A Couple of Okies Doing Life

Halloween hangover edition, y’all! Paul & Laurel are back with a light, silly episode about one very big Oklahoma weekend.

First, a birthday shout-out: our Hunter Jo turns 4! 🎂 Then Paul talks about running the 49th Tulsa Run with our son Jordan, his first Tulsa Run 15K. We also get into a rough Halloween for Oklahoma football.

The clocks fell back, so we settle the early-bird-vs.-night-owl debate in our house. Turns out 31% of adults have tried a “sleep divorce.” 😴

Then it’s the Costume Report from trick-or-treating with the girls. Paul was a unicorn, Laurel was a flamingo, the girls’ dad, Michael, was a T-Rex, and Hunter Jo and Marley Rae were the cutest fairies on the block. (And yes, the girls call him “Paul.”)

We wrap up with the Candy Report:

• Oklahoma’s favorite Halloween candy is… SweeTarts?!
• Candy corn: treat or trick?
• The official LaLa Taste Test, because somebody has to make sure it’s safe for the babies. 🍫

💬 TELL US: What was the best costume you saw this year? Drop it in the comments right here on Spotify, or on our Facebook or Instagram. We read every one!

🎁 Congrats to the winner of our signed Laughing Through the Tears giveaway! Find out who won on our Facebook and Instagram.

📚 Laurel’s book: https://laughingthroughthetearsbook.com
🖍️ Oklahoma Fun! coloring & activity book for kids: https://a.co/d/00rygLcE
📲 Follow along: @okies918 on Instagram | A Couple of Okies Doing Life on Facebook & YouTube

Thanks to our friends at Blue Jean Financial (https://bluejeanfinancial.com). We are current clients of Blue Jean Financial. We receive no compensation for this endorsement and have no financial incentive to recommend them. Individual results vary.

Sources: American Academy of Sleep Medicine sleep-divorce survey (2025); National Retail Federation 2026 Halloween costume trends; DoorDash Halloween candy data via Mental Floss (2026); TopCashback parents & Halloween candy survey (2019).

That’s Doing Life, Y’all!!

Fall in Oklahoma means a hoodie at 7am and the AC by 3pm, and Paul & Laurel have opinions about both. This week the Okies get into Oklahoma weather whiplash and the great thermostat war of the Palladino house. (Turns out 1 in 4 couples secretly change the thermostat. We’re not naming names.)

Then it’s football Saturdays. Our Cowboys are rolling, the Sooners beat No. 1 Texas, and we have to admit Tulsa got us in the opener. Plus we’re running the Tulsa Run on Halloween morning before watching the Pokes that afternoon. Is there a more Oklahoma Saturday?

We also cover Halloween then and now: trash-bag ghost costumes, why Halloween became a $300 holiday, and what it’s like being LaLa & Paul this year. We finish with our Tulsa fall bucket list and a challenge to get off your phone and invite your people over.

🎁 GIVEAWAY: We’re giving away a signed copy of Laurel’s book, Laughing Through the Tears! See how to enter below.

📖 laughingthroughthetearsbook.com
📲 Follow us: @okies918 on Instagram and @Acoupleofokiesdoinglife on Facebook

Thanks to our friends at Blue Jean Financial (bluejeanfinancial.com). We are current clients of Blue Jean Financial. We receive no compensation for this endorsement and have no financial incentive to recommend them. Individual results vary.

That’s Doing Life, Y’all!!

🎁 WIN A SIGNED COPY OF LAUGHING THROUGH THE TEARS! 🎁
To enter:
1️⃣ Follow @okies918 (Instagram) or @Acoupleofokiesdoinglife (Facebook)
2️⃣ Comment on our episode post with your most Oklahoma fall Saturday tradition
3️⃣ Tag a friend for a bonus entry!

Enter by Sunday, Nov. 1 at 11:59pm CT. We’ll announce the winner on video Wednesday, Nov. 4!

No purchase necessary. US residents 18+. One winner, chosen at random. Not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Meta, Instagram or Facebook.

We signed up for two big fall races this year — the Marine Corps Marathon and the Tulsa Run 15K. Our bodies only voted for one of them. This week we're getting honest about the injuries that took MCM off the table, why letting go of a goal doesn't mean failing at it, and why the Tulsa Run — on Halloween, in our own backyard, with runners flying in from all over the world — was never the consolation prize. Plus: what a new study says about couples who move together, why our real talking happens on the walks (not the runs), and our non-negotiable Saturday reward stop at R Bar. Grab your coffee and your walking shoes — we're doing life, and this time it's in costume.

#WalkItOut #TulsaRun #StartingOverAt50 #ACoupleOfOkiesDoingLife #DoingLifeYall #OklahomaRunners #MarriageAndMiles

Pull up a chair, y'all — this one might sting a little. 😅

You can quit your job without actually quitting — just coast, collect the paycheck, do the bare minimum. Turns out you can do the very same thing to your marriage. Therapists are calling it "quiet quitting," and it doesn't look like slamming doors or big blowups. It looks quiet. Still married, still splittin' the bills, still under the same roof… but somebody's drifted off to their own island.

This week Paul & Laurel get real about what happens when a good marriage slips into autopilot — and how to catch it before someone's fully checked out. We dig into a Fox News piece with therapist Lisa Brookes Kift, John Gottman's research on stonewalling (the habit that helps predict divorce), and why the couple that "never fights" isn't always the healthy one.

Then our friends hand us three questions that stopped us cold:👉 Can you cheat on your marriage without ever cheating on your spouse — by giving your best energy to everything except your relationship?👉 Are there things we expect our spouse to "just know" that we've never actually said out loud?👉 How much damage is done when one spouse keeps thinking, "it's just easier if I do it myself"?

We don't do doom and gloom — we leave you with the Okie Prescription: five doable-this-week steps to reconnect, starting with the hardest truth of all — somebody has to go first.

💬 Your turn: which of those three questions hits hardest? Drop it in the comments or send us a message.📩 [email protected]📱 @Acoupleofokiesdoinglife on Facebook & Instagram

Don't quiet quit each other. That's Doing Life, Y'all!! 💛

Check out the Bonus takes at the end....

Pull up a chair, y'all — this one's a keeper. This week Paul and Laurel sit down with their friend Nicole Kirkland-Smith, the

author behind the brand-new children's book Pancakes with Nona: A Silly Messy Adventure — the first book in her

"Adventures with Nona" series.

Nicole spent 22+ years in early childhood as a leader, social worker, and artist, and she poured all of it into a book that gets

little ones out of their seats — gathering ingredients, stirring the batter, flipping pancakes, and picking their favorite toppings

right along with Nona.

We talk about the real-life niece who inspired the whole thing, what it takes to go from "I have an

idea" to a printed book in your hands, and why the messiest moments with the kids in our lives are usually the ones we

remember most.

Whether you're a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, or you've just got a story of your own you've been sitting on — this

episode is full of heart, a few laughs, and a whole lot of encouragement.

Grab Pancakes with Nona: A Silly Messy Adventure on Amazon and at pancakeswithnona.com. Perfect for ages 3–7.

That's Doing Life, Y'all!!

[email protected] @Acoupleofokiesdoinglife on Facebook & @okies918 on Instagram

#PancakesWithNona #ChildrensBooks #ReadAloud #ACoupleOfOkiesDoingLife

#DoingLifeYall #NewAuthor #StorytimeAdventure

We didn't start out as the couple with money figured out — not even close. In this one, Paul and Laurel get honest about the credit-card years, the spending that ran the house, and the day we finally cut the cards up and started over. Thirty-one years in, we've learned that money fights are one of the biggest reasons marriages fall apart — and that turning it around has nothing to do with the label on your shoes or keeping up with the Joneses (spoiler: they're broke too). We're talking about learning to save after learning to spend, killing the comparison game, and why building wealth was never about being rich — it's about freedom. If you're starting out tight or digging out of a hole, this one's for you. Broke is a season, not a sentence, y'all.

New episodes of A Couple of Okies Doing Life drop monthly. Find us on Facebook & Instagram. That's Doing Life, Y'all!!

#marriage #money #budgeting #debt-free #faith #family, #Oklahoma #couples.

Nobody hands you a manual for raising good humans — you just do life and try not to mess 'em up too bad. In this episode, Paul and Laurel pick up where "Raising Boys to Be Men" left off and dig into the how: being warm AND the boss (the parenting shift everybody's talking about in 2026), the no-phone summer that's got families going analog again, why the most-searched parenting idea this year is actually privacy, and how grit and grace get built one hard thing at a time — with a little faith holding it all together. Honest, funny, and straight off the porch.

📚 Grab our Oklahoma Fun! coloring & activity book on Amazon — a screen-free win for the kids and grandkids.

https://a.co/d/0bQ4WoVu

📖 Laurel's book, Laughing Through the Tears — laughingthroughthetearsbook.com

https://a.co/d/0dvZ5BVi

📩 Got a story or a topic? Email us: [email protected]

❤️ Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @Acoupleofokiesdoinglife — and please follow + rate the show, it helps more folks find us.

That's Doing Life, Y'all!!

Raising Boys to be Men, Stories, Mistakes, and moments that made us proudest. This one's for every parent in the trenches and every grown kid who needed to hear "I'm Proud of You"

Oklahoma Fun! Color & Activity Book https://a.co/d/00DYaWJa

#ACoupleOfOkies

#Raising Boys

#PodcastLife

#OklahomaLife

#DoingLifeYall

June is everything in the Palladino house! Fathers Day weekend, Michaels 26th Birthday, our 31st Anniversary, and Marley Rae turns 2. Plus the launch of our very first Oklahoma Themed Coloring and Activity Book. We also just got back from Destin, FL. where tropical storm Arthur shut down the Gulf of America all week - Double Red Flags. The Palladino's and McClary's took over a pontoon, found hermit crabs, got ice cream from a ice cream boat at Crab Island, explored Seaside and Baytown and enjoyed dinner at AJ's and last but not least the grand daughters got buried in the sand and then proceeded to bury Uncle Jordan. That's Doing Life, Y'all!!

Grab Oklahoma Fun! on Amazon: https://a.co/d/00rygLcE

Email us: [email protected]

Find us on FB & IG @Acoupleofokiesdoinglife

Starting Over in your 50's isn't just physical - It's relational. Friendships change. Marriage Deepens. And Finding Your People again takes Courage.

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Email us at [email protected]

Check out Laurel's Book: Laughing Through the Tears at laughingthroughthetearsbook.com