Cats vs Dogs

No, I am not going to go there . . .ie. whether cats are better than dogs or vice versa. Truth is I like 'em both. Where I am going to go is to ask, who would be the better crafter/artisan? I would argue cats, paws down.
My cats love my beads, they are compelled to jump onto my workspace and splatter them any chance they get. And wire and earrings? Playthings! Sparkly, shiny gems are something to be admired, and while few cats really need adornment, they would certainly not argue that us lesser beings need a little sparkle. My cats obsess over my workspace, 'help' take pictures and try to sneak into them when they can to show their admiration for the craft (or my model).



Dogs? While some might be quite crafty in their own way, most think the destruction, rather than construction of goods is the way to go. I suppose I could say that my pitbull mix is a woodscrafter of sort, except that few admire the changes he has made to our window sills.
And his thoughts on my jewelry pictures and mannequin?

Cattitude

Nobody gives attitude like a cat, cattitude, if you will. I didn't grow up with cats, everyone in my family, except me, is deathly allergic to them. I grew up with dogs, dogs with all different personalities, and I thought a cat was a cat, aloof with no personalities . . .

I was wrong. Granted I do still believe the saying that dogs have masters and cats have servants, but no personalities? How wrong I was! I've had cuddle cats, clown cats, butt head cats and even an insecure cat. If it weren't for my husband, who only tolerates cats, I'm pretty sure I'd be a crazy cat lady. And one thing I made him agree to before we got married was that I ALWAYS get to have at least one persian. Media has portrayed them as glamorous (think the Fancy Feast cat), or evil (think James Bond or Cats and Dogs), but to me they will always stand for the ultimate in lapcats, and they also put up with toddlers pretty darn well! But even I will admit that no matter how hard I try, even though I know that Wiggle here is sweet and just wanting to play with the strap on my camera . . .she always comes off in pictures as looking just a little (or a lot) perturbed. I actually wish I could do a "don't mess with me" look half as good as this one!

Nicknames, and don't call me Janey . . .

I don't know if everyone does this, but at our house all of our pets have 'real' names . . .and then there is what we call them. My over sized big border collie/moose cross is officially named Loki, but thanks to his very un-border collie-like lack of brains he mostly gets called Dumbledog or just dumb-dumb. My persian cat is named Cricket, but gets called Wiggle because she does the little kitty butt wiggle when she is happy.
Along with that, my girls both have nicknames that my Dh and I call them . . .in fact that is where "Little Bug" jewelry came from. My older tormentor, er, lovely 3 yo daughter, was and is my Little bug. In retrospect, it may have not have been the best, most representative name for my jewelry, since with the exception of one pair of ladybug earrings, there are no bugs to be found in my jewelry . . .but, it does represent a part of my life. In case you were wondering, my younger daughter is nicknamed "Boo", which as it turns out is perfect since she looks almost EXACTLY like Boo from Monsters, Inc . . .and I hadn't even seen it before I started calling her that!
As for myself, I've never really had a nickname that stuck. I despise Janey, the only person who is allowed to call me that, without getting punched, is my older brother.