M is for the Mundane

This month I'm participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge. The theme I'm going with this year is writing humor. Follow along to learn more about the different ways to make your fiction, articles or blog posts humorous. 

You might be tired,  but, still you should always double check your toothpaste.

A little over two years ago we decided to take our kids to Legoland in California for Christmas. I looked around, researching rentals on VRBO.com and found a cute little beach house for us to stay in for a week. It was great! We'd never done anything like that before. 

We loaded up our suburban with kids, luggage, groceries and headed out. Little Molly was only 8 months old. So, the looooooong drive was made even longer by cute little her. Keeping her entertained was a full-time job involving many many toys and snacks.

After more than eight hours of driving, which was probably closer to fifteen, we reached South Carlsbad  late at night and drove along the coast, peeking through the windows to catch a glimpse of the white waves crashing into the coastline in the moonlight. It was lovely. We managed to find our little beach house. And started the unloading process.

The rental listing had said the home had a Pack 'n' Play. But, sadly, the listing was wrong. The manage was apologetic, but shared what he and his wife did when their kids were small. They'd simply pull out a dresser drawer and make a bed for their baby in it on the floor. So, that's what we did for little Molly. Luckily, the drawers in our bedroom were nice and roomy. We still chuckle about her little drawer bed. 

After we got the bulk of our stuff in, we made a quick run to a local grocery store to grab cold things like milk and such. 

And then that was it. I was done with that crazy busy and exhausting day.

I got Molly to sleep in her drawer and escaped into the bathroom. I took my contacts out, put my glasses on and enjoyed the quiet in the luxurious bathroom with the large glass shower which my kids would use as a rocket ship in the days to come.  Then I grabbed my toothpaste, squirted some on my brush and began to scrub my teeth.

Only my teeth were not going to get clean from this process. In fact, they were more likely to be coated in a thick cream and healed of diaper rash. 

Instead of grabbing the white tube of toothpaste, I'd grabbed the white tube of Desitin. And coated my teeth in medicine designed to heal bum sores. 

For April Fool's Day this year, my husband replaced my toothpaste with diaper rash ointment. Luckily, I didn't make that mistake twice. 

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Writing about the mundane is a great way to find humourous material to write about. Jerry Seinfield is a great example of this. I love this quote from him...

"Now, they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash."

Humorous writing doesn't have to start with something large and flashy. Your day to day experiences could be enough to spark ideas for adding more funny stuff into your writing. 

So, find humor in your days! And write about it. 

However, I hope the strange taste of Desitin is never part of your day to day experiences.  

Have you ever done anything like that? Maybe toilet cleaner in your hair instead of hair spray?