May/11/09may days

it is may. and it is gorgeous here. it has rained lots and lots so everything is extra green and extra lush looking...even my yard looks beautiful, and that is saying something, my friend. the peonies are just beginning to pop and the irises are enchanting, the rhododendrons are in full bloom and look glorious, and everything smells delicious. there are little mountain streams gurgling and running all over the place -- it is really something. that is the good part. the bad part is school is almost out. oh dear. time to panic. i hate the last few weeks of school. i promise you i have something to do (school related, that is) every single day until it is over. tomorrow is the county track meet, that will eat my entire day. the next day i have muffins for mommies at one school first thing in the morning and then i have to be at another school to watch the class while the teachers have their teacher appreciation lunch (god knows they deserve it, but still). then next week, i have to drive the third graders to their field trip on Monday, there is an art exhibit on Tuesday, and field day on both Thursday and Friday, blah, blah, blah...it just keeps going until graduation. and then they are out of school and you have to figure out what to do with them for the whole summer! oh god, how does anybody who has kids work? it is HARD.
but that is enough ranting. sorry to be such a ragger on such a lovely day. AND it is pete's birthday. happy birthday to pete!!

By Stray Dog 11:31 AM Comments (0)

Feb/27/09perfect baby girl

so, did i tell you lala and mariano had a baby?(mariano runs our warehouse and lala has taken care of my children for almost 9 years and they got married last christmas......they are also the most wonderful people i know) so, anyway, she is sooo cute and sooo sweet and sooo perfect. her name is mariana(actually mariana estella after my stella....sweeeeet!) and she looks just like a little china doll. fat cheeks and beautiful black eyes. she is smart, and alert , and so strong... and she already sleeps from like 11:00 to 7:00 ...what a genius! oh, i love her.i love her. i love her. i do love a new baby, don't you? they smell gooood. i am a little bit obsessed with her.my family has taken to calling me the freaky grandmother.and the girls(who are also obsessed with her, i might add) are always reminding me she is not MY baby. they also spend alot of time complaing that i hog the baby. they just don't understand that mariana wants me to hold her all the time.she told me so. so there. ha! oh, and i am her godmother, so clearly, i am supposed to hold her all the time.

By Stray Dog 11:26 AM Comments (2)

Dec/22/08Ho Ho Ho

christmas bitch revisited....

ok, have you noticed ? it is that time again.hohoho.hahaha.merry.merry.yikes!

this year is especially fun, right? with everybody wigged out about their finances. it is such fun to xmas shop when you lost your job the week before...now, i will say that the downward spiralling freak show of our economy is making for some bad-ass sales. have you looked on line? everything is on sale. everything. i was so inspired , i put our retail stuff on sale....i mean , who wants to be left out?

i don't know about you , but i am finding myself sort of paralized this year...not really freaked out, just frozen. i think i am in xmas denial. i have done some shopping(on line/on sale) but not alot...and i am not all that panicked for some reason.

i just kind of feel like, oh well, it will get done.

have i bought my in-laws anything yet?? nooooo.

have i sent, or even half-way thought about a xmas card? nooooo.

are the xmas lights up??nooooo.(but that is billy's fault)

have i figured out what to give the neighbors and all the friends that we usually exchange gifts with? noooo.

have i bought my godchild, niece, nephew, brothe, mother, or even billy their presents yet? noooo, again.

i did, actually, make a gingerbread house with my kids this year..AND it was a success! but, guess what? big girl ate it.

now, normally just thinking about all these things would make me hyperventilate...after all, their are like 7 days left...but, you know what? i am not all that worried about it..and, i think that might be healthy...(or it might mean i am in a deep, dark depression and am too stupid to know it)

i am pretty sure i am not being quite as much of a christmas bitch around home, and that might just be a better present for my family that whatever i might buy on-line/on sale this year.

and , you know what i think i might do for all those people i haven't bought presents for?? i think i am going to make a donation in their name to this school on haiti that our church built. i am sure charities are having a horrible time this year. and wouldn't that be easy?....one phone call and a credit card number and they will do the rest. AND i bet they will like that just as well as anything i would buy(on sale)

By Stray Dog 12:48 PM Comments (0)

Oct/28/08my toe hurts

i broke my toe....again. i bet this is the third time in as many years that i have broken a toe. clearly, i have a problem.

i broke it about 3 weeks ago and can still not wear a normal shoe. nor can i take a walk or run after the rabbit when it escapes, or franny when she is bad etc., etc.

it is amazing how important those little toes are.

this time when i broke it, i actually had to go to the doctor. it was my little toe and it was sticking off sideways, kind of like a dew claw -- very attractive -- completely perpendicular to my foot, making closed shoes a thing of the past. the dr. had to put it back into place. i guess i could have done it myself, but i am not that brave.

i broke it on some weights that live on my bathroom floor. that would be the second toe i have broken on the very same set of weights. the really pathetic part is that the weights are merely decorative. i NEVER use them. i should just toss them, of course. but i keep hoping to be inspired,or at least guilted, by their presence in my bathroom. but i am not. and instead of making my arms sleek and firm (or less jiggly, at least) they mangle my toes.

oh well, that is what happens to the lazy and barefooted.

so, today's bit of wisdom is don't be lazy, and protect those toes, you're gonna need them.

jane/designer/stray dog designs

By Stray Dog 10:29 AM Comments (3)

Jul/29/08farm living

did i tell you we have chickens? oh, my, they are cute, i have to admit. i didn't think they were so cute when billy and pete showed up with them and told me they had to live in my house for 2 weeks. anyway, we now, clearly, think we are farmers, which is a huge joke. i am very afraid we would starve, shrivel and die if left to our own devices. we are so pathetic, aren't we? so dependent on all of our fine modern conveniences (but, i am sort of weaned from the cell phone. by the by, mine is still busted and i didn't do anything about it b/c i knew we were going to switch services when the new iphone came out...billy seems to think he will be more handsome and smart with an iphone...so now that has been, what? weeks, at least, and i still do not have a cell phone. and, guess what? i don't care now. ha!)...i've digressed, sorry.

where was i? oh, i know. chickens, grocery stores vs. farms, etc. anyway, i like my chickens, and i like seeing my children with the chickens, and i look forward to the fresh eggs. and i like our garden, and the tomatoes, corn, broccoli, squash, etc. that manage to come to fruition, and i love the feeling i get when the majority of our supper comes from the garden. however, could i chop off those cute chicken heads and pluck them and dress them and fry them in a pan? i think not. and could i live from my garden alone? and tend it well, and can the excess, and store the taters and all those other fabulous homestead-y type chores? alas. alak. no, i could not. my family and i would starve. because i am spoiled. and weak. and maybe even lily-livered (what does that mean, do you think?) and i think we all are. heaven help us if the economy does some sort of freak out and really plummets, cause i'm not sure that we, as a nation (that would be a nation of the rich and spoiled) are quite as sturdy as our forefathers. i wonder how we can recapture some of that independence/drive/strength. hmmm, i will have to ponder that while i watch my children and chickens romp around the yard.

By Stray Dog 10:08 AM Comments (2)

Jun/12/08technology

oh my gosh, i have been without a cell phone and without internet access for over a week, and i feel like i have been on the moon! it is astounding how dependent we are on all of our wireless gadgets. i mean, i am a serious technological buffoon, and even i have felt stranded without my fine modern tools. i am really not that much of a cell phone talker, either. my friends are constantly complaining that i never have my phone with me, and it's true. but boy, when you don't have your phone cause you can't have your phone, that feels very different. i don't know what is wrong with the stupid thing, but it is busted...and it busted when i was out of town with my 2 older children...very convenient. couldn't call the office, couldn't call the dr. when stella came down with pink eye (always pretty), couldn't call lala who was staying with franny, couldn't call katie to ask about her exciting date, couldn't, couldn't, couldn't......i mean, i guess you actually still can use pay phones (they still have those, right?), but i don't even think i know how to make a long distance call from one of those anymore. and i guess you can call from the hotel and pay them some ridiculous rate for the use of their phone, but that is just irritating in this age. isn't it funny how fast that happened? POOF... we are all addicted to our cell phones. so strange. and the internet...again, i am -- we are (i am including billy in here) -- technological morons. i hate the computer. i don't like checking my emails, i don't like writing this stupid blog...or so i thought. but when i don't have it, i really miss it. it makes me crazy not being able to check my emails from home. and, oh, i need a flight to nevis. well, g--damnit, i can't look that up without the internet, and i don't wish to talk to the lady at delta. isn't that weird? when did it happen? and, again, i cannot express enough what idiots we are (my friend, elisabeth, calls us the luddites...she is often rude). so, if i feel this at sea without my phone and wi-fi, just think how addicted those blackberry toting, text-messaging, city-slickers must be. they must be ready to fling themselves into a pit of hot lava whenever their blackberries/bluberries/i-phones go on the blink.
well...i've got to go now. i have got to go see if somebody can fix my phone and internet, so i can join you people in the modern world. Thank goodness I can still draw without technology!

By Stray Dog 11:48 AM Comments (3)