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Claire’s spring break, Joe the puppy is here, and worst date ever stories.
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This is Joy & Claire Episode 120: Spring Breaks, Bad Dates and Puppies!
Episode Date: March 31, 2022
Transcription Completed: May 6, 2022
Audio Length: 56:52 minutes
Joy: Hey guys, this is Joy.
Claire: And this is Claire.
Joy: Welcome back.
Claire: Hi, everybody.
Joy: Happy spring.
Claire: I know, it’s so nice out. I hope it’s nice where you are.
Joy: I hope so too. But I did just see Laura Ligos and our friend Tina in the state of New York that were not so hot. It was very cold there. East Coast, not so fun.
Claire: East Coast, not as much. Although I will say, I am actually realizing winter is my favorite season.
Joy: Really? I just did a [sound of surprise]
Claire: Yeah, she did.
Joy: I know you like winter. I know you like snow. But the frigid cold, really? The freezing, frigid cold?
Claire: It just doesn’t bother me. I don’t love it, but it doesn’t bother me. But what does bother me is being too hot.
Joy: Okay.
Claire: I don’t mind being cold really at all. I actually feel like it kind of wakes me up. And I feel like, woo, it’s cold out. I feel like I get overheated so quickly, and it’s not an experience I enjoy. I don’t mind being cold.
Joy: Oh.
Claire: I know. See. I feel the way about being too cold as people feel about being hot. To hot people, being hot is sort of like, “Yeah, but you’re hot. You’re in the sun. You’re warm.”
Joy: Getting vitamin D.
Claire: Yeah. And I’m like, “You’re cold and you’re all bundled up, and the wind is blowing.” False. I don’t actually love wind. But the thing about Colorado is it’s still sunny, even when it’s cold. That’s the key.
Joy: That’s true. I feel very lucky about Colorado in that sense. Especially my friends in Arizona, they think it just snows constantly in Colorado. Which at least where we live, it does not. It’s just really funny because they’re always like, “It’s just so cold there.” We get so much sunshine. It is oddly not that cold. We’re just talking about weather now. I was going to say, does it feel like a pain in the ass to have to carry so much extra stuff? Like clothing things.
Claire: Summer is not all that different. In the summertime, you have water bottle, sunscreen. Kids are more likely to get dirty in the summer, so you have to have extra clothes. I feel like in the winter you have your own stuff too. You have your jackets. It just sort of adds to the pile. No matter where you’re going or what season or what occasion, you have to bring a bunch of crap. If anything, in the winter they always have pockets in their jackets. They can help. I remember though, when I was in college, I worked in a flower shop as a lot of you know. There was this woman who moved from San Diego. Her husband was moving to Boulder. They moved to Boulder, and she got a job with us. I remember one of her first days, she was like, “What do you do with all of your stuff? Like if you go to a restaurant.” I was like, “I don’t understand the question.” She was like, “Where do you put your coat?” I was like, “What do you mean, ‘where do you put your coat?’” It had never occurred to me to not know what to do with all your stuff. I was like, “Well, you put your mittens in your pockets and hang your coat on the back of your chair.” She was like, “Well, doesn’t that get in the way?” I mean, not really. But if you really weren’t used to just having all that stuff with you all the time. If you were from San Diego and all you had was a purse, I’d be like, yeah, what do I do with this huge freaking jacket and these big gloves, this hat. You where your boots everywhere? Yeah, you kind of always look like you’re getting ready to go chop down a tree. This is the look. I don’t know what to tell you.
Joy: I shudder at what I used to wear when I moved to Colorado from Arizona. I just didn’t have an idea of warmth or things that you should wear. I used to run in the most random sweatpants, things that did not keep you warm, not moisture-wicking anything. I think I had a J.Crew big trench coat that was like ten sizes too big, so I’m sure the cold air just went right through it. I drove a rear-wheel drive pickup truck. Real-wheel drive. So front-wheel drive? No, nothing. So when it snowed, I would just spin in circles. Trying to put sandbags in the back doesn’t work.
Claire: I’m just shaking my head.
Joy: I think the first time that it snowed, and I had to drive somewhere – first of all, I don’t know how I survived driving in the snow. I had no real idea how to drive in the snow. I must have just gotten so lucky, and I didn’t really have to drive that far. But the first time it kind of froze – I’m so embarrassed to say this, but this was me in my 20’s. Arizona girl didn’t know about windshields freezing and needing the deicer.
Claire: I’m just profusely shaking my head through this whole story. Like, no, no, no.
Joy: I didn’t know anything. My dad is a mechanic. He knows this. They actually lived in Colorado. I’m sure this was just something he forgot because I do not blame my father whatsoever. He has taught me so much about cars. But just that one detail. I got in my car. I was like, oh, my windshield is frozen. I’m so embarrassed to say the rest because it gets worse. So I go inside. I get a pitcher of water to just pour on the windshield to try to deice it, and it just freezes again. [laughing] Yeah, I was that… yeah, exactly. Your face is exactly how I’m feeling.
Claire: My face is just like, wow.
Joy: Her face is that face you do when you’re like, what the actual?
Claire: My face is the face you do when your friend is like, “I texted my ex.”
Joy: Yeah. Really bad decisions face. And judging. Bad decisions, judging for sure.
Claire: I will say – so we live in a neighborhood with a lot of families who have immigrated from Mexico. They, as the group, are so committed to not buying snow scrapers. These are people who have lived here for decades. I still see them all – I hate to make generalizations, but we’re talking about four or five families on my block where only eight families live. Out there with like a kitchen broom scraping the snow off their cars. I’m like, guys, get a snow scraper. You have lived here for 25 years. They have the credit card trying to get the ice off the window. I’m like, you are a permanent resident of this area. Why are you doing this to yourself?
Joy: You should buy them all, and just leave it like Santa. Just leave it on their stoop.
Claire: On their snowy card. Just like, “from your concerned neighbor.” Worried about you out there with your kitchen brook that’s now covered in ice balls. But I do love spring also. I don’t love allergies, but whatever. That’s fine. We have medication.
Joy: Are you starting to feel allergies? Because last week I started to get sniffly. Are you?
Claire: A little bit. Yeah, a little bit. Especially because we’ve been working in the garden. Part of our gardening is we do hay bale gardening. If you are into gardening, I would highly recommend. It’s great for any plant that needs a lot of drainage. We’ve had really good luck with peppers. I think this year we might try some potatoes in there. There’s a whole science to it. First you prep it with a bunch of fertilizer. Then you soak it and you let is kind of start to decompose a little bit in the inside of the hay bale. Look it up. It’s really fun. We’ve had good success. And the cool thing is at the end of the year, you’re left with this really great hay bale that’s partially broken down and you can break it apart and use it to mulch your garden over the winter. We very much ascribe to the belief – and this is not a belief. This is science – that little bugs and little critters hibernate and use your organic material in your garden, like wheat piles, bugs will live in there all winter. And the fact that we all scrape up our leaves all winter is completely unnecessary. Your leaves will break down by the end of the winter.
Joy: That’s really good to know.
Claire: If anything –
Joy: We spend way too much time raking our leaves.
Claire: So much time. And if anything, leaving your leaves will insulate your lawn a little bit. In Colorado, we get away with things a little bit more than elsewhere because it’s very, very dry so we don’t have to worry about stuff molding. But even then, the leaves in your area are designed to break down based on the climate of your area. Just reconsider your beliefs around raking leaves, everybody.
Joy: This is like breaking news.
Claire: Breaking news, reconsider your raking beliefs. But so we have these hay bales. We have been breaking them down and spreading them out amongst our garden beds, and that’s really giving me a lot of allergies.
Joy: Got it. I just put in an order for Allergena that my naturopath gave me last year. If you haven’t tried it, look it up. It’s the best. They go by zones based on what you’re allergic to, and that stuff saved me. Because sometimes with Zyrtec and all the other things that make me so drowsy, and whatever the nasal spray – doesn’t work for me. It makes my nose so dry.
Claire: My big thing are my eyes. My eyes get really dry, so I use the eye drops. I’m getting Lasik in two weeks, you guys.
Joy: Oh my gosh, I forgot about that.
Claire: I’m excited. But I am suddenly worried about getting Lasik in the peak of allergy season because you’re not allowed to rub your eyes. So I’m just going to be like eye drops, eye drops, eye drops.
Joy: Eye drops, yeah.
Claire: So excited.
Joy: So how was your spring break?
Claire: It was so fun. We went to Steamboat, which if you guys aren’t familiar, it’s a ski town about 3.5 hours away from the Denver area. It’s one of the farther away resorts. It’s actually north from most of the resorts. In between where we live and Steamboat, it is actually not that far as the crow flies. But the thing between us is the entirety of Rocky Mountain National Park. So you have to just hop over a few major mountains. So you have to go real around, and it takes you about 3.5 hours. But it was so fun. The snow was fine. It wasn’t amazing, but they got enough snow throughout the week that it wasn’t too icy. We somehow hit this middle ground that is very elusive. If you ever travel with kids, you know what I’m about to describe. When you’re traveling, it’s really hard to hit this sweet spot of keeping your kids entertained without getting to the point where they are so tired by the end of the day that you just have a meltdown every single night. And somehow, we nailed it. They melted down when we got home, at the end end.
Joy: Like, home home?
Claire: Home home.
Joy: Like your house currently. Yes.
Claire: But they did so good. We were able to keep them occupied during the day. We did some skiing. We did this mountain alpine coaster thing which we finally one day just bought the unlimited pass. I literally rode that thing 15 times. It was just really fun. This was our first real trip as a family where both kids were old enough to participate, and that feels like a big milestone.
Joy: Yeah, for sure. Did you do private ski lessons too?
Claire: Yes, and then I did some private ski lessons with my friend Amanda.
Joy: That looked really fun.
Claire: It was so fun. One of the days, we actually paid a little extra to go early before anybody else. It’s called first tracks. Other people can do it too, but it’s not very many. So you’re up there with maybe 30 other people, whereas opposed to the rest of the day you’re up there with like 10,000 other people. Not 10,000. I mean, it could get up to 10.000. You just feel like the only person on the mountain. And in the cold morning and the snow is so quiet.
Joy: Oh, that’s the best.
Claire: And you’re just out there skiing. Nobody else is around. It’s this crunchy sound and the trees.
Joy: Oh my gosh, I love that. That’s so fun.
Claire: It was great.
Joy: Do you feel more confident about your skiing abilities?
Claire: Yeah, I actually really do. The thing that’s funny is that I’ve been skiing since I was three. We’ve talked about this. I’m not a very good skier. But the thing I loved about taking a lesson is I “know how to ski,” but it’s so great to have someone really give you something specific to focus on. I think when it comes to skiing – or I think you could apply this to a lot of other activities if you’ve ever just casually grown up doing something, whether it’s like running or I don’t know.
Joy: Right. Where you’ve never had a professional coach watching you and giving you tips from day one.
Claire: Totally. Like maybe you’ve always been a recreational lap swimmer, but you’ve never been on a swim team. Or maybe you’ve always been a recreational runner, but you’ve never had a running coach. Or a weightlifter or skier or whatever. Biker. The list goes on and on. So it’s so nice to have somebody – it’s not like ground-breaking information but just to have them say, hey listen, on this next run, I want you to only focus on this one thing. And then you do it, and you’re like, oh. As opposed to the flip side of being that person who has only ever done something casually and never had a coach evaluate you, where when you try to go up a skill level, what you’re doing is just muscling through it until it gets easier.
Joy: Yeah.
Claire: Without really knowing what you’re muscling through. And then the other thing that was great was that Miles got on skis. Evie got on skis. She put her ski boots on like it was no big deal, put her skis on like it was no big deal, got on the lift. She’d been on there forever. I mean, you have to hold her. She’s tiny. But she could have cared less. It took us almost three years to get Miles to put a pair of ski boots on. There was a period in Miles’ life when he went to this fancy Waldorf school where they had to wear snow pants to school every day because they were outside all day. I have lost years off my life trying to put snow pants on that kid. To the point where we actually involved an occupational therapist. We were like, what’s going on here? Came to find that Miles had some retained reflexes. We worked with an OT for about a year on an every-other-week basis and worked him through a lot of stuff. I’m sorry if you’re listening to this and are like, “Oh my gosh I need to learn more information about this.” I don’t really have a lot of good resources on this. And this OT that we found – and I also don’t want to be defeatist, like I can’t help you. But this OT that we found was really a unicorn in that I actually had found her because she ran a group tummy time class for infants in our area. It was when Evie was a baby, so I went to one with her, just kind of for something to do when Evie was tiny. And while I was there, I was talking about Miles, and I ended up setting up an appointment for Miles while I was working with her.
Joy: Oh, okay. So it was this very kismet.
Claire: Right. It wasn’t like, oh, we decided to get Miles evaluated and blah, blah, blah. This unrelated experience led me to finding this great OT who then worked with Miles. We paid out of pocket. It was crazy expensive. But she worked with him through a bunch of retained reflexes and worked with him on his vestibular nervous system, which is the part of your nervous system that tells you where you are in space. And for kids, if that is dysregulated, it can cause a lot of sensory seeking. Sometimes it’s why kids won’t get off the swings or won’t get off the trampoline or won’t put a coat on. Because they want to feel that cold hair because those experiences help affirm where their body is in space and sometimes they just can’t really tell. So through that, we got to the point where we could put snow pants on him. So then watching Evie put her boots on and put her snow pants on and get on this lift was like, oh, this is why some of Miles’ peers are skiing double blacks. They didn’t just spend three years to get their ski boots on. And it’s just been so interesting. I’ve been thinking a lot about that comparison that we all do with everybody, that we all do with our kids and with other families and with other parents. And it’s so easy to do, particularly with young kids, where you look and see what are they skilled at. As a very active family, I always expected that our kids would just hop up on skis and always want to go hiking. The other thing is just this past weekend, Miles rode a two-wheeler bike for the first time. He is 6.5 practically, and he is 52 inches tall. So he’s a big kid. He could have, he has had the physicality to be on a two-wheeler bike probably for close to three years, and we just couldn’t’ get him to do it. And that balance was just too scary for him. It’s just been so interesting to have these two experiences back-to-back. He finally warmed up to skiing and then he finally wanted to get on a bike. Maybe they are related, but to have this reminder that our kids will really do their own thing in their own time. And sometimes the harder you push, the worse it makes it. And you really have to temper your expectations. It’s so easy to get into that comparison track and, oh, well, the other families must be doing something better because my kid can’t ride a two-wheeler or isn’t interested in going skiing or whatever.
Joy: Yeah, or they are excelling in one area.
Claire: Yeah.
Joy: And I wonder, there’s got to be so much pressure, even more so now with everything on social media of course, but especially with parenting. Or even just being pregnant. I talked to some pregnant friends that were like, I can’t even go – and you probably experienced this too. So much information that you kind of have to tune out and figure it out for yourself. Or not figure it out, but just not let other pressures or influencers be like “this is the best way.” How do you decide what you truly want when there is so much comparison? Or everybody being like, “I love pregnancy,” and you’re like, “I just really was sick.”
Claire: I hated being pregnant. I hated it. We’ve talked about this quite a lot, but as most of you know, my first pregnancy was great. My first postpartum experience was almost the last thing I ever did. Was horrible. Then my pregnancy with Evie was horrible. I was nauseous every day for ten straight months. And then postpartum with her was pretty easy. She’s just been a very different experience than having Miles. People will ask me sometimes, “What are your favorite baby books?” And I immediately, even before Miles was born, was like I am not going to read parenting books. If there is a specific issue that I’m seeking out guidance on, I will talk to professionals about that. Whether that be occupational therapists, educators, and yeah maybe other parents if there is a one-off like “I can’t get my kid to stop telling poop jokes. What did you do?” Or with potty training, “Did this work for you?” Those are close friends that I’ll reach out to. But I have never read a parenting book. I don’t think my parenting is worse off for it. If anything, If feel like it allows me to just go more with my instincts because I don’t have these other voices in my head. But yeah, it’s a lot. There’s a lot of people out there. What I want to get across is just that even for a family like us that’s very active. I consider us to be very involved in our kids’ lives. I consider us to be very communicative. We are very open and responsive to following our kids’ leads. It still looks really different than I thought it would. We still have these surprises all the time of having to take skills and milestones and life at our kid’s pace, instead of what we want them to do. Which is sometimes disheartening, but I agree with my body.
Joy: Right. Who are you? Well, I’m glad you had a good spring break. Did Evie jail break in your bed that you set up?
Claire: No. She was in a bunk bed on the bottom bunk, which I think really helped. She was against the wall. You know when you’re on the bottom bunk, the foot of the bed is also kind of contained? Because there is a ladder. Then we bought this little side rail from Amazon that made it look like a little hospital bed. So between the bunk bed at the foot of the bed, the bed against the wall, and then the side rail, and also the bunk bed being low, it made it feel so contained in there. It was actually really nice. I got in there with her a few times. It was cozy.
Joy: Bunk beds are super cozy. My brother and I slept in one when we were little. It always felt like a fort, a forever fort.
Claire: It totally feels like a forever fort, and the only reason I will never have one in my home is because I do not want to commit to making a bed in a bunk bed every week.
Joy: No. I don’t think our beds were ever made in those things. It’s impossible.
Claire: Changing the sheets is just horrible.
Joy: Impossible.
Claire: No, no. But yeah, so it worked out. It was better than I thought it would be.
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Claire: Alright, Joy, tell us about the puppy.
Joy: Man. So everybody knows… maybe, sort of? I think everybody knows at this point that we got a new puppy to raise for canine companions. His name is Joe. A few weeks ago, the puppy raising program contacted us and said, “Hey, we have a puppy for you.”
Claire: And let’s just once again remind everybody at home, Joy did not name Joe. They come with a name. We don’t know if Joe is named after anybody. But I did text the GIF of Kamala saying, “We did it, Joe.” And I’m just planning on texting that every so often for the next two years.
Joy: Which I really appreciate because that one really made me laugh. Whenever we’re on a walk now, I go, “We did it, Joe.” A few weeks ago, we got contacted by the puppy program department, and they said, “Hey, we have a puppy for you. Would you like to raise a boy?” And Scott and I were like, woah, we didn’t realize we were going to get one so soon. Back in November when Cadet turned into college, to advanced training, we got on the puppy raiser list right when we got back from turning her in, and they told us 6-9 months from then. Which is pretty accurate for the most part because they have such a long waitlist, they are like, there is just no way you are going to get one sooner. So apparently what happened is that a puppy raiser had to back out, and the puppy was slated to come to Colorado anyway. I don’t know how all the disbursing of the puppies work, but they had to keep this puppy in Colorado. So they are like, hmm, let’s try all of our Colorado puppy raisers. So they sent us an email, said, “Do you want one in a couple of weeks?” And we were like, holy crap. We weren’t prepared to have one this soon. We have a couple things coming up, but Scott and I were like, yeah, let’s just figure it out. In all honesty – I know this sounds silly. I would way rather potty train a dog when the weather is starting to get warmer as opposed to really, really cold weather. Because standing outside waiting for a dog to pee or poop in the cold. And with puppies, you have to be with them at all times, and you have to put them on leash so they get used to peeing and pooping on a leash. I was like, yeah, let’s do it now. The second we found out that we were able to get a puppy, I was so excited. Scott was like, “Let me sleep on it” because he’s had not a rough few months, but he’s just had some ups and downs with work in the past few months. He took some time off in March, and I’m like, look, if we get a dog during your time off, are you going to be okay? Because I don’t want you to be taking this time off, and this is a lot of work. So he’s like, “Yeah, let me sleep on it.” And then the next morning, he’s like, “What do you think?” And I really wanted it to be his decision. I know that if I was going to push for it, he would do whatever I wanted. And I did not want him to regret not having some time off during this month because he works so hard. So I was like, “This is all you. This is your decision this time.” I mean, it’s always been our decision, but you know what I mean. So he goes, “What do you think?” “Whatever you think.” He’s like, “I think we should do it.” I was like, “Yay!” So we got one sooner than we thought we would. His name is Joe, and he’s perfect. Let’s see, we found out the day before. We kind of had an idea – it’s funny, all these private Facebook groups that I mentioned before, everybody posts the puppies and the litters, and you try to find out which ones are coming to Colorado. It’s all very behind-the-scenes sleuthing that’s going on. But in the end, you never really know which one you’re going to get. So the day before we found out we’re getting Joe IV. The reason it’s the IV is they have other Joes in the CCI program, so they have to number them to keep track of which Joe is which. So we have Joe, and he’s so cute. He originally was supposed to arrive on the 18th. The flights changed, and they got a better flight, meaning it was just a shorter flight for these puppies. There was only two dogs. These beautiful, beautiful, amazing people who have private jets and are just independently wealthy were able to volunteer their time and their jet. Apparently, this family was just coming to Colorado anyway. And whatever ties they have to Canine Companions, they just allow these dogs to be on their private jet with them when they flew their family to Colorado. So we are at this tiny little airport. It kind of reminded me of when you and I went on Greg Glassman’s jet because we were like, “We want to fly like this all the time.” Like this family really flies like this all the time. I’m like, yes, this is the life. We go up to their private jet, and we’re like, “Do you have dogs on the plane?” We had the flight number, but we didn’t know for sure. We’re just walking up to this private jet on the tarmac. The sweet family comes off and they’re like, “Yes, we held them the whole time. They just slept on our chest.” I’m like, oh my gosh, these dogs had the best first start. They didn’t even have to ride in their kennel on the way. They just got the coziest, snuggliest ride on their way to Denver. Here I was all worried because I can’t think about little baby puppies in a kennel.
Claire: I mean, can you imagine being on that plane? If you know a puppy was on a crate on your plane, you wouldn’t just leave it in the crate.
Joy: Never in a million years.
Claire: Unless you have an anaphylactic allergy to puppies, which even still, I think I would risk it.
Joy: But they were so sweet. It was just the sweetest couple like, “Yeah, we held them the whole time, and they just slept on our chest the whole time.” I’m just like, this is so cute. So we took a bunch of pictures. I was just ecstatic. I could not stop smiling. It was just the cutest feeling when you meet your little puppy that you’re going to raise for the first time. So Scott and I have been in puppy haze for the past few days. But I think what I’m realizing is how much work Cadet was. Because Joe is real easy. Some of my puppy raiser friends, I’ve been texting with them. I’m like, “I know it’s only day three, and I don’t want to jinx it, but Joe is really easy.” I’m like, this is what was going on with Cadet. They’re like, “How come you never told us this? We would have helped you. We would have helped with this, this, this, and this.” I’m like, “I didn’t know!” She was the first puppy we raised. I didn’t know. And I’m not saying she was bad by any means. She was just very high maintenance for the first three months. She whined every night in her crate. She needed constant attention. Whereas Joe keeps to himself. He can settle in his little ex pen. He settles into his crate pretty quickly. If you put him in his crate, he’ll kind of whine for like five seconds, and then he’s like, “Oh, okay” and goes to sleep. It’s unbelievable, and I’m a little worried that he’s going to be a hellion as a teenager.
Claire: He’s going to wake up all of the sudden and be like, oh.
Joy: Totally. But he’s just so cute. He’s very snuggly. I think all puppies are cute, but Joe is just real quick. We really can’t get enough of him.
Claire: He looks so suedey.
Joy: He’s very suedey.
Claire: I want to rub my face on him.
Joy: He has the cutest little puppy belly. Yeah, and he’s very chill. He snores.
Claire: If you guys have not seen the reel on our Instagram of Joe snoring, just stop what you’re doing right now, pull over to the side of the road, and look it up.
Joy: That was the first night. He was just passed out. It was very cute. So we’ve been jokingly calling him Sleepy Joe, like how Trump used to call him Sleepy Joe. Anyway.
Claire: Love it. Joe Biden references will never end.
Joy: They will never end. Because Joe is sleepy and just very chill.
Claire: And he did it.
Joy: And he did it.
Claire: Aw. Oh, Joe.
Joy: So, we’ve been having a blast.
Claire: Love it.
Joy: So keep watching stories and reels because I’m trying not to spam too much puppy. I know people are like, “You can never do too much puppy.” I’m like, you kind of can though. There’s a limit, at least on stories. Here’s the thing. On stories, if I see someone has a hundred or whatever. You know the story thing, you can see how many stories are left to go.
Claire: Yeah, if it’s like, tick, tick, tick, tick…
Joy: I exit. I’m out. You’ve got my attention span for maybe ten tops. So when we do Q&A sometimes, I’m like, whatever, this is a wash. But some people want to see all that stuff. But rarely do I do that many. Who has that kind of time to spend sitting here watching my stories? I hope you don’t.
Claire: I don’t know, I spend a lot of time on Instagram.
Joy: I do too.
Claire: Speaking of which, in case you guys haven’t heard yet, Instagram now has the functionality to go into a chronological timeline. It does feel a little bit clunky. It defaults back to the feed that shows you just what Instagram wants you to see every time you open Instagram, but you can go to your feed, click the little Instagram logo. There’s a dropdown menu, and it will say “following” and “favorites.” You can add folks to your favorites to make sure that anyone you add to your favorites, they’ll always show you their posts in that stream. I haven’t done that yet. It seems like a lot of work. But you can also go to “following” and it will only show you accounts that you’re following, and it will show you their accounts in chronological order, the way God intended Instagram to be.
Joy: Praise the internet gods.
Claire: Praise the internet gods. Again, it redefaults back to the algorithm every time you reopen your account. And maybe it’s because we switch accounts back and forth. I switch accounts back and forth to my personal account and the podcast account multiple times per day. Maybe that’s why. But it just keeps switching back. But try it. It’s kind of amazing.
Joy: I’ve been really proud of our reels and our Instagram.
Claire: Me too.
Joy: I’ll save Joe reels – or not reels. You can always see reels. If you want to go back and look at them, you can look at our reels pretty easily in our little reels box. But highlights on our stories, if you go to “Dogs,” I’m going to be adding to that. There’s a lot of Cadet, but I’m trying to just pick the cutest ones so there’s not a million to sift through. If you have any specific questions, if you’re just interested – you may not be. I’m obviously interested – in just kind of knowing what it takes to train a service dog or if you just have specific questions about what I do to train and raise Joe, just drop a note in our DMs. Or there’s a post I did recently with Joe’s cute face. You can ask the question there. Because then I’ll try to focus on those questions so I’m giving you content that is helpful and/or interesting.
Claire: Alright. So we have a couple Q&A questions leftover from last week or two weeks ago when we did some Q&A. We are going to get to a few more right now. What do you think?
Joy: Oh my gosh, can I start with, what’s the worst date either of you have ever been on? Do you have one? Oh, wow.
Claire: I do. I have one.
Joy: Is this the boyfriend that… you’ve referenced one in the past where the boyfriend broke up… what was the boyfriend one?
Claire: Oh, I have been broken up with in an airport.
Joy: Yes! Yeah, that’s horrible.
Claire: That’s not this one. I’ve been broken up twice, once in an airport in New Zealand. I had traveled across the globe to visit my boyfriend who was studying abroad. He broke up with me on the drive back to the airport to drop me off to go back home. So I had to sit on an airplane for 14 hours having just gotten broken up with.
Joy: Can’t believe it.
Claire: And then, to top it all off, while I was there – first of all, Steve Irwin died while I was there.
Joy: Oh no.
Claire: It was like a national tragedy.
Joy: It was a national tragedy.
Claire: Literally. So I was in New Zealand when Steve Irwin died. And then number two, that was the same time frame where when I left – this was like prehistoric era on planes – you could still take –
Joy: The person to the gate.
Claire: No. Person at the gate hasn’t been since I was a child.
Joy: Oh, okay.
Claire: 9/11 was when I was in 8th grade.
Joy: I missed that.
Claire: No, you could still take more than 3 ounces of liquid with you. And then when I landed back at LAX, that rule, they were like, “You can’t have more than 3 ounces of liquid with you.” At the time, I was collecting snow globes, and I had this beautiful snow globe, and they were like, “You can’t take this with you.” And I just started sobbing hysterically. The security guard was like, “Oh my God.” I was like, “It’s not about the snow globe,” like snot ugly crying.
Joy: Did the guy?
Claire: No, he made me throw it away. Because it was like day one. He couldn’t let it slide.
Joy: Oh my gosh, yes. What did the boyfriend say was the reason why he wanted to break up?
Claire: Because he didn’t want a long-distance relationship.
Joy: Okay.
Claire: Whatever. And then another time, again, I got broken up with on the way back to the airport because of another boyfriend who didn’t want a long-distance relationship,
Joy: Okay.
Claire: Bad luck. And at that time, I went into the airport, was crying, called my mom. And I was sitting there on the phone with my mom crying, and a stranger came up and hugged me. She was like, “It sounds like you really need a hug.”
Joy: Aw, people like that are just angels on earth.
Claire: It was really sweet. I do remember that sweet lady for giving me a hug. She was like, “That guy sounds like a jerk.” Aw, thank you. No. Alas, those were not the worst dates because those don’t count as dates. The worst date I’ve ever been on, I went on a first date once in college with a guy who was my TA or something. So he was a grad student. I was an English major, and if anybody has ever met an English grad student – my apologies to all the English grad students out there, but they’re weirdos. You don’t get a master’s in English lit because you like to party. I feel like I’m allowed to say that.
Joy: I like to party.
Claire: These guys, I love, love, love to critically analyze books. But I understand that to be a personality flaw.
Joy: You’re like, “Don’t hate me for this.”
Claire: Don’t hate me for this all you English majors. I am one of you, and I understand that this does not make me cool. This guy, we go to the Dark Horse in Boulder, which if anyone has ever been there, it is this very dark bar. I don’t think there is a single window in there. They sell burgers and fries, and we got there to watch a Broncos playoff game. Listeners, never go on a first date to watch a playoff game. You are committing to minimum four hours on this date. By two minutes into the third quarter, I was like, I’ve got to get out of here. Because this guy very early in the date was like, “So tell me about the other classes that you’re taking.” Super normal question. So I tell him about this math class I was taking. I am not a math person. I took this math class called “Math for the Environment.” Which I don’t know how this professor got away with this, but it was literally this crazy hippie with all of these conspiracy theories. To this day, I don’t remember doing any math in that class. But the whole first week, all we did was watch Who Killed the Electric Car.
Joy: Oh my God.
Claire: How is that math? How, how, how, how? And then, he had an entire unit on how the CIA planned 9/11. So I brought that up.
Joy: That does not age well.
Claire: Boulder. This is real life at CU Boulder.
Joy: Oh my gosh, that makes so much sense. Yep, that’s Boulder.
Claire: This guy was buddies with the guy who got fired for making the comparison about 9/11 and the Holocaust.
Joy: Yes. Yes.
Claire: Remember when we used to compare about people making those comparisons, and now people can just get away with it any time they want. Anyway, that guy. So we started talking about my classes. And I’m like, “Yeah, I have this crazy professor who thinks the CIA planned 9/11.” And he’s like, “Well, they did.” Straight face, not joking. “The CIA did plan 9/11.” I was like, oh no.
Joy: You’re like, how can I drop this class immediately.
Claire: So here I am trapped in this dark bar with this guy –
Joy: Oh, the guy said that? Not your professor.
Claire: The professor said that, and it was weird. The guy I’m on a date with said that five minutes into a minimum four hour long required date. And then we get to half time and I’m starting to eye the exit, and he’s like, “So, did you drive here?” I was like, “Yeah. Did you drive here?” He’s like, “No, my friend dropped me off.” I was like, “Oh, okay.” “Because I got a DUI. Could you take me home?”
Joy: Oh my gosh.
Claire: So then I couldn’t leave early.
Joy: Oh no, you were his ride.
Claire: Now I have to drive him home. And then he did the awkward car hug. Everything about this date was just zero. Zero out of ten.
Joy: So bad. So bad. I don’t want to tell mine. I’ll tell it really quick. I… oh God, this makes me sound so stupid. I did this dating show on the radio in my 20’s. So I went on the radio –
Claire: How has this never come up before? You guys. We have known Joy for almost 10 years, and this is the first time we are hearing about this.
Joy: Yeah. I did a “Win a Date Wednesday.” So you would apply, and they would pick somebody to come on the show and then people would call in, and you would pick who you wanted to go on a date with. So I applied because I was young and sassy. If anybody knows the DJ’s Slacker and Steve in Colorado, they are my favorite. Do you know Slacker and Steve?
Claire: Yeah.
Joy: So I went on Slacker and Steve.
Claire: But it wouldn’t have been Slacker and Steve. It was like Greg and Bo.
Joy: It was Slacker and Bo.
Claire: Before Slacker and Bo, there was Greg and Bo in the 90’s. And then Slacker and Bo, and now it is Slacker and Steve.
Joy: Yeah. So Slacker and Bo, they were great and still are. And by the way, Scott and I, when we watch the 4 o’clock news, they do a Slacker and Steve cut to them in the studio, and it is always so cringy funny because they are such nerds. In the best way. Anyway, we love them so much. Whenever they come on, I’m like, “Slacker and Steve!” So Slacker and Bo, I went into their studio and went on a date with this guy. So this is where it all goes bad. A girl calls in and is like, “My best friend, he would be perfect for this girl.” Because I was telling everybody about myself. “I think he would really be great. He’s a doctor” and he’s this and he’s that. I’m like, alright, fine. So I think I picked him out of whomever called. And they’re like, yes, and we’ll pay for it. So you go to Cherry Creek Grill tonight at 7 o’clock. I meet him there. He shows up, and he could not have been less interested in me. He was nice, but you could tell that he was very uncomfortable with being there because his friend set him up to do this. He was very buttoned up, and I’m not. So I’m there with all my bright colors and my glitter looking like a unicorn, and he’s super buttoned up. I don’t know how else to describe him. Good looking guy.
Claire: Like the kind of guy who probably irons his jeans?
Joy: Yes. Yes, yes. And it was nice enough. It wasn’t a terrible date, but the whole time, I could be like, he wants to leave so bad. I could just tell that he was not into it. So I was fine. It wasn’t a great night, whatever. And the next day, Slacker and Steve call him on the air to ask how it went. And then I’m listening. I think I’m listening on the other line. So they’re like, “So what did you think? You want to go out again?” And he’s like, “No, she’s not my type.” And Slacker and Bo are like, “What? A really amazing, beautiful girl is not your type?” He got so mad at him. They were super sweet about it. Actually, the funny thing is, after this – I was gutted. Super embarrassed. I think this was kind of before text messaging was super big, so it wasn’t like the guy could just be like, “Hey, I’m going to throw you under the bus tomorrow.” I’m not sure he would do that anyway, but he was just like, “It was fine but not for me.” So I was super embarrassed. But after that, the producer of the show – what was his name? It doesn’t matter. He totally ghosted me. But he emailed me and was like, “Hey, that guy was a douche bag. If you ever want to go out, let me know.” And I was like, oh my gosh, cool. So I went out with the producer who was awesome, and we had a great time. But then he ghosted me and never called me back after one date. Yeah.
Claire: You could have been radio royalty this whole time.
Joy: I really could have with Slacker Bo and Slacker Steve.
Claire: Whatever that guy’s name is.
Joy: What was his name? Geronimo. That was his handle.
Claire: I was like, that’s not his real name, is it?
Joy: Not his real name. His real name is Mike. I think his name is Mike. But his handle was Geronimo. Yeah, he totally ghosted me. That, still to this day, I’m like [sigh] that was not a good date. It was so uncomfortable.
Claire: I am surprised that we both have such long stories for that answer.
Joy: I am too.
Claire: And how is it that we’ve never told them before?
Joy: Which just goes to show that after nine years of podcasting, there is still stuff to talk about. So if you’re going to start a podcast, if you’re worried about running out of things to say, you’re always going to get a question – okay, let’s turn the tables. What’s the first thing that you noticed about Brandon or Scott when you met. I know this about you because you met him when you were renting a boat or something, right?
Claire: Renting a boat.
Joy: And you were like, “That guy is really cute.”
Claire: He was really cute. I don’t know. I struck up a conversation. I actually didn’t want to strike up a conversation because we were running late and I hate running late. I was with my friend who was visiting. I was living in Moab. We friend was visiting from out of town, and we were renting from this shop where Brandon worked that rented out boats. He had a NOLS t-shirt on. Which if you guys don’t know what NOLS is, National Outdoor Leadership School. It’s like Outward Bound if you are more familiar with Outward Bound. I had done a NOLS trip the summer before. My friend Sarah knew that about me, so she struck up a conversation with Brandon. “Oh, have you done NOLS? So has Claire.” So that was kind of the first thing. I mean, I just noticed that he in general was so cute. But then he had this t-shirt on that we had something in common. I mean, pretty standard.
Joy: Yeah. I remember – I’m sure I’ve told some of this story. But the short version is Scott and I knew each other for years before we actually dated. We ran with the same group. We kind of knew the same friends. So whenever we would be at parties, I would see Scott. And after the fact, everyone would be like, “You should date Scott. He likes you.” And I would tell them, “Well, tell him to call me.” And he never called me. So the joke was that he did have my number, but he never called me. Mostly because he was either dating someone or I was dating someone, so whatever. But the party that we went to, we went to a friend’s engagement party. The thing that I will never forget. I remember driving to this party with my best friend. I was like, “You know, this guy Scott is going to be there.” I had been through so many bad relationships, or just those relationships where you’re like, I’m so tired of dating. I remember driving to this party being like, “Hey, if this guy Scott is there, I’m actually going to talk to him and get to know him better. Maybe I do need to get to know this guy.” That’s just kind of where my head was at. She’s like, “Yeah, I think you should.” So we get there. He’s there. This amazing couple friends of ours, we’re so happy for them. Everyone was there to just kind of party and celebrate with them, but no one brought them a gift. It wasn’t expected to have a gift. So here we begin, Scott’s gift giving. No one was expected to bring a gift, but I’ll never forget. Scott walks up to them. The groom is from Venezuela, so Scott had found a record of a Venezuelan artist to give to Miguel. He’s like, “This guy is really great,” and he gave Miguel and Lindsey this Venezuelan artist vinyl. I just remember thinking that is the most God damn thoughtful thing I have ever seen. I really like this guy. How thoughtful can you be? Then we started talking at the party. And one thing led to another, and the next thing you know we were scheduling our first date, and that was that. I just remember being so taken by his thoughtfulness.
Claire: Which is hilarious now because it’s almost too much of a good thing where you’re like, “Scott, stop buying stuff.”
Joy: Oh, for sure. The other day – here’s an example, a funny thing. I have a gift card from Nordstrom that I haven’t used yet from Christmas. I said it out loud, and the second I said it, I regretted it because I was like, he’s on the case. So I said, “I need a new pair of UGG’s” because the ones I have, I wear them all the time. They are so disgusting. They just get gross.
Claire: They just don’t age well.
Joy: They don’t. So I was like, “I just really need to get a new pair of UGG’s. I’m just waiting for them to go on sale. I’m looking at Nordstrom Rack.” He goes, “Alright,” and then I see him typing furiously. Next thing you know, I have a link and they were perfect, and I ended up buying them. Because I’m like, actually this is exactly what I’m looking for. But he is a dog with a bone. If you give him a task to do, he finds it.
Claire: You cannot utter a sentence.
Joy: Not even a sniff if I need something.
Claire: One time, I texted Scott because Brandon needed a suit for an interview that was going to be the next day. I was like, “Hey Scott. Where is your favorite place to buy suits? Brandon has a couple interviews coming up and he needs a new suit.” Within moments, I have multiple links. He’s like, “This is a sale coming up if he can wait a couple days, but make sure you go to the Park Meadows location because their sale is going to be higher.” I was like, I was expecting you to be like, “Oh, J.Crew Factory has some stuff,” not like, “Here Claire is my quarterly report on suits for tall guys.”
Joy: Unbelievably helpful in those scenarios. It’s really funny.
Claire: Unbelievably helpful.
Joy: He can’t not get involved for something to be found. He can’t help himself. That’s really funny. And that’s how oddly and funnily enough what drew me to him in the first place, and now we joke about it. Maybe we should do one more. When will Brandon and Scott come on the show? Never. Guys, they’re not funny like us. They’re funny in their own way, but they would just be… they would try too hard.
Claire: So hard. Brandon has been on the show.
Joy: That was first year.
Claire: Probably six or seven years ago at least at this point.
Joy: Yeah. We talked about men. Someone does want to know about your nose piercing removal.
Claire: Good question. Okay you guys, I got my septum pierced last summer in July. I took it out probably two or three weeks ago. Two reasons. The first reason is that I was over the whole aesthetic. I love it on so many other people, and I was getting tired of seeing it on my own face. Which whatever, that happens. The main reason though that I finally pulled the plug – no pun intended – is that the booger management was just getting out of control. I found myself constantly picking a slight bugger in the inner corner of my nostril. It was always there. And if I ever had to wear a mask, which was regularly, and it was cold out, I would get condensation on my nose ring. That was horrible. So it just got to the point where I always felt like I was messing with it, and I just didn’t want to feel like I was messing with my nose. So I took it out. I’ve had my nostril pierced. I’ve pierced and repierced it three or four times. So who is to say that I will never get my septum repierced? But it’s so interesting. If I push up on that part of my nose, I can feel where the hole was. It feels just a little bit different. It almost feels like –
Joy: Like scar tissue?
Claire: Yeah, a little scar tissuey. Which is odd because according to my piercer, your septum piercing never really fully heals again after you’ve had it for six months or so. But I did have to take my nose ring out for an MRI back in December, and I had to go back to the piercing place to get it put back in because I could not find the hole.
Joy: Oh my God. Did it hurt to actually get the piercing?
Claire: People always ask me these questions. They’re like, “Did your tattoos hurt? Did your piercings hurt?” A needle is going through your body.
Joy: It’s not pleasant.
Claire: It’s not pain-free.
Joy: Getting my ears pierced, compare it to that.
Claire: It hurts a little bit more than getting your ears pierced.
Joy: Because getting your ears pierced goes so fast where you’re just like [exclaims] and it’s over.
Claire: Right. I would say it was probably on par in terms of pain with like a blood draw that maybe is not your best.
Joy: I’ve been through many of those.
Claire: Where you are definitely noticing it the whole time. You’re not really enjoying it, but you’re not writhing away.
Joy: Okay, okay, okay. That helps. Side note. To all the nurses out there who do blood draws or Brandon, I have been through so many blood draws because of Graves’ Disease and because of the bone marrow stuff. Now I know that there’s people who are real good at it, and there’s people who are not great at it. I would like to know why some people can get my vein, and why some people take five tries and then they go get their nurse friend and they’re like, “Your veins are too hard.” I’m like, well the person yesterday had no problem finding this vein.
Claire: It’s totally different for every person.
Joy: They make me feel like I have bad veins. But then I’ll go to someone, and it’s like I don’t even feel it.
Claire: First of all, you might be dehydrated on the days where they can’t find your veins. That makes a huge, huge difference.
Joy: I try to drink water. Okay.
Claire: And then second of all, according to Brandon who hates getting his blood drawn and hates drawing other people’s blood –
Joy: Okay, he doesn’t like it.
Claire: Blood drawing is a very unique skill. And IV starting is a very unique skill. When you have to access someone’s vein in that way, it’s a very, very unique skill that certain nurses are really good at. And some of them, if you work in a certain field, you do it a lot more. And then there’s this whole other field of people who are phlebotomists and all they do is blood draws.
Joy: But here’s the thing. I really want nurses to weigh in on this because I really want to know. I don’t know anything about this. So if I go to Lab Corps, I assume that’s all they do all day long. And at Lab Corps, I’ve had some of my very interesting experiences getting blood drawn.
Claire: Not to say that being a phlebotomist is the same thing as being a waitress. But just because you wait tables all day long doesn’t mean you’re any good at it.
Joy: Yeah, that’s true.
Claire: Just because anybody does their job all day long, that doesn’t automatically mean that they’re good at it.
Joy: But then I’ll go to the lab at Kaiser to get my blood drawn, and they rock.
Claire: Miles has had his blood drawn, and I still remember that guy because it was so seamless.
Joy: Seamless.
Claire: And Miles was not even three at that point probably. So I think that there are just some people who have the touch. I also think that it’s something that a lot of people do a lot more often.
Joy: I guess my question is – it sounds ignorant, but I don’t know how hard it is. Should everyone be good at it, or how hard is it to do?
Claire: I actually think that that’s the key. For Brandon, he gets so in his head about it and he really worries about it.
Joy: Got it.
Claire: And he has a heavier hand.
Joy: Sure.
Claire: For some people, it doesn’t feel like a big deal. It doesn’t feel that hard. They’re like, “I don’t get it. Why is this so hard for you?” I think it’s just one of those skills. I agree with you. I’ve had blood draws where you barely even notice it. And then I’ve had other blood draws where I’m like, what are you doing? Something is wrong. And you come home with a huge bruise.
Joy: Yeah, a huge bruise.
Claire: I would say getting your septum pierced is on par with not the worst blood draw you’ve ever had, but a not-great one.
Joy: An uncomfortable one.
Claire: An uncomfortable blood draw. And then, it is uncomfortable to heal. Although it heals relatively quickly, about a month, you don’t realize how much you stretch out that part of your face. Move your lip around.
Joy: Yeah.
Claire: That skin in between your two nostrils gets moved around a lot. I didn’t really think about that, and then I got my septum pierced. That night we had nachos and I could open my mouth.
Joy: Oh, it hurt, yeah.
Claire: Imagine putting a giant nacho in your mouth without moving your upper lip.
Joy: You just have to do like a finger mustache to hold it in place.
Claire: Yeah, I should have done that. I didn’t do that. I just ate tiny little bites of nachos.
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Joy: Which is so sad because nachos are delicious.
Claire: Nachos are so good. But no, not if you have a new septum piercing.
Joy: Okay, can I end with like one minute of something really quick?
Claire: Yeah, Joy, I would like to remind you for the hundredth time, you may do whatever you want. This is your podcast.
Joy: Well I’m just looking at the time and I have to go attend to a puppy. But is there any opinion that you have so far about the Will Smith, Chris Rock thing. Here’s the thing, and I want people to weigh in. It just happened yesterday. We’re recording on Monday, the day after the Oscars. We’re going to release this on Thursday. I’m sure everything has changed by then. But Scott is convinced it was staged. Convinced.
Claire: I think if it was staged, it was a really stupid thing for Will Smith to agree to.
Joy: So dumb. Why would you stage something like that?
Claire: I don’t think it was staged. I think either way it was stupid. Whether it was staged or not, it was stupid.
Joy: I was just really disappointed in the Oscars this year.
Claire: I did not watch them, and I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.
Joy: It was so disappointing.
Claire: Even the outfits, none of them were like [gasp]. Yeah. I mean, I just feel like whether it was staged or not, it was a bad decision. It was toxic masculinity, and I hope that we are no longer talking about it by Thursday.
Joy: It was just so weird.
Claire: Move on. Let’s move on.
Joy: I have a lot to say about whether Chris Rock really knew about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia, why would you make a joke like that? Will Smith, sure, maybe backstage have a little talk with him and say that was inappropriate. Scott is sending me all these articles and videos saying that it was fake and that they staged it. I’m like, you’re reading some really funny blogs. Please don’t go down the dark web.
Claire: You’re going to end up on Parler reading about Will Smith.
Joy: Don’t get on QAnon, please. Where is he going with this?
Claire: Right.
Joy: I’m done.
Claire: Alright guys, well thank you for joining us for another week. Don’t forget to check out our sponsor, Ned. That’s helloned.com/JOY or use discount code JOY. Today is your last day for the upgraded discount of 21% to celebrate Ned’s birthday month. March 31, the last day you can do it. So go order your Ned. Thank you for supporting the brands that support our podcast. Thank you for being here with us. You can follow us on Instagram @joyandclaire_. All the puppy content all the time. We’re not going to stop any time soon.
Joy: Yeah, not stopping.
Claire: You can go to our website joyandclaire.com. You can email us thisisjoyandclaire@gmail.com. Thank you, and we’ll talk to you next week. Bye.
Joy: Bye, everybody.