Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hello and welcome back to the Two Charlottes podcast. It has been a while.
We've been AWOL for quite a few weeks, I won't lie. So we thought we'd come
back in and just do a little episode, not really on anything in particular other
than just to let you know we're still here, we're still planning on recording things.
We've just been, I don't know, having a bit of a rollercoaster over the last few weeks.
(00:24):
So we thought we'd come and let you know where we
have been and what we've been up to yeah it's been pretty pretty wild it's been
a hot minute as well since we've come on and spoke to you guys but obviously
it's been the summer holidays so,
as both of us are mums and a step-mom
as well that is a crazy time there was
(00:46):
some god-awful illness going around a while back as well that I came down with
and got pneumonia and everyone in house came down with it I like tore through
us I think you were sick as well weren't you Darcy was poorly yeah Darcy got
some lovely bugs that she brought home from preschool,
which yes they then took us all down it was like what I think was was you sick
(01:10):
and then I was sick and then I'm on medication for my fibromyalgia and I was
changing the one that I was on over to to another one, which is,
was, it really messed me up for a little while, a couple of weeks.
While I was going over that so there was like
one sickness over on one side and another sickness
on another side and a change of medication and yeah
(01:33):
it's just been wild and then we rescued a puppy
right at the wrong time for my house to
be honest with everyone changing medication and being
sick and stuff but um he's been an absolute delight no apart I mean he has been
absolutely delight apart from the the thing is that me and my husband have just
(01:54):
I say we've had a vasectomy he's obviously had a vasectomy because we made a
decision that we didn't want any more babies.
And he's still not even got the all clear from that and now
we've got a puppy which is just like having a baby in the
house again apart from it pumps and pees on the floor and babies don't do that
it's the getting up every few hours and all of that sort of thing so I forgot
(02:18):
what hard work it was but yeah he's an absolute cute little puppy and we found
him dumped in the middle of the woods,
and he was only like 12 weeks old he was a right sorry state
so we had to spend a lot of time and
money and effort nursing him back to health he was very poorly very underweight
and now he's actually turned into quite a big dog and he's so clever he's so
(02:42):
you know such a he's just such a good dog considering what a traumatic start
to life he had so that was what I was doing.
Yeah it's actually been mad on your side and I just feel like I don't know one
minute it's April now it's nearly September and I don't even know where my life
(03:03):
has been going it's been so busy obviously with Darcy being at preschool we've
been bringing home some lovely bugs so we did
have some sicknesses our side you know
school holidays and then my mum and my
stepdad were here because they live in South Africa and
they only come over once a year so I knew
they were coming and then because I knew they were coming everything had
(03:26):
to stop at least the week before they were coming because I
needed to prepare for them coming that like
completely stopped my eldest daughter got a
job so we were you know we did all
of that and yeah it's just been just crazy
but all like good crazy you know it's
all been other than the sickness obviously but it's
(03:48):
all been really good but the podcast has just been something where
we keep going oh yeah no we'll do something then and then something happens
and we try and jump on and we try and record and it just doesn't always go that
way so yeah now we're here like 25 years later we're back we're back and we've
got huge plans going forward into the future which is very exciting.
(04:12):
And yeah, we'll be back to releasing a podcast every Thursday at eight o'clock, is it?
Yeah, eight o'clock. Every Thursday at eight o'clock.
So we've got plenty to look forward to. We are recording this Thursday.
So we'll have a new, like, this is like, we just wanted to come on.
(04:33):
This isn't like a proper episode.
We just wanted to come on and chat to you guys and let you know what we've been
up to and why we haven't been about. I know we just kind of disappeared.
And we just wanted to let you guys know that, you know, it wasn't really an
intentional disappearing.
It was just so many things happening at once and in the middle of the summer holidays.
And like we said, you know, working mum, carer, mum, you know, so much going on.
(04:58):
We just had to take a bit of time out. Take a break.
I'm actually really looking forward to get back into it all. I've missed doing it.
Of you know not had that little thing that
we we really enjoy doing our podcasts and where it's
going and like I said we've got some great plans for the future haven't
we we do we've got some really good plans we've got
(05:19):
some really good topics as well that we were have been talking
about because even though we haven't been recording anything we still
keep having conversations about stuff that would be good things
that have been happening oh like throughout our
lives over the the last like few weeks we've been like oh there'd be such
a good episode to talk about on a podcast and so
we've got some really really good you know topics coming
(05:42):
up some big plans to expand and to
be able to like offer more to everybody and give you guys kind of all of us
in the sense of what we know and what we've learned and what we've tried tested
so yeah I'm really really looking forward to what's gonna what's gonna happen
now that we can get back in the the swing of things.
(06:03):
Yeah and like with school well I know it isn't quite
starting up in the UK yet but my son goes back
to school over here when did I say it was not
this week the week after yeah yeah next Friday
yeah next Friday he's back to school then and you know what I love the holidays
don't get me wrong I love being able to have a bit of a lie-in or you know not
(06:25):
being tied in the day it's really hard when you're a mum in the daytime when
it's school time because you know you've got to be there, drop off and pick up.
And your day is very structured and there's a lot of routine and you can't just
decide, oh, we're going to go to the beach for the day, or we're going to go
here, we're going to go there. So I love the holidays for that. Like.
Um spontaneity spontaneity that's the
(06:46):
word spontaneity yeah that is that is I do I
do love it for that but at the same time I am
the kind of person that craves routine and like
when my routine gets messed up I feel like my
whole life goes to shit then I can't seem
to like that that's probably another reason for me why it's
(07:08):
been so hard to to get it together and to do
a recording through the holidays because I feel
like my head's all over the place I don't know what day it is I don't know what
I'm doing I don't know what time it is I don't seem to have a clue what's going
on most of the time and it's like the more into the holidays we get the deeper
into the realm of I don't know what's going on I end up you know so by the time.
(07:33):
It's like time to go back to school like oh thank god normality again
yeah you know it's a proper catch-22 isn't it
like because I I really like the holidays
in the sense that I don't have to get up
as early in the morning because I still have to work during the during the
school holidays but it is more relaxed in the mornings you know
we're not rushing around as much I don't have as much to
(07:55):
get done we can just kind of get up and get dressed
and you know drop off my youngest at
her nans you know obviously Grace is old enough
to be on her own so she's just here doing her
thing so holidays are so much more
relaxed but I crave the routine because every
day is different for me especially now that Grace
(08:17):
is working because she's working different hours during
the holidays so sometimes I'm having to come back
from work like today I came back from work I sorted out
Darcy's dinner but then I had to go back out again to pick her up from work
and bring her back and then it just froze me off all over the place I don't
know like whether I'm coming or going half the time so the holidays are a proper
(08:39):
catch-22 I really like it but I also crave the routine.
Yeah. Yeah. That's me as well. And like, I do feel when I have a good routine,
like everything is in order, you know, I know where I am on what I'm doing each day.
I don't forget appointments and things like that.
Like I can much easier stay on top of my life and what's going on.
(09:02):
But yeah, when the routine's gone, I lost, I just don't, I can't seem to be
able, you know, to get anything together or do anything properly.
So I'm really really looking forward to the back
to school and the normality and the routine and
everything and it's going to be interesting here now and it'll be the same for
you actually with Grace having a job now and working that new like norm into
(09:25):
your routine presumably she'll be working still even when she goes back to school
yeah when when she goes to college she will still.
Be working obviously she'll be working more weekends and
after school rather than kind of during
the day you know so because we're also
trying to figure out like with her working and stuff during
(09:47):
the day like today she had to get herself
to work because she started work halfway through my work
day so then she's like she's having
to get the bus and then I'm sat at work being like she should have
left by now but she hasn't told me she's left by now and I did
message her about three times being like are you on the bus are you
okay are you on the way to work did you make it are you alive
like yeah and it's honestly froze
(10:10):
your head all over the place because it's changing everything and
yeah to try and because Darcy's routine will be exactly the same when she goes
back to preschool because she's still doing her like two and a half days so
that will be normal but then it's going to be fitting in Grace's new college
routine and work around Brown College and luckily her college is close.
(10:32):
Is like on the way to my work from dropping Darcy off so we can do a bit of a, you know.
Like carpool and get us all where we need to be but yeah
there's gonna be lots of shifting around but as long
as we've got some kind of routine I'm happy with it yeah yeah it's gonna be
the same for us like with Max starting at secondary school and different times
(10:55):
that he has to be there and he you know he wants to take himself to school he
doesn't want to be collected or picked up but then we have the whole thing with
me where I'm going to be quite
worried because it's twice the distance as
what his primary school was but I also want
to take him up and collect him the first few days and
you know just make sure that he's settled in but then we've also got the puppy
(11:17):
and we're you know we're still doing like four every four hours going and letting
him out through the night he's really good now we have him in a crate we've
been doing the crate training that is obviously another podcast topic for another day yeah I was
thinking about that the other day I was like we definitely need to have a like
a conversation about getting a puppy and views on the difference you know training
(11:41):
stuff because it's very mixed views I'm all for crate training as far as dogs
are concerned I think it's the best way.
For them it was game-changing for us I mean when we first got him we did we
obviously didn't have anything because we literally went for a walk in the woods
and I found him in the middle of the
woods and I was like we can't leave him here the poor thing was like skin and
(12:01):
bone he was pooping blood he was riddled with worms he had thorns all sticking
in his little paws so he couldn't work and work I mean walk and he was just
crying and crying picked him up took him home.
Many vets trips later and we had to spend a
fortune on stuff for him we got a crate and all of that sort of thing but you
know obviously he was who found him in the woods so he didn't know how he was
(12:24):
and I didn't want to shut him in a crate and have him even more stressed out
and upset than he was but there was pee and poop all over the floor in the mornings
you know we didn't come down and let him out.
No we did come down and let him out but he still pooped and peed all
over the floor but obviously when we first got him he you know he
had worms really bad so there it was liquid and it
(12:45):
was a mess and oh my god it was so
hard and then we were getting him used to the crate and
sleeping in it and then a few people said to me just put him in there
cover it right over because I said when we put
him in there and he can still see out of it he's crying and whining
but I think we've had
him how many weeks now four weeks three weeks four weeks yeah I think so four
(13:06):
weeks nearly three and a half weeks something like that so the first two weeks
we didn't have him shut in the crate we just put him in we put a stair gate
up shut the living room door so we just had the kitchen in the hallway but he
would always come to the bottom of the stair gate and sit there and cry,
so it was very hard to see we weren't getting any sleep was up and down up and down up and down.
(13:27):
And me and my hubby were like taking it in turns to
have a night's sleep but you still don't sleep very well when the person
next to you is up and down all night you know and the dog
is crying even though we've got earplugs and everything and then
so people suggested just covering up the crate right and shutting him right
in it so we did that and let been letting him out like every four hours to go
(13:48):
to the toilet my god it's it is like a dream it's like wow i the first night
i thought this This can't just be a fluke. Oh my God, this is so good.
But he's done it every night since then. No mess in the crate, out to do his business.
Like he's completely toilet trained now. Touch wood, I've got to touch wood
because I feel like I'm jinxing myself by saying this.
But like, he's completely toilet trained. We let him, we put him to bed at eight o'clock.
(14:12):
So we take him out just before eight o'clock to go do his wheeze and poops.
Then 12 o'clock, half 11, 12 o'clock, we come down and let him out again.
He does another wee. wee then one of us comes down at four in the morning let
him out he always does a poop and a wee then and then we come down at like half
seven in the morning yeah that's it and like,
(14:34):
and I think Jen you're like I I've always known everyone
I know that has dogs does the whole crate training
thing but I know it's a bit of a controversial topic for some
people some people yeah and it's it so I think
that could be a really good one for us especially now that you're kind of
you know living through it yeah doing it and just seeing what a difference it
(14:54):
made to him and what's crazy is I can put him in his crate and he'll be stood
up wagging his tail and I'll drop the blanket down so he's totally covered right
and I just had a tiny little peep in to see what he would do.
Like you know the first couple of times I did it and as soon as I
dropped the blanket down it's all dark in there he just curls up and he's
like you can even hear him if you're not looking you can hear him just
(15:15):
go he does like a big sigh like he totally
relaxes and he just goes straight to sleep and he
sleeps sound in there and even when I
come down at four o'clock I lift the blanket up and he just sort
of starts waking up he's not he's sound asleep
when he's in there and I actually did a bit of
like reading up about it and what I read said that
dogs naturally like to make themselves those tiny little dens
(15:37):
where it's all dark and cozy like in the
wild that would be where they would sleep so it's like a
like a dna thing for them
like it's in there you know to like a little dark
den to sleep in and and it's i i know it doesn't work for every dog but for
us made a massive difference a really big difference so yeah that's been really
(15:58):
good getting a bit of sleep back but also now you know with max going back to
school working the routine of the puppy.
And him into what you know what was our
normal routine is gonna be interesting but
yeah same as you i just can't i can't wait to get the routine back and
to be in that routine of like lunches you know packed lunches dinner at a set
(16:21):
time because usually when max at school it might sound early to some people
but i always start cooking dinner our dinner at four o'clock I don't like to
eat late in the evening so like we usually eat by half four or five at the latest.
And you know we do that at the weekends as well because i
don't really like to eat past six o'clock at night because otherwise i
(16:42):
end up with like really bad indigestion and stuff i
can't lie down comfortably and it's
not good for you to eat too late at night anyway so yeah we usually eat
early but since it's been the holidays some nights
like is i'm like jesus is
it like seven eight o'clock already we're only just sitting down to eat
because it's bright as well outside right so you're sneezing yeah
(17:04):
you just look like I said I lose track of time space
who I am where am I I don't
know what's going on yeah what am I where are we
what am I where am I I don't know anymore
the holidays just make me lose my mind even more
I'm exactly the same it turns me to mush
and I had to do a whole week as well where my because
(17:26):
Darcy in the school holidays goes to her nan's but
her nan was on holiday for a week so I then had I had
to do a whole week working at home with Darcy so that
was even worse like yeah you know god love her but you know he's not very good
at marketing so she doesn't really know how to do my job so she's not very helpful
(17:47):
when it comes to trying to write content for websites she just wants to watch Paw Patrol all the time.
Poor patrol style content oh yeah that's where I end up start writing bloody
website content and it will just have poor patrol in it poor patrol quotes.
(18:08):
But yeah I'm really glad that we're you know getting back on track now and we
can start putting together some really good topics and some really good content
and get back in the swing of things really,
yeah so people can expect to maybe
start finding us on some different platforms and i'm
(18:29):
not talking about podcasting platforms necessarily maybe
some more video content things like exclusive downloads outtakes yeah and all
sorts all sorts to look forward to which is going to be really exciting like
making it all creating it all figuring it all out but yeah we We do have a lot
to come and plus some really good topics to delve into as well.
(18:52):
Yeah, exactly. I've written down our lists.
Yeah, lists upon lists upon lists.
A list of lists. A list of lists. That's it. Literally a list of lists. A list of lists.
Yeah, so I think that's where we are and that's where we've been.
(19:12):
We're really looking forward to coming back
to you every thursday at eight o'clock remember to set
a reminder on your phone to tune in to us and remember to like and follow us
on tiktok like and follow us on facebook and keep an eye on our facebook page
for updates because like we said we've got a lot more ideas in the bag to come
(19:34):
out so we will post updates and then we'll start using that more often.
So you'll start seeing us coming back to life across all your platforms.
Remember to like, and follow us on your podcasting platform as well, and leave us a review.
You know, we love to hear from you guys and we love to get your feedback and
yeah, we look forward to, uh, speaking with you again really soon, I guess.