Episode Nine: Show Notes

We start our musings about moms with a hilarious job description of mothers that a friend sent years ago.

And then we move on to get into some of the particular hormonal challenges facing new sleep-deprived moms (anxiety, post-partum depression), younger moms (irregular periods, PMS), older moms (mood swings, weight gain) and all women going through hormonal transitions.

Back to a little humor: 

Let’s read  Why God Made Moms

Quotes we read: 

“People need each other…

And while technology helps us to stay connected in a weird way, it does not replace human touch, thoughts, feelings, spontaneous looks/moments/the scent of lilacs on a spring breeze/the smell of fresh coffee in the morning/the feel of sunshine on your skin/sitting side by side, sharing a pot of tea, a bottle of wine, watching a rom-com together.” 

– Oprah

“While it may feel like one frustrating snow day after another, we may never find a better opportunity to attend to ourselves and the objects of our daily neglect for years.”

– A 21-year-old junior in college in Connecticut, Letters to the Editor, New York Times

Card games we mentioned: 

  • Casino 
  • Bridge
  • Mahjong

Daily Quarantine Questions:

  • Who am I checking on or connecting with today?
  • What expectations of normal am I letting go of today?
  • How am I getting outside today?
  • How am I moving my body today?
  • How am I expressing my creativity today?
  • What type of self-care and I practicing today?
  • What am I grateful for today?

Books we mentioned:

Motivations and observations from a world on pause:

COVID-19: we promised this is not an episode about the news, but we cannot help but talk about the elephant in the room.

First, the bad news:

As of this writing, 1.4 million people in our country alone have been infected by COVID-19 (that we know of, testing is still not plentiful); over 88,000 have died. If we had not flattened the curve, by doing what we were told we must do, 18 million Americans could have died on this round alone. The numbers are staggering and painful. Even if you don’t know someone personally affected by COVID-19, you cannot escape the photos, the news, the sadness, the knowledge that 36 million people have applied for unemployment in our country. Our recovery will be slow and hard. We must continue to be there for one another … to be unselfish, to be present, to be compassionate and kind and caring even when we are tired and lonely and sad ourselves. In many ways, this is our Great Depression, our WWII, our moment to take lemons and make lemonade.

Kyle's eagle sighting at the beach
Kyle saw eagles at the beach

And the silver linings:

  1. Less pollution and more nature
    Have you noticed how clear the sky is at night? Can you see stars you just have never seen before? The mountains we can see from Portland are sharply defined and more beautiful than ever. The stories about coyotes walking over the Golden Gate Bridge, down Michigan Ave….that national parks are teeming with wildlife. Kyle saw three male bald eagles, two females and a slew of eaglets on her morning walk on the Oregon coast last weekend…astonishing! See her photo, above, for proof!
  2. Less noise
    Ah the songs of the birds are now the Pandora of our lives, even in the city. Oh, and the absence of traffic…how lovely is that?
  3. The pace of life has slowed
    Many of us have more time to read, to muse, to dream, to wonder, to create, to clean, to purge. We are going to have the cleanest closets and garages ever!
  4. More home cooking/baking bread/dusting off cookbooks
    We are loving the time available to create home-cooked meals.
  5. Bringing back old hobbies
    Kyle pulled out her sewing machine! “It had been so long, I had to YouTube the directions to wind a bobbin…but it has been fun to make homemade creations again. Making masks motivated me but now I am on to aprons.”
  6. Thinking about how we can each help
    Reach out to a neighbor, make masks, make food, donate blood, give to your local food bank, buy gift cards from your favorite restaurants/shops to help them stay afloat, donate money to the zoos, aquariums and parks. They are in dire need of revenue.
  7. OMG the creativity of people in a time like this is astonishing and oh so inspiring! Late night talk hosts taking their shows into their own homes. How cute are Jimmy Fallon’s kids? And how much fun is it to see how they all live? Concerts online (the Rolling Stones at home, doing a zoom acoustic version of You Can’t Always Get what You Want.
  8. Restaurants helping to feed the homeless.
  9. Live radio shows taped in the homes of participants – so intimate, so necessary.
  10. Zoom happy hours
    Helping us to stay connected or get reconnected! Time flies when you’re having fun! Here’s a great one: uber cool Virtual Cocktail Classes led by Candace’s son-in-law Josh Suchan, Los Angeles bartender consultant and mixologist extraordinaire! Time flies when you’re having fun!