EEK!! I LOVE these posts (and I think you guys do too). If you’re new around here, every so often I ask a guest blogger come over to “Own It” and “Claim Her Crazy”. Usually, we can all relate and laugh all at the same time.
Today I have a very special guest. I read her blog for years and finally got to meet her last fall at the Rodan + Fields’ Convention. Let me introduce you to Mel! Mel blogs over at The Larson Lingo where she covers it all from recipes to parties to printables. Be sure to check her out. She is fun, fun, fun! Trust me, you’ll wanna be her friend ASAP! I’m so excited she agreed to come and share her crazy with us.
Here’s Mel…
Hi! I’m Mel!
Wife to Kevin since 2002
Mom to Kate (9), Claire (7.5) and Luke (3.5)
I am a middle school math teacher.
Born and Raised in California.
Target and Lake Tahoe are my happy places.
I am obsessed with taking pictures, Thinking of Baby Names and Pinterest.
I love Throwing Parties (that’s a whole extra post of crazy) Reading, Binge watching Netflix and Eating Pizza Every Friday Night.
Last July I started running after a 10 year hiatus and have run 3 Half Marathons since October….now that is crazy!
You can find me on my blog The Larson Lingo where I blog about our life, my favorite recipes, throwing parties, motherhood and a whole lot of randomness!
You can also find me on Instagram here.
I am so excited to be guest posting on Erika’s blog!
Erika and I have been reading each others blogs for a couple years and we finally got to meet in person last Fall at the Rodan + Fields convention! She is a sweetheart!
When she first asked me to post about “Owning It” and claiming my crazy, I thought to myself “I am sure I can think of a few things to post about” Then I started making a list…because I am OBSESSED with lists….and the list kept growing and growing and growing because I’m a lot more crazy than I originally realized. Yikes.
Here we go…..
{ONE}
I have a freakish memory when it comes to numbers/birthdays (good thing I am a math teacher, right?)
If you tell me your birthday, I will remember it. It is randomly stored in my brain and I don’t know why, but I never forget your birthday once you tell it to me.
I have been like this my whole life…my friends call me Rain Man because of this.
{TWO}
I love color coding things.
When I was in middle school and high school, I would color code my classes.
English was purple…that meant I would write my English assignments in my planner in purple pen. My English folder was purple and I would have a purple book cover on my English books.
History was blue, Science was green, Spanish was orange and Math was pink (my favorite color and favorite subject)
Wow…I can’t believe I can’t believe I even remember what color I used for these subjects all these years later.
I’m CRAZY impressed you remembered the colors!! haha!
{THREE}
Speaking of color coding things, my closet is organized by color.
I have all my shirts in rainbow order, then white, grey and black (grey is in the middle of white and black because if you mixed the 2 colors together it would be grey)
{FOUR}
Speaking of clothes….starting on the first day of my freshman year in high school, I had a notebook where I wrote down what I wore to school EVERY SINGLE DAY…..all 4 years of high school.
I still have this notebook in a bin with all my high school mementos.
I wrote down my outfits (including shoes/belts) because I didn’t want to wear a duplicate outfit more than once every 3 months in high school.
Side note…I grew up in California and when I was in high school the movie “Clueless” had just been released and my high school was a little bit like that.
Anyways…yeah….for 4 years I wrote down every single outfit I wore to school. Who does that?!?!
If my younger sister is reading this, I am pretty sure she started doing this also because I did. I was such a good influence…..
Oh my goodness!! This one made me laugh out loud!
{FIVE}
I love even numbers. Kevin and I were married on 8-24-02 and I love that date because they are all divisible by 2. When I was pregnant with all 3 of my kids I would write down dates to see if I liked the way they “looked” With Kate I was due in January of 2007, and those are both odd numbers, so I even though I love even numbers, I wanted her to be born on an odd numbered day since January is an odd month and so is the year 2007. She was born on 1-23-07, so that worked out 😉
My younger sister is also a math teacher and also has a weird thing with dates like me, so during our pregnancies we would text each other dates that we hoped our babies would be born on.
{SIX}
As you can tell…I can be slightly OCD.
We didn’t find out gender of our kids until they were born.
When I was pregnant with Luke, we knew that if he was a boy, his name would be Luke (it was our boy name from when I was pregnant with both girls)
When we were figuring out a girl name during his pregnancy, I really loved the name Charlotte.
BUT, I didn’t want another C name because then I would have a K name and 2 C names. That seemed strange to me if I had a Kate, Claire and Charlotte and that 2 out of the 3 names started with a C. I just couldn’t deal with that (I KNOW…I have issues!!!) When I was 38 weeks pregnant, Kevin called me from work one day and said…if it’s a girl, it will be Emma. He liked that name better and I felt so relived that it was not a C name.
Side note….Luke ended up being born at 1:01 am on August 9th. I was really hoping he would be born on August 8, because 8-8-12 is all even numbers unlike his bday of 8-9-12.
And, to top it off, Claire is September 9th, so now I have 2 kids who were born on the 9th of the month, so I have OCD that 2 out of my 3 kids were born on the 9th of the month and not all 3.
Seriously….I told you I have issues…who can relate?!!?
{SEVEN}
During the summer my kids get a bath maybe 1 a week….or every 10 days.
I know…SO BAD.
But, here’s the thing.
The past 3 years California has been in a MAJOR drought.
Last summer we were all placed on water restrictions.
We have a pool and my girls are on swim team, so they were swimming
practically every day in the summer. The chlorine kills germs and cleans them, right?!?!?
practically every day in the summer. The chlorine kills germs and cleans them, right?!?!?
One day last summer, I realized my kids hadn’t had a bath in almost TWO WEEKS.
#MOMFAIL
But, I will let you know that when I got our water bill last August, we had used 46% less since
the year before.
I’m just trying to do my part for the drought.
Swimming totally counts as a bath…rights?!?! 😉
Another laugh out loud for me! haha! I’m sure the chlorine gets rid of any germs and #yourehelpingtheenvironment #winwin
{EIGHT}
I have issues with mayonnaise.
It makes me want to barf.
I can’t have it on my sandwiches.
*SHUDDER*
I do have some recipes that require mayo mixed in…I have gotten better with using it if it’s mixed in, but I used to have Kevin add the mayo to a recipe because it would make me gag.
If I have a recipe that calls for mayo mixed in, I will buy the smallest jar of mayo and then after I use what we need for the recipe, I will throw away the jar of mayo. I can’t even handle having it in my fridge.
I also can’t handle hard boiled eggs. I love eggs….scrambled eggs, fried eggs, eggs benedict, etc.
But hard boiled eggs? NO WAY. I just can’t with the texture….makes my skin crawl.
My biggest nightmare is Deviled Eggs or Egg Salad Sandwiches because they require hard boiled eggs and mayo. EWWWWW.
{NINE}
I am a sponge-a-phob.
Sponges are also known to me as “porous rectangles of germs”
Sponges give me the heeby-jeebies.
I can’t even touch them. They freak me out.
They are nasty germ and dirt traps.
What is that material they are made of?
Gives me the chills.
I avoid sponges like the plague.
I do not and will not have a sponge in my kitchen sink.
For our dishes, I use a scrubber (with a handle, of course)
For our counter tops, I use Granite Wipes or I use Granite Cleaner with washcloths.
It is a great system for our kitchen.
My house is a Sponge Free Zone.
Sponges give me the heeby-jeebies.
I can’t even touch them. They freak me out.
They are nasty germ and dirt traps.
What is that material they are made of?
Gives me the chills.
I avoid sponges like the plague.
I do not and will not have a sponge in my kitchen sink.
For our dishes, I use a scrubber (with a handle, of course)
For our counter tops, I use Granite Wipes or I use Granite Cleaner with washcloths.
It is a great system for our kitchen.
My house is a Sponge Free Zone.
My mother in law thinks this is hysterical and puts a new sponge in my Christmas stocking every year. I throw them away…I can’t handle sponges.
I’m not a sponge girl either. I feel you on this one!!
{TEN}
I am not a morning person. I am a night owl.
I HATE waking up early. I also have a fear of oversleeping and being late.
If I had to get up at 4am to catch a flight, I would rather stay up all night than go to bed early and have to wake up early. It would be easier for me to just stay up until 4 am than set my alarm for 4 am. I always have dreams that I over slept and am late for school.
I set 3 alarms every morning. One alarm on my bedside clock, one alarm on my phone (in case the power goes out and my bedside clock doesn’t work) and another alarm on my back up-back up battery travel alarm clock (in case the power goes out or my phone battery dies and that alarm doesn’t go off)
WOW. I am going to end this right here because it is a nice list of 10 things.
I have more things I could add to this list, but I am just going to end at 10 because that is a nice even number. Plus, if I add anymore of my crazy you will surely un-follow and un-friend me 😉
I promise I am actually a nice, normal person despite all my crazy 🙂
Thanks for having me Erika! I hope we can still be friends despite all my craziness!
I absolutely LOVED your crazy!! Thank you SO much for sharing today, Mel! Make sure to check her out over at The Larson Lingo.
If you’ve missed some past “Owning It” posts, you can check them out here…
You can read Leigh’s @ Balancing By Faith HERE.
You can read Ashley’s @ The Vanilla Tulip HERE.
You can read Kathryn’s HERE.
You can read Elaine’s @ House of Hargove HERE.
You can read Sheaffer’s @ Sheaffer Told Me To HERE.
I absolutely LOVED your crazy!! Thank you SO much for sharing today, Mel! Make sure to check her out over at The Larson Lingo.
If you’ve missed some past “Owning It” posts, you can check them out here…
You can read Leigh’s @ Balancing By Faith HERE.
You can read Ashley’s @ The Vanilla Tulip HERE.
You can read Kathryn’s HERE.
You can read Elaine’s @ House of Hargove HERE.
You can read Sheaffer’s @ Sheaffer Told Me To HERE.
You can read Elise’s @ Cheers Y’all HERE.
You can read Andrea’s @ Momfessionals HERE.
You can read Kelly’s @ Kelly’s Korner HERE.
You can read Olivia’s @ Snyders Tell All HERE.
You can read Narci’s @ Grace and Love Blog HERE.
You can read Fancy Ashley’s HERE.
Happy Thursday, Girls!!
I have been reading Mel's blog for years too! She cracks me up and always has the most creative ideas. We have made many of her recipes too! Thanks for sharing
Isn't she sweet??
I love your "Owning it" series! So fun! I love all Mel's craziness!! 🙂
Thank you!! The
Oops!! The writing down her outfits for years was my favorite! Haha!
I love this series!!! We all have a little bit of crazy in us haha!
Sarah at MeetTheShaneyfelts
Thank you, Sarah!! We sure do!
I'm overwhelmed just thinking about writing down daily outfits for four years straight ! Lol. Too funny!
Me too!!
So, I've always loved Mel and thought we were so much alike…and then I read the part about her aversion to mayo and my heart about burst! Soul sisters. She and I are officially soul sisters. LOVE this Owning It! This is my favorite to date!
Mel is fabulous! She had a great list!!
Love this!! I wrote down my outfits in high school too! And…. I'm 34 and STILL write them down every day. I have a special calendar just for that!
Oh my goodness!! Too funny!
This is so funny! I completely understand the even number thing! My 1st daughter was born 8/24. Im born 2/24. My second daughter was a csection and specifically scheduled her for 4/12/10. My son was due in November so I scheduled his for 11/15/11 bc i didn't want to mix even/0dd numbers!!!
Your daughter and my Nix share a birthday!!
When I read the mayo thing I was like SHAY!!!!! THEY CAN BE MAYO CRAZY TOGETHER! So fun to read all of Mel's crazy!
Hahahaha!!! So true!
I'm feeling Mel on the sponges! So true and so funny!! 🙂
Love this.
Love this! I'm not a morning person, kept a clothes journal, and have my closet arranged by color too! Thanks for sharing, Mel!
Oh my goodness – so many numbers – this makes my head hurt!! Good thing Mel is a math teacher!! I am so with her on the pool baths…hahaha! Love the Owning It Posts and love Mel's blog!!!
This was great to read!! I love seeing other people's crazy! I am right with her on numbers four and six! I used to keep a clothes journal in high school! And I feel like everyone should put that much thought into their kid's names! 🙂
Your Owning It series is my favorite! I love Mel's blog and although I am decidedly NOT 'Rain Man' with remembering birthdays, I DO have Mel's children's' birthdays locked and loaded simply because I enjoy her birthday party posts so much! #promisenotastalker #birthdaypartyenthusist Liz @ familyoffoley.wordpress.com
This literally made me laugh out loud! Definitely OCD!!
I love this series! I'm sure I have enough crazy for everyone though! 😉
And Mel, this girl HATES mayo too!
I love these posts! Wow writing down everything she wore for four years….now that's fashion commitment!! HA
xo, Kristina
I love this! Too funny! These are some of my favorite posts! 🙂
I feel you, Mel! I have a crazy number thing and name thing too! Even #s are it for me, but both of my girls were born on even months, odd days, and one even year and one odd year…..so, I have to add and maneuver them all in my head to make it work for me. Also, their names have exactly the same number of letters for their firsts and middle names, first names start with vowels, middle names start with consonants, their middle names are somewhat similar, and their entire names have the same cadence. I thought I was over here in my crazy boat just paddling away, but feel like I might could offer you an oar and we could row together!
Such a fun post!
I am pretty sure Mel and I are cut from the same cloth. Every single one of these I can relate to .. I am so glad I am not the only one! 😉
You are NOT crazy…if you are then I am too:) I get the numbers thing. Noone understands what this means, but my kids birthdays are 6-21-06, 10-3-10 (love the 6-06 & 10-10) then I had number 3…she was due 7-1-14…I would have LOVED to have her born 7-2-14 (of course) or even 7-7-14 (obviously) but she was born 7-8-14 (what the!?) It bothers me.
Also, my first letter of my first name is M. My mom, dad, brother & sister are all J's (and my brother has my dad's name, and my sister's first name is my mom's childhood nickname). I felt left out my whole life. Good thing you didn't name your hypothetical daughter a C name.
Love this, Mel! I can relate to some of these as well! I'm super OCD about numbers and I was so excited when our son was born on 7/23/11 instead of 7/22/11 like he was supposed to have been. I just couldn't handle the rogue even number! Haha.
Love Mel's blog! She's the best party planner. I can relate to many of these. I'm impressed she wrote out each outfit of high school!!!
My youngest daughter, who is now 22 and a dental assistant about to enter dental hygiene school, so did #4. She kept a notebook as well with what she wore to school every day for her Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years in High School. She would not wear the exact same outfit over again. Her goal…..to get best dressed at the end of her Senior year. She so did! 🙂 She also still has the notebooks. It's quite comical now.
Oh my goodness, I'm with you on the sponge thing!! My husband LOVES sponges. He will go buy sponges and I throw them out after he uses them one time. He's always like "wait where did my sponge go?" I have no idea, honey, just use the dish cloth (that I wash after each use…).
I love this!!! She is so honest and owns it for sure. There are a lot I find myself in as well. LOL!!!
Thank you SO much for having me guest post on your blog! I loved thinking of my list……didn't realize how crazy I am! HA! And, I am glad that so many other readers have the same crazy issues has me 🙂
Oh my gosh!! I loved this!! I lol'ed through the whole thing! I love that these make my own crazy way more relatable!! This is the best series, Erika! I look forward to these!
I love Mel. I follow her too.
This has got to be one of the Best "Owning It" posts yet. I think because she really does put down stuff that's 'funny revealing'… like her kids not bathing for 2 weeks. I love that!!! Cause that's how I grew up! we did have to bathe in summer at least once a week though!
I love this 'owning it' series! Thank you Erica 🙂
Oh my gosh Mel is cracking me up! I learned so much more about her. haha…cannot believe she wrote down every outfit through high school.
I can't stand mayonnaise or hard boiled eggs. They give me the heebe geebes.