If I was President...

Erin over at Living in Yellow had thee best/cutest post on her list of "if she was president" and is hosting a link up of lists!

So I decided to participate. I will admit, her list is pretty dang good, and I am going to put a star/asterisk by ones on her list that I completely would put on my list if I was the President! 

If I was President....

I would raise the driving age to 18. Yep you read that right. I didn't get my license till I was 17, and I felt that was even a wee to young. Driving is such a HUGE responsibility and I think kids should just be a little older to take on such tasks in life. 




Smoking would be illegal. Like if you got caught by a cop, or a neighbor and they reported it, you would get some serious fines billed to you! 

*-If you are under 18?
No Facebook for you.

*-Under 16?

No cell phones either.

*-Teachers would be allowed to both pray over their students AND smack their booties with a paddle. 
Raise Hell now children and see what happens. 
God AND paddles are looking over you. 

Diet soda would be BANNED. Bad stuff people. I am so anti soda it's not even funny. Keep living in your bubble soda drinkers, we shall see who lives longer and healthier! Just sayin--don't hate appreciate health! 

Men would not be allowed to walk around in public with their boxers (Asses) hanging out of their pants--I mean really what women find watching men waddle sexy? Gross!

Video games would have a switch in them to only work for ONE hour a day thats it! Once the hour was up, the video gaming system could not turn on for the rest of the day!

Any Animal cruelty charges against a person would equal life in prison. And I am so serious about this. 

Teachers would not be at the bottom of the list when it comes to salary. I'd say they'd earn as much as doctors and lawyers. They are after all, just as important! Let's pay them like they are!

Everyone would have to own a hybrid car. This would mean, no more gas guzzlers would be manufactured from this day, and any remaining on the road would be allowed to drive them until the they keel over. Thus, eventually all junkers and cars that blow nasty black smoke (out their clearly not tested exhaust systems) would eventually in time disappear. 

Junk food would cost more money at the store and or restaurants. PERIOD. It's all about choices.

It would be required that all High School graduates MUST attend college.

I have no idea about the financial part of that law lol but it's a great thought right? haha

Pizza and Mac and cheese would NOT ever be served at elementary school lunches! (Oh yes, this happens EVERY week monday equals pizza at my school) 

Seriously? Yep. 

NOT HEALTHY!

Kids would go to school YEAR ROUND. ( the opposing school district down in Yuma AZ known as Crane School District does this) What this means is that kids go to school a few months in a row, then get three weeks off etc etc. Attendance would be so much better. Teachers would be well rested and able to take time off for vacations or go to the doctor or dentist during the week without taking a sick day. 

It's proven that kids that go to year round schools are smarter y'all! They don't forget knowledge like most kids who get three months off for summer do! 

Everyone gets to sleep in till 8 everyday, because no one's work day starts till 9am! 

What would you enforce as President? 


Link up with Erin!

Photo Inspiration

I had thee most exciting weekend--- 

We shot our engagement pictures!!!!

Although I have none to show you right this second, I figured I could share some of our inspiration that both my friend, our photographer (professional I might add she owns her own photography business and is booked solid till June!) 

Here blog and website you can check out HERE

Or her business' facebook page is HERE

Kim Garcia is a former art teacher like myself. We met in 2005, my first year of teaching. She quit teaching to pursue her dream of her photography business. Many art lessons I share on here came from her, and many photo things I have learned today have been taught to me by her as well. I am so lucky to have her as such a close friend!

Here were shots I shared she shared with me/ each other for inspiration.

That slim brick wall shot?

Yeah we totally took that picture today. That famous wall is right here in Arizona. 

Score!

I had 3 outfits, one casual, semi dressy, then a dress with heels. I was happy I finally got to wear my New Years Eve dress for SOMETHING (we didn't end up going out to our big party on new years so the dress had been untouched in my closet till the photo shoot)

* All photo inspiration came from GOOGLE searches and Pinterest!

Sunday Tune

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

GFC Update

I've been getting a few comments saying that the Google Friend Connect won't hurt people that are currently using it now IF you have a blogger/blogspot domain.

True for those of us that use it now, but I know I can't be the only one that follows blogs that don't have that widget or the follow option at the top of their blogs.

So in a way, it will affect us.

"With this change, the biggest hurdle bloggers will have to face is the potential loss of followers. Google has not announced whether, for other other platforms that can use the feature, if they will migrate the feed for Google Friend Connect followers straight in to Google Reader. For bloggers, this could result in a staggering decrease in their traffic."

They are talking about how all those blogs we/us currently follow that DONT have a friend connect on their page will/may or may not continue to show up in your dashboard/feeder.

Does that make sense?

So in a way, it's still best to add the Google Plus widget because how else are you going to follow those lost blogs that don't use GFC? Blogger has had so many issues over this last year, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Who knows what other "changes" they will make.

The rest of the article is HERE

Google Friend Connect is in fact going Bub-bye

Not sure if everyone has caught wind of the "news" and Google, but the Google friend connect widget IS going away as of March 1st.

Yep. That's right. That awesome little thing that displays all our followers of our blog won't be there anymore.

Part of me is GLAD.

I think MANY bloggers have gotten caught up in whole numbers thing and it really bums me out. Blogging IS NOT about how many people you have following your blog. Pretty much anyone that tweets things like,  "YES!!!! I'm almost to 1,000" or 50  whatever the desired number is, I stop following on twitter. That really annoys me. That's NOT what blogging is about. This isn't high school! Who gives a bleep how many do or don't follow you? so you reach a 1,000? Then what? 

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The other part of me is sad, but event though it shows "how many" follow one's blog, it is something that I use to see other bloggers-esp the ones that are shy and don't comment all the time. Gives me the chance to see who they are.

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What google wants people to do is to add their Google Plus onto blogger and use google more as of the follower tool. 

I have gone ahead and added my Google Plus account on my page, so I highly encourage you all to do this NOW rather than later (march 1st) when you really will LOSE all those followers! 

Where did I get the widget from? click HERE to set yours up.

To those of you who "google me" or search me. I have two profiles. ADD THIS ONE.

The one that says C MAE

I can't delete my first account because it's linked with my yahoo email which totally displays my first and last name (so much for privacy) 

So if you do happen to find me on my "real" formal name lol remember that's not an account I log onto--stick with this one! 

You are more than welcome to GOOGLE about Google friend connect going away, it's all there in plain english. Sorry if I rained on anyones parade, just better to get adding all those followers now rather than later! :) 

Happy Weekend Friends! 

Kirigami Art

My 5th grade students just learned all about the differences between Kirigami & Origami 

This was a lesson I found on another art blog I follow. I really like how they turned out. I think my big kiddos enjoyed the fact that I busted out the glitter just for them! :) 

DIY-Valentine Gift Crayons

I have been waiting MONTHS to try this pin out--

a pin I saw on Pinterest during the summer!

I am a huge advocate of RECYLCING esp. when it comes to art. My school loves me for it, and I have taught my students to view things in a different light. They are constantly bringing me things they think they can make art stuff out of!

I had been saving crayons that were getting down to the nubs, and this is what I did with them!

The original pin said to bake them at 230 Degrees for 15 minutes. I baked mine at 240 degrees and for 20 minutes. I think the time will vary on your stove and such! 

I plan on giving these to the staff at my school in their mail boxes as a V day Gift--a way of saying thanks for all the donations they have given me to help keep making our art project better and better! 

Helpful word of advice:

DON'T use your one and only good butcher knife on cutting your crayons up! It WILL DULL the blade! just a heads up! Our knife was dull as it was, so it wasn't a loss for me! 

Don't forget to link up with the lovely Michelle over at Vintage Apple! 

Current Stats

A blogger a week or two ago asked me how many "hits" my ring link up got (page views)

I decided to check out my stats page to see if my Ring Bling linkup beat out my all time page views on other former posts.

Eh. Not even close.

What are your surprise top hits for posts you have written on your blog? Were you as shocked as I was?

Artsy Fartsy Artwork

It's been a busy 2 weeks since returning from X mas break! I've had my students buried in finishing up their art projects!

This is my Valentines Day Box! First grade teachers asked me if I would help their little ones create a box for their big Valentine exchange. SWOON. One of my favorite holidays as a child! Who didn't LOVE getting those paper valentines with a message from all your classmates!?!?!

First grade also recently learned about Laurel Burch. She's a great artist and a lot of art teachers more and more seem to be resorting to her for ideas/lessons about CATS!!! 

4th Grade 

My 4th graders I am so proud of! I haven't taught this lesson since I taught it 6 years ago in Yuma, AZ! 

Students (esp the boys) really enjoy this lesson. It's very hands on and of course made out of RECYCLED soda cans!!!

We also used: Brads, Colored Sharpies, Tin Foil (Aluminum Foil) and Hot glue

3rd grade finally finished their Babushka Dolls! They turned out SO CUTE! They all can recite to you if asked what it means, what country they learned about, and how many dolls (true nesting dolls) are suppose to have! 

This last project is from my After School Art kiddos. It's their first week back for the second art semester. I lost eight kids and gained eight new ones, so we did a getting to know you project! :) 

My Castle example for 6th grade--completed! 

Some of the finished castles!

It was surprisingly a hit for both the boys and the girls. Most were happy to even touch clay, as they have told me over and over that when they were in 5th grade (last year) their art teacher last year didn't let them make anything in clay since they were really naughty. 

Clay castles

Water color paints

Skewers for Flags

Glitter

Hot Glue