Mini-Ep 425: Cheers to a Different Vibe
Doree and Elise return from the liminal period between holidays with helpful notes from listeners about pet insurance, a declutter calendar to edit your home, and the ingenious Ninja Foodi.
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Transcript
This episode transcript is AI generated.
Doree (00:10):
Hello and welcome to Forever 35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Doree Shafrir.
Elise (00:17):
And I'm Elise Hu. And we're just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums,
Doree (00:22):
And this is a mini episode where we hear from you, we share your comments and your thoughts, and we answer your questions to the best of our ability. But please do remember, we are not experts. We're podcast hosts and we always encourage you to seek support first and foremost, from a medical and or mental health professional as needed.
Elise (00:42):
And this is our first mini up back.
Doree (00:44):
Yes. And I was going to say, Elise, you have your voice back.
Elise (00:47):
Yeah. Ish. Yeah.
Doree (00:49):
Yeah. I still hear a little rasp, but I mean, you could barely talk,
Elise (00:55):
Right? It was really rough and big thanks to my doctor who agreed to give me the steroids to try and speed things along. Typically they don't. Typically, they're like, no, if you have laryngitis, you just have to suffer because you just need vocal rest, vocal rest, hot tea with honey, lemon, all those things. But I insisted, I really pressed that I have to talk for a living. This is my job. We can't move things around necessarily.
Doree (01:26):
There
Elise (01:26):
Were other shows that I had to tape and she was like, well, if you really can't move things around, what I could do is prescribe a steroid.
Doree (01:35):
Oh my God.
Elise (01:35):
But I really don't want to. And so eventually,
Doree (01:40):
So can I just, without getting too much into medical stuff, can I just ask why they're so opposed to steroids?
Elise (01:49):
I think that it masks symptoms so that you're not actually
Doree (01:54):
I
Elise (01:54):
See, I see. I I suspect that's one of the things. So you're not actually getting the vocal rest that you need have gotten. Yeah, and I have gotten little bouts of laryngitis a few times in my life. Every couple of years or so I've gotten this, and that's what they've said to me previously. I don't remember if that's specifically the reason, but I want to say that that might be, and then doctors out there, I know we have doctors who are listening, you might be able to weigh in and clarify, but there's that. And then also, isn't there a concern, I guess this is the same thing with antibiotics that there's a concern of
Doree (02:36):
Yeah, yeah. I know that they won't give you antibiotics
Elise (02:40):
For colds.
Doree (02:41):
That all makes sense. Again, not a doctor. So was just sort of wondering what was going on. Well, my child is back at school. Are your children back at school?
Elise (02:58):
Yes. Oh, it
Doree (03:00):
Feels great. It does. It feels very good. Henry literally ran into school. He was like, I'm free. I'm free of my annoying parents. And I was like, I feel the same way.
Elise (03:17):
Oh, it's glorious. Yes. Today is a glorious day. I'm going to get my house cleaned up and just back in order. There is that dead week between, usually it's like Christmas and New Year's where nobody's at work and all the days bleed into one another. It's sort of like early. You never know.
Doree (03:39):
Yes. Matt has a very gross term for this period. What is it? He calls it the holiday taint. So good. It is the InBetween. Yes. It's so gross. But it's also like,
Elise (03:59):
Yeah,
Doree (04:00):
It is accurate. It's
Elise (04:01):
Accurate, right. It's the InBetween. And I woke up this morning to about 457 emails because everybody is emerging. We have come out of that liminal period and it's a little overwhelming, but also a relief to know what day it is.
Doree (04:21):
Totally, totally. I agree. So here we are.
Elise (04:26):
I also have to be on a schedule now because I'm a full-time doggy nurse. And so Oscar needs meds five times a day, and they're different meds administered in different ways. Sometimes it's a paste, sometimes it's a pill. Sometimes it has to be mixed with liquid. And I'm like a pharmacist.
Doree (04:46):
Oh my God.
Elise (04:48):
So I actually really have to pay attention to time. Usually I have a pretty loose freelance schedule such that I don't know when 2:00 PM is, and sometimes famously I forget to pick up my kids, but that can't happen now because I'm on such a medication schedule.
Doree (05:07):
Do you have a thousand alarms in your phone? Yes,
Elise (05:15):
I have those. I also have Rob texting me. Rob didn't stay over here last night, so he's texting me like, Hey, don't forget the antibiotic, but separate it out from the prebiotic or the probiotic.
Doree (05:25):
Right.
Elise (05:25):
You can't have those at the same time because they'll cancel each other out and la la lot. Oh my God. I know. I know. It's quite a thing. Oh man. Dora, we sort of talked about this on Monday when we first came back, but are there things that you're going to get in order now? Now that Henry's back in school and we're starting a new year fresh.
Doree (05:49):
I mean, my life. No, I'm just kidding. That's a big one. You know what I did do today for the first time in two months? That is I did our weekly meal plan. It had just been on the fridge from the one I did in November. It had just been sitting there and my poor child who thrives on routine and he would periodically be like, mama, why haven't you updated the menu? And I was like, he
Elise (06:25):
Loves that menu.
Doree (06:26):
He does. He loves the menu. He loves a visual schedule. I told Matt, oh, also I was driving home from dropping Henry off this morning and there was a segment on NPR about Christmas decorations and when you should take them down. And they were saying that traditionally you should take down, people would take down their Christmas decorations after the 12th day of Christmas, which I guess is today. We're recording this on January 6th. Oh, it's the 12th day. And the superstition is that if you keep them up longer, it's bad luck.
Elise (07:06):
I didn't know that. I
Doree (07:07):
Didn't either. I mean, I didn't grow up celebrating Christmas. So I feel like I have an excuse, but I just want to note that we did not take down our Christmas tree last year until May, June. It was crazy. I mean, this is a bigger conversation, but I think there was just some inertia brought on by depression, and it was just like everything was overwhelmed.
Elise (07:36):
We'll deal with it next week
Doree (07:38):
And there's a sort of a different vibe in the house now, I will say. And I texted Matt, I was like, we have to take down the Christmas tree. Maybe this is why last year was so bad for us. We left our Christmas decorations up too long. But of course it's just a dumb superstition. But I do think there is something about how it was reflective of our mental state that the Christmas decoration stayed up for so long because we just were like, we had no motivation or no reason to take them down. It became symbolic. It became symbolic. So I'm like, okay, it's a new year. We're turning over a new leaf. We're both feeling a little bit more optimistic and we got to take down those Christmas decorations.
Elise (08:31):
It's an excellent reminder. And this is the month where they'll recycle your tree too if you bought
Doree (08:38):
One. Well, we use a fake tree.
Elise (08:40):
I do too. But I'm pretty sure that there's all these city programs across the country where if you do, go ahead.
Doree (08:47):
They also said on this segment that if you have a real tree, January is the time, the most common month for people to have fires in their homes because of very dry Christmas trees that they leave up for too long. So let this be your sign. If you have a Christmas tree, tree, yours, your PSA to take it down. So yeah, so that's where I'm at today. Got to take down the Christmas tree and the ornaments and all that stuff
Elise (09:24):
And door. Did people write and text and call as we beg them to over break?
Doree (09:33):
Yes, they did. We did get quite a few messages. Thank you so much for writing in and calling in and texting in, and please continue to do that. Call or text us at (781) 591-0390. You can always email us at February 35 podcast@gmail.com. And also just a reminder, we have a website forever 35 podcast.com. We have links there to everything we mentioned on the show. We are on Instagram at FE 35 podcast and we also have a newsletter at Forever 35 podcast com slash newsletter. And we are going to take a short break and we'll be right back. Alright, we are back. And Elise, I want to kick things off with a voicemail if that's okay. Exciting.
Listener Voicemail (10:27):
Hi, this is Sarah pausing the pod immediately following the story of the foreign body surgery of silly little Oscar. I work at an emergency hospital and I see things like this all the time. You'll likely still be able to get pet insurance. This would be considered an accident when it comes to pet insurance for everyone. Look into what things are important for you and your animal. Do you have a hunting dog, like a high activity dog? Then you should look for insurance that will cover joint care and they're called TPOs F hos, leg surgeries kind of stuff. And I know that vet, especially emergency vet care is so expensive, but it is nothing compared to human vet care or human medical care. So when you're talking about how expensive it's, please just keep in mind how expensive human stuff is because we are at the mercy of human medical care as well. And as a gentle reminder to everyone when a vet says, Hey, we should do x-rays for $800. If you have to go to the er, it is going to be so much more. So the way to save money on the ER is to do whatever you can at your regular vet putting that out there. Hope that helps. Thanks. Bye.
Elise (11:59):
Such great recommendations that I have learned firsthand just last week.
Doree (12:08):
Well, hopefully this whole saga will help list some other listener out there.
Elise (12:14):
I hope so. Yeah, I have been shopping for pet insurance. It turns out there are so many pet insurers out there. I had no idea. And really great programs. And there's kind of some startups for pet insurance now that are trying to improve. There's this one called Wag Mo that I'm really into just because their interface is very good it seems like and it interface comes highly recommended. Yes, yes. But that advice about what the context of your dog's life is and what or cat or horse or whatever kind of thing that I never thought about
Doree (12:52):
That.
Elise (12:52):
Really good.
Doree (12:53):
Yeah.
Elise (12:53):
Awesome. Thanks for the call.
Doree (12:55):
We should have gotten pet insurance for injuries caused by chasing after squirrels.
Elise (13:02):
Insane. Insane. I need get one
Doree (13:04):
Insane
Elise (13:04):
For cat toy foreign bodies. Cat sabotage. Cat sabotage. I dunno what covers
Doree (13:13):
That. Oh my god. Okay, so this next email kind of goes along to what goes along with what we were discussing before the break. So I'll just read this. Hi y'all. I have attached a PDF of a declutter calendar. This is me Dorie speaking. We will link to this in the show notes that I've used for years and find super helpful. I've been meaning to send this for a couple of years and think about it. Every time that Dorie mentions how much she dislikes the clutter in her house, the calendar itself doesn't start until page 18 or 19. There are a lot of words and introduction stuff in the beginning of the calendar that I just ignore. I also don't love the format of her website and I can't tell if she's problematic or not. IE batshit crazy or a maggot supporter, but I found her calendar to be so helpful and I get a new one when she posts it each year.
(14:06):
I love all these qualifications. Like this person might be crazy, but great declutter calendar. Okay, moving on. I've been doing this for good five or six years and the first year was a little tricky to get into the mindset, but things felt a little easier the second year. I found that by year three the process was kind of ingrained in me and was much easier and quicker to tackle. I now tend to be more mindful of bringing things into my home. I edit my house more as I go from room to room, et cetera. The pile of crap still likes to settle right on our kitchen table, but it only takes me five minutes or so to be able to clear it and the rest of my home feels much more controlled. Things get out of control and feel chaotic from time to time, but it is so much easier to tidy up now that I have a little less stuff and items have a mostly dedicated home.
(14:53):
She breaks it down so that each day you do just one or two small tasks so it feels less daunting. I especially appreciate that she makes it a task to get stuff out of your house. On the weekends I used to declutter, but then the bag of items to donate, move to the garage for a while, then to the trunk of my car for a month or so. Now I just make it a habit to get it out of my house. Just figured I would suggest this in case no one else had. Let 2025 be the year that you gain control of your home. And that is from our listener Kelly from Tacoma. And the calendar is on a website whose URL is Home dash storage solutions one oh one.com, which feels like some sort of weird SEO farm
Elise (15:34):
Website. Also declutter your URL. How about that?
Doree (15:39):
Also declutter your document. She's right. I did start reading this thing and I was like, there's too many words. Just get to the calendar. I sent it to Matt and he had the same reaction. He was like, what if this is for
Elise (15:54):
People? Maybe she's really good at decluttering homes, but not really good at just editing text.
Doree (15:59):
Totally. Especially because I assume a lot of people using this maybe have a DHD or some sort of other neurodivergence that makes their house overwhelming to clean up. I speak from experience here and having 20 pages to read through before you get to the actual calendar I feel like is not super helpful. But I will be taking a look at this calendar and hopefully using it in some way that is helpful to us. Alright, we are going to listen to another voicemail. Elise.
Listener Voicemail (16:43):
Hey, I am a longtime listener from Santa Cruz and actually driving home from Christmas place where I was hanging out with my kids and I always to 35 when I driving to or from Sacramento and Santa Cruz. So I live in Sacramento now and grew up in Santa Cruz. I drive that way a lot. And I was just listening to your episode about hand creams and at least needing more hand creams in the winter time. I also carry around tons of hand creams all the time. And my favorite one that I want put up plugin for is the Tribe and true Nivea hand theme, but in the little tree you can buy them on Amazon, these little one ounce fins and they're like kind fancy. They're not in plastic. There's a thin real metal and I always get compliments on them and it's also a big scent memory for me because my mom always used to wear Nivea and her mother wore Nivea cream. So just a little plug for dry hands. Try the Nivea cream in the city. Got some this winter. Thanks, bye. The
Elise (17:52):
Classic, the
Doree (17:53):
Try the classic. Sometimes the classic is a classic for a reason.
Elise (17:59):
They are. And also I love that the platform makes a difference in the way she thinks about it. Totally. Delivery in the tin is just superior to delivery in plastic.
Doree (18:13):
Yes, yes, yes.
Elise (18:15):
I need to get a little tin to carry around with my Trader Joe's hand sanitizer spray. That's always in my purse.
Doree (18:21):
Get a little tin.
Elise (18:23):
I'll add that to my always in my bag.
Doree (18:26):
Also, that actually weirdly just reminded me of something that I just wanted to mention, which is what's that? This will seem unrelated, but it's actually not. If something of yours breaks, you should check if there's a warranty because I have this fanny pack from Baboon to the Moon. I don't dunno if you're familiar with this company, but it's this cute sort of, I don't know, I guess they're kind of trendy company that makes bags called Baboon to the moon. And I actually really love this fanny pack. It's a perfect size and the zipper broke and I could still sort of use it, but not really. It was always opening and I was looking around for another fanny pack because I was like, oh, I guess I got to get a new one. I was using this old Lou Lemon one, but it was too small and I finally just went to the Baboon to the Moon website and maybe I just need to buy another one of this exact fanny pack. And then I was like, wait, on their product page they say, and there's a lifetime warranty. And I was like, lifetime warranty you say.
(19:35):
So I have emailed them with pictures of the broken zipper and I will report back.
Elise (19:42):
Oh my gosh, we should all be doing this.
Doree (19:45):
Yes,
Elise (19:47):
We should be mending rather than throwing out rather than
Doree (19:50):
Discarding. Yes, yes, yes. So I think that this goes along with our theme in a couple of ways. One is not bringing more things into the house, the other is repairing what we already own. And then the third thing, which is how I started thinking about this Fanny pack, is keeping a Tin of Nivea in your fanny pack.
Elise (20:14):
Yes. Okay.
Doree (20:16):
I was like, oh, that would be a good thing. Brought back. Yeah. I was like, oh, that would fit in my fanny pack. That is broken currently. So that's how we got there. Alright, we are going to take another short break and we'll be right back.
Elise (20:34):
We'll be right back.
Doree (20:41):
All right. We have returned and we got a text that someone just wrote in. Hi Dorie, thank you so much for recommending Free Food for Millionaires a while back. I loved it. Free Food for Millionaires, if people Don't Remember, is a book by Mjja Lee who wrote Pachinko, which is definitely the novel that she is much better known for most. But I think Free Food for Millionaires was her first published novel and it is so good and so different and just really, really, really delightful. It came out in 2007. It feels like it's truly from a different time. It takes place in New York. It's sort of got bright lights, big city vibes. It's just so good. When we got this text, I was like, I kind of want to just reread this.
Elise (21:35):
It's so good. I definitely want to read it. It's on my, it's on TBR because of you, because we talked about it during a pop culture episode, I think last year. I love Pachinko and I know this is totally different, but Mindin Lee as an author is worth following, so I'm really excited.
Doree (21:50):
Well, that's the thing too, is I love an author who can write two amazing books that are completely different. It's just, it's so cool. That's depth and breadth and range. Yes. I'm like, oh, your brain. That's amazing. Okay, moving on. We had asked, a listener had written in with a recommendation of an air fryer,
Elise (22:18):
A ninja air fryer ninja, the ninja air fryer.
Doree (22:21):
And I was like, great. And then we were like, wait, there's like 20 ninja air fryers, which one is it? And this person kindly responded and said, it's the ninja foodie and that is foodie, F-O-O-D-I. And they say it's just the two of us. So we can often fit what we need in here versus the stove. And not having to wait for an entire overnight to preheat has been a game changer too. Oh, okay. Yes. It's a toaster. It looks like a toaster oven,
Elise (22:57):
But it's digital fry convection oven, toaster air fryer. You can flip it away for storage. It has Excel capacity and a stainless steel finish
Doree (23:07):
All
Elise (23:07):
For under $200.
Doree (23:09):
Okay. I got to say the flip away for storage is pretty cool. I'm looking at the picture of it and I'm like, wow, this is some kitchen appliance technology that I did not know existed that I feel like could change my life. I'm just saying
Elise (23:28):
You're probably more likely to clean underneath it because it flips away a
Doree (23:31):
Thousand percent.
Elise (23:33):
You have to lift it up. Love. Love,
Doree (23:35):
Right. Yes. Okay.
Elise (23:38):
Ninja, we would be happy to do personal endorsement for you. If you're looking for a podcast to sponsor
Doree (23:43):
Ninja, do you want to sponsor us and send us foodies? Also in the Amazon reviews, someone has a very nice looking pizza that they made.
Elise (24:03):
Okay. I'm going to read the next text because it's related. Great. First, I can also attest to using the air fryer multiple times a day. It's that great of an appliance.
Doree (24:15):
Amazing.
Elise (24:16):
And then second, this is a caller who has called in previously or written in previously and says, after hearing my F the East Coast rant red on the pod, I realized it sounded a bit harsh. Maybe Georgia and Florida have great weather this time of year, so I'll narrow my rant to F the Northeast coast in December. I very much despise harsh winter weather. Enjoy your holidays. And speaking of harsh winter weather, it is freezing across most of America this week.
Doree (24:46):
Yes.
Elise (24:47):
There's this major winter storm that blasted the Midwest and just kind of across the belt of the United States. So please stay warm, stay cozy.
Doree (24:55):
Yeah. My sister who now lives in Washington DC posted her girls have a snow day today. She posted a picture of them all bundled up outside in the snow. So I hope everyone is staying safe and warm.
Elise (25:09):
Yes,
Doree (25:10):
Same. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even want to tell people what the weather's like in LA today, so I won't. Right. I'm just going to go about my business. Okay. Alright. Thanks everyone for listening. We so appreciate you. Happy New Year and if you're a patron supporter, we'll talk to you again on Friday with our first of the year casual chat. And if not, we'll talk to you next week.
Elise (25:39):
Okay. Until next time.
Doree (25:41):
Bye.