life

5 on a Friday: Podcast-Inspired Edition

May 21, 2021

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!! It really was a nice day. Fairly low-key, but lovely and relaxing. Josh + the kids made me lemon bars in lieu of a birthday cake at my request and they were GOOD.

It’s Friday! And I feel like the next few weeks are going to be packed with things (mostly fun things). 5 things inspired by recent podcasts swirling around in my head right now . . .

1- How to Lazy Genius Kids’ Screen Time from The Lazy Genius Podcast (Kendra Adachi). This was a great episode on managing kids’ screen time as it was not prescriptive or filled with judgment but instead offered some different ideas.

Our current screen time rules are typically: TV (no iPad) on weeknights from ~7p – 7:30 if the downstairs is picked up + iPad / video games on weekends from ~2p – 5p unless we have something else going on. G does not play iPad for 3 hours but will usually play for an hour or so and then either watch shows or play with other toys. This works reasonably well. For now.

2- Spend Your Days on Paper from Lead to Win with Michael Hyatt & Megan Hyatt Miller. This one inspired me to block off all of my vac time for the rest of 2021. Newsflash: no one is going to reserve those days for me! I work at a healthcare system where PTO is clearly defined (we get a certain number of days per year) and I am determined to TAKE IT and ENJOY IT!

3- We Made it to Summer from Kelsey & Erica’s Girl Next Door Podcast. I am also ready to think about summer (spoiler alert: BLP topic coming up will be all about planning summer πŸ™‚ ).

4- Get the Vaccine, Lose the Skinny Jeans from NPR’s Planet Money. This episode had two separate parts – the first was interesting, all about tactics used to try to nudge people towards getting COVID-19 vaccines (the lottery in Ohio = fascinating!). THEN they covered the whole “skinny jeans aren’t cool anymore” thing which was done with a light and fun tone. PS: I still like my skinny jeans. I bought ones that fit pretty perfectly from AG last year and I do not plan on giving them up. The nice part about 41 is you can just give up being cool and it’s all good!

5- I did order these shorts, cool or not! Happy birthday to me. Hopefully they will fit. I also ordered a pair of Birkenstocks that I coveted in 1995 so I guess it can just be a vintage-y summer.

18 Comments

  • Reply Chelsea May 21, 2021 at 7:39 am

    I know I could try to find the post, but where did you get the shorts from? I’m trying to find denim shorts for this summer, but I feel like all of the styles are super long.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 21, 2021 at 9:02 am

      They are the AGOLDE loose fit vintage Parker shorts- I ordered from shopbop. I can report back on fit in a few days!

      • Reply mel May 21, 2021 at 10:44 am

        Yes! 42 y/o here looking for shorts too! Looking forward to your review on these!

  • Reply Lisa of Lisa's Yarns May 21, 2021 at 8:53 am

    I will never give up on skinny jeans. That is what looks best on my body! But like you said, we are at an age where we don’t have to really think about what is cool/hip and can dress how we like. I feel like it’s as pretty classic silhouette so won’t truly go out of style.

    I’m glad you had a nice birthday!!

    • Reply Linda May 21, 2021 at 12:52 pm

      I’m 60 years old so waaay past being cool. Ive always hated skinny jeans and leggings because I’m pear shaped and I look much better in boot cut jeans. Ive been fascinated watching what the Gen Z staff and patients wear to my clinic. High waisted pants and wide leg jeans that I wore in the 80s and 90s and was told were so unflattering later. Also β€œjoggers” which are basically the silhouette of my old sweatpants. I guess if you live long enough everything comes back eventually. πŸ˜†

      • Reply Linda May 21, 2021 at 12:53 pm

        I didn’t mean to reply to Lisa. I was replying to the post.

      • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 21, 2021 at 1:32 pm

        you are automatically cool again πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

  • Reply Joy May 21, 2021 at 9:53 am

    Thanks for the reminder about the podcast Spend Your Days on Paper. I had meant to listen to that one when it came out and then forgot about it. I’m going to listen today.

  • Reply Omdg May 21, 2021 at 10:36 am

    I never really embraced skinny jeans, tbh. Was fascinated to hear they are no longer cool. I really dislike the high waisted look through so wah. What else is in now, jeans wise?

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 21, 2021 at 10:51 am

      so funny – i really like high waisted for whatever reason. or at least mid-to-high. i am absolutely not an authority but that podcast mentioned: mom jeans, wide-legged straight down jeans, and some other types I haven’t even heard of bc I am no longer cool πŸ™‚

  • Reply Jenn May 21, 2021 at 12:35 pm

    Hi Sarah! I listened to the Michael Hyatt podcast at your suggestion and loved it! I downloaded the spreadsheet but wasn’t really sure what was meant by “front stage” and “back stage”. I’m a mother of a toddler and currently teaching 4th and 5th grade online…any insight you have would be welcome! πŸ™‚

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 21, 2021 at 1:16 pm

      I loved the ep but did not find the spreadsheet to be helpful either! I think he means front stage like running meetings (or in my case seeing patients) and backstage more like deep work or organizing time

  • Reply Grateful Kae May 21, 2021 at 2:18 pm

    Definitely going to check out that screen time episode. With summer coming up, my wheels are turning big time on how the heck to manage screen time this year. The boys are 11 and 12 and are into all sorts of interactive video games with their friends. So, I often find that setting arbitrary “screen time hours” doesn’t work as well anymore for us. If I give them a specific time window, they will protest, but “so and so has baseball right now, so I wanted to play at x:00 when he is on…” or “(friend) just texted me, can I just play one round before bed?” etc etc… sigh. I’m always feeling stuck between being either a total hard nose about it (maybe unnecessarily sometimes? i dunno) OR I end up being a total pushover!!! Probably going to have to go to a total time limit for the day model or something and attempt to let them use it as desired within parameters, but I find issues come up with that, too. Anyway. I miss the days when they only played a couple solo games on the xbox and I had to turn it on and off for them for 2 hours on Sat. afternoons.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 21, 2021 at 2:55 pm

      time limit might be perfect! they can ‘save it’ for their friends.

      mine do some collab play already with best friends too (primarily minecraft but starting some roblox tooo).

  • Reply Erika May 21, 2021 at 2:28 pm

    I want to hear more about the birkenstocks! I have the Gizeh but I wore them recently and I think they’re now too narrow for my post-3 kids feet?!

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 21, 2021 at 2:51 pm

      I ordered classic suede Arizonas. I think I did have a pair back in the day!? I honestly don’t even remember – they may have been a knockoff! My feet are not super narrow or wide – just kind of average. I ordered a 37 though would not be shocked if I need a 36 . . we will see!

  • Reply Coco May 22, 2021 at 6:29 am

    which Birkenstocks did you order? i want to try one too.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 22, 2021 at 7:30 am

      Arizona in suede – the old classic style!

    Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.