Midlife Moms Hustle - Odd Jobs That Pay Big Bucks

This week Melanie and Allison get back in the studio to get caught up on summer life. Allison begins by updating everyone on where she's been for the last month and what's it like to change careers in your late 40s and pass big scary tests (Note: she refers to taking and passing the SHRM-CP test and moving from banking to HR).

We then begin to discuss our plans for the rest of the summer and things we can do to actually relax on vacation (i.e. read a book, work on a hobby) and begin drifting off topic. Our first stop: cemetery walks and Allison's volunteer efforts to help people find where their relatives are buried. 

We then head into unusual jobs that pay big bucks. You won't believe what Allison found while searching the Reddit.

Timestamps (approximate):

1:01 Changing Careers and Taking Big Scary Tests in your 40s

07:36 Historical Fiction and Cemetery Adventures

15:57 Ghost Stories and Paranormal Experiences

20:04 Unusual Jobs and Crematorium Insights

24:23 Cryotherapy and Crematorium Mysteries

24:50 Strange jobs that pay big bucks

42:55 Summer Homework and Future Plans


Things we mention for reference:

1.) Historical Fiction books by Phillipa Gregory
2.) Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
3.) Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, GA
4.) Huguenot Cemetery in St. Augustine, FL
5.) Evergreen Cemetery in St. Augustine, FL
6.) TacoLu's is located in Jacksonville Beach, FL. It was previously known as the Homestead Restaurant. It was originally a boarding house built in 1932 and was run by Miss Alpha Paynter. She later turned it into the Homestead Restaurant and later sold it in 1962. She died later that same year. Nowadays she can be seen by the big limestone fireplace in the main dining room, sitting in a rocking chair or standing as if to check on her customers. She's also been seen on the second floor and the stairs, and even in the mirror in the women's bathroom.
7.) Ghost hunting in a Tesla. Check out our Instagram account for the actual ghost hunt we went on shortly after recording this episode.

Find Midlife Moms Pod on Apple Podcasts or wherever you find your podcasts. You can also find us Buzzsprout where we have a full listing of all our episodes, Instagram (@midlifemomspod), and Facebook. Listen, like, and subscribe! We hope you enjoy the show!

Transcript

Welcome back to Midlife Moms Pod.

After what seems like years.

I feel like I haven't seen your face in years.

I know, it's been a long time, because the last time we recorded was mid-June, June 18th or 19th.

Right, but we did that over Zoom, so I still hadn't seen your face since May.

So it's been, you think in May?

And we're in July.

I'm pretty sure.

Right?

It's July 11th today.

Yeah.

I'm pretty sure.

It was crazy.

Yeah, it's been busy.

So I told you, I said, I had to...

Well, you went underground for a while.

I did.

I went offline, as they say.

Yeah, so you did that, and then I traveled to Charleston for a week.

Right.

So we were gypsum.

I was, yeah, I was offline, off the grid.

I had a big test I studied for, and I'm happy to report back that I passed.

But I had put summer on hold, so I wasn't able to really enjoy anything.

Having to do with summer.

That's rough.

Now, did you schedule that yourself?

Like, that's when you thought, okay, I'm gonna take the test?

Or did they schedule it for you, and then you had to just prepare until?

Well, the testing windows only opened from May 1st to July 15th.

Oh, okay.

So I could schedule my test to take anywhere between those two dates, and I scheduled to take my test July 8th, because that was one week out of the ending of the test window.

So I thought, oh, I'll have more time to study.

Plus, just looking at my calendar, and Matthew had baseball through May.

And then I had several trips planned through work in June.

So I knew that I was gonna have to take it toward the end of that testing window.

I just wasn't sure if that's what you were scheduling that, or if they had scheduled it for you, and then...

Yeah.

You know, in my true procrastination style, scheduled it for near the almost the last week that the testing window was.

So I could get some more study time in.

And then when did you actually start studying?

Like really buckle down and study?

Cause I know for a fact, there was a couple of weeks there that we didn't even talk hardly.

Even on through texts, you were like gone.

So probably June, the weekend of June 7th or June 8th, I started studying.

I went over to my parents' house, and they've got a four bedroom house.

So I used one of their rooms to just kind of tuck myself away.

Oh, well, that's nice.

And if, yeah, Brent works every other weekend.

So if he was working on that Saturday, then either my neighbor took Matthew.

Yeah, that's pretty much, she watched him like those two Saturdays because there was like a month.

So I really crammed it all in in a month, I would say.

Oh, well, that's...

Because you cannot study at work, at least in my job.

So I would have some days where I'd be able to study, but I really needed to spend night and weekend studying.

So there was a lot of personal time that was gone.

Yeah, that's rough too.

Yeah.

Because you have other things that she need to be doing.

That was wild though, because I remember when I was gonna take the state board.

I mean, of course I was in school, so I had learned all of that within school.

But then to go to take tests that, I don't know.

I mean, I don't have that issue of like stress when I take a test, I'm just like, I go in there and go, okay, well, depending on how they give the test, well, depending on if I pass or not.

Because I don't think I'm a good test taker, depending on how they give the test.

There were two ways you can take this test.

So you could either go to a center where they proctor, you know, you go into a room and the exam's proctored, or you could take it from home and take the test virtually.

So thankfully with social media, I was able to join groups on Facebook.

I listened to podcasts about taking the test and that experience, because I've been out of college for 25 years.

So I haven't had to take a big, huge test like this since.

How many questions were on it?

There were 134 questions.

And it was made up between multiple choice, like knowledge-based, and then there's also situational judgment questions.

So they would give you this scenario, and then there would be like three questions after that.

What's the best answer?

Oh, see, that would be hard for me, because depending on your personality, see, I'm a hard ass.

When I was a supervisor, if I had to do your job for you, you didn't have a job.

Well, so you also have to learn the method.

And I mean, really, all of the answers were good.

So they would give you these multiple choice of A, B, C or D, and they all are fine.

But you have to pick the best one, or the one that you would do first based on what you've learned in that material.

That messes with your brain too.

When you're sitting there trying to take a test and think, okay, what do I need to do?

Because you're trying to get everything right, because you want that passing score.

So a lot of it is having that knowledge, and then some of it is just knowing how they want you to take the test.

And this is not an area that I've had a lot of work in.

So I've recently changed careers, if you will.

I've been in banking for over 20 years.

But then in the fall, I kind of, well, I didn't switch roles, but I was transferred to a different team.

And the product that I demonstrate often is being, well, there just weren't as many demos.

So I was sitting around, I went from having six or seven demos a day to having two a week.

Oh, wow.

So I had to learn something new because I didn't want to be without a job.

So I learned a new product, and it's basically in a new industry.

Like I had to get rid of all my banking knowledge.

And that's rough, too, when you have to switch gears.

Because I was in banking, too, before I became going to the healthcare.

And it was totally...

So these were all HR questions.

But I've been a manager before.

I managed a staff of six.

I managed operations for 19 branches at a credit union.

I wasn't directly in HR, but I did performance reviews.

I had employee issues.

So I do have some knowledge about that.

So I was able to use that.

But yeah, it's a career change.

It's a...

And I'm an old dog.

I'm not a newbie.

Well, now you feel like you can breathe again.

I felt like I got out of jail on Monday when I finished the test.

And I came home and I was like, what do I do now?

Because every free moment was studying.

So I told my husband, I'm like, I actually feel like I got out of a jail or a camp that I was in.

High pressure.

Yeah.

So a big weight was taken off my shoulders.

So now I have time to podcast again.

I have time to think of new things to do, like new hobbies.

I can actually read a book if I want to.

Oh, I got lots of books that you can read.

Yeah, I got two on my nightstand that I like.

Yeah, so.

What do you like to read?

I like historical fiction.

So I've read a lot of, Philippa Gregory, she has a lot of Tudor, old monarchy, but I've read almost all of her books.

So what is the book that she kept telling me to read?

It's the Scarlett O'Hara book.

What is that?

Gone with the Wind.

I have never read that.

Oh my gosh, that book is so thick.

So that's on my nightstand because she's like, you've gotta read Gone with the Wind.

Have you seen it?

No.

Have you seen the movie?

No.

People used to think I was named after the Melanie that was in that movie, but I wasn't.

I've been to Margaret Mitchell's grave in Atlanta.

That's random.

I'm full of random facts.

Why did you go there to see her grave?

Because she's buried in, oh, what's that cemetery in Grand Park?

I told you I'm a cemetery girl.

I don't know.

Oh, I love.

Have you been to the one in St.

Augustine?

The real old one?

No.

That one is very interesting.

You can barely read in the names.

Really?

And it's so old.

Yeah, we should go one time because it's, they have really pretty crosses in there.

Yeah, so I've been to that cemetery in Atlanta.

What is it called?

My brother would be slapping me right now, but it's the oldest cemetery in Atlanta, or it's like the most famous one.

He and I have gone walking that.

We searched for her grave and some of the other big ones.

What other celebrities were there?

Anybody?

Oh, I don't remember.

You have to look that up because that's interesting.

Beautiful old cemetery.

I love me a good cemetery.

I'm looking it up right now.

It's Oakland.

Is it Oakland Cemetery?

Yes.

It is Atlanta's oldest public park and the final resting place of many of the city's most noted citizens.

Less than a mile from downtown Atlanta.

So when we go to cities, like when we go on vacation destinations.

You go to a cemetery?

We have often gone to cemeteries.

I've been to a cemetery in Savannah.

That was really cool.

I think I've been to that one in Savannah, because we used to go every single year when I was growing up, we would go the first weekend of December, because you know, at Savannah, they have something every weekend there.

Oh, I'm sure.

Down on the riverfront.

And that was the first time I've ever seen a Newfoundland.

They have a Christmas parade at Savannah.

And so I was like, I'm getting a Newfoundland.

Yeah, so it's been that.

And that's only an hour and a half away.

I'm looking on Wikipedia, because I'm trying to see who.

Who else is buried there?

Yeah.

I wonder if we have any famous people here that were buried.

I don't know, but last summer, we went to Buffalo, New York.

So my mom's from Buffalo, and she and I drove up, and we met my cousin and some of my other relatives.

And my cousin and I went to the cemetery in Buffalo, where Rick James was buried.

That, you don't know who Rick James is?

He sings, Super Freak, Super Freak, she's Super Freaky.

I guess I didn't know he was dead.

Oh yeah, he died, poor Rick James.

Yeah, she's been to his house.

Yeah, we have a long story about that.

Yeah, she and my cousin walked up to his door when she was probably about 12 in Buffalo.

They lived down the street from my grandparents and knocked on his door.

Probably the early 80s.

Sure, he was not doing anything clean, but we laugh about it now.

So we went to go see where Rick James is buried.

That's interesting.

Margaret Mitchell, she's buried there.

I haven't recognized any of these other names.

Oh, Kenny Rogers.

Okay, so he's buried and he died in 2020.

So we went before that.

Now, next time I go, I'm gonna have to go find Kenny Rogers grave.

Well, the most people that are buried here in Jacksonville are the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band, people from them, because they're from here.

Which cemetery are they buried in?

Riverside Memorial Park is also the final resting place.

The members of the band, Ronnie Van Zant, Dave Hulaback, I don't know how you say his name, Forby Skinner, Alan Collins, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson.

Yeah, so we went to that cemetery.

When I was in Boston last time, I stayed in the North End, and I went to the Bunker Hill Cemetery and went through all those old graves.

I love it.

I don't know what it is.

So we're like way off into the cemetery world.

Yeah, so how do we get on the cemetery topic again?

Oh, you were talking about that you have a book on your nightstand, Gone With the Wind.

Oh yeah, that's right.

And I had seen Margaret Mitchell's grave, right?

I used to have a really good friend.

She was a photographer, and she would take pictures in the cemetery.

I took, yeah, so I brought my camera, and I took some pictures in the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.

I love it.

Have you ever driven in the Oak Lawn Cemetery?

Yes.

I like that one, too.

And I have-

It's pretty in there.

I have taken pictures of people's graves, so there's a website called Find a Grave, and people can post that they're looking for the grave site of one of their relatives.

And so I've driven in there, and I've taken pictures of the grave sites for them.

Wow, you're like a ghost hunter, except it's in the cemetery.

It's weird.

So how, oh, so you did it, you did it for people that you don't even know?

Don't even know, no.

Oh, wow.

It's been a while since I did it.

The last time I did it was a couple summers ago, and I learned I'm not doing that in the summer ever again, because you have to walk sometimes to find the grave, and then you come back to your car and you're dripping sweat, and I don't handle sweat very good, so I'll do it in the winter.

Well, that's fun, though.

That's like a scavenger hunt, almost.

Kind of, yeah.

That's neat.

Even in that app, you can give the GPS coordinates, so I do that as well, because you just stand there and you plug it, and you say, log GPS.

How did you even know about that?

Probably from ancestry.com.

Oh, they have it on there?

Yeah, because I was researching my ancestors, and then I learned, oh, you can find stuff on Find a Grave.

Oh, well, what's in this cemetery?

Yeah, so that's kind of how.

I never knew there was a Find a Grave.

There is, yeah.

That's wild.

So people update it.

Well, I guess, I mean, there's always something for everything, you know?

Yeah.

That's so interesting.

But my family's always had this cemetery thing.

I can remember being little and going walking, traversing through cemeteries, looking for old gravestones with my brother.

Well, that's funny.

So my mom always thought, she was like, what am I doing to my kid?

But when I would have to go to the doctor, she would take me to the doctor, get me an IC and she would drive me through the cemetery.

Because it's beautiful.

It is beautiful.

There's flowers, they keep the lawn so nice.

It's just peaceful to me.

So my mom was like, I was a little kid.

And she's like, oh my gosh, I'm probably messing her up right now.

Well, and-

But I still love it.

Yeah, when I used to drive to work downtown, I would go up one of our roads here and there's a cemetery to the right.

And sometimes if it was early morning and the sun was just coming up, I mean, it was beautiful.

I had fog.

So I would drive through the cemetery if I was early.

Yeah, and just drive in the back because it was so pretty and they have the water there.

Yeah.

And everybody, it's always got flowers, you know?

It's just, I don't know.

I just have always liked it too.

So we took Emily, of course, on our Tesla.

Yes.

Our Tesla hunt.

I want to do that too because-

We should do it.

We should.

I would really like that to see if there are people.

We should go eat lunch and drive through there.

The Tesla cemetery.

I don't know if it's true, but people were posting on there.

And when they were posting and showing their videos that they were doing, you could see somebody on the screen walking, but then you looked up and there was nobody there.

Well, I see orbs often when I'm at the cemetery.

Really?

Oh, you're like a medium.

I don't know, but we always take pictures like right near my grandparents' graves.

And every time we do it, no matter what angle it is, there's always orbs in the picture.

Oh, that's wild.

But I'm gonna say this-

Other people might find this fascinating.

Did you know that there is a famous restaurant here that people have seen the lady that used to live there?

She's like in a white dress.

I read a book about all the hauntings that are in the United States.

I'll have to find the book.

My mom bought it for my uncle, but I read it before she gave it to him because I'm like, that is fascinating.

There's a restaurant here that you can go, and some people have seen her.

Really?

And I guess she doesn't, I don't know if she's like floating, but she's in like a dress, and I guess she just doesn't have, show feet or something.

I don't know, but people are like...

I totally believe it.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

I believe there's an afterlife.

I believe that people hang out around you.

Yeah, and signs, you know.

I told my grandmother she was on her deathbed, gosh, 20, I don't know how long she's been gone now, but I told her, come see me.

If you have the power to come see me, come see me.

Right?

So she hasn't made her way to me yet, but...

Well, I always think too, like, there's certain signs that you see of people.

I was reading something else the other day about signs of like afterlife and people visiting and stuff.

But my grandmother, my mom's mom loved hummingbirds, and she used to sit and watch her little birds when she was older, you know?

And I hadn't seen a hummingbird in forever, like ever when we've lived here.

And sure enough, one day I was just thinking about her, and here comes a hummingbird.

So I'm like, is that her trying to say, oh yeah, I know.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, oh, the homestead, it's called the homestead.

The homestead.

Is the restaurant.

It says some people see her looking out the window.

Some people see her in the shadow in the ladies' room.

Interesting.

It says the homestead is based on Southern cooking, I guess.

But it's changed to Taco Lou, Mexican restaurant.

Yeah, but apparently you can see her there.

So it says right here, it says one of the delivery guys came in and saw a lady at the bar.

The lady, there was no lady at the bar.

He whipped out his cell phone to show the group the photo of the exterior of the building taken during the restaurant's renovation.

In the photo, it appears there is a woman looking out of the window.

Interesting.

No one inside.

That's over by Jacksonville Beach.

And it says if you go in there, if you go in the ladies' room, the lights will flicker.

So there's all, yeah.

Well, I'll have to go and see what kind of vibe I get.

Well, I can't eat there.

Or I would go with you.

I can go in there.

I just won't eat.

You could, yeah.

Go sit there or go to the bathroom.

If it was still the homestead, I could.

But yeah, so that over the years that she's been seen.

And then there's other places throughout the United States that is known for seeing ghosts and things like that.

Fun.

Which I'm a person that if I believe it, you know, I got to see it to believe it kind of thing.

But when one of my really good friends died, she came and sat on the bed with me and said, I'm OK.

I just want you to know I'm OK.

I got chills.

Because I couldn't make it to her funeral and I was so upset.

And then she came and said, I just want you to know I'm OK.

Now, I don't know if I feel like I was not dreaming.

I feel like I was completely sitting up in my bed.

I remember sitting in my bed.

My eyes were open.

But was I in a dream state?

I don't know.

But I remember it like like it was yesterday, like she was sitting there with me.

Interesting.

But again, you know, if anybody is listening and you want to share your story with us, I love to hear this stuff.

So I know.

Send us a message.

It's wild.

Yeah.

The whole thing is wild.

Speaking of cemeteries, and this is why this is going to come up.

It's not really speaking of cemeteries, but I got into a rabbit hole last night on Reddit.

You know, it's my new favorite social media.

So I was trying to think of ideas for the podcast.

And we always talk about what's something that you can't imagine people ever do for money, right?

So there was this posting last night where it was like, what are, I think I texted you, I have to look to see what it was called again.

Oh, what's the most unique or unusual way you've seen someone earn a living?

So to keep up with the cemetery vibe, the first one I'm gonna talk about is that this guy spoke about how he worked the night shift at a crematorium.

Oh gosh.

So at first I was reading the comments because I read his story and he said he was fresh out of college or, and he worked at this crematorium.

He had no experience, but he was like, ask me anything.

So people just, I mean, the questions, it was, there were a lot of questions.

So it's very fascinating.

I now know the crematorium process, if you get cremated, because he described exactly what happens.

Oh, I don't know if I want to know that.

Yeah.

I will tell you this, when my brother-in-law passed away, we went with my mother-in-law, me and my sister-in-law to help pick out like his urn and things like that and just be there for my mother-in-law.

And everywhere we go, no matter what is going on, it is like, we're comedians.

Everywhere we go, there's something going on that's hilarious, right?

No matter what time, if you're in complete disarray, that your family's passed away.

So I asked the girl that was there, I was like, well, what if I wanna sleep on my side?

What if I wanna be buried on my side with a pillow underneath my head and a pillow between my legs?

You know, between your knees?

Yeah.

And I was like, how much are those pillows?

Now this was been, let me, I don't know, maybe 20 years ago, okay?

Oh, okay.

For each pillow.

Now those pillows aren't as big as a mint, okay?

She said they're $600 a piece for a pillow that looks like it could go in a doll bed.

Can't you just bring a pillow from home?

That's what I was thinking.

Can't you just be like, laid out in the, right?

I mean.

I'd like to bring my pillow from home, please.

Yeah.

It's wild how expensive stuff is for that.

I mean, I get it.

It's a business too, but come on.

Well.

$600.

That's a little bit ridiculous.

Yeah, because I want to be comfortable where I'm going.

Okay, well, you're going to be in the box for like 20 minutes, and then it's going to.

But what if you, okay, here's my thought.

What if you leave that box with what you have on, right?

Oh.

I'm talking about comfort.

Like the woman in the window she was wearing.

What was she wearing?

I think it's a white, pretty dress.

She's got like, so to me, I want to be comfortable.

I either want to have on my uniform of Victoria's Secret leggings and a shirt and some tennis shoes.

Or I want to have shorts.

And a cute top and maroxies.

So who's to say you can't be cremated with that?

He said in his little thing.

Yeah, he said that people, cause somebody asked, you know, are they buried with naked or, you know, clothed?

And he said, it depends if the family brings in clothes and they want them to be placed with those clothes, they will do that.

If sometimes they come right from the hospital or whatever, and they're wearing their hospital gowns.

Sometimes, and that's what they get cremated with.

So are we saying that in heaven, we're up there, we've got people in hospital gowns, clothing and naked.

What if when you get to heaven, you get to pick out a new wardrobe?

I mean, I don't-

I go to the heaven's gates.

I hope that's the case.

I like to think that there's no, it's not a physical form, it's a spiritual form.

And then maybe you just take the appearance of whatever somebody thinks of you.

So if they wanna see you with a nice pink dress.

You know what I mean?

I would like to be an angel with big wings so I can fly around.

Of course you do.

I'd like to be a helper angel where I can come back down and help somebody out.

Right.

Because I believe in guardian angels for sure.

Yeah, I do too.

Anything, let me tell you, in this world, anything's possible.

It is now.

Yeah.

You never know.

You never know.

AI could make your own little form in heaven, maybe.

I don't know.

I think I heard that Walt Disney did, what was it?

Cryation or however you say it.

Is it cryo, I don't know.

He froze his head.

I heard he-

He just froze his head, not the rest of them?

I heard he froze his head.

So what's gonna happen?

He's gonna unfreeze it and stick it to somebody else?

I don't know.

I don't, that could be a rumor.

Oh, I don't know.

That's strange to me.

So the other job, the one that initiated this whole rabbit hole quest-

Wait, was there anything else really interesting about the crematorium?

No.

Like, I do know that when you, I've heard people say that they do their makeup and their hair and stuff, that sometimes they still, your body still twitches after.

After you die?

Yeah, because your nerves and stuff are still.

Yes, so that can be, but that's just a reaction from your muscles.

I know, but how creepy would that be?

Oh yeah.

I would literally scream out.

Well, I think the people who work the-

They're used to it.

They're used to it, yeah.

No, the only other thing the crematorium guy said is that, what you get after is like, your clothes will disintegrate, like they'll just evaporate, cause the heat is like 2000 degrees.

So what's left over is just these bones.

And sometimes you can identify them, but they take them and they put them in this other device.

Oh Jesus, they crush them up.

Grind them, right.

So-

And you have to have, do you have to have a degree for that?

I don't believe so.

He didn't seem to have a degree.

This was like his summer job that he got after college working at this.

But he said the guy that he worked for was kind of shady.

He said it was a nice funeral home, but the guy is just like, the grossest part he said about it was that he had to take the pacemakers out.

Because they don't burn well.

So he had to cut those out.

And he said that was sometimes gross.

I didn't enjoy that.

Well, who would?

No.

Yeah, I remember when we went, I felt like the person that was in the lobby was very lurch-like when we went to the one.

Like welcome.

I don't know, but maybe I'll join a crematorium group on Facebook.

Sometimes being ignorant is good.

Yeah.

Ignorant is good.

It was enough for me to read last night, the thread of, I probably could find it again on Reddit, but it was very interesting read.

I don't know if I wanna know much more about that, but.

Yeah, I don't think I would.

Yeah.

But the other one, the one that first got me into this idea of what's the weirdest thing that people do.

So one guy spoke about his friend who inherited $150,000.

Okay.

His grandfather died or something, and he got 150K.

So he took that money, and he went down to Miami.

So I don't know where he lived, but he ended up in Miami, and he used that money to buy two cars, two luxury cars, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.

But they were used hurricane cars.

So do you know what that means?

Right.

So they had been flooded.

They didn't work.

But what they did was they shined them up, cleaned them out, and then they took those cars and got a wrecker.

So the reason they got the wrecker is because they can put the cars on top of that, and then they opened a business to drive the cars to people's houses so they could take pictures of them and post on social media.

Okay.

So how much is that if we wanted to get a car and have it sit in front of the house?

So he charged $1,000.

I'm glad you asked, because I copied this down.

He charged $1,000 for four hours with the vehicle in your driveway.

So.

Okay, so I wonder how lucrative that is.

Take as many pictures and videos as you wanted to.

After that time was up, he loaded it back on the wrecker and took it somewhere else.

Enough for him to have a lot of money, he said.

It's a very lucrative business, and he has a lot of calls.

Wonder how he even thought of that.

I don't know, but that, I was like, oh my God.

But there's so many different little factors here, right?

The first thing is taking these damaged cars and thinking, oh, I'll clean them up and make them look nice.

They don't work.

You can't start them up and drive them.

But then the other thing is, people actually want you to put them on their driveway so that they can take pictures and post them onto social media.

That's just.

How vain is that?

Wild, let's do it.

I mean, but like, so you posted on social media, and then what?

Then you're not driving around town with it.

No, no.

See, I don't know.

I'm a different kind of person.

And I think it's our age too, because I'm not gonna post something unless it's.

True.

I'll go take a picture in front of the Tesla and be like, oh, here I am.

Yeah, hey, you know.

But I'm not gonna pay $1,000 for you to slap a piece of metal on the driveway.

Exactly.

Ridiculous.

I was like, oh my God, this is a business?

I never, first of all, I never would have thought of that either.

No, maybe somebody did it before him.

I don't know.

And then he was like, okay, now that I have this money, I'm gonna go do this or whatever.

Maybe they teach that in college now.

What, how to come up with crazy stuff?

Crazy ideas.

You know, we can always start a business with mashing things with our feet.

That's a, me and my friend, we have been joking about that before like social media even became like a thing.

Because people have some fascination with feet and smashing stuff with your feet.

That's a very lucrative business.

Very, I'm not kidding.

The look on my face is.

But we used to joke about it.

I'm not doing that.

Years ago, years.

Like 20 years ago, we used to joke about it.

Yeah, just to think, if I'd have started it then, where would I be now?

I know.

You wouldn't be here sitting at my dining room table doing a podcast.

I'd be in Grand Cayman.

Okay, so another job.

Okay, tell me.

Professional Cuddler.

Okay, that right there is just gross.

Okay, so this one came up multiple times.

I mean, lots of people, lots of people are professional cuddlers.

But who are you cuddling?

That is the problem.

I don't, I don't know.

I wasn't as fascinated with this one because I was kind of like.

Skeeved out?

Sad.

I mean, like.

Well, it's sad on one spot.

But then on the other, it's like, is someone got an issue?

No, but like think about, and this is gonna get really dark, but like think about people who don't have anybody in their life and they don't ever get to hug anybody.

I think I would die.

Well, you get an animal.

Yeah.

I don't know if that's the same, like.

No, it's not, but.

Okay.

Let's get some fun ones.

Another one.

My cousin sells booze freezies in the buff on a nude beach.

So you know those little tubes of alcohol?

Yeah.

So they have them, you know, they sell the frozen ones on a nude beach and they're nude.

That's their job.

Okay.

So is it a guy or a girl?

It didn't say.

It just, I wrote it down.

My cousin sells.

So they didn't specify.

Because I feel like if it was a girl, she would probably make more money than the guy.

I like to think it's a girl.

Strutting her top toes with the...

Okay, another one?

You ready?

Did you find any?

I'm just taking up the microphone today.

I love it.

You do it.

This was fascinating to me.

Okay.

There were a few of these too.

I know a man who has three border collies in a pickup truck.

He makes a nice living driving to airports and golf courses and letting the dogs out to chase the geese away.

So I've heard that airports will have dogs on the runway or available.

I didn't know if they employ them or they're always there or whatnot, but there were a few people that said they have animals that they take to run these fields or clear the geese.

Now, that's understandable at the airport for sure.

Because if you, if there's a bird in the air and you go up and it goes into the engine thing.

Have you ever, has that ever happened to you?

No, has it happened to you?

It's happened to me.

And what happened?

We took off from Atlanta.

It was when I lived in Massachusetts.

And we took off from Atlanta and on the incline, you know, when you're flying up in the air, there was a big boom, the whole plane shook.

What?

And then you smelled fire.

Oh no, did they land again?

Well.

They have to land, right?

Oh my God, I'm looking around, oh my God.

The pilot comes on and he goes, hi folks, looks like we just hit a bird on our way up.

So he said, I'm gonna circle around because we only have one engine, but I need to dump some fuel because we're fully loaded and I can't land right now.

So he's like, I'm gonna circle twice around the airport, dump this fuel, and then we're gonna land.

About 10 minutes later, he comes on and he's like, folks, that's still our plan, but I'm just gonna warn you that we're gonna have a really hard landing.

So I like all the flight attendants to sit down, brace them, and assume the brace position.

How was it, rough?

It was rough.

It was like a, yeah, it was pretty, but we were all fine.

However, I don't remember if it was after, I think it was after 9-11.

So, and I was in my 20s.

I was like, oh my god, I'm not ready to die.

Yeah, that's scary.

But that was probably the scariest thing I've ever had on an airplane.

And I've taken a lot of flights, and that's the only time we've ever hit like a bird or a goose or whatever.

Whatever we hit.

Well, I'm not a drinker, but we went on this one plane.

Me and my friend, we were going to see Tim when he lived in North Carolina.

And we were going, and all of a sudden we hit turbulence, and I'm not kidding you, we probably dropped 10,000 feet.

Scared the shit out of me.

And I was like, I need something to drink, please.

Did you lose your stomach?

No, I just was like, when it dropped, I screamed out.

But then my friend's like, it's okay.

She had been drinking since we got on the plane.

It's all right, that was fun.

I'm like, no, it wasn't.

No, ma'am.

There's nothing fun about this.

And the only part I like is the taking off and landing.

I don't like the mid in flight.

Oh, I don't mind that.

It's the takeoff that bothers me the most.

Oh, really?

So I have to say a few Hail Marys and then our father as we're going up, and I say them really fast.

Well, I like it when we land, but this one time we land, I can't even remember where we were or where we were landing, but it was, I guess the runway was shorter than, you know how they build those.

And so when he like slammed on the brakes and we got pulled with the, whatever it is, that was a whole nother level.

Yeah, stop hard.

Yeah, it's fun times.

I'm like, why are these seats even so bolted as hard as we like pulled?

It was crazy.

Yeah, I'm like, I don't, we're in a tin can up in the air.

Yeah, just don't think about it.

I had, so for a while there, I flew some, well, it was after 9-11, I had to attend, I found this support group online for like post-traumatic stress flights, and I watched those for a couple months.

I had to do that.

Were you flying on 9-11?

I was not, but I flew a month after 9-11.

See, Tim was supposed to leave to go to Canada the day after it happened, because we watched it.

We were in North Carolina.

I remember exactly where we were when we watched it.

And I'm like, you can't go.

So I flew a month after.

I don't even think it was a month yet.

It was October of 2001.

You watched those because you were scared to fly then, or scared to get back on the airplane?

Yeah, because then I started thinking about all the things that could go wrong.

Something about smelling the burning plane.

That's a smell I'll never forget, because we smelled smoke, and it was like we were in the air, and the plane was on fire.

And I was like, oh my God, we're going down.

And just having those thoughts, and then those reoccurring thoughts.

So there was like this pilot who, he had a support group for frequent flyers, or people who were afraid to fly.

So I joined it for a little while.

You're doing some self-help.

I did a little self-help.

I'm fine now though.

So I know all about like Lyft and hydraulics.

My husband also watches those crash reports.

So there's, I don't know what channel it is, but you can watch episodes of What Went Wrong on the Plane.

Oh no, I don't want to know anything about that.

Mm-mm.

No thanks.

I'm fine now.

I don't have any qualms about flying.

So.

Yeah, I don't know.

The sign of the cross.

Okay, another one.

A buddy of mine makes $1,000 a year putting real estate signs on lawns for realtors.

Now there were no comments.

A year?

A year.

There were no comments on this one, so I don't have anything more to just putting signs on lawns for realtors.

Because a real estate can't do it themselves.

That's a little bougie, but okay.

You'll like this one.

Someone asked a similar question in an entrepreneur group on Reddit a while back, and the most memorable answer was the guy who bought a life-sized dinosaur costume and charged for special appearances at schools and other educational events in his spare time.

He'd made $30,000 in three months.

Man was making a killing by larping as a dinosaur.

Oh my gosh.

I wanna do that in a unicorn outfit.

And a blow up outfit.

That's what I'm gonna be for Halloween, by the way.

Yeah, well that's why.

I'm gonna be the blow up unicorn.

Well, I saved that dinosaur one because we had had the inflatable dinosaur conversation on another podcast.

Yep, that's what I'm gonna be.

The unicorn, Emily wants to be the dinosaur.

And I'm gonna be a shark.

You're gonna be a shark.

What's Matthew gonna be?

I don't know.

And Tim said he has to go and look.

Oh, he does.

Because it's Spirit Halloween, they have like a whole wall.

You can be toilet paper and a toilet if you want.

I mean, it's wild.

Yeah.

So we'll have to.

I don't know if Brent's gonna go.

He's probably gonna stay here and hand out treats.

We'll see.

I said that's boring.

Okay, so my last one.

My last one.

Are you ready for this one?

I'm ready.

So I said, oh my God, this.

This is the penultimate.

I know someone who trains rats for TV shows.

Oh, yeah.

I guess you could say they're living the high life and the world of rodent acting.

Melanie, I told you.

Those in the Halloween Horror Nights, those are actor rats.

And they hire them every night.

So I could lay down with rats that I'm friends with.

Right.

And have them all over me.

I mean, rats don't bother me.

They don't bother me.

I like to think that they're actor rats.

Yeah.

They're actor rats.

Well, they're not wild.

They didn't catch them in the subway.

No, but she trains them for TV shows.

Yeah.

I, yeah.

Wonder how lucrative that is.

I don't know.

It didn't say anything about the, I guess the sub Reddit or the Reddit was people who do weird things for a living.

That definitely is weird.

It's interesting.

It is interesting.

I mean, I don't know if that could float my household.

Well, I don't know.

If you're training actual animals for movies, I would think they would get paid like actors.

The rats get paid like actors, or the people get paid.

I don't know.

Well, not for Halloween Horror Nights.

Absolutely not.

There was articles about her laying in there for minimum wage, and people were like shocked at that.

But the animals that are like on Beethoven or Marmaduke and all those, I guarantee you they probably get paid.

I mean, something.

Okay, Simon, this is your warning.

You're better.

I'm gonna train you to be in movies.

That's all he's good at.

Willow could lay around or drool.

That could be her.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

Her expertise.

So that's all I have for strange jobs.

My...

I would love to...

My Reddit research for the week.

Figure something out that would like take hold and...

Yeah, I'll be on the lookout for you.

I mean, I don't know.

Maybe they have rent a dog.

I wouldn't do that though.

Because I wouldn't trust them to bring them back.

No.

Or bring my dog back, you know?

No, but I could take Willow places because everybody flocks her.

There are places like there's a Newfoundland that goes to the airport and lays and helps people before they get on the plane.

Really?

Yeah, you can see different posts that they post of him, and he's just laying there, and people come and pet him and that kind of thing.

Well, I don't know if she makes-

He just goes to the airport and sits by the gate?

Well, in the area where you wait to get on the plane, yeah.

But I don't know if he's paid or if they just, I don't know.

I don't know what the story is, but I know he goes to airports and does that.

And then there's another guy that I talked to one day and he takes his Newfoundlands to the library and children can read to him.

I mean, they're not getting paid, I don't think, for it.

You know, you can go to the Humane Society and go read to animals.

Oh, really?

Well, they have an elementary program for that.

So like to help kids boost their reading skills.

Yeah, I was gonna talk to the school about Willow doing that.

Because Willow loves that.

Yeah.

Like just to lay and listen to somebody read to her because Emily does that all the time.

She does.

Oh, that is so sweet.

That's how she read her AR books and stuff for school.

She would get on the floor with Willow and read to her.

So speaking of, how is summer homework going?

Well, funny you mentioned that.

So Emily's done with the math part of it.

Like the whole little thing, but she has not read the books or done the presentation thing.

Yeah, we haven't either.

We haven't even finished the math.

So just wondered.

Well, I've been studying.

You should just hand it to him and let him do it.

It's very easy for him.

The math, especially them.

Well, the math, he's fighting me on it because he's like, I don't know what these fact families are.

What?

Yes.

I find that hard to believe, and he's so good at math.

He was the first kid in first grade to finish rocket math.

Right, no, he should be able to do that.

And I'm like, what, which fact family is he talking about?

I don't know.

You'll have to look at it.

I'll show you them, but I was like, I had to Google it because I'm like, I don't know what a fact family is.

Well, I told Emily, I sat her down at the table and I said, do two pages.

And I came back and she had done four.

And she's like, is that good?

I'm like, you only had to do front and back.

She had done four.

And so we had like, I don't know, four more or something.

And so I was like, just do it and get it over with because now we've got to do the reading part.

Right, so now that I'm done, Matthew can, he's at camp this week, but and then not next week, but the week after that, we're going to vacation for two weeks.

So, and our vacation is not away.

It's at my mother-in-law's house.

So we'll have downtime where, but that's when I'm gonna plan to do the reading.

I'd like to do the presentation then.

So, and have that done because we only have five weeks left.

It's gone so fast.

I was laying in bed last night.

We were watching TV and Tim's like, it's getting close.

You're gonna have to get up at six o'clock again.

He's like, your regular routine's gonna start soon.

What is his problem?

Would he just stop?

Don't tell me.

Yes, but you're right.

I mean, yeah.

Well, and I've been, like, we've been binge watching shows.

Oh.

Did you start Bridgerton?

Nope.

I haven't done any TV.

I wanna have a Bridgerton party.

Well, I can't say that during the middle of summer.

No, not during summer.

I wanna do that.

Because Tim said absolutely not.

He said, I'll do whatever you want.

I'll wear whatever you want, but it has to be in the colder months.

Yeah.

Because all that attire that they wear.

I did get excited the other day though, when they're starting to talk about training camp for football.

Oh, uh-huh.

And I'm like, oh yeah, bring it on.

Bring on the fall.

Why?

You like football?

Well, I just like the fall.

And they're gonna start the training camps again.

So that just means that it's getting closer.

To fall?

To fall.

I do like football.

Yeah, me too.

I do too.

So I'm just gonna say, that's all I have for this week, Melanie.

Do you have anything else that you would like to say before we sign off?

No, but our podcast went a totally different direction than what we were sitting on, cemeteries.

We'll have to do travel next week or something.

Yeah.

Because we went to Charleston, you went to Chicago.

Yes, we'll do a little recap.

I did go to Chicago for a couple days.

I can't say that was fun.

Because you were working.

I was working.

Mine was fun.

Okay, well, we'll save that for next time.

So you can tell us all about it.

And no, I don't think I have anything else except that I'm hungry.

Since I ate a whole nothing but butt cake.

I only ate half of mine.

Well, you have better willpower than me when it comes to sugar.

Anyway.

So good.

All right, well, you can say your thing because you're so good at it about where to find us.

I just say, tell your friends.

I'm kind of rusty.

So it's been what?

Like over a month, but let's just say, okay.

So we're gonna close out this podcast and sign off.

And as you know, you can find us on Instagram at Midlife Moms Pod.

That's all one word, lowercase, no spaces or underscores.

We're also on Facebook.

You can send us a DM or an email and listen, like and subscribe.

And we'll see you next week on Midlife Moms Pod.

See ya.