Laundry Disasters and AI Mishaps – Ep. 385

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Shanna

Hi, welcome to Big Fat Positive as Shanna and Laura. In this week's episode, we have our weekly check-ins. We have our special segment, Mom Confessions, where we share stories of deception, destruction, and AI doing us dirty. And we wrap it up with our weekly BFPs and BFNs. Let's get started. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 385. Hi, Laura. Hi, Shanna. Hi. You know we kick off every episode with our weekly check-ins, so I'd love to know what you'll open up to this week.

Laura

Okay, so this week while we're recording is still October. We haven't hit Halloween yet. We did have our episode a few weeks back where we talked about what our kids were being for Halloween, right? And I talked to you about how Augie is going to be ghost face from Scream, right? Right. Well, what I wanted to check in this week about is just the absolute hilarity about how wearing this ghost face mask has basically become his whole personality.

Does he love it? He loves it. And it is one of those things where I feel very conflicted watching him in it because it's really funny. It's really cute. And then it also is like, oh, you look like a bigger kid now, you know, like true. I remember a couple of Halloween's ago. It might have even been last Halloween when we would see kids with those ghosts, like, you know, because they're all around, like, those ghost face masks, that's the whole reason he knows what they are is because he saw them at other Halloween's of yore. And I would see other kids in them and I'd be like, oh man, that's kind of scary. And like, how do they even know about that? And like, you know, I had all these, not, I wouldn't say judgments, but sort of like, oh, that, that kid is an older kid, right?

Like that kid is, you know, solidly in elementary school, not my kinder kid, you know, who's really cute as Harry Potter or whatever. And now, this child is walking down the street in adorable downtown Montrose, wearing his ghost face mask. Not on Halloween, just on a random Tuesday. And I'm like, oh, I'm getting one of those older kids. I'm getting an edgier kid. It's happening. Yeah.

Shanna

Oh, yeah. I feel like kids nowadays are getting edgier earlier. I don't know. Maybe that's just because I'm an old lady and I'm like, kids these days.

Laura

I don't know. Yeah, I don't know either. Obviously, Sebastian's going to be Chucky and I'm like, huh? Where does that even come from? And to be fair, it's adorable because he's like the perfect size to be Chucky. He is. It's really cute. But I just wanted to share with you a few photos of Augie wearing his ghost face mask and the wrong context and just see how funny it is. So i'm putting them in our shared folder and you can just tell me what you see.

Shanna

The first one i open is him at a hair cutting salon that's clearly for children because there's balloons he's sitting in a. police car chair, right? Like they have like the little cute cars for the hair cutting chairs with black and white checkered tiles. Oh my gosh, so adorable. And then, ah, face.

It almost looks like whatever the black hood around the face is, is like the long hair that he's waiting to get cut or something. Totally. So hilarious. Oh, and there he is in the van, in his car seat, goes face. Metallica goes face, by the way.

Laura

Yeah, this is the Chrome version. These were all taken on the day when we went to that Spirit Halloween store. Actually, it was creepy Halloween. It was like the other Halloween store that's not Spirit Halloween that just popped up this year. And he got the Chrome one. And then I think I told you the saga about how then he decided he needed like the full costume, right? So now we have two. Oh, yes.

Shanna

Yes, yes.

Laura

And then I sent you another photo of them in front of the wall of ghost face masks because they had to contemplate their choices.

Shanna

Oh yes, they've got very quizzical looks on their face. Augie's like, hmm, which one should I choose? There are a lot of choices here. Oh my gosh, I had no idea there was such a selection. Oh wait, I just found one more I have to share with you. Okay, here's one at home. He's standing on the couch with the full robe mask looking like he's screaming and there's pumpkin sitting next to him, very cute and delicate. Looking the complete opposite.

Laura

Yes, it's the juxtaposition of the adorable sweet little kitten and the scary murderer costume.

But yeah, that's basically my whole check in this week. It's just that a ghost face mask is causing a parenting identity crisis in me, and my kids are growing up too fast.

Shanna

Well, can only imagine what it'll be next year. What new advancements into edginess will he move into in the next year? I guess we'll find out. We'll find out.

Laura

There may be a hint in our next segment, actually. Ooh. All right. But that's all I have to check in about this week. Shanna, how about you? What were you up to this week?

Shanna

Well, my scary check in has to do with the sciatic nerve pain that I've been dealing with the last few months. No. I know. I don't think I've talked about it on the show because I tend to ignore things like that for a really long time. And then it's like, oh, fine. I'll go see some about it. but it's like that kind of shooting pain that goes like from my lower back down my left leg and stuff. I didn't even know what it was at first. It's just like, ouch, ouch, you know, every day when I go to bed, ouch.

Laura

Ouch ignore, ouch ignore, ouch ignore.

Shanna

Yes, exactly. So I finally went and saw an orthopedist about it and he was like, I think you should go see a physical therapist. And I was like, oh, fine. How am I gonna find time to schedule? PT I finally got around to doing it and I started PT this week and you know I think a lot of this issue is stemming from like postpartum issues and like lack of strength down in like the pelvic area she was just straight up like your pelvis is tilted." And I was like, what? She's like, yeah, like your back muscles so tight and your abs are so weak that it's basically pulling your pelvis up and then pinching that sciatic nerve, which is like sending pain down your leg. And I was like, well, that's not surprising seeing as I haven't done an ab exercise in probably eight years, nine years maybe.

since I became a mom so we have been working really hard to like stretch my back and strengthen my abs and I think it's finally starting to make a difference oh good.

Laura

She read you to filth but it seems like she has you know good intentions right.

Shanna

She does. She does. She was like looking at my pelvis today and she's like, oh my gosh. I was like, what? She's like, it looks more even. I'm like, oh my gosh, hallelujah. Who knew that's what I would be celebrating this year? It's like an even pelvis. But I just wanted to mention it on the show in case anyone else is having similar pains because I mentioned to my mom, I'm like, oh, I got to go to PT. She's like, what are you doing PT for? And I was like, oh, you know, the sciatic nerve pain. She's like, oh, I get that feeling too sometimes. But I didn't know if there was anything I could do about it. So I don't, you know, just in case anyone is not sure if that's something that can be helped with like PT or an orthopedic appointment or imaging or anything like that. I'm here to say, yes, like you don't have to suffer. Like there's probably some underlying reason that things are hurting.

And, you know, with proper care, you can Take care of it. I'm not 100% yet. You know, I've only gone to a handful of appointments, but it's getting better and it's so nice to kind of see that light at the end of the tunnel.

Laura

PT is completely magical, and I've never been able to stick with it. Like, I've had to go for a couple different reasons throughout my life. One time I fell snowboarding and got hypersitis. And it worked so well. And yet I was terrible at doing my exercises. It's like just so terrible. But I will say that Pilates has been sort of like non-prescribed PT for me. Just to help, like you said, strengthen your core. Everyone knows this. Everyone knows that if you have a stronger core, like everything else feels better. But we're like, that seems like a lot of work. And maybe maybe I'll just keep ignoring my pain instead. What do you think about that play? But with Pilates, like there was one thing I was noticing my knees were really starting to hurt. And I was like, oh, man. And everyone was like, oh, you're just getting older. Welcome to your forties, you know. And I was like, yeah, no.

No, so I started googling like PT exercises for kneecap pain because it was like a very specific location. And they're like, a lot of times that means you need to like work on your glute strength and stretch out your quads. And I was like, okay. Yeah. But I've been paying attention to actually trying to give it my all when I'm doing the glued exercises and take more time to stretch my quads. And just the other day, I was like, you know what I haven't complained about lately? Knee pain. Maybe doing exercises works, right? Just a wild, a wild idea. So I'm so glad you're doing that. I get the impression you're better at following through with PT exercises than I am.

Shanna

Uh, I'm hit and miss at home. I was doing pretty well in the beginning and then I got sick and my momentum kind of fell off a bit. But I'm really worried now thinking about like, when PT is over and I get like discharged from this, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna have to keep this up, right? Because if I just stop exercising my abs, they're gonna, the same thing is gonna happen. And so I've got to find a way to be motivated to keep this up because I don't want to be in pain all the time. That's worse than being bored doing core exercise. Yeah.

Laura

Yeah. I feel like that's finally where you hit that limit where you're like, you know what, like it is worth it to suffer through these ab exercises because the pain sucks.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

Yeah. Well, I know that we both enjoy external accountability. For me, it's just signing up for a Pilates class that has a cancellation penalty.

Shanna

You know, yes, that's brilliant.

Laura

The number of times I've looked at my Pilates studio app and be like, oh, fuck, I signed up for a class. Oh no, I have to go. You know what I mean? Yes, smart. Like passed me, tricking me into exercising today. Very clever.

Shanna

Very clever. I'm going to have to find some sort of similar system to keep me accountable.

Laura

Well, there's anything I can do to help. I'm happy to get on a Zoom and say, crunch, crunch. Actually, you're probably not doing crunches. I don't know what you're doing.

Shanna

You can collect money from me if I don't do my exercises. How about that?

Laura

We can make our listeners hold you accountable, right?

Shanna

Yes, please do.

Laura

Well, it's good. I'm looking forward to your ripped abs next time we go to the beach together. Oh, they're going to be so ripped.

Shanna

Can't wait. Anyway, that is my check in. Shall we move on to our special segment?

Laura

Yes, we should.

We are back in our special segment this week is Mom Confessions. This is the segment where we play a little game. We tell one truth and one lie, confessing to something we did in our parenting life that Maybe surprising, we may not be the most proud of, but we did it anyway, and we're gonna confess here. But we have to guess which one's the truth. And sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we don't. Shanna? Yes. I love this segment. Me too. I think it's so fun.

Shanna

Same.

Laura

I think it's relatable and funny, and I wanna guess your first mom confession.

Shanna

Okay, did I destroy my kids art project by putting it in the washing machine or did I cook flax seeds in the dryer?

Laura

Oh, interesting. I mean, I feel like the hyper specificity of cooking flax seeds in the dryer is You just truly, you're not making that up. You know what I mean? Like that's, there's no world where you're like, yes, that's the decoy. Laura will think that that's something that's totally plausible. So I just, I mean, when you said ruin my kids, our project of the washing machine, I was like, that one, that one, that one's true because like been there. But yeah, that other one is too weird. So I need to know why were you cooking flax seeds in the dryer?

Shanna

Okay, coming in hot with confidence. You got that right. Did I? As you should because yes. Ding, ding, ding.

And yeah, that's not a decoy because that is something that has literally never crossed my mind in my entire life until the other day. Uh-huh, okay.

Laura

Tell us more, because at first I was thinking chia seeds in the wash would be, which would be really bad, but now we're flax seeds in the dryer.

Shanna

So this weekend, I did a kind of a deep clean on Elle's room because She requested it because her, I don't know, it's triggering her allergies or something. And like every time I've gone in to read to her at night, like it makes my nose itch. And I'm like, you know what, I think I just need to kind of wash everything and get rid of dust and whatever. So this weekend I like washed her sheets, curtains, and I was like, you know what really needs to be washed are all of these stuffed animals. She still has a lot of stuffed animals. Oh yeah. And yeah, so I did a couple of loads just cleaning the stuffed animals in the washing machine. And as I was throwing them all in, one of them was a little heavier than the others. And then I remembered, oh yeah, it's one of those bears that you can like pop into the microwave and warm up. It's like a warm up bear, right?

Like it's got whatever in the middle that warms up sand or something. I don't know. I was just like, huh, that's probably fine. So I threw it in the washing machine, it all washed, put it into the dryer, including this thing. I was just like, that's heavier than it was before. Put it in the dryer. Didn't think twice about it. So about an hour later, the dryer's done. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to clear those out. I go and I open the dryer door and I'm like, huh, smells kind of like oatmeal in here. Like that's weird.

Huh, still not thinking anything of it. Probably because I've got like a million things on my mind, right? I'm just like totally multitasking this chore. So I'm like taking the stuffed animals out, checking that they're dry, making sure like the stuff on the inside, like they got dry enough to get to the core, you know, assessing that, like, okay. And then I take out this bear and I squish its stomach and it's just like...

It was so squishy and gross. Like it didn't feel like it had like warm up sand in it anymore. You know what I mean? It was like, that's not something I can shake in here or anything rattling anymore. Like that feels like it's full of, I don't know, say oatmeal. And then I was like, shit, it's probably like that thing was probably filled with rice, you know? Cause sometimes those like heat them up things are filled with rice. And I was like, oh my God, did I saturate this thing in the washing machine?

Laura

And then pre-soak. It's a pre-soak before you put it in your rice cooker.

Shanna

I'm like, this book and bear is full of cooked rice or something. And so I was like, oh my God, Shanna. So I was like, OK, I got to read the label and see what is in this thing. Like if there's any bouncing back for me here. So I checked the tag and look at the materials and it said, made with flax seeds and lavender. And then in big capital letters it says, do not submerge in water. Oh my God, I cooked an entire cup of flax seeds inside the belly of a bear in my dryer. And ruined. I ruined the bear. I was like, oh, maybe I'll just let it sit here and dry out. No. They absorbed water, cooked, and have not gotten back to normal. It's just like a squished mess inside of this thing.

Laura

But the good news is you had dinner figured out, you know? Yeah.

Shanna

Yes, nothing my kids love more than eating a big bowl full of mushy flax seeds.

Laura

I mean, if you told Elle, you could cut her bear up and use a spoon to just eat out of the belly of... I could see her being weirdly intrigued by that, you know?

Shanna

Oh, she would definitely like to explore it, I think, and play with it, see what it feels like. I don't think she'd like to eat it. Oh my God, it smells so gross. And I was just like, Shanna, this is what you get for like the constant multitasking and not thinking things through.

Laura

You know, I feel like it's operational loss. You know what I mean? Like, don't businesses have that like where they're like, oh, we just know we're going to take a certain amount of loss every quarter because of, you know, just overhead or whatever. I don't know. Can you tell I'm really good at business? You're so good at business. I'm so good at business.

Shanna

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, it's like how Walgreens knows that like 5% of its stock is gonna get stolen.

Laura

Exactly. 2% of your stuffed animals are just gonna get cooked once a quarter.

Oh my gosh, she was such a great little bear too. Was she really upset? Like how did she react when you told her and did you just not tell her?

Shanna

I haven't had the heart to tell her.

It's just sitting on top of the dryer right now.

Laura

Oh, man. Well, at least we know it wasn't her number one lovey. She has lots of stuffed animals to fall back on. And if she hasn't asked, you know.

Shanna

Yeah. Yeah. It's not like she's missing it. She's not been grilling me about where that bear is. I don't even think she gave that bear a name or anything. So it's all good. Mama, where's Flaxie? I miss Flaxie. Flaxie. Oh, Flaxie went to. Flax seed heaven, my dear, I'm so sorry.

Anyway, that is my first mom confession. What's yours?

Laura

Okay, did I knowingly and intentionally break the law in order to make my kids happy? Or did I conspire with another adult across state lines to create an elaborate lie for my children?

Shanna

Whoa, these both sound very intense like you went to great lengths. Either way, I'm trying to imagine like what law you would have been willing to break. And I don't, I don't, nothing comes to mind. And I don't know that you would do that because I know you like to follow rules and conspiring with someone across state lines to come up with some I feel like that it might be a little more in your wheelhouse. So I'm gonna go with that one.

Laura

Okay, I'm gonna send you a screenshot of some text messages so you can see what the answer is.

Shanna

OK, this is a text message thread with your friend Alia, who I know lives in Oregon, right, or Washington. Oregon, yeah. Oregon, I've got an idea which one is right. OK, you say, would you be around for a quick call so I can lie to my kids to cut right to the chase there? I need someone to pick up and say. Spirit Halloween how can I help you and then say they're all sold out of squid game costumes for kids? Oh No, like an hour later. She writes back and says shit. I was napping. I'm up now

Oh, but it still happened because then you said, no problem. I'm going to call on speaker in a second. OK, so it sounds like it actually panned out.

Laura

Oh, yeah. Oh, yes, it did. OK, so as I said, we went to more than one Halloween store to get these Ghostface masks and the Chucky costume. And you know, my boys love costumes and you've seen our playroom. We have many costumes. Yeah, I didn't really want to buy another costume for Halloween just like I'm talking about the ghost face and Chuckie ones I was sort of like you guys just wear one of your costumes like that you already have. But of course they wanted a new costume and I understood that for Halloween so I said okay we're gonna get one new costume for Halloween. this is when you make your decision, that's it, blah, blah, blah, right? You know, like this is it. And they agreed, right? Up and down, yes, yes, this is what I want. You know, we spent a lot of time making sure they understood. Fast forward to a couple of days later, and Corey had some stuff to do.

So I was like, hey kids, let's go shopping to find a birthday present for Daddy because his birthday is coming up. And they were like, oh yeah, let's go get something for Daddy at Spirit Halloween. And I was like, no, we're not doing that. We're going somewhere else to get something for Daddy for his birthday. And they're like, okay, well, then after we'll go to Spirit Halloween because I want to get a squid game costume. And I'm like, what?

been talking about. Remember how in the first segment I was like, there might be a hint about what he wants to be next year? It's because all of a sudden, and again, I do not know how. And I'm just like, where did you even learn about this? But obviously, it's like through friends at school, because I just need to make sure that this is clear to our listeners. My six-year-old has not seen Squid Game, OK? I have not seen Squid Game because I didn't want that in my brain. Like I didn't want to think about people having to compete to the death or whatever. Like I vaguely know what it's about. But you know, I get it. Like those costumes, they look kind of cool, right? Like they have like the mask with the shape over the face and it's like a jumpsuit. It's really simple, right? But anyway, they were on it. And then Sebastian picks up on it. He's like, I want a squid game. I want me.

And I'm like, my four year old does not make squid game costumes for a four year old. Right. I'm just like, this is insanity. And I was just like, I was like, focus, we're getting something for daddy. We're getting something for daddy. We end up at the Lego store because I was like, well, you know, Corey likes big expensive Legos that are in the shape of something Star Wars. Like let's get him one of those and we're in there and the kids are having fun looking around, but they're having a really hard time because they are not getting anything. And so I told them like you can have a budget, like a little budget for a little Lego set. So they got these little like mech sets because I was like, okay, like they were hungry. They were tired. I did not plan this well. And then they were fixated on the spirit of Halloween thing. So anyway, I texted her.

I was hoping that my friend would get back to me like when we were in the car driving to the mall and I could just like call over the speaker and be like, hey, you know, is this a spirit Halloween? Whatever. But she didn't get back to me. So she gets back to me while we're in the Lego store at the Glendale Galleria. And so I was like, that's why I was like, I'll call you back in a minute. So we checked out, we go out to like the hallway of the mall. What do you call it? Like, what do you call the inside of the mall?

Shanna

Are they prepared?

Laura

I don't know. The passageways? It's loud, it's busy, but I'm like, I'm going to put her on speaker. So I call her through WhatsApp, and of course her face pops up. So I was like, shit, shit, shit. So I very quickly hide it. But I knew. So there's a reason I thought about asking you, but they know your voice, right? True. I was going through my head who I could call to make this work. And I'm like, I know I can call her because my kids have met her, but only a few times. It's not like they hear her voice all the time. They'll know. And she has a theater background. I know she can pull this off. And oh my God, I wish I had it recorded. It was so perfect, you know.

Shanna

Oh, I wish you did.

Laura

Ring, ring, ring. She's like, Spirit of Halloween, how can I help you? And I was like, hi, you know, we're just wondering if you have any kids, squid game costumes in stock. And she's like, oh, you know what? I'm gonna have to check. Can I put you on a quick hold? And was like, okay, she like puts us on hold. Bread. Comes back. She's like, I am so sorry. We are all sold out. I was like, oh, do you think you're gonna get another shipment in? She's like, No, once we sell out for the season, we're usually done. And then I was like, oh, one more. And the boys are getting upset. And I was like, oh, can you do me a favor? And can you check inventory in other stores? She's like, yeah, yeah, let me do that. Give me one sec. I'm going to pull it up on my computer. I'm going to put you on another brief hold. She puts us on hold. She's selling it, right?

She comes back and she's like, I am showing the closest in stock location is San Francisco. And I was like, oh, and Augie was like, oh, that's far. And I was like, yeah, that is far. And I was like, OK, well, thank you very much. Meanwhile, Sebastian starts bawling. Oh no, really? Yeah. My hang up and i'm like comforting him and listeners might be like appalled right now that i did something to make my child ball but i would like you to know that he would have been balling either way like there's no world where i was getting them a squid game costume that day you know what i mean like it wasn't happening. So, and I just, you know, when you just need to externalize the no, like you just can't be the person who's always telling them no. I just told them like a hundred times, no, that's too expensive.

No, that's too expensive at the Lego store, you know, and I'm just like, I need someone else to like crush these kids' dreams today.

Shanna

And your friend rose to the challenge. Sounds like she did perfectly.

Laura

Yeah. And she has two kids about the same age. So she gets it. She understood the assignment instantly. I didn't have to do anything to explain. That's all the explaining I did. And she was like, sure, yeah, I understand. And she texted back later. She's like, I hear crying. I hope everything is OK. And I'm like, no, no, no, that was perfect. You did exactly what you needed to do. Thank you so much. Oh my god. Oh man, so Augie did say when we got home, Maybe there's other stores, like not Spirit Halloween, like other stores. And I was like, no, no, no, no.

Shanna

Yeah. You went to that other one, right? What was it? Creepy Halloween? I'm really shocked he didn't jump on that. Well, here's the thing.

Laura

We didn't see any Squid Game costumes at that store. And he has like a photographic memory. So he would have remembered. You know what I mean? So I think I said that I'm like, oh, they didn't have Squid Game, right? And he's like, oh, yeah, you're right.

So anyway, stay tuned to find out if my kids are going to be Squid Game for Halloween 2026. But for now, I've bought some time. You bought some time.

Shanna

Maybe they'll forget about it between now and then.

Laura

Here's hoping. I just need to start planting some cute ideas in their head. Yeah. Be something cute.

Shanna

You're cute. Embrace it. Exactly. I'm like, what is even cute that little kids like? I don't even know.

Laura

Mario Brothers, something like that. I know. Unfortunately, my kids are attracted to the macabre. Yeah. But yeah, that was my mom confession.

Shanna

I love it.

Laura

Shanna, do you have another one for us?

Shanna

Yes, I do. Okay, which one of these is true? I completed my kid's homework using my worst handwriting, so it would be past officers. Or I knowingly sent my kid to school wearing two different shoes.

Laura

Hmm, that's tough because both seem like things that I can totally see like needing to do in a in a tough situation. I still feel like you're not the kind you would probably make your kid do their own homework. So I'm going to go with different shoes.

Shanna

Ding, ding, ding. You got it right.

Laura

All right.

Shanna

So the other day we were rushing around to get to school on time as we so often do in the morning. And I was putting stuff in the car and I had my ice coffee cup in my hand. And for some reason I set it on the console, like the armrest console between the two front seats. You know what I'm talking about? Not in the cup holder, like in front of that. Just like back there on that. And I thought to myself, make a mental note, Shanna, that's there. You don't want to knock that off. That mental note immediately went out of my brain.

because I went around the other side of the car, whatever doing that I need to do, I don't know, put some in the trunk or whatever, I don't even know. And so I'm like, all right, is everyone in? Okay, let's go, let's go. I hop in the driver's seat and I go to like turn around to check behind me, like my blind spots, I could pull out my driver, I immediately, my elbow goes and knocks this iced coffee off of that console. I was like, God damn it, I was supposed to remember that.

Laura

You're telling me that the cup of iced coffee that you put in perfect elbow knocking position got knocked over by your elbow?

It's like the soccer ball you put in front of your foot gets kicked.

Shanna

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. That is what happened. And so it goes and like falls in the back seat, right? Luckily, it didn't like the lid didn't come off. But where the straw is like, like some coffee leaked out. And immediately you see, she's like, oh, I got coffee on my shoe. And I'm like, oh, shucks here. uh and I'm like looking around the backseat I find some blanket or whatever like here wipe it off wipe it off it'll be fine I like pull out of the driveway I'm like oh my god we gotta make time here we're running late for school as we're driving to school she's like I don't want to go to school with a coffee shoe oh my god oh my god here we go We've recently had big meltdowns in the drop-off line at school. I am totally anticipating a meltdown. I'm getting so anxious that this is going to happen again. And I'm like, oh, I don't know. Oh, honey, I'm so sorry.

And then I remembered the other day, amongst the debris in the back of that car, I had seen another pair of her shoes, like her bright pink sneakers. What she was wearing to school this day that got coffee on them were her bright silver sneakers. And i was like i think your pink shoes are back there why don't you look for those and she's like i don't see him all my shoes most like coffee. And i was like oh let me see and she looks around and she sees the pink shoes i'm like oh my like what a boom right finally my lack of cleaning this car is because she's got an alternate pair of shoes perfect. We get into the drop-off line. I'm like, honey, why don't you put on the pink shoes? She's like, okay. And she takes off one of her shoes, the coffee shoe, and puts on her pink shoe. And at that moment, we're pulling up to where they need to open the door and hop out.

And I'm like, no time for another shoe. Honey, time to go. Do you want to bring this other shoe? She's like, no, I don't know. And Elle's like, well, two different shoes is kind of cool. And I was like, oh, Elle's saving the day. Thank you. And Sisi's like, yeah. Yeah, I guess it is kind of cool. And she hops out of the car wearing one silver shoe and one pink shoe. And as she's like closing the door, I hear her say, oh, this shoe is kind of uncomfortable, but the door is shut. And I'm like, buddy. I'm like, drive off. And she's just walking to school with two completely different shoes all because of my coffee mistakes.

Laura

I mean, it just sounds to me like you had great advanced planning for having another pair of shoes there and it was handled very well. And now she's a trendsetter, probably all her classmates are gonna start wearing different shoes and like everyone's parents are gonna be like, why is my kid demanding to wear two different shoes to school? And we're like, I don't know, that's so weird.

Shanna

Yeah, I think that at the end of the day, I was like, did anyone comment on your two different shoes? And she was like, Yeah, a few people did. And then Elle chimed in. She's like, it was so sleigh. And I'm like, OK, it was sleigh. You're so sleigh baddie to speak their language. To speak Gen Alpha. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess it worked out in the end. But it is a little embarrassing when you see all these other parents ushering their perfectly put together children into the gates of the school. And I'm like, sorry about those two different shoes. Bye.

I'm out of here.

Laura

Do what you gotta do. My kids never look perfectly put together. They're always just wearing the wackiest combos of things and just like whatever. They're clothed.

Shanna

Exactly. Yeah. All right. That was my second mom confession. Do you have one more for us?

Laura

I do, but I'm going to make you wait until after the break for it. All right.

Shanna

We are back and Laura has one more mom confession for us. Laura, what is it?

Laura

Did I ask chat GPT about illegal drugs in front of my kids? Or did they accidentally watch bluey smoke weed in an AI slop video on YouTube?

Shanna

Oh boy, this is a good one. I could totally see this being an AI slop video.

And was it bluey smoking weed? or one of the adults from the cast? I don't know. You know what? I'm gonna go with that one. I'm gonna go with the bluey one. I like the visual of it.

Laura

My decoy worked. No, I'm sure that exists somewhere on the very dark, dark web. But no, I asked ChatGPT about illegal drugs in front of Sebastian. Oh.

Shanna

Okay.

Laura

I wasn't intending to.

Shanna

Why?

Laura

It was an accident, Shanna.

Tell me more. So I was driving with Sebastian the other day. It was just him. So I guess I lied a little bit because I said kids. It was just Sebastian in the car. And this is right after we had gotten our new kitten who is now named Pumpkin. But at the time she did not have a name. And we were trying to brainstorm names. It was like that week where she didn't have a name and we're like, we need to come up with a name for the baby kitty. And it was like all the talk in the family. And I had just enabled ChatGPT to be part of my Siri search function. I don't know if you've done that, but you can link your ChatGPT account or whatever to Siri, and then it allows her to do more. I don't want to speak ill of our digital assistants who do so much for us, but Siri sometimes slacks.

Siri doesn't always know what I'm asking her and so I like lean on her a lot because I'm driving a lot we live in LA I'm driving the kids around and they'll ask me some random question and I'm like I need more I need more from you Siri you know like I'm sorry I can't answer that so I enabled chat GPT and I was like let's try it. And we're driving and I ask what I thought was like something about, you know, what are some good names for a cat that has calico coloring, right? Honestly, I don't remember exactly what the prompt was because she spoke this back to me. I'm sorry. I don't know of any cocaine that's on a calico cat.

And I'm like, cocaine? And then Sebastian's like, mama, what's cocaine? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. And so I had to like, I was looking through my transcript. It's like, I'm referring to a calico cat that has three colors, orange, white and black. Come on. And it's like, oh yes, calico cats typically have a tricolor pattern. And I'm just like, okay, you're still not helping me. You're no better than Siri, chat GPT.

Shanna

Come on, chat GPT. What did you even say that made chat GPT think cocaine?

Laura

I don't know. I think maybe there was a road noise. I wish I could remember, because in the transcript, it says cocaine. Obviously, it doesn't have what I said. Oh, so I have no idea. But I was just trying to maybe it was like good name cocaine. I don't know. Oh, what's good cocaine for a calico cat? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What form do calico cats like it best? Animal Services is going to be coming after you. I have not given my calico cat any cocaine. Just look, there's the orange and white one. That one gets cocaine on the daily.

Shanna

But not the calico.

Laura

No, no. No, no, no. No cats are harmed in the making of this segment. I did have to find a way to explain cocaine to a four-year-old. Yeah. So, yeah. What did you say? I was like, oh, it's a drug that people use. And he was like, what's a drug? I was like, well, it's like a medicine, but you're not really supposed to use it. I was trying not to be judgmental, you know what I mean? Yeah, I just was trying to not say cocaine as much as possible so that he wouldn't start repeating it. Because the last thing I need is for him to show up at TK and be like, I talked to mama about cocaine.

Shanna

Yeah. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Don't nail that word into his brain.

Laura

I do think it's stuck in his brain a little bit more than any other word, though, because of Coca-Cola, you know what I mean? And he loved getting Coke as a treat. So, they love getting Coca-Cola as a treat, everyone. So, yeah. Yeah. So anyway, that is how my four-year-old learned the word cocaine. Thanks, chat GPT. Yeah, thanks a lot. Really improving our lives, that artificial intelligence. All right, but that is it for mom confessions for me. You think we should move on to our BFPs and BFNs? Oh, yeah.

We close every episode with a Big Fat Positive or a big bat negative from the week. And Shanna, it's your turn to go first. What do you got? BFP or BFN?

Shanna

I have a BFP. Yay. And before it gets started, just a little side note. If you hear any tip tapping around, I had to bring Radley in here with me because he was barking up a storm in the other room. So he is on the floor next to me right now. I'm trying to get him to lay down. He's a little rascal. All right. He is indeed. So my BFP is something I mentioned earlier, which is the big deep clean that I did of Elle's room along with cleaning everything. Once I get like started with that, I wanted to reorganize and rearrange her room and just like make it just a better feel. It was so cluttered up with stuff that it wasn't very enjoyable to be in there. So I cleaned out her closet, cleaned out a bunch of old stuff. We donated this old dresser that like the drawers were falling apart and I kind of repurposed some Ikea Calax shelving to use in her closet to keep her clothes and

It's just so nice in there now. I love it. She loves it. And it's just such a nice refreshing feeling to just revamp a room without even doing much or spending money or anything. You know? Oh, totally.

Laura

I've been wanting to do this with the boys room. Every time I'm in there stuck because they don't want me to leave at bedtime, I'm looking around going, Can I make like built-in bookshelves underneath this like weird staircase to the attic? You know, I'm just like coming up with all these ideas. I'm not good at it like you are. Like you're good at it. I'm just like, I have ideas and then I forget and don't do them, but.

Shanna

That's exciting. Did she like it? Yeah, she really liked it. One of the things I did was move her bed. She has a bunk bed, right? So I moved it to the other side of the room and then the bottom bed, I turned it so it's like perpendicular now. Oh, yeah. Which is cool. Yeah. So it kind of sticks out, but it's cool because it leaves a little room on the side where I put a little side table with her nightlight and a little bookshelf. So she's got like a little nook under there now that really wasn't there before. Oh, nice. Yeah. So it was really fun. At first she came in, she saw everything, and she was like, Oh, I don't know. This doesn't feel like my room. But then within like a minute, she's like, this is great. I really like it. So. Oh, good. Oh, good. I think it went over well.

Laura

Awesome. Yeah. You know, that's the other thing. I feel like I need to get some kind of desk space, like somewhere where the boys can sort of have a place to sit because right now everything just happens on the dining table, which is fine. But yeah, a little space might be good. OK, you've got my wheels turning on this one. All right, what about you?

Shanna

Do you have a BFP or BFN for us?

Laura

I also have a BFP. Okay. My BFP is that we had another celebration for my book, Good to Go, a fresh shake on potty training for today's intentional parent, for those who've somehow not caught that I put out a potty training book earlier this month. And if you recall when I talked about the launch party on like the day the book came out and it was for like adults at nighttime and I was kind of like, I was kind of reluctant to throw the party in the first place. I was like, it's money and blah, blah, blah. I was just kind of feeling a little out of my depth with that party because I wasn't sure if it was a good idea and blah, blah. And in the end, it turned out to be a great idea and I was happy we did it. But

we always talked about doing a second party that was for our target audience because obviously anyone who needs to potty train their toddler is not going to be able to easily go to like a evening party, right? Like that's just not something toddler parents can easily swing. And so we were like, okay, let's do a party for us, which is the launch party. And then we'll do a party that's like to promote the book in the middle of the day on the weekend for parents, right? And make it like kids party or like a family friendly party and so we actually had that this weekend we had a Garfield Park in South Pass which is a park that was like really close to my old house so I have a lot of like fond memories of being there. And it's a really busy park with toddlers because they have a great playground especially for little kids.

And so we just set up shop under the gazebos right by the playground there for like three hours on Saturday. And it was so much fun. We had a ton of like random people coming by who didn't even come to see us. They just happened to be going to the park and saw our signs and were like curious what was going on. We had face painting and balloon twisting to lure the children in so we could talk to their parents about potty training. And yeah, just altogether was a great event and I'm really happy we did it. We sold a bunch of books too. Yeah, we had a bunch on hand and some people wanted us to sign them. My problem is I don't have like a catchphrase yet to put in the book so I don't know what I never know what to say when I'm signing it. Oh yeah, you got to come up with something. I got to work on that.

And then the only real challenge was that Corey brought the boys and they didn't understand why I couldn't go push them on the swing in the playground. True, yeah. I was like, I know it doesn't look like it, but mommy's working right now.

Yeah, they've never put those two together, work and playground. No, no, they didn't get it. But we still had fun and we had a fun little interaction with someone who came who knew you actually, Shanna. That's right, you texted me.

Shanna

Yeah.

Laura

one of Elle's former preschool teachers from her preschool, what, pre-pandemic, right? Yes, from when she was like three years old. Yeah, she came up to me and she was like, hi, I listened to your podcast because Shanna told me about it. She's like, I had a meeting to tell them I was gonna go on maternity leave and Steve was like, you should listen to our podcast.

And I was like, you know what?

Shanna

Good on Steve for promoting us. Yeah, it's so cool. It's so cool that she listens and that she came to the event. And I got so excited when you sent the picture because she was our favorite preschool teacher there. And we showed Elle and we're like, do you remember her? She's like, yeah, I remember her. And so it was really fun. And I'm sorry we couldn't come to the event. Cece had a double header softball game at that time. So we were at the softball field all day.

Laura

Oh, I figured it was something like that. Yeah. It's a trek for you guys, too. So, yeah. But yeah, that was my BFP. We had a fun time. And I think that might be our show. I think it is. Unless you have a five star review to read. I do, Shanna. This one is from a user named a podcast Blast. And unfortunately, the title is cut off, but it says such a refreshing podcast. I'm going to guess look forward to it. Something along those lines every week. I hope that's what you mean a podcast blast. Five stars. Like many others, I binged to the podcast when I was expecting. Caught up to the present in a shocking amount of time and have continued listening for the last several years. Although my child is younger than Laura and Sean's kids, I love getting tidbits of parenting advice in the fun format of this podcast.

I used to live in LA when I started my parenting journey and find the mentions of places I used to go so nostalgic as well. Thanks for keeping this going. PS, Laura's potty training book couldn't have come out at a better time for my family. Oh yay, I'm so glad the time you worked out.

Shanna

Yeah, that's awesome and I love that review. Thank you so much and thank you for listening. Listeners, if you haven't had a chance yet, can you please do us a favor and head on over to Apple Podcast, leave us a five star review, say a few things you love about our show, and we might read your review on an upcoming episode. If you have any mom confessions that you want to share with us, you know we would love to hear them. Laura, where can everyone find us?

Laura

We are on all the social media platforms at BFP Podcast. We have a website, bigfatpositivepodcast.com. If you want to send us an email, send it to contact at bigfatpositivepodcast.com. Finally, if you want to join the coolest group of people on the internet, just search Facebook for BFP Community. It's a private group, so you got a request to join and answer those two membership questions so we know you're not a robot. But once you do that, you'll be sent straight through to all the wonderful conversations we're having in there.

Shanna

Our show is produced by Laura Birek, Shanna Micko, and Steve Yager. Thanks for listening, everyone. Have a Big Fat Positive week. Bye. Bye.

Laundry Disasters and AI Mishaps – Ep. 385

November 17, 2025

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This episode's sponsors:

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Episode Transcript

Laundry Disasters and AI Mishaps – Ep. 385

November 17, 2025

Listen Now:

This episode's sponsors:

Whisker Litter-Robot

Once Upon a Dance

Tags

Episode Transcript