Laugh Lines with Kim & Penn Holderness

The past few years have been rough for all of us, especially teachers. As we approach a new year of school, we want to learn more how to support both our kids and teachers, especially those in a neurodivergent situation. We called our friend, Child and Family Psychologist, Dr. Emily King, to ask her advice on the subject. Now that there is much more awareness and research about neurodivergent...

I tend to carry the weight of other people’s happiness on my shoulders. I want the people I care about to be happy; so much so that I let it weigh me down mentally and even physically. My friend so very wisely brought up a great point: Why is happiness the goal?  On today's podcast, we discuss the pursuit of happiness, our behind the scenes filming antics, and Penn shares an update on his lif...

Ever since our daughter, Lola, has been getting older, people have been telling me how much "trouble" I'm in as a Dad. That basically, I'm going to have to chase the boys away with a stick... and it's starting to bother me. (Like all of the sudden, my daughter isn't going to be able to handle herself and by God, CAN she handle herself.) So Kim and I called up Dr. Lisa Damour, clinical psychologist...

“So what did you do with your winnings from The Amazing Race ?” is probably the most common question we get asked recently. But when we asked this wonderful community if you had questions for us (WHEW…) you came up with some good ones that were not that.  On our latest podcast we answered the The Amazing Race money question in full detail and so many other really, really insightful questions...

Five years before I was born, 650 million people worldwide watched us walk on the moon. Hot take: I believe that the James Webb Telescope is more important than that. I know that the Webb doesn’t have the same “big picture” gravitas that the moon landing had. But as far as scientific progress and discovery, Webb is more important when you look at the big picture, AND WHAT A BIG PICTURE IT IS. Toda...

We say all the time, but our podcast really is our favorite thing we do. It’s when we actually sit down together for a dedicated time and have conversations about our marriage, family, or things we are trying to learn more about. On today’s episode, we intended to start with a call-in question from a listener and her dad about how to get started making a podcast. That answer took a journey in...

If you met Penn's Dad, you’d know where Penn gets his personality from. He was an absolute legend. He lit up every room he walked into, dedicated his life to his community, and founded local charities to help those in need. Haywood Holderness passed away earlier this month. There’s been a lot of ‘laughter through tears’ at our house remembering him. About 10 years ago, he wrote out specific instru...

In the months leading up to the birth of Lola, Penn was really nervous about becoming a Dad. We didn’t have practice with other kids. We never even had a dog. So we decided to get a fish, as if that would somehow help us prepare to become parents. Needless to say, that fish died within 2 weeks. What a way to start our parenting journey. On today’s podcast, we called our friend, pediatrician and pa...

We know people come to our channels to laugh and escape, but the things happening in our world right now are not a laughing matter. So we decided to do this week’s podcast episode in two parts. We started by calling our senator. Currently, there are two gun control bills that have been stalled in the Senate. I know the idea of calling into a political office can be a terrifying (as an introvert ev...

This week called our friend, Dr. Marcy Caldwell , to ask her the Question of the Day: How many adults, specifically women, are going undiagnosed with ADHD?  As always, Dr. Caldwell had some great insight for us on what it’s like for an adult to have ADHD and why it can be so difficult to diagnose especially in adult women. We also learned that the expectations of modern life can overtax any n...

When it comes to our marriage, I would definitely say I’m the big dreamer. I adore a 5-year plan and especially a color-coordinated vision board. But this week’s question gave me pause: “What are some big life goals you want to accomplish?” I think the last two years with the constant worry and fear of the pandemic, politics, and world news, I feel some goal-setting burnout. Don’t get me wrong, I...

Penn and I have learned to be understanding of how each other’s brains work. He gives me grace when I need to get things in order and I try my best to give him patience when I close the cabinet doors for the 5th time. On this week’s podcast, we interviewed the women who turned organizing in rainbow order into an entire brand. Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin are creators of The Home Edit and st...

As many of you know, we talk openly around here about mental health and the specific challenges we deal with in our own lives. We’ve written songs , podcasts , and blogs about these topics, and one of the most common questions we get from you guys about this is “how do I help my kid who struggles with these issues?” If you were following along last week, we introduced a new podcast format we are t...

Our podcast is our favorite thing we do. It’s like a built in day-date every week where we get to sit down and chat together for an hour. Sometimes we chat about serious topics between ourselves or other times we invite a special guest to teach us something. It really brings us a lot of joy.  With the world continuing to be so serious, we’ve found ourselves seeking out things that bring us jo...

I feel very fortunate to have had our careers and health for the past two years, but I have been in an emotional slump. I'm fighting mine by amping up my extrovert time (shocker I know) but I am determined to push past this slump. Penn has been in a recent slump with his tennis hobby. He realized he has been putting more emphasis on his athletic performance instead of just having fun. Penn an...

Now that The Amazing Race has concluded, Penn and I have been interviewing as many of our co-contestants as possible. To wrap up these bonus podcast episodes, we brought in fan-favorite and host of The Amazing Race, Phil Keoghan! Phil gave his behind-the-scenes take on what it’s like to be on the other side of the mat each week. As one of the Producers of the show, Phil has been there through all...

Growing up there were the beliefs we hung our hats on before we were old enough to know better. Recently, I wrote a blog post about these past ideals (even ones that I've said to my own kids) that I'm trying to unravel now. We've all had missteps that have made us who we are today, but it's good to know when those idioms aren't serving us. You all came in HOT with some contributions to my list so...

My birthday was this past weekend, and it got me thinking about goal setting and aging. Usually, I am a very goal oriented person. However, with the world so out of sorts in the past two years, I haven’t really spent time thinking about achieving new things. Even though I'm in my mid-40’s, I still feel young. I also see many people in our lives getting older and I know I'm not (that) far behind. T...

Recently, we asked you to send us your questions and you had a ton of great ones on marriage. Come on a double date with us while we discuss what to do when you and your partner want different things, our pet peeves, and Penn’s desire to create a man purse. (Do we need a podcast about all his crazy ideas?) Tell us what marriage questions we missed! Don’t forget to call us and leave a message - we...

It goes without saying that The Amazing Race pushed me out of my comfort zone. Never in a million years would I go bungee jumping off the highest jump in Europe, or climb a thousand stairs, or EAT. MAGGOT. CHEESE. Also when, as a middle-aged parents living in North Carolina, would we have the chance to hang out with twin radio DJs from New Jersey? We wanted you to have the chance to meet Lulu and...

Penn and I are recovering from a busy couple of weeks, so we wanted to go back to basics. We asked you to submit any and all questions to us. And let me tell you, you did NOT disappoint. Your questions led to some very interesting discussions about jam stands, hobby hunting, and optimal bedroom size. But the question that made us laugh the most was: "So, what's your deal?" We tried to answer that...

While we are “getting back to normal” content in most ways, we will still want to spend some time and introduce you to some of the people we met along the way on our Amazing Race Journey. It’s strange to think about it now, but Cayla Platt and Raquel Moore were the very first people we met on the Race. We didn’t know it then, but almost two years after we met in that airport, we’d be going head to...

In our years together, Penn has done an amazing job making me feel completely loved and accepted just the way I am - anxiety and all. And, in true Penn Holderness fashion, he’s not only learned to support me through my anxiety, but has pointed out positive parts of my anxiety that can actually be a benefit sometimes. Talking about anxiety is really HARD for someone with anxiety, but we put th...

Did we just win The Amazing Race? This week on the podcast recap, we give you more behind-the-scenes about what things were like leading up to and winning the race. We also talk about being with our kids and the cast to watch the finale together. It was a moment we will remember for the rest of our lives. I can’t say enough about the producers and people behind the scenes at The Amazing Race. They...

If you’ve been following us here for a while, you know that we both openly talk about our mental health challenges. For Kim, it's anxiety and depression. For Penn, it's ADHD. We’ve written countless songs, skits, and blogs about these struggles. Most recently, Penn wrote a blog about how he processes his ADHD and turns it into his superpower especially through our time on The Amazing Race. Support...