At My Kitchen Table

Back at the kitchen table to say good riddance to the dumpster fire that was 2025 is my sister and first ever podcast guest, Angela Myers.  We tried to talk shit about the New Year’s holiday in a kind of minisode.  But we had a lot to cover, so it became a full episode.

We send 2025 out with a whimper, yapping about what we think of this past year (it’s askew) and how we feel about things like New Year’s resolutions (they’re dumb as hell).  We also chat about how 6th grade Ange wanted to marry Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, what a MAMIL is, her love of the 7 habits of highly effective people, and her focus on health and strength as she ages.

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

It’s almost Christmas, and having Adam Wright join me at my kitchen table this week is a gift!  I connected with Adam through our mutual friend (and friend of the pod), Jenn.  He’s the kind of person you feel like you’ve known forever when you’re five minutes into a conversation with him.

Adam lost both of his parents to cancer, and we discovered that we have a mutual bond in that we both lost our moms in our late thirties and experienced delayed grief.  But our talk is far from sad...it’s full of wonder and humor.  We chat about his uncanny ability to talk himself into jobs, his love of Lancaster, PA, the world’s worst ball tap, and how his worldview changed for the better after losing his mom and living through COVID.  And we talk about the really cool things he was able to do with his mom before she passed away.

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

We love a good passion project at the pod because we love it when someone says "fuck it" and tries something new on for size.  Today, I welcome back friend of the pod, Jason Hill, to my kitchen table to talk about his passion project, which is training to become a professional wrestler at the age of 43.  This was a lot of fun to get to be nerdy about particularly 90s Attitdue Era wrestling, but also about Jason being an elder statesman for the younger trainees, and why his lack of fear might mean he's a sociopath.  

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

Jenn Rennie pulls up a seat at my kitchen table today, and chatting with her is like having both the tea *and* a sweet treat!  Jenn is a damn delight as she shares the story of how her experiences with cancer treatment and her care team brought the out the closeted writer in her and changed her career path to oncology nursing.  Jenn is one of those people who always tells the real-real of a story, and today is no different as the conversation takes us to the importance of having a local "therapy" bar, how she has a friend assigned to social media duties in the event of her demise so that no pictures exist of her with angel wings, and why your attitude matters.

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

Content warning: contains descriptions or mentions of drug use, OD, and suicidal ideations.

Get ready for Hayley Reyes to join me at my kitchen table today! I'm really fortunate that Hayley trusted me enough to speak frankly about how she became addicted to drugs, what led to her recovery, and why it's important to challenge our perceptions of people who become addicted.  While her story is heavy at times, Hayley keeps it real with wry humor and realistic descriptions, and I get to throw in some "mom perspective." We talk about druggie buggies, the angels guiding her, and why Florida is where you go to relapse.  And, most importantly, how she came out on the other side and is thriving today.

We are also joined from time to time by Hayley's dog, Xenia, who just wants to have a yap as well! 

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

It's Thanksgiving week, teabags!  I decided to do something a little different with the pod this week, so this won’t be a typical episode.  Since I’m not gonna have my three kids together for the holiday, I Zoomed with my family and did a twist on the At My Kitchen Table 3 good things about your week.  You get our bonus hot takes of best and worst Thanksgiving foods, you'll hear a couple of hidden gem Grandma’s Boy quotes, and you'll get to hear my kids' dark humor because it turns out that we raised sarcassholes.

I’m so thankful for everyone listening - this doesn't work if my guests and I are just speaking into the void.  Your encouragement and kind reception has been so amazing.  From my kitchen table to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

It pays to be a nepo baby this week, as I welcome my offspring to my kitchen table (which is obviously her kitchen table as well)!  For anyone who follows my blog, you’ll know her as Kid 3; for those who follow my socials, you’ll recognize her as the Toots to my Bub in our #BubandToots.  My frequent travel buddy has been going through it lately and we talk about how she finally got through her doctor avoidance to start to figure out wtf was going on with her.  We also yap about her first cellphone (the Rant), her disrespect of old school slasher movies, and how everything hurts and she’s dying.  Welcome to Kenzie’s Corner!

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

Welcome back to my kitchen table, CJ McDermott!  CJ has a ton of wild stories about his childhood and growing up the middle child of parents who were addicted to drugs.  We barely scratched the surface, but we talk about the feral 80s, the life lessons his parents taught him, and the beautiful and diverse people he's met along the way.  CJ talks about his family with a lot of humor and sarcasm, but that's a result of the deep love his family has for each other.  While addiction is so often stigmatized, CJ's story humanizes it.

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

Today's guest at my kitchen table is a friend of the pod and my friend in real life, Victoria Ribeiro.  Vic is a community builder.  She genuinely likes people and in her own words, just wants her epitaph to read "friend."  She loves to collect and connect friends, build community, and make the world around her better.  We talk about that and more as we cover a pretty fraught chapter in her life, when she end up on the receiving end of online hate and vitriol that spilled over into fear and intimidation in the real world.  And despite that, she remains committed to forming deep and lasting connections with people.

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.

My friend and former colleague Kristin Estrella joins me at my kitchen table today to take me on a journey through her autoimmune diagnosis of Antisynthetase Syndrome and the ripples of impact it's had along the way.  We chat about how she does NOT give youngest sibling vibes, her ASS disease, and the "yes, and" of women powering through hard things as she tells her story with equal parts grace and f-bombs.

Intro riff by Dale Lytle (concert husband).

All content edited (I use that term very loosely) by Karen Shaak.