The Refreshingly Normal Podcast with Kēfla and Cree

What if the new year didn’t demand a whole new you, just a clearer, kinder version of who you already are? We kick off 2026 by choosing “enhanced you,” and the conversation flows from real-life flu season tactics to identity-building habits and the courage to show love on purpose.

We start with a family check-in and practical health talk, why quarantining early, visiting urgent care, and considering a one-dose antiviral li...

Holidays can be cozy, chaotic, and clarifying and ours had all three. We kept the menu simple, savored a dressed-up Costco smoked turkey, battled through musical cups with championship-level energy, and used the quiet to talk about what matters more than leftovers: respect, boundaries, and what we refuse to carry into 2026.

First, we unpack a story that stings: a woman’s dishes are ignored at her in-laws’ gatherings then e...

Bells, games, and real talk, this one feels like the living room after dinner when the stories get louder and the truths get clearer. We start with holiday week chaos; team charcuterie, dress-up days, and a White Elephant that actually makes sense, then dig into something deeper: how to support teens and adults in crisis without slipping into fixer mode. You’ll hear practical, compassionate tips for regulating emotions, honoring ag...

Holiday cheer meets hard truths, and we’re not tiptoeing around either. We kick off with the real work of easing burnout—especially for educators—by building a simple, repeatable plan you can stick with when your brain is fried. No perfection. No spiritual gatekeeping. Just short meditations, one-minute box breathing, and the honest practice of noticing, naming, and returning. Our goal: you leave lighter, not just inspired.

A season meant for joy can get loud with pressure, plans, and family politics—so we pulled the plug on perfection and built a holiday that actually feels good. We start with lighthearted banter about shopping days, hidden gifts, and that eternal real vs artificial tree debate, then shift into the real work of December: protecting peace, choosing boundaries, and keeping kids out of grown-up crossfire. As educators, we also unpack fi...

The rain started before sunrise and so did the stories. We drove 13 hours to Wichita for a week packed with caregiving, cooking, and a smoky casino that taught our teens more about odds than any math class. What we brought home wasn’t just leftovers, it was a sharper sense of what makes holidays work: clear boundaries, shared effort, and small rituals that outlive a single season.

We get honest about hosting in a small spa...

What if your retirement address was “somewhere at sea”? We kick off with classroom wins, a Spirit Week fashion misread, and a kid who kept checking if we’d moved from the same hallway spot—then steer straight into a wild idea: buying a cabin on a residency cruise and circling the globe for years. No cooking, no cleaning, nonstop ports. Tempting? We pull the dream apart with real questions about family ties, health, flexibility, and...

A single text and a church livestream blew the lid off a carefully hidden double life—and we walk you through every jaw-dropping turn. We start with the small inconsistency that sparked suspicion, then trace the calm, methodical investigation that followed: unopened mail with secret credit cards, receipts for trips and gifts, a holiday card from another family, and a decade of messages that confirmed everything. The harshest twist?...

Ever notice how stress sneaks into your house wearing different faces—short replies, nitpicking the tiniest thing, or a sudden urge to fix what’s right in front of you? We open up about how we each show stress, why clutter can spike anxiety, and how we’ve learned to spot the early signs before small sparks become big fires. From the social script that tells Black men to “man up” to the habit of masking stress with productivity, we ...

The week starts with small comforts—a heavy hoodie, calm kits for families, rain on the windshield—and quickly widens into the bigger work of care. We swap stories from busy school trainings, a slow nail salon day, and the kind of teacher compliment that fills a bucket at just the right time. Then we open up about a real health scare, the stats around Black men and preventive care, and what it feels like to navigate screenings, sci...

What if a week could be both tender and tough? We open with a restorative practices conference that felt like a genuine mindset reset—circles over punishment, dignity over discipline—and the very real need to decompress after days packed with heavy stories. That leads us into a candid look at sleep on the road: light leaks, hotel A/C quirks, anxious thoughts, and the small tweaks that finally make rest possible. Back home, we’re li...

If real life is a mosaic, this one clicks the pieces together: a cough finally fading, a yard trimmed to perfection, sauna small talk that turns into a debate on fasting, and the quiet victory of getting back to the gym. We trade everyday wins before shifting into the work that fills us up—Cree’s week of trainings, an unexpectedly vulnerable day with high school leaders, and a bright moment with gifted fifth graders building ADHD a...

A perfect-weather homecoming turns into a masterclass on what really sustains us—rituals that root identity, small alerts that protect our peace, and honest talks that make relationships sturdier. We start with the warmth of tailgates, band pride, and the funny near-miss of a fake valet in a brown sweatsuit, then move into an inheritance dilemma that hits harder than expected: a $1.8M house promised to a cousin’s grandson while a n...

A first grader hands a bus driver a note—“Call 911. My mom is being held hostage.”—and everything stops. We walk through what happened, why a quick-thinking adult matters, and the unglamorous systems that make help possible: routes, names, addresses, dispatch, and the calm to act when rules say “no phones.” That story threads into our life in schools—Kefla’s first IEP in a decade, the anxiety and pride of getting the details right,...

Ever been called "OG" by someone half your age? Had a date pull out their baby tooth collection over dinner? Discovered your online match looked nothing like their photos? Welcome to the wild world of dating disasters, brought to you with unfiltered honesty by Kefla and Lucrecia.

This episode begins with tales from our fall break adventures in Lower Alabama (the real LA, as Kefla calls it), where despite swelteri...

Pull up a chair for an unfiltered peek into the lives of educators as we share our most jaw-dropping, hilarious, and sometimes shocking moments from the classroom. From confrontations with angry parents wearing blue plastic gloves (to avoid leaving fingerprints!) to being chased through school hallways by a vengeful bird, these stories capture the unpredictable nature of working in education.

The episode begins with nostal...

Ever wonder if your dating standards are helping or hurting your chances at real connection? In this candid conversation, Kefla and Cree dive into the surprising ways modern dating has evolved—and not always for the better.

We kick things off with hilarious everyday moments, from classroom "silent but violent" situations to Labor Day family gatherings that remind us what matters most. When discussion turns to a v...

Parenting doesn't come with a manual, but sometimes the most valuable lessons emerge through experience. In this heartfelt conversation, we dive deep into what might be our greatest parenting revelation: learning to step back and allow our children to forge their own paths while providing a safety net rather than a roadmap.

We explore the concept of "empathy with expectations" – acknowledging the challenges ...

Dating your spouse shouldn't end after marriage - it should evolve into an intentional practice that keeps connection alive through every life stage. Join us as we peel back the curtain on our favorite date nights from over two decades together, revealing how these experiences have nurtured our relationship through parenthood, career changes, and life's unpredictable moments.

From the breathtaking vineyard picnic...