Awww.. berfday flowers from my sweetie. Orange roses are my favorite. He did a good job.

Let's get physical... physical!

FYI... I'm posting this while watching all the kids that had to stay back from the reward trip because of "not good" conduct grades... why am I being punished? :)

I've decided that it's about dang time for me to start working out again. I used to be SO good about it. Chandle and I were always on top of it. Since my oh-so-fabulous Extreme Fitness membership has run out, I've been a total slacker.
So, Kat, Annie and I have decided to whip our booties into shape with Jazzercize. Yup, that's right. Spandex and all. Well, not from us, but I bet there will be someone in the workout gear a'la Jane Fonda.
Speaking of Jane Fonda- a little known fact about me is that I used to do Jane Fonda's workout with my mom when I was a kid. I had legwarmers. Yup, legwarmers. "And... hold.. two.. three... four." I knew all the moves by age 5. Ol' Jane really IS the coolest.
I also had Get in Shape Girl gear. Remember those? It came with some sort of equipment and a workout tape. I had the ribbon with the ball on the end to twirl around. It was totally awesome. I would put on the headband and just twirl my little heart out. I was fantastic. Picture a little chubby kid with 80s workout clothes goin' to town... That was me.
So, here we go... I'll let you know how Jazzercize goes. We're going bright and early in the morning. Ahhh.. yes. Have a good weekend, everyone. Wish me luck.

Laura Palmer and sodium cyanide

Fist, I am very sad to learn today that Paramount has FURTHER delayed the release of "Twin Peaks: Season 2" until mid- to late 2006. I have been waiting since 2002 for the second season to come out. It only has two seasons, and I own the first, so my life has been a little incomplete for all this time. There were rumors it was coming out in 2004... then late 2005. Now I have to wait even longer. It's a fabulous show for those of you who missed it when it aired in 1990. David Lynch is a genius. A little strange (a midget dancing in a red room speaking backwards), but genius, I tell you!
Secondly, Jeremy is in Alabama responding to a train wreck with a little cyanide sodium in the mix. Click here to get a little taste of what Jeremy does for a living. Be careful down there, Jerm. Don't breathe the air. :) Apparently, the train wreck has created havoc down there. Havoc. Good word.
Third, I've decided to go with Charlotte and not celebrate my birthday this year. Yup, I've decided I'm going to stay 24 this year. We'll call it my "twenty-faux" birthday. I'm sticking with it.

Belated pictures

My computer is finally up and running again. It feels pretty good to be functional again. I have been staying pretty busy at work (well, besides now because I'm obviously blogging) since report cards go out today and all. Be thinking of me- the couple days after report cards can be just a ton of fun... I'm also about to be done with yearbook (in a couple of weeks). I cannot believe I haven't watched "American Idol" yet from last night. I got talked into staying at US Pizza just "a little while longer" (hmm... I wonder where I get that, Melissa!). When I finally got home, it was almost over, so I decided to just wait. Oh, here's something fun. I'm actually going to teach a class on reality TV in March. We're doing a thematic unit in the jr. high on the media, and I'm teaching the following classes that week: reality TV (any input, people? I do feel like I'm rather educated on the subject), portrayal of women in the media (they asked me to do it... I suppose they think of me as some sort of feminist. I actually wrote a paper on that my sophomore year or so), and Spanish TV- Telemundo, etc. Fuuuun stuff. Hopefully we're going to take a field trip to a TV station or something. Any ideas??

Miss Katie St. John and Sarah (taken at US Pizza last night). Yum! Uhh.. the pizza, not Katie and Sarah.

This is from the Oyster Bar on Friday night... Ryan, Julie, and me. The food there is fan-freaking-tastic. So I ate fish. So what? :)

Can't think of something to post...

So I'll tell ya what I found out today. Upcoming Lucero shows:
*Thursday, Jan. 19th (this Thursday, people) Ben Nichols will be at the White Water Tavern all by his lonesome self. Who's with me??
*Thursday, Jan. 26th at the Dickson St. Theater for those near Fayetteville (uhh... Virginia?)
*Thursday, Feb. 9th at the Reynolds Performance Hall at ol' UCA

Oh, and here's their myspace link. Fun stuff.

I'll definitely being going on Thursday. If you're interested, let me know.
PS- I do have some pictures I'd like to post at some point, but my computer is still not working out in the trailer. Sigh...

What a fun day.

It has been a very, er, interesting day, to say the least. First off, my computer hasn't been working all day (still isn't- I am using the art teacher's, who had a baby today). Luckily enough, today is also the day that grades are due, and guess who wasn't done yet? I ended up having to use the principal's computer.
Second, today was the Geography Bee. It was awesome. Go here to see how you stack up against junior high students. We had to have a tie breaker between two 5th graders that lasted AT LEAST 30 minutes. One had to answer it right when the other got it wrong. It took forrrrrrever.
Here's where my day really starts rockin': I was walking out to the trailer (AKA, my classroom, the portable) when I notice pandemonium on the deck. "Miss Ross!!" they're all screaming. I had no clue what was going on till I notice one student walking slowly toward me with blood ALL over her face and dripping to the ground (picture a gross horror movie zombie walking towards you with 8th graders running around her). Holy crap, I thought. I couldn't remember any first aid training. There was blood! What the heck do I do? But hey, she was walking, so I thought, let's walk to the nurse so SHE can do her thing. So that's what we did. It caused quite the stir in the office to have a bloody child walk in. By the way, someone had pushed the door open into her face. Gashed her forhead open. Yuck. Head wounds always bleed worse than they really are. Right? She went to the ER and will probably get stitches.
So school is done for the day (it's the end of the quarter so we get a half day), so I'm finishing up and GOING HOME. Have a good one (better than mine). Peace.

It's none of yo' business!

Let me tell ya a little story. It was last St. Patty's Day. We started the party at Kat and Karl's apartment around noon. We went downtown to the RiverMarket to watch the parade. We went to Stickey's. We went back to the apartment. At this point, it was probably, oh... like 6 p.m. At this point, we got a little rowdy. The old school hip hop came out. Ahhhh yes. A little:

Here I go, here I go, here I go again. Girls, what's my weakness? (Men!)Ok then, chillin', chillin', mindin' my business (word)Yo, Salt, I looked around, and I couldn't believe thisI swear, I stared, my niece my witness...

Anyway, remember how when you were 8 and watching TV or a movie and you would say something like, "I get to be She-ra," or "I'm Rainbow Brite!" and your friend had to claim a character too? Well, that's pretty much what we did. Kat jumps in with, "I'm Salt!", so I claimed Pepa (of course). Unfortunately, that left Kristen with Spinderella. The one no one knows. The one who doesn't even get to be in the group name. The one who didn't even get to have a verse till "Whatta Man" in like '94. She was not too pleased. It's a bit of a touchy subject still to this day. Don't worry, Kristen. You can be Pepa if you want! Especially now that you've started your own blog. Good job. :)

If I recall correctly, I think we later split ourselves into members of TLC instead. I think I wound up as T-Boz, although I'm TOTALLY Left Eye.

"Where's Arnie?? Say it, Gilbert! Say, 'where's Arnie?!'"

Meet Arnie. Well, most of you have had the pleasure of meeting him already, but he hasn't had a spot on the blogity blog yet. Annie says you shouldn't say the "r", so it's more like "Ahnie." It's not required, but it sure makes it funnier.
In my head, I imagine his voice is really deep. I mean, he's a basset, right? They should have deep voices to go along with their enormous paws.
Arnie's a sneaky little guy, too. When I am unpacking (YES, I still have some to do) or cleaning (I do that sometimes), from time to time the house gets quiet. He's not running around or barking or chewing on his bone... and I wonder, "Where's Arnie?" That's when I go through the house looking for him, and inevitably he's on my bed, looking at me like, "What? This is mine, right?" (say it in your head with a super low voice). But seriously, I love this dog. He's freaking adorable, and I find myself giving him special treatment (when we wants down from the papa-san, I'll give him a little help because his legs are so short!). Oh well, what can ya do?? I'm hooked.

Hooray for movies!

Last night, while watching the Critics' Choice Awards (yeah!), I realized that I have not seen ANY of the good movies this year. The only one I've seen is "Walk the Line," which I'd like to see again. Oh, and "The Chronicles of Narnia." I've seen that one. I need to get to work on this dilemma, for real yo's! Here are the awards I was happy about.
Picture: "Brokeback Mountain."
Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote."
Actress: Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line." (WHOO HOO!)
Supporting Actor: Paul Giamatti, "Cinderella Man."
Supporting Actress: (tie) Amy Adams, "Junebug," and Michelle Williams, "Brokeback Mountain."
Acting Ensemble: "Crash."
Director: Ang Lee, "Brokeback Mountain."
Writer: Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, "Crash."
Young Actor: Freddie Highmore, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
Comedy: "The 40 Year-Old Virgin."
Family Film (live action): "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."
Foreign Language Film: "Kung Fu Hustle."
Soundtrack: "Walk the Line."
Composer: John Williams for "Memoirs of a Geisha."
Documentary Feature: "March of the Penguins."

Your thoughts??

It's the ropes & the reins, it's the joy & the pain, and they call the thing a rodeo

I had a pretty sweet weekend, mostly because I went to the PBR at Altell Saturday night, ya'll! It was a blast. Some of those bulls were completely crazy! One guy got 91 points, which is pretty dang good. I found myself standing up and cheering for them when they stayed on. I found myself taunting the bulls- "Is that all you got?? Come on!!" I found myself talking with a thicker-than-usual accent. It must have been all the Wranglers and cowboy hats.
It brought back memories of a time when my friends thought they were cowboys, drove big ol' trucks, and wore cowboy hats. Times when we went muddin' for fun on the weekends. Times of 4-wheelers and barbeques. Ooooh those were the days.
My only regret is the I missed the opportunity to see Whiplash, the monkey cowboy. Watch the video to see him in all his majesty! Another time, perhaps.

I'm a cowboy JUST like Karl! Erhm.. right, Kristen?? :)

Bye, bye Chandle... again.

Friday we got together to bid adieu to Chandle once again. It was nice having her in town- it's only 7 months till she gets to come back for good. Man, that's a pretty long time. Love you, Chandle!
We went to US Pizza for dinner, where we ran into a giant table of my students (by giant, I mean like 8). No parents or anything- just 13 year olds hanging out at US Pizza by themselves. Crazy talk.
Here's a usual picture of Chandle and David where Chandle looks pretty and David looks crazy. Typical. Ha.

Friday fun

For you today, my friends, I have compiled a few fun videos from Ebaum's world... Enjoy! And have a great weekend. Ill-Rock peeps: Chandle's in town tonight and tonight only before she rejoins her life devoted to public interest. So let's get together, yeah, yeah, yeah (an old Parent Trap nod). She has her grad school interview today. Good luck Chandle! Holla!!

Video goodness:
1. Spelling Bee kids are the coolest. Am I right? Am I right??
2. Jeopardy mess-up. Notice this is the guy that won like a million dollars on the show...
3. This poor guy is truly terrified. Friends are mean from time to time.
4. It made me laugh- what can I say? I think I'm 12.

Two things...

First thing- I have become obsessed with Apples to Apples. Christy originally introduced me to this wonderful game, and now Kat owns it. It has surpassed In a Pickle, also a fun game, because as Kat says, it's less controversial. There's less yelling. :)

Secondly, I have been working very diligently on thank-you notes to the kiddoes (see the massive pile I had to sort through). It went something like this:
Dear (student's name),
Thank you so much for the ornament/chocolate/candy/bread/cocoa mix/gift card that you gave me! It was delicious/beautiful/great! I loved it/can't wait to use it! I hope you and your family had a very merry Christmas.
-Miss Ross
**I hear that if you are there when someone hands you a present and you say "thank you," then a note isn't necessary (according to etiquette rules). What do you know of this?? Let me know if this is true...**

DOUBLE TRUE!

Perhaps you've already seen this, but watch it again. Genius, I tell you. GENIUS!! Click here for the SNL rap, yo.

Picture onslaught!!!!

Sigh... I'm such a baby- I've been complaining all day that I'm back at work. I get spoiled by those breaks. Anyway, I'm back, and here come the pictures of break!
Annie and I are officially in our new house, which is way better than the other one (size-wise, at least), and I love it. I live like a block away from Karl and Kat, which will be very nice and convenient.
Christmas was great spent at the parents' house... nice and relaxing. I have a ton of pictures since I've been gone so long... so keep scrolling!

My grandmama has been in town for a couple of weeks, and she's planning to stay till the middle of January. It's great to spend so much time with her since she lives in Nebraska, where it snows all the time. My mom swears she's adopted since my grandma's so little next to the rest of us. :) Grandma also takes dishes OUT of the dishwasher to wash them by hand. She promises me this is hereditary and I will do the same thing. I'm thinking it's not so likely....

For New Years' Eve I went to a cabin with Jeremy and his entire crew up near Jasper. It slept 18 (we had 12), and it was super sweet. Check out Heather Hills cabins here. We had cabin #2. Sorry I missed hanging out with all of you at Kat and Karl's. It looked like fun. Here's a shot of the downstairs of the cabin. I had a blast hanging out with everyone up there. They all stayed Sunday night too, but I left early since Melissa got me and my grandma tickets to Beauty and the Beast at the Rep. It was completely amazing. Here are New Years' pics....

Here's a shot of the kitchen post-breakfast the day after....

This just might be my favorite picture. Along with the other fun that was had, we got some good ol' shootin' in at the cabin. Ummmm heck yes. I even shot it a couple times (under much protest) and shot myself a beer can. It's just a beebee (how do you spell that??) gun, so don't worry. No NRA for me.

We took a lot of pictures of ourselves... it's not like there weren't people around, but HEY! It's fun. This is Jenny- a very cool chick.

Here's Ryan moments before New Years'. It makes me laugh. People jumped off the roof (gotta jump into the New Year, you know? Much like Claus taught us many years ago), and we had sparklers and champagne. If you look closely in Ryan's hand, you'll notice the slap coozy on his can. Just like the slap bracelets of our childhood. Several of us got one at a gas station in Russelville. Mine is pink leopard print. It's purty. Thanks, Jeremy.