This is the letter I sent in response to the School Board’s “form letter” that was sent via email.

Thank you for your letter, and I would like to highlight some foreseeable issues that will ensue with the board’s decision.

Art education is specific field of study which was created to ensure all students receive proper instruction on techniques, care, and age appropriateness of materials are used in the classroom. I can assure you not everyone can hold a paint brush correctly, how to clean brushes properly, how to mix paint, or what paint should be used in a K-3 classroom. An art teacher knows this, because this is what they went to school for. It is the art teacher’s job to ensure the safety of his/her students when creating in the classroom.

Classroom budgets are tight. Teachers are asking for paper, pencils, glue sticks, and Kleenex. Where is the money going to come from to establish actual art integration in the classroom? This is not an easy alternative to your budget woes, as art supplies are far from cheap. You will now have to supply at least 4 classrooms with the necessary supplies at all the schools in Escanaba, as opposed to one classroom set of Cray-Pas, Watercolors, crayons, etc. that was shared between the whole school in the art room or on the art cart. This also does not include kiln access, and other pottery techniques. How many of the elementary school teachers know how to work a kiln safely?

The board has asked non-art teachers to incorporate art into their lesson plans and curriculum for the next school year. Most teachers already have their lesson plans and curricula finished for the next school year. They have been working on them for months, and you have asked them to add a whole new subject on short notice. When you get your elementary education degree, you are not required to take an art class. You are asking people who have not had an art class since high school or sometimes even elementary school to create a program that will teach history, teach about a medium, proper usage and care of all materials and supplies, and they won’t know how to do it themselves. Another point I would like to make is classroom time is valuable. It is hard to get 20-30 kids to listen, to stay on task. The students don’t always finish everything, so if the teacher cuts out certain activities, the first activity to go will be art because it will be looked upon as a chore, with more prep time, more cleanup, more time for the teacher.

I invite the school board to read pages 85-92 of the Michigan Standards, Benchmarks, and Grade Level Content Expectations for Visual Arts, Music, Dance, and Theater:  http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/Complete_VPAA_Expectations_June_2011_356110_7.pdf

This is what an art teacher does to ensure her students get the most out of the art education. Elementary classroom teachers are going to have another set of benchmarks to achieve in the classroom with very little time to achieve this. Planning art lesson plans is not an easy task, especially with little or no budget. I appreciate the budget woes of your district, but the ramifications of this decision do not bode well for Escanaba. People will go elsewhere to guarantee a well rounded education for their children, especially when neighboring cities and districts are offering a full art program for all grades.

I hope the Escanaba School Board will reconsider this drastic change to their school district.  I feel very strongly about the arts and will do what ever I can to save it in the Public School System.  Art should be available to every student K-12 because if it changes you will have third graders doing art a Kindergarten level because they don’t know the basics.

I have been going to Pilates for a couple months now on Tuesday and Fridays.  I have gotten over my fear of exercising with others.  Surprisingly I am enjoying it and actually feel guilty if I don’t make it (guilt is a wonderful motivator some days).  One of the ladies showed up last week with an amazing yoga bag, I had been searching for one but refuse to pay $10 for a cheaply made yoga bag.  She said she made it and got the pattern online for free, the website was Amy Butler Designs.  I found the pattern (called Nigella Yoga Bag), printed it out and doubled checked to see if I had everything I needed to make the yoga bag.  Much to my surprise I did so I got to work.  The pattern does involve a lot of ironing (especially if you use interfacing (like I did) but the end result is fantastic.

I do own an ironing board and I do know how to iron but I only ever use it for sewing projects.

I even pulled out more than two pins to create this project.

My finished yoga bag. It holds my wallet, my keys, water bottle and mat. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

In February, one of my good friends introduced me to the local Community Center’s Exercise Program (which also made me face one of my greatest fears exercising in front of people) I now do Pilates twice a week.  I am enjoying it which I didn’t think I would but it gives me a break from Booga, I talk to adults and gets me out of the house for an hour twice a week.

I never in a million years would have thought I would be exercising as much as I do and almost enjoying it (I said almost).  I don’t exercise because I enjoy it I exercise because I like the way I look and feel after I do it (after the shower – lol).  I find myself sleeping better on days I do exercise, I drink more water and I have discovered these things on my arms (I think they are called biceps – lol) which means my previous flabby arms aren’t very flabby anymore.  There are still a boat load of image issues I am dealing with because I was big for so long and that image never really goes away in your mind.  I am still not comfortable wearing clothes that fit me, I prefer baggier clothes but I recently discovered I look better in clothes that fit and are not two sizes to big (my t-shirts).  I find myself caring about my appearance, fixing my hair, wearing make up when we go somewhere, painting my toenails (it is flip-flop and sandal weather) and finding cool Dollar Store Sun Glasses (which did happen).  Having a daughter I am glad about this part, I can show her that it is okay to be pretty even if it is just to walk the dog around the neighborhood.

My weight has stayed around 150 which I am thrilled about and I do find myself being able to open up more about my weight issues.  People meet me and they really do not believe me that I ever weighed as much as I did.  I have stated before I am not proud of where I was and it has been a very long road with many ups and downs along the way but I will say I feel better.  The questions don’t change the how and the why did I do it the way I did.  The answers have changed I worked hard, I cut out the crap (processed foods, artificial crap and now gluten) and the why is because I was tired of seeing a big me.  Was I fat?  Yes.  Was I obese?  Yes.  Would I take better care of my younger self if I had to do it all over again?  Probably not because it had to come from me, I had to want it and quite frankly I didn’t want it.  I didn’t want to give up my soda, my fried foods, my fast food, my pre-packaged food, or my bread.  The changes I have made are not for everyone and I know that.  I also know if you want it bad enough you will give up things you love (me it was bread and pasta).

Do I think I will ever be able to look in the mirror and not see the “old me”?  Eventually, I know I will because I am starting to get over that hump.  I want to show off my arms because they have muscles, I want to wear clothes that fit so I can say, “see what can happen if you eat right and exercise.”  Am I a poster child of weight loss?  No, yes I lost a bunch of weight, I have dropped many sizes and after several years I can say I am finally doing it for me, I feel better when I do it (even when I hate exercising).  I consider myself more of a realist when it comes to weight-loss, I mean if you are pounding back 3 cans of Diet Soda a day and eating Fast Food three times a week and you feel like crap, you need to reexamine what exactly you are doing to yourself.  No one can force you to do it you have to want it and until you want it, you will only find the next fad to fill that void.  It isn’t easy and it never will be but if you fall off get back up and try it again, I have many, many times.

My grandma had seven children and surprisingly (hearing the stories) they all survived to adulthood (one of my uncles turned 60 this year).  My grandfather passed away in 1982, she never remarried there were boyfriends throughout the years but she never remarried.

She loves lighthouses and wind chimes, she is also an amazing sewer and I cherish each quilt she has ever made me, decorations for holidays and little notes she sends.  My favorite is the trivet she made with this handwritten note:  This is to put hot dishes on.  Jeff and I still laugh about that note.

She has had two hip replacements and jokes those hips are going to outlast her.  She makes a mean Brandy Old Fashion (recipe to follow) and was the first person to I knew to drink Near Beer (due to her medicine).  She loves yellow roses, Valentine’s Day, Bingo and card games (as I mentioned before).  She loves to volunteer and has amazing stories that she loves to share.  I am very lucky to have my grandma still around and it is days like this I wish I lived closer to my family because I would love to share a Brandy Old Fashion with my Granny.

Grandma kissing Booga (I LOVE this photo)

My grandma’s wind chimes (they are so cool!)

My grandma, I took this photo when I was home last August. Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!

My Grandma’s Brandy Old Fashion Recipe (*Note this is pretty much an ingredient list.  I can say from experience it is mostly Brandy – lol)

•  1 Shot of Bar Syrup (Simple Syrup)
• Shake of Bitters
• 1 Shot of Brandy (Granny does 2)
• 7 Up (fill the glass)
• Cherries

Take all the ingredients pour over ice into a tall bar glass.  Stir and serve.

The 4 leaf clover I found this morning

I admit I have been a horrible creative funk lately, not wanting to scrapbook, draw, paint or even color in a coloring book.  I was extremely frustrated because I felt like I needed to create something but part of me felt like I forgot how.  I keep a Pinterest board of things I want to make, I finally was desperate and went to my board start searching and found this baseball bracelet from I Can Find the Time.  We have a ton of baseballs in the garage and I went out and got one.  I cut it up and realized how much I hate bracelets and that I would never wear it.  I sat there and stared at the baseball string, it hit me barrettes!  I was so excited, I was finally inspired to MAKE SOMETHING!  I got a large barrette and decided to make a baseball barrette.

Materials:  

• Baseball
• Exacto Knife
• Barrette or Headband
• Hot Gun (only if making a headband)
• Scissors (I used my Tim Holtz™ Scissors)

1. Materials (see above)
2. Taking an Exacto Knife cut around the thread leaving approximately 1/8″ on either side of the thread.  Pull the leather from the ball the leather will be tacky.
3. Find where the “thread ends” and cut making a “straight piece” take scissors and trim the excess leather from the edges.  Measure the length of the leather leaving about an inch on either side and cut.  Unravel part of the string about an inch (this will hold the leather to the barrette.)
4. Thread the string through the hole and tie around the barrette.
5. How the barrette should look (I had enough thread that I tied it off on the underside of the barrette).  Repeat on the other end.
6. Trim excess leather with scissors.

The Headband is a little different but steps 1-3 are the same.  I did tie one end to start and working quickly I hot glued the leather to the headband.  Once I reached the other end I tied the other end and trimmed the leather.

As you can see the headband was a HUGE hit and I have several requests for headbands.

Link Parties:

I love to recycle and find new ways to use old items.  Since I got my circular saw for Valentine’s Day I have really enjoyed using it.  My problem was I did not have wood to build anything, that changed a couple weeks ago when my neighbor took down their fence.  Jeff being the awesome husband asked if they were going to use any of it and if not could I have it.  They said take as much as you want, so I now have this abundance of old, distressed wood.  I have been looking for close to two years for a non-plastic coat hanger for under $10.  I can say they do not exist and if they do I have yet to find one.

My mom sent me some wooden clothes pins (the kind you make people ornaments out of) a couple weeks ago and immediately thought these would make great pegs for a coat rack.  The total time for this project was maybe 10 minutes per hanger.

Materials:

• Circular Saw
• Wood 19″ x 3 3/4″ (mine was a piece of a picket fence cut to 19″ because I was too lazy to remove the nails)
• 3 Clothes Pins
• Miter Box and Saw (I used a hand held one)
• 7/16″ Wood Drill Bit
• Drill
• Rubber Mallet
• 2 Pop Tops
• Staple Gun or Finishing Tacks

The old fence from my neighbor

1. Cut wood to desired length, mine was 19″
2. Measure where you want the holes.  Measurement based on 19″ board:  Center:  9 1/2″   I measured from the edge to center – Right:  4 3/4″  Left:  4 3/4″
3. I drilled the holes
4. I cut the clothes pins down to 2 1/2″ with the aid of a miter box and hand saw.
5. Taking a rubber mallet I hammered the clothes pins into the holes.
6. Hammering done (you can paint or woodburn here before adding the pop tops)
7. Measuring in 3″ from the edge on either side place the pop top and staple in place with a staple gun.  Hang on wall.

Add hats, coats, backpacks to the hangers.

Earth Day Hop Introduction	Barbara Rankin	The Altered Pages Blog`
Fancy’s Place	Amazing Crafting Products	Susan Brown
DeeDee Catron*	Gia Lau	SalonD’Arte
Will’s Creative World	Viva Las Vegastamps!	Amanda Marks*
Dawn Taylor	daylight musings	Following the Path as a Thrifty Pagan
SMBdesign	Melonheadz Illustrating	leslierahye~hostess*

I can assure you it took much longer than I though it would because I started with nails.  Nails will NOT work with reclaimed wood, I am not sure what I was thinking.  My advice USE SCREWS (good screws like deck screws) or you will have to redo it, trust me!

Look at all that wood there was no way I could let it go to waste.  I created a very simple table design using the wood (sorry no construct photos and the design I sketched in chalk on the sidewalk).  I do plan on maybe doing a plan but I need to take measurements of every thing because I didn’t write anything down when I did it.

Not too shabby of a table it is a tad crooked because I didn’t have my level or anyone helping me hold stuff in place but as you can see it does hold a drink and really that is the most important thing.

The biggest thing I finished this week was the logo for my grandma’s ice cream shop.  I have been asking for 20 years to design the logo but she never let me until this week.

I can say it does look like Booga and my grandma loves it.  I can say I have been focusing on the Digi Shoppe recently I drew a new set of The Wizard of Oz and I am working on the 50 States, a “Mad Men” inspired set, the Roaring 20s and Butterflies.  Crazy but I am really enjoying it now because the style is more me.  I  hope to find time this weekend to write some blog post but I also want to dig in the dirt so we will see.  We plan on trying to make a butterfly garden this weekend but things change so we will see.

I hope to get back to posting regularly soon but life happens and sometimes you need a break

TTFN…

Manda

Here are some of the photos of what the kids and I did this week (blog post soon).

Flower Bottle Cap Garden Stake

Bottle Cap Butterfly

I also finished this colored pencil drawing (YAY me!)

I also am attempting to build a table and chairs from reclaimed wood.  I do need to get screws in order to put it together I hope to have that finished soon.   I also plan to have some new blog posts this week showing how we made everything.

Hope everyone has a great week