Life, Business, and Friendship with Betsy

 From owning a business to appreciating the small joys of small-town life, this episode celebrates gratitude, community, and the power of a good conversation between friends.

Learn More Here:
https://www.facebook.com/recycledsallys/

Transcript

0:01

Okay. Hey, it's Stephanie. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm super excited because I have Betsy and Oh Shit owns the best consignment shop in town and it is called Recycled Sally's. So if you are not from Baraboo, I feel like you should come check it out. It's kind of an institution. I mean, I'm not trying to toot my own horn. I'm just, I've made Recycle Sales be the secondhand clothing store that I want to shop at. That's all it is. So I try to keep it organized and clean and well lit and keep the stock moving. Yeah. So it is a decent store to shop in. And it's like, when I'm in there, there's always people bringing in new clothes. Always. So there's always new clothes there. There's always new clothes. And there's also, every single day we mark clothing down. There's an infinite amount of secondhand clothing to be resold in this world. So it's constantly coming in, so you have to keep moving out what you had that didn't sell. So I keep marking it down. Hence it'll move. The dollar rack. I don't know whose idea that was, but that's brilliant. Cause I mean, so Betsy has this dollar rack outside. Everything's a dollar and it's nice stuff. Yeah. And if you don't find anything in the dollar rack, it's... It's just like, oh, I should go inside and see what's, maybe there's something else in there. I know there's something in there for three. I mean, but like today, I put a shirt on the dollar rack. It's free people, new with tags. And sometimes free people stuff is a little bit, you know, unique, it's not for everybody. This wasn't even one of their more unique. It was just this cute plaid top. And then like an evergreen colored Michael Kors sweater, perfect for Christmas. One dollar Michael Kors. Yeah. Free people, that brand drives me nuts because it's like a million dollars and it looks like regs. Yeah, but people love it. People love it because I think it's expensive. It is, and I think once they put it on, they just, I think it flatters a lot of types. Oh, okay. Yeah. So there is like a method to the madness. I think so. I'm still figuring it out. Yeah. So who were you before you were the owner of Recycled Sally's? What did you? Cause it's been how long you've been in this since like 14 years? 14 years. Yeah. Um, well, I was a waitress and I really enjoyed that. Um, I definitely miss that. It's fun talking to people. It's fun eating food. Fun serving food to people, you know? Um, I also worked for American Girl for a long time. Okay. Yeah. And that was another one where I had a very good time. I talked on the phone all day. I'm really good at that. And you were, so were you at American Girl and then you started the business or were you? Yeah, I was at American Girl and I worked in Middleton. So I commuted every day. And after a while, after you have more and more children, you kind of go like, I don't think I can commute every day anymore. So I knew I needed something in town and I ended up just going back to a job I had prior, worked for a friend of mine at her restaurant that was really popular and just. had great food and great service, so I knew I wanted to be part of it again. Went back to that, I worked with my family schedule and did that until I kinda like evolved this idea of recycled Sally's in my brain. And there were even times after I opened recycled Sally's that I would go back and work at the other restaurant and fill in our mood light. Well, and like years ago downtown, there was a second hand. women and kids clothing store I enjoyed. And then even when we lived in Madison, there was a really popular one that I enjoyed. And they would just kind of close up and go away. And I was like, what are these stores that I love? Keep going away, where am I gonna shop? So I really just opened my own because I missed it. And I missed, like in Baraboo, and this was pre-internet. I mean, obviously when I opened the store, it was post-internet, but pre-internet shopping in Baraboo, you didn't have a ton of options. And so I liked this secondhand women and kids store because you... had more options than you might otherwise without having to go to Madison. Yeah. And I know there's another one now. I mean, there have been. There have been a few coming and going. So without giving away all your secrets, is it just because you love what you do every day? Do you think that's okay? I think that's a big part of it because if any business advisor walked in and looked at my books up until the last few years, he would be like, why on earth are your doors still open? Why did you not throw in the towel and get out while you were ahead, or not even ahead, but less behind and go do something profitable? Because it took a really long time because the consignment business takes a lot of work. You always have to have extra people working so that you can going through clothing and selling the clothing and organizing the clothing and tagging it and hanging it and all the parts to it, you end up paying out a lot more. in wages than you might with any other retail store. Got it. Yeah. So that's the, that's the hangup of- Yeah, that's the hangup. The trick is to get good people in that enjoy doing it just like you do, that you enjoy, because you're always working together behind the counter. It's not like you're at your station doing your job and I'm over here doing my job. You're always kind of jiving together. So you have to be able to get along, or it's not gonna work. You'll be asked to come shop in your store if you're fighting or don't have kind of a good atmosphere. Yeah, I haven't thought about that part. Yeah. But yeah, whenever I would go in there, everyone's always super nice. We try. Yeah. And you're so full. You have the downstairs, which is kids, and then upstairs is women's and men's. Oh, I mean, do you- What do you do if stuff doesn't sell? That's when it hits the dollar rack. And then what? And then it goes to St. Vincent de Paul, who does a ton of really good stuff in our community. With every penny they earn, they're paying rent payments and filling prescriptions and providing food and clothing and whatever other needs people have St. Vincent's doing. So we're happy to donate this little bit of clothing to them to help. But also, we send people there all day long to go shopping. I actually had to use them one time when I was going through my first divorce. I was so late on my mortgage that I couldn't pay it. And they were able to pull some strings because it's only supposed to be rent, but they were able to help me. You're not the first person I've heard say that they've helped you with a mortgage payment. Yeah, and I was so ashamed. And they were so just like not judgmental whatsoever. That's just it. Yeah, and there's no reason to be ashamed anyway, regardless of what happened. But here's the thing, they can help you pay this mortgage payment that you have, or you can lose your house. And how on earth do you pay rent when you can't pay a mortgage? And so many places when they give you vouchers for, if you're homeless, they give you vouchers maybe for a couple of days, because the reality is there's just not money to do more than that. So why not do the mortgage and continue on? And it's a good time of year to be charitable. It is. I mean, it's always a good time of year to be charitable. I suppose. But, but definitely right now, you know, because it's a, Christmas is a good opportunity to help other people. Someone very close to me told me recently about something she did, I don't know, 35 years ago. She said, oh, I used to send money to this family via certified mail. Cause that was back before we had all these options online to send money. and she couldn't send a check or they would have known it was from her. And she would put cash into an envelope and send it certified mail so that you have to sign for the delivery and it gets there. Well, yeah. So it's fun to hear stuff like that. But so Christmas just gives you a good opportunity to help somebody else. If you can't, and it doesn't have to be with money, it can be with holding open the door or saying hi. Yeah. No, I made extra food tonight. So I dropped some off at my neighbors and nobody has to be in need to be helped. We're all in need all the time. Yeah. Yeah, I'll be such a bit of a hard. No, I'm serious, you really do. I've just had a lot of really good people in my life and it's just brushed off. Yeah, but that's... I get really stuck this time of year in my head about finances and okay, am I gonna be able to... I mean, here we go again. Right. We have to pay rent. We have to pay self-inflimant tax. Yeah. Which, yeah, taxes are coming up. Taxes are coming up and they're gross. But it's what we do in this country and have schools and roads and police. And the, yeah. And what you're bringing up is this whole other aspect of, yeah, you can sit here and stew about it and stress about it, or you could go do something that. matters to somebody. Yeah, but I also, I feel like come from a place of privilege too. Right, because. We all do. We all hear. I mean, we all have different privileges, but I definitely, yeah, I'm able to finally actually have a little extra for the first time in my adult life, so. Congratulations. Thanks. I worked really hard to get here. I was thinking this morning, I'm like, oh. I thought I would be farther along. I really did. I thought I'd be better. But that's just my own selfish, stupid thinking. And I don't wanna be like negative about that, but. Yeah. And we all have different things that we have or don't have or go without or indulge in. And it's different for everybody. Yeah, I know. I sit there and I go, oh. I'm feeling really good, but then you think about like, the debt that you can accumulate when you have five children and you have your own business and... Yeah, single mom. Yeah. All the things. Oh well. Right, at the end of the day, yeah. Oh well. Yeah, it could be so much worse. Yeah. So what are your Christmas traditions? Well, my mom's birthday is Christmas Eve. Oh, so you do have a, okay. Yeah, yeah, that's my mom's. I know you're doing birth hair, so you don't do it. I know, and she would really, really prefer I not purchase anything for her. So we typically have a meal together, breakfast or lunch. We used to go out for that meal, but now we typically just get together at her house or my house. That's it, it's nothing fancy or crazy, and it's just being together. Christmas morning, just waking up with the kids and having open presents. Yeah. Yeah, that simple. And as far as gifts go, do you kind of like, what are your, do you, what do you typically do for like, care? Right? Yeah. I know. Cause so many people have like a, like a dollar amounts. They're there to their kids. But I have a nine year old and I have a 23 year old and their wants are very different and so yeah, each kid gets three gifts, period. Yeah. Three things you want that I can afford that are accessible. that I don't think are stupid. Yeah. Yes, no. Yep, you can ask for that, but if you think it's dumb, you're not getting it. When I was a stepmom and we had all the kids, like we were very, that's how we were too. It's like, okay, everyone gets to start wanting gifts. Right. Hopefully within the price range, but yeah. Sometimes somebody wanted something more and... Yeah, I guess, you know, this is a really good subject of just, like, what happens when they're older? And what do you do? And right. Well, and, you know, there's families where kids are older, they don't do Christmas quite the same way. Maybe you do, like, one gift per couple or you don't do gifts for the kids because you're doing the grandkids or, and you just kind of have to evolve your traditions, I think, as it goes and what works. Oh, that means it's time for school pickup. That's that alarm. Do you have to go? No, I don't. Thank you, though. What time do you have to leave? I don't. Okay. My dad's doing it. Oh, sweet. Yeah, yeah, your dad's. We'll cut that out a little bit. Um, OK. Yeah, and- So what were you saying? We were talking about kids and buying them gifts. And at what point do we, maybe not or cut down or? It's different for everybody, whatever works. Well, I'm 43, I think. And my mom told me for the first time, she's not buying gifts. I'm so sorry. into her family. Because I am 44. It's been a really long time since my parents. I mean, like, occasionally my mom might be like, she figured out how to buy something on Facebook last year, so she bought me this really cute chicken ornament. You know, like, so she'll do that. But then maybe 15 years prior to that, didn't do anything, which is fine. I mean, she'll give me the money and whatever, but. Yeah, sad Christmas. It was a little hard. Yeah. You have to bring your own present all wrapped up. Just put it under your mom's tree. To Stephanie love. Yeah. I just be like, Oh my gosh, this is just what I wanted. It's a funnel car. That's what I should do. Yeah. Buy myself a car and stick it outside. Be like, what? Who did this? Except that your car is fairly new. I know. I'm, I'm so mad at myself for buying it. Um. Again, this time here, right? But I did. You did. And your car, prior to that, you drove for quite some time. Yeah. Right. And honestly, I did it because my payments, I still had two years left to pay on that stupid thing. And my payments were skyrocketing. You were sending it off to this shop to get fixed and not having a car. Yeah. So the new car gets better gas mileage, and it's a smaller car payment. Yeah. So what did you? Before the business and before American Girl and before serving, so no, no. All the way back, what did you want to be when you were a little girl? I wanted to get married and have babies. Oh! Yeah, I really knocked it out of the park. Good for you. Yep. I was like, I remember being in, I don't know, eighth grade, eighth grade. whatever class we were talking about careers and our teacher was like, what do you guys want to be when you grow up? And I'm like, stay at home, mom. I want to have babies. I want to get married. And I was the only one in the class. I'm like, I was the weirdo. I thought that was just the greatest thing ever. Oh, yeah. And did your mom stay home? She did when we were really little. Actually, I mean, she did and she babysat during the day and then at night she waitressed. So, but like she was home. And then even once we went to school, she worked, but she worked at the school. Yeah, that's really cool. And that's what she did. That's what I did. Turns out, it's nice to get home, Mom, because I had to work full time. Sometimes two or three jobs, but I was fine. Yeah, you stuck to it. No, you didn't. You did a good job and you're still doing it, but. Yeah, you know, you don't get to quit. When you have kids, you're kind of in it to my head. Yeah, I know. Okay. It is, and it's actually, you know, now that my kids are older, it's so awesome that, when I see people with younger kids still that are my age, it's like, oh, they still get to believe in the magic of Christmas. And I'm finding that harder and harder. Yeah. That's, it's definitely a transition. Yeah. You can keep talking, it's jigs. Yeah, it's different once your kids grow up and you have to, I just think sometimes, for me anyway, we just work harder to keep the traditions to talk that Santa's coming tonight and there's gonna be presents still open from Santa in the morning, or that we're still gonna put a Christmas tree up. That's something that means a lot to me. There are pain in the butt, it costs money, it's like not super good for the environment, it's a giant mess, it's a time commitment, but it's something that means a lot to me to have that in the house. Yeah, you do a fresh one, right? Yes. Yeah, and it came to my house last night. Oh, good. So, yeah, December 16th, I got a tree. Well, that's not even my latest tree. How long will it stay up for? Probably my birthday or so. Okay. Yeah, and honestly, it'll stay up until I like take the time to take it down. Cause once it's up, I'm like, I don't wanna deal with it again. I just put it up. You know, when you're taking off the ornaments and everything's like falling apart. Yeah. You've got this fire hazard in the corner of the living room. Yeah. So that you maybe haven't watered in two weeks. Yeah. It's fine. I know I had a dog that would always just want to drink the water. It's so freaking weird. We had a cat that did that. And even now when I water it, the cat is like, what are you doing with this water and with this giant toy that you just brought me into the house? This climbing tree, you know. Oh, she's intrigued my doll. But she usually leaves it alone too. Did I know that you had a cat? You have a cat. I have a cat. Is it a nice cat? She's a little antisocial. Okay. She's... My hard part with her is I'm like, you are another responsibility. You are another living responsibility. And I have five kids and I have two bonus kids. And I have my kids' friends who I want to, you know, care for in some manner if I can. And... Yeah. This cat? No. No, not a cat. Yeah. I forget about that with my stepkids. It was never just four. It was, there was always friends over. There was no friends. Oh, I miss those days of the friends. It was so chaotic, but it was- It is chaotic. Yeah, and sometimes I feel bad for some of the kids because you know, like my kids, they know they're one of five. But then you add in Matt's kids and I'm like, sorry you guys, I'm sorry, I'm gonna bring a zoo to your house every time we have any sort of family meal together. There is a zoo showing up. Mm-hmm. And how do they react to it? Oh my gosh, they're amazing. They're wonderful. Yeah. Everybody jives, everybody gets along, everybody has fun. It just works. But I still have it every time. And so do you guys have a tradition, a new tradition just for you guys? Of course. Yeah, we try to do family suppers together, like weekly even, just for whoever's available, whoever can come over. We'll eat supper together. Sometimes it's takeout. Sometimes it's, you know, it's all sorts of different stuff. It's cookout, it's make your own pizzas, it's breakfast, it's Chinese night, it's Italian night, all sorts. I mean, yeah. I hate making supper every other night of the week. It's annoying. Can I come over? Oh yeah, you can. That's the other part of it. Anyway, thank God. If you show up, we feed you. Yeah. But it's like the one night of the week that I enjoy. feeding everybody and planning the meal and thinking about what we're making and the rest of the week. I'm like, just buying some cereal. You're fine. I doubt that. Well, maybe, but my kids aren't big eaters and they all want something different than the other one. So like you can just figure it out. And you know, with Gavin, he's going to be 17 tomorrow. And it's funny because he still expects me to make him dinner. Uh huh. Like what's for dinner? It's like, I don't know. I just ate cheese. Right. That's why you have your kids work in restaurants, which I know Gavin has done this. He does. Yeah. And then burned out. Right. Yeah. It's closed momentarily. But yeah, that's the beautiful thing about working in a restaurant is your kid then eats at work. Yeah. Uh huh. Yeah. And they, when with him. In theory, he should be enjoying cooking more. In theory. But actuality is he would prefer moms still make all the meals. And it's like, I don't know where you've been the last few years, but that doesn't happen anymore. No, it's yeah, there's definitely cheese. Here's the cheese. Just ate cheese. There's still some left. There's a knife on the counter that's not quite dirty, not quite clean. Help yourself. Yeah. But I've gone through all the stages of You know, like the, I went to the library with the little ones. We always got the books and did the programs and then did Concert on the Square. You know, like all of the things this small town, Beirut has to offer. We really, like our community, we're very blessed that we have so many different things to offer. If we lived closer logistically to Madison, I think there might be less, because then you just go like, well, we can just go to Madison and go to the Concert on the Square. we can go there for whatever. So sometimes you don't see as much when you're a little bit closer to a larger city. Yeah. I think we're just far enough away and we have a lot of great people in our community that make it happen. Yeah. And when you're in it, when you're doing all the things, you don't think, oh, someday this is gonna be a memory. It's like, you're just doing it. You're filling your time. Yeah. How can I not sit in the house for one more day? Yeah. Yeah. What can we do outside of the house for a minute? Yeah. And it's maybe you just need to talk to another adult. That's a big deal. Right. And you know what I now am part of is the dog park people. Oh. That makes sense for you, though. It's really close to here. And do you have a dog? Yeah. And so it's in some day, the dog park is going to be a distant memory. However. You know, right now, what I do is normal. You look forward to it, I bet. I do. It's one of my favorite things of the day is to go walk my dog. And another thing that I do is there's trails around the water treatment. Wait, treatment. I didn't realize there were trails over there. I know about the trails through like the Arboretum and I love those trails. Oh yeah. Those are short. Which is great. They're short. And there's a park over there. Yeah. And there's a little creek that goes through, which is just fun to poke through. Unless it's summer, it's all overgrown and you can't get near it. We've got so many parks now in Baraboo. I know. We have movers and shakers that make it happen. We do, we do. I should have them on my pockets then they'd make me feel really great. You might end up on a committee. Gotta get that. Serious. I know. Be really careful. I know. I don't use the word I have it. Somebody asked me to be the part committee. Oh. And like, I am just even still, I'm not at a place in my life to say like, yes, I can join up, I can commit to showing up and participating in this. I'm still not at that point. Love to be, I'm not. But instead of me just saying no, I'm like, oh, you said so and so. And I dragged somebody else into it. And she joined, so that's great. Then I didn't feel as bad. Right, they're like, well, Betsy said you'd be great. I think I asked her verse. Oh, okay. Yeah. This sweater you got me is kind of itchy. Oh, maybe you need the long sleeve shirt. It looks like somebody sewed these on. Again, I'm curious if somebody did or if it came like this. I think it came like this. Okay. I mean, somebody, somewhere, sewed it on. Somebody, somewhere, sewed it on. I just don't know. What was before or after? Yeah, it's a fun one. Um, how many sweaters do you have at your cycle satleys right now? Um, Christmas sweaters? Not very many, like a handful. We've got Christmas t-shirts, Christmas sweatshirts. You know, there's just kind of a variety. They come in, they go out. Yeah. Um, let's talk about small town again, because I think that's like such a, a heart and soul subject and it's such a great time of year to talk about that. What is your favorite part about having a business downtown? It really is just the being downtown. You really take it for granted. Like, like I grew up here, you know, and then I worked downtown for a lot of my life. And you kind of take it for granted until you start thinking about other towns. And what one of my customers, not from Baraboo, once told me the big deal of Baraboo is we don't have a main highway running through our downtown. Cause that really can bisect your area. You know, then it- you're less likely to have that foot traffic. And like with us having the square too, it really gets kind of hallmarky when you go outside and everybody's like, hi, how are you? Yeah. Yeah, and then we just embellish it. We're like, you know what? This is really sweet. Let's hang up the Christmas lights. Let's pipe in some Christmas music. Let's throw some picnic tables on the courthouse lawn for during the summer. It's just fun. It's just community. And I feel like you have your own community that go to the store. Every time I'm in there, like I know you, and sometimes I know somebody else, but you are always like, hey, Sally, hey, Claire, hey. You know everyone. You need to know them because they have consigner accounts. So I need to know, hey, Steph, here's how much money you have on your account. Oh, you're bringing me in clothing for your account. Like you kinda, it takes me a while to figure out who's who, but you have to know who's who so that I can tell you have money and I can take your clothing and put it on your account. So then you figure it out over 14 years with people that I've. run into, you know, and had my story over and over. And so you went through, and I can take this out if you don't want to talk about it, but you went through a divorce. And what is it like for you, because I had another woman on last week who went through a divorce, business owner in the community, what did you ever feel? Cause you always just seem to embrace change and you, you and just, you seem to embrace the moment really, really well. Did you ever feel vulnerable or? I mean, yeah, I do feel vulnerable. And especially when you own a business in a small town like this, like everybody knows who you are. And so if you've got anything going on, probably they know your business. So I just always assume everybody knows my business and I just try to roll with it. I try to have a thick skin even though I don't. I try to have a thick skin and just figure like, well, that's life, that's how it goes. So there's no getting out. I mean, it is what it is. So it's not anything fun. It's not something you wanna do, but sometimes it happens. Yeah, what does keep you up at night? Or doesn't? All sorts of random anxieties, not normal things. Not like, oh my goodness, what if I get sick and I can't care for my children? No, no, none of that. I'm like, what if, you know, like, not this extreme, but you know, like, what if zombies take over? And like, it's just dumb stuff that isn't even gonna happen. That's the kind of stuff I worry about. Is that what you worry about, zombies? Or not really, no, I really don't worry about zombies at all. I don't, and I don't believe in like ghost writing and that, so I don't worry about that stuff. But there's just certain things that are like, so not ever gonna happen. That's what's gonna happen. And then, so dumb. And I'm so logical about so much stuff. Not that. Not your sleeping brain. Not my sleeping brain and my fears and my insecurities. So I had a really interesting moment the other day because you and I went to see New Kids on the Block together. Oh, that was fun. It was not what I was expecting. No, it was different than the last times I've gone. I thought they did a great job. They did, yeah, they did. It was just like my childhood self, like wanted to see them so badly when I was 11. Right. And I didn't have any... tasted music. No. We didn't have options. You know, we didn't have iPods. We didn't have Pandora on Spotify. We had like, if our older siblings left a cassette tape place somewhere, or if mom happened to turn the radio on to like not 949. And we're like, what is this? Yeah. That was it. But we're so lucky that we are not new kids on the block, because they have not been able to change. No. anything about themselves. They have to stay in really good shape to keep dancing like that and moving. I think they have a pretty vigorous touring schedule, and then they do their cruises. Yeah. And they sing the same, they have new songs, but nobody knows the songs. We don't want to hear those. We want to hear Hangin' Tough. I don't care who you are, it's 1989, play me Hangin' Tough, thank you. Yeah. And which one was your favorite? Um, I always liked Joel because here again is my logical self. He's the youngest. So I thought he was the most attainable. Oh, he was the one I was going to get. I always liked John because he was quiet and mysterious. He was. I think they were all a catch in their own way. I suppose. Yeah. You know, and I think back to all that. When I think about it. It's like, oh, that was just yesterday, right? And so you know that wasn't yesterday? That was at least 30 years. Hey, yeah, 13. 13 is like, I was way over it. You were over it, yeah. I had an older brother, so I got over things quicker because he made fun of me and totally. I was like, oh, no, you're right. I don't like that because I am cool. Yeah. In my corduroy skirt and turtleneck, I'm super cool. And to go back to my bedroom that had all the New Kids on the Block pictures taped to the wall from... Cut out of the magazine. Teen Beat and... Tiger. Tiger Beat? Oh, was it something? Yeah. I don't know, I think there were like Teen Beat and Tiger Beat and 17, Teen... Yeah. There was a lot of options. There was. And you know who I actually wanted to talk to you about today? It was Amy Grant. Oh, Amy Grant. Did you ever listen to Amy Grant? Not a ton. But growing up in a Catholic household, she was one of those names where it was like, what if you listened to Amy Grant? And she was fine. Like, I could handle that. She was normal compared to some of the other stuff. And I'm like, well, I'm going to listen, too. Yeah. I like the Christmas band. Right, I think that's what I've been hearing lately. Yeah. I just, I really like Christmas music, but I like fairly traditional, and I like singing along with it. I like it to be pretty. I feel like you live in town, or not, or... Well, in West Barrow, but yeah. I mean... Not in the country. For whatever reason, the music I listen to was so obscure. The school I went to had, there was like 12 of us in grade. Yeah. And so somebody's older brother liked Aerosmith. So then we all, 12 of us, Aerosmith. Or, you know, my grandma liked Amy Grant. So, of course, I'll get you an Amy Grant. I listened to 11 Beach Boys, because my dad liked Beach Boys. Yeah, I was like, well, they're obviously cool. Yeah, and somehow I got stuck on Celine Dion for a while. Like, what in the hell? I got on 11 Dion. Yeah, but then like Titanic came out. So, pre-Titanic, but who turned me on to Celine Dion? Are you kidding? Who were some of the musicians that you gravitated towards, like that 11, 12 year old? I liked Celine Dion. I liked anything that was on the radio. Any one hit wonder, like Ace of Base. Prior to that, I liked the female singers. I liked Tiffany. I liked Debbie Gibson. I liked the Bengals a lot. Yeah, but I also liked Banjo B. Yeah, because he was double King Ray. Sahadi, yeah, still is. He kind of still is. Yeah. But yeah, and then it was just anything trendy. It was anything on Z104 I liked and that I could buy at Kmart. That I could get my cassette tape at Kmart. And the music section of Kmart. Yep. White the variety. Was there, so, Isenbergs. I think the water talk, you know what I'm saying. Let's talk about Isenbergs. Yeah, I remember Isenbergs. I remember the toy section, but what else did they have there? They had everything. I remember I loved Christmas time at Isenbergs because you walked in and there was like the checkout counter and then right behind it was all the Christmas aisles and they had lots of ornaments, aisles of ornaments. And I've always loved ornaments, which is why I have like 500. So I would walk up and down the aisles and look at that. But they had, I think you could get like some baby stuff there. I know they had a decent VHS selection because I think we rented them there. I think they had electronics, bikes, games, housewares. I remember there being a lot of breakable stuff up front on the one end. Oh, man. Fancy candles and faces and things. Yeah, they had a lot of good stuff. It was kind of the one-stop shop. Before Kmart? Or was it? I mean, like, Kmart was there too. So, right next door. But it was kind of the small town option. You know, like most towns had an A-card, or a Ben Franklin, or something like that. I mean, yeah, we had Woolworths downtown until like 1988. And then we also had Isenbergs. Then we had Kmart, and then we had Paramount Fleet. We had options. Sears. And that was... Sears was, yeah, after Kmart. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But that was before the internet. And so if you needed something, you got it there. And even like probably Isenbergs and those places drove out some of the small shops that used to be downtown. There used to be hobby shops downtown. There was like a sporting, at least one, I think two sporting goods stores. You know, there were multiple shoe stores. There were multiple hardware stores all in a row. And you remember this? Oh, some of it I remember and some of it I just have seen photos. Yeah. Heard stories about it. Yeah. Yeah, I grew up in Portage, so it's a little bit differently. But I know I think the same thing happened. I think the same thing happened at every small town. Yeah, you guys had Spurgeons. Kind of your version, I think, of Eastenberg's. Yeah, and I kind of remember Spurgeon. Well, we had Spurgeons, too, downtown. Yeah. You know, 40 years ago. 40 years ago. What is your favorite thing about growing up in a small town? Cause there's like, you know, we just talked about the, everybody knows your business. So there's some like- But at the same time, like, like there's comfort in that for me cause I'm kind of outgoing sometimes. And so I like knowing who I run into. I like seeing people and waving, you know, earlier when I ran out quick and I saw your neighbor, who I know, I was all excited to see her. I'm sure she was like, but- Yeah. She humored me way back. She probably was like, is Betsy living here? Right? And then now that will be the rumor. Right. I'll just start parking out front. Just walk to work from here. You should. Should. You know I love a good shenanigan and I could use, I could use some steps. Yeah, it's a nice walk. It is. I mean, you're gonna go uphill though, both ways. That's the problem. That is, yeah, that's good though. Cause I literally thought about that today. I was like, if I left early, I could walk to steps, but I'll have to walk up that hill and I'm not ready to commit to that today. Yeah, this hill is way better than that hill. Yeah. That one's a little steeper. Yeah. When I get to the coffee shop, I'm always like, Oh, yeah, we're standing up there and you can't tell them your order because you're still trying to breathe. Yeah, like I just walk up to them. Like, oh, okay. Yeah. They know me. Yeah. I think for me, living in a small town, the best part is sharing it, talking about it to other people. Yeah. that haven't been here. Like, oh, well, this is where you gotta go to eat. This is where the coffee shop are. I do that all day long at the store. Yeah. And I'm nosy about it. I pick up on some little bit that makes me think you're not from here. And I'm like, hey, where you from? What are you doing in town? Where are you gonna go when you leave here? Where are your lunch plans? What are your supper plans? What do you like to eat? Yeah. I maybe don't go that hard on each person, but I- I suppose. I usually, a lot of times the husbands will get parked by me and then I'm like, what are your super plans? And then I give them recommendations. Yeah. What's your, oh no, I'm not gonna stop. Well, no, and I don't have a go-to. Oh, okay. I base it on who I'm talking to and like feeling out and kind of like what's fun that day too, you know, is it summertime that they can dine outdoors somewhere? Maybe that will factor into it or if they've got family or yeah, I send them all over the place. Yeah. Yep. Culver's. Sure. They're really out of town. Well, I suppose, Calvars. Calvars is like everywhere now. I was thinking about that earlier. They're in so many states, which is great for folks, but also like that was, that was our thing. Well, you could come to Calvars. And now they're like, no, we have Calvars. Yeah. We have the cheese. Okay. Well, those are not real fried cheese curds. Like they're delicious. Don't get me wrong. If you don't have any fried cheese curds, that's a great option. But if you've been to the state fair. Yeah. Okay. Delbar has really good cheese curds. Yes, I've had really good cheese curds. Yes, Delbar has really good cheese curds. We could really start name dropping a lot of cheese curd places. Just about everywhere has really good cheese curds. Yeah. I'm trying to think of what's another was bareboot thing that. I like that I can leave and walk somewhere and get to most places that I might need to go by walking. You know, we don't have public transit. You're not going to catch a bus to go somewhere, even a taxi. Not if you are going to go somewhere timely because they kind of have like a schedule. But yeah, if I, if I need to run somewhere, chances are I can go on foot. Yeah. Just great. For me, I feel the same way. Um, I've always lived pretty close to no in town since I've been in Baraboo. It's like a radius. I just kind of switched. Yeah, well, and it's a priority for me when I'm, you know, looking at where I'm gonna live, I'm like, well, it's a little far away from downtown. I don't wanna live there. Yeah, I thought for a while that I would wanna move closer to Madison, because so much of my work is in Madison now, and, you know, driving from here to Madison, and then maybe, let's say, Sun Prairie. By the time I'm done driving downtown and... some Prairie, Costco, all of it. I am so ready to get back to Baraboo. Yeah, there's a lot of people around. Yeah. And you don't see any familiar face, I mean like maybe you see a familiar face or two, but it's not like here. It's just so different. Here, I feel like, yeah, we have like really slow drivers, but we all watch out for one another. Right. And I think that's like the best part about small town, you know, in Madison, it's like everyone's kind of out for their own. Right, cause they don't know you. Yeah. They don't know that they could look out for you or whatever. Yeah, you know, a slow person is somebody's grandma that we know well. Right. Oh, I'm always saying that to kids in my story. Like, who's your mom? I think I know your mom. Who's your mom? Poor kids. What's your last name? Yeah, we're like one step away from my mom when I talk to her. She's like, do you know so-and-so? I'm like, no, I don't know them. Oh, they've got cancer. OK. I know. Our poor parents are in that season of life now. They've got funerals to attend and, yeah. People to worry about. Yeah, there's a lot. Yeah. Oh, I know. I've been hearing it from my mom for years. Yeah. So we should be lucky. All right. Yeah, we should feel grateful for the moments that we've got right now. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, I think we'll leave it at that. I think so. I think just being grateful this time of year for what we have. Right. Friendships, businesses. Good health. Yeah. Taking one moment at a time. I always, I'm very much a glass half full person. You know this, but I'm always just like. It could be so much worse. It could just be so much worse. And I just need to keep reminding myself that too. When I worry about the zombies coming to get me at night or whatever. Yeah, you need to write it down. Could be worse. Could be worse? The cat could eat my face and my- Oh, that's only if you're dead. Oh, is that the rule? Okay. Yeah, they only eat you if you're dead and you don't feed them. I suppose if you don't feed them. I suppose. Yeah. All right, well thank God we- On that note, thank you for having us up.