Sidetracked

It's Cynthia's birthday, and we're celebrating with a disturbing realization: we've officially reached the age where we don't recognize celebrities, we discuss the weather, and we have strong opinions about restaurant noise levels. Cynthia takes Heather through the latest TMZ headlines (we know approximately three people), while Heather reveals she's applied to be a radio DJ despite suffering from...

It's another episode of Sidetracked, and we're covering everything from dirty dancing and a sweet adoption day to some very unexpected conversations with strangers. Cynthia's back from a girls' trip to Utah, where a plane ride and an early-morning Uber led to some interesting conversations about faith, marriage, and a few things she really didn't need to know before breakfast. Meanwhile, Heather h...

We’re officially done pretending to understand things everyone else seems to have figured out. El Niño? No clue. Credit card points? Absolutely not. Macros? Please stop talking. Two-factor authentication? Feels aggressive. And don’t even ask us whether certain celebrities are alive or dead. We also compare midlife forgetfulness stories, revisit a truly unfortunate photo with Candace Cameron Bure,...

Apparently Prada has decided what the world really needs is an $875 diaper cover for grown women, and naturally we have thoughts. This week on Sidetracked, we’re talking questionable fashion choices, a Hyrox athlete with a level of commitment neither of us possesses, and all the sayings we still use that make absolutely no sense to our kids. “As the crow flies.” “Tape the show.” The Yellow Pages....

What do you get when Cynthia is dressed in a tiny police hat and Heather nearly takes down a fighter jet factory after eating McDonald’s? Apparently, an episode of Sidetracked. This week we’re talking about the very humbling reality of raising kids after publicly speaking about how to be a good friend, the viral mom-group controversy that has us firmly Team Oreo, and why elementary classrooms may...

Heather and Cynthia are back, and life has been coming at them FAST. Between college drop-offs, home chaos, parenting grown kids and a few situations that could only happen to their families, they have plenty to unpack—including a college bedroom decorating situation best described as Fifty Shades of Grain. Cynthia also shares about a scary and emotional few weeks with her mom’s unexpected cancer...

Heather and Cynthia are back after a little summer break, and apparently they packed an entire season's worth of stories into a few weeks. This episode includes Olympic bobsleds, fly-fishing anxiety, wisdom teeth, skydiving, law school move-ins, and the realization that moms never actually stop. You'll also hear what may be the most unnecessarily complicated peanut butter and jelly run in history,...

Summer = lots of family time and a need for a lil work break. Cynthia and Heather are taking two weeks "off" from recording sidetracked. We'll be back with new episodes on August 7th. Today's episode originally aired in October of 2025. We get gloriously sidetracked by life’s adventures—like forgetting to pay the water bill, paying stadium prices for bottled water, and mourning the very first ding...

This week, Cynthia and Heather are taking a lil breather and republishing an episode from our first summer together back in 2023.  That summer we recorded a 6-part mentoring series for the Don’t Mom Alone podcast. Each episode we attempted to answer a listener question with a bit of wisdom while also sharing the real life challenges of parenting.  In this convo we talk about what shows we weren’t...

This week, Cynthia and Heather cover everything from Grandma Camp and grown-up field trips to possums, baptisms, and unexpected social media greatness. Oh, and Joanna Gaines reposted Cynthia’s story. We are not okay.  They discuss the behind-the-scenes chaos of organizing Cynthia’s first-ever Grown-Up Field Trip to Magnolia in Waco, Texas, including giant passenger vans, and some fabulous travel b...

What do hot rollers, menopause, a shattered office window, Texas A&M orientation, and four highly questionable dogs have in common? This week’s episode. Cynthia and Heather sit down with comedian and author Ellen Skrmetti for a conversation that somehow covers Southern beauty (not so) secrets, Botox, parenting in midlife, and why life is often completely—and hilariously— cattywampus (which als...

Summer is here, which means Cynthia is creating ambitious plans for educational walks and homeschooling (which should last until approximately Tuesday at noon), and Heather is simply trying to survive graduation season and a questionable medical intervention. This week, they compare notes on a wedding, summer parenting, airplane annoyances, and the shocking discovery that "cocktail attire" means s...

This week’s Sidetracked includes a college decision fake-out, a daughter trying to square up with a driverless car in Austin, and Heather nearly getting into a roadside altercation while refereeing two grown adults behaving like toddlers. And in a weird déjà vu situation, Abby made the neighborhood Facebook page again after getting caught stealing freedom laps around the neighborhood. There’s also...

Happy Mother’s Day from Sidetracked! This week, Cynthia and Heather celebrate by bringing on two very special guests: their moms. What follows is equal parts heartfelt, nostalgic, and absolutely hilarious. Between forgotten hearing aids, technology struggles, and one mom admitting she doesn’t actually listen to the podcast, the episode is entertaining from the very start. The conversation somehow...

It’s the typical Sidetracked chaos when Heather casually drops a surprise guest into the mix. Cynthia spends way too long preparing (panic-researching every Christian comedian she can find) just to avoid saying the wrong name. Somehow, she correctly lands on Tim Hawkins, and the conversation quickly turns into stand-up, “years of failure,” and whether Cynthia could casually open a show (she’s conf...

Today we’re spiraling (naturally) into the part of the internet where people are turning their kids’ teeth into jewelry. Rings. Actual rings. We are not okay. We also unpack the emotional damage of putting bar stools out for bulk trash… only for them to sit there for days, completely ignored. Nothing like realizing your garbage is too garbage for other people to take.  And we try out a new parenti...

Cynthia accidentally clocks a kid in the TSA line (not on purpose), and the mom’s reaction has us asking: is everyone just one moment away from losing it? Heather raises the bar with a St. Patrick’s Day story that includes: a trip to the ER a completely unhinged parking lot and actual mace Meanwhile, spring break delivers its own set of moments—ranging from crowded chaos to situations that make yo...

Heather has a new hobby—hip-hop dance fitness—which leads to a very real conversation about midlife exercise choices, ranging from dancing to water aerobics to the stroller workouts moms used to do at the mall. That, of course, opens the door to a shocking revelation that some totally off-the-rails mothers used to take strollers on escalators (i.e., Cynthia). There’s also a discussion about a chil...

We kick things off with a formal retraction (names were mispronounced, people were wrongfully declared deceased… you know, normal housekeeping) and quickly spiral into a debate about doppelgangers, dingleberries, and the dangers of speaking with confidence and zero knowledge. Cynthia shares post-cry reflections and Supertracker sightings in the wild, and Heather shares mammogram updates and the gi...

Heather and Cynthia are back, and Heather willingly chose an 8 a.m. mammogram, post–Super Bowl, and showed up with enough energy to be invited back daily by the staff. (Why strangers get the best version of us remains a mystery worth studying.) From there, things escalate quickly—Olympics confusion, a headline that probably requires earbuds if your kids are nearby, and Cynthia deeply misunderstand...

We accidentally hit record (on brand) and immediately found ourselves deep in Snowmageddon 2026. Heather hasn’t left her house in days and is thriving with a crochet blanket and zero plans. Cynthia, meanwhile, has hosted friends, neighbors, parents, and possibly a small village because extrovert energy does not freeze. Somewhere in the middle of all this, Heather’s family survives multiple car acc...

Cynthia is fresh off a trip to Focus on the Family—where she “focused” on everything except packing the essentials. Meanwhile, Heather gets mildly hit on at the body shop while climbing into their totaled car in cheetah pants. From there we veer straight into the chaos of Dallas mom-life: engagement parties, teens abusing calorie-counting apps, the madness of Junior Symphony Ball ticket day, and a...

Christmas included a full house and a whole lot of stinky armpits for Cynthia, while Heather returns from Mexico after eating chips for breakfast for a week. The two swap gift stories—Heather accidentally opens Lulu underwear in front of her extended family and Cynthia’s vibration plate brings far more laughter than fitness. There’s also a robust discussion around family game fails (including elde...

This episode is officially Sidetracked by Brett—according to Riverside stats and real life. Cynthia outsources a half marathon, still beats Mike, and proves once again that efficiency is a spiritual gift. Meanwhile, Heather’s car gets repossessed, tracked down via Life360, and narrowly saved from auction, which feels extremely on-brand for this show. From there, it’s New York chaos (13.5 miles wal...

Heather and Cynthia are back after Thanksgiving and fully committed to the chaos that is early December—menopausal bras, mounting dogs, viral Walmart sweaters, and all that kinda stuff. Heather recaps her Floribama trip and attending church in a bar. Cynthia counters with peak Christmas in Dallas energy with a decked–out Advent service where the trees were glowing, Silent Night was soaring, and JB...