Tag: storytelling

Categories
Dog Family

Signs of Responsibility

Mostly True Memoirs

Signs of responsibility

SIGNS OF RESPONSIBILTY

We had our first rain of the season.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find, early this morning, an old towel on the floor by the dog door.

The Grown Son had thought to wipe the dog’s paws.

“Look!” I exclaimed to The Husband, “Signs of responsibility!”

Bob laughed.

And laughed and laughed and laughed.

“That was me,” he said, “I had to let the dog out in the middle of the night.”

Oh.

Never mind.

The Grown Son has not shown any signs of responsibility.

At least as far as housework is concerned.

Speaking of which, we are down to three spoons.

I’m guessing the rest of the set is under his bed.

Categories
Lifestyle

What The Heck

Mostly True Memoirs

What the heck

WHAT THE HECK

My neighbors in the back have put up a massive, blow-up Halloween clown.

It startles me every time I see it.

Every. Single. Time.

Today I looked out and the clown was gone.

What a relief!

But in its place was a massive, blow-up Halloween ghost.

What the heck is going on over there?

Categories
Family

Can I Get A Refund?

Mostly True Memoirs

Can I get a refund?

CAN I GET A REFUND?

I took a Buzzfeed quiz.

It said that I’m not ready to have kids.

I’m totally OK with that.

I’m not sure how the boys are going to take the news…

Can I get a refund?

Categories
Work

Mouse Meat

Mostly True Memoirs

Mouse meat

MOUSE MEAT

Oh goodness.

Today I had some extra time in class.

So I asked my online English student what I foods I would eat if I visited his tiny, remote village.

I expected to hear about noodles and seafood.

He proudly recommended his mother’s mouse meat.

Um, what? Excuse me?

I asked him to write it in the chat box, just to make sure I heard him correctly.

I heard right.

Mouse meat.

Yeah, no.

I’ll pass.

Categories
Work

I Binge-Watched Fleabag

Mostly True Memoirs

I binge-watched Fleabag

I BINGE-WATCHED FLEABAG

I binge-watched Fleabag on Amazon Prime.

It won a bunch of Emmys so I had to check it out.

Wow!

What a fabulous example of amazing script writing.

It’s gritty and off-color.

And very, very funny.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers.

I’ll just say that the fourth-wall element was incredible.

And it wrapped up beautifully with that wave at the end.

This story has a little bit of everything.

Comedy, grief, guilt, guinea pigs, love, acceptance, sin and redemption.

And some theft.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge not only starred in the series, she wrote it too.

Now I have to stalk her and check out all of her work.

Categories
Lifestyle

Earthquake!

Mostly True Memoirs

Earthquake!

EARTHQUAKE!

There were a couple of earthquakes in North Texas today.

The biggest was a 3.8.

The news reporters, in disaster-mode voices, reported that there was no damage noted.

Well duh.

You’ll have to do a whole lot better than a 3.8 to impress this SoCal girl.

Although I shouldn’t get cocky.

I still tend to freak out over tornadoes.

Categories
Lifestyle

That Will Teach Him

Mostly True Memoirs

That will teach him

THAT WILL TEACH HIM

At the baseball stadium, a little kid was sitting in front of me, eating a lollipop.

When he was done, he looked around to make sure his family wasn’t watching him, and he threw the used stick down into the crowd.

I was horrified.

If either of my boys had done something like that, I would have marched them down to retrieve their garbage, and I would have made them apologize to every single person along the way.

This kid was proud of himself.

He giggled and held his arms up in a victory dance.

Until he turned around and saw me.

I leaned in, and I gave him the stink eye.

He gasped in fear and ran to sit on his mama’s lap.

He remained there for the entire game.

Every now and again he would peek over her shoulder to see if that mean lady was still there.

I was.

I gave him the stink eye all night long.

That will teach him.

Categories
Lifestyle

Bronx Bombers

Mostly True Memoirs

We’re going to see the Yankees at Rangers tonight.

Sorry Texas peeps.

I’m rooting for the Yanks!

Categories
Dog

My Poor Little Dog

Mostly True Memoirs

My poor little dog

MY POOR LITTLE DOG

My poor little dog.

She’s never been accused of being bright.

We got a new doggie door that makes a little whooshing noise.

This scares the daylights out of the poor little doggo.

It took us ages to train her to actually use the door.

Today something has spooked her, and she’s afraid of it all over again.

She just got groomed.

She had a significant amount of fluff removed.

She has no more padding.

I think that the door is hitting her a$$ on the way out.

I guess that would spook anyone.

Categories
Work

Can Laughter Make You Smarter?

Mostly True Memoirs

Can laughter make you smarter?

CAN LAUGHTER MAKE YOU SMARTER?

Can laughter make you smarter?

This was a very interesting question posed to me today.

My answer, as an ESL teacher, is a qualified yes.

Qualified because the non-stop class clown jokes are distracting and not at all helpful.

However it is a public speaking axiom that when the audience is laughing, they are leaning in to listen.

With that in mind, I always try to get at least a chuckle out of every class session.

In teaching conversation, the human connection is far more important than grammar rules or vocabulary lists.

If I can garner so much as a hint of a smile, I know I will have a successful ESL session with that student.