Candid Conversation with Host Adrienne Barker, MAS

with Shanell. Hello, Larson, how are you?

Hi, I'm good, how are you?

Is it cold where you are, uh, today?

No, actually. Well, I guess that's a relative term. It's warm today, in the, in the mid-40s.

So you're in Minnesota, right?

Yeah, just north of Minneapolis.

Just north of Minneapolis. So what is, what is a place that you like to go? Do you like the caverns there and the caves?

Not here. That's, uh, well, there are some, but they're more prevalent in Wisconsin, which is, um, we can get a lot of them within a 3-hour drive from our house. But what we have is on Lake Superior, the shore is really rocky, and so we've got mini cliffs. So you can do mini rock climbing and you can do some really good hiking, and there's some fantastic rivers that run through and then out into Lake Superior, and you can hike up those rivers. And there's some great state parks that go along that way, or just parks in general. And we've got a small waterfall that has really great hiking at it. And there's, uh, and my favorite thing actually to do, which we only do it once every 3 years, it's called the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. It's the entire northern border, well, half the northern border of Minnesota. And it's a no-fly zone and also no motorboats. And so it's a hike-in, hike-out, like old-school camping, Boy Scout style, where you bring everything with you, you pack all your trash back in your pack with you, and you portage all of the, you know, like you— it's like Oregon Trail, but real life, uh, in the 21st century.

Wow, that sounds fun. How far is that from you?

Uh, that's actually 6 hours away.

Okay, and then like what's your closest city? So if you feel like going down, if you see a concert, how far are you from a concert?

20 minutes.

Okay, so downtown where?

Downtown Minneapolis.

So downtown Minneapolis. I'm trying to think if I've been— I don't think I ever did go to Minneapolis, Minnesota. We're gonna have to visit you. What would I find downtown?

Oh, okay. We once, a long time ago, took a trip and we had some extra time, so we decided to drive to a different airport to fly home. And we said to this girl on the plane, uh, we said to a bunch of people, what is there to see? And everybody said, oh, I don't know what there is to see. And we said, there has to be something, you live here. And they said, I'm, I don't know, maybe you could see the stadium. So on the way home, we said, if somebody ever asked us what to do in Minneapolis or St. Paul, we would make a whole list. So I have a whole list.

You know, that's so sweet. When we moved to Tucson, we had the cutest neighbor came out. She was 15 and she handwrote a list for Alana and I, and it was— she put it on, it was so sweet, and her handwriting was perfect, and she had little like captions of what she felt would actually be the right like place for us.

It was—

she turned out to be a really sweet girl. She was— I liked her a lot.

She was—

she was with me too. I like that, thinking about like, what is the thing? Like, we're in Daytona Beach. Have you been to Daytona?

Yes.

So, and so you've been to the NASCAR or the— you rode the beach?

Yes.

I love that. And you, because did you go to Orlando and then come to Daytona?

Yes. Yeah.

Does your dad live in town in Florida?

Yes.

So where does he live? I love this. Do I look really pretty today? Is that a yes?

I'm a yes girl today.

Where does he live? I don't even know where he lives.

He lives in a super magical place with a pool that has Grecian statues.

Really?

Yeah. Well, I mean, it's my dad, so of course he made an effort to make it look spectacular.

Oh, that is fun. That's a great way to live. I will tell you that with the COVID our clubhouse has been closed, which is like the pool and just, it's so beautiful and it's so disappointing. I can't wait. I'm getting excited now because they're starting to talk about coming back to getting back to business. And I hope as long as everyone stays healthy. So tell me about your, your, what we were talking about yesterday really quickly and about what you do for a living. Cause I think it's so interesting.

So I'm a certified health coach, and right now I contract through insurance companies. And so the client will say, we would like you to come here and facilitate a training seminar, or mostly called a lunch and learn, about a wellness or parenting topic. And there are other people that do it with finance or legal, or there's a myriad of topics, but I specifically do wellness and parenting.

In your area, are you doing it by Zoom? Like now you're probably doing Zoom, but so is it— what is the driving distance that you go? Will you drive up to 3 hours?

I have a choice on how far I go, and so my limit is 100 miles. However, in September there is a training in Maryland, and I have a friend who lives in Maryland, so I actually took the— the account manager, um, was really in a bind, and so she emailed the whole company, and I said, oh, actually I could go I don't have a problem flying to Maryland. And she said, you know, we're not paying for your travel. And I said, that's fine. I needed a reason to go see her anyways.

Oh, that is so sweet. That makes so much sense to me. That is really— these kind of programs are real gifts when you, you know, because sometimes having a health coach and having someone that keeps you accountable. Are you going in or is there any accountability to it? Is there any like follow-through after you speak?

So there isn't. And the interesting thing is that when I'm working for my company, I work only for them. And so separate from them, meaning not with any of their clients or their employees, separate from them, I am launching my own accountability coaching business this year. So that would mean like you say, I want to work on something for my wellness. Now I don't want to commit to going, you know, I don't want to make a big commitment. I just know that I need to change. I don't know where it is or where to start. So I would be basically your, your, like the name says, your accountability partner.

I love that. That is really— I really, because I don't really cook very well. And, you know, so I'll, I'll, I'll buy fruits and vegetables. We do. I mean, you know, luckily we happen to be— knock on wood, not my head. I actually have to knock though because I'm Jewish. We actually have stayed healthy like Alana. Alana's never actually been to the doctor for anything other than, um, her physical, and she had an ear— an earring went like right through her ear. That's really gross. And that— but that's like it. And I vary. I have the kidney stones, but that's it. And then Alan, he very rarely— really, I don't know the last time he— a little bellyache here and there, but nothing. So we're pretty lucky, right? Like that we're not like always getting something. We're not always catching something, right?

But that's nice.

It is nice, right? It's just so— but when we take vitamins, but we're not doing anything really out of the ordinary. It's like, just— are we just lucky?

Some people have good immune systems. Sometimes the foods that you take in have more vitamins in them than the foods that you don't. Like, some people don't realize that Actually, strawberries have more vitamin C than oranges do, and red peppers have more, more vitamin C than oranges do. So if you are really into those foods, it's quite possible that you're getting more than you were anticipating in the first place.

So what do you feed the kids? So you have 3?

I have 3. Yep. They are 5 and 6 now. 6, 8, and 9. So cute.

How do they all get along?

They don't. They love each other a lot. And so I'll find really tender moments where all 3 of them will be wrapped up on the couch in some blankets or something like that. But for the most part, for the most part, they all have such very specific interests, which is interesting to me because I am a half sibling. Like, the closest I have is a half sibling. I don't share a full sibling with any, with any of my siblings. And so we're different. And I always just thought it was because of that. But it's interesting to me that all 3 of my kids are so very different, right?

I didn't realize that because they're like your seed and you would think, well, like, how that could that be? But yeah, yeah, because Alex and Sam are— our Alex was the one he would always like take the underdog in growing up. He always— whoever was getting bullied or picked on, Sammy was the one that was picking on the kids. So I was—

it was weird.

So they were so different. Rudy is more like his brother Alex, even though we have different dads. But Rudy is more chill like Alex, same kind of pattern. And what's really weird too is if I use an app to make myself look like a guy, I look just like Alex. When Alana uses the app, she looks just like Rudy. Try it yourself, it's really weird because then you don't realize it. And then those apps are so cool, and I'm like, oh my God, I freak Alana freaks Rudy out 'cause Rudy's like, "Wow, she really does look like me." It's so funny. So what is that? What does Eric do?

Eric's an electrician.

Oh, that is brilliant. That is really brilliant. And then, because that's like one of those jobs that we need more electricians. I know our school, our superintendent is awesome here, but he's really wanting to make sure that kids, that it's not just let's go right to college, but that they look at having a skilled trade, what that looks like, and then making an entrepreneur about it. So does he work for himself or does he work for another company?

He works for another company and he has aspirations to do other things in the industry. He's just not really sure where to go with that. And I don't wanna put words in his mouth by saying he is going to pursue them, but I think actually, really our goal as a family is to, um, just have rental houses in a fleet, you know, like a fleet of rental houses as our retirement plan. And so what he's learned from this has really helped him to gather more intel about how to make that a reality for our family.

That is really smart. Kevin's an electrician, right? And I think that he teaches too. Which is really great. But we need the skill to come back. We definitely need the whole fleet of that— the, the electrician, the plumber. Yeah, all of that we've lost. It's crazy. I think that truck drivers— hopefully maybe this will, will kind of get things going. I'm sorry to be looking. Some guy is in the lake.

He's in our—

we have like the fountain in the lake right here. And he's— that he's over-testing the water. That's weird. Oh, I think I'm swimming in it. No, I doubt it, but I never thought that they tested the water to see that.

Now you know they do.

Alan, I need you to run out and find out. I really should have Alan go out there. So have you been keeping like cool during this whole, uh, because you've had the winter too, right? Have you had really cold days?

Yeah, and actually we just got snow 4 days ago. So we had a— it was 57, which doesn't seem very warm, but the sun was shining and there was no breeze. And so it was— and with the angle of the sun, 57 in, in March, April is hot. So we were in shorts and tank tops and letting the sun shine on our bodies and just living our best life. And then the next day it snowed. On Easter it snowed.

It did. Oh my God, so it went up. So it snowed the other day in Connecticut. Maybe yesterday it was snowing. That is awesome. It's been nice here, but it's, it's kind of been depressing too. Like, it's just some days I'm glad it started to rain and get a little crappy, and I like that. Tucson doesn't have any range. It's like sunny every day in Tucson. It was starting to kill me. It was wearing on me because you want to be outside all the time because it's so beautiful out. But then I didn't want to cook because it was so nice outside. So I really didn't want to make anything to eat because I was always like, I want to be outside. Just killing me. So tell me a little bit more, like what books do you read? What do you— how are you keeping yourself busy while the kids— well, the kids are doing schoolwork, right?

They are. Yeah. So the district has asked that the teachers prepare 2 hours worth of work. For this kids, uh, but it actually ends up being the whole day because, um, like I give them an hour break for lunch and recess and they don't start— they start at 9 and then Sam, my oldest, has a call at 10. So from 10 to 10:30 does his call with his class and then he fits in something and then we go to lunch from 11 to 12 and then we come back and do the rest of our activities and then by 2 2:30, he's like, what can I do between now and when I have my exit call? And I'll say, you know, I don't— find something to keep you busy.

What do you mean a call? Like, is he on a Zoom call? Does he see all the kids?

Yeah.

I could use that with Alana. It's been really tough and there's been no— she's like on her own doing it and she's not a good student as it is, but I think that is brilliant. And then, so, and then what is the exit call? Similar where they're all seeing each other?

Yeah, and it's a way to like ask questions, and what did you have trouble with during the day, and what worked well for you? And not all the teachers do it. I know that my oldest is in 4th grade, so that's why he is doing it. His, the 2nd grade teacher is doing like small group phone calls just to make, because they're in 2nd grade, right? So operating hardware in 2nd grade is a lot more difficult. And then in kindergarten, the teacher just records a video and uploads the video every day. So the kids still get to see the teacher, They just don't do any full co— because I would have to execute that whole thing. So, there's no, there's very little autonomy with the kindergartner, and with the second grader, it's kind of mid-level, and with the fourth grader, really the only thing we're having an issue with is the technology portion. Like, when the, if the tablet doesn't load it, then we try the Chromebook, and if the Chromebook doesn't load it, we try the laptop. And so, I'm thankful, we really are blessed to have enough devices in our house to be able to get 3 people's worth of work done in a day.

Oh yeah, I have heard that that can be an issue with some people. So that is really interesting. It makes a lot of sense to me. What about your— what about their PE time? Is that the recess time or do you have to provide— do they have to approve some kind of time that they're exercising?

So the gym teacher sent home a calendar for the month of April with something to do on it every day. And then this week and then last week she sent home something just to do for that day, because usually they do gym twice a week, and so she sent home something for the one day and for the other day. And then this week she sent home a choice board. So, you choose between now and your next day of gym, you have to choose 3 activities a day off that list and then check them off and, and just type in the Google Classroom what it was that you finished. And because I'm not at the gym right now, I like it too, because I'm like, "Yeah, let's do 20 burpees. Let's do 30 mountain climbers. Let's do 45 jumping jacks." packs. So it's nice too because then it gets me moving as well.

I love that. You're such a great mom. And so now tomorrow, like, so we have the weekend here, so what do you end up doing on the weekend? And do you drive somewhere? What do you— where do you do?

So everything is closed. All the parks are shut down, so we can't go to any of the parks. All of the state-run parks are shut down, which the city that I live in, I'm on our Parks and Rec Commission. We've got 31 parks. So with 31 parks, you think, yeah, that's tons of places to be, but most of our parks have playgrounds and they're all shut and so if we needed an open field, we could just play in our yard because our yard is really big.

So we don't—

we don't need that. Yeah, actually, I'll show you. Um, Eric built the kids a, um— let me see if I can turn this around for you. Eric built the kids— can you see it at the window? It's like an obstacle course.

Yeah. Oh, oh, I do.

Oh yeah.

Oh, it's beautiful yard.

Oh, it's just like that. Yeah, so this is our front yard. There's plenty of space there for the kids to play. So we don't need to go to an open field park when we can just go outside and play baseball or play catch or chase each other or climb trees or any of those things. So I don't really have a need to take them anywhere. And we're not doing any— we're using this time to practice like our fiscal responsibility and put money away. And so we're not going to any restaurants or anything. And so the kids are like, we can't go anywhere. So we've just We've talked about maybe going to hike at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, or if we took the drive to Duluth, which is where we love to go. It's a 2.5-hour drive, so mostly it's just figuring out how to get, you know, a potty in the vehicle to be able to take that trip. Oh, there's no— because there's no rest stops or porta-potties or anything, right?

Right. That's actually when the— when the beach was open, I was like, well, we could go— you could walk the beach, but you couldn't sunbathe on the beach. But then I was like, But then I have to go to the bathroom and then can't go in the public bathroom. So then I was like, I would have to really time it. And I'm not taking Alan with me because he has to go the minute we get in the car. So I'm like, that's not going to work, but I need to get out a little more. We have— it's beautiful here with a beautiful, you know, just the sidewalks and walking around the, you know, it's like park-like settings, but I got to get out more. I'm finding, and the more you don't get out, the more tired you are. It's a horrible cycle.

Yes, it is. Most definitely. And then, you know, there's that whole, The antidote to disinterest is motivation because you're either motivated by the carrot or the stick. Like, I'm not interested in doing anything, but I'm either going to gain 50 pounds, which is the stick, or I'm going to start moving my body and then be able to fit into that box of clothes I've had in the closet, which is the carrot.

Oh, I love that. Right before this happened, I just had started working out. I was going and enjoying it and my accountability partner and Connecticut D. She was going, so we, you know, and it was great because I got hit by a car back in May, a rear-ended by a vehicle. So yeah, that really screwed me up. And so all of, all of really since like January, I— January I got the, you know, the maximum, like, you know, I was relieved from it. That was good. I got, I got burned on both sides of my body.

Oh my goodness, so much painful.

And I still have this S1. But I, I wake up early and I put something in my stomach and I get 4 Motrins in me, and then I'm really okay. And then I try to go like— I'll have like maybe 6 hours of pain where I don't put any painkillers in me. But it's been tough. So like, honestly, I was so excited about things, and then— but I'm gonna walk tonight. It's a beautiful night. It's beautiful. I just— I gotta be careful because I could be that person that could get in that raw Right. And, but it feels like now is not the time to get in a rut because I do think that we are going to get back to business pretty quickly. It looks like, yeah. What's like, what, what's going on where you are as far as the governor? And a little, no politics, like as far as like anything to say bad, right? Because we don't hear about other states.

Sure. So Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and a handful of other to make 12 governors have all kind of decided to be economic partners in phasing back into full steam ahead. So it's a nice way of saying they all agree we can't stay like this forever. But if one person opens the doors too quickly, that could mean that other people then are falling prey to the virus and so they're all, they're trying to work together to create this like Midwestern corridor that all, that reopens kind of at the same time. So if it happens on their timeline, that would be magical.

What is it? What is the timeline?

Well, the timeline is to start reopening May 1st, but Wisconsin's stay-at-home order goes into June and our stay-at-home order goes till May 13th. So it's, I don't know what is intended to start reopening, like maybe government is going to start reopening first and then private business and you know what I mean? Like the highbrow plan was released, not any of the specifics.

Interesting, are you going back to school or have they said that school's canceled till for the end of the year?

No definite word yet on school. We are supposed to go back May 4th, but if the stay-at-home order is in place till the 13th, then we kind of need a little bit of specific information there. My suspicion is that the Department of Education is deciding whether, like, what measures to put in place and make the decisions before they make the announcement. So either we are going back and here are the safety precautions, or we're not going back and here are the requirements for your child to have completed the year.

Do you, have you had any, have you lost any friends or friends' family members to COVID-19?

No.

Any friends have been sick?

One has been sick, and she— they don't have enough testing facilities and tests to be able to test her. Two people that we know have, uh, are— have been sick like COVID-19, but they can't get tested, so we don't know.

Wow. Yeah, that's really scary. And when you go out, like, how you practice your, your, your, like, the protocols? You wear the mask? Like, who's going grocery shopping? You, Eric, together? What do you guys do?

No, I'm the only one that goes grocery shopping. Eric, um, Eric's work does a scan-in, like, questionnaire. So they say, have you in the last 24 hours, have you been in contact with anybody? Do you this, do that? They take his fever and then he goes in. And so they're documenting every single day every person who goes in and what their temperature is and if they've been in contact with anybody new. So we're trying to keep his life just as dull as possible. That way he doesn't have any new, um, any new potential exposure. And then so really his exposure is just where I am, and I'm only just at the grocery store. So I go—

this is interesting because I heard of a company that is kind of doing the same thing. So the employee said, well, I have a fever. So the employee said, well, I have a fever, I'm not able to come in, I'm sick. And then the company said, well, we're not going to pay you for the sick day. And I'm like, boy, employers have to look at what it would sound like on the news. Like, what does that— because sometimes doing the right thing doesn't always necessarily sound like the right thing, you know what I mean? But like, in this case You want someone to answer this truthfully, but if they feel like they're not gonna— they're gonna get fired or they lose a chance, and why would you— like, that's, that's a tough one. So I think that employers have to really look at how they're running their business. I love to see you. Are you— do you have any— did you have any plans to come to, uh, come to Florida in the next, like, year? Were there talk of it?

We did discuss going, um, just loosely discussed going because the kids were asking about Disney. And so we'd been— the last time we went, Sam was, uh, let's see, we didn't even have Penelope yet. So 7 years ago was the last time that we went. And, um, and so the kids said that they would like to go back again, and we would love to take them. Um, we just— when you're flying with 5 people, and we travel a lot, so that's not even an issue either, is that when you're flying with 5 people, you have to prioritize where you're going to get on an airplane to go. And so it's been a couple of years since we've been to— it's been a lot of years since we've been to New Mexico. It's been a handful of years since we've been in Massachusetts. All of us. I've been a couple of times since my niece was born, but I want to make sure that every— yeah, but I want to make sure everybody gets out there. And we were supposed to go for Easter and then we had to cancel our trip.

Oh, I didn't even know that. Yeah, I cried a lot. We're gonna go, I think, hopefully this summer we'll go up and visit, um, visit Meme and visit the family and see— yeah, we haven't even seen the baby yet. And then, then my thought, go see my Alex and Axel, the baby that I— the new grandchild, or Alex's kid. Yeah, so cute, Axel. I know I don't post that much because Alex doesn't send me that much, but what he does, it's— he's cute. I got to see him in October. He's a good-looking baby too. He's perfect. And it was weird because like he was so easy and I was like I'm like, wait a second, like no crying, you can put him down, he always in a good mood. I really—

that's a trick baby. Yeah, they trick you into having more.

That's awesome, I love it. Well, I love you. Thank you for being on. Thank you for taking the time. I enjoyed like learning more, and I feel like I was like transposed into your, uh, beautiful home, the yard, everything. What's for dinner tonight?

Uh, tonight's homemade pizza.

You are? With like, with dough or with like fake?

Like with the kit that comes from Costco that has the pizza crust and then all you, you put on the sauce and then you put the cheese and, and your toppings and whatever else.

So that is so cool. I have my friend Debbie, she takes and she does anything, everything that's left over from the whole week and then they use that to make Their pizza.

Yum.

I, I don't know.

We, we do Friday pizza night just because it's, it's been a long week for everybody, so let's celebrate with pizza.

I love that. I love that. And you make it. That's really sweet. All right, thank you. I needed to hear what was for dinner. All right, I love you. Have a good rest of the day.

Good night. All right, bye.

Beautiful. Bye-bye. This is so nice. And then I just stopped the stream, watch it