Find Your People - Episode 122

Mandy. Hello Katie. Hi, look I have lights. Congratulations. Thank you. It has been quite the week and a half around here. Tell us about it. What happened? Well, sometimes we record on Wednesdays and so last Wednesday I had zero internet. You know, it's hard to get internet out here anyway and I don't know what was going on but I had nothing. Nothing. I had to restart it four or five times. Still didn't work. Nothing. And then Thursday, last Thursday, it thunder boomed and I think we probably had some tornadoes that didn't touch down just north of here. I think that's what they've decided and so it knocked my power out. And not only did it knock my power out, Mandy, the Georgia power trucks got stuck in the mud trying to get to the down to power lines. Oh no. Right? And that wild. So it was almost five o'clock when the power came back. You're laughing. No, I'm laughing at the Georgia power trucks getting stuck in the mud. I think I know what that is and so I can't wait for you to talk about it but anyway, so the power trucks got stuck in the mud so Katie didn't have power all day. I did get to read a whole book that day though because it was a nice day that day so I could leave the door open and have plenty of light to read and so I'll tell you about that book in my new favorite book section. And then this week another storm system came through and that's why we're shivering and wearing sweatshirts and sweaters this week but I think it was Monday night. I had gone to, no, it was early early Monday morning. I had gone to get Maggie out of the laundry room because we're still snoring even though it's not as bad and I had her in there with me in case we needed to go to the closet and the storm because you know I'm also triggered by all this mess and so the first clap of thunder and lightning strike had to have hit the house. I mean it was right over the house. We all levitated out of the bed all at the same time and then when I finally did get up out of the bed to get breakfast and everything I turned the light switch on in the living room and my chandelier in here which is way high in the air sparked in blue. Sparks are flying everywhere. All the bulbs blew at once and I was like, what in the world? It was crazy. I thought my rug was gonna catch on fire because of all the sparks. I was like, what is happening? So we're getting that looked into. It doesn't work still but we're trying to figure it out but it's the one that because it's a cathedral ceiling and a metal roof I think that the lightning just zapped it. I don't know but anyway so that's been just thrilling and now we're just cold. We are. Yeah. I'm not complaining about the cold. No. You won't hear me ever complain about the cold. It's probably more tolerable there than it has been here since you're a little further south but I mean it's been like downright windy. I think it's the wind that I could do without. If it wasn't so windy I would be fine but it's freaking cold. The fun thing that we've had to watch is sweet little Maggie. So Maggie was supposed to have a tooth pulled because we had some deferred maintenance as y'all know but I took her to the vet the day the power went out as one of our outings to get out of the house and apparently the bad tooth is way too close to the good tooth to get it out and so we are waiting on the vet that only comes clinic like once a month to come with her special dental equipment and when I heard that phrase my wallet puckered. Yeah yeah it ain't cheap. No but it'll save the teeth around it so that'll be good and they did her blood work while she was there so and all that was good and they weighed her and our girl has lost two pounds. That's awesome way to go. I know and with finding her waist we have also found her silliness and her attitude. She barks at me now when she wants something and demands something and she like stomps her front feet and jumps up and down. She chased her tail the other night and it was so cute so she's got more energy so you can see her little personality really coming out which is super fun. Honey's a little disturbed by the whole thing but we're good we're good. They did trauma bond over the weather so they will now sleep snuggled up together which is so nice. We don't have to worry about being traumatized by closeness so that's good. But yeah so my wallet is gonna suffer at the end of the month when the expensive vet comes to town with her special dental equipment. Yep but other than that I know right other than that things are you know interesting as always but the thing that is giving me life is that the campground y'all know I live on a Methodist campground. The campground is blooming and it is gorgeous. The Native Azaleas have started. We planted not we I didn't plant a one of them they planted about a thousand tulip bulbs and those have blossomed and that was just gorgeous. The camellias are still out so it's very colorful right now it's really really pretty and I'm just so thankful that I get to look at that every day because the rest of the world is making me dark and gray and gloomy but this place I feel like has given me a little color so that's been nice. Good. Yeah so what about you Mandy what's been going on? Oh Lord well I've been watching the world baseball classic. I was sad last week. We lost to Italy. We didn't well so yeah we were sad last week we didn't get to talk about it because I was all into it so the it starts with pool play and there are four divisions there's one in Asia there's one in Latin America there's one in Miami and there's one in Houston and so each country is in one of those four groups and that round you can lose twice you're not automatic it's really based on the score like whoever has the most wins out of the four teams okay and then there's like this complicated tie-breaking like if two teams have one loss then whoever has I don't even know it's way too mathy yeah but yes we we we beat Great Britain right we beat Mexico and then we were playing Italy and I was in Noonan because I had a mediation and we got home and turned on the television and it was eight to nothing Italy and like the sixth or seventh inning so we ended up coming back and scoring six runs so we lost eight to six to Italy there was all kind of drama around it Mark Narosa who's a former brave who lives in Atlanta he's big buddies with all you know Jeffrey Korn and all those guys he's the manager so we like DeRoe but he went on he's also a commentator on MLB and so he was on MLB that morning and he said something about well you know we've got since we've punched our ticket already and we had not punched our ticket y'all so anyway there was just all this drama and basically we needed Italy to win their game against Mexico or we needed Italy I can't even remember now then if Italy did win we needed Mexico to score a lot of runs basically there was a point in the game where Italy had scored I think it was four runs which meant that in order to beat them Mexico had to score five runs so as long as the game went nine innings because they also have run rules in this so as long as the game went nine innings then we were in but so like it's like oh sure we won and then somebody's like only if it goes nine innings it was ridiculous anyway Italy won we advanced to the quarterfinals well that's single elimination so if you lose once then you're out okay yeah and and you know we played the Dominican Republic what I had discovered in this first week of the world baseball classic is the US games for the most boring games because we were so just dead yeah all these Latin American teams are having so much fun they're jumping out of the dugout they were just oh just so much and here we are when we played Mexico Cal Raleigh the catcher big dumper who we talked about last year who yeah right yep his his mariner teammate Randy Arosa Raina who plays for Mexico was the leadoff batter in the game and as he came to the plate he like tried to like dab the big dumper up he wouldn't do it basic baseball camaraderie and he they're not we're not brothers on that field we're we're he's the enemy I'm sorry that's bullshit what meanwhile Venezuela and the Dominican Republic are playing each other and William Contreras and I can't remember who was leading off for the DR maybe Tatis they're like hugging it up they're like having the best time like what are we doing come on what are we doing and then Cal Raleigh shows up like pregame and I don't even know what it meant but whatever his t-shirt was with some reference to some sort of fire and then D-Roy brings in and well to like talk the the locker room pep talk to fire everybody up like what are we doing are we are we cosplaying military it was just it was just when we were flat and we could not our lineup had multiple MVPs basically countless all-stars countless gold gloves countless silver sluggers they're obviously not countless but you know yeah we have them sign we had sign on we have the ML and the AL Cy Young winners from last year we had the MVP like like are you kidding me we couldn't buy it it was ridiculous so anyway we did manage to be the DR we did manage to be the Dominican Republic partly because Paul Skeen's pitch well like the first four in there that helped and then our bullpen was really great so we beat the DR and so then the Venezuela and Italy played and we were gonna play the winner of them and Venezuela had to come from behind to beat Italy but they did and I thought the roof was gonna come off of Lone Depot Park in Miami those people were so excited and you're all the community in your place for Venezuela so it was so fun to watch him have a great time so then that we played Venezuela last night in the final it was really cool they had a really cool sort of opening ceremony where both teams walk in from the outfield carrying their flags I thought it was a bad sign when judge was just resting the flag on his shoulder I'm like nobody instruct the man how to carry the flag right do you think this is more of a coaching issue about hyping them up or just an apathy in general they're good enough they should not need to be hyped up like everybody's like they're just flat they're flat it should matter where it's an Olympic here Italy is actually full of a bunch of Americans who have Italian heritage who are players who have either not yet made it to the big leagues or are like a you know third starter on a team they did have Aaron Noah and he's like Philly's second like he's second best pitcher but like what like no there's just no excuse I don't know it was just so then they so they they will come in they walk in from the outfield they're lining you know the infield they get introduced they play each national anthem and now this is a very particular thing to me but if you don't sing your national anthem you lose five points just immediately and every Venezuelan player was singing their national anthem singing their heart out half of them were crying the only Americans who were singing the national anthem were Alex Bregman and Bobby Witt jr. I just don't at coming off an Olympic year where think we were just so excited about USA style and here's here's the other thing they came walking in yesterday wearing game worn jerseys from the US men's hockey team stop it like I want my sports to take me away from reality and this was just the toxic masculinity so when it was all over Katie these Venezuelan players who won they won and I was cheering for Venezuela let me tell you yeah we're crying they were so happy they were ecstatic and joyful and thankful and praying and the fact that our country has treated people like them yep the way that they have for the past year to see them be these military cosplay in lame-ass people who couldn't buy it it was like oh it made me happy it made me happy yeah yeah admittedly like I was look at the schedule and it was like 8 o'clock on Fox like at night and I yeah I mean I'm in bed so I did not watch I wish I had I just don't understand it's America's game we invented the game we love the game like why can't you step up and get it done in a way that's at least look like looks like you're trying like if I was those baseball managers in spring training I would look at all the kids on the Italy team be like forget these guys we've got come on up it was just it was just disappointing it was just you know you hear about the same young men in our country and it was just another lesson of this is you know America who I was kind of thankful they lost because the contrast with what was going on on the other side there's the cutest clip I'll have to share it on our Instagram they so they built this like platform that looked like the world baseball classic logo and so they get medals at the end and so US got their silver medals first and so they were off-field other than listen the only American that stayed around to congratulate the Venezuelans was Bryce Harper come on Bryce when you when you make me think good things about Bryce Harper yep you were really bad yeah anyway so they're all up on the platform and when their national anthem started you have never seen 40 men stand up so quickly and take their hats off and once again singing at the top looking skyward tears running down their faces it was just oh I cried two times last night listening to the Venezuelan national anthem I love it well I think the only one for me that gets a pass is Paul skeins because Paul skeins don't get excited about anything ever yeah but other than that those other boys need to step it up well if you know I want them to be who they are I don't want them to change their personality you know and you can't like I was listening to a podcast this morning and maybe Rojas who's from Venezuela who couldn't get insurance so he couldn't play for team Venezuela he's a Dodger and he was talking to Chris by Chris Rose is like why is it so different you know with the Americans and he's like it's just a different culture it's just you know and he said we can't be like that in the MLB because if you acted like we act for a hundred and sixty two games yeah you would die yeah like it's unsustainable for a hundred sixty two games so you know and I don't want him to not act how they are but I don't know it was just icky yeah it was icky yeah anyway another baseball news Vanderbilt SEC play started last weekend and Vanderbilt won their series against LSU but in a perfect snapshot of the kind of Vanderbilt baseball is having they win the series against FLSU and then they lose to Indiana on a Tuesday those boys are either gonna run roll you or they're gonna lose there's like nothing in between so that's fine that's fine and we're what about a week out ten days out from opening day so getting close getting close okay I've been watching baseball and I've had somebody come back from New York I had like a knot in my shoulder which you know it's not unusual well we all swear we all carry our stress yep nothing new so bad it was so painful and so I went and got a massage Monday was two weeks ago and I booked a massage I booked an upper body massage and said all I care about is this knot in my shoulder next thing I know she's rubbing my feet no that no well it wasn't a lot of help she did remark that I had a large adhesion in that shoulder but she was not going to be able to get it out well no you're not when you're rubbing my feet so I had to go to Noonan the next week and at that point it was like I was it was really painful yeah and so I got Noonan Monday James got the Theragun and got after it he got in there and I was like yes yes and I'm a masochist like yeah the more pain better same exact same so then I had a mediation on Tuesday and it ended sooner than we thought it would and so I was able to call James and Kelly's massage therapist and she was able to work me in when I tell y'all that woman spent about an hour and a half on my left shoulder she walked on my back she massaged that shoulder like you would not believe and it did feel better but it was still you know still killing me yeah at this point now that means like radiating down my arm so I get home and my sister's like why don't you schedule some acupuncture no acupuncture experience I guess last Thursday Thursday or Friday and when she like I laid down on the bed and she comes in she goes oh my god have you seen your shoulder it's like that's never a good sign she took a picture of it y'all it was so bruised from the from the Theragun and the massage she was like oh my god I know exactly where to put these needles because I can see where she was working on that spot yeah so I had acupuncture and then cupping okay never done that my shoulder it looked like I had been beaten it was with a croc what's so bad so I love the the cupping bruises look like you've been wearing a giant croc on your back so anyway now we're just the shoulders better but now it's just my arm is still just yeah killing me yeah anyway that was that was my saga with the shoulders Lord Lord yeah so baseball on my shoulder that's all I've been that's a good old mercy went to the doctor in Birmingham while I was in Newton and had a full GI workup okay we don't have the results back Texas A&M okay and then but she it was confirmed she does have a hooded vulva with a hooded vulva have a vulva plasty your Lord you don't want to facelift on your bum no so here's hoping we don't have to have that fingers crossed but listen her her her GI system since our return yes it's been a real adventure oh no been a real adventure and then she we went out it had been several hours since we had been out but we went out like on Saturday and I had to take some trash out which means I have to get like on the street side and the cutest little coeds sweetest little boys were like oh that is the cute she is smiling at us may we pet her I was like of course you may and she proceeded to pee all over their feet mm-hmm got a girl so listen we're good we're just living the life here and spring break yeah brah la la brah la la so Katie I'm looking at your books I have read and loved both of them okay good I wasn't sure I was gonna ask you about the second one so y'all know last time I talked about going to Anne Patchett's bookstore and I wanted to get one of her signed books for myself just because while in Rome might as well get one and the cover of the Dutch house is so pretty I thought well that would be a good one to have signed by her is like the one that I keep for myself and don't give to friends of the library and so and I had not read it so that was the two things was I wanted to be a pretty book and I want it to be one that I had not read so I got the Dutch house and read it and it was really really good a little triggering for those of us that have family issues but it was great it was very descriptive I think that's why I love her writing is she's so good at the descriptive you can really almost like truly visualize the settings and the people just because she's so good at that so that was the book that I read the day I had no power since I had almost 12 hours of it to kill yeah yeah so that was good so that's a good one if you have not read that and patch it definitely read it I highly recommend it did you like that one Mandy mm-hmm yeah that my book club read it and of course I don't remember I remember it was a brother and sister and family situation and what I remember most about it is our friend Gigi who grew up in Birmingham was like y'all this is my grandmother's house Wow this is exactly like my grandmother's house yeah yeah it's it's a really good sibling story and you know how one sibling protects the other and there's mother and stepmother issues and it's really really good so I recommend that one definitely if you're gonna if you're an Ampachit fan and then the one I'm reading now which I haven't been able to read as much as I wanted to because it's really really suspenseful and y'all know if you've been listening long enough you know that if I watch something scary or read something scary not I have nightmares and I read one night out of Wild Dark Shores by Charlotte McConaughey or McConaughey I don't even know how to say her last name but it's in the show notes I read and then I like had a nightmare so I'm only reading that one during the day like it was it's very good though like I love this book it's about a family that lives on a very small island near Antarctica and run the lighthouse on the island and a mysterious stranger washes up on the shore one night and it's just and then you got to figure out a lot of murder stuff and a lot of who is this stuff and who can you really trust stuff and it's really really good so I'm not done with it yet but I've enjoyed it very very much and it's not very long so it when I can sit in the daylight and read it it won't take me that long to get through so what did you what did you like about that book since you've read it you know I don't remember oh that's right I forgot yeah no it was good I remember yes it continues to be twisty-turny to the very end okay would you really like I mean it's not that I don't like it but like once I had it wasn't I wouldn't say it was a nightmare but it was definitely like I woke up in the middle of night and I was like oh no like I don't want to be in this book yeah like it is like apocalyptic e yeah so I don't as I recall that it's on an island and the guy is protecting like the last seeds yes so like if this yes get ruined then it's no more food on the planet and it's kind of a big deal it's a stressful situation a real thing like evacuate yeah yeah cuz the water levels keep rising yes and so that that is all exactly true I think the thing that makes it even more real for me is that I actually follow somebody on I think it's tick-tock that lives on Svalbard Island up in Norway which is where the actual seed repository is in real life and so that is a thing there are seed repositories on this earth that protect our food source and plants if the apocalypse happens which these days seems like it's listen just out of a sure thing I would like to be in the blast zone yes only requirement come on Jesus come take me only requirement come on yeah I talked about that when I get to one of my favorites as a matter of fact yes indeed which I'm very excited about I was gonna say so tell us about your favorites and I'm getting my phone Mandy not so I can text anybody but so I can go on to Instagram and do the first one okay so my friend Dixie tell me about this lady it's Katie with a Y actually on Instagram and it's funny she explains sports no she explains sporting events only negative is she's in Philadelphia so you know how that goes I think I follow her on tick-tock is she blonde uh-huh yes that's her yes really funny you've been hearing about this let me explain this for you yeah she's very funny very funny she's a stick figure that was kind of it's really funny brand for us yes the next thing is Doug Lanville's sub stack so Doug is a retired Major League Baseball player he is a black man his longest tenure was with the Phillies he's a broadcaster now he works for ESPN he does some tubs games every now and then but he's also a professor at I think it pin I think that's where oh no I think he lives in Connecticut anyway he's a college professor somewhere in addition to everything else and he's just really thoughtful and you know it's sports and just what you know a lot but some race issues that you know and how that interplays with sports and the one that the most recent one I read was sort of talking about like the beauty of baseball is that you are forced to become brothers with all these people from all these different walks of life in different countries and how you know that broadens your perspective and how that what happens off you once you retire you know are we still teammates once we retire like you know and with some people yes and with some people no but anyway it's just he's just a great great writer so I love Doug so his sub stack is very interesting and then I've been watching some TV I'm very interested in this first one especially for those of you who don't know I did my sixth grade social studies project on the assassination of JFK most of us would not have known that which I love that you preface it that way since that time which would have been 1987-88 somewhere around there to say I have been obsessed with the Kennedy family is an understatement I have read the first thing I read was Doris Kearns Goodwin's the Fitzgerald's and the Kennedys okay so listen I can tell you all about Rose Kennedy growing up as a Fitzgerald yep on Beacon Hill I can tell you all about Rosemary Kennedy's Lombotomy listen all the things you need today when when Bill Clinton was impeached the day they were voting on impeachment we got tickets to go into the gallery and we're standing there waiting to walk in me with my good you know fellow Republicans and here comes Teddy Kennedy escorting each of his sisters who is still alive and Ethel almost passed myself out and the other people had no idea who they were I love it I love it you said so honey is in my lap right now for the listeners and when Mandy said impeach I think she was hoping that it was Trump and she perked up just immediately it wasn't we were talking about honey I'm sorry I just happened to be in New York one of my dad's choirs was singing I think that was the time they sang at Carnegie Hall the weekend after Jackie O died my sister and I went up yeah and stood outside the car because listen there were a bunch of people there you could and they would come out on the balcony and you could see them yeah we remember seeing John John coming out on the balcony and they would like wave you know like they were the royal family love it which they pretty much are you froze again but I think you're saying that they are and then you know I met Ethel I can still see Saxby's face when I was jumping up and down in his office with excitement because I thought Kennedy and he's just looking at me over his glasses I know that look anyway all of that to say I went into this show on Hulu called love story about John John and Carolyn Bassett with some background information yes and I will say it's a Ryan Murphy production so we know that the truth is in there somewhere and maybe yeah maybe some truth yeah they were a couple they got married I was all in it and you know it's fun to go back to the 90s and New York in the 90s yeah like that Bart's phone I was out on it the way they portrayed Ethel mmm Nick Green and I met Ethel Kennedy for like two hours one time mm-hmm but let me assure you that woman was as warm and welcoming and down to earth and kind as any person I've ever encountered in my life and the way she is portrayed in this show is a total bitch yeah who is spiteful and mean to this newcomer who is coming into her family who tries to embarrass her and make her feel less than so like that just don't track no and then they really demonize I mean demonize they infantilize Darryl Hannah who she had John John yeah so she has come out and just totally obliterated the show yeah so you know like some of it they did this scene 80 where Jack knows but she's not quite really sick yet there's a portrait of Jack it's the same one that hangs like it's a it looks like maybe a sketch of the one that hangs in the White House where he's got his arms crossed and he's like looking down that's hanging in like her sitting room and I just don't believe this ever happened she puts the soundtrack from Camelot stop it now on her record player and dances with the painting Jack no no and I think at this point Mandy we can say the portrait that used to hang at the White House I doubt it's still there well you know Jack wasn't black so I don't know right right um they was Catholic but so anyway it's it's if you take it for the fashion and the New York in the 90s and the wedding on that was the other thing I had to take Bertrand Casey and be like y'all they they are making everything they are portraying the Ethel Kennedy road to this wedding ceremony in the back of a pickup truck on a hay bale stop it and Bert and Casey were like well she probably did ride in the back of a pickup truck but they at least put benches in them and I'm like they put Ethel Kennedy in a covered car like you can at least have a covered car they portrayed Carolyn is riding up in a Jeep Wrangler stop it anyway so you know so if you take it for the fun that it is yeah then that's fine but so I would recommend you watch it but I'll just know from a Kennedy expert there's some bullshit in there too right right right um and then the last thing I have watched is Paradise on Hulu so that's on my list definitely for season two Sterling K Brown he's so good and I started watching it last year but I like watched the first episode and then I never like watched anything else seeing of apocalypse yeah so season one was all about them being in the bunker so ginormous tsunami wipes everything off the face of the earth basically and so that this this event had been anticipated and so a bunker had been built in Colorado for all of the quote-unquote important people to escape to when the time came and the time comes and Sterling Brown is a Secret Service agent and so he is on the plane with his children to go to the bunker and so for three years they're in the bunker shenanigans abound and so the first season is all about you know the first three years in the bunker mm-hmm the second season is about what has been going on up up on the earth during those same three years and it's written by the guy who wrote Parenthood and This Is Us oh man has the ability to write relationships and all of that in a way that we all fall in love with these characters then he has paired it with this you know crazy plot driven combination storyline now and so it's just it's really interesting again that one of the storylines in the second season follows somebody who hunkers down at Graceland she was tour guide at Graceland and so that's where she hunkers down so that was funny but you know it's just it's just interesting but as I watch this as I watch yet another apocalyptic story I am reaffirmed that I don't have it in me no don't have it in take me just take me it's fine if I can't have my you know heating pad that's specific for my neck and shoulders am I weighted heating pad that I sleep with every night yeah I don't know that I'll survive I need both of those yeah so anyway there you have it love it thank you those are great favorites I appreciate that very much I definitely need to watch season 2 of Paradise I love season 1 I need to watch season 2 so that's yes yeah what you got going on this week Katie well we're getting closer and closer Easter so it's our busy season in the church world so just same stuff preparing for Palm Sunday and Easter and then beyond that tomorrow so today's Wednesday so on Thursday I'm real excited so next week is the cherry blossom festival in Mekonga so if you're up around Macon there'll be lots of fun stuff to do a friend of mine asked me if I was coming up Saturday to go to the wiener dog races with her and I said no thank you well I appreciate it well I'm sure it's lovely but you know I don't love a crowd what I would love though because she's a really funny person is to watch her watch the wiener races I think that would be even better than the actual race itself there's all kinds of stuff but tomorrow I'm gonna go help my very very good friend Chris Abbott do flowers for an event called the old city flower show and if you love cut flowers you and you will be anywhere near Macon Georgia over the next weekend you should go to this event it is at Mulberry this year but every year they do it and it rotates between 17 different churches in town and every church does a floral display in the church well because it's at Mulberry usually the host church does their altar and so of course you know international event and so Chris is very nervous about doing flowers for this big thing so I'm going up Thursday to help him do that and I'm very excited it's gonna be beautiful it just brings such a different life to a church than normal because there will be flowers everywhere 17 different displays so all throughout the sanctuary throughout the halls of the church everywhere so they're actually this year a lot of artists over the years have gone to Mulberry so this year they're not just doing the sanctuary they're highlighting the different art pieces around the church with flowers as well so I'm just really excited it's gonna be a great day so I'm excited to do that tomorrow so that's given me life yeah that'll be a little color and an otherwise very bleak and disturbing tub so that's about it how about you what are you up to nothing okay that's good though you've been going going going so good for you yes indeed it is supposed to warm up so a little bit happier yeah yeah I will say I did all my laundry by the time Sunday night came around everything I owned other than what I had was washed yeah and I discovered I don't have like you know 11508 square feet I don't have anywhere to put all my clothes when they're clean yep so I need to work on that I need to work on that there we go I love it oh man I got nothing I got no good good good I'm you deserve a little time to enjoy the spring breakers and made a mistake yesterday I'm going to Walmart oh these drugs big mistake big mistake yeah I survived but it was a mistake I love it well everyone stay warm in this cold weather enjoy the springtime when it returns to us and go find your people