The Keri Croft Show
The Keri Croft Show
SZN 4, EP-2. The T Lee Show is BACK, baby! We talk kids, discipline, post X-Mas thoughts, hubby hoarding & more!
My homegirl T Lee is back in the '25 and better than ever! We start with a shot of Fireball (obvi) and then we're off to the races with topics ranging from her discipline, to kid life, to my BFF Mark, to her booming business, Lighthouse Co. The energy here is just undeniable and I hope you get as much out of it as I did.
P.S. Someone please tell Jason Ross to call me.
Hey there you beautiful badass. Welcome to the Keri Croft Show. I'm your host, keri Croft, delivering you stories that get you pumped up and feeling like the unstoppable savage that you are. So grab your coffee, put on your game face and let's do this thing, baby.
Speaker 1:Hey Maria Milligan, here with 3Max Premier Choice. I grew up right here in this town. I know the schools, the parks, even the best places for coffee on Sunday morning. When you work with me, you're not just getting a realtor, you're getting a neighbor who knows this town inside and out. Let's find you a place that feels like home, sweet home, inside and out. Let's find you a place that feels like home, sweet home. Text me at 614-314-1355.
Speaker 2:Stuck in a cycle of losing and gaining the same extra pounds. Tired of quick-fix diets, Choose a weight loss program that's safe and that works. At Donaldson, we couple weight loss injections we all know the ones with science-backed education, lab testing and one-on-one support to help you shed unwanted weight and achieve your goals. Take the first step to a healthier, more confident you. Visit donaldsonplasticsurgerycom. Slash weight to get started today, and if you're a first-time client going in for your first treatment, you'll get $100 off. By just mentioning the Keri Croft Show, You're welcome.
Speaker 3:I need. Is it up yet, T Lee? Are we doing this? Yes, oh damn, I didn't know you.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to the Keri Croft Show 2025 edition. It's the new year. What's up, baby girl? I mean we're done with all this holiday BS and we're into the. The twenty one, twenty one five. What do you think?
Speaker 3:You're feeling good? I'm feeling good. Yeah, I feel like you and I text about this. Twenty. Twenty five is about to pop off. Lots of fire emojis going back and forth with us just because there's so much happening. Yeah, there's so much happening.
Speaker 2:And our energies are very. They're similar in ways that are scary, like when we get together. We can't be together too often.
Speaker 3:No, we can't be trusted, which is why I haven't seen you in a couple months since the Lonely Parrots recorded in the studio. And you're welcome everybody, because I don't think like too much.
Speaker 2:I don't think they're lonely anymore.
Speaker 3:Too much of us together.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, you got it. We have catastrophic. I think we are as I, as I show my nails, I cannot.
Speaker 3:I think we are. Can I want everyone to see my nails?
Speaker 2:We are wise enough to know that like three got bitten off last night during a panic attack. Yeah, I think you and I are wise enough to know how we maximize and we kind of ebb and flow. Yeah, but man, when it's, when it's uh, when it's locked in, it's like fire, it's danger danger, baby danger.
Speaker 3:That's a song, I know it is, watch yourself yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So, besides this incredible merchy poo that we're wearing here, oh my gosh, seriously, your business is popping, unbelievable Popping, and I don't think we can talk about this enough the way that women you have three kids that are very active oh, boy the way that we are able to manage a home. You're the CEO of your house, by the way. You're running a business if you have a home period.
Speaker 3:Call it what you want to call it, but you're a CEO.
Speaker 2:Right, I mean you're the CEO. So to be able to run that company and then run another one to bring in income for your family, that is the ultimate show of badassery to me.
Speaker 3:It's ultimately rewarding as well.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:And not only do I have gratitude for my clients as lame as this is about to sound but, like this year, I've had so much gratitude for myself, for my discipline, for well, I guess there's like I think there's two people right. There's people that, like always, have a way out, and there's people that have never and so they have to figure it out, and I'm that one, and I love that about me you know, peel back the discipline part. Um how much time do you have?
Speaker 3:I do not want to go too deep, but I will say this whole year has been lots of therapy, lots of like inner child trauma stuff manifesting coming out, my curiosity, like something I talk a lot about with my clients. I'm like be curious at home. I can't be any more curious at home. So this year I got real curious with myself and all these things that I've been stuffing down. So a lot of that came out but again like a positive about my childhood was the discipline.
Speaker 3:Now I hated it at the time, but I really can look back and have gratitude for the lessons and I never had an out. So I never was able to be like, oh yeah, like somebody, if I fall, somebody else is going to pick me up, like I've never had that. And so I've had to claw and fight and, you know, fight my own battles and figure it out myself and I love that about me and how I get to help other mostly women my demographic is women like I get to help them find their fire and it's like you can do this and let's talk ourselves into this. It's so easy to talk yourself out of it and not believe in yourself. And man, that foundation was laid for me. I didn't want it, but I'm grateful for it, so you are pretty disciplined with everything.
Speaker 3:Psychotically, yeah, and I really raised my kids that way too, because I think helicopter parenting is dangerous and now we're into like snowplow parenting, where people just pave the way. They don't want their kids to come into any bumps or bruises or anything, and I just I think it's so dangerous for our kids. I think there's value in the adversity and they have to lean into these lessons like well, what can you teach them? This morning, hazel, with her fucking nine and a half year old attitude, she went downstairs. She's all ready. She's got some big fancy meal at school. She wanted to be fancy. She got up early. Um, she's complaining. She had nothing to wear, you know.
Speaker 3:So we had all kinds of talks about, okay, like preparing for this stuff and I'm like look, I'm, we're a simple family, we're not that fancy. She's rolling her eyes, she hates it. Well, she left an absolute mess upstairs. Now, I could be her her butler bitch, I could clean it all up, but I called her ass back upstairs, hazel, and she's the eye rolls what mom? I'm like look at your fucking room, you're disgusting. No, I didn't say that. But like I think there's so much value in those lessons with our kids to be the best of the best, like they're going to, they don't know how to room with somebody in college and do their laundry. And when they buy their first house, like you're not going to go over there, I don't know you and Brady are so so the same with that, and you and Mark are so the same with the?
Speaker 3:well, no, I'm not. Which is why? So I'm not?
Speaker 2:it's actually so. I see, mark, and I appreciate some of that. But I am more with you and Brady than you think, because I also have seen firsthand that, especially with boys, when you coddle them, and the innate thing is for a mother to want to do for her son Like you see this stuff on Instagram there's jokes about it all the time where it's like you will coddle your son. I mean, I remember my mom. I had a room on the left, casey had a room on the right. My mom would go in there and literally clean out his closets, scrub his back and I'm over here like listening to hit, like what's up? Like what?
Speaker 1:who's helping me right?
Speaker 2:she it was, the treatment was so different. And brady. He's been working since he was and I don't recommend this.
Speaker 2:I mean child labor law, so like he he's been working since he was like seven, like paper routes, like I mean work, work and so the discipline of it, like I would rather dane be able. Like you said, when you go off to college you know how to do your laundry, you know how to pick up after yourself, like I see the total value in that. Yeah, but I also am a little more bendable, like mark. You know I'm not the rigid kind of like strong all the time like you guys are. Listen, and my Mark, I mean I always got to give a little hey from a man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, they have to like be able to go off to college and like do their own laundry, but like they also have to be super comfortable failing, like it's okay, like when they're out of your nest and they fall. What we're doing now, the foundation were it's not just like housework and clique, it's this accountability that you have to yourself and your space. So when they leave and they can fail and do it gracefully or not so much, but they're okay with it because they failed before and they know that's a temporary feeling, that's a temporary misstep, and sure they've got support on the back end. But that is just so important for kids and I don't think that we talk about that enough. You know, because I work with adults. Let me.
Speaker 3:A couple weeks ago I had a client and she's like she remembers she's 42 years old and she's like my mom did everything for us and she has this stunning, gorgeous house. And she's like I've tried to do this so many times and I've done everything, I just can't do it. And her and her sister are both clients of mine, from the same mom, obviously, who did everything for them, and now they're moms and they don't know what to do because mommy did everything. What kind of message are we sending, you know?
Speaker 3:So I think it's hard because we love our kids so much and we want to overcome for some things we maybe didn't have in childhood, or just give them everything they could possibly want, but that's not setting them up for the future, like the other side of that I will say trust me, if you don't think that there are times, probably on a daily basis, that I'm looking myself in the mirror and I'm fucking pissed at myself because I'm like don't be like your mom and dad, don't raise your kids the way you did, because I do have issues with it and it's so ingrained in me. So there are times where I've really struggled with that. I'm like don't do it, don't do it. But it's so second nature to me that it's really hard with all the therapy and all the stuff. Um, it's still ever present there, like that's my go-to and I have to stop myself a lot and check myself a lot. I hope I didn't just spin us off the rail. No, we don't have any rails.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 2:I mean you, you, you listen, you're the, you're the Tee Lee show girl we're going, wherever we go, I have no agenda other than just to spit some realness, because I think you know we talk about the business, which is super important, but I think when you get into this, the real conversation, that's where the the juice is. Yeah, you know, like, what are we experiencing, what are we afraid of, what are we trying? I mean because we're never going to be like, let's just own this. As parents, your kids are never going to be like oh, everything was just so perfect. All the time you did the absolute. That's like a goal trying to like hit a mark. That is just never going to happen. Like, no matter how you choose to raise your kids are always going to have some kind of thing with something you do, you know.
Speaker 2:So I think it's just going with your instincts and doing the best you can. But do I want them to be, um, kind of course and badass of course? Just able-bodied humans that sort of understand the effect that their little ripple of, like the ripple effect that they have, yeah, in the world, yeah, you know, yeah, so what's on the horizon in the 25?
Speaker 3:for 24 almost took me out. Let's just say, yeah, 24, man, 24 was bananas. And you know, every year, obviously we retain clients and then we're adding more and more and more, just because word of mouth, we don't do advertising. But 24, we did this full rebrand that took about a year, almost sent me spiraling Like you're doing it all yourself. You have no idea what. I still don't know what I'm doing, but, um, that turned out amazing. The new website is amazing. We hired our number three, who is perfection. I love her so much. Abby loves her so much. So now the TLC team is three.
Speaker 3:Um, and I would say, like I, as we're rebranding even guides and things like that, just to have more resources, the biggest thing I'm doing in 2025, which iskeeping Um, so I'm gonna do like one thing every single week and I'm just going to be like this is how I do it, this is what I use, whether it's cleaning or it's organizing or whatever, um, and I'm going to have like a little community set up too, just so people can sort of see into my house and what I do, because I get that question all the time and I really try to keep it as simple as possible.
Speaker 3:So I'm like if I could just do one thing every week and you guys can see how I do it and ask questions and whatever, because it's doable, I will never sit here and be like if I could do it, you can do it because we all have different constraints, different amounts of help, different our brains work differently, different amounts of kids, amounts of free time. It's not that but, but I will say it's doable. Whether you do it yourself or you need accountability, it's doable. And I'm just 2025 is like the year I'm over everyone hating their houses and I hear it so much the DMs I get, the clients that I'm in and I know like the normal world out there, like you guys, don't hear it a lot. It's what I hear on a daily basis how much people hate their houses, hate their spaces and they try to put band-aids on bullet holes by painting a wall or changing the wallpaper and we're not really getting to the root cause of the issue so let's walk through what this looks like.
Speaker 2:So I just hired you. You show up at my door.
Speaker 3:2550 well, I'm definitely not showing up your door right when you hire me. We have to have a consult.
Speaker 2:Okay, so the okay. So we, you sit down and it's like a zoom, or is it?
Speaker 3:I'll start because I I can get a really good feel for people. I can't take every client on and I'm like, if you're not for me, and I'll give them like a half an hour or so and usually they go well. Every once in a while I'm like you might want to find someone else and then we'll set up a time where I come. It's like a discovery phase. So I see the project, because you could be like, hey, come to my house, I have one room and I'm like, oh yeah, okay, that'll take three hours and I come over and it's like a three-month job. So I have to see the spaces, see literally which one chaps your ass the most. And then we don't ADD anything Like if it's one kitchen drawer, if it's one mudroom, one laundry room, that's all we're talking about. Sure, you can hire me to do your whole house, but I don't care about that. We're going to do one thing at a time. Take this small little bite work together and see how it happens, see how it progresses.
Speaker 3:Um, and I've done that from day one. And the weirdest thing about it I know the value in it. Everyone whose house I've worked on knows the value. But new, new people they don't see or know the value because they haven't felt it. It's not tangible yet, but, damn, all my clients are like this changed my life. And so the there's that huge um. It's just like the missing link, cause there's so many people who, like you'll get through the discovery call and they're like, oh yeah, that might be too expensive. I'm just, I'm going to see if I can do it myself. They haven't done it themselves in five years and it's like well, you're spending your money regardless on stupid shit. And now you're like, oh yeah, I'm going to save this money and just spend $10,000 on Christmas and save a couple grand on you, and I'm like the problem's not gonna solve itself.
Speaker 2:So do you think what you see the most is too much stuff? Is it stuff in ways that's not ideal to the flow, like, what do you see the most of where you're like, okay, this is kind of the biggest issue, or are there just too many?
Speaker 3:I mean too much stuff, and yay, husbands. But the wives are overwhelmed as fuck. And then they're like I can't do this. I'm expected to do this and I can't do this. And it's not her fault, right? It's like if there's five people in the house, it's all five. It's all five.
Speaker 3:It's not just the mom. You don't have a kid and automatically know how to be a mom. You don't buy a house and automatically know how to take care of it. You know there's no book on this. We really need to talk about it.
Speaker 3:And it's so easy to be like hey, I'm going to call my interior designer and she's going to design this, it's going to look great. But again, people know how to do that but they're not like oh my gosh, let me call my organizer so we can like declutter a little bit and organize. That shit feels great. The design looks great, Like Paul and Joe did. Your house, it looks amazing.
Speaker 3:If it was cluttered and overwhelming, it would feel like dog shit to you. I don't care how amazing it looks. If you open those cupboards, you sit there at night and you're watching TV. You can feel your stuff. There is an energy. It is wild, but again, that's that tangible thing I'm talking about, Simply, when you clear out all the ick, all the excess clutter, whether you do nothing else, the feeling of that is something you can't put a price on, you can't put words on. I wish I had like 10 clients in here right now because they would like. We finished one yesterday, our last project of the year, and she's like. This is unbelievable. I cannot stop going in this space. Sure she could have done it herself. It would have taken her two weeks. It took us two days and we're we're quick little tornadoes. Abby's like half of a person right now. She just had surgery. Poor little thing. What do you mean?
Speaker 2:oh, yeah, I thought you meant like actually half of a person. No, she on the Olympic, have you?
Speaker 3:noticed like Everybody is shrinking. Have you know it? Like you're just like you're melting. Yeah, I'm like, oh, and we ain't going to talk about it. We ain't going to talk about this.
Speaker 2:The elephant in the room. I don't talk about it.
Speaker 3:But I'm like Because what do you? I know you, you know that, I know that you just lost 300 pounds. You can even edit this whole thing out. But think about it this way okay, because people want a magic wand. If you have 400 pounds to lose, okay, if you have 100 pounds to lose, you're not going to lose it in two days. It's the same as your house. It's like if you've been accumulating clutter, stuff, piles, whatever, it's not going to take a day or two for you to stop accumulating that.
Speaker 3:And I think that's where we go deeper too. I mean, we'll go in and change the space, but like we really try to change the habits, talk about healthy spending, the house psychology from both husband and wife, get the kids involved, like there's just so much more that goes into it. Because I want people that's that lighthouse education piece I want people to be able to do it themselves. I want to empower them to do it themselves. Half of them pay us to do it on a repeat basis. But the goal is to be like here you go, now I taught you how to fish, now you can go and feed your family.
Speaker 2:What is the best advice you would give someone? They're staring down 2025. Everything is like tabla rosa let's start anew. Aside from hiring you, which is definitely a good call if she, if she'll take you, a good call if she'll take you but is there anything little like bite-sized micro things that people can do to start maybe moving that wheel a little bit before they hire you?
Speaker 3:The smallest little bite, okay. So I'm doing accountability coaching right now and I'm like what is the worst? You have to think, like Carrie, right now what is the most overwhelming place in your house?
Speaker 2:was my office, okay, and I just cleaned it there you go.
Speaker 3:So like that, right there you have the answer. So then it's like okay, go into your office. And you have to match up your expectations with the amount of energy you have. Right, Because if you're like burned out, it's the end of the night, you're not going to do your whole office. So really realistically, think about what expectations do I have for this space and how much energy am I willing to expend? Because I think we hype ourselves up and then we start and if we can't finish we're like oh, I'm a failure, that's it Not going to do this again? So start super small. I hate the idea of setting a timer. I hate it Because if you're on a roll, then that timer is just going to cut you at the knees. You're like no, I want to get to the finish line. So that curiosity be so curious of like what space is really causing me like visceral anxiety and pain and it's overwhelming to me. And then start there. Start there and start small ready to elevate yourself.
Speaker 2:care game bosco beauty bar is a modern med spa offering everything from cosmetic injectables, lasers and microneedling to medical grade facials and skincare, conveniently located in Clintonville, grandview, powell and Easton. Making self-care a priority has never been easier. Use code Croft for $25 off your first visit. So I just did that because I feel like the office is like where all the cluttery stuff like these giveaways, for example, like I start putting them on the shelf and then I've got, you know, christmas whatever. And then what I found was, you know, as I started to organize, I pulled everything out of the shelves and then you have this whole pile.
Speaker 2:You have an obvious pile of like throwaway. That's no big deal. But then you find yourself with like, a pile of like. That's no big deal. But then you find yourself with a pile of this is nice stuff. What do I do with it? So what I do is I'll just give it to a friend. I have no problem being like hey, could you use this camera that I haven't used for four years? I mean, it's a nice camera. I'm not going to use it. But I think sometimes people get trapped in that, well, I can't, it's not trash, there's like a second tier of like what to do and maybe giving it to someone that you I don't know if I think would use it or something.
Speaker 2:But people just get stuck at not able to get rid of shit.
Speaker 3:Well, your example, because you are a student of the lighthouse.
Speaker 3:Your example is it's approachable, right? So, like you like the obvious trash pile and then you have a small pile of like oh, these are nice things. Most people and I would say nine and a half out of 10 of my clients they don't have a small little pile. It's like a room filled with. Well, what the hell do I do with this stuff? And so usually two things I have to have like a complete therapy session about how we have to do this, just guilt-free, like sometimes we do have to just do a huge put it in my suburban goodwill drop. Nobody feels good about that, but on the back end I have to have them change their spending habits, changing what they acquire. Okay, that's the psychology here, because, like decluttering you should.
Speaker 3:Decluttering is like an everyday thing. It's not a destination, this is an everyday journey. Mail comes in, you go through it, you pay it, it goes out. Groceries come, you know there's stuff constantly coming in and so if you're not constantly getting rid of it, then it's going to pile up. That's the problem.
Speaker 3:You have a nice sizable pile where you're like I can give this camera to my neighbor because it's nice, but a lot of people have so much and they do get in that trap. So I say have a guilt-free purge, okay, which sucks. I like have nightmares about landfills, but if they can. You know like you have this guilt. It's like oh, it's a nice camera. I don't want to get rid of that camera. It's so nice and I spent $700 on it.
Speaker 3:The guilt should be on the very forefront of this, before I even bring it in. It's like, like was this camera worth $700? Okay, did I have like a great use? Okay, could I sell it when I'm done with it? You know like we have to think through these things. Do I have 10 other black dresses? Do I really need another one? Does my kid really need that? Like, I want the guilt to be on the front end because that'll get you thinking way more about where it's going to live in your house.
Speaker 3:And then, truthfully, what are you going to do when you're done with it? And that will stop a lot of spending in your track. If you're realistic about those questions, like, we don't think about the end of life for things, and we have to, because the way that we're shopping right now and consumerism, honestly it's overboard and Sheppey and Dane and Kyle they're not going to be able to shop like this. I mean, it is just, it's crazy and it's taken off and everyone thinks it's so fun. You can buy anything with just a click, and that's not solving problems, that's causing problems, problems. Do you really have nightmares about landfills? Oh my gosh what let's?
Speaker 2:let's go into that panic panic.
Speaker 3:I have so much panic and then clients will be like, doesn't this stress you out? And I'm like, no, no, but I'm like, oh my gosh, can I just do your whole house for you and not just this one room? Yeah, I think a lot about the waste. I truly do Like it, it weighs on me and I think, just because I care I joke a lot that like I care more about your house than you do and you know, when I'm leaving a house and to try to complete the job, I really will take as much as I possibly can away from it Donations or, you know, dropping things off at second chance, running these errands for clients.
Speaker 3:But the goodwill and the garbage, and just the quantity, because nobody fully understands what we see, I mean the stuff that comes out of these. Like I feel like somebody has hands choking my throat right now. I feel like I'm like it's stressful and I know, like I want to help these clients and I want to do the right thing, but like I'm so much more passionate about like I don't want you to get back here. That's what hurts me the most, because I do care so much. I'm like I don't want you to get back here and I don't want you to teach your kids that this is okay, and I don't want them in these overwhelmed environment. There's just so many things we can control. We can control what we spend. We could control what comes in the house, but we're not. We're settling In 2025, I'm just not going to let us settle anymore.
Speaker 2:Are you super strict with your finances?
Speaker 3:I am the most strict, super strict, with your finances. I am the most strict, um, I do not spend money. I mean, look at me. However, I am married to a hoarder who blows money. Love him all you want, gary, but Mark is. Mark is popping off. I mean the amount, like Mark is the wife that every husband complains about packages and packages, and constant.
Speaker 2:So what was your christmas deal this past year?
Speaker 3:you got into this. You got into this with me like two years ago. So I feel like we had a family meeting carrie, my husband and I and carrie was like well, if you're not gonna handle, you can't say anything to him. So I will say I I stand by that. Well, you got to back up for people that don't know what that means.
Speaker 3:I'm going to let them know like I stand by what I do. I do not buy my kids gifts, I do not wrap the gifts, I do not talk about the. I don't do it. And talk about the. I don't do it. And I think I might be the only person in the entire world like I've never felt like more, like I was on an island. Someone's the other day asked me like oh, what are you getting the kids for Christmas? And I'm like I don't know, like I sound like the stereotypical husband. I don't know and I don't care. I don't know, I don't care because that's for me, that's not what Christmas is about. So I stand by my decision. I don't know, I don't care because that's for me, that's not what christmas is about. So I stand by my decision.
Speaker 2:I don't fuck with christmas so then, mark, though, if like, did you get them less, or is it just like? It's like, okay, that would be my dream, it's his show it's his show, okay, it's his day, it's his, whatever.
Speaker 3:And I will do all the cooking and I will host everything, like I do every year, and the house will look amazing and the fire will be lit and all my I do every year, and the house will look amazing and the fire will be lit and all my guests will be lit and it'll be popping off. But presents, I don't care, because every January I end up getting rid of half the stuff anyway. And like I can't get to him, I can't get to him. No matter who I he, he doesn't listen to me.
Speaker 2:Well, this is one of those moments, though, I think, because it is Christmas and it is so ingrained, Just like you're. So you have this. You know, hardwired stuff ingrained in your DNA. Well, everyone has that. And so for most people it's Christmas and so that's that's probably one a hill you don't want to die on Definitely.
Speaker 3:You know. So yeah, I mean probably won a hill you don't want to die on?
Speaker 2:definitely you know. So yeah, I mean, I think the smartest play would be your therapist who helped you a couple years ago to say look, okay, how about?
Speaker 1:this how about you leave the fuck alone?
Speaker 2:yeah don't be the grinch.
Speaker 3:And then I think it sounds like you guys came together for a really nice okay, I mean the other day, like this is just a simple fun text exchange between husband and wife, and he's like, oh, I'm thinking about this and that, whatever, and like I could have bit my tongue, I could have, I should have. But did I? So I did, I, I started typing and then I deleted and I was like fuck it, just send it. And I said, huh, just all that stuff that you're getting, I go. It's just more stuff that you have to wrap, more money that you waste and more things that I have to manage. On the back end and he was just wrote back bah humbug didn't talk to me for like two days. I was like I didn't have to say that, but I said it. So for the most part, I'm doing pretty good on Christmas.
Speaker 2:Does it drive you crazy when they open them? Because it's all that stuff.
Speaker 3:Like, does it kind of?
Speaker 2:get you a little.
Speaker 3:I think in that moment I'm like OK, let them have their joy. I see the big picture and I see that nothing they got last year with the exception of these bomb-ass little music players I remember those. Nothing that they got last year with the exception of these bomb ass little like music players I remember nothing that they got last year is still in my house. So like I know how this story ends, that that drives me crazy. But I can certainly like compartmentalize and put that away on christmas and have an awesome day and play with them and do all this stuff like I'm not a buddy daddy. There's a bunch of karens that are gonna be like. Some of my clients are like your kids don't have a childhood. You're ruining them.
Speaker 2:Oh I'm like fuck off karen.
Speaker 3:I think they're fine, I think they're. Don't fuck with t lee baby I think they're fine, I think they're doing just don't mess I think they're doing just fine, but back to your parents.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did they do the same thing?
Speaker 3:they. I mean, I remember getting some gift, like it wasn't huge. I don't feel like like we didn't have a lot. I never felt like I never felt different from anyone. I never felt like I didn't have things like I think it was just not a big deal. I never remember it being a big deal.
Speaker 2:If Mark tomorrow said you know what I've? I've had a change of heart. I think 2025, we should let you like Christmas is is on you. On like. So would you on who? On me? No, just say like whatever you want on me. So if it was on you at this point, would you still be like, okay, no gifts.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so here's the thing I would like leave. I would take them on a vacation or something Okay. Yeah, I would totally bounce and skip right over Christmas. I think that's how we arrived at the destination that we are right now is I'm like well, you're either going to do all this bullshit or they're not going to have a Christmas. I don't care either way. It's not on me, Um, because I just I choose to not stress about that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I do think that there's something there, without a doubt. Yeah, and I have. I mean, you are an extreme case, but that's you. Yeah, you're an extreme case, for sure. I also like, and one I don't dip Game recognizes game. I don't dip toes in. But what I will say is I remember the last couple of Christmases being very, you know. I just would feel like, oh, I need to start, you know, buying things in September, october, and this is more for, like, the extended family. And so I finally said something to the extended. I'm like, hey, can we just do like a white, like a white elephant or something? We're like we're getting a gift for one per like. This is getting out of control. So we kind of trim that down. And then this year I was kind of like, no, let's just, let's not, you're not even going to be here, you're going to send me gifts and my kid. I'm like, let's not. And so this Christmas is the lightest Christmas that I had.
Speaker 2:I love that and I and I have felt no guilt now. Now, dane and Kyle, don't get me wrong. Like you can still get away with Kyle with like a couple things, just Dane has got way too many things. Yeah, I'm Brady is on that mark, probably times three. No, I'm not kidding you. I finally am like I said something like a storage unit for all that
Speaker 2:I go hey, I think, um, so I I wrapped all day, I think we're good. Well, maybe you're good, but I'm gonna keep going, I'm gonna keep buying, I'm gonna keep. I'm like, oh, okay, then, though he may need another minecraft exploding uh, creeper. I'm like, okay, well, whatever you want to do, peace on earth, earth.
Speaker 3:Goodwill to men. I got to talk to Brady. I think Brady equates toys with busy. He wants to keep Dane busy and that is actually backfiring. No, I know, which is why he's at jump parks all the time. Yeah, I know, I know. Oh, no, that kid is. More toys actually equal less play and less like active engaging play. He's pretty active, pretty engaged. Yeah, he's like bouncing off the walls like a typical five-year-old like his best friend, my son.
Speaker 3:Okay, so here's what's crazy, right? So the company started so strong with all the appliance cleaning and now I have all the guides and this is one of those things first of all, no one's talking about and like it's not the sexy thing and I get that. I know that everything I'm talking about. I'm not like designing mansions and picking out like Carrara marble and redoing like I get. I'm like in basements, balls deep in dust and like insulation and all that. But the appliance thing is something that has bit so many people in the ass and I always get their reactive call. I get the call. It's like I bought this house three years ago. Now my dishwasher is broken and what do I do? It's like did you check it three years ago before you moved in? Did you get my guide? Have you cleaned? You know people are always like hey, this broke, what are you going to do about it? And like I have these guides out there, not for my health, but for your benefit.
Speaker 3:So all the new appliance guides, um, the way that we're doing them, it's so like editorial. Even if you live in a yurt and you don't have an appliance, like you can't put this down. That's how we're creating it and I love who I'm working with and so they're going to be so badass and just so easy to follow and easy to read. And I also just want to encourage people. I'm like you know, you spend a million dollars on. I feel like starter houses right now are like $800,000. You spend so much money and then you want to buy like designer clothes for your kids. Then you're wondering, like what the problem is, why there's spots on it, or why my kid has, you know, is sick all the time. Like these are the things that I hear about.
Speaker 3:And so just more awareness around, like really taking care of these things that we spend so much money on, like just because you buy your dream house doesn't mean you're going to treat it like your dream house and we, we have to talk about some of these ugly things, and so that's why, like that's a hill I will die on. And every time someone says it, they're like oh, my god, she knows a lot about appliances. It's just the nerdiest dorky thing ever. And I'm like yeah, I'm the guy you got a problem. I'm the guy you need a guide here. You, I'm the guy you need a guide. Here you go.
Speaker 2:Where can one find these guides?
Speaker 3:Nowhere right now. We had them all up but I just pulled down the old. I was seriously so done with the rebrand. I was like out with the old, we're going to wait with it.
Speaker 3:If people really want them, yes, I have them and I can give them um to them. But, yeah, everything is being pushed out with the rebrand, with the new colors, with the new fonts and with the new feel. That's so much more authentically me finally. Yeah, like this brand is me my fourth baby, every crazy thing that's I've ever wanted. Like it's finally it's here.
Speaker 2:So well you were certainly called to do it, girl. You just, I mean, I would be hiring you, I, I, I would want you in my house all the time.
Speaker 3:That's what yesterday we were leaving and she's like is there a way to have you weekly? I was like you bet your ass there. We have so many clients. We're either there monthly or like twice a year, quarterly, whatever you need we got you.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, most people are already following you on instagram because you got so many followers but they can follow you at it's the tea lee show or the lighthouse co. Yes, and then they can find you at your website lighthouse hyphen cocom yes, ma'am girl, girl, I love you. Love you too. You're just so chock full of it all education, inspiration, tough love, facts, truth.
Speaker 2:Let's fucking go partridge in a motherfucking pear tree, you look great in my merch, by the way if you're still out there following your girl, follow me on youtube, spotify, apple or wherever you get your podcast. And until next time, get lighter, hire tracy and keep moving. Baby, can we call your brother? I'm obsessed with him.
