Friendlier – Details, episodes & analysis

We discuss the past year and look ahead to 2025. Also, surprise! This is our final episode of the podcast and we share our favorite episode and what the pod has meant to us over the last 8 years.

Our favorite episodes: Quitting, Hard times, Enneagram 8 Experience (Sarah) and Everyday superpowers and Personal policies (Abby)

And because we didn't do a year in books episode this year, here are our favorite reads from 2024.

Life lately

Sarah loved her kids' winter musical performances.

Abby got her first tattoo with 13 other adult friends in Birmingham.

Reading lately

Sarah finally read the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas.

Abby enjoyed The Wedding People by Alison Espach.

Eating lately

Abby made egg bites like you can get at Starbucks.

Neil found a recipe for gnocchi pot pie, which is the best thing Sarah eaten in a long time.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Day in our (fall) lives

We share the details of our days from Tuesday October 22nd. You can also listen to our first day-in-the-life episode or similar episodes from 2020 and 2022 if you’d like to see how our days have changed. Links we mentioned:

• The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
• The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln
• Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over American, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

Life lately

Abby and Sarah both share about recent trips.

Reading lately

Abby enjoyed listening to Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle.

Sarah read Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy by Cait West.

Eating lately

Sarah enjoyed new camping food while Abby was disappointed with Texas fair food.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life lately

Sarah is thankful that January is behind us, and night shift is going surprisingly well for Abby.

Reading lately

Sarah read (and loved) The Good Part by Sophie Cousens.

Abby listened to Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann.

Religion and spirituality

We discuss our experiences with religion and spirituality, growing up, today, and how we think about religion and spirituality as parents.

Eating lately

Abby ate Torchy's Tacos every day she was in Texas and has no regrets.

Make-your-own sushi is a big win at Sarah's house.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How we're doing in the time of COVID-19

We wanted to check in with each other and listeners to see how everyone is doing two weeks into being at home. We talk about our mental state, how we're coping, and resources for kids that we've found useful. Links we mentioned in this episode:

• Gourmet Makes
• Schitt's Creek
• Audio books through Libby and Hoopla
• The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
• Storytime Durham
• Wonderlab Science Museum
• Sparkle Stories
• Art/Lab at Home with Ms. Kady

We are thinking of you all and hoping you are staying safe and well in this uncertain time.

Reading lately

Sarah read (and loved) The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay and Abby finished the second book of a young adult series, The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord.

Eating lately

Abby stocked up on her favorite granola and Sarah made this chocolate banana bread.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A quick note: We recorded this at the beginning of the month, before all of our lives were upended by COVID-19. We will be recording a bonus episode (out next Tuesday) about how we are coping. May you all stay safe and healthy in this uncertain time. -S&A

Prioritizing reading

We discuss when we find time to read, why we have read more after having kids than before, what gets us out of a reading slump, and our favorite places to find reading inspiration and recommendations.

• Instagram follows with good book recs: @katejbaer @catherinenewman, and @v_solesmith
• Newsletters from Molly Westerman and Feminist Midwife
• Modern Mrs Darcy
• Hot and Bothered podcast

Life lately

Abby and Sarah share a birthday surprise Neil planned.

Reading lately

Abby read Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife's Story by Onnie Lee Logan and Sarah was inspired by Being Your Best When Your Kids Are At Their Worst by Kim John Payne.

Eating lately

Sarah made a chocolate cheesecake (but substituting this crust) in the Instant Pot using this pan.

Abby is making a bold claim: this pasta bake is the most delicious thing she has ever made at home.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We describe our current spaces, share our home related dreams (both the realistic and the not), and what makes us love the space we’re in. Here are the links we mentioned in the episode:

• Prisms
• Big Dreams Small Spaces

Life lately

Sarah is trying to invite people over more often and take the advice of this article on not worrying so much about the cleaning.

Abby went from being a no-playdough home to a playdough-loving home. Here’s the recipe Sarah’s family uses for the homemade version:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tsp cream of tarter
• 1 cup water
• 2-3 drops of food coloring
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients in a skillet, add wet ingredients, then cook on medium heat, stirring continuously until playdough begins to pull away from the pan. Remove from the pan and knead dough it’s evenly combined. Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

Reading lately

Sarah read The Duchess War, which is the first in the Brothers Sinister Series by Courtney Milan. Abby read Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest novel, City of Girls.

Eating lately

Abby’s dad made gumbo on a recent visit and Sarah made tried her hand at aloo gobi.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marriage--what's working (and what's not)

We've both recently passed the decade mark of marriage, and thought it would be fitting to share what's been working, what hasn't, and the relationship advice we hate.

Life lately

Abby's family purchased a new vehicle (and is soliciting gold-inspired names!).

Sarah is reveling in her newly arranged living room.

Reading lately

Abby read both Shrill and The Witches are Coming by Lindy West and Sarah listened to The Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.

Eating lately

Sarah made spinach and artichoke dip as part of an appetizer themed Christmas dinner.

Abby made a quick dinner courtesy of Trader Joe's.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we talk snacking preferences and then detail a week in the life of our snacks. And if you are in need of a sweet snack, we both recommend this recipe for chocolate chip cookies–easy and delicious!

Life lately

Sarah is tracking all of the things with Habit Bull.

Abby offers her commentary on Meghan and Harry. For more along these lines, check out this BuzzFeed article contrasting media coverage of Meghan and Kate, this Medium piece, and this tweet.

Reading lately

Sarah read her second graphic memoir: The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui and Abby listened to the Half-Life of Marie Curie by Lauren Gunderson.

Eating lately

Abby made a lemon blueberry loaf and Sarah had chili with all the toppings.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We share what kind of sick people we are, our preferred supplies to get us through, and our most memorable bouts with illness. May we all have a healthy 2020.

Life lately

Abby gives a sleep training update and Sarah is happy to have (finally) fixed her Kitchen Aid mixer.

Reading lately

Abby read The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook and Sarah listened to Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister.

Eating lately

Sarah made "no-peek chicken," the perfect rainy day meal.

Abby has found the sugar cookie equivalent of our favorite chocolate chip cookie.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We share what we like about childcare, how we find it, our past childcare situations, and what we see in our childcare future. We fully recognize that as two primarily at-home parents, our perspective is limited. We’d love to hear from listeners with different experiences to expand the conversation. What has worked for you when trying to find daycares, nannies, and/or babysitters? Share in the comments below or over on Instagram.

Life lately

Sarah is doing Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge this year and loving it. She found both Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home and Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey through the challenge. If you want to chat books with us, join us in our Goodreads group!

Abby is loving the Brandy version of Cinderella and welcomes recommendations of other non-scary, but engaging movies for preschoolers.

Reading lately

Sarah finished Katherine McGee’s American Royals and Abby read Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb.

Eating lately

Abby has a new twist to her chicken enchiladas: using salsa verde instead of the heavier sour cream sauce.

Sarah has brought back an old favorite: skillet beans.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at friendlierpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.