This Is My Circus

Episode 74 šŸŽŖ: Parenting, True Crime and Choas: Dragon Skulls, Disney Diagnoses, & the Book We Finally Loved ā€“ Lake of Lost Girls Review + AITA Chaos

ā€¢ Stefanie Navarro

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Hosts: Stefanie Navarro & Meredith Hill
Run Time: ~50 min
Theme: Conspiracy theories, Disney deep dives, personality quizzes, true crime book club, and a jaw-dropping ā€œAm I the A-hole?ā€ with a shocking twist.

šŸŽ§ In This Episode:

Buckle up, yā€™all. Weā€™ve got dragon skulls in Romania, secret worlds under the North Pole, and Disney characters with psychological diagnoses. Stefanie and Meredith dive into internet rabbit holes (looking at you, TikTok), share an ADHD-friendly productivity tool, and test each other with a revealing personality quiz involving otters and sloths. Then itā€™s time for the ultimate AITA bombshell that left everyone speechlessā€”plus, a book club pick that finally delivered.

šŸ’¬ Topics Covered:

šŸ‰ Dragons Are Real (Probably):
A ā€œdragon skullā€ discovered in a Romanian well? TikTok theories? Creatures in caves? Stefanie takes us down the conspiracy spiralā€”Admiral Byrd, Hollow Earth, and all.

šŸ§  Goblin Tools for ADHD Brains:
An online tool that turns ā€œclean your roomā€ into bite-sized tasksā€”with chili peppers and magic wands. Game changer for list-makers and distracted girlies.

šŸ¾ Personality Quiz with a Twist:
If you were an animalā€¦ what would that reveal about how the world sees you (and how you see yourself)? Things get deep, funny, and very on-brand.

šŸ° Disney Princesses & Diagnoses:
Theorists say each Disney character represents a psychological disorderā€”from Rapunzel's PTSD to Arielā€™s hoarding tendencies. Is it a stretchā€¦ or does it actually check out?

šŸ§  AITA: The Gay Bookstore, The Slur, and the Secret Son:
A 19-year-old employee crosses a lineā€¦ then drops a bombshell that changes everything. Letā€™s just sayā€”this oneā€™s got plot twists worthy of a Netflix miniseries.

šŸ“š Book Club: Lake of the Lost Girls by Katherine Greene
ā€“ A dual-timeline thriller that actually lived up to the hype
ā€“ Complex sisterhood, dark family secrets, and a body hidden shockingly close to home
ā€“ The girls rate it a solid 9/10ā€”finally, a win!

šŸ“– Next Weekā€™s Read:
The Marsh Kingā€™s Daughter by Karen Dionne ā€” an abduction, survivalist father, and one daughter hunting him down in the marsh. Letā€™s go.

šŸ§  Quote of the Week:

ā€œI try to put out food and lazy.ā€ ā€” Stefanie, proudly identifying as a sloth

šŸ“¢ Announcements:

  • VIP Circus Crew access is coming!
  • Exclusive video episodes, merch drops, and behind-the-scenes content on the way
  • Please rate & review the podcastā€”it helps so much!

šŸ’„ Donā€™t Forget:

  • Subscribe to the show
  • Leave a review (seriously, go do it šŸ˜˜)
  • Follow us on TikTok & Instagram @thisismycircuspodast
  • Share this chaos with a friend who loves a little conspiracy with their coffee

šŸŽŖ Until next time, keep the TikTok theories wild, the books twisty, and the kids only mildly feral.

This is our circusā€”and these are definitely our monkeys. šŸ’

Welcome to, this is my circus, the podcast where we embrace the chaos and keep it real about parenting, pop culture, true crime, and the books we can't put down because let's be honest, life is one big circus and we're just trying to survive with caffeine, sarcasm, and a little true crime obsession. So if you love unfiltered conversation, questionable parenting hacks, and deep dives into the things that keep us up at night, you're in the right place. Buckle up, grab your popcorn, and let's get into the chaos.

Stefanie:

I'm Stephanie.

Meredith:

I'm Meredith.

Stefanie:

And welcome to This is my circus and Meredith is not here. We are zooming today.

Meredith:

Yep. We are zooming today. I am at the beach

Stefanie:

Lucky dog.

Meredith:

I'm sitting on my balcony right now and, just came in and had some supper and just enjoying, some away time. Yeah. So it's nice.

Stefanie:

Nice. Well,

Meredith:

Yeah, I worked yesterday, so it was tough to sit here and know I was right here and not be able to, Enjoy the sun, but well at, at, at least

Stefanie:

the view is nice.

Meredith:

Great. The view is nice. so it's, we're at Myrtle. Myrtle, dirty Myrtle. Whoops. I dropped you. I caught you. I gotcha. yeah, so we're like north. There's not, it's not like the party area or anything, so that's really good. Jackson brought a friend and, you know, they're doing their thing. is Dylan at the beach?

Stefanie:

No, he, is actually miniature golfing with Ruthie right now.

Meredith:

I thought that he was going to the beach this week with Tyler.

Stefanie:

No, no, no. That's like the end of may be, and June.

Meredith:

And that's with Reagan

Stefanie:

actually.

Meredith:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I totally messed that up. How are you?

Stefanie:

Good, good. How was Easter?

Meredith:

Well, you saw my Easter basket that I made for Jackson, so, it was fine. It was, it was fine. So I ended up giving him Miss Crocs early. That he had wanted. So I didn't make the do the ears. but I didn't have time. So I was house, not house sitting. I was dog sitting on Saturday, so I had to go back and forth and let them out a few times. The same time I was doing that, I was helping a friend at a wedding. Mm-hmm. and King's Mountain with her photography stuff. So I was doing that plus trying to just mentally get myself together with what I needed to pack. Yeah. so I stopped at a, dollar Tree, family Dollar or something and just grabbed some of all the candies. I know Jackson liked and threw'em in the bag and he was just fine with it.

Stefanie:

Well, you

Meredith:

know, yeah. He was fine. So we went to church that morning, which was nice. We hadn't been to church in a long time, and actually one of the ladies there who I never would have expected said, I see you have a podcast. I've watched some of the clips sometime. So Charlene, if you're listening, Hey girl. But it was, I never would have expected out of all the people there to have said something. So, um, that was, that was funny. That was great.

Stefanie:

You're famous.

Meredith:

Well, sure. but it, it was nice to go to church and do all that. So then we came home, threw our stuff in the car and we left.

Stefanie:

Nice.

Meredith:

And there was zero traffic yesterday. Really? I was expecting there to be just like all kinds of jam traffic jams and whatever. We did not stop one time we got in the car and we got here like right at three and a half hours. Mm-hmm. Um, no, no issues at all. Okay. I was like, thank you. Yes. That's nice. Uhhuh doesn't happen often, so when it does, I'll take it.

Stefanie:

Yeah, for sure.

Meredith:

Mm-hmm.

Stefanie:

Um, well we, I had texted you, Dylan had to get his phone. Switched over, fixed, whatever. so we were at T-Mobile store and Dylan, I was on, Amazon.'cause we were sitting there waiting for all the data to transfer over to the other phone and, I saw a cooler backpack on Amazon and I was like, Dylan, would you use that? Like when you go fishing or, because he goes fishing a lot with his friends and he's like, yeah, actually I would. That's really cool. And I was like, add to cart, right? And so that is what his basket, actually was. That's cute

Meredith:

though. That's a cute idea. And actually probably not even add to cart, but buy now.

Stefanie:

Well it was like, oh, I wanted to make sure like the location address was right and,'cause there's two dials and different locations in there,

Meredith:

nice.

Stefanie:

Yeah, so he, he liked his stuff and he was happy. Ruthie was happy. So

Meredith:

I'll say she was,'cause we know girls shopping for girls is not something we're used to. So. She liked her basket.

Stefanie:

Yeah. Um, Lowe's came in clutch because one of her favorite colors is purple. So I was looking for a purple Stanley and everywhere was sold out of like purple and Lowe's had a purple.

Meredith:

I'll have to tell Brian

Stefanie:

I walked around aimlessly like looking for it and it was right by the register. Oh. But I went around the entire store.

Meredith:

What day were you there?

Stefanie:

Saturday.

Meredith:

Oh. So lemme tell you this, lemme make sure this door is shut, I don't know why, because Brian's gonna listen anyway. Okay. So, as I said, I was helping Ashley at the wedding with the photography stuff, right? That's been on the calendar for a while. That was not a surprise, that was not new information. also for a couple weeks, Brian knew I was helping this lady with her dog, right? Mm-hmm. And how crazy that was gonna be, and the packing, like it was a lot. I probably shouldn't have tried to take on all of that at one time, but I made it through. So Friday night, Brian's like, they're offering, you know, if anybody wants to come in to work at Lowe's tomorrow on Saturday, I was like, well sure. Go thinking. He would know I needed him home. Oh. And here's, I was like, why is that such a big deal? Here's the other thing, you know, Jackson and Brian are cutting yard. Mm. And they had told'em they were gonna be there at a specific time, or I had relayed the message to the people saying that they would be there at a specific time. Well, Brian wasn't coming home till like three. He worked like seven to three or something. They were supposed to cut yards at noon. And I was like. I'll just put it in my car. So I threw all of it in my car and we went, but then backing out of the garage,'cause I was in my feelings, I hit the golf cart, little scratch on the side of my car from the golf cart. We get to the lady's house and she had called me, like, as I was backing into the golf cart, and she said, somebody, my neighbor came and cut my grass. so don't worry about cutting it, but if y'all wanna like get these weeds in the back and you know, do some other things. I was like, okay, let me call you back. I just plowed the golf cart over. So she was like, okay. So we get there and she, she had sent me a picture of what weed she wanted down. So I'm weed eating and all of a sudden the weed eater runs outta stream. And I've already got so much in my freaking head that I've tried to, you know, it's just those, those days.

Stefanie:

Yeah. And that would've been the point where I start crying. Because I'm a crier.

Meredith:

Yeah. So I actually, I. When I, I hit the golf cart, I was driving obviously, and it was on the passenger side, and I got out and I was not gonna pull my car up again'cause I didn't want it to scratch more. I was like, let me just pull the golf cart away. Yeah. To avoid it. But I just sat on the golf cart for a second, just like closing my eyes and try to get myself together. He said, mom, are you good? And I was like, just gimme a second. No. So yeah, it was, and then like I said, that was a like noon. I had to leave at one to get to King's Mountain. It was just, you know, those tiktoks you see of like, I told my husband we're having 80 people over and he's out here like blowing out the attic or something random. What they do. Yeah. What they do. But it all got done and everything is good. And I am sandy and salty. So

Stefanie:

it's all good now. Yeah.

Meredith:

Yes, absolutely. This yellow is making me look really tan, isn't it?

Stefanie:

It is. And it matches your hat. It does Me, you, my

Meredith:

baby suit because I'm going back in the hot tub. Sorry I'm all over the place today. No,

Stefanie:

it's all good. You're on vacation, you're allowed to be.

Meredith:

Yeah, I guess

Stefanie:

well, I found a really cool online tool for A DHD. Okay. And I know that we are both super flighty it is called goblin tools. Okay. So it is this site and you pull it up and you type in whatever the task is that you wanna do. most people with a DHD, and I'm very much this s way, needs everything broken down into minute steps, you know, like mm-hmm. And I like to be able to check things off, to see that I'm making progress. Yes. So even if it's like clean my office and I put in, clean my office and reorganize books. Yeah. And it will ask you how broken down do you want it? And you use like these little chili peppers and it's one to five chili peppers of how broken down you need it. Okay. And then you hit the little magic wand and it breaks it down into minute steps. And then you can either use the website and like check off as you're going or you can print it off and cross it off or whatever.

Meredith:

Yes.

Stefanie:

But it is super cool.

Meredith:

That sounds like it's really handy and I a hundred percent get it. I am a list maker to my core.

Stefanie:

Yeah.

Meredith:

For satisfaction of making progress. Mm-hmm.

Stefanie:

Marking

Meredith:

something off, showing that I've been productive.

Stefanie:

I'm making sure I don't forget something.

Meredith:

No, absolutely none of that I wonder if it's an app or is it, you said it's just, it's the website.

Stefanie:

I'm not sure. I had seen it on I think TikTok or somewhere, somebody had like shown them using it and I was like, that is so freaking cool. So I went in there Yeah. To test it and was like, clean. I need to clean my office and reorganize my books on my bookshelf. And it was like, step one, clean off the top of your bookshelf and dust it. Step two, take off all of your books and rearrange by alphabetical order. Um, if you don't like alphabetical order, you can do it by author right. it gave you different ideas to organize and then it's like, step three, uh, put all books back on. Oh, dust off all shelves while books are off. Step four. I like it. Yeah. So, and then it was like, clean off your desk, you know, use cleaning product to wipe everything down. Any papers you don't need throwing the trucks. Yeah.

Meredith:

So. Oh, that's good. And you know what, with that too, it helps you stay locked in, into what you're doing. Right? Because I am the queen of, oh, I'm gonna clean out my closet. Oh, I wonder if this dress still fits. This will look good on vacation. Let me go plan a cruise. I mean, random and, yeah, exactly. Yes. Um, nice. Goblin dot. What tools? Goblin tools. Okay. Mm-hmm.

Stefanie:

So really cool. I was pleasantly surprised by that little feature. Yeah. And I'm sure like chat GPT or whatever all would also do that for you. But I just like the little chili peppers and the little magic wand.

Meredith:

Yes, absolutely. I have been using the heck out of chat, GBT lately. I've needed some help writing some things, and I'm like, can you make this sound more professional? Can you make this sound? More, empathetic or whatever. I'm loving it. I'm all about it.

Stefanie:

Yeah. I I am a avid chat GBT user for all the things,

Meredith:

all the things. Don't know how we live without it.

Stefanie:

Well, do you wanna have a little fun?

Meredith:

Of course.

Stefanie:

It's a personality test. So I'm gonna give you three questions

Meredith:

Okay.

Stefanie:

And I'll tell you mine after we're done. Okay. So if you can be any animal in the world, what would it be and why? And just think about this,

Meredith:

what would it be and why? Mm-hmm. Did you come up with an answer Pretty quickly because I'm like struggling.

Stefanie:

I didn't at first. but it, it eventually, like I thought of something'cause I was like, oh, well,

Meredith:

yeah. So I'm thinking, like a domesticated cat.

Stefanie:

Okay. And why?

Meredith:

Because they really don't have to do much of anything. And they're cute and adorable and everybody loves them. Like, if you like cats, you like cats. You know what I'm saying? They don't have a job.

Stefanie:

So I had chosen dogs.

Meredith:

I was gonna choose a

Stefanie:

dog, but I was like, well, and I was like, well, dogs are loyal and they like to cuddle and you know, your companion is like what I was thinking for, you know, like, they're, they're, they're loving. Yeah. Okay. So if, if that animal became extinct, what would your next animal be that you would be. And why?

Meredith:

Yeah. I don't know. Like, I'm trying to think. Practically not like,'cause they're just cute and fluffy. maybe like, maybe like a lion.

Stefanie:

Okay. Why?

Meredith:

Because they are powerful and respected and, which is kinda a lot of the opposite stuff of my first animal. But they're the, top of the food chain, you know what I mean? Like, they're, they're just, they're them.

Stefanie:

I chose, I chose an otter.

Meredith:

They're, I mean, yeah, they're adorable.

Stefanie:

They're small and they're fun, and they get into a lot of trouble.

Meredith:

Yeah. That, that's very true. That's very true. That's you. That is you. Is that what this is supposed to prove?

Stefanie:

So, number three. So if those animals were extinct, what would you choose?

Meredith:

I would choose like a big gorilla. I cannot wait to hear what these,

Stefanie:

why do you want to be a big,

Meredith:

Because they have a lot of human traits, human capabilities, like they got fingers and a thumb. They can do things, they can communicate. again, I think they're, they're, they're respected. They're big and, you know, powerful. They're at the, near the top of the food chain. They're not really aggressive, but don't provoke. Okay. what'd you choose? A sloth?

Stefanie:

Because all they have to do is eat and chill all day, and they have lasted since prehistoric time.

Meredith:

That's a great, great answer. That's a great answer. It's not, it's not because. What did we, what did, what did we just reveal about ourselves with this?

Stefanie:

So the first question for the first animal that you chose, is how you want the world to perceive you. So like, mine was dog and it's like loyal companion. Okay, cuddly.

Meredith:

I said cat.'cause they were lazy and cute and cuddly.

Stefanie:

Okay, so the second is how the world actually perceives you.

Meredith:

Okay. The lion And what did you have? The the otter and playful. Yeah, I see it. I am powerful. And the top of the food chain,

Stefanie:

I'm

Meredith:

just like pretty much

Stefanie:

in circles. Um, and then the third is what you really are directly represents you and what you try to put out in the world. So I try to put out food and lazy.

Meredith:

I try to put out human capabilities. It's better than a slough. Well, it's been around for a while. It's not going anywhere. See, this is hard. This is a very hard thing because we're both animal lovers. Like I could have said a thousand animals. Like I had a very hard time just randomly picking an animal.

Stefanie:

You know what is funny though? Isn't neither of us picked raccoon?

Meredith:

No, no. Trash pan is for us. We both love them so much.

Stefanie:

So when you said sloth, you're like, oh yeah. And I'm like, no, that's not good.

Meredith:

That's funny though. That is funny. I like that little quiz. I'm gonna have to add Jackson. I'm gonna record it. Yeah. Oh,

Stefanie:

well. I'm

Meredith:

Dylan. Yeah, I like that. That's great.

Stefanie:

I was like, oh, well, that's insightful.

Meredith:

I thought you were gonna say, like, after I said it, I was like, oh crap. Is one of those like your spouse or something like what you're looking for to spouse?

Stefanie:

No, it's just how the world perceives you.

Meredith:

Okay, good. Nothing to do with them. Just me like it.

Stefanie:

Well along those lines, have you heard this? And I don't know, I guess it was a real study, but, the Disney princesses, yeah. They're all supposed to represent some kind of disorder. Okay. Have you ever heard of this? No. Okay. So it, um, and I'll link it in our show notes, but from the west, uh, west Georgia wellness center.com, they have a whole article on it and it like breaks down each character. So I was like, so. Confused and then like, it all made so much sense once I thought about all of these disorders that they connect to these characters.

Meredith:

Okay. So nothing is popping in my head except for sleeping beauty with narcolepsy.

Stefanie:

Okay, so Rapunzel. Okay. She is supposed to represent post-traumatic stress disorder due to her long captivity in the isolated tower. Her anxiety and jumpiness when exposed to new experiences can reflect trauma related responses as she navigates trust issues and profound fear of the unknown.

Meredith:

So do we, is this really, like, was this the intention when they created these or is that just what we're picking apart now? Do think it

Stefanie:

doesn't say, it just says that there was, I guess a bunch of psychiatrists analyzed the characters. Okay.

Meredith:

I mean, that makes sense for Rapunzel.

Stefanie:

All right. Donald Duck. Intermittent explosive disorder.

Meredith:

Yes.

Stefanie:

Yes. he's a hothead by nature with a short fuse and he is become iconic for that. His tendency to blow up over minor irritations demonstrates the sudden intense outbursts often associated with IED. So I know lots of people that could be diagnosed with that.

Meredith:

Yeah, absolutely.

Stefanie:

I didn't even know that that was a legit, diagnosis. What's

Meredith:

IED do? Is that the explosive disorder?

Stefanie:

Intermittent explosive disorder. Okay. Mm-hmm. Alright. Dumbo social anxiety.

Meredith:

You know, I don't think I've ever seen Dumbo. Really? I don't think so. Ears, poof. Aw. I know. Tell me about him though. Okay. Why is social anxiety

Stefanie:

says dumbo's experience in Disney's movie embodies traits akin to social anxiety disorder, ridiculed for his oversized ears and left feeling like he doesn't belong. Dumbo's hesitance to engage with others can reflect profound fears of judgment and rejection. Poor little gong. I know. Simba is also post-traumatic stress Uhhuh. obviously he witnessed his father being off by his uncle.

Meredith:

Lots

Stefanie:

of lots

Meredith:

of trauma there for some

Stefanie:

of, so he grapples with intrusive memories and overwhelming feelings of guilt and shame. All right. So Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Mm-hmm. A DHD.

Meredith:

Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred percent.

Stefanie:

Do you know that that was my favorite character, like forever?

Meredith:

Was it really that track?

Stefanie:

I had a huge, cardboard like cutout of Tigger on my wall, like as a teenager. Did you?

Meredith:

my favorite was the Tasmanian Devil. I get that. And like my friends would go on vacation and bring me key chains of it and stuff. Mm-hmm. So yeah. Wow. We are special, special people. It tracks just like our animals. A hundred percent.

Stefanie:

Elsa and her sister Anna represents, could represent schizophrenia. Like two dueling personalities. Yeah. or Elsa also can, represent, major depressive disorder because she locks herself away.

Meredith:

Yeah. Have you ever read all those theories or heard all of those about how they, they're really related to, is it Rapunzel? Yeah.

Stefanie:

I love that. It's like the whole Disney verse or whatever they call it. Yes. Yes. Okay. Who El Alice? Alice, schizophrenia. Alice in Wonderland. She's seen all sorts of Caterpillar smokings and all the,

Meredith:

all the things. All the things. She gets really small or is it drug use Hallucinogens. Eat me.

Stefanie:

Yeah.

Meredith:

Drink

Stefanie:

me. Yeah. scar Antisocial Personality disorder. I don't think that that means really any. No, we're good with that. Bell Stockholm Syndrome.

Meredith:

Absolutely.

Stefanie:

Yes. Ariel. OCD and DYS Phobia. DYS phobia hoarding disorder.'cause she hoards all of her human trinkets in that shit. Her,

Meredith:

yes. Her thinging hoppers and the things. Yep. The thingama jigs. Wow.

Stefanie:

This reminds me of is when all the judges, went through the movie, the Grinch and like Yeah. That we talked about.

Meredith:

Yes. And all the conditions and disorders and. Body Morpheus and all the things that Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm liking this though, so I, now that we've talked about it, I'm thinking probably what it was, was they, they're just breaking down these things after the fact. Probably not before, but some, I remember reading something about like, most of the traditional Disney movies have trauma of some kind. Most of them are parental killing off the mom. Yeah. Yeah. Bambi, all the other ones we've mentioned. yeah. That's no wonder this whole generation we're like, we are what we grew up with. Mm-hmm.

Stefanie:

Between that

Meredith:

and the unrealistic, unrealistic expectations of a library because of Bell's Library that he, she has or

Stefanie:

animals helping you clean.

Meredith:

Right. I told Brian no. If we're ever so rich that we just have a mammoth house. I want a library. Same, I mean like a cozy little area. Moody vibes in there. Comfy, cozy spot.

Stefanie:

Okay. My library would be filled with bean bags, like those giant, giant giant meat bags. Okay, okay. And like a big bay window. Yeah. Yeah. And then wall to wall bookshelves.

Meredith:

Yeah, absolutely. All the bookshelves. I'm thinking more, almost like a Chase lounge kind of thing. Me

Stefanie:

and a fireplace.

Meredith:

A hundred percent. Absolutely. Fireplace Oh, and the ladder to the second stair. Yes. to the second level of books.

Stefanie:

Yes. Well, especially for me'cause

Meredith:

So the ladder for the first level of books.

Stefanie:

To get to the, to the top level of the first

Meredith:

book case. But yeah, all the, uh, I would love to have one, love to have library.

Stefanie:

I, uh, I would love to have a lot of things. Yeah, there is, there is a compound for sale in like Alabama or somewhere, and I just saw it on Facebook and I guess when they built it, it was$24 million. and it's on, it's on the market for 5 million right now and Wow. But it has 27 acres of land. The main house alone is like the size of the White House. Like legit has the same square footage as the White House. And then there's two guest homes that are bigger than any homes that I've ever been in. Wow. Like physically have been in.

Meredith:

Yeah. Yeah. Not that we stalked online,

Stefanie:

but two guest houses that are like 7,000 because they're 6,000 square feet. What? And then there's like, you know, the pool, the tennis courts, you know, all the things. Right. but yeah, so it was, they were saying it was so crazy'cause it cost 20, I think it was, they think it was 24 million to build, but they can't get 24 million for it. And it's on the market for 5 million.

Meredith:

Somebody's getting a deal. Sheesh. Yeah. That's quite a, that's quite a cut.

Stefanie:

Yeah. Very much so.

Meredith:

Would you live on a compound like that? Um, with, with people you would choose? So like families you would choose?

Stefanie:

Oh, I could choose. Heck yeah.

Meredith:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'd be fun.

Stefanie:

Yeah. But if it was Okay, let's just move on. Okay,

Meredith:

moving on. Moving on. Did you organize your books though back there? No. Change'em, I was gonna say, I don't really, I mean, I can't, obviously can't really see. What's going on back there, but

Stefanie:

no, no, I, I, I made the list. I just didn't do it.

Meredith:

That's not the way that's supposed to work. No, that's buddy.

Stefanie:

Hey, I know that we both kind of like the supernatural stuff, so did you see they found a dragon skull, what they think is a dragon skull in a well in Romania? No. Yeah. So this dude was digging a well in Romania and like they have the picture of like the above and it's like pretty deep. It's like 20, 30 feet or whatever in the ground. And the skull head is like as big as the dude. Shut

Meredith:

up.

Stefanie:

Yeah.

Meredith:

Now I'm all for it. Why are we thinking dragons are not dinosaurs?

Stefanie:

I guess how like the snout is it's more like how dragons are always fire breathable. Yeah. Just like the long snout like. However it's shaped, it looks like more dragony and I mean, go Romania kind of checks, right? I mean, I don't know. I just, oh, hundred percent. Yeah. so yeah, they're thinking dragons or that's what they're calling it is a dragon skull, that's crazy. It bananas. But I'm here for, I mean, I'm like, bring back the, listen, you can keep the wooly mammoth. Bring back the dragons. I know. I don't wanna just be sitting here on a dragon fly by. I wanna ride one. I wanna be like, how to train your dragon? Gimme a tooth.

Meredith:

It's sweet. Like toothless. Absolutely. But

Stefanie:

like those mean angry ones I get, I get one of those like dinghy ones that like fly into a tree.

Meredith:

You'd get the. Oh.

Stefanie:

So I went down the dragon rabbit hole on TikTok after I saw that video. Yeah. And then, I guess not too long ago, there's, and I don't know, I mean, it could be whatever, not real, but it looked kind of legit. Um, but there was people in China, like they went on this tour in the mountains and stuff, and there's a video of what looks like a dragon flying. It doesn't look like a bird. Any kind of bird, nothing like it looks

Meredith:

like a dragon.

Stefanie:

Yeah. And so now I've been, you know, I keep going, going, going, going on TikTok and these like weird creatures are coming out of all of these caves and stuff in like different countries. Like somebody needs to stop rolling the Jumanji dice, right. We're good. We're fine. Yeah, we're

Meredith:

fine.

Stefanie:

Oh my goodness. And like, these, like crazy huge eggs are being found really, um, in like these caves and stuff. So either like dragons are still around or That is creepy, but how cool is that? I mean, yeah, like they escaped from like the secret world that we're not supposed to know about. Like

Meredith:

maybe they crossed over. Maybe the caves are like the portals get there.

Stefanie:

Well. On my Dragon journey down TikTok land, there was somebody had made a post and then like I went to chat JBT and said, Hey, can you gimme all the information on this? Because I wanted to know like what was on the internet, but I didn't wanna do the goog, so I did the chat. Did you say

Meredith:

that whole sentence into your chat? GPT? Hey, can you gimme this?'cause I really don't wanna look it up myself, but I really want the information. No, I said, can

Stefanie:

you find me all the info and put it in easy bullet points for my podcast. Um, Admiral Richard Bird and the Secrets of North Pole, because North Pole, you know, you're not supposed to fly over North Pole. Yeah. and there is satellite images where it just looked like it's a black hole. The North Pole, like it is, like really a black hole. And so Admiral by, um, Admiral Richard Byrd, he was a US Navy officer, explorer, and a national hero claimed to be the first to fly over the North Pole. In 1926, he led expeditions to Antarctica and was known for his scientific contributions. So his North Pole flight in 1926, he flew his And sparked a controversy because he says that he found a massive opening and it led to the hollow earth within, so this is where like journey to the center of the earth, like that movie. Yeah. Yeah. That's what he is saying. He found like what? Yeah. So. He says, it was like lush, green, you know, tropical type of whatever. you know, dinosaurs, I mean all of the, the creatures and the things that they say are mm-hmm. No longer whatever. and then like he met the master down there and I guess like the big man in charge, which is like this, like giant alien ish thing. Okay. Okay. So, so supposedly his diary, but they can't prove it is, so this is like conspiracy theory. Yeah. Um, that he, like this diary survived and it accounts all of his journey to the center of the earth. That is crazy. Right? I, I don't know. And he said that he he brought out all of his stuff to the US government and they were like, Nope, we're covering that up. What year was that? Did

Meredith:

it say

Stefanie:

1926?

Meredith:

2099 years ago?

Stefanie:

Mm-hmm. Wow. Yeah. Um, and there was like, he said that there was like UFO style stuff down there, like flying crafts and like, it's like a whole like world under, inside of our world.

Meredith:

I a hundred percent believe that if you go to, that place in Nevada, where Will Smith went? That you'll see all that stuff. Where was that? Do you, you know what I'm talking about? Area? Area 51.

Stefanie:

51, yeah. 52. 51.

Meredith:

Isn't that bananas? Yeah. What's crazy too is I've never heard anything about that.

Stefanie:

Yeah, but there's like legit satellite images. Yeah. That just show like a black hole, black hole. I don't know.

Meredith:

Santa Claus don't live there. No. It's a black hole. No, no. That's crazy. All this stuff that could possibly be real, but sometimes there's proof of it being real. It's crazy scary.

Stefanie:

Listen, I told you that I believe in all of the things, these things don't just pop up from

Meredith:

nowhere. Right. What gets me is all the random animals that'll wash up on shore

Stefanie:

freaks me out. Yeah, a hundred percent. And then the mermaid tales and

Meredith:

Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. I, okay. I don't wanna talk while I'm right here at the beach on going out there.

Stefanie:

Well, luckily Myrtle usually doesn't have anything wash up. It's usually like Japan and like those, like yes. Other places. And yes, they say America already has enough. Crazy, we don't need to give them anymore.

Meredith:

Kinda like how the, um, the UFOs were like, Nope, don't start there. Yep. Keep going. Keep going.

Stefanie:

Yeah. I was probably like, I went down this like huge rabbit hole of all the weird things after the dragon head

Meredith:

I'm gonna have to look that up. I'm fascinated with that. Yeah.

Stefanie:

Did they show

Meredith:

pictures of it?

Stefanie:

Uhhuh? Yeah.

Meredith:

I'm gonna try to look it up. Where, and

Stefanie:

then it was like dragon sightings and like, it was like popping up like all of these, like I have never heard of anybody seeing a dragon

Meredith:

now that is just crazy to me.

Stefanie:

Yeah. Well, and I swear, they wipe the internet of things.

Meredith:

No.

Stefanie:

That they don't want us to know. Yeah. And then there's TikTok that just lets it all hang out.

Meredith:

Dragon headphones. Very strange. Wait, this is in Scotland. Where did you say it was? Romania. Romania. Okay. I'm gonna have to take a, take a dive down That too. Thanks for that.

Stefanie:

Sorry. you'll be there a while. Yeah. Well, Brian's driving on the way home. You can go down the rabbit hole, right?

Meredith:

Oh, I'll have to, I'm gonna have to

Stefanie:

You wanna do, am I the A-hole? Yeah. Why don't you read it since we're kind at a weird. All right. am I the, a-hole for yelling at a 19-year-old and asking for him to be fired? all right, throwaway account. I 37 male and my husband 39 male, have been together 11 years. My husband owns a small bookshop and recently has hired a boy to help him. The lad, I'll call him Joe, is gay. And while me and my husband very obviously have no issues with this, Joe seems to be doing things a lot differently to us for context, both me and my husband are Irish immigrants to London, and no, I am not speaking in a London accent or an Irish accent for that matter. Then I'm done. We grew up 20 minutes away from each other and went to the same very Catholic school. We aren't exactly flamboyant or outwardly gay and don't exactly do PDA since that's how we were raised. On my lunch break from work, I like to visit my husband, bringing him records I think he might like, and his coffee. Recently, however, Joe has started making comments. It started small with him saying things about queer joy and how he loves gay couples, which we didn't mind at all. In all fairness, it's a fairly scary world for queer people right now, and I understand seeming a happy married gay couple means a lot for a kid. But then he started getting a little too comfortable for my liking. He started asking things like, who's the top and calling us the F slur jokingly. I think it's entirely inappropriate to be making those comments to his boss, but my husband told me to let it go. Joe calls us the F slur a lot, which I had brought up a few times telling him calmly to not do that. But when we continued, I learned to let it go. Despite my distaste for it, it didn't seem to bother my husband too much. Last Wednesday, I lost it. I was up by the counter. When Joe came in, he immediately started blathering on about how effy we were. And while my husband chuckled awkwardly, I did not, Joe noticed this and said I was a stick in the mud and repressed. I was trying to keep my cool until he called me a fanon. F slur. I don't know what that means. It must be a London thing. Yeah, and I lost it. For anyone who doesn't know the term, oh, I should have went on a little further. For anyone who doesn't know the term, Fanon isn't exactly a slur or anything, but it isn't exactly nice either me, my husband jokingly call each other Fanon or Patties from time to time if we've something particularly Irish. And I've never exactly viewed it as very offensive, but something about this English boy made me snap this poor guy. Yeah, I asked him if he thought that it was appropriate to say things to his boss's partner and started shouting, telling him he's way out of line, and if he wants to keep his job, he should buck up. I like that. I'm gonna start saying that. Buck up, buck up. I left to cool down a bit and about 30 minutes later got a call from my husband berating me, saying that Joe was crying and that he's just a kid. I do feel bad since he's young, but I still think he needed to be knocked out a few steps. Am I the, a-hole there is an update to this as well.

Meredith:

Okay. I that's a tough one because at 19, like they're old enough to be working and an adult.

Stefanie:

Mm-hmm.

Meredith:

Um, I think there might have, could have been a better way to do it than just having his, intermittent explosive disorder like happen, come out. Um, what do you think?

Stefanie:

Um, I think that the husband should have addressed it.

Meredith:

Yeah. If they're

Stefanie:

in a of business. Slurs shouldn't be used, period. Agreed. and if the husband's the boss, I think he should have handled it. Yeah. but if he wasn't gonna handle it, maybe have been said nicer, but Right. I understand the frustration that he probably had. Yeah. Yeah. And he had reached his limit, with his, the husband not taken a stand on anything, but let's get to the update. Okay. Okay. Because it's a good one. Okay. All right. Update. Joe is my husband's son. Dude. Didn't know his husband had a son. Okay. Oh, I won't go into too much, um, detail for both mine and their pri privacy, but I had a major fight with my husband about why he was being so lenient with him and why he didn't have my back in this. We were shouting back and forth until he shouted something about blood being thicker than water. I shouted back about him being just some boy and he stopped suddenly. Then he told me Joe is from an existing ex-girlfriend of his, who's now unable to take care of him. So my husband picked him up. He's been paying child support for years. We have separate bank accounts, so I never noticed. I'm contemplating separation and divorce. Someone I've known for 25 years became a stranger in 10 seconds. I physically got sick thinking back on those sexual remarks that he made to his father. My husband's always went white as a ghost when he said those kinds of things, and that was possibly the only thing that actually gave him away. But it still makes me feel sick. All the same. Sorry, I won't be responding to comments. I need to get my head right personally.

Meredith:

So they've been together or they've known each other 25 years.

Stefanie:

Yeah.

Meredith:

And the kid is 19.

Stefanie:

Yep.

Meredith:

It sounds like there's a lot of, uh, stuff that they need to work through there.

Stefanie:

Holy moly. Yeah.

Meredith:

I still stand on the, I'm a hundred percent with you though now even more with the, that's his father and his boss. He should have handled it. He didn't wanna know who's top and bottom. Yeah. Yeah. He deserved a dressing down, as they say. Yeah. That's not okay.

Stefanie:

No. No. Well, I don't think he's the, a-hole, and I feel even more so now that he is not the, a-hole.

Meredith:

Right, right. I hope he gets his stuff figured out because that's, that's just devastating.

Stefanie:

My God. I don't know if I would've, I don't know. I. I don't know.

Meredith:

I'm glad he is, using a throwaway

Stefanie:

anonymous account. My God. Yeah. So, yeah. That was intense.

Meredith:

Yeah. Wow. Poor dude.

Stefanie:

I was a little bit like, oh, okay. Here we are. Yeah,

Meredith:

yeah. Oh, okay. Alright, moving on.

Stefanie:

so if you're not a bookie and you don't wanna listen to our review of Lake of the Lost Girls, now is your time to leave.

Meredith:

Bye y'all. We still love you. We

Stefanie:

do still love you. Please leave us a review.

Meredith:

Bye bye. Okeydoke, do you have

Stefanie:

a blurb of a blurb? I do. Okay. So we read Lake of the Lost Girls by Catherine Green, so in 1998, college freshman, Jessica Faley vanishes and missed a string of disappearances at Southern State University. Over two decades later, her sister Lindsey Reignites, the search for answers driven by a hit true crime podcast in a chilling discovery at a local lake as past and present collide, the story explores the dark threads of sisterhood secrets and society's obsession with true crime.

Meredith:

Okay.

Stefanie:

Did you like it? Did, yes, I did too.

Meredith:

And I had read this before, but I did not remember. And how, I did not remember the ending. I don't know because Wow. but I. But yeah, I really liked this book.

Stefanie:

Yeah. I texted you. I, I was like halfway through and I'm like, is it actually really good?

Meredith:

Yeah. Thank goodness, because our luck with books has been running pretty poor lately. Um, I had a lot of feelings about, about it though. I felt so many things for Lindsay.

Stefanie:

Same,

Meredith:

like sad and hurt and frustrated and angry and

Stefanie:

Yes. All, I mean, you went through a roller coaster of emotions through this book. Yeah. so it did give us dual, timelines. Mm-hmm. And different point of views. Mm-hmm. And I was able to keep everything straight, which is same. And you know, I struggle. Yes. Not always the easiest, but I definitely kept everything straight with this book, which. Chef's kiss.

Meredith:

Yes,

Stefanie:

yes, yes. Agreed. I think that the family dynamics obviously were weird, but I think it was written so well. and hitting on how like favorites favorite children and mm-hmm. Um, how parents can u kinda use that power Yeah. Of a favorite child. Yeah. to either pin kids against each other or parents against each other. Right. So, um, I thought that was a really interesting, and it wasn't like the main focus of the book, but Right. I picked up on it.

Meredith:

Right. Well, and you knew something with the relationship between Jess and the dad was off,

Stefanie:

and I thought it was going in a different direction.

Meredith:

A hundred percent. And I feel like that's what they wanted you to think. So you would be a hundred percent. Taken aback by the ending of it. Um, which spoilers? Let's go ahead and throw that out there. Yeah. Because we know we're probably gonna have them. So it was just really well written the way that they lead you to believe she led you to believe it was gonna be, inappropriate relationship between the father and daughter, and it was not.

Stefanie:

Right. Um, but he did have inappropriate relationships with other young people.

Meredith:

Yes.

Stefanie:

And she found out, and that

Meredith:

hypocrisy there when he has had multiple relationships with girls. Girls like teenage girls. And then his daughter is messing around with a professor and he's like, no, that's not okay.

Stefanie:

Yeah. I think it said that she actually never went through with it.

Meredith:

She didn't. But still, still just the thought of. The thought of her. Yeah. Yeah.

Stefanie:

I hated Ryan, the, the boyfriend. Oh. I hated

Meredith:

him. So you wanted to like him and you wanted Lindsay to have some kind of a positive, partner helping her with this stuff. And he ends up being just a big jerk who had played her from the beginning, but

Stefanie:

like, I gross, like you're trying to date your, your missing slash dead girlfriend's. Right. Sister. Like, Ew, like much, much younger than the sister. Yes. The whole thing was just weird and it was gross. There

Meredith:

wasn't lot ickiness.

Stefanie:

Yeah.

Meredith:

With a lot of the relationships. Agreed. Most of the relationships were, gross.

Stefanie:

Obviously, I didn't guess the ending. But, so my thought on the ending, and obviously we're doing spoilers, we always do. So if you didn't read it and you wanna read it, here's your coup to leave. Yeah. But I thought that the dad was molesting whatever. Yes. People, yeah. I thought that she was a victim, but like also when you said like, young girls or like, you know, barely legal or whatever. Right. so I thought that the dad, she was helping the dad get rid of the bodies. Okay. Because he said, if I'm going down, you're going down too. Yeah. And so that I was like, oh, well maybe she's helping him, like hide the bodies. I don't know. Yeah. I didn't really think it was, the boyfriend. Right. I never like, thought about that.

Meredith:

I mean, they, they kind of. He's kind of just in there as like a wild card. Mm-hmm. Like, not really, not really saying he didn't do it, but things could line up so that he did.

Stefanie:

Yeah.

Meredith:

But I never thought he did either.

Stefanie:

Mm-hmm. I, again, never in a million years would have came to the conclusion of the ending of the book. Right.

Meredith:

They, they really, she really tried to steer you in the direction of it being the professor.

Stefanie:

Yeah.

Meredith:

That's really what she wanted you to believe. And, yeah. Never in a million years, even after reading it before, what I have guessed, how about the fact on where Jess was found Ew. Right. Ew. All day that dad got so many issues. Ew. Yeah. Like, I have

Stefanie:

Ew, ew. To, to think about having been that close to a. Yeah. Porch for all that time. Nobody ever went into like, like I was a Snoopy kid. Like, yeah. There is no way that I wouldn't have been like at some point in time lifting up that,

Meredith:

well, what about the mom too? Like remember they, they go into detail about how there were, what was it? Squirrels or possum? A dead possum. And the smell, and they go into detail about that. So at the time when all this stuff was happening with these girls going missing or, and or, you know, you're not, I don't know, I guess you see, we see what we wanna see. Right? Well,

Stefanie:

I assumed that the dad just like told her that that's what it was like. Yeah. A

Meredith:

hundred percent.

Stefanie:

Yeah. Um, I don't think that the mom knew anything. I think that the mom was horrible. Yeah. Like she had her own issues. Yes.

Meredith:

Yeah, because she had the second daughter because she wanted somebody to deliver like their relationship, which isn't healthy.

Stefanie:

Yeah. The whole thing was,

Meredith:

yeah. It was twisted enough for me to like it though. I know. Me too. What would, what would you rate it? I'd give it, I'd give it a nine.

Stefanie:

I, I was gonna go eight and a half, nine. Yeah. Yeah. I really liked it and I did not guess the ending whatsoever.

Meredith:

No. It was very well done with, a lot of information, a lot of going back and forth, not getting lost. The unpredictable, aspect of it too, and then just twisted enough

Stefanie:

for us. Yeah. All right. So the, the next book that we are going to attempt to read is The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dion. Mm-hmm. I think that's how you pronounce it. Yep. Helena has a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, and a business that fills her days, but she also has a secret. She is the product of an abduction. Her mother was kidnapped as a teenager by her father and kept in a remote cabin in the marshlands of Michigan's upper peninsula. Helena born two years after the abduction, loved her home in nature, and despite her father's sometimes brutal behavior, she loved him too. Until she learned precisely that how savage he could be. More than 20 years later, she has buried her past so soundly that even her husband doesn't know the truth. But now her father has killed two guards, escaped from prison and disappeared into the marsh. The police begin a manhunt but Helena knows they don't stand. A chance knows that only one person has the skills to find the survivalist. The world calls the Marsh king because only one person was ever trained by him, his daughter. So it doesn't sound bad.

Meredith:

Sounds a little different with the, with the Marcy and the track in

Stefanie:

Yeah. Um, but we got the abduction. We got yeah. Some twisted stuff.

Meredith:

Babies being born. Yeah. I twisted enough for us to like it, so fingers crossed.

Stefanie:

So, we will read that and get with that book next week on the podcast. Oh, we got a thumbs up. Thumbs up.

Meredith:

Yep, we did. I should have screenshotted that. I didn't think about it. How does it happen? I dunno.

Stefanie:

well thank you guys for listening. We love you and please leave us a review five stars with a fabulous little please. Y'all blurb

Meredith:

of how, a little blurb on how why you love us. Yes. What's your favorite thing is about us? Even if it's that we love kus

Stefanie:

and we wanna be a sl. Yeah, it's okay. It's okay. Go for it. But thank you and we love y'all. Thank you. Love you. Bye.

Bye. Alright, that wraps up another episode of, this is My Circus. If you survive this episode and somehow still like us, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, share it with your friends, or just send us caffeine. And don't forget, you can join our VIP circus crew for the full video version of each episode. Also exclusive bonus content, access to merch, and so much more Until next time, keep the drink strong. The book's coming, and the kids only mildly Ferrell because this is our circus and these are our monkeys. Love ya.