Ep. 33: The single married parent

Today's episode of Spawn is brought to you by the new middle grade novel The Terrible Two Get Worse, the hilarious sequel to The Terrible Two, which spent over 10 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Hello and welcome to Spawn's A Common Sense and Hopefully Fun Discussion on Parenting and Parenting Culture. Hey, I'm Kristen Chase. And I'm Matt Liz Gumbener.

Yeah, Liz is sick, so I brought my friend Courtney up from the bird. Hi. Hi Courtney. Hello.

She is going to hang and chat with us today. So on today's episode of Spawn, we're going to be talking about Kristen's, that's me, Juice Cleanse. Are you very excited about that, Courtney? I can tell.

A million questions. Oh, good. And then we're going to be talking about the single married parent, also sometimes called the sometimes single mom. And finally, we'll close out our show with each of our own cool picks of the week.

All right, so I decided to do a three-day Juice Cleanse, Courtney. What? And why? Why would you do this?

I know you think that I would just do one day because that was an option, you know. Right, oh, I saw the option one day, but you choose three. Why would you do that to yourself? I, well, I'm in day two and I'm asking myself that right now.

In fact, let me lean over. I brought my juices with me. Oh, today's a color. Yeah, it is a nice color.

Yeah, so I don't know why, Courtney, why do I, why do we do these days? I know, so the end result is wet. What are you trying to get out of it? I don't even think you lose weight, do you?

I don't know. I think you might lose a few pounds. Our friend Gwen, who is a personal trainer in our town of Doyle's town, Pennsylvania, she did it for one day. And how much did she lose?

She lost three glorious pounds. See, I didn't even know that before I tried this. Yeah, so maybe you'll lose nine glorious pounds. Oh my gosh, my little say, although not right now as I'm sitting down hunched over the microphone, my belly is hanging over my pants.

But when I was standing up this morning, they did feel like they fit better. How's it been not chewing? Do you miss chewing your food? Funny you should say is that last night around, I'm gonna say it was fine during the day yesterday.

So yesterday was my first day and you get, I don't know, people know this. So basically, you get about five or six juices and they vary from like green juice to this one is like tomato, carrot, red apples, celery, romaine, beet parsley, spinach, watercrest juice. Okay. And then there's like a delicious like almond milk, salt, date, whatever thing at the end of the day.

So you get a variety. Yeah. And then that's all you can have. And then you get like a couple of hydrators that you can drink, but really not supposed to do anything else.

Okay. So there's no coffee. There's no coffee and there's no alcohol. No.

I know. I know. You know what's weird is that when you stop drinking for a little bit, it makes me sound like you're reaching alcohol. I haven't been coughing for two days.

I'm actually quite sure for all things considered though. Anyway, so it was fine during the day. What happened was when I started to have to make food for people in my life, like the four little children. You were tempting.

Oh, it was so tempting. And I wasn't even making anything remotely delicious. Like I was making like eggs and sausage for my children. Oh, because we're doing breakfast and sausage are delicious though.

Well, especially when you haven't eaten anything. But I also realized that I don't eat during, I think we're talking about this on the train, like I don't eat enough during the day. And then in the evening, I just graze all night long. I like, I wanted to, and it was even healthy food.

I was cutting up red peppers and carrots and I wanted to eat those. And then I was tempted by this and I didn't, I will say on the record, I didn't eat any actual food, but I did text my friend and I was like, how's chewing? How's that going for you? Do you like feeling a food between your teeth?

Right. And you describe it to me. Oh my gosh. Yeah, like I would miss chewing too.

Okay. So what also about like, does it hurt your stomach at all? Okay, that's a great question. And so far it hasn't.

Now, I will say that a year and a half ago, I did attempt this, but I had really poor timing. It was, look, look, people just don't do a juice cleanse based on a group on like no, that's a group on. No, but I sold a group on nerd. You know what it was?

It's a life-riding deal. I was like, this will be so great. But then it's like, no, it's Christmas time. Who wants to do a juice cleanse at Christmas?

So I had bad stomach problems, definitely. And I'm prone to those. So it's like, I don't need a juice cleanse for that. Like I can like eliminate things just by eating regular food.

But I couldn't make it. Like by the middle of the third day, I was like ravenous. Yeah. So did your stomach hurt?

It didn't hurt. I just had like issues in the restroom. Yes. That's what I was wondering about.

Yeah. Yeah. And so I've heard that it can affect people in a couple of different ways. Okay.

So, you know, if you're out there and you're like, maybe I should do a juice cleanse. I've heard that people during it are fantastic. And they love it and they feel awesome. And then there are people that feel like crap.

Yes. And then after they feel good, supposedly. Yes. Well, I have a good friend who just did a juice cleanse.

And this woman is extremely healthy. Like she exercises every day. So basically, oh, okay, Meg. I was going to say, I hate her, right?

We don't need her. She's super level. Oh, we don't need her. Oh, no, Meg.

You know, Meg. I know, Meg. Cute, wonderful, Meg. And she did a juice cleanse and it made her really sick.

And the reason is she's so healthy that doing a juice cleanse is actually like bad for you. If you're so super healthy, she's a vegan. She exercises every day. She's like, only eats super healthy things.

Yeah, she just blends actually harmed her. Oh, it's been weeks, weeks, Meg. And you're still recovering. She's still recovering.

Okay. So, if you're a super healthy person, apparently you should just bask in your super healthy. Enjoy it and leave the juice alone. Leave it like just it's a beverage then.

It's not a meal. Great. When is it's a cocktail? Yeah.

And she hears the fact that you're really healthy. Right. For me, I needed a reset. I really needed something to get me back on track.

And it's a little extreme. But so far, it's working. And I have to say, maybe I just need to hang out with you, working on the train ride. Because usually I come up to New York and I'm all by myself and I get in fights on the trains and things.

Oh, weird. So you're here. And you may be happy. So I'm so glad you didn't get in the fight, by the way.

I know. I've done that in a long time. Well, there's only the ride home. But you know, maybe I just needed a little dose of friendship.

So that's something to think about, folks. If you're thinking about a juice cleanse, maybe you just need to like hang out with your friends of it. Yeah. Yeah.

So anyway, I would love to know. I'm sure Courtney would love to know too. If listeners have questions about the great juice cleanse. Or like experiences, like, did you have a different experience?

Yeah. Just in had or my friend Meg. You could tweet us at cool mom picks use the hashtag spawned shows we can find you better and more easily you can catch us on Facebook or drop us an email spawned at coolmompics.com. All right.

So up next, we're going to be talking about the single Mary parent. But first this, the terrible to get worse is the hilarious sequel to the terrible to which actually spent over 10 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. That is 10 more weeks than my book that's not about kids spent on the New York Times bestseller list. And actually, as it turned out, the author, Mac Barnett was at my son's school a few weeks ago.

My son walked in carrying these two autographed books and I looked in there and wouldn't you know, it was the terrible to get worse and the first book the terrible to with Matt Barnett signature. That's awesome. Now, these books are published by amulet books and the series has turned the world upside down. It's perfect, perfect for fans of the diary of a wimpy kid series.

So if you want to check out this great book that shows kids how they can work with their elders, hopefully we're talking about like elder elders and not like 40 something. Thank you very much to solve problems, check out the terrible to get worse from amulet books. Okay. So Courtney, you know this about me.

Not a lot of people know this about me. The back when I was married, I actually wrote a column for cafe mom and it was called the sometimes single mom because my ex is a pilot was a pilot is a pilot and I was alone, parenting alone a lot of the time. And as it turns out, I see this excitedly, I don't know if it's going to be joyous about it. Courtney's husband is a pilot too.

It's true. Yeah. And he's gone how much? Um, he's gone a little more than half the month usually.

Okay. I mean recently he actually broke his ankles. So he was on my couch for several weeks and that was unusual. Wow.

Most of the time he's not around. He was home for 70. You were like, not at all. I'm single married.

No, no. Yeah. So basically he had this similar schedule to what I had as well, which was like four days out of the week gone. And then what's interesting is like home, right?

And a lot of people don't understand the differences in that in that they're not going to an office. They're basically completely gone and then completely home and completely home. And what's interesting is that when I wrote this, this was a few years ago, is now I'm divorced. Um, and this was, I don't know, three or four years ago, is that I thought I was the only one out there because I think, you know, it feels that way when you see moms going to like social events that you can't get to and all that kind of stuff.

But there are a lot of people that don't, you know, they're not married to pilots, but you know, like what are some folks you mentioned, a couple of chefs, yeah, investors, you know, even like flight attendants. Oh, yeah. There are so many people. There are a lot of people out there that are parenting alone.

So we thought, you know what, since both of us have this similar experience that we talk a little bit about it. And you know what, some of the stuff that we did and we do can maybe help parents. What do we call them? Regular parents?

Yeah, normal, normal. Normal everyday parents. All right. So do you call yourself a sometimes single mom though, Courtney, because people call me that.

People do say that and I don't really call myself that. Well, you mean you don't walk around. So I'm Courtney. I'm a part-time single parent.

Like, no, I'm Courtney and I'm a mom, but like people will say, oh, you're like a part-time single mom. And I remember we had a babysitter once you said that and I felt like my husband was super offended. Oh, interesting. So you weren't as bothered by the moniker so much as he was.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, because he is involved even when he's gone, like we're on the phone, like he knows what happens during the day. So I mean, he is involved, but I felt like he was offended. I mean, honestly, I didn't care because I am. I mean, I am part-time by myself.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know when I did the column, a lot of people, and it's funny now, ironic if you will, that I'm now a single mom, but a lot of people took issue to me using that because they felt very strongly that the single mom moniker really meant that you were financially, I think that was the big one.

It was like the current financially on your own. You don't have anyone to fall back on. You don't have that co-parent even if they're not around. And you know, I get it.

Yeah, I do get it. I sense to me too. Yeah. Like the struggle is, I mean, but it's all relative to, right?

But that struggle seems to be a little greater, right? Oh, definitely. Especially for me now, I will say. And I certainly have different circumstances and a lot of single moms, but I, you know, I am financially responsible for my family and that burden, I did not feel that as much when I was married, even though I did parent alone a lot.

Right. So I get where, you know, single moms can get mad, but I find interesting that your husband was annoyed by it. What specifically was it that bothered him? I don't know.

I think it was just like, maybe when she said that it was like saying that he wasn't involved part-time, which like he is pretty involved. So I think that's why he was offended. Yeah, it makes sense. Well, there are a lot of dads that I know that are, they don't live with their kids, but they're super involved.

They're actually more involved than some dads who are there all the time. Totally. So I get it. And you know, with technology now, I imagine it's a lot easier for him to be involved, right?

Do you guys have space time? Yeah. And my daughter has her iPod and they face time and, you know, we talk several times during the day. It's almost like he's home, except he's not physically there.

Yeah. Just fine. Yeah. So let's talk about that.

Because, you know, what's interesting is that I do find, and I like it when people, people were curious, like, you know, what's it like? You're, they see me all the time, I guess. Maybe they see me like wearing my fake ugs and my pajamas and my bathrobe. And they're like, how is it for you?

Right? Oh, I find what do you mean? I know. But it is hard.

So what are some of the challenges that you currently, I mean, he's home now? That's why you're here. Yeah. Yeah.

Love you. No, I think that, you know, we miss out on late night social events. We also don't want to super close to our family. So if there's like a cool meeting or everybody's going on to dinner on a school night, like we usually don't get to go.

Yeah. Because it's like, is it worth a babysitter? Is it worth a babysitter's or expensive? And that's just how it rolls.

Yeah. So we miss out on a fair bit, not as much as we used to. I think it's harder with a baby. Now that we have a toddler, he can do some things.

Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Well, I found that it was hard for me to explain that to other parents because they would think I was rude because in my situation, my ex was on call as well.

So it was not that he was just away, but he was also on call. And so I just didn't have a schedule now to be able to say you couldn't have a schedule. No, no, what's the call out time? Like two hours or three hours?

It was crazy. It was a hard way to live. Yeah. It was, it was really challenging.

And also we were away from family. And it came down to, okay, is this, you know, he just said, is this dinner at this person's house in my neighborhood worth me paying like 50 or 60 dollars. And that stinks. But that's what it would come down to.

Yeah. That's what it would come down to. So yeah, definitely the evenings. The one thing that is, you know, even now I'm in the situation where you always feel like you have to have backup.

Yes. Right. Yes. And it's things when you don't, because you don't always have backup and emergencies happen.

Yeah. People get sick at school, whatever, like it's just hard juggling things when you don't have backup. Yeah. It always seems like the worst things like kids being sick, multiple kids being sick always happened when he was away.

Yes. Why is that? I don't know. I don't know.

And then you were like on duty all night. And then in the morning, you still have to like, you don't get to take a break. Like you have to like power through. There are no like crap.

Oh well. There's no passing the baton. No. That's the thing that I wish.

You're like running right. And you're looking for that person. No one's there. Yeah.

Like, what's your time team now? It's your turn. But like that doesn't that doesn't exist. How is it on the kids?

How did your kids deal with it? I mean, you know, the one thing about our kids is that they are completely used to it. So in one hand, it's just how it is. It is how it is.

But do you feel like it affects them in other ways? I don't know. I don't see that so much. I mean, because we're just plowing through, chugging along.

I don't notice. You know, once in a while, they'll be like, Oh, my daddy was here. Yeah. Yeah.

Like not all the time. Like, as you're awesome. I'm so cool. I mean, how could they miss him on here?

And I'm yeah, you bring the glitter Courtney. I have to be honest. I sprinkle it all over. Yeah.

I mean, you know, I don't, are they used to have not being a thing? I mean, I know you have your kids, we didn't even say. So you have a nine year old and a three year old. So you're not yet into like tons of sporting events performances.

Right. Right. I do stuff that's super convenient now. Yeah.

They're like, Oh, there's a, yeah. Our favorite yoga studios in our neighborhood. Like, that's what we see as after school. Yeah.

And there are no yoga performances. Yeah. There are no yoga performances. I don't like, like, ice skating.

You guys did ice skating, right? And I thought about it, but like, do I really want to drive like how 20 minutes each way and like bring my three year old who will be a nightmare? Like, so I feel like we'll work our way up to stuff like that. We're just not there yet.

Yeah. But I mean, you don't, you sort of avoid the issue of you always being the only one there. Right. And that was hard for my kids to get used to was that I am here.

And daddy's not not because he's using not to is because he's working and they, it's hard because they see all the other families. And I think my kids didn't realize it until they got older and they were like, Oh, okay, our setup is a little different. Yeah. Yeah.

Totally. Yeah. And, and I think for them to have to explain it to their peers is interesting too. I don't know if your daughter has had that at all, but my kids have been asked, you know, not because of the divorce, but just because of their dad's job.

Like, Oh, your dad's not here. You know, Oh, your dad's not coming to this. Yeah. I feel like Lucy, my daughter, my nine year old might just say that.

And I'm like, Oh, my dad's a pilot. Like, when people are like, Oh, there's a thing going on. Like, Oh, my dad won't be here. He's in, you know, wherever Puerto Rico, again, I know, I would say that would be a hard part, wouldn't you?

We didn't even think about that one. No, that is a hard part. And I know that there are other folks that have, you know, spouses and partners that work a lot. And they're, you know, like in a kitchen or they're in an office, but pilots and flight attendants and people who travel oftentimes are in really awesome places.

Great. Great. And it's great. Yeah.

Totally. And I know it's work. It's work. I roll my eyes a little bit.

Just made the sad part about podcasts that you can't see, Courtney's eye roll emoji phase. Right. It is work, but still like it's still the Caribbean. They're still drinking.

You still have a drink on the beach. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it was hard for me because it was like anywhere you go and there are no children is like a vacation.

So that was difficult. Yeah. And even though they don't really love necessarily being away, it's still you're like, man, I'm so jealous just because there's no money I can't. What do you need?

So I think there's also a thing with like when they come back and like getting back into like house mode and like family mode where like you've gone from being alone in a hotel room and suddenly like somebody puked on the floor and like and there's no housekeeping between the cushions and you sat on it like and there's no housekeeping. Like so that's that's a thing too. Sometimes I feel a little bad like when Matt comes home and he like walks into a crap store for lack of a better Yeah, I imagine I imagine that's difficult for sure. It's gonna feel bad sometimes.

Oh, sorry. Yeah, it's just what's going on right now. It's not very glamorous. Yeah.

No, I mean, but I feel like they're, you know, the dads and hey, look, we're not just talking about dads. That's dads in our situation, but they were moms out there that are traveling for work and they're away and I imagine it's the same kind of feeling where they come back and but also it's very difficult. I, you know, I found out about you to readjust because you have your own set schedule. You have your own way of doing things and then all of a sudden someone comes back and is like, why are you cutting the apples that way?

I feel like yo dude, do you see the kids alive? They had apples cut in squares and they're totally fine. Right. Exactly.

And we had we had pancakes for breakfast two times this week and you did, but it was in cake day. Literally because it was pancake day. It was national pancake day. We celebrated and then also we had breakfast for dinner.

Oh, and then also we have pizza for dinner sometimes it's more than once, but you know what? We have a side of vegetables and that makes it okay. That cancels out everything. I can't tell that everything.

And guess what? Like it really doesn't matter. No, I think they're eating. I think that, you know, just a kind of, I know we've been basically bitching here for the last 10 minutes about it.

It's challenging, but there are some parts of it that are easier and I think that's one of them is that, you know, anything goes man because you're in charge. Right once in a while there might be ice cream. Really? Right once in a while.

And you're like once every other week. For dinner? For dinner? Sometimes we do.

And there's even a drive through Dairy Queen. So not only is it easy, but it's like extra easy. Well, you know what? I just felt like I had less food in general.

Yeah. But just one adult in the house. It made a big difference. Yeah, the kids just like eat whatever.

But like when something comes home, he needs. Yeah, I don't know. And you or I would say you're mostly, I mean you do your work at home slash stay at home. Yeah.

I don't want to label you. Yeah. So but more stay at home. So I know there are folks that are, you know, that you you're also working full time outside of the home.

Right. So, you know, there's, you know, who's going to cook. But in your situation, I know in a mine as well, I would want to have a meal or something for everybody. And I just don't feel like I have to do that.

Yeah. Kind of nice. Kind of nice. And once in a while, if I'm feeling like super generous, like we will do a meal when she comes home.

You know, I'll even watch the sheets. Oh, look at you. When I'm like, I feel bad. The sheets are clean.

Clean sheets are a luxury. They really are. That's sad. People please don't tweet me and tell me that I have to be watching the sheets every week because I will cry.

That does not happen. Well, another great part I think is that you don't have to deal with any other opinions. And I think that is that is a big thing when it comes to parenting because yeah, everyone has their way of doing something. Right.

And nothing's really wrong. As long as the end result is the same, like who cares how you get there? Yeah. And well, some people do care that I know.

Some people really care how you get there. And I don't need to chill. Do you find that you are more laid back because of this or you because I get the sense that I think everyone, this is my philosophy. It's basically everyone has a little bit of type A in them.

I think it's possible. Oh, yeah. I think in your experience and you know what you've gone through in life, you know, for me it was having more kids that totally made me much more laid back. So do you feel as though this experience?

Oh, yeah. Very. This morning there was some poop on my rug. Oh, and it wasn't an animal.

It wasn't an animal. It was human and my son is in diapers and it was disgusting. But I have to say like I sometimes think of myself as like a 20 year old and like I was like I will never like I just don't talk about poop. Like if I dated someone who talked about poop, like I just wouldn't date them again.

That's like it was such a thing for me. And isn't it ironic that like in my life I had so much poop. Yes. I know there's no escaping the poop.

There really isn't. I mean I think that's just a parenting thing in general. It's totally there's no escaping it. But I think I do feel as though you and you know one of the things I have here is that you just you don't sweat the small stuff right because you just pay it now because you're by yourself right.

So you know here's the thing we have all kinds of folks listening to spawns not just you know people that might identify as one of us if you will. Do you have some things that are blind? Again with alcoholic stuff. Sorry.

Is that a good trick? That's a good trick for most things. It is the kids go to bed. You get the dishes done.

Put on the music. Like I try to make it fun for myself. Okay so that's a great tip. I think a lot of times we're all getting bogged down by the daily routine.

I know for me my treat is that I do laundry and I watch TV because I'm not really a TV watcher. I don't I don't I'm on a screen all day. Right. For me watching television is not necessarily a treat but you know I put the kids to bed.

I pull the laundry out and it just makes it so much better when I'm watching Cumberbatch. I love that. Great. Make it fun.

What else? Do you have any other like super cool things you say? I know you said cereal makes an amazing dinner. Oh cereal.

Ice cream. Yeah and you know what I try to be like if we're watching a good movie that's the another thing like when I put my three year old's bed like sometimes my daughter and I will watch like we watched Elizabeth the other night. Oh good. Wow.

I know obviously I censored a few scenes but and she stayed up a little late and it was like not a big deal. Like whatever. Go to bed late. Like you just have to work a little extra hard in the morning.

Yeah so it sounds like when you're you know you can you have a special relationship because you're not I don't know you're not necessarily bogged down by other stuff or like what is it? I mean you just you're like a bedtime. Yeah. Routines are not so much.

Right. Let's have a little fun because you know day to day life can be a struggle. So why not? I love that and you know what it's weird with kids maybe that's why they're kids is that it's just a small stuff that makes them so damn happy.

You really don't have to do that. I know. It's like a balloon. Right.

You forget about that too. And you're like here is this. Yeah. Here's this fancy car that you know you can work from your smartphone which is awesome but then they're like look paper bag.

It's quickly noise and you're like damn it. Yes. I right. So yes we've learned that lesson too.

What about keep it simple. Yeah keep it's simple. And also one that I love is that it's okay for parents to do their own thing because I think when you're alone you do get the opportunity to do that. And I imagine that when you guys are kind of changing shifts that you then get to have some time away from your kids.

And I think there are a lot of folks out there that don't necessarily do that. Yeah. And I don't you think that's really important. Oh my gosh it's so important.

And I think maybe you don't realize how important it is until you do it. Yeah. Go take a class and exercise a little bit and like or whatever. Medicate or do something and like you're done and you're like wow I feel refreshed and all I needed was an hour alone.

Yeah and they'll be okay. It's okay. Yeah. They're fine.

If he has a different way of folding towels and doing whatever I think the ability to let go is something that sometimes whatever Mary single whoever we want to call them parents are really good at and that's something that other parents can really glom on to. Hopefully. Yeah they should. All right.

Well you know what I would love to hear from other what are we calling these single married parents or sometimes single time. Yeah I don't know whatever you want to call yourselves. And you know what we happen to I have an ex who's a pilot but we just happen to be all piloted up here but you might have partners and spouses and other careers we'd love to hear from you. You can tweet us at cool with the hashtag spawn show visit us on Facebook or drop us an email spawned at coolmompix.com.

Okay well now it's time for cool. Okay Courtney as our special guest host I'm gonna let you go first and you tell us what is your cool pick of the week. My cool pick of the week is I work for Lori Palauw of Simply Be Organized. She's a professional organizer.

I do her like PR and social media. Wait the secret is out. You're also you work for an organizer. I work for an organizer.

That is so awesome. Yes I feel like I try to absorb the things that she puts out. She's so good. Her thing lately is getting kids engaged and involved in cleaning out their own closings.

Here's the thing kids have strategies. They have strategies for math problems. They have strategies for dealing with bullies. They have strategies for everything.

And her thing is like let's give our kids strategies for tackling their closet. Instead of just sending your kid upstairs and being like you need to get rid of the stuff. Go through this stuff and so they learn how to do it and give them strategies. Show them turn the hangers around but be involved because sending them out to their room is not going to work.

It never does. Well it's a little overwhelming right if you just send people up and you say go clean up. Right. I mean it works for like 2% of the people.

It doesn't work for me. It doesn't work for me either. So that's really smart. Okay so like you have math strategies and whatever kind of strategy.

Give your kids a room. Let's not just say closets. Can we go bigger? We can go bigger.

We don't want to blow their minds too much. So if you just say start little and tell them what to do. Tell them what to do and do it with them so that they learn how to do it. And then can you let them do it alone and then eventually you let them do it alone.

And you know there are ways to make money from you know consigning their stuff and you could give that money to them. Like if you used to thread up with their stuff. We love right up. So there are ways of getting your kids involved in cleaning and organizing and you know I think it's just super important.

Give your kids a strategy to get them to clean up. And if you don't know how to do it yourself then basically your scoot. Yeah just email me to figure out. That's awesome.

Alright so my cool pick of the week and you know I'm so behind on this but I'm just gonna have to go with Sherlock. I mean I just have to go with it. Yeah. All the seasons of Sherlock if you haven't watched it you must watch it.

Now I will say this and we've done a show on binge watching. This is not an easy show to binge watch. Okay. Each show is an hour and a half long.

Yeah it's like a movie. That's cool though. Yes. But also very bad.

The episodes like a school day. You're like what did I do today? I just watched one season of Sherlock. But you know my oldest and I haven't let her watch all of them because some of them are a little dark but she is kind of into it.

And what's interesting is that they really are I think some of the best produced shows that I've seen in a long time. Like acting, writing, just the cinematography, everything about them. You do feel like you're going to a movie. And as a parent when you can't get to the movies when like every seven years I'm like I'm like Haley's comment to the movies.

Every 76 years. I think it's cool. So that's my recommendation. I was not even a Benedict Cumberbatch person at all.

Okay. And I still don't necessarily understand why people think he's like sexy but I do think he's awesome. Yeah. So anyway there you go.

If you guys have cool pics let us know please. You know you guys have been sending them in and actually you know we love finding them from you because we can feature them on coolmompicks.com. So if you want to find links to Laurie you want to find information about Sherlock or anything we featured on the show head over to coolmompicks.com. You'll find our podcast page.

It's podcast. We got really creative with that. All right. Well that's it.

Thanks so much for joining us for another episode of Spawned. Courtney thank you for having me. Thank you for coming up on the train. It's a fun huge thanks to our producer Kristen Meinsner and also to Laura Mayer and Annie Bowers at Panoply.

Now make sure that if you love Spawned you let us know and you can do it in a few ways. You know we love Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and all that stuff. So that's great. Talk to us.

But go to iTunes and subscribe or Stitcher. That's cool too. And download the episode. And if you are so kind as to leave us a review or a rating or both we are very very much appreciative.

And of course special thanks to our guest Courtney. Yes we'll be back next week. Thanks Liz. Thanks for listening to Spawned.

This is Kristen and this is Courtney. Have a great day.