Balance Your Binge

A snack can save your night—or sink tomorrow. We spin our community’s wheel of topics and dive into the art of balanced snacking for spoonies: how to crush cravings, steady energy, and keep flares at bay without giving up the foods you love. From salty crunch to chocolate fixes, we share the swaps and habits that actually stick.

We start with protein-first thinking and why it matters for brain fog, hunger swings, and mood. Edamame instead of chips, protein pretzels with hummus, and chocolate-forward bars that satisfy without the crash make a real difference. We dig into collagen as a silent helper—easy to add to coffee, tea, smoothies, sauces, and baking—for extra protein and skin support, especially if psoriasis is part of your story. Dessert stays on the table with quick wins like protein mug cakes, sweet potato and black bean brownies, and better-for-you candy dupes that still feel like a treat.

There’s also a frank talk about life logistics: shopping at big-box stores with mobility aids, the need for more accessible parking, calm-hour entry, and visible scooters. Saving spoons in the aisles means having energy to cook, rest, and live. Throughout, we hold a friendly line: fuel first, fun always. Keep your classics when they’re worth it, and build a pantry that mixes high-protein staples with joy-forward bites so you don’t have to white-knuckle every choice.

If you’re ready to snack smarter and feel better—without losing flavor—press play. Then share your favorite swap or snack question with us so we can test it on a future show. If this helped, follow, rate, and review the podcast, and send the episode to a friend who needs a steadier, tastier plan.

Delivering Happy Mail around the world!

We have sent thousands of cards to isolated illness warriors, facilitated hundreds of pen pal relationships, and reached countless family members, caregivers, and medical professionals with messages of hope and acknowledgment.

Join our mission to send 100,000 cards of support to patients with long-term illnesses.

About our organization | Cards2warriors

Keep your spoons close and support system closer.

Chapters

• 0:00 Spin-The-Wheel Topic Reveal
• 1:03 Salty Swaps And Smart Crunch
• 2:19 Chocolate Fixes With Protein
• 4:18 Building A Balanced Snack Strategy
• 6:11 Protein Drinks And Flavor Rotations
• 8:11 Protein, Brain Fog, And Energy
• 10:13 Why Protein Protects Muscle And Bones
• 13:59 Menopause, Steroids, And Muscle Wasting
• 16:00 Collagen 101 And Easy Add-Ins
• 18:06 Protein Desserts And Smart Baking
• 20:10 Enjoying Treats Without Guilt
• 21:59 Candy Nostalgia And Better Options
• 24:14 Costco Access And Disability Needs
• 26:54 Mobility Aids, Shopping Stress, Solutions
• 29:04 Closing Thanks And Listener Requests

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:08

Welcome back to my Spoony Sisters. This week we're doing something a little bit different. We polled the audience and we asked you guys, what would you like to talk about? And today we are going to talk about what you'd like to talk about. We took all of those ideas, we put them in a spin that wheel. Today we're going to play spin that wheel and we are going to talk about what pops up on the wheel. Today we got Lania with us. We got Jen, and of course we have me because I'm talking, so you obviously know that I'm here. Okay. Say hey, Lanea. Say hey, Jen. Hi. Hey, hey everybody. Jen, you ready to spin the wheel?

SPEAKER_00: 0:45

Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_01: 0:46

We got some good topics in this wheel, man. Yes, we do. Very good talk.

SPEAKER_00: 0:50

I'm gonna try to turn the volume on and see if we can hear this sucker. I'm scared.

SPEAKER_01: 0:54

Me too.

SPEAKER_00: 0:55

Balance your binge.

SPEAKER_01: 0:56

We're talking snacks. I love a good snack. We're talking snacks today. Balance your binge. Quick caveat if you're listening. This is not from the you have to eat chicken and broccoli aspect. We're talking about what happens when it's late at night and you just want to eat stuff, when you just feel snacky. How can you do that where it doesn't cause your flair to worsen? What types of things? Fun swaps. Luckily, you have three ladies here that have been swapping things and fan finding spoonie faves for double-digit donkey years. So, Lanea, what's your favorite swap? When you have to binge, what are you going to? What did you what did you do first? And what was your swap? What do you do now?

SPEAKER_02: 1:42

I would like salty things. So I have found somebody's now I'm not gonna say it right. Those little green beans, edamame. Edomame. Yep. I switched those out for like regular chips because they're salty, but I'm getting some protein with it. Now, do I still have some chips? Yes. I will still have a few chips if I really want them, but I'm eating more of the other now than I was. That's my biggest salty thing.

SPEAKER_00: 2:10

What about you, Jin? So I'm all about chocolate. And so my biggest swap right now is those built bars from Costco.

SPEAKER_01: 2:18

Love those things.

SPEAKER_00: 2:19

I can't stop talking about them. And now and now I have my family hooked on them. But what I love is at Costco, it comes in that big, ginormous box, right? And it's got the half coconut and the half chocolate brownie butter. And it's typically my afternoon snack, but if I don't have that in the afternoon, then I have it as dessert and I get my chocolate fix. It's the perfect amount that I need. Then I have a glass of water. I'm good to go.

SPEAKER_01: 2:47

I love it. It's a good chocolate. Oh, Andy's change. Andy's palette is all over the place. Okay. I am known for snacks. I am known for snacks everywhere I go. It's coach, do you have any snacks? Hey, babe, do you have any snacks? Andy, what's in your purse? My blood sugar's dropped. I'm known for having snacks of all of the varieties at all times. So my backpack or my purse will have something in all of the categories. I will have something chewy and tangy. So I'm gonna have a nerd cluster or plant-based laffy taffys. Gonna have those. They're delicious. Costco sell some, by the way, made of plants, all natural, delicious, better than the laffy taffy. So I have those. I have fruit bars that also from Costco, the fruit bar, three layers. I keep those in case I want a fruit snack type vibe, but I'm 45, so I don't really want this fruit snack. Give me the adult version of the fruit snack in a stick. Those are very good. I I love a good Linny and Larry sandwich cookie. I love the protein complete cookie. I love their complete cookie. I have a complete cookie in my car at all times because it is a complete cookie. They have protein pretzels. And but do I like a good chip? Love a good chip. My snack balance for me, the balance comes in. I believe that Fed is best, right? And I don't believe that there's such things as bad food. There are foods that are not ideal for you or your health. But Fed is best. So when you understand how to feed you, you can have the balance. So I have a huge sweet tooth. But because I have pots, I crave salt all the time. Also, really love salty foods. So I have that sweet, salty going on. I had to find a balance in between. And my balance was that the Lenny and Larry's protein pretzels were salty and had really good macro macro swarm, full of protein, canceled off the crack. My thought process kind of skewed, right? But it's balanced. And then I take that pretzel, because now we're gonna stack and I dump it in some hummus. Now I got my healthy fat. Now I have a whole charcuterie board. You see what I'm saying? So I still have the fun stuff. I just put the fun stuff in my more balanced charcuterie board, my adult lunchable. I still have the candy, but I also have whole foods when I have the candy balance. What's your go-to drink? What's your binge drink? Dried fruit. Dried fruit, like mango? Yeah, I'm delayed. I saw your protein drink. I saw your protein drink, Jen. Let's talk about that. Is that a recent swap for you?

SPEAKER_00: 5:24

So, fun fact, I have loved Premier Protein for the last seven years probably. We started drinking these way back when we were going to the gym. I liked it as a morning breakfast replacement or to go with some breakfast. And I started doing it again because I missed having them. And what I love is that it's it's great for once again, a chocolate fix. And sometimes, I mean, I'm just not a big breakfast eater. I know that it's important in the morning that I get something in me. And so sometimes I'm like, you know what? If this is all I can force upon my stomach, I've done something and I've done something good for me that tastes good. What and I love that it's high in protein. It's got 30 grams of protein, it's got you know added sugar, it's got vitamins, some minerals, but there's other flavors. I'm disappointed that Costco doesn't sell some of these other flavors.

SPEAKER_01: 6:15

So they're gonna swap out their flavors. So if you're looking for like the caramel or whatever, come the fall, they swap out their flavors for fall, and then back in the spring, they go back to their bestsellers. So you're gonna start seeing some different ones. One-offs, the pumpkin spice and all of that. You're gonna start seeing those now. Okay. They're gonna start tickling in.

SPEAKER_00: 6:37

I think at Target. Yeah, and you know, for a f a four-pack, it's like 10 bucks. Then, or you can go to Costco and get a case for what is it, like 30? So obviously I want the case, but man, chocolate peanut butter, that's what I need to try. They also have a high protein, I can't think of what the brand is, but at Costco they have a high protein coffee. My mother-in-law loved it because it's got no sugar and she's diabetic. I told her I, you know what, if you really want something high protein, add this in there for some extra flavor too. Yeah. Because I think I think her protein coffee is caramel. So I said, here you go, add some chocolate. Chocolate caramel. You're having a mocha.

SPEAKER_01: 7:15

Yeah. So what is when you need a sweet treat, Lania, how are you keeping it balanced? What what what is your balance now? How are you preparing it?

SPEAKER_02: 7:24

I look for stuff now that is similar flavors, but with protein in it. So, like if I'm craving an Oreo cookie, I have found a granola bar Quaker oats that is 10 grams of protein, but it's got the Oreo flavor. So I'm kind of finding things, but they I'm happy with them. I'm good with not having an Oreo now. Like I don't crave that stuff anymore.

SPEAKER_01: 7:47

So have you noticed any difference in how I love a good dry food, I love a good mango. Have you noticed just in the in the increased intake of swapping out things to have higher protein, a difference in your brain fog? Either of you? Yes, it's gotten it's imp it's minds improved.

SPEAKER_00: 8:04

I still mind blank words, and I think I've talked to Lania and you both about this often. I'll be talking to you, and it could be something as simple as I want my morning shake, and I'm for whatever reason I forget the word. But I feel I'm less foggy throughout the day, which is good. I think it's a wonderful thing that I finally listened to both Andy and my husband because I feel like you both have been saying protein, protein, protein.

SPEAKER_01: 8:30

That's your best friend.

SPEAKER_00: 8:32

I think I was easily going through a day and not even thinking about having any protein before, which that's terrible. Would you mind telling us why it is so important that we have protein throughout our day?

SPEAKER_01: 8:45

Because your body, okay, the simplest way to explain it is your body is a majority muscle, right? And you have this, you have a skeleton, and then outside of your skeleton is muscle, right? Your body, being that it is muscle, and muscle, highest percentage is protein. If we're doing all of the things that we're kind of throwing our body out of whack. So if you're a if you're a lifter, the reason why they say replace the protein is as you're lifting, you're shredding muscle, right? You put in little micro gaps. But it's the same when you're just doing your day-to-day, your body gets tired. And so you have to replenish the thing. But the thing that will stick on you the longest is protein because you're you're giving your body back what it's depleting and just walking around and being itself, right? As much as we think that what we do in the at chronically ill is not a workout, if it exhausts you for three days, you essentially were working out. If it exhausted you like it would exhaust me in the gym, your body went through fight or flight for a very long time. The body is gonna do use the protein first, right? And then it's gonna use the carbs, and then it's gonna burn the fat. Your brain is gonna use the carbs first as the energy source. It's programmed that way. It's like, hey, when we're getting foggy, it's like, where's my balance? Something, too much of something has happened. It was too much of sugar, and so now we're sporadic. It is, I have a headache, and it's because I never got satiated. That's a lack of protein. The all of a sudden I spiked and then I'm starving, is because all you had was car was carbs. So the balance on your plate matters. The reason why you don't get peckish, if you prioritize your protein, you're not nearly as peckish or snackish throughout the day or post-meal. If it's it was protein and then you did your dark green leafy veg, and then you you had your carb because your body needs the carb. It's going to burn the carb first as the energy source to help you build the muscle or maintain the muscle. And then when it doesn't have that to build or use, we start muscle wasting. That's a really that's a valid thing. We start muscle wasting because we're not using it and we're not giving our bodies what it needs to build or repair it. So muscle wasting happens. We get in this, I can't move, I'm in a flare. It hurts to move, but movement really is medicine. And then how you feed yourself really is medicine. How you feed yourself will do more for you in complementing the medications that we take than never changing your eating habits and continuing to have to increase the amount of medications that we take. We don't talk to nutritionists. We go in the doctor's office, we see a nurse, we see a doctor, we see the nurse again. They prescribe, but don't tell you what foods may interact, what foods may complement, and things that you can do within your diet that would limit the amount of medication you needed to help reduce the amount of times since you have flares. That's the beauty of nutrition. Once you learn the things that are triggering you with food, you can have all of the fun stuff and limited flares and still do swaps and still gain muscle, but you have to stop to be like, hey, what works for me? When should I be taking this medication? Is it with food or without food and why? You know what I'm saying? And what foods, if I looked at this and said, take with food or don't eat with this certain food, like there's certain cholesterol medications we can't take with grapefruit. But if you look at that list, it's other medicated other foods that interact with it as well. Just not as drastic as grapefruit. We're taking it and still not have any relief, is probably because we didn't change a dietary aspect of what we were doing. I love that question. That was a good question.

SPEAKER_00: 12:57

This makes so much sense to me for for several reasons. I have been known to not make healthy choices. When my husband's not home, out of town traveling, because he's he's the one that likes to cook, right? I can easily make pancakes for breakfast or a bowl of cereal, have what I call nachos for lunch, which is just chips with cheese on it, and then dinner a baked potato.

SPEAKER_01: 13:22

You live off carbs.

SPEAKER_00: 13:23

How did I fuel my body?

SPEAKER_01: 13:25

You did it. You lived off carbs, and that's why you crash, and that's why the headaches probably were there.

SPEAKER_00: 13:30

And I did it for years. My lazy eating habits. And then when I did finally talk to a nutritionist, we had to have the the big conversation about fiber. Even when I did eat fiber, I was eating the wrong kinds of fiber for my body and for what I needed. And then talking to you more about protein, it was like, oh my gosh, yeah, I was eating pasta and potatoes and chips and all the things that I should not be eating. No wonder I felt like trash.

SPEAKER_01: 13:56

Yeah, your hormones were probably all over the place too. They were probably all over the place too. And all your body was like, please give me some protein. So the lack of protein and menopause, that's your enemy. You want to hit your protein goal if you're in menopause, perimenopause. You want to hit it. Why? Because our bones get real fragile. They start getting real fragile. We we gotta have to feed the muscle that protects the bone, right? Feeding the muscle that protects the bony structure. And as women, as we age, our bony structure just starts to struggle. So if we're not doing the things that we need to do with diet and we're not in the, we're not doing a whole lot of movement, it's not like we're Olympic lifters or anything. Just day to day, if you add in chronically ill and that you were a fall risk, a fall for a chronically ill person looks totally different than a fall from a person who's not chronically ill that didn't have to do rounds of steroids. The reason why I preach, yeah, I need you to prioritize your protein, because if you're anything like me in this spoonie world and you've ever been on pretnisone and had to be a repeat offender on pretnisone, it did some damage to our bones. It made our bone density real fragile, okay? And the longer we have to be on it, the more it damages our bones. But the longer we have to be on a steroid, the more damage it does to our muscles, which is why I say prioritize protein. The longer you're on the medication, the more damage it can possibly be doing to your muscles. So it's got to eat something, right? And if you're not if you're not eating food, it has to eat something. It's gonna eat, it's gonna burn the carb, it's gonna try to eat the fat. What's next? That's how muscle wasting happens. It's gonna start eating muscle. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:39

Now there's a swap or or an ad that both you and Lania told me about. And I want both of you to kind of talk about how we can use that in our diet. And I cannot think of the name of what it is. Collagen? The the uh the powder.

SPEAKER_01: 15:54

Collagen. I don't know. Lania putt collagen in everything. That's Lania. You got it, girl.

SPEAKER_00: 16:00

Come on, Lania. Tell me all about the importance of it and and what kind of things you love to add it to.

SPEAKER_02: 16:05

I add it to everything. If I know I don't have an appetite, I will add extra to my drinks, to my hot drinks. I will add it to hot cocoa, hot tea, decaf, and cappuccino. I will add it to my smoothies to bulk it up if I have no appetites.

SPEAKER_01: 16:23

It gives you, well, one, cousin is great for your hair, skin, and nails. Okay. It is, it makes your skin just look so glowy. It is great for your hair, skin, and nails. That's one. Two, it has protein in it. Clean protein, just pure unadultered, clean protein, right? And so for people that are just trying to figure out how they can incorporate a little bit more protein in their day-to-day stuff where they don't, maybe they don't like the taste of protein powders or protein drinks. Collagen is flavorless. So you can sneak it in stuff like pasta sauces and smoothies and hot drinks. You can bake with it. There are so many ways for you to make your fun stuff, but also give it some balance. So if you want a cupcake or a mug cake, you can make your mug cake regular recipe you would at collagen. Now it's a protein mug cake. And you got the carb, you got the chocolate, and you got the protein. You guys are welcome for that, by the way. It changes your life.

SPEAKER_00: 17:24

I think you touched on some the importance of it for our hair, skin, and nails.

SPEAKER_01: 17:28

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00: 17:28

Anyone out there that has psoriasis like Linia and I do, it is so important the collagen. I can tell the difference between when I'm implementing collagen and when I'm not. I will have more skin breakouts and more flares in my skin if I'm not getting enough collagen. And if for some reason I'm skipping adding it.

SPEAKER_02: 17:47

Kodiak pancakes, you can take a half a cup of Kodiak pancakes and a quarter cup of any liquid. I use oat milk, and you have now a mug cake, and I've made schmores, I've made chocolate chip, I've made pumpkin spice. So if I want a sweet treat, I just throw in my mug cake.

SPEAKER_01: 18:09

I love a good mug cake. I also do protein brownies where I make the bases. See, the thing is, I love a good chocolate moment, but I don't necessarily love a good chocolate empty carb moment because my joints don't like it. So I make brownies and the base is made of sweet potato. And I got my fiber, okay? I got chocolate goodness. I got all the I got protein because I add protein to it. So I made a protein brownie. The base of it was sweet potato and black bean. Why? Because I needed it to have all the stuff and things in it. And I need it to be worth it for me at the end of the day. So yeah, there's so many fun things that we can do with food. So many fun things that you can do with food. And I'm open to have the conversation with anybody that wants to know what I can do that is a simple swap. What can I do? I'm open to have the conversation. Drop it in the in the chat. Send us a message. Hey, what's a good swap for this? Let's have a conversation. One foot in front of the other. You gotta start somewhere.

SPEAKER_00: 19:09

Our entire bottom of our pantry is filled with all of our snacks now. It's got our built bars, it's got our aloha bars, it's got all of our cashews. I bought, you know, the veggie straws. I bought the apple cinnamon straws.

SPEAKER_01: 19:24

Well, those are I like the veggie straws.

SPEAKER_00: 19:26

I like the veggie straws, but these apple cinnamon ones, those are a nice little treat. And it's not overly sugary either. I love that I know there's this whole section in my pantry I can go to. And there's a lot of high protein things, but there's also things that just are fun and taste good, and maybe there's some chocolate and because it's all about snacking with balance for real.

SPEAKER_01: 19:48

You know how boring life would be if we never got to have the fun stuff. That's the reason why they're making healthy stuff a little bit more fun. It's because people were like, I'm falling off the wagon here and just give me this Snickers. And now you can get a fit crunch bar that tastes like a Snickers, and you got plant-based options that taste like the M Company, and you have plant-based stuff that tastes like Laffy Taffy's. It's because people were like, okay, I have a goal. I have an overall health goal. And I would really love to still enjoy this stuff without jacking it from my kids because I look forward to Halloween. Kyla's not old enough to trick-or-treat anymore, but I was binging out of her trick-or-treat goods. I looked forward to parent tax, right? I don't have kids to steal candy from this year, but it was parent tax. Let me check this candy. And I was taking out all my favorites, and then I was eating them in the dark by myself, right? And hiding wrappers so nobody would know that I was in her. I know I'm not the only mom that did that, so that my child didn't know I was in her freaking candy, right? So now I don't have to do that. Now I have my own.

SPEAKER_00: 20:50

Linia and I are over here laughing because we're so guilty.

SPEAKER_01: 20:53

It was bad, man. And I'm like, oh, here she comes. Shoot. I'm not eating anything.

SPEAKER_00: 20:58

Are you eating my candy? So here's what I need a swap for. I love those caramel apple suckers.

SPEAKER_02: 21:05

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00: 21:06

And they're not terrible. I looked at I looked at the calories and I looked at what they are, and having one a day is not that bad. That's what my husband's doing right now. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. But he went to Walmart one day and the checkout lady informed him that they sell a bag that has multiple flavors of that, so you can get different apple flavors.

SPEAKER_01: 21:26

Yeah, they're delicious. Yeah, they're delicious.

SPEAKER_00: 21:28

Thanks a lot, Jeremy. Now I'm hooked. But I want to know if there's a good swap out there. If somebody knows about it.

SPEAKER_01: 21:33

There really isn't. There probably isn't. And in this case, like literally enjoy the sucker. I don't feel like there is a good swap for that. That is a classic. That is a classic sucker. Okay. Classic. I don't know how they got the delicate balance. I don't know how the caramel starts on the inside but comes on the comes to the outside of it in coastal circle. I don't know how they do that. Magic, but it is a delicate balance. And I have tried making candy at home and I've tried other variations of a caramel sucker. It just doesn't do it. I don't know what they're doing. And they know you haven't seen any versions of it besides that brand, which means they knew what they were doing. It's so good. Just and then it came out with other flavors. Just enjoy the sucker. Jen, one a day. One a day.

SPEAKER_00: 22:19

It's 70 calories, and with the way I'm eating now, I can actually fit that in. It's fine. But that Macintosh flavor, that one was good.

SPEAKER_01: 22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 22:30

I mean, they're all good, but yeah. So you talked about the Halloween candy. What was a favorite for each of you?

SPEAKER_01: 22:38

Okay. So like growing up or present day?

SPEAKER_00: 22:42

Either one. Both.

SPEAKER_01: 22:43

Okay, so growing up, I liked a good Chico stick. I loved a good Chico stick. I looked forward to that. I loved a good Charleston shoe moment.

SPEAKER_00: 22:52

Ooh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 22:53

I hated the stupid peanut butter candies that come in the orange or black wrapper. They're like the cheapest candy ever. And it's like a peanut butter nugget. I hated those. And my dad would buy them all the time. And he would hide them in his closet because he knew we were stealing candy, but we would never steal that candy. You had to be like desperate because that's it was awful. Kids threatened to egg our house because he would buy it from like the farmer's market. I'm like, is that the farmer's market? Because only old people like that candy. It was bad. But as now my preference is chewy gobstoppers, sour sweet tarts, anything nerd cluster, but they have to be chewy. I don't like regular nerds anymore because I discovered nerd clusters and they're they're coming clutch. Those are my faves.

SPEAKER_00: 23:37

What about you, Linia?

SPEAKER_02: 23:39

Growing up, I liked sweet tarts, the Chico sticks, because you could get them at 10 cents. 10 cents. Um now I'm very it's the chewy sweet tarts. Sour, sweet, the chewy ones. That is my or a dark chocolate peanut butter cup. Reese.

SPEAKER_01: 23:57

Have you had the plant-based ones from Costco? Costco has a plant-based one. It's dark chocolate. It's made by Unreal. The Unreal peanut butter cups are delicious.

SPEAKER_02: 24:08

I haven't had them.

SPEAKER_01: 24:09

They're delicious. And they now have it in a pack where it's the peanut butter cup. They have their Snickers variety, and they have their MMs, and it's dark chocolate on the outside, peanut and in the middle. It they're so good. They're so good. Costco doesn't carry it.

SPEAKER_02: 24:23

I've looked, but I'm gonna order it off Costco.com.

SPEAKER_01: 24:27

Huh? I spent a lot of time in Costco. I spent a lot as a chronically ill person pushing around a very heavy cart. I feel like Costco should have more handicapp parking spaces. Yes. Way more handicapp parking spaces than what they do. And I think that they should let disabled shoppers shop a little bit earlier than they open up for their exclusive membership. I think that they should let disabled people, so people that that need a little extra assistance, people that are neurodivergent, allow them to shop an hour before everyone else so they could be in and out before the chaos starts because it's a lot for me. I take a nap immediately thereafter and I don't want to people for about a day. So I I love that I get all my things, but also I would love it so much if I didn't have to park in Budapest to get to the front door because they have six handicapped parking spaces.

SPEAKER_00: 25:22

We ran into that problem over the weekend in Pewilla. Every single one was taken. We were parked all the way on the side of the building, and there wasn't a ramp to get my scooter up there. And so we had to go all the way around. They had to help lift me up and get me in there. It was it was a hot mess. But typically, especially when we're here at home, we have the I don't remember what membership it's called, but we have the whatever, and we we are able to start shopping at 9 a.m. And I love that. I love that it's it's mostly old people, it seems like, but I'm okay with that just because it's not as crowded. I don't feel like people are running me over. I can look at things without feeling like people are gonna yank them out of my hands. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 26:02

Yeah. I go at nine, especially exclusive. Your car's like black. Yeah, I go at nine. And if they could just be like, hey, people with mobility aids, you guys can come in at 8 30. Or you guys can come in at, you know, 8 15 because we know that you're moving a little bit slower. If you're shopping with someone who has special needs and and it's gonna take them a little bit longer to shop, allowing that window for us to shop undisturbed, right? Um in a not spiral. I think that would be great if they did that. If they just considered, hey, while I get that we open up where it's not a you have this because you paid extra, but you have this and you have this membership to just come into the store. Now you shouldn't have to pay extra because you have a disability to shop sooner. You see what I'm saying? And so maybe if they did that, that would be pretty great.

SPEAKER_00: 26:57

Yeah, I'm thinking like maybe if they would how this could work is I don't know if any of you have Invisible Disabilities website, you can get a card. And I have one of them. So if you have a card or say even a disabled parking pass that you could show them, like something to show them that you need that extra time. It'd be nice if if we all had that and we could say, hey, I need that 30 extra minutes. But my other thought was so when we tried to go there a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law walked up and was trying to see if they had the motorized scooter that I could use. And she came back and she was like, Nope, there's just a regular wheelchair. And I was like, Ugh. And of course, no one wants to push me in. Yeah. Anyway, so we went and got in line, and as soon as the door went up and we went in, there's where they had them. And I know why they had them inside. It's so people don't go steal the motorized scooters. Yeah. But at the same time, we were like, great, they don't have them. Great. But then, okay, what if I was by myself and I needed that motorized scooter? What are they gonna do? Yeah, store my scooter. Bring it out to you. That's a thought.

SPEAKER_01: 27:57

Yeah, they actually do. They take your thing to customer service because you gotta pass customer service when you leave Costco, and then you gotta turn the scooter in and they give you back your cart. You're you gotta turn their electric thing in and somebody brings you your little scooter. I've seen that happen at my Costco. It's kind of insurance, if you will. It's like leave your driver's license. It's kind of insurance that you don't take off.

SPEAKER_00: 28:19

Right. Okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01: 28:21

Like when you rent skates.

SPEAKER_00: 28:23

We actually went to a wildlife park over the weekend with our kids, and I paid$32 to rent a motorized scooter because there were so many hills, and so trying to scoot back up the hills.

SPEAKER_01: 28:35

You've been doing a lot of scooting. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00: 28:39

I'm gonna have one really strong leg when this is over.

SPEAKER_01: 28:42

One extremely muscular calf is gonna be like insane. Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 28:47

Okay, I took us down a rabbit trail.

SPEAKER_01: 28:49

No, it's all good. That that means that that's a natural pause. So, uh, you wanna close us out?

SPEAKER_00: 28:55

Yeah. Everyone, thank you so much for coming. We always love hearing your feedback, so please give us your feedback. If there's something that we haven't talked about recently, please let us know. And of course, we love hearing your reviews, so don't be shy. Come write us a review, come say hello, check us out on Instagram, YouTube, all the things. And until next time, don't forget your spoon.