Episode 83: The Struggle is Real

Transcript

This podcast contains explicit language and content and is for mature audiences only. Hey you teenagers out there, if you're under 18, this show is more for your parents. So now that you have that mental picture stuck in your head, put some music on and get back to doing your homework. We are a long-time married couple who's decided to chronicle our personal adventures and share our sex-positive discussions as we navigate our way through the swinging lifestyle. Care to join us? Hello, everyone. I'm Mr. Jones. And I'm Mrs.

Jones, and we want to welcome you to episode 83 of the We Got a Thing podcast. It's never taken us five takes to just say that much in a podcast before. We're off to a great start. We're fighting over the way you said, hello, I'm Mr. Jones. Episode 83, the struggle is real, the perfect example. Yeah, in more ways than one. I know. I don't really think this title needs much of an explanation these days, so we'll just skip that for now. I know. Well, The Struggle is Real. We just have to say the year, and The Struggle is Real. I know. Yeah. Yeah, we'll get into that in a minute.

A few announcements. We're excited to say that our mansion takeover is sold out. Yeah. It's going to be a great trip. Yes. Mrs. Jones and I and our special guests, Dave and Andy, from Double Date Nation, are going to be hosting eight couples at the Desire Mansion takeover in August, and we're super excited about that. Yeah. Thank you. But yeah, we're busy planning that. As a matter of fact, we were so busy planning that, we actually had to get on the wait list for our own November trip.

So, we know firsthand that November is sold out because we couldn't get, like we got the beginning of the week and the end of the week, but the middle, I think it was like Tuesday, Wednesday. Yeah. Yeah, we were like either going to have to hide and sleep in somebody's room or we were going to have to like. I said, boy, this is embarrassing. We can't even get booked for our own week. I know. And so as a backup plan, we got two rooms at RM in the middle of the week. But fortunately, Desire came through for us. I know. And found us a room. I tell you. That would have been. It sold out.

We forgot to take into consideration that there were a lot of people from 2020 that pushed their week back into 2021. Right. So it sold out extra fast this year. Right.

So, yeah, that'll be fun, too be fun too yes so well hopefully so there's like light at the end of the tunnel so that's like late summer and then like late fall yeah you know we got a couple good things on the horizon and then even sooner than that um podcastapalooza is still on yeah we're still the month of may fingers crossed for the end of may for for that and may 21st to 24th and i know that that there are still rooms available for that so if you're coming out of your cocoon and considering doing some uh travel in in spring late spring oh my gosh that and this is like the perfect time to talk about miami and may sunshine warm weather oh my gosh i mean what the way the country is right now right um like we have like an inch of sleet out there in our neck of the woods and you know this is the time that um The poor state of Texas was just decimated by cold and snow and utility problems.

Oh, my God. the woods and you know this is the time that um the poor state of texas was just decimated by cold and snow and utility problems the whole country the whole country is just in a funk right now it is like this has been a terrible winter like a strange winter yeah definitely so we've got a few things on the horizon and we hope that you can join us at podcast aooza, or at some point, maybe even later this year, we'll start some events. We were talking tonight about doing a local meet and greet at a bar or a brewery sometime.

Well, we found a new brewery that, well, we knew it existed, but we didn't realize how close it was to our house until we slushed, walked through the slush and the sleet to get to it tonight. And we were sitting in a brewery. And I mean, you know, again, it's full, but 50% tables are full. But there were still other human beings in there. And it was just so nice. And I just looked at you and I'm like, oh my gosh, I just wish, I just wish we could get to the point where we could organize something for a large group of people here locally, just to get together informally.

It's so fun to be around humans. I know. We'll talk about that, too, in a minute. Two more quick things. First of all, I forgot to mention at the outset, you know, we talked last month about how I was struggling with learning the art of washing and drying clothes. Well, what is it now? Well, I don't think you remember, but I got a little bit too full of myself and I thought I'm going to do this by myself. And you came downstairs to help me sort the clothes out and you saw me put a dryer sheet, what I thought was a dryer sheet in the dryer. I don't know.

I don sheet, what I thought was a dryer sheet in the dryer. And you said, why are you putting the Swiffer cover in the dryer? And I said, what? I thought they were dryer sheets. And really, why would you have Swiffer covers on top of the dryer? Because we don't have any storage in this house. And we don't have, like, our basement. Like, right now, our basement has things in it that shouldn't be in it. So, as, you know, so therefore, like, the cleaning supplies don't really have a good home yet. So, there were Swiffer cover things. But what were those things?

They were called, like, bounce or something like this. Those are dryer sheets.

And those, the people that owned the house before us left those no but i mean i just i mean i mean years ago that we used to put that dryer sheet in there oh right and there's bounce dryer sheets on the dryer now that don't belong to us you really can't blame me for grabbing something that looks like a bounce sheet and throw it in the dryer it didn't really hurt any clothes no it no it didn't hurt any clothes but it was just i'm like what did he use this on like it just it didn't look used but it looked used it wasn't used the right way it wasn't he used swiffer no you put it in clean but it just came out frumpy and i'm like but that doesn't look like he had it on the swiffer thing like getting the dust off the floor so anyway yeah so i'm stay tuned i'm still struggling you're learning honey you're not struggling i know i'm struggling as we said the struggle is real in more ways than one uh finally the final announcement that we have is we want to take a minute to say a very special thank you and a very special goodbye to our dear friends page and pen from sw Swinger Diaries.

I know. They have been good friends to us, both personally and in the podcast community. And it's just been such a pleasure to know them. And it's really fun when you know podcasters and then you listen to their podcasts because then you see their faces and you know their mannerisms and everything. So, all that comes through as you listen. So, it's been such an extra special treat for us to be able to listen to them all these years. Yeah, I've been in denial for quite a while because, you know, they quit once before a few years ago. And then they came back.

And so, I'm like, you know, they're just, it's fake news. They're not really going anywhere, but I really think they're serious this time. Yeah, but, you know, they're leaving the podcast community, but they're not leaving the lifestyle community. Thank goodness. So I'm sure we're still going to see them out and about occasionally. But they started their podcast about the same time we started ours, so we kind of grew up together in this space. Yeah, we're like the same genre. Yes, that's true. Of podcasts. So we're not going to talk about how we feel abandoned by them.

And I am going to add the caveat that at some point in the future, we're going to have a podcast, Mr. Jones. And Paige. And Unfiltered Paige. Yeah.

Because when we get together with them just she is hilarious he edits he edits a lot of her stuff out and i said i said page if you ever podcast with me we're doing an unfiltered page and you're going to lay it all out there and she goes that's what i really want to do we're going to do that so i know and pen and i are just alike we're both like oh my gosh just shaking our heads like yeah there is no way we're ever going to be able to publish anything like that so you see you guys stay tuned um as soon as we can arrange that i'm i'm definitely going to set that up with my friend page but anyway seriously you guys have been i don't know that you all realize how much of an impact that not only did you have on us as podcast fans and also as friends, but just the number of people, the couples and the individuals that you've touched with the body of work that you've created over the past six years or so.

And just a special thank you to you. And you guys deserve all the thanks that you're getting. And, you know, you deserve taking a break and doing what you all want to do and we know that you've got other family priorities right now which is fantastic yep you're in a good place in life and good for you so so thank you very much and the best to you and we'll see you around that's right definitely so if you haven't had a chance to tell them right. So keeping up with the jokes. What else has been going on? You know, not a whole lot. Well, no, that's not true.

I mean, we have been getting together kind of one-on-one with friends. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, for the past month, we've had two different couples come visit. And one go out to dinner with us and hang out for a while. And it's been good to stay connected with close friends and folks that are local. Yeah. It's been a lot of fun. Well, and then, I mean, we had friends come spend the weekend with us. We did. And that was really fun. Yes, it was a lot of fun. We've been trying to arrange that for a while, and thank goodness it finally worked itself out. It did. Yep.

And you really get to know people and our home is starting to feel more like a home when we have guests, you know, stay in with us and enjoy the atmosphere. Yep. So we just, we have to learn like where to entertain and like right now, like we don't know where to sit down. I know. Like we just all stand in the kitchen and our kitchen has an island, but it's not the kind of island you can put barstools at. Not big enough, yeah. Because our, you know, again, our house is old, so the kitchen's kind of narrow, but that's what we're fixing.

And good news is that we have signed a contract and we're actually moving forward with getting some of our renovations done. So now, speaking of the struggle is real, we have to pick out granite and cabinets and countertops and faucets and flooring. So we go to pick out that. I'm glad you brought that up. So we go to pick out the bathroom stuff. And the lady says, what kind of toilet do you want? And I'm like, there's only one kind of toilet. No, you didn't say a urinal. You had your opportunity to say urinal. Yeah, that was a waste of breath. But I said, one that flushes? And she said, yes.

I recommend that one over there. That toilet flushes really well.

And I'm that one over there that toilet flushes really well and i'm thinking to myself they all flush isn't that the purpose of it if it doesn't flush it's a sink so yeah we need something that flushes yeah that's a good flushing toilet i said okay we'll take that one then and she said do you want to go sit on it and you did and I did it was so funny I felt kind of funny sitting there and watching you two ladies watching me sit on the toilet like don't look at me oh the things you have to do when you're picking out stuff yeah so i'm not looking forward to all of the picking the crap out no actually i'm not either and then i say well honey what do you like and then you just get this deer in the head like looks look on your face like oh my gosh like if i say something she's not going to agree with me if i don't say anything she's going to get mad at me which is true and true well yeah we kind of had a little bit of a fight in in lows the other day i don't remember what you wanted me to pick out was it tile we were just starting to look at tile because we're going to get our tile at a tile store but we were in lows for something else and i just wanted you to look again i can't understand why they make ceramic tile to look like wood if you want a wood floor buy wood if you want a tile floor pile top buy tile now their tile looks like everything and then wood is not wood anymore it's laminate like it why is it so complicated and then and then you kept asking me what i wanted and i said it's not going to matter because you're going to get what you want so you narrow it down to the two or three you like and then i'll weigh in but it felt like it was a waste of my time and you got a little upset with me because i wasn't playing the game.

You were being snotty. I wasn't. You're not going to listen to me anyway. Anyway, we've got at least nine months of this to get through before all of this work is done, more than likely. Yes. But at least we're going to be making some progress. And then it'll be a swinger pad again. Yeah hopefully When the Armageddon is finished And the locusts are gone I know, all the plagues Yeah, the plagues and everything else that's happening this year Alright, let's get on with When we come back, we're going to talk about The Struggle is Real. And this is just more than picking out appliances and tiles.

I know. It'll get sexier. Yeah. We'll be back in a minute. Welcome back to segment two, The Struggle is Real. Yes. And if you haven't figured this out yet, we're talking about the last 12 months. It's only been 11. Okay. Well, we're putting this out in February of 2021. Yes. So the past year has quite sucked. Yeah. The world kind of ended in March of 2020. Yeah.

as we knew it i mean before this year it still was a struggle sometimes when life gets in the way of trying to spend time with each other and trying to spend time engaging with the lifestyle right well i think in the past the struggle was to keep your priorities in check and to keep everything in balance and now everything is out of balance yes um it's not just sexy time versus family time versus professional time it's it's just relearning how to be a professional in the workforce or how to be um a mom that has to be in charge of their child's distance learning or, you know, how to run Zoom meetings.

Like, you can be really good in your field and be completely a fish out of water in this new learning, professional, working environment that we're in. Right. So when you add a global pandemic on top of of real life to begin with yeah it really messes things up i guess what i'm saying is everything is out of kilter right now there's not one part of our lives that has not been affected right by the pandemic right and i remember you know last march when it was kind of like oh my gosh they to, like, lock the country down for a while. And, you know, businesses are going to have to close.

We're not going to be able to go to restaurants. You know, I'm thinking, okay, well, okay, two weeks. And then we were like, okay, a month. And surely things will calm down. And then it's like it just kept going on and on. And now I think we've all just become completely numb. Yeah. If you remember, honey, a year ago today, or a year ago this week, we were in Austin. Yeah, it was the beginning of Austin. Yeah, it was around Valentine's Day. And when we were planning that out, I kept saying, well, there's nothing that can get in our way except for bad weather.

That's the only thing we have to worry about. So let's sign the contract. Let's plan it. What can possibly happen? And then we were just fortunate that right after that event is when things started to really get bad. And then it took a while for us to kind of realize how impactful it was going to be to our lives. And now, you know, along with everything else, it's turned our world upside down. And as far as employment and schools and commuting and, you know, just financially and socially, I mean, every aspect of our lives have been upended because of this.

I remember when we went, because remember we went to Mexico in March last year, at the very beginning of March for our friend's birthday.

And I remember we were sitting at BWI Airport, the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and we were sitting in the at bwi airport the baltimore uh washington international airport and we were in the international terminal because we were flying to mexico remember a flight had just landed and people were coming off the flight and some of them had masks on and this was the beginning of march and i'm thinking oh my gosh like this this you know because they were talking about this virus right at you know the end of february beginning of march but it didn't really seem like it was hitting home yet right and i kept thinking that's so strange that those people have masks on like they're being you know overly cautious right and and then when i think it was really when we were in Mexico that the talk started.

Right. And it was literally less than a week after we got home that everything just kind of shut down. Right. Yeah, we had good timing there. And that just seems like it was forever ago. Yeah, so this podcast is going to be a little bit different because if you've listened to us, you know that we set up a problem or a situation and then we talk through it in depth. And then at the end, we give you the answers to the quiz and the solutions. Not necessarily. We try to give you tools so that you can come up with your own answers. I don't know that we really have the tools in place tonight.

I was being know a little over the top there but what where i what i was going to contrast that with is tonight we we are in we are still in the middle of this we we don't have the answers this is more of us sharing with you that we're struggling like everyone else is and there's no magic bullet to get out of the other end of it no matter who you are no so i'm not sure if this is going to make anybody feel better well it'll make people feel like they're not alone i think we're all in the same right boat essentially even though we can't touch each other and see each other except for you know through zoom um we are all in the same situation so we thought we would start with, and I'm going to probably say this more than once, but we're going to go through the past 12 months and just tell you some of the things that we've had to deal with in life.

And we're not doing this to show people that we've had it worse or that we're complaining. We're just trying to help you all understand that we know you're going through some of the very similar things and everyone out there listening could come up with their own list of shit that's happened right in their lives over the past year that you did not anticipate right that really knocks you for a loop right um in the scheme of things we're very fortunate we are i'm not complaining i'm complaining. I'm just saying that these are things that most of these things we did not anticipate happening.

And this is real life, like throwing a wrench into everything. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So first of all, the pandemic. Yeah. I mean. I don't think we need to go into depth on that. No, we don't. We don't. And again, this is really not a pessimistic podcast either. We believe we're coming out of this. We can see light at the end of the tunnel. We're talking about trips later this year. So this is more of how we have kind of been able to manage or mismanage our sexiness, our mojo, and just staying connected as a couple through all of this crap. Yeah. Yeah.

And like many people, we had an adult child move back in with her eight-year-old and her pregnant belly. Hey, again, just like what I was talking about when we were planning events. We got both of our daughters married, got them out of the house, they're self-sufficient, and we checked that box. They're gone. Now it's just us and we can focus on us. And then all of a sudden- Yeah, you got to check those boxes with pencils. Yeah. So our daughter lost her job, ended up, we thought it was best that she you know, she moved back home.

And so for, what, six months of the year at least, you know, we had our daughter, our pregnant daughter and our granddaughter living with us. And that was fine. Exactly six months. That was fine. It's what we needed to do, and we were glad to do it, but it was something that was not anticipated. It was wonderful. I mean, our granddaughter had been 2,500 miles away for two years. Yeah, yeah. So we got to really spend time with her. Yeah, this is not a woe is me thing. I mean, we enjoyed having them around, but it did throw a kink into things. You complained about it a lot. I did. Cock blockers.

I know. She's so cute, though. Yeah. And then she had a daughter. We have another granddaughter that was born just in September. So, of course, that adds another distraction, a pleasant one. And she's actually a really good baby. So, I have no complaints. You know, I can hold her and she just kind of looks at Mimi. She doesn't cry. She doesn't hate me. But if she hears you come in the room, she's like twisting her head around. I'm like, hey, Mimi's right here. Look at Mimi. Yeah. And she's like, oh, no, I hear Gibi.

And then she starts cooing at you, four months old, and she's already flirting with you. Yeah. I swear. Well, I don't really want to have much to do with her until she's maybe four or five. And we can have some sort of a relationship in a conversation. You'll give her a bottle, but you won't change your diaper. Well, yeah, right. I have a problem with that too, because I can't hold my beer in her bottle. She's not old enough to hold her own. I'm trying to teach her how to hold her own bottle now. That's a deal breaker. She's four months old. Give her time.

So anyway, and because of that, we had to make some financial and economic decisions and we ended up downsizing, you know, which created a situation. And this is something that we were probably going to do anyway, but the situation kind of accelerated our decision making. Yeah. And I mean, and on the flip side, it was a really good time to downsize. For some reason, the real estate market has exploded in our area. And it was very easy to sell our house.

and it was a really good time to downsize for some reason the real estate market has exploded in our area and it was very easy to sell our house and it was actually very easy to find this house so yeah but along with that comes preparing your house to get it fixed up and you know packing everything up and then going finding a new home and going through the move and the settlements and all of that stuff it was very traumatic it's still traumatic very traumatic and you all know this. You've done this before. I can't find my stuff. It's driving me crazy. I know. Some of it's still in boxes. Yeah.

Another thing that we were affected by is that every week we used to have a family dinner with my parents and a lot of our local family. And, of course, that had to stop seeing our family yep to keep your parents safe yeah definitely so that was a big shock to the system as well um you know and then recently you know golly day i have a birthday and then all of a sudden i've got little health issues that i'm dealing with.

And, you know, I mean, fortunately they were minor and it's been taken care of, but still it's just another thing that is unexpected that I've taken for granted my whole life because I've been really lucky and really healthy. Yeah. I mean, I've taken your health for granted too. It threw me for a loop. I didn't like it. Yeah. Yeah. It didn't bother me so much. I was under for a couple of hours, and I didn't have to go through anything. Yeah, I know. I'm the one that had to wait. I didn't like it. Yeah. So, that's on top of everything else.

And then, you all know, we started our own businesses a couple years ago. So, I've recently had a couple of contracts that expired. So I'm looking for more work. I have work, but I'm looking for more work, which is stressful. Mrs. Jones, on the other hand, has got work coming out of her ears. You've got clients. You've got new clients and new opportunities. Yeah, I have too much work right now.

But it's temporary, so I can't let it go because it's going to end so i've got to take it while i can get it yeah the point is it's just either way you look at it it's stressful because you're you're working eight ten twelve hours a day six seven days a week yeah and i'm trying to take care of things around the house because i've got the capacity but but then I feel like, well, I've got to get some business developed, too. So, that's distracting me, you know, and distracting you.

So, all of these things are combined to, and I think what's affected by that is what do we normally just push to the bottom of the list? Our relationship. Yes. And I guess it's good and bad that we do that. We can do that because we know we're okay. We trust our relationship. We trust each other. And I know that I can take you for granted for a while and it won't have any lasting effects. Right. But where's the tipping point? You know, at some point we've got to say, excuse me, this is not working. Yes, right. And I think that we're at that tipping point right now. Yeah.

And maybe that, and then ironically, this topic, as we were kind of like hitting like rock bottom of not having any time for each other at all, ironically, the same conversation came up in our community. Yes. And people were talking about how they had completely lost their sexy. Right. Right. And it was really, it was like the week where I was working, like taking a shower was a luxury. And I was just ignoring you.

I think one night you had to eat dinner by yourself and it was leftovers because I didn't even like come down to eat dinner because there was some sort of a stupid crisis that I felt right i felt obligated to act upon right um and that's just i can't keep doing that right i can't keep taking advantage of you and ignoring you and you know and it's easy because you're not a little kid like if we still had kids at home i wouldn't be able to do this I mean, and I didn't when our girls were little. I didn't when our daughter and granddaughter lived with us.

You know, I was much more aware of a routine that I had to maintain. Right. And I'm not doing that now, and you're just taking the brunt of it. Right. Well, I know you like me, so I can, and you're kind of cute. Yeah, I have, there was even a point where I wasn't even like putting makeup on. I was just like frumpy all the time.

And then one day I just looked, it was like five o'clock in the afternoon, I looked at myself and I'm like, oh my God, I can't even look at my own self own self like what is mr jones thinking and then i realized i had to stop doing that yeah so i'm at least making myself presentable in the morning right so so in the midst of all of this you know there's a couple of ways that we can deal with this um we can look at it as a look this is life we've. We've got to get through this. This is a learning opportunity. What are we learning as we're going through this?

Because this is something that nobody anticipated. We've been married a long time. We've never been through a year like we've been through. So many people are in places that they find unfamiliar.

And you don't have a lot of experience as a couple to fall back on how to deal with this kind of stuff i mean who has to decide who's had to decide in the past who stays home from work to make sure the kids can go to this homeschool i know i mean there's just it's so bizarre that we're in this situation but we are and we have to live with it and we're fortunate that we still have each other and we're coming out of this so i think what we wanted to I'm going to be like our situation no but there's going to be some parallels there yeah yeah so let's start with the bad and then finish with the good okay you want the bad news you want the good and some of this is just my opinion honey you you might want to you might have a different disagreement here but no um the first bad thing is when we lose our mojo, as you've been saying, or when we lose our connection, I think we're less likely to face the events that we're facing in life as a team.

And we seem to fall back on to tackling them as individuals because... Well, you wrote that about me. No. What I mean is... Totally, i mean totally because i own that well okay but what i'm saying is like i know you're upstairs and i know you are busy and i know you're working 10 and 12 hours a day and i know that's where your head is and so if there's an issue with our daughter or there's an issue with something with the house i just want to handle it myself I don't want to bother you because I know that that's a distraction for you.

I know that you probably wouldn't be in the right frame of mind to help anyway. And so I try to handle a lot of these things and make these own decisions. And I can do that. But we've never worked that way before. We've always, for the things that are larger in life, we've always had the time and the patience and the desire to work through some of these things together. And I just feel like we're two different people now solving problems different ways. And it kind of reminds me of when we had kids at home and your parenting style is one way and mine's a different way.

And if we didn't learn how to reconcile that, the kids take advantage of us. So that's where I'm coming from on it. But you have a different opinion? Well, I just don't have the patience, I guess. Like when I don't have a lot of free time and I don't feel like I have the time to go down two flights of stairs and ask you a question or whatever, then I just take care of it myself. And that's not the best way to handle some things. I mean, you know, if it's something silly like paying a bill or ordering groceries, that's no big deal.

But yeah, I think I lose patience with just, I lose patience with the clock. Like the clock is my biggest enemy. And I don't feel like I ever have enough time. And then I feel guilty because you come in my office sometimes and you'll just walk in my office and you won't say anything and you'll look out the window and then you'll sit down in the chair and then you'll just start like playing on your phone. And I'm like, what the heck does he want? Does he just like, like my office and want to sit in here with me? Or does he have something to ask me?

So you, you never say, I have a question for you. Have you ever heard of the term, don't poke the bear? Are you calling me a bear? A lot of times I come in whistling. And the good thing about your office is it's in the second floor and it's the front of the house. So I can look out the window. I have a great view. And I can see what's going on outside and I can see if it's raining or if it's snowing or whatever.

And I am also like assessing the temperature in the room to see if you're even like what kind of expression you have on your face and whether I hear you go, you know, and see how much coffee you've had to drink. And I'm kind of doing a little bit of an assessment. And when you turn and look at me, that's a dead giveaway because I either get, what do you want? What are you doing in here? And so I know that, whoops, it's probably time for me. It's not a good time for me to interact.

And sometimes I'll walk by slowly and creak the floor and kind of look in there to see if, I figured if you wanted to talk to me about anything, you would look over and wave me in. But yeah, a lot of that's just taking the temperature of the room to see if it's friendly fire or not. The next bad thing is that, and we mentioned this briefly, but sexy times gets pushed to the bottom of the list when we're in survival mode. And I think that happens to everybody. Yeah.

But I think one thing about the lifestyle that's really interesting is that we've had a couple of different couples come up and either go out with us or stay.

And sometimes I almost feel badly that when we do get to a weekend and we do have time to spend together, then we're with lifestyle friends and we still don't get to connect as a couple yeah and and then you end up having a lot of fun with other people and kind of almost resent that a little bit because you're like well she sure is having fun with him you know i wish i could have i you know we're she i'm not getting any time with her but he's getting time with her Right, and that's a red flag. And I think that that's kind of where we got to somewhat recently. Yeah.

That we had to kind of say, okay, we're going to have to back away for a little while and just have more time for us. Right. Because we have so much other junk going on. We've got to clear out some time in our schedule. Like last weekend. Last weekend was amazing. It was just you and me. Right. And it was amazing. Yes. And as a matter of fact, that's part of one of my snapshots. Oh, okay. We'll get to that later. So we recognize that. That doesn't mean that we've figured it out, how to get through it. But we understand that it's because of what we're going through.

We don't blame each other for this. It's just the fact that life is getting in the way. And we have to just accept the fact that we are not going to be as crazy, sexy with other as we were, you know, in the past. Yeah. Well, you know, a lot of it is we used to be able to do stuff during the week, like on weeknights. Right. Either we're just you and I together, or we would, you know, sometimes do lifestyle stuff during the week with local friends. Right. And we just haven't had time because of our schedules.

So, you know, that's stuff during the week with local friends right and we just haven't had time because of our schedules um so you know that's part of the problem and then there's so many weekends in a month right and when we you know commit to too many things that just takes away time for you for you know just just you and i right and a little bit of behind the scenes things i mean without lifestyle activities in the in the frame of mind that we're in right now the podcast becomes a little bit more difficult it become because because our sexy life has been pushed to the bottom that the enthusiasm and the passion to podcast also is well it's not our enthusiasm it's just having content yeah you know i remember last spring when we were like okay well this isn't gonna go away in two weeks it's gonna be a couple months right um remember we that's when we did our episode on like um wellness and yeah and then men's performance issues we thought okay if we handle some more like clinical type topics right that'll fill in the gap until the world opens back up right that didn't happen yeah so we've you know we've just tried to um you know find topics that are relevant in this particular time of all of our lives yeah i agree with.

But what I'm also saying is that because of what we just described as your work schedule and the fact that we don't have time alone together, now here we are on a Friday night recording a podcast when we could be doing something together differently. And we don't resent that. It's just one more thing just one more thing that we have to juggle, you know, and take into consideration.

And then lastly, and I just think this is a general issue for society that we're going to come to realize, is that the lack of human touch and human socializing face-to-face is, I think, affecting us more as a society than we realize. Well, like I just said, we went to that brewery tonight. Yeah. And it was just, we actually ended up talking to those two guys at the table next to us because we could tell they were runners. They had running clothes on and it was freezing cold out. Yeah. You know, so we were talking to them about running. And it was so cool to have a conversation with somebody.

Well, the other thing i noticed was after we left there we ordered um a pizza to go from a local pizza place and we walked in and we were waiting for our order and this group of four people came in and they sat down and they were obnoxious yeah but the first thing i thought of was oh it's so nice to hear people like loud yeah and even though they And even though they were annoying, they were having fun. They were enjoying each other. Yeah, I mean, they were only annoying because the place wasn't crowded. Yeah. And they were just, they were loud.

If the place would have been full, they would have fit right in. Right. So, that's kind of what, on the short end of the stick, what we're learning.

But there has been some good you know that has come out of this or that is that is coming there's always a silver lining if there's not a silver lining then you know there's a bigger issue yeah i think so yeah so the first thing is that our we gotta think community is our lifeline to some sense of social sexy sexy normalcy yeah it's so good to wake up in the morning and and turn on uh you know the community and have people saying you know good morning having my first cup of coffee you know and there's a it's like you have standing coffee dates i do it's quite a few beautiful ladies but it but it that are early risers it's just like when you used to go to the office and you used to stop at Starbucks and then you'd say good morning to people in the hallway.

You know, I turn on the computer and, you know, fire up the community app and, you know, we're saying good morning and how are you today? And, you know, how's the weather where you are? And it's just, it's nice to have that social interaction.

Yeah, the camar yeah and then you know all of our the men the men's groups are having chats every other week the ladies book club every other week and the friday night meet and greets every other week so we have these um virtual events that are keeping people connected and even though it's getting kind of, it's not getting old, but it's a stop gap in a way till we can get back to actually touching people in a way. But it's really been a positive thing to have, you know, a virtual friends in the lifestyle like that. Yep. Yep. So thank you all for that.

I think we've learned that over the past, especially the past couple of months, that some of our closest lifestyle friends have come to spend time with us, and that's been amazing. Yep, it has been. It's just so nice to have people that you can just talk to face-to-face and then, well, okay, and then touch and have fun with and just kind of forget about like the abnormal real world out there. Right. And I think that we have, luckily, the people that we've been the closest to have kind of the same mindset on how they're handling the whole pandemic and social distancing and wearing masks.

I think we're kind of the same mindset on how they're handling um the the whole pandemic and social distancing and wearing masks i think getting tested yeah i think we're all kind of on the same page that doesn't make it risk-free to get together with other people but it makes the the risk um i guess not worth it, but to a reasonable level where, you know, nothing's going to keep you from getting COVID except staying in your house the whole time. And I can't do that.

Yeah, it's a little bubble that you create that's a little bit of a safe space compared to, you know, just going out and going to a big event. So, we we've learned to appreciate our good friends and of course the other good is hey we uh we have each other we do and i kind of like you i know i'm not grumpy all the time no so what i what i'm saying is we could you know there could be people going through this alone yeah and there are people going through this alone yeah and we have other. So no matter if it's a quarantine or no matter how much we can or can't do, we're in this together.

So it's not like we're by ourselves. So this is just another thing that we've had that we have to endure and you guys are having to endure as well to get through.

And it's going to, I think in the long run be something that solidifies again you know our relationship well it it literally tests your relationship because you know you're you're having to learn to like like i said earlier you know we're all learning new ways to work and new ways to parent and new ways to learn and new ways to run households because you know you're shopping differently and you're maintaining your homes differently um so you're doing all this as individuals but you know you you can make these decisions together and and lean on each other when you find that you're really suck at, you know, if you're going to kill your children today because you're done with them trying to distance learn, you know, at least you can pass the baton to your partner and say, okay, it's your turn today.

I'm going to go hide in the bathroom today. Yeah. You know, another good thing that's coming out of this is that we're going to appreciate our freedoms once we have them again and and yes and and i mean we do go out here um and we're very careful about it and it's a very small um the places that we go are very limited but we're going to be so appreciative in a few more months when we can get back out Well Well, you know a big part of it is the season. Yes.

First of all, it's dark out, you know, and it's cold and it's dreary and we can't, you know, at least last summer you could sit on your front porch or you could sit on your deck or a lot of you have pools, you know, enjoy the pool um you know right now we're stuck inside of our houses and i feel like it's dark out all the time right that's depressing right um so i i think you know we can get out and take walks and and maybe you're not going to stop and talk to people but you can at least say hello to people right and start interacting with again.

So I think this is just kind of like the worst season. Yes, definitely. We're connecting with more people remotely, and that includes family and friends. If you think about it, even though that we're not doing these family dinners anymore, we're doing family Zooms.

And now because of that, well, like when we did family dinners, it was only our our local family now it's our family wherever they are and we have family in oklahoma and florida and what tennessee and alabama and yeah you know so we're all able to join together on a sunday night so even though we can't be together personally with six or eight of us the whole family has the opportunity cousins nieces nephews everything yeah so that's been really a cool thing and and also these zoom meetings and virtual meetings have have made a way into the lifestyle setting now yeah where before great way to start a relationship with a couple before it, well, why would I use like a business application to have a meeting with people that we're going to meet socially?

That makes no sense. But now it's become normal. And now it's almost going to be a prerequisite. You move from messaging and kicking or texting to Zooming before you meet face to face. And that's the's the next best thing. So I think the technology, while it's been disappointing not to see people, it's also been a benefit to use it differently and get to know people in a different way. And then lastly, we have more time in our lives without so much commuting back and forth. So even though you're working so long and, and even though, you know, I'm, I'm here all the time.

So if I have to help around the house, I'm here where I was spending a good three hours of my day going north and south to Washington, DC. And I mean, anybody that lives around here was doing the same thing. Right.

painful and so that work-life balance has has shifted a little bit i'm not saying that it's what we want to keep but it sure has been nice not to have to sit in traffic every day or not to have to sit on that train every day yeah that's true but you can walk to the train now if you ever get to go back to the train station now i know so this is this is the point in the podcast where we normally wrap everything up and tie it in a neat little bow and say this is how mr and mrs jones got through this but i think the message that we're not through it no we're not that's what we're saying is that we're still in the midst of this and there's no there is light at the end of the, but there's really no easy way to say that, you know, sometimes in life you're going to find yourself in the middle of all this chaotic shit and you just have to get through it.

I mean, and you have to rearrange your life. I mean, we can't do sexy things all the time, not even with each other. So not only has the lifestyle been put on hold to a certain degree, but our relationship, our sexual relationship has been affected by this as well. So, you know, I think we're saying that, you know, everybody's going through this. And, you know, as long as what we're doing is trying to learn from it and trying to be patient with each other and hoping that it's going to be over soon so we can reconnect.

Well, I think we've, I think we've come to an awareness that we are out of balance. Yes. And I think we've taken steps to rectify that. Yeah. You know, with our schedule. And I think you just have to be deliberate. I mean, I think I'm to the point now where, you know, I feel comfortable going away. And actually, we do have another trip planned here in April. It's with Vanilla Friends. Yeah.

But, you know, we're we're gonna go away at the end of april at the end of april and um you know i think we're to the point now where we're feeling more comfortable doing that you know with with select friends and we just had some new friends come down they live kind of locally but they came down near where we live and got a hotel room to get, this sounds wrong, but to have a night away from their kids.

So they had managed to farm their kids out for the night, and they came down and had dinner with us, but they had gotten a hotel room, and they were just having a sexy night for two yeah and they said they couldn't remember the last time they had done that yeah you know so good for them yeah yep and good for us because we got to meet them and have dinner with them they're really nice yeah and hopefully we'll get to see them again yeah yeah um but you know i think just little things like that like i think we used to take granted. We did. Right? Right.

Like, get grandma and grandpa to watch the kids and go away for the weekend. Right. And, you know, we would do that kind of stuff all the time. And now, you really have to think twice about that kind of adventure. Right. Now, that adventure is a big deal. Yeah. Well, I mean, the other thing to keep in mind is, and I'm guilty of this, you look at your life, like I was saying, okay, we got two girls, they're married, they're out of the house, we can check those boxes. But it's the same thing when you have a third grader and you say, okay, we got nine more years of school, then they got college.

So we got this many more years of that. And we got this morning, many more years to pay on the house and this many more. And we kind ofplan our future and we take that for granted and then something like this disrupts our lives for a year and it makes you realize that when we have the opportunity to connect and when we have our health and when we have a healthy society and we have the time and the and the ability to get out and enjoy each other, we need to do that.

So when life kind of gets back to normal, we hope that people, and along with us, decide we're going to prioritize our relationship and we're going to prioritize this lifestyle because we never know when that's going to be taken away from us again because it is not the most important thing in the world.

And so automatically it's going to get shoved to the bottom again right rightfully so you know if you if you get into a situation like this and a lot of people you know are are getting older and so you're like i'm giving up a year of my life you know i'm just going to be a year older year older. I got to put stuff on hold. You know who I really feel sorry for? The people that decided to explore the lifestyle. I know. Nine months ago. Yeah. I know. Like, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing with you. Oh, my gosh. Well, no. You know, you have this fantasy. And who knows?

You could have had this fantasy for years, and it's been this amazing pillow talk, and then you finally get up the nerve as a couple to pull the trigger and actually start exploring it, and then there's a pandemic.

Well, but I'm going to play the other side of the coin here, because we actually had a couple in our community come out and say, you know what, this was the best timing for us, because we're really shy, and we were afraid to go out with people because we thought they were going to be really aggressive with us and now with the pandemic we it forces them to meet us online and so it's a lot safer to do so yeah that's true so there's another you know way to look at that depending on what your style is that people have some people have benefited from the fact that the world the lifestyle world kind of slowed down a a little bit and they could take it at their pace without feeling pressure.

So anyway, we want you to know that you're not alone. We hope that you don't give up on the lifestyle if it's what you're choosing to do. We hope you don't get, we certainly hope you don't give up on each other. Well, don't give up. Of course, they're not going to give up on each other. I don't think that's really in the forefront of anybody's mind. It's just kind of like surviving it. But individually, one thing that I mentioned earlier, I went through this of time where I wasn't even, like, like, oh, I was cleaning myself, but I wasn't really grooming myself.

So, you know, I wasn't even, like, putting makeup on for you. And I'm not saying that I need to be like June Cleaver and, you know, be all perfect and, you know, have your martini waiting and this and that and the other. Um, but I just, you know, I'd like to put my best self forward for you. I mean, we've been married for forever, but I, and I, and I know you love me for better or worse, and you've seen me without makeup plenty of times, but I like, um, I still think that I, I want to put my best self forward for you every day. And when I don't do that, I'm not letting you down.

I feel like I'm letting our relationship down because it's just another way I take you for granted. So I've just been very aware of that lately.

And we just sat down to record tonight and when I you make me wear these god-awful headphones they're like I don't know like big old coconuts on each side of my head well thank you but I can't wear earrings with them and I never wear earrings anymore like I because we were walking to the brewery tonight I'm like oh look I can put earrings on And I had to take my earrings off, and I thought, when I put my headphones on, and, of course, my earrings poked my, like, brain, because they were squishing, the headphones were squishing my ears, and I had to take them off.

I'm like, oh, wow, this is a weird feeling, because I don't wear jewelry anymore. I mean, the only thing I really wear is my wedding rings.

yeah and and that you know that just kind of shows and i always used to wear earrings like i i was always together and those are the types of things that have just become unimportant in the last 11 months it's weird it's weird yeah i know even our exercise routines have been all out of whack yeah and you know we've got to get back into that as well so yeah we're not immune to it i mean you know we've we've said from the beginning that we're just a normal couple yeah but i i really think that the the answer or the solution is just to be self-aware.

I mean, really, isn't that all we can ever do about a situation, is to be self-aware. And then you decide, you know, okay, well, how bad is it?

Or maybe you examine your own lives in comparison to ours, and you're like, oh, my gosh, you know know we're doing okay and and if that's the case then that's fantastic i'm so happy for you that that you've managed to find a way to ride this out yeah you know without really suffering well i kind of want to go back and and just before we close when i was talking about don't give up on each each other, you know, if you've been married for a while and you have kids and, you know, you get to the point and some of us have gotten to the point where our kids start to, they become teenagers and they become independent and they move out.

And at that point in life, you have a choice to make because you're going from being parents on your raising your children to your children being gone and then you choose to focus back on each other and some of our friends in the past didn't make that choice like we did that we're gonna so I think in a pandemic like this and with life the way that it is it's easy to fall back into that old routine of you do your work I do do my work, we take care of the house, we kind of cruise through life, you know, we stay healthy, you know, we do all these things, but we don't intentionally sexually refocus on each other.

And so when I say don't give up on each other, I don't mean your relationship. I mean that sexy person that's sitting next to you or across from you or that lays next to you in bed at night. Reconnect with them. Don't let that slip back into something that regresses you or puts you in a different place than you were before as a couple. Okay. That makes sense. I like that better than what I thought you meant. Yeah. No, I don't mean breaking up or splitting up.

I mean, some people might be at that point, but no, I'm talking about don't give up on the person next to you because it's nobody's fault. This is something that when this happens, we as a society have to make a choice, you know, to take care of each other and to comply and, you know, understand that we have a responsibility with the freedoms that we have, the responsibilities that come along with that. And sometimes those responsibilities and being an adult sucks. Yeah.

Well, and i take it one step further sure don't give up on the lifestyle right like if if this is something that you want to explore and i'm not trying to sell you anything believe me um the the lifestyle is a very very personal choice but if this is something that you've been interested in exploring, whether you already have experience and you know what it's like, or whether you're one of those unfortunate couples that decided to explore it like, you know, a year ago or less, and you've definitely had to modify your plans on how you were going to do that.

You know, the world is going to eventually come back. The pendulum is going to come back. I don't know that the world is ever going to be exactly like it was a year ago, but we're going to be able to get out and about in a reasonably safe way. so, just kind of hang on to those fantasies and, you know, start making plans, you know, maybe not putting deposits down on things, but what types of things would you like to explore and maybe make a list.

You know, maybe that's how you kind of reconnect and re-engage is just starting to make a concrete list of things you would like to try, whether it's like things you want to do with other people or places you would like to go or clubs that you would like to visit or events you would like to attend. Yeah.

You know, right now it's kind of more of a fantasy life than real life but hey it's better than nothing well i mean the way things are going right now you should be able to be looking at summer knowing that you can get back out and do things the way that the vaccine are rolling out so it's it's the the light is at the end of the tunnel and now is the time with spring in the northern hemisphere at least you know it, spring is approaching warmer weather and longer days and, you know, warmer climates and the opportunity to get out.

So I think this spring is going to be symbolically the renewal or the rebirth, you know, kind of that reminder of things being new again.

And so we're encouraging you to hang in there for another month or two like we're going to try to do and we'll promise to come out on the other end of it if you guys will stick with us hey baby we got granite and cabinets and faucets to pick out in the next month that's going to keep us busy that's so sexy isn't it that's depressing well we are going to build you a new bar in the back room hey if I get on Pinterest and I have lingerie on would that work would you pay attention to what I'm showing you on Pinterest yes I would why did I just now think of this alright folks we got to go yeah so you know this is not a very fun and exciting topic but it's just very real with what everybody's dealing with now so hopefully if nothing else it makes you feel a little bit better that you're not going through this alone yeah so when we come back hopefully we have some semi-sexy snapshots to talk about mine is sexy oh good okay I hope yours is too I'm looking forward to that we'll be right back welcome back to snapshots yay i know i have a fun one what reminded me of this snapshot is, you know, when I was talking about, like, not, like, grooming myself and feeling sexy and wearing jewelry.

I think the whole wearing jewelry is what kind of, like, reminded me of this. A while ago, we were able to get together with friends for the weekend. and we've, I mean, we've known them for a while, and the topic of, like, rope play came up, and I've seen that before. Actually, we saw that for the first time when we did our meet and greet in San Diego a couple years ago. Right. Remember, that was really cool. But I had never participated in it. So, I've watched it, but never actually been, like, tied up. The victim. I've never been the victim? Yeah. Okay.

So, anyway, I could tell that, I mean, they've talked about it before. So, I know that they were, like, really into it. And he said, well, I don't know what to do, but I don't know what, okay. So, he got it and got it out. And he ended up tying me up. But it wasn't like he tied my wrists together. It was more decorative.

He didn't tie you up to anything no not to anything um it was it was decorative yeah it was like a it was like a lingerie it was like a rope lingerie it was beautiful yeah um and it first of all it made me feel really sexy because the product product, was beautiful, the way he wrapped my body in this rope. But secondly, it was the process. First of all, the rope was really soft. You don't, I guess, buy this rope at Lowe's or Home Depot. It's a very special rope.

It was soft and it was it was um beautiful to look at and then just the meticulous process of and he said that this was like simple and i was just like amazed at what he was doing like i could never do that um but anyway it was a very sensual um experience and I had no idea I would find it as intriguing as I did. And it was a real turn-on to have him. I felt like he was taking care of me as he was doing it. This might sound corny, but it was almost like he was worshiping my body. and there was no sex involved. He was just wrapping rope around me and tying knots.

But it was very erotic and sensual. Yeah. I could tell you enjoyed it. And it made for really hot sex afterwards. Well, you looked really good in it. And he used, I'm going to, I don't know what the terminology was, but he used a double strand of rope so that everything that he wrapped around you was actually a double strand. Yeah. So it was, it was more, it popped more. It was more visible because there was twice as much rope. Yeah. And it didn't look so proportionate to your body. It looked more like lingerie.

It looked like because honestly, there was more material in that rope than some of the lingerie you wear anyway. But the way that it lifted your body and the way that it held your body and your posture when you When he put it on. You were more aware of yourself. That's what I felt like. And you know what it reminded me of? This is not going to make any sense to you, but when I wear the cock ring, that does the same thing.

It constricts you, and it lifts me up and forward, and so I'm just more aware of myself yeah yeah and when you were in the ropes all the parts of your body you were standing up straight and you were your chest was more pronounced and you know it really defined it helped define the parts of your body and i felt like you were like leaning into that a little bit yeah and the fact and then when he when he was putting it on you of course he was very sensually putting on you like he was touching you at the same time that he was wrapping the ropes and he was putting it was an experience he was putting his body close to yours and like he would lean his chin over your shoulder or he would put his face near your body.

So the body heat was there. And then he was very into what he was doing. And I think that had a lot to do with the fact that, A, that he really enjoys it. But, B, I think he sensed that you were enjoying it. And then that made it hot to watch.

Well because i just enjoyed i haven't so yeah that night i really was in a position where i got to watch you yeah and i really enjoyed that yeah good i'm glad yeah you know it's funny because we've we've known well we saw it in san diego and then we've known a few other couples that have done right rope play but we've never participated right um so i'm glad i finally yeah felt like it was just the right time and the right moment and it wasn't planned and and i think that was probably the best way for me to experience it for the first time because now I know that I find it intriguing.

So how are you at tying knots? I'm horrible at it, but that's okay. I'd rather watch somebody else tie you up because I think I would be so distracted by, am I doing this right? And daggone it, I got this knot, and how do I got this untangled?

And I wouldn't't be focused on you I would be focused on I don't want to mess this up or how do I tie these knots but he made it it was effortless I mean I'm not discounting his skill but he's obviously very good at it because it just seems so easy well the other thing about it was that it wasn't like we were in the middle of play and I was distracting you. I was just sitting on the couch watching. So you got to experience all of his attention and you got to experience the pleasure and the sensations without even having to wonder what I was doing. I wasn't a distraction to you.

It wasn't like there was another me and another woman were on the other side of the bed distracting you it was it was you know it was centered around you and i think that that really helped you enjoy yourself and i certainly enjoyed it so that was cool we'll have to do that again yeah good well you've my snapshot is you know Tonight you've made yourself come across as some sort of a um unkempt troll and i think you're over i think you're overblowing that a bit that's how i feel and you and you've talked about how you neglect me and and how you take advantage of me because of that.

But, you know, last weekend was Valentine's Day. And, of course, one of the things that we get to do now is we have a local butcher shop. And so you said, you know, why don't you grill steaks tonight and we'll walk down to the local butcher shop and pick out some filet. And I said, oh, okay, that's great. So I was already excited because we were going to go pick out filet. So we went to the butcher shop and we picked out a couple of really nice filets. And it was freezing rain outside. Yeah, that's right. Literally freezing rain. The sidewalks were slippery. Freezing rain outside.

And the butcher shop is only like a five minute walk. So we came out of the butcher shop and I wanted to turn right to come back home. And you said, no, we're going to go this way. There's one more thing we have to pick up. And I said, oh, okay. So I'm mentally going through all the shops that I know of. Like, oh, is there a lingerie shop? Is there a sex toy shop? Where are we going? So we walked down the hill, and we went into this Italian restaurant that we've eaten at a couple of times that we really like. And it's during the day. So I'm like, well, we're not going to eat here.

What's going on? Well, they had a special right across the street from this Italian restaurant is a wood shop where this company specializes in having very unique pieces of wood and lumber in their store and they craft furniture or tabletops or bar tops out of their wood that's very specialized. So what this restaurant had done was they had partnered with this wood business and they had made charcuterie boards. So the wood came from the wood shop, the Italian restaurant, filled it with charcuterie, and with that came a bottle of wine.

So you had pre-ordered this charcuterie tray on this really unique cutting board with a bottle of wine from one of our favorite restaurants and so that was really thoughtful of you and the fact that you claim that you have no time in your day and that you actually had the time to find that and order it and put some thought behind it it was really special. And of course, then later in that night, we got to have good sex with each other. So that was helpful too. But it was really, so it's things like that that you do that remind me of things that I already know.

And that is, you know, what we're going through and the struggles that we have are temporary. And, and I felt like you, you know, I felt really good that you had taken the time to do that. So. Well, that, that used to be like our typical Saturday night. Like we used to start, um, you know, late afternoon, we would do happy hour, you know, we get cleaned up and then do happy hour late afternoon. And then we would grill steaks and then, you know, have crazy sex. And we've gotten away from that. Just our schedules have not really allowed for that.

And I just made sure that that weekend we were free. And it was just the two of us. It was fun.

It was a lot of fun fun and it was like our old rhythm yeah you know what i mean right and we've we've gotten away from that right and um and that's okay but every once in a while we need to come back to that it's like it's like that's the way we recenter um and we just need to be aware that that has to be put on our calendar right yeah well we did it a couple of weeks ago too and it snowed a couple weeks ago and it was a sunday yeah and everything pretty much was closed down and there was a restaurant at the end of the street that was open that has some draft beer and we said let's just walk down there and have a beer yeah so the two and we had the place to ourselves and we just walked down there and had a bit now we could stayed in the house and had a beer, but it was fun to get out and walk down the street together, get out of the house, sit down, sit in a restaurant where you're forced to talk about something other than granite.

I know. Oh, and we had a great server. Remember, she was a college student. You know, it's so much. I just enjoy the silliest conversations with people now when I'm out and about and just get to like chat with them about nothing. It's so refreshing. Yep. So, thank you. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was. Good snapshots. Well, just like tonight. You know, we walked down the end of the street and had a couple beers and picked up a pizza on the way home. That was fun. Yep. And came home and had a Manhattan and did a podcast. Yeah. Well, thanks to you all for joining us this month.

As we wrap up, we're happy that many of you have been joining our private We Got a Thing community, and you can find information on that on our website. Please feel free to continue to email us. You can reach me at mrjones at wegotathing.com, M-R-J-O-N-E-S at wegotathing.com, or me at mrsjones at wegotathing.com. You can also contact us and find all of our podcasts and blogs and cocktail drinks and sign up for our newsletter on our website, wegotathing.com. Yep. You can sign up for Trips to Desire there, too, if we're talking about our bucket list of things we want to do to get away.

That's true. Yes. And you can follow us on Twitter at We Got a Thing. And if you happen to be on Pinterest, you can see Mrs. Jones' cocktails on Pinterest. And then you'll find us on SDC and on Cassidy. And especially you'll find us on Double Date Nation with David Andy. So join us there. You can sign up for those on our website, too, and get 30 days for free. Is that it? I think that's it. Thanks for listening. We are Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and we got a thing. What's your thing? We'll see you next time.