IT'S ALL COMING UP MINIVAN

Welcome to the Carpool podcast with Kelly. And now that I'm in a book club, I'm already on book talk and I'm like, oh, what should be our next book? And we're sending each other books. And now I'm just like a girl who knows what's on the pulse in literature. And Liz. I follow food bloggers who just post about what they're eating. I like watching them eat. I like them describing what it tasted like. Your mom time off starts now. Welcome back to the Carpool podcast with Kelly. And Liz. Happy 2026, y'all. My gosh. That was the longest Christmas break of my life. Well, it fell poorly. Cause when it falls on a Thursday, then Friday's a wash, then you have the weekend. I do believe it's like one of the longest Christmas breaks you could possibly have, just like the way that the closures happened. Overall though, incredible break compared to my break of last year. The weather cooperated, we stayed healthy. The kids were like good. Overall, I'm pleased. Rocked me to my core. Right. Rocked me to my core. You know, getting sick at the beginning of it was tough. And then you go into the holidays and whatever, I don't need a harp on it. I don't want a harp on it. I'm just like happy it's over. And I'm happy to be getting back to work. And I'm happy to be back in a routine, ultimately. Totally. I think everyone in America is happy to be, even if they're not, in some capacity, we're all feeling optimistic. Some of us. I think that's appropriate for the new year. I am ready to announce my word, not that literally anybody cares except for me, but I didn't come this far to only come this far. So after much reflection, my word is going to be cadence. Let me tell you what that means to me. It was kind of inspired by my husband because Tyler told me, he's like, I feel like this year we set the pace for the next 10 years. Like we're not having another baby. The kids are like, you know, more, like we're getting out of the baby phase. I guess we're really just not gonna have another baby. So it just feels like this is the pace, whatever pace we start this year, like this is who we're going to be. So I just thought the word cadence sounded better than pace, which is why I went with it. But essentially just, I'm trying to get my new rhythm. Like who are the Stumpdys? What is our capacity? What is my capacity in all of my different avenues? And what is sustainable for the next decade? There's something so, that has to feel so nice about being done with having kids. No. And so like a really important anniversary to me will be when Libby turns 18 months old. I guess when technically she turns 19 months old, because that will be the most postpartum I've ever been. Cause I got, my biggest gap is Hattie and Fred and I got pregnant with Fred when Hattie was 18 months old. So I have never had a 19 month old and not been pregnant. Yeah. So I'm very much looking, which Libby is kind of like a 19 month old already because she's just so advanced in some capacities. But I'm just very looking forward to who I am at 20 months postpartum, at 24 months postpartum, at three years postpartum. I'm just very excited to meet her and find out who she is and how she's doing. I think she's gonna be doing really good. She sounds lovely. Totally. I saw a reel and it was like, how are you doing? And it was like, great, my youngest just turned four. And I'm like, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. So that's what I'm looking forward to. I kind of like last minute just like threw up a reel on like micro hobbies that I just kind of wanted to delve into a little bit with you. Because if I really am reflecting on my 2025 year, it was the year where we coined and really developed the term micro hobbies. And I don't think that term necessarily is getting enough credit because it is such a, it's really changed the way I think of my interests, even like my guilty pleasures. When you just describe them as a hobby, all of a sudden you're interesting. So like if you're, you know, the real houses of Beverly Hills could be your guilty pleasure or it's a micro hobby, which one is it? And then you find people who also watch that show. Or like, you know, you could just be cooking dinner or you're perfecting a recipe and now it's a micro hobby. So I just have really enjoyed my mindset shift. And I'm not like one to like necessarily set out and tell you my micro hobbies. I kind of think micro hobbies are best when they just find you, you know? Then when they just kind of evolve naturally. But one micro hobby, dare I say, could even become a macro hobby is I am committed to reading more. And by reading, I maybe mean reading, I maybe mean just listening to audio books more. But I'm just very into consuming other types of content. I'm honestly so tired of the online world. Like I just hate, I think we all do. Like it's just not good anymore. It's like not fun. I feel so gross after it. Like it's getting worse and worse and worse and stupider. And there's so many interesting stories out there. And I've also kind of really found myself in my reading journey because I have discovered that I really like historical fiction because I like learning about a time period, but like in a more interesting story, or I could learn about, or it could be fiction that's just like written really well. Like that's fun or like based on, like what's it called when it's like, like for example, I read a book called The Marvelous Life of Marjorie Post, which was about, anyway, and like she was real and the facts were real, but like the author was kind of flushing out the details. Like she obviously wasn't in the room. Like what is that called? Cause I like that. I don't know. I don't know. Well, that's my genre. Okay. And I've also just kind of discovered like, I think I talked about this on the podcast, look, I kind of like YA. Like I think my reading level is young adults, which I think is fine. Like maybe one day I'll get into a book, like The Da Vinci Code or something, but like for now I need YA books so I can just. Totally. And that's fine, whatever. I have a low reading level. You need a, you like, no, it's just like, it's an easy read. Like you want to replace the mindless scrolling. Yes. You want to do it before bed. Like your brain is already fried by the end of the day. So you need an easy read to prevent you from scrolling. Cause if it's too complicated, you're like, screw this, give me my phone. Well, and I especially feel like when you're listening in an audio book, like I'm coming in and out. Like, so I can't, I can't read something or something that would require a highlighter and a hard copy. So anyway, all's to say is I am now in a book club. Yeah, that's right. I'm in a book club. It's just two other people. And our first book is the lion women of Turan. And I'm listening to it and I'm enjoying my life so, so much. Like I'm obsessed. Yeah. I'm obsessed. And now that like I'm in a book club, I'm already like on book talk and I'm like, oh, like what should be our next book? And like we're sending each other like books. And now I'm just like a girl who like knows what's on the pulse in literature. And I'm just well read. I'm becoming well read. I'm happy for you. This kind of makes me want to like get a, get a Kindle. I mean, right. Like that's step one or an audible membership, whichever one comes first. Well, I have one of those, but I would like to replace the scrolling before bed. Well, and so that's why I kind of reading and reading two books right now. Cause I haven't finished my book about the elderly couple, the winters. And I think that's good. I also just like I, I just, yeah. So I'm just, I'm just learning my read style. I just think there was like a lot of like garbage books out there and I'm sorry. Like the steamy books are not for me for like a number of reasons. Like I don't like those. I want, I want a really great story. And like I can have like some romance, but like I don't want to read like a romance book. I, that's why I like the, the historical aspect of it. So that's my first, I'm just like kicking up my micro hobby strong with my book club. Okay. I'm happy for you. Yeah. I can't say that I, that I have any. Have you announced your word of the year? Well, I've been thinking, I've been thinking about it. And as much as I like want it to be balanced, I do feel as though there's still too much in imbalances in my life that are out of my control. Forced and foremost having toddlers in the second, just hormones are still just like out of whack. I feel. So I don't think it can be balanced. I'm just, I like kind of like intentional, but what I really like, I think is just like improve. Like I just want to look back to the end of 2026 and be like, I improved in these areas of my life. I like that. I saw this reel and I can't remember the creator and it's someone I follow. So I'm bummed that I can't remember who it was. But she said like questions to look back on at the end of 2026. And she goes, did I, did I read more before bed? Did I write that book? Did I do this? And it's like, I kind of love that approach instead of just saying like, these are my goals. Like what questions do you want to answer at the end of the 2026? I can be like, yeah, I did join a book club. Yeah, I did bring a friend and need a meal at least X amount of times. Like, yes, I did these things. So that's kind of what I'm reflecting on. So I just think my word is improved. Okay, I think that's a really good one. So yeah, I hope everyone's feeling, but also there's no, you don't have to like, like crush your goal in January. Like it's a long year for a reason, you know? And I'm a big fan. I want to hear her quotes as let's crawl, walk, run. So you can crawl, walk, run into some of these things. Yeah. Additionally, I just continue to be the world's biggest football fan. Like Tyler is sick of hearing me talk about it. I was thinking about maybe doing a segment for the football playoffs where I can just give you like, kind of like a bird's eye view, a Cal's eye view of what I'm seeing for the playoffs. It's so funny how into football you have genuinely gotten. I know. I know. And I'm always like, oh, here's a big game. I don't really even, and like, you don't even really need to like watch the games to just like know what's going on. Cause like, you don't really need to watch the games. You just find out who wins and like, you know what to do with that information. But the big game that happened on Sunday was the Steelers beat the Ravens and they were competing for the last playoff spot and the Steelers won, which is our brother's favorite team. So I was happy for him. I was happy for him. I still have my heart set on the bills, taking it all the way. So we don't have any updates cause the games aren't until this weekend, but I would just recommend following Simone's playbook and like getting into it with me. Cause it's really, it's really enjoyable. Like I'm actually, I'm thinking about throwing a Super Bowl party because... Oh, you totally should. I totally should. I also have like the best house to throw a Super Bowl party at. You totally should. Yeah. So I'm considering that on my radar. Okay. We have like, we've just got right into the meat and potatoes. We didn't even talk about what we're wearing. Hmm. Like we're living in matching sweatshirts and we didn't even like talk about it yet. We just like glazed right over it. Well, we are wearing our, I guess it's kind of like merch. We are wearing these stunning gray sweatshirts with an embroidered minivan that says never say never because you should never say never. And how did this come about? So we, I think we loosely talked about merch on the podcast and someone who listens to the podcast, her name's Lowe, she's like, I have an embroidery business. And she, Mia's... Okay, go ahead. She did what I'm always telling people to do. And she, she did her shot. In such a major way, she made a reel. And it was so full of little tits and bits about like carpool lore, car mom lore. And she made a video saying like, why she wants to collab with us and why she wants to help us on our merch. And I was so taken aback and impressed by it. And her opening line was, let me come across your desk. She slid on a desk. Like it was, it was comedic genius. Yeah, it was really good. And then she, it was already good. But then she showed us this product that we're wearing today. And it was everything we've ever wanted in a never say never shirt. The colors are perfect. It's like a very light heather. It's totally giving like 90s sweatshirt. Yeah, it's a very lightweight sweatshirt, very easy to wear. Which I kind of like because I have some sweatshirts that are too hot to like wear in spring. This is one of those sweatshirts, like you could wear it on a cold June morning and like you would be okay. And you should probably wear it with a coat in the winter because it is a thinner sweatshirt. But it's embroidered, which is so high end, which also just gives that like vintage you feel. I'm obsessed with it. I'm obsessed. If you have a minivan, you need the sweatshirt. I am wearing a medium, Elizabeth's in a large, completely true to size. So like mine's a medium, that's comfortable. That looks cute with jeans, which I kind of wanted that fit. If I wanted like a suit. It's true to size on the baggier end. That like it's, I would say even on you though, it's a medium, it's still a little bit oversized. Or do you think like a small would have been your true size? No, I think I think I'm medium as my true size though. Okay, okay. Yeah. But like I'm saying, if I wanted it to be baggier, I don't think, I wouldn't describe it as baggy for a sweatshirt. Okay. I'm feeling a little baggy, but mine's a large. So anyway, what I'm after. I would go, I'm happy with my size medium, but I would also, there's, I would have also been happy with a size large. Yeah. So do with that. I hope that's helpful. We will leave the link because you, you're going to buy them through Lowe's website, not through the car mom. So we will leave a link in the show notes on where you can buy them. They launched yesterday. So they launched, yeah. And is it a pre-order? I think so. Is a pre-order. So this is kind of a may case situation. So if you have a minivan or if you think you'll have a minivan, now is the time. And that kind of brings us back to a great say, what is something we were talking about today at the dealership with dad and Grayson. And Liz brought up the topic of no one likes their car more than someone who drives a minivan. And I will say, and I hate to generalize, but there are some minivan people who are borderline insufferable with how much like they talk about their obsession with a minivan, you know what I mean? I feel like you're in two camps. You're either like, oh yeah, like I can't wait to get out of this thing. Or it's like, I will drive a minivan for the rest of my life. I think that there's also just like a camp of just like, I had something else in this. Before you have kids, any car will check your box. It does not matter what car you drive. Once you have kids and you have car seats and you need space and you are opening doors and like when a car can function for you in such a positive, different, drastically better way, you're gonna be a happy customer. And for me, I drive, if I have a minivan, it's a Kia Carnival, which is, I think, without a doubt the best looking minivan out there. So I also don't feel like I'm sacrificing for like the looks. Like I'm sorry, I hate the look of a Chrysler Pacifica. I think I hate it. I'm pulling up to my Kia Carnival. I'm like, it's just, it looks closer to an SUV. I'm happy with it. And I was gonna have an entry discussion because... I just feel like we talk to people and it's like all the time about their mom cars, it's like, what do you drive? And they're like, I drive a 2015 Honda Odyssey and I love it. They always add that like, and it's amazing. I just don't hear that from anyone who drives a Hyundai Santa Fe. I do hear that, but I understand what you're saying. I think they're really passionate about it. And so let's, I think that's another good segue. We're just, let's keep segueing. To kind of a, this is kind of before industry news, but I think it's just relevant to what we're talking about. And we're a little late to this, but... I've been wanting to talk about this since the news came out, but like, just with how this, all of December was, we just never got around to it. But anyway, what we're trying to tell you is that Pete Davidson is now a dad, congrats, Pete. And he had to come out and like, just make like the most like, and I'm not bashing it, but just like, the most unoriginal trope of my entire life of, now I'm a dad, so now I'm gonna drive a minivan, but not like a regular minivan, like a cool minivan. And I'm like, I'm so bored with that trope as is Elizabeth. Are you pulling it up? So Pete Davidson, his minivan is a customized matte black Honda Odyssey that was built to spec in partnership with eBay. So they got him up. First of all, he got paid a lot of money. So like, let's also note that. Sure. To do that. Portable VHS player was added, a mini fridge slash baby bottle cooler and baby changing station was added, which a baby changing station should, I think be added to one of the minivans. I just think like we're putting tables in cars and stuff. Like I think that would be a good idea. A two inch suspension lift, all terrain tires, and like a cargo box was mounted. And it's just like, I'm just, I'm with you. I'm just like so over the, now that I'm a dad, I'm gonna get a minivan, but it's gonna be a cool minivan and it's gonna be different. It's like, you know what? Some people just like, just like, like welcome, I guess. Like some people just have minivans to have them and it doesn't always have to be at like this joke. It's just, like you said, it's just unoriginal. It's... Well, I have, okay. I'm kind of feeling two ways about this. One, I do think it's kind of an interesting partnership because then I'm reading further down in the article and it says, like, you know, if this minivan sounds interesting to you, you're in luck because eBay's auction off another Honda that's nearly identical for charity, which is like kind of like a cool... Good to have a good idea. No, it's like good for eBay Motors for like trying to stay relevant. I'm really proud of you for that. I actually think it was kind of a fun idea. Yeah, I just, I don't mean to like take it offensively because I guess I'm not, I think I'm with you. I'm just bored of like, I'm just bored of that trope is all. I can think of... Exactly, I'm not offended. I would never be offended by something about a car. Like it's, it doesn't matter, but it's just like, I feel like we saw this with who was like Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg. Like a souped up minivan. Like I'm just over the souped up minivan thing. And if we are making only souped up minivans, like can't we put some of these features to mass market? Well, also you have a baby. So like what's a VHS player doing there? Right. And one thing about me, like this is one of my hottest takes. I hate aftermarket accessories. Hate. Like you will, it's for me, it's stock or bust. Like I don't like anything aftermarket. I don't like aftermarket wheels. I don't like aftermarket infotainment. I don't like aftermarket paint. Like I just like stock. I think stock is classy. Like however the car comes is just how you drive the car. I think that's, I think it's classier. And I will say like in terms of trade and value, dealerships never, and this isn't really for our audience. This is for more like the truck guys out there. The dealership only wants the stock. They don't care what aftermarket stuff you put on your car, what modifications you made, they want the stock. It will literally, it could, it will not help your trade and value at all. If you put $5,000 worth of aftermarket equipment on there, it will not. Interesting. I think there's something really classy about, no, it's just like, just stock is how it comes. Don't you, do you agree or do you like the aftermarkets? I can't say I've put much thought into it. Yeah, that's just me. I mean, you'll never catch me doing anything like that. Yeah, I mean, like, I guess paint doesn't really bother me. Like if you want to get your car wrapped or whatever, like that's fine, I guess. No, and like everyone keeps sending me the expedition that got wrapped, like there, because now people are like starting to wrap them, like the back. Yeah, the black. I would never, I would never. I would never. And you hate the black. And I hate the black, but I just think, I just, I like, just, I'll take it stock. Okay, you like it stock, okay. Interesting. Yeah, that's just who I am. Yeah, that's just who I am. You know what, speaking of minivans, I have to say, I miss my minivans so much. Can you just give me some credit that I told you, like that you were going to take the scenic route to this decision? Yeah, and sometimes you have, and sometimes you have to do that. So I told Kelly, I said, okay, well, I'm out of miles on my, my demo, so I'm going to go get another pathfinder, just like with the winter. And she said, you're going to regret that. Said it's, I love the pathfinder. I drove the pathfinder so much before I ever drove a minivan, like I'm not going to regret it. Well, well, well, here I am. I miss the minivan so much. The minivan life, I just, it's so much easier. Such a minivan episode. It's all coming up minivan for us. It's all coming up minivan today. And the reason I don't drive a minivan is, truthfully, I'm not, there's no reason I don't. I just prefer the expedition and I, got an expedition. But like, I would be fine to drive a minivan. Like if I didn't have the budget for an expedition, I would buy a minivan. Like I have no qualms whatsoever. But I do love my expedition. I have no plans of getting out of it. Today's episode is brought to you by Quince. These days I'm all about quality over quantity. You guys know I am decluttering my house. And so if things in my closet are not well made and versatile, they're not worth it to me. I'm getting rid of them. And that's why I love Quince. The fabrics feel elevated, the cuts are thoughtful, and the pricing actually makes sense. Quince makes high quality wardrobe staples using premium fabrics like 100% European linen, 100% silk and organic cotton poplin. Lightweight cotton cashmere sweater is perfect for the changing seasons and can't miss seasonal colors and prints for spring. Versatile, well made pieces that make getting dressed simple. Did you also know that Quince sells kids clothes and like home goods? I just got some of these linen blackout curtains for my bedroom and they're wonderful. They are great quality, really thick, willy-rel made, and they look amazing. 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Go to myskylight.com slash carpool for $30 off your 15 inch calendar. That is mysklyght.com slash carpool. Well, what else do we have, Liz? Well, I have a base model luxury. Okay, I feel like this segment goes one way or the other, either like we say something really groundbreaking or you make fun of me for saying something super obvious. I think that this one leans a little bit obvious. But it has layers. And I think that a lot of people have probably already made this switch, but it's about hangers. Okay. And so in my house, I have felt hangers because clothes stay on them the best. I think you mean you have velvet hangers. For sure. Velvet? Yeah. They're velvet hangers. They're not felt. Velvet hangers. I love them for my clothes and Maddie doesn't like them for his clothes. So, which makes sense. Like women's and men's clothes hang very differently. So Maddie ordered himself an Amazon pack of like nice wooden hangers that you would see at like a men's warehouse or like some suit spot. And he put them all on his side of the closet. His closet looks, his side of the closet looks great. And he also put them in our coat closet. And truly putting my coats on these wooden, these thick wooden hangers. Cause a coat will snap a velvet hanger sometimes. But we have these thick wooden hangers. It's honestly, it genuinely feels like a luxury experience. That is so interesting. I know you're gonna go with that. We have several wooden hangers because when we moved into this house, people left a bunch of stuff. And one of the things they left were so many wooden hangers. Okay. We don't have a place for them at the moment because I also use velvet hangers, which was a fun good investment to make over time. And Tyler uses white plastic hangers cause that's his preference. Of course it is. Of course it is. That's a good one. Yeah. Hangers. That's a good one. That's classy. Similar to a stock car. Like to have a stock car in a coat closet with wooden hangers, like so classy. First of all. You're classy, you're classy lady. And like you're a lady. You're a lady. And like you probably read, you know? Totally. This is what I'm gonna be by the end of the year. Just watch out. I'm gonna have my stock Kia carnival, my Kindle and my nice hangers. I'm a third of the way there. Why don't you just read the book that I'm reading and maybe we can, maybe I can twofer and we can do like an extra recap one day. That's fine. That's fine. Do you want me to say the lion woman of Tehran? Okay, I'm going to order it. I'm ordering a Kindle. It's actually, yeah, I'm actually really loving it. Okay, my base model luxury was so stupid compared to yours. But I recently bought a pack of gum. Oh wow. And? And I've really enjoyed carrying it in my purse. I am not, I'm not. I'm not gonna. Kelly. Okay, sorry. I'm not one to always have gum. And then I'm always one like looking for like a palette cleanser after my lunch. And now it's just my gum. My other one was gonna be adding ice to your water because that's also not something I do every single day. Kelly. So I'm obviously gonna stop talking. You said, you said, I feel like base model luxury is either go one of two ways, either it's good or I say something and you make fun of me for it. Now, when you say I bought a pack of gum and I added ice to my water, what reaction are you expecting me to have? Genuinely, genuine question. I think you should be like, no, I agree. Like being a person who has gum is like really, I thought we could have a gum conversation. Oh, well, first of all, I'm a mint girl. That's, I know, and that's probably, is that classier? Wait, hold on. Oh, for sure. Mints are classier because then you're not smacking and you don't have to find trash can. Oh my gosh, you're so... And how do you spit out gum in public? You're so right. I'm disgusting. Once I went with this pack of gum, I was looking to mince. Mints are so much classier. They are classier. Yeah, like I have the little, what are they, altowids? You do, you carry a little tin. You're so, it's not ice breakers. She is so, it has the little paper. It's so classy. Stick around, you could learn a thing or two. You're so classy. Okay, well, well, that's that on that. You know what I did see though, this is actually kind of a base model luxury. This new trend on Instagram I saw where people are taking their kitchen aid mixers and they're putting like a bunch of scoops of vanilla ice cream. And then they're throwing in like whole Oreos, Recess, Caramel, whatever topping. And then they're spinning their kitchen aids and it's creating like a concrete or like quality ice cream with all the mixings like broken up of mixing in every bite. And my mind is blown. I told this too. And like, yeah, it was like, that's one of those things where it was right in front of us this whole time. We didn't even realize. Right in front of us the whole time. I'm not much of an ice cream person though. So I won't be taking that up anymore. No, I'm not either, but they all look really good. Like I think I have to go out and buy all the ingredients just to do it. Yeah. Remember when you were like so into your creamies? Yeah. Now you're not. Yeah. Well, it stopped because right around that time I moved out for my renovation. And since I've moved back, I moved back in what like October. So it hasn't really been like creamy season. I, speaking of like kitchen gadgets, I did break out my vacuum sealer. Okay. I haven't done mine yet. Okay. I did mine. I put, I went to, did exactly what I said I was going to do. I went to Costco. I only bought three rotisserie chickens because I was, I panicked. I shouldn't have, should have bought more, should have bought five. Cause then you're in it for $25. Cause I was only going to put one bag of chicken. I was, I was able to put one and a half bags of chicken away. Long story. It's cause of what we had for dinner. Doesn't matter. Anyway, I thought I vacuum sealed it to perfection. I checked it this morning and it has frost on the inside. So I think I need to adjust my settings a bit. Okay. So stay tuned. Was it hard to use? No. Wasn't hard to use, but you know, it's not, there's a pamphlet to look through. I'll say that. Sure. Yeah. There's settings. There's something called dryer moist. And I guess I assumed I need to, I need to reflect and review that. But thus far I've used that Christmas present. Upstox with my bomba socks. I've already ordered more bomba socks. Like I can't stop with the bombas. They're so. That's sad to hear. What does a bomba sock cost? So a pack of four is, how much does a pack of four? I think a pack of four is $55. Yeah, that's tough. But not, that's not on sale. That's just like the price. So like wait for a sale. For sure, wait for a sale. And the thing with the bombas is it's like, they're so good, but other socks are good too. So it's not like you need like just buy two pairs of bombas. And like, it's a way to take a Tuesday from, you know, it's a way to take your Tuesday up a notch if your bombas are clean. Sure. You know what I mean? Bring a little joy in your day. It's like a micro joy, you know? Yeah. It's just like a little dopamine hit when you put on, when you're like, oh my God, Mr. Clean, you put on your bombas. You'll get a dopamine hit for sure. Okay. I need to order some bombas. I love that new word that everyone online is saying, dopamine hits. Yeah, it's nice. You sound like a whole bunch of drug addicts, to be honest with you. I guess we are. To the phone. We're always chasing the high. Yeah. But does any like weird content give you a dopamine hit? Cause I have one for sure. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Like I love watching people, I love watching people eat on Instagram. You do love watching people eat on Instagram. It is like my favorite. Like I follow food bloggers who just post about what they're eating. I like watching them eat. I like them describing what it tasted like. I just love watching people eat on Instagram. It's honestly, I hate saying that. Like that sounds disgusting. But I love it. I will just like scroll. I will go to a creator and scroll all of their videos. And that's the only type of content I do that on. I swear. Okay. That is so weird. I know. I love videos of like candy stores that are packing candy orders. Oh, I like those too. I'm getting food related. But like I love those. I love those. And then it makes me want gummy candy though always. Well, and like I was watching one and then like a haddie came up behind me and then she was watching it. And now she's always asking me. She's like, you want to watch this candy video? Yeah. And what are you supposed to say? No, like of course I do. They are so fun and addicting to watch. Yeah. Oh, that's funny. That's my dope. That's funny. What I'm kind of a random episode. We should have like so much to talk about. But I feel like everyone on the internet right now was doing like day one of this, day one of that. Oh my God. Every. Everyone's cleaning out the house. Tom's like Harry had the January challenge. No, everyone's doing a January challenge. I just wanted you guys to know, I'm not doing any January challenges. I'm not doing it in January challenges. I mean, everyone is saying I'm getting rid of 500 items. Come with me as I do it. And. Oh, I know. They're getting rid of an item for every day that it is. Like they're doing that. I saw one girl and I'm not hanging on these challenges. I do like them and I'm happy for the people who are doing them. I'm just, I'm just letting you guys know I'm not participating in one. But I like this one creator and she's doing a no-athleteer January, which I thought was a kind of a good one. That's unique. I haven't heard that one. I know. I could probably benefit. And so again, I'm not doing a challenge, but I might think about that one for the future. Yeah. It's like a no-athleteer month. Or maybe it's like I'm not going to wear a leisure money through Friday because it's like. I that one really resonated with me because. Like, why do I have to? I know I have clothes that I like that are uncomfortable. And I just don't know if I still need to be keeping on to clothes that are uncomfortable. Do you know what I mean? If you're, yeah, so if you are like, I don't want to wear those jeans because I'm going to be uncomfortable all day. Maybe it's not. Maybe you need to get rid of the jeans. Then what am I saving the jeans for? Like if I have a sweater that's a little itchy, like if I wouldn't want to wear it all day. Am I so I'm saving it to like wear out to dinner for two hours? It's like, but don't I have am I going out to dinner? No. Or do I have something that's comfy? Do I have a social life? No. Or it's like, do I have a sweater that's comfy that I can wear all day? Like that can transition to dinner? Like it's like it's like that trip online where it's like, why did I think that so much of my life was going to be consumed with looks that went from date to night? It's so true. I've never had a look go from day to night. I've never had to swap a shoe to make my outfit work. Ever. Like if I had to go to day to night, I always had enough time to like put on a different outfit if I wanted to. If by day to night, you mean like I sometimes sleep in my athleisure. Yeah, I know. I mean, night to day, sure, regularly. But day to night. So I just think I was so I think that's the long way of saying I want to curate a closet that can go day to night if needed. Because I'm sending a new cadence for the year. And I think it's like a dance. But I think my cadence could be day to night because. Like some moms will go to a basketball practice in an outfit. I won't. I will go in my never say never sweatshirt and sweatpants, but I'm just wondering what would your life look like? If I like came home from work and swapped my loafer for a pair of sneakers and threw on a cross body and a red. Wow, wow, wow, wow. And like that. Wow, that's like a lot of brainpower, though. But if your closet's ready for that, that's what I'm saying. And my closet's not ready for it. I've got like one pair of jeans that I like to wear. Everything else is just like a chore to put on. So just something to think about. And I probably need to get back to because in my old house or Tyler and I had a very small shared closet. So I very much was like taking out winter clothes for summer clothes. Like I was I was rotating. And my new house, I just have a big means up. Me, me, my Tyler have our own closet, so I don't have to rotate. But I think I was better when I was rotating. Like I think I could stand on to too many clothes right now. Your closet, your closet is packed and you have a big closet. I know, because I think I'm not rotating. I think if I went in there and pulled out my summer clothes, what did I not wear last summer? Yeah. Oh, you think you're going to like wear it this summer? Literally, I'm sorry, Kelly, you don't change that much. I need to stop pulling on to this aspirational version of who I think I'm going to be, I need to be proud of myself on who I am. Yeah. This is getting so deep. So deep. So anyway, whenever I go through my pre baby clothes that are sitting in a box in my basement, I'm going to have to just like make an entire reel about it and just like laugh. Oh, my God, hysterical. At who this girl thought she was in 2022. Like, oh, this is worth hanging on to one day. This crop top. Like you thought you'd ever wear it again, Lolls. I know. I have no way. There's so many crop tops in there. That's so scary to think about. That would be funny. I'll do that. Today's episode is brought to you by Alma. Where do you want to be a year from now? Who do you want to be? And maybe more importantly, who's on your team helping you get there? Because the right therapist, someone who makes you feel comfortable, challenges you in the right ways and has the clinical skills to support you, can make a huge difference. That's why I tell you about Alma. Alma is on a mission to simplify access to high quality, affordable mental health care, and they've built a nationwide network of over 20,000 diverse therapists. What's great about their platform is it's easy to find someone who fits your needs. You can browse the therapist's directory without even having to make an account and you can filter things like insurance, gender and therapeutic approach and more. And affordability matters. 99% of Alma therapists accept insurance and people who find a therapist through Alma save it on average of 80% on the cost of sessions. They even have a free insurance cost estimator so you would know exactly what you'll pay up front. A year from today isn't that far away. Get started now at helloalma.com slash carpool. That's helloalma.com slash carpool. C-A-R-P-O-O-L. Okay. Are you ready for industry news? Where I spell the hot T going on the auto industry. I really am. Okay. This story doesn't have a lot, but I think it brings kind of brings up like an interesting topic that I wanted to talk about. It's from Car and Driver and it says the 2028 Misabishi Montero will soon debut based on a new teaser video. Okay. It's been a while since Misabishi revealed something to excited people, but a popular SUV's return appears to be just around the corner. Okay. So it's a very small teaser video. Like it's basically just this. It looks like a kind of like a big sporty SUV. Okay. It kind of looks like it's like a like a land Rover Defender. Like it's not, it's blurry. I'm just wondering though. If Misabishi could ever come back. It also, it says Misabishi has also already laid out its plan to introduce several new models through 2030. But over a year ago, a trademarked Montero, which is good car name. I'd like just to say Montero. I like Montero. More recently, we spied a camouflage test mules that looked very similar to the mysterious machine at the end of the new Misabishi ad. Well, we still don't know exactly when the automatic will reveal the next generation Montero. We have a hunch that it will be soon. The Misabishi Outlander. Is that the car that is horrible? It is the worst car. It's horrible. I will never forgive that car because that car ruined my... Have you told this story? Oh, you have to. Have you told this story? Yeah, I think I have. It ruined my, yeah. It ruined my Marine Corp ball because I was right into the third row. Not a classy thing that it should have put a Marine back there. And I got so car sick on our 20 minute drive back to the hotel that I literally couldn't do. I couldn't go up and have after dinner drinks. So I feel like Misabishi robbed me of a lot that night. So anyway, stay tuned for Misabishi. I mean... I don't know. I mean, it's like... It kind of feels a little bit like give it up, but I just feel like they've been like struggling for so many years. I just think they could go double or not, they're on their motorcycles. Yeah. Versus the family SUV market. That just feels kind of tough. I mean, the Spy Photo does look pretty cool. It's nice and boxy. It looks cool. But I would argue, I think the Outlander is a decent looking car. I mean, it's fine. It just looks like all of them. But you know what looks tiny, Cal? That third row window. I mean, it's like a little bit of a car. Third row window. Let me hold that back up. And the Outlander's third row is the third row is the problem in the Outlander. I don't know if this is the third row. I guess it is the third row because it's the third row window. Yeah, we'll see. Okay, speaking of people who are kind of struggling, this is from Automotive News. Stellantis sales slump reaches seven years despite a Q4 gain. So I'm just always trying to keep like a finger on the pulse for Stellantis because I feel like someone has to. So they had a better Q4, but the increases weren't enough to avoid a seventh straight annual decline. Yeah. That's tough. The good news is Chrysler sales were up one percent in 2025. You just don't know. You just don't know. Why can't they figure it out? Well, in Stellantis, just to review everybody, they have Chrysler Dodge Jeep and RAM. So it's four manufacturers under one roof and they could not sell cars. They're just, they're having a lot of trouble. Yeah. I think there's a level of it is I think that Jeep has too many models. I think they should have like doubled down and had like a grand Cherokee and a Wrangler. Like I miss those days. Now we have a Rubicon, a Renegade, a Wagoneer, a Grand Wagoneer, a Wagoneer. I'm exhausted. It's like half past too many models and all the other brands have like not enough models. And Chrysler has the Pacifica. Think of that. Like people don't believe me when I say like, literally, like that's a freaking trivia question. Like what major car manufacturer only makes one car right now? And technically it's like none of them because technically the Chrysler also makes the. What's it called? Yeah. The other minivan, but like not. They only make minivans. What's it called? The Voyager? Doesn't matter. Yeah. Doesn't matter. Yeah, it's just interesting. It's just interesting. Well, and then RAM obviously only has the truck and then what does Dodge have? Dodge has the Durango. They have a Hellcat. The charger. Dodge Hornet. The Hornet. They're kind of like before that. They have they just have a few. Everyone's struggling. Everyone's struggling. I need them to put out a case. I need to them to. I need them to get it together. Jeep is your bad Jeep in Christ. I. I'm almost like fade Ram and Dodge and like I would like to see Chrysler come back a little bit. I'm believe. Uh huh. I'm believing in Chrysler and Chrysler has that name record. That name is worth a lot of money. Chrysler to me. The name like has a luxury feel to it too. Like I do think that they could. Like make make an SUV then like you have the capability like you have the you have the minivan like just do the big family. Like they could have a Buick Enclave. Yeah. You know. Yeah. I don't know. I'm nervous for them. I really am. I'm really am. Me too. Okay. But then Barry at the office is interesting because buried in this article. I don't even know why this is in here. It was nothing to do with the article, but it says. Manufacture share of industry retail hybrid registrations as of August. So that's a long way of saying. Here is the percentage out of all the way of the record. Here's the percentage that that manufacturer owns of the registered hybrids. Okay. Toyota is number one at a whopping 48%. Meaning that out of all the registered hybrids on the road, 48% of them are Toyotas. Okay. Shocking. Yeah. Coming in at number two, we have Honda, which I also was surprised. Mm hmm. Number three, we have Honda. We have Honda. We have Honda. We have Honda. We have Honda. We have Honda. Mm hmm. Number three, we have Hyundai, which I guess I would have thought Hyundai and Honda would have been switched. Number four, we have Ford at 7.9%. And then it trickles and trickles and trickles. But Stalantis was on there at 2.5%. So I guess that was why it was in there. But it's interesting because you know who's blatantly not on this list. Who? General Motors because they don't do hybrids. Totally. Because they're doubling down on their EVs, which time will tell on that strategy. Time will tell on that strategy. Yeah. Okay. Last story. This is kind of like a fun little human interest story. This is from The Drive. And the Moilen Aero is one of Ford's best contributions to car design. Do you want to guess what the Moilen Aero is? I have no idea. I don't want to guess. Rest in peace. Ready? Yeah. Rest in peace, James Moilen, who had the small but significant idea to put an Aero on the gas gauges. Oh. It's like you know in your car. Oh, yeah. Okay. That Aero. You know in your car how it points to which side? The gas gauge is on. Yeah. It says, you know that clever Aero near the fuel gauge that tells you which side the car the gas cap was on? For too long, we didn't know who came up with it. One of the earliest iterations appeared in a Ford based on reviews of a 1989 Thunderbird. The public only learned of this guy's name a few years ago. His name was James Moilen and he worked for Ford in Detroit as an interior trim designer. He died last month at the age of 80. Wow. Talk about impact. It says the Aero's origin story goes that Moilen got the idea while taking a company car to a meeting at the automakers Dearborn campus in 1986. Not to brag, I've been there. The tank was running low so I went to refill it. When he got out of the car, he had a sinking realization that's familiar to all of us, that he pulled up to the pump on the wrong side. Immediately, Moilen hatched a solution. Later that day, he drafted a product convenience suggestion memo. I would like to propose a small addition to the future IP cluster graphics in all passenger car and trucks lines, it read. The indicator or symbol I have in mind would be located near the fuel gauge and would simply describe to the driver which side of the vehicle the fuel filled door is located. Yeah. I use that feature all the time. I know. And they even have the original memo that he wrote. It's a cute little story. It's really amazing. They have his original sketch of it. It's a cute little story. Okay. Love that. Rest in peace. And that's what I love. I want a book. You know what I might do one day? What? I want to write a book. I don't. I want to put money behind someone to write the book that every like fun little feature that's in a car, we trace it. We trace its origin story back and we tell Jay Moilen's story and we tell like, because I know they're all interesting of like when they came up with the idea for that, you know. Yeah. It's like, it's a little tidbit. Like I don't know. I don't know what more. No, to me, it's a coffee table book. Oh, yeah. For enthusiasts. And like you flip through and you're like, Oh, this was how heated seats came to be. It's like that Ford commercial thing was Ford. And it was like, cars, they were only designed by men. And it was like no windshield wipers, no high beams. I don't remember what it was all, but it took away all these incredible features because all those features were designed by women. But I'm with you. Like I would like to hear just like the little tidbit of the woman who thought it was a good idea to have wiper blades. Exactly. So that could be a good coffee table book. If anyone wants to do it, I'm happy to free idea. Free idea. If you want to shoot, shoot your shot and come across my desk, I'm happy to back you. So anyway, and with that, that's our first episode 2026 and I'm feeling really good about what, what we're delivering. Well, I do have a ditch to the drive through. Oh my gosh. Same. Okay. I'm an idiot. I forgot about it. You give yours cause I'll see if yours is better if mine's not work cause I haven't made mine yet. Now it's time for ditch the drive through. We give you an easy dinner recipe to mix it up to get you out of your dinner. And my ditch the drive through is so over the weekend on New Year's Day, actually I had the best start to my day because one of my dreams is I make a pot of soup and everyone sits around and tell me how good my pot of soup is. Your dream came true that morning. My dream came true in such a major way. So it was New Year's Day and I was like, I'm going to make my beef soup, my beef vegetable soup. And I think kind of everyone like wrote me off a little bit like, oh yeah, Kelly's bringing a soup. Like I'll probably get lion's choice after like probably hit the drive through after. But I have a really good beef soup recipe and I was calling it a beef stew until mom told me it's not a beef stew cause I doesn't have potatoes in it. So now that I know that I will be calling it a beef and vegetable soup moving forward. But it is the most veggie packed, salty, delicious soup you will ever have. It was excellent. And you know that means a lot coming from me cause I'm not a soup girl and I had two bowls. Okay. So you get your classic stew meat. Here's what I do. I get my Dutch oven. You've got to get a good Dutch oven, you know, like that's a base model luxury. My leg crusade Dutch oven is one of my favorite things in the world. Not so much a base model, but it is a luxury. Not so no, you're right. It's not a base model, but like it's a piece. It's totally worth it. Like that. It's, it's my favorite. It's, it looks amazing. It's my kids better fight over it is all I'm saying. My kids better fight over it. So anyway, the first thing you do is you just put some butter in there and then you just brown your stew meat. Don't ask me for proportions because you got a proportion with your heart. Okay. Tyler likes when I double the meat. So I always put a lot of stew meat in there. I normally get two packs. I brown all of them. I pull them all out, which takes a little bit of work and I put them on a plate. Don't put a paper towel because those juices are flavor. We want that back in the soup. Okay. So I brown my stew meat, pull it out, put it on a plate. Then I add more butter and I do my onions, garlic, carrots and celery. All like any veggie that I'm using that's not fully cooked. Okay. Because like if I'm just getting frozen, yeah. Then you don't need to do that. Then I just go and I make that yummy, yummy, yummy. I let those vegetables just kind of start to cook up a little bit. And then I add Lipton's beefy onion. Okay. So that's like the powdered soup that you would get like when you would make French onion dip, but they sell a beefy onion. Now, depending on how much you do, I will add two packs. Like if I'm making a big pot of soup, I'm adding two packs. You're adding this to the like, is this, how thick is your butter? Like, is it a liquid? Oh my gosh. Yeah. So I'm making those, I'm sorry, I skipped a step. So right now we had the stew meats cooked. The veggies, the garlic, the onion are cooking in said, like, in your Dutch oven. Then I add a third a cup of flour to those veggies because that helps thicken up the soup a little bit. Okay. Then I add my meat back in. Okay. Then I add my soup mix. Okay. Then I add a can of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce, but you got to have the red in there to give it some color. And then I add a lot of beef broth. Okay. Then I let that just like bubble, bubble, bubble because the stew meats got to get soft because it's cooked, but it's not soft yet. And then I will add any frozen veggies. I like to add canned green beans. I know it sounds weird, but it totally works. I like to add canned green beans and canned corn. And frozen peas. I mean, I had every veggie under the sun. It felt good to be eating. It was such a good January first. It's a really good reset meal. When you've just been eating garbage and your body is craving a vegetable, it's a really attainable way to get a lot of veggies in. But I mean, it is salty, but it's so good. It's really good. It's so good. So that's my ditch to the drive-thru. It's kind of world famous. People are talking about it. Everyone had multiple bowls. You know, it's one of Tyler's favorite things that I make. Yeah. Well, my ditch to the drive-thru was good. I haven't made it, but I have all the ingredients at my house. I'm really excited to make it. Morgan Taylor at home is like one of my... We had her on the podcast before the holidays. Get her back. One of my favorites follows. She posted a... This is what I would bring to my friend who just had a baby. And it was rice. And then it was chicken. It was like a teriyaki chicken. So what she did is she flattened the chicken and then she baked it or grilled it or something and teriyaki sauce and cut it up. And then she added a certain type of... I can't remember what the name of the... I guess Japanese noodle was. But I ended up finding... You know how you can buy ramen, like bulldock or whatever the ramen brand is? I found one of those in that type of noodle. So I got that type of noodle. I've never made it before. And then just vegetables. And it just looked like such a good, almost like Panda Express at home, in a way, in some ways. So I have all the ingredients to make that. I'm super excited. It looked so good. And if someone dropped that off for me after I had a baby, I would have been so pleased. She's great. She's a great follow. So that's what I just dragged through. And with that, that's gonna be our episode. No, and it's like we need to get off the map. We've been talking for like almost an hour. Oh my gosh. All right, well, I hope you enjoyed. Thank you so much for listening to the Carpool podcast and we'll talk to you next time. See ya. Bye. Thank you for listening to the Carpool podcast with Kelly and Liz. Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode. And if you enjoyed riding with us, tell everybody you know, there's room in the car for everyone.