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39 Random Things About Me on My 39th Birthday.

Melissa Beene Ford/ Uncategorized

I stumbled upon a list of 25 Things About Me that I wrote on Facebook three years ago, back when it was a trend to write 25 random facts about yourself and then tag 25 friends, yada yada yada. So while a few of the minor details have changed since 2009, a lot of them are still completely ME, so in honor of my 39th birthday, here is my revised list, edited and added to.

1. I have a serious case of A.D.D. Its torture for me to have to sit through a conference, seminar, even church makes me crazy sometimes; I *HAVE* to take notes in church or I completely zone out. I can’t even sit and watch TV without doing something with my hands.

2. I barely graduated from high school, due to reason #1. I graduated #245 in a class of 577. And that was *ONLY* due to the goodness in Mrs. Whitman’s heart for ‘giving’ me a 73 in Senior English when I clearly didn’t deserve it. I never read one book in her class that entire year.

3. And its not because of my IQ, lest you think I’m dumb. When I was 3, I watched my dad take a lawnmower apart, and when he went inside to answer the phone, I put the lawnmower back together.

4. I also learned to read when I was 3. My Sunday School teacher was the first to realize it, when she caught me reading the Bible verse I was supposed to have memorized, out of her Bible on the table. Upside down.

5. I only told you #3 and #4 so that you won’t think I’m dumb for barely graduating from high school……

6. My mom is really into genealogy and can trace our family back to Adam and Eve. And I seriously *HATE* genealogy. I got dragged to too many courthouses and cemeteries as a child so that mom could do her research. Most of my childhood memories involve sitting and coloring on a courthouse or library floor while did research on dead people, or playing in a cemetery while she hunted for somebody’s headstone. Know who my great-great-grandmother is? I don’t CARE!! Know when my family came over on a boat? I don’t CARE!!!  I don’t see the point of knowing trivia about dead people.

7. One of my ancestors is William Barrett Travis from the Alamo. And I don’t care. 🙂

8. I’m a *WHOLE* lot more interested in the fact that I’m related to Britney Spears. Not proud of it, per se, I just find that a lot more interesting.

9. My grandmother/mom/cousins are from Kentwood, Louisiana, the tiny little town in Louisiana where Britney is from, y’all.

10. I find humor in the absurd and ridiculous. The movie Dodgeball makes me laugh out loud, and I’ve probably seen it 5 times. I’m not one to laugh out loud at movies, but that one makes me laugh out loud every time I see it.

11. I love to laugh, and love funny people, but I hate jokes. I like funny STORIES, but jokes??? They make me roll my eyes. And Obama jokes……PLEASE! I wish people would stop emailing me those.

12. I do *NOT* find it funny when the humor in a movie comes from watching pathetic people’s misfortune and desperation, like Napoleon Dynamite or Little Miss Sunshine. I hate those kinds of movies. I also hate every single Will Ferrell movie except for Elf.

13. This is probably the ‘Social Worker’ in me coming out. I’ve worked as a Social Worker at a hospital, a psych hospital, for a foster care agency, and now, at a Long Term Care facility for medically fragile children. My heart hurts for suffering people…. Even Napoleon Dynamite.

14. However, I have Z.E.R.O. compassion for drama queens…. histrionic people who manufacture their own attention-seeking crises. Seriously. Zero. Work with a child who is in a vegetative state due to the abuse she received at the hands of her parents, and you’ll get why I have no tolerance for drama queens. Concoct your own drama as a means to get attention = get unfriended by me.

15. I feel like I missed my ‘calling’ in life. I went through college not knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up, and got the first degree I had enough hours to get after my dad told me the funds were being cut off.

16. As a child I would spend hours drawing houses and floor plans of houses. I would draw page after page of floor plans and staple them together in a book. I really, secretly, think I should have been an architect. Or a designer. Or architect-slash-designer. I rarely go into someone’s home that I don’t redecorate and rearrange their furniture in my mind. Sigh.

17. I’m obsessed with old houses and old buildings. I LOVE to tour old homes. When I wrote this list three years ago I wrote, “I love living in an old house. I can’t see me ever living in a new one. I love the creak of the old floors, the nooks and crannies, the glass doorknobs, dare I say the history of them. I love that our house is 80 years old and has so much history.” Uh, I have to recant that statement. I love TOURING old homes; I am so indescribably grateful that I no longer live in an 80 year old house with frigid bathrooms and drafty old windows where I could never quite get warm in the winter and yet our heating bill was a bazillion dollars a month. THANK YOU, LORD. Never again…
18. My kids go to school in the old Tyler High School building which is now an elementary school, and I think I love the building more than I love the school itself. I just love going there, to that cool building. I love the light fixtures and the library and the cafeteria.

19. Though I love their school, I’m a closet homeschooling mom. I homeschooled Katie for part of one semester before my life was sucked up into a tornado and spit back out into a wood chipper and I had to enroll her in public school. I’m not sure that we’ll ever return to the homeschooling season of life, and that’s just fine, but somewhere, deep down, I’m Michelle Duggar driving a 15-passenger-van and teaching my kids the violin… ok, maybe not on the violin or the van, but teaching my kids at home, yeah. Part of me deep down inside wants to do that.

20. Though I don’t have the slightest interest in genealogy I *DO* love owning things that belonged to my grandmother. One of my favorite things is this old yellow mixing bowl that belonged to my grandmother, because I remember helping her make pumpkin pie and dressing in that bowl. I keep it up high in one of my glass kitchen cabinets. I would cry if it got broken. I don’t want my entire house furnished in old things, especially old things that have an old smell, but I’ve always been sort of an old lady; hence the attraction to old yellow mixing bowls and such.

21. Oh wait, my entire house IS mostly furnished with things that belonged to SOMEBODY’S grandmother. In my whole grown-up life I’ve only bought one new piece of furniture from an actual furniture store…the armoire in my living room. Everything else we bought used. Or at Canton. OR auctions or estate sales.

22. …because I am more comfortable with old and used than new and shiny. I‘ve owned two new vehicles purchased new from a car lot, and will promise you that I will never, ever, ever buy a new vehicle again. I drive a 7-year-old Honda Accord and I couldn‘t be happier. Because I’m an old lady, and that’s what old ladies drive.

23. I was the nerdiest of nerds in high school. I tried out for, and MADE, the Academic Decathlon Team in high school. Then didn’t get to compete because I failed Senior English that six-weeks. See #2.

24. I don’t like concerts. Its partially the ADD, and partially because I’m an old lady. But they’re LOUD, and they last too long, and there is not any one person I want to hear sing for two hours or more, especially if I have to sit while I listen. Gah. NO thanks.

25. I was in a commercial for Mitchell’s Dress Shop when I was 17. I miss Mitchell’s Dress Shop.

26. OK, this is one I had to edit… I (used to) love remodeling. I hate living in a house WHILE its being worked on, but love(d) taking an eyesore and transforming it into something beautiful. My heart still races when I look at our ‘before’ pictures of this house, because I remember that thrill I felt when I first walked through it and saw the potential (still true). I would (NOT) do it again in a heartbeat. (Edited to say…. I love SEEING the before and after, but never again will I actually be the one doing the remodeling. I’d rather stick pins in my eyes).

27. I was a stay-at-home mom for nine years. I loved it then… I miss it terribly at times…. Mostly, I miss all the time with my kids. But…. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I would go back to those days again. I like having a job. INCOME is fun.

28. I make hair bows for little girls. When I was a stay-at-home-mom, I made hair bows for seven boutiques in four different cities. And I can spot my own hair bows when I see them on little girls out in public.

29. Once in high school, I got sent to the counselor for turning in a dark and depressing poem about death and it got my teacher all in a frenzy. But I didn’t write it; I ‘borrowed’ it from the skater dude who sat next to me in study hall the day I forgot to write a poem for English class and he loaned me one of his. I learned my lesson about cheating in school on that day.

30. Once in college, I broke into the new gym with my friend the Preacher’s Kid. Then we broke into the new dorm and smoked cigarettes. And it felt so scandalously dangerous.

31. After college, I mailed pictures of our escapades to my friend the Preacher’s Kid, and her mother, the Preacher’s Wife, opened the envelope. Chaos and disownment ensued. Several years went by and we reconnected on Facebook.

32. Once in third grade, I got in trouble and had to stand in the corner for tapping my pencil on my desk during a film strip. It was the most humiliating moment of my first eight years.

33. And those are the only times I can remember getting in trouble in school. Teachers love you when you’re nerdy (see #23) and painfully shy.

34. Once I’m friends with someone, its for life. Unless she’s a histrionic drama queen (see #14). Or two-faced. I don’t like two-faced. I’ve been friends with C. since 3rd grade; with S. since 6th grade; with K. and M. and A. and S. since 9th grade; and with L. since our first year at ETBU, 1993. That’s like, forever.

35. Today at work, my closest coworker asked me out of the blue if I had ever considered getting on Adderall because of my serious A.D.D. problem. I had never even TOLD her about my A.D.D. and yet somehow…. She just knew. Hey, look! There’s something shiny!
36. What was I talking about? Oh yeah. Shiny things. I married the love of my life on Christmas Eve, 2011, and he gave me his grandmother’s wedding ring. I think I might have mentioned that once or twice on the blog. I love old things that belonged to someone’s grandmother (see #20, 21, and 22).

37. I wasn’t happy with my original numbers 37, 38, 39, but the beauty of this life is that there’s freedom to change them at any time.

38. God redeems the mistakes, and this brings tears to my eyes.

39. I’ve never walked with Him more closely than I did during 37, 38, and 39. And for that I’m thankful I had to endure them.

39.

Me on the Academic Decathlon team… first row, second from right.

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Comments

  1. Jeane` says

    February 8, 2012 at 1:43 am

    HAPPIEST of Birthdays!!!<br /><br />In response to:<br /><br />#1 (Last sentence): This should work out well for your husband. ;)<br /><br />#5 I would not have anyway, but 3 and 4 was most impressive.<br /><br />#6 So which side of the family do you come from? Adam&#39;s or Eve&#39;s?<br /><br />#14 AMEN. And AMEN.<br /><br />#15 Do you think you know what the calling was you wish you hadn&#39;t

    Reply
  2. Aaron says

    February 8, 2012 at 6:06 am

    Never realized &quot;mike&#39;s new wife&quot;<br />went to REL 🙂 .. <br />1) Ms Schofield is awesome.. I swear I saw her in albertsons maybe 5yrs ago and she still remembered me by name as in Hi Aaron! how have you been.. <br />2) I&#39;ve got an old yellow mixing bowl from my grandma too.. <br />3) Definitely dislike Will Ferrell even elf..<br />4) Had probs w/ Sr. english also but more the

    Reply
  3. Melissa from the Blue House says

    February 8, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    Jeane,<br />#1. I wasn&#39;t even thinking along those lines…. *blushing<br />#5. It wouldn&#39;t be a big deal if you did. Google &quot;Far Side Midvale School for the Gifted&quot; to see a figurative, yet accurate, portrait of me. <br />#6. Ummm… didn&#39;t I tell you I hate genealogy? I don&#39;t CARE if I descend from Adam OR Eve! Gah!<br />#14. And AMEN. Can I get a witness up in here?!

    Reply
  4. Melissa from the Blue House says

    February 8, 2012 at 4:10 pm

    Aaron,<br />Yes, Mrs. Schofield was one of a kind! I loved her! I&#39;m sorry, though, that you have some unresolved anger issues about high school english. 🙂 I do remember them harping on using &#39;you&#39; in writing, and I agree with you. Its a dumb rule.

    Reply
  5. yomama says

    February 8, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    Just so you know……….William Barrett Travis is NOT your ancestor, he was the first cousin of your ancestor.<br /><br />Also, God loved genealogy.

    Reply
  6. Marlager says

    February 8, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    I hope your b-day was awesome! We have to party BIG next year for you!!! Love you!

    Reply
  7. Melissa from the Blue House says

    February 8, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    It was AWESOME!!!! Thank you for my sister2sister cookie delivery… they were the BOMB! OH MY! I can&#39;t wait to party big next year… does Luby&#39;s have a party room? 🙂 Love you my friend!

    Reply
  8. Anonymous says

    February 11, 2012 at 9:30 am

    From your friend The Preachers Kid…. That was one of my favorite semesters in college…and memory. Correction….we reconnected way before fb was ever thought of…remember….weddings?!!! I know you probably blocked out one wedding in particular. Remember that slinky little purple bridesmaid dress? Anywoo…I made 2 lists on your list of 39 🙂

    Reply
  9. Melissa from the Blue House says

    February 11, 2012 at 3:40 pm

    OH YEAH! LOL. I totally blocked out the years from 1997 to 2010, though your wedding was one of the (few) highlights! And I totally forgot you came and stayed at our house that time… and I stayed at YOUR house… duh. I was way off on that one! Miss you, btw…

    Reply
  10. Anonymous says

    February 11, 2012 at 4:18 pm

    Just sent you a fb message! Oh and the only reason I&#39;m &#39;anonymous&#39; is BC my netbook laptop died after spilling sweet tea on it last Monday so now I have to do everything by phone. And I forgot my email password so haven&#39;t checked it on a long time. <br /><br />Miss you too….<br /><br />Stephanie Earp Britt<br /> aka The Preachera Kid

    Reply
  11. Chonda Kennington-Berrier says

    May 7, 2012 at 3:50 am

    from where in OK did u xfr?  i xfr&#39;d to REL from Sapulpa, OK in the middle of my 1st (OK) jr yr.  the differences betw OK and TX (state history for one, and 2nd, in OK i was allowed to use Choir for PE..not in TX…nope…had to do PE no matter what…GROSS!) made me hold myself back and do 11th grade again to get all my credits in.  as for english, i got lucky, too…had Mr. Joe Wood..had a

    Reply

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About Me


Hey there... I'm Melissa! Texas girl. Mom to three + one goldendoodle. Believer. Old house fanatic. Creating a happy + healthy home with purpose is my passion. I'm so glad you're here!

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I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 I don’t know who’s big idea it was to strip 80 years of paint off of this door down to the wood and start over… but that person has no business starting new projects. 😅 My neighbors must have thought this project would never end. *I* thought this project would never end. 😰 If you’re thinking of doing this yourself? Just don’t, ok? Throw the whole door away and buy a new one. 😂🤣 Just kidding.  Old house weirdos like me… we can’t just do things the easy way. Anyhoo… after some trial and error, @sherwinwilliams Celestial is what I landed on, and I have to say… I like it. Periwinkle-ish blue looks great with the yellow house and will look even better when the azaleas are in bloom. Was it all worth it? That’s not important right now. 🤭 Will I do this all again in two years? The magic eight ball says… without a doubt. 👏🏻 I’ve already picked the next color. #gluttonforpunishment #somefoolsneverlearn #oldhouselove #oldhomelove #makinghome #southernliving #gardenandgun #azaleadistrict #tylertx
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Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍ Who wants a Christmas tour of my home? 🙋🏼‍♀️
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That’s it. That’s the tour. (Slide two). 
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It’s a new trend I’m starting: bare Christmas tree. Lowe’s tag still attached (so quirky and unexpected)! Christmas ornaments still in boxes. Coming soon to an Anthropologie window display near you. 
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Every year I think, “next year I’ll do better. Next year I’ll have it together.” And then, here we are on the SIXTH Christmas that we’ve been in this house, the sixth Christmas I’ve dragged our chaotic bunch of Christmas mess out of a chaotic garage I still haven’t unpacked from our move six years ago. 
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Maybe this year is the year I’ll organize it all and put it back neatly so that by Christmas number 7, it will be smooth sailing. People will flock to my social media to see how I’ve pulled everything off SO PERFECTLY. Next year will be my year. 
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Seems every year there’s less and less bandwidth for all these things. There’s more grief and stress, less money. More demands, less grace. 
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I put this sign on the wall in my office so I could keep it in front of my eyes: Love. Joy. Peace. And all that. I am SO unlike Jesus most days. So lacking in all of these character qualities. And that’s WITH waking up most mornings and spending my first 30 minutes with God Himself. 
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How lost would I be without that? Geez. I can’t fathom. I REQUIRE being transformed by renewing my mind every single morning, and even then, responding to people and life with love, joy, peace and patience doesn’t come naturally. 
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It’s the goal, though. 
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This weary world needs that from us Believers during this season, more than ever… even more than an Anthropologie-window-display worthy Christmas home tour. 
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I’m working on both.
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