Raise your hand if you're a burnt out caregiver. The two seem to go hand in hand.

I'm sharing some self care tips that are working for me and/or that I'm putting into place as a caregiver and while self care has almost become a nails on the chalkboard type of expression to my ears (because it's so overused) the message behind it is important.

Listen to those flight attendants y'all because you need to put your own life preserver on first before you put on someone else's.

Easy to say in theory, harder to put it into practice.

So, let's try together, shall we?

Questions / comments / want to chat directly? Email me at contactbrookehoover@gmail.com

What do Danny from the hit boy band New Kids on the Block and Banana Pudding have in common?

Well, they were initially rejects at the pot luck party in my brain.

Banana pudding for its texture and banana flavor and just not being a super Louisiana type of dessert.

Danny from New Kids on the Block for not being, well, not being the cutest one. And, for my allegiance to Donny - no wait Jordan - no wait Joey. (It varied on the day. Sorry Jonathan, you were too shy.)

But, like a good Southerner, I learned to embrace the pudding which is essentially just a mushy ole trifle when my Aunt Mary brought in her fancier version with the Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies. So long 'Nilla Wafers! And, I also learned to embraced Danny from NKOTB (not literally, yet) because, like a wine, he got FINER with age (IMHO).

I also tell tales on how ice box pies can be lower carb and lower sugar too. Mississippi Mud Pie is just one example of something you can easily make (read : "make" NOT bake) that's Keto-friendly.

Like a church pot luck, there's a little something for everyone in this episode, y'all!

If you would like to read transcripts of this (or any) episode, please check out my YouTube channel www.youtube.com/brookehoover

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Because I have a summer birthday, I've never been a HEY LOOK AT ME IT'S MY BIRTHDAY type of person which is SO not Leo of me but I guess it's because I never wanted to set myself up for disappointment.

I usually use my birthday as a reflection time and I thought it was fitting to share with y'all a note I wrote to my younger self when prompted to do so for a writing submission.

The only rule was, you had to start your letter with Dear...

So, I thought in true PHAT GIRL STYLE we would go backwards to go forwards and GEAUX down memory or is it future lane...

If you've been listening to this here podcast for the past nine months or so, you know I've been going through the process of getting a dental implant. First off, I know I'm one of the lucky ones in that regard to be able to have the insurance (and the credit card) to be able to even get such an implant.

But why is dental health equally luxury AND agony? Why are we so terrified of dentists and, oftentimes, even more terrified of the dental bills.

Because dental health IS mental health AND full body health, it's about damn time it be regarded as such. I can't change the medical world, but I can try. My hope in today's episode is to shed some humour (yes, with a u, 'cause I'm fancy and my dog is British) on my own dental plights and traumas and to provide some tips that I've learned over the years including from my aunt Nanny Cile who was a dental hygienist for nearly 50 years and from being someone on a fixed budget but who also needs their teeth, for the biz and just, for life.

The ups and downs of life have often been compared to a roller coaster. Amusement parks are bipolar mofos. The day after, it's always super depressing. Or is it just me?

I used to LOVE amusement parks : the lights, the colours, the almost dying. That was FUN. Or is it just me?

Amusement parks were also scary, death traps where you could get kidnapped? Or is it just me?

From Disney World to Dollywood and every rinky dink amusement park in between (I'm looking at you Fun Fair Park), I experienced some STUFF in the 80's and 90's.

And, I know one thing is true: I was definitely carny folk in a past life and Coney Island was my home.