Broke Before The Bell Rings

Broke Before The Bell Rings: Back to School Costs & Teacher Struggles

In this episode of 'If You Want Me to Be Honest,' Cindy and April discuss the astronomical costs associated with back-to-school shopping and the financial burdens teachers face preparing their classrooms. They introduce a new drink, the Blueberry Coconut Mojito, while sharing laughs about their family life, past experiences, and the heat in Florida. Cindy and April also touch on various school-related topics, including the different approaches parents take when getting their kids ready for the school year and how teachers deserve more support and compensation. Remember to join in on the fun and share your thoughts!

00:00 Introduction and Episode Theme

00:11 New Drinks Taste Test

01:37 Back to School Anxiety

03:26 Decorating the Classroom

05:03 The Cost of Teaching

11:56 Teacher Salaries in Florida

20:29 Teachers as First Responders

21:02 Perks and Discounts for Teachers

27:30 Discussing Teacher Preparedness

29:51 School Shopping and Supplies

32:10 Parenting Styles and Challenges

42:39 Weekend Plans and Family Time

51:09 Back to School Reflections

Transcript

0:00

Hi guys. Welcome back to If you Want Me to be honest. Um, this episode is going to be Broke Before The Bell Rings. Oh my God. Yeah. Back to school's. About, about to start. Um, it costs a lot of money, but first before we start that we got new drinks. Oh yeah. We want to try'em. I haven't tried it yet. I'm had to wait. She made me wait until we started. So remember, this is gonna be alcoholics named That's. Name is Cindy. My name is April. In case y'all forgot. That's right. Cindy, April, right? Drink along. Yes. Don't forget. Yeah. Play along to our new game. I don't know what this is called. I forgot. Okay, so this is called Blueberry Coconut Mojito. Why does mine look different than yours? Do I need a stir? We got a stir. Got a bubble. Stirring and stir. And our booze. I took a kids. Oh yeah. Dang it. Okay. Lemme get smell. Lemme get my drink. I haven't drinking yet. Okay. Good. Strong spotsy. Little strong. It's strong, but it tastes good. That's some good shit. Why? Something keeps getting clogged. Well, that would be a blueberry. Oh yeah. That's good. That tastes like coconut, but mojito. It is. That's, you want me to name it again? What is it called? Blueberry. Okay. Coconut. Okay. Mojito. Oh, that makes sense. It, it tastes like its name for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. Mm-hmm. Okay, so just a little real quick before we get into this after episode, just so you all are aware, first of all, okay, this is not sponsored by Chipotle, but that's where we had lunch, Chipotle. But I'm showing you this because Cindy, here it goes, has issues. I do. And she. Makes me put a napkin on the table, like a coaster, like normal people would. Yeah. Under my drink. Just at, at my, my other job. I do that too. It annoys me like I'm stressing out right now. I need a napkin. She's like, do I get up? What do I do? I hope it is what it is. God hope us, I will be a kind friend and split it and split it. See, no matter what they say about you, you're all right. That's right. You are all right, girl. Mm-hmm. 50 50. That's what I, yeah. You trying to get me. Okay. There we go. Thank you. Now that, that's resolved. Oh, the anxiety is so much better. That's what I'm saying. I'm trying to make sure my friends relaxed for this. I know, I know. Prepare. Okay. So anyway, let's talk about the fact that, um, we're obviously, everybody knows. We're here in Florida and it's hot as hell. That too. Okay. Feels like it's like 116, but that's not the topic here. Stay on task. Sorry. Sorry. Um, back to school. Back to school. Teachers are getting ready, preparing their rooms. Getting excited for all you snot nose, little brats. Yeah, I know.'cause my kids were snot nose brats kids that need their butt beat before school. Right. But they don't get it. They need it in school and outta school. Yeah. But anyway. Um, so Brina mm-hmm. Is gonna be first time teacher. Yes, she is. You guys had the exciting task of going to her classroom decorating. Tell us about that. How was that? Um, so she is very nervous but excited. Mm-hmm. Like extremely nervous. I'm drink while you talk, but excited. Um, so we got all the decorations together. We had boxes in my house full of stuff. We took it, her class is humongous, but when she picked out the decorations. I wasn't sure about them, but I loved them. Now. Really, now that it all come together, yeah, it, it looks real nice. But we decorated her whole class. Um. So that was fun. I, you know what my problem is now is next Fridays meet the teacher and I want to go. Oh God. Yeah. I mean, I, I get, I feel you that'ss what I mean by that? Yeah, I can see that. Like, she's gonna be by herself in this class. Like she's such a big girl, but though I can't take it like I wanna go. I know. Hi. Hi. Just to be, you know Brins'a mom. I know. That's so embarra. She's like, mom, no, you can't, not Brina. She's Ms. Rivera. Yeah. She said It's how crazy. It's weird that. She went to them classes she had to go to all week and she said, it's funny that she sees Ms. Rivera's class, Ms. Rivera. She said it's very strange to her. Yeah. But cool at the same time. Exciting. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And nerve wracking. Yes, very much so. Very much so. She is, she's been working since she was a teenager, so yeah, the working aspect and the environment is not the issue. Yeah. It's, this is such a big mm-hmm. New step in her life. Yeah. But. We are so proud and over the moon for her for, you know. Yeah, yeah. But it was costly for her to set up her room, wasn't it? Oh my gosh. So, um, so let's talk about that for a minute. These teachers, it is ridiculous how much money they have to spend. Not only, okay, decorate the room is their preference, but whatever, you know, I kinda get that, not that they shouldn't get in a like. When school starts allowance bonus, a little bonus every year. Or a room decor allowance or something. Right. But what I don't understand is they have to do school supplies too. Right. But like what kind? What are you talking about? Pencils. For their classroom. Yeah. Yeah. In case there's any kids that come in that don't have a pencil like, like mine used tos. Clorox wives. Yeah, people like her, but they have a list to get, but some kids don't come with it, and when they do, it's only for the first few months and they lose their pencil. Yeah. So the teachers have to have school supplies for the whole year. Right. In case of kids like glue sticks. Yes. Glue sticks, scissor. Yeah. Everything. Just extra everything. So that was very costly and thank God I've had a, my son. Mm-hmm. April and a couple other people, you gotta say that, sorry. Pitched in and helped, um, helped her with her school supplies and decorations because it, it comes to about a thousand dollars. Yeah. Um, so, and then she had to buy,'cause she's a first time teacher, so she had to buy all new. Clothes to Oh God. Yeah. To be able, you don't even think about that. Yeah. So we're still doing that and there's still a little bit of school stuff. I'm, I want to get her and whatever, but for the most part, she's ready. Yeah, that's good. That's good. So, but I just So they don't have school uniforms there? Like she doesn't have to wear a certain No. No shirt every day and No. Nope. She just wears like slacks or whatever. Yeah. That's kind of good, I think. And then whatever a shirt. It makes a little more difficult though. Yeah. Yeah, like, I mean, think about what we do. We work in the medical, you know, industry for all these years of our lives. Mm-hmm. And at one point you used to bitch about the fact that we had to wear scrubs. Yeah. Right. Because it's just you get tired of wearing the same shit over and over. Yeah, you're right. But then again. It makes your life so much easier. It's easier. I wish it was. I, I when Brina, when they become, like, when she was in school and they had dress code. Yep. I loved it. Yeah. It's so much cheaper to me. Right. Easier. So I loved it. So, but she, she just bought slacks and I like to, what kind of teacher would I be like, would I be a hoochie teacher? Would I be the one wearing you be cursing, you'd be fired in the first week, bitch. I wouldn't even make it. I've been calling up parents, did I be like, uh, come get your fucking kid. And then, you know, I knew a, uh, I knew someone that was a teacher for one year. Yeah. Um, I know several teachers and she quit after the first year because. Like a se, I think it was sixth grade or seventh grader girl yelled at her, cursed her. Mm. So she emailed the parents. I took that little bitch out and the mom emailed back and said, well, what did you do to her? What the fuck? I wish you would now. So was like teachers like me. What? That I would be, there are some teachers. But you gotta be camera do, do do do do do do, do stuff to people. Okay. To kids. Yeah. You know what I mean? Well, yeah. Um, there are some that, it's like any field, there's always a, a bad apple and a few, I wouldn't be that way, but I, I wouldn't tolerate no shit either. I definitely would be fired for sure. Okay, sure. And you know what it would be, I'd be fired for what? Fighting the mama. You, God dang right, girl. Okay. Or I just would freak out if some girl cursed me out, or boy, I'd curse them back out. Like I want fist fight'em. This is what I'm saying, this, I mean, it's a fine line for me. I'm a little kid. I'm talking about when they're in high school and stuff, they're like, bitch, could you imagine VPK teach kid coming up you and being like, bitch, I grab that little shit. I show you a bitch. Kidding, kidding. No. Okay. Well I be calling the mom. I grab that phone is what I meant. My daughter is. The sweet, like she is, she ain't even going to, I don't even know what she going to do. I don't even, she'd like, oh, you're so cute. I know. She's like, you're funny. Yeah. She's gonna be one of them parents. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, yeah. Oh, like I am a grandparent pretty. I laugh at that shit. What the hell? Yeah. Every time she says that, I giggle. Oh, shit's funny to me. Pretty much. You're the problem. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, so I looked up, um, you know, it's different. So egg, uh, b Zach's, yes. Girlfriend, fiance. We call her egg fiance. And there's a whole story, we'll talk about that later. I'm sorry, fiance. You're welcome. She gets so mad when I call her Jess, like, as a joke. Oh. Or I'm like, Jessica. She's like, that's not funny. Oh, it's like she's in trouble. Yeah, probably. But anyway, so we call her egg, but she's gonna be starting, um, VPK teaching. At she's been a VP K teacher, but always at the, yeah, you know the, um. I don't wanna say daycare.'cause I mean they're not really up the Yeah. vpk. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, um, she's gonna be starting doing that, which is good. Exciting for her too. Yeah. She said she got a bunch of classing that she's gotta go to. Mm-hmm. Ready. Like Brina's doing those orientation videos and stuff like that. Yeah. Um, that's awesome for her. But as far as the supplies, I don't know that she's really had to, or is going to need to do that. She needs crayons. I, but I don't know if she has to supply that stuff or not. I mean, she already does at the place that she works. Oh yeah. So I mean, if it was me and I bought all that shit, when I leave, girl, I don't pack my shit. Yeah. Take you with you, you know, grab an extra white out by accidents. I, yeah. But crayons and stuff, they're probably nubs by now and mess lost. Hey, so what? You ain't gotta, it's like I used to tell the kids when they were going to school. That backpack is still good. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Like you had to have a new backpack every year. Yeah. Zach was different. Zach shit in backpacks, so, okay. You know that that's all you had to get a whole different ball game. Exactly. No, I got my kids a new backpack every year. I, no shit, so did I. Yeah, it's just a thing to do that. It's stupid though, is my point. Why? Because it looks worn out. I guess'cause my school, my kids didn't really use the backpack. Oh, okay. They were like, bitch, ain't nothing coming home. Homework. What? What's that? Anyway, we'll talk about that in a minute. So I did look into like what the difference in cost is for teachers. Mm-hmm. Pay because it's so funny that. I'm gonna give you all some advice. Can I throw Brina under the bus? Sure. If you want me to be honest, Brina didn't even know what she was gonna be making. Oh, you are throwing her under the bus. She, and she's, I don't know if she still knows. She don't care. Well, she has an idea and that's what's great about now she has what I'm saying, it's, I'm throwing her under the bus, but at the same time it's kind of giving her a little pat on the back. Like, good girl.'cause she is actually going into this field. Doing it because she cares about people. Yes. Doing it. The reason why teachers should go, you know what I mean? But she don't care because she has no bills. Right. Now, let's be real true. If she had to pay her own, like most teachers, I don't. I wanna make sure who's throwing her under the bus now, you know? No, I mean, she has some bills, but I'm saying if you lived on your own. Yeah. You wanna know. Right, right, right. But Brina is the kind that, um, she's not gonna ruffle any feathers. Well, she was smart enough enough to look at the average and that's, yeah, that's where I was going into was like, but it went way down, even though I threw out there that part of her business, um, she at least had an idea of what the average was in Florida, of what they pay for teachers. So, you know, she ain't real happy, I'm sure, because. And I both know, uh, teachers get are underpaid in the state of Florida way. Underpaid way. Yeah. And lemme tell you something way when you get into the fact that, um, pretty much, um, government is like involved in our school system. Like they dictate what you're allowed our curriculum and stuff like that. Yeah. They've already. It's gotten to the point where like, parents have more control than teachers have and blah, blah, blah. Yeah. And that's for a whole different conversation right now. Not right now Yeah. To go into, but I'm just saying in that aspect, our teachers are paid way less than other states. Really? Oh my God. So the, that national average, lemme show you. It's ridiculous. Okay. And I don't know why, why? According to Google. Okay. Okay. And Google knows all. Google State. That Florida is ranked 50th out of all the states. What the heck for teacher pay? Wow. 50th. Come on, DeSantis. Do we even have that? We got any more states? There's none. Zero. Wow. You see what I'm saying? There ain't a 51st state. Yeah, they're in the 50, like you're bottom. Is there, I'm gonna count my stars on stripes. She, she can't count. I told you motherfuckers last time what? Geography is not my thing. Okay. There's 50 states. Okay. I'm just double checking, just saying. Yeah. So that's so, so rank last bro in, and I'm sure other states she could go to any other state and the average she'd make more, be paid more. We're not telling you to do that. Brina, by the way, stay home. She's not allowed. No. So the average pay in Florida, at least according to Google, um, in 2022 and 2023, the average was$53,000. Now that's a year. Yeah. Now, to some people they might be like, oh my God, that's amazing. That's really good pay. Now the offset is we don't have state tax. Yeah. Okay. We, we have a lot. Less money, truthfully, that goes out of that 53,000. So, I mean, if they're only going based off of the actual number instead of like, what do you really bring home? Yeah, that's what I wanna know. Yeah. You know, what's the average take home pay? Um, it's probably not as drastic. Yeah. I would think. Well, and also you gotta take off probably. 2,500 off the bat because it costs her a thousand dollars. Oh God. Yeah. For the dec or on for the school supplies and all that. Plus through the year, they still have to like, if they run out Oh, yeah. Yeah. Or they see a kid that's a need. You know what I mean? They, so there are some good tax, um, incentives, which is good that mm-hmm. I've seen, you know, when we do our taxes and stuff like that and I don't qualify for'em. Yeah.'cause I'm not a teacher. Yeah. Um, so there are some credits that. You mean income tax? The government does give, yeah. Income tax that they do give a certain amount. But again, it really shouldn't even be in that aspect that teachers have to deal with that. It really depends on the grade too. Mm-hmm. Of how much supplies you need to utilize in your classroom, you know, and to put up with the kids these days and their attitudes, that ain't enough money. And not only that, I also, uh. Think that for teachers, if you have like, um, some kind of ID and I understand they would want that or whatever, right. For like, especially nowadays, right? Staples, Walmart, anyone that sells school supplies, any kind of school supplies should give teachers, if they can show proof that they're a teacher, a big discount at this time a big discount. So now that you just said that. Mm-hmm. Okay. One of the perks of Florida, and I don't know about the other states. Mm-hmm. Sorry, I got a blueberry in there. Um, I haven't really looked into that aspect, but in the state of Florida, starting August 1st today. Yep. It is an entire month. Tax free. Of Tax free. Mm-hmm. School supplies. Yeah. So it's even on clothes. Yep. That's good for parents and teachers. Teachers. It's good for parents and teachers. Yes. If teachers are last minute or like me. Okay. Yeah. School here starts in 10 days around the 11th, you know, to the 21st of August Max. And then in Florida, everybody's back to school by then. Yeah. Most of us start around the 11th or 12th, but um, I would wait till August 1st and go get all my supplies for my classroom, get everything that I needed. Yeah, because that tax alone, truthfully. Is a good savings depending on what county you're Yeah. For the tax in. You know what I mean? Yeah. But if you're ordering stuff, if you wait till 10 days before, of course it gets a little hairy. Yes, of course. If have to order it online. That's big difference way. I feel like teachers should get more of a discount somehow. Some, some way they should because, and I never knew this, so this is new for me. Uh, all the teachers out there that are listening, hopefully there's a bunch of them. And people that knew this already, um, would be like, uh, now you're think, well this is the first time I'm learning of this, you know? Well,'cause listen, we live our lives. I think everybody in the world. Lives their life based off of what affects me directly. Mm-hmm. What affects my family directly? Yeah. Like my opinions and how I deal with my politics or my opinions a lot of times, or just my in general. Choosing of services or something like that, or based on how's it gonna affect me? Yeah. And a little bit of narcissist. I don't really give a fuck if it affects you differently, but you know, if it affects my children different Yeah. Then I might have a better outlook on it. You know, now that Brina's in teaching. Mm-hmm. It does. I, like I said, I've, I have friends or had, um, that were teachers. I would hear that from them, and I would think to myself, because I'm a strong believer in, well, you chose that profession. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. I, I tell Scott that all the time. He bitch about the heat back in the day, but you chose to go into that field. Mm-hmm. I, it's not my fault. I chose to go into an office aspect where I could have ac Yeah, that's true. You know what I mean? It's true. So it, it's kind of that way. But when I see it now being. On the other spectrum of it. Yeah. With Brina. Yeah. It's like, okay, open up your mind to things. It makes you realize that sometimes. Yeah. You do have to kind of see it from another side. That's all for sure. And, and not only that, it's like, um, these days it's almost to the point that. I wouldn't, I don't know if you'd call it this, but this is what I'm gonna call it for now. It's almost like, you know, cops and, uh, paramedics and firefighters. They're first responders, correct? Well, well, so teachers, teachers are first responders in essence. I mean, first of all, they're taking care of your children more hours than you are sometimes. And two. They are first responders by, they gotta protect them when they're in their class. Well, especially unfortunately, in bad situations. Yeah. If they've gotta report incidences that they've seen or, yeah, yeah, yeah. They need to be paid way more in my book. Well, I think, and so all of them so does police officers and I I agree. For all of them for sure. Like something needs to be done about it. Yeah. It's serious. I can tell you what I'm excited for that about Brina and hopefully Egg too gets this perk. But I'm excited to take advantage of when you get teachers get into the theme parks and stuff. Oh yeah, bitch, we're going, I want some free tickets. That's right. You know what I mean? Don't they get Yeah. I thought they get, I dunno. I've heard that in Florida at least. Oh. Just like they do for the police officers and the veterans and stuff like that. Teachers NASCAR races, they get certain discounts. Oh yeah. Yeah. Let's see. Brina. Hooks us up. This bitch. She better hook us up. And if she don't, maybe some of your listeners can uhhuh, but I love free shit. Oh, I know. Call. I love this free drink. Nevermind. Um, something went in my mouth. That would be the blueberry. No. Oh, that's mint. Yeah, I got it too. It's pretty good though. I like it. You just gotta look at my straw. It's cloggy thumb. Oh. Filter it. Blow it. It didn't blow out. Blower. I don't know, but maybe don't put it all the way in the bottom of the drink. Nope. I drank it. Hopefully it was something I was supposed to, Nope, I ate it. That was good. Anyway, so it's all edible. Yeah. I mean, I'm not worried about it. Yeah. Um, so anyway, again. We, something needs to be done about that. Yeah. So when you're, look, you know, you're looking through your, um, new legislation mm-hmm. Or things to vote on. If something comes up about schools, we're gonna be advocates to say, teachers need extra in Florida. Yeah. Like really, we can't be ranked 50th. We are not. We don't fail. That's right. Okay. We are Florida strong. Like come on. Do they need us to go march up there and do, dude, I'm gonna have to knock on he DeSantis comes to visit. Alright. I'm gonna go when he shows up and I'm gonna have to say. Mm-hmm. I know you're listening right now too DeSantis so I'm gonna tell you. Love ya. But help our teachers out. Agree. Concur. I concur. Boost their income. Yeah. And it's expensive for parents too. Like, well, especially if they got bougie kids. I can't imagine what your mom dealt with because of Kim. Oh hell yeah. No you weren't Kim. I agree. No, bitch. I got Kim's hand me downs. Okay. My mom, Kim was five years difference than me. Oh yeah, you got, so I went into kindergarten. With Kim's shit from 1979. Wow. Okay. Wow. You're gonna have to throw that year out there. Well, I'm 74 born. I have no problem saying I'm, I'm proud to be 51. Throw your sister on the bus because I'm proud to be 51 America. Anyway. It's expensive for parents too, especially if their kids are a little bit boozier. Or if your kids run you, which is 90% of the world. Um, the kids tell them, um, what they want, what they're gonna get, and how they're gonna pay for it. So it lot, well, it's, it's just a, this fucking elephant in the room. That's another dig on me. No, it's all parents. I see parents, you know, when Brina was in high school, she's like, oh, this kid got pair of shoes for 200. I don't give a shit. I was that parent. You going to get that wall brand Uhuh? I, that parent, I bought that shoe. I get 60, 80 bucks, maybe a hundred. And that's pushing it. You buy anything extra, you're doing that'cause your kid wants you to. I'm not. Yeah. No. Matter of fact, okay, well when your ass goes to school with Bobos, like I did with Sears specials or, and we're, look how we turned out. Great. This is why I wear No, I understand. But 200 to 300, it's not our fault that the cost of living in shoes is outrageous, but Yeah, I agree. It's, it's, it's what the kids want. Well, it's so you don't get fucked with, yeah. Fuck with my kids. I'm gonna tell you right now, Winston, when he goes to school, coming from Chad and Gabby, uh, this is, this is the problem. This is Chad and Gabby. Okay? Okay. They both are shoe their shoe games on. Okay? Okay. So he gonna have good shoes and Bobo clothes. Don't, maybe some Boba clothes, but I doubt it because he ain't got Boba clothes on. The younger they are, the cheaper it is wait till they get in middle and high school. That's when it kicks in. They cheaper. It's, it's$85 for a pair of little Nike shoes that I bought his ass. I was do my, I was waiting to say what idiot would buy that for a child that's two years old that I handed down to somebody. I was at a sneaker convention. Why are we friends? I don't know. She's the problem with the world today. I am okay. As as long as you agree. I admit it isn't the first step to admit admitting. Yeah, sure. Um, thank you. Not that I didn't find my kids good stuff, but I didn't go. I'm not that drunk. What are you drunk from that sip? I know. Come on dude. Get your life together anyway. Parents like her. Okay. First of all, school supplies is expensive in general. Of course. Yes. Now mind you, I had four kids. I don't know how you did it. I had one at a time. You had one 12 years apart a time. Yeah. So I had like one at a time and, uh. Me, I was pumping'em in. Pumping'em out. Yeah. But then you, I was like a little baby pack. You spent a lot of money. I bet you school supplies, they have the best of the best of the best of the best. Well, no, like y got number two. Pencils, Brina and Nathan got 0.5. No, I'm just kidding. That's true. Brina got'em from Dollar Tree. Yes. I mean, no, I did stuff like that. I cut costs and, and saved in areas that they didn't. Have a clue. Now, are you the parent that gets everything on that list that the teacher sent? No bitch. See, I am. I know you are. I am the parent that will get mm-hmm. If I needed it, especially with Brina, I had to follow the rules. Well, it depends on the class. Like every class, the grade, no, it depends on grade. It gives you a list. Not always wouldn't you go to open house? Right. They give you the list. Okay. They give you a generalized one. Yes. Then once they went into their classroom and then the teacher was like, I want this, this, this, and this, they it, and I don't need any of the other shit. Yeah. Some people wait till school starts. This is why I struggled with the teacher thing. See? Yeah. But they wait till school starts and then get the final one from their, that's what I wait for. So I be, how are we doing? But why did they do that? Why wouldn't the teacher, uh, change it before the, uh, meet the teacher day? I, I dunno, some teachers aren't prepared. Listen. Some teachers are like me and some teachers are like you. Okay. I would know. I would hope you would know, but I see how things can change. But you wouldn't know know, girl, what? What? I'm teaching Scout. Okay. You were always prepared. Okay. So what the Boy Scout's motto was Always be prepared. Okay. I'm gonna say it's the Girl Scouts. Okay. Because I think I don't remember theirs. That was a brownie and that was about it. And then I became eating a brownie anyway. I want a brownie right now. I love a brownie girl. She can we get a brownie with this drink? Anyway, I forgot what I was talking about, so I was not a prepared. Listen, I believe children are a product of their environment. Okay? Now I'm gonna tell you why I, I'm 50 50 on that, but yeah. I'm gonna use myself as an example. Instead of throwing you under the bus, you can throw yourself under there and your children. Okay, let's, I'm gonna do it for myself. Okay? Go ahead. I am never prepared. I, I couldn't live like that. Okay. I need to know what I'm, dude, I have you got pissed when I gave you homework, so I don't even wanna hear that shit. Okay. I tried to make you prepared. I tried to be prepared for this. I, I'm better. Just, I'm just better with wing it. Wingy, dingy, dingy, wingy. Um, so it's rare for me to be prepared. Like I try to be, I want to be You. Wait till the last minute. No. Well, oh yeah. No, I can't. I don't believe in that. Not, no, no. A night before. I'm a night before kind of person. Mm mm mm mm Yeah. So if we're going away, mm. I'm packing the night before. What if you need stuff? Now I'm figuring out all my, well, I don't hang out the hiccups. What if you need? I, I don't figured out all my outfits. Uh, no. I'm looking at that stuff like, I kind of know in general, but like when the kids went to to school, when it came to school shopping and stuff like that. What? Nothing. I got something funny to say. No, go. Go. I just don't wanna forget it. Okay, go ahead. When I went, um, school shopping, it was. I went as soon as we went to open house like that. Following week. Yeah. And so I would buy a generic portion of school supplies so that, and man, some of my kids hated it. Why? They free? Well, at one point they used to be kind of,'cause you know, Scott's an on time kind of person. I'm not. Mm-hmm. I try to be shit happens. Um, but they would panic. I had to teach them not to. You're gonna see, great. Okay, let's go spend$200. You're not getting them fucking Nikes, but okay, let's spend$200 worth of supplies. And when you go to school, I want you to bring me back everything that's not needed. Yeah, that's true. I, that has happened before. A lot of shit we buy. But when you teach, give this to you, then you get it. I've had teachers give, like I said, a generic list. Mm-hmm. And then lemme tell you something you don't. Yes. Do you need Kleenex? Hand sanitizer? Yes. Yes. Do you need Sam's Club? Yes. Kleenex not. You don't? Each kid, the teacher does. Okay. Well, the teacher does. As I said, the kids don't that stuff, but they put that on the list. Germ X, not a, not a big thing. They wanted little one. I don't talk about now. Oh, back in the day before COVID. When everything was just a little, yeah. Oh, I almost blew my boogers in my head. Oh, I can't take her nowhere, dude. Okay, let me tell you something funny. God, let's hear this shit. So we were just on this subject a minute ago, how prepared I am. That's what you get. This is how prepared I am. Okay. When my son would go to school, yes. At night. This is kind of embarrassing though. No, it's not. It's pretty smart. It is. Well because it's a boy in its jeans or, anyway, you want me to be honest. Not after he took a shower the night before. Okay. Don't, don't choke on me. You want me to do the heim? Sorry, go ahead. Scott's trying to kill you. Um, I had nailed'cause I'm laughing. Oh. Oh. Okay. I'm good. Don't. Okay. Don't drink next time. Um, the night before, before bed, my son would put on his school clothes to go to bed'cause he was not an early riser. And so he'd put his jean shorts on and his shirt and socks. So when he woke up in the morning, he just slipped on his shoes, brushed his teeth, and let's go. Pretty much she's saying there's no pajamas in this situation. You think he still lives that way? Mm Oh, we don't wanna call him out on you. No. I'm trying to think. No, I don't think he goes to bed with his work clothes on. Could you imagine? And his, but does he sleep until he absolutely has to get up and get dressed and get out the door? Yes. Oh, of course. But Brina is different, right? She's gotta have. Laid out clothes, know exactly what she's wearing. You gotta get up early enough to, you know, she's just like, she's like that. That's how Mark is. Mark wakes up three hours before he is gotta leave. I wake up 30 minutes, I get dressed 10. You go to bed with the clothes on? No, it takes me about 10 minutes to get dressed, grab my coffee and water. I can be out the door in 20 minutes, so I sleep until I have to get up. And then you brush your teeth and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Take a shirt like when I come here. Well, I don't, I don't. I'm just saying that's what most people do when I come here to work and I get here at, at eight 30, I woke up at like eight o'clock. Lately at eight, been eight 30 or 7 45. Right? And the only reason I get up a little bit early is'cause Mark's gonna wanna talk. Let me spend some time with him, drink our little bit of coffee and wait. And then he follows me out the door. But anyway, that's a whole new subject. That's a whole nother, but either way. For sure. Talking about being prepared. My son wore his school clothes once he got a little, not once. Once he got older, he stopped doing it. I'm talking about as a little kid, he would, right, right. I'd say Put on your school clothes. I know. So in the morning, wake him up, let's go. At least he had his shower though and was ready to go or bath or whatever. Yes. You know, he's about, you weren't a savage. We she Talk about my kids being raised in the jungle. I didn't say that. I can tell you that when I was raising my children, okay? Mm-hmm. From all four of'em. Okay. First of all, every child's different. Right? That's how I think. So I had to learn. Shane was always easygoing. Yeah. He was usually, um, he was the type that you guys were strict. He did wanna know on Shane too, though. Of course he was the first one. Yeah. Yeah. Um. He wanted to know beforehand what he was wearing. He was that kind. Put his clothes out, whatever. Um, or I plus I had a lot more time. When you only have one, I mean it six years difference between him and Brandon. Yeah, so it's true. It's a, it's it's different environ, you know, type of raising. I think once you move on to the next one, Brandon, on the other hand, you just, God bless me, you gave up. I'm just gonna say. She gave up. Ooh, no, I didn't give up. But it's a wonder I didn't break that child. Oh my God. He was, maybe he did. So picky. I know. Maybe I brand I love you. I'm sorry if you have issues. I hope you don't have mommy issues. But anyway, um, he was picky. His with socks you mean? Oh, if that, you know how socks back in the day. I don't know. Still, I don't really wear many socks, but anyway, they have that sewn stitch where they sew together. They still some socks were very talk about generic and me being bougie. Okay, wow, I bought the cheap socks and this is why I stopped doing this shit. Mm-hmm. There's a certain thing that certain kids are sensory touch issues. Okay. I strongly believe in that kind of stuff. Brandon was that kid. He would put his sock on or I would put his sock on in the morning, get him dressed, and as soon as I put the socks on snap mode.'cause back in the day, them little lines were thicker than they now. Yeah. And now maybe his shoes were a little too small. Maybe his feet grew too fast. I don't know. Might have been been, who knows? Who knows back then. But that was the issue with Brandon. So I would struggle. So poor Shane would end up being either late to the bus. Oh. Brina wouldn't use I'd to drive them all in. Well, Shane used to get pissed about it too. Yeah. But he was tolerable. You know what I mean? He'd deal with it. And Brina is not tolerable. Zach, once he started school, yeah. Dude trying to get the two of them. First of all, Zach, all of them ready. Zach ran around the hou. He was like, I ain't getting dressed. I ain't going to school. You know what I mean? Yeah. As a little kid. Yeah. Yeah. He'd run, he, I would be busy trying to get Brandon ready'cause there's only like two years difference and then have Zach trying to run away from me. Shane's trying to yell at them to get doing a house. That poor house, oh my god. Gabby was easy, but she was bougie. Yeah. And she still, she had to have the best of the best. Well, she's a girl. Girls are different. All the kids did really like, I mean, they always had the good shoes, the stuff like that. Yeah. Um, because I've been called out for that in the past. Um, and that's why I say when you're raised as somebody who's had Kmart specials, yeah. I'm not putting my kids in Walmart specials. It's just not happening. Walmart special, sorry. And I won't put my grandkids, my kids never go Walmart either. But I didn't spend$200 for shoes. Matter of fact, Brina got her first expensive shoes a couple years ago for Christmas. Oh, yeah. She, Gabby had, and that was her big, again, I got, I can tell you I agree with not doing that. Mm-hmm. Only because Gabby used to have a wall of shoes. Mm-hmm. To the point that there were shoes she never wore. But Nathan does that. He likes to look at it. He's a collector and that's how Gabby was. She was always, since she was little, she is been a shoe person. Yeah, big. She's always, I get that. But that'd be holiday shit. I think she gets that shit from my sister. Sorry to throw you out that Yeah, I'm, I'm drink up on that one bit. The sister, my sister got the name brand shit. Me, I didn't get the name right. I'm rolling around right now and I don't even know. I don't even know an off brand Walmart special because I ain't got no off brand. Oh, I know what I got. Tick TikTok shop shit. Okay. That's where I get my clothes nowadays. I think Scott just threw anything in here with some little chia seed looking things. The blueberry. That's not a blueberry. It is. It's the seeds inside. Oh, bottle them. That's why there's chunky chunks everywhere. That's a mojito. That's girl. I gotta educate. As you all heard last episode. Cindy only drinks on occasion, and it's Friday. Again, she don't know nothing about drinks. We are gonna introduce a new drink every time we are. Mm-hmm. I'm still in love with the first one. See, I, I'm not a big changer. I'm in love with the stripper. I would take the first one every time, but it's fine. I do like trying different stuff. Yeah. And if I'm gonna do it, might as well do it here. That's what I'm saying, in a safe environment where you won't get roofied. Exactly. I don't know. Scott might have. Trying to choke both of us out. He trying to shut us both up. Yeah. He's like, do I gotta listen to them one more minute? I, I know. I said, see, he gets destroyed by it, but I think he enjoys this abuse. He does. Matter of fact, let's drink up so he can make us another one. Doesn't make the new one. No. But then we can put in the request for the old one and No, and then we mix it and we're screwed. We're done. Anyway. Any anyhow, teachers need. I almost died. Got her eyes. I almost died. Teachers need more money. Mm-hmm. School shopping sucks. School shopping sucks because the name of the title and how bad podcast for a parent, how much stress, this is what breaks my heart. How much stress, even in Christmas time for a parent that got more than one kid or whatever, or just one kid or whatever to the choir and can't afford. It's ridiculous. This bitch never had any motherfucking sympathy for me. Nope. That's all. Don't say, but your kids were, had bougie stuff. I had one ahead of time, but I had nothing Dinner time. I was like, I'll take this little tiny corner of bread. You can have the whole loaf because you're nice. That's how I could say, I'd be like, we're splitting this shit. Half them kids. Yeah. Oh, that's funny. Anyway, my point is. More money for teachers, responders first more money and these poor parents, but they are so happy to send them kids off. So they're like, they'll pay for anything, dude. They can't. I had had four kids when I used to work from the home when I first started my, the billing business, Uhhuh, when I did that, all the kids were out of the house. Nice bitch. It was the best. I loved having a home business. Yeah. Oh my God. It was the greatest thing ever. But summertime. You didn't. I did.'cause I locked my mother kids out. Oh. Well I grew up a latchkey kid. I raised my kids. La My, my boys were playing backyard football. Yeah. Yeah. They were like, I didn't, never had to worry about, if anything they were inside playing a video game. And when that generation, we had pool, I mean we had a pool. I, I loved, I'd rather have my kids at home with me. Yeah. Back then,'cause I wasn't drinking every day like I am now. I probably should have been, but I wasn't. So I liked having them bring all their friends and do the whole nine yards at my house because then I felt like I knew what they were doing. But. I didn't, I, and that's another episode. We'll probably do that with the door shut next time. Shut. You don't know what's happening out there, girl. And she wonders why Brina never stayed night with her. Got your ass. Lemme drink up. Mm-hmm. She need drink up.'cause that's a sore subject. Just so you know. It's not really, it's not really. I don't worry about that. But anyway, so next. Next topic. Next topic is Brina got baptized last Sunday. Very proud of her. Mark got teary eyed. I videoed it. It was great. Oh, yes, Brina cried. Actually, I asked you that last week if she was gonna go, if, I mean you told me that she was going back. Yeah. Get baptized. Did. Yep. We, we were there at nine 30 in the morning. She got baptized, then we went to Crack Barrel. She accepted Jesus Christ as her savoir. She did. And then we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. That was good. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And then we just went home and relaxed. We actually went home and all three of us passed out. And Mark never takes naps. And if I do, it's like 15 minutes. That's because it was like two hours. Yeah. And the day before we went to the springs. Oh. So we were exhausted. You were done. Yeah. Exhausted. So, um, we all took naps and then we all woke up pretty much the same. And Brina said, I took a two and a half hour nap. Bitch, all you do is nap. You take a two and a half hour, hour nap after you just woke up. Yeah. So every day, well, that's, she's not doing that, um, summer program anymore, so that's good. Nope, she's done with that. Well, she don't have time. Right. She's got class after class, after class from seven in the morning to four. Today's just a zoom. Thing from three to four 30. Mm-hmm. And then Michael wants her to come see his class, but I don't know if she went or not. Right. And then Monday she has another class, and then she don't have classes, I don't think. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Fridays meet the teacher. The only thing that sucks is I won't be here either to be support when she gets home next Fridays meet the teacher. Oh, don't worry. I will be, I'll see her Saturday. I'll be seeing my daughter. Yeah. I just, she just realized last night I won't be around. But Nathan picked the weekend, but I, I'm gonna go see my granddaughter, so that's not gonna stop me. So Brina will be fine. You're an adult. Be an adult. Even though helicopter parent, helicopter parent. Yes. I really am helicopter parent. I really am. I gotta, I gotta, I mean, she got live 360 on the kid. Why wouldn't you? Oh my. Because she's 21, so I want it on Nathan. No, he won't let me. Smart. But he said there's a way for me to look at my phone and I'm not. Savvy with that stuff. So he is like, look at your phone. You should know. You should know, but I, he'll call me Where you been or where you going? I'm like, dude, oh, I know who I did it. You want me to teach it? Stop looking at my location, your little stalker. He said, why'd you go to Publix? What'd you need there? Like, I'm like, oh my gosh. Well, that's what Gabby does. Well, Gabby's doing that because she's like, she shopping without me. Uhhuh. She's like, that bitch, Uhhuh. Brina don't want to shop. She go to lunch without me. Yeah. Even if I'm paying, Brina don't wanna shop. I know, dude. We've talked about that so many times. She is strange. Anyway. Anyway, so that's that. Yeah. What else? This weekend, this is actually my only free weekend for a couple weeks, so. Oh really? Mm-hmm. Not free, but free. Free, but free. It can't be free, but free. It's free. But Brina wants me to hang out with her this whole weekend. Your face. She's like, uh, is ridiculous. You wanna hang out with me this weekend? You ain't got no friends. What does, but you, what does that mean? What she wants to hang out? That means, but we can't shop. Right. We can't go eat. See, she wants me to either go somewhere to have a couple drinks with her. Oh, that's fine. Or sit and watch movies with her. It's an occasion. Yeah. Drink up bitch. So, and then she, she just, I don't know, whatever. And then that's it. You know what I'm gonna do this weekend? I don't wanna hear it because you gonna have drunk. Yeah. Gonna have fun. What the hell? Yep. I'm coming. Yep. Yep. Who you playing flip cup with? No one. This family. Every, I ain't there. Oh. Oh yeah. I got a whole crew now boy. I got a whole group. I got a whole squad here visiting my ass. That's true. That's true. Yeah. So this is the, this is relaxing for me. One like real main, full weekend with them. Mm-hmm. Um, and then my nephew's girlfriend's coming to visit, which will be fun. Hopefully. Or you're embarrassing. Uh oh. Uh, poor girl. It's a guarantee. Poor girl. I mean, come on dude. She's terrible. I'm embarrassed. Yeah, all the time. And I like it that way. She embarrasses me. Well, you know, but you won't stop hanging out with my ass so I don't gonna embarrass you that much. That's true. That's true. So it's like 115 degrees outside. Oh my God, dude. 115. It's so hot. It's not even funny. The other day when I went outside, I think it was like the hottest day I walked from work. I went so bad to put my arm on here. I know, but it shakes see that. Gotcha. Um, I left work and walked across the street to the Jiffy. Yeah, Jiffy. It's not a Jiffy. It's a Jiffy. It's not called a Jiffy. What is it called? It's a Jiffy across the street To where from the work. Yeah, it's a shell gas station. Jiffy. So I walked across there and I was like, damn. I could see why people that have breathing problems, the heat would be a problem because I was like, it's so thick, I can tell the difference. Oh yeah. So, um, yeah, I was just like, damn, man, that's, that's tough. Well, I don't have breathing problems. Me neither until I walk outside. Yeah. And then when I got home the day that nobody was home for like an hour. Oh, oh. So I walked quiet, I walked in the house and Mark swears. The last few days, he wants every shade closed, every door. Shut. Even the one that mm-hmm. Goes in the middle. Yeah. He said, because it'll keep the house cooler. So I walked in, everything's dark. Well, that's a little fishy for me. Okay. Right. You don't know if somebody, and I want doors open so I can see. Right, right. So I go and open it all up. He's gonna smack somebody. I don't give a shit. I opened it all up and I was like, I can't feel the difference between this room and that room. So it's fine. Open it up. Stop being a mark thinks lives in the bat cave. Yeah. Like he's Batman. Stop being weird, dude. Down in the bottom of the bat cave, waiting for a call to come in. Mark, stop it. Yeah. I don't care about that. Yeah. I, I can tell you this, mark would hate me then because I told Scott like, my dream house is that I love windows. Like I love natural light. I'm okay. I, I love that too. I would rather natural light. I want people to see inside. All the time. Don't care what you gonna look at. Big old fat body peek away, brother. No, I've had peeping times my whole life. I'm used to it. I told you. Yeah. No, not me. No, but they make it to where you can't see in, except I can tell you this at night. You can see through those. Yeah, I know. Because I had that on. I think our slider is like that. Oh, where you can't during the day.'cause it blocks the, so if you're walking around naked, then what? At night? Well get some curtains. You dirty bitch. I'm just saying. Um, but no. Yeah, either walk around naked, which it's really called naked. It's naked. Okay. Spell naked. NE red, naked. It's naked. Okay. You know what I meant though? I knew Mark always corrects me too. It's so annoying. Like I'll say, Hey, you fixing, you fixing to go somewhere? You're fixing. He say, yeah, I'm fixing, I'm fixing, but you know what I mean? Yeah. Oh, well, I say fixing. Yeah. Who cares? But I think I, a lot of my language comes from you. Wow. Yeah. Not my potty mouth. Not the bad language. You mean the, the, the wrong words. Yeah. Just like patience. Right? Like the Ty Ty, the chip choy. The chip chiney. Yeah. Or Scott says, because I go, even Winston understands that you go like this. You know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about your mouth. Yeah. That's why Winston calls me Balisha. I know. Bye. Balicia. Bye, Balicia. I think we should have him on the podcast. We should. Just one little episode with just him. Yeah, that's true. He can tell us all the dirt, all the dirt about, so he'd be like my mama and my daddy and Balisha and this one time they, okay. Yeah, I think that would be fun. All right, well we're gonna finish off our drinks and, um, hope everybody has a great weekend back to school. Oh yeah. And weekend. But one more weekend back to school. Yeah. I don't have to deal with that anymore. Thank God we're here for you. Teachers we're we got your back. All your parents that are struggling and worrying about buying their kids the bougie shit like she used to and still do. And still, I mean, listen, if you want me to be honest, I'm the type of parent that. I'll bring my kid to a fight. If you got some kid that's bullying my kid there, she's, she's, she's the one, I'm the type that will turn around and confront the parent. If there's an issue, she's the one. And if the teacher ain't treating my kid right, I'm gonna confront you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Unless my kid's wrong. But you can't. Yeah. How do you know? Unless my kid's wrong. But how do you know until you talk to the teacher? Well, I mean, if you raised them right. You find out really who, yeah. You can tell by kids' personalities, like, you know, I raise my kids to respect elders. Yeah. That respect, authority. These kids need to respect teachers. You know, DI mean, if a teacher is mistreating them, which, which is rare, so don't blame the teacher. Yeah. But there are, there are some, like I said, there's some, lemme tell you, I've had my run-ins with, it's really not the. Teachers that were an issue, it was the security at the school. That's an issue. Yeah. You know, some of these security guys think that they're, they're cops. I mean, I get it. Yeah. You know, officers, but I respect officers until you start bullying my kid. Yeah. Well that's different. Some of'em can get a little crazy. Yeah, that's true. So, um, you know, hopefully you guys raise your kids right. Respect, authority, respect, respect your teachers. Yeah. Um, respect your damn parent. I wouldn't have had to beat my kids unless you had to. Yeah. I mean, and it wasn't very many occasions that they got mad. You need to start beating my kids now. Well, now I just gotta cut'em off. Brina's cursing from money. Yeah. Yeah. She needs to start sharing that money with me back in the day. Well, she did buy me lunch today. Thank you. Thank you. Scott made me a drink. Thank you. She had all sorts of free shit. I got that right. Mm-hmm. Anyway, have a great weekend guys. We enjoy, um, you, we enjoy. I hope you enjoy us watching, us listening to us.'cause we are professional Okay. Getting better. We know it. Yeah. And if, again, if you guys got anything that you want to tell us, ask us if you wanna know our honest opinion about something. Mm-hmm. Please feel free to like, share, follow, comment. On our YouTube page, you can follow us on iHeartRadio, Spotify, um, apple Podcast. We're on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. Um, so take a look. Check us out. Yes. And if you like it, love it, share it, and pretty much that's it. Share the drama to your mama. Have a good weekend. Bye bye.