Podcasts about so maddie

Maddie is back! As a former Cast Member, she knows how Disney creates experiences at the parks, not just rides. So Maddie surprises the guys with her top 10 attraction queues in WDW. And as always, we end with a set of fun questions about Walt Disney World.3 Questions:19:05 - Mulan, Wall-E, or Zootopia--which would you like to see more of at WDW?21:30 - Which new character dining experience would be fun to add at the parks?24:51 - What part of Disney World holds the most nostalgia for you?Did you miss our first episode with Maddie? If so, check out Ep. 006 "I Worked at Disney World" and leave a review. Follow us on Instagram: @disney.world.is.awesomeThanks for listening! We hope you enjoy this podcast—thanks for leaving a review.

Life is busy. There’s no time to read.  Or view YouTube videos.   Or even listen to podcasts.  So Maddie, the 8 year old entrepreneur an Bix, the Master Scrum Master, give you a thorough overview of Clayton Christensen’s masterwork, the Innovators Dilemma.   It is perhaps the most influential business book of our age. … Continue reading We Read It So You Don’t Have To: Innovators Dilemma →

We asked and you answered! Listeners sent in their audio to let us know what's going on in the diabetes community right now.  It's a tough and stressful time, but you're not alone. Listen to stories and thoughts from people from the US, Saudi Arabia(!) and of all different ages. Truly a time for Diabetes Connections. Want to send in your audio? Here's how - blog post  Check out Stacey's new book: The World's Worst Diabetes Mom! Join the Diabetes Connections Facebook Group! Sign up for our newsletter here ----- Use this link to get one free download and one free month of Audible, available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Click here for iPhone      Click here for Android Episode Transcript: Stacey Simms  0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop created for people with diabetes five people who have diabetes by Real Good Foods, real food you feel good about eating, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom.   Unknown Speaker  0:20 This is diabetes connections with Stacey Sims.   Stacey Simms  0:26 How is everybody doing? I'm not exactly sure how to even start these episodes anymore. We're not really doing regular episodes, full episodes of Diabetes Connections. But I didn't want to wait until I'm doing a full episode or a regular episode to let you hear what is in this one. So hi, I'm your host Stacey Simms. You know that and just like probably the vast majority of you almost everybody listening. I'm home. I'm very, very grateful to be home with my family. My daughter came home from college and you know, my son's at home. school my husband often works at home. In fact, he almost always works from home unless he is traveling for business. So he's either on the road or in the house. And I'm so grateful that he hadn't been traveling a lot this year already. And you know, we're very fortunate that he can work from home. So what have we been doing? Well, I will share with you I may have mentioned this on a previous episode, we moved recently, just across town, not the best timing because I do have a house to sell now, but we will be fine. We will figure that out. But in the meantime we have a house just set up we have lots of things to unpack. We have lots to keep us busy. We spent yesterday cleaning the house we've been in for about 10 days. And we just did the regular type cleaning that you would do you know dusting laundry, that kind of stuff. I can't say it was a lot of fun, but it was certainly something to do and we realized we were missing a few things including a broom. Apparently our broom did not make it my husband said it was trashed on the way out of the old house. So add broom to the list of things that we are picked up at the grocery store when we had to go out the next time, it's kind of a weird thing to have in your grocery store list. But you know, we don't want to be running around town to different places. I don't even know what's open right now. Got our broom. So my husband who is the much more fastidious cleaner in the family was very happy with that. Our dog is very happy that we're all home. I think like most dogs right now, she's pretty confused as to why the heck everybody is in the house all the time and why we are walking her and living with her. My daughter and I have started doing yoga. we're grabbing a YouTube channel and just trying out some different yoga classes online. I've been taking yoga in person for about a year and a half. But I'm certainly not very good at it. But it's fun to do with my daughter. But our dog is super confused and she's coming in there with us and wondering why we're on the floor and was very concerned. But now she's calmed down. She just kind of lays there with us while we do yoga. And Benny I think like most 15 year old has been keeping really busy on his phone, facetiming all his friends. He was taking these long bike rides. Before everything got shut down, he was by himself. You know, he wasn't with other people. But he's staying home now. And I think that's why. So that's our situation. But I wanted to share more of your situation. And that's what this episode is all about. A few days ago, I put out a call I, you might have seen the graphic, I put it out on social media, and it said, stuck at home, share your voice. And I really wasn't sure if anybody would respond, right? I was trying to make it easy. Just use your phone and tell me what's going on in your world. I did put out a few prompts. I'll talk about that in a moment. But a bunch of people sent in their audio and that's what this episode is going to be just a short episode to share some other voices from the diabetes community. And then in a couple of days, I will be putting out another episode our next full regular episode, whatever I'm calling them these days. I'm excited about that because I was able to talk to just a great guy, a chef with a child with type one he's an adult child is type one now, but he was diagnosed very young and Mark Been a chef his whole career. And we talked about what are we cooking now that we're stuck at home? It was a really fun interview. And I'll be sharing that in just a couple of days. I don't know if you can hear it, but I feel like my voice is not that great right now. It is allergy season here. I mean, it's always terrible. And then, you know, I feel like if I'm coughing or sniffling, gosh, you know, I mean, I'm just home, there's nobody to look at me, give me a nasty look or worry about me, but it really is just just allergies right now. So I apologize if you're hearing any of that in my voice. And if you're going through it, you know exactly what I mean. We're just you know, we're all worried we're all on a bit of an edge. So rather than hear from me the whole time, let's get to the people who sent the audio in. Let me just set this up a little bit. Some of the audio here is great. Some of some of the audio here is as you would expect, you know, people just talking into their phones. There's some homes and some buzzing, that we were not able to take out and that's okay. I was just hoping for some real voices and some real feedback. back. So I do hope you'll listen. None of these clips are especially long, but I think they give really good insight into what we're all going through at the moment. So we are starting with Molly Johannes she was diagnosed 22 years ago. She lives in Massachusetts. I'm smiling because I have met Molly. I've been fortunate enough to be at events with her. She has a blog called hugging the cactus. And I mentioned I had put out some prompts and some questions. One of which was, what is it like knowing that so many people with diabetes are stuck at home right now? Here is Molly answering that question and more.   Molly  5:37 And I have to say that I'm finding it a lot more unifying than isolating. What I mean by that is, it's really nice to go on to all of my social media channels. And for the most part, I'm seeing a lot more positivity than negativity. A lot of people are coming up with different ways to stay entertained at home, whether that's going outdoors and enjoying nice weather when it's around. Or if it's staying inside and pursuing hobbies or spending more time as families, it makes a big difference. I think in my mindset just to see something other than the news, you know, certain social media sites, you kind of log on to them. And it's nothing but a barrage of like what's going on in the world right now. And while it is super important to stay informed, it's also important to focus on mental health. And I think that distractions are one way to kind of make sure that mental health is not ignored. It's really nice to just be able to talk to others and know that we're all feeling the same way right now. So with that said, I'd like to share some of the things that I'm doing to stay busy. So when I'm not working, I am lucky enough to work a job remotely. So that's something I'm very grateful for. So when I'm not working, I am watching TV, watching movies, you know, typical things like that, but then I'm also pursuing hobbies that I don't normally have enough time for, whether that's knitting or reading some new books or you know, just spending some more time I'm working on my blog, which is important to me. And I find that a lot of the times Monday through Friday, it's really hard for me to focus on certain aspects of managing my blog. But now that I'm, you know, spending a lot more time at home, I don't have a commute, things like that, it is nice to be able to work on it a little bit more. But besides that, I am just spending time with my dog making sure that I'm connecting with my friends, you know, all of my group chats, we're just kind of checking in with each other on a daily basis. And I'm thinking of doing a couple of other things to really just promote the feeling of togetherness. So with some of my friend groups, that's probably going to be a couple of virtual sleep overs that we've talked about. We're discussing certain movies that like we can watch together as a group. So that would be really fun. But I'm also thinking for the diabetes community. Like it might be really cool to do a virtual meetup slash Hangout, and I don't know I think I'm gonna look into that and hopefully come up with some dates that might work for people get a whole bunch of people on camera and maybe we can just get to know one another and play games you know, just things that will keep us going. That will Keep conversations going and reassure people that they're not alone right now. That's the big message that I think it's important to bear in mind. So yeah, with that said, Everyone, just stay healthy be well and don't forget to take care of yourselves and keep mental health a priority.   Stacey Simms  8:16 Thank you so much, Molly. It is great to hear from you. I really appreciate it. Okay, next is Doug. He is from Florida. He was diagnosed when he was 15 years old. He says he's 27 years into it. Now. He is currently finishing his dissertation he sent in his audio and this you'll understand why I'm saying this one. You hear him on March 17, which was the day of the Florida primary. So he talked a little bit about that. I did not include it all because it was very important to that date, but that's what he's talking about voting by mail. So thank you, Doug. And here's what he had to say.   Doug  8:52 I am doing fine. It just so happens that I am a bit of a socially awkward introvert Bert, and the kind of self isolation and social distancing policies that have been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These are things that come quite naturally to me. I don't spend a lot of time in crowded environments and I'm not a touchy feely person. I hope you all will continue to stay safe, wash your hands, don't touch your face or other people in the future. And consider using some social distancing practices in your ordinary life outside of this type of pandemic situation. For example, mail your vote, mail your ballots, and I hope everyone out there is taking care of themselves. Stacey Simms  9:53 The next bit of audio came from Saudi Arabia. I was so surprised and really Just pleased to get this. So Sarah, who lives in Riyadh city, thank you so much for sending it in. She was diagnosed in 2004. And she makes a really good point about how everything around us seems to have changed except for diabetes,   Sarah  10:15 to all type one D nation. I'm so happy today that everyone can hear me through this podcast. I'm sada. I have been living with Type One Diabetes since 2004. And from Saudi Arabia, I live in Riyadh city. And currently we're living in a very, extremely and exceptional situation. The whole world literally is facing the same problem of a smooth, tiny virus that changes all our meanings of life. I've been questioning myself the last two days. What are the essential things in our life? What do I really want to do? If I don't have any plan today to go to, to study, or to go to visit, what's add stress to me is living with type one D has no No, no break. So I kept saying to myself, everything has stopped. We stopped education. And we have been learning now not really stopped education. I mean, we have stopped going to schools or universities, but we're learning now through virtually and everything we're doing now is virtual, except diabetes. Nothing has changed about it. Every day. I check my BG every day I monitor my CGM every day or every three days I changed my pump site. So everything has changed except my type one D So I looked at myself and I questioned myself, the way we deal with type one D really shapes big Big, big part of our lives and really need to make sure that the way we approach and you will type windy, really healthy, and guide us toward better control. And I'm so happy to share my thoughts with you guys. I was trying to be as much as continious. Thank you Stacy for this amazing opportunity. And I want to say thank you, everyone, and hope you stay safe and healthy. And thank you very much. Thank you, Sarah.   Stacey Simms  12:37 All right. This is Michael and a lot of you regular listeners who are also on Twitter probably know Michael without really knowing him because he's very active on Twitter. He's MTL 613 and when I heard him say that I was really excited because I we've been following each other for a long time now, but of course I've never heard him. He was diagnosed with type one at the age of 420 years. ago, he starts out by answering that question about knowing that the diabetes community is out there right now, even as we feel very much alone.   Michael  13:12 And I think that's a very important thing. Generally, for me even without, you know, this whole situation, to know that there are people out there who are going through the same or similar things that you're going through is very important to that you don't feel alone. And it's even more important now with this whole virus situation and, and a lot of people, myself included, are trying to stay home and avoid direct contact with other people. So being able to connect over social media and in different ways and to see that other people are doing the same things you're doing even now is even more important than usual.   Maddie  13:54 Hi, my name is Maddy. I'm from Arizona, and I'm 14 years old.   Mandy  13:59 Hi I'm Mandy from also Arizona. My daughter was diagnosed about a year and a half ago. So Maddie, what is one good thing about being home right now? I think   Maddie: 14:11 one good thing about being home right now is that it's easier to control my height a little bit better, and catch my lows. Because when you're at school, you're mainly focused on your work. And then you always hear though, beeps and alarms and then it freaks everyone out and embarrasses you while me. And so it's sort of nice to have it at home and we can control it and yeah, okay. What is one thing your parents do that actually helps you with diabetes? Well, um, they do of course, everything and I love them so much, but my main thing I guess is that my mom especially makes food that is easier on my blood sugar and dinners that coordinate with like, how Having good blood sugars, and it also helps our family in general because she has celiac. And that's hard to have, as you know, eating too and just keeping family healthy.   Mandy  15:13 Yeah, we are watching our carbs a little, a little bit. It helps both of us. Yeah, for sure, was a diabetes or community event canceled that you plan to attend. Tell us about it and what you were looking forward to.   Unknown Speaker  15:27 So one event that was cancelled was the jdrf walk. And I was diagnosed a year and a half ago. And one of the first things we did was go to the JRF talk. And it was just really nice to see that there are so many other people that you know, we're going through the same things as you and that I always love to see and I made a lot of friends and camp diabetes camp has really helped that and so I would be really missing out on seeing more of that, I guess.   Unknown Speaker  15:56 Yeah, but it hasn't been canceled, right? It's just it's a Virtual walk now.   Unknown Speaker  16:01 Yeah. So it was still having virtual walk and of course will still   Unknown Speaker  16:05 attend,   Unknown Speaker  16:06 but it's just different than, you know   Unknown Speaker  16:08 in person and we're waiting to hear about camp or keeping our fingers crossed cross cross capsule on. We'll see that was one of my favorite ever things and   Unknown Speaker  16:20 of course when you're newly diagnosed it's you get a first step in but it was just one of my amazing most amazing things that have ever experienced. So Absolutely.   Stacey Simms  16:32 Okay, thank you. Big thanks to Maddie and Mandy, I appreciate you sending that in. I am thrilled to hear that you are still cooking healthy and doing what you need to do. I'll be honest with you. We have a talk in my house the other day about eating and it was basically about how well we don't have a house full of junk food. But how we're not going to police each other because there's enough stress right now and if somebody wants to eat a big cheese knows, you can go ahead and eat a bag of Cheetos. I will say that Benny is probably eating the best out of all of us right now. He has some wrestling goals that he is still keeping an eye on and he's doing great. But the rest of us might be a little bit on the track to game the unknown about the freshman 15. But the quarantine with what goes with that. quarantine? 15? I don't know. I'll keep you posted on that. Big thanks to everybody who sent in their audio. I know that's not easy to do. You know, even if you're bored, and you think, Oh, this is gonna be a way to pass the time. It's still hard to open up your phone and press record and then just talk and share your thoughts and then hit send. You know, I get butterflies every time I do a podcast episode. So I can't imagine what it's like for everybody just kind of talking and sending their audio in big, big, big thank you. If you'd like to do this again, let me know I'll put out some different prompts. Because I'm so thrilled to always hear more stories in the diabetes community. Everybody's story deserves to be told. Everybody has something to say we can all learn from your experiences. So stuck at home, share your story. We'll keep doing this if you'd like. I really enjoy hearing from you. You can refer back to the original blog post for how to do this. It really is as easy as opening the voice memo app on your phone. Every phone has something like this, recording something quick and sending it in. As you listen. I know you've heard some different backgrounds there it is better to go to a quiet background if you possibly can. some suggestions, a closet is great. Your car is a great little studio, a bathroom, you know any place in your house that is kind of small and quiet. But we will take as you here, we will take what we get because to me the message is so much more important. And yeah, I cleaned all those up. I can edit those out and things like that. And john Buchanan, of course, my editor really does the magic there. So we want to hear from you. Maybe it's even just an activity With the kids for a few minutes, thank you so much for joining me for listening regular episodes different episodes more Facebook Lives Who the heck knows what we're going to do is we're all stuck here at home. But thanks for sharing your story. I'm Stacey Simms, and I'll see you back here for our next episode.   Benny  19:20 Diabetes Connections is a production of Stacey Sims media. All rights reserved. All rounds avenged   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Intro Hello everyone and welcome to the Books Between podcast! If you love to read, if you are a fan of middle grade, if you want to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love, then you have found the podcast for you! I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of an 8 and 10 year old, a 5th grade teacher, and lately - spending a lot of time on the sidelines of lacrosse fields and tennis courts. But - that gives me more time to read! This is Episode #29 and today I am welcoming author Corey Ann Haydu to the show to chat about her recent middle grade novel, The Someday Suitcase, and then in the book talk segment, I’ll be chatting about two fantastic new books about friendship. Main Topic - Interview with Corey Ann Haydu This week I am excited to welcome to the show Corey Ann Haydu. She is both a Young Adult AND Middle Grade author.  Her most recent YA novel The Careful Undressing of Love was released just this past January. And you might know her from her debut middle grade book Rules for Stealing Stars.  On today’s show, we chat about snow globes, guilt reading, cheese and - of course! - her latest middle grade novel The Someday Suitcase. The Someday Suitcase Tell us about The Someday Suitcase - what is this book about? One of the aspects of this book that I loved was how it shows that a true, deep best friend can bring a little magic into your life.    Did you have a best friend growing up? Clover is a very science-minded person. Do you have a science background? There is often this mix and a bit of tension between magic & science in the book.   Do you see science and magic as compatible? I loved all the metaphors in this book - like the snow globe! At one point Clover’s teacher says, “Sometimes you have to turn something over and upside down to really see it.”   How did you pick the snow globe to be a central part of the story? This is a book about so many things! Friendship, and science, and codependency, and snow, and but maybe ultimately about realizing that a loss can also help reveal a different part of yourself that has been dormant.  I don’t want to reveal too much of what form that loss takes for Clover and Danny, but… Can you talk a bit about how you decided on the ending?   Writing Life You recently moved… I can imagine that a move might be fairly disruptive to writer. What were the top three things you had to have in place so that you felt like you had a writing space again? I saw somewhere (maybe Instagram) that you had posted this really inspiring quote from the book BONE by Yrsa Daley-Ward and it says, “If you’re afraid to write it, that’s a good sign. I suppose you know you’re writing the truth when you’re terrified.” Did any part of writing The Someday Suitcase scare you? When we first started talking a few months ago, you mentioned how your first school visits were a combination of exhausting and exhilarating. When you are visiting schools, how do you keep that balance between bringing your full passionate self and also maintaining your energy level?   Your Reading Life What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked? How do you decide what to read next?   Book Talk - Two Fantastic Books about Friendship In this part of the show, I share with you a few books centered around a theme and discuss three things to love about each book. (Yes - I love the number three! But also - I just need limits!) This week I can’t wait to share with you two books that have been on my mind lately. Both feature girls just venturing into middle school. Both are about what happens when friendships collide over crushes. And both are ultimately about reclaiming a part of yourself that was lost. So, they are - 14 Hollow Road by Jenn Bishop and Bubbles by Abby Cooper. 14 Hollow Road First up this week is 14 Hollow Road by Jenn Bishop. You might know her from her previous middle grade book, The Distance to Home. This novel is about Maddie. And the night of the sixth-grade dance, a tornado hits parts of her town and destroys her home. And the home of her neighbor and crush, Avery. So - it turns out that a kind couple in the area with rooms to spare lets both families stay in their home for the summer. So - Maddie has to live with her crush. And somehow convince him to like her back instead of that other girl he asked to slow dance with.  Here are three things to love about 14 Hollow Road: The parts about Hank, her sweet dog who goes missing the night of the tornado. And I won’t reveal what happens there but even though things can’t get resolved exactly happily, how that situation plays out with the collar and with Avery was touching. When Maddie gets her period! Oh. My. Gosh. And - oh the aftermath when she wants to go swimming but thinks people will see the pad but she’s not ready for a tampon and then wonders if people will know why she’s not swimming. And then she doesn’t even want to go to the pool party at all! The gals reading will either really laugh in recognition or get a sample of what’s to come. And - I just want to say one thing. Please don’t discourage boys from reading this book just because it of the period thing. Guys need to know what’s up - and really, what better way than a light moment in a story to start to figure things out? Let’s please work to end that stigma. Throughout this book there are these small tender moments. I don’t want to say too much but, there’s a scene where one character is feeling devastated and vulnerable and the other character in that situation just holds their hand. And it was a small moment, but exceptionally sweet. 14 Hollow Road is a fabulous realistic fiction novel about friendship and change and resiliency. And - I wish I could remember who it was to give them credit - but I heard another author say that the last page of 14 Hollow Road is perfection. And, oh -  were they right! Bubbles Our second book this week is Bubbles by Abby Cooper! (You might remember her debut novel Sticks & Stones from last year.) This book makes me appreciate the term “speculative fiction” because the premise of this is - what if you could see people’s thoughts above their heads? What insights could you gain? What obligations would that put you under? How accurate is it? And...do you even want to know? Even before reading this book, I was firmly in the camp of “I don’t want to know what people are thinking!”  I’ve read those Sookie Stackhouse books - I know the bad is going to outweigh the benefit of knowing people’s thoughts. (By the way - Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire series - not middle grade! Do NOT get those for your 8-12 year old. But you, adult listener - they’re fun. Especially #4 when the witches erase Eric’s memory and he doesn’t realize he’s the bad guy/vampire! Ahhh…. Okay - I digress!) Anyway - on to Bubbles!  This book is about 12 year-old Sophie Mulvaney whose life is in turmoil when her mom loses both her job and her boyfriend within a very short period of time. And then Sophie get assigned a school project to do something that pushes herself to take a risk at a time when she’s not feeling very adventurous. And then - she starts seeing thought bubbles above people’s heads - and everything takes off from there! So, here are three things to love about Abby Cooper’s Bubbles. The little nuggets of history and trivia! It’s a small thing, but makes this book clever and unique. And when Sophie starts to feel a little stressed, remembering and connecting her life to historical facts is a way she copes. For example, at one point she says, “I was crankier than Napoleon must have been after the battle of Waterloo, which he lost really bad.” And then, actually earlier - at the beginning of Chapter 7, Sophie is considering whether or not to go see a therapist about her bubble issue. The natural portrayal of characters working on their mental health. Sophie’s mother is dealing with some depression after leaving her job as a TV reporter and a tough breakup with a guy who still lives nearby. And that manifests itself in ways that will be familiar to some kids - tiredness and withdrawal from the things she used to love. Sophie and her mom were the Adventurous Girls and now, she would rather stay home. And the solutions to those struggles are not presented as quick or easy, but doable with help. I really think this is a type of book that could help lessen the stigma of mental health issues and a book kids can relate to either because they see themselves or they might recognize things their friends or family are going through. How this book helps you realize that even if you could read people’s thoughts, you still don’t know the backstory behind those thoughts. And what’s really motivated people. This book really gives readers a lot to think about in that way. It would be a great book club read. Bubbles and 14 Hollow Road both brought me back to those middle school days when your relationship with your friends is everything. And how threatening and scary and socially isolated you can feel when a friend seems to be slipping away from you. In Bubbles, Sophie’s friend Kaya seems to be taken over by another girl, Viv. And in 14 Hollow Road  Maddie’s feel left out when her best friend Kiersten is spending more time with Gabriella. And then throw an in-common crush into that mix and ugh! It’s awkward and confusing and just one of those rocky experiences you have to figure out. Also - both of these books get that shaving your legs dynamic absolutely right! At least - it resonated with me. When suddenly your friends start shaving and you feel a hairy troll and how it’s just hard to talk to your mom about. I think I snuck my mom’s razor and shaved my legs like a year before she technically allowed me to. (My mom listens to the podcast, so… sorry mom!) These two books would be great options for a mother-daughter book club. My friend, Julie, did that with Abby Cooper’s first book Sticks & Stones and oh I just love that idea!     Closing Alright - that wraps up our show this week. If you have a question or an idea about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or connect on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. There’s always lots of great conversations happening there so, please jump in! Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can find an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show along with all of our previous episodes at AlltheWonders.com.  And, while you are there, please take a listen to Matthew Winner’s latest episode of the All the Wonders podcast (#372) where he chats with Hena Khan - the author of Amina’s Voice.   And, if you like what you hear and value the podcast, I would really appreciate a quick review or rating on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks again and see you soon!  Bye!   Episode Links: Corey Ann Haydu's website Other middle grade books we chatted about: The Girls from Ames: A story of women and a forty-year friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow Braced by Alyson Gerber My Life with the Liars by Caela Carter The Remarkable Journey of Charlie Price by Jennifer Maschari A young adult book we chatted about: We Are Okay by Nina LaCour   Author Leanne Shapton's website

It's our Christmas episode! So Maddie is back home for the holidays which is excellent. She and Ross drove their new car here, which is a decent little Ford Focus. Snow tires of course. It is a good thing they have snows, because, well, because it finally snowed, and it is quite cold today, -7C. This cold temperature led to a couple of interesting incidents that I won't spoil for you. From all of us in the Michaud-Brodbeck family, Merry Christmas.