May 2, 2021

Weather & Vacuums | Dinner Plus Drinks #71

Weather & Vacuums | Dinner Plus Drinks #71
Dinner Plus Drinks Podcast
Weather & Vacuums | Dinner Plus Drinks #71

Hello friends - we're officially getting old as we talk about the weather, rain, grass, vacuums and many other old people things. We're sure you can relate to these fascinating and vital subjects, however, and we'd love to hear your opinions on these subjects as well! If you're not into these everyday topics, don't worry, we talked food, news, and, of course, funny kid stories.

Here are links to what we talked about this week:

Thanks so much for listening, we love getting together with you every week and appreciate that you join us. We'll have a Pinkies Up wine episode coming out this week with a delightful spring theme. We hope you'll tune in for that episode as well!

Here's how you can stay up with all of the things Dinner Plus Drinks and get in touch with us to share your travel tips and more!

Cheers everybody, have a great week; we'll talk to you next week!

~ Bridget and Nick

*If you make a purchase using our links, we may receive a commission.

SPEAKER_00

Hello everybody, new edition of Dinner Plus Drinks Podcast. Woo woo! Record a day early again. And do you remember what happened the last time we recorded a day early? No. Prince Philip died. Oh shit. So um we're gonna talk about something timely coming up after our break. Um, but there's some news starting to leak out that I'm a little scared we might jinx something else. Not so bad that someone might die, but it might crush my heart. Dang. So stay tuned after the break to see that. Um that's a cliffhanger. But we are recording a little early because what's been going on, British?

SPEAKER_02

I'm leaving town. So I just got back like a couple hours ago from freaking driving to Midway. That was a mistake. That was a mistake. I told you it's a mistake. I know, so did Tyler, but I it was like a $250 difference. And I just couldn't handle it. So I was like, I'll drive to Midway. I don't care. I got podcasts to listen to. It was a mistake, everybody. I was in the car driving four hours straight by myself, which is annoying. Anyway, I'm back. I'm here recording. Tomorrow, Lucy and I leave. We're going to see Brittany and Elliot. And Tyler went to go see Travis down in Texas today, his brother.

SPEAKER_00

That's so much fun. Boys' trip, girls' trip. I got a little hangout time with Tyler last night. It was nice. Didn't get to see him for a little bit, so it was good to catch up. That was nice of you guys. We got some, we uh we we got some gloves for the daycare. Did you know that gloves are so hard to get? I did know that because I've been with Tyler trying to get them. Of all the ridiculous things, you know, Mr. Tyler, poor daycare director, Mr. Tyler's been around. Changing your kids shit. To every Costco in a hundred-mile radius trying to get gloves when Lake Geneva Country Meets literally has pallets of them. Yeah, he does. Because we've had to buy pallets at about a quarter of the cost of what he's paid. I'm like, hey man, we can get gloves. Like knock a day off of Samoa's daycare bill or something.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I've been with him at Costco, I've been with him at Walgreens, Walmart, and like I think there's still limits on gloves at like Walmart, and you're buying them for 10 bucks a box. See, we have minimums.

SPEAKER_00

We have the we bought uh like eight pallets was kind of the minimum of what we so we have gloves all over.

SPEAKER_02

Well, the daycare teachers need gloves because they're wiping your kids' butts. So that was exciting. Oh, that was thrilling, yeah. So he he's a pretty anxious traveler, so like I just wanted him to chill, so I think you were helpful in that. I'm glad.

SPEAKER_00

I'm glad. No, man. You know, I my other thing right now that I really need to talk about with you. Okay, I'm nervous. You know you're old when all you want is it to rain. For your lawn. For my lawn. Okay, so we we have the new house. Wait, it rained last night, didn't it? A little bit, but not enough. Rained on my way to Midway. I want more rain. We print we planted new trees, we have new grass seed down. You can water them. Well, I am, but it's have you seen how much space? I gotta move the sprinkler like eight times. I mean, with a hose with your daughter after work. Oh, and then you stand there. Oh my god. And you're really an old man. Oh god. I don't have well, you need to soak it for like 10 minutes per area. Brittany's mad at us right now for killing the earth.

SPEAKER_02

Do you know what I did when I put grass seed down at my house? And was like, something'll grow, and it all grew in. I didn't water it much. I watered it occasionally for one minute at a time. I'm an expert gardener though. I mean, you have um a lot of better looking lawn that you seem to care about more than I do, so I think I'm gonna get uh some raised beds for for some tomatoes.

SPEAKER_00

I was talking to you farmer Beth at the farm station. I thought you were supposed to start those in a pot. Yeah, she they have them started in a pot already. Excellent. They have heirloom ones, they have these organic ones I'm gonna get. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

We have our raised bed started, man.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I'm gonna get my tomatoes. They're gonna have them ready June 1st, they said.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

I thought about using that as a product recommendation, but it's Didn't I do that?

SPEAKER_02

Did I share my raised bed? Because you did, yeah. Yeah, last no, I was gonna say the tomato plants. Oh, the tomato. Ooh, you should just shop with the farmstead. Also, the farmer's market starts next week, so you can pop down there and get whatever you need when when all of your vegetables fail. Like mine certainly will. Brittany said she's saving her carrot harvest for Lucy to do when we're out there. Oh, that's awesome. Lucy's gonna be ripping carrots out of Britney's garden when we're out there. Like she's a regular Peter Rabbit. It's gonna be great, you guys. That's exciting. I also wish it would rain all the time because I love the rain. Luckily, I'm going to Seattle where it's I think gonna rain every day except one. And same with Texas.

unknown

Stop the rain.

SPEAKER_02

So both of our vacations are covered in rain.

SPEAKER_00

But you know we're actually almost in a drought. We're in uh the like first level of drought in Wisconsin. I don't know that.

SPEAKER_02

It is pretty dry though.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, there's been a burn ban for a while.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, where does one learn about that?

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. It's on my weather app of all places. Because I too have a burn barrel. I think that's advisory, and I don't care. I have brush to burn. If you're listening, uh, whoever polices that, I I think it's like a you know, not even like a misdemeanor ticket. I think it's just a like, hey man, just don't burn the earth down. I mean, I don't care. I have brush to burn. I live in the country. There's brush everywhere.

SPEAKER_02

Why don't you just keep it in a pile and compost it? Look at what I'm learning about composting. It doesn't compost all the wood. Okay. Like all the wood? Maybe not wood, but leaves brush? Yes, leaves compost. So gross. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00

I'll show you a big pile of leaves I have that I dumped in the woods when I was 12 and it still hasn't composted.

SPEAKER_02

You have to turn it.

SPEAKER_00

I've turned it.

SPEAKER_02

Brittany, I hope you're proud of how much I learned about composting, not from you.

SPEAKER_00

What else you got going on?

SPEAKER_02

Okay, um, I don't even know if I told you this yet. I'm not sure if I've publicly how much I've publicly talked about the woes of our house that is still not being remodeled. Um, but we're trying to remodel, and this all started with a refinance dream last year when rates were really low. And we're like, oh, well, we're gonna do it all at once, roll it into a construction loan, blah, blah, blah. Well, I got really mad on Sunday and was like, we've wasted so much money. It's been a year. So I just called our guy. I wrote him an email because it was Sunday, and then we chatted on Monday, and he was like, How long do we have to wait? Can we just do this? Is there any way we can refinance before our construction loan? Like, can we do these things separately? Because a year ago he was like, No, we gotta do them together. Well, my friends, he's like, Oh yeah, we can do that. So instead of so I'm not gonna bore you guys with the finances of it, but what I am gonna tell you is that I am going to refinance in May, and I am jacked because this was supposed to happen a year ago. And this will make me, I think, slightly less anxious about how slow of a process it is to get our drawings done. We just refinanced last month. Yeah, I know. Maybe that was on it last month. Yeah. Or this month, whatever the heck month it is. Yeah. Well, when this comes out, it'll be a different month.

SPEAKER_00

I gotta say, so um, let's open this beer. We've got some modello. Yeah, well it's cool. Cinco de Mayo. But uh I can't believe it's Cinco de Mayo weekend. It feels so early.

SPEAKER_02

I just saw something about a derby party and I was like, no, no. And I'm like, oh shit, that's this weekend. Yeah, well, and Baker House is doing one, of course. Of course, which is like the best. I'm actually really jealous. I debated emailing Brittany and being like, hey, part of my trip. Hey, salute. Part of my trip has got to be a Cinco de Mayo party for me, you and Lucy and Dennis. Which maybe it will be. I like wearing an excuse to wear hats. I want to bring hats back.

SPEAKER_00

Do you want to bring sombreros out? Nope. I think that's cultural appropriation.

SPEAKER_02

I don't want a sombrero. I want a hat for Cinco de Mayo. Yeah. Not Cinco, sorry, for Derby Day. Really screwed that up. Derby Day, really screwed that up. It's like Bridget. No, wait, Derby Day, man. These used to be like separate holiday celebrations.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, and now it's you gotta pick one or the other. I refuse.

SPEAKER_02

I will have tacos on Cinco de Mayo. I will wear a big hat on the Saturday prior.

SPEAKER_00

Speaking of tacos. Speaking of tacos. I would like to tell everybody about my tacos I had on Taco Tuesday. I don't take pictures or anything. But man, I gotta tell you, I'm very much convinced the best taco I have changed my mind. It's not carnitas, it is the chicken street taco where you put the thighs, grill them, you know, put the seasoning on. Yeah, you chop them up, put the guacamole, the pickled onion, the fresh tomato, all of the stuff. Uh oh man, the cilantro, the lime. It is the best taco.

SPEAKER_02

Wait, I only said that because didn't you tell me she doesn't like chicken thighs?

SPEAKER_00

Well, she doesn't like them as like a baked chicken thigh, but like when you grill them, and so like all the fat's basically gone when you grill them. Yeah, it's chopped up.

SPEAKER_02

It's a little you will not be surprised. This was not going to be what I talked about, but you know, tacos. Um, I took our Santa Fe chicken, of course. And my mom taught me. She just like throws hers in the slow cooker and then eats it all week because it's mostly just her that eats it. And so I do that too, because I'll throw it on a salad, I'll put it in a tortilla, whatever. So I was so excited. We're like really trying to run down everything in our fridge before the trip, just like whatever, clean site when we get back. So I planned out all the meals and I was like, cool, Santa Fe chicken, I'm gonna throw it in the slow cooker and we'll have it on Tuesday. Did it, never plugged the slow cooker in. Oh no! So sad. So I got home and I was like, shit. That is the worst. Yeah, so I wasted it and I didn't have it for dinner. No, so I had all the things for tacos. Yeah. So luckily I had ground beef, which was supposed to be for the next night. So anyway, it screwed up my whole plan of perfectly planned meals, but they were delicious ground beef tacos.

SPEAKER_00

You know, I thought maybe you saved it by going to Tacaria, which is always a great choice because I did consider it. We have some friends that are moving. That are big taqueria lovers. Maybe before they go, we should uh have a buffet? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, or go there or all the things because I love them so much. We got a gift card there, but it was like during the pandemic and we didn't want to use it during the pandemic. So we still have it.

SPEAKER_00

Um that's one of the pro tips is like, don't be a douchebag and use your restaurant gift cards. Yeah. Although, did you see now that the government's gonna give restaurant owners like billions of dollars? I didn't. Yeah, there's a I'm not totally opposed to that. I would be not opposed to it if there wasn't already PPP and I knew the restaurant owners were gonna use it to pay their rent or their employees and not pocket it and buy cocaine.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, I guess I'm just like thinking of simple, and they're not gonna do that. So I know.

SPEAKER_00

So I was like, cool. I know a lot of other restaurant owners though. Yeah, you're right, that are shitty. That will do those things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, fine. So I just think that like it is.

SPEAKER_00

Should we punish the 90% and save the good 10%?

SPEAKER_02

It's like uh it is still bullshit that a restaurant has to operate at whatever 50% capacity. I agree. And uh, you can go sit in a packed bar. Like I agree. Wisconsin Tavern League run, and I don't know what the other side of the world is.

SPEAKER_00

The Wisconsin Tavern League is a bunch of terrible people.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and like that is bullshit.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, Chris, what's his name from uh Delavin that is the president of it? I'm happy. Chris Mere, no different Chris. I'm happy to talk to you if you hear this about how I think you actually are a terrible organization promoting terrible things, encouraging drunk driving, and uh you're the way you have these anti-competitive laws. I'm happy to discuss it with you. We're getting political as usual, yeah. Side fact, Ram.

SPEAKER_02

Here we are. Okay, but I wasn't gonna talk about tacos. I'm gonna talk about breakfast.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So we've got day.

SPEAKER_00

Did you have some donuts?

SPEAKER_02

No, I just had pancakes. But it was one of those like things that I like to talk about on dinner plus drinks because you know, we talk about food and the feelings at the dinner table. This was one of those mornings. I went to bed way early the night before. I was very tired from a very full weekend. And um, so I fell asleep like with my five-year-old. And so I woke up at 5 a.m. wide awake, like totally happy to get up. And I was great.

SPEAKER_00

Was it like a startled wide awake?

SPEAKER_02

Or I don't remember. I just remember looking at my phone. Uh-huh. Well, it was 5.04 a.m. And I like laid there. I looked at my phone again. It was 5 11. I'm like, why don't I just get up? Like, I was wide awake. So I got up. I did, I did all of my mortgage paperwork in like 20 minutes because we had already, it was a very easy thing. We'd already done this a year ago. So um, anyway, Elliot comes wandering out at like 5:30, like, um, want to come, whatever. Long story short, everyone was up before 6 a.m. in the house. Uh me and the kids were up, and I wanted to let Tyler sleep. So instead of like being crabby about it, which I am a lot of times, I made pancakes and like the kids had the best. You know, it was just like I felt like I was winning as a mom that morning, you guys. It was short-lived, but it was there for about 30 minutes and was great. So that was really the best moment of eating from the week. Also, I then I think had pancakes for like lunch and an appetizer later. So pancakes. So are you checking out my article, Nick? Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00

So one of the other things I'd go on this week is we changed from a Google-based technology for our company to Microsoft-based, and it causes some challenges during the switchover of the documents, like during our um planning our our outline here. We're still in the Google ones for this.

SPEAKER_02

I know, sorry, that's my phone because I can't look up. I didn't get to look at all of it, but uh Wow. I know my article. Wow. Is it crushing your soul? Because it's crushing my soul. I can't even believe I'm gonna say it. So yeah, okay. We did a document. Do you want to talk about the document takeover takeover stuff? No, no, no, no. I'm just saying I I did text Nick or email him or all of the above, and I was like, I'm low-key freaking out about this because I just, you know, changing from all the Google things to Microsoft is hard.

SPEAKER_00

It is hard. And you haven't even had to do any of the work. I've done none of the work.

SPEAKER_02

I've just had to be like, shit, shit, I have to use Outlook again. I haven't used this in like four years. But the good thing is Hey, I'm doing some of the work again.

SPEAKER_00

I know I'm giving you a hard time. We're we're gonna have a share drive now instead of a Dropbox. And Dropbox has a lot of great features. It's terrible with Mac. It is not ruined. Your hard drive. Yep, that happens. Selective sync, smart sync. It's happened to me twice. It's happened to you several times. It does a lot of things great. It is not great with Mac. So we're gonna go to a share drive, a NAS cloud-based, awesome.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that like when I first started with Country, I was like, my computer's blowing up! What's happening? Because the entire Dropbox is trying to download onto my computer.

SPEAKER_00

Anyway, and you know, so if you accidentally check one thing, it tries so we have about two terabytes of pictures and videos. So it So it blows up your computer. It blows up your computer because by the time you realize it's happened, it's like you only have two gigabytes left, and then you can't delete anything. You can't get rid of it, so it's like blah.

unknown

Okay, you guys.

SPEAKER_00

Talk about this bad news the darker side of my article.

SPEAKER_02

Bad news. I'm not gonna spend a ton of time on this because it's really depressing. But I like to be honest, and I talk about my love for thrift shopping and specifically goodwill a lot. And it's not that I love goodwill, it's just um I'm familiar with goodwill as a thrift store, and um, you know, so I'm comfortable shopping the store. And also in Lake Geneva, our options are very limited. But this wasn't a surprise to me so much, but there my article the headline is this the dark reality behind America's greatest thrift store empire. That's right, we're talking about goodwill, and you can just go on and talk. The employees, the very beginning of the article talks about an employee who says he's trapped. Everybody who works at Goodwill is trapped. So, like any giant nonprofit, the CEO gets paid way too much money, the employees get paid garbage, but they have a PR team that does a good job talking about their message. So there are things I believe in with Goodwill, and there are things I generally support with thrift shopping, which is like it is a way of recycling. So fast fashion is an issue and is a thing. And I am the first to say, like, I'm not going to buy a $90 t-shirt. I would rather buy one for $5, donate it back, and have 10 more people use it in its life cycle. So I know there are environmental issues with this. Uh it's it is a step.

SPEAKER_00

I do like this point too in this article. Your donated items get shipped out to near-imperialist buyers that threaten developing industry in third world countries, and they say, so somewhere in here they talk about it's bad for the environment. But then they say if they can't sell them, they ship them overseas that harms industry in developing nations. I don't know about that. Or if it doesn't have them, it goes into landfill. So are you are you mad that they're saving stuff from landfill?

SPEAKER_02

Or are you mad that it's going to hinder third. Yeah. So the article is definitely like very opinionated.

SPEAKER_00

It's like, I like the phrase neo-imperialist. I've not heard that one since like high school. It's, you know, G8 rides.

SPEAKER_02

I will say though, um, I have to do a little more research. I should have done that before this. I did have some cousins at the time that were looking for a job. And at the time, a goodwill cashier got paid $12 an hour, which I thought was pretty decent actually, um, for someone that may otherwise be unemployable at other places. So I I ended up.

SPEAKER_00

They do the piecework payment thing, which is crap. But I do understand why, like one of the I'm kind I'm very much so for generally a $15 minimum wage. Right. But I think if you're under 18, you're not getting paid $15 an hour. And I do think, you know, in here they say um disabled employees are not a burden.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's not realistic. Let's be clear.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, you need to because further down it talks about safety practices and how Goodwill's um workplace safety practices are unsafe for people that are disabled. So like you you do need to upgrade certain things when you're working with people with disabilities.

SPEAKER_00

I the productivity of somebody may be more, maybe less, depending on what it is. But if you have to make special accommodations and understand there's gonna be some trade-offs, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I guess so. This article was published in 2018. So it's an old one, but it did resurface on um an account that I follow. So I was reading through it. This is fascinating. Yeah, regardless of like there are definitely points to argue in here, and we all know that there are nonprofits that do more, I shouldn't say more harm than good, but that do have some questionable practices.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, Susan Koman.

SPEAKER_02

Susan G. Coleman is the exact one that I hope imagine comes to everyone's mind. But the point is, I just want to be clear here that I I am noticing and recognizing both sides of things. Um, there is good and bad, and I am reading through the article. I am examining it. I'm very interested in it. So like it's fascinating to me to kind of look further into it because some of these things I don't I don't know. Like we live in a very small, you know, goodwill. There's um, I don't know how many goodwill stores. So many. But you know, I know I just know southeastern Wisconsin, right? So anyway, fascinating article. You should, if if you're a thrift shopper, it's it's interesting to look at. Um, I do spread the love a little bit. Salvation Army in Burlington and my new love. Um Love Inc. Oh my god, yes, Love Inc., but oh St. Vincent de Paul. I just discovered a new St. Vinny's in Milwaukee area that when I'm up there doing things, I make sure to stop. So anyway, any of you thrift shoppers, let me know. Send in your tips where you thrift shop that's better than.

SPEAKER_00

I want to show those sweet kicks versus paying people.

SPEAKER_02

Speaking of sweet kicks. Macklemore has been all over my Pandora lately, and I've been here for it. So there you go. That's my depressing article about goodwill, but you know.

SPEAKER_00

My depressing but interesting article is about Michael Collins. Um the obituary, you know, talk about a guy that accomplished a lot. He was literally the third man on the lunar mission on Apollo 11. It says Michael Collins, third man in the moon line, he dies at 90. Everybody forgets about this guy. He was incredibly qualified. His I didn't know this is until I read the obituary. His father, Jay Lawton Collins, was one of the most senior army commanders in the army in World War II and uh was a chief of staff of the army, like very high ranking, comes from a military family. He chose to go into the air, uh Michael chose to go in the air force instead of the army, so that people wouldn't think it was nepotism. Oh, I didn't know that. I didn't either. Yeah. Um I was like, oh my gosh, that's your father. Um, his daughter uh what's her name? What's her name? Uh the whole when I saw this headline come across, it just like made me think. Kate Collins was on All My Children Forever. Oh, really? So it's like a very notable family. And we all forget about him. And he wrote, he had a book, and he wrote, and and just this was like striking to me. Um he was on the far side of the moon, couldn't talk to anybody, literally the only human in that. And he said, I'm alone. The quote is, I'm alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from my known from any known life. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two on the other side of the moon, and one plus God only knows what on this side. I love that he acknowledges the possibility of extraterrestrial life. God only knows what. But I man, think about how you feel being the third astronaut. And but you literally were the first person to do that, and the only there's what, four people that know that feeling. Oh no, all the guys on Apollo 13, so like seven. Um, because they didn't get a layer.

SPEAKER_02

They just didn't make it back.

SPEAKER_00

Um, you know, think about if he screwed up his part of the docking, those guys would have died on the moon.

SPEAKER_02

Whoops. I just think like there's I don't know how to describe the feeling, and maybe it's like this is dumb, but I grew like what when did Apollo 13 come out? I feel like we were like in middle school-ish? Yeah, maybe maybe crazy school. Maybe late. Yeah, and it just like everything in my that that movie was like very triggering to me. I have no idea why. But you I remember that tying that feeling of that movie to like lots of drama, and so the whole thing was.

SPEAKER_00

It's a very dramatic score.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I don't know what it, you know, but I was at whatever age that I think drama was a thing. I whatever. So when I saw this come across, like I immediately felt like I don't know much about this guy, but I immediately felt like all those feelings again. And I just think like we talked about this, I think, with the SpaceX stuff. Um that this is so I just think space exploration is so fascinating. Like, never in my life am I like, I'm gonna be an astronaut. I'm just not that smart, but I could maybe work to Heard it, but I just I again am fascinated by it.

SPEAKER_00

The um also with space and movies coming out in grade school, Space Jam, you know, Space Jam 2 is coming out. My favorite part is that uh Martian Scorsese is directing it. You guys, you should have seen my face again.

SPEAKER_02

We're gonna be taking a break back. I was like, Yeah, I hope you heard that.

SPEAKER_00

All right, guys, we're back. Got a live update. Arsenal football club lost two to one in our European semifinal first leg. Nick's gotta take a quick break to cry. We we have a second leg. Oh. So it's effectively only half a leg. Well, you play home and away, and then the total score. But if you're tied, away goals count more than home goals. Shut up. So having one away goal means a lot. Wow. So that's fascinating. So live update for all you Arsenal fans out there. It's palpitating.

SPEAKER_02

We're before we got started. Nick was stressed. So we're here.

SPEAKER_00

I would spot along on a live blog.

SPEAKER_02

In case you guys were wondering the score. Bridget, you got some fire product records. That will actually be old, but okay, everybody. This one may surprise you, but it's a cookbook. So I hope it does surprise you. Um, it's one of those things that's been sitting in my Amazon cart forever. And I'm like, hey, Bridget, it's um $17. Why don't you just order it?

SPEAKER_00

I think the library has this one.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, do they? Okay, but I'm like a, especially in cookbooks, I'm a page ripper outer and like a I know it's weird. Does that stress you out? I like to pay, I like I don't want it temporarily. I want it for full time.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. If we had background checks for guns, I think if you tear pages out of cookbooks, that's something that should disqualify you from gun ownership because you're a psychopath.

SPEAKER_02

Those are different things. But this cookbook is called Mighty Salads. Uh, it's from Food 52. So I don't care. Like, I'm not I'm not here to say I'm never gonna eat um fried chicken again, but I do try and have a salad for lunch a lot because there are some days that I'm like, I could go all day and not eat a vegetable, like on accident, but I'm a sweet breakfast person and whatever. So I love eating salads. I just get bored with them. So this is 60 new ways to turn a salad into dinner. I don't care about that so much. I have kids that are not gonna want salads for diminished. Yeah, they have all kinds. I I haven't gotten the book yet because I literally have been like pondering the $17 spend for way too long.

SPEAKER_00

Grilled lamb kebabs with tomato cucumber salad.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, for me, it is really just a way to be able to like get in my vegetables. I know that sounds I love vegetables. Bread salads. They've oh, I haven't read Nick's reading through it further than I am. Literally, I'm like, well, I just need to make sure I can eat salads. Peanut noodles salad. I mean, they have different dressings. That's the other thing, is I am like, it's very easy to make dressing. Why don't I just do that? So this is me bettering myself, everybody. Curried cauliflower fatouche. That sounds delicious.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know what it is, but it sounds delicious.

SPEAKER_02

Curried cauliflower. So, anyway, check it out. It's $17 on Amazon right now or your local bookstore or library.

SPEAKER_00

I like the photography vibe because they went for like a very dark, yeah. So very low contrast, hard to see photography style.

SPEAKER_02

I love the cover photo because I like the like weird mess of food on a background, which seems very unlike me. Um, but yeah, I actually do because you don't expect that from a salad cookbook. I feel that you don't like it. It's I can't see the picture. The contrast aren't isn't great, but like I like the different take on the salad cookbook instead of the light, everything is white. That's annoying.

SPEAKER_01

I get it.

SPEAKER_02

Who has white linens on everything they do? I actually don't get white linens.

SPEAKER_00

I don't either.

SPEAKER_02

Or white sheets.

SPEAKER_00

I don't either.

SPEAKER_02

Anyway, you got me all heated now about this. Stains everywhere. Um, but yeah, I like, I don't know, green and bean salads. It's a nice picture. Yeah, that's a nice picture. Okay, anybody. Check it out and let us know if you like photography.

SPEAKER_00

I have perhaps an even more exciting product recommendation.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah, oh God.

SPEAKER_00

It is a vacuum. This is something you guys Nick wants to water his lawn and tell you to buy vacuums. So my wife, Sarah, is the world's best vacuumer. I gotta tell you, she is great. If you don't have much carpet, I guess your bedroom. Yeah, and also like we vacuum our floors. You vacuum your hardwood. Well, because yeah, we gotta get up to stuff Simona drops all over it. You don't sweep it? We do, but then we also vacuum it because there might be some schmuckets left.

SPEAKER_02

You guys, this is the house you could like lick the floor off of, just so you know.

SPEAKER_00

That's a good thing. Yeah, this is a good thing. Because Simona does in fact lick the floor. So anyway, and Simona likes to help with the vacuuming. And uh we really had at our old house where we had carpet everywhere, um I shed a lot. Oh I am a shedder. Really? That surprises me. So um we have hair everywhere. So we would we had like one of those auric ones, you know, like those famous eight-pound auric XL. And the damn thing would clog up all the time and like start on fire, and it was terrible. And like the rollers, you know, you can de-hair them. This here, shark rocket stick thing. So fancy. Uh, it doesn't clog. You can use it as like a little uh short one where you can go sh and like I love cleaning um, you know, the molding on stairs where it always you get like dirt all the time.

SPEAKER_02

I like to go like clean that's all like that. I see.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Gotta look at the pictures to understand what Nick's talking about. It's very light. Uh it's a battery thing that works forever. Oh, yeah, you can use it to clean the top of your fans that are disgusting. Um all sorts of stuff, little thing that's easy to throw out on bagless, which is great. So you're not, you know. Uh if you enjoy vacuuming or are having problems with there's too much hair clogging up your vacuum cleaner, you want a little more portable one. Ain't cheap. No. But vacuum cleaners ain't cheap in general. I would say spend the damn money. That's a good one. You're an adult. You're not lawn watering and vacuuming. And uh Sarah really is Sarah really is the one that does 95% of the vacuuming. She's great at it. She loves uh having a nice clean house, and she does work to make sure it's all in order. I'm very grateful for that. And I think she would also come down here and say she loves this vacuum.

SPEAKER_02

I do have the shark iron, and I like it. They're good, good quality, I think. I really liked iron.

SPEAKER_00

We tried, we looked at possibly getting the Dyson, but that is that was a little expensive.

SPEAKER_02

Little expensive. Okay, guys, we are exciting now, so we're just gonna take another little break. Be right back, all right, guys. We're back and we spent the break talking about vacuum still.

SPEAKER_00

So exciting. We are old. So I want to talk about. I know you are a Green Bay Packer fan. Your fantasy team did really poorly this year. Did really great in the beginning. Okay. Took a turn. Took a turn. We got a lot of people saying, you know, maybe talk about fantasy football again, maybe have a league next year. The NFL draft starts tonight, and I gotta say, I was so excited. I thought there's gonna be some drama. People tear, I love seeing all this. So you just found out Aaron Rodgers, as we are recording this, isn't like, I want the fuck out of Greenberg.

SPEAKER_02

I kind of think he's a dick. I'd never have loved Aaron Rodgers.

SPEAKER_00

I think he is kind of a dick.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

But so what happens, so the cap is going down next year because of everybody lost money due to coronavirus and nobody in the crowd. So all these teams that thought the cap would go up forever are like, oh shoot. So there's a lot of deals being redone, and Aaron Rodgers' deal needs to be redone. Um because the way NFL's salaries and things are calculated is usually you have a point where you either cut the guy or you make three more years. And that's kind of how they're structured to make it work better. The pack Aaron Rodgers came to the Packers and said, Hey, I'd actually like to send an extension for another two or three years. It's supposed to be up only one more year. He said, I'd actually like to sign an extension for two or three more years. Would have been a little bit of a pay cut, effectively, and it would have made more money available for the team. And the team said, No, how about we just restructure it?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that was a mistake. Yeah. Um, yeah. I did you see where he wants to go?

SPEAKER_00

It's not clear if he wants to go to San Francisco or San Francisco just offered a buttload of stuff.

SPEAKER_02

No, they just say his wish list is San Francisco Broncos and Raiders.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Any of those teams would be necessarily in that order.

SPEAKER_00

I think he wants out of Tom Brady's conference.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Good choice, man.

SPEAKER_02

Um I just, I am, first of all, very sad that I didn't know this news before we started. I don't know what's going on. I last year, I think it was last year, we're I think we were talking on here about the draft and how like I love to watch the draft because I I love all the stories. That's the stories. And I was talking with Shannon about it, and I was like, oh, I think we're like gonna hang out that night. And I'm like, oh, we can't actually. Michael probably really wants to watch the the draft. My brother-in-law, always a big sports guy in my mind, and she's like, oh no, he hates the draft because he doesn't care about all that shit, all the stories. I'm like, that's the best part about the draft.

SPEAKER_00

You know, who cares about a bunch of grown men beating each other up on a football field? I mean, that's entertaining, but the stories behind it, I want to know more about the why.

SPEAKER_02

You can just like wake up and find out what team they're on. So who cares?

SPEAKER_00

But I I love the like, especially this year, there should be a lot of trades and stuff, and like who wants to do what? I just love seeing how the teams come together.

SPEAKER_02

I do too, and I like seeing the the rookies, like and how excited they get.

SPEAKER_00

The hug with Roger Goodell. It's so awkward.

SPEAKER_02

It is, it is, and the but the family, I don't know, reminds me of Jerry McGuire.

SPEAKER_00

Look at me referencing all these great movies from the 90s. You know, be Roger Goodell making $40 million a year. Come on.

SPEAKER_02

You guys, I that's the other thing. As you talk about this, I'm like, I get that he's protecting his salary, but like, screw you.

SPEAKER_00

Your salary, what is his salary? $40 million. No, Aaron Rodgers. Oh, Aaron Rodgers, uh, well, it's hard to I mean, right, but let's just say ballpark. I think $30 million.

SPEAKER_02

$30 million.

SPEAKER_00

I'm you just so he signed a four-year $134 million contract.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so that's fine. I don't make $134 million, so I'll protect my salary, but it's $33.5. What? A year. Okay. Anyway, I've got to be. This does make me excited. Good, yes. Well, if he doesn't, I'm sure the pay cut's huge.

SPEAKER_00

Huge. It's probably like $500,000.

SPEAKER_02

Potato potato. Um, I this makes me excited for knowing football's coming back.

SPEAKER_00

It's coming back.

SPEAKER_02

This in a normal year, by this point, I'm like, oh, it's still baseball season. I like baseball when you can go. None of this is a normal year, but I know I'm always like, oh, good, at least football will be back. So I like baseball games when I can go in person, but not watching them on TV.

SPEAKER_00

So I just wanted to see your reaction to the news. Yeah, did you see it when I Googled it? I was like, I'm on a group text with with some friends, Seth and Tristan. And uh they both think it's a bluff.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, if Tristan is listening, that was me on the Lakeshore path the other day, bro. Was it? I walked past him and Shannon, and I don't think he knew it was me. So maybe it was too late and then it was awkward.

SPEAKER_00

In the word Seth thinks it's media speculation. He says he just won the MVP. People don't like it when the Packers or Bucks or Brewers are good and have MVP level players.

SPEAKER_02

Aren't we past that? I feel like we've had MVP level players for so long.

SPEAKER_00

Tristan says, I think love gets traded. We move on up, and Rogers gets a bunch of talent and an extension, and everybody's happy. I would take either of those scenarios. I'm glad that my friends are more optimistic than I am.

SPEAKER_02

I kind of think I'm with you. I don't know. I haven't had time to.

SPEAKER_00

I think the Packers really screwed up. Yeah. I think. Maybe we don't want him anymore. I mean, see, but that's dumb. The organization's so conservative, like, well, you only got two years left, and Jordan Love might be good. We've got to be thinking, no, who cares? The goal is to win a Super Bowl. The goal isn't to win 12 games every year.

SPEAKER_02

But didn't we? Weren't we upset when Brad Favre left? The Packers had does a very they do a great job of grooming their bag of quarterbacks.

SPEAKER_00

Cut the guy and move on. Not like, oh, well, you know. Yeah, you're right. They waffle. And we don't know that Jordan Love is any good. He wasn't on the active roster for a no, we don't. He didn't even like not play. He wasn't on the active roster. Yeah, is he like 12? How old is he? He's old for his age. Is he? I think he's like an old rookie, you know? He's 22? Okay, so he's fine. So yeah, he's basically 12. Um, but yeah, so I'm like, you got the guy, you have literally the MVP of the league. If he says, like, I want three more years, give it to him. He's 37. Who cares? Tom Brady's 41. I know, dude. I knew you were gonna go there. Like, who cares? It's gonna suck in three years, but hey, maybe you'll won a Super Bowl. I'm still gonna be paying him in three years when he sucks. But no, you can cut him.

SPEAKER_02

To be clear, he's not gonna suck in three years. You can cut him. That's gonna be average. I don't care. I just Well guys, we might just turn this into a Sports Center segment.

SPEAKER_00

So we'll come back next week and give our grades about the Packers draft. Oh they have a lot of talent available, and for once, I'm not like I they draft like an offensive lineman, a wide receiver, a tight end, or like an impact defensive linebacker or cornerback, I'll be happy. If they do something stupid, like going draft a running back in the first round after re-signing Aaron Jones, I'm gonna be really pissed.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna be pissed. They draft another quarterback.

SPEAKER_00

No, I'm really happy they resigned him. But if they go and draft another running back and spend their money on that, I agree. You guys are idiots.

SPEAKER_02

It would be great if one day we were like, Green Bay has a really great defense.

SPEAKER_00

It would be. One day. We all forget that's what won us our last Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but that was a long time ago. It was a long time ago. When is another one, Green Bay? Yeah, could ya? I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00

When I was in Kansas City, the gate agent was a Packers fan and had like a um Packers mask, and then he had like um a like Lanyard. Yeah, that was uh a he's a um stockholder. Oh yeah. Uh so we had a good like go back go. Go back all because you know, whenever you see someone outside of Wisconsin with some Packers, you'd be like, go back go.

SPEAKER_02

Oh man, that is like okay, I could go on and on. Maybe we'll have a whole segment about like people who wear packers clothes year-round. Like you know, you know you're from Wisconsin, man. I feel like we need Manitowak Minute on here.

SPEAKER_00

Your your green and gold uh Zumbas are your most favorite possession. Those you know you're from from Wisconsin when the fire's at your house and you go and get the green and gold Zumbas out first.

SPEAKER_02

Oh man, I'll never forget my first Sunday in Green Bay during a Packers game. I was not going to a Packers game. I just had a friend that lived there and I made them say you're going to Walmart. And I cannot tell you the copious amounts of people that were in pajamas, Packers pajamas, but pajamas. And I'm like, it's like 11 a.m. I are you going to the game? Like, you are not a hungover college kid, and I don't understand why you're wearing yellow and green plaid flannel pants right now. So weird. Oh man, okay. We got off track.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm making chicken this week. What? Uh I just gotta tell you, I gotta make some chicken because what? Uh you're gone. So someone's gonna step up the chicken game. That's right. And it's kind of a weird time of the year where it's not always warm. The warm dish is like, I'm gonna go grill, and then it starts raining, hopefully, and you're like, oh damn it, I'm outside grilling, I'm getting rained on. But my lawn's getting watered. So you want like, it's it's a struggle. So you want, you know, you want like uh lighter flavors. They're a little springy. Sure. But you don't want like salads all the time because it's not summer yet, right? Because it's not like 90 degrees. Yeah, you're right. So I'm gonna make Italian baked chicken and pasta. I mean, that sounds good. It's uh uses our Italian armano chicken breast. Okay, and then uh noodles. Nudes. And you just nudes, and then sorry, that was really you just uh dump them all in a casserole dish and you bake it. And you have some you could add like spring peas in there if you wanted. That'd be excellent. You know, some parsley, uh, little breadcrumbs, a little parmesan cheese.

SPEAKER_02

That sounds delicious. New York Times just had an article, New York Times cooking about um, yeah, some spring pasta, and it was like pasta, green goddess dressing, asparagus and peas. And I was like, I would like this right now.

SPEAKER_00

Do you like white asparagus?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I love asparagus, but it really makes your peas smell.

SPEAKER_00

It really does.

SPEAKER_02

Shannon, we were was it all three of us? I feel like me and Shannon were talking about this. We're like, one bite of asparagus, one bite is all you need. It's really unfortunate. Elliot um went through a phase of like loving asparagus and and then like freaking out when he peed. Should have saved that. Okay. Anyway, I am making because the weekends, for all you dads out there listening, Mother's Day is at the end of the week. So we'll release another podcast on Mother's Day, but I'm thinking ahead. So we've got a couple brunch recipes on the uh meal plan, and I'm making bacon and egg cups.

SPEAKER_00

So I love this recipe.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and I love um just like regardless of if it's brunch or whatever it is, I like just having to brun um like little protein egg cups to go. So you can this one obviously it's got bacon in it, but you can put anything in egg cups. So throw all the veggies in there.

SPEAKER_00

Why wouldn't you put bacon in there though?

SPEAKER_02

Why don't you wrap it in bacon? Which is what this recipe's about. So, anyway, egg cups, okay? Um, we'll post the recipe, of course, in the show notes, but get creative with it. Put all the different things in it. You can freeze them and then microwave them and have like a quick, quick protein-packed meal.

SPEAKER_00

Dad's out there. This is a great one that you can make with your kids and do as a breakfast and bed for mom. Yep, good choice, good choice. Which we all know she loves. Yeah. Waking up and having a bunch of children jump on her with food that she didn't ask for.

SPEAKER_02

And coffee that she's gonna spill all over her bed.

SPEAKER_00

She loves that. Drink mom right, this motherfucker.

SPEAKER_02

Let her get up and have her coffee. Just have her coffee made for her, okay?

SPEAKER_00

Just leave the house. Wake up at four o'clock. Rent a hotel room, wake up at four o'clock, take the kids, leave to the hotel room, and don't show up until about three o'clock. Is that too much to ask for? Better yet.

SPEAKER_02

Leave the night before. No, man. I say I want the morning with the kids. Like, let me sleep in, and then my kids can like make cute pancakes and whatever and have my coffee made for me, you know. And then let me go do a wine walk, for example, or something fun like that. Okay, everybody. So it's time for our favorite segment. Kid Corner! Um Lucy has a flying robe? What is this? Shockingly, I wrote down two options. Um, but we're gonna save the flying notes, I think, until next week. I just want to do that.

SPEAKER_00

I can hear the you're so brave.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I am. I am uh I was like very uh proud of myself and like totally confident in taking a trip alone with a two-year-old until like yesterday. And then I was like, what the hell is that? Whatever, it's gonna be fine. We're gonna be best friends. Um, yeah. So we're just not gonna talk about that till later. We're gonna talk about Lucy, the one I'm flying with, was so stubborn the other morning. Um, so sometimes I have this like very cozy, I have many robes, but I have one that's like super warm. It's like just wearing a blanket. So sometimes in the morning, if we like uh sleep at the windows, just snuggie. I have this robe. It looks like no, it's not. It's a Costco robe. I think it was a product rack a long time ago. Um, but super warm. So I just put it on when I get up and I'm cold, and I just like, ooh, yeah. Okay. Lucy has a robe that has Elsa on it, of course, that Santa brought her. And it hangs in a room, and she doesn't know if it's Elsa or Anna, so she just calls it Elsa Anna, Elsa Anna. And when I put my robe on, she wanted hers. I'm fine, that's fine. You're in your pajamas. You want to be cozy too in the morning while we have our pancakes. She puts on her Elsa Anna robe and then would not take it off. And you know, I think once you get to your second kid and they're like at this age, you're like, F this, I'm not fighting. I don't care. Wear your robe to daycare. What do I care? So, excuse me, we let her. We let her out the house in it. And I thought by the like time she drove to daycare, she would be fine. Tyler said she kept it on all morning. So she had her Elsaana robe on all day. And I wasn't there to see, but I am confident she told everybody how great she looked in it. So it was adorable. Kids do ridiculous things, maybe don't stress your morning out and just like let them wear the dang robe. When Elliot fights us about things now, we're like, cool, man, you don't want to wear a coat and it's 30 degrees out. I don't care. We'll have your coat if you get cold. So that's my parenting pro tip. Don't fight your children. Let them win. What are you up to this week, Nick? I feel like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, it means that Lucy taught Simona something.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. So I got two stories. First, what? Simona learned no very rapidly and very emphatically. We were out for a walk. From her gal pal. And you know, kids learn how to say no, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_01

But the way she literally goes, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00

It sounds like Lucy. It literally is like parroting Lucy.

SPEAKER_02

They're in the same class at daycare, so this is possible.

SPEAKER_00

And it's like, uh, but it's funny because you'll be like, okay, Simona, do you want some cheese? And she'll be like, No, no, no, as she grabs it and eats it. And you're like, that's not what no means, Simona. Are you just copying your friend? Are you just saying no because it's fun to say? So we're we're working our way through that. The other

SPEAKER_02

Wait, does she do like no da-da yet?

SPEAKER_00

No, she doesn't do the you know that's the real bitch move.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and they're like, no, daddy, no. Like, okay.

SPEAKER_00

No, she doesn't do that yet.

SPEAKER_02

I'm sure that's coming soon. Heads up.

SPEAKER_00

Um, the other one is a story relayed to me from Sarah that Elliot walked Simona out to the car the other day and gave her a kiss goodbye. What? Took off his mask, gave her a nice little smooch on the cheek, said bye-bye, Simona. And then the teacher's like, Oh, Elliot, you need to keep your mask on. He's like, I know Simona.

SPEAKER_02

He's a great listener too.

SPEAKER_00

So, oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02

He's very sweet. Oh, El Bell.

SPEAKER_00

She doesn't have a bigger brother. She has a bigger Elliot.

SPEAKER_02

Tyler and I actually, like, before bad the other night, we're saying, Tyler's like, man, he's so you. And I was like, What? And I was like, No, Elliot is 100% you, and Lucy is 100% me. And I made my case, and he was like, Yeah, you're right. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_00

Tyler's super wrong.

SPEAKER_02

And I was like, Elliot is sensitive and calm. He's so sensitive. He's a rule follower, and and then Lucy is determined and a little snarky. Um, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, that was a funny little discussion. Um, also, very random, and I'm not sure if this cousin listens, but I have to do a shout out. Oh, yeah. At the very end, my cousin Lauren, who I love very, very much, had her first baby. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know you, but I heard from Bridget about it. So congratulations very good.

SPEAKER_02

I'm so excited. This is cousins we're very close with, but lives out east. Yeah, kids are great. Did you just hear us? She knows all about my kids. We've talked all about it. So I'm very excited she had a baby boy. So congratulations, Lauren and Ryan. So that was my shout-out. Do you have any great shout outs? Um this is fun. We should add a shout-out. Yeah, let's see.

SPEAKER_00

Shout out to putting Nick on the spot. God for making this whole podcast possible. Glory B. I'd like to thank my manager. I'd like to thank um I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

This Modello for giving me this strength.

SPEAKER_00

I hope you all enjoyed me not coughing through this podcast. Yeah, but that one didn't turn out as bad as we thought. So uh that was great. Sorry about that. Um, you know, the tree pollen, so y'all go look up tree pollen counts. It's off the heasy right now, so I don't have COVID. Okay, everybody. I want to be very clear. You can still taste and smell. I this tastes deliciously skunky.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it is, but it's good skunky.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00

Well, guys, wow, thanks so much for sticking it out. We're gonna be back again next week with Mother's Day things, tales of travel stories, how it went with Liz. Let's see if I made it back. I don't know. I mean, it might be a Transplanes automobile situation. Oh my god. We might be remote. Or jail in like southern Minnesota.

SPEAKER_02

You never know. So you never know. Tune in next week. Dinner plus drink.

SPEAKER_00

The exciting action. Go cook some delicious food. Uh, I thought we had some nice little food tips this week. Between your cookbook and your taco took a couple.

SPEAKER_02

I'm excited to get it after my vacation.

SPEAKER_00

I've seen they have some great books. The library has them. Super awesome.

SPEAKER_02

We love the library. So anyway. All right, guys, you can oh, I interrupted Nick. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at Dinner Plus Drinks Podcast. You can see our beautiful faces if you check it out on YouTube.

SPEAKER_00

Write us an email. Hello at dinnerplusdrinks.com. We love when you do that. It's good to hear from you. Follow us, rate us, all of the things. Subscribe. Just make sure you tell your friends that how cool we are and how much fun you have listening, they'll listen to, and we'll keep going.

SPEAKER_02

Great peer pressure.

SPEAKER_00

Do it. Do it now. Do it now. Thanks so much. Bye bye.