Mini-Ep 446: Creatures and Teachers
Elise starts the show with the stuff of nightmares (mostly kidding) and Doree shares a listener voicemail with a timely reminder. Then, listeners weigh in with their best hair oil recs, curly girl routines, and with advice to help Elise with Oscar’s puppy habits.
Mentioned in this Episode
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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 (00:21):
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 remember, we are podcast hosts. We are not experts, and we do always encourage you to seek support first and foremost, from a medical and or mental health professional as needed. And I just want to note before we get started, you all have been writing and calling in. Thank you so much for all of your messages. And there are some messages that we won't get to today that we will get to in future episodes. So don't worry, we will get to 'em. But yeah, really appreciated all of the messages.
Elise (01:00):
It keeps these shows alive.
Doree (01:03):
It does. It really,
Elise (01:05):
We don't have a mini episode without you listeners,
Doree (01:08):
Right? Exactly. Yes, exactly.
Elise (01:12):
But first we must banter because I had a traumatic night. What? Yes, I'm fine. I'm physically fine. What? I'm just still recovering from what I went through. What?
(01:24):
Yes. Okay, I'm going to start with the bright side first. Okay. I went to Wednesday night bar trivia last night with my friend Meredith, who I occasionally join and we place third, or we tied for third. It's very competitive because some people show up every week and they bring a team of 24 of their friends. And when we go, it's like four or five of us, which I think is a normal size. Yeah, I agree. For bar trivia. But there are some teams, and usually it's about 30 teams. It's a huge thing. And third place is just $10 off your bill. So it's really just playing for glory. But the tiebreaker you would've liked, because the tiebreaker question was, how many words are in the Robert Frost poem? The Road Less Traveled or the Road Not
Doree (02:14):
Taken. Oh wow.
Elise (02:15):
I know. And we were like, is it long or is it short? What is considered long? And that it was, I think the poem was short. And so me and my teammate Mike, decided short and you had to get it
Doree (02:25):
Exact,
Elise (02:27):
The team that came closest and it wasn't prices. Right. Rules. You didn't have to, you could go over.
Doree (02:34):
Got it. Okay.
Elise (02:36):
So the team that got it closest would win the tie break.
Doree (02:40):
Got
Elise (02:40):
It. The other team that we were up against, guess two 50, and we guessed
Doree (02:45):
$250.
Elise (02:47):
250. Words. Words. Words. It was how many words are in the poem?
Doree (02:50):
Oh, got it, got it.
Elise (02:51):
Okay. Yes, we were guessing number of words to just win $10. So they guess 250 words.
Doree (02:59):
Okay.
Elise (02:59):
What would you guess? Would you guess
Doree (03:02):
The road less traveled? She wrote Diverged in this wood.
Elise (03:06):
Yes, in a wood.
Doree (03:10):
And that has made all the difference. I mean, right. Is that the whole poem or is there more? That's what we weren't sure we're like, is it just that line? What else was in there?
Elise (03:22):
Alright, I'm going to, I was 10 30 at night. These rounds are so long.
Doree (03:27):
I'm going to go with 75 words.
Elise (03:29):
We guessed 181 and it's like 140 something, so Oh shit. Okay. Yeah. More than 75, less than 181. But we came closer. We came closer than the other team. So yeah, so that was all great. Got our $10 off, came home, went promptly to sleep because I was out at trivia too late. And then in the night, I'm awakened, not by screeching from outside, but by the sound of chirping, like tweet, tweet. What?
Doree (03:59):
No,
Elise (04:00):
What? Yeah, but I live in a really quiet street. There's always birds outside, so I'm just like, okay, whatever. And I go back to sleep and then it won't stop.
Doree (04:10):
Oh my God.
Elise (04:11):
And then my cat sits up on my stomach, my cat Abe, who's such a sweet cat, and he wakes me up. He paused me, he wakes me up, and then he's tilting his head trying to get me to look down.
Doree (04:24):
Oh no, what? He had
Elise (04:26):
Brought me a bird. He had stopped a bird and put it next to me in bed. No. Oh my God. Oh my God. And then I was so confused as to what was happening and I wasn't fully awake, and so I just shoved some pillows at both of them. I don't know if I was like, I don't think I was fully conscious. So I have lots of pillows around. Rob wasn't here, and I just was like, here's some pillows. And then the chirping doesn't stop. And just like, I think this is real. I think this is real. I'm not dreaming. And so then I had to turn on a light and saw Abe there. And then Abe was playing with this little bird, like a little sparrow.
Doree (05:12):
Oh no. The bird must been so scared.
Elise (05:13):
It was. And there were feathers around on my pillowcase.
Doree (05:17):
Oh God was the bird alive.
Elise (05:18):
It was so traumatized. It was kind of frozen and on its side, but it was alive. And I get really freaked out by birdwing flapping. And so had it been flying around, I definitely couldn't have dealt with it. But since Abe had already injured it, clearly I was able to put it in a little cup and take it outside to the bushes. And hopefully it either died slowly or was able to recover. But this happened to me at like two 30 in the morning. I am still kind of shook.
Doree (05:53):
Well, Abe must really love you to bring you such a gift. He was so proud of himself. He was like, mom, look. I know. He woke me up and he kept doing the little
Elise (06:05):
Head tilt, like, oh my God, pay attention. Look.
Doree (06:09):
So he goes in and out throughout the night.
Elise (06:11):
He uses the dog door
Doree (06:13):
And then he was so excited to bring you. Oh, that poor bird. Oh my God. That's insane. You've been having some real animal.
Elise (06:22):
I really have issues lately. I live in the city of Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the country, and yet I keep having these creature emergencies. Anyway, we can move on. Sorry, I just needed to unload.
Doree (06:40):
Wow. Wow. That's a lot. Well, later in the episode we have some messages from people who had a lot of thoughts about what to do about Oscar.
Elise (06:53):
Oh, my other creature problem. Yes,
Doree (06:56):
Your other creature problem. So we'll get to those. Awesome. But before that, we got a text about your possible vacation Zion.
Elise (07:08):
Oh yeah. I've been wanting to go there, but don't know about it because of Doge.
Doree (07:12):
So a listener said we went to Zion and Bryce for our spring break in April. I was worried about cuts because of Doge, but we had a great time in both places. Both said there were some quote hiring issues and campgrounds were opening later than usual, but they were settled. That's a quote. And hiring was able to happen. Shuttles were running in Zion. We had the best time tip stay at the Cable Mountain Lodge in Zion, the best. You walk directly into the park, they have shops, coffee shops and restaurants, and a really great day spa situation that was running daily specials, had the best massage in my life room for kids to run around a pool and riverfront chill balconies and rooftop patios for adults.
Elise (07:53):
That sounds delightful. Awesome. Cable Mountain lodge at Zion. Okay, we'll put it in the show notes too for any of the rest of you who might be taking your family out to the national parks this summer.
Doree (08:05):
Yeah. Wow, that sounds amazing. And then I just want to play one quick voicemail before we take a break. This was a very timely voicemail for me and possibly for you, Elise, although I feel like with three kids, you're probably already very on this.
Listener Voicemail (08:24):
Hi Dory and Elise, this is Nora. I'm calling from Rhode Island and my pronouns are she her and I am calling with just I guess a request for the listeners who have children or teenagers or who have nieces or nephews or anything of the sort. This is an extremely hard time for teachers. It's nearing the end of the year. Those of us in New England have a month to go still, and it's beautiful outside and the kids are getting absolutely bonkers and we are trying to hold it together. Many of us are burnt out. We're neglecting our home life and our partners and not cleaning and not going out because we're exhausted. And so I guess my request is for listeners or yourself to have children to send a thank you note to a teacher who has made a difference or who is just doing a relatively good job.
(09:35):
I know a lot of people give end of the year gifts or gift certificates or candy or whatever, but a thank you note honestly means so much more. And that's the thing that is going to keep us going. Obviously we need policy change and teachers need to be paid more and you should join your local school boards. But in the meantime, if you want to do something small, I think all the teachers would appreciate knowing that we've made a difference for your kid or that your kid likes our class or that your kid enjoys coming to school. And I just would love to hear those. So thank you very, very much. And I love the pod and I'm currently doing loads of laundry and listening all day, so thanks a lot. Bye.
Elise (10:20):
Such an important reminder.
Doree (10:21):
Such an important reminder.
Elise (10:23):
Yeah, because teacher appreciation gets kind of siloed to these weeks, right? Teacher appreciation week and then teachers are bombarded with Starbucks or whatever the day is that you're supposed one day you're supposed to bring your teacher a treat and the next day, and there's all these themes, but really teacher appreciation needs to happen year round because yeah, systemically they're so undervalued in society, obviously we need to pay our teachers more and she mentioned all of those systemic things. But yeah, handwritten note, a handwritten note goes a long way. Thanks for that reminder listener. And I'll do it. And you know what? I should really just encourage all my kids to do it because they do the best handwritten cards and letters because there's just kind of a child's touch to it and so I'm happy to do it, but maybe I'll remind the teachers or the kids to give their teachers extra gratitude these last few weeks of school.
Doree (11:21):
Yeah, it was funny, we talked about it in the car on the way to school today and then we got this voicemail. Henry said he wants to bake cookies for the class and I was like, I don't know if that's going to fly, but maybe he can make cookies for his teacher who he loves. So alright, that's great. Before we take a break, just to reminder, you can call or text us at eight one five nine one zero three nine zero. Email us at Forever 35 podcast@gmail.com. Our website is forever 35 podcast.com. We have links there to everything we mention here on the show. Our Instagram is Forever 35 podcast and our newsletter is forever 35 podcast.com/newsletter. And after the break we have a bunch of hair oil wrecks, so stay tuned for those. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. All right, we are back and we're going to kick off this hair oil wreck segment with a pair of voicemails from the same person they called and then they called back with another thought. So here we go.
Listener Voicemail (12:31):
Hey ladies, this voicemail is for the listeners that called in about the hair oil recommendations. Her hair was wavy to curly and I think I have the same hair texture as that caller thanks to the nineties and the early offs. I've just straightened it my whole life, but especially since having kids and not having as much time. Plus I think my hair has gotten a lot curlier since having kids. I'm really trying to lean into the curly aspect or wavy to curly aspect of it. Anyway, I want to recommend two things. One, a product that I've had luck with is Curl Smith. I've been using the hydro style flexi jelly, but there's a lot of stuff in the Curl Smith line and you can take a quiz on their website to see what might be best for you. There's also we dad, O-U-I-D-A-D, which I've had luck with, but I'm in the same boat as the caller where nothing has completely scratched that itch perfectly between getting frizzy or getting crunchy.
(13:34):
It's so hard. It's so hard to crack that nut. And then my second recommendation is, and maybe the listener already does this book, an appointment with a Diva Cut. I hate that phrase, but it's a hairstylist that goes to special training to cut curly hair. And not only will they cut your hair in a way that's amazing for your exact curls, but what I like the most about it is that you have basically their ears for that half hour or whatever to just ask questions about what's best in my hair? You're touching my hair, therefore how do I wash it? What do I put in it? How do I dry it? What product to use? So I've found that to be super helpful as well. Getting a diva cut. Alright, good luck.
Doree (14:22):
They also had a quick follow up.
Listener Voicemail (14:25):
Oh, I forgot one thing for the curly hair listener, a rebate. Elise, correct me if I'm wrong, I've never heard anybody say that word other than you. There's shampoo, it's called cleansing cream for moisture and control. It's really expensive, but it's great. Also, Elise just casually throwing in there that she focus a rebate thing. I mean, you're amazing that bottle of shampoo tiny with like 50 bucks. I'm so impressed.
Elise (14:57):
Okay,
Doree (14:58):
Bye. Elise is very cool.
Elise (15:01):
The best thing about speaking for them is they were like, oh, you actually like our products? And I'm like, yes, yes I do. And they're like, which ones? And I told them and they sent me a box. That was maybe the best thing that happened to me in all of 2024.
Doree (15:16):
I love that so much. Okay, Rex, someone wrote in to say that they have similar hair and have been using the original Moroccan oil for over 10 years. The classic, she could get a travel size to test it out and I've been using that tiny bottle for traveling, just pumps them in for my regular bottle. I've tried different oils and keep coming back to this one. It doesn't leave my hair greasy and doesn't weigh it down. I normally apply it to damp hair after washing, followed by a curl cream. I also sometimes use it on dry hair to tame it down a notch.
Elise (15:49):
Our next one says, Hey Dorian Elise on mini up 4, 4, 5, someone wrote in asking for hair oil. Rex. I'm mixed race with very curly slash coily hair and live in always humid florid. I've tried to sew many creams, oils, gels and leave-in and ultimately decided on my favorite must-have hair care products for curly girls. The heat and humidity gel is the magic to get my curls soft and frizz free. The intense curl cream is also a nice add-on too. There's also a hair oil in the lineup. Mango oil, multi-use curl treatment, which lasts really long since you don't need to use much kind of higher price point. But the good thing is you only need a small amount of these products to style your hair. It's all about finding the right ratio to use for your hair. Try experimenting with these. Hope this helps. Wait, so which brand is this?
Doree (16:46):
Oh, it's the We do.
Elise (16:48):
We do. Okay, so everything that we just mentioned was under the We do umbrella.
Doree (16:56):
I believe so, yes.
Elise (16:58):
Okay, fantastic.
Doree (16:59):
Lisa also said S side note, listening to your podcast is a small thing I do for self-care. Thank you for all you do. So nice. Another listener wrote in to say that they have a similar hair type to the original listener who asked this question and they use verbs, ghost oil and a sea salt spray and MOUs.
Elise (17:20):
Okay.
Doree (17:21):
Alright. And then do you want to take this last one, Elise?
Elise (17:25):
Sure. I have similar hair curl texture as the collar and also battle frizz. I feel like it's so much expensive trial and error, but here are a few things to try. Maybe we need JVN on forever 35 to talk hair. Jonathan Van Ness. Okay. Ghost oil by verb has hair oil. It's a drug store by verb curl defining mask, curl smith oil in cream and Curl Smith bonding oil also. And this is a separate non hair thing, a drugstore sunscreen wreck. I just came upon in love. The Cetaphil sun 50 sheer mineral face sunscreen for sensitive skin made to go under makeup. I still can't figure out something to go over makeup midday if you're going back out and would love Rex for that. Okay.
Doree (18:11):
Okay.
Elise (18:12):
That's the callout recommendations.
Doree (18:14):
That is the callout
Elise (18:15):
For sunscreen to put over makeup when you're reapplying midday.
Doree (18:19):
Okay, there we go. Alright, Elise, that concludes our hair oil portion of the podcast.
Elise (18:28):
Yeah, thanks for all the wrecks.
Doree (18:30):
Yeah, these are great. We are going to take another little break and when we come back we're going to have a bunch of dog training tips. Also, we mentioned this on the last episode, but if you are over listening to ads on this podcast, you can subscribe to our Patreon at the $10 level and you can get ad free episodes. So that is at patreon.com/forever three five. That helps keep the show going without the need for you to listen to ads. So if that is something that appeals to you, head on over to our Patreon. Alright, going to take a short break and we will be right back.
Elise (19:05):
Okay. We'll be right back.
Doree (19:14):
Alright, we are
Elise (19:16):
Back. And as you all know, I've been having some puppy problems as in I have a giant 80 pound puppy and he's very rambunctious and mischievous and I've about had it with him swallowing things. Oh gosh. He's had two trips to the hospital, one major surgery, and it's just like he's a little menace. A large menace.
Doree (19:43):
A large menace.
Elise (19:45):
And you all have heard my stories and have called in.
Doree (19:50):
Yes. Thank you so much for all of these suggestions. We're going to start with a voicemail.
Listener Voicemail (19:55):
Hey Elise and Dory, I am listening to the latest mini episode in your woes of Oscar continuing. So I don't have a dog. I am not a dog whisperer. I am not someone who is well-versed in dogs, but on Instagram, and I'm sorry if this is useless information, but what they did or what they do is they save Amazon boxes like the bigger ones or boxes in general. And when the dog is getting antsy or energetic or whatever, they give them the box to just rip apart and tear through and it doesn't really matter because it's cardboard and it scratches the destruction itch and it's kind of like a puzzle I guess is what they were saying, but in a non-destructive, productive sort of way. I don't know if that's something that would make sense for you or not, but I just figured I'd leave it there and I'm sure other people will have better suggestions because they actually have dogs, but I figured I would just leave that here and share what I saw while doom scrolling on and stuff. Thank you so much. Bye.
Elise (21:16):
Thank you. I have tried that a bit in that sometimes because he likes to shred, I'll just experiment with leaving a box, an Amazon box or some sort of packaging to see if he wants to get into that. And he really prefers to get into my porch furniture when given a choice, he'd go for the many hundreds of dollars of a mat that costs a cushion that cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. He has good taste. He has good taste. Maybe I'll give him more box options and see if he takes that up.
Doree (21:56):
Oh man. Alright, we got some more suggestions. Elise, in regards to your puppy, I believe his tendency to chew and destroy things slash swallow toys is because he isn't being properly exercised. Depending on breed dogs need one to two hours a day of intense exercise, running off leash, wrestling, et cetera, and puppies need even more then when not exercising. They should be in rest mode in their crate or somewhere safe. Puppies should not be left out unsupervised to do as they please dangerous, ingesting things, destructive and setting up bad habits for life.
Elise (22:33):
Oh no.
Doree (22:33):
Even at home, when my dogs were young, I would keep them with me at all times on leash, even in the house until she learns between right and wrong in proper size crate when left home alone. But I really think the dog needs mental stimulation and engagement and much more exercise going on walks doesn't cut it unfortunately. This listener's really telling it like it is. Perhaps perhaps look into a local trainer to help with guidance. Some LA dog walkers will take out for pack hikes, which is a great way to get out that pent up energy once old enough and trained well enough to go off leash. Just don't want pup to suffer from eating or chewing on the wrong things and don't want you stuck with any more high vet bills, but get on top of it now or else pup won't learn and will just become more destructive and be a forever chewer. Yikes. I'm meaning this all to hopefully be helpful and not sound judgy. I've trained several dogs from puppies, so I do have a little experience and also into puppy training as well for things I needed extra help with. Hope you and Pup are doing well and enjoying yourselves despite the frustrations. Raising a puppy is so hard but rewarding. Love from Northern California.
Elise (23:40):
I appreciate it. Yeah, no, I appreciate it. And I have thinking, we walk Oscar a lot multiple times a day, but it does seem like he's still not tired out sometimes. I mean, sometimes if he goes on a bunch of really long walks, he's eventually sleepy and sleeps through the afternoon is a very mellow dog. But he does need a lot of exercise, so she's not wrong. She's not wrong on that. And I did, on your recommendation door, on the pack hike, I reached out to the guy who does that and they're just trying to figure out whether I live too far. I think geographically they have just have to.
Doree (24:24):
Yeah,
Elise (24:25):
But I'm working on it. Thanks for the tips.
Doree (24:28):
Okay. Are you immensely prepared to hear some more tips?
Elise (24:33):
Okay.
Doree (24:34):
Okay. Yes, this is the last one. All right, Elise, I keep a bunch of these filled with peanut butter in my freezer. They keep my dog busy and help her manage being alone when I'm not home or doing something in another room that she can't be a part of. I would Google puzzle toys and stock up on a variety. And they linked to a Kong, which we had. This is what we used to help Bo through his separation anxiety. We used a variety of Kongs. We would fill them with high value treats, as they say in dog training world and hide them in different places in the house. So he would have to find them and work on them. And that helped him sort of get over the hump of being left alone.
Elise (25:24):
But
Doree (25:25):
If you're creating him when you're gone, that's not as much of an issue. But this might just help with mental stimulation, even when you're home. It could be an activity for him
Elise (25:34):
For sure, because when he gets bored, if I'm on a long zoom call, then he comes up to me and wants to play and is a distraction. So yeah, I've experimented with various Kongs. I also got the Popsicle, which was sold to me at a dog training place. The Popsicle was especially designed to keep your dog occupied for at least 20 minutes, and it's like a round thing that you put inside the toy itself. You screw it in and then he kind of has to lick at it continually, continuously until he gets, he finishes it. So that's worked. But then the Popsicle disappeared. Now the popsicle's gone and it was a $40 toy. So I don't know if I'm going to get another one for a while. I know. It's just like, my God, I'm trying various things. They work to various degrees, but he is making progress. He's getting better. Okay, good, good, good. And I think a lot of y'all's thematic advice is, right, which is like just be patient, be consistent, make sure he gets lots of exercise and yeah, received with thanks.
Doree (26:38):
Okay. Well, Elise, we got a lot of wrecks on this episode and thank you. We appreciate them. So thank you to everyone and we will talk to you soon.
Elise (26:51):
Okay.