The Mental Funny Bone

Episode 49: Olan Mills Portrait Day

• Gaster Girls • Season 5 • Episode 4

Share episode

Fan Mail Goes Here!!

In this episode of 'The Mental Funny Bone,' Sarah and Christine blend humor and heartfelt storytelling while tackling mental health issues. They emphasize the importance of attending therapy sessions and share personal anecdotes about their own mental health journeys. They also revisit nostalgic memories of awkward family photos at Olan Mills studios. As they prepare to shift their podcast release days to Mondays, they encourage listeners to provide feedback and share their favorite episodes. Closing out with a preview of their next book discussion, they invite their audience to join them on a new, more challenging journey into mental well-being.

How to find mental health help when you're struggling. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists
https://washingtoncountyhumanservices.com/agencies/behavioral-health-developmental-services
https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Services/Human-Services-DHS/Publications/Resource-Guides
Apps - Just search mental health where you get your apps.
EAP programs are a great place to look for help!!

Additional Resources (Sports Related):
https://globalsportmatters.com/health/2020/12/04/mental-health-resources-2/

Sarah:

Welcome to The Mental Funny Bone, a podcast where we strive to create a safe and entertaining space where listeners can explore mental health topics, find solace, and enjoy laughter. This podcast aims to de-stigmatize mental health discussions and empower individuals to approach their own wellbeing with humor and openness. I'm Sarah.

Chris:

I'm Christine and I am not a mental health professional. Neither is my sister. I would guess that there may be like three or four of you guys out there are medical professionals. Thank you for your service, really. Sarah and I go to mental health professionals. I, I sometimes, I've been skipping my appointments, which is something we'll probably touch on later in this episode.'cause Sarah's really, very much against me skipping the therapy appointments, even though I'm fine. She's shaking her head. She's also drinking something. So when she's done swallowing whatever she has in her mouth,

Sarah:

Please don't say swallow. so my buddy at work, he ha he has a friend whose last name is Swallow. It's actually swallows

Chris:

talking about it.

Sarah:

what the hell is, why it's the best. It's, he like, he had to change his shit for Facebook'cause Facebook wouldn't let him put his name on it as with the last name, swallows. But my favorite story is that he got married and his wife actually changed her last name. Like it would be like me changing my last name to swallows and my name would be Sarah Swallows. And then you have daughters. And your daughters have that last name.

Chris:

No,

Sarah:

not a good idea.

Chris:

They should get to

Sarah:

not a good idea. In that case, the man takes your name. Okay.

Chris:

We're saving everybody here.

Sarah:

Anyway. you should never skip your mental health, appointments, with your therapist, your psychiatrists, whatever, any doctor's appointments actually you shouldn't skip or put off.'cause all of that stuff, when it comes to health is good. It's good stuff. Yeah. We like it. and there's a thi Okay, yeah. I'm not gonna go there.

Chris:

Yeah. You're all done. I'm gonna talk. So I had put off the, going to actually see the psychiatrist for so long that they were like, you have to come in and talk to her face to face, or we can't renew your medication. I was like. That's fair. That's fair. That's a good way to get me into the office for sure. And

Sarah:

I don't think it's like not a law. I, it probably is a law, but I feel like that's a good way to get people in the office.

Chris:

it's nice for us to, it's nice for us to touch base. She's I haven't seen you in a while. I love your shoes. And I was like, oh my God, girl, they're Roth's. And she was like, yeah, they are.

Sarah:

I like how you say that. girl, they're Roth's.

Chris:

Right.

Sarah:

what says I'm a mom more than Roth's.

Chris:

nothing.

Sarah:

I'm with you Roth's. I fucking love the Roth's and I wish I had as many Roth's as you do. I'm very jealous of your Roth's collection.

Chris:

it is one of the joys of my life to, to go into the Rothi store and be like, I'll have this one. Except for I don't want the pointy toed one. I want the kind of rounded toe one. And I would like it with a double strap for the Mary Jane instead of just a single strap.

Sarah:

I'd Like, a little bit of toe cleavage, like if we could make that happen, that would be really great. yeah. I also really, actually would love to be a fly on the wall and listen to you say to anyone at any time about anything. Hey girl.

Chris:

Hey

Sarah:

Hey girl.

Chris:

No, it doesn't even come out like that'cause it comes out like I read, epic fantasy novels and I'm

Sarah:

Hey girl.

Chris:

book club. Hey girl. Hey girl. No, it just doesn't, it doesn't. It doesn't sound right. It sounds like I'm on the sidelines at a soccer game trying to fit in with the other moms. that's what it comes out like

Sarah:

Yeah. Just, continue to, tell stories within it though, because I think it adds something to it, but don't actually do it like in a real life situation.

Chris:

my psychiatrist was like, she gave me like a little open-eyed kind of look when I said girl, she was like, oh, that's okay. All right.

Sarah:

interesting. just so everybody knows, this is how this, episode is gonna go. The entire episode is going to be like this. So if you are annoyed at how we're all over the place already, you should just stop the episode and move on to the next one.

Chris:

Buckle up

Sarah:

There's your

Chris:

friends. so anyway, I get to, and, she files away the, Suburban, soccer mom, girl in her file folder. I can hear it happening. And then she's and we should probably talk about your anxiety. And I was like, my what now?'cause you have to, I don't know if you do it, but when I sit down, they give me a paper to fill out. And oddly enough for this appointment, I was a little bit distracted, so I'm just whizzing through it. I'm like, yes. I do feel overwhelmed. Yes. I do have racing thoughts. I have a DHD. yes. She's it's a little different from the last time and we should probably talk about how much that's telling me about your anxiety. And I was like, I have to be outta here in 15 minutes because I have to do a meeting in your parking lot. And she was like, oh. She's sit down, have a seat. we're gonna have a little bit of a discussion. And I was like, I wish my sister were here because, she would like to, eves drop on this discussion. I would bet.'cause I have been doing the same shit to her for a month now. so the, she was, she's like, how much are you sleeping? I'm like, I remember sleeping. It seemed nice when it was happening. so she, she was like, I know you seem uncomfortable talking about the anxiety, so how about we just ease into it. I'm gonna give you some medication that, it might help like tone it down a little bit. she's also she's, she also took my blood pressure and I was like, I don't know if you should trust that one, because I am really like, I was in a hurry to get here. She was like, that's what your blood pressure, is. It's, a response to all of that.

Sarah:

Yeah, it seems right.

Chris:

It's fun that I think I know more. I was like, I wouldn't pay attention to these things that I'm telling you. I wouldn't pay attention to the machine that just told you I am an anxious mess. I wouldn't, let me tell you I'm fine.

Sarah:

Yeah,

Chris:

she was like,

Sarah:

because yeah, if you keep saying it, you will be fine. I think that's what you have going on, because that's what you keep telling me. Actually, no, we keep determining that you're not fine, but then you keep coming back to I'm fine.

Chris:

I'm fine.

Sarah:

I'll say one more time.

Chris:

I'm

Sarah:

You're not fine. you might be fine. I feel like your relationship with work is not fine.

Chris:

this is probably accurate, but also something that I'm aware of and working on.

Sarah:

be

Chris:

I'm aware of it.

Sarah:

okay. I was gonna say you went a little too far with the working on aware of it. I think is where we've gotten to working on. cause It is, it's, 7:24 PM and I just had to instruct you to close whatever application it is that allowing work to bother you. And I like the fact that you picked up your cell phone just now and you were gonna look at it. Oh,

Chris:

fuck you piss off, fuck off. It is my emotional support. Rubik's Cube.

Sarah:

I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. anyway.

Chris:

Anyway. Yes. I am, I'm aware of the problem and I think that's probably one of the first steps.'cause now the problem is starting to, it's an unacceptable problem for me. So it'll eventually get to the point where I'm so aware of the problem that I can't do anything but fix the problem.

Sarah:

Yeah. And I was actually just reading about that in the new book that we're gonna start, how you typically wait until shit hits the fan, before you do anything about it. And we're gonna learn how to start being a little more proactive about it.

Chris:

I think that's fair. I think that's

Sarah:

And I was, even before reading that, I feel like I, at this point, I would've said, do you think that's a really good idea? Like you literally just said, it's gonna happen. So do you think it's a great idea just to sit back and wait until shit implodes and then do something about it? I feel

Chris:

here's the

Sarah:

if you see the car coming at you and you have the time to hit the brakes or swerve, I feel like you should do one of those.

Chris:

yeah. Yeah. I think the trick is that I'm finally realizing. you're gonna this one?'cause it is a place that we can start from for moving forward. I think there's a part of me that really likes having the problem. there's a part of me that really enjoys this, that really likes the adrenaline, that likes the stand up, like that, likes all of this for some super bizarre reason. And I think until I can talk through like that piece of bullshit that I will continue complaining about it. like the alcoholic who is I really should stop drinking, but you know what I really doing, going out to bars and having a good time on. Yeah. I really like

Sarah:

I think it. has to go back to, I love that I've become your psychiatrist or

Chris:

Me too. I should just, I can't wait to play this for my girl, Emily.

Sarah:

yeah, because I think it goes back to your need, to be good at what you do and to be needed.

Chris:

yeah.

Sarah:

and that's something that hypes you up and that you dig, but. It's not good for you, so.

Chris:

yes.

Sarah:

Yes. Yes. okay. now that we've figured it out,

Chris:

right now that's done right, there's, is there, the problem is it's not like being an alcoholic, like there are certain rewards for this behavior that are pleasant. Do you

Sarah:

for alcoholics, I bet there are big rewards because you don't, because you drink a few drinks like a bottle of vodka, and you're like, woo, I don't feel anything anymore. I feel like that's a reward.

Chris:

Life rewards. I'm not gonna hit rock. I'm not gonna hit rock bottom working too much. no one is gonna, no one is gonna come along and be like, Hey, just so you know, everyone hates you.

Sarah:

Yeah. But that might

Chris:

wait a minute. Yeah. Okay. now I

Sarah:

everybody might not hate you, but, what are you neglecting to get to the praise that you're looking for at work?

Chris:

No, I gotcha. I gotcha. I see it. I see it now. I see the destructive path and that it is not the same as an alcoholic and yet not so very different

Sarah:

No, because, I think it hurts relationships.

Chris:

yeah. Yeah. It doesn't pay as well. that's the

Sarah:

yeah. Yeah.

Chris:

Yeah. The

Sarah:

if we found somebody, if I could get paid for being an alcoholic,

Chris:

wait. we'd never see you.

Sarah:

talk about fucking purpose.

Chris:

That girl hit rock bottom so many

Sarah:

headfirst.

Chris:

Wow. She actually hit rock bottom, rented a hole, digger, and then dug down. She has a jackhammer in her hand right now. She is recreating rock bottom all the time.

Sarah:

Oh, that's not fair. Eh? Whatever.

Chris:

but it is funny.

Sarah:

Eh,

Chris:

Yes. these are, these are things that will eventually need to be,

Sarah:

see. and I'm gonna stop you again, because you say eventually

Chris:

There's just one little thing, there's just one little reward that I want. Now I want to finish this particular piece of work that we're working on that will be done by Friday. If we can get to that point, then I will be willing. There's one big party left for the alcoholic. Like I know that you guys are planning an intervention and I know that's why you invited me over to mom's house and on my way I am gonna hit every bar just so when I get to the intervention, I'm pretty well loaded up for that ride to rehab.

Sarah:

it better be the last intervention.

Chris:

So that's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying is I

Sarah:

there's a point, there's a point that the family gets to that they just leave you.

Chris:

You, you guys love me.

Sarah:

We do. And we're not gonna leave you. We would never leave you. I feel like our, what is it, the analogy to the alcoholic has now turned terribly bad and now it hurts my heart because I wouldn't leave you as an alcoholic either.

Chris:

I know

Sarah:

beat you up and shit. But

Chris:

I would be sad for

Sarah:

we'd have some good fights.

Chris:

get in the car, we're going to rehab. I don't

Sarah:

headlocks, it would be great. yeah. Okay. so have your party on Friday

Chris:

Yeah. Yeah. Yes.

Sarah:

um, for everybody who's listening, it's Wednesday, so I feel like we can give you two more days.

Chris:

right? I feel like I, I'm gonna stop and see my dealer,

Sarah:

as you're not driving, that's fine.

Chris:

how I gotta drive to the therapy place.

Sarah:

Oh,

Chris:

Now we're mixing up the analogies. Yeah. I'll be fine. Yes. I do recognize that this is an, this is unsupportable and, not good for me. And regardless of how many people are going to pat me on the back, it will never be enough to fill whatever kind of thing I'm trying to fill with that sort of praise. Like it'll never be enough. To, to, convince me that I'm a worthwhile human being if I can't convince myself of that fact without that praise.

Sarah:

Amen. Preach.

Chris:

yeah, we're working on it here. We're working on it here. So let's talk about, while we

Sarah:

I'm gonna, hold on, I'm gonna stop real quick'cause I have my email up here, my personal email, and it looks like you sent me an invite around seven o'clock for August 6th.

Chris:

Oh, yeah. eventually, yeah, Becca, you should have one too. So we're gonna record something apparently on August 6th.

Sarah:

what? I thought it was a rec record. I thought it was an invite for this recording,

Chris:

It was supposed to be,

Sarah:

I just go into the studio thing, like I don't even need an invite anymore. I've learned that we're year in. granted, I just learned that two recordings ago, but that's what I thought it was, and I opened it up and I was like, August 6th.

Chris:

I was here all by myself and I thought maybe you guys couldn't get in. So I sent you an invitation for not

Sarah:

August 6th at 4:00 PM Not even the right time.

Chris:

shut up. the best

Sarah:

I was like, I'm thinking shit. she could barely commit three hours ago to this time, and she's trying to send me a fucking meeting invite for August 6th. The

Chris:

That's, I know. I'll be free. I know I'll be free.

Sarah:

This fucking girl.

Chris:

This bitch. God damnit. Hey girl, you got the time wrong.

Sarah:

Hey girl. Hey girl. Hey. Wrong time, wrong day, wrong. Everything

Chris:

Stopping being wrong.

Sarah:

okay?

Chris:

Alright, so let's go right from me being wrong into, and us having the, that discussion about, how my mental health is, potentially getting, problematic. and let's talk about how you sent me this video and it hit some sort of nerve inside of me and the video was about how we're all pro mental health and we're all pro, take care of yourself and we're all about all of this until,

Sarah:

Mental health matters. Hashtag or the hashtag gives first. Whatever.

Chris:

something and until it, it impacts something. So until I'm so like overwhelmed with shit that I can't respond to your text message. So you're like, Ugh, what a bitch. Or until I say I wanna make plans with you, and then I have to cancel them because I have this crippling anxiety that won't let me leave the house. And I think that it is important for us to remember that in our support of mental health, that sometimes it's messy. Like sometimes people who have mental health issues do things that are pretty shitty and pretty fucked up. And you need to separate out the mental health issue from the person and understand that, if I'm gonna be brave enough to say, Hey, I gotta go to the psychiatrist during this meeting, then I don't think you get to be surprised when I also then say three days later I need to take a half a day off. that, this shouldn't surprise anybody. Like this shouldn't, be weird and it shouldn't be like, can we really trust her with stuff now? Like it's a pretty critical time in this project. And she went ahead and fucked off for the entire four hours of the afternoon yesterday. it's important that we keep that message alive too, that yeah, sometimes this gets messy and sometimes it's, hard to deal with. And just like other health issues, sometimes it gets in the way of who we are and who we want to be. And we don't intend that to be insulting. And somebody who, is missing an arm isn't gonna be able to go mountain climbing with you. So when you invite

Sarah:

there's someone

Chris:

when you

Sarah:

some overachiever out there.

Chris:

granted, all abilities, all times. There are some people who have crippling, social anxiety that aren't gonna wanna go to that super crowded concert with you. And it's not. It's not anything to do with you, and it's not anything to do with their, disability. It's just that's just too much for them. And there are some people with crippling social anxiety who will go, but

Sarah:

Most, at least in my own experience, I don't want to be that way.

Chris:

I

Sarah:

I'm not like, Hey, you know what would be awesome is if all my friends got to go to this really fun concert or this really awesome band that I totally love and I couldn't because I couldn't handle being around that many people.

Chris:

Oh, you know what I, Exactly. Exactly.

Sarah:

We don't want to be so sad that we can't talk to you

Chris:

I don't.

Sarah:

phone.

Chris:

I don't wanna be so overwhelmed with everything else in my life that looking at your text makes me sad. because, and it doesn't make me sad because I'm not happy to hear from you. It makes me sad because I don't have the ability right now to process that, put it into my life, even though it feels like I have nothing else going on. these are re, these are realities. And sometimes it's not, I think maybe this is it to finish up this topic, like beating a dead horse here. and to segue into what Mel Robbins is pedaling. and I then I'll be done. I'll be

Sarah:

not allowed to talk about Mel Robbins. Go ahead.

Chris:

That's it. sometimes it's messy. I.

Sarah:

Yeah. And it can't just be until it's something that matters and it matters all the time. And if we're gonna help each other, we have to, be a little patient with each other. And just like I said a little while ago, if you were an alcoholic, I wouldn't leave you, I won't leave you because of your mental health either.

Chris:

I know I'm working on it. Not as actively as I should, but I'm working on it.

Sarah:

Here's something that you might want to leave me for though. I've noticed this in the past, if you were recordings and maybe in the past like few weeks and pictures I see of myself, I feel like I have a lazy eye. Or a lazy eyelid or this eye seems to be smaller than this eye. Do you see what I speak of?

Chris:

I think it's your eyelashes

Sarah:

I don't, but look at this is a different shape. Like when did this happen? I don't

Chris:

everybody's eyes are like that. Look

Sarah:

but to this extreme, like I feel like I'm completely lopsided.

Chris:

Now that you pointed out, it might be a little bit more than I,

Sarah:

It's like quasimoto status and I don't even have a sty.

Chris:

are you having a stroke?

Sarah:

That's, I, that's what I noticed it in a picture a few weeks ago and I was like, Jesus, what the fuck is happening to my eye? And then I just now was like, wait a second. That eye's doing that thing again. I don't know if it's doing something or if that's just the way it always is.

Chris:

you know what can fix it? Botox, I'm sure of it.

Sarah:

Me

Chris:

or you make an appointment with an actual doctor.

Sarah:

Nah,

Chris:

Ah,

Sarah:

nah,

Chris:

Becca. Becca. I'm just gonna note that 20 minutes ago, I think we've marked where, where she was like, oh, it's important you don't miss any of your employment. So

Sarah:

it's important that I don't miss My, doctor. my my Botox doctor appointments.

Chris:

Not Botox. Go to the real doctor, dummy,

Sarah:

Oh, yeah. I have those appointments all the time.

Chris:

go to the eye doctor or go to the brain

Sarah:

I'm going, let's see, the eye doctor's in June, I just checked because I need some new glasses.

Chris:

that is 1, 2, 3. That's three months away. Do

Sarah:

Yeah. I'm one of those people who, who plans those in advance?

Chris:

oh, I just show up. do you remember my college friend who ended up with a brain tumor after being at the eye doctor?

Sarah:

No. alright. so that's enough about my eyeball. I will, I'll consult with someone about it tomorrow. I don't know, I have to take my car to get my tires looked at tomorrow. Maybe they'll know what's wrong

Chris:

Ask the mechanic, he'll know,

Sarah:

Hey, so while we're at it, can you tell me why this, anyway.

Chris:

Hey, thanks for rotating my tires. Can you look at my face?

Sarah:

Yeah. So that's, that'll be fun. I can't wait to do that. We have that. And then, the air conditioning guy or the heating guy, I think whatever the furnace people are. Yeah. The HVAC people are coming. And I get anxious when that guy comes to the house because he wants to like talk and hang out.

Chris:

you work at home. Of course you're there for him to talk and hang out.

Sarah:

And I'm like, dude, I don't, no, nope. And then I play the dumb wife. I'm like, you're have to call my husband. You're gonna have to call my

Chris:

for you.

Sarah:

You're gonna have to call my husband.

Chris:

That's one reason to get married. Becca. Just FYI.

Sarah:

Yeah. To blame someone else or send the annoying people to the other person.

Chris:

A hundred percent.

Sarah:

okay, so let's, let's talk about Friday.

Chris:

Yay. Oh, we had so much fun. Oh, you guys missed it.

Sarah:

Yeah. And

Chris:

not all of

Sarah:

miss it. and were there, thank you so much for coming out. We had a blast. I love that bar. So I'm, I don't know if Charlie will ever listen to podcasts, but, I do love that bar. I wish it wasn't, 30 minutes away from me,

Chris:

me too.

Sarah:

but, the bar is nice. I did a, we did a green tea shot, which is The, first time I've ever done one of those. and that bartender was cute.

Chris:

Yeah. He was,

Sarah:

And,

Chris:

really young,

Sarah:

yeah,

Chris:

letting anyone bartend these days. Like all the bartenders are really young.

Sarah:

like 30. Fuck somebody. Somebody said something today on a meeting about being 50, and I was like,

Chris:

Bitch,

Sarah:

I am literally now only three years away from that. Fuck.

Chris:

Yeah. Yeah. It's terrible to be three years away from 51 4.

Sarah:

Okay. yes. So thank you for everybody. It was a wonderful weekend. I had, Friday we got to celebrate, the Mental Funny Bone and us doing this for a year and we're figuring it out. and, the Walkers showed up. Bobby and Lori showed up, and then on Sunday, Bobby took a picture of, the podcast. He was listening to it in the car, so that was awesome. They just showed up'cause they're great friends. And, Bobby had never listened to the podcast, so we chatted and, now he's listening to it. I did tell him to listen to the Jigs Butthole episode and the Pope episode. Those are my two favorites.

Chris:

one.

Sarah:

I think those are The, two that I did my most crying because of laughing.

Chris:

we'd like to hear from you guys. if you could hit us up at gastro girls, at gmail.com and tell us what your favorite episode was. I'm interested in that.

Sarah:

Yeah, I'd like to, know

Chris:

would like to know

Sarah:

I would like to know too. And while we're on

Chris:

And, why is it your favorite episode? Is it because I'm funnier than Sarah?

Sarah:

Never. No.

Chris:

No. Huh.

Sarah:

it just because we talked about jigs, hiss butthole and just because saying jigs, his butthole is funny, or we talked about the, or we talked about the thing that carries the pope around

Chris:

The pops rickshaw.

Sarah:

I have to tell you, nothing delights me more than listening to our own podcast in the car and crying as I'm laughing.

Chris:

We should do it. thank you guys for listening. We do really appreciate it. but if you didn't, we would just listen to these over and over again.

Sarah:

we'd have a bazillion downloads'cause it would just be us downloading it over and

Chris:

Oh, crying.

Sarah:

over again. yeah, and I rewind it and listen to things again'cause they're so funny.

Chris:

I hilarious. this podcast is hilarious. All right.

Sarah:

Yeah. So tell us, tell us what episodes you like and, along those same lines, we would also like to ask you for some input. we have spent a year talking about ourselves and doing good things for our mental wellbeing, which is fine and we'll continue to do that. We're not gonna stop doing that. But, we would also like you guys to shoot us an email and let us know things that you wanna talk about and we can start venturing into, different material.

Chris:

Yes, I think that would be fun. anyway. Gaster girls, G-A-S-T-E-R girls, GIRL s@gg.com.

Sarah:

Well done. Well done. I

Chris:

Thank you.

Sarah:

so then I guess we'll take that and go into, material or No, you have a gastro story.

Chris:

I wanted to talk just very briefly about our adventures at Olin Mills.

Sarah:

Yes. Yes. I believe that Becca. does not know what Olin Mills is.

Chris:

Becca, I am so sorry for you and your generation of children.

Sarah:

I'm, while you're doing this, I'm going to go on the Facebook and try to find the Olin Mills picture that you posted, Christine, and send it to Becca. So go ahead and

Chris:

see if you could find not only the one where I am holding you as a baby like

Sarah:

but the one where you're in the background, shadowed in the

Chris:

where I am shadowed like Olin Mills. Becca, back in the day was, a way that you could tell your children without saying it out loud, which one you loved more.

Sarah:

100%.

Chris:

would do, Olin Mills was a photography studio and you would take your children there. And they would pose them in weird and bizarre ways with weird and bizarre backgrounds. I'm sure you have seen these pictures on the internet, like there would be a meadow and in front of this picture of a meadow is a fake fence. And then there would be like a dad with a mullet and a goth mom and three weird kids, in these pictures. So there was a, there was an only mills in Southland Shopping Center, so

Sarah:

Behind the, old country buffet, or what was that? Is that what that was called?

Chris:

yes, I think before it was the old country buffet,

Sarah:

may have been the Oland Mills.

Chris:

but it was like tucked in the back. So your mom had to drag you outta the car and try to get you from the parking lot to the studio without getting dirty. And for me it was impossible. I would pick up dirt faster than Roomba. it, I just, and she would braid my hair and do it all nice. And by the time I got inside, there'd be like four hairs all over. and then Sarah would turn up like a little beautiful, blonde afro to angel.

Sarah:

when did she ever do anybody's hair? I now feel like I, have to find my school pictures because there was never, the hair in every one of my school pictures is hideous.

Chris:

there were braids. I, she sat, I'll show you the school picture. The school pictures were bad, Becca.'cause we were outta her control for a long period of time before they took the pictures. I feel like ever gased her story, I'm just telling it directly to Becca these days.

Sarah:

Yeah, it's fine.

Chris:

just to explain to her like, the life of Olin Mills. Yeah, like we, we had my mom would put, I had piggy tails, like one on each side. And back in the day they had these, they had these, giant chunks of yarn and you would just tie a giant chunk of yarn in a bow around a child's piggy tails. And you would call that dressed up. And that's how we would get our pictures taken. So cute. So cute. yeah. But for this one session, I had to be like maybe nine, eight or nine, and Sarah's maybe three or four. And she is, she looks like

Sarah:

That's just

Chris:

not that one. Not that

Sarah:

that, this is the example of what my hair looked like in every elementary school picture. This is one of the worst,

Chris:

true. Why

Sarah:

it was always pulled up like that. And you know what, now I've learned, that's why this is receding.

Chris:

Because your mom

Sarah:

That started, that shit started in kindergarten. Go ahead. I can't find the olden mills one yet, but I found that one

Chris:

So Sarah's eight-ish. No, I'm eight-ish and Sarah's three or four. And she is a adorable little blonde, afro blue-eyed baby, like adorable. She looks like

Sarah:

Afro,

Chris:

the hair makes her look like she is wearing a halo all the time. All the time. And she is. She appears to just be so quiet, mostly'cause she's shy and afraid of doing things. But there's the one where I'm choking her. I'm grabbing onto the back of that shirt. Look at my hair, Becca.

Sarah:

Yeah. It's terrible.

Chris:

My mom did her best and that's what it turned to From the car to the Olin Mills. Is Olin Mills written on that picture? Please tell me It

Sarah:

oh, I found it. Yeah. Olin Mills is on this one.

Chris:

look at this shit, Becca. Look at it. Look at it. Oh no, it went away. yeah, she's got, so I'll just describe the picture. we are both wearing blouses more appropriate for a 40-year-old attorney. my mom has pulled my hair back because, it's so unruly. You can clearly see I'm going to need a significant amount of orthodontic care in the near term.

Sarah:

And your eyes are crooked.

Chris:

one tooth, one tooth is, directly straight out. And, she, Sarah's got like poofy sleeves and her

Sarah:

love that

Chris:

nice. It is so real. It is so real. And she's got like little barrettes in her little blonde afro. Looks amazingly done. And she's got her chin, her hand up to her chin and she's just looking like I'm the prettiest girl that ever existed. And what my mother chose to do is have her in the foreground and then in the background, unlike a shadow, you can only see half of my head.

Sarah:

Yeah. It was the good half though, and it was the front. I feel like It maybe it wasn't, maybe they should have gone

Chris:

one of the sides. and then you would go back, like you wouldn't see them then. Like they didn't have proofs. You would have to go back.

Sarah:

yeah, that

Chris:

one, I'm wearing a terrycloth dress. That dress is made of terrycloth. If Becca, I feel, I also feel sorry for you'cause you've never worn anything made of terrycloth.

Sarah:

Yeah. Yeah.

Chris:

so sad. But that's what my mom picked for me. Sarah's wearing a little communion dress. She looks like a little princess. I'm choking her in that picture. Like I'm pulling as hard as I can on the back of that smiling.

Sarah:

I was resilient.

Chris:

good thing. so yeah. And then you, and you would go and your mom could pick the picture where you're in the front or

Sarah:

This is the picture Olivia will talk about later in life. Hey, remember that picture where mom made us all wear penguin outfits with fucking turtlenecks?

Chris:

do you think it was the mom? Do you think it was the mom? I'll tell you right

Sarah:

I'm sorry, everybody. You're just gonna have to go to YouTube.

Chris:

you gotta look at it on YouTube. It's so funny. yeah. And your mom could pick the one where you're in front, Becca, or she could pick the one where your brother Max is in front. I. That's how they tell you which one they love more.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Chris:

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with getting praise from people that aren't my parents. I don't know

Sarah:

do I. That's weird.

Chris:

Emily, if you could just listen to this episode, this will save us a lot of time on Friday,

Sarah:

Really strange.

Chris:

thank you. I'll send her a note. so that is my experience at Olin Mills. They, I would get, you would get so excited for it'cause it like you were like the center of attention and the guy would take your pa Oh, so fun. Olin Mills day was so fun and you could almost guarantee that someone would feed you outside of the home.

Sarah:

yeah. Yeah. We can go to Mickey

Chris:

Nita would be busy. So we would leave there, which is right by the fast food. We would drive home and we'd wait for Jumbo to get home and then we would have to convince him to spend the$8 it was gonna cost to take us all out to eat at McDonald's.

Sarah:

that shit was expensive.

Chris:

Eight bucks. Family of four, Sarah would only eat chili from

Sarah:

dude was probably making 15,000 a year.

Chris:

Eight bucks.

Sarah:

Legit.

Chris:

So there you go. That is it. That is our Olin Mills. That is my Olin Mills story. I thought about it over the weekend and I was like, this, I can't believe that we couldn't come up with better hairstyles for the children. I guess there's no YouTube to go to. Nita

Sarah:

Nobody was instructing you. I can just, I have made up the memory of standing in the bathroom, our small little bathroom at Simo and mommy trying to fix my hair and me, I know unbelievably not standing still or listening to anything she's saying and her just taking the brush and hitting me over the head with it and saying, fine. You wanna look like that's what you'll look like. Just get out of here. I can see it. I can, that's what I have made up, but I'm not sure I made that up. I'm pretty sure that happened.

Chris:

I don't know. I don't know. I had sticks in my hair a lot, and my hair was long.

Sarah:

Yeah. you always had long hair. I always had short hair.

Chris:

it was supposed to be in like a braid or tied up, or it was supposed to be off my face, tomboy style. in order to get it there, you had to brush it and I, it had sticks in it, so Nita would try to get the brush through. It was wavy, straight, and it would just not brush very well. yeah, I think we both got lumped in the head with the hairbrush a couple of times.

Sarah:

Yeah. And I was, mommy got real into Orphan Annie.

Chris:

Oh yes. I don't know why. I don't know why this is a hair. This is a hairstyle. She was like, these children look adorable. We will get them super tight perms and we will cut

Sarah:

and

Chris:

all over.

Sarah:

you can see like at least like your hair always has some sort of volume or a little bit of something to it. My hair, it's so straight that it's absurd. So the amount of perming that had to happen to get the Orphan Annie hairstyle, oh, you know what? I want our listeners to share their, Olin Mills pictures with us too.

Chris:

Oh, please. Oh, please do that. Oh, please send them to gastro girls@gmail.com.

Sarah:

if they're not only males, like just send us fucked up school pictures. make us know that we're not alone.

Chris:

the only ones. Like

Sarah:

That's all we're asking a lot from our listeners. I can't wait to be sad like in a couple months, in a few weeks when we don't get anything

Chris:

gonna be like, come on guys. The hell.

Sarah:

but the fuck.

Chris:

why do you wanna disappoint us? We're on the edge already as it is. All right. Let's talk about this book.

Sarah:

Okay, before we do that, I have one thing. let's see, we had, two more supporters show up on Buy Me a Coffee, and that's Andrew, my friend Andrea. Thank you for your support and, Lori, why can't I say her fucking last name? Lori Black.

Chris:

Lori Black who got married to someone. Thank you, Lori.

Sarah:

Oh, for the love. So yeah. That's awesome. And I was really happy that mommy and daddy got to see people, from our past on Friday too, and I thought that was pretty

Chris:

was really fun.

Sarah:

that they got to catch up with people. And I'm pretty sure they were excited about it too. So

Chris:

It was adorable. Like all of Friday was adorable.

Sarah:

it was, we had a really good time and we made nanny dance.

Chris:

Oh my God.

Sarah:

wowed on The dance floor.

Chris:

Can we give a shout out to the band? Whose name I don't remember.

Sarah:

Old school. Old school.

Chris:

Oh my goodness. I was sweating,

Sarah:

Poison. put Poison. Never trusted a big but to smile. Yeah. They busted out the good shit after you last left, Becca?

Chris:

Sorry, Becca.

Sarah:

Yep.

Chris:

I like big butts and I cannot lie.

Sarah:

did they play that one? I don't even remember that one.

Chris:

we were walking out, like we were on our way out and I was like, wait, it's my theme song.

Sarah:

Yeah, they did. They did my two favorite. They did, they did ice, baby and Poison by Beliv. Devo. So I was very happy with that. I think there was a gentleman on the dance floor that was trying to dance with your mother. our mother. Yeah. It was weird. I'm not sure. I vaguely remember. Anyway, okay, so again, thank you everybody for coming out on Friday. We had a ton of fun. Yay.

Chris:

yet. All

Sarah:

Can't wait to do it again next year. Okay.

Chris:

about the switch. I'll be quiet, I promise.

Sarah:

so the, let Them book, we're gonna let them put it back on the shelf. We love it. It's a great book. It really is. I know that it's very popular and please continue to read it. Finish it. It's great advice. We are deciding to shut it though and move on to another book, and that is simply because we have, we're feeling as though we're just repeating a lot of stuff. So we have another book we wanna get into. The next book is A Little More Sy, which I know man Nerd's, sister loves, and it is called Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, which sounds like a stab to the heart man. how to lose your Mind and create a new one. So pick it up, read along with us. We're not starting it today. I did read the introduction and there were a few things that, gave me anxiety, the mention of physics several times,

Chris:

No, it's awesome. It was the only thing that kept me turning the page. I'm like, tell me more. Tell me more about the quantum structure of my body.

Sarah:

There's gonna be so much, that I'm gonna have to ask questions about, but so much that I think is really cool and like talking about studies and that's really the kind of shit that we wanna get into and talk about. And, I also think that this one is gonna be as far as us following along and doing what the book is about and following the lessons, I feel like this one's gonna be a bit more challenging

Chris:

Yeah,

Sarah:

in a good way.

Chris:

I think. you're right. I mean there's, I did although I like the science part, I enjoy that. there's a lot of stuff in here that is gonna take a little bit of me being like, okay, it's based in science.'cause I feel like he's gonna have to convince me that there's a study that actually says that. I feel like we're getting into you remember when we were reading Dan Harris's book and he's talking about, he's talking about Eckert Toll and Eckert Toll is like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. and immediately I was like, I'm not listening to a good thing Eckert Toll says. so I think this guy might be like, same Sameish. but

Sarah:

what I was getting as I was reading the introduction. I felt like this was one where I was reading the introduction and there was some sciencey stuff that I was like, cool, and then I turned the page and there'd be some shit that I was like, I'm not sure I buy that.

Chris:

I don't think you can cure cancer just by thinking about it,

Sarah:

Yeah. So there's definitely there. This'll be interesting. It will be very interesting'cause I think there's a lot of stuff in here that we, agree with and think is cool, and there's some stuff that we're probably gonna need a little bit of convincing about. So I I like that. Part of it that will be a little more challenge. And then the third part of it is all about the meditation practices and how to do, it's a book of three parts. So the first two is just like the background and all of the stuff we need to know to get into part three. Which part three is the how to,

Chris:

Meditation never tells me I'm doing it right though. there's very little reward immediately when you're doing meditation. Like at least if I'm running on a treadmill, I'm getting like a little bit of endorphins, right? Like me meditating and sitting there and talking to myself about it. I understand that if I keep doing it, the cumulative effect will be that I can potentially change the chemistry in my brain and

Sarah:

ding, ding.

Chris:

But there's a very, no one is there oh my gosh, Christine, you are so good at meditating. Look at

Sarah:

this is the challenge. This is the challenge.

Chris:

I understand.

Sarah:

so yeah, so I think this one's gonna be a bit more challenging on all sorts of levels. Like my ability to say placebo and not place bo, like that's gonna be super challenging. asking you like about atoms and physics and

Chris:

together.

Sarah:

that's, it's gonna be tough. But I am very excited about it.

Chris:

Listen, Becca's graduated in a couple weeks. she can look this stuff up for

Sarah:

yeah, she could look it up as

Chris:

You'll be fine, Becca. You're gonna be our science teacher now.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Chris:

to the end of your internship. you now teach us about atoms.

Sarah:

there you go. An A-A-T-O-M-S not like

Chris:

ad like a boy, Adam, we don't wanna know

Sarah:

Hey.

Chris:

you, do

Sarah:

Side note. I thought of this thinking about Blink 180 2. It's 180 2, right? Not 180 4. It's 180 2.

Chris:

Psalm 41 is what you're thinking

Sarah:

Jesus. I can't stand the numbers. Don't I hate Matchbox 40. I don't know. It don't give me the numbers. You B 50, I don't know.

Chris:

Shut up

Sarah:

anyway, so Blink 180 2, the reason I'm reminded is because we said this is how fucked up my brain is. We said Adam, it's a DAM, and it reminded me of Adam's song, which is a Blink 180 2 song. And Becca, it is also one of my favorites. so anyway, there is a memoir coming out from the, lead singer of Blink 180 2 that I am.

Chris:

Memoir.

Sarah:

I interested. he had cancer and went through some really crazy shit. in addition to being in a rock and roll band in the nineties, is that what it's called? Rock and Roll Band? I feel like my

Chris:

sure. They're p they're the punk. They're like the

Sarah:

yeah, there we

Chris:

not the beginning, but they're like an extension of the real punk. They existed in the seventies.

Sarah:

And I saw him interviewed on Good Morning America

Chris:

why do you watch the news? You

Sarah:

because there's shit like this on it and I was fascinated and his hair was all fucking wacky and awesome and I loved it. And, anyway, so I feel like I'm gonna pick up that book and read that too.'cause

Chris:

know, they're coming in concert this summer to Washington, Pennsylvania.

Sarah:

are they.

Chris:

Yeah. There's a music festival in Washington, Jimmy Eat World. Do you remember? They're from Mesa.

Sarah:

Becca, are we gonna go? I feel like you should look this up and, we should make plans to go,

Chris:

I have tickets.

Sarah:

what the fuck?

Chris:

It's, I didn't think anyone else would wanna go with me.

Sarah:

What? All right, Becca, let's make plans. Fuck her. Me and you. We'll

Chris:

on Saturday.

Sarah:

It's multiple

Chris:

on Saturday. Yeah,

Sarah:

Sh. All right. what is the date? What's the date?

Chris:

I don't have any idea. it's some festival. I'll send you. David sent me the link I probably just gave my, somebody was probably scamming me and I probably just gave my money to somebody in Indonesia who put together

Sarah:

I'm thinking we're going off again.

Chris:

all the bands I like and were like, Hey, there's a festival. It's right by you. What are the odds?

Sarah:

the fire festival is happening again. Has, have you guys heard this? Yeah.

Chris:

I think I bought tickets to it.

Sarah:

Again,

Chris:

gonna be in Washington, pa.

Sarah:

and it's the same dude running it, like the same dude who was in jail. And from what I, this was in passing. I heard on the news that again, there are signs that it's not actually going to happen. Like it's literally the same thing is happening. How I don't, ladies and gentlemen, this is why we learn history. This is why we need to know that things have happened bad in the past, so we don't do them again. I know some people are opposed to it, but really it will, it saves us all in the long run. I really wanna talk to these stupid fucks that bought tickets to the second Fyre Festival. That won't not fucking happen.

Chris:

it's the four Chord music festival. So that's real. It's real, it's in the paper.

Sarah:

Oh, okay.

Chris:

It's in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Do you remember the Pittsburgh Post

Sarah:

Oh, that's a fancy one. Yeah. All right. Okay. Yeah, we're gonna have to make plans to go to that. So I've gone off on a thousand different things. yeah. So we're gonna start a new book next week, and chapter one is a bit long. I'm looking at them'cause I don't know if you could see, I've marked all the chapters off because I do better when I can visually see how many pages there are to read,

Chris:

You're almost done. You're almost done. Reader, baby.

Sarah:

I think maybe we talk about the first chapter next week.

Chris:

Yes, I'm in. Oh, you know who else is gonna be at the Four Chord Music Festival?

Sarah:

Who,

Chris:

Stacey's mom. what's the name of that band? Bowling for? It's not Bowling for Soup. That's a different

Sarah:

but, Ooh.

Chris:

Or maybe it's Bowling for Soup. And I thought that they sang, Stacey's Mom.

Sarah:

When you say, hold on, Alexa, who sang Stacey's song? Stacey's Mom, Michael Pollock and John Bellion Sang Stacey by Quinn. 92. No, that's wrong. Alexa. Who sang Stacey's mom?

Chris:

it's bull it's not bowling for soup.

Sarah:

was sunk by Fountains of Wayne. Fountains of Wayne.

Chris:

It's bowling for soup. That's coming

Sarah:

you could have literally told me, I will give you a billion dollars if you could tell me who's saying Stacey's mom. And there is nothing. There is no, I wouldn't have even no fountains of Wayne. I don't even know this. You could tell. Tell me Fountains of Wayne and I'd be like, you're full of shit.'cause I don't even,

Chris:

Rebecca, the intern knew and she didn't even grow up. Then she was there Bowling for soup. Do you know what? Bowling for Soup sings

Sarah:

No.

Chris:

A, they sing this theme song to Phineas and Ferb.

Sarah:

Oh, yay. Yeah, I like

Chris:

So maybe they'll play that. And they also sing, 1985, like Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, way before Nirvana.

Sarah:

I like, okay. Yeah, I

Chris:

I'm singing on that episode. We're gonna release to other people.

Sarah:

I am, I'm gonna have to, yeah, we're definitely gonna have to go to that.

Chris:

I'm excited.

Sarah:

I think of Fountains and Wayne, fountains of Wayne and I think of Calvin and Hobbes. The little kid from the Calvin. Is Calvin the kid, and Hobbes is the kitty.

Chris:

is the, Hobbes is the tiger. He's not a kitty. He's a tiger

Sarah:

so when you say fountains of Wayne, I don't know why I feel like they logo should be that little kid, like peeing in a puddle into a fountain.

Chris:

into a fountain. yeah.

Sarah:

Okay. And the last thing that we need to talk about today is, we have been, doing our releases on Thursdays. up until the last few. Okay. It's been a little bit dicey there the last few weeks. so we will be changing that. So if you are one of the ones that we've been disappointing on Thursdays, we are going to be dropping new episodes on Mondays. Now, I have decided that I do a lot of napping and TV watching on Sunday, so it's probably a good time for me to get shit done so we could get things released on Mondays.

Chris:

Love it. I'm here for it.

Sarah:

Okay.

Chris:

Amen.

Sarah:

I have,

Chris:

make my life easier'cause then I can start forgetting about the episode on Thursday and when it gets to be Sunday, be like,

Sarah:

then you could worry about it on Sunday,

Chris:

oh no.

Sarah:

that's way easier to worry about it, I feel like.

Chris:

Yeah, it'll relieve a lot of anxiety. Maybe I won't need to take those meds. After all, I'll talk to the psychiatrist and see if that's really what's doing

Sarah:

Yeah, you should. You should. It has nothing to

Chris:

I'm fine.

Sarah:

okay. is there anything else? I think we have covered all of the insanity. I said I think it'll be a short episode and here we are at 58

Chris:

were wrong. We were wrong. But you guys got a good gastro story of the week. if you can imagine like a seventies Nita with a wig, dragging us through the parking lot at a Southland Shopping Center into the Oland Mills

Sarah:

yeah.

Chris:

asking questions about The Hobbit and probably trying to read while they were taking my picture.

Sarah:

And I was probably biting you.

Chris:

Obviously you were being some sort of menace.

Sarah:

did mommy wear a wig?

Chris:

Yeah, and I didn't know, but she kept it in the bathroom under the sink and I don't know.'cause you're little and I'm bored. I was digging through there and I thought it was a mouse and I pulled it out and I was like, what the hell is this?

Sarah:

She did not wear a wig

Chris:

You'll, you ask her. You ask her. Also, I forgot to show you guys,

Sarah:

again. Let me see the new tatty. Oh, it's pretty,

Chris:

Isn't she nice,

Sarah:

I like it.

Chris:

Becca? Isn't she pretty

Sarah:

I like you very much. That's fun.'cause that's where I was gonna get my next one coming up this way.

Chris:

great? I wanna, here's the thing, I have a ton of them, but I can't see most of them except for this one that looks like I got it in prison. and, I was like, I want one I can look at all the time.

Sarah:

Yeah. I have these on my, I wanna get Yeah,

Chris:

Oh, yeah, Becca. Yes. Working on the sleeve.

Sarah:

All the arms and they're all black and I want more. I wish they were free.

Chris:

Yeah, this was, this was a bit of an investment that I didn't realize when I made the appointment.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Chris:

Because the girl is good and she's Hey, my time is worth this much per hour. And I was like, that is a lot.

Sarah:

Do we manufacture the ink in the US

Chris:

I'm not sure.

Sarah:

be something else that's gonna

Chris:

It's probably gonna, don't think about it too much. Don't think about it too much. You're, you have a bit of privilege and you don't have to think about it, so don't,

Sarah:

I know. makes me even more sad.

Chris:

It does Me too, saying it out loud hurts. Me too.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Chris:

right. On that note, I got a new tattoo, so I'm gonna go and,

Sarah:

Put some Vaseline on

Chris:

to eat. Starving.

Sarah:

Okay. Sounds good. All right. love you. Bye.

Chris:

didn't you, is there a catchphrase you wanna put at the end of these

Sarah:

I was try. We've tried a few and I just couldn't get anything. Like

Chris:

we're not gonna make fetch happen. Huh?

Sarah:

love, love you by seems to be the one that just it's good. I actually am going to put that above the door. Our door, it says, Love you. by.

Chris:

I like that. That's cute.

Sarah:

Okay. Love you. Bye.

Chris:

All right, love you. Bye. It's the stop button.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Christine Kanalis

Host
Head Shot

Sarah Leibhart

Host