Candid Conversation with Debbie Reaney

I— we came back from, uh, Pennsylvania in the middle of January, and then I didn't want to take it down because I didn't really get to see it all Christmas because we were gone. And then when Valentine's Day came, I didn't want to take it down, so I put hearts on it. And then last month I put shamrocks and gold coins all over it from the Dollar Tree, and now I have these Easter eggs all over. I, I'm gonna see how long my husband deals with that nonsense, but He seems okay. He think— I think he just wants me to be amused, so we'll work with that.

I have a bar. I don't know if you can read it, but welcome to the woman who oozes artistic creativity.

I don't know what you just said.

Can you see the bar under this? I write to introduce you I said, welcome to the woman who oozes artistic creativity, forward thinking, and enough brains to fuel— oh, is— we're coming in bad. Okay, so I said that— so do you see— what do you see on the— on your computer or a phone?

Um, on my— it's on my phone.

Okay, so, um, it's so hard.

I just see—

can you hear me now?

The box, and then the background is black.

Oh, it's a bad connection. Can everyone please get— so I have, so I have a little introduction for you, and it says, welcome to the woman who oozes creativity. What, you thinking you want to try your computer?

Well, I would, except it's the computer from The Office and it does not have speaker on it.

Oh, forget that.

Forget it.

So can you see me?

Oh, you can't see me.

All right, can you hear me? Can you hear me?

I can hear you, absolutely.

Okay, I want to tell you that the one thing about doing this is that I just had a tuna fish sandwich and I have no desire to brush my teeth. I literally could talk to you and I'm okay. I like— that is the beauty. That's— okay, give me another positive. Give me another positive about, uh, about what's going on.

Um, well, let's see. I can do my work and my laundry at the same time.

Um, I, I'm gonna give you one more. I, I can— oh my God, this is hard. This is a hard game to play. Deb, let me see some of the creative things. You're so creative, and like, were you okay? How does someone become creative? Yeah, I think so.

I mean, my mom was a very creative person. We always did crafts and stuff when we were kids. We were very poor, so we did stuff like make pictures out of dried beans and rice. We did, uh, I mean, we used whatever we could find. And I was always in charge of making the centerpieces for our big dinners, like family dinners, out of whatever I could find in the refrigerator or in the house. So I would always create these elaborate things out of just garbage. So I think that's actually why I am a recycled artist, mostly because of my mom.

I love that. And can we get a little tour of the things that you love in your house? Because it looks so beautiful. Sure does. All right, thanks.

Well, so of course we saw, we saw my Easter tree.

Love it.

My Easter tree. Um, this is a— I don't know if you can see it— a pencil drawing I did in college.

Oh, I love it.

Um, I can't tell— that guy up at the tippity top is one of my first, uh, clay things I ever did. It's a little green man.

Oh my— is that M&M's that I see? Oh wait, wait, go back.

Yeah, but I didn't make that.

No, I know, I know. But you know what, that my parents—

it's an M&M dispenser.

I know, my parents collect that. We love M&M's. My mom and dad were M&Ms. They were live M&Ms.

Oh, that's cool. And I have my Zen garden right now. It's filled with Easter stuff. Oh, but it is a Zen garden.

Oh, I love that.

Uh, that's one of mine. That's pastels.

That's beautiful.

Um, this, this one is collage.

Oh my gosh. Wow.

Wow. This one's This one's Lucas's.

Oh, that's so special. Isn't that awesome? Yeah.

When did you do that one, honey? First grade? Second grade? Okay, third grade.

Okay, that's amazing. Um, wow.

Fourth grade. And then this one is watercolors.

Oh, that is so beautiful. I love that. What was that inspiration?

Pretty much every—

wait, wait, what's the inspiration for that, please?

This one was Alice in Wonderland. I was kind of in an Alice in Wonderland mood.

Oh my gosh, it's gorgeous.

Thank you. And then, oh, this one I did not— I did not create this one, but it's one of my favorite pieces. It was done by a Native American in Santa Fe. Oh wow, uh, back in the '60s, and I bought it my last trip to Santa Fe. It doesn't matter how much it was.

No, we want to know. Oh my God, to be on everything, price tag should be on every piece of artwork you have in your house. I don't know.

Um, oh, let's see. Oh, and then up, up on the top, I haven't taken down these little things my kids made. Aren't they fun?

Oh my God, what are they? Oh wait, how'd they make it?

They take— I have them take pony beads, you know, from the dollar store, the kind you put in your hair. And you just put them in muffin tins and melt them down, and then you can drill a hole through it. They get super hard. So they've made like a whole bunch of them actually into wind chimes and all kinds of stuff.

You could really have your own studio.

I would like that one day. It would be nice. And this is our, our family, our family wall.

Oh, your family was beautiful.

Oh yeah, and then this one Lucas did in, I think, uh, second grade, and I taught a class and he came and did it at the school. And then, then this one Liam drew me for Mother's Day when he was in fourth grade. Isn't it beautiful? This one's my favorite. I love his—

this piece. Well, you have two boys, right?

Yes, I do.

Any other children?

I have two stepchildren. Um, I have a stepdaughter who's 29 and Her son is 10 years old, about to turn 11. And so I have an 11-year-old grandson. And then, uh, yeah, I know, it's crazy. And then, um, I have a stepson who is 25. He just got married last year.

Oh, that's—

I don't foresee them having children anytime soon though.

I love the L. He's a—

pardon?

I love the L, Liam and Lucas.

Oh yes, Liam was named after his grandfather. And I actually— it's kind of weird, I had— his grandfather's name is William, but, um, I had always, since I was a little—

well, this is what happens when we're going live, and I guess Wednesdays and Thursdays are so busy. Here's Debbie back again. Hey, no, it's okay, you're fine. Thank you. You click right back. I love it. Oh, it's coming. There you go. Perfect, perfect.

So anyways, what I was saying was, uh, when I was a little girl— I have it written down from in my one of my books from 5 years old— I always wanted to name a kid Liam. I don't know why. Um, so I named my first child Liam just because I wrote it down when I was 5 years old.

I love that. That is so awesome.

And then I let Liam name Lucas. He wanted to originally name him Darth Vader, but I said no, I'd have to draw the line somewhere.

So that's awesome.

So opted for Lucas Anakin, which is pretty close to Darth Vader.

Oh my God, that is a great name. Yeah, I love it.

I love it.

You know, like Alana got named— Alana was named by my sister-in-law's ex-mother-in-law. They're very close, and I had no idea I was pregnant. It was— and so all of a sudden one day I get a message and it says, you should call her Alana Henrietta Angel for aha. And I— because my husband's Alan, his father was Henry, and I thought for at least 13 years she wouldn't really care about the name Henrietta. By the time she turns 14, she'll probably be pissed at me. And honestly, she She's so pissed at me that her last name's Henrietta.

She's like, I hate it.

And I'm like, I don't care, that's your name. Aha. That's her. Oh, show me more.

What are you doing, Luke?

Oh, I don't know. Oh, behind you. Cute kid alert. Cute kid alert behind you. Cute kid.

So then to continue with our art situation. Yes, please.

Artcore.

That's a little goddess that I made, a kitchen goddess. I made that. I made that with my tribe of art chicks here in Volusia County when I first moved here. The— Wow. The shape itself actually was made by one of my friends who's a potter. Her name is Annie, and she's amazing. And then we had a group of women artists that were kind of stuck when we met each other. So we did the Artist Way together, and we started creating more and more together. All of them were very successful now.

Honestly, um, why don't you interview them too? Because I, I know that your friends are like, like you, because like-minded people hang out. I would love to know who your friends are, so show off your friends. Um, so maybe you could do this too. I'm trying to create a movement where we— everyone shows off their friends, and then it helps us all to get to know each other better.

That would be super cool. I do have to make some of them. Dina, be calm, because I know she's listening. She's a little crazy. Anyway, and this one is my favorite, one of my favorite pieces that my friend Becky did in Pennsylvania. She gave that to me when I moved away. I love that. She's a wonderful potter as well. I have a lot of friends. Pardon?

That's pottery?

That's pottery that she Yeah, yeah, yeah, she, she does a lot of really neat stuff, actually.

That is, that is simple and elegant at the same time.

I agree, she's phenomenal. And then here I got some of my intuitive paintings that I've kind of been working on.

That is beautiful. What is the material?

This one's just canvas. You know, regular canvas, but it's not wrapped. So it's the same stuff as this, just not wrapped on anything yet.

It's gorgeous. It's absolutely stunning. The colors are— they make me feel good. They're calming.

They make me happy too. Oh, and up at the tippity top, my daughter-in-law— I don't know if you can see that. Hold on.

I want to see. I want to see.

Can you see that?

What reads up there? It's a wreath. Oh, I love it.

And it's made out of Harry Potter book.

Oh, so it's the whole book of the Chamber of Secrets.

It's beautiful. She made it for me when, um, my stepson and her got married in May last year. She's pretty awesome. I kind of—

I'm kind of blown away with that. How did she even think of that idea?

Uh, I don't know.

I'd have to interview her. You are going to interview her so we can find that out and also find out how married. We want to hear about newlywed life.

Yes, that's a good idea. Okay. Oh, and this, this is a— you get ready for my latest recycled fashion. I still have it sitting up. I haven't put it away yet. So this is made out of couch scraps that one of my friends, Gail Warner— she lives in Spain right now, but she was here briefly— and she gave— when she had her couch recovered, she gave me all these scraps of leather, and then an old lace doily thing. But I actually wore this, by the way, to a fashion show in February before the crazy happened.

Oh, wow. Oh, I would love to see a picture of you in that. Wow. It came out pretty cool. Oh my God, that is so talented. It's the— wow.

So I have lots of crazy outfits like that, but they're kind of shoved in spots right now, and they're made out of mostly, uh, motorcycle tires and water bottles and other crazy things.

You're the— I'm 57 years old, and you're the first person I've ever met like you. Like, you literally are one of a kind. I, I've never met a person like you in my whole life. That is this creative. Thanks.

Maybe you should hang out with my friends, because out of my friends, I don't feel like I'm that creative compared to them.

We'll see. Wow, you are though. Wow, wow.

Uh, then I used to— in the early 2000s, I started making belly casts, uh, for pregnant women. Um, and the first one I did it for was my sister Lisa. So this, this is actually the one I made for her. She gave it to me recently to fix it, and it's just been sitting here hanging on my wall waiting to be repaired. But, um, so it's Starry Night. Can you see it?

Holy—

so that's inside. Inside here was my nephew Aiden.

Oh my God, Debbie, that is crazy amazing! That is crazy amazing.

I used to actually have a business doing it, but then a lot of people thought it was weird, so I stopped doing it.

Um, oh, oh, it's beautiful. What a beautiful gift to give.

I thought so.

Oh, I love pregnant bellies. Hello.

Let's see, I have some of my— I told you my whole house is filled with stuff, so—

Oh, that is so beautiful. I love the colors of that too.

I love them.

Yeah, that one. Oh my God.

And I got this one, but I think my friend Arlene is supposed to be buying this one. She says— we'll see.

Oh, beautiful. Oh, beautiful.

That one above is, uh, just pencil. Um, the rest of them are all acrylics.

But that tree looks like a human. Did you make that tree to look like a person?

Yeah, I did. Yeah. And then this one is my husband's favorite. I don't know why, I think it's very basic, but he made me stop painting it so he could keep it.

Uh-oh.

And then that one's the one I'm working on now that I kind of hate, but we'll see where it goes later this week. Maybe I'll get inspired.

Oh, so you don't mind, do you? You're okay being home?

I don't actually— I don't mind being home. The part I mind is my kids fighting all the time and not giving me like a little bit of free time. Like, if they could walk away for a little bit and stop calling me, that would be super.

But, uh, I'm sorry, I'll talk to them. Let me talk to them. All right, Lucy, go up, go up, go up, go up, go up. That's our wedding pictures. Oh, I like it.

And that was done by my, um, my niece Lauren put that together for us and she took all those, um, and then this was our— this was actually our sign-in for our wedding. I made it—

wait, what?

Signed their names on the tree. I made it for the sign-in, you know, for the wedding. So when people came in, instead of signing a book, they signed the tree. I thought they were gonna do it like make it more like leaves, like my sister Jeanette's. I don't know if you can see hers, it actually looks like a leaf right here because she's crafty and artsy and she understood what I wanted to do. But everything else, everybody else just kind of right on the branches. But wow, but it was so cute.

Oh my God, I love you. You are— I mean, I loved you before I even met you, obviously we know that story, but I just can't get over how creative your juices are and then how you are just one of the smartest people I know. And it must make you so healthy too, because the art really does help to relax you, right? To keep you—

It does help me be calm. That's true. Which that this, this beginning of this thing was a little bit rough because I was sick and I haven't really created anything in a while. So I'm trying to get back on track there.

What were you sick with? What was going on?

I remember you telling us you were sick with gastrointestinal infection, which was really bad. Um, and, uh, I guess I must have had an upper respiratory and an inner ear infection too. I just didn't know it. So they gave me some super strong, uh, antibiotics. I actually have taken, I think now, 4 different kinds of antibiotics since September to try and kill whatever this is. But this round seems to have done a good deal, so we'll see.

But I'm glad.

Yeah. Oh, these— this one you might think is pretty cool, even though it's kind of falling apart right now. But, um, this was my bouquet that I made for my wedding. Can you tell what it is?

But yeah, it's gorgeous.

It's all brooches and stuff from— they were my grandmother's and my great-grandmother's brooches. So that way they could be with me when I walk down the aisle because they're all passed away. So that's what I— instead of flowers, I did that, which I thought—

wow, that gives me chills. That's so beautiful. Thank you.

I actually thought it would be a cool thing to do if people would give me their stuff. I could totally put together to make some fun stuff. No one— oh, uh, no one caught the bouquet because it rained. Remember, it rained and we had to just cancel, like, stop the wedding at that. We didn't even get to do our first dance, it kind of stank, but that's okay.

That was a great question that your son just asked. I love that he asked that question. That was a good one.

Actually, I'm kind of cool with that because my first wedding, everything was mostly perfect, and, you know, that didn't work out. Oh, Lucas says we dance all the time in the kitchen. We do that because we didn't get to dance at our wedding.

That is so sweet. Oh, you and your husband dance all the time in the kitchen? Oh, he's a nice man.

They think we're gross because we kiss all the time.

But anyway, I love that. Did you sing to him? You sang to him too? Oh, he's so lucky. He's a lucky man to marry a woman like you. Very lucky. Really?

Yeah, he knows it. No, this, this one is one of my first pastels I ever did when I was in college.

Wow. Who was it? Who did she remind you of? Who was it that you were thinking of when you did that piece?

My sister Lisa, actually. She has a copy of it. I gave it to her when I created that originally. She actually probably has more art of mine in her house than anyone other than my mother.

Oh, that's so awesome. Oh, I love that. I did not come up from a— I came from a mentally creative, like they're entrepreneurs. My parents were, but I don't recall them making anything. As a matter of fact, Alan sews. Like, I don't have, um, I don't do any sewing or anything like that, but he does. He likes to sew, and so that's cool. I think all of my cousins are creative.

How many, how many siblings do you have? How many?

What happened?

That was weird.

Let's see, you have— so there was 4 of us, or there are. I have one brother that's very creative in selling. Buy things for Alana. I try to buy the things for Alana to make just to kind of keep her mind and help her to get focused. But yeah, even then, she started it, she'll like it, but she won't finish it. Yeah, I could see that. Yeah, I think, I think we, like, you know, because like my mom never cooked, so I'm like the world's worst cook too. And you're creative with your meals too. That's a whole nother part of you, is that your creativity when you're cooking.

I love cooking.

Wow.

Well, I started cooking when I was 11 because my mom, uh, worked 3 jobs and, um, my big sisters were getting ready to go to college. Uh, actually, one was graduating from high school and the other one was not a— Jeanette, I mean, I loved her very— I love her very much, actually, but at that point she was not cooking. She actually cooks amazing stuff now. Uh, I think she just wasn't in the mood. We used to call her Queenie because she just didn't want to do stuff.

Um, what a world to be. I love it. Queenie.

Yeah, but now she's like a badass. She can do anything. I love her. And my sister, my sister Blair is a nurse. She's my big sister. But anyway, so when she— when they got older, Blair stopped obviously cooking dinner because she was gonna— she was about to go to college and she just didn't have time to deal with us all. And so at 11, it became my job to cook for the family. So I became super as creative as possible. I read a lot of recipes and I don't know, my little sister's friends used to come over just so I could make macaroni and cheese, which I thought was weird. I was like, "It's a box, man." But I think she said I added extra stuff. I mean, I guess I did add extra cheese and stuff to try and make it better than just Kraft.

Wow.

I don't know. And then my stepsister, Lisa, everybody, they're all very creative people. And all very smart young, young women.

You're not only smart though, I say you're a forward thinker. Actually, Jason is a forward thinker and I'm a forward thinker. So it kind of is a really nice— and everyone else, I mean, Jack, I mean, you put the whole group together, but it really is amazing when you think ahead all the time. That's such a— and I was always perceived as being very negative because of it. Because sometimes when you think ahead, you have to think ahead that some things may go wrong too, or you're questioning things. So my questioning things, even now, you know what? I don't know if people realize, even if I question something, I receive the hardest, most unbelievable emails back from my siblings. That's stingy. It's unbelievable. It's so mean. And like, so if I even question anything, oh, it does stink. It's really unfair to treat someone like that. But I'm stronger now because of it, because I now can stick up for myself. I must have been a little weaker. And so I must have allowed it to happen for so many years and didn't speak up for myself. But now I'm like right there on top of it speaking up. It's still like, it's just still not a good thing. But I talked to a real— I got a call today from a man. I'm very excited working with him for SCORE. To be. I guess I've turned off my score thing a little bit because I need a little—

it's weird.

Sometimes I feel like I need a break, but then I need a break, but then the minute I talk to the next person, the next client, I'm like so grateful that— yeah, it's like, it's like when you don't want to go to an event and you go to the event and it's like the best event ever, and you say to yourself, I am so glad I went. And then you remember how you didn't want to go, but you went, and you're like so grateful to see Same thing exactly. I just, I just love it. And I have to say this because I know we're not talking business, but you are the reason why I'm involved with SCORE Flagler Volusia, because I didn't have to be. I was following you, and this is a woman that knows what she's doing. Oh, someone's coming. Okay, come here. Alana, come on, honey. Stop the shyness.

Come here.

And you're so pretty. All right, come here. Say hello to Debbie.

I want you to meet I actually can't see you. All I see is a black screen, but I've seen pictures of you. I know you're beautiful.

And you— she's got 2 boys and she's so creative with the art. Okay, about how old right away? 13 and 16. I— the 16-year-old, I haven't seen the 13-year-old.

Can you—

where is he?

Lucas, can I look at you just for one second, please?

Oh, Locust! Oh, right here, look at this. Look, I can see you through your shirt. That's an invisible shirt.

Yep, invisible shirt. We can see—

look, my son has no—

my son has no head.

He lost his head.

I have a child with no head.

You know what, one day they're gonna— one day, you never know, maybe I'll move to Port Orange. You'll never know. One day you'll be like, Alana, that name sounds familiar. So how are you doing? Tell me about like shopping right now. I'm curious. Shopping, what's going on in Port Orange? Do you leave the house? Does your husband leave the house?

Well, my husband leaves every day because he is a mechanic, um, so he's considered essential. But, uh, he's had less and less vehicles to work on, obviously, uh, so he's just been going to his, his shop And if somebody shows up, great. And he's having them, uh, if they call ahead and they want to drop it off, he has a procedure where they have to put the key inside a, um, a special bin so that he doesn't have to touch it and he can sanitize it before he touches it and all this stuff. He has a lot of protocols going on because I've got 3 autoimmune, so he doesn't want to bring that home to me, which is thoughtful. The boys and I are pretty much just here all the time. I only go out if I have to have to. This week I've been out a couple times 'cause I had some doctor's appointments and lab things that I had to get done. And I had to pick up medicine at Publix. Publix didn't seem super crazy when I was there. When was that? I picked up the medicine 2 days ago, I guess. They actually even had toilet paper in Port Orange. Not a lot, but they did have some. Um, and, uh, BJ's is the only other place that I shop at. Uh, it— they had toilet paper when I went last week. I got a 30-pack, which should last us for at least another month or so, I would imagine.

Um, yeah, I do a roll a day when my husband—

really?

Yeah, because, you know, he goes a lot. He goes a lot.

Even with the 4 of us, I don't even know if we do that.

Yeah, well, if it's fat, I get like 3 days, but if it's like a cheap roll, I get like 1 day with him. Literally, I'm not even kidding around, actually.

Yeah, probably because they're the thin things and it's— yeah, I understand that.

He poops like 25 times a day too, so like, it's like, like really, he poops a lot.

I've been having a really hard time finding is is meat, which is ridiculous. Like chicken, I've been having the hardest time finding chicken. But I did actually, uh, I think it was Saturday or Sunday, my husband told me to go check out Perrine's. I hadn't been there yet, the one on Clyde Morris here in Port Orange. It was beautiful. It was packed though. There were a lot of people in there, people like with all of their kids. I was like, listen, if you have 2 adults and 5 kids with you, how about one adult stay home with all those kids and just one of you go to the store?

I know, I told you. You know what, not every— not everyone really believes what's going on. Perrins is amazing. They've been donating to Maria for Healthy Souls, so she really— yeah, they really are. She's been— she's really been helpful. I— yeah, I just got— I was just talking to my friend David and he was telling me that Walmart just finally did get chicken in. And I went to the— I went to the new Publix over by Margaritaville, and it's Very, very beautiful. I was really surprised with the man that was doing the sushi, and he was— he had no mask on, and he did— he was wearing gloves, but he's like right above the sushi, like literally, you know, like they work with the sushi, them. And I was like— and he's like, do you want any? And I'm like, I didn't even know what to say to him. I was like, why? Like, why are you not wearing a mask? Like, does it make sense to me that you would not be wearing a mask touching and making food?

I agree.

Well, if the stores are scared, like, I feel like they're worried that their employees will be like, um, maybe nervous wearing a mask, or— but they need to tell the employees they're wearing a mask for, for other people. Like, if you are— if you wear a mask, to me it's like being selfish. Like, you don't want to protect someone else because it's not about protecting themselves.

Exactly. Well, at least now Publix Perine's and Kmart— or not Kmart, what the heck am I talking about— Winn-Dixie.

Um, your A came out.

Yeah, here, uh, at least in our neighborhood, all of them have that like a big plexiglass screen. Yeah, in front of them. And the one at Perine's is the best one. Theirs is probably a good 6 feet up and 6 feet across, and you only just kind of deal with the hand around the cash register side and that you can't— they're not like breathing. No one's breathing on anyone, which is really nice. They made them themselves. And then the ones at Winn-Dixie are quite a bit smaller. They're probably only 3 feet across and maybe 2 feet tall, but I guess it's better than nothing. And Winn-Dixie is— or goodness gracious, Publix is about maybe the same size, but I think actually it might be a little smaller, which is kind of weird.

But yeah, I think everyone's trying to get what they can, but I don't think they're going to take them down too quickly. I think that that's what's going to be left up. We'll start seeing that protection anyways, which is not a bad thing.

No, it's not a bad thing. I agree. I also think it's funny how many people I see out wearing gloves because I'm like, dude, you already touched your door, you're this or that. Throw the glove away. Just take off the glove and wash your hands when you're finished. Like, I don't—

yeah, I— well, we have a— we have boxes of disposable gloves. It's one thing that Alan had, had always gotten gloves, so we have the gloves. So like, if I go to the grocery store, I take them when I get out of the car, I'll wear the glove. The minute I get in my car, I take them off. And then when I get back out to carry in the groceries, I don't think I'm that great with cleaning everything. Like, honestly, You know, I used a great product, but that's another thing too. Thank God that I use this product called Solyuguard that I could buy online because you can't get Lysol. You can't— there's no cleaning products except for bleach. There's really nothing out there. The stores are just completely empty. And I actually posted that because I'm curious what's happening in everyone's neighborhood, not just here but everywhere, what they're missing and how are we stocking up? Like, what is it going to look like? Because if anything scares me, that's what scares me, is that we're going to be like in the Great Depression where you can't get any more, uh, milk, or you can't get any more bread and eggs. I don't know.

Well, I mean, yeah, I agree. Fortunately, we have— we have actually down the street, one of our neighbors, uh, has chickens, so we can buy— we can buy a dozen eggs from her for $6.

Nice.

Wow. Yeah, I mean, it's a little pricey, but at least they're fresh and whatever, and they're here. I also, uh, have already started kind of Great Depression shopping because, like I told you, we grew up very, very poor. So I have fortified powdered milk. Yes, smart, just in case. And we've been using this with water.

Yeah, and it's okay.

I use it for cooking a lot, uh, lately, because the boys drink a lot of milk. But also, if you put it in the refrigerator and chill it, it's not that bad. I mean, it actually mostly tastes like milk. I actually didn't taste real milk for a really long time when I was a little girl.

I use oat milk. I love oat milk. Have you tried that? I just love oat milk.

No, because I have a gluten intolerance. So I do coconut milk instead.

Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh no, no, I, I got addicted. I like going to the Spanish market, um, and getting this, uh, this corn— the corn masa. It's like a corn porridge. And then I use a little— and I get addicted to that. And then it's like a bowl of— I mean, I know nobody likes to say pudding, but it's like that nice warm tasty— and I put a little bit of condensed milk in it. But, but this, this being, um, having this take place for someone like me is harder because I'm not a chef. I'm not a— I belong on The World's Worst Cooks. Like, I should be on that show. And, you know, my husband never complains, everything is delicious, blah blah blah. But I know myself and I have no creativity. And then I don't even like the kitchen. Like, it's like the worst place in the world. So like, I— it's all like, I know, I know, I just don't like the kitchen. Get me out of it. So I don't even know what to do tonight, and I'm just not— I don't know. I just—

well, let's see. Tell me, what do you have in your refrigerator? I'll come up with something.

So I do have— well, everything's in the freezer right now, so I'm so bad. But I have shrimp, I have hamburger, I have chicken, I have, um, I have frozen food. I got to make rice. I stocked up very well. I mean, we've got, we've got a ton of canned food, dry food, like all of that. It's just, I don't know. And I— my appetite's always been really weird, so like I don't really like pasta. So I— so think of that, I'm not really a person that likes anything pasta. Oh, actually, I'm very simple, so that's probably the problem too. I can make salmon tonight. Alana gets bored. I have frozen salmon that I'm okay with it because I like it kind of rare with the skin crispy. I could do that. But I don't even know what to say what I have in the— well, I just had tuna fish sandwiches, as I said before. So you can't I love that. I— and I really don't eat tuna fish out, or like, you know, like when you're doing a meeting and everyone brings their lunch. Yeah, I don't like— I don't like meat, so I don't like deli meat. So that's a problem. I love that Wawa sandwich. Actually, I do have a big ham, so I'm going to take— I'm going to— the Jewish girl is cooking ham on Sunday, and then I have— I'm going to make pea soup. I could do that. And then from there, we'll have some sandwich meat for the week. So I figure I'll get all that done on Sunday and be a good person. Excellent.

Actually, I was thinking about making matzo ball soup this week.

I'll see you like, really? And you have everything you need to make matzo ball soup?

Look, Lucas wants me to make it. He's shaking his head yes.

Oh, you're like David. You're like my friend David. So good. Last night was Passover.

I saw—

I know, Alana made herself eggs and bacon. Oh geez, it's a good thing I have a good heart. It's like I have a good heart and soul because God's looking down going, patting my head going, it's okay, it's okay, we forgive you. And it's OK. Oh my God. That was funny.

Actually, I just realized today that it was Easter this weekend. So I have not bought anything yet. So I'm going to have to get myself situated.

I'll tell you, the one— the Safeway store in— on Nova has the best meats ever. And they have— actually, before this, I asked my friend Maria to go to the store with me because it's all Spanish food. They have so much meat and I don't know what to do with it. So I was hoping that I would get some good lessons on what to do. They have all kinds of fish and everything. And then we never got a chance to do that. And so when I'm in the store, all their vegetables and the fruit, but I have to like ask people that look nice. Like, I'm like, can you tell me what this is and how do I use it? And then they'll be nice and they'll share it with me. So I do enjoy that store. Actually, I think that's my favorite store in all of— and is that funny? Because it's just— it's unique food. And then the Asian market is cool too.

I do love the Asian market.

My—

that's my husband's favorite.

He likes so much too, by the way. They're changing the packaging. So like, my daughter loves those seaweed things. At one point you get them. Yeah, now they're like— they, they used to— you could go to Aldi's and get them for like a dollar, so I would buy like boxes of them. Now I saw them for $3.89.

Yeah, I know, they're crazy expensive. I don't know what's going on.

Everything is going up, or the packaging is going up. So you may look at it and think it's the same, but then you realize it's a few ounces less, right?

Well, even, um, I— when I was in Publix the other day when I picked up that medication, I looked over and the soap, like soft soap, which is usually like $2 or $2.50 a bottle, was like $4. And I was like, what?

I know. What also, um, you know what, I love tuna fish packets, the ones that you could rip open and put a little mayonnaise. Tuna, they usually are like 99 cents. They're now like over $2.69 in some stores.

Holy heck, that's crazy.

Yeah, so anything that you can buy that would be, you know, canned— and I keep— I don't want to use the canned food because I feel like we're going to have a couple more weeks of this and that it may even get worse. And then the stores are stopping everyone from going in. So because remember, Sammy's in Shanghai, so my little— my guy, my 31-year-old is in Shanghai, so I'm just kind of following their pattern of what's going on.

Now they're—

now they're tracking everyone. Well, that's good. It's crazy. We're tracked too. We're tracked by our phones anyway, so we know that.

Absolutely.

I'm used to it. I don't— I— nothing bothers me anymore. But I love you. So is there anything else that you can, um, tell me about yourself that I don't know about? Um, I don't know.

What else is there around me?

I, I don't know. You do events. You really are so well-rounded in everything that you do. You really are one of the smartest people I know.

I think you're delusional, but thank you.

And I think you're humble. You're humble as heck because you never— I say that all the time. I don't know why I have to say it to you all the time, but I just feel that that is really true. I thank you for everything that you do for SCORE and, you know, working for a nonprofit. That's just a beautiful thing to do. And I know that's what you're you're used to doing. And now more than ever, people need score. Now more than ever, businesses want to share their thoughts. And now is the time to get with a mentor and get creative and see what you could do. And I don't know how you do it. How many hours do you spend a week on social media? Because you really put out a lot of great content.

I'm not sure. I probably should track my hours better. Since I've been here working from home, I know that I probably get sitting at that desk about 8:30, 9 o'clock in the morning, and I usually sit there until 5 or 6 sometimes at night, which I shouldn't be doing. I'm only supposed to be working 20 hours.

But, uh, I believe it. And you schedule a lot of your posts, or do you post when you get the information?

I schedule— I try to schedule a week in advance at least one post a day. And then, and then everything else, I kind of cut— I post as it comes.

If I can't—

and also, I love to stay updated as much as possible.

And you know your own community here too. I love the fact that you are, you know, because you're a mom, so you post the information that is for us, for Volusia— Volusia— Volusia— I just gave our new names— Volusia students at schools. And then I love every— oh, you know what's funny? I was talking to this woman Tracy before you, and she— her son was saying that he's got— they have to check in at a certain time on the computer. Really? Yeah, so by 10 o'clock they have to press a button to say that they're up and they're, they're ready. He says you don't have to necessarily do the work, but there's a check-in process that they want all the kids to check in.

Yeah, now my, my children's schools have not done that. They just— their whole thing is that they need to check in once a day, you know, Monday through Friday. They need to check their email and log on to their Teams or whatever it's called. Um, and then as long as they have all of the assignments done, uh, by Friday for the week, they're good.

Uh, isn't that lovely? Alana will know more about Microsoft Office Teams than I will ever know. Like, like, when I watch what she does, I'm like jealous.

I know, right? My kids are like certified in Excel and all of this stuff. I'm like, man, I can't even— there are some days I want to throw my Excel across the room, so I'm just going to have them do my stuff.

Yeah, exactly.

That sounds easy. I'll make you— you do all of my Excel spreadsheets from now on then, kid.

That's awesome. I love it. All right, I'll let you go. Thank you so much for spending your afternoon with me, and I love looking at your— all the tour of your house. Thank you. I love you. I can't wait to come in on a Friday and have some pizza with you.

You absolutely should do that.

Tell us about your pizza. So before you go, share us your idea for your Fridays and what you do.

Oh, well, what I do is I make dinner every day, obviously, Monday through— Oh no, actually, you do not make dinner, you flipper. Anyways, Monday through Thursday. And then on Friday, whatever we have left over, we turn into pizzas. So like this week we had steak, uh, and asparagus. I'm sure that will end up on a pizza with like blue cheese or something. And then what else did I make this week? I'm trying to remember.

Uh, I made Hmm.

Oh, I made pork, pork chops last night. So I'm sure that, like pork chops and maybe sauerkraut or something on a pizza. I love sauerkraut. It's delicious. I used to hate it until I got pregnant with Liam. And then suddenly I loved sauerkraut and pickles. I couldn't get enough of it. I don't know what happened.

Wow.

I made homemade egg noodles this week, but I can't imagine that's going to make it on a pizza.

Homemade egg noodles.

Yeah, I made homemade egg noodles. Well, because I wanted to have, um, I had a head of cabbage and I wanted to have cabbage noodles. It's like a haluski. It's a Polish thing.

My daughter loves that. Wait, that's one thing my husband makes. It's a noodles, the egg, the, um, the cabbage, and then like sausage, some kind of like—

yeah, yeah. Or, well, my husband puts bacon in it. And we had— I actually served it with, uh, with grilled chicken this week because I didn't have sausages. But, um, but it was delicious. But I didn't want to go to the store to buy egg noodles, and I was like, oh, I have eggs, I have flour, I'll just make it.

Wait, really? I have eggs and I have flour, I could make it?

Yeah, it's just flour, flour, a little bit of salt mixed together, and then eggs beat up, and you drop it into the flour and just kind of knead it until it goes into a dough. And then you let it rest for about 10 minutes, then you roll it out and slice them down. Holy crap, right in the water. It takes 3 minutes to cook them. It's super easy. So making them from scratch, they taste better first of all, but, uh, also the whole process maybe takes 15 to 20 minutes. It's not really that big of a deal.

What kid can— when one of your kids start videotaping you, we could start a little channel.

Oh, I'm sure they would. Or they would at least set it up and then they'd walk away.

I really like that. I don't like all the video. I don't like, um, I like just watching it be done. And then I don't like all the beginning part where people have to tell you all this stuff. I like a video where you just jump in, show me how to make the noodles, and get off.

Yeah, I don't— exactly, me too. Like, I hate going on recipe things and you're like, oh, I just want this recipe, and then you got to read 9 pages of blogs before you— I don't like that recipe.

I hate it. Thank you. Thank you. See, that's why I have a bad book. Nobody does it right. All right, I'll let you go. Thank you so much. I love you. I can't wait to see you. Um, I can't wait.

Soon we'll get to hug each other in real life. Okay, that's actually the first thing I'm gonna do when I am allowed to be out of here. I'm gonna hug everybody that I haven't been able to hug all this time. What do you think?

What are you thinking? 4 to 6 weeks? What do you think?

I don't know. I'm hoping— I'm trying to be optimistic.

You know, Debbie, I don't want to be a weirdo, but you have really pretty face. You have the perfect nose. You are really a beautiful girl. You have a beautiful, beautiful face. When your husband tells you that all the time, you just say, I know. Just say, I know. Adrian tells me you really do. Everyone's watching you and saying the same thing. You are a natural-born beauty. Okay, I'm out. Jesus. All right, bye-bye.