Raige Creations

This is a song that has been playing in the background of my mind ever since hubby got me on this Collective Soul kick. A beautifully written song, musically and lyrically. The meaning, the general consensus writes, is about the shallowness of life. After doing everything, buying everything, life has no meaning. Do I have a long way to run - to find the meaning of life. Read more interpretations here. I guess we are continually searching for meaning, for satisfaction, for happiness. Society would like us to be continually consuming to find these things. However, is that where we will find it? I think not. Admittedly it has taken a long time to come to this conclusion. I guess I have been running' for years. I am not saying I have solved this by any means, but certainly I am not 'running' like I used to. I am more content nowadays with what I have, and try to enjoy each moment and the little things. I am now sauntering along quite happy. Maybe too heavy for a ...

Friday! We all wait for it, especially those of us who had to go back to 9-5 jobs. This has been a particularly long week.  Our office recently moved in to a new building, thus a new floor plan. Gone is my office, and I am back to cubicle working. In other words, every 15 minutes I have some paper pusher coming to my desk and hovering until I notice they are there. Even hovering while I am on the phone. Or obviously busy doing something for the paper pusher who is still standing there ahead of them.  So much so a co-worker who was waiting on me to sign a check told one aggressive hovering office space invader  : 'Give her a minute she is doing something'.  This particular week, for whatever reason, was chock full of hovering office space invaders and paper pushers . Constantly interrupting me. Add the phone that seldom rings suddenly was ringing far too much - some cubiclists decided to stay at their desks and call me instead.  Dare I say, I was a...

I have always been a fan of Train , loved their first album way back in 1998 when their debut album came out. I will never forget listening to that in our old bedroom, with all 3 kids piled in our bed, and taking naps to it. They are a poetic band, as I have mentioned before , which is part of the appeal for me. Too 'poppy' most of the time for hubby, and now the kids, but I still like them. I have been nostalgic lately. Especially since I have been unpacking things that have been in boxes in the warehouse for more than 3 years! Things I forgot we had, games like dominoes and Monoply we used to play with the kids, curtains I made for their playroom over 10 years ago! I have been enjoying looking back on memories, listening to old music. Which is why I bring back this band. The times where we napped on weekends to this band make me feel warm and comfortable, and full of love. It is sad to me that the issues in this song are even more extreme than they were back th...

It's been a while. I keep wanting to get a Music Monday done. I keep picking songs, even have a Two for Tuesday picked. But when it came to writing, I was at a loss. Nothing to give. Yes, I have written about having nothing to write about. A f ew times , and then some more . It is every writers problem, at one time or another. So I will save those songs when I feel the reason I picked them in the first place. But this song I heard, and I just felt like writing. I was avoiding the Debate last Wednesday, actually. Hubby wanted to 'witness history' or something like that. Me? Nope. I honestly have such a strong dislike for Trump, that listening to him at all gets me in such an annoyed and angry state it takes me a long time to recover from. I haven't uttered much about the election or the candidates for this reason. It is best for me to just put headphones on and listen to some good music and stay in my happy place. Anyway, to drown out the blathering on TV, I put ...

It's another installment of 'get this song into your head - so it gets out of mine'. And a bonus Two for Tuesday, because I just didn't have time to hit "publish" on this blog yesterday. We have this album , Everclear 's So Much for the Afterglow , released in 1997, and it got put in the CD player the other week. Yes, we are old-skoolin' it with actual CD's in a CD player. (Not completely okd-skoolin' it with an AM Radio though) As you may have forgotten, when you start a CD player, it plays only the songs that are in there. I do think we are lucky to have a 5 disc player, and I believe it does have a shuffle feature, but that is not set at the moment so it plays one CD, moves on to the next, repeat 5 times. Also, if you forgot, it is kind of a pain to find CD's you actually want to listen to from your 15-25 year old, rather large and vaired collection. So you put in a set of 5 CD's and there they stay for weeks. So, this...

Yesterday I just couldn't find a song I related to. Well, I did while running, but couldn't remember what those songs were by the time I was done. So instead I randomly searched for inspiration. I spent a long time looking for a song. Somehow, Born Slippy got on my 'suggestions'. I forgot how much I liked this song! And wouldn't this be great for a running playlist? YES! I just hope I am not on my way to a new tension headache..... Why Born Slippy ? The title of the song comes from a greyhound the band bet on and won . Then the 'suggested list' showed Iggy Pop , Lust For Life . (If you hadn't noticed the Trainspotting theme, yes these are on the soundtrack . Great movie !)  Well, that's like hypnotizing chickens.  ( My new favorite lyric.) Nothing is better than Iggy's endless energy, never a shirt, dancing around like a crazy person. I might add this to my running playlist too..... If these songs don't get your day going,...

This song came up over dinner. It is funny how slight word combinations can bring up songs, and then dinner takes a turn.  It happened something like this: I had picked up some macaroni and cheese from the deli at the grocery store for dinner.  (I made a kick-butt Kung-Pao Chicken last night and didn't have the gumption to be too creative for dinner tonight. Thus, it was grocery store deli dinner night) This mac-n-cheese was loaded. It had ham and broccoli in it, which sounded like it would be a hit. But when my son was coerced into trying some, he picked through it to find just the broccoli.  Mind you, the broccoli was well mixed in, and therefore appeared as little green dots throughout the mac-n-cheese. Once in a while, you would get a big chunk of it, but mostly it appeared as little tiny specks.  We knew he loved broccoli, and ham. So we were teasing him for picking through the dish to find the tiny specks of broccoli, and saying after each bite e...

Ahhh my day off. Spent cleaning, as usual, and driving kid to friends house. The normal 'mom' duties I used to be able to do any day, but that are now restricted to days off. Sometimes I don't know how I will get through everything that needs to get done, and still keep my sanity. Some days I just get through. But today at least I got to enjoy a bit the duties of Mom. On the trip, I noticed many cars for a Monday, which actually makes sense due to the upcoming holiday. But what was unusual was the cars with one taillight and one headlight. There were MANY of those. And it never fails, when I see one headlight, this song pops in my head. It is actually not a happy song necessarily, but it is so poetic, and the feel of the song is quite perfect for a rain filled day. Not depressing, but not happy-go-lucky, somewhere in between.  Hey, come on try a little, nothing is forever There's got to be something better than in the middle But me and Cinderella put i...

When will I realize that this skin I'm in, hey it isn't mine..... The new season of Dexter starts Sunday! Yes, we are Dexter fans, one of the few shows that my hubby and me watch on TV. (we are 'series' tv watchers mostly) To honor this... I give you 'Skinned' , based on the horrific tale of Ed Gein . (Click only if you want to read the story. To give you an idea...  Silence of the Lambs , and Norman Bates were inspired by this incredibly insane man. This song, one of many , is also inspired by Mr. Gein, and yes they did find a lampshade made of skin..... Let's sing along, shall we? I'll make a shoehorn outta your shin I'll make a lampshade of durable skin And oh, don't you know that I'm always feelin' able When I'm sittin' home and I'm carvin' out your naval I'm just sittin' here carvin' out your navel..... Something about the duality, the interesting mental capabilities of th...

It's the first Monday in December.  That about says it. December ~ Collective Soul Poetic, beautiful, a bit mellow, a  nice song for a Monday. Hope your day is beautifully mellow and poetic.

A Name. W hat's in a name?    Sometimes a whole lot, sometimes absolutely nothing.  Looking for some inspiration from my 2 kids while taking them to school yesterday (missed bus), the car ahead of me had a license plate with BCK in it. This reminded me of my name - Beck. Most of you know me as Rebecca, but really this is a more recent preference of mine. I spent my whole life being Becky or Beck. (Sometime  Bekkage, Beckarooni, Roo, and even  Beth-a misunderstanding of Beck ). Not Rebecca. But here - and now - I am Rebecca.    The radio kept me thinking about names by playing 2 different songs with women's names on the ride - Allison , and MaryAnn (well, the song is Tree By the River ). And then there is the famous Peggy Sue or Delilah . There is a song Beth, and even one for my sis, Sandra Dee (except she is Sandra J, close enough), and my other sister Suzie Q , (tho she is simply Susie).    Names. Shakespeare really got it right: A...

I understand that it's not Monday, and that it is not November either. But in an effort to get the first two posts of NaBloWriMo in before I get further behind, I am posting this very special song. November Rain , by Guns N' Roses , came out in June 1992, just over 20 years ago. It was that summer, that my life took a turn I wasn't expecting. It was that summer, and during this song, that I knew I was going on the best adventure ever. I met hubby that summer, and he introduced me to this song. We listened to it alone, in a dark room, and it was then (or thereabouts) that I knew  that he was someone I always wanted to be with. We just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary, but really celebrated being together for 20 years. So I could not think about way back then without thinking of this song. A beautiful song with a sweeping orchestral background that leaves quite an impression, especially in a dark room with just two people in it.  I...

Makes Me Wanna Stay. Don't It?  Source:   piccsy.com   via   Rebecca   on   Pinterest Yes, I arranged to have 2 days off in a row this week, Tuesday and Wednesday. I spent the latter part of Monday at work, sick. And I spent my day off yesterday sick, of course. You are only sick on your days off. I didn't even get my walk/run in. I didn't get my Music Monday done. I didn't cook. I didn't even get dressed until 3:30pm.  I have to say it was great to just sit and rest ALL DAY long. I really didn't feel like doing anything else, and that I knew I had another whole day where I didn't HAVE to get in by 11am and open and be stuck at the shop all day, well it just makes me wanna stay and waste some more time. Wasting time Let the hours roll by Doing nothing for the fun Little taste of the good life Whether right or wrong Makes us want to stay stay stay stay for awhile This song reminds me of our time in the Caribbean - t...

Did you miss me? It has been one whole week since I last blogged. You could say I had my Brian Wilson week. I did manage to get out of bed, didn't stare at the ceiling tiles all week. Though you could say I suffered from some kind of creative drought . I didn't go to the late night record shop . (I can't stay up that late)  And now I am ready for this week. You will be able to find me out in the sandbox, building castles in the sun . Get More: Barenaked Ladies , Brian Wilson , Music , More Music Videos **Side Note** I have always been a fan of the Barenaked Ladies. When my youngest was a baby, my sister made him a tape (remember doing that?) for him to listen to when he went to sleep. It had their early tune  If I Had a Million Dollars on it, the first I had heard of The Barenaked Ladies. ( here is that song ) It was 1993 or 1994, when they were still an Indie Band touring in Canada and near there, in Buffalo, where my sister was a big fan. I thank her for intro...

Tomorrow is the beginning of the the holiday celebrations for some, so let's all celebrate with a few laughs. Hubby has been trying to get me to feature this song for weeks, so finally, here it is. Happy Chanukah!

Jellyfish hold a special place in the hearts of the crew that now makes up Raige Creations .  We call the Caribbean our home still, even though we have been away from it for several years, and the jellyfish we encountered there were always fascinating.  The crew is made up of: me, now usually known as Raige ; Hubby usually known as Paul who is endlessly creative; the kids who always have input and help out with nearly everything Raige; and hubby's mother Bridget who is a fabulous jewelry creator showcasing her creations with Raige Creations .  We the crew, well most of the crew, spent the last few days creating a website to fully showcase all of our talents, collections, and creations. Jellyfish are the  unsurprising  backdrop to everything on the site. And w hat better way to introduce the site , on a Music Monday , than to showcase real, free swimming, floating jellies? Raige Creations is becoming a great mix of items, ideas, and creative ventures. A ...

Wear Sunscreen. Okay, not my words here, they are actually those of Mary Schmich . She wrote them as if she had been asked to give a commencement speech, wanting to share her own " Guide to Life for Graduates ". But i t was Baz Luhrmann 's 1998 remix version that made this popular to a wider audience.  I was past 15 years old by a few years (12) , and I thought (still do think) that these are words of wisdom any 15 year old should heed. I even think it is good for a 27 year old me to heed, as I was one when the song came out. And even today , when I am (ahem) just past middle age, these are words we should hear every so often, to remind ourselves first, how naive were were at 15, and second, remind ourselves that we often take life too seriously.  We should never lose the ability to live, laugh, and love.  So, 15 year old self : read this, and comprehend that someday, when you are 40 with 3 kids and a husband, you can look back on these words and unders...

Started out as a good day, turned to a really bad day then turned out okay .... so this seems like a great song for today. But what the heck is tubthumping ? Apparently, it is campaigning. To most, this is just a drinking song.  It's repetitiveness is infamous,  ranking it #12 on Rolling Stone 's Most Annoying Songs. Oh well,  great for bringing us up when we feel knocked down! A drink would go very well with with this song. HAPPY HOUR!

It's late,  near pumpkin time for me. (I turn into a pumpkin around 10pm these days) But still Monday, so here is Music!! Hubby suggested this song,  giving me a bit of computer time  while I wait for my laptop to be fixed. (needed a new hard drive) A good one to end the night with by Semisonic . One last call for alcohol So finish your whiskey or beer ... You don't have to go home But you can't stay here ... So gather up your jackets Move it to the exits I hope you have found a friend  " Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end " 

T his day after Easter .... we all have CANDY on our minds,  if not the other .... Marcy Playground - Music - More Music Videos This was Marcy Playground 's one hit,  although the album this song was on is pretty good.  As Wikipedia says:   Marcy Playground   is quiet and minimalist in tone. Wozniak's songs run in many different styles: some are modern  folk music ; many have undertones reminiscent of children's songs; the blurred sound of  psychedelia  makes appearances ; and then there are the songs with a clear  rock  sound. So on Easter Monday this year,  where it is an official holiday in many countries ,  maybe the CANDY from yesterday  will have a partner -  Sex and Candy .