Listen to This!

My favorite way to clean the bathrooms is by listening to Joy the Baker. (Guilty pleasure)

The best way to cook is to turn on some Radiolab. (Makes me feel like I really do know all about science)

And the only way  to knit, paint my nails or do anything tedious/time consuming is to play a little bit of CraftLit. (My intellectual English major self)



Thank god these podcasts come out weekly, otherwise I'd never get anything done. Let's be real. Once upon a time, the Joy the Baker podcast skipped a week and I took that as way out to not clean the bathrooms that week. True story.

These are my go to ways to stretch my brain when I can't find time to read. I get to multi-task and feel smarter. (At least, that's what I tell myself!)

Joy the Baker

I started listening to JTB on her third or fourth podcast. This podcast is about nothing at all (anything and everything, as Joy and Tracy would say). Like I said, it's my guilty pleasure. It's just like a conversation with two friends! They talk about recipes, family, lifestyle, fashion and what is currently going on in their lives. Both Joy and Tracy are food bloggers and photographers and it almost feels like they are my BFFs. Once I was in Nashville the same time Joy was in Nashville (I know this because I stalk her Instagram, duh) and had a complete fan girl moment. One where I decided to NOT be creepy and ask if we could meet up.

Radiolab

Radiolab is the coolest podcast you will ever listen to (and I'm proud to say I started listening to it before it was cool, waaaaay before NPR picked it up to add to their arsenal.) It is a head on collision of science and humanities. It is everything all at once; story, science, musical masterpiece. Funny, tear-jerking, eye-rolling and what-the-heck moments. It is usually about an hour long and in that hour explores different angles to different subjects such as Sleep, Falling, Numbers, Speed, Loops, Time and more. Not only is the content rich with knowledge, the way it is presented, through sound clips, music, etc, is a masterpiece for the ears! The hosts, Jad and Robert, are great. One is more liberal, one more conservative which I LOVE because you can hear viewpoints from both sides and this seems to open up so many more questions and opinions.

I highly recommend you go back to the very beginning and start listening from there.

I promise you'll feel like such a smart cookie after listening.

Also a disclaimer: sometimes sensitive subjects are discussed. (All in the name of science!) Some are are just plain gross (like the Parasites episode...ewww!) and some are just, ya know, sensitive. Use your own discretion and Jad and Robert will give you a little warning in case you want to skip ahead or if little ears are nearby.

Craftlit

The host of Craftlit is the fine Heather Ordover: homeschooling mom, English Lit professor, author knitter and quilter. She created a podcast for crafters who love books. Something with substace to listen to while you craft! (or travel)

Each episode, Heather introduces a chapter of a book (think the public domain classics) and gives you background information of the time period in which the book was written, background on the author, insight into a few words that are not commonly used today but maybe appear in the book, oh SO MANY details that just really make the book come to life! This really opened my eyes to the 'boring' (to me) books and gave it so much depth. 

For example, I learned to love Dracula (a lot) through Heather's insight. In fact, I made Matt listen to this book through Craftlit on our way home from our honeymoon (oh yes I did). Because of the history you learn behind the book, it becomes so real and so alive. You realize why the author did what he did: why the book not written in first person. Even though the actual story is hardly believable (blood sucking vampires?!), Stoker uses journal entries, letters, telegrams, etc. to present the story, making you the reader, experience the events almost exactly when the characters do. The collection of documents that are used to tell the story almost make it impossible to deny, especially if you were living in Transylvania during 1897. You would be pretty freaked out reading this story about your hometown. This is one of my favorites that I hope you go listen to. If not for the story, than for the history!

My other favorite books were The Woman in White and Bleak House.



Stretching your mind is good and learning something new is even better. These are simple ways to get a few things done around the house while also educating yourself.

What's your favorite podcast to listen to? I'm going to be searching for a good home finance podcast also maybe a gardening one.