Quickie 10 | What Brings You Joy?

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SHOW NOTES
In this episode of The Turn On, Erica and Kenrya talk about what is bringing them joy these days.

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TRANSCRIPT
Kenrya: Come here. Get off.

Erica: You bring me joy when I'm down. Okay.

Kenrya: Mm-hmm (affirmative). You know how much I love Anita.

Erica: Welcome y'all to this week's episode of The Turn On.

Kenrya: I'm still sad that we didn't get to see her.

Erica: I know. And so, in my mind, I have an amazing voice. And when you turn on this podcast, you hear a crystal clear voice sounding beautiful through these speakers.

Kenrya: You be like, it's my time to shine.

Erica: It don't. I'm sorry. I love y'all nonetheless. So, for this week's quickie, we are going to talk about what brings us joy right now. We are currently living under the thumb of what we call that rona and-

Kenrya: That rona.

Erica: We so Black.

Kenrya: Black people so Black.

Erica: And so, we just want to talk about what brings us joy in the midst of being quarantined at home with our kids under the thumb of that rona and distance learning and all of that.

Kenrya: Yo, that distance learning ain't no joke.

Erica: It's the worst. So yeah, Kenrya.

Kenrya: I don't like it.

Erica: What brings you joy?

Kenrya: Hey, that's pretty good.

Erica: In my mind, I sound better than I do usually. This time I know I sound bad, so I'm sorry y'all.

Kenrya: So, I think the first thing are our social distancing walks. So, up until a few days ago, we were walking almost every day, somewhere around four or five o'clock when I can take a break from work, I grab my kid and my partner usually joins us because he, we're basically all isolating together because he works from home and doesn't go anywhere except for the grocery store and my house, to bring us groceries. So, the three of us go for walks around and then when your kid's home, sometimes he joins us and we just walk around the neighborhood and try to stay away from the white folks who don't seem to understand that we need to stay away from each other.

Kenrya: The time of day matters a lot because I know you go super early, which has to help with staying away from people, but I can't. I don't be up, I ain't got that body clock. But the walks have been good because I need-

Erica: Yes.

Kenrya: ... Sunlight to thrive and I need to move my body. I had just finally gotten back into a really good gym routine before all of this started and it really hurt.

Erica: Oh, okay.

Kenrya: Right. Like two weeks. But-

Erica: Yeah.

Kenrya: ... It hurt to have to stop going. I was going three days a week again feeling like my old self and then this shit happened and I was like, okay, don't want to die because I decided I had to go squat with the bar. So, it's been good in terms of just keeping me moving, but I think more than that, keeping my mood up and also after a few hours of the day, my kid starts running around like a crazy person, which I know you can hear. So, I have to take her ass outside. Yeah. So, I feel joy walking the streets.

Erica: Good.

Kenrya: And staying away from people. Yeah. What about you?

Erica: I have made our porch into a little sanctuary. I bought some really nice patio furniture and-

Kenrya: I haven't had a chance to sit on it yet.

Erica: Don't worry. It's a coming. Yeah. So, I bought some really nice patio furniture and a little rug and some cute little pillows and it's just nice to sit on the porch and look at people pass and wave. I turned into an old Black lady from Mississippi because I sit on my porch. I have a blanket if it's chilly and I fall asleep out there. But yeah, it's been really nice and my son will come out and he will ride his hoverboard and the dog will sit out with me, but it's been really nice to really just turn that into my little special place. Yeah. And I get to sit outside and like right now with this whole immunocompromised situation, I can't even go to the store. So, sitting on my porch has definitely become my thing and I love it. I put on some Anita and some Luther, literally the only thing I listen to on my porch is Anita and Luther. I think I listened to some Ari Lennox the other day too. But yeah, Anita, Luther.

Kenrya: That's what I was listening to on my way to the dispensary to get edibles last week.

Erica: Thanks.

Kenrya: Running errands.

Erica: The important things.

Kenrya: The important things.

Erica: So yeah, just, Anita Luther, me, the porch, it's been great. So, that is bringing me joy.

Kenrya: Yay.

Erica: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Kenrya: So, I have another and you're going to be angry.

Erica: Angry?

Kenrya: But it is what it is. Yeah, I've been baking a little bit.

Erica: Bitch.

Kenrya: You can't eat the stuff that I bake.

Erica: I can't, but I do.

Kenrya: I got to figure out new recipes for you. I'm not trying to contribute to you feeling like shit.

Erica: What do you got up there? What's behind you? Oh.

Kenrya: Nothing now. I made snickerdoodles from your auntie's recipe actually.

Erica: Okay.

Kenrya: Yeah, remember when she was here, she made snickerdoodles. She sent me the recipe to check for allergens, so I used her recipe instead of mine. I liked it. It was good. And I made brownies and this is all the stuff I've made since I've been up here. And I made lemon bars a few weeks ago.

Erica: Yeah. I found a lemon bar recipe that I was going to use because I have some sugar dookie. Sugar dookie. Sugar cookie dough. Yeah.

Kenrya: Oh, so to use it as your base? Yeah. I use a really simple shortbread dough that's amazing, that honestly you can just eat on its own. I'll send you that one too. But again, I'm like we have to modify it so it doesn't make you sick.

Erica: I literally spent Saturday morning, when you came down Saturday morning for ice, we were eating the cinnamon rolls that I made from scratch.

Kenrya: I saw. They looked good. Cinnamon rolls are the bomb.

Erica: Yeah. You came down at one. I started them at eight.

Kenrya: I have only done them once.

Erica: But they were good.

Kenrya: Bitch. Yeah. Because you got to let the dough rise twice. Yeah. I made them with my kid once because she asked for it and did not realize what I was getting myself into until we were three hours in and-

Erica: She's like, "Girl."

Kenrya: I'm like, we ain't even put them in the oven yet. Yeah, they were good though. But yeah, so that's another thing that's bringing me joy.

Erica: So something else that's bringing me joy, I feel like breast cancer talk has become all I talk about, but why fucking not? Right?

Kenrya: No, it's not.

Erica: So, Thursday's chemo treatment is my halfway mark and it's flown by and I know you never say chemo was good, but I've beasted through it.

Kenrya: You've done so well. Yeah.

Erica: And so, the fact that my body is just doing so well when it's up against so much, really brings me joy. Yesterday I met with my doctor and she said that my blood levels were great and when I found out I had to have chemo, I went out and bought-

Kenrya: Yeah. That was the hardest, yeah.

Erica: I went out and bought so much shit. I have cases of ginger ale, I have all these special suckers that you're supposed to eat to keep you from getting nauseous. I have this expensive ass mouthwash that keeps your mouth from getting sores and I was prepared for my fingernails to fall off and my tongue to be a mess and I ain't got no hair, but a bitch still cute.

Kenrya: Exactly.

Erica: And literally, I have had no real adverse situations. I had heartburn and so I take Pepcid every morning. And so, just the fact that I have beasted through it so successfully and I'm treating my body right, my body is responding well. I'm not in a ton of pain. That really brings me joy because I'm like, "You know what? Look at God, He good. And all the time, God is good."

Kenrya: God is good.

Erica: So yeah, that brings me joy.

Kenrya: That's awesome. So, my next one is blah next to that.

Erica: Oh, shut up.

Kenrya: It's just that we figured out that we can in fact have quiet morning sex even as my child is running around.

Erica: Ooh, that is not blah.

Kenrya: Because he'd always be like, "Oh, she's out there. I don't want to." And I told him, "Just be quiet." And so finally, he listened and we did it.

Erica: And it worked.

Kenrya: She didn't hear.

Erica: Yay.

Kenrya: Exactly. You know how I feel about morning sex. It's a really nice way to start the day.

Erica: Morning sex is great sex because everything been marinating all night.

Kenrya: Yeah. Juicy and ready. Yeah. I'm like, why not do this if we can? But yeah, on the days, which now is all the time, right? Before she would go to her dad's, and now we in the house. So, it's been nice to not have to wait until nighttime to have sex sometimes. So, that's bringing me joy.

Erica: Okay. Last thing for me, cooking. Now that we have all this extra time, I have been taking the extra steps when cooking. So, if I want a burger, then I'm going to make a burger, but then I'm going to make a special sauce and then do some fancy onions, maybe some fried onions and then a great pickle. I've been moving slower and crafting my food more and it's been really nice.

Kenrya: That's what's up, especially for, I know how much you love food.

Erica: I love food.

Kenrya: And that's no shade because I also love food.

Erica: Food is bad.

Kenrya: Yeah. So, it's nice that you're getting to be super intentional about it.

Erica: Yeah.

Kenrya: And slow down and enjoy it because I think a lot of folks, me included sometimes, have just been like, fuck, I made before this, I definitely was making 90% of our meals, but now it's like we only get one meal out of the house all week. So, it's more like I'm making 98% of our meals. And just that little shift sometimes feels like, fuck, I don't have no more ideas. I don't know what else to do. So, it's nice that you're finding joy in it and then it's not feeling like a chore.

Erica: So, my brother cooks and so we always have meals available for somebody to eat in the house. So, I find that it's not all the time, but when I want something, it's perfect.

Kenrya: It's there. Yeah.

Erica: So, I'm making breakfast a lot more. We went through a 30 pack of eggs in a week because we were just scrambling eggs every morning or boiling eggs, that kind of thing. But yeah, so it's been cooking.

Kenrya: Dope. Yay. Well, I'm glad we got to share the things that are bringing us joy.

Erica: What brings us joy.

Kenrya: Mm-hmm (affirmative). And I hope that these things help y'all to reflect on what's bringing y'all joy even as shit is kind of falling down around us.

Erica: Amen. Erica and Kenrya, two hoes, making it clap.

Kenrya: Two hoes making it clap.

Erica: This episode was produced by us, Erica and Kenrya and edited by B'Lystic. The theme song is from Brazy. We want to hear from y'all. Send your book recommendations and all the burning sex and related questions you want us to answer to TheTurnOnPodcast@gmail.com. And please subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app. Follow us on Twitter @TheTurnOnPod and Instagram @TheTurnOnPodcast and find links to our books, transcripts, guest info and other fun stuff at TheTurnOnPodcast.com. And remember, the turn on is now part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more shows you'll love at Frolic.media/podcast. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you soon. Holla.