Wife Swap-The OCD Wife Meets the Vegan Queen

Wife Swap-The OCD Wife Meets the Vegan Queen

Podcast Summary – Wife Swap S1 E2: Too Cool for Gabagool

This week, the wives are trading pasta for plants as Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Melissa Gorga swaps lives with Michelle Clark, a vegan mom and double Dutch champion from Georgia.

We start in Franklin Lakes, NJ, where Melissa and Joe Gorga have been married for 20 years. Their life is picture-perfect—sparkly olive oil bottles, spotless counters, and a dog that wears a diaper. Melissa keeps things clean, organized, and tightly scheduled. Meanwhile, Joe’s old-school work ethic keeps him gone from sunrise to dinner, leaving Melissa mostly alone at home.

Down in Eastpoint, Georgia, Michelle and her husband Sean run a family business teaching Double Dutch aerobics. Their three kids, Sean Jr., Phoenix, and Maverick, live in a house full of chaos, laughter, and juice cleanses. They’re all about joy, flexibility, and no rules—except for their strict vegan lifestyle.

When the swap begins, both women are instantly out of their comfort zones.

• Michelle is dropped into a world of designer glam, cheese overload, and pristine decor. She can’t get over Melissa’s glittery olive oil and says, “You do not need to put glitter on your olive oil.”
• Melissa walks into a joyful mess—basketballs, snacks, and a sink full of dishes. Her biggest challenge: going vegan and finishing the Clark family’s 10-day juice cleanse.

As the women try to live by each other’s rules, things get hilarious and heartfelt:

• Melissa cooks vegan pasta, but secretly dreams of a steak.
• Michelle teaches Joe and the Gorga boys how to double Dutch (and Joe’s surprisingly good at it).
• Melissa bonds deeply with the Clark kids, realizing how much she misses her own children being little.
• Michelle learns to appreciate some structure—and that it’s okay to let her husband have alone time.

When rule changes kick in, Melissa buys the Clarks a foldable dining table, teaching them the value of family dinners and bedtime routines. Michelle enforces “together time” in Jersey, dragging Joe to his construction job in full glam—and right into a mud puddle.

By the end, both families transform:

• The Clarks learn that a bit of order brings calm to their chaos.
• The Gorgas learn that joy and connection matter more than spotless floors.
   A month later, Melissa’s house is still spotless—but she’s prioritizing family time. The Clarks now eat dinner at the table (though they still leave the dishes till morning).

Both women admit they’ve grown: Melissa’s learning to “chill,” and Michelle’s learning to clean—with purpose.

Transcript

Wendy (00:01.591)
Welcome to We Wine Whenever, I'm Wendy.

Kelli (00:04.172)
I'm Kelly.

Lori (00:05.111)
and I'm Lori.

Wendy (00:07.225)
We are talking about Wife Swap, Season 1, Episode 2. Too cool for Gabagool. Gabagool? Gabagool.

Lori (00:16.024)
Kabagool. So here, listen. I want the audience to listen to something.

Kelli (00:23.746)
Are you actually gonna play him something?

Lori (00:25.464)
Yeah, listen. Okay, so just be patient. There's some noise in the beginning, some sawing noise, and then you listen.

Wendy (00:26.124)
yeah, she come play him something.

Wendy (00:33.559)
Okay.

Kelli (00:34.788)
What the hell are we

Lori (00:42.862)
Okay, thanks.

Kelli (00:42.882)
All right, so now let's talk about the conversation we just had before we came on. Wendy said, do you know what gabagool is? I said, well, I do, but my family doesn't call it that. I said, that's more of a soprano thing. And they both started laughing.

Lori (00:47.116)
Yes.

Wendy (00:47.65)
Yes.

Lori (00:55.928)
So that was just Tony Soprano saying, Ga Vago.

Wendy (00:56.079)
I can't.

Kelli (00:59.588)
I had no idea, I didn't even know you were gonna play that.

Wendy (01:00.271)
Yeah.

Lori (01:04.053)
Yeah. So, Gabagool is an Italian American pronunciation of the word what, Kelly?

Wendy (01:05.123)
We- Go ahead.

Kelli (01:12.302)
Gopacoli. Which, that's what we call it, we don't call it goba-gool. What the fuck is that?

Lori (01:17.88)
That's what.

Wendy (01:17.987)
We call it capicola. You call it capicoli.

Kelli (01:19.534)
Capacola? Capacola? Capacoli? Yeah.

Wendy (01:23.298)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lori (01:23.404)
Yeah. So it's made from the cut of pork shoulder and neck and is seasoned and cured for up to six months. So it is an Italian American type of appetizer meat, lunch meat. But Tony Soprano always said, gapagool, gapagool. So we're from New Jersey, so that's what happens.

Wendy (01:41.839)
So now that you got your North Jersey pronunciation, Italian pronunciation, even though...

Kelli (01:49.016)
Yeah.

Lori (01:51.02)
Yes. Yes.

Kelli (01:52.578)
right. Italian American.

Lori (01:54.966)
So just in case anybody was wondering, let's watch the episode, why they would name it that. That's why.

Wendy (01:58.66)
Yeah.

Wendy (02:02.221)
That's right. We're South Jersey, so we call it Capicola. So we start out, this is an episode with Melissa Gorga. We start out in Franklin Lakes. Melissa and Joe are sitting there doing a little confessional. They've been married for 20 years and Melissa owns a clothing boutique and her sprinkle cookie company. They have three kids, we all know this, a husband and a dog that wears diapers. We did know that too.

Lori (02:32.289)
Yeah. I gotta say.

Kelli (02:33.486)
We have also seen her cook tagliatelle with peas and ham a lot over the years.

Lori (02:39.948)
Yes, I gotta say, I am an animal person.

Wendy (02:40.076)
Yes.

Lori (02:46.828)
No dog or cat is pissing in my house. It's not happening. It's not happening. Every once in a while, there's a little accident. My dog is old. But that nonsense that she's got going on, no fucking way.

Kelli (03:01.87)
Well, is- yeah, like, is it because the dog's old? Is that why it's more in a diaper?

Wendy (03:02.265)
Yeah.

Lori (03:05.71)
No, it's not an old dog. It's a puppy. It's it's it doesn't look like an old dog. Well, whatever it is, it's it's ill trained is what it is. Yeah. Because I'm just putting that out there. It's not happening. No, and no, and no.

Wendy (03:07.919)
I don't think it's a puppy. I don't think it's trained properly. I think there's a training issue.

Kelli (03:13.784)
That's what I meant. Yeah, okay. That's what I meant.

Wendy (03:17.583)
It's a training issue.

Kelli (03:23.52)
Understood. Roxy, you hear that? Step out of line.

Lori (03:24.608)
Okay. Yeah, no.

Wendy (03:26.031)
Okay. So she's got three children. Gino is her oldest boy. Antonia is her oldest daughter and she's in college. And her youngest is Joey. She talks about how Joe, her husband starts his day at 6.30 in the morning and he's out all day working until he comes home at dinnertime. Melissa spends most of her days alone, you know.

She does her workouts in the morning. She does stuff for her store. She does various different things, because she's running a couple of businesses. But she's completely.

Kelli (04:01.196)
loved when they were asking her kids or really Joey like who cooks she does who makes your bed she does as they were asking the questions the one son's like this is not good

Wendy (04:12.087)
No, I know, it was funny. It was so funny. She's completely OCD, so she cleans the house and her house is beautiful. It is all white. Like it is white, white, white, white, white. It's white.

Kelli (04:21.028)
immaculate.

Lori (04:25.59)
Yeah, her and Angie are very similar in that vein. Yes.

Kelli (04:28.278)
Yeah. Yeah, they had similar homes.

Wendy (04:32.631)
Yes, they did and similar lifestyles. you know, yes, yes. And yeah, that's what I would like a little bit of OCD. I don't know. We talked about this last time. You think if I got a wife that came in here with OCD that I maybe might pick it up a little bit? I don't know. If I did a Wipeswap.

Kelli (04:33.752)
Like decor.

Lori (04:35.64)
similar OCD.

Kelli (04:37.858)
Yeah, yeah.

Lori (04:42.99)
me too. Me too.

Kelli (04:46.968)
Yeah.

Wendy (04:55.967)
So Melissa's hoping to get from this that to let some things go. That's what she wants to get from the wife swap. And then we go to East Point, Georgia, where we meet Sean, his wife Michelle Clark is their last name and they have three children. Sean Jr. is eight, their daughter Phoenix is seven and Maverick is three. They are the most adorable children.

Kelli (05:21.7)
horrible kids.

Lori (05:23.224)
So cute.

Kelli (05:24.654)
They were adorable.

Wendy (05:24.876)
So cute.

The next big bomb is the Clark household is vegan. That's a big thing. She said it was a health choice, but she didn't say what reason. I guess just they think vegan is healthy. Yeah. No gubbagel. Nope. No capicola either.

Lori (05:41.176)
because that's what they're biggest, yeah. There's no God rule there.

Kelli (05:42.658)
Yeah.

No guppacool or capicoli. Exactly. Listen, I don't know. I did like what she said, cleaning with kids is like cleaning in quicksand. I do agree with that. But I might have OCD too because that house gave me anxiety.

Lori (05:59.294)
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you know what?

Wendy (05:59.672)
I agree.

Mm-hmm.

Lori (06:06.766)
But with three kids in that small space, I feel like you would have to be super militant or it just, I could see how it could just easily be easier just to live kind of in the chaos because it was a very small home for that many people.

Kelli (06:16.548)
for sure.

Wendy (06:28.737)
Yeah. So they have a family business. have double Dutch aerobics. Michelle has been double Dutching since she was four years old and she's a world champion. I didn't even know that was a thing. I'll be honest with you. I did not know that that was a thing.

Kelli (06:44.004)
Neither.

Lori (06:44.054)
competitive. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wendy (06:46.401)
Yeah. I mean, it seems like a lot of fun. I don't think I could do it. Yeah.

Lori (06:51.66)
I could never do it. No, I fall flat on my face.

Kelli (06:54.828)
I was very good at jump rope when I was younger, so I might, I might be good. I might be good at it. I was good at jump roping. Jumping rope.

Wendy (06:57.423)
Of course she was.

Lori (07:00.802)
You might be good. All right. All right. All right.

Wendy (07:06.957)
Yeah, that's what jump roping is, isn't it?

Lori (07:09.368)
So we're not gonna try to out jump you and we're not gonna try and out swim you.

Kelli (07:12.91)
Two things, two things that got going for me. You could out hula hoop me, can't do it to save my life.

Wendy (07:13.035)
Nope, not doing it. Nope, we're not doing it.

Lori (07:15.714)
Ha ha!

Wendy (07:20.175)
All right, maybe I can hopscotch you.

Lori (07:24.462)
I'm breaking a leg.

Kelli (07:24.588)
I was just thinking about hopscotch the other day. I used to draw it in my driveway and Tessa and I would hopscotch.

Lori (07:32.174)
Oh yeah, I used to do that too.

Wendy (07:32.641)
Okay. Maybe we should do that for a drinking game next time. We'll, we'll do a hopscotch drinking game. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. I know I am actually, I'll still try it.

Kelli (07:34.478)
kids to be young again.

Lori (07:36.726)
No. No. No, no. No.

Kelli (07:38.153)
Yes. And double Dutch.

Lori (07:41.708)
I'm out. I'm, I'm klutzy. I'm the klutzy doll. I'll break my ankle.

Kelli (07:47.8)
you

You're the Clotidon! The video Wendy just showed us may prove otherwise.

Lori (07:52.139)
I am.

Lori (08:00.35)
All right, I'll film you too.

Kelli (08:00.516)
Don't do it. Don't do it.

Wendy (08:02.575)
yes, we're gonna need someone to do that. So the rules of the house at the Clark's house, is it the Clark's? Yes. Joy and fun is priority, even if that means not doing the dishes. Okay. yeah, Shaw and Michelle, they...

Lori (08:19.566)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (08:20.856)
I liked it.

Wendy (08:25.575)
like a clean house, but they don't really keep a clean house. And well, there's where the problem lies. I like a clean house myself. I don't really keep one either, you know. Melissa's getting ready to leave and Joe is saying goodbye to her and he gives her his gift of a pillow with him on it. Loved it. I loved it.

Lori (08:27.022)
Excuse me.

Kelli (08:29.494)
Yeah. Right.

Kelli (08:47.908)
I really enjoyed this episode. I obviously can't get enough of Joe Gorga. And I thought her boys, I thought Antonia could have been a little bit more accepting, but I thought her boys were great. But Joe just, you know, the best.

Wendy (08:54.498)
I know.

Lori (09:00.908)
Yeah, a little nicer, yeah.

Wendy (09:06.433)
Yeah, I love him.

Lori (09:07.544)
But you know, Antonia did post pictures of her and the other wife and said, we love you, Michelle or whatever. I think that, yeah.

Kelli (09:14.147)
Yeah.

Aww, well that's very sweet.

Kelli (09:22.488)
Listen, I don't think my kids would be very warm and fuzzy if, you know what I mean? So, but that was nice that she posted that. Yeah.

Wendy (09:22.785)
i saw online

Lori (09:26.939)
no. Nope. Yeah. Be like, ow. Yeah.

Wendy (09:28.175)
Only one of mine would be, only one of mine. The other two would not. The other two would not, no. But I did see online that Melissa had them over for a watch party also, like Angie did, so I love that. Yeah. As Michelle's getting ready to go, she said the worst case scenario is if it's a milk cow, she's very against cheese.

Kelli (09:34.946)
Right. Yeah.

Kelli (09:42.828)
Nice. Yeah, that's real nice.

Lori (09:44.109)
nice.

Wendy (09:56.659)
And Melissa, when she gets out of the car in Georgia, she's like, well, I really hope they like sprinkle cookies. She goes right to the refrigerator when she gets in and she's like, do they own a fruit farm? So I guess there's lot of fruits and vegetables in there.

Wendy (10:18.871)
Michelle pulls up to Melissa's house and she's like, honey, all right, design. She's like the star of the block.

Kelli (10:22.724)
Did you happen to notice the house across the street?

Lori (10:25.134)
Mm-hmm.

Wendy (10:29.655)
I did not.

Lori (10:29.795)
No.

Kelli (10:30.852)
Okay, so years ago, someone I know, her husband worked with someone who lived in the neighborhood that Teresa and Joe Judice built their house in. And I remember, this is like when my kids were in Ocean Early. Joe was in Ocean Early, that's when I met this woman. And I remember her saying like, other road, no other house on that street looks anything like it. Like the house is so out of place, but whatever, you know?

I thought of that immediately because the house across the street, it was a beautiful home, but it was a very modest, it was like a cape.

Wendy (11:07.407)
Okay. So this, right. So this was the star of the show. Like this was the biggest and brightest.

Lori (11:07.758)
across the street from Melissa. Okay, okay.

Kelli (11:08.568)
Like a smaller, like a Dan house. You know what I mean? It was like a modest, yeah. But I thought of what that woman had told me about, you know, the prosia. Mm-hmm.

Lori (11:14.729)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Wendy (11:19.609)
That's funny. So Michelle sees the olive oil with the glitter on it on the counter.

Lori (11:26.094)
This hysterical.

Kelli (11:28.45)
I wouldn't mind one of those and I'm not a glitzy person. A bedazzled oil jar.

Lori (11:29.25)
bedazzled olive oil thing. That was funny.

Wendy (11:32.079)
you

Yeah. And she looks in the refrigerator and she sees cheese, cheese, and more cheese.

Lori (11:43.458)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (11:45.294)
said, Derry is the devil, and I agree.

Wendy (11:45.647)
Yes, yes. Maybe that's the health reasons. Maybe she is lactose intolerant, you know?

Kelli (11:53.656)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lori (11:53.666)
Yeah.

Wendy (11:57.231)
She feels rich and fabulous there. She's like, you know, just like the house. She's like the bar, the gym, the pool, everything is fabulous. It is, I mean, her house is fabulous. Melissa's walking around Michelle's house and she's like, okay, well, there's, she's not a neat freak. She's definitely lived in. Definitely kids. She sees footballs and basketballs.

Lori (12:06.26)
Mm-hmm. It is fabulous.

Wendy (12:22.799)
Melissa admits that, know, Michelle's house is totally opposite of hers. Melissa's very monochromatic, code for white, neat and organized. And Michelle looks at Melissa's closet and looks in her drawers and she's like, no, like, does she actually, does she actually do this? She does do that. I tried to do that once.

Lori (12:30.518)
Yes, for what?

Kelli (12:46.692)
She does do that.

Wendy (12:48.247)
I tried to do that once in Matthew's room. We did his whole room like that, the Marie Kondo way of folding. You know how long that shit lasted?

Lori (12:55.829)
A day.

Wendy (12:56.975)
Not even, I don't even think it lasted a damn day. I'm like, that shouldn't, never happening again.

Lori (12:59.479)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (13:01.922)
No, listen, Joe will live out of a laundry basket just to avoid putting clothes away. So last night I was feeling a little motivated. I put all of his clothes away. Last night, Sunday night, he was at work. I put all his clothes away. So this morning he's like, I can't find any hoodies. I said, they're hanging in your fucking closet.

Lori (13:02.232)
Yep, yep, yep.

Lori (13:07.277)
forever. Forever.

Lori (13:22.122)
every time. Every time. Every time you try and put your kid's away, then they get pissed off and they say that they can't find anything. I'm like, how'd you find it in the hell hole that it was before?

Kelli (13:35.358)
That's what I'm saying. They know exactly where he knew exactly where it was before I hung it in his closet.

Wendy (13:35.375)
no, they don't know exactly where it is. They know when it's on the floor. They know which pile it... Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lori (13:43.402)
with these kids.

Kelli (13:44.504)
Just let him live out of a basket.

Wendy (13:44.871)
I know. Yep. So then Melissa reads her note from Michelle. says, dear Miss Temporary Wife, we are vegan, no meat, no dairy. Melissa's like, no, I'm anemic. Like I need to eat meat. We are finishing up our juice cleanse now that they've only had juice for 10 days. We don't follow traditional rules.

Kelli (14:04.099)
Yeah.

Kelli (14:12.566)
Now just she and Sean, right? Not the kids.

Wendy (14:14.891)
Right, yes, yes. We don't follow traditional rules. We have dinner on the sofa. We'd rather stay up late playing over making it to bed on time. The greatest challenge for us is organization and rules. I mean, I could see that those are the rules.

Lori (14:14.926)
Yeah, yeah, it was just a two of them. Yeah.

Kelli (14:32.804)
Yeah, and Melissa's like, I'm your girl.

Wendy (14:36.087)
Yeah, for organization, definitely.

Kelli (14:37.827)
Mm-hmm.

Lori (14:38.338)
Yeah, I was wondering if her kids are homeschooled.

Kelli (14:42.02)
Hmm.

Wendy (14:42.354)
I don't think so. Why would you think that?

Lori (14:43.15)
You don't think so? I don't know. Because, you know, she said they'd... Oh, you think it was Samara. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Kelli (14:44.42)
because they were with them when they went to work.

Wendy (14:47.919)
It was summer, I think, because Antonia was home. Yeah, well, I mean, Antonia was home from school.

Kelli (14:51.076)
She said they're with them all the time.

Kelli (14:55.96)
Yeah, I mean, I would imagine they'd have to do this over the summer because with school settings, but I thought they homeschooled just because of the way she said they do everything together. But.

Lori (14:59.093)
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wendy (15:00.439)
Right. Right.

Lori (15:02.318)
That's true.

Wendy (15:09.389)
I mean, maybe they do. They could, it's possible. It's possible. Yeah. So then Melissa's rules are...

Lori (15:09.848)
Yeah, maybe they do. I don't know. It was just something that popped in my head.

Wendy (15:21.199)
Joe usually gets home about 6.30 for dinner and he leaves at 6.30 in the morning. And Michelle's like, well, when do they hang out? Melissa says, I do most of the chores and tidy up around the house. Melissa said the rules are that there are no rules when she's back at their, just you have to eat vegan. And that's basically what it is. That's what the rules are in Michelle's house.

Kelli (15:45.688)
thought it was interesting that they paired them up together. Like I feel like Bravo did a good job so far from what we've seen of pairing them up. Like this was a good one to pair up. Just because of the diet alone.

Wendy (15:56.375)
Yeah, I thought so too.

Lori (16:00.098)
Yeah.

Wendy (16:00.365)
Yeah, yeah, to give him a taste of something totally different, right? Then Melissa meets the kids and she falls in love with them. She hugs all the kids. Phoenix, the little girl, she's like, my God, she's got nail polish and lip gloss and eyebrows, so cute.

Kelli (16:01.219)
You know what I mean.

Kelli (16:06.243)
Yeah.

Kelli (16:22.372)
They said she was very nice and beautiful.

Lori (16:23.384)
Yeah, so cute.

Wendy (16:27.969)
Yes. And back in New Jersey, the dog comes running around the corner with the diaper on and there's pee on the floor in the kitchen. And then Joe comes in with the two boys and Michelle's like, the dog pees and like poops all over the floor. And Joe's like, well, that's why, that's why the diaper's on. She's like, well, it's not working. He's like, well, you must have put it on wrong. Did you put it on? She's like, me? Me? Did I put it on? Like, no, I'm not putting your dog's diaper on.

Lori (16:28.814)
cute those kids.

Lori (16:55.234)
No.

Wendy (16:57.935)
I can't even imagine. seriously cannot imagine. I can't.

Lori (17:03.616)
No, like I said, no. No.

Kelli (17:03.992)
can't imagine trying to diaper a dog. mean, diapering a baby is hard enough if they're squirming all around. can't imagine a dog likes the fact that you're trying to put a diaper on them.

Lori (17:13.442)
Like I said, no.

Wendy (17:15.503)
So at work today, one of my coworkers was doing an inspection and she said what a disaster it was, but I would have walked out. I don't know, I probably wouldn't have because that's just what I do. But they had this dog there and the dog was bleeding. The dog had its period. And there's blood all over the floor. my coworker says, what do you, like.

Kelli (17:33.508)
Lori (17:34.349)
god...

Wendy (17:41.967)
why don't you put a diaper on it or something? they didn't leave me with any diapers. So the woman is walking around cleaning up the blood after the dog. As the dog walks around dropping blood all over the floor.

Kelli (17:52.622)
Was it that person's dog?

Wendy (17:56.011)
It was, I don't know all the details of it, but it was the dog that was in their house while she was doing this inspection. Yeah. Like what? Like what is with people, right?

Lori (18:07.714)
Well, when Wendy's doing her code enforcement and code inspection, she's often at homes where multiple families live in one place. So who knows whose dog it was?

Kelli (18:20.13)
Right, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Wendy (18:22.819)
Yeah, yeah, so that, yeah, yeah. Another day in the life of me.

Lori (18:23.967)
Lord.

Kelli (18:28.408)
couldn't believe when Melissa said Joe never changed a diaper on any of her kids. That's pretty wild.

Lori (18:32.482)
Yeah, how do you like that? And you got three? Whoa.

Wendy (18:34.785)
Okay, well, you know that is Bill's claim to fame, right? You do know that. He will say and you know, he's probably he'll say in probably like a handful maybe on one hand, he can count the number of diapers he's changed. He was not the diaper changer. I was the diaper changer. Yes, he was not the diaper changer.

Lori (18:39.788)
Yes, yes, I know.

Kelli (18:40.673)
He's never changed a diaper?

Kelli (18:54.787)
The Jeep

Lori (18:56.856)
Change diapers? yes.

Kelli (18:58.976)
Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I worked Saturdays for until test was.

Wendy (18:59.417)
Yeah, no.

No, I worked too. He would bring the kids someplace else to get their diaper changed. He'd go taking the kids out. yeah, well my mother wasn't far. His mother wasn't far. He'd take the kids over to visit people. He'd go to your house. Listen, if he had lived here when the kids were, he would have gone to your house. He would have just like snuck it right up on you.

Kelli (19:07.652)
Stop it right now.

Kelli (19:16.259)
my god.

Lori (19:20.355)
Yeah.

Kelli (19:21.078)
Wow.

Lori (19:23.86)
Yeah.

Wendy (19:27.119)
Yeah, no, yeah, no, Bill wasn't a diaper changer. But I will say this, I wasn't a vomit cleaner. So he got all the vomit. I'll take the diapers.

Kelli (19:27.332)
can't believe that. That blew me away.

Kelli (19:35.78)
Yep, yep. would choose that as well. I would make that same choice.

Wendy (19:42.007)
Yeah, yeah. So, Joe's hungry, but she finds out that Joe doesn't cook. She's like, I do cook. She's like, but I cook vegan. And he's like, I can cook you vegan. She's like, I can cook you vegan pasta, but I'm gonna follow her rules today. So she's gonna make, you know, regular pasta.

Kelli (20:05.154)
and meatballs, she had to like get into the ground. I mean, I do it, but I'm just saying if you're not used to doing that, yikes. Yep, you don't want no part of that.

Lori (20:07.79)
to the me both yeah

Wendy (20:09.421)
Yeah.

Lori (20:13.804)
Yeah, and if you're a vegan, it's a totally different.

Wendy (20:17.675)
Yeah.

Lori (20:19.102)
No. Like my daughter stays in her room for Thanksgiving because she can't stand the smell of turkey cooking because she doesn't eat meat. Yeah, she don't like it. Nope.

Kelli (20:26.669)
Really?

Kelli (20:30.346)
love the taste of turkey but I love the smell of it. Roasting in the oven?

Lori (20:34.218)
No, she don't like it. But she doesn't eat meat. Yeah, she don't eat meat. So for her, it's like, ooh.

Wendy (20:43.971)
So Melissa is making the vegan food. She's making the french fry. She's like, these look good. And he's like, well, you're not eating those. We have one more day left of the juice cleanse. These are for the kids. She's like, OK. I mean, she did sneak a fry. She probably snuck more than one.

Kelli (20:58.468)
She's not going. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Lori (20:58.572)
Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure she's not the one I want to. Yeah. And she was funny. She's like, I'm hungry. I'm always hungry.

Kelli (21:05.898)
Yeah, me too. I hear that, sister.

Wendy (21:06.232)
I know. I know.

Wendy (21:10.913)
And then she's drinking her juice and she's like, well, it's just kind of like sangria without the alcohol. I mean, I like that. They're eating on the coffee table at the Clark's house and Melissa's not liking that. I don't like that either. I think you should eat at this table. you know.

Lori (21:16.066)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (21:18.776)
Yeah? Yeah.

Lori (21:27.006)
I don't like that either. Now you hit the table.

Kelli (21:30.146)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lori (21:32.728)
So that's a question for our listeners. Are most of your meals, do you sit down and eat at the table? Because there are a lot of people who do just eat on the couch, eat at the coffee table. So I'd be interested to know from our audience.

Wendy (21:43.329)
I know a lot of people.

Kelli (21:48.079)
You know, one of the things I miss from my kids being that little is everybody sitting down to eat dinner. I can't even tell you that it was probably a holiday the last time we all sat down and ate. I cook almost every night, but Tess doesn't normally eat until after she goes to the gym. Eric will eat when he gets home from work and that's it. And Joe, you know, half the time, you know, practice, school, whatever, like, you know, we never sit down to eat altogether. It's very rare.

I really miss that, but everybody does eat at the table at different times, but they do eat at the table. Yeah, I miss that.

Lori (22:20.652)
Right, just at different times.

But it is a nice thing when you can all sit down as a family and eat. I think that Melissa's definitely right about that.

Kelli (22:32.664)
Yeah, I missed that very much.

Wendy (22:33.327)
Definitely. I mean, will say that we, prior to the kids working, know, that's the problem is like their schedules are different than ours. would always, you know, we'd always sit down at the kitchen table and eat dinner together. But now, you know, this one's not here. This one's got school at this hour. This one's got this to do in the basement doing the podcast. So we do try and eat together, but it's not always easy.

Lori (22:42.158)
.

Kelli (22:42.5)
Right.

Kelli (22:47.172)
Yeah.

Kelli (22:55.192)
Yeah.

Kelli (23:00.216)
Yeah, I'm gonna say since Joe started high school, we probably haven't because of the sports and everything like that.

Wendy (23:06.487)
Yeah, exactly, Michelle meets Antonia and she doesn't even know what Sunday sauce is, Michelle, she's never heard of that.

Kelli (23:09.636)
Mm.

Wendy (23:21.623)
She does make it though for them. I mean, she does make dinner for them. So good for her. After she's done eating, they said that it was good. She's like, so who's supposed to clean all this up? And they're like, you. And Antony's like, yeah, my mom does it. And she's like, well, wait, why don't you guys just help? She was, we just put our dishes in the sink. And she just does it really quick. I'm sure it's that she likes it done a certain way. And that's how she grew up.

Kelli (23:23.148)
Yeah, she did.

Wendy (23:51.277)
Like her mother did it for her, so she does it, right?

Kelli (23:51.32)
Yep. Yep.

Lori (23:51.534)
Mm-hmm.

for them.

Kelli (23:55.693)
Absolutely, that's the sequence of events in my life. My mother never asked us to do anything.

Wendy (24:00.643)
Right.

Wendy (24:05.005)
You didn't have any chores? No chores.

Kelli (24:05.038)
So, no, no, no. We had no chores, we did nothing. My mother did all the laundry, my mother did all the cooking, my mother did all the cleaning. She was a stay at home mom until we went to, for some reason she decided to go back to work when we started high school, which was probably not ideal because that's when all the shenanigans were going on. But,

Lori (24:08.11)
Isn't that something? And Kelly's one of three girls.

Wendy (24:19.895)
Until when?

Wendy (24:26.937)
you

Lori (24:28.392)
brilliant when you get the most probably yeah

Wendy (24:32.985)
Probably because she was sick of cooking and cleaning. So let me get the hell out of here and get a job. At get a paycheck for all this damn work I'm doing.

Kelli (24:34.882)
Yeah, no, I didn't have chores until... Probably. I didn't have chores until I moved into my own house.

Lori (24:40.322)
Yes.

Wendy (24:47.791)
Mmm.

Kelli (24:49.954)
And I have bare, know, mean, Eric does help, but I bear the burden of most of the chores, but whatever, whatever.

Wendy (24:57.039)
It's different for everyone, right?

Kelli (24:58.424)
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Wendy (25:00.815)
Melissa says back in Georgia, she's like, can I help clean this up? And Shawn's like, nope, you can just leave that for later. The look on Melissa's face was like, no.

Lori (25:13.838)
Yeah. Now I'm not a super neat freak. It leaves a lot to be desired, like cleaning and housekeeping skills. But I do not like to leave stuff after dinner. Like I will, I will sometimes if I'm just over it, I will just go sit down in the couch, do something. But before I go to bed, you know, whatever, I'll clean it all. Most of the time it's

Wendy (25:22.603)
you

Wendy (25:28.771)
Well, food, right?

Kelli (25:41.464)
Yes.

Lori (25:42.986)
I clean up as I'm going and then I clean up. I'm usually up from the table before anybody's finished because I eat like a ravenous animal and I eat quickly and then I go in the kitchen and clean up and they're still eating. But I don't like leaving my, like I'm weird about food. Like I don't like to leave food around and I like to, yeah, it freaks me out. Like it freaks me out. Like I don't like to leave food around. Yeah. I don't like to leave food around. Yeah.

Kelli (26:03.726)
Well, don't you worry about bugs or mice. Cause we get mice, like where we live, you know? And that's what I'm afraid of. Ants.

Wendy (26:16.183)
I've never seen a mouse.

Lori (26:18.478)
We've never seen amounts.

Kelli (26:18.508)
You've never had a mouse in your house?

Wendy (26:20.799)
No, I've never had a mouse in my house.

Lori (26:23.118)
yeah, we've had mouse. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of mice around here.

Kelli (26:24.716)
you're pretty fortunate. Yes. We knock on, I don't even want to say, I don't even want to put it out into the universe. It's been a very long while, but we have a couple of times. Not a lot of times, but a couple of times. Yeah, like legit. I'm shocked that you've never had one in your house, especially with the garage, like just the garage door opening.

Wendy (26:26.892)
Really?

Lori (26:38.51)
Mm-hmm.

Wendy (26:39.663)
I'm gonna knock on some wood over here. We're really neighbors to our listeners. We really are neighbors. Like, yeah.

Lori (26:41.794)
not gone somewhat yet.

Lori (26:50.552)
Bye now.

Wendy (26:50.701)
I've never had mouse in my house.

Lori (26:54.53)
Yeah, it's open all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Huh.

Wendy (26:54.819)
Yeah, or left open. Left open all the time. Yeah, no. No, interesting, right? Okay, good to know. I'll be on the lookout over here.

Kelli (26:55.204)
Because that's how they normally get in.

Kelli (27:01.284)
Yeah.

Lori (27:02.318)
Yeah. So I'm sure it was freaking Melissa out.

Kelli (27:07.565)
Yeah, yeah.

Wendy (27:08.311)
Yeah. So, Michelle said, okay, back.

Wendy (27:17.479)
Next is the next morning. So it's 6.45 a.m., right? Joe gets up, he leaves, goes to work. Michelle works out by herself. And this is where she realizes how lonely it is. She's there all by herself.

Kelli (27:32.292)
It was first thing in the morning, how are you lonely already?

Lori (27:32.59)
So now.

Right. Now I'm wondering, right, but I'm wondering, you know, do they work together? Do they run that business together? Michelle and her husband. Okay. So he doesn't have a job besides that. So they have that job together. Okay. They run it together. All right.

Wendy (27:35.875)
Well, because she's used to having everybody.

Kelli (27:38.212)
Yeah.

Wendy (27:45.677)
Yes, yes they do. Yes. Right.

Kelli (27:45.858)
Yeah. Yeah.

That's what it seemed like, right? Yeah.

Wendy (27:54.819)
Yeah, yeah. And back in Georgia, Melissa's in her room and the kids all come in and like jump in the bed with her and they're, you know, hugging her. And then they go in the kitchen and Sean's making smoothies for breakfast. And then four hours into the rules change.

Kelli (28:06.148)
That was cute.

Wendy (28:16.398)
There you go, Melissa and the family goes to the park and Sean wants to teach her what they do, know, double dutch. So I guess he has one of his employees come there to do the rope with her and shows her how to do it. She just picked it up. Like she, she'd been doing it her whole life. Right? No, mean, I was like.

Lori (28:32.36)
I was impressed.

Kelli (28:34.2)
Yep. Yep. Yeah, she really did. She must've been very good at jumping rope when she was little.

Lori (28:35.562)
Out of broken ankle. Out of broken ankle.

Wendy (28:42.209)
She must, so must have her husband because he picked it up too. They too can be double Dutch champions. Who knows?

Kelli (28:44.418)
Yes, Joe too!

Lori (28:44.75)
Yeah, he did it too. Yeah, I couldn't believe it. was like, well look at me so

Kelli (28:52.743)
Thanks

Lori (28:53.934)
How we knows?

Kelli (28:55.438)
Forget about pickleball. We'll a double Dutch competition.

Wendy (28:57.167)
Exactly. Then George comes over to Michelle's to do her glam for the day and she does her George does the contour her body makeup like gets her all ready gets her outfit Michelle goes to envy and meets the staff and she's trying on clothes and doing pictures for social media posts and she's loving it.

Kelli (29:23.78)
tell you what, she was in shape. Because we always talk about going to Envy, but I know damn well I'm not fitting into anything at Envy. I'm gonna have to buy some jewelry when we go, and that's no problem. But this woman, she looked good in everything she tried on.

Wendy (29:26.936)
Yeah.

Lori (29:32.238)
Mm-mm.

Wendy (29:32.431)
You will so! Yes you-

Wendy (29:37.83)
You fit in.

Wendy (29:42.233)
She sure did. Yeah.

Lori (29:42.264)
Yeah, she was cute. She was a cutie. I liked her and I liked her husband. I thought he was super nice. He was very sweet.

Kelli (29:44.323)
Yeah.

I have to say, I really think they embraced this, she and her husband, and I think that they were down for anything.

Lori (29:55.118)
Mm-hmm.

Wendy (29:57.337)
Yeah.

Melissa's, Michelle said Melissa's life, you you get to focus on you and there's beauty in that, but at the same time, it's a little lonely. So I think, you know, hopefully she'll learn a little bit of balance, which I think she did.

Kelli (30:13.881)
Yeah.

Lori (30:15.052)
And you know, I'm wondering too, like after this experience, I'm wondering if Melissa feels like a little silly about how she insisted upon all the security and the...

Wendy (30:28.284)
I don't think so.

Lori (30:29.697)
No?

Kelli (30:29.796)
Honestly, I don't blame her at all.

Wendy (30:32.983)
I don't either. I don't either.

Kelli (30:34.98)
I'm sure they've screened these families very well, but there are crazy people out there. And not only for your own security, but what if you left there and they accused you of something, they made accusations, like there are some crazy, so I don't blame her at all.

Wendy (30:37.463)
No, I don't either.

Lori (30:40.716)
Mm-hmm.

yeah, most definitely.

Wendy (30:43.885)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lori (30:53.56)
Right, right, right, right, right.

Lori (30:59.584)
Yeah, I never looked at it that way. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to have another set of eyes there when the cameras aren't on so that no one can say nothing. Yeah, I got you.

Wendy (30:59.946)
I don't either.

Kelli (31:04.609)
Exactly.

Wendy (31:10.735)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (31:11.694)
deal with enough crazy people in your life, pick up on a few things here and there.

Lori (31:13.07)
Mm-hmm.

Wendy (31:16.569)
I mean, I heard Joe talking about the security and he said when the security guy showed up, like the guy was huge, right? He tried to tell him like, I don't need no security, like you can leave. He's like, no, I'm not, I can't leave. I'm not allowed to leave. I got to stay here. Joe's like, nah, I'm fine. I'm fine. He's like, no, I'm staying here.

Kelli (31:30.914)
It wasn't about you, Joe. It was about the wa-

Lori (31:33.934)
Well, come on.

Wendy (31:40.117)
Okay, so now it's day two and the rules are changing. Melissa said, while we're on my time, we're having my food. We're having pasta with my Italian style homemade sauce. And.

Kelli (31:51.78)
wonder if she got vegan pasta. Because pasta's made with eggs.

Lori (31:55.286)
Maybe.

Wendy (31:55.555)
she must have. She must have gotten vegan pasta.

Lori (31:57.891)
Yeah?

Kelli (32:00.815)
How about when Michelle told Joe she's not leaving him? He's not leaving her. And Joe's like, I think I'm gonna have a heart attack.

Wendy (32:05.239)
That's Melissa's like, I do believe in bedtime. So we're having a bedtime tonight and your mother needs a little help with organization. And I happen to be the queen of organization. So I have to go do something. Like I have to go buy something in order for us to do this. And why don't the kids come shopping with me and Sean, you could take a little bit of break, like take a nap, have some me time.

Lori (32:07.158)
Yeah.

Kelli (32:10.98)
you

Wendy (32:33.909)
And he didn't argue with her. And when they cut back to him, he was taking his nap. I bet he needed that.

Kelli (32:40.196)
Mm-hmm.

Lori (32:41.848)
Sure, with three kids, yeah. That you're always around. Yeah.

Kelli (32:43.47)
Yeah.

Wendy (32:43.993)
Three little kids. Yeah, yeah. So she goes to the store and since she's in Georgia, she calls her friend Phaedra up and Phaedra comes meets her there.

Kelli (32:56.48)
Yeah. when Phoenix said Phaedra looks like Elsa with her blonde hair.

Lori (32:57.933)
Yes.

Wendy (33:01.43)
I know.

Lori (33:01.486)
Aw, so cute. Now I was wondering, did they go to like a secondhand store? Was it like a thrift shop? I think for myself. Good Lord, you could buy a new table.

Wendy (33:07.799)
It looked like, yeah. Yeah, it looked like a good Simon shop.

Kelli (33:14.883)
Yeah.

Wendy (33:15.331)
I think that they did that one because they needed something right away and they needed something small. Like she needed like a table that what she got was perfect. Yeah, like that's what she needed. Like, I mean, you're not going... Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah.

Lori (33:19.158)
Right away, yeah.

Kelli (33:20.75)
Wow, that makes sense.

Kelli (33:26.006)
It was perfect. Yeah. Yeah.

Lori (33:26.08)
Right, a collapsible table, right, yeah. Because they don't have a lot of space, yeah.

Kelli (33:31.268)
it was collapsible? that was clever.

Lori (33:32.578)
Yeah, like it folded up. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Wendy (33:39.215)
Yeah, so Michelle says, you it's her rules and you're not leaving me. We will be together for 24 hours. then Jill's like, I have a conference call. She's like, oh no, there's no conference call and this is family time. And she's like, the next rule is we're gonna make a raw vegan dinner. And they're all like, raw? And she's like, you gotta change your face. To all of them, you gotta change your face, because you're gonna like it.

Lori (34:03.982)
and

Cause you're going to like it. Yeah.

Wendy (34:07.727)
You're gonna change it, you're gonna change your space. Oh my gosh, Michelle immediately takes off her makeup. I would have left it on. I know, I know.

Kelli (34:16.292)
She could not wait to get that makeup off.

Lori (34:18.414)
Yeah.

Wendy (34:23.894)
then what happens?

Kelli (34:25.464)
Melissa was making the pasta.

Wendy (34:27.703)
Melissa was making the pasta. Michelle brings in all the groceries and they're gonna learn how to make the vegan cheese. And she's got this nutritional yeast. I don't even know what that is. what is it?

Lori (34:37.942)
I use nutritional yeast. I use that.

It's like a yeast. It kind of tastes like cheesy. You can put it on different things. Like I put it on popcorn and I use it when I cook. Yeah, nutritional yeast. It's really good for you.

Wendy (34:54.371)
That's what she said that she's gonna use to make the cheese. And Joey said, I literally thought like cheese was vegan. It's so funny when they're sitting there talking and Antonio's like, he's like, he's like, Joe said, well, what animal do you cut open and get cheese from? And Antonio's like, what animal do you get milk from? And he's like, a cow. She's like, I'm gonna let you figure this out. It was so funny. I just love that whole interaction. Because honestly, like,

Lori (35:04.674)
Good thing he's cute.

Lori (35:17.1)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So funny. It was very cute.

Kelli (35:20.558)
We too. They were cute. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, yes.

Wendy (35:22.647)
It's so funny. It was real. It was totally real.

Wendy (35:28.685)
I mean, I don't know, the putting the corn into the coconut milk. I don't know what she made. I don't know what that raw vegan dinner was.

Lori (35:35.968)
I don't know what that, yeah, I would have liked a little more like, you know, it's a kale salad, would be like, I would have liked to know a little more, a little more about the goings on of it.

Kelli (35:45.122)
Yeah, I just got the there was a kale salad.

Wendy (35:50.081)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And Melissa said, thank God she knows how to make a good marinara sauce, because it's the only thing she knows how to make that's vegan. I was like, yeah.

Lori (36:01.42)
Gets vegan, yeah.

Wendy (36:06.733)
They sit all at the table together and then they're sitting together at the table and then they start like doing knock knock jokes, which I thought was cute. Like, you know, like hanging out. Fetix said she loved the food. She didn't know that onion and garlic made it better. It's like, aw.

Kelli (36:22.616)
Yeah, that was cute.

That was cute.

Wendy (36:27.053)
And Sean admits that like that's what they're missing is, know, he didn't realize how important it was to be sitting down at the table like that. you know, he thought that was important after that they did it, which I thought was great.

Lori (36:34.936)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (36:38.19)
Well, especially keeping the TV off. you can't, you know, that's, yeah.

Lori (36:40.588)
Yeah, yeah, during dinner, no TV, yeah.

Wendy (36:41.199)
yeah.

Wendy (36:44.843)
Yeah. And then she announces that it's bedtime, which was good. And they didn't seem like, they seemed okay with it.

Kelli (36:54.54)
Yeah, they're probably exhausted. probably like, thank God.

Lori (36:54.7)
Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be fun. Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm bad.

Wendy (36:57.249)
Yeah. When they're eating the vegan dinner, like Joe said, it's got a little kick to it. And Antonio tasted it. She's like, it tastes exactly like I thought it would. And she didn't like it.

Kelli (37:13.134)
Yeah. And then Joe and his confessional was like, that's not, that was not edible.

Wendy (37:18.583)
Yeah, that's what he said. And Michelle's like, well, who's going to clean up? And Michelle said, nobody, we're going downstairs. leaving that food. And she brought them downstairs and she's going to teach them double Dutch. And I mean, they were, they all could do, mean, Joe was actually the best at it, but they all, they all could do it. I couldn't believe that he just like jumped into it that quick.

Kelli (37:38.062)
Yeah.

Lori (37:40.099)
Yeah.

Kelli (37:43.094)
I know. He was good.

Lori (37:43.191)
I know.

Wendy (37:46.113)
I love to see that Melissa Sisters showed up, Kim and Lisa and Donna Marco, her mom, made an appearance.

Lori (37:55.266)
When they first walked in, I thought the one girl was Danielle.

Mm-hmm. I did. just, I don't know, the corner of my eye, I caught it that's who I thought it was.

Wendy (38:01.337)
Yeah.

Wendy (38:06.103)
Yeah.

Kelli (38:12.644)
whole stomach was gurgling when he went.

Lori (38:15.776)
He said, like, from eating all that grass.

Wendy (38:15.829)
I know, I know.

Yep, yep. Joe said, my whole life I've been told what to do. and Michelle's like, you can wear whatever you want. He's like, cause her sisters were saying, I can't believe you got your pants rolled up. And Michelle's like, you know, just go with it. You know, you look great. He's so used to falling in line, right?

Lori (38:34.722)
Yeah, yeah.

Kelli (38:35.811)
Yeah.

Kelli (38:39.598)
Yeah.

Kelli (38:42.916)
But that was nice, Michelle says she's having so much fun and she actually felt like cleaning up, which is interesting.

Wendy (38:43.375)
you

Wendy (38:47.735)
Yes, yes, because seeing it clean makes you motivated to keep it clean. It's getting it to that point. And I could so relate to that because I know that when I do get my house, of it, cleaned and organized, I do try and keep it like that for as long as I can. But then I have these little three little monkey branches I live with. But you know, no, they do not comply.

Kelli (38:54.668)
Yeah. Right.

Lori (38:56.75)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (39:02.521)
Right.

Lori (39:10.407)
Mm-hmm. They don't comply.

Kelli (39:13.251)
No.

Wendy (39:18.605)
So the next day, 7.30 a.m., Melissa says, we're gonna do a lot of organizing. And Shawn's like, I'm just gonna follow her lead. And the kids, like, they wanted to help. They were so excited to help, which, listen, when they're that age, like, that's the time to get them doing it.

Kelli (39:34.34)
Hell yeah.

Lori (39:35.042)
Yes, yes.

Wendy (39:37.463)
That's the time. mean, I remember when specifically Matt, like when he was young like that, he would clean all my, he still does clean my basement. He would clean my baseboards, all the low stuff. I had these things I put on his feet and he would clean the hardwood floors with these little like slippers, moppers things. I mean, listen, my kids do still clean the bathroom. I have to yell at them all the time to do it, but they do still have some chores.

Kelli (39:48.313)
Yeah.

Lori (39:55.672)
Mm-hmm. Cute.

Kelli (40:04.132)
Right.

Wendy (40:10.319)
Back in New Jersey, Michelle's making juice for them for breakfast. Antonia likes the juice, which is good. And she said, we're not gonna...

Kelli (40:18.276)
Yeah, I think she was the hardest nut to crack out of all of them.

Lori (40:22.115)
Yeah.

Wendy (40:22.199)
Well, because she's the most like her mom and she knows what her mom likes and she's the one, she feels like, you know, if mom's not here, I'm the one who's gotta hold it together, right? I think that's what she was thinking. I mean, I'm not in her head, but I would imagine, yeah.

Lori (40:33.154)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (40:33.284)
Yes. Yeah.

Lori (40:35.842)
I think so, yeah. And I think she was probably thinking like, she couldn't stop thinking to herself, my God, if my mother was here, she'd lose her mind.

Kelli (40:37.497)
Yeah.

Kelli (40:44.13)
Yeah. Yeah.

Wendy (40:44.673)
Right, right.

so they're all going to go out together. Joe says he's, I have to go to work. And Michelle's like, well, then I have to go to work. He's like, so we're all going to work. And she's like, yeah. So Antonia is going to. I mean, I, I, I'm not surprised the boys didn't go.

Kelli (41:04.132)
The voice didn't go though.

Kelli (41:12.36)
I mean, listen, if it's summer and they play football, those boys are at football practice for hours. Hours. Yeah. Yeah.

Wendy (41:15.641)
They're probably a- yeah. That's probably it. That's probably it. Yeah.

Lori (41:17.102)
about practice. Right.

Wendy (41:26.915)
They pull up to the job site, Joe, with Michelle and Antonia in the back, and he jumps out in his boots and his hard hat, park them right in the middle of a mud puddle. Huge puddle. And then they look out and they're like, he's like, you wanted to come, but he does back it up for them. And they're like, my shoes. And then he puts garbage bags around their legs.

Kelli (41:38.03)
huge puddle.

Kelli (41:47.128)
Yeah.

Kelli (41:51.716)
was very clever.

Wendy (41:54.201)
It didn't surprise me. It didn't surprise me.

Kelli (41:56.228)
That was very clever.

Lori (41:57.592)
But it's very difficult to walk in those.

Kelli (42:00.217)
I'm sure you're gonna slide all over the place. Yeah.

Wendy (42:00.363)
slippery. Yep. Yep.

Lori (42:01.838)
slide all over the place. And I love how Antoni was just taking selfies and...

Wendy (42:07.523)
Yep. Yep.

Lori (42:09.014)
No interest in any, no interest in any goings on. Just, well, I'm here. I might as well do something. Yeah.

Kelli (42:09.026)
on the Bobcat.

Kelli (42:15.268)
Get some content.

Wendy (42:16.013)
Right. Yeah, I got my hat, I got my hard hat on. I'm sitting in the excavator, like, let's see. And meanwhile, Michelle's like, jumping in.

Lori (42:19.992)
Yeah.

Kelli (42:22.478)
But Michelle, yeah, she got right in there. She found the pipe.

Lori (42:27.886)
That's right, I'll take the ditch.

Wendy (42:28.707)
Well, think, yep. She, I mean, I give her, and she's carrying the big pipe. Her and Joe are carrying the pipe. I give her credit. I do.

Lori (42:35.053)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (42:35.65)
Yeah!

Wendy (42:42.361)
There's no way in hell Melissa would do that.

Me neither, to be honest with you. would be... No. I know you would. You would. Yeah, you would.

Lori (42:48.711)
see, would, I'd love that. I'd be all right in there.

Kelli (42:54.724)
Did you see on Facebook, I saw a post where it's like, Melissa's marriage exposed. You know, she tries to make her life look so perfect, but it's shattered because Joe called his housewife, his wife swap wife, a real woman or something like that. So you know what my comment was. Okay, Louis.

Wendy (43:20.845)
No. my gosh.

Lori (43:22.062)
Bye.

Kelli (43:27.342)
This is so stupid.

Wendy (43:30.873)
So then back in Georgia, Melissa's gonna make vegan cookies, because she found vegan sprinkles, and she's got Maverick there with her. Honestly, I think he's my favorite. That little guy is so cute, so cute. So she's like, she starts crying when she's like helping him. And honestly, she felt, you could see it, she fell in love with these kids. And now she's like, my God, I gotta leave these little nuggets behind. Yeah.

Kelli (43:40.26)
He was adorable.

Lori (43:42.094)
So cute.

Kelli (43:53.902)
Yep.

Yeah.

Lori (43:57.58)
Mm-hmm.

Wendy (44:00.909)
She says, although she's excited to go home, it's bittersweet because she's leaving these little kids.

Kelli (44:07.64)
Yeah.

Wendy (44:10.659)
Sean said I learned a lot that I need more rests. He didn't know he needed it until he did it. He didn't know I needed to rest. Yep. And all the kids are at the door crying as she's leaving.

Kelli (44:19.33)
Yeah, until he got it, yeah.

Lori (44:25.23)
So cute.

Kelli (44:25.444)
I'm so sad.

Wendy (44:27.403)
Yeah. And then she gets back to Jersey and Joe said, haven't cleaned up my room. It's a mess. I think all that was staged when she walked in. Those boots totally staged. There's no... Yeah.

Lori (44:35.199)
Almost definitely.

Kelli (44:35.3)
Oh, 100%. There's just shit thrown everywhere.

Lori (44:38.926)
Yeah, totally.

Kelli (44:42.67)
Like why would there be t-shirts on the thing, you know, on the table when you first walk in?

Wendy (44:45.793)
Right. Right. And there's no way in hell Joe ever walks in the house with those boots on. Those boots never come in that house. Those boots never see that inside of that house.

Lori (44:46.124)
Yeah, yeah, no.

Lori (44:55.692)
No, he goes into the garage, takes them off before you.

Wendy (45:00.097)
Or leaves him in his truck maybe, you know?

Lori (45:01.518)
Right. wouldn't even be surprised if like, Melissa had like a shower in the garage that he has to like shower before he can even come in. A mud room. Yeah. Where he probably has to change and put the shit right in the water.

Kelli (45:06.692)
I'm sure they have like a mud room. Yeah.

Wendy (45:12.665)
Yeah. Yeah.

Kelli (45:17.27)
Exactly.

Wendy (45:20.035)
So Melissa says to Michelle, let's go outside and talk. And she said, the first thing she said is, I'm in love with your kids. She's like, Shawn needs some alone time. And Michelle said, well, everyone left. And Joe went to work. I felt so alone. She's like, that's too many hours a day without each other. I think that they talk to each other all day long. And she's like, listen, he works, I work.

I don't know, maybe on the weekends?

Lori (45:50.702)
But this is the thing, Michelle's version of life is different than most people's because most people don't work with their husbands all day and wouldn't be with their kids all day, every day in the summer. it's, her vision is nice, but it is a little skewed compared to.

Kelli (45:57.316)
Yeah.

Wendy (46:02.895)
spouse.

Kelli (46:03.65)
Yep. Yep.

Kelli (46:12.697)
Right.

Wendy (46:14.616)
Yeah.

Lori (46:18.104)
with the vast majority of how other people live.

Wendy (46:22.851)
Yeah.

Michelle tells Melissa that she needs to make more intentional family time, like family joy. And she does agree with that. And she's realizing, know, Antonio is already away at college. Her next one is going off to college, because one's a senior now, right? Gino's a senior, right? So she's actually, yeah, right now he's a senior. She's going to be, you know, only have one there soon.

Kelli (46:38.466)
Yeah, yeah, Gino's a senior.

Wendy (46:52.653)
and she's gonna, like it's gonna be a different world for her.

Wendy (46:58.509)
Melissa says you leave the dishes in the sink. You wake up exhausted and Michelle starts crying. She's like, yeah, I do. And it is true. If I knew I had to get up to that mess, I'd have a heck of a time getting out of bed in the morning knowing that I had to go take care of that.

Kelli (47:10.916)
Mm-hmm.

Lori (47:11.022)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (47:16.26)
That's like the whole point. Like that's what my thing was when my kids were little. Like my kids went to bed at 8 30 when they were those ages because I did have to clean up when they went to sleep. And maybe I got to sit down at like 10 o'clock and watch a show, you know, like you got shit to do. Absolutely.

Wendy (47:23.086)
Right.

Right. Right.

Lori (47:26.401)
You had that with Wren.

Yeah, that's when you had to get your stuff done.

Wendy (47:31.097)
Right.

Right. So maybe she needs to put in that bedtime so that she can get stuff done and have some me time.

Lori (47:38.659)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (47:38.756)
For sure.

Kelli (47:42.946)
Yeah. Yeah.

Wendy (47:44.769)
And she admits it, she says, my kids are watching me, I'm setting the example, so I need to be tidy, I need to set the right example for them.

Kelli (47:55.244)
Yeah. Yeah.

Wendy (47:58.511)
then we see the update.

Melissa before that happens, Melissa asked the kids, you want to spend more quality time together? Nobody answered her. I would get the same response. I would get the exact same response. Yep, yep. Michelle is now giving Sean alone time, but only twice a week. The Clarks eat dinner at the table every night. I think that's the best thing that came out of it, but still leave their dishes until morning. Okay.

Kelli (48:11.572)
No, can't. Me too.

Lori (48:12.814)
You would hear the crickets.

Kelli (48:30.19)
Mm-hmm.

Wendy (48:33.076)
One month later, Melissa's still learning to chill and her house is still spotless. Melissa's been making sure more quality time is spent with the kids, but she still refuses to visit Joe at the construction site. I think that's okay. I think that's okay.

Kelli (48:46.884)
I think that's I'm sure Joe prefers it that way.

Lori (48:47.0)
Yeah. And now I like Melissa, but I thought that there was just a little too much plug of the Sprinkled Cookies. It got on my nerves a little bit. it was just a little, like just, it just, it was just backed off one or two things, but I was just like, all right, I get them. I get the memo.

Kelli (48:56.782)
There was a lot of a lot of the sprinkle cookies. I agree with you.

Kelli (49:10.488)
I'm not disagreeing with you there.

Wendy (49:13.423)
I hear you. I actually prefer the sprinkle crumb cake though to be honest with you. I don't know why she wasn't pushing that.

Kelli (49:14.777)
Yeah.

Lori (49:20.472)
Yeah.

Kelli (49:20.63)
Yeah. Maybe because of the timing that they filmed this. Maybe that hadn't come out yet. No, because we got it for your birthday.

Lori (49:26.513)
maybe not.

Wendy (49:28.063)
yeah, yeah, we got it for my birthday. Yeah, you got it for my birthday. Yeah. Yeah.

Kelli (49:29.9)
Yeah, but it just had come out. So if they did this in the beginning of the summer, yeah, I agree. I'm trying to think somebody was just talking about her sprinkle cookies though and saying how good they were. And it wasn't somebody like.

Lori (49:34.936)
Yeah, maybe not, yeah.

Wendy (49:37.369)
possible.

Wendy (49:44.663)
It was Watch What Happens Live, they were talking about him.

Who was talking about it? Lisa and who was on with Lisa?

Kelli (49:53.269)
I didn't watch it. I didn't watch that. No, so it was somebody else. That's interesting that they were talking about them too. No, they are. They really are. But no, that's funny.

Wendy (49:55.312)
you didn't?

Lori (49:55.424)
yeah, no. I don't want to either.

Lori (50:00.632)
They are good.

Wendy (50:01.357)
Yes, they are good. No, they are good.

Lori (50:07.15)
But I thought it was a cute episode.

Kelli (50:09.036)
I did too.

Wendy (50:09.433)
I'll be honest with you, I have not heard one bad review of her sprinkle cookies, have you?

Kelli (50:14.647)
No.

Lori (50:15.886)
I don't know how everybody could say they're bad because they're good.

Wendy (50:16.847)
Which is odd, right? No, I don't either. I don't either.

Kelli (50:18.072)
Yeah. I don't either.

Lori (50:22.296)
They're good cookie.

Kelli (50:23.426)
They are. It's good cook.

Lori (50:26.07)
So which one is next? Which Wifeswap is next?

Kelli (50:29.418)
Emily is next and it's on next Tuesday. So it must be a Tuesday thing.

Wendy (50:29.697)
Emily

And they're coming to Jersey.

Lori (50:35.0)
And that's it.

Kelli (50:36.738)
Yeah, Emily's coming to Jersey, but it's a farm because there's a pig. Yeah, so yeah, it'll be interesting to see who she is, where she is. So that's going to be on Tuesday and then I wonder if the following Tuesday is going to be Wednesday. Wendy.

Lori (50:37.918)
really? that farm. yeah. We love farms.

Wendy (50:39.477)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lori (50:45.966)
okay.

Wendy (50:46.35)
Yeah.

Wendy (50:52.661)
No, because she's on a Sunday night. It's November something. Because we just, I think because like you said, she's going to be on After Potomac.

Kelli (50:55.182)
That's weird. Why how come every other one was on a Tuesday?

Yeah, but then why didn't they put Emily on after OC? Well, it's the season finale this week. Well, no, there'll be the reunion. I wonder why they did that.

Wendy (51:10.827)
That's probably it.

Lori (51:11.342)
Who knows? Who knows? So, we'll see what happens next time. But I've loved the one with Angie. I've liked the one with Melissa. I like how they were both, you know, very, very, very nice and loving with the kids. I that was really, really very sweet.

Kelli (51:13.559)
Nah. Whatever.

Wendy (51:19.204)
Yes.

Kelli (51:23.65)
Mm-hmm.

Kelli (51:30.979)
Yeah.

Kelli (51:34.532)
It's actually nice that they put them with families who have small children since their kids are older. It'll be interesting to where Emily goes because her kids are younger. So.

Lori (51:41.547)
Our kids are old.

Lori (51:47.712)
Yeah, so we'll see.

Kelli (51:49.112)
Yeah.

Wendy (51:51.053)
Yeah, I'm excited to see. I really enjoy this show. I could watch it every week. I would like to see more.

Kelli (51:55.012)
Yeah, I hope they make it like a series. I hope they, you know, do this with more Housewives.

Lori (51:56.182)
yeah.

Wendy (52:01.389)
I mean, they used to do regular wife swap and then they did celebrity wife swap and that was always fun to watch too. Like, I love a wife swap.

Lori (52:07.15)
So good. Yes.

Kelli (52:07.202)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

Lori (52:11.83)
Yeah, even just the regular one, I always loved it.

Kelli (52:14.22)
Yeah, me too. Me too. Because he just did a good job of pairing the right people up with the other people.

Wendy (52:14.433)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lori (52:20.024)
Mm-hmm.

Wendy (52:20.547)
Yeah. All right, do you have anything else you'd like to add?

Lori (52:24.918)
Now it's time to go to bed.

Kelli (52:25.216)
Nope.

Wendy (52:26.985)
Okay. Until next time, thank you for watching and listening. Please subscribe and give us five star reviews. Bye.

Kelli (52:35.429)
Bye.

Lori (52:35.47)
Bye.