FUN: A Deep Dive

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hi. This is Laura Vandercamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist, and speaker. And this is Sarah Hart Hunger. I'm a mother of three, a practicing physician and blogger. On the side, we are two working parents who love our careers and our families. Welcome to Best of Both Worlds. Here we talk about how real women manage work, family, and time for fun, from figuring out childcare to mapping out long term career goals. We want you to get the most out of life. Welcome to Best of Both Worlds. This is Laura. This is episode one hundred and eighty five, which is airing in mid February. We're going to be doing a deep dive into fun. Obviously, we are big fans of fun here at Best of Both Worlds. We talk about it even in our intro, finding time for fun and things like that. But one of the things we've realized over the years is that fun is not automatic when you have a busy life, when you have a big career, when you have kids. It takes work to have fun, and that can be a really hard thing to get your head around, like, oh my gosh, I have to plan my fun. I have to do the logistics for fun to happen. So that's why people winend up having less fun because they have trouble getting their heads around that idea. But if you can get your head around the idea that fun takes work, then a lot more fun can be had, right Sarah, Yes, fun takes forethought fun, I guess. I'm sure there's certainly some spontaneous fun, But in this day and age, I think, if anything, it's become even harder to come by because you have so many different variables that you have to think about, even though as planning doesn't necessarily feel like the most fun thing. For example, if you want to go to an outdoor garden, back in the day, you might have been able to just decide to do that, but now they may be limiting the number of tickets, so you in order to keep things less crowded, or you might want to, you know, think about what the least crowded time of day is and kind of plan your day around that. So as much as it pains us right now, and as much as people tend to be less excited about planning things, in some ways life is just demanding more of us if we do want to find bits of enjoyment just soa but yeah, what was the last thing that you did that could be described as really fun? That's so funny. I love how I like asked you that question, but I never reflected on how wait don't we both to answer this question at the beginning, I thought that was the whole thing. You're right. We had a really nice play date at an outdoor garden where our kids have gone to this place so many times that it's no longer really that we go for the attraction of like the animals and stuff, because they've literally like they're like intimate friends with like the turtle at this point, but more because it's a good place you can meet up with other people but allow for great distancing because there's wide open spaces. So I had a lovely played recently with one of my best friends who like is in Miami Beach, but we're still in close touch, and we just let the kids run around outside for like two hours. They were just like running in a field and we just got to hang out. So that was definitely really fun. That's awesome. I'm glad that was a fun thing that involved kids, because of course a lot of people spending a lot more time with their children at home these days, which is another thing that can make fun a little bit more difficult. I was publicly tracking my time a few weeks ago, and as part of that, I made sure to put a couple fun things into my week that I might not have in other circumstances, just because I knew i'd have to be writing about it. Among the things I did, I got tickets to local art museum just on a Tuesday at eleven o'clock. It was an exhibit I had wanted to see. So I drove there and saw the exhibit and that was fun for me. And then Michael and I did a date night on the Saturday. Our nanny had given us a couple hours of weekend childcare as a Christmas present, and so we cash that in and went out to another museum, to the Barnes Museum, which is a wonderful place here in Philadelphia. That's gott just. I mean, every gallery would be like a highlight gallery in any other It's a small museum, but it's all highlights, I guess, is how I'd put it, Like, oh, there's another renoir. Another says on how nice I've seen that one already, but then we grabbed a quick dinner afterwards, so that was really fun too, And just trying to think of little things I can do on my own. Just our new house. We bought the piano off the old owner, so because he was downsizing, he didn't want to move it, and so it's a really nice piano. So I go over there and play it and that is fun for me as well. So I've actually been having a fair amount of fun. I don't know, I probably could have more, but just trying to think about it and do stuff like that. I love it. I love the art museum idea because that is something that can be done right now, reasonably safely, in a lot of settings, and just so peaceful. And it makes me think of Gretchen Rubin's experiment of going to the met every single day, which I am secretly jealous of, I guess not so secretly. But the sunny thing about the Met is, I mean, there are so many people who live on the Upper east Side of Manhattan and you just don't go. I mean, it's right there. I lived on the Upper east Side of Manhattan and I probably went a couple of times, but I mean, you could just go at lunch every day if you had a membership and walk in and see something new and walk out, and yet you know, people don't. It's fascinating, But I'm sure we all have something like that, not the met necessarily, but the equivalent in our towns that you're like, Wow, you live near X. How often do you go to X? You're like, uh, three years ago. I feel like the Florida equivalent of that is the beach. So many people live very close to the beach, and actually, when we lived in Miami Beach, we almost never went to the beach. Part of it is that that's particular and this was pre COVID, but that particular stretch of beach was really popular in touristy and crowded, so it wasn't even always as fun. We've actually probably gone to the beach more since we moved, because they're the more northern beaches are actually a little bit more family friendly and just relaxed. But yeah, you may have your own outdoor or indoor kind of treasure that tourists block to that you never think about going routinely, and that was a great time to check out those local gyms. Yeah, I mean again, we get into the planning aspect of it, because so many of those that are indoors do have timed tickets these days. I know that's been a lot more challenging for us, particularly with weekends, because then you know, you're trying to go to a botanical garden, which theoretically you should be able to go to at any point, but they have time tickets, and so it's like, Okay, they have to get the kids in the car at this exact time and be around the baby's nap and hopefully he's up by that point, did everyone's. So it does add a dimension of stress to the fun. But as we said, fun takes work. All right, let's talk about fun in general, Sarah. Fun with friends. So you mentioned your playdate. What else have you been doing? Yeah, so, I mean fun with friends is an area that I do feel has suffered a bit. I really used to enjoy going to like in person book clubs and just you know that, the random casual like meetups and play dates and such. So I really look forward to when that becomes less of an issue. But I will say, as much as I zoom is not the same, it's truth truly, truly not the same, but it can still be its own kind of fun, and even if I don't always get excited for a particular zoom. So we've been doing these every other week zooms with my college friends. It's always so much fun when we actually start doing them. The funny thing is that of the six of us, three of us have kids and three do not, so it's an interesting split. And I am like the only one that every single time is like frantically cooking dinner during said zoom, and everyone else is like on an easy chair, sometimes with a drink, and I'm like, They're like, what are you chopping now? And I'm like Kars. But it's still really really fun and it's a type of connection that I wouldn't be able to get otherwise. And as I mentioned, like, we didn't do this before the pandemic, So you know, some people get inspired to do things like that, or reach out to connections from the past, or just fill that friendship need with people that don't necessarily live close because you can't easily get together with those that are near you. So I'm not going to say that's a substitute or the way I want it to be forever, but it's pretty fun. Yeah, And I would suggest that you can even combine this with the sort of professional networking element. And obviously your college friends is a different matter. But if you have a group of people that you find intriguing and you think might find each other intriguing, you could suggest something like this, like, let's have four people get together to talk on Zoom once a month or so. Plan it out so it's not ridiculous free for all, but maybe I do this with a couple of small groups. But you know, everyone has a question, for instance, that they want other people's feedback on, and you send that around beforehand so people can prepare. Somebody directs the conversation, because again with Zoom, unless you're talking about people who've known each other for tis twenty years, you need somebody to direct it. And even if they have known each other for twenty years, it's probably wise to have somebody direct it and you know, have a little to chat. And yes, it's professional, but it satisfies a social need as well. And as you repeatedly talk to people about things that matter to you, you become closer. It's one of these fascinating things why we feel close to people it's partly just a function of time and consistency. And so even if you're starting it as a professional thing, which many people can kind of get their heads around doing, Like we feel more permission to devote time to things that are professional, and time when we have childcare, for instance, to things that are professional. These people can become your real friends over time. Well, this makes me think about the fact that two of my colleagues have been talking. One of them keeps texting me and saying, hey, are you gonna She wants me to do it for some reason. I guess I have that What does she want say for our listeners? Yeah, so she wants me to start a book club, which is that you want somebody else to start a book I mean I have a million things had like other people to start for me. I mean that's having to like be like, you know, the MC. But I think, for whatever reason, she thinks that I should be the organizer of said book club. But it would be really fun, and I was thinking of keeping it really small, like maybe only like five women that I work with and just like picking some fun books and then it would be kind of professional slash social slash personal. I don't know, I think it'd be really fun. That's a great Maybe I should get hurt in charge like before Way Win as our you know, former guest Stup Friedman would say, how about fun as a couple. What are you guys doing for fun these days? No, we're failing, We're failingly. I would say, the only thing that we're doing for fun is watching various. I mean, I'm not I'm not knocking it. Like actually, when we get into a show together, we really do enjoy. Like we watched, as I mentioned before, the Flight Attendant. We finished it. It was like eight episodes. We really looked forward to it. You know, we would talk about it and speculate about it when we weren't watching it, so like you know, good TV like that. But we are not really having any regular date nights, and we kind of could because our nanny could theoretically do some of that. I just I'm not entirely sure she's excited about doing it, and so I haven't pushed the matter because we used to have a great date night babysitter that would come. But you know, she's taking care of another family and I just the bubbles get all mixed up. It just it just becomes so much more complicated, and because it's not typically our nanny's preference to work weekends, we just we haven't needed it. I do miss it a little bit, though, So tell me about how that you guys are vaccinated and you've all had COVID. I guess you guys are sort of on the loor. Yeah, but convincing other people of that isn't I mean, and then you never have any guarantees, Like let's say that babysitter is super hesitant, but then by some freak chance, like one of our kids gets it again, and then I'm feel terrible. I don't know, like there's just there's so many unknowns that I feel very comfortable with our with our current nanny. And it's not from It's not from me, like I feel comfortable personally. It's like the impossible impact on others and whether they would feel comfortable. Yeah, and do I like that? All sounds like a lot of work, although I mean, you're right, at some point, I'll just have to do it. Well. At some point we'll have to figure it out. I mean, as kids go back to like full time school and have more activities. I mean, and especially if Michael starts traveling again, We're going to need another driver, so eventually I'm going to have to figure that out. But yeah, we only have our i mean, our full time nanny at this point, and we get the weekend sitting when it's like a special occasion like our Christmas present. But yes, definitely don't want to push that. One thing we have figured out though, is that Monday night can work. So she works till seven on Mondays and I can arrange the kids' activity schedule so nobody needs to be anywhere on Monday night between the hours of like five thirty and seven, and so we can grab a quick dinner at five thirty or six somewhere, be back by seven so she can leave and it's a nice, quick little date night. And you know, doing something like Margarite does on a Monday is not a bad way to spend time. I that counts some fun in my book. So trying to do it every couple of weeks when we think about it and can make sure that we both don't have calls or anything around five point thirty, that that can be a way to have fun as a couple. No, a weeknight would be great. We there's just there's a little too much unpredictability in Josh's schedule, and his nights tend to be wear it all, And I'm just I'm hesitating because if I set myself up for being excited about like a Wednesday night, and then something happens, then I'll just be sad. So but you're right, at some point it's something to think about. And I'm sure he could clear if he had something very specific that he was doing it for exactly what is fun just for you? Well, first, let's we take a quick break. Yes, we'll take a break and come back to that. Hey, listeners, I know some of you are sleeping on some saggy old mattresses at night, and you deserve better than that, so give yourself an upgrade. Helix Sleep has a quiz that takes just two minutes to complete and matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. Why would you buy a mattress made for someone else. With Helix, You're getting a mattress that you know will be perfect for the way you sleep. I took the Helix quiz and I was matched with the dusk mattress because I sleep on my stomach. Bet you didn't know that. Huh, this works perfectly for that. Just go to Helixsleep dot com slash best of, take their two minutes sleep quiz and they will match you to a customized mattress that will give you the best sleep of your life. They have a ten year warranty and you get to try it out for one hundred nights risk free. They'll even pick it up for you if you don't love it, but you know what you will. Helix is offering up to two hundred dollars off all mattress orders and two free pillows for our listeners at Helixsleep dot com slash best of. That's Helixsleep dot com slash best of. Well, welcome back to best of both worlds. We are talking all things fun, deep dive on fun and before the break, I asked Sarah what was fun just for her? So what are you doing that's fun for you these days? That's the easiest part of this. Lots of things are fun for me, and generally when you're doing stuff just for yourself. Again, this whole like change of lifestyle we've had in the past year doesn't come into play nearly as much, so that's great. I find reading really really fun. I do think sometimes people will underestimate the amount of effort it takes to curate your reading lists so that it's fun, Like you're not just gonna automatically like have the next fun book waiting for you when you finish. And it can be very easy either to have no book for a while and get stuck in limbo, or to start a book that is not very fun and then not want to read it and then be like stuck in that sad place where kind of want to finish it but you don't really and so nothing's getting read and that's not any fun. So I will say, like I am trying very much this year to abandon a book by page fifty. I think that's a good line in the sand if I am not having fun reading it, unless there's like some very like specific academic reason that I'm reading it and want to, you know, gain a certain set of knowledge, like if it's nonfiction but fiction in particular, and I usually have a nonfiction and fiction going at anyone times, that kind of helps the stuckness of it. Yeah, I want my reading to be fun, so that takes you know, having your next book ready managing your library hohold list if you use that or having it. I actually have this really nice stack of books that I purchased kind of over the last year that I if there's like three of them that I can see right here. I have Anxious People by Frederick Bachman. I have Yah Yasi's Transcending Kingdom. Those are both you know, recommended, and I have a feeling all like both of them. So while I'm working with the library, it's nice to have a you know, a backup that's there. So but reading is very fun for me. Some of my most enjoyable weekends are where you know, we do slaying active in the morning as a family and then the kids are relaxing and I just like sit on the couch and read a ton of pages. That is very fun. What else is fun? I love playing with my various planning stuff. And you know, I'm the first one to admit that nobody needs the number of planners and products that I have, but I do have fun using them. For example, my new five year journal that I'm completing, I'm about you know, twenty days twenty one days in is this new year of recording this a little before it airs so that's really really fun. And I'm incorporating some like hand lettering in there, so there's a little bit of an art aspect, and I think i'd like to get a little bit more into that. So I want to get one of those like calligraphy practice books, so I could kind of learn some of the official strokes with my brush pens, and I think that would be really fun. And yeah, I would say those are my main forms of like easy home home fun. I'm not really that into like shopping anymore. I still love going outside, and I guess workouts are fun to a certain extent. You know, it's a combination of like torture and fun. I think can be very fun. Walks can be fun exactly, you know. Run in somewhere pretty that you haven't been before can always be great too. I like puzzles. I like to read, although I've been in a bit of a reading It's been harder for me to read of lately, though I am reading through War and Peace. I'll talk about that, and I'm sure I've talked about that in past episodes. Now in the orders, this is airing that one chapter a day, which is great little adventures trying to take advantage of the fact that I work for myself and I work from home. I am the toughest boss on myself that anyone could ever be. And I realized, like, I don't have to sit at my desk nearly as much as I do, and I could go do stuff, but I often don't because I'm like, oh, there is work somewhere that could be done, I should be doing it. And one thing I've been doing my church is still we're having our staff singers record service music that is then put out on a recording for everybody to listen to on Sunday morning, and a couple of us have been able to come in and sing with them. You know that it's still a small enough group in a big enough space, and we're far apart from each other and wearing masks while we're singing as well to come record with them. This is I think this has got to be the definition of effortful fun, because singing along with a group of eight professional singers is a very different experience than sort of general community choir. I mean, you get the music, you read through it, you troubleshoot new places, you go record it. It's not easy music, but It's been really fun on those days when I've been able to be the person rotating in to do that. So I've been grateful that that's still going on, and you know, choir will start up again eventually when I guess enough people are vaccinated and all that good stuff. And I really enjoy singing. That's something that I make time for too. Can you give an example of one of your little adventures. Well, we talked about going to the Art museum, for instance. That's an adventure. You know, going to play you know, piano at the house would be an adventure. And I have a couple of trails around here that sometimes I try to run on when i'm thinking about it, like doing something a little bit different like that. You know, I definitely want to keep brainstorming this list because I know there is a ton of stuff I could do, and there's you know, even fun showrooms to go to. As I'm figuring out the house renovation. It's an adventure to go see like a stone yard of all the different kinds of granite or quartz or marble or whatever. And the granite in particular is ridiculous because you think this is natural, like something this came out of the ground somewhere and it's like this sheet of like green and gold and purple. And I don't know who on Earth would ever put this in their house, but all these stone yards have at least one slab that's like this, and you sort of stand there in awe of whatever magma and cooling experience created this geological wonder. So, you know, stuff like that, or even just I went running early this morning. I'd been up with the baby since five point forty five, and so I decided to hand them over at seven and just go run before the day started. And it was the most gorgeous sunrise this morning, and it was freezing twenty degrees but the sky was brilliant, pink like, just for you know, at least the first chunk of the run. And so just things like that, I think trying to pay attention and plan adventures and also be open to them when they happen. I love it. That was all sun great. I agree. I think having a list so that you kind of I mean, I feel like people bristle against that, like the Fall Fund list and the spring, but there is something to that, just having a number of things that you don't have to like reinvent the wheel when you have a free day, but you already have things that you've thought about and can then go pursue. So I'm gonna take he take take some example from you and try to work on curating my fun list to include more out of the house experiences because I also have some time that I can use, not as much as you, definitely not as much as you, but some I should exactly all right, fun at multiple ages? Family fun, what is fun for the whole family. So the things they came to mind are mostly outdoors. And you know, of course your mileage may vary depending on the age but of your kids, although Laura has I don't think there's that many families that have a bigger age spread than you do. So if you if it works for you, and probably is going to work for most people. For us, the beach is like, it's easy, it's fun. We usually get milkshakes on the way home, so that definitely adds to the fun. The kids really enjoy it, All three of them enjoy it at their own level. It does make me anxious, but I try to like outsource the anxiousness to my husband, like I would never take them by myself, I need somebody like watching them in the water. That's not me. But we make it fun in that way, and the zoo is one of my like we've we've done it fairly recently, and as you said, it's a walk. It's a family walk with animals. Like what could be better than that. You just have to go when the weather is nice, so that you don't feel like you are, you know, slogging through a swamp. So for us, there's there's only a few months when it makes sense to go. But during those months, there's there's no reason you can't go every few weeks. And I will say that having a membership and knowing that you can just go to one small place and hang out rather than feeling like you have this job of like using the entire day, for me, that makes it far far more fun. So we will tell the kids like, oh, we're just going to Asia because our zoo was gigantic, and it means we'll just like really run around and explore those areas and there's little playgrounds and stuff too, rather than feeling like we have to exhaust our spe selves and spend six hours. Although we're so weird that that's almost how we are about Disney World as well, and exactly I am a big fan of memberships places too, just because it does take the pressure off. It's like, okay, well, if you know, have a meltdown after forty five minutes, we're fine. We can just leave and don't have to worry about getting our money's worth on that. So yeah, Zoo's always a big win. Science museums, I know that a lot of people like kid museums are in a real tough place right now. I mean especially ones where you're supposed to touch things because obviously people concerned about the spread of germs. But you know, there are certainly museums where there are things to look at as well as touch. You could also just make sure people are sanitizing constantly, and if you're wearing your mask, you can't actually touch your mouth and your nose very easily, so there's a check on it as well. Like your kids may be touching things, but they're not sticking their fingers in their mouths immediately afterwards, which I realized is the key issue with touching stuff. So we've been to the Franklin Institute here we went in November. They had you know, time tickets like everywhere else, so it was very limited number of people in there, and that was really cool. The Wax Museum President's Hall, they had that as a touring exhibit. Kids got to see the trains and various simple machines and sciences that walk in the Giant Heart. Everyone still walks in the Giant Heart. I didn't walk in the Giant Heart. I've never liked the Giant Heart. But anyway, I love the Giant Heart when I was a kid. I'm glad the Giant Heart is still going strong. I would like to take my kids there someday and we'll totally walk. We can walk through the Giant Hearts. And one thing we've been doing is taking the kids over to the new house and playing in the yard because it's it's novel like they've never been there. You know, they have now, but it's not their normal play place, so it's all new and so it's this journey of discovery as they figure out what they can do there. We actually set up the trampoline that Ruth got for Christmas in the garage there, so that's something they can do. Or they can ride the bikes on the driveway because the driveway is a lot longer than ours. There's a that's down in the back and Alex has started chipping away at the dirt from where the roots came up, like this is a project that he's just I mean, it can fill an hour easy of him just chipping at the dirt. So that's been fun. We play hide and seek inside because it's empty, which is, you know, we find the new spots, the new closets, and then bikes of say, bike rides, and that's less of a thing now because it's freezing, Like nobody wants to go bike ride when it's twenty degrees outside. But when it starts to warm up, or if we get a weekend where it's you know, fifty degrees, that could be an option as well. And we have it set up so the big kids, the three big kids, all on their bikes. Alex is on the tag along behind me, Henry's in the burley behind Michael. The taglog is actually kind of fun because it's like having a little boost on the back. Alex is actually helpful, which is you wouldn't really think like, I've got a kid behind me on a bike, but he's actually peddling, and so it's like biking with a you know, maybe fifteen twenty percent extra power. I don't know how does the tag along is it? Is it a separate bike that's attached to your I've actually never I don't think i've seen a taglong. Yeah, So it hooks on your seat and then it's got a wheel. Why did that word not come to me? There's a wheel as you have on a bicycle, and his seat and so he you know, has his handlebars in his seat and pedals and a one wheel and so it's like three wheels on the bike, three wheels in a row, and so he's pedaling pushing as well, and so there, you know, it's a little bit of extra speed. I kind of find it fun. It's certainly better than being the parent pulling the burley because obviously that child is just deadweight. Yep. We do well. When I say we, I mean everybody accept me because I'm actually the I would love to get a bike, but we just haven't done it. And actually I also love the fact that I'm the only one that doesn't because that means when they all ride bikes, I get to stay to stay home. But eventually I'll join in the crew. I mean, I enjoy biking, and we do the burly thing, so my Cameron and none of all are great bikers. And then Josh will just go around and I guess he gets the dead weight. And then the problem is that she often falls asleep, but that's okay. Well, but then, yeah, I guess that would be hard if you can't be on a tag along that if she's gonna fall asleep, although she probably wouldn't fall asleep so she was, So she's last year, so I mean, but when she's four four and a half she might be able to start doing that kind of depends what kind of character she is, but I get the sense that she might be excited about being exactly exactly cool. Well, I already gave away my idea for new fun, which is possibly doing another book club. But do you have any ideas for new fun or have you exhausted all of yours as well? Yeah, I mean, I think I'm hoping when the weather gets niceer, I'll find some more outdoor places. I've been realizing there's a few more open spaces, preserved open spaces and trails around here than I was aware of. Many of them are not publicized necessarily but they are in fact open to the public. So I'm going to start exploring more of those as the weather gets nicer. And yeah, I think, you know, also just thinking about what's within an hour of us that we could make more day trips too. I think we haven't even begun to explore, like Pennsylvania Mountains and Pennsylvania History Site. Yeah, an hour of you is like a lot. Yeah, exactly. Well, and you know we go to the beach. I mean that's fun too. I mean we can certainly go to the that's only an hour and a half from here in the mountains or only an hour and a half from here. So really, I just need to be a little bit more focused on getting out to do those things on weekends, and you know we'll be we'll be good. Cool. All right, Well, let's go to our question section. So somebody, I don't know where this question came in from Instagram? Question what do you have for lunch while you are working from home? All right, let's hear your list? All right? My list includes eggs. I actually, for some odd reason, if I'm like making like an egg on top of something or scrambled eggs for lunch, it feels slightly luxurious, I guess, because that's just something you can't really do when you're like in your office giant pot of soup that will be eaten all week, especially like we eat it on Sunday night or something like that. I'm certainly not above cans of soup either. Soup is just comforting and I like it. Sometimes it's frozen stuff, gonna admit. I will hit the like Amy's burritos or something like that, lots of leftovers, and then sometimes I end up just doing like two snacks like you know, apple and peanut butter at like eleven and then because I'm hungry, and then like cheese and crackers later, and it's just like so easy. And so I guess I don't have any like very exciting ideas for you. And I'm sorry, but that seems to work. Just the fact that I'm like at home and can like toast bread or fried egg, to me, is like very luxurious and a novelty. So I guess I'm still enjoying that aspect of it. Yeah, I mean, we have a lot of people eating lunch at home these days, and it tends to be kind of a fend for yourself sort of meal. I will usually eat the leftovers from dinner the night before or from two nights before, depending on how many leftovers there are. We get these Sun Basket kits. Sunbusket was a sponsor a few months ago. We are still customers paying customers now. We get two meal kits a week and it's usually enough to have leftovers for at least one person for lunch, and usually for more than that. So I eat those whatever we've had on the weekend, Like if we cook a steak on the weekend, I'll have that on lettuce or with vegetables during the week you know. So usually that's enough to get me through that. You know. My husband often has a sandwich. The kids have a lot of Annie's Mac and cheese shells with white cheddar. I don't know why they really are into that one, but that's pretty much I would say somebody is having that five of seven days per week. So we go through a lot of Annie's shell mac and cheese. Two out of three of my children love that lunch, and one of them will not touch it with the ten footballs. That's fascinating. Well, I've realized, like so Sam now just makes it many days and which is fine because I if I don't have to make it, I don't care if they're eating it. It's like I'd be like, oh, I don't feel like making mac and cheese. They're like, they wouldn't get mac and cheese for lunch, and so they solve this problem by just making it, which is what they should have. You know, it's good, that's a that's I don't know if your kids would deign to eat it with frozen peas mixed in, but mine sometimes no frozen peas would definitely be a bad I read this, so I get Eating Well magazine and they had a section in it this month of like, how you can you know, dress up mac and cheese to have other things in it. They're like, use the box stuff and just put in us. My kids would know that such such is an abomination, so we will we will not be touching that idea, all right. Love of the week, Oh yeah, I had a great album if I story to go with it, So I was. I've been listening to some of the top albums from last year, just looking for fun ideas of new things to listen to. There was an album by Kathleen Edwards called Total Freedom and I really liked it, Like, I like the melody of it. I felt like she sounded like what Taylor Swift will sound like in ten years kind of. And I sent it to Josh and he's like, that's a divorce album, Like are you trying to like was this a message or something? I was like no, And also then I read about it and it was not a divorce album. It was her total freedom. Was was not from a relationship, although some of her songs are like keeping my options open, so like, I get how he could have gleaned that, but it had to do with her musical career, which she actually took a break from in twenty twelve and just kind of left it behind, even though she had been experiencing some success. So I just thought that was really funny. He's like, I like it, but like, what did you mean by that? I love it? Okay, week nah, My love of the week is my new daily ritual I for the new year. I mean we're only twenty one days in, but so far, so good. I read one chapter in War and Peace because War in Peace has three hundred and sixty one very short chapters. They're about four pages each, so I'm reading a chapter a day through the year, and it's kind of nice because I get to really absorb the whole novel without feeling like I need to read faster because I got to get through this thing. I write at least one hundred words in my free writing file, which one hundred words is nothing. This was the point, just to make it be like no resistance but something, so I open it up and get in the habit of writing about nothing but just something that is not being published, is not for anyone. Is just to get in the writing habit. And then I do at least some strength or resistance training, so again it doesn't have to be much. I could do, you know, a dozen squats and be done, or I could do some bicep curls and be done. Whatever. If I want to do more, great, But it's just to establish the habit. And I'm doing it every single day. We are twenty one days in as we were recording this. I've done it every single day, all three of those things. So I think, you know, this could be sustainable for the long haul, and I think that'll be good. Do you find all that fun pretty much? Yeah? I mean it's it's not not fun. I mean, it's easy enough, and then I feel like, who, I've done something, even if I, you know, I've read part of the greatest novel of Western literature, and I've you know, done free writing, which I keep saying I want to do and strength what I want to do, and I'm done in like fifteen minutes. So it's really not that challenging a thing to have done, and yet I feel that something. Yeah, I just wanted to tie it in with the episode. Oh fun, Yes it is fun, and yes we have been doing a deep dive into fun in this episode, so hopefully people get some more ideas. We'd love to hear how you have fun, especially in this pandemic era. What you have figured out is fun for you, fun for the whole family, fun for you and your partner. If you have one fun for you and your friends, you can let us know. Of course, always write us, leave comments on our blogs, Instagram, Best of Both Worlds podcasts, and we will be back next week with more on making work in life fit together. Thanks for listening. You can find me Sarah at the shoebox dot com or at the Underscore shoe Box on Instagram, and you can find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This has been the best of both worlds podcasts. Please join us next time for more on making work and life work together.