a really sweet story Isn't that funny. I need to think that yeah, he was 108 years. They did a gender reveal. I bet the whole family was like boy and I didn't get all the details on it, but they surprised the dad. So when the dad came in it was all the family like surprised. Oh, so yeah, was he like verklempt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, that's really sweet. When Rose was born, al was like I didn't realize how much I wanted a daughter. Oh, that's really sweet. When Rose was born, al was like I didn't realize how much I wanted a daughter. He's like I really wanted to have a girl. So, yeah, it was sweet. Because he's one of three boys. He has mostly boy cousins. He has one girl cousin who's close and that's Rose's godmother.
Speaker 1:I think it's interesting that you have three boys and your fourth was a girl, and then your cousin has four, three girls and her fourth was a boy.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we're only two days apart, and then our youngest are four days apart, something like that. It was very cute. Yeah, it all worked out kind of nice.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you about your boys real quick. Oh sure, Are they all into Legos?
Speaker 2:At varying degrees. I would say Aiden is the most, and then Rory, and then Kevin, probably the least.
Speaker 1:Have you heard about this 9,000 piece Death Star from?
Speaker 2:Star Wars? Yes, I have, because Aiden has very strong opinions on it. It's $1,000. Oh, it's two feet tall, he does not care for it.
Speaker 1:Oh, which is good, because I'm like you're not going to get it. It just looks like it's like a backdrop almost for your mini things it's weird because a lot exactly, yeah.
Speaker 2:So usually when they come out with these the Death Star, it's an actual like globe, kind of like an orb, oh do you have one, the Death, no, but the round. It's almost like a moon satellite kind of thing. This one is almost like a cross-section of the Death Star and Eden does not care for it. Okay, well, good, that saves you a brand. Yeah, I'm like great, yeah, because that would not be in the budget.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, it's expensive, but as I kept reading, I found that 15% of all Lego sales come from adults.
Speaker 2:I just bought myself a Lego set. What? So we were in the Lego store and you know I have Lego flowers, which make me happy and they had a Halloween wreath. That was really cute and I don't have a lot of Halloween decoration and I was like Rose, should I get this and we'll put it together Together, yeah. Put it together, together, terrible sentence and we'll build it together and she was all on board, so, yeah, last night we started it.
Speaker 1:How big is it? Is it wreath size?
Speaker 2:It's not that it's not huge, it's a very small wreath. But what I didn't anticipate is that there's so many little itty bitty, tiny pieces on it. So she was great with the big structure part, but then the little nitty gritty pieces were hard for her to figure out where they actually did. You enjoy it? I did, I do. I like following directions, I know you do, and I hate following directions because part of me was nervous. I was like are they just going to tell me to decorate this in any way I want?
Speaker 2:And then I was like oh, thank God, no, they were like this goes here, this goes here.
Speaker 1:Often, when I put things together, I feel grateful to the manufacturer because it seems like they always give me extra pieces.
Speaker 2:Oh, isn't that good to lose one. Sometimes they do.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So, nora, we talk a lot about small talk and getting to know people. There was a really interesting article in the New York Times about how people introduce and meet each other in small talk incorrectly. They just did a whole study about how people assume like the best way to connect or get to know someone is through shared experiences Like I like blue, you like blue, I like dogs, I like dogs when really the best thing to do is to build a shared reality. And they call it riffing. Like riffing playfully versus existing similarities and it doesn't mean having to be like funny or witty, just attentive and embrace spontaneity. Like it's kind of saying like oh, that reminds me. Oh, you like the color blue, that reminds me of this blue slushy I found Someone left it on their car and I was driving behind them and it fell off and hit my windshield and then being like, oh my God, can you imagine the person in that car, what they would have said, kind of creating a story out of a very small detail.
Speaker 1:Does this make sense.
Speaker 2:Okay, like inside jokes and how it kind of puts you on the same wave.
Speaker 1:Like it levels the playing field yeah.
Speaker 2:So, like the focus is not what is the same, but what can you create in that moment, well, you can create together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so nobody has more skin in the game, kind of. So you don't have to listen to somebody talk about something at a bar for an hour.
Speaker 2:Yes, Kind of like if someone got a new dog, they'd be like oh my gosh, can you imagine what that dog must be thinking Like? Who are all these new?
Speaker 1:people and look at all these shoes I could chew on. Yes, instead of like oh, you got a new dog, I have a new dog. New dogs are great, yes, and really time consuming. Just hypothetically speaking. They make you really tired, right. Like you, go to your room at 6.30 pm.
Speaker 2:Just spitballing, just hypothetically, but I thought that was very interesting. I'm going to try that and I think that is something you and I you do. I think we do Because when we have weird things happen to us, I think we always kind of pretend, basically, or think about what the other person might be thinking. Or the other people around must be thinking when we're laughing. We had a situation at the sharty party where we kind of did that, where we were like riffing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we were, and you build on it and you have that kind of thing. So I thought that was interesting. Yeah, I'm going to keep that in mind. I mean, I have the link to the article if people want to read about it. But they also said it's not just for new people. It works in all relationships, like with your spouse, with your friends and I was thinking my siblings and I do that a lot. Oh, you do when we'll like make up scenarios Like in the moment, be like oh my gosh, could you imagine this?
Speaker 1:Or what if this who's the funniest family on the planet.
Speaker 2:Well, maybe because we riff, I don't know Whatever you're doing is working, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Anyways, all right, should we check in with our sponsor? Let's do it, hey Nora. Hi Nora, how are you? I'm great. I was just wondering do you like firecrackers?
Speaker 2:Is the Pope from.
Speaker 1:Chicago? I sure do. And guess what else is from Chicago? What? Mike Haggerty, buick, gmc. Bless my soul. God bless America. New Canyons, sierra, hds, terrains, acadias, yukons, you name it, they've got it. Oh my goodness. But the real firecracker of a sale is the 2025 Buick Envision. You can lease it now for $339 a month for 24 months.
Speaker 2:God bless America.
Speaker 1:So head on down to Mike Haggerty Buick GMC on the corner of 93rd and Cicero, or check them out online at haggertycarscom and tell them the Norris sent you. And now back to the show.
Speaker 2:Our topic today is lunch.
Speaker 1:I love lunch, do you? Yes, okay, I start thinking about lunch as soon as I finish breakfast.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:Every day.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness See, I eat breakfast thinking, oh I wish I had like chocolate chip pancakes and hash browns and waffles, as I'm eating my total cereal.
Speaker 1:You know what? My B12 was low. So now I've shifted from instant oatmeal that I call gruel to bran flakes that I think are kind of like total you should try total.
Speaker 2:It's got all the vitamins in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So she said eat a cereal. With what is it fortified, mm? Did the doctor tell you that? Yeah, I wish she would have told me that I got a bupkis.
Speaker 2:What? She never said anything. What did she say? Bupkis, which is like a Yiddish word, I think for nothing.
Speaker 1:You got bupkis Bupkis. No, it's not great. What's?
Speaker 2:going on? Absolutely not.
Speaker 1:I was wondering what was going on in your visit.
Speaker 2:I would like a little extra more attention, but not that much. Just some follow-up would be nice.
Speaker 1:Did she send you an email? No, no.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm telling you. Spell that. I think it's B-U-B-K-I-S, bupkis, unless it's B-U-P. I'm going to check it out now. Okay, so I just looked it up. I spelled it wrong. It's B-U-P-K-I-S. Sometimes it's B-U-B-K-E-S, so bupkis or bupkis. But the term originates from the Yiddish word for beans and evolved to refer to a small goat or sheep droppings which resemble beans, leading to its use as a derogatory term for worthlessness. So here's an example of somebody's. This is the example from the Oxford Dictionary. You know, bupkis about fundraising. Ooh yeah, those are fighting words, fighting words. So yeah, there you go. There's your word of the day Bupkis, bupkis. Great, but back to lunch. Back to lunch. I didn't realize you were such a lunch person. Oh yeah, I love a lunch. What are you eating for lunch?
Speaker 1:I will say I don't love going out for lunch during the week unless it's a quick lunch. I love a quick lunch because my time is spread so thin, like I have only so much time to do so many things without kids. That, if you want to meet for like 45 minutes for lunch, fantastic.
Speaker 2:But I get anxious about spending Because if you meet for lunch at like 1230 and then all of a sudden it's two o'clock. You've really only got an hour before your people come home.
Speaker 1:Yes, and so I think that's where it gets me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you think like oh no, you basically have to have everything done for your day before lunch.
Speaker 1:That's true.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this it might be different for you because you were a teacher when you were working, Like your full-time job has always been teaching mostly.
Speaker 1:So what was that like Teacher lunch? Teacher lunch can go two ways. Sometimes, if you had stuff to do after school, you would work through lunch in your room, oh, in grade papers and lesson plan To get things done. Yeah, but I really liked my team, all my teams. So then it was fun to sit and visit and catch up In the teacher's lounge. Yeah, how? What is the?
Speaker 2:vibe in the teacher's lounge.
Speaker 1:I guess it depends on the school, but our school was always pretty good. Yeah, yeah, we had a great group, like we were so lucky and I know some of the ladies that I formerly taught with listened to this. And I know they would agree that we had a really special group of staff and it was like a family oh, and it kind of had a reputation for being like that. Oh, okay, yeah, so it was nice.
Speaker 2:That people would hear where you worked and be like, oh, that's a great spot.
Speaker 1:And then I moved to another school where I had a physician that they asked, how did you build that?
Speaker 2:Because they wanted to mirror it. Oh my gosh, what a lovely compliment.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:To your other school that people were like we've heard how nice.
Speaker 1:So you looked forward to going and sitting.
Speaker 2:Into lunch. That's neat Because when I worked at my jobs my various different jobs because when I worked at Ritz-Carlton there was a cafeteria and they provided food, oh, and the food was delicious. So you never had to pack a lunch. So I never had to pack a lunch. It was free and it was good. And then every once in a while they'd have extra from luncheons or dinners and stuff and you would would get like the good stuff. Oh, really, Well, taken care of. Yeah, it was a fantastic place to work. I loved working there, but it was nice, but then it was also kind of like you never left the building.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Right, right, like I'm like at jobs where I'm like I was more. But the people who worked there were so nice too.
Speaker 1:They had a TV in there, but that was worth it to stay in. If you have lunch, great. What do you think about packing lunch for your kids?
Speaker 2:So my husband and I have differing opinions.
Speaker 1:And he packs a lot of lunches, doesn't he? He does.
Speaker 2:Because when I was growing up, I think when we were either in fourth or fifth grade my mom was the lunch. She said the lunch stops here. The lunch was up to you. You pack your own lunch, which I think is great, and so I said to my husband I think they should pack their own lunches, and he disagreed. Also, now he packs them, so he packs lunches. So when he goes out of town he has to send me a note of what everybody gets.
Speaker 2:Do they have any say, I try not to be involved at all. Yes, they have a lot of say, which I think is fine.
Speaker 1:Does he buy the lunch?
Speaker 2:food. No, oh, okay, I buy the lunch items and then he distributes it to their lunch boxes. But I was thinking, I always used a brown bag. I never had a proper lunch box, I mean maybe when I was little.
Speaker 1:Well, when I was really little, like St Barnabas, we'd walk home from lunch. Wow, and I love that. I wish our kids still did that. No, you do.
Speaker 2:You just said you don't like going out for lunch because it messes up your day. Can you imagine if your kids came home for lunch? That would jack up your time.
Speaker 1:I'd be the worst. Well, I would probably have myself a proper lunch instead of six handfuls of pretzels and a Diet. Coke.
Speaker 2:So that's the thing you look forward to lunch, but then you only eat pretzels and a Diet Coke. No, no, no, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:I'll scour the fridge for whatever. If I use a plate, I will eat a more proper lunch. Oh, okay, you put your pretzels up and your diet coke and like, and I get up so early that sometimes by like 10, 30 like, all right, you're gonna hit 11 o'clock, so do you have your cereal at 5 30? Uh, depends. Well, this dog situation was really messing with my my morning workout.
Speaker 1:Oh, because ryan promised we could get a dog but then said he wouldn't help with it, which I kind of get, because he does have to get out the door for work. Yeah, and she's so little now that we have to have our eye on her, sure, so I can't be like out running or on the Peloton, yeah, so I've had to work out after her, so I've been eating early, but usually I work out, or usually I eat after I work out. Okay, because I usually eat breakfast with my St John's kiddos so around like 7.45. I love that you sit down and eat lunch with them or breakfast with them. Wouldn't it be fun if?
Speaker 2:they walked home. If they walked home for lunch, yeah, no, because my kids all eat different things and in the summer, making lunch for them, I'm like all right, you want peanut butter, you want noodles, you want chicken nuggets, you want ham salad sandwich, and I'm like ugh and you do. You want noodles, you want chicken nuggets, you want ham salad sandwich, and I'm like ugh and you do. You're a good mom.
Speaker 1:And I make it for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's nice, but I love our friend Annabelle Monaghan, who was like told her boys find a job that provides lunch. Yeah, I'm out Because it is one more meal during the day to make and clean up after.
Speaker 1:Although I think it's easy. Now my kids grab a fruit, a vegetable that's already Ziploc bagged until like Wednesday. Oh, okay, and then they're on a salad kick, oh.
Speaker 2:I got a text.
Speaker 1:The other day, while I was at physical therapy we're out of dressing.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh, See if we can get some at school. You're like don't we have?
Speaker 1:some oil in there. Yeah, I know. Throw it in there, but I don't really mind making it. It just does take a lot of time, like when we have special lunch, the big kids buy. Oh, I know.
Speaker 2:That is a nice thing. Yeah, I think our grammar school is having a special lunch next week.
Speaker 2:I'm excited for that. My mom. I don't think she ever made us lunch. Did she eat lunch? No, she still doesn't really like to eat lunch. Like if we go out to lunch, it has to be a place that has breakfast as an option, because she wakes up later, she eats breakfast for so long. She doesn't eat a lot of breakfast at home. She'll eat like an English muffin, but it'll take her an hour and a half Because she'll do one half at a time, oh, and she'll sit and she'll take a thousand bites. A sip of tea, well, maybe I'll put some laundry in, maybe I'll make a phone call, maybe I'll do words with friends, maybe I'll wordle and then she'll put the other half in. That's probably a good way to do things. But growing up we would sleep late and then have, like in the summer, like have breakfast, and then I don't think we ever I don't remember having lunch, unless I was in school. I remember you saying that. So who knows?
Speaker 1:You made it out of it.
Speaker 2:I survived, but now I typically eat a peanut butter sandwich for lunch or a grape nut sandwich. I've left those behind me.
Speaker 1:I love our lunch because there's very few people I can call and be like. You want to go to Pot Valley? Do you want to go to the taco?
Speaker 2:place.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we haven't been there in a while, I know, but it's like I could have a fast lunch with you, yes. And also typically we do like a working lunch. A working lunch, I mean, we obviously write it off for our business.
Speaker 2:Yes, right.
Speaker 1:But yeah. No, I, I did look into lunches around the world. Yes, this is, I'm very Nora Taylor of me. Oh, look at you, go, go. I was like and and.
Speaker 2:Well, I thought you said I looked it up and I didn't write anything down.
Speaker 1:But I did read about it.
Speaker 2:I'm so nervous.
Speaker 1:Well, I was reading about the bento box in Japan. I'm like I could get behind that. Veggies, rice and meat there you go, Preferably cooked, but whatever. India, the tiffin box? Yes, that was cute.
Speaker 2:I know that they have companies that will deliver them to you. It's like a little stack.
Speaker 1:Yes, because they're worried about food poisoning um I so they want to eat from home. I do. I think it would create a lot of work when we get home like teaming up after it, but it was so cute. I wasn't sure how you felt, though. There was a carb on the bottom, some sort of like pickled something in the middle, and then a salad on top.
Speaker 2:I'm happy for them for that. Okay, I think it's it's, it's cute and it's a thing that's really unique to India.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm going to try Denmark.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh boy.
Speaker 1:A smørrebrokt. It's an open-faced sandwich Okay, typically with pickled herring oh, that's their face.
Speaker 2:Another fish, and horseradish. And a breath mint.
Speaker 1:I think that sounds smelly, that is so smelly First.
Speaker 2:I'm bringing like tuna to the hop. But then I guess if everybody you know, if that's the popular thing, it's like oh, PB&J. No, I got my my earpiece pickled herring, Like clearly your mom doesn't love you if you don't have pickled herring Okay, but my favorite was Costa Rica.
Speaker 1:Okay, the Quesado, which means marriage.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:So it's like rice and beans and meat and veggies and a salad Great, all kind of mish-mashed. I'm in. Yeah, it sounded great. It sounded like a burrito, almost kind of like a burrito. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Tell me about this. In England, packaged sammies ah yes, okay, this is a big thing. They've got a lot the pret a manger and then there I can't remember the name of the other place, but they're it's a sandwich on bread and then not like a roll. I know it sounds dumb. It's on sliced bread, not on a roll, or a wrap.
Speaker 2:Well, maybe some wraps cut in triangles it said, cut in triangles, and then it's folded, so it's packaged where you can see the inside, so you can see the cross section, and they're all ready to go. But every single one of them has mayonnaise on it and that's what didn't work for me, because I would say 99% of these sandwiches have mayonnaise. It's a lot of. Does it get soggy? I don't, I didn't eat it. Oh, so I don't know. There was one at Pret-a-Manger that I used to get because it didn't have mayonnaise. It had like a pesto-y kind of thing on it.
Speaker 1:But this is Pesto for breakfast. Yesterday I did. I know I didn't feel about that.
Speaker 2:I felt bad because I feel like this is a huge and I would always be like can I get a sandwich made? And they're like no, they're all right there, they don't like choices. Like when some like friends, British friends of mine would be like Subway stresses me out because it's too many choices, I was like, no, it's meat, it's cheese, it's fillings, yeah, what they're like. I'd rather just get a pre-made sandwich Like your bananas. You fry it, but yeah, that's a thing.
Speaker 1:I like our lunch. I do love a sandwich. It's probably one of my favorite foods, same.
Speaker 2:And my kids are not big sandwich people. I'm trying to change that.
Speaker 1:You've got to change that. Yeah, I mean, if you can't eat a sandwich, you're really in a pickle.
Speaker 2:Do they like a BLT? No, oh. But you know what? I don't like BLTs, so I've never really done it. I don't like tomato really. I had a tomato, my mother-in-law. She said if she could only eat one thing for the rest of her life, it would be a BLT. No, kidding, mm-hmm. Wow. So she really feels strongly about it, she does.
Speaker 1:Should we launch into highs and lows? Yes, okay, can I go?
Speaker 2:Well, you go first because I have the dumbest low.
Speaker 1:Well, I've been thinking about yours because you said you had one. My low is that the dog schedule has my morning workout, a rep, and then I have to do it later in the day and I don't do that.
Speaker 2:No, no, well, I'm sorry, so I've taken on a little part-time job.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's a lot of time, more than part-time.
Speaker 2:But anyways. So I'm a little frazzled, just trying to keep things, keep my family ecosystem in check that's a nice way to put it. I also know that I'm a big fan of picking up my groceries. I do, I order them online and I go and I pick up my groceries.
Speaker 2:So last Friday I picked up groceries and I got to my house, my parents were helping and I kind of got everybody sorted and then I went to work and then over the weekend people were like oh, we're out of this, we're out of that, and I was like gosh. I feel like I just oh, my gosh, I'm surprised we're out of bread and milk and like kind of like some cereals, like staples, things. I was like gosh. So then on Monday placed a big giant grocery order and I got home and I was taking the bags out of the trunk and I was like this ice cream is warm. Like what happened? I was like what the heck, mariano? And then I was like these frozen mini pancakes Warm, what the heck. And then I realized oh, here's ice cream that's cold and frozen pancakes that are frozen. I picked up my groceries on Friday and left them in my car all weekend.
Speaker 2:Did you bring them back? No, no, that was my fault. Okay, I just I mean threw away the ice cream, I mean, but then I had also Was there anything salvageable? Yeah, because I had, and I was like gosh when I was like I really thought I ordered this stuff. Now I have so many bags of chips, I have so many loaves of bread and like little mini pretzel rolls that they eat for lunch. I'm like, oh my God.
Speaker 1:You're going to be eating at home all week.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm like everyone is just eating toast and Cheetos, great, and I was like, oh, I hate when I do that. I was like what I'm so lucky Props to Tillamook ice cream. Oh yeah, that that ice cream didn't melt out. Their containers are rock solid because, oh, that could have been a mess. It could have been a mess and it really could have been worse, but I was just so, not even mad, just like.
Speaker 1:Come on Going ahead I know, how could I forget to take that out of my car?
Speaker 2:Because we're just moms, like Ugh, like you go that out of my car, because we're just moms, like keep it all together. So anyways, okay, if you need any bread, okay come talk to me.
Speaker 1:I wish I knew that because, yes, this yesterday I was making sandwiches and I was like gosh. I thought I had rolls to make sandwiches. Oh, because I bought them. And then when ryan got home he's like I threw away a package of rolls because they looked kind of old.
Speaker 2:I was like oh, that's where the rolls are you need pretzel rolls Okay. Bread, bread. I'm your girl, thank you. What's your high? Oh my God, this is the best news.
Speaker 1:I'm looking, it's a word that, oh, groceries. Oh, that's my thought.
Speaker 2:So you know I'm a fan of the New York Times games. Yes, Okay, so I do Wordle, I do all my little word games and what's great is that Wordle and Connections has an archive, so if you miss a day you can go back and play oh, look at that. But Strands the word search that doesn't give you a word.
Speaker 1:bank never had an archive search that doesn't give you a word. Bank never had an archive, so if you missed it, you know if you I would like strands, you would love strands.
Speaker 2:So now they have an archive, so now I can go back. But how?
Speaker 1:do you know the ones I missed? How do you know what words you're looking for?
Speaker 2:they give you a clue, so there's a theme to it how many words are there?
Speaker 1:so you know, are there, so you don't until the, until all the rooms.
Speaker 2:So today's theme is take a break. So I found. So it's always you could take a break, unplug, exercise, journal, meditate. And then what is this one? Oh, paint walk, oh, wow. And then there's always one word, that's the theme, and I can't figure out what it is for today.
Speaker 1:But you can go back, or does it expire tomorrow?
Speaker 2:No, but now there's an archive, so they'll expire.
Speaker 1:Oh right, right, right.
Speaker 2:So yesterday's strand, like the common theme, was school schedule. That was the theme and then so all of the other words were school subjects, english science, lunch recess math and music. So I'm stuck today on what the strand, the common thread for all these words is. But I'm so excited that there's an archive, because I can go all the way back to June.
Speaker 1:Look at that or no In all your spare time.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, it's like a whole year of strands this is like the best news.
Speaker 1:I love this for you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, because then some days I'm like, oh, I never finished the strands. But then I was like it's gone, it's lost, but not anymore Not anymore.
Speaker 1:You're back, I'm back, All right, great. What is your hike? Oh well, my highest. Last night I retired for the evening at approximately 630.
Speaker 2:I love this for you.
Speaker 1:And then when I came down this morning, lunches were all laid out and the kitchen was clean. What my daughter, elle, she said, and then she poked her head in last night. She's like, I know you're not probably asleep. I just want to let you know I don't think you should stay up late thinking about things. I think you should just try and get a rest.
Speaker 2:Oh, and she took care of it she took care of everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bless her. So that was a nice way to start my day. That is lovely, yeah, and on that note, should we go grab lunch? Sure, let's do it. Bye.
