In this week’s episode of Best of Both Worlds, Sarah and I look at how to find quality time with partners, kids, and with yourself during the busy years. The good news is that something tends to go a long way — it doesn’t have to be much to matter.

In the Q&A we tackle the time cost of home ownership. A listener is thinking of buying her first home but has heard from friends about how they’re spending all their time dealing with house projects. Is there any way to limit that?

Please give the episode a listen! As always, we welcome ratings and reviews. We are also happy to report that the “explicit” rating from Apple has now been removed — we are (and always have been) a “clean” podcast. So feel free to listen in the car while driving other people around!

Now that Best of Both Worlds is part of iHeartMedia, you can also listen through their channels.

But, as someone once said, people are a good use of time. The kids have actually had more limited ambitions than the full day-at-the-amusement-park extravaganzas we’ve done in previous years. So I figured I could at least do a Mommy Few Hours.

My 12-year-old and I seized some time yesterday. I had to pick him up early at camp because of my call + virtual meeting schedule but when I finished at 3:30, he and I took off to go find the Cousins Maine Lobster truck. He got a Connecticut roll and I got a Maine roll (and a blueberry soda!). Then we went to Dave & Busters and played games. I managed to make the leaderboard on the piano keys game (several times, in fact…) and I got a 500 ticket jackpot on one of the spin-the-wheel games.

Of course, that is just about enough for a single piece of candy in the prize area, but my kids are absolutely obsessed with trading in their tickets. I gave my son my tickets and he selected a handful of treasures. All in all, he was happy with the experience.

Next, I’ll be doing a spa day (well, few hours) with the 10-year-old. Then I just have to figure out how to fit in two more requests. The 7-year-old isn’t sure what he wants to do, but I have a sneaky suspicion it might involve something similar to Dave & Busters…