Manic Rambling Spiral

From smoothies with greens to extra-crunchy cruciferous salads (Sorry, LETA), we're trying to stay as healthy as possible this cold and flu season. Extending these healthy habits to our kids isn't always easy - just ask Heather's kitchen tiles - but some convenient snacks make it possible. Sponsored by GoGo squeeZ.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Paid family leaves means you'll still be paid while taking time off to navigating family changes and emergencies (babies, medical issues, etc.). But in America, paid leave is almost nonexistent, and that's a huge problem. Director Ky Dickens, our guest this week, set out to shine a light on this critical issue with her newest film, "Zero Weeks," after having a child of her own.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Time for a somber reflection. What? You knew this was coming. Even John has been pretty optimistic lately. Now it's time to ask how parenting affects our kids and the concept they have of how they fit into our bad moods.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we're joined by Mike Salguero, founder of Butcher Box and father to three girls who are three and under. How does he help families enjoy humanely-raised and independently-farmed meat delivered right to the doorstep while helping wrangle three kids? Honestly, we have no idea, but we tried to find out.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Heather is writing a book! It's not out until February 2019, but it's about depression, a clinical trial that changed her life, and dying. Because, oh yeah, Heather died a few times to get to get better. Turns out there's a way to do that! And John has kept it a secret this whole time. A keeper, that one.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's a new year! That means resolutions, goals, fresh starts and whoa, Heather, it's time to address the elephants in the room. One at a time, of course, because everything in moderation.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Christmas is over. Everyone is exhausted. The New Year is days away. We'd love to say it's a sprint to the finish, but it's a bit of a limp. Survival isn't always glamorous.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lots of bad happened in 2017. But there was also a lot of good. A dash of hope. Water rushing from the ceiling. And oh! Let us tell you a road trip story! Yeah, it's one of those episodes.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cold season is back. *blow your nose* Tissues are everywhere. *blow your nose* Sometimes we snap at our kids even when we know we shouldn't. *blow your nose* Please tell us we're not alone? *blow your nose*  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We recorded on Dec. 5 and woke up the next day to see that Time's Person of the Year 2017 is 'The Silence Breakers.' We're happy to add our voices to this important conversation. Everywhere you turn, it seems another high-profile man is being taken down by sexual harassment. "Keep your hands to yourself" should be easy enough, but it seems many men missed that basic life lesson. Now we're thinking about how to approach the subject with our kids.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There's a lot of stress around the holidays. Between kids being home and efforts to make everything perfect, it's enough to ruin the whole season. Light-up baby Jesus to the rescue!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Holiday advice from MRS: Don't make it your goal to ruin Thanksgiving with politics. Be open, be kind, and lead by example. However, we definitely took a low-road detour this time around, so that statement is a little hypocritical. Thanks for sticking with us, everyone!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kids are a-holes. Okay, that's probably a bit of a sweeping statement; but, when your child is faced with bullies, it's the first thing that comes to mind. And it brings back a flood of memories about how hard life can be when you're an insecure 13-year-old who's just trying to figure things out.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Politics, religion, and Twitter. The big three. Sort of. Now that we think about it, it's sort of surprising that sex didn't come up at all. We'll try harder next week.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John is back from Hong Kong, and we're talking travel, jet lag, basic airplane courtesy, and service jobs. Why service jobs? Because they're rough, people can be terrible, and we've both been there so we totally get it.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Teaching kids about finances is important and usually the best way to do that is to demonstrate budget-savvy behavior. But that's not always easy. And sometimes it's a unique challenge when you're self-employed.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Yes. We're talking about living wills. It not super uplifting, but it's an important topic. Also, Heather managed to bring up orgasms, so it's not completely grim.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Health care, independence and, on yeah, John's brief hospital stay are all part of this week. We also talk about peeing with an audience and international travel because we like variety.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sometimes it's tough to stay level-headed. Sometimes it feels damn near impossible when you have to do so while also trying to keep your kids relatively level. Hormones, parenting, life. Awesome.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From charities and organizations to individual creative pursuits and business startups, you can give money to a lot of different things. This week we're talking about how and where we give and why we're bringing MRS to Patreon. So tell us: Where should MRS go from here?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.