25 Years is a Long Time.

My dear, sweet, talented, brilliant friend. I cannot believe it’s 25 years.

I have this memory of you from (I think) 5th grade. Our music teacher was working with you for a chorus solo. Maybe we were doing Grease, maybe it was just random. Anyway, she said something like, “It’s in this key” or “It’s these notes” and without hesitation, you went, “So like this?” and adjusted your singing on the spot. I was so impressed that you just knew how to do that. You were so cool and kind.

I miss you, Cassie. I hope you’re still sight-singing with the angels.

I am forever grateful to have known you for that short 14 years. You changed my life.

“Nothing ever so common.”
12.20.83 – 5.17.98
💚💚💚

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The Broadcast Ep. 7.29 “Guten Tag! Guten Tag!”

I’m working on two different blog posts about our trip to Germany last week. I’m hoping to have one finished by this evening, but it always takes me forever to go through pictures! In the meantime, here’s the most recent episode of The Broadcast, in which I spend roughly a half hour talking about our trip. The blog post will be similar, only, as mentioned above, there will be pictures!

This morning, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, we will be hosting a champagne brunch over Zoom to celebrate episode #300!!! I can’t believe we’re at 300 and better go get to prepping for it (aka showering lol). If you’re seeing this before we start and can pop in, I hope you will. 🙂 Otherwise, you can listen to it when it’s released on Friday, February 17. 🙂

Official description:

Colleen is back from Germany and shares some tales from the trip. The Broads also discuss packing cubes (it’s way more interesting than it sounds!), long car rides, The Grammys, inappropriate songs that we sang as kids without knowing what the lyrics meant, TLC and the Spice Girls, and more. What book/author’s books are always in every Free Little Library?! Are macaroons a cookie or a pastry?

Here is our planned schedule from now until May. These are the notable dates/topics. Dates not mentioned indicate a regular episode or a week off.

  • February 12: Live champagne brunch to celebrate our 300th episode!
  • February 14: Wednesday (Netflix) (Release date: Feb. 24)
  • March 14Now and Then and Stand By Me
  • April 11Yellowjackets S2 The Handmaid’s Tale (season 5)
  • May 9Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Book and movie

Here’s a handy list of some of the platforms you can subscribe to and/or listen to The Broadcast on. If you’re searching for us on another platform or to add us to whatever app you use, you may have better luck searching for us as “The Broadcast with Amanda, Shandy, and Colleen” since there are a few other shows called The Broadcast.

Additionally, the audio from all of the Jay + Jack Productions podcasts get uploaded automatically to this YouTube channel, so if listening to podcasts that way is your thing, there you go!

Listen to “Ep. 7.29 “Guten Tag! Guten Tag!”” on Spreaker.

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The Broadcast Ep. 7.28 “Greek Life Gone Woke”

I hate doing back-to-back posts about the same subject, but it’s been a busy week. I was working on a book review post but ran out of time to finish it. More posts about things that aren’t The Broadcast episodes next week, I promise! I’ll also get back to my weekly challenge too.

This week’s episode of The Broadcast is dedicated to talking about Season 2 of “The Sex Lives of College Girls.” Of course, we go off on a few tangents, like the history of Greek life, but manage to pretty much stay on topic. Here’s the very to-the-point episode description. If you watched this season of the show, I hope you’ll give it a listen!

Amanda, Shandy, and Colleen talk about Season 2 of The Sex Lives of College Girls. Spoilers start around 15:20, give or take commercials.

Here is our planned schedule from now until May. These are the notable dates/topics. Dates not mentioned indicate a regular episode or a week off.

  • February 12: Live champagne brunch to celebrate our 300th episode!
  • February 14: Wednesday (Netflix) (Release date: Feb. 24)
  • March 14Now and Then and Stand By Me
  • April 11Yellowjackets S2
  • May 9Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Book and movie

Here’s a handy list of some of the platforms you can subscribe to and/or listen to The Broadcast on. If you’re searching for us on another platform or to add us to whatever app you use, you may have better luck searching for us as “The Broadcast with Amanda, Shandy, and Colleen” since there are a few other shows called The Broadcast.

Additionally, the audio from all of the Jay + Jack Productions podcasts get uploaded automatically to this YouTube channel, so if listening to podcasts that way is your thing, there you go!

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The Broadcast Ep. 7.27 “Only Murders on the Podcast”

Another Friday = Another new episode of The Broadcast. This week’s episode clocks in at 1 hr, 5 min and covers a lot of ground, including a list of TV shows coming out in 2023. We also had an appearance by Shandy’s new kitten, Lina, while we were talking about new TV shows. We also did a bonus show for the Bonus-level Patrons that came out on Wednesday. On the bonus show, we switched it up a little bit from the usual clips that were cut from regular episodes and did two segments – “For Patrons’ Ears Only” and Mad Libs. The Mad Libs were so much fun.

But back to Ep. 7.27! Here’s the official description:

Amanda, Shandy, and Colleen make plans for their live 300th episode and announce their schedule from now through May. The Riccisance is coming! They also chat about flying internationally and getting a passport, Knives Out, and go through a list of new TV shows coming out in 2023.  The debate rages on regarding dog poop in trash cans and Shandy gets #vindicated about her great haircut question.

We also sat down to plan out the next several months of Broadcast episodes. Here are the notable dates/topics. Dates not mentioned indicate a regular episode:

  • January 27The Sex Lives of College Girls S2 (Release date: Feb. 3)
  • February 12: Live champagne brunch to celebrate our 300th episode!
  • February 14: Wednesday (Netflix) (Release date: Feb. 24)
  • March 14Now and Then and Stand By Me
  • April 11Yellowjackets S2
  • May 9Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Book and movie

Here’s a handy list of some of the platforms you can subscribe to and/or listen to The Broadcast on. If you’re searching for us on another platform or to add us to whatever app you use, you may have better luck searching for us as “The Broadcast with Amanda, Shandy, and Colleen” since there are a few other shows called The Broadcast.

Additionally, the audio from all of the Jay + Jack Productions podcasts get uploaded automatically to this YouTube channel, so if listening that way is your thing, there you go!

Listen to “Ep. 7.27 “Only Murders on the Podcast”” on Spreaker.

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Breakfast Sliders!

We’re pretty basic, so when it comes to making a special occasion breakfast, 80% of the time, we will just default to cinnamon rolls and the other 20% of the time, donuts. We decided to change it up for our early Christmas morning breakfast last month and make a recipe for cheese and sausage breakfast sliders that I found on Pinterest. They were delicious and very filling. I only had two of them and I was full until late afternoon. The maple syrup makes them a bit decadent but otherwise, I’d recommend giving them a try if you’re looking to switch it up a little bit. Most importantly, the kids liked them. That’s a win. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

    • Ground pork sausage (We used the Jimmy Dean’s sausage rolls)
    • 12 Hawaiian rolls, or other slider buns
    • 8 large eggs, scrambled
    • 6 slices pepper jack or cheddar cheese
    • 8 slices American cheese
    • 1/2 cup butter, melted
    • 1/4 cup maple syrup

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2023 Writing Challenge: Week 2

Woot, I made it back for week 2. I’m still trying to get my creative writing groove back, so to gently ease myself back into that mode, I went with a simple yet fun writing prompt. This prompt comes from the sequel to my beloved 642 Things to Write About book, titled, 712 More Things to Write About.

Write a haiku about breakfast.

Since only doing one haiku seemed like an easy way out, I decided to write four haikus, one for each person in my household. Let’s go.

Colleen:

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The Broadcast Ep. 7.26 “Shandy’s Blowout”

A new episode of The Broadcast was released yesterday (Friday, January 20). This week, we were joined in the chat by some of our Hangout-level Patrons and had a grand old time, as always. As always, this episode went places, including a minor debate regarding whether or not your wash your hair right after you get your haircut. What team are you on? Happy Listening!

Official description:

On this week’s episode, there are three Broads having three different Januaries: Dry, damp, and wet. They also talk about Colleen’s upcoming Germany trip, DNA and serial killers, and how dental insurance in the United States is a racket. The Broads also go on an AITA blitz and Shandy seeks knowledge on an age-old question: Do you shower after a haircut? Also, let’s keep our intestines to ourselves!

Unfortunately, we are going to have to postpone our recording our annual crossover episode with The Real Weird Sisters. We hope to get a new date for that soon! On January 27, we’re going to be recording an episode talking about Season 2 of “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” which will be released on Tuesday, February 3.

Listen to “Ep. 7.26 "Shandy's Blowout"” on Spreaker.

Here’s a handy list of some of the platforms you can subscribe to and/or listen to The Broadcast on. If you’re searching for us on another platform or to add us to whatever app you use, you may have better luck searching for us as “The Broadcast with Amanda, Shandy, and Colleen” since there are a few other shows called The Broadcast.

Additionally, the audio from all of the Jay + Jack Productions podcasts get uploaded automatically to this YouTube channel, so if listening that way is your thing, there you go!

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Movie Review: Plane

I love a good cheesy action flick. It if comes out in January or August, I’m probably gonna love it, haha. Extra points if things go boom and characters make such stupid decisions in an intense moment that it makes you laugh out loud. So, when we saw the trailer for an action movie starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter (Luke Cage!!!) with a mid-January release, I knew I was all in.

There’s not a ton to say about Plane other than it lives up to expectations. First, the fucking title is simply PLANE. That’s it. Not “Lost Plane” or “Plane Has Fallen” (see what I did there?) or “The Flight from Singapore” or even “From Singapore to Tokyo with CRASH.” Just “Plane.” I mean…respect.

The plot is simple: It’s New Year’s Eve and a Scottish widower/single dad pilot is making the last flight of his shift and it’s from Singapore to Toyko. Then, he’s supposed to join his college-age daughter in Hawaii to celebrate New Year’s. He promises her sooo hard that he’ll be there that really, he jinxed himself with that one. He flies for some super budget airline (like Spirit or what people keep telling us Southwest is, even though Southwest hasn’t been even close to an affordable airline in like 6 years lololll). ~Plot twist~ There’s a bad storm going down and even though the flight only has 14 passengers on the manifest, the budget airline orders him to take flight, right through the storm. As you can imagine, it goes poorly and the plane has to make an emergency landing on an island in the middle of nowhere.

Is it a deserted island? OF COURSE IT’S NOT!!

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Book Review: Hide by Tracy Clark

My reading goal this year is five books. I realize this is laughable to the big readers out there but I read like one book per year in the years 2013-2021, and honestly, I’m not even sure I read any books some of those years lol. Last year, I beat my goal of three books (one per quarter) by reading five books, so I figure I set my baseline as five books in 2023 and hopefully blow that out of the water. I have a ton of books stacked up from the past few years that I want to read, and to hopefully make it easier to fulfill my goal, I borrowed Jay’s Kindle and decided to try it out.

The book I selected was a murder mystery called Hide by Tracy Clark. I picked it blindly from a list of books on the Kindle Unlimited library and am really glad that I did! Hide was released on January 1, 2023, and follows Detective Harriet Foster, a Chicago detective who is hunting down a serial killer who’s targeting redheaded women while simultaneously trying to come to terms with the loss of her teenage son and late partner.

I really liked Hide. I did guess who the killer was somewhat early on, sometime within the first half of the book, and I guessed the first twist a little more than halfway through. There’s a second twist that I didn’t see coming until the information was presented and I liked this second twist a good deal. I really liked Det. Foster and the way the book was paced. There wasn’t a lot of “fat” nor did Clark do that thing that some authors do to up the word count by getting overly descriptive about situations and characters for pages upon pages. The mystery and overall story were both straight and to the point and it picked up steam as it went along. A few nitpicks aside, I did genuinely enjoy this book.

Speaking of nitpicks, here are my slight criticisms: The first one is that I still have no idea why it’s called Hide! I don’t think I missed anything, lol. Another one is that it was a bit too predictable, but I was okay with that and looked forward to seeing how it played out. Finally, I found some of the characters, while probably accurately written, were annoying – and if these types of people annoy me in real life, they’re gonna annoy me in fiction. One character was purposefully written to be a “dark gray” and I’m still not quite sure how I felt about her, while another character was just so unlikeable – with a touch of mysterious – that you kept waiting for an explanation to make them more relatable, but it never came. To be clear: I don’t think mysterious assholes need to be redeemed but I did keep waiting to find out the explanation behind one plot point. I bet we get it in Book 2 and I hope it’s not as generic as they’re sneaking out to AA meetings or couples therapy.

This is the first book I’ve read by Tracy Clark, but it won’t be the last. I need to check out some of her other books while I’m waiting for the second Detective Harriet Foster book, Fall, to come out in December 2023. Overall, I give it a 3.8/5 and recommend you add it to your reading list if murder mysteries are your jam.

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52 Week Writing Challenge: Week 1

Back in 2013, I challenged myself to do one post a week from the book “642 Things to Write About.”  2013 was a crazy tumultuous year for me, but I loved doing it. I’ve been going through some of my posts from that year and man, that writing challenge was a huge anchor in a terrible storm. So here I am, a decade later, two full weeks into a new year, and I’ve decided to give it another go.

Over the past decade, I’ve amassed quite a few more writing prompt books. I tried doing another challenge again in 2016 but gave it up after one week. This time, I’m going to rotate between a few different books because the challenge is to do a post per week.

I’m going to go easy on myself for my inaugural post and begin with a question from a book that my dear friend Shandy Pants gave me a few years ago, called “Listography: Your Life in Lists,” created by Lisa Nola. Here we go, week 1! Hopefully, I can keep it up for the entire year, but I’ll give myself some grace if I miss a week here and there. Moving forward, I am aiming for making it a part of my Sunday routine. Okay, let’s go!

List the Things You’d Like to Change About Yourself

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