Random Tid Bits

1. This little bug was inside my work. I just couldn't kill it, and didn't want to deal with getting something to put it on to put it back outside. I just took a photo of it instead.
   
   
   
   
   
2. One of my best students is so nosey. She asked me about another student. Did so and so graduate? Did she just walk, for graduation? Did she have to take a summer class? Is she really joining us to get her BFA? Just reading what I just wrote makes me tired. I responded back with, So and so did graduate. If you have other questions talk with so and so. I also mentioned that people do in fact change, and to give this girl another chance. Hopefully I handled that well. 


3. I have this horrible habit of freezing when I'm unable to do what I set out to do. Facebook and Instagram wouldn't upload my pictures for a review. Most people would move on. I told myself to move on. Instead I kept trying, and practically froze up with getting anything else done. It would be horrible, for me if the whole internet crashed. Not that I wouldn't find something else to do, it's just that I'd keep trying to see if I could hop on the internet over and over again knowing full well it doesn't work. 






4. Fresh Farms - formally The Fruit Truck was in town delivering peaches and cherries. I told my family about it (mistake number 1).
   
   My younger sister went out of town. She said, "Can you pick up a small box of cherries and peaches for me?" I didn't mind, and did. I said to Travis, "Since she was out of town, she'll probably want me to deliver the fruit to her house. Heck she may even want me to process it for her. I didn't think this through. I already hauled my ass out of bed, stood in line, paid for them, and hauled the heavy boxes around for her."
   
   He said, "She wouldn't want you to do all that." I texted her how much it was, and asked, "When are you going to come get them?" She responded with, "Saturday. If they ripen before then can you wash them, and put them in my freezer?" I didn't respond back. Usually I'm a Yes Yes person, and I'm trying to change that. My husband thinks I say, Yes too much! It's not a big deal in one sense, but in another it happens all the time. If her kid left something at my house - she wants me to drop it off. If my kid left something at her house - I have to go get it, or it will be lost for forever.
   
   Are you a Yes Yes person?


5. We had a Lemonade Sale last weekend. The boys made $30 each, totally $60! Not bad! Travis had a bunch of frozen strawberries in a cooler, to make more Strawberry Lemonade. He forgot about them. Many bags busted open, so they were all sticky. We ended up making Strawberry Jam, so we didn't have to throw them out. It took most of the evening, but we now have 25 jars of Strawberry Jam.
   
   
   
   
   

The Powers of Facebook

I hear a lot of people bash Facebook. Many say it's such a waste of time. Of course there is online bullies to. I can agree with all that. It is however a great way to keep in touch with people.

Last week one of my friends posted that her friend that has a son who has special needs was getting rid of a walker. She wanted to know if anyone could use the walker? Special needs equipment can add up in cost. Yes health insurance covers most of it. What in the heck do you do with it when your child has outgrown it? All anyone would have to pay for this walker is shipping. I thought of my nephew Emerson right away. I messaged my sister Terra. She was interested.

Since the owner of the walker lives here, Terra paid no shipping. Instead she paid them a visit, and picked it up. Their special needs son kept crossing Emerson's arms to his chest. To him that means, "I love you." So sweet!

Source

 They gave her a special seat for the bathtub that he outgrew to.

How great is that? 
  
Then one of my past students had a design on FB that was denied by a band. He does work for Katy Perry, Cher, 'N Sync and more. I'm impressed with who he's worked for since he's graduated. I saw the design and thought, "Damn that's pretty good!" 

I can't share the design with you. I can tell you that it has a coat of armor. I thought, That would go perfect with Warrior Poet Clothier! I did a review/giveaway for them some time ago.

I told my past student to contact them. I had no clue if the owner at Warrior Poet Clothier creates his own designs, or not. I just knew my past student's design fits right into what they sell. My past student contacted them, and bam! They are buying his design + they want to work with him more on other designs.

Greatness x 2 last week!

Adding Social Media Buttons to Your Facebook Page

I've been trying for some time now to add social media buttons to my Blog's Facebook Page.
 

It sounds easy enough, but for some reason I was struggling with it. I realized quickly that I'm not the only one struggling with this attempt. I looked on several blog and business pages, that do not have social media buttons.

I was told about an online app site that you can use for free. It sounded so easy in the meeting I went to, but the speaker just told us about. She didn't show us how to use it. I'm a see and do kind of a person, so I came back to do it on my own and failed. I emailed their support team, and they were like, "You want to do what again?" I must not have known what to even ask them. If I didn't know what to ask these people, then I asked myself, What do I google to find answers? Somehow I got it.

I wanted these buttons up for selfish reasons. They are handy if people want to go from you Facebook page to your Pinterest boards without having to search all over for them. I also wanted to figure this out for work. I'm posting weekly for them, and wanted links to the student portfolios, their website and so on. Most importantly I wanted to be able to teach it. Many students have their own FB page for their art, and have FB pages for their clients. Someone should teach them this stuff. It might as well be me.

Finally I got it! I don't know how, but I got it. Once I got it, I got it. I'm going to walk you through step by step as to how I did this.

1. You have to be logged into your own account. Your admin account. For me it would be Alissa Spiehs-Apel, not my blog page. If you do not know how to switch to your personal admin account this is where it's at:

This whole process will not work if you are on your blog or business page.

*Just an FYI I'm using my work page to do this. It's more of a pain to undo what I did on my blog page, only to add it all over again.

2. Go to www.WooBox. I'm sure there are other sites, but this one is so user friendly, and got the job done!

3. Just click on the green button that says, Get Started for Free.

4. It will take you to FB. Make sure that you have the business page, or blog page selected where you want the social media buttons to be on. Below you can see where I changed that. Most of you probably only have 1 page, so it will show up automatically.

5. Now you have to decide what you want to add: Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube? I'll show you how to add Pinterest. The process is the same for the others.

6. Click on Pinterest on the side bar.

7. It will ask you if you want to add Pinterest. Go ahead and click on it. You can always delete it if you change your mind.

8. Put in the last part of your Pinterest address. Leave all the other stuff as its default. Again you can go back and change, or delete this all together.

9. Click on the green box shown above that says: Save Settings.

10. You have to manually go into Facebook. Then change over to your business or blog page.

11. Click on the arrow if you do not see your Pinterest icon. It's where I have the red dot.

12. Once you clicked on that arrow you should see your Pinterest Icon! YAY!

13. Click on it and it will take you to your Penterest Page via Facebook.

 

All done! 

Now there's another step if you want the Pinterest Icon to be customized like I did. You can stop if you like it how it is. Repeat this process for Twitter and others if you like.

Customizing Your Button:

1. In the upper corner of your Pinterest Tab there is a pencil. Click on it and go to Edit Settings.

 2. Go to Custom Tab Image and click on Change.

3. Click on Edit.

4. This is where it gets hairy. Facebook will only let you upload a certain size of photo. I'm coping straight from the source: You can upload a JPG, GIF, or PNG file. The size of the image must be 111 x 74 pixels. File size limit 5 MB. If your upload does not work try a smaller picture. Some of you may or may not be good with file sizes and Photoshop. It's understandable to me. If this is over your head, stick with the icon they gave you.

5. Choose the File you made to fit their size requirements. I just added white on the sides because their image is thin horizontally.

6. It shows up automatically without having to save it.

7. Go back to your Facebook page and see that it's changed!

*If by chance you don't like it. Click on the pencil and go to Remove from Favorites.

See how pretty my Blog Page looks.

Now Excuse me, while I clear my desktop of my many screen shots.

If you like this I can show you next week how to add website links. Google + is one and I have more than one blog I featured this way. I tried over and over again with Blog Lovin'. I could not get it to work at all.

I Was Elise All Day Today

My boss paid for me to go to a Facebook convention today. At first when he asked me I was thinking, but didn't say, I don't really need a convention for that. I wasn't thinking I knew it all; I just thought that if he really wanted me to know more, I could do tutorials online.

Anyway I learned a lot, so it was worth it. If anyone wants me to post demos online let me know. I now have to teach what I learned to fellow staff members and students. I won't do much to my page until I put everything I've learned into a PowerPoint and then can move along. Then I'll learn hands on what I was told and wrote down.

The lady that held the seminar was super nice, but a fast talker. She knew everyone's names like a snap of a finger. BUT she called me Alissa, "Elise" all day long. I corrected her twice, and gave up after that.

Two generations above me got my name wrong all the time. I was Melissa, Aleesa, Alicia and even an Allison. Since I've aged, Alissa became a lot more popular. I think it started with Alyssa Milano, which is pronounced the same way as my name. More people say my name right.

My last name was just as bad! It was Spiehs, pronounced Speeces. Those Germans. LOL Apel is better. It's pronounced Ape-pull. I tell our kids that they have ape in them. I sometimes get Apple,  Apell, or Apeel.

Such is life. I've learned to deal with my name being said the wrong way. I correct people the first few times. Then I drop it. Especially if I know I'll never see them again. I just thought it was funny that a lady so good with names, could butcher mine. I don't much blame people. I do have hard names.

Does your name get said wrong a lot? 

I Got Hacked Today

Someone got into my Facebook accout, and posted to a lot of my friends that you can go to this one website to get a free ipad. I didn't send it.

• I had about 20 emails asking me about it today. Uggg!
• Then I found found out that my Hotmail account got hacked to. Uggg!
• I have to change both of my passwords, then went to Facebook to delete my many messages that I didn't send out.