Dumb Blonde - Erica and Shane: Addiction and Redemption

Episode Date: January 18, 2023

Bunnie welcomes Erica Rifkin and Shane Wahrmund, TikTok's Favorite Coffeehouse Couple with over 3 million followers on social media. They each dive into their past life, dabbling in fast money, addiction, and toxic relationships until a chance meeting at Chili's led them to their ride-or-die relationship today. Erica and Shane discuss their mission to help others, how they got into the coffee and Out of the Way cafe biz, and give a glimpse into their world takeover in 2023 and beyond.  Bunnie: IG  Erica: TikTok  Website  Watch Full Episodes & More: www.dumbblondeunrated.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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all right gentlemen coming to main stage next this is bunny get up there she's got a tornado of titties coming your way get those dollar bills ready she's got an ass that shakes like michael j fox so get up there and throw throw throw them dollars dude that is fucking iconic what's up you sexy motherfuckers welcome to another episode of dumb blonde today we have tiktok's favorite coffee house couple in the house i'm so excited erica and shane how are you guys doing baby doing good how you doing i how are you guys doing, baby? Doing good. How are you doing? I'm good. You guys finally made it here. Finally.

Finally. It only took us, what, an extra month? No, it's okay, though. You guys had a valid reason. So I want to tell you guys, my husband asks me all the time, like before I do podcasts, he's like, who do you have coming on today? And he never knows who the fuck it is ever, right? And today I was like, I have Erica and Shane coming on. And he's like who do you have coming on today and he never knows who the fuck it is ever right and today i was like i have erica and shane um coming on and he's like oh my god i love them

like he was so excited and i was like you know who they are and he's like yes i told him because ironically when he followed me i didn't know who he was oh i didn't know but i gave her the hardest time about it i knew one of his songs um kind of, but yeah, no, I didn't. He gave me the biggest heart attack. It's okay. I knew who you were. I didn't know anything about him until I banged him, so it's good. So don't worry about it.

Yeah, so I thought that was really cool that my husband was really stoked to have you guys on, and he would have come in today, but he's doing like a five-hour interview with Hulu today, so he wanted me to tell you hello, and that he wishes he could have seen you guys. Tell him we say hi back. Tell him we say seen you guys so how's life what's going on life is chaotic as always um god non-stop uh we just went from two full-time kids to three one being a teenager so that has been slightly challenging but also it's been pretty rewarding oh yeah 15 so. 15. Teenagers are so fun. Oh, yeah.

My bonus baby is 14. And she's an angel right now. Yes. But now I'm like very suspect of her because I'm like, why now? See, that's me. I'm like, why are you so responsible? Why do you have all your shits together? Yeah.

Because at 15, I absolutely the fuck did not. Yeah, no. When I was 14, I left home and was doing everything that you could do. Yeah. Anything that anybody told me no, I was doing. Exactly. Like if you said it was a bad idea, I'm like, okay, so if I do it, you think it's a bad idea, but I think it's a great idea.

Yeah, absolutely. And is it your daughter or? It's my daughter. Okay, gotcha. And so I'm dealing with the whole, because, you know, boyfriend and all that stuff. And so I'm having to adjust to all that. How does that feel about the boyfriends? I'm not great about that.

He's doing better. He's still considered a friend. Oh, good. That's what I... He doesn't get to graduate to boyfriend level for a while. Not yet. He's got to prove himself. Yeah, but he's a good guy.

You're getting better, though, because there was a time where he said he was going to be sitting in the living room cleaning his gun when the boyfriends came over. And he shook his hand. He was really nice to him. Progress. I try. He said he was going to be sitting in the living room cleaning his gun when the boyfriends came over. And he shook his hand. He was really nice to him. Progress.

I try. I try. It's got to be hard seeing your daughter start dating, too, because you know how boys are. It is. But that's why it is hard, because I know what I was thinking when I was 15. So, yeah, that's a difficult part. Yeah. It's so funny because Jay and I are the complete opposite.

I'm the strict parent, which you would never think that. And he is fucking fun dad all the time. See, that's us. Yeah. And I'm like, bro, how? What? I'm like, no, she can't fucking do this. No, she can't go out on a date. And then you feel like the asshole.

But really. I used to, but not anymore. Because literally, it has molded her to be such a good little human and it just like it makes me so happy because i'm like i did that you know like i can like silently take credit for you know shit that she does now and i'm like you know what maybe us being me being so hard on her and him being so cool kind of worked out you know yeah so go ahead no i was just gonna say that. Yeah. Trying to figure out the balance. And you'll find it.

Yeah. You guys will find it. Raising kids is a fucking learning process. And I don't, I don't even have real kids. So like I have a bonus kid, you know, I don't, I don't have biological children and it's a fucking learning process, you know? So I can only imagine what it's like when they are yours. It's like, fuck, like that's a shit.

At least if I fuck fuck up i can give it back you know you guys can't give it back at all i fucked this up it's my fault yeah exactly so juggling that and then juggling our business and just life in general that's been that's been fun for the last month it's been fun though it's been fun it's been it's definitely been an adjustment but you know well i, I want to. All good things. I want to learn about you guys. So let's kind of like dial it all the way back.

Erica, where did you grow up? Atlanta. Oh, really? ATL. You're a Georgia peach. Yes. About 30 minutes north of Atlanta is where I came from. Okay, gotcha.

I actually also lived in Franklin at one point in my life. Franklin. Tennessee. Tennessee. Oh, cool. So right up the street. Yeah. I love Franklin. We were really excited because I got to get in touch with some of my old roots while I was

here. Cool. I don't travel much anymore. So this is exciting. That's awesome. I never knew you lived in Franklin. Yeah, we actually lived in Franklin. Yeah. Yeah. But it's gorgeous. Oh my God, it's gotten so much like bigger, bigger and nicer. And it's great. I love that so growing up um how was your life at home tell me about little Erica oh little Erica little Erica was a trash-ass human um I I grew up with uh my mom and my dad my dad adopted me when I was two my biological father is we don't know right so your biological mom and your stepdad yeah technically he would be my stepdad um but he's raised me since I was two so I he's my dad um he's the only thing I know as far as a father figure goes yeah and so growing up like they were really great um Where do we want to start?

It's your life, baby. Right from the jump. Right from the jump. Like, so much. You know, things were good for most of my childhood. You know, my parents were great. My siblings were great. Grew up in a great environment.

And that's why I always try to tell people, like, I don't know that I necessarily believe that your environment makes you like especially when it comes to terms of addiction or alcoholism I don't feel like that's necessarily always an environment thing because for me I had all the opportunities laid up at my corner if I wanted them but unfortunately you know I went through some things at a young age, a lot of trauma. And you're allowed to touch base on it. Yeah, I mean, we can totally touch base on it. I've gotten I've gotten a little better over the years about opening it up and talking about it. I have. I've got a family member who assaulted me when I was a child and I was 14 I didn't have the balls to say anything back then so I kind of just pushed it down and six months down the road got drunk let

it out and basically life just started spiraling out of control after that one thing I learned was apparently when you're in a sexual assault situation the chances of you putting yourself back into another type of situation and it happening again are more likely so unfortunately for me because I chose the party route of drugs and alcohol and numbing it ended up happening a couple more times uh for me throughout my adulthood not by the same person not by the same person but by other people but that person in particular that really started the ball for me um the biggest thing for me is no one believed me back then my mom and dad believed me my older brother believed me but the rest of my family this man had taken a lie detector test. He passed.

Wow. Because I waited so long to disclose. It was a he say, she say kind of situation. So you just got drunk one night and was just like, this is what's happening. Because it was eating you up inside. No, I actually, I got wasted. My dad had to take me to a hospital to get my stomach pumped. Because I had alcohol poisoning. Wow. I got wasted um my dad had to take me to a hospital to get my stomach pumped because I

had alcohol poisoning wow and apparently in the midst of me between getting to the hospital and getting my stomach pumped had let out well I don't know why you're here now where were you when this happened yeah and that's how it came out then and so then when that happened don't get me wrong my dad's a fucking g-man I mean he laced up and he was he was ready to throw down over it but at the same time the reality is when you wait that long right that it is it's a he said she leaves way too much room for speculation so unfortunately in our situation it ended up creating a huge divide in our family you had the people that believed me and the people that thought I was lying for attention. And honestly, there's a lot of my family members

that are dead to me these days. I mean, you could call me and I don't really care. I'm not fucking with you, you know? Because as a child, I'll never forget that she called me a liar. I'll never forget that when I did finally come forward and had the strength, which by the way, we don't talk about it enough.

That is the hardest thing in the world. Yeah. To come forward with your story and be able to be open and to be honest about what happened. And then to have people basically make you feel like you're lying, I'll just, I'll never forget it. I was molested when I was five and didn't tell my parents till I was 12 and when I finally did tell him my

parents didn't believe me yeah so I know exactly how you feel and that trauma that comes with that oh the anger yeah I mean the anger the resentment just all of it I don't know about you but for me it was just easier to push it all down numb it off with drugs and seek validation in men. Come on. I mean, I still seek validation. I've made a living out of it,

but you know, I'm a millionaire because of it. But yeah, I just, I don't know. So that's, that's basically what started my downward spiral there for a minute there for a minute there for like 10,

15 years. So did you, so you weren't using or doing drugs until that happened no and then you just what I wasn't exactly the world's best kid you know I wasn't like the most respectful or like always following by all the rules and stuff but I definitely wasn't using or drinking yet right that was that happened after that happened and then it just went downhill from there the more the family divided the more that you know things started unfolding um the more I secluded into myself and I basically felt like it was me against the world and um unfortunately uh i it it almost took my ass out having your stomach pumped for drinking like you had to have been drinking a fuck ton so i'll never

forget it because i don't drink vodka anymore i mean i don't really drink anymore but i definitely do didn't touch vodka after that it was vanilla vodka oh it was an entire bottle oh no and i was 14 15 something like that look at me now can you imagine i was like probably four foot ten like yeah five pounds i don't know it was it was bad and unfortunately that wasn't the first time right you know because it i came to find out i was one of those people i wasn't drinking for the buzz i was drinking to get lost right i was getting high to get lost yeah to not feel the pain but to feel to just kind of make everything go away to make it just you know this isn't my life this isn't happening right and then you know um unfortunately this is why i say i'm okay talking about this now. This motherfucker did it to my cousin recently.

This was what? Oh, just a few months ago. Within the last year. We found out that. Imagine how many other girls he's hurt since then. And that's my thing is no one believed me back then. And my cousin is actually the daughter of, so, okay, you've got my dad's brother,

his wife, his wife's brother is the one that did it. Wow. Her daughter is the one that he also did it to. Wow. So excuse me for standing here today and just being like, fuck you. Like I told you so.

I fucking told you. You didn't believe me then. And now look what happened. This all could have been prevented if y'all had just, you know, kids don't make stuff up. So if I can say anything today that gets across to anybody, please listen. When a child confides in you, please listen. Because I don't know if you want me to open this door, but we're going through the same thing with his bonus daughter right now. With my bonus daughter, your daughter.

Same exact situation and it's very upsetting because i'm watching the same thing unfold from when i was a kid and i'm not gonna lie it's it's upsetting it brings up some some fucked up feelings that i thought i was kind of over and you know i don't think you'll ever be over that, you know. Like, it's hard to be over somebody taking away your innocence. Yeah, and then trying to justify it. Right. That was the worst part about it is trying to say things like,

well, you know, she put on perfume to smell good. That's so creepy. I was a teenager, you know. So find me one teenager that doesn't like to do things that make them feel good because that's what we do. Yeah. So, you know, find me one teenager that doesn't like to do things that make them feel good right that's what we do yeah so you know things like that and then you know watching her go through the exact same thing and having people shed you know where they they feel like they don't believe her or having the family getting divided or all the fighting that just really in in my opinion, doesn't fucking matter right now. Her well-being matters.

And so that... Isn't it crazy how tragedy tears people apart? Yeah. It either brings them together or tears them apart, but it shows people's true colors. It really does. Always shows people's true colors. It really does.

You know, because at the end of the day, I don't really give a fuck about anybody in the situation but my bonus daughter. Yeah. And justice for her and making sure that she's okay. Absolutely. And unfortunately, is he arrested? Did he get arrested? Not yet.

No. God. Investigating and all of that. Even though we've provided video proof of things. I feel like the judicial system fails our babies man but i mean it goes it's no different than the drug side of it you know it's unfortunately with our judicial system and the way that it is set up it is set up for repeat customers to keep coming back because that's how they make their money now whatever way that looks like that's just what we've noticed

because like when i met you i mean, this motherfucker was bringing home $100 every two weeks on his paychecks. And that's it. I was working 50, 60 hours a week. You know what I mean? And it's not like. By the time child support, probation fees, and everything else, I mean. It was just set up to fail. Yeah.

To never get out of it. My husband's dealing with that because he's a felon yeah and it's just bullshit we can't even go out of the country because you know of something he did when he was 18 yeah or even i think he was 17 and got charged as an adult or something it's crazy i mean it's kind of like y'all were talking about you know with these sexual offenders they'll go do two or three years, but you get caught with some dope and you'll go do 40 years. You get caught with weed in your automatic five.

Why are you a convicted felon, Shane? I got caught with 20 pounds of weed, so, you know, but I'm a convicted felon for weed. Out of all the things he's done in his life, and that's what took him out. That's what got me. It's just crazy. Let's dive into that because i want to get down your path of addiction and but let's let's where did shane grow up let's hear your story up so i was born in austin texas oh cool i'm from houston and i spent half of my life in texas oklahoma but i say i grew up in Oklahoma City because that's where I was a young

teen and into my 20s and stuff like that but I grew up in Oklahoma City I was your typical dope dealer gangbanger and running the streets and fast money cars all that good stuff that's all i care about yeah looking bitches getting money right hey that's what that's what it was dollar signs and pussy that's what that's that's what it was all about cars hoes and clothes where is all of it though none of it's there no more never last never last ever all of it's gone yeah but yeah so i i lived up in oklahoma city for a while um when things went south when things went south in oklahoma city i ended up coming back down to texas and of course i still was doing my hustling and selling dope and ended up getting popped with

20 pounds of weed in In Texas? In Texas. Okay, I was going to say Oklahoma. They would... Oh, no. They would have thrown the book at me. My ex went to prison for ghost weed in Oklahoma. Yeah, they would have thrown the book at you in Oklahoma. Oh, fucking crazy.

I mean, you get caught with dope and money. The money alone is a separate charge. Right, exactly. That's exactly what happened to him. But, yeah, I caught a felony down in Texas, but my second daughter was born. Well, to go back, I had a daughter in Oklahoma. Okay. But she wasn't around really too much.

I wasn't around. I was still running the streets, doing my thing. really too much I wasn't around I was still running the streets doing my thing and her mom ended up remarrying a dude and he's a good guy and he was raising my daughter and stuff like that and it was one of those situations where I knew what I was so I was like she's got somebody raising her I'm not going to interfere with that because I already know I'm not going to bring anything good to the situation. Well, at least you realize that I, I stepped out and he, and he's still, he's still married to her mom and he raised her all the way until it, but she actually reached out to me when she was 16, 17. And we actually have a relationship now. Um, I mean, I was honest with her and told her, Hey baby baby i was a fuck up back then

you know it wasn't anything about you not that i didn't love you or wanted to be around i was just you didn't know i was just a fuck up back then there was no easy way to put that and she accepted it and she you know forgave me for it and everything like that we talk now and now he's going to be a grandfather. Now I'm going to be a grandpa. She's pregnant. Now you get to do it right. Yeah.

Now you get to do it right. Redemption. When my second daughter was born in 2007, that's when I said, you know what? I got to do the right thing. Get out of this life. I was still on papers and stuff like that how long did you do it did you do time uh I was in there only for about a year okay gotcha and then yeah and then I did the rest uh on paper um outside on papers and stuff but I uh when my second daughter

was born I said enough's enough and that's when she's talking about I got a job, but between child support and... Pay as you... What do they call those places? The fees. They were going to the... It's literally like they're just like, here. You're never going to get out of the system. I didn't have a driver's license, so I had to go to one of those little pay-as-you-go car places.

Wow. They were charging me like $700 a month for a car, but I needed a car to get back and forth to work and this and that. Just no way to get ahead. Right. Just no way to get ahead. But I will say the hard work, the dedication, it paid off. I worked at Chili's for a while i know she hates chili's

i used to work at chile's right i will never they did me dirty when i left but they did him rude what'd they do put him on blast well so so i was with i was with chili. I started off as a cook. And I worked my way up to a manager. And, you know. In a corporate chain. I have long sleeves on. But I got a lot of tattoos, facial neck tattoos. And I actually worked my way up to a general manager. Right.

Had my own restaurant and everything like that. I went to them right before we decided to open our cafe. And I told my boss, I said, hey, we've got an opportunity. I'm going to open my own place. In about a month. But I need a month or so. I want to give you all a heads up. You motherfuckers called me.

Three days. Three days later and was like, we're going to go ahead and take your resignation. You're good to go. They used them at another restaurant. I was on salary, so they cut me off of a month's salary that I was going to use that money to try and... Help offset things in life and stuff, you know? Because they were just like... That's what I hate about the fucking corporate world.

They do not... They don't give a shit. Loyalty, time, none of that. They do not care. They'll replace you with not even the next best thing, with the easiest thing that they could pay less. And like, I don't know. I just feel like everybody's just a number in the corporate world they totally are i mean the amount of nights he sacrificed weekends that he sacrificed holidays yeah that

you know he i'm not even gonna talk about when i worked there we'll just talk about when you worked there the amount of holidays and stuff we sacrificed for them. And just to be reminded that you're just a fucking number. We're going to replace you. Three days later, they said. I mean, and so when we opened our place, that was one of our biggest things is like, when we hire people, you're a part of our family. You know, this is not, you're not a number. I'm not going to treat you like you're going to be replaced.

I want you to know your value, your worth. Yeah. Because we literally went through it. Yeah. You know, ourselves. Absolutely. Well, let's, let's pivot back. But real quick, why did you get into like that, into selling drugs, being a D-boy?

Why did you get into that? How was your home life? Were you close with your family? So I was my my family was kind of like her I mean she makes a valid point when she says it's not necessarily your home environment that steers you in that direction because my parents they they worked hard but again they weren't at home but it wasn't because of them doing the wrong thing. It was because they were always working. So they were never home. So we kind of turned to the streets a little bit.

And when I moved to Oklahoma City, we came from Kingsville, Texas. So down in Kingsville, Texas, that's a small country town. Right. So when we moved to Oklahoma City it was like what is all this what is this like you know so we started running the streets and then we didn't really have that home life no more so then we started turning to the streets is you know protection protection and and just the validation and the acceptance of somebody

being there for you even though it's a false picture right you know but as a youngster you're thinking all these people got my back they're here for me they you know but when really it's just a bunch of kids who are just like you. Just lost. And then, you know, it started, the money thing started becoming a deal where it's like, man, I can make, I can go make a thousand dollars today and only put in four or five hours worth of work. Yep. And I can have everything I want. Yep.

You know? And. The delusion. I, that's where my addiction. I grew up in the streets, so I understand it 100%. When I talk about addiction, that's where my addiction started. grew up when I talk about addiction, that's where my addiction started. Okay.

With the money. That's money. Yeah. That's the same. I love still addicted to making money. Now that we're on the addiction thing, let's get over here to you. So you went to the hospital,

get, got your stomach pumped, all that stuff. Take me on the ride from there. Okay. So there are very many months that are missing. Lots of months that are missing. So bear with me.

No, you're good. So it started with that. And then unfortunately, so where he was seeking like the friends vibe and the family vibe, I was chasing my daddy issues. You know, so I was going after just fucking trash if if we dated before i met him you need to look into yourself because there was something

wrong she's like i'm a walking red flag i was a walking red flag like red orange yellow green blue everything she was a rainbow bitch just pretty much I mean a motherfucking train wreck and and I wasn't I wasn't a good person so if I was hanging out with you or I was dating you or we were friends I was using you for something back then and it got to a point where I felt like I had been done so wrong for so long I was like fuck all of you yeah you know it's me against the world and so basically it started off as drinking and it would go you know I'd be with this group of friends or I'd hang out with this group of friends or I hang out with this person slowly but surely that party scene begins with coke on weekends, tripping, you know, shrooms, doing acid.

Oh, you want to snort this? Here, take this. Here, do this. Next thing you know, you're in a flop house in fucking Buford, Georgia. Strung the fuck out. Not Buford. Like, what?

Golly. I mean, it just, I don't know. Or the amount of times that you know i come to and in in the streets and just i gotta say i miss drugs from back in the day i can't get what the fuck are they doing these days no it is like i'm scared to fucking die thank you i won't even drink at a bar with a bottle that's been open not in front of me it. It's not, it's just, it's too scary of a world. And I think honestly, that's part of,

we knew how to party. Yeah. These motherfuckers now, this ain't partying. What is fentanyl? Why are we playing with that? I just told the story the other day, fucking some dude went to the fucking hospital,

overdosing because he was at a bar, got served a drink that was from behind the counter in a beer, in a bottle. They found fentanyl in a alcohol bottle in a bar and that doesn't happen you know that's gross you would you would go get to do coke in the bathroom stalls on the back of the toilet and be okay yeah i used to crush on xanax on the back of a toilet yeah but you knew it was a xanax nails full of coke off a stranger's pinky nail just walking by and you were good you know like that's exactly what it was these days i honestly i think that's one of the reasons that like that

not the whole reason but it's definitely a part in what's kept us off the streets you don't know what the fuck you're getting these days ever ever it's not like it used to be where you would go get a dime sack or like it's just not yeah it's not the same world that we were living used to have rules back right and apparently there's no rules nobody has like any um compassion i dare say or like empathy or regard for human life nothing like it's fucking weird run into that problem a lot you know that's like me and my brother were talking the other day you know back in the day we would do things I'm gonna criminalize ill but people used to get robbed and

not killed right now right people are getting killed for chains on the on their neck dude LA and fucking Vegas well well not vegas as much but la right now they're just looting pulling up on people and fucking it's just it wears what's the reason because at least back then we had a reason i wasn't just trying to like i was robbing people because i was fucking i was i called myself i called myself robin hood i would rob from the rich and give to the poor and i was the poor i was hungry so i was robbing hood i needed some food and a place to stay tonight yes exactly no like and now people are just i mean even like rich kids are fucking killing people just because they think it's like makes them cool like we've been having this problem lately when we when we help people that people don't feel

like they deserve the help, I think something that people got to understand is like, just because that person on the side of the road, you think they're going to go and use your, let's say you give them five bucks. They're going to use your five bucks to buy alcohol or drugs. What the fuck do you think I was doing? Right. I mean, at one point, I was given second chances that I did not deserve.

Right. But if I had not been given those, I don't think I'd be sitting here right now. Right. You know, so. How deep did your addiction get? It went pretty bad. My, it turned out my drug of choice was meth. I used to smoke it.

See, I used to snort it. The burn I was all about. Not me. I wanted to fucking fly like a kite. No, no. Twist and turn. It was me. I wanted to fucking fly like a kite. No, no. It was bad. I knew it was bad. I'll never forget it.

I just told Terry. She works with us at our cafe. I just told her this story the other day. I'll never forget it. Towards the end of my reign, right before I made the call that I was done and I wanted some help. I didn't know what that looked like, but I knew I I needed help I'll never forget sitting there in this motherfucking bathroom at this hotel with a line of dope in front of me and every oh it gets me so emotional every time I talk about it because every ounce of me didn't want to but I did and that was when I realized like I don't

this isn't a choice for me this isn't like I know this is wrong and I'm not gonna do it it had gotten to the point where I didn't have a choice I didn't want to do it but at the same time you're doing it right you know and the willpower just isn't there and I'll never forget that same night I called my dad from the hotel room I didn't have I didn't have a pot to piss in I don't have no license i don't have no car no money no phone nothing i lost absolutely everything i called him and he was like well you know your mom said that we can put you in a hotel room tonight and then you can go to rehab tomorrow otherwise we'll put you in a hotel room tonight and then we just like we got

part ways we're sorry but like we can't do this anymore i had broke into their house i had stole from them um i had stole from my siblings just strung out just doing i mean you're not you oh no especially meth meth is like it changes your whole brain meth and xanax are two drugs and i used to love mixing them it's really unsafe let's not do that i used to do eight balls of cocaine and come down with fucking bars of Xanax are two drugs that are like... And I used to love mixing them. It's really unsafe. Let's not do that. I used to do eight balls of cocaine and come down with fucking bars of Xanax, dude. Yeah. People are like, you can't overdose on Xanax. I'm like, yes, you can.

Yes, you can. And your heart can stop if you mix uppers with downers. And they also don't really tell you about that these days either. And I don't know why. No, they didn't back then either. They really didn't preach that to us. Because I remember I got a prescription of Xanax. That was my drug of choice was Xanax and cocaine.

And fucking, let me tell you, I fucking ate 63 of the blue footballs in a 24-hour period. Jesus Christ. I fucking was so fucked up all the time. So gone. Like, so gone. How am I alive? Did you end up in a Walmart? Yeah, like, how did you even?

With a bag? Because that's usually where i would end up behind my car in my car fucking sleeping and my homeboy had to pull me into his apartment that's a whole nother thing i woke up with him on top of me like it was just so gross yes yes drug addiction is just that's kind of what i was saying earlier it's and i'm not saying like any girl ever puts themselves in the position but what i'm saying is you find yourself in that position around predators yes that feed off it's almost like how low you are you put yourself around these people thinking they're going to be different or knowing damn well in the back of your head they're not and I mean I'll say that's one thing that kept me alive when I was on the

streets doing my stuff going with my gut yeah and I felt something in my gut we're out yeah you know um but it for me it had gotten bad towards the end right before the hotel situation had happened um I went by somebody's house to see a friend and I got a bad feeling and so I told my homeboy I was like yo let's, we need to leave. I don't want to be here. I have a bad feeling. Man, we went to open the door. There were guns, cops fucking everywhere. Get down on the ground.

Get down on the ground. Knees in our backs, thrown down on the fucking ground like animals. Now, I would like to say I deserved it. I deserved every motherfucking bit of it. Still fucking suck, though. So I need to say that. It's not like I was mistreated by the police i was not i absolutely deserved everything that they did to me back then um because i was doing it first you know the first time i got arrested 17 years old apparently in the state of georgia you were

considered an adult at 17 years old that's the fucking most fucked up rule have you seen 60 days in um i've watched it a couple times okay the jail they show that's in atlanta off rice street yeah 17 years old. I hate that. That's the fucking most fucked up rule. Have you seen 60 Days In? I've watched it a couple times. Okay. The jail they show that's in Atlanta off Rice Street. Yeah. That's the first time I got arrested. That's where they put me.

Wow. Jen Pop. Dressed out and everything. Lost my paperwork for five days. I'll never fucking forget it. Wow. And that was the first time that I... They probably wanted you to sober up. I think they did, but it didn't work.

Oh. It didn't work. Yeah. No, I kept going for a couple more years after that. Oh, fuck. But, you know, it's crazy because I look back on it, and these days, like, it feels like a different fucking person. Yeah, it's crazy.

Do you feel like that sometimes? Oh, yeah. We just bought a house back in Vegas, and every time I go back there, I'm just like, who was that little girl running the streets? Yeah. Like, who was she? I wish I could just fucking see her and hug her.

Tell her it's going to be okay. Tell her it's going to be okay. Yeah, everything works out. Just keep your head up. Exactly. It's just so crazy, but it's such a beautiful journey that you guys are, that we're embarking on together

and that people are learning about you that you could even be here to sit on this couch and say that. Yeah. That's the fucking whole- Mind-blowing. Yeah, full circle thing. And that's our biggest thing that we try to preach to people is you know no matter what your passion no matter what you've done in your past and no matter what you've been

through unless it's hurting you can get through you you can get through it and there can be something better on the other side absolutely 100 i'm sure i speak for you as well when i say this but when it comes to feeling absolutely hopeless like there just is no possible way you can keep going we understand you can yeah you can and for us i know you've got your person i've got my my dad's my homie man you know he took me to rehab he took me to rehab i didn't want to go i got pops is cool pops is cool i got out the car on the way to rehab because i didn't want to go to rehab i changed my mind halfway through and then he came back picked me up then i went to rehab for 35 days

the plan was i was getting out and going back to their house and moving back in with them but see the problem is every time I moved back in with them I'd relax right you know because obviously I wasn't that wasn't where I needed to be right it was a trigger yeah so they uh they my dad was like okay we're taking you to Texas to a halfway house with a bunch of bitches and I'm like what females I gotta live in a it's like a sorority house i don't want to do this so halfway to texas i got out on the side of the road somewhere in mississippi and started walking down um i-10 he came back and got me that time too um but that dad that man that man been through a lot with me he's shown up to trap houses and gotten my clothes back with his little jorts tucked in and his belt and high socks never he's not the jorts and the socks we love dad yes i love that

so he would show up he didn't give a damn he wasn't scared of nothing he would show up and he would always be there and the fact that he never gave up on me, and he's not even my biological father, gave me that little bit of strength I needed to be able to push through it. And to be honest with you, had I not left Georgia, I would have never got off drugs. Would have never got off them. The environment was making you sick.

Yeah, yeah. People, places, and things, man. People, places, and things. And as far as because i know this is everybody's favorite thing to say well i can't just pick up and move across you think i had fucking money i when people say that to me too i'm like i moved with a trash bag of shit and myself no license no car i moved to texas i moved into the halfway house five hundred dollars a month to share a room with three other women.

And walk- They charge you $500 a month? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We in the wrong business. Mimi, we need to open a halfway house. What the hell? Yeah. That's $1,500 a month for three.

But then they take money from you. So they didn't at first. They tell you you can move in and get a job. And they give you like a 30 day grace period or whatever my parents ended up just going ahead and paying my first month's rent and and telling me you know we got you this month but come next month you don't got it you don't have a place to stay right and I got a job making fucking like 7 25 8 dollars an hour walking to and from the mall you know and catching rides when i could did it suck yeah was it fucking hard absolutely did i do the work am i where i am today because of that

yeah so did you stay sober i stayed sober hey i did and that was may 28 2014 shane what about you and your addiction i heard you say that money was your first addiction did And that was May 28th, 2014. Fuck yeah. Go mama, go. Shane, what about you and your addiction? I heard you say that money was your first addiction. Money was my first addiction. And then I started drinking a lot. And then came the pills. I love a good lorderve.

I love a lorderve. It's always good. The blue ones were the best. The little blue footballs, yes. That's why when you said that, I was like Lorders. It's always starting to be. Mortgage orders, shit. The blue ones were the best. The little blue footballs, yes. Yes. That's why when you said that, I was like, okay. Yeah. Well, the blue football Zannies is what I was taking. Oh, okay, yeah.

I took 63 of the little blue.5 Zannies. Oh, yeah, yeah. But I do love the blue Lorders, too. Those are my favorite. And the Norcos. The Norcos were my shit. Your DOC is weird. I've never met someone in my life.

So after the pills, I started with the water, PCP. Wow. He really said balls to the wall. That's not even right. Why do they call it the water? So because it's like a liquid, of course. Okay. And you dip your cigarette in it.

Right. Oh, no. Listen, I smoked a Sherm stick one time. like a liquid of course okay and you dip your cigarette in it right oh no i listen i've i smoked a sherm stick so i don't know why i don't know why where the water came from that's what we called it you know you know we called it sherm yeah is that the same thing yeah sherm pcp yeah it was like embalming fluid yeah i literally fucking couldn't move talk nothing you can't do nothing it's like it's like you're in a whole other world. Yeah, it was crazy. It's not fun.

He thought so. For some reason, now I look back and I'm like, what the hell? Because I mean, I can remember times of me and my brother sitting there like, we didn't even know what we were doing. Right. Well, no shit. You're high on fucking PCP yeah it was it was bad uh so yeah I got I got on that for for a long time he said fuck it I went from pills to PCP like I'm like comparing over here like I didn't do that I mean none of it's good but I have to to say, I'm like, that's brave.

When you say you're trying to escape, I escaped. Yeah. I really got out there. Yeah, for sure. So, but yeah, I did that for a while. And then the meth came along. And I ended up, like her, I was bad on the meth. But the thing with the meth was, is thought well this is cool i can stay up

for three or four days production and make money mania dumbass you know i can hustle three or four days straight and i don't have to sleep and but then it turned into a deal where it was more of a need than a want like yeah i you know you're using more than you're selling well and that wasn't even really my money maker because I did cocaine a little bit but that's really where I made my money so I didn't really like messing with that too much yeah I dibble and dabble with it you know mainly if some some bitches came around and they're like oh yeah i'm like oh okay let's get everybody fucked up maybe i get lucky tonight yeah absolutely you know i don't know people fuck on cocaine i shit my pants and i fucking can't eat and i'm a weirdo when i'm on

cocaine unless i'm completely drunk everybody who does a line of cocaine or meth you're you're going you're taking a big dump you know literally right after you do it everybody's in their draws so i don't understand how people think that's a hot drug you know no but i i i did that and so the meth became a big issue for me because i like i said i i was shoot i was probably me people, we, you know, an eight ball of meth a day. Wow. Yikes. You know, just smoking. And there were times, I mean, I've woke up with cigarette burns in my shirt where I've taken nod naps off and be up for four or five days and just horrible.

Yeah. for four or five days and just horrible yeah you know I ended up that was right around the time I got raided and got caught with all the weed and everything and then I got locked up and then when I got out I started kind of doing the same thing again were you sober and when you went to jail yeah so I was sober yeah and I didn't really too much mess with it because when I got locked up, I started, you know, you have that little jailhouse faith. Yeah. Like I'm going to be better. Yeah.

So I had that in there. But then when I got out, of course, I started talking to the same people again. Right. And so I started going back down that road again. But then that's when my baby mama ended up getting pregnant and my daughter was the second one yep and that's when i said you know what i gotta do it right this time right so was your baby mama using too uh no she she was pretty a straight and narrow she was actually that was kind of an accident to be honest not an and my daughter

wasn't an accident but the baby mama the baby mama was kind of just one of those spur of the moment type things that happened right and she got pregnant and it was like okay maybe I need to do the right thing this time right yeah so I did the right thing and that's when for me it was a little easier because I had my daughter there's my motivation so rehab never worked for me I tried that when I was like 16 17 and it didn't work yeah I went to rehab in Texas Louisiana I kept getting kicked out Louisiana they told him to leave field over there in Louisiana and we would be sitting there and a therapeutic I mean we would sit there in the in a meetings tripping on shrooms listening to talk I

think that would be healing for your brain though right use it now for like depression and for people who are actually and people ask me why i don't go to meetings that's why yeah that's why do you know where you can find drugs meetings no thank you so for me rehab didn't work you know that just it didn't work for me yeah personally my daughter my kids that's what got me going it got me straight yeah so i love that so let's keep going with your story um after you went to rehab you started working at the mall and um i started dating the world's biggest douchebag the drug problem just not the daddy bro what is wrong with me remove the drugs and alcohol and apparently i'm still trashed you're an Aquarius we learned the hard way yes so

yeah I started dating this total fucking shit show of a person that was your roommate right yeah oh yeah you never shit where you sleep no no no no I called him I'll tell you I was like oh damn it

I was dating this and again this goes back to if I was fucking with you back then. Right. It was out of convenience. Right, absolutely. I love that you can admit that, though. Yeah, no, it's true. Because I learned it when I first got sober with that fucking guy.

If you ever listen to this, I don't apologize for a goddamn thing. You got what you deserved. Pretty much. So I moved him in to um i'm stupid i had my own place and i had a job and i had a lot of things going for me and i it was going well except for him right come to find out this dude's been doing heroin i didn't know i didn't know so anyway i moved him into my apartment like the good girlfriend I was yeah and um dude starts fucking around you know fucking other girls hanging out with other girls um apparently doing heroin didn't

know that at the time so anyway it got it got really bad with that guy and he started sleeping on the couch and I was sleeping in my room which is where he gets the term roommate oh gotcha I start working at Chili's and this motherfucker keeps trying to holler at me. And I thought that I was being... So you guys met at Chili's? We met at Chili's. Okay. What did you think of when she first walked in and you saw him?

I was trying to holler. She didn't want nothing to do with me. I thought he was a drug dealer. I mean, he was. Turns out, no, at the time, he had more time clean than I did. Aw. But she But you know

The tattoos and everything She's like oh he's just a thuggish drug dealer He looked like him in it He had a shaved fucking head All these tattoos Three deep and the teardrops And the sleeves Come to find out three deep is for him and his two brothers

A lot of MRI on his neck Is for his two daughters Half these tattoos I was judging him for were done sober. Like after he, so it kind of opened my eyes up a little bit to like, hey, maybe stop being such a judgmental bitch because you don't know everything. Don't be a bitch, Erica. Pretty much. Pretty much.

And so he kept trying. He kept trying. And I was really trying in my mind to do what I thought was the right thing by dating this fucking douchebag and holding on to it for whatever goddamn reason. Yeah. Well, we try to fix people. I think so. Women with trauma, we want a project.

And we, oh, you're a douchebag? Got you. I could fucking make you a better human. Yeah, I know. It never works out. And honestly, it almost took me out. It almost took me out because, you know, I'm not going to lie. I tested the waters.

That was when I was still kind of freshly sober and I tested the waters and I wanted to know like if I was an alcoholic or not. And I come to find out, yes, I am all the things for one. Just an addict in general. Just an addict in general because it's not just drugs and alcohol. It's Netflix. It can be sex. It can be not sex. It's Netflix. It's, it can be sex.

It can be not sex. It could be, you know, working. It could be being a mom. It could be anything. And I'm like, oh, all in. Let's go. You know what I mean? But sometimes there's got to be a balance between things.

But with that guy in particular, it's starting to get really bad. I started noticing the same things that were happening in my addiction. You know, cops getting called for domestic violence. Now, I just want to let the record reflect I was beating his ass, not the other way around. Take that sight over there. Take that, all right. But, I mean, I was – okay, let's go backwards.

So I was arrested when I was 17. The guy that I was dating back then, I had found out I was okay let's go backwards so I was arrested when I was 17 um the guy that I was dating back then I had found out I was pregnant um I didn't know what drugs I had done I didn't know how much I had drank I didn't even know how far along I was at the time so we told I had moved out of my parents house I thought I knew everything and I went out on my own um 16 17 and when I found I was pregnant I was too scared to tell them so I told his mom and she looks at me down in my face and she said don't worry honey we'll take care of it she drives me into South Carolina and paid for an abortion and at 17

in the mind frame that I was in you thought you were doing the right I really did I really did and don't get me wrong I, I would have never met him. I wouldn't have my beautiful children. I wouldn't have the family that I have. But does part of me sit here and wonder? I'd be lying if I said no. Right. You know, but fast forward a little more.

I was with a guy that was beating my ass. Right. You know, I was with a dude that put me down, that isolated me from everybody, that put his hands on me, that, you know, I was with a dude that put me down, that isolated me from everybody, that put his hands on me, that, you know, I'll never forget the time dude put his hands on me while we're driving down the side of the road, and I jumped out a moving vehicle.

Yeah. Walked home barefoot three and a half miles to my parents' house. You know, so a motherfucker never forgets stuff like that. So when this stuff happened with, ooh, I almost fucked up. When this stuff happened with. If you do, I'll bleep his name. When this stuff happened with Homeboy, I wasn't going to let it happen.

I wasn't going to be a victim again. I had been a victim for so many years. So instead, I became the, what's the word? The offender? Yeah. The aggressor. I became the offender. And, you know, things just got really bad.

And I was really glad when he finally, he was on probation and he had it transferred actually back to oklahoma weird um and he and he left one day he stole my fucking dog ew little chihuahua i used to put her in sweaters her name was maria um he took her maria the mexican right and into my body She was the best I tried to replace her with Chico But that didn't work out This sweet man He knew I was heartbroken three months after I kicked his fuckhead out And he had taken my dog and went into my paperwork And took her papers and everything

So I couldn't say anything Because he had everything And I started dating Shane Or talking to Shane What made you change what was like okay i'm gonna date god he's a motherfucker persistent he was a gemini he just kept and and not in a creepy yeah like pushy way either he was just he knew what he wanted conveniently there yeah you know, and I'll never forget,

his motherfucker went to the animal shelter and tried to replace Maria. And he brings home this broken dog. He's named Chico. And don't get me wrong, the thought was great. We no longer have Chico. No, Chico didn't make it. Chico didn't make it, but Shane tried.

He tried. Shane tried. That's sweet. You know, but... Chico had a panty fetish oh god chew them all up oh my god not clean come home and they would be everywhere oh man she's getting so mad about chico and made weird noises like you really got a broken dog. I don't know. I mean, he was at the pound for a reason. So something happened.

Right. Somebody let him go. Something happened. So I mean, at least you tried. I'll never forget him. He had a lot of trauma in his young puppy life. OK. Oh, poor thing. So then after Chico, we switched to pit bulls.

We should have just stuck that route, you know, because we've all, we both of us have had pit bulls our whole life. So now we've got seven. Oh, nice. Yeah, we've got seven pit bulls and we'll never go back to Chihuahuas or whatever the fuck Chico was. So take me to the beginning of you guys' relationship. How was that? Like, did you guys ever slip up together?

Have you guys remained sober the whole time? Nope. No, we have been. How long have you guys been together? Oh, God. What, eight years? Eight years now. Oh, yeah.

Eight years now. Or almost eight, no. Eight years now almost eight no eight years and no slip up well it's about seven and a half so where is catalina catalina seven that's how long we've been together okay it's already i lose track sometimes but yeah it's been about seven to eight years taking it back to where we met all right so i kicked homeboy out um or he left whatever volunteer whatever you want to say i don't give a um dude was gone and uh shane came over one day to hang out and he never left oh he just he just kind of moved in i mean don't get me wrong it wasn't like

did he put it down were you like like what were you just finally like okay he could stay yeah yeah i love it i love it every possible way this man could uh fulfill my dreams it was happening you know and not for once it wasn't it wasn't monetary it wasn't stuff it was it was an emotional connection it was a person that wasn't judging me that wasn't didn't want shit for me other than my company and just you you know and and then on top of that just the motivation that he's been bringing to the table for the last almost 10 years is just unmatched unmatched you know but when we first met he moved in and then uh i told him what did i tell you i told you wanted, when we started getting a little serious, I was like, I want a ring, a house, and a baby.

Right? That was the three things I asked for. Three things I asked for. You got all three. Not in that order, though. Not in that order. So first he found a house. I think they went backwards.

They did. First he found a house. And don't get me wrong. Our house was the cutest little blue house, red door. But it was only two bedrooms. Right. Okay. Our life is such a fucking shit show.

So Shane has his two older daughters that were living with his, whatever the fuck you want to call her. Baby mama? Baby mama. Trash. They were living there and then Shane had another baby, a little baby girl, whose mom is, we're not even going to call her that. So Shane, you have two or three? I've got five.

Oh, you've got five total. Okay, gotcha. I've got five total. So the daughter that I'm talking about now is actually, she's mine now. Oh, okay. She's mine now. So the daughter that I'm talking about now is actually, she's mine now. Oh, okay.

She's mine now. Her egg donor is a, she's, you know, I've learned to have a lot more sympathy for this girl over the years. I'm not going to lie. There's still probably going to be a time where we meet in the yard. Right. You know, for all the things that we've been through. We're going to have to hash it out in the front yard at least once. Yes. At least once yes at least once

but for right now she can't get off heroin she's got a lot of mental things going on um and despite every bone in my body i hope she gets right yeah some women just weren't meant to be moms but there's gonna come a point where catalina grows up and goes looking and i just want her to know that i hope she does the right thing by her yeah you know but regardless cps calls one day um he was in louisiana louisiana working i was at home and he calls me and he's like, he was on a trip opening a Chili's in Louisiana. He was a corporate trainer at the time. And he's like, hey, CPS just called and my daughter's being removed and placed with us. And I'm like, oh, hold on.

I forgot something. We found out I was pregnant. Right before that. Like two days before when we were moving into her house and so he tells me this and i'm like oh okay all right so what do we need you know she was nine months old at the time we got nothing she came just her um so we went to walmart and we bought all the things that we could possibly get for baby you know because babies need formula crib bottles toys diapers wipes I mean it was it was a lot and honestly she gave me my purpose yeah so yeah I had been

sober before I met Catalina and Shane but until I met Catalina I'm gonna start crying I know because I feel the same way about Bailey. I just, for her, it's a little different because I chose to be her mom. You know, with Jackson, I mean, yes, we chose to be parents and have him and I love him and he's my son and, you know, but with Catalina, I got to make that choice. Yeah. You know, and then unfortunately. You got to show up like your stepdad showed up for you.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, and then unfortunately. You got to show up like your stepdad showed up for you. Yeah, yeah. And so unfortunately, we tried to let her egg donor be in the picture at first, but she just. Caused more trauma. No, you throw some rope and she'd just keep hanging herself.

I mean, it'd be a couple inches and she just. And don't get me wrong, she caused a lot of drama, but it was more the drugs and the guys and the lifestyle she was around. I mean, she was nine months old, taking her out to parties at one o'clock in the morning. Yeah, there was a lot of suspects of abuse. There was apparently a lot of CPS history with her other two kids. So it was a clusterfuck of things. Well, you know how to pick them, Shane.

For real, bro. I've got some crazy ones. Third time's a charm. Yay. You know how to pick them, Shane. For real, bro. I've got some crazy ones. Third time's the charm. Yay. You got it right. You fucking got it right, finally, Shane. I had an addiction. It's fine.

To what? Treasure? I guess. It's alright, baby. Eat that up. But, yeah, so at first she she was around and then she wasn't around and so i i will never forget it there was a day where i had to make a choice she needed to call me something and when she called me mom i didn't correct it because that's all she knew was you know i was the one that was let's do all she knew was, you know, I was the one that was. That's still all she knows. Yeah.

Still to this day, the woman knows us like for a dollar a day. You too can sponsor one of my children. She owes us like $20,000 in child support. She's not seen her in four years. Four years. Something like that. She hasn't even. Hasn't asked about her. She hasn't even asked about her in four years.

She hasn't seen her in probably like six. Five or six. So as far as Catalina knows, I am all that she knows because I'm the only person that's been there. Now, don't get me wrong. She went through a lot of trauma when we first got her. You could tell she was being left alone in a crib because you could just tell. If you shut a door, she would scream scream she was not cool with men being around she would freak out if a man was around um so she was basically my little homie i mean we were just ride or die all the time he worked daytime i worked nights so when i was

working she was asleep but during the day like we were just you know and we did we created this this amazing mother-daughter bond and she taught me how to be a mom yeah you know and before you were a mom before i was mom while i was pregnant while i was like you know adjusting don't get me wrong alana and mariah which are his older two taught me how to be a bonus mom but their mom is still in the picture so it's a little different because you got to be the fun person i got to be the fun weekend parent you know but with catalina i had to actually be a mom don't get me wrong i made so many fucking mistakes yeah i'll never forget uh there's there's just all sorts of things i've made all sorts of mistakes but now i get it

we got full custody of Bailey, like two months after Jay and I got together, her mom was a heroin addict left for five years. So really all Bailey had from seven years old till, you know, just recently her mom came back about two and a half years ago, got sober was me. And when we got Bailey, Bailey didn't know how to brush her teeth. Bailey didn't know how to wipe herself after going to the bathroom. Bailey did not know how to sleep in a bed because she had grown up in a trap house pretty much. And she would sleep in a chair every night full of laundry. And then she would take care of her other two younger cousins that were at the house.

Like she never got a childhood, you know, got to be a kid, right? She never got to be a kid. And when we got her full custody, I know exactly what you mean when you choose to be a kid and when we've got her full custody i know exactly what you mean when you choose to be that parent figure for that because i had a stepmother that was so abusive and so fucked up to me that that was one of the reasons and that's why i hate that word stepmother i hate that i don't know she was a stepmother yeah yeah but it sounds like you know so where it's justified it's justified yeah that's why my and i make them call me my bone their bonus mom yeah i'm like you're my bonus kid yeah well so with bailey when bailey calls me mama bear and like that was her choice that she wanted to call me mom i was always cool with being bunny i

never wanted to take her mom's place like that because i knew that one day felicia was going to get her shit together and we're so happy she did and you know i really hope for you guys a sake and for catalina that her mom gets her fucking head out of her ass. We hope so. Kids are so special. I think it's hard also, though, when you mix drug addiction with mental illness. Oh, yeah. Well, they go hand in hand. Yeah, and you don't have a support system, which unfortunately for her, she just doesn't.

She doesn't have a bunch of people in her corner. And she's the shit on the street these days. I mean, the last time she relapsed, I genuinely think it just fucked her up. She ended up in the mental hospital for a couple months. Yeah, I mean, she just did some bad dope and didn't really come back from it, you know? Oh, yeah. So, and... Yeah, you don't know what you're fucking getting on the street.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

Yeah, for sure. So, I mean, it's been a rough road. So, we went from that. And then, you know, we've had our two for, shit, we've gone from upgraded house to upgraded house. Because we just keep adding bodies into the home. So that's the part of having a relationship. So it's like great, but it's like, shit, I just want a home. So we finally bought our first house, what, three, almost three years ago?

Almost three years ago. Good. And then, of course, it's not big enough now. Oh, no. It's fine. bought our first house what three almost three years ago almost three years ago good and then of course it's not big enough now like it's fine well we added a little guest house now to it yes and so that's where you guys need some property and just start building barn dominiums we got about three acres yeah out in the country and we added a little guest house okay no it was my shipping and receiving department for coffee. Right. That's what it was.

And so I renovated it and I got it all set up with all the cutesy things. And then this happened. And so now we're back in the living room. Right. It's all right, though. But it's okay because you know what? It could be worse. Yeah.

So take me on this journey with you guys getting on TikTok and, you know, did you guys do the coffee before TikTok? No. Okay, so take me on this journey. Okay, so. Because my husband found you guys first. Yeah. And he was like,

you guys gotta, you know. And the weird part, this was not planned. This was never. She got on TikTok to find out about what the teenagers were doing. What the kids were watching. Yeah.

I just wanted to know and then I started seeing some of the influencers like that they were looking up to and I was like what the fuck oh yeah why are you watching scary place holy shit so then I was like okay well maybe if I do some of the videos with them you know maybe maybe I can be a better influence not an influencer just a better influence for them right next thing you know me and him just dicking around making videos online turned into like viral what the fuck happened it's crazy that was so weird so weird

i literally posted a video last night talking about how my vagina smelled like tuna fish and it got two million views right it's never the one i'm like really everybody's gonna think my pussy smells i'm like god and everybody's like ew i can't believe try. I'm like, really? Everybody's going to think my pussy smells. I'm like, God. And everybody's like, ew, I can't believe you said that. I'm like, it's a fucking joke, you guys. It's not really what I meant. But if you actually put effort into it and try, it won't do nothing. It doesn't work.

It doesn't work. And honestly, so I will say TikTok's been very detrimental to makeup for me. Because I used to do makeup in my lashes and my hair and my nails and everything. And these motherfuckers had the nerve to tell me I was pretty without it. So fuck that. I mean, bitch. Let's go. I wish I could do that.

I can't. You guys don't want to see me when I wake up in the morning. So I'm not going to lie. My cocky son of a bitch ass was like, okay, well, I'm not wasting money on that anymore. This is the first time I've worn makeup in what? It's probably been, I don't know. A minute. I love it though. But we opened a restaurant and so

we live and breathe so did you open there okay so we talked about we talked about the restaurant back when we first met at chili's we've kind of been talking about it our whole relationship but we were too chicken shit to like go for it yeah and then um i had right before we opened the restaurant i was traveling a lot and so because of me learning about the tick tock and making the dance the tick tock what the fuck that was that day did you the tick tock it's not you it's me um but i started using that as an outlet because i started i I was really lonely. I was traveling for a job where I was basically on the road. It would be like two weeks on, two weeks off, one week on, one week off.

And I'd be in anywhere from Detroit to California to. Michigan. Yeah, I mean, just Detroit is in Michigan. It's fine. See, you see how much I get out of town? And, you know, so I was so I was just constantly on the road. And I was lonely. And I was starting to just feel it.

Yeah. Just really feel it. And honestly, TikTok helped me learn how to be okay with myself. Right. Be okay being by myself. And then not only that, but like but like man I found all these adults on there I've got all these trashy adults that are just like us and I'm like okay so these are my people and I just kind of was like okay well can I be a better influence for the people that you know that are on here and so I just want you know and what i've been trying to do since i did

start going forever i just want to normalize real life right you know not everybody's life is glamorous not everybody's life is butterflies and blowjobs i wish it was yeah but it's not maybe not butterflies and blowjobs but like mountain dew coffee we need to make that merge or you should make that merge make that that merch. We got that merch. Life's not all butterflies and blowjobs. No, yeah, but just put butterflies and blowjobs. Keep it simple. People know exactly what it is. I don't know.

I wanted people to know we're not glamorous people. We live a very normal life. And what we do is no different than what everyone does. Yes, we do monetize on social media but most of that goes it just gets donated yeah me and him have lost everything so many times we don't live like that anymore right as i sit here in my champion sweatpants did you see my new slippers i did i checked them out i totally checked them out so you know i don't know it's the little things for me now but

so take me on the journey with the restaurant you guys had always talked about it and then we always talked about it and then about two and a half years ago I was miserable traveling and so we I was working all the time you were miserable working 60 hours on salary. My dad passed away. His dad passed away unexpectedly in 2020? He was only barely 60 years old. Wow. And it just kind of got us thinking like, you know, life, you know, I mean.

Tomorrow's not promised. Tomorrow's not promised. You know, and we always were about the security because we had the job security i was on salary she was making good money but we weren't raising our kids other people were raising our kids so yes our kids had everything they could possibly want and our bills were definitely paid but at what cost you know right nobody was happy you know know? So we were like, you know what? Let's just roll the dice. We don't have a lot to sink into it.

So there was a building right in our town that was going to be an Italian place. And then it just didn't work out, I guess. Like, they just never opened. So he called, like, to find out more about the building. And they were like, no, no like we're trying to sell the building and and they didn't want to you know do it and he comes home and he's like we're gonna do it and i'm like are you fucking crazy i'm like let's do it come on and i was like okay all right and so then we tried to hide it from everyone. So we tried to pretend like we weren't going to do this because we knew how crazy it was.

Were you just scared of like, it was in the middle of COVID. And let's be honest, everybody, family, everybody was like, y'all are fucking crazy. Y'all are fucking stupid. You're a salary. Why would you give that up for this? You make good money. Why are y'all doing this? Like, don't do this. It's not, itucking stupid. You're a salary. Why would you give that up for this? You make good money. Why are y'all doing this? Like, don't do this.

It's not, it's stupid. Right. And we were like, you know what? It's not y'all's life. It's ours. Yeah. We're going to do it anyway. Yeah, let us fucking do what we want to do.

So we really did. We threw all our eggs in one basket and ran. We threw it all in and ran with it. Haven't broken too many just a few you know you guys food looks fucking amazing so good i'm so proud of them i'm so proud of them shout out to armando josh and terry we are really proud of you guys no it looks amazing but yeah we you know we gambled on it but where it's been hard but it's it's been but it's, it's been good. It's in Lake Hills. It's about 30 minutes outside of San Antonio by Medina Lake. Okay.

Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. And then the, so I bartended prior to my last job. And so I kind of wanted to do that again. Cause I always had fun with it. But again,

going back to the addiction and everything, how am I going to promote something that I don't even do? You know? And i don't like being around people that are drunk and stuff at this point in my life because i'm not about that way i've been sober since 2017 off pills 2018 off alcohol so anytime i see drunk people i'm just like it's annoying yeah when you're sober and they're drunk it's not it's like i'm just like i look like i pretty much won't i i just it's not my type of scene right we've grown up you know we're kind of just not trying to be around it plus it's also very toxic

for people like us because the first time maybe not but second third time the delusion starts coming right you know yeah and so we the other thing is is our town, all of the restaurants that are currently there are bar first, food second. And with the exception of the Mexican restaurant, I feel like they're a nice mix. Those Mexicans, they're always on it. Love that food though. They always got it figured out. But that was the thing. I told him, I was like, there's not really anywhere for a family to like take their kids or you know how about the fact I'm driving 30 minutes every day one way to

get a decent cup of coffee without having to make it at home well then I ended up making a coffee bar in my bedroom and then we decided to open this place and we're like coffee bar yeah and so basically I just I posted a tiktok one day and I said that um I was looking to hire only felons because we wanted to give somebody a second chance that I knew probably wouldn't get one somewhere else and Terry which is our front of house employee commented and was like um my husband's not a felon but like he's he's looking to get on his feet and they've been with us since day one they still work for us they're they've become part of our family i love their sons become like you know our little godson and you know we love edison to death and you know

then along the way we've introduced new characters to the story and everything we finally got our convicted felon we'll go armando yeah we're ruined for you buddy we are ruined for you and i love the underdogs man i do i love the people that are down and out and and don't see a positive light because to be that for somebody that was for me or for him honestly beats every experience hands down that i could ever describe i mean just to watch somebody's gratitude and watch them pull themselves out of the trenches just just from giving them a little bit you know you don't do everything for them but you give them just what they need hope yes the world needs more hope the world needs more hope a little tiny fucking gram of hope can can really burn somebody's fucking day

and i think people just need a chance yes and i think people forget that these are human beings yeah despite whatever the fuck that they have done in their life. Right. And how they've gone to the point that they've got, that is still a person. Yeah. You know? And I don't know. I just, I'm all about the underdog,

man. Cause no one ever wants to give them a chance. I love how you deal with the trolls too. I see you clapping back all the time. Cause I clap back. It's always the same type of fucking people. I told her, I saw your,

your, your, your post the other day about middle-aged men. That's her biggest pet peeve, the middle-aged men. Like, you know you're at home with your mom. Like, I wouldn't even talk to you on the side of the road. You know you whack off to giraffe porn, fucking Animal Geographic or whatever the fuck. You know, like, bro, who the fuck are you?

You know, it's always some dude named fucking Mike or some dude named John. Or like, bold of you to assume that anyone was even fucking talking yeah or how both of you to assume that you your opinion even holds any weight in this any yeah i got a man i've got a dick i don't need another one thank you no for sure and i mean that both metaphorically and physically i mean like he's an asshole but my husband's been a dick this week, too. It's all right. But it's okay, because you know what?

At the end of the day, I think everybody thinks I'm just this nice, sweet human being. I'm a fucking psychopath. I'm like, no, I didn't. I never thought that. Yeah, no, your girl is crazy. I was like, real, recognize real. I'm crazy. It's fine.

I mean, I've got good moments, but I've also got a good ball of anxiety. You're just blunt and take no shit. There's no point in skating around just fucking tell me how you feel yeah maybe is that not me when people call me

and they're like passive aggressive or fucking don't do that I'm like just give me a fucking point what the fuck my kid will call me

and she'll be like so how are you I'm like what do you want yeah what is it that we're leaving let's cut to the chase you're not calling to find out how I'm doing be like, so how are you? I'm like, what do you want? Yeah. What is it? Let's cut to the chase.

You're not calling to find out how I'm doing. You need something. So just say you need it. And I think that I think those trolls hurt me the most. Like my feelings hurt me the most is the ones that are like, oh, they were so nice. And you're no, I'm a fucking bitch. Yeah. No.

Somebody said the other day. I thought, Bunny, I thought you were better than that because I clap back at fucking Travis Tritt for fucking talking shit about my husband. But very nicely and respectfully. There's a way to do it. Absolutely. I'm never mean when I clap back, but I will fucking hit you where it hurts.

But I'm not going to sit here and just close my mouth and not say nothing. And I'm not going to not have my man's back. Yes. And we're at this weird phase in society these days where I think people um they accept a lot of disrespect yeah no stand up for yourself man just to keep it cool everybody's so scared of being canceled canceled or whatever i don't give a fuck i'm not i canceled myself last year

i beat you all motherfuckers to it so you can't yeah you know no i we had merch i said my i canceled me or cancel my ex or like we i joke around about it all the time i'm like please you can't cancel people who actually have people who love them you know like there's nobody ever really gets canceled it's just a whole fucking phase of people talking shit for a few days don't get me wrong you know like we we try my my biggest thing and i'm sure you're this you'll say the same thing is we're trying we got a lot of bad karma you know we've done a lot of really fucked up shit stepped on a lot of people over the years correcting that we're trying to you know and fuck i went to get i went to academy what was this like three days ago oh yeah and nobody better let

my son listen to this but i got my son an archery set his first one for his birthday it's a big target and everything they gave me a bow that wasn't mine so i went back in and i was like yo like y'all gave me this it ain't mine and the guy's like i'm not fucking going home with this i have to sleep tonight yeah i know i didn't pay for it. It's stuff like that that we try to do because at the end of the day, I'm the one that's got to sleep tonight. And I'm already going to have enough hard work. You're just trying to do the right thing.

Yeah. And so it's just little things like that, trying to put one foot in front of the other, consciously making those decisions, that eventually it becomes second nature. Because if you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought I'd be sitting where I'm at right now, I would have laughed at you. You know, you're so, you're so, I think you guys are turning your, you guys have been putting in the work and the universe can see that. And you guys have stayed sober this entire time. You guys

have done right by your children. You guys have done nothing but try to correct everything that you guys have done wrong. So everything good that's coming your way to start manifesting putting it in the air you know just speaking positive that's our biggest downfall yeah we feel like we're trash so we're like you could be trash but you could be positive trash i like that you know i'm trash but i fucking will manifest the fuck out of some shit we'll be positive positive. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm a trash bag. I am a dirt ball. But I fucking will manifest the fuck out of my life.

Because naturally, I'm not a nice person. I have to. I have to. That's why I tell everybody I'm extremely violent. Yeah. I want to beat your ass half the time. Not you, but like people in general. Like you say, and I'm like.

No, if you listen to my podcast, I talk about it all the time i am very violent i came from violence i have been through nothing but see listen are you listening yeah i grew up i grew up in the street so it was kill or be killed you know and it's a survival tactic but you can still manifest your life and i think the best thing that you could possibly do in your life is no matter how much you feel you don't deserve it because of past mistakes, you do. And you've got to start projecting that because the earth, the universe grabs everything you say. You know, so when you say we've got a lot of bad karma coming to me. Nope. Return to sender.

We've got a lot of good karma. You guys have put in the work, dude. He always says the same thing is he's like you'll be the first one that can give some great fucking advice but you can't follow your own advice yeah because it's hard it's hard it's very hard but sometimes but you deserve it and i want you to know that and you got to work on accepting the fact that you deserve all the good process we're getting there it's like i know i'm a badass bitch but sometimes i don't feel like that you know hello we don't wake up.

Trust me. And some of these people crack me up because they're like, well, how do you get up every day? Because if I don't, six other families are affected by it. I don't really have a choice. Right. Does every day do I wake up with a smile on my face? Absolutely. Fuck not.

Right. Do I yell at my husband every morning at 7 a.m.? Well, I would too. Who the fuck wants to be up at 7? Who opens a breakfast place when they hate? I hate the morning. I couldn't do it. There's no fucking way.

My husband is on this kick right now where he just got off tour and now he wants to fucking wake up at 7 and 8 in the morning. And I looked at him. I said, honey, I've been with you seven years and every morning I get up at 10 a.m. I'm not changing my food schedule. It's been that way this whole time. Don't come in here like a bull in a china shop just because you're fucking off she hates it i wake up bright and early and i'm all

happy ready to do that how do you our hormones aren't even awake yet no and you know i i especially till i have coffee what the yeah don't talk to me no. How do you even have a full-on conversation? I'm a rough one in the mornings. You are great. You're fabulous. I would be lost without you in the mornings. I think you guys really complement each other. Yeah, total opposites.

He's like calm, cool, and collected and not a psycho. And I'm the opposite. I heard crazy pussy is the best pussy, though. He's like, obviously, look at my track record i don't my addictions i love it so what does 2023 hold for you guys what do you guys have goals plans anything we have so many dreams have you guys ever sat down and done a vision board we we do have actually because we were actually talking about it today because we're actually thinking. Should I say about us relocating?

Speak it in the universe. We're thinking. We're thinking. It's a thought. Put it in the universe. So we thought, because all her family lives out here. Tennessee, Georgia, all of it. We need breakfast places out here. So

we have played with the idea of maybe trying to relocate out this direction. Please do. We need breakfast places. We'll promote it for you guys. We'll do whatever you guys need. Unfortunately, I mean, I have my mom and my brothers left, but

most of my family's gone. But she still has all her family her brothers her sister her mom her dad so we've thought i've i've wanted to come out here because of the fact that you know life is short and i'd like her to be closer to her family instead of being so far away she gets gets to see her parents not too often. So it'd be nice to come out here and actually that's my focus right now. You and Jelly can hang out.

He needs a buddy. He needs a friend. He needs a friend too. So does Jay. So they can be best friends. Both his buddies. I miss my alone time, but this motherfucker always there.

Cause before, you know, we worked all the time so it's like we were in passing time together was a lot more special now it's like okay can you go watch id in the fucking living room no listen you guys don't even got to say anything my husband's been off tour for a week and i'm like when do you go back on tour like when he that's what you tell me don't you have something to do yeah i had to tell him that i'm like honey our house is a well-oiled machine with or without you i said so just come on in and don't cause waves you know like let's go well then that's our job we're coming in and making splashes oh for sure i mean that's that's what you guys do we're coming in to fuck the whole house up we're pissing everybody off yeah absolutely once we got everybody pissed off then we're gonna leave

yeah exactly no they get to do whatever they want just utter chaos like we don't already live in We're pissing everybody off. Yeah, absolutely. And then once we got everybody pissed off, then we're going to leave. Yeah, exactly. It's bullshit. No, they get to do whatever they want. Just utter chaos. Like, we don't already live in utter chaos, you know? But I'm glad it's just, it's probably a man thing, I guess. I don't know. It's not a Shane thing.

It's a man thing. So you guys, for 2023, thinking about relocating? We don't know if we're going to relocate or if we're going to get, we don't know. We've just started the conversation. We've also played with the idea of maybe doing like a food truck, coffee truck type thing. Oh, yeah. Where we could go to the 50 states. Kind of like how the musicians do tours.

Yeah. We could do a tour. Right. And we could just kind of tour around because she gets a lot of people, you know, a lot of followers. Don't have the means to travel. Absolutely. And stuff like that.

They would like to meet her or stuff like that. Or the people that want to try the coffee but they can't maybe necessarily make it happen it'd be nice if i could just show up at some of these people's like neighborhoods and be like yeah what up hong kong you want it back you know so and you know also one of our roasters we're about to lose one of them long story um the other one is what's a roaster what's our they roast our coffee for us so they take the raw bean and then they turn it into the powder no are they actual coffee so a coffee bean raw is green wow and then or like a tannish color and then they turn it into the brown okay roast it never and um one of our roasters is in macon Georgia so we'd like to be closer to that roaster

because they're phenomenal right they've just been so great to us and everything Macon's pretty close to here isn't it it would be a weekend drive right four hours and again my parents live in Georgia so it'd be like I could go drop my kids off where they could spend time with grandma and grandpa and I could go get coffee and then come spend the weekend with them and then go back or whatever absolutely yep but um you know our employees have all told us that they're they're down for the count okay with us you know none of them are are stuck in stone staying there so we just we want to make sure we're giving the opportunities to them also right and i don't ever want to just settle and be comfortable and now don't get me wrong I don't want a big lavish lifestyle or big house or nothing that's

just not me anymore um but I know the power behind social media yes we've all seen for you know however long you've been doing it I've been doing it about two years you've been doing it, I've been doing it about two years. I've been doing it probably about 12. And to watch people, just strangers. Yep. Help total fucking strangers. Yep. Expecting nothing, nothing in return. Mm-hmm.

I would like to be able to do something with that more. Right. And where I'm at currently... It's hard. I just feel like I'm kind of not where I'm supposed to be. If that makes sense. You got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Making decisions like that isn't easy.

No choices have been made. No decisions have been made. So if you live in our town, don't worry. We're thinking of you. We're not going to just up and go. But something's pulling at our heart we just don't know what yet so we're kind of trying to figure figure that out for 2023 i know we went from two full-time kids to three yay so that's awesome uh we got a

grandchild no i don't you do i'm oh you're G-Ma. I'll be Erica. That's okay. She's like, that's when I want to be Erica. I'm not even 30, so I am absolutely not a grandmother. I'm Erica. Hot gilf. You'll be a gilf. Oh, God. So, yeah, that's pretty much what we got going for.

Maybe we'll actually get married. So you guys aren't married. Okay. So we have the marriage certificate. Right. It's half filled out. Oh. The only part that didn't get filled out was, you know, where the preacher signs it and all of that.

We just don't have that part. All right. So I'll let you know if you don't know out in the world. When you go to get married, you have to go get married. You got to get the certificate. You got to fill out the top part. You got to pay like whatever they charge you. Then you got to go to somebody else and have a witness and like an officiant and they got to marry you.

Do it in Vegas. Then you got to go back and have that shit filed. We didn't do all that. No. The first Vegas, you go to the courthouse, get your marriage certificate. You go get married. Then they file it for you. What the for you that's what Jay and I did so we've been half married and we can go to the casino while we're there we have a house out there you guys can stay at November 2020 I think is when we got half married so I keep the certificate it's something we want to do. It's just every time we go to do it,

it's some curveball gets thrown or something. Time. Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Well, and honestly, until I met him, I didn't even want kids or marriage or like the... You guys are pretty much common law married. Yeah. You got to file for that in Texas, apparently.

You can't? You have to file. Same we can't you have to file same fucking shit you gotta file some kind of paper that like yeah it's stupid so i'm like okay i'll be your half wife yeah you know like i mean you guys got the kid you guys are good i feel like this way seven dogs however many motherfucking kids all the house the business i feel like you're good this is a commitment you know i love it i love what you guys have i think you're adorable so i mean i don't know it's been it's been a crazy it's been a crazy road um but it's been super rewarding the social media thing i don't know has really clicked for either one of us um when we opened the cafe definitely not before the cafe now i'm scared to like go in public because people always come up to you.

Yeah. And who the fuck am I? You know, like I just, I don't know. I still see myself as just this normal, regular person that's no better, more special than anyone else. So, you know, now that we have the cafe and people coming in and like. Wanting pictures. Man, the things they say sometimes i'm like really you think that like it just makes you want to cry sometimes i don't know like people like i said strangers just doing things for sure i don't think people are spirit though people can feel your spirit you know just like you just like if you

see a tiktoker that's shitty you can feel their spirit and when you see a tiktoker that has a good soul you can see their spirit you know so people can feel you they know your intentions are good they know you're not a bad human so why wouldn't they love you it's just strange you know it's just it's a very uh i'm still gonna wear my 2005 hollister joggers and you know i'm not gonna change me that's what she said she's like i'm showing up i'm showing up in my my sweatpants and my in my slippers this is my only time i get to relax like there's sometimes mimi has to tell me to get dressed she's like bitch you're not wearing you're not wearing a hat and a hoodie again she's like why like it's so yeah you know and so i mean that part's been an adjustment and and the people

just always be yourself that's kind of what i'm trying to hold on to you like despite anything that may change like i just want to be me as i sit here with a full face of makeup i just want to look pretty today you're fine i had time i understand though everybody comes on the podcast all dolled up and i love it and it's the only time that i'm like in sweats like i'm with it though but i don't ever have like in the mornings I'd rather sleep that extra 20 minutes oh yeah put any bit of makeup on I mean I do mascara but that's about it here like so if I'm not filming I don't know if you guys follow my backup TikTok my backup TikTok I am fucking homeless I love it 24 7 it's my phone's off it's oh hey it's bunny later yeah it's just oh hey it's bunny and that's

my TikTok that I vlog on. That I literally just wake up and talk to the camera. And people love that shit. Yeah no it's crazy. You know why? Because 90% of the human population right now is watching this or listening to this. In their joggers and their hoodies and their. Absolutely.

No makeup face. Yeah. And if I'm not filming or touring with daddy or we're not doing a show or whatever. I am literally at home fucking homeless. literally fucking T-shirt, no makeup, zit cream on my face. Unless you tell me I have to. Kick it and scream it. Because why would you?

You know, it's a waste of everything. It's how you have to be. Yeah, for sure. Well, I want you guys to come back on the podcast. I love you guys' story, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. Plus, it gives us an excuse to come back to Tennessee. Yeah. Well, I'm going to be living here. If you guys live here, it can't wait to see where it goes from here. Pussy gives us an excuse to come back to Tennessee. Yeah. Well, I'm going to be

living here. If you guys live here, it'll be easier to get you back on. I know, right? That's true. Why don't you guys shout out where everybody

can find you, your socials and stuff like that? I didn't know we were supposed to do like cool usernames. So mine's my name, Erica Rifkin.

And then you got, of course, Out of the Way Cafe. Out of the Way Cafe Out of the Way Cafe if you go to erikkarifkin.com you can find everything you can find everything

you can find all of it mine's not creative mine's Shane Warman when was the last time you made a social media post I don't even think I'd try posting if you need to find me

you can find me over there yeah that'll be with my page you can find me over there yeah no he's horrible he was like well how can I help, you know,

because I don't have a social media manager. I don't have an assistant. I don't. Me either. I run all mine. Except for the dumbplot page. Mimi runs that. Well, yeah, but I don't do any of the, I don't have any of those. So if you see me posting on social media, like, it is me. He doesn't

post for me. No. It is me. I'm a control freak yeah don't fuck with my shit man because like today i tried to post a lovely picture of me and him eating at this lunch like guideline violation why they said that i was what was it spam spam and pretending to be somewhere that i wasn't or some shit like that? Did you appeal it? No, it was literally a picture of us eating at the 55, 50. On Facebook? Yeah. Oh my God.

I can't stand that. The dumbest shit. The dumbest shit. It was like at a restaurant in Franklin. My butthole's on fucking Facebook. And it's fine. It's fine. I know.

And it's fine. I know. But we're eating a bowl of gumbo at the restaurant. And it smelled fine. And they just got it on there. So then I thought, I was like, no, no, no. It was the queso was it was the queso it was the queso with the with the brisket in it so then i was like okay well obviously did you

appeal it yeah obviously and then did they give it back that no then i made another post because i'm me right you you know so i mean because they will take your page no it's a different picture okay same place more food on the table. Oh, God. And I'm like, I said something along the lines of like, since you're claiming I wasn't here, here's more food. All right. They took that shit down too.

Are you serious? Yes. Somebody's reporting you. Has to be. That's exactly what it is. So I'm like, okay, well, I guess I'm not a foodie then. Are you sure that you're appealing it right and no I'll have to see it let me see it I don't know you know because like when

I get them it's always something like on TikTok when I get guideline violations I'm usually like okay all right you're right yeah yeah because there's a lot of times she'll do a video she'll post it I'll be like you're fixing to get a guideline. I usually private it to avoid it, you know, but on Facebook, man, they really just. No, it's the Wild West over there. What the fuck? Literally, I went from like I went from seventy five thousand to eight hundred thousand since last November. Right. I figured out a trick with building it with the reels.

Reels like that. It's the reels. And then fucking these motherfuckers fucked with the algorithms. It's the real fucking these motherfuckers fucked with the algorithms. Now reels barely get any fucking thing unless they're like certain like, like officer Udi, he fucking gets so many views. Mama taught, she gets so many views on her real stuff like that.

I think you have to be like a special person for them to do that. I get fucking hit. Some fucking troll said something to me. I told him he looked like a fucking ramen noodle. And I remember you telling me that because I said something about how I was calling someone a jalapeno popper yeah you mess you're like don't do that i'm like be careful someone a ramen noodle yeah don't do that i'm like uh she got the oh yeah guideline violation for calling someone a gnat and and it said in her she sent me the screenshot

in the violation it's but yet there's people just trolling and tearing no you can't refer to people as an animal as an animal or an object oh uh what about food right apparently that's harassment and bullying so the more you know god yeah no facebook is just i went from and so just saying i went from that to fucking barely even being able to get views on my reels very engagement I was grounded for like 60 days where like

I was getting like 100 likes on a post with 800,000 people like they had me so shadow bound it was so bad well and I was pissed

there for a while because so I had a personal profile but I've had that one you know since Facebook came out so then I didn't every time I got a guideline violation,

you run the risk of losing your account. Yeah. So then I got scared. So I made a Facebook page. And that one, the profile I had at almost 200,000. But then made the Facebook page and started totally over. And I use, I'm logged into his account. So if I fuck up, he loses his Facebook, but I don't lose mine.

Right. But what's weird is, so I'll tell you all about. So if I fuck up, he loses his Facebook, but I don't lose mine. Right. But what's weird is, so I'll tell you all about it whenever we get off here, because I'm not telling everybody all my fucking Facebook secrets. But you guys got to promise me that you're going to come back. I want you guys to come to the podcast. We will, for sure. We will definitely come back. Yes.

All right. And thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of Dumb Blonde. I will see you guys next week. Bye. Bye.