Cat People and Dog People - UNITE!

I had my team Facebook Live this weekend, and I wanted to use the cute dog and cat images from Little Cuties for a friendship themed card.

I wanted this card actually because I sort of had this post in my head the week of Creativation and needed a good image for the story.

One of the first comments on my Creativation album was from a dear friend of mine, who said that my photos were such a relief from the sea of political negativity on Facebook that week.

It seems like I'm always traveling when big newsworthy events happen - I was in Santa Fe for both the hanging chads AND the Tiger Woods story (there's a hilarious part of that experience I'll share someday that is still the source of much mirth in my house).

As you know - I'm pretty news-averse anyway. I wrote about my "happiness test" here.

But her comment really confirmed my own certainty about what "sharing" means in the online world, and so I thought it deserved a card.

I really only share things that I consider to be uplifting, funny or fascinating on Facebook, and never a single political thing ever. People who love news have plenty of places to get it, and they don't need me pointing them to it. Unfortunately, I've had to unfollow hundreds, if not thousands, of people on Facebook because of their political posts. It's so sad to me that people are so mean to each other over politics - it's not something I understand at all. And please - don't try to explain it to me :). I'd much rather see your children, your pets, your recipes and your art than your link to some apocalyptic "what if" story about a politician. I really love real people and their everyday lives the most. I know so many interesting and talented people - I'll never have time enough to learn all the things I could learn from them. And sadly, I miss some people I used to enjoy hearing from, because they turned into news machines leading up to the election and haven't let up since.

So I think that if there's a millennial out there who wants to make a bazillion dollars - this is the way to do it. Invent a plug-in for Facebook, Instagram etc. that quietly unfollows people for you when they post about politics - BUT - if they recover and go back to being normal people for let's say - 5 posts in a row - refollow them! I would pay $5 for that app. AND if the app had other filters - for example - a filter to remove all posts about award shows, football, animal abuse, previously Snopes'd stories, copy and paste this if,  and RIP (fill in the blank celebrity) posts - I'd pay $10 for the app. Heck - I'd pay $100 for an app that did all that. Possibly annually.

A friend of mine recently created two lists of friends - friends who love political posts and friends who don't. I thought this was very considerate, and I re-followed her after she did it and just asked to be off the political list. I would NEVER tell anyone how to to run their own social media content - that's not my message. I consider that to be anti-social media, actually. We are all free people and should post what WE like. Everyone can unfollow what they don't want to see and that's what I do. But I sure would love to re-connect with people who no longer post the things I don't like and I'd happily pay an enterprising developer for that to be somewhat automated.

Back in the days of Tweetdeck for Twitter, we had keyword filters, and man did we love them. Total granular control of your inputs. I'd like that for television actually. I've seen enough Viagra commercials to last a lifetime. And while we're at it - I'm really done with Pajama Gram and Property Brothers ads too.

So what I wanted to say with a card this week - is a huge thank you to all the talented, artistic, creative, fun-loving people who share their normal, chaotic and colorful lives as they happen. It's much more entertaining and uplifting than anything that follows a click of the remote. And thankfully, in real life, I know for a fact that we are all a lot nicer and have a lot more in common with each other than any news outlet would have you believe.

Yes - even cat people and dog people. That's how you know real peace is possible.

links to supplies used:

InLinkz.com

I colored these little guys on my team Facebook Live event yesterday.

I used my watercolors (I LOVE the pre-panned set of Mijello's above) for some no-line watercolor, and then I added back the facial details with a marker - I had left the stamps set up in my MISTI so I could add those details back perfectly. These are just fun images to paint.

My team always helps me with whatever I'm making on our call, but yesterday when I was adding back the face details using a marker, they totally didn't tell me that I had forgotten the mouth on both critters so I had to put them all in time out and then add the little mouths. Scoundrels! That's what happens when you're as blind as me - you can't see your kitty has no mouth!

I stamped the dog first in Daffodil Delight, and then masked him to stamp the kitty. I just set them up in opposite corners of my mini MISTI.

In the random topics category - before I went to Creativation, I bought a "uniform" - one shirt and one pair of pants for each day I'd be there. Our booth dress code was black, so I bought a very lightweight tunic (which was a good thing because Phoenix likes to blast the heater when it's 65 degrees out) and some of those BetaBrand pants, which are amazing. After a week there, opening a package every day to get my uniform out, I realized I am becoming Steve Jobs. It was so nice to have the exact same clothes every day - I knew exactly how they fit and felt and it was awesome. I get no joy from clothes shopping so it rocked to just buy multiples on Amazon and not have any decisions to make every day.

I also found a new makeup sponge I LOVE at Ulta before the trip. It's kind of a weird shape, but it's amazing how it blends your makeup totally smoothly - I've never had one this good before. It is CRAZY how much better my foundation looks. Also it's latex-free - which is good, since I'm allergic.

They are cheaper on Amazon than they were at Ulta.

Today I'm trying this veggie burger recipe via my friend Bev - who always shares great recipes. She loves them, so I'm excited. I don't like all the garbage that's in commercial veggie burgers, and a local restaurant that used to have my FAVE handmade ones moved away, so I'm hoping this one wows me. I'll be sure and report back. I love a good veggie burger and will be thrilled if I can make a good one.

I am caught up on Leah Remini's Scientology series on A&E, which is great, and I finally got a chance to watch Going Clear, which is even scarier. Then I watched The Witness, which is an in-depth look at a story we all know - the Kitty Genovese murder - by her brother. It's called The Witness and it's very well done and still just a fascinating case.

AND, my Audible credits renewed while I was gone, so I have some new audiobooks in my future!

I hope you have a great week - and I hope the cats and dogs and cat people and dog people and star-bellied Sneetches and Sneetches with no stars can all get along for a while while we make art. :)

Loveyameanitbye.