Gotta Be Done - A Bluey Podcast

Bike (aka A Water Fountain of Our Tears)

It's THE favourite episode for both of us, and Bike presents our ultimate podcasting challenge - can we make it through without a flood of tears??

We worship Bluey musical genius Joff Bush (and Beethoven also gets a mention), aspire to Bandit's hands-off approach to persistence, and wonder how our determination (or lack thereof) in childhood shaped our adult lives.  

It's a free-wheeling episode through big Mary's church, little Kate's next-door paddock, and across a series of bitumen surfaces good for learner cyclists - come along for the ride!  

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

Takeaway (aka Mysterious Contents of Spring Rolls)

Sure Scorsese and Seinfeld tell a decent story, but have you people seen Takeaway?? There's so many reasons this episode is a masterpiece - we hope we can remember to mention them all! (And Mary does remember to mention Aussie film of the nearly-same-name Take Away - has anyone ever seen this?? Should we bother?!) 

Plus we debate the merits of spring rolls, wonder what "Chutney Chimp" might be referring to, and question whether we can be "yes parents" without civilisation crumbling around us. 

Anyway, praise be that UberEats hasn't muscled out this our little takeaway joint just yet - or this epic tale might never have been told.   

Finally, big welcome to new listeners who have found us via this week's Green Guide story - big thanks to fellow Bluey fan (and Gotta Be Done listener!) Peter Wells for the chat!

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

The Sleepover (aka To Absent Drunk Friends)

We've all been there (but some more recently than others, go Kate!) - managing that drunk friend drunkenly on a drunken night out. Yet again, wrangling toddlers is not so different to your carefree 20s - and The Sleepover is cross-over proof!

Underslept Muffin has (equally underslept?!) Mary and Kate stumbling down memory lane, while hoping our little people never drop their day sleep. Plenty of coping mechanisms in this episode though - we've both been putting Chilli's "no you won't!" to work! 

Plus, classic hits of the 80s, 90s and the baroque period, how to dump your kids on unsuspecting family members, and more! (insert Bingo-bloke voice) Gotta Be Done, babe!   

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

Mums and Dads (aka Division of Household Labour and Also Affairs)

It takes us a while to get to the actual episode this week, because damn, talking about equitable division of household labour is hard! And that's pretty much what Mums and Dads is about, Mary reckons (and with her bloke succumbed to man flu for the past five weeks, don't even get her started...)

Kate has a different perspective though - is this ep actually about stepping out on your spouse? (And does that make Calypso whoever it is that hosts Wife Swap Australia??) Luckily Indy and Rusty are set to discover the grass isn't always greener - but the plastic at the bottom of the sandpit might be!

Plus we rejoice in the revelations from Bluey creator Joe Brumm's public letter, wonder if Bluey should get a guernsey in the Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book, and tell it straight to grandparents obsessed with predicting their grandkids' careers. So much going on - can it be the weekend now, please?!

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

Early Baby (aka A Brene Brown Companion Piece)

The lessons continue as we're back at Calypso's school for Early Baby - a chance to relive our own more marathon-like labour ward experiences (wish we'd gone to Dr Bluey!), and revel in the fact that even Steiner school kids fight sometimes (phew!)

Also, is #bravery trending right now? Mary's seeing it on tshirts everywhere, but wants it distributed equally between the boys and the girls - just like this episode does! (Also, a bonus DIY for guerrilla parenting for equality a la Clementine Ford.) And what does Brene Brown have to do with it? Kate can make it all fit together!

Then, how exactly do you get kids to listen long enough to understand different viewpoints? And can storytelling help? (Although Mary wants to hear the sausage dog/dragon's point of view - like this Sesame Street clip that extends to dragon feelings!) 

Finally, we can't work out from re-watching the episode if Indi's "for real life" early baby is her little sister or her little niece - so if Joe Brumm could clarify that in his next public letter, much appreciated!

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

Calypso (aka We Need to Talk About Gnomes)

School's in, and Mary's been researching for the occasion. Or at least, furiously Googling "steiner school + gnomes" - and it's turned up some fascinating facts about what seems to be the education model at Bluey's school, and why there are so many gnomes everywhere. 

Small spirits aside, we're both in awe of how all-wise Calypso brings out the best selves of all the kids, with the lightest touch - can you believe we both struggle to take a back seat in play?!

And we congratulate Megan Washington (who plays Calypso) on becoming a mum last year, and wonder whether Dave McCormack (Bandit) actually has kids - surely, right?! (Literally a week after we recorded this, this great interview in The Guardian confirmed it for us. We knew it!)

(Also after we recorded this, amazing Bluey creator Joe Brumm revealed that Calypso was his favourite episode. Argh, pressure! Hope you like this ep too, Joe!) 

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

Fruitbat (aka Did We Mention We Don't Get Much Sleep?)

High-flying Fruitbat inspires Mary and Kate to compare notes on how end of daylight savings is impacting kids' sleep patterns (or lack thereof) - Panadol and warm milk anyone? (Please note, Kate is not a medical professional.)

Then there's how we maintain identity as a parent, and who gives up what to have kids: shout outs to rugby dads, soccer vs hockey mums, roller derby mums, and of course podcast mums - um, podcasting is a sport, right?!

Finally, we forget to mention the pop-up Croc Dundee game the Heelers are playing at the start - can someone invent this game for real life, stat please?! 

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

Shops (aka The Absolute Dichotomy Between Bluey and Mackenzie)

Um, did we just use "dichotomy" in a sentence? Well, Mary did - but Kate is name-dropping Jacques Offenbach and Ludwig van Beethoven by the end of this very musical episode, so perhaps we're both getting a bit pretentious??

Don't worry! We're also sitting in a backyard with an under-groomed Schnoodle and a cranky baby, and confess we're now calling cash "dollar-bucks" in all our financial transactions - so fancy! 

We also compare the play styles of boys and girls - is there a difference? And we wonder what sort of school the kids all go to, with convenient on-site bush clearings and pure play curriculum. Hope there's no looming NAPLAN!   

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

Camping (aka A Few Cases of Mistaken Identity)

Okay, a couple of confessions up front. 

We recorded this episode before Mary's bloke Adge helpfully pointed out that Jean-Luc was French CANADIAN. (In fact, we're still dubious - don't those Quebecois all speak English?? And surely some French people are partial to maple syrup?! Are we overthinking this a bit?!?) But if we've incorrectly stereotyped this (handsome!) Canuck dog as a Frog, apologies!

And that leads us to the second error contained within (and this one's entirely down to Mary's weird brain): on Neighbours, Delta and Irish Connor were never a thing. He is definitely Irish though. 

What on earth are we talking about? Camping! Extended exposure to the great outdoors makes everyone go a bit barking mad - you'll just have to listen to find out how much!

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.

Wagonride (aka When a Sequel Isn't Really a Sequel)

Following last week's new-episodes high, we roll back into old favourites, and analyse different creative play styles with Wagonride. 

(Like distracted mums, we also forget to shout out to the most romantic exchange in recorded history:

Kids: Monkey bars??

Bandit: Argh, Chilli!

Chilli: Asleep!

Bandit: Okay, let's do this!

Us: Swoon!)

Mary appreciates a little old lady-dog's approval (or any approval she can get, really), while the attention to scenery detail has Kate dreaming of Brisbane. 

Also, are the new Blueys getting a bit, ahem, "cinematic"?? We almost get technical with talk of soundtracks and "camera angles" - um, cartoons do use cameras, right??

Finally, we get a bit excited about hearing from Bluey art directors Catriona and Costa - and discovering bit of treasure hidden in the new eps, check out our Insta @blueypod to start hunting too!

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Gotta Be Done is ex-journos and Melbourne mums Kate McMahon and Mary Bolling, as we deep-dive on every Bluey episode, with plenty of detours into mama life, childhood memories, and everything else we're bingeing, too!

Follow us on Insta at @blueypod @marytbolling @katejmcmahon or on Twitter at @blueypodcast - and use #blueypod to join in.