Questions and Answers

Stacy and Carol record their “Start a List” episode from a hotel room at the Inn at Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, on their first mini trip together since retiring, noting travel fatigue and improvised tech. They interview each other with random questions: both would time travel to the past (Carol to the late 1940s–50s; Stacy to revisit childhood and grandparents), neither can fold a fitted sheet, and they share best and worst jobs (Stacy's worst: briefly waitressing at O’Charley’s; best: working at Opryland; Carol's daycare job cleaning bathrooms as a needed tradeoff, and her current specialty-cheese grocery job). Pet peeves include unpreparedness, loud phone use in restaurants, bad driving, and lateness. Carol coins “chap shadow” after a student used menthol Chapstick as eyeshadow. Stacy recounts a bizarre teacher gift: a lace-and-ribbon Bible hot-glued to a small podium. They discuss lifetime supplies (popcorn, chips and queso, sleep/health, money) and propose Olympic sports like cooking dinner or dancing, then recommend the hotel and wrap up.

https://startalistwithcarolandstacy.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hey everybody. Welcome to Start a List with Carol and Stacy. I'm Stacy. I'm Carol. And if you're watching this, you're gonna know notice that we are not in our usual location. Nope. This is a surprise I told you about from last week. So we also don't aren't um technologically adequate enough to figure out how to use our sound like we normally use. So we are in a hotel room in uh Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. And we have a happen to have a cozy little fire there behind us on the big screen. We're at a Christmas hotel. It's called the In at Christmas Place, and we decided to just film our podcast from here. So um hopefully, if you're watching this, you'll see that it's different. And if you're listening, hopefully the sound is not too different than what you're usually used to. Yes. And so we decided that since we both retired, that we've never been anywhere together as far as hey, let's go on a little mini trip. And people could not believe that, y'all. Like they were amazed that we had not actually traveled together. It just never worked out, but we couldn't believe it. So we here we are. I said, let's go do something fun. And and then I was like, let's go to Gallenburg. And then I said, Oh, what about Pigeon Forge? And she said, Oh, we could stay in the Christmas hotel. And I'm like, I'm down, so here we are. We uh trucked it up here today. We look a little um tired because it's the end of the day, and we drove up here, which is not far. Um we lost an hour, so it's an hour ahead, but we have shopped and we have eaten. But we lost an hour last week with Dana savings, so now we're two hours technically. So I'll probably be asleep here in a little while. So we're gonna do something a little bit different today since we're not in our usual location doing our usual thing. Um, and Carol had a brilliant idea, as she often does. Yes, no. Don't don't go crazy, but I'll take it. Well, tell them what it is. Oh, it was it. I forgot. No. It uh it was uh kind of to interview each other and ask each other funny questions. Yes, she found a bunch of fun questions, so we just thought we would spend some time asking each other random, random questions. So um I found 255 of them, but we've narrowed them down. Don't worry, we're not gonna do that many. We narrowed them down to the eight to ten, so we're gonna go through them. We're gonna start asking each other questions and we'll see how it goes from there. So I'll go first. Would you time travel to the past or the future and why? If you know me, definitely the past. I love anything vintage, anything nostalgic. I'm very sentimental, like that's part of my hoarding issue. I want to hold on to everything. I don't want to get rid of anything, and I would probably go to the for sure the late 1940s, early 1950s. That far back? Yeah, just because you had, you know, all of these inventions were readily available, and I just think it was the most wonderful time ever to be alive. I mean according to my parents and grandparents. I would also go to the past. Would you? But I wouldn't do like a back to the future thing. Like I'm not trying to go see my mom and dad when they were kids, right? But I would go back to probably when I was a kid, just see my grandparents. Grandparents again. You know, kind of revisit it like that. So I think that would be fun. But yeah, I think we should be able to pick one day of childhood and go back and relive that. Oh my gosh, I would never know which one to pick. I would probably pick a Sunday at my grandmother's. Okay. Like we would go there on Sunday afternoons and fried chicken and she would cook all the things and we would visit and then go home. And I'm sure it seems like it was all day long. It was probably a couple of hours. Right. But in your little kid mind, it was wonderful. Well, if time travel ever becomes available, we'll sign up for the past. The past trip, the past adventure. Yeah. Okay. I'm going out of order on our list, so I keep looking down because some of them I think are going to take longer to talk about. Uh, this is a quick one. Can you fold a fitted sheet? So this is very frustrating for me. And no, I cannot. And yes, I have tried many times, and I've even seen a tutorial on it. Apparently, you can fold it wrong side out or inside out and make a square, and then you match the corners. The lady did it perfectly. She was like, All you do is, and she did it like with no effort, and I'm over there wrestling it. No, I cannot. It's annoying. And so normally, if you find a fitted sheet in my closet, it's just bowled up. I just give up and get frustrated. I can't do it either. I don't care enough to even watch a tutorial. I literally just wad mine up and then kind of roll it, smash it down, and then shove in the closet. Well, apparently back in the day, women, men, whomever was doing it, could do it perfectly. Like good for them. Yes, it was it was a skill. Yeah. Not not my idea. So if anybody out there can fold a fitted sheet, I do know a couple of people that can. Send us directions. Send us a video. Yes. Of you folding your fitted sheet. All right. Do you want to ask one or you want me to keep it? Sure. Let's see. What was the best job you've ever had and the worst job you've ever had? Okay. Well, um, the worst job I ever had was I got this idea in college. Um, and I'd had jobs, but I decided I was gonna find something where I could make more money. I didn't have any experience in the restaurant industry, but I got the bright idea I was gonna go apply to be a server at O'Charlie's. Okay. And I if I remember, I mean, my mom and dad are always been supportive of everything, but they were probably great because I had to back then in O'Charlie's, you had to wear uh khaki pants and a white button-down. I think they wore like some kind of tie or something. Do you remember that? This was like the early 90s. I lasted, I don't even think I lasted three days because first of all, I couldn't remember all the stuff. And it's a very fast-paced environment. And the turns out the servers that have been doing it don't want you in their way. And I'll never forget, I was holding the door for this woman. This I had this big giant tray of food, and she went out and had it on her elbow, and I thought she had it, so I let the door go and it knocked the entire tray of food over. Oh gosh. She was upset, rightfully so, but it was literally like my second day, and I was just shadowing people, and I went in the next day and told the manager, I just didn't think I was cut out for it. And he goes, Well, I don't think you gave it much of a chance. And I'm like, probably not. That was my worst job. Um, the best job I've ever had, probably the most I'm trying to think. Probably the most fun job I ever had was working at Oprieland, Theme Park, when it was still a thing. I worked there two different times. Once in high school, I was a sweeper, and then I worked there again in college in like the gift shops and ended up being a supervisor when I left there. That was the last job I had before I started teaching. Oh, but it was fun, y'all. I mean, it wasn't it was hot and stuff, but it wasn't a hard gig. And yeah, oh, everybody was having fun, and so and everybody working there was young and the same age, so that was a good time. That sounds fun, yes. Probably the worst job I ever had, but I have to kind of say it was the worst best job rolled into one. So basically, I needed a part-time job when I was staying home with my second daughter, and so I thought, what can I do where I can still get paid but kind of be with my children? So I went down to the local daycare and got a job at the daycare. And I got to cook and you know, do stuff I enjoyed. But my daughter was with me and she was in the little class, and my other daughter was in grade school, and she would ride the daycare van to the daycare center, and then about an hour after they got there, we'd have a snack and pack up and leave. And it was kind of the perfect setting for all of us. So I was getting a little money on the side. At the time, I had been teaching for a while, and I had a master's degree, which that's fine, but one of my main jobs was to every day before I left, was to make sure I cleaned the bathroom. So I can remember thinking, uh, here I am with a master's degree in education and I'm cleaning the bathroom. But that served a good it was good for me. And it served a big purpose. I mean, I was able, like I said, to be with my children and still make a little money on the side. The best job I ever had, or I probably is the one I have now. I really, really, really like my job. I do um specialty cheeses at a local grocery store. You know, I go over the weekly ad and make sure we have plenty of that item or whatever's BOGO. And um I only want the cheese lady. I'm the cheese lady. It's pretty cheesy. But you go in really early and get your day over with really quick. I go in, I'll wake up at four, uh, clock in at five, and I leave at nine. And yeah, I love it. It's it's the best job I've ever had. Besides teaching and being a mother. Oh yeah. Sorry, y'all. I'm yawning because it's been a long day. It oh yeah. Sorry, we've just done a lot today. We've squeezed a lot in. Technically at home, I don't know what time is it. At home it's only 6.25. So but we just lapped all of our energy out because we could not get connected to this zone. It's not the brightest when it comes to this kind of stuff. I've got every piece of equipment. We could record a Hollywood movie. We've got cameras and lights and everything. And here we are, like, let's just record it from the we can figure it out, so we're challenged. Okay. Um, well, let's get into this one because it might take a minute. I got a few of these. It says, What is your biggest pet peeve? Okay, before you say that, well, I don't necessarily have like just something specific, but we were talking one day and I said something, and Carol goes, I've never heard that before. And I said, Yeah, that really burns my buttons. And she's like, I've never heard that before. And I'm like, You've never heard burns your buttons. Anyways, um I've heard of things chapping things, not burning buttons. Um let's see, a pet peeve is I hate people, not I don't hate people, sorry.

unknown 11:35

I do.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

No, I'm kidding. I hate when people are unprepared. Oh yeah. Like I would rather be over-prepared than underprepared, right? So like in a meeting or at a like in just in general, like if you know, um we brought everything we thought we would need for this, even though we couldn't figure out how to use it. We aren't using it or I probably comes a bit from teaching kindergarten too. You have to be overly prepared every day because it's it's hard to just go on the yeah, you know, by the seat of your pants with a bunch of five-year-olds staring at you. Um what's another big pet peeve I have? Oh, this is a big one. This gets on my nerves, and this just happened not long ago. I cannot stand when people have their phones out at a restaurant and are playing a video or on a FaceTime call, and I can hear everything that's happening. And it's on 12 decibels. Yeah. Perry and I went to dinner a few weeks ago, and the people sitting right diagonal from us. And I mean, I could have reached over and touched her chair. She had her phone out the entire time, going, and somebody was on the other end and they were FaceTime, and I'm like, I can hear everything that's happening, and it's just disruptive. So that's a big thing. Yeah, I don't like that. That happens in where I work too. Like sometimes I'll jump over to the sandwich line, I'll make a sandwich, and they're like, What do you want? And they're trying to take their order on the phone. I'm like, really? Just you know, that's annoying. And it is, it is. Uh, pet peeve of mine would be um okay, this is really petty, but I'm just being real. Okay, dude, if you're driving and you pull in a parking lot in front of me and stop because you're looking for where you're gonna go next, like then I'm hung out in the road and gonna get T-boned. Like, go get in and keep moving. Like, move go on. Yeah. My other it does relate to driving as well, is don't hang out in the left lane. Just don't. We encountered that a couple times today. Yeah, and and Stacy let them know too. And at one point, because she's like, What are you doing? Whatever. Oh no, that was when I wanted to the the truck in front of us had to slow way down. It's a big truck. And so I had my blinker on and I kept trying to get in the left lane so I could pass him because I'm going like 58. And then all these cars keep passing me, passing me, passing me, and I and they're looking at him and yelling and scrolling my hands like I can't get over because you won't let me over. And then finally, this poor guy behind me flashed his lights and let me over and said he saw me waving my arms mad because I couldn't get over. But I mean, really, don't and don't just don't drive in the left lane and do that. You know, you're clogging up everybody. I I'm sure I have more pet peeves. I just can't think of them off the top of my head. Yeah, and I guess the other thing easily annoyed, but the other thing is people being late. That's that's yep. That is I agree. Very I don't like it when people are late. Rude and selfish and a couple minutes is fine, but when you get start getting into the five, ten minute mark, then it's a problem. And it's not just a me thing. Like I don't I'm not the only person annoyed by that. I think it's just a universal it's just rude and it puts other people out and it's you know, it throws the whole for example, if you're late to work in my what where I work, then all the breaks are thrown off. Like if you're coming in late, then we're running behind in our production in the morning, and then you know, then the you go on break and now we're still behind, and now we're shorter person, so yeah. Late proveness is important, okay, is the moral. Are you done with your pet bees? Because I'm ready for the next one because it's a granting. Yes. I don't I don't have an answer for this one, but Carol's is so good that it will be uh it can be both of our answers. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

So it's um if you could add a word to the dictionary, what would it be and what would it mean? And I couldn't think of one, but she has one and it's amazing. So I'll let her tell you. This is a this is a um tribute to my three children. Love you three very much with all my heart. My word is chap shadow. And what it means is it means eyeshadow in a chapstick container. Well, no, it's your eyeshadow that is chapstick. It's chapstick that is eyeshadow. That you used as eyeshadow. So basically, you don't have to like you've always got your eyeshadow with you, and it's you know, it's compact, it's you roll it up, and it looks good all the time. Now I know it's hard to believe, but it I didn't just think of that. It actually happened to me. So when I was teaching first grade, I had a sweet little girl that came running up to me one day. She'd been out on the playground, and I'm thinking, how in the world did this happen on the recess, you know? But she comes running up to me and she's squinting her eyes and she's yelling, she's like, My eyes are burning, my eyes are burning. I'm like, what happened? And she squinted and opened them, and they're she's just her tears are just pouring out. And she said, I put my lip chapstick on my eyelids, and I said, What for? And and I said, Let me see it. And it was literally like menthol glitter green, green, some kind of Christmas something flavored. And she thought she said, I was just eyeshadow on. She was putting her eyeshadow on, and it it was, it had mint in it, and it did, it burned her eyes, and she's crying. And I'm like, Why did you do that? And she was going, I don't know. But when Carol told me about it, she's like, I guess she's invented chap shadow. Yeah. So I would put chap shadow in there, which I mean could could be a really hot viral topic. Probably I don't have a word. I couldn't come up with one because I'm I'm just not that well, I like I like throat punch. We like that word. Yeah, I think it would be hyphenated, but I think we I think if you're out there and listening, you you feel the definition of throat punch. Okay, more often than not. The next one is what is the weirdest gift you ever received? Stacey, you win. I'm gonna go first. Yes, I'm not gonna lie, I win. So um, now I want to preface this by saying throughout the many 30 years of teaching, teachers receive lots and lots of gifts and are appreciative for all of them. Okay. Um, big, little, small, a handwritten note. We are very appreciative of them. Yes. But this has been many, many, many, many, many years ago. And at the time I was teaching third grade, and I will never forget that back in the olden days of teaching, your room mom would often send out a note and collect money from anybody in the class that wanted to donate. You know, if you want to send in a few dollars, we're gonna get Miss So-and-so a gift from the class, right? So you usually got one bigger gift instead of a bunch of little tiny gifts, which was nice, right? Because you might get a gift certificate or you might get something sweet that was commemorative of the class, right? So I remember that this my room mother had taken up money. And then um apparently the gift was coming from a different parent. And I guess she had expressed to the room mom that she made this item that I'm gonna tell you about. I have a picture of it somewhere. I've seen it with my own eyes, and the the mom that made it was very excited, and it she brings it to school. And this was of the times where you opened up gifts in front of all the class was there, the parents would be there, and she brings this gift in, and um it is um a podium. Was it on rollers? No, it wasn't on rollers, but it was awesome. She rolled it in. Now, when I say podium, it wasn't like one tall enough for a uh a normal adult to stand at. It was legit probably waist level, so it's a tiny podium. Oh, like a library, like you would put a dictionary on. Yes. Only it didn't have a dictionary on it, it had the Bible, and it was the Bible was just opened, and around the the podium, like the part the Bible was laying on was thick lace that had been hot glued all around the edges. Every corner had silky, shiny ribbon hanging off of it, and within the lace was embedded like plastic buttons like sea that were like a seashell themed, right? And then the pages of the Bible had been hot glued shut. So was it you couldn't decoupage? It was sealed. It was just sealed. I don't know what she had sealed it with. So you couldn't utilize the Bible. You couldn't use it. Because it's hot glued to the podium, and the pages are hot glued shut. And I'm just oh, it's lovely. And I'm making over it trying to be, and another teacher down the hall had had the sibling and had also received it. And the the parent said that she sold them at flea markets. And I kid you not, guys, it looks like something that you would see set up at a funeral home. Okay, like what's it? I I want to guess the colors of the ribbon sky blue and mauve. I I can't remember. I feel like they were red and white, but I can't remember. Oh dear. So not to be unappreciative, but that the wood was that the podium that somebody had made this podium was very nice. So that's probably where the majority of the money and the Bible was lovely, which would have been a fine gift within. Itself if it had been usable. What is it open to? I don't even remember. I mean, and I remember looking like, okay, it's probably open to like a nice page about children. It wasn't. It was just literally the middle of the Bible. Oh. And so I remember Grand Mom being very upset because she said, I collected a lot of money. And like this is, I guess she didn't know what the lady was getting. She just trusted it. She maybe not didn't have a decoupage Bible on a podium. Me and the other teacher that got one took pictures of it. And then um, I'm like, what am I gonna do with this? Passed it on. And like somebody was like, Well, maybe you just take it to like a nursing home. I'm like, I wouldn't even drop this off somewhere like that. And you passed it on. I regifted it as a gift to my sister and her brand new husband that year at Christmas. Oh no, that's perfect. Perfect. And he was like, because it was his first Christmas with us being married, and he was like, Oh, okay. Love me, lovely. I think I ended up dismantling it, and I don't remember what we did with it. But that's the worst gift I ever got. Yeah, I remember seeing it. I thought it might have been the lovely 80s blue and white. I don't think so. I feel like it was red and white, but who knows? It might have been. Um, the the I don't know, not worst gift, but my least favorite gift I've ever received was um, and again, I'm not, I mean, I don't want to sound unappreciative, but it was like really. Um, one Christmas I got uh an Xbox. Hey. And I was thinking, okay, I don't ever remember saying I'd like this, or I don't know if I'm known for video playing video games or whatever. But yeah, I got that and several cartridges to which sounds like the first person that gave it to you wanted it for you enjoyed it very much, which I mean I can laugh about it now. It's not a big deal, but that's funny, but not really something I had been dying for. Yeah. Okay. Moving on. What do you want to do next? We got two more at the end. Oh, let's see. If you had a lifetime supply of anything, what would it be? Hmm. For me, definitely some kind of food. I I'm pretty much we don't even need categories for this, right? Yeah, we do. Okay, let's go with food. Okay. Um for me, for sure, popcorn. I I love popcorn. I love the crunch, I love the flavor. Um, it's I feel like I can eat a giant bowl of it, and it's fine, you know, instead of just a small bag, like the hundred calorie bags just make me mad. But I mean, why? So I love popcorn. Yeah. I want a lifetime supply of chips and queso, but the good kind that you get the Mexican restaurant. Yeah. Yeah. And I want it to always already be warmed up. So you want one of those fondue fountains. Okay, queso. Okay, keep it coming. Keep it coming. So all right, so that's food category. What about ooh, health and wellness category. I would take a lifetime supply of really good rest. Like sleep well without my neck or back being cranked when I wake up. I mean, can I just pick oh okay, that's true. Health or wellness. Um you wouldn't want your stomach to hurt anymore, right? Or yeah, that's not a supply of something. Well, it is. True. I mean, if I'm picking that, then I just want to have good health forever and always. Okay. Um I also would like a lifetime supply of money. Oh. Endless. And what would you do with that? Well, I mean, after I donated to charity. Oh, aren't you just the I am.

unknown 26:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Uh, you know, I'd share it. With me. Uh yeah. And my family. And we'd come to the Christmas Hotel. I'd go on, or I might, I might up my game a little bit. Oh, I love it here. This is beautiful. Um, yeah, I don't know. Okay. Well, I do that's I'm serious. I'm not just saying this. I would love to just take one million dollars and buy stuff for people, but I don't want them to know it was for me. Okay, I love that. Like secretively, like pay off somebody's card. Or I just think that would be so much fun. That's neat. I like watching there's people that on TikTok that will raise money from viewers and then give it away to strangers that are in need. Yeah, I think that's really nice. I love that. I love that. Um, we have one more question on our list, and it is what is an Olympic sport that is currently not an Olympic sport that you think should be preparing dinner. Oh yeah. I mean, there literally think about it. Are there any listeners that don't? Well, I mean, some don't, but most of us at about two or three o'clock in the afternoon are like, what am I gonna have for dinner? Yeah. What am I gonna do for dinner? You either go out to eat, and that's boring anymore and expensive, or you're trying to figure out, all right, do I do breakfast? Is it Italian? You try to think of categories. And you know, you just rerun the same meals over and over again. So Yeah. I I I think if it was an Olympic sport, you would do like the fastest or who could cook the best meals or or the you know the the most nutritious meal on the smallest budget or something like that. I don't know. Oh, maybe you should send that to the Olympic committee. I I'm sure. And you could do that on the Olympics in the summer and the winter, because it could be a winter food and a summer food. A soup or salad. Oh, yes. A salad or a soup. Yeah. So maybe cooking, possibly cleaning, or I think dancing should be an Olympic sport. I mean, we have so many of you guys, like you know, the UDA College Nationals, UDA High School Nationals. I think dancing dancing. You have it, any kind of dancing, they could have different categories, kind of like ice skating has different categories. Well, they dance on the ice. Why don't they just dance on the ice? Yeah, I think dancing should be an Olympic sport because dancers, professional dancers, work and they are athletic. So But that makes sense. Yeah, pick something that doesn't make sense. Oh, like cooking. Oh, I didn't know it had to be Philly. Oh, it doesn't, it doesn't, but I'm just trying to go. All right, let's think of something like um house cleaning or housekeeping. I definitely would not win an Olympic medal for that. Like what's hire somebody to clean my house. What is something that's like you said shopping earlier? Yeah, should I do that? Remember that shopping game show that was on? Grocery, it was some kind of grocery grocery game. That's that's hard. Ran around the and they had to find the foods and then cook it and that's cool. That's still misple. Yeah. Um, well, um I that was all the questions that we had planned. And we've been talking for 30 minutes. Okay. Well, I don't know what it sounds like. Yeah, well, we hope it hope it's something good. If you guys have never ever been to the Inn at Christmas place in Pigeon Forge, this is the only place I ever stay unless I come with a big group and we get a cabin. Yeah, it's so nice. They run specials, and it's right in the middle of Pigeon Forge, so you can walk to things, and it's we've been coming here since the beginning of time. Like well, not we, but me and my family have been. This is my first trip. My child, who's now an adult, was little and it's never let us down, and it's so nice, and it's really nice. It's adjacent to for those of you that listen to this. Um, the Christmas store in Mount Juliet is a part of this group. So you have the Christmas store up here in Pigeon Forge, and now in Mount Juliet, we also have a Christmas store. Yes. But we're gonna wrap it up and get off here very enjoy our magical fireplace. Yes, I've been quite warm sitting here. There was a guy outside dancing across the street with a microphone next to a bike, so I might go back, see if he's still out there. We're thinking about going and giving dropping some. But he was giving it his all, y'all. Yeah, he was. So he danced, he sang, he did it all. He came, he saw. Yes, he did. But all right. Thank you for listening. And I don't have a uh bell this week, so we're gonna say don't stuff like a don't make a fist. Start a list. Bye.