You Ask, We Answer: What To Read and Where To Live
Listeners send in their thoughts on women supporting women, fart walks and taking work breaks, deciding between homeownership without community or high-cost of living with community, and a disagreement about whether reading romance is similar to porn. Plus, some book and alarm clock recs and a call out for post-surgery recovery tips.
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Transcript
The following transcript is AI generated.
Doree Shafrir (00:09):
Hello and welcome to Forever 35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Doree Shafrir.
Elise Hu (00:17):
And I'm Elise Hu and we are two friends who like to talk a lot about serums.
Doree Shafrir (00:21):
And this is one of our new you ask, we answer episodes, formerly known as many episodes, but now they are longer and media. More questions. And we really get into things so thank you as always for your questions. We have so many good ones today, so I'm excited to get to all of them.
Elise Hu (00:48):
Yay.
Doree Shafrir (00:48):
But first, Elise, how's it going?
Elise Hu (00:51):
It's going all right. I've survived my rave over the weekend as part of my middle-aged rave club. Mark. I think I have one a quarter in me. I think I can go once a quarter. I think if it gets more frequent than that, I might have deleterious health functions. It might not be good or effects. So it was really fun though. And then otherwise I'm in pretty good spirits, very busy. They call this May, Sember for a reason. I have this irregularly updated Substack that used to be a tiny letter that I started in 2015 because I was keeping in touch with eight of my friends after I moved to Korea. And I would just share links to whatever stories I had just published, not published, but reported and some links and things that I had been reading. And a lot of the times it was stuff of international interest or Asia related because my perspective was a little different from the other side of the world.
(01:55):
And I just kept doing it and it kind of grew. And then Substack was coming online or other people started doing Substack and I was like, "Oh, I'll just bring it over there." But I have no rhyme or reason to it. It doesn't come out at any sort of regular intervals, but then I've been all stressed out because I have too much stuff going on. And so I was like, "Oh, now is about the time I should just put together a newsletter." And so I was working on it this morning and I was like, I think it starts with this is going to be all over the place because a lot has happened and it's hard when you're in the trees to see sort of the larger themes of what's happening. And I think that maybe when I do my end of year reflection, I'll kind of be able to see 2026 more clearly.
(02:42):
But I went back to a January huesletter and it talks about ice and Renee Goode and that's what January was.
Doree Shafrir (02:51):
Yeah.
Elise Hu (02:53):
So it's been kind of another crisis here. And then the year before, January 2025, it was the fires one week into the year. So we've been in this like heightened fight, flight, freeze mode. For sure. And I think it's a lot on a lot of our nervous systems. It's certainly been a lot on mine. How about you? How are you doing? How was your birthday? How are you feeling?
Doree Shafrir (03:16):
My birthday was good. I asked for a Kindle. I used to have a Kindle and I don't know, a while ago, like at least a year ago, it just sort of stopped working and I'd had it for so long that it was like out of warranty and I was like, "Well, I have the Kindle app on my iPad. I can just read on my
(03:40):
IPad," which is true. However, there's a lot of other stuff on an iPad that is tempting if you wake up in the middle of the night. Not to mention the glare from the iPad does not help you go to sleep. It makes you stay awake. I was like, okay, maybe what I need is a Kindle because I can't have the iPad in the bedroom anymore. I don't have my phone in my bedroom. And so I was always like, "Well, I don't sleep with my phone." But I did sleep with an iPad, which is almost the same. There are a few apps I didn't. I didn't have real social media. I didn't have Facebook on it or Instagram, but I had everything else. And so if I woke up in the middle of the night and I was just sort of scrolling, scrolling, it was hard to get back to sleep.
(04:38):
I was like, "Okay, I think a Kindle is going to help and it will also help me read more books because I feel like I've sort of fallen off with book reading because I was doing so much mindless scrolling in bed." I was like, "Well, I'll just read all of Reddit."
Elise Hu (04:58):
Yeah, you love your Reddit.
Doree Shafrir (04:59):
I love my Reddit that I was doing late at night or early in the morning. So first few nights of the Kindle, I did not wake up in the middle of the night. So that was great. I did wake up last night and I think it was because of Bo. He was out of water and so he was like, "Hey guys, I need some water." I gave him some water and then five minutes later he was like, "Well, now I need to go out. " Geez. So I was like, "Bo." And then I'm trying to go back to sleep and I was like, "Well, I'll just read my Kindle for a little bit." But then I was reading for two hours.
Elise Hu (05:40):
Oh, what were you reading? What did you get into?
Doree Shafrir (05:43):
I'm reading the second book in the Slow Horses series. Did you ever read the books?
Elise Hu (05:49):
Oh, no. I don't even watch the show, but the show is supposed to be excellent.
Doree Shafrir (05:54):
I've watched season one of the show. I mean, it's very intense. I do like it. I've always sort of liked those spy John Lacarre type stories, but the books are very good. So I'd read the first one a while ago and then when I'm on my newfound book reading journey, I was like, "Well, I'll just pick up the second one, check it out of the library." So I've been reading that, but it's hard to put down. There's a lot happening and it also gets you hooked hooked. I would periodically put it down and try to go to sleep and then I couldn't and then I finally fell back asleep, but not till much later. But I do think on the whole it is better than having the iPad. So that is my big sleep news.
Elise Hu (06:49):
That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. There's a few of our listeners who have written in because they, like me, continue to use an e-reader or a Kindle that's from like 2014 and Amazon says it's not going to support them anymore with the OS updates. Also, they charge with the old mini charger that's not lightning. It's the old Android charger.
Doree Shafrir (07:12):
Yes.
Elise Hu (07:12):
Yeah. And so you still have to have those cables for it. I have a million of them.
Doree Shafrir (07:17):
Yeah. So my Kindle that stopped working used that cable.
Elise Hu (07:22):
And now it's USBC, right? The more standard protocol. Yeah,
Doree Shafrir (07:27):
Exactly.
Elise Hu (07:28):
Speaking of reading, Ava's making it through One Last Summer by Kate Spencer and she'll give me updates like, "Now they've made out three times." Those are all of my updates. That's all I got. That's really funny. Yeah. Before that it was like, "Okay, they've made out two times. I think it's getting a little steamier. I think it's heating up." And then yesterday it was like, "Now they've made out three times." And I'm like, "Okay, thank you. I have no idea what's going on in the plot, but glad you care about what's important."
Doree Shafrir (07:56):
Right, exactly. Before we take a break, I do just want to play one voicemail.That was very nice.
Listener Voicemail (08:03):
Hey, I just had something happen this week that was really lovely and I thought I would share. I work at a school and a position came up that was a higher level than what I currently do and I immediately had my coworkers, before I even knew it was open, encouraged me to apply. They were the ones who told me about it and said, "You should do this. " And it was so lovely to have women supporting women and just to have these coworkers be so encouraging. There were a lot of applicants and as it turned out, I didn't even get an interview, but it was such a good mental exercise for me and expanding what I do or what I could do in my mind and then also just to have this lovely support. I was just wondering if you and your careers have experienced that and what it meant to you.
(08:54):
Thanks.
Elise Hu (08:55):
One of the best stories I have of this is with my colleague and good friend, one of my close friends, Elsa Chang, because when I was covering tech for NPR in DC and Elsa was covering Congress at NPR in DC, her name is Elsa and my name is Elise and we're both Taiwanese American. We look nothing alike really. No, you don't. And also I think I'm about eight inches taller than her too. So we're very differently sized people, but people would get us confused all the time. I would get emails about stories about Congress and covering Congress and she would get introductions to like tech sources in Silicon Valley and things. And then when I was announced as the sole bureau chief, she got tons of congratulation notes because we were constantly getting confused for one another. And so Maddie, who also worked at NPR, my ex- husband, he did this like sign for my cubicle because my cube was right off of the elevator where people came on and off the elevators and it was like a photo of me and then a separate photo of Elsa and then underneath it was underneath my picture.
(10:07):
It was like, not Elsa. And then underneath the picture of Elsa was like, "Not Elise." And then it was like a guy like Elsa's desk is this way. Elise's desk is here. And it's evidence of obviously how Asians get confused and like the bald black guys all got confused at NPR too because there weren't enough of us. But it ended up like being the beginning of our friendship. We became friends through this in a lot of ways and then continued to support each other as we moved up the ranks of NPR and one of her strongest held values is being a good friend. I think she's given interviews to the cut about this and I'm somebody who has said again and again that like what I want on my tombstone is that all my friends became friends. And so
(10:56):
She's an example of a colleague who has been like a fierce supporter and a generous colleague our entire, like as long as I've known her and it continues and we just got dinner together on Sunday night this week actually just a few days ago in advance of the announcements that NPR was going to have to offer buyouts. So they've offered buyouts to hundreds of our colleagues now and I think she already knew about it at the time but couldn't say anything. But it was very supportive and connective just to be together and like we both have pretty busy schedules but make an effort to see each other and like host dinners for each other and things like that. So that has continued and I think there's such value for women supporting women and especially this story comes to mind just because we were pitted against each other at first.
(11:44):
We were pitted against each other as like the Asians in the newsroom that were getting like confused over one another, but also competing for like the one slot to host Morning Edition or to host ATC and not because we were particularly like competitive, but because we were the Asians or Asian hosts that were in the approximate same amount, same point in our careers. So anyway, that's a good inversion of the way that colleagues, women can often get pitted against each other, but instead be one another's big supporters.
Doree Shafrir (12:18):
I love that. Actually just when I worked at Rolling Stone, the women kind of banded together because it was such a male dominated workplace. I imagine. Yeah.
(12:31):
And I heard yesterday, I got a text from one of my former colleagues telling me something about this guy that we used to work with and I was like, "Ugh." We will always have that bond, but you need that. I write the workplace advice column for Slate now and it's like I think maybe because of remote work or like I don't ... The workplace has changed and people aren't forming these relationships with their coworkers anymore. It's very interesting. I'm curious how this sort of like women supporting other women or mentoring or all of that, how that has shifted.
Elise Hu (13:18):
I'm certainly part of a lot of group chats and things where I haven't even met many of these women in real life, but there's one that I'm in where women are constantly sharing job opportunities that are at their workplaces and saying like, "Hey, I can run in your resume for you if you need." And it'll be requests or offers how you can help and how they can help. And that's really nice. So yeah, I guess it's happening a litle bit more in digital spaces, but-
Doree Shafrir (13:45):
Totally.
Elise Hu (13:46):
Yeah.
Doree Shafrir (13:47):
Totally. All right. Well, Elise, before we take a break and get to more of our listener questions and comments, just a reminder that you can call or text us at 781-591-0390, email us at Forever35podcast@gmail.com. Our website is forever35podcast.com. We have links there to everything we mention on the show. We are also on Instagram at Forever35podcast. And as you know, our Patreon is at patreon.com/forever35. You can join at the free level to get access to the semi-monthly newsletter where we discuss pod highlights, product reviews, exclusive discounts, giveaways, more bonus content. It's a fun time. Then for $5 a month, you get access to our casual chat, which is now on video. We also do live casual chats every few months. You get access to the community chat on the Patreon app. And then at $10 a month, you get ad free episodes and a shout out on the podcast each and every month in addition to all of the other fun things you get at the other tiers.
(14:56):
So head over to patreon.com/forever35 to sign up and our favorite products are at shopmy.us/forever35. And we are going to take a break. When we come back, we have a voicemail about fart walks and Matt came in to my office as I was listening to this voicemail and he was like, "What?" I was like, "Fart walks.
(15:24):
Duh." And also some big life questions as well So we'll be right back.
Elise Hu (15:31):
We'll be right back.
Doree Shafrir (15:39):
All right we are back as promised, here is that voicemail.
Listener Voicemail (15:46):
Hi Elise and Doree. I was just listening to the interview about the five minute break and wanted to add a technique that has worked for me for the past several years that also incorporates that. It's called the Pomodoro Technique and you can just search it and find a way to keep it open in your browser and they also have apps for your phone as well, but it includes 25 minutes of productivity and then a five minute break and then every few segments it gives a 15 minute break and I work from home in a role that requires me to shift my focus fairly frequently throughout the day and I have found that taking these breaks helps with that. I also spend that time moving my body, not necessarily in the traditional sense of exercise, but that's when I do my laundry, do dishes, so on and so forth.
(16:42):
So I get things done around the house as well, but also move myself away from my desk and then it allows me to come back, focus in on my work and shift my focus if needed. I would say right now as the mother of two young kids, that paired with an after dinner fart walk is about all the exercise I get, but I feel like really has helped my physical and mental health and like you mentioned in the interview, no sense of diet culture attached to either of these habits. So I strongly recommend that people check out both of these things. The fart walk was made famous by Marilyn Smith, who I follow on Instagram and then the Pomodoro technique people can just search and they will find tons of information on it. Thank you so much for the pod and these valuable interviews that you provide.
Elise Hu (17:35):
The interview she's talking about is the one just from what? The May 18th with Manoush Zomarodi, who wrote a book on this topic on five minute breaks called Body Electric or The Body Electric. So check it out and yeah, a lot of tech guys, I feel like the Pomodoro technique was big. Maybe during the second Obama administration, there were a lot of like tech guys who were into working with the Pomodoro method. I've never tried it. I don't even know if I can work for 25 minutes straight, frankly. Seems like a long time.
Doree Shafrir (18:11):
I've done it and I've done it in like group work sessions as well.
Elise Hu (18:19):
How has it worked for you?
Doree Shafrir (18:21):
I think it does work. I kind of like the sort of sprints, like the bursts of work time and then the break. So yeah, I'm a fan. All right. On a totally different note, Elise, do you want to read this next email?
Elise Hu (18:38):
Sure. Hi, Elise and Doree. Question for you and the pod about making big life choices. My partner and I live in an HCOL, high cost of living area, Boston and we're trying to plan for our future. We have one young child in our thinking about trying to have a second. We'd also love to have the stability of owning a home, especially as we think about our kiddo going to school in the nearish future. However, it feels so tight to be able to do both. If we moved to a lower cost of living area, i.e. Outside of Massachusetts, I feel like we could have everything we want, financial stability, family size, home ownership, but we'd leave behind our nearby family and community. If we stay, I feel like we'll have to choose growing our family or home ownership while still feeling financially stretched, but have the social community benefits of our existing friends and family nearby.
(19:28):
We are already quite frugal and I feel confident this isn't a budgeting issue. It's also not a living beyond our means issue. We're truly just looking to settle down in a home with more than one toilet. The dream. My spouse already works two, sometimes three jobs and I've been looking for a second part-time gig to help ad more cushion. You both have made big moves and live in HCOL, high cost of living places. How did you make the decision to stay, to move? Would you advise your friends/loved ones to make different decisions than ones you've made? I know ultimately this is a decision that the two of us have to make, but I'd love to hear how you've approached this in your own lives. If there are listeners who have made the decision to move to a lower cost of living place, how did you do it?
(20:10):
Thanks for considering the question.
Doree Shafrir (20:13):
I mean, I feel this as someone who lives in a high cost of living place and whose family lives in a high cost of living place. I'm sort of envious of these people who are like, "I'm just going to move to this low cost of living city where I'm from." They get the low cost of living and the family and community support. So yeah, I feel you. What do you think, Elise?
Elise Hu (20:43):
First of all, it is not your individual responsibility to try and solve this structural problem. We were just doing this interview with Stephanie Coontz, a historian who's going to come up in an upcoming episode and she talked about like because of wealth inequality that the amount that it takes, the percentage of income that it takes to be able to own a home or even just like put food on the table is so much greater than it was 10, 15, but especially 30 and 40 years ago. So the burden and the precariousness is certainly huge and it's structural and it's not because you're not working hard enough. So this is not some sort of personal failing by your family. Yeah, thank you for saying that. Structural and huge.
(21:30):
How I think about it, I also don't have family in this country right now. So my brother is in Hong Kong, my parents are in Taipei so I couldn't be like, "Oh, we're just going to move back to Texas where I grew up," because my family really isn't there anymore, though I do have community there. So that is like a cool consideration or something too. Think about if the cost of living in Los Angeles gets too high, I guess because you're saying that one of the reasons why you're staying where you're staying is the value of family and community there.
(22:09):
I would ask whether you feel it's reasonable to be able to build and find community in the new place that you live should you decide to move. One of the most rewarding and gratifying things of my adult life are the friends that I've made later in my adult life after moving to Los Angeles and coming here, I think when I was like 36 or something like that. And so I do think it's possible to rebuild community. It might take a couple of years, but if it would allow you to achieve your dream of home ownership and that's something that is something that you want to have and that will give you a sense of security and safety psychologically, then I can certainly attest that you can rebuild community and that it exists everywhere. It just depends on how you value these various things, home ownership, family and community, schools for your kids.
(23:07):
And you could do a kind of decision matrix and try and attach value to each and see how things land. But for me, we can reasonably scrape by here where we live in a high cost living place and so I'm okay, but should I lose a bunch of jobs or something and not have enough savings, then yes, we would also have to make completely different calculations and considerations because it is very expensive to live in Los Angeles.
Doree Shafrir (23:34):
Yeah. I'd love to hear from listeners about how they're navigating all of this. So please write in and let us know. Okay. On a different note, this is an interesting question. Hi Elise and Doree, longtime listener here looking for some insight. I had an interesting conversation with my spouse, 20 plus years married, where he compared my avid reading of romance/smut books to watching porn. I completely disagree with this take and I was surprised by how my feelings are hurt and I can't quite let it go. I'm not into porn, but I respect that some people are. It's just not my thing. We had a mature conversation and I tried to get a point across that for me, reading is about storyline, characters, conflict and trust, not just what he views as "smut" reading. He confessed that his own insecurities are triggered by me reading romance books, but he doesn't want it to affect my enjoyment of reading.
(24:37):
He also didn't understand why I was going overboard trying to explain how it is not comparable to porn. Am I valid in getting the ick now that I know how he feels about it? Should we dig deeper into the causes of his insecurities or do I just keep enjoying my reading as life is short and there are many other problems to worry about? Love any feedback from you too, love you both.
Elise Hu (24:58):
What is she getting the ick about? Is she getting the ick about her husband?
Doree Shafrir (25:01):
Yes.
Elise Hu (25:01):
Or is she getting the, oh, she's
Doree Shafrir (25:03):
Getting- No, she's getting the ick that her husband is triggered by her reading romance books.
Elise Hu (25:11):
Well, he should examine that, of course.
Doree Shafrir (25:13):
Yeah. I mean,
Elise Hu (25:15):
That's
Doree Shafrir (25:15):
What I think.
Elise Hu (25:16):
He should examine that, but also I can see how porn and smutty romance can have parallels. I mean, if they sort of get you going, I mean, there's different ways to do that. I don't really have an issue with that comparison, though they're different routes. I would prefer, I think, a romance novel to just whatever's on pornhub.com most watched, but that's because I, like many other women, appreciate more of a plot and more like character, but there's good porn too. There's porn for the women's gaze. One of the big problems with so much of the, I always joke, the indie short films that are produced in the Valley, one of the issues is that they're for the male gaze and they promote a lot of sex acts that I think that a lot of women then feel pressured to want or think that they want or perform in the bedroom that they might feel is coercive and that's not good.
(26:24):
Were you offended?
Doree Shafrir (26:25):
I don't know that I was offended, but I was like, "Oh, only an insecure person would even bring this up."
Elise Hu (26:35):
I mean, it hasn't come up in my house when I'm reading erotica, but- Right.
Doree Shafrir (26:39):
No, exactly, exactly. So I think this listener is right to listen to her instincts that there's some more sort of digging here to be done into why her husband is so triggered by her reading romance novels.
Elise Hu (26:56):
But it's also a great starting point too, because if there are things that you're excited about or sex acts that they're trying in these romance novels that you also want to try or you want to be more verbal during sex and it's happening in the books but not happening in your bedroom, then maybe these are kind of good starting points to actually talk about what's happening between the two of you and what's happening in your sex lives. I was actually talking to Ava about this just yesterday because she's in seventh grade sex ed right now and she was like, "What's something that you feel like ... " One of the questions, she was doing this questionnaire at dinner, which Issa, the fifth grader was like, "Oh my God." But the seventh grader, there were questions like, "What are important values that people should have when they're entering a relationship and what do you feel?" One question was like, "What do you feel like seventh graders should know about sexual relationships that maybe isn't talked about in school as much?" And I said that I feel as though she shouldn't have sexual relationships with other people unless they're able to talk about what they're doing and negotiate it.
(28:08):
I'm like, "Don't have sex with somebody unless you can talk about it. " And I think that that's something that's really important to remember because especially in college hookup culture or in a lot of heterosexual pairings, a lot of stuff is assumed like the guy is the sharkier one and the girl kind of like goes with it and that's not as assumed in homosexual relationships, which I love because then more things have to be talked about and negotiated.
Listener Voicemail (28:34):
And so
Elise Hu (28:35):
I think this is an opportunity, especially like what a cool thing in your home that this is a friction point because now you can be like, "Oh, tell me more about that. " And just lead with inquiry, be like, "What part of this bothers you? " Definitely write back and hopefully this advice doesn't cause more strife or anything in your relationship. We are not experts.
Doree Shafrir (28:54):
I mean, I also just want to offer that she might not want to do any of the sex acts in the romance novels that she's reading. She doesn't have to use-
Elise Hu (29:05):
She has a right to just enjoy these books. Yeah.
Doree Shafrir (29:06):
She can just enjoy these books and I think her husband should respect that.
Elise Hu (29:12):
For the dude, what about it triggers his insecurity and that's a great opportunity to go into it further.
Doree Shafrir (29:18):
Yeah. All right. We are going to take another short break and we will be right back with a question about hip surgery recovery.
Elise Hu (29:30):
Okay. We'll be right back.
Doree Shafrir (29:39):
Okay, we are back. Elise, you want to read this one?
Elise Hu (29:43):
Okay. Hello, writing in for the listener whose husband started rehab. "When my husband and I met, he was six months sober and we've had blips. It looks like I will be having hip surgery this year to repair what turns out is not just normal pain as part of aging. I'm wondering if Anyone has any tips for hip surgery recovery or general self-care tips for recovering after a major surgery and rehab. This is my first time ever having surgery outside of two C-section childbirths so I'm quite nervous about it. I've never been operated on so I have not.
Doree Shafrir (30:18):
Yeah. My only surgery recovery is from a C-section. I feel like this question or a similar question has been asked before and I do feel like our listeners had some great tips. So please share those tips again for surgery recovery and let us know what you did when you had to recover from surgery.
Elise Hu (30:46):
My dad has two titanium hips, so he has had two hip surgeries. And what I mainly recall about this, obviously I haven't been living with him since I left for college, but what I recall about the recovery was that he made it worse by not going to all of his PT. Definitely do all of the rehab via physical therapy.
Doree Shafrir (31:12):
I would also say don't push it. Don't decide you're going to just get up and walk around because you feel okay one day if you haven't been cleared by your doctor because I think recovery in general goes better when you sort of stick to the timeframe, even if it's frustrating. Okay. Next email we had someone responding about the question about tech fiction. And this person wrote, "Highly recommend animal instinct by Amy Shearn. Perimenopause, divorce, motherhood, AI all wrapped into on clever package. I heard about it because Curtis Sitenfeld recommended it in The Guardian as "perfect holiday reading." And she was right. I gulped it up last summer and adored it.
Elise Hu (32:06):
I'm really excited about this. This was such a great recommendation that I went straight to Libby, my library app to try and check it out at the library and our public library here in Los Angeles does not carry it. Consider yourself called out LA County Public Library.
Doree Shafrir (32:22):
Wow. That's shocking actually. All right. Elise, you want to read this last ...
Elise Hu (32:29):
Sure. Hi ladies. Wanted to write in with an alarm clock recommendation. My husband introduced me to the Sunrise alarm. There are many brands, but we have one from Monroe and Co. I'm shocked by how it wakes me up. It gets bright gradually over about 20 minutes and I cannot sleep once it's at its brightest. I love it because there is no jarring noise in the AM. If not this brand, then there are many others. Hope that helps. Yeah.
Doree Shafrir (32:54):
Ooh, okay.
Elise Hu (32:55):
So waking up with the sun.
Doree Shafrir (32:56):
Alarm. Yeah, I like that.
Elise Hu (32:59):
Yes.
Doree Shafrir (32:59):
All right. Well, it is time for the intention zone.
Elise Hu (33:04):
So my leisure reading intention was fairly good. I had a lot of socializing to do over the weekend and over this past week. So I would have liked to do more, but I am leisure reading homeschooled a memoir by Stefan Block, who I went to high school with, but it's also a read with Jenna Quickpick. And I didn't even know this about his homeschooled life because we were in high school together, but not in middle school together. And he was basically middle schooled before I met him and he did seem like a strange kid. That's so amazing. I didn't realize it was because he wasn't socialized all these years.
(33:42):
Wow. This week, gosh, we're getting so close to the end of the school year. It's wild. I know. This week, something I want to do that has really been beneficial is ask for more help driving. It makes me really unhappy to drive everywhere and sometimes I have to drive both directions and I have too many kids to be able to drive both directions. So I want to do a new thing in which I only drive one direction for each of the kids and then they have to figure it out or other parents or I will ask for help to kind of do the other direction. And I think that that's going to be a real game changer for me.
Doree Shafrir (34:20):
I love that. Well, I have pretty much figured out my book schedule.
Elise Hu (34:27):
Yay.
Doree Shafrir (34:28):
So that is going well. And then this week I am throwing a tennis themed birthday party. I'm excited. I'm also like, oh, I have to sort of plan a party. I mean, I think it'll be chill, but yeah, just going to try and sort of enjoy myself.
Elise Hu (34:52):
Yeah. And you're doing it at a park, right? So there's already tables and everything. You don't have to bring anything.
Doree Shafrir (34:58):
Well, no, there aren't really tables at this particular
Elise Hu (35:01):
Park. Okay. I can bring some for you if you need. Just lay
Doree Shafrir (35:03):
Out. I have a table, but yeah.
Elise Hu (35:09):
Well, I got you. Just decide how you want the layout to be, and if you need more, I've got you.
Doree Shafrir (35:14):
Okay. Thank you so much. All right. Thanks everyone for listening. Again, this is our new format you ask, we answer and please send in your questions, your comments, your concerns, et cetera. And Forever35 is hosted and produced by me, Doree Shafrir and Elise Hu, and produced and edited by Samee Junio. Sami Reed is our project manager and our network partner is ACAST. Thanks everyone.
Elise Hu (35:41):
Talk to you next time.
Doree Shafrir (35:41):
Bye.