Majestically Awkward: the podcast for socially awkward people by socially awkward people, that hopes to leave you feeling just a little less awkward. No promises though. 😉

Today, we’re trying out another new segment. We’re calling this one Why Am I Into This? Janine and I try to explain to Tim why face masks are so freaking awesome. We also make him wear one to drive our point home. The results are pretty hilarious.

Next, we play Is This for Real? with homeopathic remedies we found on Pinterest. Please note, we do not vouch for any of these (in fact, we think some of them are batshit crazy). Also, I couldn’t believe how many involve potatoes.

We wrap up with a listener-submitted awkward story. While vacationing with his wife, Mike has an awkward encounter with a stranger—which makes us remember a few of our own ridiculous encounters.

As always, our show is not safe for kids. Our potty mouths flow freely and we discuss adult topics that I wouldn’t want my kids hearing.

Also, if you’d like to play along with us for our Is This for Real? segment, don’t scroll down until after you listen. There are spoilers ahead!

Majestically Awkward: the podcast for socially awkward people by socially awkward people, that hopes to leave you feeling just a little less awkward. No promises though. 😉

Today, we’re trying out a new segment called Why Am I Like This? This time, we’re talking about Janine’s ferocious territorialism. She can’t handle people being in her space at work. She realizes her reactions to relatively minor inconveniences are a little extreme, but she just can’t stop. We try to get to the bottom of it.

Next, we play Is This for Real? with exotic Japanese foods. Tim was sure we’d be grossed out by all of them, but Janine and I were absolutely down to try a few.

We wrap up with a listener-submitted awkward story. Listener Stephanie tells us about the first time she bought condoms, which leads us to talking about other things we get awkward about buying.

As always, our show is not safe for kids. Our potty mouths flow freely and we discuss adult topics that I wouldn’t want my kids hearing.

Also, if you’d like to play along with us for our Is This for Real? segment, don’t scroll down until after you listen. There are spoilers ahead!

Performing acts of kindness is a great way to teach kids empathy and to make giving back to the community a habit—it’s also really good for chasing away the winter blues. These free printable random acts of kindness cards are the perfect way to get started.

I don’t know how you’re feeling, but I’m at peak winter blues over here. I’m always tired. I have no motivation. And I go from zero to livid at record-breaking speed. I imagine I’m not a ton of fun to be around lately.

Long, gray winters do this to me. I’m tired of looking at colorless skies and dead branches. I need some green on the trees outside my window and to feel a little warm sunshine on my face. It’s even worse when every time I open up Facebook I seem to be assaulted with a barrage of angry complainers who have no interest in doing anything about the things they’re angry about (unless bitching counts. They’re totally into that).

Since we can’t control other people or the weather, we have to create our own good vibes. Chocolate helps. Taking time to write down the things you’re grateful for each day does too. But one of my favorite ways to break out of a funk is performing random acts of kindness. It feels good to make other people feel good—and there’s an added rush when you do it in secret.

I did this fun activity with my Girl Scouts troop a couple of months ago and it’s so easy to recreate yourself or with your whole family.

Printable random acts of kindness cards

Diversity in children’s books is extremely important, yet it can be difficult to find picture books that feature African American characters. To celebrate Black History Month and encourage reading more diverse books, I thought I’d share 10 of our favorite kid’s books that star black children.

As the mom of two girls, it’s incredibly important to me that my daughters are exposed to books with lots of strong, fierce female characters. While I have no problem with pretty, pretty princesses, I also want my daughters to read stories filled with determined girls building and getting dirty and not ticking off all of the stereotypically “female” boxes.

Multi-dimensional, diverse characters are so important in children’s literature. Kids need to see depictions of children that are just like them doing a wide range of things. They also need to see stories of children who are not just like them. It helps build empathy and a connection between people who are different from them.

Did you know that a study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that only about 12% of children’s books published in 2016 star black characters? If you regularly read children’s books, that’s probably not so surprising—but it’s definitely unacceptable.

Since February is Black History Month, I thought now would be as good a time as any to feature a few of our favorite books that star African American children. Please note that these are not (with the exception of one) about historical figures (for a great list of those check out the Brightly article 22 Books That Celebrate Lesser-Known African Americans and Their Contributions to History). Instead, these books star highly relatable girls and boys that your kids will love.

Majestically Awkward: the podcast for socially awkward people by socially awkward people, that hopes to leave you feeling just a little less awkward. No promises though. 😉

Today, we’re talking about people who are just really gross. Janine works in IT and has encountered lots of people being slobs around their work computers. She also tells a story about a doctor eating his eye boogers that almost makes me vomit. Tim and I butt heads when he talks about how the girls and I are slobs. I talk about how gross it is when people heat up fish in the microwave in a shared office space or when they don’t wash their hands after they go to the bathroom. We wrap it up by talking about the awkwardness of getting your eyebrows waxed.

Next, we possibly ruin Is This for Real? for Tim for life by testing him on Buzzfeed quizzes.

We wrap up with a listener-submitted awkward story. Listener Ashley flooded her future in-law’s basement the first time she met them… which reminded Janine of the time she met her future in-laws and shook their hands—with hands covered in ice cream.

As always, our show is not safe for kids. Our potty mouths flow freely and we discuss adult topics that I wouldn’t want my kids hearing.

Also, if you’d like to play along with us for our Is This for Real? segment, don’t scroll down until after you listen. There are spoilers ahead!