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 (1)

Apr/ 2/08april's fool

Hello -- it is april the 2nd. did anybody get FOOLed yesterday? i'm feeling a little bit fooled by how fast this year is slipping by. already april. can you believe it? spring break is over, the trees are popping and the flowers blooming, baseball season is starting, and in just 2 short months, school is out. wow-wee.

and my blog is over-due. again.

at stray dog, it is time to start gearing up for the summer shows and the new catalog .

some of our new samples have been trickling in these last few weeks. that's always fun. i've seen some stuff that i am pretty psyched about. i am particularly fond of my freaky 10-legged spider (somebody in haiti doesn't know how many legs a spider has...or they mistook my rendition of those pinchy things for an extra set of legs...but, either way, i love it just as it is). and i'm looking at some cute, happy new lamps made out of tin. and the papier mache peacock is really fun. and i am going to really really love my new papier mache flowers, once i get the base perfected…

anyway, enjoy the april weather. and enjoy the moment, heaven knows it will be gone in a blink.

jane/designer/stray dog designs

By Stray Dog 12:55 PM Comments (0)

Feb/13/08be sweet

happy valentine's day! kiss your sweetie. or send a card to your mom. maybe you could bake cookies for your elderly neighbor. and certainly you need to buy a box of chocolates for all the children in your life(a small box, of course, that big box is bad for the teeth...and bad for your figure when you finish it off for them) if you see a stray dog, bring it some food. and it's cold out there today, it would be nice to donate a blanket to a homeless person.and it would be really really easy to just sprinkle bird feed in your driveway.or call someone you've lost touch with and tell them you miss 'em. spring for lunch for your employees, or even just desert, if you are feeling poor. it would probably be nice to take flowers to a newly divorced or single friend. in othere words, be sweet. spread the love. let your light shine. all those good things.
gosh, it's amazing how easy it is to think of nice things to do on special occassions. it's too bad those things don't pop in our brains every day.

jane gray/designer/straydogdesigns

By Stray Dog 1:10 PM

Nov/ 6/07christmas bitch

it's november, and you know what that means... the dreaded holiday season is upon us.

now, i am obviously a part of the retail world... therefore i have no right to complain as my clients, and thus i, benefit from xmas…but i am going to whine anyway.

bah humbug…it hasn't even really revved up, and i am already over it.

i went into walgreens this morning, and swoosh, presto, whammo, halloween is gone and christmas is here! omygod. it makes me sweat.

now, i am really, by nature, not such a scrooge...i like festivity, i like cutting and pasting and making ornaments…i like cookies (i don't really like making them, but i like eating them). what i don't like is the beast that the season morphs into, somehow...

it becomes such a big deal to have the cutest holiday card with the most fabulous picture of your children looking perfect and angelic.

and it is sooo important that you get your decorations up in a timely manner and have a picture-postcard looking house for the season (and it had better smell good, too)

and the tree -- good god, have you priced xmas trees lately?? i really love spending $180 on the tree so that billy can have a complete temper tantrum trying to get it to stand up straight, and then it is around for all of 3 weeks, shedding and making a mess the entire time.

and the whole making a ginger bread house with your children thing, well, i love the idea...but, i've tried that and i can't ever go there again.

oh, and i really love standing in line in an overheated mall with 3 overly excited and strung out children to sit in fake santa's lap.

and then i really like to pay the 19.99$$ for the extremely unfortunate photograph.

i, obviously, could go on and on in my nasty tone, but i will spare you that...here is what really freaks me out: the presents. now, i don't mean presents in general. i think gift giving is good and fine in moderation. i am talking about the amount of presents my children get each year. it's gross. it's revolting. it's sick-making. really, every year i look at that crap strewn all over the floor and i get a stomach ache. and i wonder, how did this happen? of course, a lot of it is not from us...it's from grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and godparents, etc...but it is too much, and it needs to stop. and my kids, i swear, don't get nearly as much stuff as their peers, and that freaks me out even more. when did we become a nation of such monstrous consumers?

here is my plan for this year, and i've already started talking to my kids about this. they are each going to get one small present on each advent sunday…and they can open it then...but, it will be small...like a book, or something reasonable...and then on xmas day they will each get one present from mama and daddy, and then, hopefully, santa will bring them each something. and then the money we save not buying all the other little crap that gets tossed in the toy box never to be seen again, can be used to go shopping for xmas presents for homeless kids…and we can do that all together, in lieu of baking that ginger bread house.

jane gray/designer and christmas bitch

By Stray Dog 4:19 PM

Oct/ 4/07haiti

today is thursday, october the 4th, and it is time for the blog. Blog, fog, dog, nog -- i hate writing the blog. i can't tell you how much i admire people that have the intelligence and wit to write clever daily blogs. and there are lots of them out there. amazing. more power to them. but i am certainly not one of them. I don't mind drawing everyday, but trying to think up ways to entertain cyberspace taxes my small brain.

here's what i should be writing about: haiti. but i can't. it's too depressing. such an unbelievably, eye-poppingly beautiful, natural setting. dramatic mountain ranges that run right up to the gorgeous Caribbean. fabulous, freaky, tropical vegetation. beaches that look like a travel agency poster -- stunning, really. but not as stunning as the poverty. and the people are so pretty -- tall and muscular, gorgeous shining skin, beautifully shaped heads, and such lovely carriage. and the art is amazing -- even the street art. everybody can paint. how is it that an entire country gets the creative gene? so weird. and so sad, because there is no one to sell it to.

haiti is on my mind because billy and i were there last week working on new designs. our papier mache products are made there. actually, it is better than when we were there last time -- haiti, that is. more stable. less gun-fire. and that's good. and if it continues to stabilize it will prosper. let's hope so. it would be lovely to see haiti and it's lovely, charming, creative people really shine.

By Stray Dog 12:57 PM Comments (1)

Aug/24/07busy

hello. it is thursday, the 23rd of august, and we are BUSY at stray dog. the phone doesn't stop ringing, we're getting lots of nice orders, and everybody needs their stuff RIGHT NOW! when it rains, it pours, right? of course, it is not actually raining here. i don't think it is ever going to rain again in chattanooga. it’s about 105 degrees, and the sun is shining, and the warehouse is frying. poor billy and mariano are frenetically trying to get orders out the door and it is just unbearably hot back there. oh well, i bet it is most dietetic. perhaps i should shimmy on back there and sweat and pack with them. or maybe i should just stay here and answer this phone…keep calling, keep ordering. we like your business, even when it makes us sweaty and crazy. thanks --
jane, designer (and sometimes phone answerer), stray dog designs

By Stray Dog 11:25 AM