Mini-Ep 408: Sleep-Deprived Alter Ego
Doree and Elise chat about adjusting to the new school year schedules and hear from listeners about the (curiously abundant) seafaring content of our youth, cycling tips and tricks, and the delicious dinner recipes you need in your weeknight rotation.
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Transcript
Doree: Hello and welcome to Forever35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Doree Shafrir.
Elise: And I'm Elise Hugh. And we are just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums,
Doree: And this is a mini episode where we hear from you, we share your comments and thoughts, and we answer your questions to the best of our ability. But please remember, we are podcast hosts. We're not experts, and we always encourage you to seek support first and foremost from a medical and or mental health professional as needed.
Elise: I love these mini apps. We're getting so many texts and emails from all, we're really keeping these conversations and our curiosities alive each week. So thank you all for participating.
Doree: Totally. I come to you today with a recommendation, a prod
Elise: Recommendation. Okay.
Doree: An old school prod recommendation and full disclosure, this product is from an advertiser,
Elise: But
Doree: As I believe we have said many times, the only times that we specifically endorse advertisers for money is when we are doing the ads. That's right. If we ever talk about an advertiser at another time, it is just organic because we like it. Yeah. Because we legit like it.
Elise: Yeah.
Doree: Yes. And so I want to give an extra plug to this product because I just love it so much. It is the Medicate and that is Medicaid, M-E-D-I-K, and the number eight Advanced Night Ceramide Cream.
Elise: Really? I'm in the market for a new Night Cream.
Doree: I think you'll really like this, Elise, because it manages to achieve that perfect combination of feeling like a thick moisturizing cream, but also sort of feeling light. It goes on so smoothly.
Elise: Good.
Doree: Do you know what I mean?
Elise: Yeah. Because my problem with a lot of night creams is that they're too thick or they're greasy.
Doree: Right.
Elise: And no Augusta and then I just don't want to wear it. Exactly. Exactly. This is light somehow Light
Doree: And moisturizing. Yes, yes. So I am a huge fan and we have a Medicaid discount. You can get 20% off your first by using the code F 35 at checkout at Medicaid us. So again, it's M-E-D-I-K, the number eight US code F 35 at checkout if you're going to get any of their products. And I have to say I've liked all of the products of theirs that I've tried, but excuse me. I am always on the market for the perfect night cream. And I got to say, this one is pretty good. It's pretty. You might not have to shop
Elise: Around so much now. Fantastic.
Doree: Yeah, I got to say it's good stuff. It is on the pricier side, it is $76 for a jar. They have a subscribe and save program. You can save 10%, but again, you do get 20% off. If you use our code,
Elise: It's like 15 bucks. Yeah. Fantastic.
Doree: Yes. So check it out.
Elise: Cool.
Doree: Okay, that's my plug. I have one.
Elise: Great. Since you have something to plug, these folks don't advertise on Forever35, but I wish they would sponsor us. I have a new Trader Joe's product I'm super into.
Doree: Okay, I'm listening.
Elise: Is this new listeners? I'm not sure because I just happened upon this a couple of weeks ago and now it's like my lunch at least once a week. The frozen chicken schwar bowl.
Wow. Have you seen this?
Yeah, it's delicious. I'm so happy with it because I have been really sad for the last few years ever since Amy's of Amy's burritos fame, Amy's retired, its tofu scramble burrito. It's, it still puts out the tofu scramble, but not as yummy. I liked the regular gluten full tofu scramble burrito that Amy's used to put out until Covid, but then something happened where because of protocols during Covid, they couldn't make it anymore. They couldn't manufacture it in the factory and they just never brought it back. And I long for it constantly because that was my go-to I don't have anything in my kitchen. I need to heat up something frozen for lunch. That was my go-to meal and I loved it. And now I have discovered the Trader Joe's Chicken Schwar bowl. I'm very satisfied and I was thrilled we were taping a mini up because I wanted to tell y'all about it.
Doree: Well, I was just going to say that sounds delicious. And we also got a recommendation from a listener for a night cream.
Elise: Oh, fantastic.
Doree: So I want to share that as well.
Elise: I love these res,
Doree: It is from Ada and it is their rejuvenating night cream. I have used ADA products and they know their way around a thick cream. And this listener wrote, it's what Kate would thick. I have not used this product, but they added just before warned it has a sweet scent. I think the scent goes away as soon as it's rubbed into my skin, but it might be bothersome to people sensitive to smells. And then they wrote Doree in print.
Elise: Do you feel so
Doree: Seen? I do feel seen by our listeners. So thank you listener. Thank you for this recommendation. I'm intrigued. I think I've only ever used skin food.
Elise: Yeah, skin food's good.
Doree: Yeah, skin food is good stuff. Elise, what else is going on in your world
Elise: Besides my big trader? Joe's discovery, I was so excited about it.
We are back at school. All three girls are back to school. I have a middle schooler now, so the oldest and the younger two are not at the same school anymore. I had the real privilege of having all three children in the same school for two years and that magical two years is now over and will never be again because it's only elementary school where they're in. There's so many grades that they can be in together or there's so many grades in elementary school that they were in school together for two years, but that's it. So now I'm getting used to this new paradigm because Ava has zero period, which means she has to be at school by seven 15 because the bell rings to start at seven 20, which means I am now having to be in the car by six 50, which is a hellscape situation for me. I am not
Doree: A morning person that is so early.
Elise: My mainframe is not booted up. And yesterday I not only had to get up, I had to get up and go downstairs and deal with a moody teen who was giving me attitude
Doree: And
Elise: Telling me I wasn't helping her enough with her water and stuff like that. I'm just like, what about water? Can you not do filling up a water bottle? Can you not handle? And then she gives me attitude and I wind up weeping. I'm just like, when I'm super tired, I just burst into tears. So then I was just like, so we were both teenagers, we were both little kids in the morning yelling at each other and then I start crying and then I go upstairs and I'm like, fuck it, I'm not driving you to school. I don't want to be responsible for this. And so I just crawl back under the covers.
Doree: Oh my
Elise: God, Doree hasn't heard about this drama. She's hearing about it for the first time. But sometimes we text with each other though, and so I crawl back under the covers. Rob is dead asleep. He has just been dead to the world this whole time. He hears me coming back into bed, which is confusing for him, I'm sure. So wordlessly God, he gets up and just pads downstairs and he's like, alright, Ava, I'm taking you to school. He knew that. I was just like, I'm out. I'm tapping out. Wow. Just can't. I'm having a really hard time with these early mornings. I know I'm going to eventually get used to it and adjust my bedtime earlier. I'm still just not quite there yet.
Doree: Yeah. I've had to also adjust our morning routine. I do not leave as early as you. In fact, I leave almost an hour later, but that's earlier than we used to leave and it has taken some adjusting and we're still sort of tinkering with it and figuring out traffic patterns and what's the best route to take and all that stuff. But it is an adjustment and I've also had the thought of, okay, I need to be in bed earlier and also once I'm in bed, I can't stay up if I stay up past 11, it's just for me, it's just bad news. I need to be lights out before 11.
Elise: Yeah, yeah. I need to make it like 10 30 or something like that because I am having to be out the door so much earlier and I get cranky. I'm somebody like if I don't have a quality night's sleep, it's like I'm a different version of myself. I'm like my alter ego Denise.
Totally.
Elise becomes Denise and then sometimes Rob is like Denise is that you?
Doree: Wait, that's so funny.
Elise: My alter ego is a B, oh my God. Your alter ego, Denise. Funny. She doesn't come out often. It's like four times a year. Most of the time I really like people and I like being alive. I'm an enthusiastic person. Generally optimistic. But yesterday I just could not take it. I was like, I can't take this lip. I don't have the emotional bandwidth. There's no flex here, there's no give. I'm going back to bed. I was just like, Nope.
Doree: Wait. You know what though? I'm really glad that Rob stepped up. He could
Elise: Tell Denise without, he could tell.
Doree: He could tell
Elise: Because he had gotten in very late the night before. I think he was out of town or something and so he wasn't planning on getting up, not for Ava. He was planning on taking care of the younger girls when I was taking Ava to school and the younger girls don't have to be at school for another hour and we had to switch. We had to switch roles. I like how he just patted me on the shoulder and then just got up. What good
Doree: Partner. What a good partner. He immediately saw what you needed. He stepped into action. I had a situation the other day where Matt really sprang into action in a way that I was like, you know what? I really appreciated that.
Elise: Here's what happened. Yeah, I needed it. Yeah.
Doree: I was getting my morning breakfast cereal and
I put it on the table and I sat down and I was still in my pajamas and I wear, lately I've been wearing these print fresh pajamas, so the cuffs are sort of long, which is relevant. They're floppy. So I sit down and I somehow brush the spoon or the bowl with the cuff of my sleeve. I don't know exactly what happened, but a full bowl of cereal and milk just spilled onto me, onto the floor, onto the table. I had milk. I wear those cloud slipper slides, slippers. You're the ones you can get on Amazon for $13. I wear those around the house. There was milk in my slippers.
Elise: Oh
Doree: No. I was just covered in milk and cereal. It was so gross. And Matt just leapt up. He was like, okay, don't move. He grabbed all these towels, he's wiping me down. He's like, okay. And I was like, ah. I was that kind of paralyzed. It was just so much milk. And then he was like, do you think Bo cereal?
Elise: I was
Doree: Like, that would be a good, I'm sure bo like cereal and milk. And he was like, Bobo. And so I was probably like, wait what? Bo was looking at me like you rang and he came over and lapped up everything on the floor. So it made it a little easier to clean up, but
Elise: I love this was the whole family came together to solve a problem. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Doree: Yes, it's so true. Well, before we take a break and hear from listeners, let's just remind them you can call or text us at (781) 591-0390. You can email us at February 35 podcast@gmail.com. We love getting your texts, we love getting your voicemails, we love getting your emails. Just send it all. Send it all. Also, everything we mention is on our website FE three five podcast.com. We're on Instagram at February 35 podcast. We have a newsletter at FE 35 podcast.com/newsletter and we always put our favorite products on our shop, my shelves, which is Shop my us slash forever three five. Alright, we are going to take a short break and we'll be right back.
Elise: We'll be right back.
Doree: Okay, we are back. I do just want to note before we get to listener comments and questions, if you're like, Ugh, ads, I hear you. I hear you. I get it. You can subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/forever three five and you can get ad free episodes at the $10 level. So if you want to hear our dulce tones without ads, head over there, check that out.
Elise: And that's not the only thing you get on the Patreon too. Oh, that's true. We have a very vibrant and robust Patreon cs where we have an ongoing chat going on. Listeners have shared their free mugging mishaps. We have monthly pop culture episode extras. We have the Forever35 questionnaire, which comes out on Tuesdays with our Monday guests. So our Monday guests for our Monday episode. Stick around for an extra episode or an extra super mini, quasi mini on Tuesdays just for our Patreon subscribers. So there's a lot going on there.
Doree: There's a lot going on. Alright, now to our listeners. So Elise, do you want to kind of set the stage for this? I feel like you were driving this train
Elise: A little bit. Well, I had this theory, it was really weird that we started talking about the voyage of the Mimi. Is that the right title of the show? The Ben Affleck Show? Yes,
Doree: Correct.
Elise: Voyage
Doree: Of the Mimi
Elise: And how popular that was among folks in Boston and around Boston because he was on the show, but also because it was like a pop culture. It was part of the pop culture zeitgeist for Xers and millennials like Als. And then we stumbled upon the fact that there was a lot, there was weirdly a lot of maritime stuff, just seafaring or ocean related content in our youth. There was Island of the Blue Dolphins, and then I remembered a TV movie called Atlantis, which I believe starred Jonathan Brandis, who was one of the Jonathans that everybody had a crush on. If you were kind of born in the early eighties. Like me, it was Jonathan Brandis, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, somebody else that I can't remember. Writer Strong was big. He was on Boy Meets World, and I guess I wasn't alone because somebody texted in saying, please tell Elise that she might be thinking of Jonathan Brandis starring in a TV show called Seaquest, DSV, which also featured a dolphin who could talk with the help of technology. I was obsessed with it when I was a tween. So that is probably what I was thinking of because Jonathan Brandis was in something involving the ocean.
Doree: He kind of had a tragic life. Is he still with us? No, he took his own life in
Elise: 2003.
Doree: He was at 27. So yeah, I guess
Elise: So. We'll never see him grow old. That is tragic.
Doree: Yeah. Yes. I guess, I don't know. It sounds like his career wasn't going great after being a child actor and he had depression. So this is a whole other conversation about child actors and exploitation actors, especially in the eighties and nineties. I mean so many of those, the Cory, remember so many of those kids were so fucked up. Pardon my language, but thanks listeners for enlightening us. It's funny you said people who were born in the early eighties because Jonathan Brandis was not on my radar. Jonathan Taylor Thomas was because I'm late seventies and I do feel like there's so many micro generations, especially when it comes to Teen Heart throbs, that you could be born three years apart and have a completely different team experience. Yeah, exactly. So I dunno, it's just interesting because for me it was very much like the Corys River Phoenix. I mean, everyone was obsessed with River Phoenix, Christian Slater. It was a slightly, I think older that's
Elise: Slightly older than me.
Doree: Yeah. So I don't know, just micro generations. JTT was young for me. He was on my radar. He was so famous. I don't think people understand how famous he was if you didn't live through that era. He was so famous, but he was too young for me. Whereas
Elise: I think my generation had Ben Savage instead of Fred Savage, the Savage Brothers.
Doree: Oh, yes, yes. Because Wonder Years came out when I was in sixth grade. So yeah, Fred Savage I think is just a couple years older than me, so he was definitely the slightly older guy that I was like,
Elise: Ooh, that's so interesting. Then we had Ben Savage because he was starring in Boy Meets World, which was one of the touchstone TV shows that was big.
So crazy. The memories. The Memories this is bringing up. Indeed. Okay. It turns out we actually have more responses to our ocean content. We also have an email that says Hi. I live in the Philly suburbs and my daughter also watched Voyage of the Mimi in middle school in the late 1990s. I think it was in conjunction with a whale watch trip. I remember when Goodwill Hunting came out, she said she remembered Ben from the show also, and this is onto the Squish Melow topic, also a beanbag chair filled with cuddly have become a favorite of my grandson. It is such a good way to store them.
Doree: Thanks. I love that. On a totally different note, this is for the listener with the feet falling asleep. Yes. It could be the shoes, but it could be the way you are pedaling as well. I would try raising your seat and I would also make sure you are pedaling with flat feet and not only pushing, you should be pulling up as well. Both of these have helped me,
Elise: Listeners, helping listeners, this has been a fantastic series of responses to this Peloton trouble that we've had or that one of our listeners had. Thank you.
Doree: Yeah, thank you so much. And we actually also got a voicemail about this.
Voicemail: Hi there. I wanted to call in about the person who is getting the numb toes on her Peloton. I have been riding for about five years now and got into Power Zone when Doree started that group years ago. So thanks Doree for that. So one thing you guys didn't mention is there's a lot of different reasons your toes can go numb. One is that some people strap too tight and when your feet swell as they ride, it can make the shoe too tight all over. Another one is if the shoe doesn't fit well and your heel is not really cupped, then when you ride, especially if you accidentally point your toes because you're not maybe set up or you're just not thinking about your pedal stroke, then your feet can start to go numb because your foot will slide forward in the shoe. So it's important to really think when you're writing about keeping more of a flat foot and sometimes even pulling your heel back into your shoe, wiggling your toes to keep it going. And then the very last thing that I'll say is that people don't often think about where the cleat placement is on the bottom of their shoe. If it's too far forward, you're going to be putting all the pressure on your toes instead of the ball of your foot.
So I really recommend a professional bike fit, but these are all things to look at. Sometimes it's the shoe and it just doesn't fit right. Sometimes it's a cleat placement and sometimes it's your bike form and sometimes it's a little bit of it altogether, but it's definitely something that can and should fixed. So I hope that these tips are helpful. Thanks guys.
Elise: Yeah, we haven't talked about form. This is because I am not a cyclist, so I couldn't offer anything on it. But form both of those tips from our listeners did touch on form
Doree: When I was super into Peloton. And actually it's funny, I hadn't actually ridden the Peloton bike in a really long time. I've just been doing the other classes and I actually got on the bike for the first time in a long time yesterday. So it's interesting timing. Did bring
Elise: Back some memories for you.
Doree: What did you like
Elise: It?
Doree: I did, and it also, I was like, am I going to feel like I'm dying? And it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, so I was like, okay, maybe I'm going to start reincorporating this into my repertoire. But what I was going to say is probably around the time that this listener is talking about that I used to do the power zone challenges, and if you're not familiar with those, there's this woman who started something called the Power Zone challenges, and she does them several times a year and she basically goes through all of the Peloton Power Zone rides
And designs these challenges. It's so much work. She has a whole website. I mean I used to pay for her subscription. I was really into it and people formed teams and there was a Forever35 team and it was a whole thing. Anyway, one of the Power zone instructors is Matt Wiler and he has a side company where he does bike fittings and I paid for a bike fitting and you basically just zoom with one of his bike fitters and they look at you on the bike and they see how you ride and they suggest your seat needs to be moved up or your seat needs to be moved down, you need to move your handlebars in or out or whatever, and they show you how to adjust your pedals. There's all these little things that you just would not know. Cool. And I actually found it really helpful. So yeah, if you have the budget, I think when I did it, it was like $150, but this was now a few years ago and I bet it has gone up by then, but oh, it's still $150.
Elise: This is something you can either get yourself as a gift or get somebody to get for you,
Doree: And it looks like you can do a recheck for a hundred dollars. Right on here it says to purchase a virtual bike fitting gift card, click here. So yes, put it
Elise: On your wishlist.
Doree: Yeah, exactly. Yes. Fantastic. Alright everybody, we are going to take another short break and we'll be right back. All right, we are back. This is the recipe portion of the podcast. We got a listener sent us a text and said, look at this. And they sent a link to a recipe for creamy dairy free baked risotto with Italian sausage and sun dried tomatoes.
Elise: I'm looking at it and it's making me so hungry.
Doree: It does look good, and it's made with coconut milk, which is so delicious. At first I was like dairy free, and then I saw coconut milk and I was like, oh yeah. What is kind of funny to me about this recipe is it says it takes 46 minutes,
Elise: Not 45, not 47.
Doree: I've never seen that such a specific amount of time in a recipe that is really,
Elise: It makes me trust them. It makes me trust that it's exactly 46 minutes because they're
Doree: Not rounding. They're not rounding anywhere. No. They're like, we're going to let you know exactly how long it is because also I should add one of my biggest pet peeves in life, and I realize it is a privilege to say that this is one of my biggest pet peeves in life, but it honestly is, is when recipe writers do not accurately tell you how long a recipe takes,
Elise: It drives me. I don't even trust them. I don't even use those as a guide. I'm just like, whatever. That's not going to be
Doree: It. No. It actually takes me 10 minutes to chop up all or 15 minutes to chop up all these vegetables. It's not like instant. Come on you guys. It's like you said this was going to take half an hour. I'm now going on an hour. It's very irritating to me. And I'm like, do they use professional chefs? And is that what they base their time on? Probably. I don't know. Anyway, I appreciate this. Anyway, so this listener wrote Catching Up on Epps, and this is infrequent rotation in my house. I add a teaspoon of onion and garlic powder and a tablespoon of Italian seasoning and everyone loves it. Granted, my son is 16 months and doesn't eat sun dried tomatoes, but you can pick around them and it's more for me.
Elise: We will put up the link to this yummy dairy-free risotto.
Doree: Yes, it looks great.
Elise: It looks so creamy and good.
Doree: Yes. Do you want to read this last
Elise: We have more. Yeah, because we have more. Wait for it. Wait for it folks. Longtime listeners, we have more corn pasta content for you.
Doree: Oh yeah, baby
Elise: Doree has been talking up this corn pasta from New York Times cooking pretty much all summer. I finally tried to make it myself and loved it. I ate it for a few days and I'm going to do it again. And I didn't even realize I was growing mint in my yard next to the basil and I was like, oh, I have mint so I could throw in mint and basil. And it's just, it really is excellent. And our texter writes corn pasta, exclamation mark. Tried it on your wreck and it lived up to the hype. Two exclamation marks. Quick enough for a weeknight dinner, but yummy enough to be served to guests. Thank you for a new staple from Christie in Seattle. Doree, we appreciate you. We appreciate this corn pasta.
Doree: Thank you. Thank you so much.
Elise: We're
Doree: All fans. We've started, we're
Elise: On board
Doree: A corn, we're on board movement. I'll also say the corn season is not super long, so if you're thinking about getting on the corn pasta train
Elise: Now is a great time.
Doree: Now is a great time.
Elise: There's a lot of deals at the grocery store,
Doree: A lot of deals at the grocery store. It's so true. Also, I have an update on the Kim Bop from Trader.
Elise: Oh, is it back gone? What happened?
Doree: No, no, no, it's back and it's no longer being rationed. You can buy as much as you want, which is great. But I was reading that the traditional Korean way of preparing it is to put egg on it, basically put it in an egg wash essentially. And so I've been doing that and it is delicious. So if you haven't been doing that, here is my suggestion to do that.
Elise: It's so good. There's so many kids who have the trader in their lunches because it's like the perfect temperature. Yeah, it's like the perfect temperature by the time it's lunchtime.
Doree: Well, listen listeners, thank you for joining us and we will talk to you soon.
Elise: Bye y'all.
Doree: Bye.
*Transcripts are AI Generated.