My child is a honor roll student at...

You've seen 'em.
They're on the bumper of the car in front of you.
The mini-van, suburban, or SUV.
If you're like me, you sort of roll your eyes and snort, "Huh. Honor student. Do you have to advertise it?! Geesh!" Cue another eye roll.
I think, "I'd never put that on my car!"






But you see...shhh...this is just a secret between me and you...I'm a bit jealous.
I know.
Cue the eye roll.
Annoying? Yes.
Bragging? Yes.
Proud? Yes.
Now I'm not jealous of the kid thing.
Not now. I see teens every... working... day.
If I was to think about having kids,
I need to teach 1st or 2nd grade where kids still love their teachers.
 Sure, some like me, (I'm sure) but I know how rough the parents have it.
If that's not birth control, I don't know what is!
www.cartoonstock.com
Any-hoo...
As I was saying...
I'm a bit jealous because I'd like to brag about my pup.
No, he's not my kid..but I did teach him everything that he knows (with a lot of help).
Doesn't that deserve a bumper sticker?! Heck yeah.
So here it is...
My dog is a high honor roll student.

Ah. I feel better now.

What does he know you ask?
Well shoot, let me tell ya.
Words and phrases.

1. While at the beach I had to explain to my nieces and nephew that you just can't say certain words around Murphy. Dumbfounding they asked why. I explained that once you say certain things he is relentless until you fulfill it.
Leanna- "Are you going to run fast outside?"
Murphy looking at her, head tilting at each word. 
I know he's thinking..."Yeah I am! We're going now? Right? Right? Right? Etc."
You can see where this is headed.
Yes, I know that Murphy can't actually speak.
But if you saw his face and actions, you'd know.





2. He knows the names of his toys...here is just a smattering.

Tug, Mr. Broccoli, Sheep, Oliver, Bolt, Mr. Carrot...


Yes, I like to name things by putting "Mr." or "Miss" in front of the object or name.
Some times they get in fights...Mr. Broccoli and Oliver don't always get along.

 Mr. Broccoli beat the stuffing out of Oliver this time...hehe.

Murphy has a basket of toys and he plays with every single one. 

3. People
He remembers everyone and everything that they made him feel.
This is good and very bad.
Since he's a rescue, Murphy has very strong feelings about people.
You might call it a vibe.
 He doesn't warm up to new people quickly.
He has to study your behavior for a while...months even to see if you're trustworthy.
I can't blame him.
Once you've been hurt, you're going to try to avoid that pain again at all costs.
The good side to his caution is that once you're in the circle of Murphy trust, you're in.
The benefits are well worth the wait.



Now this is just the start to my proud list of honor "student"qualities.







No, I'm not going to make a sticker and put it on my car. But if I did it would say...

"My honor student can out run, out maneuver, and out play your honor student any day. Bring it!"

But I'm not going to do that...
it would be silly and I'm a grown-up.
Plus, it would be bragging and boastful and...well...
Much too small of a scale.

I'm just going to write an entire blog post and send it out into the world!!!

HA! Take that! (Sticking out my tongue in a very immature and awesome way! Nah!)

Bring it honor students. Bring. It.

Super-Awesome and Silly

 

Supernatural on CW

I really don't know where this show has been. 

Or really how I hadn't heard about it until recently. 

Oh wait, I don't have cable.

I don't really know any current popular shows.

Cable...

 

That's probably an important component to knowing what is popular. 

Today, I mentioned to my teenage students that I don't have cable.

The main question was, "Wait, you don't have a TV, Ms. Chambers?"

"No, I have a TV, just not cable.
I can watch DVD's or Netflix."

"Why?"

"Well, I choose not to.  I found that it's too easy to get sucked into marathons of ridiculous TV shows and waste away days. (Hello Dance Moms...sigh.)

 

 Even though I don't have cable, I still seem to get sucked into shows on Netflix. 

It just takes me a bit longer with find them.

That's exactly what happened in this instance.

In this case, I'm really behind. 

Apparently, people love Supernatural and now I know why.

 

 

The Top 5 Reasons Why I Love Supernatural

5. Family

Everyone has family.  Some families are close, some are distant. Some times situations draw families back together even after long and strained absences.  Occasionally, even when they don't want to join forces...it's necessary.  Because if you can't trust family, who can you trust.  In Supernatural, family is the one thing that unites a family...at least that's the starting point.  Over time a relationship between brothers is renewed.  To me the lesson is that family endures and protects even in battles of evil creatures.

4. Conflict Resolution
They drive you crazy, but you gotta love 'em...or at least you try to though many times it's not easy. The main characters, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester drive each other crazy, but they're brothers.  They hit each other, ask for forgiveness and move on to solve problems.  Now, I don't suggest hitting as a conflict resolution

















3. Good vs. Evil
Good wins...most of the time.  I like that.  Though there are times where I wonder how the characters will get out of the crazy situations, they do.  No matter how bad things are, I like to think that things will get better and problems will be solved.  Life doesn't always wrap things up that nicely, but when you're watching a TV show you can almost guarantee that it will have an end.  I'm only on Season 5 out of 8 Seasons, and so far good is winning....I like that.


2. Clever Plots
Currently I'm watching an episode when the brothers are stuck in TV shows. Similarly to the old movie with John Ritter, The Dish...where the family gets stuck and they have to figure out a way to live.  This episode is like that, except that they are being tricked, by what is called a "Trickster."

What I love about these actors is that they can play serious,
but they are really good at silly.

1. Humor...Speaking of Silly. 





In my family we use humor to ease stressful situations. 
It may not be the best solution to elevate stress,
but it does help. 
Dean and Sam's characters also use humor to help them through stressful moments and so do the actors.





One of my favorite episodes was in Season 4: Yellow Fever (Episode 6). Dean, played by Jensen Ackles, is generally a no-nonsense, tough older brother.  But in this episode he's scared of everything and runs away from every "bad" situation.  The best part...I mean the best part was one of the outtakes at the end...and here it is. Enjoy!

 I love silly, don't you? 

Not all of life can be serious and I definitely need a giggle now and then. 

Actually, I need to laugh every single day.

Have you giggled today? 

Yes? No?  If not, go and find your funny. 

You'll feel better.  I'm sure of it.

YouTube Trap

Darn you!

Yes, YouTube, YOU!

Why do you trap me with your funny animal clips?

Draw me into animated shorts about cats?!

And why Ellen, does your show have so many guests,

games, and silly side notes that keep me watching

and clicking... WAY TOO LONG?!?!

Why?!

Sigh.

It's my fault.

All me.

Yeah, it would've nice to throw the blame on other people,

but it was me who throw myself down the rabbit hole of spinning video clips.

I'm an adult.

I work with teens...

I should know better...

Well, I guess I do, but I still do it.

Okay, here it goes...

"Hi."

Cough. Cough.

"My name is Lori., and I'm addicted to YouTube."

I bury my head in my hands.

I'm not sure when it happened, but like any addiction it started slow.

So slow that I didn't notice it was happening!

It was one video...

 

"The Ultimate Dog Tease" or as I call it "Bacon"

Yeah...that might have started it all.

If only it stopped there, but it didn't.  Not even close.

Then two...

Sweet Denver, "The guilty dog."

Then three...

"Banana"

And then...sniff...giggle...haha...I tumbled down the rabbit hole!!

I hang my head in shame...but then, I realize...

I COULD USE THIS FOR GOOD! (Light bulb!)

If I share my favorite videos

and they make others smile or laugh or just giggle a little,

then all of that time wasted!

It wouldn't be in vain!

(YES!)

So here they are...some of my favorite videos.

The top three are at the top of this page...but here are a couple more.

This one just tugs on my heart.

My sweet older pup Quincy cried like this when I came home from college.

 

Or this loving boyfriend knowing how to help heal his girlfriends' heart.

 

Murphy is a fan of YouTube also.

Not surprisingly, his favorite videos are animal related...

 ...and currently they are the "goat" videos.

 

"Miley Cyrus-Party in the USA"

 

"One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful"

(The multiple goats really got his attention.)

 

And finally...one of my all-time favorites! 

This video makes me chuckle every time.

Best. Ever.

I hope these videos made your day just a little bit better.

Hugs,

Lori