Unfiltered & Unraveling: Healing, Growth, and Finding Our Way Back

Life doesn’t wait until you feel ready. We’re back in the studio talking through what’s been happening behind the scenes, why we went quiet for a bit, and what it really looks like to rebuild your momentum when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, and running on fumes. If you’ve ever felt yourself shut down, stop texting back, or lose motivation for the things you normally love, you’ll hear yourself in this one.

We get practical about our health journey too: quitting sweet tea, cutting sugar, drinking more water, and finding simple foods that actually work during sports season and packed schedules. We swap real-life meal ideas, talk about cravings, and share the small changes that can lead to weight loss and better energy without turning your whole life upside down.

Then we go deeper into perimenopause, hormone balance, brain fog, appetite changes, and the relief that can come when your body starts to level out again. We also talk about heavy stressors like a housing situation that needs clear paperwork, the emotional aftershock of a health scare, and how faith routines like Bible reading and prayer journaling can keep your mental health from sliding when life gets loud. We wrap with what we’re dreaming up next: career paths like an RN program, big future plans, and ways we want to elevate the podcast and the studio.

If this conversation helps you feel less alone, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s in a hard season, and leave us a review. What topic do you want us to cover next?

Transcript

Welcome Back And Life Updates

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Welcome to Unfiltered Trouble. We're happy to be back. I am Amanda. I'm Stephanie. And it's been a minute since we've been in our studio. It has been a hot minute, but it's been cold. Well, I mean, we've had good weather, but I would say, like, we've just been really busy. And not that we don't put the podcast first, but I have been going through some struggles on my own. So that has been a little holdback. That's okay because we all have our holdbacks. I've been dealing with my own stuff, which is not fun and stressful. And absolutely. Then we have kids in sports now. Yeah. So it's our busy season. Well, I always have sports. Yeah, she always has sports. I get a little break during winter for me. Absolutely. Today we're just here to talk and just talk about life. We could talk about our health journeys. We're both on. I can't believe we're both like in the middle of this. I know we really haven't even talked about it either. Like to each other. Um so I have been doing mine, I don't know, since about February, I think. I stopped drinking sweet tea. I literally am just on water, which, if you know me, that's a lot. That is so like that is a huge thing. Like, I don't even buy sweet tea anymore. So I dropped a lot of weight, honestly. Just by dropping sugar. Just by dropping sugar. Absolutely. I don't eat sweets anymore. If I want something sweet, I eat fruits. Fruits are such a good sweet. They are. Oh, they have this really good orange at Walmart. I'll have to show you a picture of it on my phone here. Like, I'll bring it up. You guys, you have to get on this orange. I don't know if anybody's tried it. It's really good. Let's see. Hold on a second, guys. I don't know what it's called. What kind of fruit it's called. It's fresh soma orange. They're$1.98 each, but it is well worth it. It was so sweet and so my goodness. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. My hair feels really flat today. I think it's kind of greasy. That's why. Probably. It's shower day. Mine needs to be washed too. It's fine. We're on the struggle glass today. Yeah, we are. It's cold. And yeah, it was like what? 80 yesterday. And now today it's I I think it's in its 50s. Like it's not super cold. Let's see, because I'm curious on what the temperature is right now. I'm literally in sweatpants because I was like, it's cold. It's 49. Yeah. It's 49 degrees outside. To me, that is cold. I don't think it's that cold personally. I I don't like the so yeah. So we're both on our health journeys. I need to get into a better workout routine for myself. But other than that, like I'm doing pretty good on it. Like with food-wise, I'm trying things I never thought I would try, like a sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are so good. They are actually pretty good. Especially if you put honey on them or hot honey. I will tell you my favorite way to eat it is as a bun. So you just slice it in half, air fry it, get it crispy, and use it as a burger. Okay. It is so good. It's got I do where you cut them in half and put them on the parts. Yeah. Johnny does that too. I love them that way. He likes it that way too. We did rice, ground beef, and sweet potatoes the other day with cottage cheese, which I really enjoyed the sweet potato, the ground beef, and the rice, sweet potato, and the ground beef. I did not like, however, the cottage cheese mixed into it because cottage cheese has a weird taste to me anymore. And it doesn't matter the brand. Like, I don't know what happened, but it's it just ruined the whole experience. And we drizzled hot honey over it, and it just was not a good fit. And the kids all ate it. So I like doing rice and like just ground meat because the kids will eat it. That's honestly gonna be the our go-to for this ball season. Yeah, it's super fast. It's so fast and so easy to make that. It is. I need to get like one of those like crock pots that I can take with me. Yeah, because then it's just like the three of us that go to these. And so, you know, we'll probably do like a lot of like this weekend when we were gone to Columbia. I went to Trader Joe's and got a little like charcuterie board type thing. I did I made it myself. So it was like salami, and Tom had to have baby bells. And I got dark chocolate covered almonds. What else did I get? I like onion dip, but like better than the French onion dips. This was like caramelized onions. It was so good. Sounds good. I love Trader Joe's. I've never been to a Trader Joe's. Oh, we need to go. We we can do a video one day when just with my little mics that we got. Oh, yeah. We both have little mics. Yeah, we could go and do a Trader Joe's day. Wouldn't that be so exciting? So fun. Just little adventures of Amanda and Stephanie. Yeah, my TikToks like growing. Yes. That's and I get to monetize on certain videos. And I've been excited. I've been slacking on my TikTok only because, as we all know, I've been going through a lot. Like, well, you guys don't know, but I've been dealing with a lot. So I kind of flashed on that. Well, my landlord decided to tell me he wanted us out when I went to pay him, told me he had cancer, and he's been like a an uncle since my dad passed. And so that was just like a real hard. That was a hard hit for you. That was. And then to be told at the same time he's dying, and then oh, you gotta move out, and then how fast could you move out? Yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot in one like go. Yeah. So luckily we've talked to him and we've figured out something for now. Hopefully that continues to be the goal, but I don't know. I I do worry that he's not gonna do well and he's gonna pass before anything gets figured out fully. But I do know his daughter is gonna be taking care of him. I haven't heard that. I have insight information. Um, because as far as I know, his daughters just came down. Like this was literally from his mouth the other day. Okay, so then it might not be his daughter, but it's somebody related to somebody that is gonna be taking care of him. A person I know literally told me all all things. Yeah. So we'll see. I don't know how well this is all gonna go, but yeah. Make sure you get everything in writing. Yeah, well, he said I said something about having it all in writing and notarized, and he's like, no, no, no, you don't need it right notarized. Yeah, we do. We need it notarized, or it won't stand up with anything. Yes. So and I told my husband if he doesn't notarize it, then like, no, we're not. Yeah. I may need to get up for one second because I really am I'm sorry, guys. I'm watching like the monitor, like us recording, and I think we need to lift up the camera a little bit higher. I think that box right there would be perfect to like lift it just enough to like give us that height, you know? Because I feel like the camera's focused like in the center part of our bodies, and I want it to be there. We go. That's so much better. Hold on, we may need to lift this up now. Okay, that should be fine. That good? Yeah, I think that looks so much way better. I just was not like, it was really weird how it just was like so yeah. So we've been dealing with a lot. I was very stressful. I'm hoping everything still preying on it, still hoping everything goes the way we want. You know, we've lived in our house seven years. Yeah. We remodeled it, we've put a lot of love into it. So I'd hate to just have to up and walk away when I've always been told I would be able to buy it. So, yes. We're just hoping everything works out. And we've we've already talked about like your breast scare, correct? I think we did. No, no, I don't think so. Did we? Yes. Yes. Well, uh, I don't know if we've talked about it since I got my results though. No. And that all came back normal. It's fibrous materials, so do your checks because that was very scary. I it was very scary. So that also contributed to me not recording on TikTok. And I've just been a lot has been going on, which everybody knows me when I when I have a lot going on, I just like I shut down. I don't talk. I don't I mean, I haven't really talked to Amanda, so I don't talk to anybody either. Yeah. That's how we know we're going through stuff too together, because like we know we don't we don't communicate. I don't communicate to anybody. I mean, I no, I did. I reached out to a few people and just like had a phone conversation and two people that I had phone conversations with about like some mental health struggles that I'm having. Like I I write it out and so I always write out anything I'm going through and I'll write it out. And sometimes I'm like, oh, I should share this. And then I'm like, no, I don't want to be that vulnerable because I just it's uncomfortable to be vulnerable. And so I don't share some of the like deeper things I deal with, like the peri menopause stuff. Like to me, that's not that deep. Like there's a lot of women out there going through that stuff, so that's easy to share. But like some of the other things I'm dealing with, like, I just don't share that stuff. I have a hard time sharing those things. But do you feel like we're like that because like we don't like to share things like that because like maybe our mom was an oversharer? I don't know if it's because mom was an oversharer or if it's because sometimes when she was going through deep stuff, maybe she didn't tell it. I I don't know. I don't know, but I just know for me personally, I don't like to be a burden on other people, and I don't want to hurt people's feelings on certain things too. You know what I mean? Like I don't I feel like I'd be hurting people's feelings, or I don't even know why. Like, you know what I mean? Like I have no idea. I just know that I self-isolate really, really bad. I bed rot. That's like one of the other things. And then I always justify it because I work and I only get my days off are like very scattered. So it's every other weekend and every other Tuesday and every other Friday. So it's just really so the the weekends I have off, I have Tuesday off that week. And then the weekends I work the weekend, I'm off on Friday, which would be today. So and also Christine's episode's dropping today. Yeah. Gotta sneak that in there. Yes, gotta sneak it in. But I justify it in like I'm just tired and I'm overwhelmed, and it's hard to keep up with my house. I have two grandbabies and they're dragging out toys or shoes all over the place. And it's not that my house is like nasty dirty, it's just lived in. And then I get overwhelmed because it's lived in, and I want to have like a pristine house because I'm very OCD. And then I just, you know, bed raw. Yeah. Yeah. Like that. And I think that's where you and Laura are more alike. Yes. Because you both suffer from depression. Yes. I I honestly can't say that it depressed things depress me. It's just they stress me out. And that's that's when I shut down. Like I'm stressed, so I don't speak to nobody. So I think a lot of people think depression is like a feeling, and it's not. It's not a feeling of being depressed about something. No, it's it's exactly shutting down.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

It's being overwhelmed by things. It is having lack of motivation to do absolutely anything in the world. That doesn't matter if it's recording the podcast. It doesn't matter if it's doing my own social medias. I lose interest and even wanting to go read my Bible, in which I do that every night before I go to bed. I read my Bible, I do my prayer journal, and then I pray that that's just my nightly routine. That's what I do every single night. So I think what I've just been going through is something that I have to sort out on my own and my hormones are getting better. I'm super happy. I feel so much better. You feel more clear-headed. Yes, I feel like I don't feel so foggy anymore. And I I feel like I look better. And so I know that sounds crazy, but I feel like my with my skincare routine too, my skin is glowing. I feel like I'm not always hungry now. Like before, I would want to eat all the time. Like just pile food in me. And I didn't understand why, but it's your hormones. They literally make you do that. Yeah. So I had a lot of weight gain. And during that season of my life, I really didn't care about gaining weight. Like it didn't bother me. I didn't, I didn't look in the mirror and think, oh my God, I'm so fat, I want to lose weight. Like it never, it did not phase me at all. You're just like, it is what it is. Well, it wasn't even it is what it is. Like I was just, I didn't care how I looked. I didn't care if my makeup was done. I didn't care if my hair was done. I had no care in the world. If it required me to go somewhere where I was gonna have to dress up, then I did not want to go because I just had no care to do that. Now the weight gain bothers me. And I'm over 10 days. I think I'm over 10 days of taking my hormones and I'm starting to feel things again. And I'm it's slowly all coming back. But one thing I did notice is the weight bothers me now. And so I'm working towards that, and it's something that I'm gonna be dedicated to working towards. When I'm at work, I drink water all day. I drink coffee in the morning, and then I drink water throughout the day, and then at night, I don't even like a tall glass of tea, I don't even drink all of it. So like I drink maybe like Yeah, that's a half a glass of tea at night. That's how I started. Like I would just drink it at dinner, and then I got to the point where I was just drinking my water at nine. Like, so now I just and I even like the last couple weeks, I don't even drink coffee in the morning. I'm literally just on water.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Oh yeah.

Landlord Crisis And Protecting Yourself

Health Scares And Mental Shutdowns

Perimenopause Hormones And Feeling Like You Again

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Do you think but honestly, to do you think I would have ever gotten to that point? No. What made you cut out coffee? For me, I'm not cutting out coffee. For me personally, because I like protein coffee. For some reason, the coffee's been upsetting my stomach. Okay. So I'll probably go back to my coffee eventually, but right now it's upsetting my stomach. So I'm just like, it no. Or maybe I'll be able to drink it maybe later in the day instead of first thing in the morning. But I even with my coffee, like I don't put sh extra sugar in it. Zero calories, zero sugar flavoring from Skinny Girls. Just like and just like a little cat full. Not even that much. Just like a little cat full. Start in freezing with fruit, put oranges and strawberries in your water. Like get the little in my coffee. Oh, in your coffee. I use the skinny girl syrup. Oh, gotcha. Yeah. Um, and then I I do a splash of the Chibani creamer. Oh, yeah. Because it's it's way less ingredients. Like it's literally five ingredients. Well, if you made your own. I mean, I could probably make my own, but you know, your girl don't know how to do things like that. You just buy like half and half. We've gone through this. I'm not a baker. I'm not a cook. I could do those types of things. No, you don't. The more you tell yourself that, the more you're gonna keep being true. Like that. Like, you know what one of my favorite meals is that I make? What? Not lettuce tacos that my kids call. They call them lettuce tacos. Those sound really good. You're gonna have to like make those for them. Okay, well, we'll make them one night and we'll come over for dinner. Yeah. That sounds really good. My favorite. So yeah, I just the thing I'm going through, I don't think it will change. I just have to learn to deal with it. So yeah. I think I kind of know what you're talking about. What? I mean, I don't care about sharing it. Like wanting to be back in Oklahoma with your friends. Yeah, we've talked about that with a little, yeah. A little bit. I I think we just gotta find more time to try to go down there. I think I think would be a good thing for you. But I miss those girls too. I love those people. It it's so hard to explain like the type of people they are. Like you could meet them for your first time. Yeah. And by the time you're leaving their house, you're family. Like you I have never had that anywhere. And those people were there for me during some very hard seasons of my life. Yeah. No, I agree. And you met them technically in Missouri. Well, one of them. One of them. One of them. Yeah. One of them, I yes. We met here in Missouri. And because of her, I went to Oklahoma just because I mean, yes, because of her. Because I got to choose between St. Louis, Kansas City, or Oklahoma City when we first initially moved in. I did not know that. Okay. So I did not know you were thinking about Kansas City and St. Louis. Yeah. Those are big cities. Yeah. So I chose OKC. That was my choice. I would have much preferred OKC than Kansas City or St. Louis. I do know I will be back in Oklahoma. Just one day. Yeah. Within my next five years, I will be back in Oklahoma. That's and I think it's just because it's just home. You felt like it was more home. And we went through so much there. I went through dads of friends, family, you know, family there. And then our accident and just so many things that that's just my comfort. Like it really is. And so yeah, like I it it's been really hard. I I I get that. Well, we'll definitely have to figure out a because I've never felt like home in Missouri ever. You okay. Can I just say who you sound like right now? I know, that's our mom. Mm-hmm. But it it really is true. And I I feel like to me, Missouri feels because we're home younger. It felt like home when dad was here. Yeah. Really nowhere I want to be eventually. I just I don't know. You know Missouri's not it too. It's just it's not my favorite place. I you know. I mean, I just I mean maybe if we met moved to a different city. Maybe a bigger city outskirts of the big city. Yeah, I think I'd be fine. I just I'm not yeah, you know, it's just an only place. When we go to back to m Oklahoma, I'm not gonna be in the city. I will be out of the city. Yeah. Yeah. Which I don't mind. And that's still just a short drive to town. And then I still got so much to do. And then we'll just have to figure out a different way to recruit. Well, you had we both have the riverside. Oh, yeah. And then we would both just hop on the computers and like join together. Absolutely. Oh, okay. I didn't know we could do that. Yeah, that's okay. You know when it asks if like when we first get on, if there's gonna be another person? Remember how we did it the one time when your phone was hooked up? Oh, yeah, yeah. That's all we have to do. Oh, okay. Yeah. That's that's it. So we'll be so read that. Okay. No, that I'm as part of the podcast, I'm not worried about that part of it. Like, that's not an issue of how to continue to do that. Like, that's not an issue at all. Good. Good, good. That that would be my only concern. But like, what does that open up for us? More opportunities for guests. Yeah. Yeah. Way more than that. You know you're right. 100% more guests. I think it'll flourish a lot better. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. And I and I don't know how to explain that. Like, you would think no matter where you are, something can flourish. But I do think it will be better there because I'm able to promote it better there. Because I don't think people in Oklahoma see a lot of my stuff anymore. Yeah. No, that's that's valid. So I, you know, I as long as like I I mean, I love going down to OKC. It's fun. I know you loved it there. I I did. It was hard though, too. Like at the time I really missed my dad. Yeah. And this was before dad died. And I will always be thankful that I came back because we got those last four months with him. So I'll be ever for grateful that I went and did that journey with you. And I've done a lot of journeys with her. I've moved to Connecticut, loved Connecticut. But again, something just told me I needed to be here with my dad, and I did, and then we ended up. Which I'm glad you didn't. Dad had you in. Yeah. Those will be seasons of my life that I'll I'll never forgive or forget. And I'm always thankful for because those were those were great. Those were great times. And I I love big cities. I just hate Springfield. I hate Springfield. I don't that's my thing. I don't like Springfield. I like Joplin, but it's also still small too. And it's not like their mall's good or anything like that. The idea of living here. Okay. Not not in Aurora, you know, per se, you know, but like my small rural area. But I want to be able to like just up and go. Like I want to be like, well, I'm gonna go take a trip. Like I wanna go to there di down there. Say I just want to pick up and be like, oh, I'm gonna go down there for a weekend. Like that's my goal to be able to be stable enough to be doing those types of things. Yes, that would be awesome. And then I don't have to worry about anything. I you know, my kids are at those pivotal ages right now, especially my oldest, with school sports. The kid loves football. And I'm afraid right now, if we move, he would not want to play football because he's played with the same kids, yeah, his best friends since third grade. See that so that's something like for us, we you do travel. Well, we have asked Chelsea because she is on a really great team. She's on a very and that really ultimately like moving will be up to her. But if you ask her right now, she would pack up and go back. Yeah. And finding an organization there would not be hard because there's yeah, phenomenal organization. Yeah, there's good organizations. There, but I do think you should she could probably go back to the Oklahoma Athletics, which is one of the top organizations I think she found the best one in Missouri, though. I mean, that and bullpen psychos, I think, are really good too. Um, yeah. I have a friend, her daughter's on the bullpen psychos. I think she's in like she's in high school, so she's probably like 16, 17, you, whatever. But the bullpen psychos are a very good one. They're yeah, they're very good. So, you know, ultimately it's her choice, and she has said she wants to go back. She misses it. She misses everything there too. So, I mean, we'll see what happens. Yeah. I mean, you never know what the future holds. And I do know, you know, at first I regretted ever moving here. I was harboring a lot of regret, but I have stopped with the regret because I just was very angry and regretful and hated that we moved here. But then I stopped and realized that we would not have our podcast right now if I would never have moved here. We wouldn't have done so many great things if I wouldn't have moved here, as far as like with the podcast and the growth and things like that. So but I also feel like at that time when you guys moved here, because you guys moved here after our little brother passed, which is this week. Yes. So that's another reason like this week has been very hard for all of us. We need to do a deal on that. But I don't want to record on that until Laura's willing to come in here. Um because I don't think it should just be a so at that at that season of all all of our lives, I think we all needed each other. Absolutely. So therefore, I am grateful that you moved here because I feel like we needed each other. Yes. During that yeah, yeah. So I'll forever be thankful that she moved here because she really saved me a lot. I think it was just good for all of us in that, yeah, you know, even though I was angry, I was fine with it at first, and then I it moved to resentment, and now I'm okay with it because I see all the great things it has done. We got to buy a house and it kind of proved to us that like we can buy a house anywhere. We can do this. So yeah, I I know that, and I know, and then I before we ever move back, my TikTok's gonna take off. So I already know. They're already sending me offers to make monetize. So I'm already monetizing this week. I've already made 40 bucks off videos. And then I know once you get monetized and then we collab, mine will just grow much even more. More organically because grow and that's how I've been doing it. I post my real life, like whether it's something about softball, or if it's I'm traveling, or if it's how I'm feeling that day, or whatever. Like, I just I post it. I post everything. I post all kinds of content. Now, the content that I notice that sticks out and does the best is the traveling is my traveling reviews. So just whether it's a restaurant review or which we need to start just going to a restaurant or a coffee shop or whatever, and I just need to start recording all those because obviously that's what does well on my TikTok. Yeah. But I'll still keep posting all my other stuff because it's who I am. Videos when I was making food, like when I was cooking dinner, those videos really went really well. Think we could do some ideas to elevate it, to shorten them a little bit. So what you do is like you would take like your video of you cooking and like dicing something, but instead of showing you dicing it the whole time, you split it. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, bam, it's like all that. Because people lose interest in a video within the first like five seconds. So if it's not something that's gonna captivate them in five seconds, they're out of there. So if you look at your report, it'll show you how many seconds they stayed. Okay. So then you know, okay, well, I need to be more possessive at the front. Yeah. And then, and then when they're like a three to 10 minute long videos. So if you're watching a video, do you really want to stay for the whole entire video? Not all the time. Yeah, sometimes your videos are very long, and I do it too. Like I try to stay in your video and I'm like, scroll. Because I it needs to be short and impactful. Yeah. So what you need to do is just like do over talks instead of talking on the video, just explain what you're doing and make it into like instead of like a five-minute video, turn it into like a two-minute video. Gotcha. And I'll show you how to like chop it up and make it that way. Yeah. But it'll elevate your videos. Yeah. I mean, you do a great job, but we're gonna elevate you. Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. Makes sense. Yeah. But that's that's the thing. Like, I've never, I don't play with it. I've just at first, like, I just it was just fun. I just make videos, but now it's like I need to make money off of this. I want to make money off of this. I I would like to retire early, maybe one day. Yeah, and I'm gonna this fall, I'm gonna be starting school. I don't know if I'm gonna do Phoenix of Arizona because they do have an RN program there, or if I'm gonna go to Missouri State. I was almost called it Missouri Southern. I mean, I like Missouri Southern, but maybe I'll do Missouri Southern. I don't, I don't know. It'll be one of the colleges, but I am gonna start the RN program. I am third year for a bachelor's degree. So if I switch now, then it just I already have a lot of credits to go towards it. I just need a couple science classes and boom, I'm in the RN program. So yeah. It'll be excel it'll be semi-accelerated, which is really awesome to be able to do that. And then I'll be in the RM program. And then I even talked to Tom about like maybe travel, but like do it for like six months out of the year and to where I am a travel RN and then just bank and just bank that money, just put the money up and just pick locations where we either have family or like I know someone or something because like I just feel like if I went somewhere, say I went to like San Diego to work, I could talk to like Michelle and Britney, or if I went towards closer to LA, I could talk to Aunt Cassie, have people or San Jose, I can talk to Danielle or Yeah, no, you're right. Like we Joey and Michelle in Sacramento, like I have people I could talk to about like staying places. Shoot, they may need one up in Montana, and I got people in Montana. Yeah. So I could save all that money and bank it, and then you know, even if I just did it for six months. Yeah, it'd be a lot. Yeah. Because traveling nurses make a lot. Yeah, they do. I will say that I've kind of thought about going into a paralegal program. Ooh. Really? Because you know, I've always wanted to be a lawyer. And I had a client and they're like, well, you never know, you know, it's never too late to be an attorney. And I'm like getting into that a little bit, but we'll see. Just do it. Don't be scared. Just uh just do it. What's it gonna hurt? It's not gonna hurt nothing. Just to even get the education. Yeah. I mean, you could gosh, I mean, with this kind of stuff that we're doing, like we need legal knowledge. Yeah. Um it's a lot of hard work, it is, but you could do a paralegal and then you could end up wanting to go straight for an attorney and take the bar. Yeah, you don't want to. You can take the mini law school. No, yeah, like Kim Kardashian. She did do some did she did law school. Well, some people say she didn't, and she just apprenticed through the a law firm. I don't we'll have to look into that. I'm pretty sure she took some classes. Yeah. Because I still think you would still have to take classes. You still have to take some classes. I mean, I don't think you do. I think you could just take the baby bar on your own. Yeah, I don't know. No, you should study for the LSAT. Yeah, that's all you really have to do. Yeah, that's all you really gotta do. So, I mean, who knows, maybe future attorney here. I don't know. Don't I mean speak it into existence? Yeah. So that is something like we bought well, Tom wanted Greg Grishel's book, and it's what helps with your mind. It's it's all about your mind and your way of thinking too, which kind of coincides with the secret in ways. So when you it in so it all translates to the Bible, his book, the secret, and like how we think. So the more you negative talk about yourself and the more you talk negative into your life, the more you're just gonna keep seeing it. Nothing's ever gonna change. But the more you start speaking, like I cook really good, guess what? You're gonna start elevating your cooking. And the more you say I love to cook, you're gonna start. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like all those things will start happening for you. So if you just start saying, I'm gonna be a great attorney one day, girl, you're just speaking it into existence. I do speak a lot of things into existence as well, though. But you know, when I was telling mom about all this stuff that was going on with my landlord and stuff, mom's like, you know, though, that you must be on the right track. She's like, You're doing something you're supposed to be doing, or the devil wouldn't be trying you so hard. Because then after I was dealing with all that this past weekend, my card got hacked for a thousand dollars. Yeah. And that'll stress a person out, okay. Gosh, that was stressful. Luckily, they finally gave it back to me because I reported it instantly. But uh, after that happened, I was like, Mom, maybe right, I might be on to something that the devil's just like, nope, nope. Yeah, he stops you when you're starting to get on the right track, you're on the right track. And when you're starting to come into your season of life where you're fully embraced in God and everything else, the devil's gonna try you. And uh, you know what? I have been very I was reading my Bible every day. I was doing And it stopped you, didn't you? It did, because I was so stressed out. And instead of pulling myself into the word, it pulled you out of it, it pulled me out of it, so I need to get back into it. No, I never stopped going to church. We went to church every Sunday. I just didn't give myself that time that I was doing it. Because I was gonna say there's difference between church goers and people that live. And so I was very and so I'm I'm very angry at myself that I let that happen because I didn't see it happening. No, you don't see it happening. It just happens before your eyes happen like before your eyes. And so I need to get back into it. This week's been crazy. I'm I need to go back into my morning routine. And my Bible's in my car. I did it in my bi in my car before work. Oh, okay. That's a really good idea. So I would sit there in my car, read my Bible, do my Bible study, and then go into work. Okay. And that made me feel so good. Lately, I'm like, no, I don't want to get out of bed, and I don't get out of bed early enough to get to work early enough to do that. So I need to get back on track. So well, yeah, getting on track is really keeping your mental health good. Yes. And I think staying in the Bible helps you keep there. So it is true. The devil is gonna knock you down when you're doing your best and when you are starting to thrive. And we were starting to thrive, and then there was curveball. Yeah. So, you know, that's okay. And we're gonna get back to it and we're just gonna let God lead us the way God wants us to be going. Absolutely. I think that's kind of the best like purpose. I know my path has like I listen, I wanted to be a nurse in my 20s. I wanted to be an RN. I feel like you only lost it. And then we moved to the Midwest. And around here, there's no work besides factories, and I wasn't being paid like$10 an hour to go be a caregiver somewhere. When in California I was making$15 an hour doing it. So absolutely was not happening. I was like, no way, I'd rather work in a factory. So I did that. Well, now I can't do factory, and I really wanted to do social. I went to school for media communications, but now with AI, it's gonna make it really hard to try to find jobs like that. I got knocked down when I got a job offer, and then all of a sudden they pulled the plug on it. And I think right after that, I just kind of lost interest in like wanting to do that because I felt like I wasn't good enough, even though I know I'm good enough. She's amazing. I know what she does. And I do get forgetful, and I was going through a seasonal life at Perry Menopause, so like my brain gets forgetful. So I know I like going through school was a struggle. But I think the path that I'm on right now, being a CNA and then going on to my RN is the path that I should be on. And I think that's the path that I should have always been on, even though I get the itch to go bartend every once in a while. So you could do that on the weekends, though. Yeah. Well, I mean, not every weekend, but I can pick up like once we go to OKC, I could do that every once in a while, like be the start tender somewhere. That's always fun. So yeah, I just No bartending's fun, I agree. So yeah, I just you know, softball's going good, my life is going good, my body feels balanced. That's it's such a good feeling to feel balanced. And can I tell you something? So remember how like the one time they talked about how your like peach shrivels up, but like it was like day three. And like I just like was wiping or something, and like it hit it, and I was like, whoa, what's it doing way back up there? Like, cause it does. It like, yeah, it can't like the bean can be up here and then it like shrunk way down here. Like it it shrunk and now it's back to the peach. The peach. The juice. The juicy, the juicy, yeah, because it dries up. So it's a juicy peach again. Well, that's good. Yeah, I'm glad. That was only three days in. That's pretty good. I was like, whoa, these things were good. That is crazy. It's crazy. That is yeah. Yeah, and more sensations too. Yeah. Like for a while there was like nothing usually like and well, I mean, I wouldn't say I was like that, but like, yeah, it wasn't very sensational. It wasn't not as sensational as it is now. It was nothing to talk about. It wasn't right home on the butt. And it wasn't like because of your partner. Yeah. It has nothing to do with your partner. No, it's just you. You're like just your own self. You're like, okay, it is what it is. Was that good for you?

unknown 36:07

Yeah.

New Career Goals And Big Future Plans

Faith Routines And Fighting Negative Spirals

Recording Schedule And Studio Upgrade Ideas

SPEAKER_01 36:07

All right. That's all the matter. Yeah. So, I mean, there's that. Oh, it's it's oh, Christine starting her career path as a CNA. I'm so proud of her. Yes. I think this is gonna be a good calling for her. I think she will handle the job very well and she's gonna be very compassionate. Yeah, she no, she's a very compassionate person. I know a death will be the hardest for her. Yeah, no, it will be. And having to clean up, do postmortem care is gonna be really hard for her too. Yeah. Cause that, I mean, it's an uncomfortable thing for any human. I will say that is one thing that I dread for myself because sometimes hairstylists get asked to do their clients' hair. And I dread that. I dread that more than I should probably say. Really? It freaks dead bodies freak me out. Why? I'm not crying because it's like it's just I don't know. They freak me out. I just and I think it has to do with a story from when I was young. My best friend's dad died, and I remember going to the casket with her, and mind you, I'm probably like elementary school age, so like, or maybe middle school age, like sixth, fifth, sixth, seventh grade, somewhere in there. Okay. And the casket was open. It was an open casket, and I walked up to it, and you see these stitching on his eyes because he they donated his eyeballs, I'm guessing. But that horrified me. Horrified me. Why did they have an open casket? I don't know. They did open casket and you could see this like the stitching from his eyes, and that was it gave me nightmares. Okay. And then that would give me nightmares. And then when my husband's grandpa passed away, we were waiting for the ambulance because we got there like right as he died, after he died, because we were coming from Walmart, and his dead body's just like laying right there on the floor, right in front of my feet. Okay. So I don't do bodies. And then with our own dad, when dad died, like I couldn't even stay in the room. Like Garen walked me out of the bath out of the room because like I just I hit the floor and I cried. Like nope, I can't do dead bodies. But what's your pain? But it is a little different. But the one that I was able to stay with the most was Garen. Was Garen and I held his hand and I didn't want to let his hand go. Yeah. And I felt like that was because more of my my motherly instinct with him, even though I was his sister, he became like one of mine. So that one was really hard for me. But I didn't want to leave him. Yeah, dead bodies. But anyways, dead bodies freak me out. And one day I'm gonna be asked. I know, but maybe not. You could be an attorney before then. Maybe. And I do love my sweet little ladies that I do. Yes. And I do worry about them. Like I'm like, they have to look good for their. I think it would be a like you in your head right now, think that. But I think if it came down to it, you would absolutely be I I would definitely do it. I would probably have to have one of my like my little mentors, probably Regina, come with me to help me because I've never done it. Yeah. So I'm sure they would be willing to come with me and help me. Probably absolutely. Because I've never done it. Yeah. So anything else we want to talk about? Life right now. It's just been busy, and I'm sorry that I had to go on like a little mental health hiatus. I mean, I think it's fine. I just had no interest in even recording. Like fast was not a priority for me. Getting my health back is what mattered. And I could tell that she was going through something because I'd be like, hey, we ready to record? Like this, this, this. And she'd be like, Well, I gotta do this, this, this, this, this, this. Like, okay, just let me know. I'm here. Like, she knows all I can pretty much drop anything for the most part and do it. Life. But life does happen. Was on top of not wanting to running Chris Chelsea to Springfield. I do that on two days a week. And so that, and then I always have to have the grandkids with me. And then it's a lot. It is a lot. And then I'm only the only person home in the evening time on those days, or sometimes I'm home, and you know, Chelsea does something every day of the week, almost. So I'm home with the grandkids and cooking dinner, and the podcast is the very last thing that like in my schedule, on my work schedule. We already talked about that. Like it's crazy. Days she did get her schedule the same as mine now. Yes. So we're off on Fridays together and the same weekends. Right now, that's gonna be kind of hard. Fridays are probably gonna be our days that we probably Fridays. And no, so if we do this episode, then we can do like our very next episode later tonight. Yeah. Get two episodes already done, recorded, and then we can start throwing out teaser clips throughout the week. So we've got that, but like our weekends are the same now. She'll be gone next weekend. Are you gonna be gone next weekend? Are you gonna be here next week? No. You'll be here. We're off for the next two weeks. And then we pick back up April 18th. Okay, so we can also We don't go anywhere again for a while. We have like Monday. So even if we don't get another episode done today, we will be able to record a couple next weekend. Yes. Because we're both off. Yes. And I don't have no plans. Yes. We got a plan. Yeah. We got a plan. Why did I look at Christine's episode? Because you know, I had to take names out of it. And man, it's so juicy. It is so juicy. If y'all haven't got a couple of things, I want to listen to the first episode. Listen, I almost said if you haven't read it, you should read it. I think she should write a book. I 100%. The girl is a great writer. She's phenomenal. Yeah. I think it could be a great book. I think it would be a phenomenal book. And it could be picked up by like a lifetime or something. Yeah, like girl, lifetime movie. What are we doing? Yeah. You're trying to write fantasy books, but sister Sue or your life. If you're listening to this, please get on in. Isn't it clacking? Is it clacking? Clock it. Clock it. Clock it. That's what the kids say. I know. It's so crazy. Um, so yeah, I don't know. I really want to work on her podcast. Like, I I want to up. We have yard sale stuff. We have used stuff, which it works. I mean, it's it's great. I love our stuff. But I just want to elevate us. Well, we got our schema elevated. You guys don't see it, but it it is very I do want to elevate it some more. I have some ideas for it. I think we could put some like gold leaf on it. McKenzie child's like stuff. You know how like she has the planters and like the tables, and put some like diamond or some like gold pinstripe. Like we can elevate this way more. Yes. We want to upcycle. But we do. And we can upcycle these. We do need new chairs, and I don't think we need upcycled ones. I think we just need new ones. Or we need a couch. Like a little like little L-shaped couch would be perfect. And then we need to start putting our wood paneling up and painting it black. Then we don't have to have some insulation too. Oh yeah. Insulation, some wood paneling. And well, I don't think we would need as much insulation. You know what we could do? You know, like Tom's propane thing during the wintertime? Turn it on for a little bit. Yeah. And then it'll get nice and toasty. If we can at least get them to like seal the doors a little bit better through up there. I mean, maybe I don't know. Because the heat will go out real fast. Yeah. With that. And then summertime, I don't know what we're gonna. We're just gonna have to record outside or something. We'll leave the door open. Yeah. Something. But it'll be alright. Yeah, it'll be okay. We don't know. The AC doesn't work in here that great. So uh well, we have to print it on probably four hours before. I think we did that one day and it still just didn't make a difference. Yeah, just elevate our space a little bit more. We got the nice rug and I think we're getting there. It's a slow progress, but you know because it's organically done. We don't we're investing in our own selves. So we don't have people investing in us to if I had an investor, like I would completely have this whole thing like insulated, sheet rocks. I feel like we'd have like a head. House, honestly. Honestly, yeah, I'd probably because do like a little studio somewhere. Little s little apartment studio type thing. Yeah. That would be great. That would be so great. But we're not we're investigating. I don't know somebody in town that has space. We need to talk to the radio station here in town. So the one by the coffee planes do have like that. That's where they do, I think, like the local talk for like the sports and stuff. Yeah. So we may talk maybe they have space in there. I could have Johnny ask Brant because I think Brant goes in there. Oh. Because Brant does the sports sometimes. He'll do the sports radio stuff. We got in inside. Oh, we'll see. We'll see. I'll talk to him about it. Yeah, because that's a whole whole recording studio there. Yeah. And then maybe they might have space for us to put something in there. And we could like rent it for like$100 a month or something. Who knows? Who knows? We can figure this out. I mean, there's could be somebody we could talk to some of the businesses downtown. Like an outright space, not like a basement. I mean, the thought was good, but the thought was good. And this is just our permanent studio. Yeah. Our temporary studio. I mean, if it had to be my full-time studio, like that would be fine. But you just need your husband to have another shed. Yeah, we share the space with my husband. So the other side of us is crates and the lawnmower and you know, all the things. Is that a golf clubs? Yeah, we why is there golf clubs? Because he has golf clubs. I did not know that. Does he golf? He likes to hit balls, yeah. He will go in the backyard and hit golf balls. Really? Yes. It's very therapeutic. Listen, Dominic wants to learn how to golf. So yeah, like just, you know. We're just getting there. We got a mattress over there too. I think that's why we don't host why I haven't hosted interviews here in town. Because our space is not Yeah, but we could always go like do a lunch and go somewhere quiet, like a coffee shop and do interviews too. Yeah, like a coffee and chat or something like that. That would be really cute. I think that'd be a good idea. See, look at me just bringing up ideas. But and we could do it like when they're not that busy. Yeah. Because we got some really cute, we've got a really cute coffee shop here. There's a lot of cute coffee shops. But oh, it's a meh. They got a good coffee too. Oh, we should because I love it. I'll go get their lunch special sometimes. They have lunch specials. Yes, the other day they had a Ooh, have you tried the guacing go? No, I haven't. I want to. I was telling some of the people about it because we'll be in Monet this weekend for I heard it's really good. Kaylee at work tried it. She said it was really good. Is it like burritos? It's kind of like reminds me of like a Moe's or kind of like a Chipotle. Something like that. Like, but it's so cute, and the food looks so much better than theirs, though. I'll have to try it out. Mm-hmm. We'll have to go. But yeah, it's it's a new restaurant in Monette, and it looks like it's pretty much thriving. So that's really good. Yeah. So I don't know. We're gonna be on it more, guys. We're gonna getting back to our normal selves. Yeah, because I did so good after the beginning of the year. Yeah. Like, yeah, at the beginning of the year, we were like point on. Valentine's Day hit and just my birthday. And I I think that's when my spiral happened is around my birthday because I have friends that would take me out every well, one friend that takes me out every year for my birthday, and we would get Mexican food and get a margarita and do things. And I didn't I didn't do anything. Nothing. Nothing for my birthday. Absolutely not. Didn't you guys go to Brance on your birthday weekend though? For Chelsea's birthday. For Chelsea's birthday. So your birthday kind of just got like overshot. Listen, I didn't get nothing for my birthday. It wasn't that it wasn't that like, you know, enjoyed my time with my daughter, of course. Like it was great. But I just wanted to go have a drink with my friends and go do something. Okay. I don't want to ask. No. You know? Like I don't want to have to be like, hey, let's go out to lunch for my birthday. My mom didn't do anything. Like, hey, let's go get Mexican food. I was just kind of butthurt. Butthurt, honestly. I thought you guys weren't coming back till like Monday though. No, we came back Sunday. On your birthday. Yeah, on your birthday. I didn't realize that. And then on my birthday, I went to well, I mean, I I did go do something. I went to the casino with my aunt and it's been a- Did you win any money? No, I lost 20. She walked out with 75. So she won for her birthday and I lost for mine. But that's okay. It was still fun. And that sounds fun. We started doing that about four years ago after dad died. We've gone every year on our birthdays because our birthdays are like four. Do you go to the casino every year? No. And we just go to lunch. This year we went to the casino. She's like, I haven't been to the casino in a long time. I used to go with my friend Wanda. That's so funny. And I was like, Marcy, if that's what you want to do, let's go do it. Like, let's go to the casinos. We left at like 9 30 in the morning to go to the casino. How fun. And we went to downstream and we played for a couple hours and we went to Joplin and had Olive Garden. Nice. And then I came home and I had to cook dinner for my birthday. Well, you know. Did I cook dinner that night on your birthday? Yeah. And I didn't get nothing for my birthday at all. No, I don't care about gifts. I don't Well, for me it was just like it was kind of a like a gunch punch because like my husband always always makes a big deal for my birthday and it was nothing. I don't care about I don't ever need a gift or anything like that. I don't know. But like not even just like my birthday just like came and gone. Like I'm gonna do that. That's how I felt that's how I felt this shit. Um so it really just kind of Yeah. I was like so I felt like I didn't matter. Yeah, I that's how I felt, but like, you know, if I was there, it's Mama Lisa. Yeah. That's who I go to. Always Mexican food, and we always have margarita. I'll have a margarita. I don't is your favorite food Mexican? My favorite is Mexican too. I'm like, how did you not know this about okay? I thought that was your favorite. Lors is Chinese. We used to go to Mexican here for my birthday. Yeah. And the sombreros, and I always get because my birthday falls on National Margarita Day. So listen. It's essential. Like, if you're gonna give me anything for my birthday, just give me a margarita. That's all I need. Because it's National Margarita Day. But yeah, I feel like it's petty to feel that way. But I think that's like that is when my spiral started happening. Yeah. Is like that's when I really started missing my friends and knowing that no matter what, like they are always like right there to like, let's go do this, let's go do that, like pick me up, mama Lisa, whoever, like let's just go and you know, go to Lo's house and watch movies together and just chill. And so I started missing everything I had to do. I feel like it's a lot harder now to do things with you like that because you have the grandbabies a lot too. I had the grandbabies there too. Who watched someone? Oh, but Carol was there. No, I took him with me. You took him with you? Oh. To Lo's house? Yeah, I can take him to Lo's house. Just fine. I just like when it's just us though. When you just get to have a break because you need that. Yeah, I d I need that more. I never get those breaks. And you're like, I got the grandbabies. And it's like, yeah, we can take them, but it's not as I'm sorry, it's not as enjoyable. No, it's not. They are a lot stressful. And then, you know, if we take my kids, then that's just Yeah, and I just want to go do stuff like, but I'm gonna have that relief soon. My mother-in-law is coming to my rescue because I will be able to go uh out and do something to help me for a while. I need it for my own mental health, so yes. Well, and then we'll be able to go out and go do lunch and yeah, just have some. I need to do some me time. Yeah. And like just I don't care if I spend eight hours driving. I need a trip to Oklahoma for the day to go see my people and just like smack their butts and smooch them on the lips or something. You know? That's what they should. I just need to give them a little butt pap and uh little kiss, call it a day. I mean, I know that sounds really weird, but that's just who we are. Yeah, that'd be fun. Yeah, just plan to meet at Lo's house and like swim for a little bit and like have some lunch or something and then drive back home. Yeah. Like that's all I need. I just need my people. Yeah. So that's that's that's valid. I mean, she definitely has her people. She is my people. But you but you understand I do. I do. Because those I mean, if she would have stayed there, they would have been my my people. I mean, I'm not saying they're not my people because they care for her just as much. She just doesn't see that. So she doesn't call them her, but they are her people too. But my day-to-day people is Amanda and Laura and Laura. Like I snap both of them every day, and then I I talk to both of them pretty much every day. My sisters are my people. But I feel like I like for me, I've always been that way. I've always But I think you need to start growing. Listen, but sometimes I don't like people. I don't like people either, but I like my people. And I feel like, yeah. And I feel like I don't know. I've just always had a such a hard time with when I make friends that I just end up being fake friends. Do you think any of my friends are fake? No, that's what I'm saying. Like you choose good people, I choose horrible people. But they're all your people too. Quit saying they're not your people. They are your people just my people. Yes. So if you were around them more, yes, you would have the same love. Yeah. They tried to do it. I do know they love me. They treat you like family. Yes, yes, they do. They do. They are they are m sisters from another mother. Yeah. Because they're just sisters from another lifetime. Our lives have always crossed. And you know, that's even like with Lisa. Like, I love her, and I need a trip to Texas too. Like, my heart needs my Canton. We haven't been since I was pregnant. I will message Lisa today. And we will maybe we could do a trip to Canton and like record us going down there and then going to Canton. So I'll message Lisa today because my heart needs her too. Just as much as I need my OKC people, I need my Tyler Texas people too. But Canton was so fun. It is. And I've heard it. It's 11 times bigger now.

SPEAKER_00 54:06

What?

Missing Your People And Needing A Trip

SPEAKER_01 54:07

Like they say Canton, like the whole thing. No, it's still the same size. It's well, no, I literally had a lady that is from Texas and she was telling me how big it's gotten. Like they have so many more vendors now. And yeah, it's all this yeah, it's I mean, they just fill all the butt some people that go never go see all of it. Yeah. So you never know that like it's as big as it is. Yeah. I want to go in. Yeah. It's it's fun. It's so fun. Yeah. Well, I think that's it for today. I think we covered a lot. I think we peeled off some layers of stuff. No. I mean, I don't think it needs more layers. There are a couple people that I have in mind for doing guests, so I do need to find like a location because one of the ladies I would not bring here. So I think that we need to find a good location. Definitely. I want to talk to her because it's not that she has a story. It's they empower people and they are doers. So they do for people. And they I think you might know where I'm going with this. They are very community, community driven. Faith. Faith, yeah. Even for young kids. Yeah. So they they mentor, I wouldn't say they mentor. They have stuff for young kids. And then, you know. I think it's that's a good idea. I think it would be a really good podcast episode. It might blow up too. Yeah. I mean it could. If I'm thinking of the same person you're thinking of. I think you are. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think it'd be a good one. I think it would be good. Lots of stuff coming this summer. Yes. Um, I think we, you know, we've kind of discussed on why we have been MIA. And we want some topics. Give us stuff you guys want us to cover. Like, you know, what do you want to hear from us? Do you like when we do these random conversations? Did you like when we did the myth and facts? Yeah. Or do you like when we have guests on and interview people? Do you like when we get real deep in conversation about like, you know, real raw? Because we are a hundred percent pretty much real and raw. Yes, we are. Pretty much unfiltered, like it says. Uh-huh. I'm really not ashamed to talk about certain things. No.

unknown 56:18

No.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

It's just one of those. I just like to keep it clean. Like I don't, you know, we are growing in our faith. I'm not gonna say like I'm a perfect Christian. There is no such thing. There's no such thing. Like I'm still growing in my faith and I still fall short every single day. Like never will I live to my full I will live to my full potential, but will I be the image that God has created? That's what I'm working towards every single day. Yes, 100%. I can outside it better myself. So and with that being said, we're gonna close out. And we love you. We love you. And remember, you are a baddie. You are blessed. You are beautiful. And you can do anything you set your mind. And you are worthy. And that's it. So we're gonna sign off. Bye bye.