Drop us a line or two . . . LONG SUMMARY Queenie kicks things off fresh from a weekend packed with family events — her niece's bridal shower, a pool party at her sister-in-law's place, and what would have been her late mother-in-law Kay's third anniversary. The shower was a hit partly because the bride lives in Texas and had the good sense to put "just ship it" on the invitation, meaning zero gift-unwrapping theater, zero bow hats, zero frantic "she's in the bathroom, don't open it yet" energy. The scratch-off card game was a crowd-pleaser — you send in a photo of the groom, they print him into a celebrity card deck, guests scratch to find him, winner gets a gift bag. Clean, fun, no one had to pretend to cry over a KitchenAid. On the way to the pool party, Queenie stopped at a neighborhood lemonade stand (Disney World fund, very ambitious), handed over a ten, got some chitchat — and then, as she's leaving in her bathing suit, a little girl looks up and says, *I like your dress.* Queenie nearly corrected her and then wisely decided: no need. Just drive away in your very mini dress. The conversation pivots to long marriages when TT brings up a moment at pickleball — a sweet young woman, married two years, asked TT and her husband what their secret was after learning they'd been together 43 years (Queenie initially insisted it was 45 or 46; the math got worked out eventually). The husband's answer: "You have to learn when not to say things." Queenie's suggested alternatives: laziness, procrastination, inertia, conflict aversion, exhaustion, and not wanting to go broke. TT reveals the piece of advice she *wanted* to write on a bridal shower card once but didn't have the nerve to sign her name to. It is, shall we say, anatomically specific and probably the most useful thing anyone has ever almost written on one of those cards. This leads to a small detour about the lost art of handwriting — Queenie had to get a second advice card at the shower because her first attempt looked like it was written by, in her words, "a deranged old woman." Neither of them writes anymore. Cursive, once a graded subject, now just runs off the page on its own while the brain races ahead. The segment **Wait, What? No Way, José** lands on smell training and brain aging, sourced from a Harvard neurobiologist (legitimacy confirmed: it's not just hoo-ha). Turns out your nose is directly wired into cognitive, emotional, and memory centers of the brain, smell loss is linked to 139 health conditions, and simply sniffing five strong scents for 20 seconds twice a day — lavender, lemon, coffee, clove, eucalyptus — with active focus can improve verbal fluency and even increase hippocampus volume. The ladies immediately start workshopping their personal scent lineups. TT goes for baking bread, tomato plants, and basil. Queenie wants salt air (requires seaweed, complicated to bottle), eucalyptus, lavender, the smell of a baby's head, and the smell of spring — which she acknowledges is more of a smell memory than a smell. TT connects the dots: smells are evocative, strengthening the connection probably strengthens memory, and also TT has chronic sinus issues so this whole exercise might be harder for her. Queenie floats eucalyptus as a possible unclogger. Nobody huffs gasoline, despite TT's complicated feelings about it. Hot on the heels of nose science comes a cannabis news drop: a large new study published in BMJ Mental Health found no link between cannabis use and cognitive decline or dementia risk in older adults. Unlike the patchwork of conflicting prior studies, this one has statistical weight — large observational sample plus genetic causation testing. The researchers themselves say it's reassuring, not a green light for heavy use. Queenie's editorial: "Put that in your pipe and smoke it, everybody." TT suspects the dementia scare was always a "dog whistle" designed to keep older adults — now the biggest cannabis-purchasing demographic — away from the dispensary. **TT's Choice** pulls number 50: *What if you woke up fluent in one new language? Which one, and what's the first thing you say?* TT chooses American Sign Language. Queenie blinks. Slowly. Several times. She comes around — ASL is cool, meaningful, a genuine bridge — but not before pointing out that you can't exactly holler across a room in it and that the deaf community is, statistically speaking, a smaller conversation pool than Mandarin speakers. TT's first thing she'd sign: *Hey, I can communicate with you.* Queenie's pick is Hindi or Mandarin, motivated by sheer population density and years of working with people from India and China. Her first phrase would be "How may I best support you?" They both know exactly one useful sign — the universal one — and demonstrate it enthusiastically. World peace is declared, then immediately rescinded. **The F**k It List** this week belongs to Queenie, who has been drowning in communication chaos. Working with relocation assignees, she's been available in every possible channel simultaneously — WhatsApp, texting, email, calls — with no structure, no response windows, 14 draft messages floating in the ether. She's saying f**k it to the myth of 24/7 availability and replacing it with something she finds less loaded than "setting boundaries": setting expectations. Spelling out clearly what method to use when, what response time is realistic, what constitutes an emergency. TT's contribution: "Clarity is kindness." They both acknowledge the particular guilt that comes with this for women of their generation — trained to give, to accommodate, to say yes and mean it and then quietly resent it. Queenie also notes the extra complication: some of her assignees are new to a city with no social network, making her feel like the only lifeline. Still. Expectations. In writing. Part of the intake process. Done. The back half is pure domestic dispatch: TT is doing smoothies for lunch, lost some weight, allowed herself ice cream on the Wisconsin River (a ferry went past; they did not take it), and permits herself two pieces of hard candy a day. Queenie is preparing for a colonoscopy on Wednesday — which she is reframing as "Cleansday" and, after the year she had, genuinely does not fear. She was apparently scolded last time for insufficient prep results, a situation she finds baffling since she followed instructions and couldn't exactly verify from her end. More Miralax this time. She's fine with it. Meanwhile, Queenie's daughter Megan had her first mammogram and got called back — technical imaging issue, folding, unclear view, very common for a first scan, not worrying anyone. Queenie's granddaughter just started high school. Time, as always, is marching on without asking permission. They close, as they do, pleasantly confused and absolutely fine with it. SHORT SUMMARY Queenie survived a bridal shower, a pool party, and being complimented on her "dress" (it was a bathing suit) — all in one weekend. CDQ covers smell training as a legit brain health tool, a reassuring new cannabis-and-cognitive-decline study, a TT's Choice debate about sign language vs. Mandarin, and Queenie's F****d List entry on finally setting expectations — not boundaries, *expectations* — around her availability. Aging brains, long marriages, colonoscopy prep, and ASL for "f**k you": a perfectly normal episode. TOP 5 PULL QUOTES **TT:** "There's no problem that a b*****b can't fix. I didn't have the guts to write it — I didn't know these people." **Queenie:** "I have long-term care insurance, and I'm not afraid to exhaust all my benefits. And when they're gone, guess what? So am I." **TT:** "To what do you attribute your successful marriage? And I said, I don't know. And honey said, You have to learn when not to say things." **Queenie:** "I'm saying f**k it to the pretense that I'm available twenty-four seven. My assignees will be better served if I just spell it out — setting expectations, not boundaries. Clarity is kindness." **Queenie:** "I'm looking forward to my colonoscopy prep because I'll drop a few pounds. I'm viewing it as a cleanse. A reset. I can start fresh. That's what I should've been calling it all along — Cleansday." # EPISODE VIBE It's the kind of episode that feels like eavesdropping on two people who've known each other long enou Welcome to the Closet Disco Queen Pot-Cast, a #1 ranked Women in Cannabis (Feedspot, Million Pods; 2025) comedy podcast with music and pop culture references that keeps you laughing and engaged. Join our hosts, Queenie & TT as they share humorous anecdotes about daily life, offering women's perspectives on lifestyle and wellness. We dive into funny cannabis conversations and stories, creating an entertaining space where nothing is off-limits. Each episode features entertaining discussions on pop culture trends, as we discuss music, culture, and cannabis in a light-hearted and inclusive manner. Tune in for a delightful blend of humor, insight, and relatable stories that celebrate life's quirks and pleasures. Our Closet Disco Queen Pot-Cast deals with legal adult cannabis use and is intended for entertainment purposes only for those 21 and olderVisit our Closet Disco Queen Pot-Cast merch store! Find us on Facebook and Green Coast Radio Sound from Zapsplat.com, https://quicksounds.com, 101soundboards.com #ToneTransfer
