Wet Wipes And Wine
Welcome to Wet Wipes and Wine where we aim to laugh, learn, and navigate parenthood with humor! Join Nikki Collinson-Phenix and her fellow parent guests for some fun relatable stories, witty banter, and expert insights.
Enjoy family banter in Uncorked, the special feature family episodes where you can get some insights into Phenix family life!
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Wet Wipes And Wine
#6 UNCORKED! Should Our Daughter Have Snapchat and Should Ian Have A Shave?
Gather 'round the microphone for a rollercoaster ride through the quirks of parenting, as my husband Ian and I, Nikki Collins Phenix, spill the beans on our unconventional life in Bulgaria.
Blending in with the locals, hair disasters, and all—yes, Ian's 'man bun' and 'blonde gate' sagas are on the table. We lay bare the trials of renovating our abode with the added spice of camping-style hygiene, The ceiling falling down mid episode and sharing the hilarity that comes with the territory of chasing dreams with a family in tow.
We then face the digital dragon that's Snapchat, as we wrestle with the conundrum of granting our 12-year-old, Laanii, entry into the world of social media. Parenting in the age of the internet is no walk in the park, as we navigate between protection and independence, all the while balancing the butterfly effect it could have on her younger siblings. It's a delicate dance of trust and boundaries—one that many of you are likely familiar with—and we're opening up the floor for your thoughts and experiences.
From pixels to palettes, we also touch upon the phenomenon of pre-teens’ makeup use and the minefield of social media filters. How do we guide our young girls through the maze of self-image and beauty norms? I share a slice of our life, including my guidance for Laanii as she dips her toes into makeup and the broader implications it has on her self-esteem and perception in these formative years. Plus, don't miss our soup/lip blister kitchen fiasco and musings on local beauty trends. It's a conversation as rich and varied as the life we're living, so grab a glass of whatever you fancy, and let's get into the nitty-gritty of family, freedom, and finding our way.
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Websites:
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10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Speaker 1:Quick, pass me the wipes. Hi and welcome to Wet Wipes and Wine, the podcast for parents who maybe want to live life a little bit differently from the norm. Maybe you want to travel more as a family or just explore new possibilities. Maybe you have family dreams you want to achieve, or maybe you just want to be surrounded by people who remind you that when life throws a load of parent and crap at you, that wet wipes or wine is usually the answer. I'm your host, nikki Collins and Phoenix, and each week I'll be bringing you real life stories from my own parenting journey. I'll also be welcoming guests to share theirs, as well as introducing you to new ideas, thoughts, tips and tricks from my little black book of awesome people. Welcome to Wet Wipes and Wine. Too early for wine. Hello there, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Wet Wipes and Wine, and tonight it's going to be a session of Uncorked with the Phoenixes.
Speaker 2:Here I am again.
Speaker 1:Here you are Now. You're not going to get to see this on video because we're having some video problems. Internet slow which means that you don't actually have to witness the homeless man, aka my husband, who I've sat next to Well, who hasn't shaved since we got to Bulgaria. Who's trying to embrace his nomadic life by leaving his entire personal grooming routine.
Speaker 2:I don't see many people out in public, so You're just embracing rural village life now, aren't you? I'm trying to blend in with the locals.
Speaker 1:So Ian went through this phase a few months back where he decided he wanted to. Just as far as Lani and I were concerned, it was like just let himself go. He goes through phases. And even to remember Holly, I remember my friend Holly said when we took that picture it was our anniversary, anniversary, move for a walk. We went for a few years ago back on the Isle of Wight. We went for a walk and we sat and it was kind of windy. It was March.
Speaker 2:It was very windy and very miserable.
Speaker 1:We were up on the downs and we sat to have like a little pat lunch and I took this lovely little picture to reminisce of our lovely anniversary walk and then up-laid it to Facebook for my friend to say who's the homeless guy?
Speaker 2:Who's the homeless man you've befriended upon your way?
Speaker 1:In a hedge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that was me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so you go through phases of this, don't you yeah?
Speaker 2:yeah, I grew up and look after myself and then go through phases where I just let it all hang out.
Speaker 1:So a few months ago you went through some weird midlife crisis thing, didn't you? Well, I, just I was coming up for 50, wasn't I?
Speaker 2:So I was evaluating my life.
Speaker 1:When was man bun time? It was because that was awful, it was this time last year, really we were in Turkey.
Speaker 2:It was awful.
Speaker 1:It was awful for you. Well, that's just. You look so much older man buns like did not make you look younger, Long hair just made you look old, especially because you know, with all due respect, I love you to bits and that going with grey A bit grey you just look like you had like a grey man bun and Lani and I were every day go, please, do something about your hair. Do something about your hair.
Speaker 2:I'm feeling like Phillip Schofield yeah With the greyness With the greyness the silver fox and all that.
Speaker 1:So you went through this awful phase of China.
Speaker 2:You say awful, I just say phase.
Speaker 1:Rough around the edges. And then you did go and get it cut and then you went into dying it blond over the summer. And you looked hot.
Speaker 2:That would make life crisis kick in in big time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you look really good.
Speaker 2:I couldn't afford the convertible sports car, so I just went through some blonde streaks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it wasn't, your hair was completely blonde. Really hot then, lani, even. I don't look hot now, not at your best anyway, especially after blonde gate, because you looked, because you were tan, you were in your shorts, you had your blonde hair going. I was like there's my like 50 year old surfer dude.
Speaker 2:And now I'm looking like her.
Speaker 1:And you've gone back into Bulgarian farmer no, you've yet no. You just like, let it go again now, haven't you? Yeah, I know, to be fair, I can't really talk because it's not like I'm like wholly up together, but I did shake my legs today. Then I did you. Yeah, I did Very nice. I did.
Speaker 2:Sums around the corner.
Speaker 1:Which has been a bit of a treat really, because we have I'm not saying struggled, because we're quite hardcore with this camping thing, camping caravanning stuff on our renovation in our Bulgaria.
Speaker 2:But we have had to prioritise. Not having access to running hot water and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:We've had to prioritise. Firstly, obviously, basic washing comes first of the body. Second priority is washing hair.
Speaker 2:Washing hair Third pro.
Speaker 1:But have you got like bum fluff on you? I don't know how you take so long in the shower.
Speaker 2:I have washed my hair since we've been here. No, you have washed it, I have.
Speaker 1:Because there's like hardly any of it to wash but, like Lani and I have got long hair, so it comes like washing first but there isn't quite enough hot water to wash body and hair of Lani and I's hair, yeah. So after one day you have to wash body and the next time you've got to wash hair and then wash body, wash hair and it comes to like shaving legs.
Speaker 2:It's just been like way down, but today yeah, but the good thing is it's been so cold it's not like you've been hanging out in your shorts?
Speaker 1:No, but seriously, and your days edupes and stuff, I know, but like you could have like plaited them, my hair on my legs.
Speaker 2:I haven't seen your legs for three months, though. No, they've just been like packed away.
Speaker 1:But today I took we've been heating water on the log burner and I took like a giant bucket of water and the water in the caravan in the hot water. I was like I want an abundance of hot water. And then I moved the radiator right down there too. Okay, because you took the extension needs. I couldn't plug the little fan heater in. I did, I did and you cannot. I don't know about other mums and people listening, but you cannot shave your legs effectively In cold weather when you've got goosebumps. No, you can't, it just doesn't work.
Speaker 2:That'd be sexist. It's not just women who shave their legs. I forgot. You did that once.
Speaker 1:So you just can't shave your legs when you're feeling cold.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Because goosebumps and razors just don't work. No, so I actually I needed enough water to maintain enough warmth in the body, yeah, to be able to shave the legs. So yeah, I've actually shaved my legs Very quickly, though, so I'm sure I've missed these few strings, these patches.
Speaker 1:There's going to be patches, okay, but at least I feel a little bit more human. Anyway, enough about shaving my legs and that. Before we pressed record, ian was like what are we going to talk about today? And I was like, well, I've got a couple of ideas I'm going to think about. I'm trying to think about how I really want to keep these episodes of us a lot quite relevant to what's going on.
Speaker 2:But before we go, on.
Speaker 1:You are here and I sit, we are, we are, we are sipping the wine, we are on the wine tonight.
Speaker 2:Cheers, we don't have wet wipes, but we have wine.
Speaker 1:And I was trying to keep it like a little bit relevant to stuff of what's going on in in the life right now with the whole parenting business, and we've got two things going on that I thought would be good to just have a brief discussion from a parenting perspective.
Speaker 2:I love how you spring this on me. You haven't given me any idea whatsoever. I can not think about what we're going to talk about.
Speaker 1:I just thought about be good topics, but because I don't want it to be scripted, do I want it to be. This is really unscripted, and that is is we, and this is about Lani.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Both things are about Lani. Okay, so we have two things going on and the whole parental thing in the last week, I think I know where you're going, we have social media Social media and we have makeup.
Speaker 2:Oh yes.
Speaker 1:So this is what's been going on this week.
Speaker 2:Who would have thought she's turning five?
Speaker 1:So this is what I thought we could have a little talk about, because these are relevant. So Lani is 12. Let's talk about social media first. Lani is 12. And it's really hard at the moment because I understand that she wants to hang out with her friends and wants to connect and everyone else seems to have social media and I mean we've been very strict on social media in that she's not had any, so much so that, through global trailblazing, I created her own social network. Yeah, that we could maintain some moderating within the club, which she does use. She connects. But we had the question last week about can I have Snapchat, snapchat, snapchat, yes, and it started off with can I have Snapchat, and I was like no To. Then she actually-.
Speaker 2:Did some research.
Speaker 1:She did some research herself.
Speaker 2:And did a presentation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she went on Canva and did a presentation. And it was still no and came and presented to us with her Canva presentation. I will be responsible.
Speaker 1:I will do this, I will do that and apparently there's parental controls and this and the other, and the thing is I just I'm finding it really hard because she wanted a decision today. She asked if she could have a decision today and I'm still undecided because I did a bit of. I mean, I've got Snapchat, I've used it for the. I mean she used it for funny filter pictures when I need to look like a watermelon or something Other than that.
Speaker 2:Or a Disney princess, or a.
Speaker 1:Disney princess.
Speaker 1:Or you know some bunny or some silly. They do have funny filters, I'm not gonna lie, they have funny filters, but I just don't. I'm scared that when you open the flood gate of one social media, you go to all the others. I did do a little bit of research over the weekend and I was reading someone that said even though it said you can be over 13, they recommended it for around 16. But then, equally, there's a fine line between being the parent that doesn't let your kid get involved in anything, and then they get a bit alienated because they don't have anything.
Speaker 2:Or do they then get it themselves and don't tell you?
Speaker 1:And she would do that.
Speaker 2:No, no no, I'm not saying Lani, but I know of kids who have been told no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no on whatever. So they're gonna do it anyway. I remember when I was 14, 15, I wanted my ear pierced, because boy George had his ear pierced, george Michael had his ear pierced, and everyone else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I thought it was all the greats.
Speaker 2:And I was like I want my ear pierced. I want my ear pierced, Ask my mum, ask her permission, and we're talking 1985, 86, somewhere around there.
Speaker 1:You are young yeah.
Speaker 2:And she was like over my dead body. You get your ear pierced, don't ever come home again. So of course that's red rag to a bull. I went straight out and got my ear pierced.
Speaker 1:No, that was just red rag to a bull for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So what I'm saying is obviously growing up was so much easier in our town because we didn't have the internet and as many peer pressures as what you have today to be perfect and look good. So, as much as I don't want, I don't want line to have social media because I think she's too young. If you say no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, do they then go? Well, I'll go and get it myself anyway and just not tell you.
Speaker 1:But the thing is right is she put together this presentation about? You can trust me, there's these parental controls and stuff and I do still need to check out those and it's all about trust and I'll be really responsible. But then today, while you were out and she was in here, so we're sat in the snug in our little renovation house and I was working in Susie Caravan and you were out with Rafe and I came in here to get something and she was meant to be on her online school lesson and I caught her rushing back to her laptop.
Speaker 2:Because she was on YouTube.
Speaker 1:No she wasn't. She was down there painting her fingernails.
Speaker 2:During the lesson yeah, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:So then I have to have a conversation with her about that. You're asking me to trust you.
Speaker 2:But you can't even go to your school.
Speaker 1:But I can't even trust you to be sat on your lesson because you're not even on there. You're on listening, you're playing your fingernails. So it's a really, really hard one, and I'm not sitting here as a parent on this episode saying I have the answer because I don't. But this is the reality of what's going on in our world right now is do I let her have Snapchat, do I not? If any of you listening to this episode have experience around your kids and Snapchat, please send me a message, send me an email. Hellawetwipescom and no wetwipesshow, Dot show, dot show. That's cause I was talking dot com earlier, it's dot show and like give me your insights.
Speaker 2:Could also the problem comes is so say, for instance, we allow her now to have Snapchat at 12. Yeah, yeah. And then where does it stop? Like, next six months time she wants TikTok cause she's not doing a TikTok dancer, and so on.
Speaker 1:No YouTube shorts. Youtube shorts.
Speaker 2:Where I'm going is Rafe is only six, but he sees his sister on social media and F&Ls, so then by the time he's eight. What I want it now and I know from talking to other parents who have had more than one child is the number one child they've said no, you can't have a mobile phone, you can't have Facebook, you can't have everything until you'll say 16. Then 16, they get it, but then they've got a second and a third child and, because of that peer pressure, child number two then gets it at 14 because all the older sisters have got it, and then child number three gets it at 12. So you know there's a bit of a spiral of where all these things go.
Speaker 1:So it's really hard. It is hard, though, because I don't want to. At some point, we have to let go of the apron strings.
Speaker 2:You're gonna cut the wings, but not fully.
Speaker 1:And I've got to go to a place of trust. But the other bit is me is oh, I'm absolutely terrified of relinquishing the and I did explain this to her. I was talking about how, you know, I've been as a mom and dad. We've been able to put filters on, haven't? We've been able to Shelter her from a lot of this stuff, and at some point we have to Remove some of those and allow her to make some decisions and hope that she's gonna make wise decisions. But it leads on if I can lead on to like it leads on to the makeup thing. We've had this okay, yeah.
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Speaker 1:I'm a bit bothered about with snapchat, so, and I've had some really good conversations with her. This so makeup. So she's been wanting makeup for years, doesn't she about 11? About 11 when she's been like trying to nick my makeup for when she was really little, she's wanted makeup, and wanted makeup, and wanted makeup. And, of course, when I was growing up I don't even know when I started wearing makeup, but it wasn't until 36.
Speaker 1:I Don't know, maybe 14, 15, maybe 15. I don't know, it wasn't, I was, I was older than 12 for definite and and. But she wants to have a bit. She's been wanting to wear makeup so and she's been experimenting. So we've had to make a compromise Because, again, I don't want to be the mum that stops her from doing stuff, from experimenting. You know, we were kids once in experimenting and actually she went to a friend's house the other day and there was a discussion around makeup and the. The mum wanted to speak to me first, which I really appreciated.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, because they wanted to play with makeup and she spoke to me and said oh, you know what's your thoughts around makeup. You know the kids, the girls wanted to like play with makeup and I said I don't mind how playing with it, I just don't want to go and out plastered in it.
Speaker 1:But I get that girls might want to hang out in a bedroom and play with makeup, right. But Now she's been begging me just to get some eyeshadow, okay. So she, I've had to kind of relinquish and so, kate, you can start off with a little bit of eyeshadows. So she went and got some eyeshadow the other day and she's got like the I Wasn't you with her when she bought it, when you went, when I was in.
Speaker 2:But she wanted to go to the checkout on her own and pay for it.
Speaker 1:So she's, she's bought like a palette. That's what I would class as women would call a smoky eye palette. Okay, so it's kind of all the different components that make the evening smoky eye.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:So there's some dark and there's some light. So the other day she come out and I was at this morning or every yesterday she came out and I said You've been playing with your eyeshadow, haven't you? She went yeah, what do you think? And I had to sort of say to her like You've used a really dark one, so you look like you've got two black eyes. I said it.
Speaker 1:I said it like politely yeah, I said you really want to go with the light one, and then it was quite sweet. That was it this morning or last night I don't even know what's going on now what day when she asked if I could help her put Some of the light one on so I could show what to do. Oh, it was last night.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So I said just go with this light one and just have a little bit of glitter. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I I lids, so I'm okay with that. But I was trying to explain to her that what I wanted to do and I know it's a really understand that it's easier said than done, and I know it's really hard to be a 12 year old girl nowadays is that I Equally want her to Just look in the mirror and love what she sees Without the need for makeup. And this is where it kind of ties in with social media filters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because, like I know of Girls that were 12 years old that had reached the point where they wore so much makeup they wouldn't even and I'm talking like they were foundation contouring. I mean they looked immaculate spot, but they wouldn't leave the house without that full face of makeup on. And I just unrealistic.
Speaker 1:I just don't want her to be in a place where she feels so insecure about her own natural beauty. This she feels like she's only Only presentable or acceptable to use society if she's got a face plastered and makeup. So I'm worried about her. Now she's wanting to go into this. You know the makeup phases. I want her to experiment makeup. I can't sit there and say you kind of never have makeup like I put makeup on.
Speaker 2:I didn't put loads on.
Speaker 1:But I worry that then you get into snapchat and you've got filters and then she's thinking well, now I can't show my true face, because if I put a filter on I look really good and if I don't put the filter on I don't, and like at the moment she's going through, like you know, a bit of the spotty Phase which is making I feel a bit self-conscious as well.
Speaker 2:Secure and whatever and.
Speaker 1:I don't want it all to tie in with. Well, if I, if I have snapped at and then I start putting filters you know, I don't mind the bunny filters and the melon head.
Speaker 2:No, but when they've got the Botox filter.
Speaker 1:And then you think, oh, my god, I mean, don't give me one, because I look at that sometimes and I'll take a picture on something and I'll put a filter on and go, damn well, it way better than that on a filter. But that's because I'm trying to hide some wrinkles and some aging and whatever. You know, of course, if I sit there sometimes I think, oh, I look a bit nicer in that filter. I don't want her to be having that thought at 12. I can have that thought at 40.
Speaker 2:Whatever the hell, I am with a bit of Well, I really stick Understanding well, as I said, I remember my, my stepmom. She's passed away now, phyllis, for the first 20 Years I knew her, I'd never seen her Without a full face, her makeup and a hairdo. She wouldn't leave the bedroom in the morning.
Speaker 2:And even in the bedroom wouldn't even leave the bedroom to come down for for breakfast and a cup of tea Without the full face of makeup on. But I understand that it's because she was In her late 60s, early 70s. You know Apparently and from photographs I've seen when she was younger she was quite glamorous. She was a landlady of a pub so you know she had to Put on a front so she was always looking her best. And of course as you get older and age sets in a wrinkle set in, you Want to reclaim that you so you don't you don't know me, I want to embrace it.
Speaker 2:You just want to look like I'm embracing it like completely ungrewed. So I can understand for an older person who's trying to cling on to they use and cling on to how they used to look, having some makeup, using the filters and stuff. But as you say, it's a, it's a, it's a fine line when you've got someone who's really young and Naturally beautiful and doesn't have any wrinkles any fine. You know any lines, any Saggy eyes went like that and they're already using filters and already using makeup.
Speaker 2:You know where does it end. If they're already trying to change the way they look when they're naturally beautiful and naturally young and youthful, where does that end? I?
Speaker 1:don't know. So if anyone's got any top tips on how to navigate the makeup and the social media, Boys or girls? Boys or girls. So on the subject of getting older at them, would you ever have cosmetic surgery?
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:You said that like straight out Straight away.
Speaker 2:I'm quite happy with my ugly mug. If you love this ugly mug, I'll love it.
Speaker 1:I do love this ugly mug, although I would like to have a little bit of a shave if I'm really honest.
Speaker 2:Do you know what I noticed?
Speaker 1:I'm sure there's some of yesterday's dinner in that beard somewhere.
Speaker 2:There might be some men out there listening who are follically challenged, and if you are, I really apologize for my next statement because I'm sure you'll be exactly the opposite. But I sometimes are quite envious of people who are going bald or have, you know, receding hairline, because they can just shave it all off and not have to worry.
Speaker 1:And you really just said that out loud.
Speaker 2:I don't mean shave it with a big razor, I mean let's get the clippers out with the number one on there and just shave it off and just.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you could do it.
Speaker 2:Once a week. Just shave that dome with the clippers and not have to worry about.
Speaker 1:But you could do it if you wanted to.
Speaker 2:I'm looking at you from the side here right now.
Speaker 1:Look at this like weird tash thing. Come on, come on, look on the side. It's not even level.
Speaker 2:And I do apologize about the statement.
Speaker 1:I don't mean to. Are you just offending every-. I don't mean to offend anybody.
Speaker 2:But when I shave my head, do you look like I'm ill? I don't have the most-.
Speaker 1:You're really just going out to-.
Speaker 2:Ergonomically shaped head.
Speaker 1:So it has nothing to do with looking like you're ill, you just look odd because you don't have an I look very odd and very ill and just very wrong. Do you know what you need to do? What's that you need to dye your hair blonde and go back to being my hot 50 year old surfer dude. What did we get the other day? You did buy hair dye. It's just sat in a box.
Speaker 2:I have, I have, I've done. It's only to cover the gray.
Speaker 1:But you look really good, so you would never do cosmetic surgery. If someone said I could do a couple of injections on here, here and here in your wrinkles, no, no.
Speaker 2:Never. And not because I'm against cosmetic surgery, anyone who wants to have it, anyone who thinks they need it, whether it's for vanity reasons or because they've had, you know, an accent, something. I'm happy for you, filly boots, but I know I'm naturally beautiful.
Speaker 1:No, I mean, you're happy to grow old, gracefully, aren't you?
Speaker 2:There's only one person I need to be impressed in this world, and she sat right next to me Okay.
Speaker 1:well then you need to dye your hair blonde.
Speaker 2:And if you're happy with the bags under the eyes and the wrinkles around the edges.
Speaker 1:To be fair, you had the wrinkles around the edges and the bags under eyes when I met you. Yeah, you look weathered for a while now.
Speaker 2:That's growing up in different environments and climates, I think.
Speaker 1:But yeah, you look really hot in the summer, Okay. You look good in the summer. Let's revisit that one. However, you need to understand that if in the future I feel the need to have the need for speed I would have cosmetic surgery.
Speaker 1:I would have cosmetic surgery, but I think no. But it's like we've talked about in the past, right Is I? Look at those people, those celebrity people, yeah, who you see in the newspapers, who have gone way too far and I believe in there is a mental health issue in there, that it's gone from a few little tweaks here and there to actually an issue. Okay, because they've gone too far. And as we talked about the other day when we were just like sitting and chatting about stuff like we do is I pride myself on not having quite an addictive personality. I think I can take cosmetic surgery with a sane and sensible view and so. But if I reached like 60, 65, maybe late 50s and I felt like things were sagging, you know Going south.
Speaker 1:Jows was. Well, I've already got a little bit of Jow, but like things were Jowl, jowl, what's a Jow?
Speaker 2:These things are the side here, oh my goodness, that's a Jow, it's just been there.
Speaker 1:No, there is See. Look, look, I'm gonna. You're not gonna make a scene now because we're on audio, but like if I pull my face back, you see it's gone up. Ha ha ha ha ha.
Speaker 2:Don't ever get your jowls done. Ha ha ha.
Speaker 1:And then, if I let it go, you see it's dropped down Right this bit here.
Speaker 2:This is a Jow right, so who you looked like then was Double-stackage? No, the silence of the lambs. The second one, the red dragon the first one. You looked like the guy who had his face eaten off by the pig.
Speaker 1:Are you serious?
Speaker 2:You did Right. Listen to me. You look beautiful as you are. You don't need it.
Speaker 1:That is very kind of you to say, but if, in 10 years time, my face is literally hanging off the bottom of my skull?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And someone said you could go and have a facelift and I could afford to have that facelift. I need you to understand I may have that facelift.
Speaker 2:Are we not getting back onto the same subject now of Snapchat filters?
Speaker 1:No, because I'm talking about when I'm like in my 50s what 50-old now is it. Yeah, well, it is.
Speaker 2:What are you looking at me now? 50-old is it?
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness no, but I need you to understand this.
Speaker 2:My wife was just insulting me and told me I hold.
Speaker 1:If my face is going rapidly due south and for a few quid I can bring it back north slightly right Without looking like a freak, then I'm gonna do that. Promise me one thing, wow.
Speaker 2:You'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever ever.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna get my lips done.
Speaker 2:Go for the old, pouty, trouty lip things. No, I'm not going for a trout.
Speaker 1:I actually I don't mind my lips, although, to be fair, as we're speaking right now, Apart from the burnt bit, I got it Ha ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha. So yesterday we're trying to be really good and wholesome here while we're cooking, and I've been making homemade soups. So, I made leaking potato soup yesterday.
Speaker 2:Very nice.
Speaker 1:And I went and did a taste test and burnt my lips so badly it's blistered. That's really sore as well.
Speaker 2:Now, normally Nikki will make dinner, lunch, whatever it is. Serve it up, bring to the table, we'll sit down. A whole glass of wine's gone, I will sit there blowing, blowing, blowing, trying to cool it down Before I take my first fork or spoonful. Nikki's finished.
Speaker 1:But you didn't burn me drinking. I know, but what I'm saying is you can.
Speaker 2:you normally can eat stuff that's really hot, so obviously your mouth has a higher tolerance to heat in your lips the one you lit. Ha, ha, ha ha ha ha.
Speaker 1:You can see that, can't you? I can see it. It really sore as well, Earlier.
Speaker 2:I've got a very short memory, I must say, but earlier I forgot. You told me you'd burnt your lip, and I looked and I was just about to say oh, you've got a coleslaw coming on. Ha, ha, ha, ha. And then, just as I was about to say, I went oh no, hold on no.
Speaker 1:I burnt it.
Speaker 2:It's a burnt lip.
Speaker 1:Burnt lip.
Speaker 2:Was it the spoon or the? No, it was the content.
Speaker 1:It was a piece of potato that had an. You know, when I blend it, there was a piece of potato that hadn't blended. So I got really honestly, I got excited about the fact that there was a piece of potato and I was like excellent piece of potato. Was that really a piece of ceiling?
Speaker 2:Yeah, a piece of ceiling just better than us, Okay.
Speaker 1:That's the joy of being in a renovation property. So a piece of potato was in the sink and I actually got excited going. Oh, that's so cool. I found a piece of potato, a piece of potato, shoved it up to my mouth and it was. Oh my goodness, it burnt my mouth. My lip so badly, is blistered.
Speaker 2:It's just like when you take a bite of a pizza and the tomato underneath is retained its heat.
Speaker 1:I've never had a blister from soup before I've got a soup blister and you've never said that in your life before I have never said I've got a soup blister.
Speaker 2:I've got a soup blister.
Speaker 1:But I wouldn't get my lips done. I went, I'd look at those people and they was just like yeah, never get your lips done. And actually we've been in the Balkans for.
Speaker 2:We've been in the Balkans for a long time we're in the Ladi ages, now Over two years, no, nearly two years. No, we came into Croatia before Christmas two years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we were. Then we were in the house by the port. Yeah, but that.
Speaker 2:Oh, on and off, we've been in the, did that just get picked up on the mocha.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the ceilings coming up, more ceiling coming down.
Speaker 2:We've been in the Balkans on and off for over two years. They're really big on the travel. They like. You know what. Today I was in the closest biggest town to us, let's call Yambol, and there was a lady in there must have been in her late 50s, early 60s, something like that, and she had a lot of work.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think from the local tyre fit around the corner Because she, you could see she'd had her lips done Too big.
Speaker 1:Really too big.
Speaker 2:And then they'd retracted, but the skin hadn't caught up. And she'd had Botox and you know, things weren't looking great can't we say so?
Speaker 1:she wasn't like a poster girl for cosmetics.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1:But you need to understand that I will. I will embrace it if I reach a point that. I know that if things are going south, then I need them to go north. Whether it's my boobs, my face, just not my lips, I won't get my lips done.
Speaker 2:I think that looks horrible Boobs are going to burn my fine, we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so it's been a bit of a week on social media discussions.
Speaker 2:you know, I said I'd give her a decision, teenage trials and tribulations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I said I'd give her a decision today. So she's been handing me all day, but the fact is I still don't feel I'm really worried. I don't feel informed enough to give her that decision today.
Speaker 2:Do you know I love being a dad.
Speaker 1:You just hand it to me.
Speaker 2:No, I just said to her ages ago. I know what my decision is. I've made my decision and you won't like it, so it's up to your mum now. So she knows if my answer's no and the ball is in your court.
Speaker 1:I'm not seeing. So anyway, Jory's out on social media, but she's now walking out. Golden eyeshadow.
Speaker 2:Like you said, she at 12 once Snapchat and in the online mum forums and stuff like that. The general consensus is 16.
Speaker 1:You were saying you'd always a thing about a research.
Speaker 2:And they were saying that the average age is like 16. And what cracked me up is, like I said before, everyone around here wants TikTok, which is a Chinese company, but TikTok is actually banned in China.
Speaker 1:No, you get political. No, I'm not getting political, I'm just saying.
Speaker 2:Quite often the people that invent certain things. Now again, it could be myth, it could be. What are they called? Myth or truths or whatever? Apparently, I read a while ago that the company and the main guys that invented the modern light bulbs that we use the LED light bulbs and the long life light bulbs.
Speaker 2:It's not milk, no, what do you call them? The non-traditional light bulb with the filament? It could be false, it could be fake, but apparently they don't even use them. They've stocked up on the old fashioned light bulbs and don't use the modern light bulbs that they invented. Why Exactly?
Speaker 1:Why? Why are you telling us about light?
Speaker 2:bulbs. It's just one of those.
Speaker 1:If you've just gone off on some weird light bulb, tell us.
Speaker 2:It's getting back to the social media thing. What the hell have you drawn Because? The people that invented these things, don't actually use them themselves.
Speaker 1:Do you know that the people that invented Snapchat don't use Snapchat?
Speaker 2:I don't know. Does Mark Zuckerman and his family have Facebook?
Speaker 1:Probably You're just going off on a tangent now, aren't you? You're going off on a tangent.
Speaker 2:I need more wine.
Speaker 1:Do you know what you need to do? Have wine, dye your hair blonde. Shave your beard. Get some wet wipes.
Speaker 2:Get some have a shower with wet wipes.
Speaker 1:Anyway, if you've got any experience in teenagers, or twins when it comes to social media, social media and makeup. Do please share your thoughts and your views. We will be open to receiving all of them.
Speaker 2:Should we invent our own social media platform around makeup and teenage girls?
Speaker 1:I don't even know where you're going, right?
Speaker 2:now.
Speaker 1:Anyway, thanks for joining us for another session of Uncourt. There you go, a little snippet into the world of the Phoenixes currently in Bulgaria, but a little snippet within our renovation property that has the ceiling falling on us as we speak. We're recording.
Speaker 2:None of it got picked up on the microphone.
Speaker 1:I would like to say that the ceiling is only falling on us because we have modified this one little room in here to use as a snug because of the cold weather.
Speaker 2:But it hasn't been used in 20 years, so it's moving with the heat and then a life and everything else. It's so cool. We love it.
Speaker 1:Anyway, that's from us at Uncourt with the Phoenixes.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Maybe on another episode in the future she'll bring Lani in and so you can discuss with us on the 12 year old perspective about social media and makeup, and she can speak to the parents and give her view on. Maybe she'll do a Canva presentation.
Speaker 2:She can give her view on makeup and social media for 12 year olds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, all right, thank you so much for joining us on Uncourt. Thank you, and we will catch up with you on the next episode.
Speaker 2:So take care now, bye, bye, whatever you are in the world.
Speaker 1:Bye.