Back to Basics: Season 10 Kick off| A Gentle Nighttime Wind-Down

In Back to Basics: Season 10 Kickoff, Marco and Amanda return for a warm, reflective conversation celebrating ten years of The Insomnia Project. What begins as a lighthearted chat about traditional anniversary gifts — tin, steel, and crystal — gently unfolds into memories of the podcast’s earliest days, from its 2015 planning phase to the first official episode in 2016. Along the way, they revisit familiar themes like compression socks, folding laundry the Marie Kondo way, beloved books, recurring literary characters, and the comforting ritual of making tea.
This calming podcast episode is intentionally unhurried and softly spoken, offering a relaxing conversation designed to help you fall asleep or ease anxiety at the end of the day. The tone is playful but mellow, with affectionate bickering and nostalgic tangents that create easy background listening. Whether you’re navigating middle-of-the-night wake-ups or simply trying to quiet racing thoughts, this gentle Season 10 opener invites you back into a steady, familiar space. There’s no rush, no dramatic turns — just quiet companionship, everyday reflections, and the soothing rhythm of two voices settling in for another year of helping you drift toward rest.

​Back to Basics_ Season 10 Kickoff

Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Thank you for joining us. This is the podcast we hope you never get to the end of. And we are so grateful to have you here on our first episode. Back for season 10. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Amanda: Season 10 what's the.

Marco: And that's Amanda Barker.

Amanda: Hi. What's the. Isn't there a way to call a season 10 your decennial?

Marco: I don't know.

Amanda: What's.

Marco: What's the. What do you give somebody on the 10th anniversary? What? Do you remember what that is?

Amanda: I don't know. I know 15 is crystal. Okay, you better get me some crystal.

Marco: Okay, but what should I be getting you for 10 years of.

Amanda: I'm going to take a guess. I don't know. Going to say tin.

Marco: Okay, look it up.

Amanda: Okay.

Marco: And tin sounds like 10 I just want to say thank you all. Our first official episode went up on January 24, 2016, with my co host, then Nidhi Khana, who is a friend of the show, a great friend of ours. I need to reach out to her.

Amanda: I know we haven't talked to her. I know it's been too long.

Marco: Too long.

Amanda: We wanted to.

Marco: Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna text her tomorrow.

Amanda: As Martin Short always says.

Marco: I meant to, but I need to reach out to her and. But we had started the podcast before it even launched, so I'm going to say it's 10 years, even though officially, if you look at the number, it's nine. But we started way before this. We started in September of 2015.

Amanda: You two were in the planning phase for a long time. I would get texts from both of you, and you were like, we're cooking up something big.

Marco: Remember we also did the Nuit Blanche Art Institute.

Amanda: I remember. I worked the whole thing.

Marco: Yeah, you were part of it. And so that was.

Amanda: I didn't get paid for my work. It is tin.

Marco: It is tin.

Amanda: For anyone who wanted to know.

Marco: So what I should get you is a tin can you can put by your ear, like, almost like headphones.

Amanda: Oh, weird. I found this. This list, and it. And it gives you the 1st to the 10th, and then it just jumps

Marco: to the 15th, the 20th, and what's the 15th again?

Amanda: Crystal. Crystal.

Marco: Okay. So anyways, thank you, Amanda, for looking that up. Thank you for stepping in and being my current co host and my wonderful and lovely wife. Oftentimes, we bicker in that order.

Amanda: Oh, my God, Marco. I can't find any list that has an 11th anniversary. No, that can't be, because we had gifts on the 11th.

Marco: It's true. It's true.

Amanda: Yeah. 11th is steel.

Marco: Steel. Yes.

Amanda 12th was silk linen. And I remember that because you gave me Silk and Lahman's autobiography.

Marco: That's right. And she was a rower.

Amanda: Lace. Ivory. But then ivory is questionable. Yeah, but we. I think I got you a tie with elephants on it.

Marco: Yeah, that's right.

Amanda: Anyway, so I'm cooking up something for 15.

Marco: Oh, my goodness. Crystal. I don't know what to get you for Crystal. But anyways, it's. We're not talking about our anniversaries. We're talking about the anniversary.

Amanda: What?

Marco: We're talking about this podcast.

Amanda: This is the aluminum anniversary of the Insomnia project.

Marc:: I want to thank everyone who reached out to say. What is that episode you posted? I was putting together a submission for the podcast. For an awards. And so I put together a whole bunch of clips of you, Manda, speaking on a podcast.

Amanda: Oh, God.

Marco: Back to back to back for 10 minutes.

Amanda: No one needs that.

Marco: And somehow I uploaded it onto the. It went live March 1st. It wasn't supposed to, but that's.

Amanda: You just realized it now.

Marco: You know, I teach a podcasting class as well. So I was demonstrating to the podcasting class how to upload an audio clip.

Amanda: Here are things not to do, Standby class.

Marco: And that's. And so our listeners got to hear this edited version of just you talking for 10 minutes.

Amanda: They must have been like, what is happening?

Marco: And I got. I'm grateful because our listeners are so lovely. If they don't fall asleep or the next day, they will reach out and tell me, marco, this happened on the podcast.

Amanda: We have a. An attentive, attentive, restful, sweet army of listeners.

Marco: Not only that, Amanda. One time I posted something and I didn't ed out edit. I did not edit out a swear that I had. I guess there was something that happened and I. And I cursed quite a bit, and I didn't realize I hadn't edited that out. And so Nima Karazi, our friend in California, reached out and said, I don't think you want to be saying so many f bombs in your show. And I was like, what did I do? And I listened back and it was like I had spilled water or something.

Amanda: Oh, wow.

Marco: So, yeah, so we.

Amanda: We need to find a name for our fans. Oh, my. My. My sweet friend Milo Manheim. I just saw on Instagram that he calls his fans Fanheim's.

Marco: Oh, I like that.

Amanda: Yeah. I mean, he has legions of fans from his work because he's like, you know, famous, but.

Marco: Right.

Amanda: But for our sweet fans, what could we call them? We welcome your suggestions.

Marco: Yes, please.

Amanda: Insomniacs.

Marco: No, I mean, that's an actual word. It would have to be something like.

Amanda: It has to be a made up word, doesn't it? What does Lady Gaga call her? Her little monsters?

Marco: Her monsters? I think perhaps Swifties.

Amanda: Yeah, See, that's not that original. A Swifty. Like, yeah.

Marco: Should we call our fans Swifties part two and just Swifties?

Amanda: We'll just call all the people that listen to the Insomnia Project Swifties. Swifties. Am I not being loud enough? No.

Marco: Yeah, I'm trying to crank up your thing. Get closer to the mic.

Amanda: Yeah, there you go. I knew you were gonna ask me to be. Folks, just so you know, before that, he was like, right where you are. Is perfect. I'm like, it's. And please don't do this and that. I'm like, you're gonna ask me to go closer to the mic because that's what you always do. And now I'm just gonna out you. He said to me, try not to. Try not to breathe into the mic. Like, come on.

Marco: Well, sometimes I have to breathe. I know. But sometimes I catch your breath, and so I have to edit it out sometimes, and sometimes I don't, and people will hear the sweet sounds.

Amanda: Well, sometimes I have to catch my breath with you because I love you.

Marco: Fair enough.

Amanda: Sometimes, just like in a steamy novel, my breath hitches. Have you ever heard a human being say, my breath hitched?

Marco: Only in Danielle Steele novels.

Amanda: That's when. That's when they say it. Like, suddenly people in those worlds, they'll. They'll say, my breath hitched. It's like, what is that? That's not. No one says that. No one says my breath hitched.

Marco: Oh, my goodness.

Amanda: You know what I was doing the other day? I was making something, and then I cut myself and my breath hitched.

Marco: Oh, wow.

Amanda: It doesn't. No one says that.

Marco: No one says that. So, Amanda.

Amanda: Yes?

Marco: I thought for today's episode, I would look at what the episode. What the first episode was that we talked about, and we can re. Talk about that if that works for you.

Amanda: Oh, we're gonna revisit for. Are we doing this for the next 10 years? No, that'd be amazing.

Marco: Maybe I'll. I'll look into some.

Amanda: I want. I. I have dibs on the marshmallow show.

Marco: Okay, so the first episode, was it tea socks and. And the moment before. And it says here. I'll read the description. So we have a totality of what we could speak about on today's episode. On our first episode, Marco and Nidhi discuss the world of tea and tea around the world. The moment before here and abroad. Travel rituals in places that are distinctly their own. Socks, compression socks. How to fold them and give them their due. The hosts close the podcast with milk bags and their tags. Listen and sleep.

Amanda: I'm not going back to milk bags after the milk bag controversy of 20, 23 and 4. Right.

Marco: We're not talking about milk bags, but let's pick. Let's start with compression socks. You bought me compression socks this year, and I love compression socks.

Amanda: I think I got you compression socks that have copper threads in them. Speaking of precious metals and not precious metals, how are those ones working out for you?

Marco: They were great. I Wore them on a flight that we had. They worked out really nicely for. For me.

Amanda: What's the copper supposed to do? There's a thing with wearing copper. Right.

Marco: It's supposed to be good for aches and pains, and I think stink. I'm not exactly sure.

Amanda: How does that work? Oh, stink. I could see because it doesn't. You can't stink it up or something.

Marco: I don't know.

Amanda: Well, did you stink, did you ache or pain?

Marco: I didn't ache. I didn't pain. I usually don't stink, so they worked out really nicely for me.

Amanda: Okay.

Marco: Now, how do you fold your socks, Amanda?

Amanda: Well, I used to, growing up. We always folded one over the other like a microphone and then used them as microphones. So you. You'd have, like, the top part of the sock, kind of like a jelly. Like a long jellyfish, and then the little toe y part kind of dangling like the end of the microphone.

Marco: And you would sing into them always.

Amanda: Yeah.

Marco: Any particular song Maniac from Flashdance? Sure.

Amanda: My brother was very partial to singing Maniac from Flashdance when he was about two or three. So he would. He would stand on our fireplace and give a performance to all his stuffed animals, including a gigantic unicorn that he married when he was about the same age. We were all invited to his bedroom for a very special wedding where he married his unicorn, Elizabeth.

Marco: Wow, that's great.

Amanda: By the way, he named her Elizabeth.

Marco: That's a great name for a unicorn. You know, they're always something, like, really colorful, and I just like names.

Amanda: Elizabeth.

Marco: Good old Elizabeth.

Amanda: I don't know where he came up with that name, but that was. He named her someone, I think our babysitter, maybe, or my dad, but I think it was our babysitter won it at a fair. It was one of those big stuffed fair wins that, you know, you. You throw the balls in the thing and you win the stuffed prize. And then, like, what are you gonna do with this gigantic thing? Well, you're gonna give it to a child.

Marco: The problem is, it's so big and lumbrous, these things that you win if you win the big prize at a fair, right? And then you've got to give it to a child because what are you going to do with it? It takes up so much space, and

Amanda: this child has this gargantuan thing that the parents are like, really.

Marco: The parents are never happy with it because they're big dust collectors.

Amanda: So we had one, and it was a multicolored unicorn, gigantic. And he named it Elizabeth. And he was so Enamored with it, that he decided he needed to marry it, and that we all had to come and witness them exchanging their vows.

Marco: Excellent.

Amanda: Yep, yep. But anyway, he loves singing Maniac from the seminal movie Flashdance with our socks. So that's how I always did it. But I find you don't do that. I think you. You do something else. You. You pair them together and then roll them in a little ball. But they're never, like, conjoined.

Marco: Right. So you remember Maria Kondo or Marie Kondo had a book, and 10 years

Amanda: ago, you would have been really into that if you and Niti were talking about it. Yes.

Marco: So I was folding them the Marie kondo way.

Amanda: And P.S. you made me fold everything the Marie Kondo way. Because you're like, this is what we do now. And this happens a lot for us. You'll be like, 100%. I'm on this thing. You got to get with me on this journey. I begrudgingly get on whatever journey because I am adverse to all trends and I need a tough sell for a long time. So finally, I get on the journey, and then I stay on the journey and you go on to other things. And this has happened a lot for us.

Marco: It's true. I'm a bandwagon jumper or I'm a bandwagon joiner, and then I jump off that band.

Amanda: You have no problem leaving the wagon, whereas I'm, like, always in it for the long haul.

Marco: What are you still folding the Marie Kondo way?

Amanda: Everything.

Marco: Oh, really?

Amanda: Yeah, Shirts, jeans, especially. It changed the way I fold jeans, sweatpants.

Marco: And aren't you richer for it?

Amanda: I'm not poor.

Marco: Okay, well, I rest my case then.

Amanda: I don't know now. It's what I do. And I don't think you do that anymore.

Marco: I still fold some things the Marie Kondo way. Oh, and sometimes.

Amanda: How did you stop?

Marco: Forgetfulness, ease of transportation of laundry.

Amanda: Okay.

Marco: Many reasons.

Amanda: All right.

Marco: But then I found out that she was not. She was a bit of a messy person herself.

Amanda: So how did you find that?

Marco: It came out that she wasn't as Marie Kondo as she made herself believe.

Amanda: Wait, what is this Marie Kondo controversy? What did she self. Admit it. Like, she.

Marco: Yeah, she out at her. I don't.

Amanda: Someone go to her house and, like, she left this out.

Marco: It was some controversy.

Amanda: Books. That was a big thing for a while. Marie Condo says, throw out your books. But I love my books. There was, I remember a meme that was like, all.

Marco: Do you love your books or do

Amanda: you I love books, but I do not hold on to them. I try really hard. I'm so sentimental with so many things that anything I can make myself not be sentimental about, I really try to embrace it.

Marco: And I can confirm that. You gave away a book to a good friend of ours today.

Amanda: I did, and then I got a book in return. Yeah. I've become really enamored with Emily St. John Mandel, the writer. And no one ever told me that her books all have characters that, like, you see the same people, but different. Same people. Like the character. The book I just finished was called the Lola Quartet. There's a character in it that's in a much later book called Sea of Tranquility. And he plays a minor role in that, but he's a main character in this other one. So it's amazing because it's like running into an old friend.

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda: Even just for a page as they kind of flip by.

Marco: What's interesting is this author. What's her name? Jill St. John.

Amanda: Emily St. John Mandel.

Marco: I knew there was a St. John in there. So Emily St. John Mandel is really well known for her Book Station 11.

Amanda: Yeah. And I haven't read it.

Marco: That's what I've read all the other

Amanda: books, except there's one I haven't read. So I've read most of the other books.

Marco: So you still have Station 11 to read?

Amanda: I read them completely out of order. I read the book that she wrote after Station 11 called the Glass Hotel. So that was the first one I read, read of hers. I really liked it. Then I picked up Sea of Tranquility, which I loved. Which is my favorite book of hers to date. But as I started reading it, I was like, there's a girl named Vincent in it. That's a very memorable thing. A girl named Vincent. And as I was reading it, I kind of got started going, I have a faint memory. Because it had been two or three years between books. And I kind of thought to myself, I have a memory of a girl named Vincent. Wait, Wait a minute. Was this from another book? And then I went. But I had given the Glass Hotel away. So I couldn't. I had to do a bit of Googling. I couldn't just pick it up and look at it and realize, yes, it was the same character. So I went, oh, I had no idea. It's a continuation. But what I didn't know at the time is that they're all kind of different continuations of each other in a way. They're all interconnected. I Guess. Yeah, there's somewhat loosely, but yes, there's

Marco: something lovely about characters that reappear in other books because you get to know them a bit better. You get to sort of. You know. I'm reading a lot of Agatha Christie books, and Bundle just appeared in another book where she.

Amanda: Bundle.

Marco: That's her nickname. Oh, she gives a lot of nicknames to two female characters.

Amanda: That's fun.

Marco: So very British.

Amanda: I think.

Marco: So Bundle comes in another book that I read and I was like, oh, this is great. And, you know, minor. I shouldn't say minor, but less than major characters. So, like, you've got the characters like Poirot, and everyone knows Poirot.

Amanda: Why is that?

Marco: Well, that detective appears in more of her books than any other one. Then you've got Miss Marple, and there's my favorite.

Amanda: She got a whole series. Miss Marple.

Marco: She certainly does. And did. And will. There's more coming out with Miss Marple very soon. Yeah. And Tommy and Tuppence. I'm a big fan of Tommy and Tuppence.

Amanda: We need to make that show, the Tommy and Tuppence Show.

Marco: There are series and movies made based on them. Yeah. One of the guys from. What's that sketch? What's that British sketch troupe that. One of the. The bald.

Amanda: The bald who was in baking show.

Marco: Yeah. What was the.

Amanda: Little Britain.

Marco: Little Britain. So his partner in that plays Tommy. I can't remember his partner's name.

Amanda: His name is Matt. The bald one is Matt.

Marco: Yeah. Well, the other one.

Amanda: Okay.

Marco: So anyways, great conversation. People are like, they. We never know their names.

Amanda: No, we never.

Marco: And Marco always gets it wrong.

Amanda: So that's why we love you.

Marco: Yeah, so that's why I love you.

Amanda: I can't speak for everyone else. Fair.

Marco: That's. I love that. I love it when. When these characters come back.

Amanda: Yeah, I do. It's. It's like. It's like seeing an old friend, if only for a quick coffee. So I just finished the Lola quartet by Emily St. John Mandel, which is one of her earlier books. So, anyway, did you enjoy it? I did. People don't seem to like that one as much on reviews and stuff, but I thought it was quite an engaging read. No, I really liked it.

Marco: Now, if our listeners are considering reading this author's books, what type of person would you say would enjoy them? Like, are they mysteries? Are they romances?

Amanda: That's a really tricky one. The first one I read, the Glass Hotel, was one of those books that has perspectives of three different people sort of around a Time frame and incident.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda: But Sea of Tranquility goes into a really a world of, like, a black mirror kind of sci fi. I see angle. And that is. I love Black Mirror, as you know. But I would never tell my. I would never say I'm a big lover of sci fi.

Marco: Yeah, that's not.

Amanda: That's not my brand. But that said, I think any story told well, I love. Right. So who cares if it's sci fi? And I mean, I love Black Mirror, so Sea of Tranquility for me was just a stunning book. And I've heard the same about Station 11, so I'm looking forward to getting into that. I think Station 11, because it got so much hype and because. It became a series. I don't want to get into it because I don't want to.

Marco: Sure. Don't spoil. No spoilers.

Amanda: No, exactly. And people are trying to sleep, and I get that. But it had a lot of. A lot around it.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda: For a book. I mean, I don't think it's the most famous book in the world, but for book lovers, it had a lot of hype. And then a series was made. So you. And I tried to watch, like, the first episode of that. And I think the book. The book is always better, let's be honest. Sure, the series was fine, but it wasn't base. We were in at that time. So, anyway, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Marco: All right, so we have a few more moments left, and I wanna know.

Amanda: We're supposed to talk about tea.

Marco: We're gonna talk about tea. We talked about compression socks, but let's talk about tea and tea from around the world.

Amanda: Okay. I had a glass of iced tea right before coming down.

Marco: Oh, fantastic.

Amanda: And.

Marco: And last night you said, can you put on a black tea? And I used your almond creamer milk creamer thing, and it was quite tasty.

Amanda: That almond creamer is tasty. I gotta say, we are not sponsored by Silk, but they make a fine product.

Marco: Sure. Okay, so let me ask you, when it comes to tea, how do you like yours?

Amanda: Depends on the type of tea.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda: I love an iced tea always. And I love the land of the unsweetened iced tea. At every restaurant, that land is known as America.

Marco: What about hot tea?

Amanda: If it's a black tea or an Earl Gray, then with milk and sugar. And if I don't have milk, cream is fine. And then, I don't know. I love a chai. I don't know what I feel like you're wanting me to say. Something else?

Marco: No, no. I'm just curious.

Amanda: What about you?

Marco: I like a milky tea and a sweet hot tea. So if you're going to make me a tea, I don't like it steeped long. I used to when I was younger, like a very steeped tea.

Amanda: Oh really?

Marco: Not anymore. I find it's too tenic for me. And you know me, I don't like tennic wines. So. So for me, if you steep the tea too long, it becomes a bit. A bit too abrupt for my mouth. You can quote me on that. And. And so I like a. A Russian style tea which is very milky and very sweet. A Russian style black tea. I should say.

Amanda: Interesting.

Marco: Yeah. And I think I talk about this in the first episode too, which is interesting if I recall. So I like. I love. I love a black tea, a breakfast tea, an earl gray, an orange peo. What other black teas are there? But I just love an Irish tea. I love.

Amanda: You love a chai.

Marco: I do like chai too. Yeah. And I do like iced teas.

Amanda: And Nidhi used to make amazing chai. So I have a feeling that's what you guys used to talk about because remember she gave us all that cardamom. She made a really beautiful chai.

Marco: She makes a good coffee too, I have to say.

Amanda: Yeah, Nitty is the bomb, man. We could like talk to. You got to do another. You got to do a. What's it called? Like a. You know when like the Friends cast got together and read the script. Oh yeah, you need to do that. A reunion show with, with Nitty.

Marco: I will, I will. She's wonderful. And I'm just trying to think, do you prefer your tea in a bag or in a. In a thing like.

Amanda: Doesn't matter. I don't mind a bag.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda: But I will say I don't love this trend. I like a. I like a. A bag that's made out of all natural fibers.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda: So if it's a plastic bag, which some tea can be in these days, I'm not a fan.

Marco: Okay, that's fair.

Amanda: I think that's fair.

Marco: Yeah, that is fair. We have a tea that has roses in it. Actual little roses in it. And it was a Valentine's Earl Grey tea. And you know, I love the taste of rose for some reason and I might make some tonight.

Amanda: Sounds good. Let's make a cup of tea.

Marco: Cup of tea. What vessel do you like to drink your tea out of?

Amanda: I feel like this is a trick question.

Marco: No, it's not.

Amanda: Like, do you like my own Hands.

Marco: No, like, do you like a mug?

Amanda: A mug? What else is there?

Marco: Teacup. Like a fine china teacup.

Amanda: No, I think that's. No, I don't like teacups. Why do I have so many then?

Marco: I know you have a lot.

Amanda: I know. I inherited them.

Marco: I like drinking of a teacup. Why am I not drinking other teacups? I'm drinking out of a bottle.

Amanda: You don't get anything. It's like three sips, you're done.

Marco: No, that's why you have it in a teapot next to your teacup.

Amanda: Who has time for that?

Marco: I do.

Amanda: Do you? I've never seen you brew up a pot of tea, like, ever.

Marco: Well, maybe I'll start. Maybe in season 10, I'll start brewing up a lot of tea.

Amanda: It's the tea year.

Marco: The year.

Amanda: The tea anniversary.

Marco: The tea anniversary. We still have to think of our. Of a name for our. Our listeners and, And. And that'll make. That'll make my year. Nice.

Amanda: I'm trying to think of a funny word with insomnia that you could use with the word fan.

Marco: Do you ever. Did you. Have you ever had tea with lemon and sugar and not. No. No milk or cream?

Amanda: Probably. Yeah. I discovered tea in high school.

Marco: Oh, really?

Amanda: Yeah. My mom. I went to a cafe in Halifax, which felt very urban, very cultured at the time. I was living in a very small and very isolated town. So I went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and we went to this little cafe. And I'll never forget, I ordered a lemon tea. Oh, like an herbal lemon tea.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda: And it was the most magical tasting thing on that rainy day. And I just loved it so much. And then I started asking my mom for tea. So my mom went out to the local grocery store and got me that big, like, celestial seasoning sampler, like the Sleepy Time, the lemon, the herbal, the. The berry or whatever. And what I started doing was I would bring a bag to school every day, a different bag of tea to school every day. And then, because hot water was free, so I would not spend my money on it, I'd get the hot water. I'd usually get fries or cookies, and I would. That would be my lunch. Fries, cookies, and a cup of. A cup of verbal tea.

Marco: Wow.

Amanda: So funny. And that was like my ritual when I was, like, 15, 16. Yeah.

Marco: That's awesome. Have you ever seen me take the tea bag out of the.

Amanda: And I would read, by the way.

Marco: Oh, you would read?

Amanda: Yeah. My friends were all doing nefarious things, and I didn't. I kind of didn't want to go down that path with them. So I was. They would bounce and I would sit by myself. So I started. I was like, well, what am I going to do? We didn't have phones back then. So I would bring a book and have my tea with a book. And it was like a great way to deal with high school and peer pressure and all that. Because I was like, if you sit and read a book, then you're fine. You're in a little universe onto yourself. People can come and talk to you or not.

Marco: They say, if you don't want to be disturbed on a bus, subway, or at work, pretend you're reading or read from a book and people are less likely to disturb you.

Amanda: I just. If I felt almost like a security blanket. And I genuinely enjoyed what I was reading. I was very into Douglas Adams back then, so I was reading all the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I loved comedy. I loved British comedy.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda: So that was the right fit for me back then. T and Douglas Adams. So funny. We should move to England. Really? The amount of English things we love.

Marco: And I've got a very British soul.

Amanda: You do. We should just go to the uk.

Marco: Maybe we will.

Amanda: Maybe this is the year. We just pack up, we rent the house out, and we just go to the uk. We have a couple friends there. Yeah.

Marco: I'd love to do the podcast from the uk. Have you ever seen me take a tea bag out of the mug, put it on a spoon and. And squeeze it with the string?

Amanda: I have. Yeah.

Marco: It's fun.

Amanda: Okay, good.

Marco: A friend taught me that many years ago.

Amanda: And now do you wrap the bag. Do you wrap the string around the handle of the mug to keep it there so the bag doesn't. The bag doesn't like the. So that. The little tab, if your tea has that doesn't, like, float into the water?

Marco: No, I don't love that. Because then it gets stuck on the handle.

Amanda: Okay.

Marco: And for the person who has to wash the mug or the cup or put it in the dishwasher, you then have to wrestle with the tea bag.

Amanda: Yeah, but then you're not drinking wet paper.

Marco: Well, I don't let my tea bag steep very long in the tea, so I don't have that problem.

Amanda: All right. But you seem to love to squeeze every last juice out of it.

Marco: It's true. And, you know, there was a time, do you remember this, Amanda, where I would save the teabag and use it a second time? Because I heard that the beneficial properties are amplified. When you have the teabag the second time.

Amanda: That's insanity.

Marco: It was wonderful.

Amanda: We are frugal people. But I draw the line at reusing tea bags. I'm sorry.

Marco: I think it's great. I think I might go back to it.

Amanda: Well, for iced te. I could almost get behind it. Throw it in the. Because I make iced tea all the time.

Marco: How do you make your iced tea?

Amanda: Here's how I do it. I have my jug. I take a tea bag, I throw it in the jug. I make the tap water as hot as I can. I fill it up, I let it figure itself out in the fridge. The end.

Marco: It's great. It's a wonderful way to make tea.

Amanda: I don't. So I guess it's really. That's technically, I don't. It's not a completely cold brew, but it's not a hot brewed tea either. It's just a medium, figure it out for yourself kind of brew.

Marco: Yeah, I do enjoy it. I will say this Amanda, we've got to the end of this episode but I want to invite our listeners to reach out and tell us in these 10 season what was your favorite episode that you've heard? Give us the title. We'll either mention it or do a replay of those episodes topics this season. So please reach out on Instagram, Facebook, wherever you can or just bits that you remember.

Amanda: They may not remember the episodes at all because hopefully they were asleep. Sure.

Marco: And you let us know what your favorite episode or moment was. Until next time. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for being a part of season 10. We hope you were able to listen and as always, sleep, sleep sa.