Green without Envy

Summary

The Book Lisp with Jon Ryan & Sarah Colonna

Episode: "Green without Envy"
Date: October 13, 2025

---

Episode Overview

In "Green without Envy," Jon Ryan and Sarah Colonna, the wedded duo behind The Book Lisp, embark on week two of their October book club pick, A.R. Torrey's The Good Lie. Broadcasting remotely (Sarah in a Fort Wayne, Indiana hotel room on comedy tour, Jon at home), the couple dive into a fun, meandering, laughter-filled discussion about the book's themes—without spoilers—while riffing on everything from childhood snacks and relationship dynamics to the mystery of preferred gummy bear colors. If you haven’t listened to this episode, expect true book club energy sprinkled with marital wit, relatability, and their signature A.D.D.-style conversational tangents.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Audiobook Observations & Industry Talk

• Audiobook Editing Oddities
  • Sarah, relistening to The Good Lie on audiobook after speeding through it on Kindle, notices odd editing moments, describing them as “drop ins” where lines feel re-recorded and inserted.
  • Jon doesn’t notice them, likely because he reads half on Kindle and half via Audible during treadmill sessions.
  • Insider Glimpse into ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement)
    • [02:33] Sarah: “Do you think we call that ADR in the biz?...It’s so weird. You have to go in and literally watch yourself and then match your words and your lips and your cadence so that it doesn’t sound weird when it’s dropped back into the show.”

2. Remote Recording & Tour Life Anecdotes

• Sarah’s Comedy Tour & Hotel Details
  • Sarah stays at “The Bradley” in Fort Wayne, noting its Vera Bradley-themed decor and sharing the perks of performing at comedy clubs that prioritize talented accommodations.
  • [06:36] Sarah: “One thing [the club owner] does...is put all his talent up at the nicest hotels in town, period...One time I try to keep my socks on when I took a shower at a comedy club hotel...”

3. Domestic Life, Patreon, and Eating Habits

• Patreon Promo & Short Story Content
  • Episodes exclusive to Patreon on the 5th, 15th, and 25th. October’s short story is The Situation Ship by Abby Jimenez.
  • November’s main book is Debbie Macomber’s 12 Days of Christmas—Jon’s cozy pick.
• Household & Cat Dynamics
  • Jon misses Sarah and comically rants about being harassed by their cats at night, illustrating their ongoing struggle with pet sleep disruptions.
  • [10:39] Jon: “...I sleep right in the middle of the bed and Ralphie is at my feet...Then Cindy comes and...wants to be pet. Then she goes back...This goes on...10, 12 times...The big fat cat in the middle, Ralphie, he doesn’t give a flying fuck what’s happening.”

4. Book-Inspired Topics: Overprotective Mothers & “Fruit Pizza”

• Fruit Pizza Debate
  • Sparked by the book’s mention of a “fruit pizza,” Sarah and Jon riff on what this could possibly be.
  • Jon’s concoction: pizza crust, Nutella as sauce, topped with fresh fruit.
  • [15:15] Jon: “Girl...It was everywhere when I was in Germany—served at breakfast, on the plane—Nutella was like their ketchup.”
  • Sarah, skeptical, prefers Southern-style fruit salads (with marshmallows), resisting Jon’s Nutella pizza idea.

5. Nostalgic Childhood Snacks Comparison

• Canadian vs. American Staples
  • Jon: “cheese whiz on crackers,” “ants on a log,” “dad’s cookies,” “ketchup chips,” “pizza buns” (Kaiser rolls with spaghetti sauce and toppings).
  • Sarah: English muffin mini-pizzas, mom’s chicken & dumplings, “the snack.”
  • [21:21] Sarah: “She called it the snack, and it was the snack. And she said, ‘Do you want me to make the snack for you?’ And it was an English muffin with pizza toppings.”
  • Both lament modern grocery packaging’s incompatibility with small households.

6. Grocery Store for Two—Business Idea

• Groceries “Not Made for Two People”
  • Sarah and Jon brainstorm an “Only-for-Two” grocery store (with a singles’ bar!).
  • Discuss challenges of buying bread, milk, eggs, and lunch meat in realistic quantities.
  • [26:06] Jon: “...We make a grocery store just for people that are single or married with no kids...with a bar in the middle...a very good networking place for single people...”
  • Sarah: “If you try to steal my business idea, listeners...I’ll track you down and...sue you!” [24:30]

7. Book Themes: Beach Law, Office Candy, and Gender Perceptions

• Beach Bar Law Aspirations – Book Character Discussion
  • Reflecting on Robert (a character in The Good Lie), they discuss the appeal of becoming a “beach bum lawyer.”
  • [33:50] Jon: “I would attend [a daiquiri bar] as a consumer every day until I die. If something ever tragically happens to you, I’m just gonna take all the money we have and just go live in a hut by the beach until I expire.”
• Office Gummy Bears – Candy Deep-Dive
  • Gwen, the book’s psychiatrist, keeps green gummy bears in her office.
  • Jon and Sarah passionately debate proper gummy bear flavors and rankings.
  • [45:02] Jon: “...the pecking order is red, orange, green, yellow, white. All I could see—someone maybe arguing orange over red...but on the gummy bear things, that’s the order.”
  • [46:03] Sarah: “First of all, I can’t read on white first, yellow second. Oh, and then the other three are...whatever’s left.”
• Gender Assumptions in Storytelling
  • Both admit they initially assumed psychiatrist Gwen was a man and dissect their (and readers’) unconscious biases.
  • [39:02] Jon: “At first I thought she was a he, and then I felt sexist for assuming...whatever triggered it made me think it was a male.”
  • [41:16] Sarah: “I actually think the author...knew we’d think it was a man...and was on purpose sort of [giving]—why’d you think it was a man? Just because...?”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Hotel Life:
  • [06:36] Sarah: “One time I try to keep my socks on when I took a shower at a comedy club hotel...”
• On Cat Chaos:
  • [10:39] Jon: “…I sleep right in the middle of the bed and Ralphie is at my feet...Cindy comes and...wants to be pet. ...This goes on...over and over...The big fat cat…doesn’t give a flying fuck...”
• On Groceries for Couples:
  • [24:30] Sarah: "I’ll track you down and…sue you. Because we want to start a business…Why is everything for so many people? Food’s just not made for two people."
• On Gender and Character Perspective:
  • [41:16] Sarah: “...why’d you think it was a man? Just because he’s a successful psychiatrist with his own business?”
  • [39:02] Jon: “I felt sexist for assuming that it was a man.”
• On Candy Priorities:
  • [45:02] Jon: “Red and orange, green, yellow, white. ...if anyone out there in our book list group says that that isn’t amazing, I’m going to make it, want to send it to you. I haven’t even made it yet. I just made this up in my head right now.”
  • [46:03] Sarah: “First of all, I can’t read on white first, yellow second. The other three are...what’s left?”

---

Important Timestamps

• 00:30 – 02:40: Audiobook quirks & ADR talk
• 03:42 – 06:36: Sarah's comedy tour stories; hotel commentary
• 10:30 – 13:00: Cat chaos; marital/family dynamics
• 13:53 – 16:43: “Fruit pizza” discussion—what is it and Jon’s invention
• 17:26 – 22:36: Childhood snacks; Canadian & Southern American food differences
• 24:08 – 29:25: Grocery shopping dilemmas for two, business ideation
• 33:50 – 36:27: Beach bar lawyer aspiration; vacation dreams
• 38:58 – 42:49: Gender perception and the psychiatrist character
• 43:18 – 48:30: Gummy bear flavor/picking order philosophical divide

---

Conclusion

In this episode, Jon and Sarah exemplify what makes The Book Lisp charming: genuine chemistry, meandering hilarity, and sharp, relatable commentary, blending book talk with slices of real life. They tease deeper book discussion (spoiler-free for now), keep listeners laughing with their petty spousal squabbles, and involve the “Lispinners” audience with hot takes like: What IS the correct order to eat gummy bears? The episode radiates laidback yet lively book club vibes—and teases juicier, spoiler-filled commentary in upcoming weeks.

---

Listeners’ Call to Action

• Join the Book Lisp Facebook Group (“The Book Lispinners”) to weigh in on book themes and, crucially, the correct gummy bear flavor hierarchy.
• Check out Patreon for extra episodes and exclusive video content.
• November’s main read is 12 Days of Christmas (Debbie Macomber); the next Patreon short story discussion is Abby Jimenez’s “The Situation Ship” dropping on the 15th.

---

“Thanks for listening to this nonsense...And we appreciate you!”
– Sarah Colonna, [48:43]

Transcript

[A]

Hi, I'm Sarah Colonna.

[B]

And I'm John Ryan.

[A]

And you're listening to the Book List. The Book List.

[B]

The Book Lisp.

[A]

Oh, that's right. You're listening to the Book Lisp. Hello and welcome to the Book Lisp starring. Why do I always want to say starring John Ryan, Sarah Colona. That's like a weird. It's with John Ryan and Sarah Colonna. It's not. I mean, it is starring us, but it's also just with us.

[B]

Just sounds weird when you say it yourself.

[A]

Right. That's why it makes me feel weird when I say it. We are here. It is week two already of your October book list when we are reading A.R. torrey's the Good Lie. Pretty solid choice if I do say so myself. And I do. It is. It's funny. Well, I'll get into. I'm currently listening back to it. Listening back to it because I finished it. This was one. I, I, I try to. For those of you that listen weekly, you know that we try so hard to not finish our book too quickly because we have to record all month and then we only do the recap. We do the recap the fourth Monday. So if you finish too early by the time it's time to do the recap, sometimes you're like, I don't know what happened. I've read two other books since then, so I did that with this one because it was a page turner. I couldn't stop. So even though I remember what happened, there's so many nuances, of course, that we want to include in our review. So now I'm listening to it back on audiobook. Did you listen to the audiobook, John Ryan?

[B]

I did.

[A]

Okay. Did you notice there's like weird moments where it feels like they threw in a couple. I don't know if they were like left out and re edited back in because there was a couple times so far I'm only, I'm only probably an hour in on the audiobook because I read it on my Kindle originally. But it, there's a couple times in the audiobook where I'm trying to give a good example. Like she'll say something like, oh, yes. And then Robert walked out of the bar and he looked amazing. And then there's a couple like, drop. It feels like drop ins. It feels like edits or something. Did you notice that?

[B]

I didn't really notice, but I'm guessing it's probably like either bad editing or they're trying to like, yeah, as you said, drop something. Back in like a missed. A missed few words or missed sentence.

[A]

Do you think we call that ADR in the biz?

[B]

In the biz?

[A]

Yeah. When you'd have to go into like go into after a TV show and you would have to just re record and watch yourself say something and then try to match it back up because there was like a sound issue or something. So you have to sit there and watch yourself. People also do this for background and, and, and all the different noises that you hear in movies, but for an actor to do it yourself, it's so weird. You have to go in and literally watch yourself and then match your words and your lips and your cadence so that it doesn't sound weird when it's like dropped back into the show. Insider.

[B]

I just.

[A]

Hollywood. I just remember on the book list.

[B]

I just remember when you've done that before that you get paid pretty good when you go and do it. So that's pretty good.

[A]

They do pay you for that. It's nice. Yeah, they, they're kind of making you come back and it's, it's, it's usually, I mean. Yeah. Should they pay you for it? I guess it's because it's usually a sound issue or something. Anyway, go ahead, John. We haven't seen each other for two whole days.

[B]

Yes. You are in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

[A]

I'm in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So when you guys see the clip that we use to promote on social media that our amazing Olivia editor makes for us, I will be. It will look weird. I'll look very close to the camera and it won't have the best lighting. But Olivia will fix that because she's real good. And because, yeah, I'm in a hotel room in Fort Wayne, Indiana doing shows this week. Hopefully. I saw some of you guys there.

[B]

It looks like you're in kind of like an old Victorian type hotel.

[A]

So I'm at the Bradley. I can say that now. Not that anyone's going to come try to kill me, but I know you shouldn't always give your location. But by the time you will have checked out, by the time people comes out, I'm gone. I'm on the way. I'm home. So it's at the, it's called the Bradley. And I said to you, I'm going to Google this really quickly because I feel like it's accurate but sometimes I say things that aren't accurate. And do you know who Vera Bradley is?

[B]

No.

[A]

So she is. I think it's mostly, yeah, bags, backpacks, travel bags, things I Should probably know Vera Wang. No, Vera Wang is like wedding dresses in fashion. Vera Bradley is bags. But I think she's from Fort Wayne or is based in Fort Wayne and therefore there's a hotel that has her name on it and I don't know if she owns it. Is Vera Bradley from Fort Wayne? Vera Bradley, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a leading designer of women's handbags, luggage, and other travel items.

[B]

Okay, looking on my Wikipedia here, your headboard basically looks like it could be one of her bags materials. Yeah.

[A]

Right. So she probably owns the hotel. I doubt it's just like an homage to her. It's probably either she owns it or they own it or. Anyway, doesn't matter. The club, Summit City Comedy Club, hopefully I had saw some of you there this past weekend when I was there. Cause now it's Monday and I'm not there. But they. It's owned by a guy who owns Spokane Comedy Club, which I'll be at in on New Year's Eve. He owns Tacoma Comedy Club, which will be at January 2nd and 3rd. He owns Appleton, Wisconsin Skyline Comedy Club. Wow. Do I only do his clubs that I'll be at for Valentine's Day weekend. And he's a very, very good friend of ours, owns all these clubs. One thing he does above running a great club as well as running a great club is puts all of his talent up at the nicest hotels in town, period. And listen, I'm not naming names, but a lot of clubs don't do that Sometime. One time I try to keep my socks on when I took a shower at a comedy club. This was a long time ago. That's when I figured out you could actually ask to be put up at better places, but they automatically do that for you here. So Summit City Comedy Club in Fort Wayne, hopefully I had a great weekend there because I'm recording this before my shows. So you're listening to us in the past and the future. But it's a wonderful club. That much I know.

[B]

Okay, I want to go back to like. You're like. You're like really shot out of a cannon today. I've been trying to get this in for four minutes.

[A]

Okay, go ahead. Sorry.

[B]

Okay. Going back when we were talking about the. The audible thing. So I listen to. I'm on the treadmill every morning, as you know. So sometimes I like to read on the treadmill, but sometimes I get like, it gets. It's hard to read for an hour on the treadmill. So I also downloaded it on audible. If you don't know if you have Kindle and audible. If you turn off your Kindle and turn on your Audible, it just picks right up for where you left off. You have to pay for both of them. So it's kind of expensive. But so I went back and forth on this one, so I think that's maybe why I didn't catch all those things that you're saying that you caught with the. The add ons or the whatever you call them.

[A]

Weird little inserts. Yeah, just something weird. Are you done now?

[B]

But yeah, yeah, go. Go back to Vera Bradley.

[A]

Guys, it's week two. I am like John said in Indiana, he's home. Did you just get a haircut?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Looks good.

[B]

I shaved.

[A]

And you. Oh. Oh, you did shave. I knew you look different. It's only been a day and a half.

[B]

Okay, baby.

[A]

We have patreon. It's only $5 a month. And we do Patreon exclusive episodes on the 5th, the 15th, and the 25th. The 15th is always a short story and I we have found that it's such a fun way to discover either new authors or find authors that we love writing in a very different way in a short story version. This month. October is the Situation Ship by Abby Jimenez. Remind everybody what your November regular book is, John, for the podcast.

[B]

The whole podcast. 12 Days of Christmas by I Can't Ever Debbie Macomber.

[A]

Okay, so that's going to be exciting.

[B]

Feel good, feel good Christmas novel that will get you in the mood for Christmas in November.

[A]

Okay, look, I'm drinking an iced coffee. Do you think that's why I'm shot out of a cannon at four o' clock in the afternoon?

[B]

Oh, no, I don't really think coffee affects me. I don't think so either. I can't be shallow canon because my cats kept me awake all night because they didn't have you to lay on.

[A]

Oh, tell the people what you I'm.

[B]

Not a good sleeper, so I don't like to be like laid on by cats. It can't be warm and the cat's like little, like little like heat boxes, so you're not there. So I sleep right in the middle of bed and Ralphie is at my feet and I think one night, one point early in the night, I kicked him by accident, obviously. And then Cindy comes and then whenever I roll, like I try to roll over the far side of the bed because she wakes me up because she's laying on my feet, so I roll over the far side of the bed so she wants to Know what's up. So she comes up to, like, my chest, kind of look at me like, what's going on? She wants to be pet. Like, the only time she ever wants us to pet her. She wants me to pet her for a minute or two. Then she goes back and sits back on my feet again. Then I finally fall asleep. I wake up because she's on my feet. I get. I roll over to the far side of the bed. She's like, oh, what's cat dad doing? I got to go check on him. Comes up to my chest, wants to be pet. And then she goes. Lays back on my feet. This goes on for, I don't know how many. Three hours, maybe 10, 12 times. It's over and over and over again. And I was like. I'm like, why don't you just want to go sleep somewhere else? This can't be comfortable for you. It's not comfortable for me. The big fat cat in the middle, Ralphie. He doesn't give a flying fuck what's happening. No, I just like Cindy and I can't. We're. We're like the same person when we sleep. We can't sleep in the same bed.

[A]

You guys are actually now. Now that I think about it, you're very similar because I. So usually they sleep on me. Lispinners.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Usually what happens is they sleep at my feet and. But I can. I'm a side sleeper. It's not great for your face, but that's what I do. And I sleep on my side. So usually they kind of go in, like, the crook of my. Is that the right word? Crook? Where? Like, my knees.

[B]

Yeah, sure.

[A]

Yeah. They go, like between my knees and my calves. So if I'm. Yes. If I move it. She definitely can't. She gets off the bed, can't take it, wanders around, wants to know what's happening, walks right on my chest. I'm pretty used to it. A lot of times, I think I just don't move that much when I'm on one side. But if I am restless, it affects all of us and all of our sleep. Sometimes I try to lay on my back and just let them be in there, because then if I don't move, it's so good for your face. Like, cats are actually good for your face in that way because they keep you from rolling around and smushing up your face and getting wrinkles. But she is. Our Cindy Lou has, I think, some. Some form of cat add.

[B]

She's definitely.

[A]

Yeah, she. Like. If you. She as John just said, she only wants to be pet when she's in our bed. She. Now, she. She only started sleeping with us, like, this year, right? We've had her for three years, and she's only started sleeping with us this year and pretty recently in the new house. So she'll. She started sleeping with us. Ralphie always has. And then she'll get up and she'll, like, walk up and she wants to be pet, but you can't do that with her in the house. She doesn't want to be pet. So, okay, you get to pet her. It's nice. Everyone has a nice time. Sometimes it wakes me up because I get so excited that it gets a patter a little bit and then. But then you'll pet her for a second and then she just, like. She goes. She has a really weird meow and she. And then she, like, runs off, but then comes back and then kind of wanders around again all over the bed and stomps on everybody and then lays back down. And then she, like. But she, like, flops herself down real.

[B]

Dramatic circle and flops herself down sometimes right on Ralphie's face.

[A]

She's. Yeah.

[B]

She gives zero Fs.

[A]

Yeah. So anyway, that's what John's dealing with while I'm gone. Enjoy.

[B]

Well, night one did not go well.

[A]

I'm sorry. I hope it gets better. Do you want to talk about it worse? Some topics that I have pulled up for us. As everyone knows, it's difficult during my weeks for topics, but we figure it out. And this week, if you're new here, what we do is we. We just pull topics kind of from the book, but there's no spoilers. They make us have topics, play off of each other, have some fun, and then we don't give you spoilers until week four when we talk about the book. I cannot wait to talk about this book with you. So one thing that was brought up in this book is that the mom. Is it Nita?

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

The mom of Scott, right? That. Well, I won't say what he does, but if you're even a little bit into the book, you already know who he is. So then the mom is. She's a little bit of overprotective mom. Fairly fair enough as anyone would be. She already was. But then she is more so after what he's been through, which, again, I won't spoil it, but at one point she says she's made him a snack. She's made him a fruit pizza. What the fuck is a fruit Pizza.

[B]

This is what I came up with. So I have a couple answers for you. One, how I would make a fruit pizza. This is how I would make a fruit.

[A]

You wouldn't.

[B]

In my. Yeah, I would. Trust me, I would. So you get, like, the. The crust, and you just. You take it, put it in the pizza maker. My pizza maker. Over here. I'm pointing to the left side of your screen where my pizza maker is, and I have green egg. I'd cook the crust, and then when it was cooked and hot, I'd put Nutella all over the top of it instead of a sauce. And then chopped up fruit on top of that. Like strawberries, maybe a little pineapple.

[A]

On top of Nutella.

[B]

And then crust, because then it's like a fruit pizza.

[A]

But why does Nutella go with fruit? Yeah.

[B]

Girl.

[A]

All right. I know I. And I know it's here, and I know that a lot of people in the United States eat Nutella. Is it Nutella or Nutella?

[B]

I don't know. It was. It was everywhere. When I was in Germany, like, they served it with breakfast. They served it on the plane. Nutella was just like a staple. It was like our ketchup.

[A]

Oh, it's like.

[B]

It's like a hazelnut. It's like a. I'm saying, in terms of how often people use it, it's like a. It's a hazelnut spread. It's basically a chocolate spread. It's delicious.

[A]

Okay, so you would use that as your sauce. So it would be on regular dough is what you're saying.

[B]

Yeah, that's queen.

[A]

Wow. Beat Johnny Flay.

[B]

I think you'd like it right now. Now you. I think you're starting to think about it. You're like, yeah, I might eat that.

[A]

Well, is the fruit cooked?

[B]

I mean, I don't know. I think. I think you just keep it like fresh, freshly sliced fruit, like, kind of like chopped up small.

[A]

So you're. So you're. Walk me through this again. You're wood burning. Your. Your dough.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And then you're putting the Nutella spread on afterwards.

[B]

Yeah. Because it would just. It would just melt off. If you put it while it was on there, it just melt right off. It wouldn't, like, cook into it. You know what I mean?

[A]

So just the dough and the crust is. Is cooked like normal pizza.

[B]

Yes. And then I'd put the Nutella on top of that, and I'd put the fresh fruit on top of that. And if anyone out there in our book list group says that that isn't Amazing. I'm going to make you want to send it to you. I haven't even made it yet. I just made this up my head right now.

[A]

Yeah. I'm on the fence about how I feel about it. I don't feel like I want. I don't know. Listen, I'm from the South. We like our fruit mixed with, like, marshmallows and. What was that like? There's a fruit salad that my mom used to make, but it had. It definitely wasn't a healthy one. Do you know what I mean? There was something in it that wasn't good for you. It doesn't matter. Anyway. It reminded me, though, when she said she's making him this. It's clearly his favorite snack. It made me think of childhood snacks. And I would like to know before I launch into what mine were. I'm going to pretend that I'm interested in what yours were first.

[B]

I think. I think, like, our. Our staples at home are, like, a lot of, like, cheese whiz on crackers. You know what I mean? Like, I don't. We never had anything fancy. But then if we had, like, what's.

[A]

What's. Ants on a log. Go back real quick. I know what it is, but I forget.

[B]

I think it was celery, and then on top of the celery, you put peanut butter and then raisins on top of that.

[A]

Okay, I'm gonna Google that while you keep going. Go ahead.

[B]

And then it was just like, a lot of Canadians, like, ketchup. Chips were, like, a big thing. Like, we didn't get them very often. That was like, a big, like, snack.

[A]

Cheesies.

[B]

Dad's cookies.

[A]

But my mom was a really good cookies.

[B]

It's just a brand in Canada that's delicious.

[A]

Oh, okay. And Ants on a log is, in fact, what you said it is.

[B]

Okay. Thanks for fact checking me.

[A]

No worries.

[B]

I think that for our household, my mom was, like, a great. Was a great baker. So she made, like, a lot of homemade cookies, a lot of, like, homemade muffins, stuff like that. That was kind of our. Our go to snack growing up was like, my mom was baking.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

She made good, good chocolate chip cookies, banana loaf. Real good banana loaf and banana muffins.

[A]

I love. I love a banana loaf. Yeah. My mom. And she wouldn't be mad at me for saying this. Not a good cook, funny enough, would make fun of me as I grew up for not cooking and then.

[B]

But you didn't really have a role model in that department.

[A]

Well, it's funny Because I didn't really realize she wasn't a very good cook. It's. Oh. So she almost had to tell me, and she did. At one point. She's like, I'm not a good cook and I hate cooking. And then I was like, oh, that makes so much sense now.

[B]

Oh, now I remember. Like, the food that I eat that you make doesn't taste good in my mouth. It's all adding up now. Like, I put your food in my mouth and it doesn't taste good. I was like, I never connected the two.

[A]

I never figured out why that was. I thought it was my taste buds. No, one thing she did real really well was chicken, homemade chicken and dumplings. Like, she would line up, you know, the dough and make. She made from scratch the dumplings, the noodle for the dumplings and all that stuff. And. And honestly, I think. Actually, I'll take back saying she wasn't a good cook because I think what happened was there was a point where she liked to cook, so therefore she made better things. And then I think, you know my mom pretty well, so this will check out for you. As she got older, she decided, I don't fucking like the cook. I don't like it. I don't wanna do it. I don't wanna bother with it. I don't like it. So then it changed to, like, what can I microwave? She loves to microwave her eggs. I. I'm against. Yeah, she loves it. I'm against it, but it tastes fine.

[B]

Her microwave eggs look awful. She makes it at her house all the time. And she looks, I think, just makes them like, right on a. Like a napkin. Just eats them right off a nap. Like, doesn't they look terrible?

[A]

They.

[B]

But we have frying pans. We can fry her eggs, no problem. Won't take very long at all. Probably take it just as long as it does in a microwave when I won't make you want a gag.

[A]

Yeah, she likes to microwave her bacon. So. But anyway, there was a point where we would get. My sister and I, she would bring us a snack, and she called it the snack, and it was the snack. And she said, do you want me to make the snack? Snack for you? And it was an English muffin with pizza toppings.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And they were really good.

[B]

Yeah, that was our household.

[A]

That. That was English muffin with pizza tops.

[B]

No, it was a little bit different, though. I'll tell you in a second.

[A]

Go ahead.

[B]

We call them pizza buns. And my mom would take, like, probably usually like a kaiser bun. You Know those soft Kaiser buns?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is that a Canadian thing now?

[A]

Kaiser bun.

[B]

Are we good?

[A]

I think I know what you mean. Oh, Kaiser rolls. Like Kaiser rolls? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Kaiser rolls.

[B]

Yeah, of course, the Kaiser rolls. I know what you're talking about now.

[A]

Soft, chewy.

[B]

Then she would just put like all the pizza toppings on it, like the, the sauce. But I think she used to use like spaghetti sauce instead of like, you know, pizza sauce. Same thing then like the toppings on top of that.

[A]

Yeah, I think similar when you have.

[B]

When you have four kids that come home for lunch every day and you're babysitting another six to 10 kids, you need to make something that's pretty quick if you're cooking for 12 kids every lunch hour. So I think she had a lot of things that were cooked pretty quickly, but they were good.

[A]

She had a lot of staples. Right.

[B]

And a pizza, a pizza bun was a staple because I think she has load those up on a tray, put them in the oven, we're good to go.

[A]

It's funny because it sounds. It sounds very similar to what my mom did, but she just had only the two of us. But it was. I guess that is. It must be a kind of a common thing for people to be like, what? Yes, because I. I guess, I guess looking back, I go, I loved him, but. And now I feel like I'm messing it up. That was an English muffin. But it def. It was that it couldn't have been. And I think I would imagine the reason for it was you could take an English muffin, cut it in half. My sister and myself both get half an English muffin turned into a little mini pizza. There's not a lot of things you can do that with. You take a bun like a hamburger bun. Well, then one's too thick. One, you know, the bottom or the top. English muffins, pretty much even Steven when it's cut. So maybe that was why it was used almost to make a personal sized pizza. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. I'm questioning my whole childhood right now.

[B]

My mom is doing dumplings, but I think she used to do like Bisquick to make the dumplings.

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

Maybe she made them from scratch. I don't know.

[A]

Well, I will say my mom. You went. When my mom used to like make. Making chuckling dumplings. She used. She made them noodles from scratch. Because I remember seeing them laid out and her cutting them or whatever. But eventually she started using Bisquick when.

[B]

She was also to your mom's Defense, as we know, it's very hard to cook just for two people.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like to go through the whole charade of like working for two hours to make this meal, and then you sit down with your wife or your husband and it takes 10 minutes to eat. It's like.

[A]

Yeah, but this is a lot of effort.

[B]

Okay, so you mean. Well, she started.

[A]

She. She.

[B]

She started not like cooking while you guys are still in the house.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[B]

Oh, okay. I thought you meant it was like after that. Okay.

[A]

No, no. But. But she definitely likes it less now as she's. As. It's just. And you're right about the two people. We talk about this all the time. I don't want anyone to steal my business idea listeners. So you're on notice if you try to. I'll. I'll figure it out. If I see you guys wanting, you start a business and then I see that you follow the podcast, I'll track you down and I'll find you and I'll. And I'll sue you. Because I. Because we want to start a business again. We'll never start it, but I want. We're like, why is everything. Everything is for so many people. You can't buy. You can't buy even when you. So the bags of lettuce are too big. I don't even like the bags too big because they a. They're always too big. So they go. And they go bad quickly, I feel. And even in the non organic ones. And then a head of lettuce is like. I mean, it's reasonable. If I'm gonna. If, if we are for sure. If I'm for sure gonna make a salad three nights in a row, no matter what. Okay. That head of lettuce will probably get fully used for the two people. Other than that, everything goes to waste. Of course you can buy chicken breast two at a time, all those things. But for the most part, food is just not made for two people. Milk isn't.

[B]

Here's our idea, babe. We make a grocery store just for people that are single or married with no kids.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then in the middle of the store, we put a bar in the middle of the store so you can stop everybody shopping and think. And think of how good of this place would be for picking up people because there'd be so many singles shopping and they'd all be in the same place. There'd be a bar in the middle. It'd be a very good networking place for single people to meet single people or married people to Cheat on their spouse.

[A]

I don't know. Whole Foods has a bar and it doesn't seem like it's really changed anyone's lives.

[B]

But Whole Foods, Whole Foods, it's like, I don't know, it's Whole Foods.

[A]

Right. That it is different.

[B]

I'm saying this is just for single people or people that are married with no kids.

[A]

Will you give me other examples of things that they don't make for two people for food? Because they. Once I said it. Now I feel like I sound like an idiot because yeah, you could. A whole heads of lettuce. Sure. You know, green leaf, red leaf, whatever you use. But it's hard.

[B]

It's hard to get through 12. It's hard to get through 12 eggs before the end of it.

[A]

Oh, that's one of them. Yes. Yes. Unless you eat eggs every day.

[B]

I mean, I guess you can buy a smaller portion of milk, but even like that 2 liter thing of milk, I almost never get through it.

[A]

Yeah. Because he's the only one that drinks milk and they don't really make it for one person. And what else? Eggs. Sometimes you can buy half a dozen eggs, but I don't see that at our store anymore. And maybe because of all the issues with like the bird flu and all the egg, they're just like we can only sell them by dozen. But then. And then I try to buy just the pre made boiled eggs, but they're not. It's kind of gross.

[B]

Almost any, almost anything out of the bakery. Like you can't go and buy two hot dog buns. You have to buy, eat.

[A]

There we go.

[B]

Two hamburger buns by 12. You can't buy. They need to sell half or quarter loaves of bread because like we almost always we can't eat a whole loaf of bread.

[A]

You just reminded me where my first argument about this came from. Thank you. Gotcha girl.

[B]

You're welcome.

[A]

It was the bread. Because every time I buy a loaf of bread, first of all I try, I dig in the back for the latest expiration date I can find. It's. They're not, you know, they don't last forever. So usually we'll buy that. What's that one bread that we buy that. Well, I love the hero bread. That's so good.

[B]

That was Dave's killer bread.

[A]

Dave's killer bread.

[B]

Killer bread.

[A]

But online I buy Herobread, which is not a sponsor of this podcast because we don't have any sponsors yet, but it is a sponsor of Are you My podcast. And I will say that bread because it freezes well, however, you can't. I don't know, I guess I could just take out a few pieces at a time from, from freezing it maybe.

[B]

Yeah, but it's. But, but it's not the same as fresh bread that you can eat over three day span. But we can't eat a loaf of bread over three days. Two of us. Unless we like even during COVID we went through this weird thing when we were just eating hoagies every day for lunch. And it was like we would. When you bought all the supplies, we basically have to like commit to eating them for five straight days or everything would go to waste. Like lunch, everything would just go to waste if we didn't eat it. Like over the next five days.

[A]

That's, that's the human.

[B]

Our cholesterol went up.

[A]

It did. Who'd have thunk it? Yeah, lunch meat apparently has more cholesterol than. I don't know why, Because I'm like, isn't it turkey? But then if you eat freshly more fresh turkey. But if it's lunch meat turkey, then it has more cholesterol. I don't really understand it. If any of you are doctors, let me know. But that's the main thing.

[B]

Sodium or something.

[A]

Bread. Impossible. Unless I'm making us triple and quadruple decker clubs every day. We can't go through all that. We can't go throw the bread and maybe more. So if you were like packing your, your lunch up every day and we both had nine to fives or something, I don't know. But that sounds a little more reasonable. Like you might use it all that way. But I still think you wouldn't go through it for two people before it goes bad. And then yeah, lunch meat, they give you so much. Even at the bakery when you get it fresh, they give it to you and then you're like, well shit, this is enough for like seven sandwiches but expires in two days. And I'm a stickler for an expiration date.

[B]

Yeah, this is what I don't get in the US on the US all the dates are sell by. In Canada it's used by. So I feel like in Canada try to protect the consumers and in US are trying to protect the sellers.

[A]

Is it all sell by? Because I feel like sometimes it says use or freeze buy.

[B]

Yes, sometimes most things say sell by. So if I have to sell this by the 20th, does that mean it's still good to consume by the 25th? It doesn't tell us that.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Whereas in Canada it just Says used by. So that means, like, the consumer knows I have to use this by this date.

[A]

I feel like I should have come with a used by date.

[B]

Stop it.

[A]

I just want you to know I'll tell. I'll tell all the listeners right now. I made an appointment. This is way off topic, but it's my used by date argument. I made an appointment, just so you know, for Tuesday.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

With a podiatrist. Hot.

[B]

Yeah, hot.

[A]

Well, I'm trying to stay hot, and something's happening. One of my toes is trying to get on top of the other, and I don't. I don't want you to see that. Do you want me to move on from that topic?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Okay. Yeah. You know, you don't sound happy about it. Oh, so another thing off the book now that we've moved on from childhood snacks, is that Robert, who. If you know who he is already, you know who he is in the book. He's introduced pretty early as someone that our lead, our main character goes, well, he's the main character too, but that she goes home with. And then he turns out to have a huge role in the book and story. So he's a lawyer and he is. He lost his son in a tragic way. He lost his wife, too. So he's. He's been through it. He's a lawyer. He sees all kinds of shit. Right. So at one point he says he has a goal of moving to the beach and just doing cases, representing people about beach access, simple things. And he wants to represent also one of those sandy daiquiri bars and get paid in daiquiris. Yes. That's okay. It's so funny because when.

[B]

That's what you thought?

[A]

Yeah. Well, when I read it. When I read that part, I noted it, highlighted it for two reasons. One, bad Santa. When we see. If you guys don't know. Bad Santa, always worth the watch a million times over. But at one point, Billy Bob Thornton, you think he owns the place? Turns out he's just back there stealing.

[B]

A drink, cutting up lines and pouring. Cutting up limes and pouring drinks. And the owner comes and goes, get the back. Get away from. I've told you, get away. Get out of my back. From my bar, idiot.

[A]

But it also made me think of you because I feel like if you were a lawyer, that would be your dream. I feel like as a football player and retired football player, it's also your dream. I feel like if you could do anything, it would be move to a beach. And I don't know if you. I Don't think you would want to represent daiquiri bars. I think you just want to go to one. I don't know if you'd want to own one.

[B]

No, I wouldn't want to own one or represent one, but I would attend one as a consumer every day until I die. If something should ever tragically happen to you, I'm just gonna take all the money we have and just go live in a hotel or a hut by the beach until I. Until I expire.

[A]

Cats.

[B]

I didn't think that far ahead. Yeah, well, I have. Well, I have.

[A]

Oh, you thought what? You thought far ahead enough for me to be dead?

[B]

I'm hoping you live longer than what their life expectancy is. My God.

[A]

What do you.

[B]

Do you have to tell me something?

[A]

No, but sometimes cats can live a long time. Do.

[B]

Do you have toe cancer? Is that what this is about?

[A]

I honestly hope that's what it is. And they could just cut it off or something. No, I don't hope that's what it is. Joking. Not funny. No, but I feel like I know you well enough to know that you. Susan, John, Will. He tried the other. What was it last year? You were like, we moved to Cabo. If you want, we can open a cat sanctuary. If you want, we open one in Cabo. I think there's probably a lot of red tape behind that, but he was basically. He'll try to get me to go on vacation forever, if possible, right?

[B]

Well, yeah. Cause you're always like, we go to Cobble. You're like, let's go for four days. I'm like, well, let's go for like a week or 10 days. And then I'll be like, well, if we're all. We're gonna be there, might as well go for two weeks. And the only time I really succeeded doing this was during COVID when I got you to go for 18 days. Not during COVID like. Like at the. When. When Covid was kind of dying down. But Mexico was a little more open because everything was outside. Like, everything. Mexico is like, outside. So they are a little more open even though they're open.

[A]

Yeah, they were like, 30. You know what I mean? Capacity.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You could still do a lot.

[B]

It actually felt safer there when we were there. But we went for 18 days, and I got. That was my win.

[A]

Well, two reasons that that was. Was easier for you to get me to do. Well. Well, one, we didn't have cats. And even though I know I never said I would let cat ruin my vacation, I still don't we're going to Europe next week for 1312 days. And we, and we have a cat and house sitter. Don't worry, everybody house and our cats are fully protected and watched that entire time. But.

[B]

And we have an alarm and cameras and a security guard that comes around the house every single day. If you get any ideas out there, people, this house like friggin Fort Knox. You can't get into this freaking place.

[A]

But I'm just saying that for people that with, with cats, yes, it's easier to travel because you can leave them two, three days at a time with automatic feeders and they have their little. Everything's gonna be fine. We still have somebody come by and, and feed them even if we're gone for two or three days because our cats. Because we're psycho or I'm psycho. And so we do that. But anyway, the reason it was easier for during that time was a. We didn't have any cats at the time. I don't know if I could have left for two weeks without feeling really guilty during that time. But the other thing was work. There was. It was impossible to feel guilty about work during that moment because there was no work. It was. Everything was shut down or so constricted.

[B]

My football season, My football season was canceled back in Canada.

[A]

But I mean, I'm just saying what my personal. I'm saying for me because you know that that's part of the problem is when you want to go on a vac, you. He'll. John will say like, why can't we just go for three weeks? And I go, I don't know, because I feel guilty because I feel like I haven't done enough this year or I haven't done enough this month or I need to work more for this. Blah, blah. During that time it was like, well, all bets are off. Nobody's hiring me anyway. The only people that are getting hired were like the top five actors and actresses because they were only making like one show. Right. You know, everything was shut down for the most part. So that was why it was a little easier is all I'm saying, to get me to agree to things. That being said, I am a psycho and need to get out of my own way and enjoy a vacation. That's fine. I'm going to. When we go to Europe. Not worried about it. I don't know how we went from daiquiri bar to this, but that's what happens until life goes okay. So another thing in this book is that she our lawyer, I mean psychiatrist, did You. It's so funny because at the beginning of the book. So this was, this isn't a spoiler because it was. It happened so early, but did you think that she was a he at the beginning of the book?

[B]

I had that. I was going to ask you about that because I felt sexist.

[A]

Were you gonna, were you gonna ask me that on the, on the full?

[B]

Yeah, but it was. I. I can't remember the exact question. I think I had it done. But yeah, at first I thought it. She was a he and then I felt sexist for assuming that it was a man or just in my head, whatever triggered it thought that it was a male.

[A]

So you, you probably had the same moment I did. So Gwen is our psychiatrist in this book who. The whole book's centered around a lot of her story obviously. And so she was. From the way. And I, I actually think the author ar. Tori, who you told me you knew was a, A woman right away too, from the way that she wrote sex scenes. That was in last week's episode. I think that she did this. I think she knew that we would think that it was a man. And I think she was on purpose sort of like giving, which I appreciate giving you a little. Like, why'd you think it was a man? Just because he's successful psychiatrist with his own business. Like, I have no idea why I was thinking it was a man. There was something about, there was something about the COVID There was something about everything. And I'm not talking about the author, but I'm just saying like everything. Something about it made me think this was coming from a male's perspective at the very beginning. And I don't know why. And blast me, tell me why. I have no idea. It wasn't. I don't. I think I'm pretty clear on being a supporter of women and female authors and all the things. So it wasn't about me thinking I don't know what it was. I'm not going to try to over explain forever whatever reason I thought, until they said it was Gwen, I thought it was a man. But the author writes that like she goes to the gym, right? And at this point still there's no gender been specified or anything. And then, and then eritor rights. I went through the female locker room, something like that. The women's locker room, something like that. She says something that lets you know immediately that oh, this is a woman. And I was like, oh, I don't know why I thought this was a, A dude for the, for the first. Well, only A few pages, I felt.

[B]

I felt sexist. And then I was like. Because I was like, you know me, like, I don't. Like, we go to a. We go to our doctor's. Female. I've gone to psychologists before, and I would only go to females. I. When we hired a lawyer, I'd only hire a female lawyer. I prefer reading female authors. And then I don't know why that triggered in my head that this should be a male character.

[A]

I have no clue why it's so funny. I was kind of dying to talk to you about this, about. On the whole review. But this is a more fun way to talk about it, actually, because we can do a little more and get into the book more when we do the week four. But it was. Yeah, there was something about it that had me thinking it was a man's perspective. And I felt like there's not really a reason to say I pushed open the locker room to the women's locker room or something like that.

[B]

Right. So she was. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

It felt like it was very. Right. You know what I mean? I felt like it was.

[B]

Yeah, I know exactly the part where I was like, oh, shit. And then.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So, yeah, there was. Yeah.

[A]

And because it was so specific, because otherwise you just like, oh, I went in the dressing room, blah, blah, blah. But instead, Ar. Tori very much wanted you to know which dressing room they went into. So all of a sudden it was like, oh, this is. And then you found out her name was Gwen a little bit later, and you're like, oh, okay. Well, okay. Why did I think for five pages this was a man's perspective? And again, it was early on. It wasn't a huge shock, but it just kind of.

[B]

For some reason, I really thought the first chapter. It's very quick, but.

[A]

Yeah, no, totally quick, but that's so funny. Okay. I'm curious if any other lisponers had that same experience or thought for some reason just deciding this was a. From a male character's point of view at the beginning until. Until it wasn't. And last thing I'll ask you, John. It's an important one.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Dr. Gwen, our psychiatrist, she. She keeps candy in her office. She keeps gummy bears in her office. At one point, that's revealed. And you're a gummy bear guy. I'm a gummy bear lady. We love a gummy bear in that house. So much so that I have taken some advice. What was those weird gummy bears that everyone told me to order and I thought they were tasting they're delicious.

[B]

They're delicious.

[A]

You love them. I think they taste like garbage. I just like the Haribo. Haribo, whatever it's called. They're a little bit cr. They're a little bit tougher. The ones that everyone told. Yeah, the ones that everyone told me about to buy off Amazon. I bought a whole bunch of them because everyone was so excited I got them. I thought they tasted like garbage. They were too soft. I don't like them. John liked them anyway. She likes to have a gummy bear. She doesn't say which brand, and she picks out the green gummy bears to eat.

[B]

Do you think. Did she say she picked them out or she'll only eat the green ones, or do you think she has, like, a plate of just green ones?

[A]

She doesn't say that she only eats the green ones, but she says she. They. They wanted you to know that she pulled the gum. She says, I. I pull a green gummy bear and put it in my mouth. Whatever. Like, she goes for the green ones first. And I just feel like that's more psychotic than the people that she was representing that want to kill people. Well, who goes for the green gummy bear before the perfectly acceptable yellow and kind of whitish ones? Those are my favorite. I won't kick. I mean, I'll eat a green gummy bear, but I'm saying I'm not going for those first.

[B]

Well, no, but there's an obviously pecking order of the gummy bears, and this is how it goes, okay? Red and orange, green, yellow, white. It's in that order that gummy bears go. All I could see someone maybe. Maybe arguing with me. That orange should be a hit of red. Especially if you go to, like. If you go to, like, jelly beans, that's a different story. But on the gummy bear things, that's the order.

[A]

Can you see someone arguing with you that you have it absolutely backwards? What?

[B]

You go white, yellow, green. You know who else ate their gummy bears like that Osama bin Laden that time he ate his gummy bears and he knew he was about to die because he was down to the reds. He goes, oh, all I have is reds left. I guess it's time to die.

[A]

Oh, is that a fact?

[B]

Yes. Don't you read the paper, John?

[A]

First of all, I can't read on white first, yellow second. Oh, and then. And then the other three are. Honestly, whatever happens, they're left. They're. They're what's left? So I'm going to eat them. But you say white, yellow, Second white first. White is my favorite. I don't even know what flavor it is, but I like it.

[B]

You were probably that creepy kid down the block that ate banana popsicles too.

[A]

I don't know. I didn't.

[B]

In the summer when everyone had popsicles and we like our parents buy some of these popsicles, but we always leave the yellow ones in the back of the fridge. They were bananas. When that kid from down the street came over, you'd hand off the banana ones. That's what we did.

[A]

Well, I'd hand too.

[B]

Popsicles, they don't have green, but they have purple. So it goes red, orange, purple. Then if you have the right. But if you have like the, the rocket pops, those are number one. But these if it's the solid color and then the yellow if those banana, they're last. But they don't. They don't have green when it comes to popsicles.

[A]

I think they might maybe in other brands. But is it. Is a yellow a banana flavored or can it can be pie in Canada.

[B]

When we were kids. When we were. Yeah, but when we were kids, the yellow was banana flavored and it was always like last brown draft pick.

[A]

Well, that sounds like. I don't. I don't want a banana flavored popsicle by any means. But anyway, your gummy bear pecking order is wrong. Yellow first. And it's not banana flavored. I don't even know what flavor it is. Just delicious.

[B]

No, no, they're not. They are. I believe they're pineapple flavor.

[A]

Yeah, they don't really give pineapple. To be honest. They don't have a lot.

[B]

I think like red is the flavor. Like they're not trying to impersonate anything. It's just like its flavor is red.

[A]

Right. And the white ones, it's the flavor. White, gummy. Yes, Bear gummy.

[B]

They're going to give you some BS.

[A]

Flavor flavors.

[B]

Just the flavors. Just white.

[A]

It does say. It says pineapple, but they don't taste like pineapple. Anyway, I would eat the green ones.

[B]

The cherry, orange.

[A]

It says the raspberry.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Raspberry, orange, pineapple and lemon. Okay.

[A]

They all taste the same. They all taste mostly the same. But the green. But the white and the yellow taste better anyway. That's how we're leaving this. My guess, I'm right and you're wrong.

[B]

Agree. Agree to disagree.

[A]

Okay, well, thanks for. Thanks for listening to this nonsense. Yes, it is. No. Go join our Facebook group, the List, the book list spinners. You can tell us what your favorite gummy bear flavor is the hard hitting questions. You can always comment on Patreon too, if you have Patreon. Again, we have exclusive episodes for Patreon the 5th, the 15th and the 25th. And we're going to add some stuff we've been doing now. Our Our 5th, the 15th and the 25th have been we're doing them ourselves with video. So you get a video version on Patreon if you want that. It also goes right into your feed wherever you listen to your podcast. So you can also listen to it that way. Just an extra feature if you want it. And we appreciate you. And what's the November book again? Just to remind everybody one more time before we sign off, 12 Days of.

[B]

Christmas by Debbie McComber.

[A]

That's right. And the Patreon short story which will be out on the 15th. Our discussion of is Abby Jimenez who we all love the situationship. It's only a 37 page bait book. 37 page book. So go listen or read it and then join us on Patreon. And we will see you next week for week three.

[B]

See ya.

[A]

The Book List, the Book lisp. The Book list, the book lisp. The book lisp.